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character information
● name: Morgan Knight
● canon: Mage: The Ascension
● canon point: January 2027
● age: 22

● (original) world:
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. After the first few years, the wishy-washy or those who simply didn't fit had washed out, and the remaining children of his level solidified into a fairly tight-knit group. One unintended side-effect of this was that dating opportunities were thin on the ground, when one looked at the girls one knew as closer to siblings than anything.

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.

Worse off, 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 multibillionaire. The Knight holdings stretched across a vast swatch of American business, and 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 failed spectacularly in so many respects. 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; one Diast Malorna. (She also happened to be a Jedi Knight, but that was just icing on the cake.)

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.

● abilities:
Morgan is a Mage of the Akashic Brother Tradition. Bluntly, this means he can perform 'magick', or in other words, replace reality with a version more to his liking. To put it another way, Morgan believes so fundamentally that he can, for example, heal someone with acupuncture, that his belief is actually capable of making it happen.

Awakened Magick, as this is called, is not a list of powers, but a list of possibilities. Based on his knowledges of Spheres (areas of influence), Morgan can perform any effect he can think of within the range of these Spheres.

Spheres and what they cover are at this link. Each level of knowledge includes the ones below it, of course.

Morgan's Spheres are:

Correspondence 2: Sense Space, Touch Space
Forces 3: Transmute Minor Forces
Life 4: Alter Complex Patterns, Transform Self
Mind 2: Read Surface Thoughts, Mental Impulse
Prime 2: Weave Odyllic Force, Fuel Pattern, Enchant Patterns, Summon Prime Weapon, Activate Quintessential Matter & Forces
Time 3: Time Manipulation

Morgan is also an exceptional martial artist, and practices a style called simply "Do" -- the Way -- which is an ancient Akashic martial art of unsurpassed skill and elegance. He is proficient in the use of guns. He is a competent businessman who has successfully started run his own company.

● strengths:
Grounded and Confident: after everything Morgan has been through, he is pretty damn centered and balanced. He is difficult to upset, difficult to dismay, and difficult to discourage. In many ways he's achieved inner peace and acceptance of life: accept what must be, the pleasure with the pain, the downs with the ups, and live well.
Always Striving to Learn: Akashic philosophy is that everything is martial arts. As a consequence, Morgan always tries to learn new things and improve on what he already knows. This also lends itself to optimism and eagerness, as well as a willingness to take on difficult tasks without hesitation.
Generally Decent Morgan's generally a good guy. He's not perfect by any means, but he likes people, tries to help them where possible, but tries to respect them as well. It would be easy to solve problems by throwing money or Magick at it, but Morgan always gives others the choice, even if they choose not to accept his help.
● weaknesses:
Hiding His Own Problems: After years of being a screw-up and burdening others with his issues, Morgan believes he has absolutely no right to do that to anyone ever again, and no right to complain in general. When things are going poorly or he feels down or something upsets him, he won't reveal that if he can help it -- even if he really should, to feel better, to a friend...
Likes Fighting A Little Too Much: Morgan has never QUITE been able to reconcile how much he enjoys fighting with the fact that the sort of fighting he enjoys is pointless -- one must either solve a problem without violence, or solve it with the most effective violence, which martial arts is not. He's a bit too eager to spar or show off if he can find an excuse.
Vain: He claims he isn't, but he heals every scar he's ever had, keeps his hair long and glorious, uses magic to not have to shave, and is generally too proud of his good looks.

● skills (optional): Fighting means he's probably on the Guard...
● housing (optional): No preferences.

● network username: Morgan.Knight

● network sample: Test drive!

● prose/action sample: Test drive!

Where do I even start?!

Okay, first things first: We saved my parents. Thanks to the quirks of Rhydin, some quick magick, and a lot of luck, Cass and I traveled back to the night of their "death" and pulled their unconscious bodies back to Rhydin before the massive army of... whatever... could claim their lives. Stormy helped a lot by making them feel like they've been asleep for years and years, and...

Well. They're here.

Dad is... Well, both of them, I feel like I've known them all my life. They're as I imagined them; happy, rowdy, larger than life. Fiercely loving, with only a little sadness that they missed their children growing up, but they want to make me a brother, and I'm fine with that! More than fine! I can't even put into words how wonderful it is to have them back. It doesn't replace my childhood or invalidate it. I did it for them, so they could have the life they otherwise missed. But yes, I benefit from it too.

They're even getting along with Storm, which is great. Stormy adores my dad. She seems to have decided he's trustworthy, and affords him snuggling and comfort the same as she does me. Which is good. She's... I don't know what to say, pushing herself too far and too fast. Challenging everyone she meets to train her -- me, Carolyn, Nhairis, Dad, Dreamer, Shadow, Drake fucking Valkonan... Something's gotten into her and it worries me. She seems to be putting distance between us... I wonder what I did. I wonder if I will lose her friendship as well, and not even know why. It wouldn't be the first time I'd done something stupid, after all. I should... try to just talk to her. She can be so hard to talk to.

Carolyn has been hanging out with me more. I don't know how it happened that we went from vague unease to great friends, but I'm really not complaining. She's unique, and very much herself. There's things I can learn from her, I think. I want to get to know her better; we've been having just lots of fun goofing around. She's made dinner for the family once, and is gonna do it again tonight. I'm probably in trouble, since she likes to wear short skirts and shorts and torment me with legs. This is, I might add, the sort of trouble I do not immensely object to. Tormenting as it might be.

More seriously... I think I'm ready to take my ring off.

I love Diast. That will never stop. That will never change. And, depressingly, she's not even the first person I've said that about. I still love Sashra too. But time passes, wounds heal, and continuing to cling to the past is damaging. Not that I begrudge the time I've spent mourning her. That too was necessary. Nor am I really going to take the ring off... just move it to my right hand. I will never forget.

If I fear anything, it is the future... but I welcome it as well.

I don't know what to say any more, honestly.

Or perhaps who to say it to. I seem to be running out of friends... slowly squeezed out of my normal haunts by the completely amoral crowd that increasingly runs around, ever expanding. It wouldn't be a terrible analogy to compare Rhydin to Earth, now.

There's always Stormy, but I can't talk to Stormy about a lot of my problems. Not because I don't trust her or think she'll listen, but just because I don't think she'll understand. She's still not terribly familiar with Rhydin, and she still blames herself and takes too much on herself right now. I want to help her... and I don't know HOW to talk to her about my problems. Stephen's out because Stephen's in full-asshole mode lately, especially to me. He might understand what I want to say better, but care? That's a lot more questionable.

Aten is growing so well. No man on earth could ask for a better child than she is. I say that now, knowing full well I'm headed for trouble when she learns to walk and talk and be a little terro, but even then I'll love her even as I want to kill her. Not that I actually want to kill her. I read about things like Shaken Baby Syndrome and child abuse and wonder what on earth is WRONG with people. How could anyone bear to harm their own child? The thought of any pain or suffering coming to Aten from any source sends chills through my spine... but from me? I couldn't live with myself.

I've been trying to help a brother-sister pair named Patrick and Sheena. It's a very complicated situation... rescuing the one from a demon who owns his soul and has enslaved him in a mind, rescuing the other from her own stubborn self-destruction and denial of her abilities. Not that I can blame her on the latter, if she really does lose her mind every time she shifts. Still, there's got to be SOMEthing I can do for them... even if it's just be a friend.

Maybe I could talk to Carolyn about things. I don't know if she'll understand, but at least she seems more prepared to accept my existence without questioning how I think and feel for no good reason. I don't know. I don't know what to think or who to turn to any more. What I need, and what I seem to lack, is a simple, uncomplicated, UNBURDENED friendship. Not that I begrudge any of my friends the effort I give them, but sometimes it'd just be nice to relax and hang out and not have to worry about anything. Just have some fun with someone.

I'm so frustrated.

How do I properly express what has happened?

How can I even put this into words?

Okay. So... apparently, Diast isn't Gin-Hu. Apparently, she is instead a former Sith who attempted to kill and impersonate her, but accidentally erased her past identity rather than simply submerging it.

Yeah, I look at that and I can't believe it. Nevertheless, that's what she believes. Apparently the Jedi Council was able to make a very convincing argument for that.

And she's going back, she says. Once our daughter is born... she's going back and throwing herself on their mercy. Their mercy of course being death.

I think the thing I hate, more than anything, about the Jedi is that they have absolutely no concept or hint of the vaguest possibility that their carefully thought-out philosophies on life and existence could be wrong. Sure, they have the whole Force thing going for them, but are they interpreting it correctly? Do they truly understand it? Is its reality even close to their basic beliefs, or does it even have a reality? As a Tradition mage, I can't claim I'm any less stubborn about my own beliefs than any Jedi, but we live daily with the knowledge that there are other competing theories. The Jedi never had this sort of competition, and thus they can't imagine they might be wrong.

Diast is just as guilty of this as the rest. She's so convinced that she needs to be punished for the sins of a former life. And so she's going to throw away her life, a good life as a good person, to satisfy this arbitrary concept of justice. If there were ever a better argument against my own personal belief that death is never the answer, I can't imagine it.

Beyond that... what do I do?

It's over. It's over so soon.

Diast said something to me during our reception that made me think a little, that I had everything I ever wanted now. But I honestly haven't thought of it in terms like that in I don't know how long. Months. A very long time. Diast and I, we have what we want. We got lucky on some of it and some of it we had to fight for, but it's a team effort. Her and me. Soon enough it'll be a family effort, and that will be something incredble indeed.

And if I have what I want, it's because for the first time in my life I really want what I've got. Friends, family, a lover and a wife and a wonderful person to share my life with. Family on the way.

I know my problems haven't gone away, but right now I feel like nothing in the world can stop me or slow me down. I have what MATTERS, and that's what matters to me. I'm so happy.

I have to come back to my life now, and really nothing much has changed with this wedding except that Diast and I are wearing rings. I came home to her before we were married and I will after; not all that much is going to change because of a ceremony and a legal paper, but I'm happy. I hope Diast is too. It's funny how something that really doesn't have any real effect can make a person so happy, but that's ritual for you. That's love.