Remembering "Viktor"

We regret to inform you that we still have no leads in the disappearance of our beloved operative "Viktor" and that we are now officially considering him dead. "Viktor" was a brave, principled, and dedicated man whose life, although troubled, helped shape him into the instrument for good that he was.

Many of you may be surprised that "Viktor" is merely a pseudonym, and that our beloved operative was actually born Eduardo Hans Gottlieb in Tocopilla, Chile in January of 1970. (As a side note, much of this biography is taken from research "Viktor" conducted years later. For reasons that will become clear as we progress his early memories were at best confused). His father, Wolfgang Gottlieb, disappeared shortly after he was born following the military coup led by Augusto Pinochet in September of 1973.

Wolfgang had emigrated from Germany with his father Otto in 1933. As Otto had been a vocal opponent of the Nazi party he soon found it difficult to live under their rule, and he relocated to Chile. After World War II Otto and his young son had made it their mission to hunt down the Nazi supporters that had fled to Chile following the defeat of Germany, and had presumably made a few enemies. When the military took power in 1973 Wolfgang and his father were "disappeared" and never heard from again.

A few years after Wolfgang's disappearance, Eduardo fled with his mother Angela to Germany, where she hoped to shelter with her cousins. We think this happened in 1975, but records are not readily available. Unfortunately for Angela and Wolfgang, their plane was redirected to Romania and the customs official there remembered Otto, and not too fondly. Eduardo was sent to an orphanage to die and Angela was "disappeared."

It was at this time that Eduardo met an older orphan who called himself "Lord Victorious" and who taught young Eduardo the ropes of espionage. As he matured he began to excel and was constantly performing favors for his fellow orphans. He used his prowess to get some information from the orphanage guards about the whereabouts of his mother, and used his now legendary escape ability to break out of the orphanage at the age of 11.

After his escape he made his way to Germany and found the hospital where his mother was being treated. As it turns out, his mother had been badly abused by the ex-Nazis. One of the worst offenders was an ex-Nazi who, according to "Viktor," was never found, but who was obsessed with brads and had used them to puncture his mother in a terribly brutal function. The doctors at the hospital let young Eduardo know that his mother would never live any sort of normal life again, but Eduardo did not believe them. For three years he nursed his mother and tried his best to help her to walk and talk again, but it was all to no avail. She died in 1987 of complications from her brad injuries.

After the death of his mother Eduardo was enraged. He renounced society, changed his name to "Viktor," (as a tribute to his mentor "Lord Victorious") and fled to the Himalayas. He remembered very little about his first few years there, but after he finally got over his drug habit he picked up during his rages he remembered quite a bit more. He studied with some monks and learned to externalize his hatred. The monks had never been exposed to brads, but he taught them of the evil that they were. His teachings saved the monks in 2003 when a local warlord attempted to introduce brads subtly. The monks recognized the evil for what it was long before it could gain a foothold and thereby saved the population of that region.

"Viktor" continued to hone his skills and to evangelize about the dangers of brads until one fateful day in 1995 when Juliana happened to meet him in the airport. She immediately recognized his potential and invited him to join the fledgling GNU Public Dictatorship and to fight the spread of brads everywhere. "Viktor" was very eager to aid the cause, and has been instrumental in keeping evil office products from reaching the innocent crowds. There was a scare last year where we thought "Viktor" had betrayed us, but we should have known he would never abandon his principles like that. Far from betraying us, "Viktor" had finally infiltrated the Company and brought it down for good!

At the GNU Public Dictatorship we are nothing if not saddened by his apparent death, and we vow to continue to seek justice for the perpetrators of this heinous crime!