Fantasy Hidden Masters of the Martial World- Character Sheets

[zontar]

Name: So what do we call you?

Art Name/Epithet: So what does the martial arts community call you?
Species: Are you a human? A demon or monster? A walrus that cultivated human form?

Age: Look, you're an immortal fightwizard. You might be older than you look.

Fighting Style: How do you put the hurt on people? Do you favor weapons, unarmed strikes? Do you hit fast with technical blows, or wait for an opening for a haymaker?

Signature Weapon: Do you have a favored artifact or weapon? Tell us a bit about it- especially if it has a name.

Notable Skills: Can you wield the weapons of a hundred cultures as long as they're close enough to a sword? Can you walk on water? Did eating hell-garlic you found while camping make you immune to dragonfire? Can you file tax returns without a web client?

Appearance: Picture or description works fine. Remember that style is important.

Personality: What makes your character tick?

History: What's the Cliff's Notes of your character's life before coming to Hong Kong? What's the coolest thing they ever did?

(Feel free to pretty up as you feel the need.)

 

[Nellancholy]

Name: Imika Majnun Katib

Art Name/Epithet: Hassusara Sauska, The Last Queen of Gursawar, Protector of the Waters

Species: Human (Imika)/Ancestral Spirit (Sauska)

Age: 16 (Imika)/3200+ (Sauska)

Fighting Style: While embodying Sauska, Imika uses a fighting style with sweeping or leaping kicks, supported by the long reach of her signature weapon (see below). These impressive techniques were apparently applied by Sauska when she personally supported her troops in the skirmishes that characterized the later years of her reign. Even when not transformed, Imika can hold her own (though not always impressively) with a fighting style that emulates Sauska's, resembling elements of capoeira and taekwondo. Or her dance lessons, really.

Signature Weapon: Known as the Fount of Aruna, Sauska's most potent possession takes the form of a gold-lined hilt that can deploy several weapons, usually a whip that resembles flowing water. It can also take on the forms of a meteor hammer, polearm, or khopesh if she wishes.

Notable Skills:

• Imika has approximate knowledge of numerous cultures living and lost, particularly information pertaining to sorcery and cultivation. This and her knowledge of wilderness exploration and archaeology come from following her mother Miriam on several long excursions.
• Sauska has knowledge of several typical techniques of martial cultivators, such as a light step allowing for long jumps and stepping on narrow or liquid surfaces (which the Chinese would call qinggong), projection of kinetic waves (qigong), and hardening of skin to resist blows from mundane weapons. As a gift, Imika can use these techniques at about half their effectiveness as well.
• Sauska (but not Imika) has the ability to control and shape water, with a rough maximum volume of a camel at her current level of strength. She can also purify several gallons of water in a matter of seconds, making it drinkable as well as heal minor afflictions in living beings. Heavy use of these applications deplete her ka (life force, called chi by Chinese cultivators) and force her to revert to Imika faster.
• Due to her connection to several ancient civilizations, Sauska shares an intuitive understanding of many languages spoken and written today.

History:
On an archipelago in the Red Sea sits a small nation that will go unnamed, at least at this point in the story. This country has no less of a rich connection to the history of the region than any of its neighbors, and was wracked with as many hardships as they were.

A little over 12 years ago, an attempted coup in the nation led to a bloody civil war, and an exodus of refugees ensued. One family in particular narrowly failed to escape capture, and husband and wife lost their lives in the process. Their daughter, however, was rescued by the intrepid archaeologist Miriam Kateb and her documentary crew, and eventually adopted with a bit of...creative paperwork, beginning a new life in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Saved from mortal peril, Imika grew up bright and happy with her eccentric mother, her past life as if a bad dream. She studied hard, and often got involved with her mother's work, even as she took increasing interest in the arcane knowledge that flourished in secret in scrolls, tomes, and oral tradition of cultivators the world over.

About a year ago, Miriam returned to the island nation in the Red Sea, wisely choosing not to take Imika along. With the situation having since stabilized, Miriam was able to complete the work she had been driven away from over a decade ago, returning several promising finds to the university she worked for.

But one artifact in particular fell into her bag by its own volition, without notice. A small gold bar, resembling a piercing.

When she returned home with it, it eventually called to Imika in a strange voice, bidding her take hold of it in secret and call upon the name of Sauska, the epithet of the last queen of the nation that was once known as Gursawar.

And when she did, the spirit of the last queen appeared in her full glory before her, not the least bit diminished by time or forgetfulness. She spoke to Imika, telling her the tale of how Gursawar was situated on an important military and trade route for both Egypt and Hatti, both empires jockeying to control Gursawar and establish dominance over the Red Sea.

Gursawar and their queen resisted them fiercely, but eventually sorcerers from one of the nations approached her, threatening her with plague that would fill the waters with rot and slay her people to the last, accompanied by military invasion. She conceded, extracting promise that her people would not be mistreated by their new rulers, and then surrendered her spirit not to them, but the gods, vanishing into the sea.

Little history remained of Gursawar and the queen, remembered only by the name of the goddess of love and war. But her spirit remained, judged by no god. And so did her blood, enduring through the generations, remaining in descendants like...Imika herself.

With that, she imparted her power to Imika, allowing her to borrow her appearance, supernatural weapon, and cultivated powers, with the apparent intent of making the name of Gursawar known again and re-establish the nation in some form.

Uncertain as to what exactly she should do with that in mind, Imika decided to use her newfound power to emulate the martial artists and other heroes from TV and the myths Miriam told, becoming one who struck at injustice in the name of love. Petty and organized crime in Gothenburg and surrounding towns took hits, albeit irregularly, at the hands of a mysterious whip-wielding figure who sang of love, peace, and the law of the sea as she fought.

Things were...interesting for a while, until Miriam left to investigate a newly-exhumed tomb in Hong Kong. Weeks, then a month passed, with no word from her.

And so Imika, with the urging of Sauska to "Be fearless, as befits a queen! Seek out your kin, and let no one separate you from your love!" set out to Hong Kong, seeking her mother, and perhaps a greater destiny...

Personality:
Imika is a bright, friendly, and talkative girl, popular among her peers. However, she is also uncertain of her place in life, and tends to go with the flow of others around her, or the pompous voice in her head.

Whatever history says of Sauska, the apparent reality is...less so. She is showy, vain, and egotistical, though that by no means precluded the love and devotion she had for her people. She is enamored with modernity, and is perhaps prone to getting distracted by her new experiences. She is, at least for now, highly insistent that one way or another, Gursawar will (metaphorically) rise from the sea.

When transformed, Sauska's voice and personality dominates, though Imika is anything but a passive passenger. She adopts Sauska's royal dress, powers, and the Fount of Aruna, though for better or worse, she has yet to adopt the physical proportions that Sauska (apparently) had in life, and presents with in Imika's mind's eye.

 

[ThatWhichShouldBe]

Name: Hoyun, Of No Name

Art Name/Epithet: The Swordless Blade
Species: Human

Age: 18

Fighting Style: A Wish That Cuts Down Devils and Buddhas
This fighting style seeps one's bones and heart in the singular thought of cutting. The insight of severance, the conception of division. It is the heart that reshapes the world by the violence of separation- to tear past from future, to split mountains and seas, to part souls from their flesh. Hoyin is thus a swordsman without equal, one who needs no sword to inflict terrible violence upon his foes. With but a fingernail and a single movement, he can turn a boulder into three pieces- such is his mastery. With his 'weapon' in hand, he can project out his cutting intent for several meters- turning himself into a whirlwind of slashing wind in battle. To enter within his reach is death. His art is a monstrous killing art indeed.

Signature Weapon: The hilt of a nameless sword, the blade snapped off two inches above the guard. It was made in a batch by a thoughtless craftmen with no regard for its victims. It has no long years of service. Its only history is death. It is Hoyin who has given it any meaning alone.

Notable Skills:
- Incredible perception of the world around him- able to sense killing intent finely, and feel every single tremor and slight movement of wind in the world around him, enough that he can fight with his eyes closed without being hampered.
- Nearly impossible to tire; but give him alcohol and he conks out almost immediately.
- Able to walk upon water and smoke as if it was firm earth. Cannot lose his footing on any form of surface whatsoever.
- What the fuck is taxes.
- His idea of fine dining is instant noodles. Eaten dry. Do not let this man in a kitchen to make ANYTHING.

Spoiler: Personality

It is a rather paradoxical thing. Though Hoyun has dedicated his life to understanding the Nameless Sword Manual, he utterly refutes it. The core message that it hoped to leave for its student was this: Swords are instruments of violence and as such, devoting your life to them will only lead to more violence. Hoyun, however, wishes to disprove the Manual. To demonstrate, to himself if noone else, that a sword can be used for more than death and destruction.

Hoyun is not wanton with his sword. He is not easily roused to violence. The reasons he will (physically) draw his blade for are few, but very consistent. For the sake of innocents, to cut wood and prepare food, for practice, and for self-defense. No more, no less. He will never draw his sword beyond this handful of reasons. Ever. Once his blade is drawn, however, he is utterly resolute and almost brutal in his tactics. Almost every movement either averts or inflicts a blow meant to cripple, maim, or kill outright. He will not flinch at taking blows, nor will he be fazed by his enemies’ words. It is the distillation of a purity of violence that even some master martial artists cannot ever hope to achieve.

If asked to describe himself, Hoyun would say he is an easy-going, resourceful young man with a penchant for mockery and banter. If he could, he would breeze through life like fog drifting across the surface of a lake, serene and joyful. He takes great relish in trying new foods, and eats heartily. As a child, he was often hungry, and so he tries to make up for it now. When confronted with a new place, he can take on an almost childlike demeanor as he seeks to explore it and see all its wonders and sights.

He is a lonely child, you see.

Spoiler: History

There is a great and mighty city in the depths of China- where immortals of every land gather. It is hidden from mortal eyes, located in a secret valley with mystical paths that connect it to all the world. And it is utterly rotten. It is a city of Demonic Arts. There is corruption and chaos. Vile Flesh-Guilds hawk their wares in the open, and the Corpses of great immortals are hawked in bits and pieces, fingernails. The streets know violence daily, master martial-artists, gunslingers, and sorcerers slaughtering each other in gang battles, factions trying to control the beating heart of the mystical underworld's commerce.

Hoyun was a street child in this chaotic place. He grew up learning to do odd jobs, scavenging the waste bins of the High Districts for bits and pieces to sell, and fleeing whenever things would get dicey. He was fast and he was quick, but one day, he was not fast and quick enough. It was a piece of paper, lost in a rubbage bin, and he had found it. And a random street gang wanted it, for it held secrets of martial power, and were not interested in his life. Hoyun was prepared to die.

Until, when the first gang member touched the page, his flesh exploded into ten-thousand pieces, and his gore splattered the alley. His bones became shrapnel, which tore the surroundings to pieces without leaving a single scratch upon the young child. Yet not one member of the gang survived.

The paper was a manual, and it had chosen its heir already.

It was astonishingly short, taking up only the two sides of the paper. The paper's foreward proclaimed that if he learned the contents of the manual, truly understood it in his heart and soul, then Hoyun would need nothing more than a broken sword to slaughter all heaven and hell. Hoyun grasped the piece of paper like it was gold, and devoured the contents, committing it to memory. And he became very confused. The closing lines of the brief preface exhorted him to become a farmer, of all things. It was profoundly unclear and unintuitive in its instructions in one line, and yet detailed the foundations of swordsmanship exactly in the next. He meditated upon it. Hoyun performed exercises as the manual described, and pondered its meaning, and practiced with the broken sword for hours on end. Weeks turned to months. Months to years.

Is it monstrous talent?

Is it simple luck?

For whatever reason, Hoyun truly did understand the manual. He became a swordsman of some renown, who wandered the Jianghu seeking his fortune, seeking to understand the sword- and now, he has arrived in Hong Kong. In his wake is a litany of dead champions and warriors that he has encountered in his days- his greatest feat, defeating an Arabian Djinn who had mastered the Devil Arts of Angra Mainyu. Their battle had left a path of chaos through Iranian countryside, and had made his name in the supernatural community. It had earned him the title of 'Swordless Blade', and a reputation for fearsome battle prowess.

 

[Stars Above]

Wu Xinyi
RIGHTEOUS TRAITOR​

Age: "Oh I am not that old, just a couple centuries. I was a young student during the last of the Imperial Purges, barely out of my diapers. Of course we didn't need diapers back then, huh, when did that change."

Species: "Human. Last I checked."

Fighting Style: "Simple, I strike. Fast and Strong. The first exchange of blows determines the rest of the fight. And if I am not sloppy, it ends it."
Fast, Precise and Powerful close-range strikes. Usually executed in conjunction with intercepting and jamming her opponent's strike. Once one strike has landed the next is already halfway there. Even in defence the focus is on overwhelming the opponent's structure with constant pressure. They favour their own two hands over any other weapons. (Their fighting style is based on Pak Mei btw, because I have been playing too much Sifu lately. It also works perfectly with their backstory.)

She's overall solid. Offensively oriented without giving up too much defence. She's got some powerful gimmicks to supplement that. For example her Void Step Technique allows her to aggressively teleport into range and unleash a flurry of blows onto her hapless foes. Her other abilities are 'antimagic' to deal with renegade cultivators.

They also have a gun. A small easy to conceal pistol. Said pistol does not fit in with, or synergies well with their fighting style and it is too weak to be a danger to any halfway competent cultivator on it's own. However her sect's ethos implored her to at least try the destructive weapon and she have spent decades honing her aim. It has it's uses.

Signature Weapon: Their fists. Xinyi used to think they would never be eccentric enough to name them. Anyways, she calls them Betty and Kali.

They also have a gun, as previously mentioned. It is a Ruby pistol, which unfortunately does not mean it is made of rubies. It's new, they only got it during the Warlord Era, so it hasn't gotten a name yet.

Notable Skills:

Void Step Technique - AKA Blink, the practitioner is capable of instantons short range teleportation. It requires only line of sight, obstacles do not block it. Xinyi lacks the skill to render the auditory and visual signifiers (a crack and a flash of purple light) completely unnoticeable. Overuse (such as using it too often in rapid succession or over too long of a distance) is extremely dangerous, as the practitioner risks being stranded outside of reality. This technique still remains supremely useful both offensively and defensively.

Void Breathing Technique - A power suppressant. The practitioner sharpens their breath, centres their soul and lets the void both leave and fill them. (This requires a moment of meditation from the practitioner and for their concentration to remain unbroken throughout.) Emitting a power weakening aura that effects all within it's range. Especially weak cultivators are rendered completely unable to use qi at all when effected, becoming barely better then mortal trash, but even much more powerful cultivators require more focus to use their techniques. (Effectively increasing the chance that the more skilled enemy cultivator makes a mistake. This was especially useful against the main targets of the Imperial Purges, who tended to be melodramatic to a fault.) Against an evenly skilled opponent, the main benefit is the increased qi and stamina cost of the opponent's techniques. Giving practitioners of this technique an advantage in battles of endurance, which is dampened by the cost of the technique itself. However Xinyi, and many of her largely defunct sect's members, are poorly equipped to capitalise on this. Given their preference for fast aggressive rushdown combat. (They are skilled at dogging, so they are not completely unable to adapt to a slower paced mode of combat.) Still this technique remains useful; It has the added benefit of bolstering the user's resistance to illusions, mental compulsions, hostile curses and the like.

Breath Injunction Palm Strike Technique - Another void technique, and one far more synergistic with Xinyi's fighting style then Void Breathing. However Void Breathing must be 'active' in order for this technique to be used. (Because I realised this was kind of busted and and I needed more ways of nerfing it.) The air in the practitioner's lung completes it's transition into 'negative' void energy and is infused into their palm, before a strike can hit their opponent's lungs. (Strikes to the forehead or heart can also work at a far, far decreased efficacy.) This then temporarily inhibits the opponents ability to use qi, weakening them severely. However this also ends the practitioner's Void Breathing Technique even if it misses. The concentration of negative void energy is also inherently unsettling to all living creatures, making the technique extremely noticeable (and somewhat toxic to the user). It practically screams 'doge me! doge me!' to anyone with a lick of self-preservation. This technique can also dispel certain enchantments and curses if the practitioner is skilled enough. Even constructs and and summons can be banished with it.

Tiger eyes! Look, they've been around for like two hundred years or possibly longer, I felt like they needed something not related to their sect. So they have good dark vision but loose out on some detail during the day compared to if they still had their old human eyes. Yeah, they would probably want to fix that.

They know how taxes work. In the Republic of China that is, still haven't gotten around to figuring out how the People's Republic of China does it. Procrastination is a bitch when you are immortal.

Appearance: Somewhat drab, they like to keep it casual and functional. Just streetwear that doesn't get in the way. I'll come back to this once I think of more to add.

History:
"I do not make any secret of my past, for it it still my present. I am the last legacy of the Serene Void Sect. Many will hate me for that fact alone. I have fought my fair share of assassins and disgruntled martial artists in my time. Many call us traitors, and they are right. We are. We were servants of the Great Qing, long before they fell to the Republic and long before they in turn fell to the Communists. We were key players in their purges against cultivators. Our art carefully crafted to cripple our own kind. We were ruthless. Even many of our shaolin cousins died at our hand. We were worse then traitors, we were kinslayers.

Yet our cause was just. My cause is just. The excesses of the enlightened, the injustices of our kind must be contained. Curbed. We have no concern for lives of mortals, we warp the world around us. The wants and needs of five men become more important then the wants and needs of five thousand. I have inherited my late Sifu's title and shall proudly bare it. For we are traitors. We broke the bonds between us and our brothers. But in doing so we broke the chains bound the rest of humanity. And became, righteous."

Part of the problem with asking Xinyi about their history is that will tell you what you likely already know if you're curious enough to ask, and just spend most of time justifying their sect's bloody history. The other part of the problem is that they would never think to tell you all the actual crazy parts. To them apparently, breaking up a crab's wedding to save a cowardly ogre is not an particularly noteworthy anecdote. As much as she tries to avoid it, she is out of touch with what a regular mortal's perspective would be.

But yes, what she says is accurate. She was a student of the Serene Void Sect, rabid attack dogs of the Qing Dynasty eager to slaughter their own kind. Well, that's how their critics would describe them. They were masters of infamous void techniques. Sect mythology claimed said techniques were invented by Bak Mei himself, and that they were 'only true inheritors of his art and will'. This claim is considered dubious by most, but it is likely that the sect was founded by or at least heavily influenced by a disciple of Bak Mei. Their is clear relation between the two styles. Xinyi was never prodigy at it. She had to work exceptionally hard to get to the level of mastery she is at today. She was too inexperienced to be of much help during the purges too. Though she witnessed many of them first hand.

The Serene Void Sect outlasted the empire it had tied it's fate too, but not for particularly long. Between infighting, vengeful cultivators from destroyed sects and how this new Republic wasn't keen on any remnants of the old regime, their already low numbers whittled down. Xinyi was the only openly practicing member left after her sifu was killed. She got revenge, it was a whole thing.

Xinyi has spent decades cultivating herself. Honing her reflexes. Strengthening her strikes. Tempering her body until it is harder then steel. The techniques of the Serene Void Sect take decades to understand let alone master. She had fought to defend the innocent. Defeating the most vicious of martial artists, the vilest sorcerers and a cowboy in McDonalds parking lot once (Don't ask). The last few years, (or decades, who knows, who is even keeping track,) she has slow down. She still gets her practice in. Too many martial artists have a vendetta against her sect, add in the occasional government agent or immortal spirit beast and it's impossible to get rusty. But there's not much. Maybe she is just tired.

The tomb complex is welcome change of pace. I mean she was already in Hong Kong so it's also just convenient. There's going to be a lot of cultivators poking around, powerful, dangerous cultivators with little hearts and big egos. The right sort of fucking bastards she likes sending to the void.

Personality: Xinyi views herself as a serious, no nonsense down to earth martial artist. Simple and focused. That was once true but centuries of life has a way of changing you. Her discipline has suffered from touching too much grass. She has even started making jokes! There's more whimsy in her, even if she doesn't realise it. She does notice that she is drifting and on some level doesn't really take being person seriously anymore. In a fight she is as a straight laced as it comes, no frills, no distractions, just getting the job done. But outside of that? She just puts enough effort on to avoid trouble to ghost on by without a second thought, it's like she's emptying out. She doesn't talk to people. She doesn't have friends.

One thing that has remained is her kindness. She's nice. She does genuinely believe in supporting mortal rights, and that limiting the influence of cultivators is a good thing. She wants to help. She doesn't want credit, or glory or any of that. She wants people to be happy. She's just not sure what people is anymore.

--------
I'll be honest, I probably should have slept and then posted this but hopefully it is still copmhrensib;le. My sleep deprivation is probably why the tone gets so irreverent lol

 

[DracoNightshade]

Name: Rubia

Art Name/Epithet: I was called the Red Death before I took on this weaker human form.
Species: European Red Dragon, not sure how she obtained her human form if she's being perfectly honest

Age: 1000 years, give or take

Fighting Style: Personally, I prefer opening with a blast of fire before finishing my adversaries with my claws.

Signature Weapon: Not really, I just happen to have a hoard back in my lair
Do you have a favored artifact or weapon? Tell us a bit about it- especially if it has a name.

Notable Skills: I'm a dragon, detecting and finding valuable treasures is my specialty. Of course, I have also managed to figure out how to generate and utilize my dragon fire without exhaling it. Not to mention my obvious ability to fly. If you ask nicely and pay me well, I may lend my fire in forging something new.

Appearance:

Personality: I can't help it if I'm greedy or vain. Such beauty has every right to be. And I always get what I want.
If you dare take any treasures of mine, living or otherwise, I will find you and burn you and your clan to ashes.

History: What's the Cliff's Notes of your character's life before coming to Hong Kong? What's the coolest thing they ever did?

(Feel free to pretty up as you feel the need.)

 

[Daylight Fantasy]

Big 'old wip upon y'all

Name: Xin Du (心 毒)

Art Name/Epithet: Heart Poisoner

Species: Human

Age: 1139 years old

Fighting Style: Xin Du refuses to get her hands dirtied with blood, instead using long ranged weapons to deal damage such as darts and guns.

Signature Weapon: Among the various darts and poison she has, Xin Du's beloved spear called Du Teng (毒藤) will never leave his side.

Notable Skills: Can you wield the weapons of a hundred cultures as long as they're close enough to a sword? Can you walk on water? Did eating hell-garlic you found while camping make you immune to dragonfire? Can you file tax returns without a web client?

Appearance: Picture or description works fine. Remember that style is important.

Personality: What makes your character tick?

History: What's the Cliff's Notes of your character's life before coming to Hong Kong? What's the coolest thing they ever did?

 

[SavannahSmiles]

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  name tbd

  
  

  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  

  
  
  

  
  
  
  

  # chinese water dragon

  
  
  
  
  

  # FC: imbibitor lunae from hsr

  
  
  

  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

  
  
  

  ♡coded by uxie♡

  
  

  
  
  
  
  

 

[ApfelSeine]

Name: Wong Mei-Ling

Art Name/Epithets: Wok Hei (Breath of the Wok), Iron Wok
Species: Human

Age: 124

Fighting Style: Predominantly using unarmed strikes or improvised weapons, Mei-Ling favors the close range, quick, and stable strikes of southern style kung fu. Her personal style uses punches and grapples, derived from her training in drunken boxing and eagle claw. She has been known to utilize knives and metal chopsticks as improvised daggers/throwing weapons. Mei-Ling strongly prefers fighting up close and personal, using hard hitting strikes, grapples and unpredictable dodges. When things get scrappy, as they often do, she'll use her environment or grab whatever is on hand to give herself an edge. She's not above fighting dirty if the situation calls for it.

Signature Weapon: A Chinese cleaver that she always carries with her. This knife was forged in such a way that it will not break when used as a weapon, and Mei-Ling keeps it sharp and ready to use - albeit often she'll use it for cooking. The smith who made this named it "One who cuts through spirit and bone", though Mei-Ling herself calls it her cleaver.

Notable Skills: Mei-Ling has achieved a youthful longevity as part of her cultivation in addition to several skills she has acquired. In her time as a chef, she has perfected many cooking techniques in addition to learning about the physical and spiritual benefits to many ingredients. From prolonged exposure to fire, she has become resistant to heat and burns. Her experimental consumption of ingredients has given her enhanced physical abilities, resistance to poison and an increased endurance. She is best known for her ability to create dishes that enhance abilities for a short time, and her dishes have some medicinal benefits as well.

Appearance: A Chinese woman who appears to be in her mid-twenties. Short in stature with soft features, lightly tanned skin and dark eyes. Her long black hair is usually braided and pinned up in a bun. Her build is deceptively slight, despite her strength and proclivity to eat a lot. She often wears a lightweight tunic and loose fitting pants, preferring practical clothing in dark colors. When at work, she'll wear an apron over her street clothes.

Personality: A very hospitable sort of person, Wong Mei-Ling is often defined by her profession as a chef. She finds it fulfilling to feed others, and by extension she is very open to share her knowledge and experiences. She believes that everyone, regardless of what sort of person they are, deserves to eat. Mei-Ling also tends to be an innovative sort of person, her success in cultivation largely due to her willingness to try new things and build upon traditional practices with her novel ideas. This is not always successful, but she is persistent, openminded, and fairly lucky. She also enjoys a good fight, and where she can't effectively communicate with her food she will use her fists. Mei-Ling is driven by a curiosity and a love of people and food, though at times she can come off as intense or pushy. It is difficult to dissuade Mei-Ling once she decides she wants to do something, but that tends to work to her benefit as a cultivator.

History: The second daughter of an accomplished cultivator, born in a small city near the southern coast of China, Mei-Ling had the benefit of learning from a master martial artist without the same expectations placed upon her older siblings. While her opportunities were limited, this also granted her a degree of freedom to deviate from tradition and explore her own way of doing things. Her family was loving, peaceful, and growing ever larger as her father remarried several times throughout her childhood and early adulthood. She found it particularly enjoyable to cook large meals for her family together with her parents, and cooking was one of the few skills she excelled in over her siblings.

When steeping a medicinal tea, an experimental brew using a particularly potent herb allowed Mei-Ling to reach the next stage in her cultivation. It was after this that she truly began to thrive, discovering that she could heighten the properties of herbs and other ingredients through cooking, fermenting, infusing, and brewing. Essentially, using the correct technique allowed her unlock the hidden potential of ingredients and heighten her existing abilities. Mei-Ling used this to boost her abilities enough to defeat her father in a martial arts competition - after which he commissioned the creation of her signature weapon and encouraged her to pursue the path she had discovered.

It was never ideal to have too many cultivators in one place for too long, particularly with the risk of discovery. So, after completing decades of martial arts training with her family, Mei-Ling set out on her own and opened a small restaurant in her home city. It was there that she heard rumors of the tomb and made her way to Hong Kong, hoping to make use of her skillset and have the opportunity to meet other cultivators.

 

[zontar]

Name: Louis Franklin

Art Name/Epithet: The Initiate of A Thousand Schools

Species: Human

Age: 85, though he looks closer to his mid-30's.

Fighting Style: As his art name implies, Louis's knowledge of the martial arts is broad, but not very deep. He can perform basic techniques from several different martial traditions, relying on an inborn connection to Lightning Qi to supplant his techniques with the power of a thunderstorm.

Signature Weapon: The Thousand-Manual Tome, a nearly indestructible e-reader made of mystical materials and loaded with Terabytes of data on the introductory texts of various martial arts forms, as well as mundane texts. With it, he can identify nearly any Orthodox fighting style or provide information about Spirit Beasts. Plus, the case has sharpened corners, so it hurts when he hits you with it.

Notable Skills: A skilled electronic engineer, 3d modeler, and craftsman. Immune to damage from electricity. He's also able to use lightning qi with extreme precision, for spotwelding, soldering, et cetera. Also seems to be the last man on Earth able to repair televisions.

Appearance: There is a line between the fantastic and flashy clothing of the hardcore traditionalist cultivators and modern fashion. Louis treads the line expertly, favoring loud jackets in bright colors, hoodies, colorful jeans and comfortable loafers. For formal occasions, he has floral-print suits. He's definitely the descendant of Ben Franklin, coming out pretty schlubby. However, he eschews the balding hair for a full beard and shaggy head of brown hair.

Personality: Louis was destined to be entangled in the affairs of the martial world. That does not, under any circumstance, mean he has to like his destiny. Everyone who seeks out his aid assumes he is a tactician, scientist, and philosopher on par with his revered ancestor. While he likes to think of himself as clever, even skilled, he's less concerned with leading armies or founding nations, and more concerned with keeping the last Circuit City in Florida open. He's quickly fed up with the hot-headedness and obsessiveness of some cultivators- his parents raised him better. Really, he views his electrical talents and his cultivation the same way- a talent he's obligated to use to help the community.

History:
Three hundred years ago, a nation was born. One free of kings and emperors. One of the people, by the people, and FOR the people. Such a grand endeavor attracted many great minds. None, however, so great as Benjamin Franklin. A polymath, statesman, and capricious prankster, it should be no surprise that through study of medicine and scientific principle he eventually came to understand the arts of Cultivation. His experiment with lightning, key, and kite granted him an innate relationship with thunder and lightning, but we're not here to describe HIS adventures.

No, several generations later and several states south, the Franklins were working to electrify the state of Florida. They were aware that the Lightning-aligned qi now endemic to their bloodline prevented them from succumbing to electrocution, which made them invaluable to the power company's efforts. Of course, every survived accident always looked like miraculous survival. They were ALSO aware of just how much power came in this nexus of Ominous Wood and Water-aligned qi, leading to the infamous "Florida Man" phenomenon as people unable to control their breakthroughs were driven to seeming madness. The plants and animals of the region were inundated with bizarre magical properties, so it was only natural that his outdoorsy father and uncle would forage meals to keep Louis's mother fed.

Well, turns out that started the cultivation early. Between exotic snake bites, weird foraged food, all the locuses of elemental power, and general clean living, Louis spent the 1940's and 1950's learning about electronics and radios... alongside the esoteric knowledge of his family. It was only natural that he'd float around between martial schools as well, catching and losing his interest as quickly as any other interest of a child. His love of electronics, however, endured- leading him to franchise a Circuit City in his hometown of Gator Creek. While the others have fallen over the years, Gator Creek has endured, a legion of satisfied customers a testament to its quality. Of course, it helps that it's his mystic sanctum- built over a crossing of leylines that makes it easier to harness the elemental power of lightning. Their power bill? Basically nonexistent.

When he's not running a Circuit City or hanging out with the locals, Louis is probably out in the swamp fighting horrible creatures. The Everglades have a nasty habit of attracting truly horrible creatures, from Agropelters to Hydras. The occasional uppity cultivator wanting to "trade pointers" doesn't help his mood, either. But when he was returning from a lunch at the local Waffle House and saw a majestic crane carrying an ornate scroll, he sighed, already knowing this would be some more wuxia bullshit. He took a vacation, the first in several years, and has headed to Hong Kong to clean out the tomb before things go south.

 

[SP3CT3R]

WIP moment

Name: Guardian Automaton Obliterator (Gao for short)

Art Name/Epithet: Thundering Lion (Although it hasn't spread far beyond his hometown)

Species: Automaton

Age: 7

Fighting Style: Gao's fighting style takes advantage of his size and strength to employ wide-reaching sweeping blows and cannon fire as a brute-force means of getting attacks to connect, making up for his lack of speed and severely punishing anyone he manages to catch off-guard.

Signature Weapon: Gao's weapon, also called Thundering Lion, is a cannon as long as Gao is tall and made from the same material. It fires custom-made alchemical cannonballs and can also be used as a bludgeon.

Notable Skills:

Appearance:



Personality:

History:

 

[Quailie]

Name: Harper Cosette Piero



Art Name/Epithet: Vandal



Age: 152- (Appears to be in their late 20s)



Fighting Style: Harper uses a fluid and dynamic fighting style that seems to change with every different fight. Accompanied by their signature weapon, Splatter, and an assortment of Qi-enhanced gadgets and weapons, Harper’s fights all have one thing in common. They convert the battlefield from a blank canvas to a beautifully messy piece of art once they’re done.



Signature Weapon: Splatter - A Kyoketsu-Shoge (Knife weapon on the end of a rope). Its blade produces paint when swung fast enough, and the paint changes colors based on how fast the blade travels. An opponent hit by the weapon or the paint has their speed reduced by 20%. This effect can be increased by 20% above its base for every speed level (type of paint) it produces. This effect lasts for 2 turns, but can be refreshed by another strike.



Fast: Ocean blue (20% reduction)

Very fast: Emerald green (40% reduction)

Zoomin’: Sun yellow (60% reduction)



Splatter was originally an ornate dagger, said to be used by powerful cultivators until the purges. Harper threaded a small, but durable chain through its hilt, and managed to unlock its power while playing and swinging it around.



Notable Skills:

• Second self: Harper’s Qi coalesces into a replica of themselves and any items they have that are made of paint. Its movements lag behind them by around a second, since Harper doesn’t have the discipline to change its shape or have it move independent of themselves, so it just follows their movements. Any enemy struck by the second self’s attacks have their supernatural abilities’ effectiveness reduced by 20%. This effect decays by 5% per turn. The second self will gain additional abilities as Harper’s cultivation techniques are refined and they reach higher levels.

• Art supplies: A large part of Harper’s fighting style is their arsenal of Qi-infused tools and gadgets to supplement themselves in their fights. They can custom make weapons and Their current gadgets are:
  • Chalk dust: Harper can crush a piece of colored chalk and blow the dust in their hands towards their opponent, inducing blindness and numbness in the target’s body for two turns if they come into contact with the dust. (3 per combat)
  • Coloring pens: By using their limited control over their second self, they can channel it through the markers, which can cause the colored pens to produce large quantities of ink and eject them at hypersonic speeds, capable of cutting through solid rock.
  • Paintbrush: Harper’s paintbrush that they keep with them allows them to always intuitively know the locations of targets painted by the brush, until the paint is washed off. The more paint, the stronger the effect.
  • Spray cans: Harper has spray cans that, when stimulated with their second self, can spray a thick mist of colored smoke that allow Harper to see highlighted silhouettes of anything within it, while remaining a thick wall of paint smoke for anyone else.

Appearance:




Personality: Harper is an air headed and free spirited introvert who enjoys social time, but needs their time alone to create art to relax. They enjoy the more lighthearted parts of life, and end up running from a lot of their problems for their low tolerance for stress. With this avoidance-focused mindset, Harper is kind of a wimp, and can’t stand up for themselves very consistently. This isn’t to say that they can’t fight, however. They’re very competent in their weapon proficiency, but, off the battlefield or outside their studio, they cower from the universe and it’s unknowable, entropic plan.



History:

• Grew up the son of a wealthy family in late victorian era Italy.
• Grew to enjoy the artsy side of life, and would often be a recluse to focus on painting, while just barely passing their lessons in cultivation.
• Harper’s grandfather left the cultivator’s signature weapon- Splatter to them in his will after he died. They began practicing their work with the weapon in their mid teens, once they figured out how to unlock its power.
• At around 150 years old, Harper became strong enough to summon their second self, but couldn’t control it at all.
• In the modern day, Harper graduated art school and was hired by a night club to display their art, do custom orders, and serve drinks to their VIP members. They also figured out their gender identity now that it’s been explored more, coming out as nonbinary.
• Eventually, the tomb-complex was unearthed in Hong Kong, and Harper answered the call, looking for additional inspiration for their art.