Hey like hereās the thing: literally everything about Essekās entire deal is the platonic ideal of an espionage target.
in a position of high access & authority with minimal oversight (in fact he would likely be the one assigned to investigate his own espionage)
socially isolated, having few family/friends to provide perspective, talk him out of it, or notice odd behavior
not personally invested in the assets the targeting agency wants to obtain, not being consecuted himself and therefore risking little by trading away the beacons
Then thereās his motives. For decades espionage officers have recruited targets based on the acronym MICE: Money, Ideology, Conscience, Ego. Essek is the definitionĀ of an ego-motivated asset. Essek:
is convinced of his own uniqueness and deserving nature
sees himself as unfairly denied or passed over
has no family or friends to whom he can vent frustration over these grievances
feels unheard or dismissed by superiors
believes he has no legitimate avenues to change the status quo or get back at those he resents
has no close personal associates who would be hurt by his actions (i.e. is insulated from the consequences)
He was perfect. The Cerberus Assembly couldnāt have dreamed of a better asset to recruit.Ā
But then. Then. Then the most amazing part is that when the M9 blew into town they accidentally laser-targeted every reason that made him such a good intelligence asset. They:
hit him rapid-fire with the consequences of his actions (Vethās despair over losing her husband, the team being caught in the crossfire in Zadash, the dunamantic potions the Cerberus Assembly was creating with intent to distribute to the Empireās army)
listened to him talk about his unorthodox ideas with genuine interest, proving that the Cerberus Assembly werenāt the only people who thought like he did slash were interested in what he was doing
let him vent his frustrations without judgement and even sympathized
made sure he knew they appreciated his assistance even when he was justĀ ādoing his jobā
showed him the world beyond the rigid, inflexible society he felt trapped in and gave examples of people (Caleb, Beau, Yasha) who had escaped strict authorities to live their own lives.Ā
So while it might seem weird to say, āThe drow traitor who was willing to sell out his countryās religious foundation for personal knowledge totally changed his mind because he found some friends,ā the crew really were the exact impact he needed to shock him out of the mindset for espionage and into āoh god what have I done.ā
Essek isnāt unusual among spies in this. In fact many assets say that they made their opening move for reasons they came to regret but at that point felt they were too far in to quit. Some attempt to sever the relationship and hope no one notices their past transgressions - the M9 caught Essek in the middle of trying to do just that with Ludinus at the peace treaty.Ā But intelligence agencies arenāt in the business of doing what their assets want; theyāre in the business of exploiting them to the fullest. Ludinus likely planned to wait a little while, let Essek stew in guilt and panic, then lean on him increasingly hard to force him either to spy for or defect to the Assembly using the dual threats of Scourger assassination & exposure of his crimes.Ā
But then the crew came in and ruined Ludinusā plansĀ by confronting Essek & making him confess (meaning he couldnāt return to spying) and by pulling him out of his ongoing panic attack up in Eiselcross and assuring him that he had allies who wanted to help and would back him up (showing him the Assembly was not the only way out of his situation). Itās hilariously textbook and as far as I can tell the crew did it entirely by accident. The M9 are unintentional counter-intelligence geniuses. I love it. I love them so much.
(This accidentally turned into a series on Essek & IRL espionage: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4)
theartofmadeline
romaincrisis
