Katherine and Heinrich Messner already had a twelve year old daughter when they learned another child was on the way. It was winter 1143 when Katherine fell ill, and the 15th of what would later become February when a midwife was called for. Due to her illness, Katherine did not survive the birth of her son, named Jakob.
For a time, Heinrich was distraught, though refused to remarry, despite the fact he could have his pick. Being a relatively well-off merchant had its perks, after all. Heinrich decided to have his daughter, Esther, look after and take care of the child, though a wet nurse was involved in order to breast feed the child until he was old enough for regular food.
Growing up without a mother was hard on Jakob, though he would admit it to no one. His father was often busy, and by the time he was ten, his sister had married and was expecting a child. Often, he was left to his own devices, and would use that time to get into some form of trouble or another, just to get attention from his father.
When he began to notice girls and women, he moved away from childish pranks and took to charming the girls and women of his town. In his later teens he would often be chased by jealous men and husbands, for daring to have laid hand on their women. There was one woman though, who he couldn’t get up the nerve to try his charms on. Her name was Tara, and while not the prettiest, Jakob thought she was attractive. Problems would soon arise, however.
The day he was finally going to confess his feelings to Tara (he was hoping to marry her; make her his), Heinrich declared he could no longer stand the embarrassment Jakob caused him, and vowed to send him to a monastery straight away. Jakob protested, but his please fell on deaf ears. The following day he was sent off to a monastery, far from the town.
Jakob quickly learned to fall into line at the monastery; learned to keep quiet and keep his head down, and do what was asked of him, much as he hated it. In time, since he was literate, he was taught to read Latin and was sent to perform a new task – translating books and documents from Latin into German. It was tedious work, and difficult to do by candlelight, but he did it, and in doing so, learned many discrepancies in Christian doctrine. He even learned that some of the other monks would change some of the wording, in order to make the Christian message more clear.
It had already been five years. It would be another five before he could devise a way to leave the monastery without notice. Upon leaving, he made his way back to his hometown, only to learn that his father and sister were not terribly pleased to welcome him back. Worse, the woman he loved, Tara, had married some years ago, and was mother to two children.
He wallowed in misery and depression for some time, refusing to leave the house – sometimes not even his room. His father and sister breathed a collected sigh of relief when, after a year, Jakob had not once partook of his former behavior. Believing him to be rehabilitated, they conspired to get him involved in the family business. More importantly, his father talked up his son, trying to gain marriage offers.
Eventually, he ventured from the house, coming to accept that he couldn’t hide forever. He would smile and flatter the ladies, but do nothing else, no matter how enticing they were. Then on day, after hearing a fire and brimstone sermon, he stood at the town square and loudly decried the Bible, trying to tell any who passed about the fallacies of the church.
It was his brother-in-law who cast the first stone, and many others followed. Jakob ran, and the crowd ran after him for a bit. After quickly turning a corner, he was pulled into the shadows by an unknown figure. It saved him from the mob chasing him, and he thanked the man, who would introduce himself as Matthias. He offered Jakob a chance to travel the world with him and learn many new things – all of which Jakob readily agreed to.
It was then, on that spring night of 1176, he died, at the age of thirty-three. He didn’t stay dead though – he was reborn as a vampire, and as they traveled Matthias taught Jakob many things, and encouraged his philandering ways. One of those places was to Spain, where Matthias introduced his child to his closest friend and ally, John. John would offer them space at his childe’s manor. This is how Jakob met Avery.