Josh Mackenzie



Joshua Tristan "Josh" Mackenzie

Cahalith Iron Master

Member of Los Pobladores

Background
Josh, in simplest terms, was a dork. Unattractive, uncoordinated, and klutzy, the awkward stage of puberty was more of the same at first, but then something changed. He's still bow-legged as Hell, but the skin cleared up, the braces came off, and if his fellow students through graduation and the beginning of college were any indication, he had become fairly good-looking. His isolation growing up reinforced his love of two things: computers and music.

He enrolled at UCLA to pursue a degree in Computer Science and Engineering with a minor in Music Industry. The attention he received for his looks slowly drew him out of his shell, and he started playing guitar for a local group. There, though, he fell into his old ways. He got to pursue his passion, but he could do it from the safety of being behind the front man. During one performance after a week-long engagment at a local bar, the singer's vocal cords gave out, and they looked to the only one with the voice to fill his shoes.

It so happened that a talent scout was in the audience. So impressed with the band's performance, he signed them on the spot, on the condition that Josh sing lead. That led to strife with some of the members, but aside from the guy he replaced, fame and money eased their consciences. Dropping out of school, they went on the road. Accolades, awards, and album sales put them on the top of the chart and in the public eye around the world.

In time, though, it became clear that the band wasn't the draw... Josh was. After repeated attempts to convince him to go out on his own, he finally agreed. The band (whose name has been forgotten by practically everyone) was, of course, resentful, which weighed heavily on him. The grueling demands of a solo career soon put such concerns from his mind. With publicists, stylists, agents, and handlers controlling his every move, his music turned from a labor of love to simple labor. Successful beyond imagining, he was too tired--too numb--to enjoy it. After a while, it got to be too much, and he'd had enough. He looked out at the waiting stage one night and just walked away. Quitting proved to be more difficult than he imagined, though, and the record label sued him for breach of contract. The judge ruled against him, and he lost everything.

Strangely content to once against be a struggling musician and student rather than celebrity and sex symbol, he re-enrolled in college and resumed his studies.

He performed well in school, and in time, he found his way back to the stage as well. This time, however, they were not the packed arenas but simple coffee houses, small clubs, and intimate theaters. With time, his reputation returned, and his fan base seemed to like the new Josh Mackenzie more than the last.

Now in his final year of his undergraduate coursework, the summer break proved fateful. He couldn't sleep, plagued by dreams he could neither interpret nor explain. He found himself wandering the streets in the middle of the night in dissociative fugues. Then, under the light of the Gibbous Moon, his First Change came, and nothing was ever the same.

Contacted by a local member of the Iron Masters tribe, he learned of his role as one of the Forsaken. He sought out every scrap of information he could find about his new life, from all sources mundane and mysterious. The spirits and his friends among his mentor's pack gave him answers to every question, yet he was hungry for more. They invited him to join their number, but he wasn't yet ready for the responsibilities that would come with a sense of belonging he nonetheless longed for. He agreed to join, but not until after graduation. His plans for going to graduate school were in limbo, but the decision felt right. Within a few months, though, his future was more unclear as ever. His prospective pack had been killed, utterly annihilated by an Anshega pack that had moved into the area. His parents long-dead, his band long-gone, and his would-be pack murdered, he had never felt more alone in his life. When school started back, he threw himself into it to the exclusion of all else, trying to divorce himself from the fame that surrounded him for fear that the focus it could bring would be of the unwanted and lethal variety.

The dreams returned unbidden, renewed in fervor by their absence. He tried to ignore them, but their visions grew more insistent. Something bigger--perhaps better, perhaps worse--was looming on the horizon, and he was destined to be a part of it, regardless of his desires. Fate, being a less that forthcoming mistress, gave him no clues about what, exactly, he was to do, so he continued at school in the interim.

He crossed paths with a young woman whose own psychic gift of foresight connected with his own. The sensation was immediate, overwhelming, and frightening. The only redeeming factor in the experience came during his efforts to flee from the offending girl, as oblivious to what happened as he. He, literally, crashed into a group of guys he immediately recognized as Uratha. When they didn't immediately kill him, he took heart that they, as he, were Forsaken. Something about them reassured him, and he left campus with them, intent on joining their pack if they'll have him.

Description
No longer a "hefty" child, his 6'1" frame never ventures too far from his usual 175 pounds, and the bright green eyes and dark blond hair only accentuate his now-chiseled features and well-toned build.  He dresses with a casual style borne of his exposure to the trendy and the "cool", but it seems as effortless as the smiles he gives to any and all who cross his path.

His face is recognizable to any even passingly familiar with the music scene. He continues to receive attention for his work, as well as numerous offers for one-night stands. There is something of a confident swagger there, but not cockiness, as the former fat kid and nerd remembers who he was, just as he knows who he is.

PCs

 * Clay Danvers - He's surprised that this professor of anthropology is Uratha and is curious how he maintains the balance between his two lives.  The longer he is around him, though, he suspects the sides aren't equal.  He tends to forget himself when dealing with Uratha and non-Uratha alike in equal measure.
 * Evan Cord - The Dead Wolf is a potent ally, able to give and take punishment on levels that the Uratha cannot achieve.  His loyalty to the pack in general and his brother specifically is without question.  Josh would have never thought it possible to be reassured by a vampire's presence, but he is.
 * Fuller Lancaster - Though he feels intimidated by his very presence, Josh finds something strangely reassuring about his decisive demeanor.  His sacrifice for Noah and his son, and the grace with which he has adjusted to his loss, evokes a great deal of admiration from Josh.
 * Kyle Samson - Equal parts cold and aloof as well as confrontational and dickish, he's a formidable fighter and willing to voice his thoughts and opinions.  Honestly, the Iron Master is more cognizant of his presence in the short time he's known him than he ever was with Rock.  The personalities in the pack are larger-than-life.  It probably would take someone like the Hiriraka to make an impression.
 * Raul Bryant - Reminds Josh of some of the athletes around campus, specifically the ones who are so good at what they do that they don't have show off.  The Cahalith would like to know him better, but the Rahu seems content to keep to himself.  Self-sufficiency is strength.  Isolationism is weakness.  The Blood Talon is teetering dangerously from one side to the other of that precipice to the point that Josh worries a fall might take the pack with him.
 * Senzei Yunshan - The Mekhet is apparently Evan's mate, and his loyalty to the Gangrel aligns his interests with those of the pack.  His dealings with him have been brief, so he knows little else about him.

NPCs

 * Chris Lancaster - The young Storm Lord is in an unenviable position of filling big shoes in a time that can't afford him the usual learning curve.  He has his father and Noah to guide him, but he's going to have to be a quick study if the pack is going to survive.
 * Noah Christian - Josh remembers these eyes from a vision.  In his short time since his First Change, he has proven to be a fair and capable Alpha.  He possesses a quiet wisdom that still manages to maintain unquestioned leadership in a pack of Forsaken that border on Alpha behavior individually.

Equipment
An assortment of high-end vintage and top-of-the-line contemporary guitars

Music
A cover performance by Josh of "Angeles ", written by the late Elliott Smith.

Quotes
"Honor your territory in all things." (Iron Masters)