Editing Michael Alan Gold (section)

===Background===

The immortal currently known as the human mystic Michael Alan Gold was born Charles Michael Adams at the very beginning of the 20th century. The scion of a prosperous family, Charles was first introduced to magic in college. It was the 20's and mysticism was yet another fad sweeping the nation. Spiritualism, Theosophy and other mystical philosophies were all the rage. Like many of the young and well off those days, Charles joined an occult society and started participating in "magical" practices. What set Charles apart from the vast majority of his peers was while they were either taken in by charlatans or gave up their pursuits in disappointment after failing to achieve any meaningful level of ability, he had found authentic hermetic magicians and had proved to be a gifted and enthusiastic student of the mystic arts. In just a short number of years he had managed to become quite an accomplished magician, mastering a number of practices and techniques of Low Magic (any form of magic that's not Supernal in nature).

Charles spent his next few decades living an extraordinary life. After college he climbed to a respectable rank in his occult society while using his magical abilities to grow his fortune. In the 30's he traveled the world hunting for arcane lore and mystical artifacts. During World War II he served his country in the OSS, secretly part of a cabal of fellow agents who happened to be mystics hidden within the organization. Jokingly referring to themselves as the Office of Strategic Sorcery, they employed their arcane knowledge and power to help the war effort and oppose Axis occultists. After the war Charles went back to occult research, as well as tutoring promising students in the mystic arts. By the time the 80's arrived Charles had managed to live a long and accomplished life. Most people in their twilight years would have been satisfied and just retired to enjoy what time they had left.

But Charles was not most people. It was not enough for him. There were still much lore left to learn and experiences to savor. He had options that others didn't. A lifetime of gathering arcane knowledge and interacting with otherworldly entities meant he had leads he could pursue. Hints of a way of not only undoing the burden of years but denying the inevitability of death itself. And not the undead eternity of darkness and hunger that defined a Kindred's Requiem or the morally despicable and never ending predation cycle of practices such as Blood Bathing or Body Thievery but a true, living, lasting immortality that could be ethically achieved. It wasn't easy. He spent the next decade and a small fortune traveling the globe, following every clue he found from obscure passages found in rare texts, chats with learned ghosts and interviews with ancient spirits. All the while staving off the end with longevity potions and pacts with health spirits to buy him a few more years to complete his quest.

And complete it he did. It was 1991 when he finally managed to devise the correct formula that would enable him to follow The Outer Path. Drinking the elixir he created from an ancient alchemical formula he had managed to reconstruct from disparate sources, Charles died only to awaken in the Spirit Realm far from where he had expired. After spending a week trying to survive and travel trough that world, during which he befriended a newly born cat spirit that would become his familiar, he managed to make it back to his body and rise again. A body that was now forever young and healthy, Purified of the flaws of aging, illness and mortality. Like all things in life there was a minor drawback or two. Apparently his altered metaphysical state in relation to the cosmos meant much of the arcane lore he had learned in life could not be applied the exact same way as he used to do. Some magical abilities, such as Scrying and Warding, were easily remastered with a little study and effort. Others have so far managed to elude him. Alchemy for example, due to his soul now bearing an affinity to the Spirit Realm instead of the Material World, has proven so far to be quite impossible to perform.

On the plus side, his new state of being has opened new potential avenues of arcane power for him. Since his transformation the character has tried to enjoy a comfortable life while attempting to expand his occult knowledge and master new mystic abilities. Securing reliable sources of Essence to fuel his powers and offer as incentive for spirits to teach their numina and perform other favors is one means to this end. Which is why when he made the acquaintance online of an aging mystic who happened to own valuable arcane real estate that included a locus sheltered within a Spirit Sanctum formed from the perfect spiritual manifestation of her home and its contents, Charles revealed his true nature to her. He offered the secret to becoming Purified in exchange for the property. She of course jumped at the chance and the exchange was made, which was how the immortal currently known as the human magician Michael Alan Gold recently came to Miami.