Crucible:Esper
Esper
[edit]
| |
| Real Name | Davie Steiner |
|---|---|
| Identity | Public |
| Affiliation | The Blackhearts |
| Base of Operations | Mobile |
| Status | Active |
| Known Relatives | Father, name unrevealed |
| First Appearance | PROTECTOR #26 |
| Creator | Ed Messina |
“Darling, I already knew what you were going to say. I was bored before you said it.”
— Esper
Esper is the criminal identity of Davie Steiner, a powerful but undisciplined telepath whose privileged upbringing, expensive tastes, and casual contempt for other people led her into a life of crime. Charming, vain, and infuriatingly self-assured, Esper became a recurring psychic menace before joining the Blackhearts, where she found a more profitable and glamorous outlet for her talents.
Background
[edit]Davie Steiner was born with parahuman psychic abilities and raised with a strong sense that the world existed largely for her amusement. She inherited her father’s good looks, refined tastes, and mental gifts, but not enough of his fortune to support the lifestyle she believed was her natural birthright. To hear Davie tell it, this was less a personal inconvenience than a cosmic injustice.
Crime, therefore, was practically forced upon her.
In practice, Davie entered the criminal world because she enjoyed using her telepathy to manipulate people, evade consequences, and acquire whatever she wanted without the tedious business of earning it. Her early crimes were often impulsive and self-indulgent, ranging from fraud and theft to psychic blackmail. She was arrested repeatedly, usually because her powers exceeded her discipline and her confidence exceeded her judgment.
The Blackhearts
[edit]During yet another stay in Black Iron, Davie met Arctique, who recognized that Esper’s psychic abilities could be far more useful within an organized team than in Davie’s usual solo misadventures. Davie, for her part, quickly concluded that the Blackhearts offered better protection, better opportunities, and a much more stylish working environment.
Since joining the team, Esper has served as a psychic scout, manipulator, interrogator, and social infiltrator. Though still undisciplined, she is dangerous precisely because her gifts are powerful enough to cause serious damage even when she is not applying them carefully. Her teammates often find her irritating, but few deny her usefulness.
Davie, naturally, considers this proof that she was right all along.
Powers
[edit]Esper is a powerful natural telepath, though the full extent of her abilities remains uncertain.
- Mind reading and surface thought detection
- Psychic communication
- Emotional manipulation
- Mental distraction and confusion
- Possible deeper psychic influence under stress
Her lack of discipline limits her consistency, but also makes her unpredictable.
Skills
[edit]Davie’s most developed skill is getting other people to do what she wants.
- Skilled social manipulator
- Experienced con artist and thief
- Familiar with high society manners and criminal circles
- Capable interrogator when using telepathy
She is not a trained fighter and generally prefers to avoid direct physical confrontation.
Personality
[edit]Esper is vain, entitled, and often insufferably smug. She treats most people as open books, which has left her with very little respect for privacy, boundaries, or ordinary conversation. Because she can often sense what people really think, she has developed a cynical view of human motives while remaining blissfully uncritical of her own.
Despite her frivolous manner, Esper is not harmless. She can be cruel when offended, manipulative when bored, and genuinely dangerous when cornered. Her greatest weakness is not lack of power, but lack of patience and discipline.
Legacy
[edit]Esper occupies a distinctive place among modern psychic villains: less a brooding mastermind than a spoiled social predator with dangerous gifts and very expensive habits. As a member of the Blackhearts, she has become more effective, more protected, and far harder to dismiss as merely another psychic dilettante.
Davie Steiner may not always have a plan.
But she is quite certain everyone else’s thoughts are tacky.