The Top 10 Most Influential Canadians of All Time

Day 2,661, 07:03 • Published in Canada Canada • by Alias Vision

Quick aside... at one point yesterday the top 5 (and only) media articles in Canada consisted of Battle Orders first with 9 votes down to poetry with 0. Think about that for a second. I knew the new module would have a significant impact but killing all impetus for players to share in their community through media... I wouldn't have guessed that. Or rather, I wouldn't have guessed it in so stark contrast and so soon. Someone in Adminland better be pressing the panic button here. The change was needed but the implementation is going to devastate many communities of players.

MEDIA FUN

How about a change of pace? In my previous incarnation as a productive and creative Canadian writer, I was the curator of Top 10 lists. Specifically, Top 10 Most Influential Canadians of the time. I attempted fair rankings but no list is without bias. There were always obvious misses or flavours of the month that were ranked much higher than they deserved. The most important factor though was that they were fun.

And it is in that spirit that I propose to you today... The Top 10 Most Influential Canadians of All Time!

There have been 7 iterations of the list, the most recent being more than 3 years ago. I've gone back and re-read all those lists to refresh my memory on the approach I used back then but also to see my hits and misses.

To understand my All Time list, you have to understand one of my biases. I consider there to be four big generational groupings with regards to the Canadian Community. There was the Beta Giants, the players that first established the glories of the Nations, those who became legend and inspired many that came after but who may never have played with them. There was the 1st generation of which I'm part. In Canadian terms it was a baby boom and a surprising amount of us are still around today. There was a 2nd generation which include players like Dade Pendwyn. Players who, when they came of age so to speak, dominated the Canadian landscape. That generation coincides with things like the Writers' Guild of Canada. Finally there is all the rest... wow, wow, that's like 4 years worth of players isnt it? It is. But after the 2nd generation (mini baby boom and last), you have players trickling in and trickling out. You have big personalities having an impact but they almost always are issued from a bigger cohort at an earlier time in another country. I myself was transient at that time and so it was extremely difficult for me to define this group and their complete achievements.

So that is my bias, now unto the list.

10. Plugson

You could argue, and I wouldn't put up much of a fight, that although influential Plugson is not in the Top 10. But ultimately, this is my own list and this individual always had a huge impact on me. Smartest writer in Canada by a long shot and perhaps internationally too. He could be reflective, witty, thought provoking... always entertaining. Whenever he composed something new, I would fall down a rabbit hole, without fail. One of the founding members of the Writers' Guild of Canada.

9. Alexander Rearden

Canada has always had long serving economic advisors/ministers/comptrollers etc. AR was the original model and he was most active at the height of the economic module... you know, back when we had one. Once upon a time it mattered what your taxes were or which products you protected and which you didn't. He was also active when the international community attempted to create a stock market and when player run banks were common. Once, Canada would not make an economic move without the blessing of this man.

8. Banach

This was the most difficult entry to write, not because I didn't think he was deserving but because he was the hardest for me to define. Banach touched everything but he had the most impact with media. Until he sold his newspaper and the new owner deleted all past articles, his was one of the most interesting and complete treasure throve of history and hijinks. He could and would frame debates, there was no subject he wouldn't comment on and try to make his own. Because of this and because he was also a smart individual, he was very good at getting people to follow him, sometimes en masse. Had Banach of then been transported to Canada of now, he would have been in the conversation for dictator. He may very well have attempted a coup of his own before anyone else organized.


7. Adam Sutler

Sutler could have been Canada's Dio. By the time I arrived, the name was already legend. He once controlled everything in Canada. He is the first puppet master, the first schemer. His name has been used through the years as propaganda and as a meme. So pervasive was Sutler that he is probably the only Canadian to play against himself to keep things interesting.

6. Bruck

Bruck was a multi-term, militaristic country president. Sounds familiar? He was a very straightforward kind of guy and someone who was very good at assembling a competent team around himself. His greatest claim to fame and the main reason why I'm including him on this list is Bruck's Canucks. The group that would eventually become the MU that you better know as The Crimson Order. It was created during the first Canada wipe and it grew to become a Top 2 (often first) military outfit for us. It often ranked well internationally as well. Conceived as a mercenary, apolitical (for public consumption anyways) group, it fully embraced slave pits and supplying soldiers with the resources they needed to be as effective as they could.

5. Acacia Mason

Do you remember Acacia as a war leader? Do you remember him as a political operative, party president, country president? Perhaps you do, especially if you were around long enough. He was all those things and he did them very competently but his greatest strength was his media presence. Although he would become an integral member of the Writers' Guild of Canada, he was above that the star of Northern Exposure, an eRepublik podcast. I've listened to a few podcasts over the years but Acacia was my first and remains to this day my favorite. Maybe because him and his co-hosts always managed to blend international and Canadian news along with a good doze of irreverent humour. The fact that he went supernova a few times just adds character to his voice.

4. Jacobi

Jacobi was the first non-Beta Giant and non-1st Gen Canadian to become country president. I for one almost always underestimated him. I have a very clear memory of his original articles and his original political campaigns. He did videos and opened himself up to ridicule but very few attacked him. He was an amazing campaigner and was excellent at making personal connections to key allies. He was, in my memory at least, the first successful candidate as CP to not come from a major party. In fact, for those of you old enough, you will recall that the top parties once blocked Jacobi. He got mad, got himself nominated in a minor party and took Canada by storm. He was the architect of the Great American Love Story, a time when Canada and the US were never closer and marched in lockstep. He was one of our best international presidents.

3. Addy Lawrence

Military brat... check. Military leader... check. Military powerhouse... check. Political brat... check. Political leader... check. Political powerhouse... check. Addy has one of the more interesting stories when it comes to Canadian personalities. For someone like me, who was present for most of his incarnations and stages, it always looked like he wasn't getting it, that he was hitting a ceiling. Then he would pause, readjust and burst through spectacularly. I didn’t think he was the best choice to lead TCO when he did. I once told him that he would never be CP. I'm happy to say that I was wrong on a grand scale both times. But in each instance it is because he reinvented himself. Changed his tone just enough, sold himself just a little more effectively. I always wondered how much was deliberate and how much was instinctive. Oh and he was disgustingly rich because one of his first loves was the economic module and how to get the most out of it. A threat on all fronts.

2. Rolo Tahmasee

Has anyone had more articles written about themselves than this guy? Perhaps the person sitting at number 1 but there aren’t many. Historical anecdote which I'm not even sure Rolo knows... during his first campaign for country president, when he started campaigning for support from other parties, I was the first to endorse him (albeit as the party president of an insignificant group outside the top 5). So when events transpired as they did and we witnessed the Great Theft, I felt partially responsible. For a while, I may have been one of his biggest critics. So you can't argue with the influence Rolo has had on Canada. People still raise the subject of his stealing the treasury whenever we fear we are vulnerable to such an action (the most recent case being dictatorship, I saw someone bring it up in comments). He broke the country... twice. People marched out of Canada in protest and actively fought against Canada to limit him. Actually the gap in "influence" between one and two and the rest of the list is substantial. Strangely enough, although he did great harm and was completely mercenary in many of his actions, he is a patriot. Maybe not the greatest but a pretty steadfast one.

1. Rylde

Easy pick? Timely pick? We are talking about influence here and especially if you read back to some of the other lists, you will see that he's been at or near the top of the lists for a very long time. That he makes mistakes and rubs people the wrong way is a given, he will admit to it himself. Nobody, or very few, are left indifferent to his particular brand of tough love and populism. But here are the facts... he saved The Crimson Canucks. He took over the reins at a time when the group was losing focus and losing membership. He dragged TCO through those tough times by force of personality alone. He has been CP, many times. He is one of the only, if not only one, that can get elected without campaigning at all. The people that trust him, trust him implicitly because under well defined boundaries he will deliver exactly what he promises. And yes, those promises can involve destruction. He is the only one that can pull off War Machine... over and over again. Time will tell whether or not he was the wisest choice as benevolent dictator but there is little doubt in my mind that he was the most deserving. And let's be honest here... all other things aside, how cool that a game mechanic finally caught up to the reality of what Rylde was trying to do? He played the dictator for years and now he gets to be one. Hats off to that and to your Most Influential Canadian of All Time.

So there you are Canada, there was my list. I hope you enjoyed it, I hope that you both agree and disagree with it and let me know about it in the comments. I considered a multitude of others, some for media (Augustus Baldwin), some for military (Coda, 1ronman, Tyler F Durden), some for politics (Tom Hagen, Zanalan, Dean22, Citizen B, Dominik), some for community and the impact they had on me (CFovetS, Sperry, klop). And the lists go on...


Previous articles in the series if anyone wishes to catch a glimpse of days past.

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-top-10-most-influential-canadians-2011-1921158/1/20

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-top-10-most-influential-canadians-reloaded-1713797/1/20

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/top-10-most-influential-canadians-5th-edition-1263794/1/20

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/top-10-most-influential-canadians-holiday-edition--1102493/1/20

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-top-10-most-influential-canadians-3rd-edition-wgc--1006763/1/20

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-wgc-the-top-10-most-influential-canadians-revisited-772499/1/20

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-top-10-most-influential-canadians-spamm-contender--750369/1/20


Thank you