Xander was born to a poor and destitute family that barely managed to scrape by from week to week, and he seemed like your run of the mill boy until puberty came. No he didn't develop super powers or anything, but that's when the flowering of his intellect became truly apparent. Maybe it had something to do with lack of access to educational resources or lack of nurturing from his parental figures, or maybe something else, but he almost slipped through the safety net, the power of his intellect gone without notice... but that all changed when he did astoundingly well in standarized testing, and continued to excel beyond that point. He graduated three years early and easily gained access to scholarships and access to Ivy League Universities, which he attended faithfully to get his doctorates in pharmaceuticals and reconstructive surgery.

He'd managed to become one of the lead researchers at a biopharma lab for a big name plasma laboratory, which was one of the spear heads in the fight against disease. It was in one of these labs where he got the attention of his would-be sire who'd been tailing him for some time prior to standing out from the shadows. They started off as mere acquaintances, but in time they became somewhat closer. It took some grooming on his sire's behalf but in time Xander became more open to esoteric matters as well as the banal scientific variety.

Over a period of years of study and practice Xander managed a major success in terms of magic: he managed to animate, if not only for a moment, a proto-hummonculus which sealed the deal for his sire. He was immediately embraced at that point and underwent the path of initiation into the black pyramid, where he was given a crash course in the underworld and his specific function among the Tremere. It was at this time that a Hermetic ritual was done to symbolically erase his birth name from reality and change it to a shadow name as this was the tradition. He chose the name Midian, because he liked the sound of it. Yes it's the name of the world of monsters from Clive Barker but it sounded cool enough. At this point he wasn't consciously aware of his unique proclivities. He was miserably low rank, but his maker had a bit of status to pass along so the fledgling magus had at least some recognition, if not minimal of course. Nepotism could only go so far, he'd have to do more to prove his worth, provided he ever wanted to step out form under his maker's shadow.

One day during a meditation session he decided a way of making a name for himself was by creating something new, something useful for himself, for his clan mates, and by extension The Camerilla. What would that be? He didn't know yet. His mediation unveiled that his way of thinking was too linear, not flexible enough, pliable enough to do what he wanted. It was time for a new twist on perspective, and who else had the most twisted and unique perspective than those of Malkav's blood?

If he could just inherit their curse somehow, maybe it might give him that eurkea moment? As every Tremere knows, knowledge comes with infinite risks, and if to really live meant to risk it all. Would he steep forever in mediocrity or would he ascend? The answer was clear. And the Malkavian's agreed, for some reason, to share their perspective with Midian, formerly Xander.... but not for free. Oh no he'd have to pay a steep price in order to take this curse. A blood bond was basic, what Malkav's clan demanded was that the oh so sane, logical, reasonable materialist sacrificed all of that. His very sanity would be the true penance for this perspective. A price he agreed to pay... as he did ask permission from his greaters in order to make this move, getting their permission was a lengthy and difficult ordeal so why turn back now?

And so for months and months he was subject to their awful psychological attacks. Over and over, on a nightly basis until eventually the psychotic break did not relent or revert, until his mind succumbed to madness itself. And what was this madness? His interest in biological systems, pharmaceuticals, medicine, became an all consuming obsessive compulsion with a vampiric twist. Of course now he knew how to use this madness, if not in a very limited fashion, to his own devices, but he was told that no matter how good he got at using Dementation he'd never truly attain the pinnacle of alternate perception; only those with Malkav's blood, and even that only their elders, could hope to reach that summit. Of course they referred to, among other things, easy access to the vast network of madness which provided Malkav's children with all of the questions... but none of the answers. The keys to that realm would never truly be in his hands. Or would it? In madness anything is feasible.

And that brings us to today. He spends most of his time sealed away in the chantry, reading away, practicing, medicating, always searching, always reaching; for what, he didn't know. Maybe it was something old and forgotten, something forsaken, something overlooked? He wasn't certain, but what he did know was that when he knew it, he'd know it.