World War I left many families dead, creating large numbers of orphans.
Jamaie (later to become James) Decartes was one of those orphans. His father died in the trenches in France, and his mother was stolen away, never to be seen again. James was 14 when this happened, he hid under floor boards when his mother was taken away. His humble french hometown village, was over run with german foot traffic, traveling to and from the front line.
James decided this was no life for him, so he ran south, towards Switzerland, which he knew wasn’t involved in the war, trying to seek asylum. He traveled by the cover of night, seeking charity from locals, and trying dodge the german military machine. James refused to be beaten by the germans, he would sabotage trucks, and other equipment, to do his part for his country. His spirit was undominatable, which is probably why his sire Sven Troile took notice of him.
Sven had recently left Russia, due to the war, and the hardships with kindred politics there. Sven sought to establish a brujah presence in the toreador dominated france after the war. For this Sven would need help, taking notice of James, he watched over him and his travel, not letting himself be known. James may very well have died, if it werent for Sven, but James didn’t know that.
Eventually James made it to switzerland, being a neutral party in the war, the soilders would not let him enter the country. Confused as to what to do than, he started towards spain, but feared that he would find no security there. Along his way towards spain, he met up with a swiss farmer outside the country lines (through some persuasion down the road from sven), he was invited to be smuggled inside the country. This is when he first met Sven, whos very presence awed James.
James, who was still young and impressionable, quickly latched onto Svens magnetic personality. James thought Sven was hiding for the war also, which gave him more room. Sven promised James they would go back to France when the war was over, and James was eager to return home and make a name for himself. Sven and James lived out the war in Bern, Switzerland, enjoying the night life, which James never questioned, as he had become accustomed to it, as he viewed it as safer at night for people illegally in the country.
No one ever asked any questions, as Svens swiss was nearly perfect. During their stay in Switzerland, Sven continually dropped hints about his true nature and society, to make it easier for James to figure out. After the war, when James was 18, He and Sven returned to France. They went to a city called Loire, a large growing metropolis in western France.
James saw less of Sven than, as Sven always had business to attend too. James worked for a man Sven new, named Bennito Turen (an Italian man), down at the shipping docks. After a year of service to Bennito, he got angry, James did not know why, but he did. Bennito was beat James near death (james couldnt believe how strong bennito was), when Sven showed up.
James wasnt sure why, maybe it was because his head had been hit, but Sven seemed to move with blinding speed, and hit with amazing power. Sven beat Bennito down, and into the water, and came to James. Not knowing any other way to save James, Sven embraced him, his wounds healing, and the power of unlife throbing through his now undead veins. James was shocked by his transformation, but not angered.
He had expected something like this to happen, througout his traveles with Sven. Over the next year, Sven taught all he could to James, who proved to be a very apt student. James, not only learning scholarly things from Sven, he taught himself how to fight. He never wanted to be beaten again, like he was by Bennito, whom James found out was also a vampire, called a Giovanni.
He lived in france with Sven learning all he could know for 8 years. But as James wasnow a Brujah,
