There have always been humans with supernatural powers that didn’t quite fit the normal definition of “magic”: Sooth-sayers. Prophets. Healers. Mystic warriors. In ancient times, these powers were dismissed as aberrations, unusual expressions of magical ability.
In the latter days of the nineteenth century, people realized they were something else: psionics. Not magic, with its dependency on rituals and external mana, but an internal font of power, channeled by sheer force of will. Not long after that, these “psis” started to band together with others of their own kind, finally realizing that they were not alone.
The Psi Collective knows beyond a doubt that it is destined to inherit the Earth. Psis are the next stage in humanity’s evolution, the quantum leap that will take the human race out of the shadows of Elves, faeries and dragons and into a higher state of being. The Collective is content to wait for its inheritance; more psis are being born to mundanes in each successive generation, and they figure it’s only a matter of time before the mundies either die out gradually or just wipe themselves out in another one of their stupid world wars.
But in the meantime the Collective’s going to focus on making as many new psis as it can, as strong as it can — just in case the mundies don’t decide to fade quietly into the night. The psis won’t start a war with the mundies, but they plan to be the ones to finish it…
Abbey Preston (Heather Nowak in Season 1; Jenivi Seven in Season 2)
Full Name: Abigail Elaine Preston
Date of Birth: 13 Jun 1980
Species: Uncursed Psionic Human (Kitchlander)
Eyes: Dark Brown
Hair: Brown and gold streaked
Skin: Fair
Height: 167 cm (5′6″)
Allegiance: Psi Collective
Religion: Meraist
Education: Honors Diploma & first-degree black belt (Practical Combat Arts), Westfall Academy (still in progress in Making the Cut)
Distinctive Traits: Strong telepathy (Level 12, equivalent to master wizard); weak ESP (Level 3, equivalent to minor adept)
At the time of Troubled Minds (MCP 006 & 007), Abbey Preston is a paranormal consultant — in essence, a ghost hunter. Those who contact the Psi Collective with problems relating to hauntings and other, related phenomena will often be referred to Abbey. Making contact with the Collective isn’t easy, and Abbey’s services don’t come cheap, but she has an excellent track record that speaks for itself.
At the beginning of MAKING THE CUT (MCP 008), Abbey is still only a child, taken in by the Collective after the mysterious deaths of her mundane parents. Her exceptional telepathic talent makes her an object of interest for everyone at Westfall Academy, the private boarding school that serves as the crèche for the Metamor Hive.
Daniel Sharabi (Chris Lester)
Full Name: Daniel Roger Sharabi
Date of Birth: 2 Feb 1972
Species: Uncursed Psionic Human (Mixed ethnicity, Irombian/Sonngefilder/Kitchlander)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black, straight
Skin: Mocha Brown
Height: 185 cm (6′1″)
Allegiance: Psi Collective
Religion: Meraist
Education: Bachelor’s Degree (Biochemistry), Empire University; 3rd-degree black belt (Practical Combat Arts), Westfall Academy
Distinctive Traits: Weak telepathy (Level 2, equivalent to minor adept); moderate psychic healing (Level 4, equivalent to major adept)
Daniel’s good looks, academic achievement and athletic prowess made him popular at Westfall Academy, but they weren’t enough to compensate for his lack of telepathic talent. Forbidden from taking part in the Psi Collective’s breeding program, Daniel has been forced to look for another way to find his place in the world.
Other Psi Collective Members:
Brian Sommers (Bryan Watson): A system administrator and electrokineticist, Brian can do more with computers through a fingertip and a thought than most people could do in an hour with keyboard and mouse. Amiable, generous and thoughtful, Brian is one of Daniel’s closest friends during their years at the Academy. As of Chapter 3 of MAKING THE CUT (MCP 011), Brian is the leader of a 1-year-old breeding cell that also includes Fiona, Sasha, and Rebecca.
Del Matthews (Nobilis): One of the few Cursed members of the Psi Collective, Del is a gray-furred wolf-morph. He’s also a potent telekineticist (”teek”), able to move objects with the power of his mind. While he enjoys competition, Del is ultimately easygoing and a little bit on the lazy side — he’s used to his powers doing his work for him.
Fiona hin’Connaill (Christiana Ellis): Fiona is an egoist, a psi with the power to enhance different aspects of her own physiology. This can act as a “healing factor” or give a temporary boost to her speed, strength, agility and/or senses. Serious, competitive and self-disciplined to the extreme, this athletic redhead controls her emotions to the same rigid degree that she controls her body. While she can be arrogant and abrasive, and she could never be considered beautiful by traditional standards, if you can win her trust you’ll never find a more loyal friend. She and Sasha have been lovers since their early teens; together they have joined a breeding cell that also includes Brian and Rebecca.
Kevin Darby (P. G. Holyfield): A kinesiologist and massage therapist, Kevin has no telepathy at all; his only psi power is a weak form of pyrokinesis that allows him to project heat from his hands. Kevin is gay, and his sexual orientation combined with his weak psi-talent makes him doubly “useless” in the eyes of the Hive. Fortunately, his serene nature and gentle good humor make him well-equipped to survive on the margins of Collective society.
Miriam Bakhtavar (Martha Puskas & Paulette Jaxton): One of the Elders of the Metamor Hive, Miriam is nearly two hundred years old and has been with the Collective since its founding. A powerful egoist, she uses her regenerative talents to keep herself looking like a woman in her mid-twenties. She has gone many places and done many things in her life, but at the time of MAKING THE CUT (MCP 008) she has settled down to serve as the deputy headmistress of Westfall Academy. She is deeply committed to protecting her students.
Rebecca Brower (MA in PA): ‘Becca and Daniel have been friends since early childhood and lovers since early in high school. An esper, Rebecca can see other times and places but can’t always control her visions. Bubbly and spontaneous, she comes up with lots of ideas, but doesn’t always think them through to their logical conclusions. She enjoys artistic expression in all its forms and is never far from a sketchbook, an easel, or a lump of modeling clay. She is part of Brian’s breeding cell as of MCP 011, and is pregnant with the cell’s first child.
Sasha King (Dani Cutler): Short, blonde and petite, Sasha looks like a typical girly-girl, but her pretty face hides a sharp mind and a wicked sense of humor. A powerful telepath (though not as powerful as Abbey), Sasha is an instinctive community builder; while she’s quick with a wisecrack, she hates to see her friends in conflict or inner turmoil, and she’s often the first to reach out when someone is hurting. She is very devoted to all the members of her breeding cell (Brian, Fiona and Rebecca), but she is closest to Fiona because they have been lovers the longest.
Stacy Sharabi (Heather Welliver): A child of the same breeding cell as Daniel, Stacy has the same father but was born to a different mother. She is a few years older than Daniel and hasn’t seen him much since she graduated from Westfall Academy.
Trace Umbara (Donte Taylor): Descended from an Irombian royal family that was driven into exile, Trace still has a king’s regal stature — and the towering ego to match. Trace is a close-range esper; he can’t see visions of distant times and places like Rebecca can, but he can see through walls, and he can see just far enough into the future to react to things before they happen — a talent that is useful for both offense and defense. His good looks, boundless self-confidence and reported sexual prowess have made him very popular with the ladies — though not with Fiona, who is annoyed by his posturing.
Victor hin’Kavos (Bill Bowman): A veteran of the Empire’s Military Intelligence Directorate, Victor trains the cadets of Westfall Academy in Practical Combat Arts. His work with MID’s highly secretive Psi-Ops division has taken him on countless missions both inside and outside the Empire. Tall, blonde, and muscular, he is as handsome as he is deadly.
The Elders: The Elders are not the leaders of the Hive; rather, they are its advisors, its servants, and its heralds. Their advice is given a great deal of weight, but it is the group-mind of the Hive’s adult members that makes the final decisions on policy; the Elders then determine how to implement what the Hive has decided, and dispense instructions accordingly to the individual members of the psi community. An Elder acting on official Hive business surrounds him/herself with a telepathic shroud called the Grey, which disguises their identity, their voice, even their gender. This allows them to separate their own identities as individuals from their role as the Hive’s agents, which reminds people of the Collective’s unified purpose and prevents “cults of personality” from springing up around individual Elders.