Who had the most influence on your life?
Blame the lapsed historian in me, but I've got to go with some long-gone people I never met, and an entire race I hope never to meet. (No, not the Shadows, either.)
Once the existance of telepaths on Earth was confirmed and out in the open, the Senate established the Committee on Metasensory Regulation, headed by one Senator Lee Crawford. He's less well known these days than William Karges or other characters figuring large in Psi Corps propaganda, but he was the one who was instrumental in demanding and establishing what became Psi Corps. To give Crawford the benefit of the doubt, it might be that he thought he was saving lives with this - there was a lot of mass hysteria and witch hunts in these days, and people only calmed down once all the rules for telepaths, the visible distinction, the registration, the banishment from certain jobs were established. Still, without Crawford, there might never have been a Psi Corps, and without the laws for telepaths which created Psi Corps, my life would have been completely different.
I'd never have become a fugitive. I might still be on Earth, as an academian, or somewhere exploring the galaxy as a field historian - who knows. I also never would have made the friends I found, or met Al; it's a two-edged thing. But in any case, I would be a different person.
Crawford wasn't the only key figure for the creation of Psi Corps, of course. Equally important were the telepaths Desa Alexander and Jack O'Hannlon. They were members of the same group for a while, then became bitter enemies as Alexander became the founder of the Corps, together with Crawford as the mundane one, and O'Hannlon started what became the telepathic underground. The whole cycle of vicious fighting between telepaths started with Alexander and O'Hannlon. He killed her eventually, and committed suicide decades later during his arrest. (Or he might have been killed as well - records on Blips committing suicide aren't exactly trustworthy.) I can't help but wonder. If these two had kept working together instead of against each other, perhaps either the Corps would have been different, or there might never have been a Corps at all. Either way, again, I'd be someone else.
Lastly, Michael told me that human telepaths - in fact all telepaths, of all the races - weren't a normal product of evolution. He says the Vorlons genetically modified our ancestors to create us, so we would be weapons in their fight against the Shadows. I can't tell you how enamored that makes me of the Vorlons. Of course, if I ever met one and had eyes to see it, I'd probably react like they modified us to react, by believing it to be a divine creature. It makes the Corps, always with the exception of Department Sigma, look downright harmless in comparison - at least it leaves us a choice.
Once the existance of telepaths on Earth was confirmed and out in the open, the Senate established the Committee on Metasensory Regulation, headed by one Senator Lee Crawford. He's less well known these days than William Karges or other characters figuring large in Psi Corps propaganda, but he was the one who was instrumental in demanding and establishing what became Psi Corps. To give Crawford the benefit of the doubt, it might be that he thought he was saving lives with this - there was a lot of mass hysteria and witch hunts in these days, and people only calmed down once all the rules for telepaths, the visible distinction, the registration, the banishment from certain jobs were established. Still, without Crawford, there might never have been a Psi Corps, and without the laws for telepaths which created Psi Corps, my life would have been completely different.
I'd never have become a fugitive. I might still be on Earth, as an academian, or somewhere exploring the galaxy as a field historian - who knows. I also never would have made the friends I found, or met Al; it's a two-edged thing. But in any case, I would be a different person.
Crawford wasn't the only key figure for the creation of Psi Corps, of course. Equally important were the telepaths Desa Alexander and Jack O'Hannlon. They were members of the same group for a while, then became bitter enemies as Alexander became the founder of the Corps, together with Crawford as the mundane one, and O'Hannlon started what became the telepathic underground. The whole cycle of vicious fighting between telepaths started with Alexander and O'Hannlon. He killed her eventually, and committed suicide decades later during his arrest. (Or he might have been killed as well - records on Blips committing suicide aren't exactly trustworthy.) I can't help but wonder. If these two had kept working together instead of against each other, perhaps either the Corps would have been different, or there might never have been a Corps at all. Either way, again, I'd be someone else.
Lastly, Michael told me that human telepaths - in fact all telepaths, of all the races - weren't a normal product of evolution. He says the Vorlons genetically modified our ancestors to create us, so we would be weapons in their fight against the Shadows. I can't tell you how enamored that makes me of the Vorlons. Of course, if I ever met one and had eyes to see it, I'd probably react like they modified us to react, by believing it to be a divine creature. It makes the Corps, always with the exception of Department Sigma, look downright harmless in comparison - at least it leaves us a choice.