Mitchell Werbell

Mitchell WerBell
Mitchell WerBell in 1962 Mitchell WerBell in the 1970s
Potential President of the Republic of West Alaska
Personal details
Native name	Mitchell Livingston WerBell III
Date of birth	March 18th, 1918
Place of birth	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Age at start	43 years old
Nationality	American
Role	President of West Alaska
Political party	Soldaty Bez Granits
Ideology	Personalistic Dictatorship

Mitchell Livingston WerBell III (often abbreviated as 'WerBell') is a former OSS Operative, undercover commando and mercenary for hire who can coup Petlin and his government of Magadan in 1963.

In Game Description

The story of an American soldier of fortune seizing a Siberian city with nothing but his wits and superior firepower seems like a lurid tale too ridiculous for even the pulpiest dime-store novel.

But sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.

Mitchell Livingston Werbell III was the son of a Russian émigré, born and raised in America. A brief stint in the OSS, the precursor to the CIA, was his springboard into the murky and deadly world of mercenary warfare. His unsavory missions spanned the globe from Cuba to Kamchatka, yet he still maintained his contacts with some of America's industrial elite and his father's old comrades. One in particular was Anastasy Vonsiatsky, the increasingly elderly Russo-American fascist. When Mikhail Matkovsky's regime in Magadan hoped to use Vonsiatsky as the gateway to American aid, Werbell saw an opportunity. What followed was as bold as it was suicidally insane, but he succeeded beyond all odds.

Through a mix of diplomacy, favors called in from old friends, and a few well-placed military raids, Werbell has successfully seized power in Magadan and declared the city to be the capital of the Republic of West Alaska. He hopes to achieve the reverse of what Matkovsky hoped with Vonsiatsky, serving as a conduit for a steady flow of American money and arms into his fledgling Siberian empire. However, Werbell's neighbors want nothing more than to drive him into the sea, and this may prove to be something far greater than he can handle...

Biography (Pre-1962)

The son of a White Army cavalryman during the Russian Civil War, Mitchell WerBell III joined the Office of Strategic Services which was the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency in 1942, where he carried out special missions for the United States in the China India Burma Theatre during the Second World War.

Following the American defeat in the Second World War, WerBell briefly attempted to return to civilian life, but failed to readjust. Instead, he chose to be a mercenary instead, using the skills he learned in the OSS to earn a living, briefly serving as an advisor to Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. WerBell would serve in numerous conflicts across the globe and eventually would start his own private military company,

In-Game Appearances

WerBell will show up in Magadan after the player takes the focus that has Anastasy Vonsiatsky hire WerBell to help Mikhail Matkovsky establish a military. After Vonsiatsky dies, WerBell and his mercenaries will be left without payment, and the CIA will approach WerBell with a plan to take control of Magadan, clearly intending to replace Matkovsky with someone who they can work more closely with. Although this is not the only attempt they will make (if the player is controlling the US and Magadan reaches the Regional Stage, they can provide aid to Nikolay Petlin in his struggle with Matkovsky), WerBell will make his move far earlier.

After completing the three focuses that determines what type of military Magadan will have, WerBell will attempt a coup. The player can either have Matkovsky be secured (which will allow them to continue to play as his Magadan), or have WerBell's coup succeed, in which case WerBell will send Matkovsky to San Francisco with the other white Russian émigrés. WerBell will then declare himself the president of the "Republic of West Alaska", a name earned for the country having a similar climate to the American state which, of course, Magadan lies to the west of.

Should West Alaska under WerBell unify the far east in the regional phase, WerBell will declare the United States of Siberia, a dictatorship in all but name. During this phase, WerBell has the opportunity to dictate the future of Russia, whether it will become a personalistic authoritarian state, or a reformed and open democracy-- these decisions being made through the main stretch of his focus tree at the regional stage, as well as either making the state either economically self-sufficient or bringing in American corporations - which, in their rush to seize Siberian resources and ignoring the contracts they signed, will net WerBell a significant profit at the cost of killing corporations attempting to overexpand and exploit Siberia.

At the regional stage onwards, WerBell will have the unique ability to provide mercenary forces to various nations in conflicts; this translates as sending volunteer forces to various regions after offering them contracts worth around $100 million each (added to the country's liquid reserves), provided they accept his offers. This allows WerBell to participate in the various Middle Eastern civil wars that will break out during the Oil Crisis, something most other warlords cannot do unless they are members of the SOCINTERN.

WerBell's 'United States of Siberia' is also capable of peacefully unifying with Tomsk, Novosibirsk, and Krasnoyarsk (once they receive content) at the regional stage, and at the super-regional stage, can unify peacefully with Sverdlovsk, a non-fascist Samara, a centrist Komi, and Vyatka.

WerBell unifying Russia is an event that utterly baffles international observers - Germany in particular accuses WerBell's unification of being an "Anti-Reich plot", while the United States officially claims to be shocked by this turn of events. Appropriately, whereas most other Russian warlords will have either classical music or a notable Russian song play to accompany the super event that plays when they unify Russia, WerBell's event will instead be accompanied by "Jungle Work" by Warren Zevon.

Trivia

WerBell's storyline for unifying Russia as a whole is a reference to the plot of Metal Gear Solid - Russia under his rule is very similar to Outer Heaven, his 1970s portrait shows him smoking a cigar (similar to how Big Boss is shown to enjoy smoking them), the name of his party (Soldaty Bez Granits) is Russian for "Soldiers without Borders" - the English translation of "Militaires Sans Frontières" - and the flag of West Alaska is very similar to that of MSF. Several of his focuses are also references to the Metal Gear franchise (i.e., the focus that declares war on Irkutsk is named "Rules of Nature"; the focus for a successful WerBell Coup is named "The Man who Sold the Vozhd," a play on "The Man who Sold The World," a song by David Bowie, and the cover by Midge Ure is prominently featured in the 5th Metal Gear Solid game, The Phantom Pain.

Although WerBell's unification song does not have any connections to Metal Gear, its' composer, Warren Zevon, is known for his numerous songs about mercenaries, such as "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner". Jungle Work was likely chosen for his unification song due to being about mercenaries and name-dropping the MAC-10 submachine gun, which WerBell designed the suppressor for via the SIONICS company in reality.

Quote upon unification

"If one holds his state based on mercenaries, he will not be secure or peaceful; for they are, divided, ambitious and without discipline... they fear neither God nor are loyal to fellow men..."

-Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, 1519