Adeshola

**Adeshola Akintola** was one of the Sixteen Founders of the World Alliance. He used to be one of the richest men in Palguenia, having lived through World War III and into the Denlotia's early years to help his people save his own country of Tebwe.

## Appearance

Adeshola was described as "a lanky gentleman with a refined taste, modest but very handsome." He was an Ifenaro man with dark skin, curly black hair, and brown eyes.

He tended to wear an affordable suit in dark or white colours, as he wanted to look like some elderly people playing petanque at a park.

## History

### A troubled youth

Adeshola was born in eastern Tebwe to a family of eight. They were carpenters whose country suffered from an economic crisis after a decade of overspending. As people were unable to afford food and necessities, many people turned to online scams. He once worked for a scamming group as his "part-time work" until he found out that one of his victims almost harmed himself.

Although the victim was lucky enough to be hospitalised, knowing this made Adeshola guilty over his actions. He wanted to be a mechanic who designed pretty cars, but seeing so many of his friends turn to scams and news about their victims destroying themselves made him very disappointed. Even his sister, who ran a book company, made him very angry one day when someone accidentally sent a message to his online account that she scammed him for 9,000 Vozonid karkippo!

He ended up in Palguenia after he was pushed into a portal, as he was waiting for his friends to return home from Yawanda. Adeshola was lucky not to be caught up as a gunfight took place in that spaceport between two criminal gangs, but all he had were his clothes and his wallet. He wanted to return to Tebwe, but he was unable to do so as the country was caught in a civil war.

### Work

Adeshola was lucky, as he was taken in by a restaurant. The restaurant's owner adopted and brought him to a government office to be naturalised. Although he was officially known to be a Tebwean, in public, he had to hide and even lie about his identity. As a waiter, he was well-liked by his neighbours and the customers of his restaurant for being very helpful.

One day, he was brought by several Rifandians to a Tebwean neighbourhood. It was well-painted and neat, but every morning vandals painted curse words wishing death to the Tebweans, accusing them of being scammers. His new friends asked him about how is his country doing, and he told them about its current situation: it was ruled by a paranoid dictator, who was very popular in the southern cities and among hundreds of "revolutionaries" on the Internet. He also told them about the great poverty in his country and how it became worse as its leader promoted scamming, and how they wasted their country's economy on luxuries and parties while their own people languished in hunger and fear.

Adeshola was very sad when he heard about his former homeland, Tebwe, that he hated it and wished the gods would punish it for its corruption. Instead, his friends suggested something else. Since he hates scammers so much, he should set an example for his own country and everyone else with his honest work and his wages. Perhaps he could start his own business, and help people avoid scams with the wealth he earned. And because he is literally disgusted by luxuries, his friend gladly encouraged him to help other people.

### Homeland

The young waiter wondered whether he and his friends were the only good Tebweans left on the world. He feared that if his country is too corrupt, other empires will step in and make everything worse than before, just like Ardesch in the past.

His friend answered: "No. There are still honest people in the cities who are forming groups against the scam gangs and thugs. A handful of kings and governors made an alliance with some towns in the north, who are starting to become richer than even the capital. These people have expelled everyone suspected of corruption, and they will one day save our nation from ruin."

"But what about the warlords in the north? They will kill anyone who seems too foreign, including the northerners if they act modern."

"They are still a threat at the border to Mairi, but the northerners are turning their supporters against them. The good northerners will win, because they are becoming more powerful and popular. It doesn't matter whether they are the only ones who received any support from our neighbourhood, but they locals love them more for making their lives better. In Shudirami, the City of the Crater, its electricity and water supplies work all day and night, and everyone there has enough to go to school and eat regularly!"

From that time onwards, he planned to raise more money to help the northerners save his nation - from the scam-lords, the dictator, the cultists along the border, and perhaps the threat of another foreign invasion.

### Ascension

As he reached adulthood, he received a high amount of wages from his work. Even then, such an amount was enough for him to afford a three-year course in economics in the Taraxonne Grand Academy, which costed around 1500 Palguenian *livres*. To support him and other students taking their degrees and diplomas, the restaurant's owner reduced their working hours - during his time, Palguenian law allowed orphans, stateless people, and homeless people to work and reside in businesses as "adopted people". It may had reduced crime and joblessness as more people were able to learn to adapt to society, turning them away from criminal groups.

In one incident, he was forced to admit about his real origins - he was not from Gambaira (in the west) or Funairi (to the east near Yawanda), but Tebwe. Although he was the subject of abuse afterwards, forcing him into hiding, some of the teachers pitied him because he was considered unusual for his honesty. When people considered him to be "odd" because he was a Tebwean who broke his stereotype of "all Tebweans are scammers", he showed them the neighbourhood where other Tebweans lived. After he persuaded his friends, they allowed the visitors there. They were uneasy at first, so they had to sit outside at a table under an umbrella. There, his friend Abaeze explained about the situation in his country. When the visitors angrily asked whether do they want their money, all of the hosts said "no", and they let the visitors leave.

"You see this, Adeshola?" Abaeze frowned. "This is why we do not accept other visitors for the time being. They will never trust us!"

"What should I do, then?" the waiter objected. "All I could do now is continue my studies and keep working. I pray to the holy gods that they keep me safe, even as I am lucky not to get beaten."

"Keep working on it. We will do our part to make society respect us, but you do yours. If possible, find some scammer, bring him to the public. Return whatever he stole to his victims and never, ever, keep any part of it for yourself."

He continued his studies, and in some of his free days he honoured his gods and ancestors at a temple in the Tebwean neighbourhood. He was glad that it was just a walk away to the west of his academy; and at the temple he prayed to Shango and his forefathers for their guidance.

Adeshola celebrated his graduation with a simple dinner, where he ordered a large feast for his friends. There was no wine or alcohol there, as his tribute to his family. He once even swore never to take any alcohol or rich drinks until Tebwe is finally free from the scammers' dominance.

### Sowing

Adeshola started his own business as a musician. He first played a piano when he was a seven-year old boy, fondly remembering when he learned music from his father and siblings after a long day making furniture. In his academy days, a talented musician, Kieragard, also taught him to play more songs, until he impressed his classmates by composing his own songs.

The young waiter sold his own music at a website, where he earned more. As part of his oath to his family, he refused to hide his own identity, but to his relief, he had some fans in spite of the heavy dislikes in his early releases. He also drew more people to his restaurant when he played his songs in times when he was not at work.

Music was his only relief amid the heavy guilt and sorrow in his heart. Whenever he saw anything that looked too expensive and luxurious, he felt like wanting to vomit at times, as they reminded him of the lavish lifestyles of the scammers that destroyed his country. His adoptive father, who cared for him like a son, taught him not to be averse to great wealth, so he can continue his duty as a waiter. Even then, he preferred not to get anything luxurious, preferring only modest comforts to soothe himself. It was his adoptive father and his many friends who encouraged him to be a musician, as it not only made himself richer but it allowed him to become more popular, so he can join other clubs for Rifandian musicians like himself.

Times got better for him and his friends, as people stopped hating the Tebwean neighbourhood. Not only it was due to more activism that changed the locals' minds, but it was also because Adeshola made them more trustworthy. He was even more respected when he exposed three scammers on separate occasions by leaking their accounts to the public. Another friend from his academy, a hacker, took away the scammers' stolen money and brought them to the police, who returned the cash back to the victims in several appointments to the police stations.

Within two years, Adeshola became very rich. Most of his neighbourhood liked him for being fair and helpful, even for helping them avoid and report scammers and other criminals. He was offered a new home at a pretty and affordable apartment, and with a heavy heart, he said goodbye to the restaurant manager who adopted and raised him, and the other workers who were the best of his teenage friends.

## Prominence

### Will of the Gods

He started off as a musician, and then also worked as a mechanic to support his partly-musical career. Then, he abandoned his music and started his own car company after he became more wealthier from his modest lifestyle.

At the age of 29, he was the third wealthiest man in all of Palguenia. His wealth was mostly from his cars, as he and his friends did a lot of research to improve vehicles. The lower prices of the vehicles was due to their own improvements, without needing lavish branding or advertising. Adeshola wondered whether his unusual wealth and popularity, whom he thought he was not worthy for such blessings, were a sign that the Gods wanted to use him for a greater purpose.

Yet out of his disgust of poverty, he sought more ways to spend more of his wealth to uplift Palguenia's poorest people. His company funded more schools, public places, gardens, hospitals, and local businesses, but it also attracted the anger of the criminal gangs.

In his hatred of scammers, his supporters hunted down and killed any members of scam groups that they found. Adeshola, who coordinated with the vigilantes, was not sure how could he return the stolen wealth back to the victims, until some of the victims agreed to meet with him at a police station, where he returned the stolen wealth.

He became a folk hero.

### Champion of the People

Some of the vigilantes invited him to join a club of thinkers, believing that they can help him remake society and the world to a better place. He became the sixteenth and last member of a group of people known as the "Founders", who led a growing social justice movement known as the "New Order".

His popularity and wealth made so many enemies, that he survived three attempts on his life. Someone hacked and stole his money, but together with some of his friends, he managed to take back his wealth and defeat the whole gang of criminals who stole his money. This was when he found out that other corporations hated him for weakening their grip on society.

Married a wife, also a Tebwean woman who was also a musician like him. Had two sons, three daughters.

War with Rannar, he was declared an enemy. Yet he financed the founders with his company's wealth.

to weaken the power of the corporations, he supported many small businesses and encouraged the creation of mnay cooperatives

world war iii broke out. northern churches. palguenia fell to foreign rule. Walaara dictatorship, supported by corporations.

Pinto vs Adeshola. Adeshola did not seek power, but wanted to help all Palguenians of every race. But like his friends, is merciless to the cruel

Found the day of resolution to be too much for him. did not attend, but instead set up courts to make offenders reconcile. especially minor offenses, like blocking.

as a wealthy man, saved a lot of money. almost the richest, decided to spend it on helping his homeland of tebwe. craterite revolution. left the denlotia, split his company to sixteen parts with leaders chosen by the customers. the grey tolls horrified him. he would have rebelled, but the founders would kill him. he had to do something to be there and stop the denlotia from destroying his country, like kavaria.

unlike the other denlotians, he was welcomed by the craterites. used his training as a vigilante fighter and one of the commanders as a general in the craterite army. defeating the scam-lords. offered his family mercy. some surrendered and had to pay, using his own wealth, to the victims. every victim of fraud in tebwe was paid with corresponding money from his own savings. elected as president of tebwe.

for rebuilding tebwe and destroying fraud (and executing fraudsters), the denlotia decided to spare tebwe. after presidency of one term, he resigned to be with his wife and children.

## Trivia

* The author created his story on March 2022. He and his life were inspired by his experiences with a Nigerian scammer, and finding out the causes and motivations for scams in Nigeria. They were also inspired by the author wanting to end poverty and his hatred of scammers.
	+ Adeshola may also be based on Kylian Mbappe Lottin (a French African football player) and Mike Adenuga (a Nigerian entrepreneur).
* Adeshola was among the few Denlotian founders who did not get killed, but survived to a peaceful old age. This was because his country, Tebwe, became more peaceful and stable due to a nationwide wave of reconstruction, and he was greatly respected for leading a revolution that overthrew the warlords who oppressed the people.
	+ He was one of the few Denlotian founders who was liked, because they were more merciful.
	+ Another reason for his popularity was that he used the massive wealth that his business accumulated to rebuild his homeland, with nothing in return except to see it free and healed. He also compensated for all the victims of the Grey Tolls using some of his personal wealth, and prevent another massacre by convincing the Denlotia not to admit Tebwe as a member until the people decide.
* Adeshola was one of only three founders who refused to become an immortal. Ironically, he outlived all the other founders: some of them became immortal out of a fear of old age, but they were killed by their own supporters. He was, therefore, the Last of the Founders, yet among the few that were loved by the Denlotia's people.
	+ His embrace of old age and his own family also added to his popularity, making him an exception among the more-paranoid leaders of the Denlotia.