Leo Sawyer

A lunatic is easily recognized. He is a moron who doesn’t know the ropes. The moron proves his thesis; he has logic, however twisted it may be. The lunatic on the other hand, doesn’t concern himself at all with logic; he works by short circuits. For him, everything proves everything else. The lunatic is all idée fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration, and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up the Templars…
―Umberto Eco, “Foucault’s Pendulum”

Leo Sawyer

Statistics
Age 32, Nationality: American, Birthplace: Moab, Utah, 1992.
Song of Ghroth: None, Ghroth Points: 4, Mi-Go Conditioning: POW 0.

Combat

Skills
Accounting 55%, Anthropology 45%, Appraise 65%, Charm 60%, Climb 40%, Computer Use 80%, Credit Rating 75%, Cthulhu Mythos 5%, Disguise 5%, Drive Auto 20%, Electrical Repair 75% Electronics 80%, Fast Talk 55%, First Aid 40%, History 40%, Intimidate 15%, Knowledge (Decryption) 40%, Jump 30%, Law 40%, Library Use 70%, Listen 75%, Locksmith 50%, Mechanical Repair 65%, Medicine 30%, Natural World 25%, Occult 10%, Operate Heavy Machinery 30%, Operate Radio Telescope 65%, Paranormal Studies 65%, Persuade 35%, Psychology 15%, Religion (LDS) 50%, Ride 25%, Science (Astronomy) 70%, Science (Astrophysics) 60%, Science (Biology) 10%, Science (Chemistry) 20%, Science (Mathematics) 65%, Science (Physics) 60%, Sleight of Hand 25%, Spot Hidden 50%, Stealth 10%, Streetwise 50%, Survival 50%, Swim 35%, Throw 35%, Track 10%.

Languages: English native; Spanish 10%.

Education
B.S. in Mathematics from Brigham Young University
M.S. in Astronomy/Astrostatistics from Texas A&M

Description

Born Leviticus Leonidas Sawyer III in Moab, Leo is a tall, lanky ginger with tousled hair and a reddish beard showing its first touches of gray. He favors cowboy boots and jeans, and often wears a flannel shirt over a concert-T advertising some obscure math-rock band he saw in Austin. He wears tortoise-shell Warby Parkers and enjoys smoking American Spirits, preferably laced with a little hash. His manner of speech is quite manic, peppered with film references and punctuated by emphatic physical gestures.

History
Raised in a strict LDS family, Leo rebelled early and he rebelled hard; but no matter what kind of scrapes he found himself getting into, his parents bailed him out with a minimum of fuss or moralizing. In the end Leo realized they actually loved him whether or not he followed their Mormon faith. He earned his B.S. in Mathematics at Brigham Young, but a growing interest in astronomy carried him to a Master’s degree in Astrostatistics at Texas A&M. He worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for a brief period, then accepted a job as an array operator at the Very Large Array in New Mexico. After his womanizing got him in a certain degree of trouble, Leo accepted a “lateral move” and transferred to the GPCA in January 2022.

Autism
Leo Sawyer was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder when he was ten years old. The doctors characterized it as “mild,” and Leo remained highly functional, although certainly not one to recognize common social cues. Around puberty he began showing symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder, exhibiting stereotypies such as incessant rocking, snapping, and hand clapping. After experimenting with various medical treatments, his doctors found the most success with aripiprazole, and Leo maintains a prescription for Abilify.

Wealth
Leo’s grandfather founded a successful aviation electronics company that was acquired by Northrop Grumman in 1992. Although the Sawyer work ethic demanded that Leo procure an education and work a steady job, he’s never wanted for money, and came into a substantial trust fund when he turned 21. Leo was an early investor in cryptocurrency, and has accumulated a comfortable amount of Bitcoin.

The Hyades Valentine
On 14 February 2023, Leo was observing stellar tidal tails in the Hyades cluster for Dr. William Snow. At 9:12 PM on 14 February he detected an extremely powerful signal emanating from Kappa Tauri at RA 04^h 25^m 22.377^s, Dec +22° 17’ 34.42”. It lasted 21 seconds, then repeated for another 12 seconds. The history of this transmission and the resulting impact on Leo Sawyer is detailed in the “Scenario Background” and “Asynchronous Encounter 5—Finding Leo Sawyer.”

Personal Life
During the GPCA holiday party on 16 December 2022, Leo joined a conversation about UFOs with Carrie Osbourne. Highly skeptical of UFOs and SETI in general, Leo’s teasing only made Carrie bolder, and soon their friendly banter sparked a mutual attraction. That night the couple had sex in Leo’s dormitory room, beginning an affair that lasted until Carrie broke it off two months later. It was a busy time for Leo, because he was also sleeping with Rhonda Petty, the exotic dancer “Mallory” from Ballantine Gas—though this was largely to maintain a stable drug contact! In March 2023 Leo broke up with Rhonda and began seeing Ruby Schooner, a relationship that lasted until he departed Hayden on 18 January 2024. Towards the end of his tenure in Hayden Leo began sleeping with Rhonda again, and had one last fling with Carrie Osbourne. It was during this “fling” in Room 108 of the Close Encounters that Leo gave Carrie his Mi-Go implant.

During his time with the GPCA, Leo failed to make any serious friendships. Freddie Pike thought Leo was “a decent kid, but a difficult character to like,” Sara Manning didn’t appreciate Leo’s constant needling about her “pedestrian” musical taste, and Mason Dauterive thought Leo was “kind of a sketchy dude.” Leo got on the nerves of Dr. Neal and Dr. Bennett, and while Dr. Guest was always kind to him, he privately worried that Leo was a “bad hire” and “might have a drug problem.”

The Role of Leo Sawyer

Leo is something of a “mystery man” during the first few days of the scenario. Eventually the player characters will find the Hyades Valentine scratched into Room 207 of the Close Encounters Motor Lodge and follow the clues to Leo’s current whereabouts, an old camper located in the Toadstools saucertown. If the player characters can convince Leo to trust them, he’ll show them the progress he’s made unravelling the Hyades Valentine. This plotline is detailed in “Asynchronous Encounter 5—Finding Leo Sawyer.”

Leo as a Persistent Ally
If Leo survives the Mi-Go attack on his badlands camper, he may serve the player characters as a useful ally. Indeed, Leo’s unique brain makes him an excellent candidate for a Mi-Go control cylinder! (See “Asynchronous Encounter 9—Devil’s Tower Amusement Park.”)

Notes and Inspirations

If Bible Black were a movie, Leo Sawyer would be played by an age-appropriate Matthew Lillard or Eric Stolz; or perhaps Joseph Sikora—a rangy ginger with a hint of crazy. He comes across as a drug-addled conspiracy freak, but that’s only because he really was abducted, probed, and implanted!

Bible Black > NPC Profiles
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Author: A. Buell Ruch (Based on work by Kevin A. Ross)
Last Modified: 11 November 2025
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
Bible Black PDF: [TBD]