Yves Banderas
Treasurer
In the United Mercantile Federation, where politics is seen as a second-rate job for pencil pushers, movie mogul Yves Banderas has slowly built a powerful governing block. Known for his easy manner and glowing smile, the charismatic treasurer conceals a driving ambition to establish his own dynasty. To accomplish his goals, Banderas is looking to the South, hoping to forge an alliance of industrial powers with the Mekong Dominion.
As Terra Nova crawls towards war, Treasurer Banderas’ planned alliance with the Dominion takes on a new urgency. Some see it as a threat to the profitable status quo while others hope for a new peace built on the back of a new political and commercial block. Banderas is no fool and has not yet alienated his league’s powerful Northern allies, but his quest to establish a lasting legacy may yet drive him to take risks. Some of his closest allies - including the corporate giant Northco -are beginning to sense this change in the wind and are considering whether Banderas has become a business liability.
Discussion is underfoot among the corporate heads of the UMF as to whether it is time to take Banderas down a peg or not. His political success has attracted large numbers of popular supporters and created a great deal of interest in the formation of a type of political party or dynasty centered around him. The creation of such a legacy is in fact one of Banderas’ primary goals for his career, but not one that most corporate leaders support. Indeed, they prefer a malleable political figure whom they can more easily influence. Some of the more conservative corporate heads are now trying to sway their fellows to withdraw their support before Banderas’ personal power base makes him a completely independent force to reckon with. Currently, the more far seeing of the corporate leaders have recognized that Banderas’ political coalition can also be used to their advantage, ensuring a consistency of policy and doctrine. The Treasurer’s plans for the Dominion, which threaten valuable contracts with the NLC and WFP, may change their opinion.
The greatest danger for Banderas, however, is not his political maneuvering but his own ego. Driven to succeed from an early age, the Treasurer tends to underestimate those who have not risen to the top of their fields. This attitude has left him vulnerable to manipulation by his chief of staff Gabriel Ventura, who has slowly but surley come to influence almost all of Banderas’ policies. Once a movie star and always a master of charm and influence, the Treasurer is blind to the more subtle influence of the quiet advisors and consultants who are the backbone of the political system.
Background
Born to a working class family in Marathon in TN 1861, Yves Banderas quickly learned how to get by on his wits and looks. In secondary school he found that just the right amount of flattery and smiles could get him almost anything, and he banked on this talent in TN 1886 when he moved to Canterbury to become an actor. For two cycles he worked to get his big break, until he caught the eye of Hadeley Finn, an up-and-coming director, while working as a production assistant. Banderas’ classic good looks and slightly rugged character (which translated well to holofilm) became Finn’s trademark and both men’s careers took off in TN 1893 with the release of Escape. Although many of their films are fondly remembered, their most famous collaboration remains the thriller The Lone Man.
Banderas discovered he had not only a talent for public relations, but a shrewd mind for business, and began to get more and more involved in the corporate side of film making. This ultimately led to a split with Finn over issues of corporate and creative control and to the formation of Logan Creations, Inc., Banderas’ own production studio. LCI was involved in the making of three blockbuster action-adventure films between TN 1905 and 1909 and was then sold off for a huge profit.
In TN 1911 he was named CEO of Polaris Pictures, the company that had distributed his major films. Helped by his keen understanding of public trends, Banderas guided Polaris to record profits and became a very wealthy man. In TN 1921 he gave into pressure from Finn and other friends and mounted a campaign for the head of the UMF Finance Department. Elected by a thin margin thanks to his popularity and the respect of Polaris’corporate allies, Banderas has served as Treasurer of the Federation ever since.
Profession
As treasurer, Banderas has discovered the usefulness of the Mercantile tendency to ignore politics. By ensuring that the major corporations are happy and making occasional appearances on trideo, Banderas has made himself into a constant in Mercantile society. Few members of the UMF see a reason to bother replacing Banderas, who is a good manager and whose fame is a valuable asset in international affairs. Most of the other secretaries of the Mercantile caucus have found it convenient to become the Treasurer's allies.
Banderas, however, sees himself as much more than a simple bureaucrat. It is his job to make the hard decisions that will ensure the league's prosperity in the future. With a virtual stranglehold on military production and high-technology research and development in the northern hemisphere, Banderas has put into question the long-standing alliance with the Northern Lights Confederacy. Under the strictest secrecy, he has begun tentative negotiations with prominent Mekong leaders about the possibility of an industrial alliance to break the North-South polarization of Terra Nova.
Election Analysis
(Political Outlook magazine, 8 Autumn TN 1921) - Political and business analysts are still at a loss to explain the victory of Yves Banderas in the United Mercantile Front ministry of finance elections last week. Winning his position in one of the tightest races in Mercantile electoral history, the former holofilm star and chairman of Polaris Pictures took his league by surprise. No one expected Banderas to obtain any real corporate support. Indeed, most prominent corporations publicly backed election favorite Elandra Kolis. According to Mercantile insiders, however, Northco switched allegiances at the last minute to support Banderas, presumably to obtain a sure voice in the Treasurer's policy decisions.
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