The Persuaders

The Persuaders take on both the mainstream and alternative media when they begin to suspect that one of their own is involved.

"Imagine a world order in which no one person can say for certain what is true and what isn't. Imagine that all conspiracy theories you're familiar with contain a grain of truth: not in the way most people think, perhaps, but some degree of reality nonetheless."

"Right. So?"

"Can you imagine a world like that?"

"Imagine? We're living in it."

persuader

noun

1.A person or thing that persuades:

The cool lake was a most enticing persuader for those who liked to swim.

2.Slang.

a.(in underworld use) a gun, blackjack, or other weapon.

b.something that persuades, as by coercing or threatening:

Sometimes the teacher used a hickory persuader to get our attention.

3.A member of a group of people whose core abilities include longevity (living for centuries or longer) and the knack for convincing anyone of anything by simply talking to them in an undertone.

On the surface, Horatius and Agrippina seem like ordinary young people with ordinary lives who want nothing to do with each other. But they have two things in common: both are Persuaders, and both work for the Council.

Persuaders-an ancient group drawn from every culture, race, and creed-possess what they call their "core abilities": extraordinary longevity and the power to convince anyone of anything with just a whisper. Hypnosis? It's nothing like hypnosis.

Their elite governing body, the Council, exists to ensure that Persuaders do not take control of, much less initiate, history-changing events. The Council's motives are unclear-self-preservation, ethics, or something else entirely. Whenever suspicious activities arise anywhere on the planet, agents like Horatius and Agrippina are dispatched to track down the rogue Persuader and "mollify" them-stripping them of both their ability to persuade and their apparent immortality, leaving them to age like any ordinary person.