Macallister Simone

Backstory

Pre-Embrace
Born in 1919, to a Haitian jazz pianist father and an increasingly mentally absent artist mother, Macallister was raised in Brooklyn among a burgeoning arts scene. Home was chaotic and instilled in him a love of the quiet of the dead of night, a penchant for languages and a complicated relationship with art.
He left the city at 15 when his father died and his mother was subsequently institutionalized. He was sent to live with his mother’s father, Orville Kravitz, in the old family pile in New Orleans. From there Macallister became fascinated with oral histories, went to school for Archaeology and while working on a thesis related to Egyptian mythology met with a source who only held meetings at night and who helped him fall in with the wrong crowd.
Acenath was responsible for indoctrinating Macallister and would eventually become his Sire. The followers of Set only Embrace from within the church and Macallister was considered young at 32. Acenath and Macallister were extremely close, and he had proved himself a passionate initiate, though some thought of him as too zealous, if such a thing is possible in following through on Set’s plans for this world. 5 years prior to the events of the game Macallister and Acenath had an ideological arguement that proved deadly serious, and the church elders decided it would be best if an ocean separated the two. So Macallister was ordered to establish a sect of the church in New Orleans, with all that entailed. And he went about doing just that, attracting followers, cultivating a herd, walking by the estate, now technically his, but sitting lonely and ever more dilapidated, a difficult memory of a different life.
Turns out a reputation for being too passionate was warranted and accidentally invoking the sacred art passed only through Setites was too seductive, felt too Right, during sermon and landed him in a bit of hot water. But a mistake can become an opportunity, we’ll see how it plays out...

Second backstory beat:
1. "What's the worst thing your character has done?"
Leaving his mother to the dubious care of the Creedmore Hospital mental institution, and never seeing or visiting her again before her passing.

2. "What's the worst thing your character can imagine yourself doing?"
There’s a practice in the church that keeps things inclusive, keeps Serpentis in the right hands, etc. but Macallister has never felt okay about it. Elders in the church will remove organs, even the heart, which keeps them safe in various ways, that part is mostly fine, or at least understandable. The other side of this practice is consuming these removed organs to gain knowledge and power. Macallister knows he will have to consume the organs of another kindred eventually, either to get information or just to not let power go to waste, but he’s seen the dark appetites this creates, and the human parts of him shiver to think of it.

3. "What's the worst thing your character can imagine someone else doing?"
The act of creating art, of beautifying the world, of making the prison of living flesh in any way better is abhorrent. That said, after he was indoctrinated into the church he saw a series of paintings that he understood completely. He followed the artist and everything he did until the artist died. He loved it, loved him, shamefully. Macallister considers himself above such weakness now, especially after the change, but he knows that weakness lives in him and fears someone else will make him feel that way again.

4. "What's the worst thing your character has seen?"
An excommunicated priest was found to be blaspheming and was set out for Ra’s Judgement. Setites are especially susceptible to sunlight and the final death was agonizing and horrible, even on a playback, the blasphemers screams were wonderful, but the vision of that specific and very final end of life was extremely unpleasant to see. Macallister revisits this memory often and unwillingly, as a reminder.