Working Class Ruler

Etymology
The "Working Class" aspect of the nickname has been used faithfully in other RPG's and online games for many years, including Working Class Slayer, Hero, Trekker and others. The basis for the "Working Class" prefix is a combination of ideological beliefs (a socialist-democratic approach, along with pride in working class values) and celebration of pop culture, such as John Lennon's classic song Working class hero. Generally, the shortened nickname of WCR is the preferred name.

Nation
See Main Article: Foamtopia



Foamtopia is one constant celebration of life, parties, and extravagance. Debauchery and burlesque dominate in the sexy Moulin D'Île, while much drinking and sometimes a small amount of work happens in the nation's capitol Montmartre. The nation was discovered by French Bourgeoisie in the 18th century and the entire population is made up of materialistic artists, dancers, and champagne socialists because of it. The island arguably holds the best parties in the world and also manages to have the most lazy and loose Government structure of anywhere in the world. The ruler of Foamtopia, Ouvrière de Classe, works once a year to ensure all the parties have the right amount of paper cups and generally spends the rest of the time, like all Foamtopians, drunk off his face and inbed with his bestfriend's one night stand.

Motto
Protégez ceux dans l'amour

The inspiration for this motto comes from the song Complainte de la Butte by Rufus Wainwright, the official anthem of Foamtopia and featured on the official banner of the nation. Translated into English as "Protect Those In Love", the motto represents WCR's ideals of friendship, honour, and defending one's heart. The subject of the "love" in this motto is up to personal interpretation and can represent a person, a group, an object, a place, a belief or ideal, or an opinion - essentially anything that the person holds with the upmost regard.

In-Character History
Working Class Ruler or Ouvrière de Classe in native tongue, was reportedly conceived during the Great Naming Party of 1984, and was born in February of 85. He grew up as a Sugar Taster in the Foamtopian Sugar Cane Fields and like all people from the island nation enjoyed parties, celebration, and generally doing as little actual work as possible. He was the first person to ever leave Foamtopia in order to establish permanent Trade Routes and beginning the procedure to have Foamtopia officially recognised as a Nation in Planet Bob. For his work, Ouvrière de Classe has a monthly national holiday, celebrating the fact that in his short period in office, he has achieved more for the Nation than any previous citizen for the last 300 years. However, despite this, Ouvrière de Classe himself, like all Foamtopians, is averse to having any kind of responsibility or workload and as such does nothing in terms of Government or any actual Ruling of the nation.

However, on October 10th each year, Foamtopia celebrates Le jour sans Vin (The Day of No Wine) by refusing alcoholic beverages for an entire 24 hours in order to commemorate a historic day in 1942 in which a shortage of alcohol meant citizens were forced to consider formalizing Government and procedures on the island. It is the only day that the nation's "ruler" Ouvrière de Classe actually does any work, which is mostly to announce locations for celebrations for the next year and to divide funding between the various party planners. Ouvrière de Classe is credited with establishing diplomatic ties with the Mostly Harmless Alliance and for continuing to secure Trade agreements with other nations. Whenever there is a party or celebration of achievement (such as Foamtopia's recent 100% literacy rate or success in Nation Strength grow), it is Ouvrière de Classe who typically will launch the celebrations and will be first to get completely drunk.

Beginning
The nation of Foamtopia began in NationStates, a similarly themed nation role-playing game. Working Class Ruler had been invited to the game thanks to online friends. Foamtopia was as it appears today - a nation built on celebrations, foam parties, and relaxed social ideas. The nation faced a prolonged wait to join the United Nations, angering and boring it's ruler. WCR grew tired of the lack of activity and options in Nation States and have playing for only 20 minutes, went looking elsewhere for a nation-based game, finding Cybernations.

Working Class Ruler (WCR) found Cybernations on September 22nd, 2006 and replicated Foamtopia for Planet Bob, abandoning the original nation on Nation States. After buying up big and growing several nation strength points, WCR invested interest in the CN Forums, using the Alliance forum to research information on an alliance for Foamtopia to call home. It only took one look at the Mostly Harmless Alliance for WCR to decide on his desired location. Having been a long-time fan of Hitchhikers, he signed up and became a member of the MHA on September 23rd.

In these days, the MHA had little in terms of initiation for new members and WCR spent the first few days merely lurking on the boards. It wasn't until Day 3 of Foamtopia's existence that his future in the alliance was sealed. It was on this day that WCR had discovered his new and growing nation had been attacked by a rogue member of The Legion called Idiot, ruler of nation Sucker. Despite the surprise attack, Foamtopia stood up well against the assault, managing to win half of the 4 battles and equalling his loses with that of Idiot's. Foamtopia, however, was throw into Anarchy. Upon reporting the event to the MHA in his first ever thread, WCR recieved a wealth of support and knowledge on how to defend Foamtopia. He also received a substantially large aid package (at this time, and in his perception) of $25,000 to allow Foamtopia to rebuild and recover. The aid was received humbly and with much thanks from the indebted WCR. He vowed on this day to get involved in his alliance and help in the same way in which he was helped.

Public Relations


While waiting out Anarchy, WCR took the initiative to open the Public Relations department for the MHA, citing Real Life experience with Advertising as his qualifications. The first endeavour WCR embarked on was launching the MHA's first ever newsletter - Don't Panic! (SOURCE), detailing current events and news from the alliance. The first edition was received warmly from the international community and helped to build recognition for the new alliance. In addition to Don't Panic, WCR updated the Mostly Harmless Alliance Wiki Page, and worked on building his own post count on the CN forums as a means of gaining recognition. The next means of PR was the first ever Be Seen On CN competition, which offered MHA members the chance to win cash prizes for posting on CN.

His dedication to public recognition and initiatives to improve the Alliance's reputation gained WCR much respect within the Alliance, which would assist in his bid to become Senator. When first approached by Vinny P in October to nominate for the first ever MHA Senate, WCR initially decline in order to properly focus on the PR department and to build his portfolio of work, which he did successfully throughout October of 2006 with the aforementioned PR programs.

Senator
WCR ran successfully for Senator in November, 2006, earning the most votes out of any candidate in the race. The lead was actually complimented by a member's idea that the Senator who gains the most vote should be regarded as the "Lead Senator". Although this idea never became policy, WCR was warmed by the strong response to his work. WCR began his first term by instigating several new ideas - namely the new Intelligence and Research department, the Harmless Intelligence Agency, which was headed by prominent member Hydrok and Founder Jimmy K. He also looked to reform Senate proceedures and initiated new Public Relations ideas. He was re-elected again in December and continued building on ideas for the MHA while working on PR initiatives like Don't Panic and the Babel Fish Report for the many MHA embassies.

The new year brought new challenges, with the arrival of the Second Great War. WCR agreed with his comrades that this was not their fight and they should stay out of the conflict for the moment, unless directly attacked by one of the parties. During January, the MHA was seeing the fruits of hard work both in PR and Diplomacy, with invitations for MDP's from many differing alliances, including an invitation to join the GUARD MDP bloc, which was declined. At this point, the MHA only had one MDP - and that was with their long term friends in the Gramlins. WCR was proud of the fact that he and other Senators had not jumped on the MDP-Bloc bandwagon at this point. WCR fought hard to ensure they remained free of such arrangements, instead holding out to build real friends. Such a focus on building strong relations brought two of the greatest allies the MHA has ever had - the New Pacific Order and NATO.

After the conclusion of GW2, the NPO and MHA formalized their growing friendship by signing a Mutual Defense Pact, which WCR himself signed and had the esteem privilege of announcing (Source) to the world. As if January hadn't been exciting enough, Admin announced the introduction of two new Nation teams, Aqua and White. Quite quickly, the MHA moved to the Aqua team, instantly becoming the largest and strongest Aqua Alliance in the game - a title they have held until this day. WCR moved his nation off the slow and inactive Pink team, only to find willing trade partners on Aqua. Foamtopia grew to new heights of success on the Aqua team, finding reliable trading partners both within his own alliance and with his neighbours. One of those neighbours was NATO, a like-minded and well organised smaller alliance. The MHA and NATO spearheaded many of the early Aqua-based diplomacy, with WCR pushing for an Aqua-wide agreement both externally and internally, despite tensions with other Aqua Alliances, namely The Rising Sun, who viewed MHA's dominance of the Aqua sphere to be personally threatening.

WCR was proudly a signatory of Aqua Trade Pact, bringing peace and stability to the Aqua Sphere. He was also proud to sign the Fish Tank Accords, the MHA's MDP with new Aqua buddies NATO. Both of these treaties were milestones not just for WCR, but for the MHA and the Aqua sphere as a whole. In March, WCR turned his attention back to PR and, importantly, morale. He was keen to give the MHA'ers a break from the constant pressures and recent changes both in political positions and change to the Aqua Team. In order to fulfill this wish, he started a little-known game - Big Brother.

Big Brother
Ran entirely on a seperate forum, MHA's Big Brother was a unique competition that saw 6 members of the MHA "locked" in a forum representing a house, like the Real Life reality TV Show Big Brother. Included in the House was the controversial Squinj and the increasingly popular Fenris Wolf, who would go on to become a Senator in the MHA. WCR designed the forums; organised games, activities, chores; and essentially managed the whole competition himself. While this first season was more of a testing ground for a proposed bigger, more public Big Brother, the House proved to be a hit with the MHA members. Many still talk fondly of either being in the House or watching it from the outside. The show was cancelled prior to it's conclusion due to the events of GW3. As yet, no continuation or new series has been commissioned.

When the world went to war again in late March for the Third Great War, it was WCR who had the privilege of writing their Declaration of War (Source) on The Legion, coincidentally the same alliance whose rogue had attacked Foamtopia seven months previously - though this had no factor in the MHA's reason for joining the war. The MHA and WCR saw their contributions as merely protecting the safety of their allies in the NPO, knowing full well if the likes of Aegis were successful in their ambition to destroy the Orders and the Initiative then by default the MHA would be targeted as well thanks to their friendship. During the war, WCR was a banker, strategist and organizer, ensuring all MHA nations were properly defended and aided. He personally delivered millions in aid during the recovery period to ensure the MHA was back on it's feet once peace was declared.

Academy
The Third Great War had taken it's toll on WCR, who required a break from leadership. He opted not to run for elections in April, ending his 5 month run as a Senator. Prior to his retirement, however, WCR initiated perhaps one of the biggest new ideas for the MHA since the HIA - the MHA Academy, providing education, information and streamlined initiation into the alliance. After retiring, he took on the role as Academy Head, collecting information from allies and other world-experts in the game to create a comprehensive and detailed guide to Cybernations. Along with the Academy came new policies and a focus on building the MHA's young nations, while also adopting a more efficient approach to Starter Aid and information delivery. When new members began to flood in, the Academy became full of eager to learn noobs, with the intelligent structure of the Department meaning the new members were never without attention and support. In this regard, WCR's Academy was another success for the MHA.

Overseer
In Late May/Early June the original Founders of the Alliance - Vinny P, Rich, and Jimmy K all indicated they required time off to focus on real life examinations for school. For their replacement, they elected WCR, former Head of War and Veteran Iron67 and ArianGD to fill their positions. WCR for the first time was made Admin of the MHA forums, which he remains to this day. WCR continued to run the Academy while over-seeing alliance issues and generally helping the new Senate continue their work to build the MHA. However, cracks began to appear in the internal hegemony. Some groups began to crave war and demanded the MHA break a long-standing ban on tech raiding, while others seemed to complain constantly that so many people were constantly complaining. WCR did what he could during this time to keep focused but the internet version of Tall Poppy Syndrome (Source) began to weigh him down.

Wootsauce
Issues relating to this section are currently under discussion here: Talk:Working_Class_Ruler

After 2 potential wars were averted thanks to diplomacy (first against a small tech raiding alliance and secondly, though completely impossibly, against Atlantis). Members of this group pushed for war against the tech-raiders and Atlantis, despite this being against MHA nature. In one bizarre exchange, vocal leaders of this faction threatened to cause a Civil War unless the MHA attacked Atlantis. While this was adverted, their departure finally occured after WCR vetoed a plan by one of the eventual Wootsauce leaders to induce an Alliance-wide war with either the Goon Order of Neutral Shoving or \m/, for no other reason than to fight and be destroyed. Once it became apparant that WCR and the MHA would never break it's long-standing traditions of peaceful existence, the group departed to persue their own adventures, eventually being destroyed in November 2007 in the MCXA-Wootsauce War.

One of these members was Yablecki, a one-term Senator who had increasingly disagreed with all Senate decisions ever since he failed to make re-election back in May, just as WCR was rising up the leadership ladder. It appeared that Yablecki, despite breaking off from the MHA and getting his splinter group into a war with a larger alliance (thanks to tech raiding the wrong people), he still wasn't satisfied and decided to leave the game in a supposed blaze of glory - declaring war on WCR, fellow MHA Overseer Denzin, and a member of Trukz in another game. Though WCR received millions in aid from the MHA and Mitch Daniels of The Democratic Order, he was surprised by the lack of support certain members showed the External Overseer. These members were part of the faction that had been pushing for war and personally blamed WCR for upholding alliance policy. Such members were removed due to their attitudes, though the whole situation had left WCR once again tired with leadership and dealing with such events.

New Pacific Order


In order to have a break from leadership and the MHA as a whole, WCR first created one of his greatest works to this date - The Plan an absolute monster wall of text detailing everything the MHA needed to do to fix their internal problems and make up for the losses in members and strength. Having proposed the Plan, WCR promptly resigned his position and his membership from the MHA and was welcomed warmly into the New Pacific Order. Once in the NPO, WCR reverted to noob-like status, opting to lurk mostly on their forums and do very little. He viewed this as mostly a holiday and a chance to get back to being a normal member - not weighed down with responsbilities. As a whole, WCR did very little in the NPO, choosing to remain jobless and positionless. During the Moldavi Rebellion, the lack of forums did little to upset to WCR as he had trust that those in leadership would solve the issue. He had learnt to respect the abilities of those in charge and showed faith for those in charge, something he hadn't always gotten in the MHA. Despite this, he could not ignore the large hole in his CN life that the MHA once filled. He missed his friends and the relaxed environment that the MHA enjoyed. After just 4 weeks in the NPO, WCR decided he was recharged and rejuvinated enough to return to the MHA and lead once more.

Return
WCR returned to the MHA on September 9th, 2007, during the initial tensions leading to the Unjust War. WCR reclaimed his Admin position and was annointed Advisor to the MHA Senate. In his absence, the MHA had continued on fairly well, managing to move forums and generally improve morale, also signing another MDP, with The Aquatic Brotherhood. However, it was not until much-loved Senator John Rocker, who reminded WCR of his earlier days in the MHA, resigned in the middle of the War to join the revived Viridian Entente that WCR stepped up his involvement. The alliance was shocked at JR's resignation and WCR moved to make up for the loss by taking on more of the workload. For most of September, WCR worked to improve the forum's organisation and momentum. Thanks to increased efforts in recruiting and aid chains, the MHA was able to reverse their negative growth by expanding to 300 members and 3,000,000 Total NS (Source). WCR remained a cheerleader for the alliance, ensuring motivation and morale were high. When the new forums went down on October 29th, WCR ensure every member and the MHA's allies were properly informed. Now he is working on new ways to streamline the MHA and to ensure the alliance continues growing.

Beliefs
Above all else, WCR believes in the power of the people and the will of the MHA. He believes the MHA should always be ruled, at heart, by the people of the alliance and will always endeavour to dedicate his time to the alliance members. He is also remarkably fond of the Alliance's relaxed attitudes and humorous spirits, never failing to raise a smile out of the leader when need be. He is in awe of the remarkable people who have risen to the ranks of leaders in the alliance, through various means and differing attitudes. There is an eclectic mix in the MHA Government and WCR is proud of it.

For CN, he believes in the power of the friendships the MHA has made. He ensured greatly during his time as Senator and Overseer that the MHA only signed treaties with alliances of high quality, trustworthy leadership, and good natured members. He believes these friendships should be valued above all else. They should be treasured, protected, and respected. He is proud to see friends who were once small (like Gramlins and NATO) growing to new heights and new achievements, while already-established friends such as New Pacific Order managing to fill more amounts of awesome within. Even if all else in CN fails and falls away, WCR knows the friendships the MHA has made will still be standing strong.

However, there is more to be done. The MHA, he believes, needs new approaches to Government. Needs reform in terms of structure and practices. It needs an overhaul in certain proceedures and it definitely needs to get a fixed, updated Charter. We also need higher levels of activity from general members, which means giving them more to do and more to be involved with. We also need to keep going with recruitment and growth, to ensure we can achieve Sanction in three months time. All of these goals were outlined in the Plan and since returning, WCR has been committed to seeing it achieved.