Tom "Puzzler" Keegan

=• Transcript of Agent Statement •= Although I know myself well, to some others, I am a collection of contradictions. I am an Illuminati, yet my behavior is that of an ethical person who cares nothing for influence. I am casual and relaxed, yet I am focused and intense. Through all of these elements, I have held on to one belief that has guided me to who I am.

Knowledge is power.

As other Illuminati desire wealth and influence, so I desire knowledge. I have realized that power by itself is worthless until it is used. As I gain knowledge, I acquire power, and the means to get power, which I use to gain even more knowledge. That is how I care about and use my power, and that is how I am Illuminati.

And yet, my actions are almost completely unlike the other Illuminati, for my actions reflect an ethical outlook. How could I possibly feel comfortable among them? The answer: because morality and compassion are not the only paths to ethical behavior. We are always described as being without honor or rules, but that is not quite true. After all, the currency of the Illuminati is power and influence, the buying and selling of favors, and someone without honor or rules would have no reason to acknowledge or respect any debts or favors they owe. Such a person would have no place in our organization. Our actions are merely dictated by expediency and logic. I may have an overactive conscience, but I compromise with it by choosing the path towards the greater good, viewed on a grand scale. I am a person willing to cause short-term pain to achieve long-term benefit, I am willing to sacrifice the few for the many, and I will always look at every aspect of a problem before making a decision. Still, it never ceases to fascinate me just how often logical reasoning can result in a conclusion identical to that of morality and compassion.

I was never a particularly athletic or social person, nor had I led a hard life before the Illuminati. I always preferred to stay inside, reading a novel or surfing the internet. However, when my powers first appeared, I knew the best course of action was to learn to control them and THEN conceal them, and to do so as quickly as possible. The Illuminati noticed, but weren’t able to find me before I had mastered the basics. They were certainly subtle when they came and tried to identify the special individual they were sent to find, but nothing escapes my notice, then or now. I realized that they would have all the answers I sought about these powers, but I also understood how dangerous they could be. So, I decided to reverse the situation. I found where they were staying, isolated and kidnapped their leader, and, shall we say, convinced him to tell me who they were. That was the first time I had to exercise expediency while still maintaining my ethics (physical torture was out of the question, but I’ve always preferred working with the mind anyway), and whether or not it worked, he was certainly impressed enough to tell me everything I wanted to know.

As for combat, I may be lacking in physical strength, but my light build allows me to fight with great speed and precision. However, my greatest asset in battle has always been my mind, and I’m not talking about just magic. My analytical skills are second to none, for I can find a foe’s weakness and a way to manipulate it faster than anyone else. I am a person who is able to see patterns where others see only chaos, and it greatly amuses me just how much this annoys members of the Dragon. To me, every enemy I face is a puzzle, just waiting to be solved. Short range or long range, spell, shell, or sword, I take great pleasure in working out every last nuance of a foe’s technique before using that knowledge to crush them.

My weakness, as you have probably guessed, is my curiosity. There have been times when I’ve deliberately walked into an ambush, not because I believe I can defeat them, but purely because I want to learn more about my foes. In those situations, I couldn’t care less about my odds of beating them, only that my odds in the future would increase significantly if I succeed.

Most contradictory to the rest of the Illuminati, I care nothing for gaining world power or defeating the other societies. Instead, my motivation in this war is to discover the cause of the current world condition. According to the histories I have read, while individuals with powers like mine are not too unusual, there has been an unprecedented increase in Gaia’s chosen in the past few months. Dark demons and monsters have appeared before, but never as widespread as the incidents we see now. Is it possible that all of these incidents have some connection? I theorize the presence of both the Orochi Group and the Filth at so many of these locations is more than mere coincidence, but that only raises more questions. Just how much of this darkness would have been caused by them, where would they have acquired whatever it was that triggered these shadows, and what could they planning to use it for? So many questions linger in my mind, and the Illuminati have access to more answers and knowledge than anybody else.

And Knowledge…is Power.