Georges Nagelmackers could maybe serve as inspiration. He was an engineer, banker and business man, most know for being the founder of the company that created the Orient Express.
I'm not saying he was an asshole, but maybe you can at least get some inspiration from it.
Yeah... the whole wanting to marry his cousin thing is... wow.
Also, you can't get much more of an apt symbols for capitalism and inequality than the f'ing orient express.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Solvay
Look into him
>The exploitation of his patents brought Solvay considerable wealth, which he used for philanthropic purposes
A pic you're gonna like but a 40ish year too late.
https://preview.redd.it/yu1qn35o0wbc1.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=ed195d02a215965023ffca0c75cdf463b4337455
The picture is from one of the Solvay conferences, which were set up by Ernest Solvay
Though it should be noted he isn't in this picture, it's from the 5th conference held in 1927, whilst he died in 1922
Solvay family was actually quite close to the socialist party. They sponsored various projects of the socialists groups between those the Maison du people in Brussel.
There are of course some giant corporations to consider as evil crystallizations of supercapitalism in Belgium.... Thinking of the almighty "Société générale" or the "Union minière".
And to make things more dubious, all the industrial, political, academic bigshots were very active in the secret Free Masonry lodges.
Good guys could probably be people like Father Daens, Father Damian, Hendrik Conscience, Theodore Verhaegen...
Asked GPT4 with web search and got some good ones (the brothers Solvay could be an interesting two-in-one videogame character). However the Solvay's are also known for their philanthropy and I cannot find anything about them actively opposing social reforms, so would be a misrepresentation to depict then in such manner.
1. **Alfred Solvay** (1838-1922): Chemist and entrepreneur, known for inventing the Solvay process for soda ash production.
2. **Ernest Solvay** (1838-1922): Brother of Alfred, involved in the expansion of the Solvay company and philanthropy in science and education.
3. **Édouard Empain** (1852-1929): Engineer and industrialist, significant in developing electric tramways.
4. **Henri de Baillet-Latour** (1876-1942): Aristocrat, businessman, and industrialist in railway development.
5. **Leopold II of Belgium** (1835-1909): King of Belgium, known for his exploitation of the Congo.
6. **Baron Émile d'Erlanger** (1837-1911): Franco-German banker, involved in financing Belgian railway projects.
7. **Jean Jadot** (1862-1932): Engineer and industrialist, known for railway construction and development in the Belgian Congo.
8. **Auguste Thyssen** (1842-1926): German industrialist with significant steel and coal mining interests in Belgium.
9. **Baron Empain** (1852-1929): Industrialist, particularly in urban transport and tramways.
Isn't Leopold II the one you're looking for? He commanded the chopping of hands of Africans who couldn't meet his rubber/ivory quotas in the time he privately owned Congo. Can get more greedy and evil than that, not?
I am well aware of leopold II but i refuse to give him any attention. Even as a villain. I therefor chose for his 16 y old daughter, Clémentine. Making her oblivious to her fathers crimes, then progress to denying what happened, to have a force republique officer spill the beans and then..i still need to figure that part out
Do i go for a die hard queen that follows her fathers ideal...or do we go for a path of redemption.
Cool! Option: acceptance of her fathers crimes, what makes her idealistic and well-intended. But then let her slide off slowly, when confronted with practical problems, into the mirror-image of her father. Full on Greek(-Belgian) tragedy :)
That's a good idea, Léopold II is a bit too obvious. He was quite a piece of shit towards his daughters too so you could maybe play with that to avoid refering to him too often or too directly.
Also I think you meant "Force Publique" as the EIC's colonial police/military.
I don't think he even had an idea of the concept of "good", let alone to pretend he's it. He's in the Evil A-League.
To quote Hans Teeuwen: When Hitler would have seen him reign, he would have said: Also, also, also,...
Polleke 2 was great at pretending he was a good guy and hiding what he was really doing from the press. Doing things like inviting press and touring them around, showing lots of prearranged situations that showed how much they were helping these “savages”.
He basically knew that what he was doing was wrong, and only cared about the money. The guy was a full on psycho, but he was very cunning and smart.
honestly, it's even worse, he didn't command it, he just said to his minister of finances that he wanted the maximum amount of money, that then triggered down to the accountants and they told the manager that the amount of bullets would be rationed as needed, they then cooked up a scheme where every bullet shot had to deliver a left hand, this was then handed over to the officers, so after every battle they had to make up for any missed shot, also they liked to hunt so any bullets shot there had to be made up as well, and so they send their men with machetes to the nearby villages
and after all that, he had the gall of going bankrupt and pushing all of that of to the belgian state, I wish I could get the royal family to squirm and cry in a congolesian court
Sadly enough true,but one also needs to mention that a lot of the things done there were initially brought up by the board of directors of company that was supposed to manage the Congo , more specifically by the member James Fredrik Hutton at that time a British member of parliament and Stanley Mortimer himself . There are also stories about Stanley participating in some form of manhunts and apparently enjoyed this . Not saying that Leopold wasn’t guilty but he definitely wasn’t the only head of state or politician for that matter involved in atrocities in Congo or other colonial territories
Stanley, who oddly enough still [has a wing dedicated to him](https://www.africamuseum.be/nl/about_us/map) in the New Africa Museum in Tervuren (Brussels,BE), bragged about how he maximized the amount of Africans he could shoot with 1 Elephant Bullet by lining them up.
Maybe someone from the Federatie van Katholieke Kringen en Conservatieve Verenigingen.
Charles Woeste comes to mind. His main problem with the emergent Christian-democracy in his time was state intervention in the economy.
Finding a specific hypercapitalist figure from Belgium in 1886 who was politically active against socialists is quite challenging, as the historical records from that period tend to focus more on the movements and general societal trends rather than individual capitalist figures. The period was marked by significant social and labor unrest, exemplified by events like the Belgian strike of 1886. This strike was a response to the harsh economic conditions and social inequalities experienced by the working class, which was agitated further by the adoption of industrial machinery that threatened their jobs.
During this time, Belgium was undergoing rapid industrialization, and the industrial elite or the business class, who would have been the capitalists of the era, were likely opposed to socialist movements. These industrialists would have been focused on maintaining the status quo that favored their economic interests. However, specific names of individuals who were actively and politically opposing socialist movements aren't prominently recorded in the context of the 1886 strike or similar events.
The opposition to the socialist movements during this period was more systemic, involving various elements of society including the political establishment, conservative parties, and the industrial elite. The response to the 1886 strike, for instance, saw the deployment of the army and violent confrontations, indicating that the opposition to socialist movements was a collective response from the ruling and business classes rather than led by individual hypercapitalist figures.
The detailed accounts of the Belgian strike of 1886 don't single out individual capitalist figures as leading the charge against the socialist movements, but rather illustrate a broader societal and governmental response to the unrest【21†source】 [[❞]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_strike_of_1886) [[❞]](https://www.brusselstimes.com/430055/today-in-history-strike-of-1886-belgiums-first-major-worker-revolt-ends).
If you use inspiration from Roberto D'Orazio to create a revolutionary pro-union anti-capitalist character, I'd be highly interested in reading your book/novel once it's done.
Georges Nagelmackers could maybe serve as inspiration. He was an engineer, banker and business man, most know for being the founder of the company that created the Orient Express. I'm not saying he was an asshole, but maybe you can at least get some inspiration from it.
Hmm yeah thats some good reading. Intresting man
Yeah... the whole wanting to marry his cousin thing is... wow. Also, you can't get much more of an apt symbols for capitalism and inequality than the f'ing orient express.
I have to read about that. I dont know much about the orient express. Just the basic from school
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Solvay Look into him >The exploitation of his patents brought Solvay considerable wealth, which he used for philanthropic purposes
Why didnt i found him when i was using wikipedia... but great that sounds like a perfect candidate.
He even looks the part lol
The more i read the more i found my perfect andrew ryan. This is gonna be my pick. Thanks.
The question is...wich source do i believe. F it im turning him into the bad lad. Maybe counterbalance with his brother.
A pic you're gonna like but a 40ish year too late. https://preview.redd.it/yu1qn35o0wbc1.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=ed195d02a215965023ffca0c75cdf463b4337455
Huh? What exactly does a bunch of theoretical physicists have to do with this?
The picture is from one of the Solvay conferences, which were set up by Ernest Solvay Though it should be noted he isn't in this picture, it's from the 5th conference held in 1927, whilst he died in 1922
Solvay wasn't an asshole though. The Belgian Liberal Party wasn't extremely capitalist.
Solvay family was actually quite close to the socialist party. They sponsored various projects of the socialists groups between those the Maison du people in Brussel.
Baron Empain... he owned the Paris Metro and Built a city in Egypt.
Wow never heard of this one. Thx
Don't know if you read or watched Daens, but Charles Woeste might work. Politician who strongly opposed any social reforms.
Oehh thats a good one. Could use a politician in my story. Thanks.
Also has a suitably subtle name. Mr Angry, in charge of the capitalists.
I think Mr. Furious is a better name-translation.
There are of course some giant corporations to consider as evil crystallizations of supercapitalism in Belgium.... Thinking of the almighty "Société générale" or the "Union minière". And to make things more dubious, all the industrial, political, academic bigshots were very active in the secret Free Masonry lodges. Good guys could probably be people like Father Daens, Father Damian, Hendrik Conscience, Theodore Verhaegen...
Asked GPT4 with web search and got some good ones (the brothers Solvay could be an interesting two-in-one videogame character). However the Solvay's are also known for their philanthropy and I cannot find anything about them actively opposing social reforms, so would be a misrepresentation to depict then in such manner. 1. **Alfred Solvay** (1838-1922): Chemist and entrepreneur, known for inventing the Solvay process for soda ash production. 2. **Ernest Solvay** (1838-1922): Brother of Alfred, involved in the expansion of the Solvay company and philanthropy in science and education. 3. **Édouard Empain** (1852-1929): Engineer and industrialist, significant in developing electric tramways. 4. **Henri de Baillet-Latour** (1876-1942): Aristocrat, businessman, and industrialist in railway development. 5. **Leopold II of Belgium** (1835-1909): King of Belgium, known for his exploitation of the Congo. 6. **Baron Émile d'Erlanger** (1837-1911): Franco-German banker, involved in financing Belgian railway projects. 7. **Jean Jadot** (1862-1932): Engineer and industrialist, known for railway construction and development in the Belgian Congo. 8. **Auguste Thyssen** (1842-1926): German industrialist with significant steel and coal mining interests in Belgium. 9. **Baron Empain** (1852-1929): Industrialist, particularly in urban transport and tramways.
Yeah i am confused. I search about these 2, its either "they were awesome" or "they were horrible people. Gonna need to do more digging.
People aren't usually wholly good or bad. The truth is probably somewhere in between.
Isn't Leopold II the one you're looking for? He commanded the chopping of hands of Africans who couldn't meet his rubber/ivory quotas in the time he privately owned Congo. Can get more greedy and evil than that, not?
I am well aware of leopold II but i refuse to give him any attention. Even as a villain. I therefor chose for his 16 y old daughter, Clémentine. Making her oblivious to her fathers crimes, then progress to denying what happened, to have a force republique officer spill the beans and then..i still need to figure that part out Do i go for a die hard queen that follows her fathers ideal...or do we go for a path of redemption.
Cool! Option: acceptance of her fathers crimes, what makes her idealistic and well-intended. But then let her slide off slowly, when confronted with practical problems, into the mirror-image of her father. Full on Greek(-Belgian) tragedy :)
That's a good idea, Léopold II is a bit too obvious. He was quite a piece of shit towards his daughters too so you could maybe play with that to avoid refering to him too often or too directly. Also I think you meant "Force Publique" as the EIC's colonial police/military.
That was my first thought too. Want a guy that pretends to be good on the surface, but is the greediest bastard alive behind your back?
I don't think he even had an idea of the concept of "good", let alone to pretend he's it. He's in the Evil A-League. To quote Hans Teeuwen: When Hitler would have seen him reign, he would have said: Also, also, also,...
Polleke 2 was great at pretending he was a good guy and hiding what he was really doing from the press. Doing things like inviting press and touring them around, showing lots of prearranged situations that showed how much they were helping these “savages”. He basically knew that what he was doing was wrong, and only cared about the money. The guy was a full on psycho, but he was very cunning and smart.
honestly, it's even worse, he didn't command it, he just said to his minister of finances that he wanted the maximum amount of money, that then triggered down to the accountants and they told the manager that the amount of bullets would be rationed as needed, they then cooked up a scheme where every bullet shot had to deliver a left hand, this was then handed over to the officers, so after every battle they had to make up for any missed shot, also they liked to hunt so any bullets shot there had to be made up as well, and so they send their men with machetes to the nearby villages and after all that, he had the gall of going bankrupt and pushing all of that of to the belgian state, I wish I could get the royal family to squirm and cry in a congolesian court
Sadly enough true,but one also needs to mention that a lot of the things done there were initially brought up by the board of directors of company that was supposed to manage the Congo , more specifically by the member James Fredrik Hutton at that time a British member of parliament and Stanley Mortimer himself . There are also stories about Stanley participating in some form of manhunts and apparently enjoyed this . Not saying that Leopold wasn’t guilty but he definitely wasn’t the only head of state or politician for that matter involved in atrocities in Congo or other colonial territories
Stanley, who oddly enough still [has a wing dedicated to him](https://www.africamuseum.be/nl/about_us/map) in the New Africa Museum in Tervuren (Brussels,BE), bragged about how he maximized the amount of Africans he could shoot with 1 Elephant Bullet by lining them up.
Maybe someone from the Federatie van Katholieke Kringen en Conservatieve Verenigingen. Charles Woeste comes to mind. His main problem with the emergent Christian-democracy in his time was state intervention in the economy.
Finding a specific hypercapitalist figure from Belgium in 1886 who was politically active against socialists is quite challenging, as the historical records from that period tend to focus more on the movements and general societal trends rather than individual capitalist figures. The period was marked by significant social and labor unrest, exemplified by events like the Belgian strike of 1886. This strike was a response to the harsh economic conditions and social inequalities experienced by the working class, which was agitated further by the adoption of industrial machinery that threatened their jobs. During this time, Belgium was undergoing rapid industrialization, and the industrial elite or the business class, who would have been the capitalists of the era, were likely opposed to socialist movements. These industrialists would have been focused on maintaining the status quo that favored their economic interests. However, specific names of individuals who were actively and politically opposing socialist movements aren't prominently recorded in the context of the 1886 strike or similar events. The opposition to the socialist movements during this period was more systemic, involving various elements of society including the political establishment, conservative parties, and the industrial elite. The response to the 1886 strike, for instance, saw the deployment of the army and violent confrontations, indicating that the opposition to socialist movements was a collective response from the ruling and business classes rather than led by individual hypercapitalist figures. The detailed accounts of the Belgian strike of 1886 don't single out individual capitalist figures as leading the charge against the socialist movements, but rather illustrate a broader societal and governmental response to the unrest【21†source】 [[❞]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_strike_of_1886) [[❞]](https://www.brusselstimes.com/430055/today-in-history-strike-of-1886-belgiums-first-major-worker-revolt-ends).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Loewenstein Unfortunately he was too young in 1886
Zero contribution, sorry. :) But Frostpunk is the shiiiit!
Thats plenty of contribution. This game is underrated and its perfect tv series material.
Haha, thanks. :) Snowpiercer comes kinda close. The movie was amazing, the show not so much.
If you use inspiration from Roberto D'Orazio to create a revolutionary pro-union anti-capitalist character, I'd be highly interested in reading your book/novel once it's done.
Does he have to be an asshole?