Jorie Grey

Journalist. Prophet. Villain.

Jorie Grey, born Marjorie Eckhart, never learned to respect anyone's privacy.
She used telepathy without hesitation to find hidden truths, building a career as an investigative journalist. As part of the Gal Pals, she helped expose crimes committed by multiple powerful individuals, and cleared false charges against her and her friends. She became the "responsible one" of the group, despite being the youngest. Now, however, she uses her abilities to manipulate people into following her as prophet for the Mother of the Stars church.
Few people are aware of what's she's doing, and even they don't know how far she'll take it. Or how to stop someone who can read your mind.

History

Diving In

Born on Xeros to two Blue Spire Academy professors, Jorie's life followed a predictable path. She learned

Icon for Telepathy by Rin Garnett

telepathy from her mother and

Icon for Metapsionics

metapsionics from her father. When she started at the Academy in 3226, she already knew most of the staff and quickly developed a large social circle. She joined the school paper and gladly broke the "don't use psionics on classmates" rule to get the real truth.

Then she started prying into what she shouldn't. Jorie noticed some classmates would suddenly stop attending class or club meetings, freshman and upperclassmen alike. More, they weren't even on campus anymore. Officially, the students dropped out or had to return home for "personal reasons". Jorie didn't believe these excuses. Especially when a good friend of hers disappeared without word, and wouldn't respond to calls or texts.

In Too Deep

As Jorie investigated, she found more and more missing members of the BSA community, from students to non-teaching faculty and more. All stopped showing up without a word. She brought her findings to a dean she trusted, hoping for support in learning more. Instead, the dean gave her strongly-worded advice to leave the planet immediately.
Jorie followed the advice, not even saying goodbye to her parents. She went to Nisora, where she thought her investigative nature would be most beneficial and least restricted. To get away from whatever might follow her, she dyed her black hair blonde and changed her name from Eckhart to Grey. Yet her accent exposes her Xerosian origins, as does how dark the lenses of her glasses get when exposed to sun.

The Gal Pals

Psion of Truth

Jorie was the catalyst that started everything with the Gal Pals. She was the one who wanted to investigate the mysterious research base orbiting Nisora. She reached out to Trey for assistance, who hired Atticus for transit. Once on board the station, they found every researcher unarmed and dead for their efforts in bringing an alien back to life. While the other two were less morally-inclined, Jorie insisted they find the culprits and bring them to justice.
Then they learned the Perimeter Agency was behind everything, and sought to prove that Jorie and the others were dangerous criminals. Having recently learned basic teleportation, Jorie's situation was far more dire compared to her companions. If Perimeter proved she was a significant danger to those around her, they wouldn't be able to imprison her as they could others. They would be forced to take more drastic measures.

Articles by Jorie Grey

• January 2, 3228 | The Silent Mystery of the Research Station
• February 12, 3228 | Galendran Gala to Protect Our Neutrality
• June 18, 3228 | A Reporter's Confession

Personal Mission

Upon hearing her mother on Xeros was deathly ill, Jorie and the rest of the Gal Pals made a deal with some pirates to evade Perimeter and flee Nisora. On Xeros, they encountered Tavari Zima, who recognized Patricia's illness as the result of psionic experimentation, but not by the Emerald Legion.
In retracing her mother's steps, Jorie uncovered the truth: BSA President Norah Everdin had been using a newly-opened spa as a front to test treatments to cure the effects of torching on clients without their knowledge or consent. They had erroneously treated Patricia, the the side effects caused her current illness. President Everdin had previously tested on BSA students, and when treatments caused debilitating side-effects, the victims were sent to a locked wing of the hospital for dedicated care. This was the cause of the missing BSA members Jorie investigated two years ago.

Content warning: Assisted Suicide

Jorie found her old friend among the victims, fully paralyzed and only able to communicate through telepathy. Tavari could save Patricia, but there was no known treatment for what Ben experienced. Knowing this, he asked Jorie to let him die, to free him from paralysis and never force his family to know what he'd become. Though this would be legally classified as murder on Xeros, Jorie took the risk to help her friend and fled the scene.

Jorie exposed President Everdin's illegal and unethical experiments, forcing her arrest and expulsion from the Academy. The scandal caused many students to transfer out of the school or rescind upcoming enrollment, and many partners severed ties with the school. Though it put her parents' careers at risk, Jorie knew it was the right thing to do. She remained on Xeros to help her mother recover from a successful surgery to undo the damage that had been done, and rejoined the Pals on Nisora later.

Psion of "Truth"

Before leaving Xeros, the Mother of the Stars church informed Jorie they'd ordained her a prophet for her devotion to truth-seeking. With its headquarters near Galendra, the church had thousands of followers who were willing to help Jorie reach her goals. She further cultivated this following using telepathy to find what would most make them want to listen to her. Realizing what power that gave her, she stretched herself further, and began manipulating non-members' memories to make them more sympathetic to the church.

She'd planted the memory in K-Ra's mind that the church helped her through alcoholism. For Kristos and his wife, that the church supported them through a risky pregnancy. She had plans for Skullder. Islae, Emil, Atticus... they'd be easy. They already trusted her.
But Trey? He was going to be a problem.

Initially, it was to help resolve the violence tearing the city apart. Yet now that the main conflict is resolved, she shows little indication of stopping, and has affected several key Galendran leaders in this way. Not even her boyfriend is safe from her manipulation, as she's erased his memory of things she doesn't want him to know about her. She insists it's for the greater good, as she continues to preach non-violence and diplomacy to her gathered followers, and ignores the violence she undertook to make them follow her.
With just a bit of power, she revealed herself to not be the responsible one, but the self-righteous one.

Player Character

Campaign 2: The Gal Pals

Timeline

3205	Year of birth
3226	Started at and fled from Blue Spire Academy
3228	Founded the Gal Pals

Demographics

Current Location

Various apartments in Galendra and Nierbicity

Birthdate

November 27, 3205

Home Planet

Xeros

Aliases

Marjorie Eckhart, Jorie Grey, Jojo Charcoal, Marge White

Family

Patricia Eckhart (mother)
Zachariah Eckhart (father)

Related Plots

• Mine Your Business

Abilities

Skills

Talk Diplomacy
Jorie prefers to avoid violence wherever possible, and uses clever speech to direct others toward compromise.

Cybernetics

Holoskin
Though she's has come to revel in her new fame, she still at times needs to travel incognito. Where her other abilities won't suffice, she uses holographic disguises to be where she needs to be.

Psionics

Telepathy Metapsionics
Jorie relies on telepathy to get material for her articles, with metapsionics making her more effective at it. Over time, she's come to rely less on her words and more on manipulating people's thoughts and memories to better suit her wants.

Trivia

Despite having the means to improve her diet, Jorie mostly survives off Cup of Noodles.

Jorie spends most of her free time in coffee shops, telepathically eavesdropping on everyone.

Jorie is 15-30 minutes late for everything.

Author Commentary

Breaking Bad

Jorie's descent into villainy was her player's idea, and was so much fun to support. As much as I love happy endings, this tense one was much more interesting.

More Than Frienemies

Emil was a fun romantic interest for Jorie. As a Perimeter agent, he started as an antagonist. Giving him a crush on Jorie gave some intersting romantic drama.

Connections

People

Atticus de León
Tic's predilection for violent solutions was always a problem for Jorie, but she's more than willing to telepathically force him to see her way.

Trey
Trey was Jorie's charismatic counterpart, but she's severed ties with him upon realizing he's far too suspicious to be manipulated.

Bry
Bry had been a good friend. She still maintains a tenuous connection to him, but he's too close to Trey for her to trust or twist him.

Emil Gonzales
Jorie has become open about her romance with the former Perimeter agent, but will he rejoin Perimeter or remain on Nisora with her?

Islae
Though no longer roommates, the two remain friends. Perhaps because they both have questionable means of "helping" others.

Mys. Yasmin Ada
The mysterious psionics tutor is too powerful for Jorie to manipulate, and may prove a significant obstacle in the future.

Organizations

Galean Gazette
Though the Gazette ended Jorie's contract after she publicly outed herself as a telepath, she's kept in touch with several members of staff.

Mother of the Stars
Despite not having a history with religion, Jorie has taken her role as Prophet seriously, and has cultivated a following in Galendra and its suburbs.

Gal Pals
Despite being a founding member, her philosophy of non-violence is at odds with the new Gal Pals under Atticus and Hester's leadership.