Mind Games: Because I Said So...

And, we're back.  Sorry for the delays.  I like to have the art from the book accompany each character, and I had some problems with my scanner at home.  I finally took the book to the office, which worked great, but it did require a few Stealth rolls.

Remember how I said we'd get to one of PSI's major creeps this time? Well, brace yourself, True Believer!  Psymon is among the worst of the worst.  Where to start?  A spoiled, manipulative, power-hungry, self-entitled, substance-abusing spoiled brat.  And that's before you add superpowers to the mix.

Simon Poe is the son of PSI's founder, Dr. Sebastian Poe.  To be fair, growing up the son of a mad scientist and an overprotective, doting mother is probably going to mess you up.  But Simon took to it like a duck to water, having been in and out of the criminal justice system by age twenty five, with zero lessons learned.

It was at this point in his life that his father finally unlocked the secret to instilling psionic and psychokinetic abilities. Simon didn't pretend to understand the science, but he completely got the notion of power.  He willingly submitted to his father's experiments, and within hours his powers manifested.Dr. Poe had succeeded in creating his first powerful psionic.  He'd also created a monster. Simon took on the code-name "Psymon," and became one of the most powerful (and feared) members of PSI.

In due time, Simon's mother (harboring resentment over her husband's use of Simon without her consent, and under the romantic influence of Counselor Darke) persuaded Psymon to lead a coup against his father and take over the leadership of PSI, as his unwitting puppet.  The plan succeeded, and Psymon is well-known as the face of the organization.

None of this has made him any less petty and self-indulgent.  If anything, it's made him worse.  After all, when your primary goal in life is self-indulgence, being one of the most powerful mind controllers on the planet lets you get whatever you want, whenever you want.  Add megalomania to the mix and you get a very unpleasant person.  But who needs friends when you can just make people do what you want, right?

As a leader, Psymon has a very "Do what I say, or else" approach to personnel management.  His romantic relationship with Mind Slayer (which almost certainly was achieved with mind control) has the added benefit of providing him with a devoted bodyguard in the form of PSI's most dangerous killer.  And while he may not be the one actually pulling the strings, no one is stupid enough to point this out to him.

Like I said, he's a monster.  A monster whose world is his toybox.