Craig Owens was born on October 31, 1974 to Will and Sharon Owens in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. His mother taught tenth-grade English at a public high school, while his father worked as a public defender. He's the oldest of four children: Jeremy, Marshall, and Olivia. His household growing up was generally unhappy: his parents fought often, and his father worked long hours that failed to bring him the kind of money his work deserved, while at the same time depriving him at any chance of connecting with his family. His mother, feeling neglected, ended up having an affair. Craig was 14 when she was caught, and a divorce was soon to follow.
Craig was always a bright student, but was perhaps known more commonly for being particularly charming. He was always a favorite with his teachers and classmates, and found once he got to high school that he was particularly popular with girls. He enjoyed his classes in the sense that he enjoyed being good at things. He was particularly fond of English, finding himself very capable of reading between the lines and finding hidden themes. He was not Valedictorian, but he was near the top of his class when he graduated high school.
He went on to study English literature at American University, but soon found himself drawn to Political Science. It was somehow a real-life application of all the subtleties he was so fond of in literature. And, more importantly, it was an area that he knew he could excel in. He graduated with a double major in Political Science and Public Communication in 1996.
Once he graduated, Craig had little desire to leave Washington D.C. It seemed designed to let him do exactly what he wanted to do: ingratiate himself to the powerful and secure his own comfort. And he was good at it. Politics were an easy fit for him, and he spent ten years in D.C. working on campaigns, in political offices, and for special interest groups. His political viewpoints were whatever his employer needed them to be.
When the Bomb went off in 2006, Craig felt the drastic effects on the political sphere in Washington. He had no personal loss, but he did resent the upheaval going on. But after this immediate reaction, he became tempted by the challenge he felt that New York City might pose. He suddenly felt perfectly primed to help people take over and find himself a spot of comfort in a new city. It wouldn't hurt to try, at any rate. So he moved. After ten years of successful work in the Washington political machine, he had a comfortable amount of money to take the leap. New York was not quite as easy a fit as Washington: there was a desperation in this new city, a danger. But he rose to the challenge, making connections, working where it suited him. Yet not quite finding a place of enough comfort to settle down.
By this point, any suspicions Craig had about his powers was limited to the suspicion that he was just a particularly slick guy with an especially pointed talent for manipulation. But the public revelation of the Evolved changed that. He was smart enough to be able to indulge in a bit of self-examination, and, upon closer study, his awareness of others and his control of his powers of manipulation became clearer to him. He is still unsure about the exact nature of his powers: he has a decent idea of what he can do, but doesn't really know the exact mechanisms.
The politics of the public announced of the Evolved fascinated him, though. Revealing these people just to get a scapegoat for the Bomb: he wasn't sure how even a trade-off it was. When Registration came around, he didn't even stop to consider it. With too much confidence in his ability to manipulate people, he has never considered the possibility that he might get caught and identified as Evolved.
He worked at various positions for the three years until the Mayoral campaign began to start looming. Through various connections over the years, he managed to secure an influential spot in Sylvia Lockheart's campaign.
