History:
John Anderson was one of those lucky kids who had it all, or at least all that counted to him. He was good-looking, athletic, prom king, you get the idea. He wasnt the sharpest tack, but a football scholarship got him into Notre Dame. See, John was a big guy. At 12, he was 6' tall; by 15, he was 6'4" and weighed a good 250, most of it muscle. By 19 he had grown to 6'9", weighing in at 315. Despite his size, he was light on his feet, making him a terrific player for both offense and defense. He had dreams of playing professionally, and it looked like he might well make it.
That all changed his senior year. John intercepted a pass and had just run a 73 yard touchdown when an opposing player clipped him from behind. You could hear his knee snap in the bleachers. He finished his degree, majoring in theatre, but it was clear that this dream was dead.
Still, John's dad didn't raise a quitter. Bill would always tell his son, "Life is change, boy. Change or die." Once his knee was functional, John took his size and acting credentials and started looking into professional wrestling. Moving to Atlanta, he joined up with the WCW, billed as "Iron John" Anderson. Seeing some success, he signed on with the WWF in 1990, where he became a protege of "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.
Once again, he was on his way to fame and fortune. And, once again, his knee took that dream away. There was an accident in a match with "The Ultimate Warrior." The Warrior paid for all his medical bills, but it was clear he would never wrestle again, nor walk without a cane. "Change or die," he famously told Vince McMahon, "change or die."
So he changed, once more. It turns out that some of the business classes he took in college were paying off. John was an excellent money manager, and even helped manage the funds of many of his wrestling colleagues. He set up a business in his hometown of Madison and became very successful.
Now that was all in his professional life. His personal life, well, that was even more chaotic. Although handsome and charismatic, John was terrible at choosing women, and the alcohol didn't help. His relationships rarely lasted longer than a few months (including briefly dating Paula Abdul before she met Emilio Estevez). Most women found that his drinking and devil-may-care attitude made for a great first impression, but a terrible long-term prospect. Many would call him an alcoholic before leaving him. It was all an act, of course, the "good time" guy. His drinking helped to numb the pain, of his knee and of his dreams. It's easy to say "change or die," but very hard to live.
Then he met Sabrina. She was not like any woman he'd ever met. She was evasive and secretive; pretty, but not flashy, not at all the kind of woman he usually dated. She was clearly well-off financially, but never said what it was she did to make money. And he liked that she had no idea who he was (or so he thought), never asked about his past life in football or wrestling. She just seemed interested in him as he was now. And she was.
John's business acumen caught the eye of a local Ventrue lictor (a regional Midwest operative in charge of many financial accounts) by making the vampire a substantial profit in several tech start-ups. The man asked Sabrina, one of his lieutenants, to look into John as a possible asset. Sabrina believed that John could indeed be useful to the clan, possibly (very) long-term, and was given permission to Embrace him. But John wasn't really consulted about this.
Following his rebirth, John was very confused. He felt fantastic, all his old aches and pains gone; even his knee didn't hurt anymore. But he was so hungry, and UNABLE TO DRINK (while there was no longer any physical addiction, the psychological addiction was still very real). Sabrina told him the rules, explained the Camarilla, the Masquerade, the political intrigue... and John wanted none of it. THIS was just too much change. But Sabrina believed he would come to embrace his new life, with time. She imprisoned him for several months, keeping him fed with her own blood while she tried to get through to him, to get him to see this as a gift, not a curse.
In the end, it was not Sabrina who helped him move through his grief and shame, but one of her servants. The young man had been drinking, and probably should have known better, but opened the door to check on Sabrina's "guest." John couldn't resist; he tore away from his restraints and fed on the helpless man. Somehow the alcohol in the man's blood calmed John, helped him feel a little more whole. He still wasn't happy with his situation, but at least he could think clearly, at least he could deal. "Change or die," he muttered to himself, wiping blood from his mouth. "Change or die."
