PLAYER NAME: Livvy CONTACT:undecipher INVITE STATUS: Existing player
CHARACTER: Jiang Cheng/Jiang Wanyin CANON: The Untamed CANON POINT: Post-timeskip, prior to learning of Mo Xuanyu's identity.
BACKGROUND: Born to Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan, Jiang Cheng lived a sheltered, privileged life in his home of Lotus Pier. As a child, he went from spoiled only son to youngest of three when his father took in Wei Wuxian whose parents had been killed on a night hunt and left him orphaned and destitute. The pair of them had a rocky start, with Jiang Cheng furious that his dogs had been given away ahead of Wei Wuxian's arrival due to the boy's fear of them. They got over it and became fast friends from there under the watchful eye of their sister Yanli, and together they grew up into more or less fine young lords of the Jiang sect.
There was always some trouble at home, the fact of Wei Wuxian being the son of someone Jiang Fengmian was allegedly in love with. This caused no end of conflict between Jiang Cheng's parents, resulting in their older sister Yanli having to do most of the emotional labor of raising the two boys.
All went well in his life aside from his parents' martial issues until the Wen clan grew greedy and ambitious, their leader Wen Ruohan more or less going off the deep end trying to collect pieces of an incredibly cursed object known as the Shadow Iron. Wei Wuxian got himself caught up in this mess, which meant Jiang Cheng by default had to get himself caught up in it too, going so far as to sneak out of Lotus Pier on his own to hunt down his brother and whatever mess he was getting into.
From there matters escalated, the Wen clan forcing all the heirs of the various rival sects to attend instructional lectures on the Wen clan territory of Qishan where Wei Wuxian's mouth got them into further trouble, up to the point they wound up left for dead in a cave inhabited by a centuries old monster.
They located an escape route but were separated, Jiang Cheng escaping ahead of Wei Wuxian with the promise of returning to with help to rescue him when the monster prevented Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji alone from making it out. Jiang Cheng made good on his word, and once his brother was retrieved the pair of them returned home to Lotus Pier.
Bringing the issue of the Wen clan to his father, Jiang Fengmian quickly set off to neighboring Lanling to consult the Jin sect. Unfortunately, while he was gone the Wen clan laid siege on Lotus Pier, citing retaliation against Wei Wuxian for humiliating Wen Chao. It was a massacre, and by the end of it the entire Jiang sect was slain to the last save for Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli. The three of them were able to get away, but the Wens were only ever one step ahead of them and when they stopped in a neighboring town to rest, Jiang Cheng was caught by their men and dragged back to Lotus Pier.
There, he was essentially stripped of his powers when Wen Zhuliu, a man notorious for his ability to destroy the spiritual cores fundamental to any practitioner's abilities, destroyed his core and left him helpless, a civilian in a time of war. Jiang Cheng took this development very poorly, and eevn after he was rescued by Wei Wuxian and taken to Yiling to recover, he sank into a deep depression. He did not eat or drink or sleep, merely dwelled on his own misery as Wei Wuxian poured himself into desperately trying to fix this.
Eventually, Wei Wuxian came up with a solution. All he could do was trade his core for Jiang Cheng's own, but for Jiang Cheng he was willing to do it. The exchange was made, entirely without Jiang Cheng's knowledge as Wei Wuxian presented the solution to him under false pretenses, and Jiang Cheng was happy, grateful, and none the wiser.
However, they were supposed to meet in town after and though Jiang Cheng waited in town for a week for Wei Wuxian to come back, he never did. Months passed with Jiang Cheng chasing only rumors, unable to accept any outcome other than finding his lifelong companion.
Without a core, however, Wei Wuxian was driven to increasingly desperate, dangerous methodology to defend himself and protect what was important to him.
By the time he was found again, he was different. Changed. Wrong. He would not speak of what happened, and though Jiang Cheng tried to go back to how things once were, Wei Wuxian strayed further and further.
War came. Violent backlash against the Wen clan, as the remaining sects would no longer stand for their aggressions. They called this the Sunshot Campaign, which ended with the death of Wen Ruohan at his fortress of Nightless City. In the aftermath, Wei Wuxian's politics split with the popular view of vilifying, even dehumanizing the Wen sect's members universally, with no regard to the innocent, to the children or the elderly. He stood for them when no one else would, when Jiang Cheng could not, and as a result was cast out of the Jiang sect entirely.
The rebuilt Jiang sect was too tenuous, too fragile to do anything but uphold the status quo, so that was exactly what Jiang Cheng did.
Officially, their relationship was severed but they still maintained contact behind closed doors, much at the behest of Jiang Yanli. Jiang Cheng brought her in her wedding finery for Wei Wuxian to see before her wedding, had Wei Wuxian choose their future nephew's courtesy name. Griping about it the whole while was just part of Jiang Cheng's love language.
For a time, it seemed as though things might yet turn out. Efforts were made by the Jin sect to welcome Wei Wuxian back into the fold. And then, as it were, things took an abrupt turn for the worse. Wei Wuxian lost control of Wen Ning, his resurrected Ghost General, and killed Jin Zixuan, heir to the Jin clan and Jiang Yanli's husband. The death was placed entirely on Wei Wuxian's shoulders, and all the doors that had cracked open for him slammed shut evermore.
The remaining Wens under Wei Wuxian's protection turned themselves in to try to spare Wei Wuxian any further tragedy and disgrace. They were summarily executed, or so went the public announcement from the Jins, and a celebratory gathering was made at Nightless City to scatter the ashes of Wen Qing and Wen Ning with all the sect leaders in attendance.
Deeply unwell by this point, Wei Wuxian stormed the gathering for revenge and somehow, in the fight, Jiang Yanli managed to get caught in the crossfire, taking a blow meant for Wei Wuxian and dying in his arms while Jiang Cheng watched. Reeling from this loss, having come so close to reconciliation and reuniting his remaining family, Jiang Cheng turned on Wei Wuxian completely. Upon witnessing Wei Wuxian attempting to jump off a ledge only to be caught by a desperate Lan Wangji, he followed after, struck out with his sword to try to finish the job. He missed, but Wei Wuxian released Lan Wangji's hand and fell all the same.
After that, Jiang Cheng was a man obsessed. He had a sect to run, an infant to raise, and still he searched the foot of the mountain for Wei Wuxian's body. He found only the flute, and spent the next sixteen years chasing the slightest rumor of Wei Wuxian's enduring existence.
This is, of course, a perfectly well-adjusted hobby for a young man to have, and he is meeting his late thirties as well as can be reasonably expected of him. He remains immaculately dressed, another clear sign of unshakable mental health.
ABILITIES | POWERS: Training in swordplay, archery, and uh whips. Comes with all your bog standard fantasy China magic such as sword-assisted flight, enhanced strength/speed, decelerated aging, and spirit-based exorcism skills. The stunning ability to hold grudges for an incredibly long time.
PERSONALITY: Jiang Cheng is a man who possessive many layers, very few of them flattering. To most he is dour and impersonable, quick to violence with his volatile temper and inflexible (though by no means consistent) standards. He is rash and bullheaded, struggling to see any perspective outside his own. He does not listen to reason when it comes in any way that may put him on the defensive, more likely instead to simply dig his heels in and push back for the sake of pushing back, making him difficult to deal with for even seemingly straightforward tasks. He's the kind of person who will do something he has no interest or desire to do simply because someone he disliked told him he couldn't, who is prone to being contrary for the sake of being contrary.
There's a tense undercurrent of insecurity, too, borne of years of pressure and expectations from the dysfunctional parenting dynamic he was raised with which he's never felt able to live up to. This colors most of his moods and informs most of his actions, that leaves him despondent and discontent in his daily life. He remains hard on himself in the absence of his parents' scrutiny, compulsively competitive in things that have no need to be seen as such.
He's quick to judgement and quicker to retribution, often taking out his foul temper on whoever is closest at hand. This can vary from loud grousing to physical violence, Wei Wuxian bearing the greatest burden of this as both Jiang Cheng's sworn brother as well as the person most willing to put up with him. His relationship with Wei Wuxian is the most central and deeply meaningful connection in his life, especially now that his parents are gone. Though they are both close to their sister Yanli, the two boys grew up together and into each other, personalities opposite but complimentary, often butting heads but their love and loyalty stronger for it.
There is no one who can make Jiang Cheng angrier or more hurt than Wei Wuxian, and he would die for his brother and closest friend without question.
For that matter, Jiang Cheng is also easily made jealous of others' relationships with Wei Wuxian, as his looming (and now realized) future as leader to the Jiang sect feels insurmountable without him. Wei Wuxian has been his only comfort all these long years of never living up to expectation, his promises of support and solidarity carrying him through the worst of their various tumults and clashes with Jiang Cheng's parents.
Jiang Cheng is petty, is stubborn and terse and irate, but although his shortcomings are great and varied, at his core he is a good man struggling both to do his best for his family while trying to understand what that even means. Though he isn't fully cognizant of it, he is not the Jiang clan's voice of reason. In fact, he and Wei Wuxian are more or less the same amount of immature but in completely different ways. Wei Wuxian tends to look without leaping, likes to goof off and have a good time, but when push comes to shove he takes full accountability for his actions and looks after the whole of the group rather than just himself. Meanwhile Jiang Cheng maintains a persistently serious nature but lacks Wei Wuxian's sense of personal responsibility, choosing instead to blame others and make excuses, prone to tantrums and fits. But they're good for each other in that way, each shoring up the other's weaknesses,
That all said, Jiang Cheng is loyal and endlessly loving. Though clumsy to show it, he cares deeply for his family and is primarily driven by the urge to do the right thing, to bring a sense of fairness to a cruel and often senseless world. Wei Wuxian brings both the best and worst out of him, and though he is loathe to admit it, he would not trade that for the world. For all he complains about the trouble Wei Wuxian brings, despite deflecting his brother's pouty plead to be brothers again in the next life, Jiang Cheng wouldn't give Wei Wuxian up for the world. When life gets difficult Jiang Cheng tends to stray from this one absolute truth of his life, but he always comes back to Wei Wuxian in the end. If asked, right now, he would vehemently, violently disagree, but his rage would come from the truth of the fact of it.
Even if he can't see it right now, even if he can't begin to bear imagining it—
He comes back to his family in the end.
The years as sect leader, alone, with no family or even disciples who remember the Lotus Pier of his father's time, have hardened Jiang Cheng at least on surface. He's a tense, unyielding, unsmiling man, severe and steadfast in his leadership. He's vocal about his displeasure and quick to discipline, especially when it comes to the child he raised. His nephew, his sister's son, bears the unique burden of being Jiang Cheng's only surviving relative, both a symbol of his sister's enduring love and a testament to all that has been lost. Jin Ling with the same princess temper they once mocked his father for and his mother's tender heart, having met neither of them.
All of Jiang Cheng's life is strangely cut off in that way. He is all that connects the past and future of Lotus Pier. He alone remembers all the disciples they laid to rest, remembers his family as they truly were, imagines how life might have been different for A-Ling, for all of them, if only they'd lived. He alone is responsible for what comes next, for what becomes of the Yunmeng Jiang legacy. It makes him as tense and joyless as he has ever been, and still he cannot let go of the past.
He ever chases Wei Wuxian's ghost, as he did those months with Lan Wangji when he first went missing, mercilessly punishing those who dare to remind him of the man who failed him the most. Who Jiang Cheng failed in turn.
Jiang Cheng, at the heart of him, is a man who tries to do everything, to be everything, for everyone at all times. And, as a result, he is able to do nothing for anyone in the end.
INVENTORY: Sandu, extremely purple sword. Zidian, electric whip with exorcism properties. Transforms into a bangle in the shape of a snake with an attached ring when not in use. Chenqing, Wei Wuxian's extremely cursed demon flute he's been holding onto for him, a safe and healthy way to cope with the loss of your brother. A small jar of liquor from Lotus Pier. Silk purse with ancient Chinese currency. Gold hair accessories for fixing his nephew's hair with. Purple robe set, silver crown. Cloth pouch of lotus seeds.
NOTES: Punish him for existing, he needs the help.
jiang cheng | the untamed
CONTACT:
INVITE STATUS: Existing player
CHARACTER: Jiang Cheng/Jiang Wanyin
CANON: The Untamed
CANON POINT: Post-timeskip, prior to learning of Mo Xuanyu's identity.
BACKGROUND: Born to Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan, Jiang Cheng lived a sheltered, privileged life in his home of Lotus Pier. As a child, he went from spoiled only son to youngest of three when his father took in Wei Wuxian whose parents had been killed on a night hunt and left him orphaned and destitute. The pair of them had a rocky start, with Jiang Cheng furious that his dogs had been given away ahead of Wei Wuxian's arrival due to the boy's fear of them. They got over it and became fast friends from there under the watchful eye of their sister Yanli, and together they grew up into more or less fine young lords of the Jiang sect.
There was always some trouble at home, the fact of Wei Wuxian being the son of someone Jiang Fengmian was allegedly in love with. This caused no end of conflict between Jiang Cheng's parents, resulting in their older sister Yanli having to do most of the emotional labor of raising the two boys.
All went well in his life aside from his parents' martial issues until the Wen clan grew greedy and ambitious, their leader Wen Ruohan more or less going off the deep end trying to collect pieces of an incredibly cursed object known as the Shadow Iron. Wei Wuxian got himself caught up in this mess, which meant Jiang Cheng by default had to get himself caught up in it too, going so far as to sneak out of Lotus Pier on his own to hunt down his brother and whatever mess he was getting into.
From there matters escalated, the Wen clan forcing all the heirs of the various rival sects to attend instructional lectures on the Wen clan territory of Qishan where Wei Wuxian's mouth got them into further trouble, up to the point they wound up left for dead in a cave inhabited by a centuries old monster.
They located an escape route but were separated, Jiang Cheng escaping ahead of Wei Wuxian with the promise of returning to with help to rescue him when the monster prevented Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji alone from making it out. Jiang Cheng made good on his word, and once his brother was retrieved the pair of them returned home to Lotus Pier.
Bringing the issue of the Wen clan to his father, Jiang Fengmian quickly set off to neighboring Lanling to consult the Jin sect. Unfortunately, while he was gone the Wen clan laid siege on Lotus Pier, citing retaliation against Wei Wuxian for humiliating Wen Chao. It was a massacre, and by the end of it the entire Jiang sect was slain to the last save for Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli. The three of them were able to get away, but the Wens were only ever one step ahead of them and when they stopped in a neighboring town to rest, Jiang Cheng was caught by their men and dragged back to Lotus Pier.
There, he was essentially stripped of his powers when Wen Zhuliu, a man notorious for his ability to destroy the spiritual cores fundamental to any practitioner's abilities, destroyed his core and left him helpless, a civilian in a time of war. Jiang Cheng took this development very poorly, and eevn after he was rescued by Wei Wuxian and taken to Yiling to recover, he sank into a deep depression. He did not eat or drink or sleep, merely dwelled on his own misery as Wei Wuxian poured himself into desperately trying to fix this.
Eventually, Wei Wuxian came up with a solution. All he could do was trade his core for Jiang Cheng's own, but for Jiang Cheng he was willing to do it. The exchange was made, entirely without Jiang Cheng's knowledge as Wei Wuxian presented the solution to him under false pretenses, and Jiang Cheng was happy, grateful, and none the wiser.
However, they were supposed to meet in town after and though Jiang Cheng waited in town for a week for Wei Wuxian to come back, he never did. Months passed with Jiang Cheng chasing only rumors, unable to accept any outcome other than finding his lifelong companion.
Without a core, however, Wei Wuxian was driven to increasingly desperate, dangerous methodology to defend himself and protect what was important to him.
By the time he was found again, he was different. Changed. Wrong. He would not speak of what happened, and though Jiang Cheng tried to go back to how things once were, Wei Wuxian strayed further and further.
War came. Violent backlash against the Wen clan, as the remaining sects would no longer stand for their aggressions. They called this the Sunshot Campaign, which ended with the death of Wen Ruohan at his fortress of Nightless City. In the aftermath, Wei Wuxian's politics split with the popular view of vilifying, even dehumanizing the Wen sect's members universally, with no regard to the innocent, to the children or the elderly. He stood for them when no one else would, when Jiang Cheng could not, and as a result was cast out of the Jiang sect entirely.
The rebuilt Jiang sect was too tenuous, too fragile to do anything but uphold the status quo, so that was exactly what Jiang Cheng did.
Officially, their relationship was severed but they still maintained contact behind closed doors, much at the behest of Jiang Yanli. Jiang Cheng brought her in her wedding finery for Wei Wuxian to see before her wedding, had Wei Wuxian choose their future nephew's courtesy name. Griping about it the whole while was just part of Jiang Cheng's love language.
For a time, it seemed as though things might yet turn out. Efforts were made by the Jin sect to welcome Wei Wuxian back into the fold. And then, as it were, things took an abrupt turn for the worse. Wei Wuxian lost control of Wen Ning, his resurrected Ghost General, and killed Jin Zixuan, heir to the Jin clan and Jiang Yanli's husband. The death was placed entirely on Wei Wuxian's shoulders, and all the doors that had cracked open for him slammed shut evermore.
The remaining Wens under Wei Wuxian's protection turned themselves in to try to spare Wei Wuxian any further tragedy and disgrace. They were summarily executed, or so went the public announcement from the Jins, and a celebratory gathering was made at Nightless City to scatter the ashes of Wen Qing and Wen Ning with all the sect leaders in attendance.
Deeply unwell by this point, Wei Wuxian stormed the gathering for revenge and somehow, in the fight, Jiang Yanli managed to get caught in the crossfire, taking a blow meant for Wei Wuxian and dying in his arms while Jiang Cheng watched. Reeling from this loss, having come so close to reconciliation and reuniting his remaining family, Jiang Cheng turned on Wei Wuxian completely. Upon witnessing Wei Wuxian attempting to jump off a ledge only to be caught by a desperate Lan Wangji, he followed after, struck out with his sword to try to finish the job. He missed, but Wei Wuxian released Lan Wangji's hand and fell all the same.
After that, Jiang Cheng was a man obsessed. He had a sect to run, an infant to raise, and still he searched the foot of the mountain for Wei Wuxian's body. He found only the flute, and spent the next sixteen years chasing the slightest rumor of Wei Wuxian's enduring existence.
This is, of course, a perfectly well-adjusted hobby for a young man to have, and he is meeting his late thirties as well as can be reasonably expected of him. He remains immaculately dressed, another clear sign of unshakable mental health.
ABILITIES | POWERS:
Training in swordplay, archery, and uh whips.
Comes with all your bog standard fantasy China magic such as sword-assisted flight, enhanced strength/speed, decelerated aging, and spirit-based exorcism skills.
The stunning ability to hold grudges for an incredibly long time.
PERSONALITY: Jiang Cheng is a man who possessive many layers, very few of them flattering. To most he is dour and impersonable, quick to violence with his volatile temper and inflexible (though by no means consistent) standards. He is rash and bullheaded, struggling to see any perspective outside his own. He does not listen to reason when it comes in any way that may put him on the defensive, more likely instead to simply dig his heels in and push back for the sake of pushing back, making him difficult to deal with for even seemingly straightforward tasks. He's the kind of person who will do something he has no interest or desire to do simply because someone he disliked told him he couldn't, who is prone to being contrary for the sake of being contrary.
There's a tense undercurrent of insecurity, too, borne of years of pressure and expectations from the dysfunctional parenting dynamic he was raised with which he's never felt able to live up to. This colors most of his moods and informs most of his actions, that leaves him despondent and discontent in his daily life. He remains hard on himself in the absence of his parents' scrutiny, compulsively competitive in things that have no need to be seen as such.
He's quick to judgement and quicker to retribution, often taking out his foul temper on whoever is closest at hand. This can vary from loud grousing to physical violence, Wei Wuxian bearing the greatest burden of this as both Jiang Cheng's sworn brother as well as the person most willing to put up with him. His relationship with Wei Wuxian is the most central and deeply meaningful connection in his life, especially now that his parents are gone. Though they are both close to their sister Yanli, the two boys grew up together and into each other, personalities opposite but complimentary, often butting heads but their love and loyalty stronger for it.
There is no one who can make Jiang Cheng angrier or more hurt than Wei Wuxian, and he would die for his brother and closest friend without question.
For that matter, Jiang Cheng is also easily made jealous of others' relationships with Wei Wuxian, as his looming (and now realized) future as leader to the Jiang sect feels insurmountable without him. Wei Wuxian has been his only comfort all these long years of never living up to expectation, his promises of support and solidarity carrying him through the worst of their various tumults and clashes with Jiang Cheng's parents.
Jiang Cheng is petty, is stubborn and terse and irate, but although his shortcomings are great and varied, at his core he is a good man struggling both to do his best for his family while trying to understand what that even means. Though he isn't fully cognizant of it, he is not the Jiang clan's voice of reason. In fact, he and Wei Wuxian are more or less the same amount of immature but in completely different ways. Wei Wuxian tends to look without leaping, likes to goof off and have a good time, but when push comes to shove he takes full accountability for his actions and looks after the whole of the group rather than just himself. Meanwhile Jiang Cheng maintains a persistently serious nature but lacks Wei Wuxian's sense of personal responsibility, choosing instead to blame others and make excuses, prone to tantrums and fits. But they're good for each other in that way, each shoring up the other's weaknesses,
That all said, Jiang Cheng is loyal and endlessly loving. Though clumsy to show it, he cares deeply for his family and is primarily driven by the urge to do the right thing, to bring a sense of fairness to a cruel and often senseless world. Wei Wuxian brings both the best and worst out of him, and though he is loathe to admit it, he would not trade that for the world. For all he complains about the trouble Wei Wuxian brings, despite deflecting his brother's pouty plead to be brothers again in the next life, Jiang Cheng wouldn't give Wei Wuxian up for the world. When life gets difficult Jiang Cheng tends to stray from this one absolute truth of his life, but he always comes back to Wei Wuxian in the end. If asked, right now, he would vehemently, violently disagree, but his rage would come from the truth of the fact of it.
Even if he can't see it right now, even if he can't begin to bear imagining it—
He comes back to his family in the end.
The years as sect leader, alone, with no family or even disciples who remember the Lotus Pier of his father's time, have hardened Jiang Cheng at least on surface. He's a tense, unyielding, unsmiling man, severe and steadfast in his leadership. He's vocal about his displeasure and quick to discipline, especially when it comes to the child he raised. His nephew, his sister's son, bears the unique burden of being Jiang Cheng's only surviving relative, both a symbol of his sister's enduring love and a testament to all that has been lost. Jin Ling with the same princess temper they once mocked his father for and his mother's tender heart, having met neither of them.
All of Jiang Cheng's life is strangely cut off in that way. He is all that connects the past and future of Lotus Pier. He alone remembers all the disciples they laid to rest, remembers his family as they truly were, imagines how life might have been different for A-Ling, for all of them, if only they'd lived. He alone is responsible for what comes next, for what becomes of the Yunmeng Jiang legacy. It makes him as tense and joyless as he has ever been, and still he cannot let go of the past.
He ever chases Wei Wuxian's ghost, as he did those months with Lan Wangji when he first went missing, mercilessly punishing those who dare to remind him of the man who failed him the most. Who Jiang Cheng failed in turn.
Jiang Cheng, at the heart of him, is a man who tries to do everything, to be everything, for everyone at all times. And, as a result, he is able to do nothing for anyone in the end.
SAMPLE: tdm sample
INVENTORY:
Sandu, extremely purple sword.
Zidian, electric whip with exorcism properties. Transforms into a bangle in the shape of a snake with an attached ring when not in use.
Chenqing, Wei Wuxian's extremely cursed demon flute he's been holding onto for him, a safe and healthy way to cope with the loss of your brother.
A small jar of liquor from Lotus Pier.
Silk purse with ancient Chinese currency.
Gold hair accessories for fixing his nephew's hair with.
Purple robe set, silver crown.
Cloth pouch of lotus seeds.
NOTES: Punish him for existing, he needs the help.