History

[morganknight]

Morgan and his twin sister Andrea were born in 2004 to Maureen and Andrew "Insane Rampaging Bulletstorm" Knight; the former a Euthanatos mage, the latter a medium ranking werewolf (Adren Glass Walker Ahroun). Despite being parents, both Knights still had duties and no desire to shirk them; consequently, a few years later, a massive ambush by the local fomori population lead to their unheralded deaths.

Disposition of the children fell to one Siryn Valkonan, longtime family friend and mother of Stephen Valkonan. Her first and foremost concern was to get the children out of danger; the Knight name was well-known to many of the Garou's supernatural opposition, who would have gone to great lengths to seize and destroy or corrupt a werewolf cub. Andrea was that cub; Siryn sent her to be raised amongst the Garou where she would be safe. And to ensure Morgan could not be captured and used against her, or his Kinfolk blood exploited, she pulled a few strings with her martial arts mentor and had the baby sent to what amounted to a boarding school in the mountains of Colorado. To all outward appearances, it was sort of a 'theme' school, for troubled children or those kids whose parents wanted them to grow up in that particularly structured environment. It emphasized discipline, strength of body and mind, and martial arts. Beneath its surface, of course, it was run by the Mage Tradition called the Akashic Brotherhood.

Morgan grew up healthy, strong, a decent student, and a very competent martial artist. The teachers at the school made no pretense of being parents, and offered no filial love, but Morgan worked hard for their praise and respect as a substitute.

During one spring break shortly before graduation, the school came under brief attack by a scouting party of evil mages known as Nephandi (or rather, it hadn't been intended as an attack, but it turned into one as soon as the Akashics put together just who had attempted to blithely enter their temple and investigate under innocuous disguises). In the middle of the fray, Morgan was ushered into the basement -- where the hidden vaults had been left open after one of the senior monks had taken something from them. Eager to help with the fighting, Morgan picked up a rather fancy-looking weapon -- and abruptly found himself bound to it, body and soul. The traumatic binding experience shattered the already somewhat-fragile barriers that protect the human mind from understanding the true nature of reality, and he Awakened as a mage.

Bad news, though: the weapon in question was the Tradition Blade of another Tradition entirely, the Celestial Chorus. They immediately demanded the weapon back, but the Akashic Brotherhood, after inducting Morgan into its ranks, elected to take the long view and indicated that it not only had no way to forcibly separate Morgan and the sword, but would not do so even if it could.

Morgan graduated at 17, and at that time was finally told about the inheritance and legacy of his family waiting for him back in Pittsburgh. He returned there to claim it, and abruptly found out that, like his father before him... he was now a billionaire. Established by the Glass Walker tribe of werewolves quite a while ago, the Knight holdings stretched across a vast swatch of American business. Their purpose was to fight for Gaia in the corporate sphere, and as a side effect, his personal fortune had him set for life. More intimidated by this turn of events than anything - he had lived quite frugally, and quite happily, for years at the school, after all -- Morgan did not go on the spending spree and debauchery one might expect from a suddenly-wealthy teenager, except in one respect. He commissioned the world's most awesome car.

As a consequence, Morgan met Stephen Valkonan, and from there got back in contact with his parents' old friends and allies. Much drag-racing ensued between his Ferrari Infinity and Stephen's car, Black Sunshine.

And yet Earth, as a whole, intimidated him. The world outside of the school was massive, and he had become an instant celebrity in it, as the handsome rich with a dramatic past are wont to do. It was then that he and Stephen had the idea to follow up a legacy of the Valkonan family, and chased down what they understood to be a portal to a High Umbral Realm.

It turned out to be another world, a cosmic nexus where people and creatures of all kinds clashed. Intrigued, they kept coming back; Morgan was particularly fascinated by a world where he could introduce himself as just another guy, not rich or special or hunted by the Celestial Chorus.

He was out of his element and unfamiliar with the whole process of meeting new people and making friends. He alienated Stephen on more than one occasion, botched interactions with peers and elders alike, ruined dates and chances at dates, damaged his relationship with his sister almost irreparably, was selfish and stupid and whiny...

And yet somehow he made friends, found some people who would forgive his flaws, and met one of most influential people in his life: one of the most skilled Akashics and martial artists on the planet, Nhairis by name, agreed to be his mentor... and in time, his adoptive mother. From her and the other people in his life, he reforged himself into a better person, a stronger man. He found the strength to have dates, to adopt others as his family selflessly, to at last separate himself from the sword that gripped his soul... and ultimately, to find happiness with a girl.

They were married for a year or so. Six months into it, she was sentenced to death for crimes she allegedly committed as a sleeper agent. (Morgan never was clear on the details.) Six months later, the sentence was finally carried out. Those intervening months finally made Morgan grow up all the way.