Kwame Curtis

Kwame Curtis had been a young Marine lieutenant serving in Iraq when he lost three fingers from his left hand and was discharged. He returned to Topanga and lived through The Change. His military experience made him unusual in the more touchy-feely community but allowed him to become a leader or "Brain" who dealt with the now hostile outside.

Curtis organized the military defenses and supply of weapons available to Topangans to defend their territory. In addition to bows and arrows and swords, he devised blowguns out of aluminum tubes which were useful for hunting small game as well as a defensive weapon. He succeeded in defeating the Chatsworth Lancers in a couple of small wars, overcoming their large numerical advantage by using the narrow confines of Topanga Canyon as a choke-point. As well, he had Topangans build fortifications along the Glenview stretch of the Topanga Canyon Boulevard north of the town to help defend it. While normally open, the road could be closed in minutes and fortified as strongly as any other section within an hour.

About thirty years after The Change, Bruce Delgado, the ruler of Chatsworth and the western end of The Valley was once more looking to conquer Topanga. The Brains called an assembly held in the Theatricum Botanicum outdoor amphitheater to discuss the latest threat. Pete Reilly, the Brains' leader (the "Brainiest Brain") conducted the meeting. He had Curtis describe the threat who reported sentries at the wall guarding the canyon spotting Delgado looking over the terrain. When asked, Curtis explained that the biggest threat would be Delgado trying to burn them out by starting fires in the forest to the north when the winds were blowing from that direction. However, Topanga could retaliate in kind and so hold that as a deterrence. Reilly called for volunteers to go up to Chatsworth to deliver the warning to Delgado. Jared Tillman promptly volunteered and was accepted as the Topangan envoy along with his son, Connor.