A.J. Mercy Sr.

Alan James Mercy was born on a farm in the mid-west in 1924. The 6th child of 7, Alan's life on the farm was one of hardship and turmoil, exacerbated by his forgetful tendencies (in reality he has suffered form Face Blindness since infancy, but it was largely undiagnosed until well after his embrace). As a teen, Alan ran away from home and made his way to the City.

Eventually, he fell in with Howard Delacort, a wealthy rebel who used his money to finance the two boy's schemes, including the hawking of miracle cures and snakeoil on the streets. Eventually, the two boys - young men by then - had expanded their inventory to include illegal drugs, and then legal ones. Before they were twenty, they were promoting new medications as pharmaceutical reps.

Then, combining Delacort money with the little bit they'd made together, AJ and Howard formed their own pharmaceutical company: Delacort-Mercy Pharmaceuticals. With a few lucky breaks in medicinal development, Delacort-Mercy earned the two men a lot of money.

For his own part, AJ saw a different opportunity, however, tricking Howard into selling his interest in the company so he could fire his former friend. In 1988, the company went public, with a rebranding as Mercy Pharma, and Delacort was forced to fend for himself - a move which naturally infuriated the man, who felt betrayed.

Such a bold and ruthless move piqued the interest of the Malkavian Zoe Foster, who was impressed with AJ's business acumen, and ability to sense danger even without realizing it (Howard had intended to maneuver AJ out of the company, but was beat to the punch). She embraced him in 1989.

Once he was released into kindred society, AJ began orchestrating a meteoric rise to power, just as he had in the mortal corporate world. He leveraged his kindred influence in the mortal world, taking absolute control of Mercy Pharma, and expanding its influence as well, a small fish in a big pond, but AJ was a piranha swimming with sharks - holding his own.

More often than not, AJ is mistaken for a Ventrue, and most of the kindred in the city expect that, that is what he is. He has even been to a number of Ventrue Clan meetings, and a number of Blue Bloods view him as one of their own as well. Everyone tends to pass of his excentric memory, and the fact that he seems to give less than a shit, as the foibles of age, with many also mistaking his physical human age for ancient kindred wisdom - a lack of kindred mindset AJ takes no steps to correct.

In these modern nights, AJ's Malkavian blood has exacerbated his Face Blindness, and he often finds it impossible to distinguish between people he encounters, even kindred he sees on a regular basis. Those who know him have been subconsciously trained to tell him who they are whenever they encounter him; but he still lives in a world of strangers, and often addresses those who have never met him as if they were close friends or confidants; because of this, he has also learned never to discuss matters of the Masquerade with anyone outside of Elysium.

This inability to form real connections with people may be the foundation of his ruthlessness. Even his late wife was no more than another blood doll at the end, though - through some vestige of humanity leftover from the past - she was mercifully allowed to die on her own terms, and he did not even feed from her in her final year.