The Philosophers
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Added by ArkhoundThe Philosophers were a secret group of the wealthiest, most powerful minds from the United States, the Soviet Union, and the Republic of China, formed after World War I. In theory, these three groups were already driving political forces in their respective countries.
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History
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OriginsEdit
The first group of Philosophers was known as the Wisemen's Committee. Their assembly established an unseen union between the three nations that lasted for several decades. The Philosophers originally sought to use their incredible resources and powerful influence to steer world history away from brutal, needless warfare. However, with the death of the last founding member in the 1930s, the organization began to spiral out of control. The raison d'être of the organization was gradually corrupted; the Philosophers' philosophy was not passed on to posterity.
In the following years, the Philosophers' power and reach grew exponentially, becoming the unquestioned forces behind each of their governments. They ran independent political forces, had their own agents, and trained schools of operatives that would undermine seats of power throughout other governments. The Philosophers' influence extended to countries and organizations involved in every aspect of every war, essentially becoming war itself. The sacrifices of these wars would cause a shift in the times, leading to renewed conflict that in turn triggered countless other wars, in an endless cycle. In addition, prior to the advent of World War II, they also developed a series of "charm schools," including one American-Soviet-Chinese joint facility, and frequently took various children around the world during this time to train them, one of these children being a girl from Idaho.
During World War II, the Philosophers pooled their resources, totalling an estimated one hundred billion dollars - a fortune unmatched by any that preceded or followed it. This money was used to develop entirely new forms of warfare that would dominate global affairs for decades to come; rocketry, nuclear weapons, and superhuman soldiers such as the Cobra Unit. They agreed to redistribute the funds among themselves after the defeat of the Axis Powers.
During the war, the beginnings of a feud emerged between the different branches of the Philosophers. The Russian Philosophers attempted to sabotage the American Philosophers' Manhattan Project, by supplying misinformation about one of America's key scientists, John von Neumann, implicating him as a supposed Nazi spy. The Russians did not wish for America to build their own plutonium bomb.
The Cold WarEdit
In the confusion of the Second World War's end, the Philosophers' Legacy was stolen by Boris Volgin, which was divided and hidden in secret bank accounts in Switzerland, Hong Kong, Australia, and other such economic strongholds. The records of the transactions were stored on a single microfilm; the only means to access the vast fortune. This fortune became known as the Philosophers' Legacy.
With the loss of the Legacy, tensions continued to rise between the nations and among the Philosophers, tearing the group and the world into three superpowers; America, Russia, and China. Cause and effect were as one; the tension between the three feuding remnants of the Philosophers was the hidden face of the Cold War as each group attempted to concentrate power in their own nation. One of the main reasons why the Cold War started was the rivalry and fight for the Legacy, between the three nations. All of the three nations were fighting for the wealth since they required the Philosophers' Legacy to win the Cold War and become the dominant superpower.
Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin illegally inherited the Philosophers' Legacy from his father. This enabled him to build the military fortress of Groznyj Grad and carry out many projects (including the Shagohod), his resources practically unlimited.
In the 1950s, during the start of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, The Boss was assigned by the U.S. government to place an agent within the Soviet Union and discover its secrets in regards to space technology. At the time the CIA (one of the two branches of the American Philosophers) were wary of The Boss because of her heroic actions during World War II and refused to help her plant a spy into the Soviet reseach labs. The Boss was forced to tap into the Philosophers' spy network for the first time, knowing full well that she will regret this action when it came back to haunt her. She made contact with the Russian Philosophers that were opposed to Moscow's regime of Russia (that is, neither KGB or GRU) who then assisted her in successfully turning a Soviet scientist to a spy for NASA. The CIA then wanted to take full credit for the Boss' work, and took over the role of receiving information sent by the spy from the Boss. She relented but then began to get suspicious of the later schematics of the Soviets' space rocket the spy sent. The CIA again refused to investigate the matter, thinking the Boss wanted to take back some of the credit. A solo investigation was conducted by the Boss, only to find out that the spy (and therefore the anti-Moscow Russian Philosophers) was turned against the Americans, namely because the CIA cut most of his paycheck. The CIA also presumably went behind the Philosophers' backs in order to feed lies to the recently inaugurated John F. Kennedy about The Boss, as he was the first President to not have any previous ties with the Philosophers, something that the CIA used to their advantage. She also found out that the agent who turned the spy the Boss planted against her was none other than her Cobra ally, The Sorrow, who did not realise the Boss had planted the spy in the first place and was not told of this by the anti-Moscow Russian Philosophers. The Philosophers then ordered the Boss and the Sorrow to kill each other with the threat of killing their child if both of them survived. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Philosophers lost faith in President Kennedy.
The Boss later carried out her final mission for the American Philosophers, by recovering the Philosophers' Legacy from Colonel Volgin. By obtaining the Legacy for the U.S., she hoped to reunite the warring factions of the Philosophers, and return it to the ideals laid out by its founding members. In August 1964, after Naked Snake destroyed the Shagohod and killed both Volgin and The Boss, the CIA Director took possession of half the Legacy from Snake, the latter of whom managed to retrieve it via the machinations of American Philosophers' triple agent Ocelot. Meanwhile, Chinese Philosophers' agent EVA returned with data on the Shagohod but was subsequently fired for failing to retrieve the Legacy. However, the DCI did not inform the rest of the U.S. Government about this, as he intended to keep it for himself so he could revive the American faction of the Philosophers when the time came.
The "end" of the PhilosophersEdit
During the 1960s, the United States Department of Defense began to feel threatened by the CIA's growing influence in America's military affairs, especially in reference to the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961, the covert ops in North Vietnam, and the Metal Gear project. By 1970, there was an internal power struggle within the American Philosophers (between the CIA and the DoD) that led to the San Hieronymo Takeover. Tired of the American Philosophers's bickering, Zero and Ocelot decided it was time to reform the Philosophers.
After Naked Snake destroyed Gene's ICBMG, former Philosopher sleeper agent Ocelot (working together with Zero) killed the DCI, thus accquiring complete control of the Philosophers' Legacy and the complete list with the identities of the Philosopher members. In the aftermath, Zero ended the Philosophers and led the reorganized American Philosophers to continue the omnipotence over the American government and way of life, eventually gaining worldwide influence as Zero's misinterpretation of The Boss's wish for a united world led him to become as tyrannical as the organization he had overthrown.
TriviaEdit
Zero's desire to have Big Boss rejoin the Patriots (then known as Cipher) in 1974 was partially to distract the "Old Order" with the latter's mercenary activities, while the "New Order" gained ground, implying that remnants of the Philosophers's rule were still active in the world.
Behind the scenesEdit
In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, it is stated that the Wisemen's Committee had been dead for "about 100 years." Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater reveals that the groups' members had actually died out during the Great Depression. The original given date is commented upon by Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, when he points out to Roy Campbell that, "The data we got from Arsenal Gear was a load of crap. Twelve founders who've all been dead for a hundred years... Give me a break."
