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applications

applications

APPLICATIONS

Eastbound is primarily an invite-only game — each existing player can currently invite up to one person per month, or get in touch about further invites. Existing players can hold two characters in game. A third character can be applied, if players can prove they have met activity requirements for two consecutive months with their existing two characters and have stayed engaged with the game. If you don't have an invite, somehow stumbled upon this neck of the woods, and you’d like to stay, drop the mod journal a line — we'll try to figure it out.

As of Oct. 1, cast/game caps are off. Please note, as of Dec. 1, Eastbound only has 3-4 months of gameplay left.

WHAT CHARACTERS CAN BE APPLIED?

YES: canon and original characters, if they have a solid and consistent personality and background. Characters brought in after they've died are a-okay. For characters taken from a time point just as they're in the process of dying, please read below on meeting medical requirements.

NO (at this time): real people, original characters set in a canon environment, characters from canons or canon instalments that have been released for less than one month, characters with imported development from other games (CRAU), alternate universe, or gender-swapped versions of canon characters.

Children or characters with very specific medical/magical/environment needs: appable, but please make a note of how your character will ICly meet their requirements and stay alive. Likewise, if you are applying for a character taken just as they're dying, provide a suggestion for how they can be kept alive on arrival (this might be easier in some app cycles than others). You can bend the world a little to make miracles happen (ex: a substitute for the medication your character needs to survive can be found for a high price at certain apothecaries, etc.)

Characters that were dropped or swept by activity checks: yes, but they’ll come back without their previous memories, if they are applied in by a different player.

APPLICATION FORM & INSTRUCTIONS

EXISTING / RETURNING PLAYERS

NEW PLAYERS

PLAYER NAME: 
CONTACT:
REFERRED BY: Who invited you, please? c:

CHARACTER: 
CANON:
CANON POINT:

BACKGROUND: written or linked history both fine. Bullet points also a-okay. If no information is available in English, please write this out in short.

ABILITIES | POWERS: Include any relevant power restrictions, so you don’t break our playground.

PERSONALITY: make sure this ties back to the character’s time point and background.

SAMPLE: one or more samples to showcase the nuances of your character’s personality. Submit at least one prose sample of five comments or more. You can link memes, PSL or other game threads, provided they took place within the last 12 months. You can also write a single prose sample in the game or character canon setting, if you think you can cover good introspective ground that way, or a top level with enough variety to show how the character engages in various scenarios. 
 
INVENTORY: No world-breaking items. For living or magical beings, or anything colossal (think... Gundams...) please let's talk beforehand!

SUITABILITY: Eastbound is a plot-heavy game that typically features sleuthing, action and the undead. How is your character likely to deal with all that (and the game bear)?

NOTES: Are there any particular accommodations your character will need? How do you propose to handle that?

APPLICATIONS CLOSED

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Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Thank you for your application!

ADMIN

When you have a second, have a last read through the game rules and comment to the TAKEN LIST.

Join

eastbound,

lostcompass,

westwhere. Feel free to make an OOC intro post on

lostcompass, if you want!

All game-relevant updates will be posted on

lostcompass, but if you’re fond of plurk, consider following

eastbound.

Like it says on the application page tin — you can have a maximum of two characters in the game, and you can invite one new person in per month!

If you’re not already served on that front, we have some custom codes to help you set up a character inbox or permissions post. Both are entirely optional, and feel free to customise at will!

NOTES

We are currently in the voyage transitional period to Arc II, Taravast. You can jump right into our latest event, and don’t be shy about asking questions or prodding for information. We’re all in this blood-rain-sighing-witch-ghost-army mystery together.

Yes, Allison destroying the world while saving her sister counts for… something.

It’s down to you and how comfortable you are with working with Allison at full speed, but I’d be happy for her to retain her rumouring ability, on my side. While we might have to cap her powers now and then for plot reasons, there should be no need to give regular NPCs any kind of immunity. They’re here to suffer, like everyone else.

INTRO: Allison has the dubious luck of coming awake inside a decrepit, labyrinthine stone temple whose walls shift and change as she advances. Said walls are fitted with rudimentary carvings featuring armies in various stages of deployment, what appear like practitioners expelling fire and magic, and etchings of an ornate, beautiful citadel that she will be able to recognise as Taravast on arrival. One of the caravan companions might also help her identify the city, if she mentions some of the tell-tale fixtures shown in the carvings ( a twin tower, a waterway crossed by its ten bridges, a circle with five equidistant points ).

Now and then, down the temple halls, Allison will find closed stone tombs and traces of sticky, thickened blood, expressed both as footsteps and as smears that hint something heavy was dragged down. Come sundown — for all the temple lacks windows and will not allow her to tell the time — Allison will start to hear an eerie, repetitive, nearly hypnotic woman’s song. In addition to doing nothing for the atmosphere, the music will seem to stir something alive in many of the temple halls, and Allison might want to hide carefully in side rooms, behind sculptures and in cracked walls for the next hour — amid visceral howls and heavy scratching, as the tomb stone lids are pushed aside, and harpies come out. If Alison spies some of the creatures just as they leave the temple — flying upwards, through a distant, invisible exitway — she may notice they are still coalescing, skin and flesh combining out of a dark, thickening, tar-like substance that coats old, yellowed parts of bone. The harpies will fixate on fleeing and won’t pay their intruder much mind, although some could try to chase down and claw at any source of nearby sound.

If she investigates any of the opened stone tombs once the harpies have departed, Allison may notice that they still hold some ancient bones.

You can let me know here if you’d like Allison to be seen by any of the harpies while she is in the temple, or if she will avoid being detected entirely. This will not affect her intro, but can play into later events.

After a bit more wandering through the temple, Allison will find herself clutched by the stone arms of a sculpture, dragged through the wall and released on the other side, into the canyon of the Stairs of Sighs. There, she can encounter the party caravan.

The sorceress Karsa, an employee of the party’s Merchant benefactor who is currently journeying with the caravan, will provide Allison a flimsy quartz piece that is enchanted to serve as a translation and communication device. In pun-prone fashion, she will assign Allison the username taken for granite. Karsa will also update Allison on the convoy's story so far. If you'd like to keep Five's presence a mystery until their reunion, Karsa can refer to him as 'a small sullen child.'

I will definitely take Allison's powers on a case by case basis, as at this point in her arc she's not likely to go hog-wild. Just let me know when events dictate she be nerfed!

Five should absolutely be referred to as a small sullen child, it's very accurate.

I'm also totally down for the harpies seeing her, please allow her to cause some problems.

Thank you!! Very excited to be here. =D

This all sounds great! Including the ridicule aimed at poor Five.

For now, Allison may notice that she is strangely exempt from any of the attacks or hostilities that the harpies try to inflict on the caravan convoy. If she ever seems on the verge of falling from cliffs or losing her path, the harpies will try to catch her or set her back on her way. Likewise, she might find the harpies sometimes drop... animal remains by her, for feeding. The harpies will not try to initiate contact otherwise.

Awww, harpy friends, she appreciates your efforts.

Lovely! Also, apologies, I neglected to add: Allison is exempted from activity requirements in the month of acceptance (July), while you settle into the game. Thanks!

Thank you! Good to know. =D

PLAYER NAME: Nica
CONTACT:

kuraikun
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE GAME?: Modly Green Light

CHARACTER: Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan)
CANON: Scum Villain's Self-Saving System
CANON POINT: Before waking up in the Heavenly Demon Mosoleum.

BACKGROUND: Wiki Link

ABILITIES | POWERS:
As a Golden Core Cultivator there are a lot of vague abilities that come with the genre, that includes extended life span, aging slowly, increased strength, speed, martial arts prowess and spell work. I will list some of the skills he uses that are easier to group up.

Flying Sword: Using Xiu Ya his spiritual sword, he can fly, technically he can use any spiritual sword to fly with. Though, he will not actually have his sword with him unless he can later regain it.

Talismans: Depending on what is written on them the effect can change, they can explode, dispel, shield, and seal. Shen Qingqiu as a scholar specializes in this and spell work. He also has the ability to duplicate a talisman when in his hands from one to a stack without writing more out. With the right materials, he can make his own.

Martial Arts: As a sword cultivator he is adept with a sword, though he is not as skilled as others who specialize in sword combat, the margin of difference is only noticeable when considering specialties. Otherwise, he is good at both sword and hand-to-hand combat as well as defensive combat primarily using a fan. (Any paper fan will do.)

Qi Infusing: He can infuse objects with qi and control them. He is most notable for doing this with bamboo leaves and using them like razor darts, and on his bamboo fan, which he reinforces and can use as a weapon including blocking swords without them breaking. He can also use qi to conjure strong wind. These techniques he uses the most since he is a defensive fighter.

PERSONALITY:
Shen Yuan in his original life was a bit of an internet troll, or, a rather prolific novel reviewer that was found on every well-known web novel site and review site. Specifically, he was over-invested in Proud Immortal Demon Way, constantly raging about it and its bad writing, while still buying access to new chapters, and every physical print copy (at least 20). This sort of self-inflicted masochism stays with him through transmigration.

Despite his constant internal panic, rage, sarcasm, and roasting, he is fairly good at keeping a straight face outwardly. Though, he is not necessarily as good at keeping up the image as he thinks he is. It’s quite obvious to those who come to know him and are around him frequently to know how he feels, as he wears his sadness, kindness and worries pretty openly. He tries to hide some of his feelings through reprimands and scolding, but it is never in a real heartfelt way. He really had a soft heart.

As a second-generation child and an internet denison Shen Yuan is rather aware of tropes and has a few specific interests. He likes monsters and fights, he is overly aware of novel plot tropes, and he has a soft spot for “moe”. Specifically the type for a young obedient person that you want to protect and keep pure. He is weak to crying and sad faces, and he will internally squeal at pretty and earnest characters that try their best. This is one of the things that makes him weak to Luo Binghe when he first meets him and makes him even more distraught when later he is forced to betray him. You could say he is someone that has a lot of feelings, but keeps them to himself for the most part.

Shen Yuan is incredibly bad at reading other people's emotions and intentions. He’s pretty oblivious of their feelings unless it’s pushed into his face in an obvious way. Some of this is because as a reader of Proud Immortal Demon Way he is assuming things will be exactly like the book, some of it is because in his original life he really didn’t interact with people other than his family and his social skills are a bit low. This leads to a lot of misunderstandings. It also doesn’t help that his answer to problems is to run away from them for the most part. He also has a bad habit of sacrificing himself to the despair of those who love him.

Ideally, Shen Yuan wants to live an idle life where he doesn’t have to do much and is taken care of. Despite this though, he will take care of things that need to be taken care of, and when he sees innocent people in pain or hardship he will go a step above and beyond to help them without thinking of his own safety. But, he would never call himself an altruistic person, or a person who is particularly nice. He thinks he is much harsher than he really is. He would consider himself practical.

Generally, he has a personality that simply accepts the things that happen to him without too much argument, his main goal is to stay alive, and as a nerd he won't argue with the situation in front of him. He will never be a person to say "this is impossible!" when it is clearly happening. In this way he is pretty pragmatic. He does have a bit of a disassociation problem brought on by dying and ending up in a fictional world, where things that are beyond "normal" are treated the way one would fiction. He has read many transmigration and isekai novels, so he uses that as a basis of expectation.

SAMPLE:
Sample 1
Sample 2>
Sample 3

INVENTORY: Burial clothes.

NOTES: Shen Qingqiu suffers from a poison called Without a Cure, this is mostly a plot convenient type poison that only flares up to handicap him and make it so he can't just fight his way out of things. It works by stopping the flow of his qi and eventually causing death. How long it needs to be dealt with after a flair-up is ambiguous, but it's fair to say enough to time that he's not going to die within an hour. (Probably a few days or so.) The treatment is pushing Qi through his body and usually taking a medicine. There should be characters that can help him with this problem if willing, and it isn't a constant thing that really needs to be monitored.

IF ACCEPTED, WOULD YOU WANT A PLOT-LIGHT OR PLOT-HEAVY CUSTOM INTRO? I'm up for either, but I would love a relevant situation intro?

Edited 2021-07-18 12:47 (UTC)

Thank you for your application!

ADMIN

When you have a second, have a last read through the game rules and comment to the TAKEN LIST.

Join

eastbound,

lostcompass,

westwhere. Feel free to make an OOC intro post on

lostcompass, if you want!

All game-relevant updates will be posted on

lostcompass, but if you’re fond of plurk, consider following

eastbound.

Like it says on the application page tin — you can have a maximum of two characters in the game, and you can invite one new person in per month!

If you’re not already served on that front, we have some custom codes to help you set up a character inbox or permissions post. Both are entirely optional, and feel free to customise at will!

You are exempted from activity requirements in July.

NOTES

We are currently in the voyage transitional period to Arc II, Taravast. You can carry on with our latest event, and don’t be shy about asking questions or prodding for information. We’re all in this blood-rain-sighing-witch-ghost-army mystery together.

Reading this wikia entry has been an exceptionally wild ride. Are we sure Luo Binghe isn’t the villain? ~~Did small woodland creatures pee on Shen Qingqiu during his many years as a potato/mushroom????~~

For the remainder of the Stairs of Sighs journey, other characters can help Shen Qingqiu deal with the effects of the poison. Once in Taravast, we can create him a more magically chained solution for his problem.

INTRO:

You’re in dubious luck! Shen Qingqiu earns no worse of a wear introduction than the latest developments. His test drive threads can remain game canon.

As a result of his horsecar ride, he will find that the two undead and Haltham recognise and loosely look after him.

For the duration of the remaining travel down the Stairs of Sighs, the Lord Arha’s ghostly armies will keep a tighter watch on him than on some of his fellows, as the violent arrival of the newcomers prompts them to assume they are connected to sorcery. Shen Qingqiu will find himself frequently searched, his (scant) possessions occasionally rummaged. If he opposes this, he may end up jailed in a nearby tent and watched by the ghost armies for a day.

Because of the eerie nature of his soul following transmigration, he will also register as unhuman and possibly sorcery-linked to another watcher. Upon waking on two of the days following his arrival, he will find written beside him in sand, or in the lingered blood of the red rains, Sister, why do you meddle? and Sister, leave me this one thing.

The sorceress Karsa, an employee of the party’s Merchant benefactor who is currently journeying with the caravan, can update Shen Qingqiu on the story so far.

PLAYER NAME: Rei
CONTACT:

reineke
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE GAME?: ruxi (she has great hair btw)

CHARACTER: Xue Yang
CANON: Mo Dao Zu Shi
CANON POINT: end of Yi City arc – his death

BACKGROUND: Here’s the history section on the wiki.

ABILITIES | POWERS: As per the wiki. Also they didn’t write it in there for some unforgivable reason, but he can carve apple bunnies. He can probably carve other things too. He is so talented.

PERSONALITY: When it comes to Xue Yang’s personality, the word ‘childish’ comes to mind, which has to very firmly be pried away from the usual implication of ‘innocent’ that tends to go hand in hand. Xue Yang is childish in so far as that he perceives the world in his own, self-centred way, both unwilling and seemingly incapable of straying away from that twisted and often delusional viewpoint. However, that does not excuse his actions, as while it is debatable how much it sinks in until the moment they happen, he is aware of consequences, he simply elects not to care about them.

Even his virtues, such as they are, can be traced back to his unique disposition. It is less that he is brave and more that fear does not appear to register with him. Similarly, he seems unbothered by pain, at least as a momentary reaction. He is very willing to indulge in it if he can score some pity.

In spite of not belonging to any cultivation clan and growing up on the streets as a delinquent, Xue Yang has managed to persevere and reach a relatively high cultivation level as well as, even more significantly, mastering demonic cultivation in a way no one other than its founder has. This might be fuelling his contempt towards virtually everyone else, especially cultivators that would be considered above him in status. This perception of himself seems to be somewhat fragile, at least insofar as that he is quite sensitive towards any actual or imagined slight, any inkling that someone might be looking down on him.

His love for sweets of all sorts – pastries, candy, etc. – goes beyond a simple character quirk, as the indulgence in sweets symbolises the freedom and luxury he has earned by becoming as powerful and being as ruthless as he had to.

As a small child, he was naïve and trusting – at least by his own account – and in a very twisted way, that naivety hasn’t truly left him. Only instead of believing the world to be good, he has come to consider it, and everyone in it, evil, which probably enables him to consider any and all of his actions, however twisted they might be, as justified. He expects the worst of the world and proves himself right frequently, lashing out to show the unfairness of the world to others. Finally, when encountering something – or someone – who messes with that perception, he is thrown for a loop.

This someone is Xiao Xingchen, a rogue cultivator who has come down from the mountain to haunt him. After their initial meeting, Xue Yang thought of him as self-righteous, pretentious, and sanctimonious, so over the course of years, he makes it a goal to undo all of that. Ultimately, it can be said, that he does succeed to his own chagrin, although obviously the debt other people had to pay for this absurd idea of revenge was far more tragic. Still, while it is obvious that Xue Yang does care about Xiao Xingchen as much as he possibly can, even if in a terrible way, it never seems to sink in. Throughout his life, up until his death, he displays a severe lack of awareness of his own emotions, at least any other than anger and a surface level cheer and teasing disposition. How much pain he must have felt over his attachment to Xiao Xingchen comes out in his actions, looking at the massacres committed in his name as well as how insulting he finds it that his plan actually worked to split Song Lan from him. Arguably, he loves Xiao Xingchen more than anything, but he has neither the awareness nor the emotional tools to deal with this in any other way than total ruin.

Other than the immense impact that Xiao Xingchen had on his personal journey, a more steady and less agonising presence is Meng Yao – Jin Guangyao – who was the one to recruit him to the Lanling Jin Clan where he proceeded to become the only junior to show any talent for demonic cultivation. (Possibly bar Mo Xuanyu, but that’s a bit of a confusing mess, so who even knows.) His feelings towards Meng Yao remain steadily the same, he is loyal to him, considers him a friend, admires his talents, even if he doesn’t understand his way of handling things, and he shows his positive feelings towards him by acting under his orders, as well as enacting or at least threatening revenge on his behalf without being told. He seems to defer to his authority ultimately, even if he may still act like a brat about it.

SAMPLE: with Xiao Xingchen on the TDM
with Meng Yao for some canon-divergence

INVENTORY: his sword Jiangzai (降灾, Jiàngzāi), hidden in a modified Qiankun sleeve
Yin Tiger Tally, used to control a large number of fierce corpses
some pieces of candy, but not that one piece of candy™ given by Xiao Xingchen
corpse powder – causes an illness that results in death and the victim turning into a fierce corpse if untreated
antidote to corpse powder – made into a sweet potion <3
skull-piercing nails, used to control conscious fierce corpses
two daggers

NOTES: Technically he is very dead and slightly limbless at that canon point, but for the purpose of playability, I'd rather he was alive and in possession of all limbs. Apart from that little finger.

Xiao Xingchen’s player’s approval to come and likely ruin his life a couple more times has been received. Sorry. He’s awful.

IF ACCEPTED, WOULD YOU WANT A PLOT-LIGHT OR PLOT-HEAVY CUSTOM INTRO? I don’t know, how related is plot-heavy to the bear? Honestly, I don’t have a preference, I’ll go with the flow and it will probably be terrible, because it’s him. FOLLOW YOUR HEART or, you know, the path of least resistance.

Edited 2021-07-26 13:07 (UTC)

Hello! So, since you state you'd rather he be alive and in possession of his limbs — would you like to move his canon point to prior to his death, then?

Purely based on the rapid character beats he hits in those moments leading up to his death, I'd ideally like to go the 'resurrected from the dead all intact but remembering the dying' way, if that's possible.

If not, I'm also fine with him just conveniently being 'kinda before getting his arm cut off by some hooligan entirely unprovoked although he did nothing wrong'. Lemme know what works, I don't want to bend game rules unnecessarily!

Honestly, it probably doesn't matter TOO much, I'm pretty convinced he knew he was gonna die a lot. So, yes, tl;dr: ready to roll with either

Thank you for your application!

ADMIN

When you have a second, have a last read through the game rules and comment to the TAKEN LIST.

Join

eastbound,

lostcompass,

westwhere. Feel free to make an OOC intro post on

lostcompass, if you want!

All game-relevant updates will be posted on

lostcompass, but if you’re fond of plurk, consider following

eastbound.

Like it says on the application page tin — you can have a maximum of two characters in the game, and you can invite one new person in per month!

If you’re not already served on that front, we have some custom codes to help you set up a character inbox or permissions post. Both are entirely optional, and feel free to customise at will!

Xue Yang is exempted from activity requirements in July.

NOTES

We are currently in the transitional voyage period to Arc II, Taravast. You can jump right into our latest event, and don’t be shy about asking questions or prodding for information. We’re all in this blood-rain-sighing-witch-ghost-army mystery together.

Xue Yang may arrive dead — in a nod to the character’s dark humour, I leave it at your discretion if he awakens fully intact, or if Anurr and his own undead have to patch him up and seamlessly reunite him with is pieces. They are most surprisingly experienced! But let me know what you choose, for future NPC reference.

Luckily, none of that corpse powder makes it into the opium. ~~For now.~~

INTRO: Xue Yang’s test drive threads can remain game canon, and you’re welcome to architect him an arrival narrative that fits those scenarios.

...but he is dead, oh so dead, dead as a doornail, and he will find upon mingling with the remainder of Arha’s ghost army that they intrinsically take him for one of their own, for all they seem to persist in ignorance of their own demise. So deep and brotherly will be this... dubious... kinship between Xue Yang and his newfound gang that he can (choose to) join them in their midnight watches and overhear their repetitive, often incoherent war conferences: if he attends, Xue Yang will find Arha speaks viciously of conspiracies against him, of witches of Bessis and Attaryl infiltrating the ranks of the caravan passengers and seeking to deceive Arha and his people that they have died — that Hatisse would presume to betray them. Arha will proclaim, more than once, that perhaps he should kill them, one and all, men and children and women also, so they might pay in drinks of their own blood this blasphemy and insult against Hatisse’s good name. He has punished two miscreants who dared utter this wickedness with mere imprisonment before, but the blood rains pour down, Hatisse’s letters grow… confused, and his patience thins. He has killed before in her name, to her honour. What is blood but for shedding?

...some might say, Xue Yang should consider alerting his fellow caravan passengers as soon as possible. Those people might also need a hobby.

Separately, on a more... human note, the sorceress Karsa, an employee of the party’s Merchant benefactor who is currently journeying with the caravan, can bring Xue Yang up to speed with the story so far.

He'll arrive dead, Anurr and his ever so skilful undead can patch him up, he'll be a beautiful corpse!

What will piss him off most is that he won't be able to taste sweets, so he'll be in a hurry to get over that, less bothered by the dead/undead concept as such.

And I'll post a post to show how wise it is to entrust Xue Yang with such vital information!

Roger that! Feel free to assume Anurr and his two undead companion... wave and talk to him grimly, when he passes by. They're good dead people.

PLAYER NAME: BG
CONTACT: PM
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE GAME?: Ruxi

CHARACTER: Zhou Zishu
CANON: Word of Honor
CANON POINT: When the Four Seasons Manor is attacked and he goes out to let them capture him.

BACKGROUND: Wiki page
'The former leader of The Window of Heaven and the former master of the Four Seasons Manor. Zhang Chengling's master, Qin Huaizhang's disciple.

He wants freedom to be able to wander around the world. When he became the master of the Four Seasons Manor after his master's death, he was only sixteen years old and did not have the capacity to lead the Four Seasons Manor. To protect them, he took eighty-one sect members with him to form Tian Chuang, The Window of Heaven under his royal cousin Helian Yi, the Crown Prince of Jin. While serving as the leader of Tian Chuang, he helped Helian Yi rise to power by assassinating key figures and concocting schemes and conspiracies to bring down his political rivals. One memorable scheme results in the deaths of many innocent people, including a little girl he and his friends were acquainted with. After the deaths of the rest of the eighty-one members, he becomes disillusioned and wants to regain his freedom, so he chooses to leave The Window of Heaven by using the technique of Seven Orifices and Three Autumns Nails on himself, leaving him with three years left to live. Taking on the alias of Zhou Xu, he meets Wen Kexing.' [taken from this wiki page]

But as neither are complete, here are major points for the rest of his role through the series:

Meeting Wen Kexing and Zhang Chengling changed Zishu's plans for the rest of his life, though he did his best to avoid it. Because of them, he was drawn into the conflict Kexing caused to gather the pieces of the Glazed Armor and destroy the Five Lakes Alliance in revenge. He started training Chengling, if reluctantly as he only planned to stay alive for a few years and only wanted to enjoy what time he had left.

Getting closer and closer to Kexing showed him a life he'd wanted, but never had, and he accepted the other's decision that they were Fated, or soulmates, and no matter what disagreements, fights, or conflicts that separated them, they always found their way back to the other's side.

Kexing found out Zishu was going to die, and as this was unacceptable, he started hunting for a cure for his 'illness'. This brought them into contact with Ye Baiyi, an immortal martial arts master who knew many techniques. Ye Baiyi agreed to find a way to save Zishu, and left.

Zishu brought Kexing and Chengling back to his home, the Four Seasons Manor, to rebuild and live out the rest of his life (his plan, at least) while they waited for Yi Baiyi to return with the cure. This cure ended up being in the form of old friends of Zishu's, Jing Beiyuan and Wu Xi. But before they could come and administer it, the Manor was attacked and Zishu was captured and taken back to the Window of Heaven. He managed to wound Prince Jin in such a way he'd live, but would have to stay in bed for the rest of his life or die.

Zishu was rescued by juniors still loyal to him. As the Four Seasons Manor was burned to the ground, Zishu was brought to an inn owned by Beiyuan and the cure was finally administered. Through various trickery though, Kexing faked his death unbeknownst to Zishu, which resulted in Zishu expelling the seven nails prematurely so he could be at full strength and avenge Kexing before dying.

Kexing revealed himself to be alive, finished up his revenge. Ghost Valley was attacked and the majority of the sect were killed despite Kexing and Zishu's best efforts. What Zishu did was revealed while Kexing was unconscious, and Zishu went off to the location of the World's Armory to keep the Window of Heaven from gaining access to the knowledge held there. Kexing found out in time to open the door and get the two of them inside before the avalanche wiped out the armies outside.

Zishu and Kexing looked through the Armory and discovered it was actually a depository of knowledge for farming, though it also held some martial arts secrets, one of which would save Zishu's life. They found this secret and performed the ritual together - though Kexing again held knowledge Zishu didn't, which would have ended with Kexing's death for the sake of maintaining Zishu's. Zishu woke in time and managed to come up with a way for them to share their life force, leaving them both immortal but needing to live in a cold climate and eat only snow and ice.

ABILITIES | POWERS:

Master martial artist

Master at disguise: he can disguise himself to the point it's difficult to know when he's in a disguise (this is a sect secret taught to very few outside the Four Seasons Manor)

Medicinal skills: Not a master healer, but knowledgeable enough with poisons and venoms to know what can help heal both with herbs

As part of his sect's form, he can move without leaving any traces

Exceptional hearing: due to canon point, he has no sense of taste or smell, and his sense of touch is diminished. Occasionally he's not able to hear at all over a ringing in his ears, but he has not yet progressed to the point this is permanent.

Knowledge and skill with gardening: the man loves flowers okay

PERSONALITY:
Zishu is known to be ruthless in achieving his goals as well as calculating. Even those who follow him loyally, he expects only the best. He is a harsh task-master and teacher, but expects the same excellence of himself. He will even unflinchingly take on pain if it’s what he’s demanded of his followers. In order to leave the Window of Heaven, he designed and implemented the Torment of Seven Nails. When he chose to leave, he took them on himself. He takes advantage of any situation, generally able to get anyone to talk to him with just a few words and giving the impression of being close friends.

He tends to show a tougher love than many, more likely to be a strict taskmaster and expect the best from anyone he teaches or leads. If someone falls down, he tells them to either get back up and keep going, or leave and never come back. Even with his soulmate, Wen Kexing, he expects Kexing to do the best he can. He tends to be right about judging how far he can push someone before they can’t keep going.

He is a very private person, preferring to keep his feelings to himself. Any pain can be faced, any torment he accepts onto himself. If it's not something he's willing to do to himself, he won't ask it of anyone else. He offers no information unless pressed, or side-steps the questions if not outright ignore them. He’ll willfully take on a disguise and give that information before revealing anything of himself.

As private and cold as he tends to be, once he lets someone in enough to relax a little, he can be outright playful (if in a somewhat odd way). He shows this side of him by teasing, and he will play tricks on them, bully, and pinch. Growing up he was a kind, playful boy and young man, but when he had to take on the role of Sect Leader of the Four Seasons Manor, he had to grow up fast. He gives the appearance of caring very little (including about himself or money) but if someone is stubborn enough to keep after him, he has trouble holding himself away from them.

However he is also very protective, even jealous, of those he’s chosen to let in far enough (Kexing, Chengling, Wu Xi, and Beiyuan to name a few still alive at his canon point) he will do anything it takes to keep them safe, even if they don’t agree with his methods or even that it’s even needed. He’d rather face a danger alone, even if that danger means a likely death for himself, than put his precious people in danger. This also extends to him not valuing his own life (also shown in him punishing himself with the Seven Nails) and didn’t want to put Beiyuan and Wu Xi in danger by going to them for healing.

He is relearning how to appreciate and value his own life, thanks to meeting Wen Kexing and it was clear they were soulmates – he expressed how nice it would be to stand side by side with one’s soulmate.

SAMPLE: TDM w/Wen Kexing, TDM top level, and a network post from another game (from a SLIGHTLY later canon point but I feel still relevant)

INVENTORY:

'Baiyi' - is a whip sword that is flexible enough he keeps it wrapped around his waist unless he's actively using it

Small money bag with a limited amount of silver pieces

Robes he's wearing

Small bag of medicinal herbs

Bundle of 'drunk like a dream' incense sticks - this scent can make someone sleep peacefully, while in other forms can be potent enough to cause hallucinations

NOTES: Maybe a freeze on his looming death? Not a cure, he'd still be troubled by the nails and would have to fight the pain most nights. But they wouldn't sap more of his senses away.

IF ACCEPTED, WOULD YOU WANT A PLOT-LIGHT OR PLOT-HEAVY CUSTOM INTRO? I'm good with either! Surprise me!

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When you have a second, have a last read through the game rules and comment to the TAKEN LIST.

Join

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Like it says on the application page tin — you can have a maximum of two characters in the game, and you can invite one new person in per month!

If you’re not already served on that front, we have some custom codes to help you set up a character inbox or permissions post. Both are entirely optional, and feel free to customise at will!

Zhou Zishu is exempted from activity requirements in July.

NOTES

We are currently in the voyage transitional period to Arc II, Taravast. Here was our latest event, and don’t be shy about asking questions or prodding for information. We’re all in this blood-rain-sighing-witch-ghost-army mystery together.

I’m going to suggest, let’s not pause his sickness, exactly. There’re at most seven-10 days left of the journey to Taravast, and we can hook him up with a healing quest there, if you want. If you’re more comfortable with the sickness-pause route from the get-go, we can do that, but this would make him work for it and prospectively put more of his skin in the (literal) game. Up to you — just let me know in a comment here, either way!

INTRO: Zhou Zishu’s dubious test drive meme adventures can remain canon, and you are very welcome to build a dramatic entrance for him based on those events.

Whether it stalls or continues, Zishu’s chronic and debilitating sickness will earn him the high interest (and misplaced sympathy) of Arha and his ghost army, who remain hostilely posted to supervise the caravan passengers in their travel. He will find them... bemused by him, uncertain how to place him. For all Arha refuses to acknowledge his passing, he is irrevocably lured to things that die, and both the warlord and many of his lieutenants will frequently drift towards Zishu, either holding watch beside him at night, or looming over as he sleeps in a rather creepy manner. Many will offer to assist Zishu with his daily needs, however petty, and they will prove keener to speak with him than with the remainder of the party. If asked, they won’t be able to quite explain their attraction at first — although, as time passes (sharpen your dull ears, Zishu), they might start murmuring that Zishu is as comforting as bones. They will also mime for him to cover his ears when the witch’s song starts each night, and they will be thrilled if he too is indifferent to the stench and feel of the blood rain, explaining it's only what 'made the tar cool and the burn soothe.'

Critically for you: Zishu will enjoy much more of the ghost army's good will, and they’ll be more willing to heed his guidance. Perhaps an advantage to use wisely, considering other recent events.

Separately, the sorceress Karsa, an employee of the party’s Merchant benefactor who is currently journeying with the caravan, can update him the story so far.

PLAYER NAME: Beren
CONTACT:

tinuvielberen
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE GAME?: followed friends' replurks, also given ye olde modly green light
CHARACTER: Wen Kexing
CANON: Word of Honor (drama adaptation of Faraway Wanderers by Priest)
CANON POINT: Crying In The Rain (episode 14)

BACKGROUND: Zhou Zishu is the head of Prince Jin’s secret police, and after years of a life doing terrible things in the shadows and watching his friends die, he has left the prince’s employ to wander the country and do good deeds, to accumulate merits in heaven. Of course, one cannot simply leave the secret police; in order to get away, Zhou Zishu has had to perform a form of slow suicide, and he’ll die in three years.

Thus wandering aimlessly, he stumbles into a 14-year-old boy, Zhang Chengling, whose whole family has been murdered. Zhou Zishu is convinced to bring the boy to safety, to a friend of the family. Along the way, he meets Wen Kexing, who is ostensibly also wandering the country aimlessly, accompanied by his disciple Gu Xiang, a pretty girl who is also a ruthless fighter. Despite Zhou Zishu’s best efforts, Wen Kexing insists on traveling with him.

On this journey, the four of them stumble into a plot involving the major martial arts sects to rediscover the world’s most powerful martial arts technique, strong enough to conquer the world; and the world’s most powerful medical technique, able to heal any ailment and raise the dead. These hidden techniques are as dangerous as they are powerful, and putting the pieces together involves murder, mayhem, and theft.

ABILITIES | POWERS:

Martial artist wuxia stuff including:
- He can manipulate spiritual energy (qi), which is a type of life energy that circulates through the body. It’s a buff for qualities such as speed, stamina, and endurance. Spiritual energy can be manipulated as a weapon or to heal.
- He’s a gifted swordsman, able to take famous sword styles and effortlessly improvise and improve upon them.
- In canon, however, he prefers to kill with a fan.
- He can can suck the life and blood out of a person with a palm strike, leaving their skin grey and withered, resembling a desiccated corpse.
- He can travel extremely quickly, with his feet hardly touching the ground, leaving no trace. He can also jump long distances, seemingly flying, leaping up to rooftops, or running along treetops.
- When fighting near water, can make fountains spring up like at the Las Vegas Bellagio.
- He can sneak up on even high-level martial artists without being noticed.
- He is able to speak softly yet direct his voice at a distance to a specific target.
- He has some medical skills, including being able to treat injuries and poisons.
- His fighting skills are sufficient that he can rule a valley full of the worst martial artist criminals in all of the central plains, holding his top spot for the last eight years; all of his predecessors could hold the top spot for three years at the most, before being assassinated.

PERSONALITY: A man in search of revenge, finds love instead.

After killing his way to the top of the Ghost Valley, an enclave of the jianghu’s worst criminals, Wen Kexing sets up an elaborate, intricate plan to exterminate his enemies. Who are his enemies? Everyone. He despises the “righteous” martial arts community for hurting his father and hounding his family from their home, and the Ghost Valley for brutally murdering his parents and everyone in their village, all for the sake of an armory full of hidden martial arts techniques. In their thirst for power, neither righteous cultivators nor Ghosts cared who they harmed, so Wen Kexing is out to kill them all. There are a couple of exceptions: the Tragicomic Ghost, who protected him as a child in the Ghost Valley, and Gu Xiang, whom he adopted and raised. Everyone else is guilty, in Wen Kexing’s eyes, and they all deserve to die.

Then he meets Zhou Zishu.

Initially, he’s intrigued by the man’s martial arts techniques, noting them to be unusual and familiar, and also thinks that he might prove to be an unpredictable variable in his plans. But when Zhou Zishu takes on the burden of protecting Zhang Chengling, even though he has no relationship to the boy and nothing to gain, Wen Kexing becomes fascinated by him. He attaches himself to the unwilling and uncooperative Zhou Zishu, never taking “no” for an answer. Zhou Zishu has disguised himself with a mask that hides his true appearance; Wen Kexing also wears a mask of sorts, with an attitude and demeanor that is by turns flirtatious, shameless, and childlike, as he follows Zhou Zishu around. He makes a show of being irritatingly cheerful, talking nonsense and invading people’s personal space in a show of excessive friendliness. He calls himself “Philanthropist Wen,” and insists he’s never harmed anyone, often while wiping (someone else’s) blood from his hands.

Despite this unpropitious start to a relationship, Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu quickly become close. This is because they’re both achingly lonely. After his parents were killed and he was taken to the Ghost Valley, Wen Kexing feels that he has had to rely entirely on himself. Though he trusts and cares for Gu Xiang, he believes that she doesn’t understand him. After Alluring Ghost misunderstands his motives, he says to himself unhappily, “Those who know me understand my worries; those who don’t, think I have other intentions.” Wen Kexing feels that, despite the fact that he has been deceiving the man nonstop, Zhou Zishu is the only person he’s ever met who understands him; Zhou Zishu feels the same. Very soon, they begin to think of each other as soulmates.

And then Wen Kexing’s plan to watch the world burn runs into a solid wall of consequences. His plot to spread chaos in the jianghu results, repeatedly, in the death of innocents. Not only that, but his vision of himself as the sole architect of a grand plan is hopelessly flawed: there are other forces behind the scenes, manipulating him the same way he’s been manipulating others. Wen Kexing starts off the series arrogant to the point of hubris. He believes himself to understand every facet of human nature, in all its venality and greed. However, his life experiences are tragically limited, as someone who spent his formative years in the relentlessly brutal environment of the Ghost Valley. Until he meets Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing has little idea of what it means to be human. Indeed, Gu Xiang tells him, “When [Zhou Zishu] is around, you look more like a person.”

Wen Kexing actually believes himself to be a monster. When he’s around other evil Ghosts, he gives into this nature completely. He acts to instill fear, by turns laughing or murdering without reason or warning. In Faraway Wanderers, he’s described by other Ghosts as a “downright madman born for killing.” He tempers his behavior around the few Ghosts that he doesn’t despise, although his attitude generally remains severe and often threatening. Around Zhou Zishu and Zhang Chengling, he affects a different persona: flirtatious, flamboyant, and silly. But when they respond to him with sincerity, he doesn’t know what to do. He’s flustered when Zhang Chengling spontaneously hugs him (and he does this often). When Zhou Zishu tells him, basically, that he loves him and wants to spend the rest of his life with him, Wen Kexing can’t respond. When Zhou Zishu correctly guesses Wen Kexing’s true identity and accepts him as his shidi, Wen Kexing responds by—literally—running away. The reason for this is that he believes himself to be unredeemable, and that if Zhou Zishu knew Wen Kexing’s true nature, he’d cast this shidi of his aside.

Even so, Wen Kexing mourns his lost innocence. Calling himself “Philanthropist Wen,” isn’t only an act, it’s what he wishes he could be. He longs for the life that was taken from him. In a different world, he might have grown up with his family in the Healer Valley, and become a renowned physician. He might have become a person, instead of a monster.

At his current pull point, Wen Kexing has acknowledged his feelings for Zhou Zishu, but also discovered that his soulmate has only a couple of years to live. The prospect of losing another person he cares about is unbearably painful for him, and he falls apart.

SAMPLE: here!

INVENTORY: A large, white fan and a jade xiao

NOTES: none!

IF ACCEPTED, WOULD YOU WANT A PLOT-LIGHT OR PLOT-HEAVY CUSTOM INTRO? plot heavy!

As that sounds fun, I'll take your suggestion to leave his sickness as is! And have him grab that healing quest, yes. :3

You won't regret this!

You might regret this.

I will totally regret this this is all your fault but I love you I GUESS

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