Psychic Seven

Warning! This article or section contains spoilers for Psychonauts and/or its sequels. Read with caution!

“Wow, here they are, the PSYCHIC SIX. The group of paranormal experts Ford Cruller gathered together to form the Psychonauts.”

–Raz

The Psychic Seven, also known as the Psychic Six, are the founders of the Psychonauts. They were recruited and led by Ford Cruller. They drifted apart after The Battle of Grulovia, but rejoined during the events of Psychonauts 2.

Members[]

History[]

Background[]

The Psychic Six began when psychic Ford Cruller sought out similarly-talented individuals to study the psychoactivity of a location known as Green Needle Gulch. He met scientist and fellow psychic Otto Mentallis, who later introduced him to a woman named Lucrecia Mux, and together they began mining the area's Psitanium with Lucrecia's Hydrokinesis. Eventually, they sought out new members and made many discoveries, such as Cassie O'Pia's technique of merging her mind with a swarm of bees, Compton Boole's ability to speak with animals, Bob Zanotto's ability to manipulate plant growth, Helmut Fullbear's use of music combined with telepathic communication, and Otto Mentallis' development of psi-reactive technology. Every member had an individual sanctum, all circled around the Heptadome in the center.

Eventually, their studies turned inward, and they started experimenting with their powers. Otto invented a device called the Astralathe, a device designed to alter a person's psyche, and they used it to broaden their consciousness and knowledge of how their minds worked. During this time, Lucrecia found out that war broke out in her homeland of Grulovia, and left to help protect it, leaving the others to continue their research and eventually become known as the Psychic Six. For a time, she kept in touch with the remaining members, but eventually fell out of contact.

Years later, the Psychic Six found out that Lucrecia, now known as "Maligula", had grown out of control in her role as war minister. The international community begged the Psychic Six to intervene, hoping to stop the mad psychic after the events of the Deluge of Grulovia, in what would be the first mission of international peacekeeping for the organization that would later be called the Psychonauts.

The resulting battle was devastating, leading to the (supposed) deaths of Helmut Fullbear and Maligula. In actuality, Ford Cruller learned of both member's survival, Helmut's brain having escaped his body before it froze in ice, and Ford managed to capture Maligula. When they returned to Green Needle Gulch, Ford used the Astralathe on Lucrecia to lock away her "Maligula" personality then create a mental construct that caused her to believe she was actually her deceased sister, Marona, then took her back to Grulovia to reunite her with Marona's son, Augustus Aquato, altering the boy's memory at the same time.

When Ford returned to the Psychonauts, he again used the Astralathe to fragment his mind and destroy the memory of what he had done. Sadly, this caused him to forget about Helmut's brain, which sat in the abandoned research facility until it was happened upon by Otto, who took it back to his Brainframe. Everyone else then assumed that Ford's shattered psyche was a result of his duel with Maligula.

They opened the Motherlobe to serve as the headquarters of the organization, including installing a mural in the atrium that honored the seven members.

As the years went on, the founding members went their separate ways:

Otto was the only one of the Psychic Six to remain an active agent in the Psychonauts, though he eschewed missions in favor of doing technical work in his lab at headquarters.
Ford also remained with the Psychonauts, though not as an agent. He became a services employee at both the Motherlobe and Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, taking on a new persona for every job he had: barber, mail clerk, bowling alley attendant, cook, boatmaster, janitor, and park ranger.
Cassie O'Pia eventually left the Psychonauts, retiring to her cottage in Green Needle Gulch to continue her research.
Bob Zanotto, heartbroken over the loss of Helmut Fullbear, fell into a depression that made him a work hazard. His work at the agency suffered until he was fired by his own nephew, Truman Zanotto. He returned to Green Needle Gulch, working with his plant hybrids. His anger at the supposed betrayal of his friends and family left him a bitter hermit and an alcoholic.
Compton Boole continued his work with animals, perfecting Zoolingualism. However, after Cassie left, Compton became overwhelmed by self-doubt, leading to him committing himself to Psychoisolation at the Motherlobe to prevent any further incidents.

After these events, Lucrecia's image was covered on the mural in the Motherlobe, and gradually the Psychonauts forgot she was ever a member of the "Psychic Six".

Psychonauts 2[]

After Gristol Malik successfully had his brain inserted into Truman Zanotto's body, he initiated a plan to reawaken Maligula as part of his plan to rebuild Grulovia and install himself as the new Gzar. He manipulated Razputin Aquato into bringing Ford Cruller back to the Motherlobe and reunite the Psychic Six, knowing they would be the only ones who could undo what had happened to Lucrecia.

Raz lured his mentor from Whispering Rock to the Motherlobe. Upon his separation from the psitanium motherlode at the camp, Ford's mind fractured into new "worker" personas at headquarters, this time without the benefit of the core Agent Cruller personality to help Raz. The boy worked to repair Ford's mind, entering each in turn to de-fragment his brain.

For several of the personalities, Raz could not get access to them due to Motherlobe security:

He had to seek out a mind to implant into the de-brained body of "Nick Johnsmith" (secretly Gristol Malik) to pull rank on Mail Clerk Cruller to get access. He found a "spare" brain in the Otto-Matic Workshop's BrainFrame.
- Entering this mind, he discovered it still had a consciousness - minds in the BrainFrame were all supposed to come from deceased donors - and further discovering that the consciousness within was none other than Helmut Fullbear. Now disguised as "Nick", Helmut opened the path for Raz to enter the mail clerk's mind.
He needed a Senior League pass to get into the Astral Lanes Bowling Alley to find the bowling alley attendant, but the only surviving member of the Senior League team was none other than Compton Boole, now incarcerated in Psychoisolation.
- Compton refused to help Raz unless he located his friend, Cassie O'Pia, wanting to talk to the bees that lived in the Forgetful Forest. Raz brought the bees to him, and had to dive into his mind to help him due to Compton getting overwhelmed by the amount of voices. Once he did that, Compton gave him the Senior League pass. This gave him access to Bowling Alley Attendant Cruller.

After Raz de-fragmented Cruller's mind, Ford's memories came back to him, and he realized why his mind was fragmented in the first place. He revealed to Razputin that his mind was not destroyed in the battle with Maligula, but as a safeguard against revealing Lucrecia Mus had been living in the identity of Raz's own grandmother, Nona Aquato. Ford brought her to Green Needle Gulch to begin the procedure of restoring Lucrecia's mind. Meanwhile, Raz went after the last two members of the Psychic Six, Bob Zanotto and Cassie O'pia. Cassie was being held prisoner by her own bees, and Raz went into her mind to deal with her Librarian archetype. Next was Bob, who had been living alone as a hermit in his greenhouse, and was unwilling to help. After getting permission from the Vine that was in the Greenhouse, Raz went into Bob's mind, helping him cope with his grief and alchoholism. Then both Cassie and Bob were able to help get rid of the bees and vines that blocked the Astralaithe.

Together, the group entered Lucrecia's mind to stop Maligula - now known to be a dark side of Lucrecia's personality - once and for all by opening a deep hole in Lucrecia's mind and casting the monster into it. They were interrupted by the arrival of "Truman Zanotto", who pulled Raz out of her mind and sought to help Maligula's escape. Things became further complicated upon the arrival of the other Psychonauts, who had positively identified the mole in the organization as Nick Johnsmith. They almost arrested Helmut Fullbear (in Johnsmith's body), before Lili Zanotto and Raz revealed that Nick was truly Gristol Malik and that his mind was in Truman's body.

At that moment, the Psychic Six were ejected from Lucrecia's mind, terrified at what happened within after Raz was dementistrated. Maligula's personality resurfaced within Lucrecia after more than twenty years, and Gristol revealed himself, pledging loyalty to her if she would help him retake his homeland. However, Maligula still held a grudge against the Malik family after Gristol's father ordered her execution. Being surrounded by the son of her betrayer, her ex-boyfriend (Ford), and the Psychonauts, she resolves to solve the problem the same way she did the rebellion in Grulovia: by washing it all away.

Raz and Lili fled to discover what happened to Truman's brain as Maligula summoned a massive typhoon to swallow Green Needle Gulch. Raz and the other Psychonaut interns entered Lucrecia's mind to battle Maligula in her own mentality. With Maligula distracted and the storm outside quelled, Ford placed Lucrecia's body back in the Astrolathe and resumed the task. Inside, Raz's battle with Maligula gave Lucrecia's personality the strength to break free of her dark side. She then transferred her power to Raz, giving him the strength to stop Maligula. The two come to blows, fighting almost to a standstill, when a gaping hole appears behind Maligula. Raz punches the monster back into it, and Maligula falls, but she refuses to go alone, grabbing hold of Lucrecia's patchwork cloak. Spurred by her grandson/great-nephew's encouragement, Lucrecia pulls out a pair of scissors and cuts off the hem of the cloak, symbolically cutting her dark side free and letting it fall into the abyss, sealing her away once and for all.

Back in the physical world, all is well again as the Astralathe procedure is completed successfully. Lucrecia returns to her true self, now having to sort between her old life and the decades of memories as "Nona". She steps away from the Aquato family, both she and Augustus having to come to terms with the lie they have been unknowingly living, compounded by the fact that "Nona" was the only grandmother the Aquato children have ever known. Ford stays with Lucrecia at her old home in Green Needle Gulch to help her recover, though he does not rule out returning to active duty with the Psychonauts. Otto Mentallis goes back to work in his lab at headquarters, now filled with inspiration after seeing his Astralathe in operation again. Compton and Cassie also return to the Gulch, where Compton helps Cassie with her problems with the bees and to finish her research. Helmut's brain is removed from Gristol's body and placed into a brain ball, permitting him access to the outside world. Helmut and Bob, now reunited, plan for a trip to Grulovia to (hopefully) recover Helmut's body from the frozen lake where it fell during the battle and - if possible - recranialize the man.

Back at headquarters, the mural of the Psychic Seven is restored, showing the founding members together again.

Trivia[]

Although they are called the "Psychic Six" today, there are seven members and were originally known as the "Psychic Seven".
- The reason for their being remembered as the "Psychic Six" is due to the fact there were only six members at the founding of the Psychonauts, Lucrecia Mux having left the group to return to Grulovia.
Lucrecia's portrait is intentionally hidden on the Psychic Six mural inside the Motherlobe atrium after she became Maligula.
- After finally defeating Maligula and rescuing Lucrecia's true personality, her image was revealed on the mural alongside her companions.
Ford Cruller whittled the sculptures of the seven members at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. He partly destroyed his own plaque during an emotional episode.