Editing Edmund Sense

|image=Edmund_portrait.png

|residence=Newcago

|earth=Reckoners

|first appeared=[[Steelheart]]

'''Edmund Sense''', also known as the [[Epic]] '''Conflux''', is commonly believed to be a member of [[Steelheart (Epic)|Steelheart's]] inner circle and the chief of [[Enforcement]]. In reality he is a prisoner.{{book ref|Steelheart|32}}

Because he routinely gives his powers away and has voluntarily confronted his weakness, Edmund is not very susceptible to [[Calamity (Epic)|Calamity]]'s corrupting influence. He is a gentle, timid man whose first concern is usually self-preservation and who deeply dislikes conflict.

== Attributes and Abilities ==

; Energy Charging: Edmund can power any electrical device, or recharge any depleted battery or power source. Batteries and power cells charged by Edmund or one of his giftees hold many times more power than their normal counterparts, a portable power cell being sufficient to power a small city.

; Transference: He can give others his ability by touch, or recall the power at will. This ability does not work on other Epics.

; Weakness: Edmund's weakness was due to a crippling fear of dogs. Steelheart would use this to torture him; however, at one point, he tackled one of the dogs who was running toward a little girl, and thus faced his fear.

Shortly after becoming an Epic, Edmund accidentally killed his wife, Sara, by electrifying a metal countertop she was touching while attempting to use his powers to warm a frozen burrito. Within a month after becoming an Epic, he was kidnapped and enslaved by an Epic named Bastion. Bastion wanted to wield Edmund's powers for himself and was very displeased by the discovery that Edmund could not transfer his powers to other Epics. Bastion then sold Edmund to another Epic, Insulation, whom he served for an unknown amount of time. {{book ref|Steelheart|33}} About four years after the rise of Calamity, Edmund found himself in the custody of Steelheart, who required him to gift his powers to Enforcement and charge power cells to provide the city with electricity. To hide the fact that he was using a powerful Epic as a slave, which would contradict the principles on which Newcago supposedly operated, Steelheart put it about that the Epic Conflux was the leader of Enforcement and that he was simply reclusive and cautious enough not to wish to be seen in public. Edmund served Steelheart for many years. Steelheart was aware that Edmund's weakness was being in the presence of a dog and sometimes forced him to be near them for no apparent reason, possibly to instill fear in Edmund and guard against his own weakness. At some point, however, Edmund willingly risked being attacked by a dog in order to protect the young daughter of one of his guards from it, which reduced the effectiveness of his weakness.

About eleven years after the rise of Calamity, the Reckoners attempted to assassinate Conflux, whom they believed to be the head of Enforcement, as part of their larger plan to bring down Steelheart and his regime. In the process, they discovered Edmund, tied up and gagged in the trunk of the limo they believed Conflux was riding inside. They took him prisoner and questioned him, and he revealed to them the true nature of his role in Newcago.

After the Reckoners killed Steelheart, Edmund became an employee of the Newcago provisional government and continued to provide power for the city. When [[Jonathan Phaedrus]] was corrupted a year later, Cody and Abraham took Edmund to a safe house outside of Newcago to hide from him. [[David Charleston]], who was serving as leader of the Reckoners at the time, invited him to join the surviving Reckoners in [[Ildithia]], but Edmund declined, preferring to stay out of danger. He asked David to give him up to another powerful Epic who would be able to protect him, but David refused.

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