Post by Lady Xian Zheng Fa on Nov 25, 2009 10:12:14 GMT
Name: Xian Zheng Fa
Age: 23
Sex: Female
Class: Noble (?)
Appearance: In violation of the traditions of her distant home, Xian has cut her black hair rather short for the sake of convenience; having been travelling for almost all of her adult life so far, she has lost some of the feelings of obligation towards the rigid social standards towards appearances. Having been travelling for so long also meant she did not have the opportunity to provide any sort of consistent care to her hair, and it has been quite damaged despite the treatments she received during her stays in the "Seljuk Lands" and "Delhi Lands". Her eyes are black and oval, and she is rather sensitive about dusts getting in there.
Standing at 5'6'' with a very small and thin build, Xian is not the one to exude any type of physical intimidation. Her followers managed to bring several of exuberant ceremonial robes with them all the way from the "City of Perpetual Peace", but Xian feels too comfortable in commoner clothings after having traveled in them for 6 years.
Played by Soo Jung Im
Character: Xian was once a clueless, naive daughter of a nobleman whose astonishing skills in languages domestic and foreign had caught the emperor's attention. Six years of harsh traveling and seeing the world, however, had completely changed who she was. Confident and resourceful, Xian tends to rely on her guile and wit to solve her problems. This also means that she is very calculating, and therefore is naturally skeptical of strangers. She also rarely show people around her what she is really thinking or feeling, and this definitely gets in the way of her making new genuine friends in strange lands.
Having witnessed such wondrous lands like the Seljuk and the Delhi (not to mention her own home), she tends to look down on the people of Camelot - this goes especially true for the nobles, who she considers worse than the peasants (who at least know that their kingdom is backwards). While her deceptively intelligent mind keeps such thoughts from being expressed most of the time,
sometimes Xian let it slip without realizing it.
Her experiences in the Delhi Lands, where a strong, capable noblewoman ruled, and her patriarchal background (serving as the base to her overcompensation), tend to make her overreact to implications that she cannot do something because she is a woman. Short of settings that require absolute self-control, she will fly off the handle and do everything she can to prove that implication wrong. This has landed her in great trouble in the Seljuk land, and she had to run for her life from there.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
Strengths:
Very confident attitude
Intelligent mind with a flair for linguistics
A cunning and calculating mind
Ropedart/Meteor hammer mastery
Near-perfect control of her outward actions and expressions
Weaknesses:
Very skeptical and tend to over-analyze everyone
Consequently finds it hard to experience true friendship
Gender inferiority complex tend to override even her most rational side of her mind
Very condescending to her current surroundings
Not completely fluent in the language of Camelot
Magic:
None - in fact, this little tidbit was unknown to Xian until she arrived at Camelot.
Weaponry Skills:
Xian, like all men and women of noble class in her homeland, has learned one self-defense skill; her parents chose ropedart/meteor hammer for her in order to compensate for and maximize the advantages of her small, thin figure. Completely useless on horseback (as she had never learned the variation), Xian uses a metal-chain variety rather than the traditional rope variety.
Character History: Born to the noble family that has provided scholars and scribes for the dynasty since its inception, Xian's status as a prodigy was confirmed when she managed to learn rudimentary Jurchen from ambassadors that her parents were hosting; she was five. After going through the traditional education of a noblewoman as well as learning many different languages of the kingdoms and empires that interacted with her homeland, she was selected to work as part of the diplomacy corp immediately after reaching adulthood.
The emperor, being a curious and active mind himself, decided to send out a group of explorers and scribes to the west in order to learn more about the foreign customs, cultures, and histories. Xian was chosen for her linguistic abilities and her skills in writing, and her family was honored to send her daughter to such an important mission at such a young age.
Life on the Silk Road was harsh but transformative for the young Xian, who learned to be self-sufficient and resourceful as she adapted to the bleak realities of the road. After passing through the Gtsan empire, the group decided to stay in the Delhi Sultanate for a year while studying its rich and advanced culture and lifestyle. Xian took part in opening the relations with its female Sultan, and her admiration for the capable, independent woman clashed violently with her patriarchal upbringings, leading her to develop her complex.
The group moved on to the Seljik dynasty, where the culture and lifestyle were as advanced and rich. Xian's outburst with one of the Sultan's grandsons, however, cut their stay very short and had them flee for their lives.
After witnessing the disappointing civilizations in existence west of Seljik, the group decided to move on south to the land of Flowing Gold while leaving the much less desirable western expedition to the youngest of the scribes, Xian. Making her way through the primitive tribes and pseudo-kingdoms, she had heard a rumor of a relatively advanced kingdom in existence on a westernmost island. Intrigued, she went on with only a few servants left under her will.
Having arrived at the island, Xian spent three years learning the local language while posing as a foreign performer to earn money. Once she was satisfied with her handle of the language, she cleaned herself up and moved on to Camelot to chronicle the last lingering hope of the worthiness of exploring the westernmost lands. Little did she know...
Additional Information:
Note on the character creation:
This character was completely inspired by that Monglian looking "knight" that appeared during the knight competition on the 1st season, 2nd episode. I thought it was quite fascinating to see the show exploring the extent and impact of the Silk Road unto a mythical place like Camelot, and I strove to do the similar.
...and I was reading Journey to the West as well... ;D
Essentially, I saw her as a chronicler/historian of sort who would observe & record the adventures and wonders of Camelot and send it back to her homeland for everyone to read it.
Sample Roleplay:
[Optional] OOC Section:
Name: Kay
Location: Arizona
How long have you been RPing for: about a year... I think?
Any other characters on the site?: Nope
Age: 23
Sex: Female
Class: Noble (?)
Appearance: In violation of the traditions of her distant home, Xian has cut her black hair rather short for the sake of convenience; having been travelling for almost all of her adult life so far, she has lost some of the feelings of obligation towards the rigid social standards towards appearances. Having been travelling for so long also meant she did not have the opportunity to provide any sort of consistent care to her hair, and it has been quite damaged despite the treatments she received during her stays in the "Seljuk Lands" and "Delhi Lands". Her eyes are black and oval, and she is rather sensitive about dusts getting in there.
Standing at 5'6'' with a very small and thin build, Xian is not the one to exude any type of physical intimidation. Her followers managed to bring several of exuberant ceremonial robes with them all the way from the "City of Perpetual Peace", but Xian feels too comfortable in commoner clothings after having traveled in them for 6 years.
Played by Soo Jung Im
Character: Xian was once a clueless, naive daughter of a nobleman whose astonishing skills in languages domestic and foreign had caught the emperor's attention. Six years of harsh traveling and seeing the world, however, had completely changed who she was. Confident and resourceful, Xian tends to rely on her guile and wit to solve her problems. This also means that she is very calculating, and therefore is naturally skeptical of strangers. She also rarely show people around her what she is really thinking or feeling, and this definitely gets in the way of her making new genuine friends in strange lands.
Having witnessed such wondrous lands like the Seljuk and the Delhi (not to mention her own home), she tends to look down on the people of Camelot - this goes especially true for the nobles, who she considers worse than the peasants (who at least know that their kingdom is backwards). While her deceptively intelligent mind keeps such thoughts from being expressed most of the time,
sometimes Xian let it slip without realizing it.
Her experiences in the Delhi Lands, where a strong, capable noblewoman ruled, and her patriarchal background (serving as the base to her overcompensation), tend to make her overreact to implications that she cannot do something because she is a woman. Short of settings that require absolute self-control, she will fly off the handle and do everything she can to prove that implication wrong. This has landed her in great trouble in the Seljuk land, and she had to run for her life from there.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
Strengths:
Very confident attitude
Intelligent mind with a flair for linguistics
A cunning and calculating mind
Ropedart/Meteor hammer mastery
Near-perfect control of her outward actions and expressions
Weaknesses:
Very skeptical and tend to over-analyze everyone
Consequently finds it hard to experience true friendship
Gender inferiority complex tend to override even her most rational side of her mind
Very condescending to her current surroundings
Not completely fluent in the language of Camelot
Magic:
None - in fact, this little tidbit was unknown to Xian until she arrived at Camelot.
Weaponry Skills:
Xian, like all men and women of noble class in her homeland, has learned one self-defense skill; her parents chose ropedart/meteor hammer for her in order to compensate for and maximize the advantages of her small, thin figure. Completely useless on horseback (as she had never learned the variation), Xian uses a metal-chain variety rather than the traditional rope variety.
Character History: Born to the noble family that has provided scholars and scribes for the dynasty since its inception, Xian's status as a prodigy was confirmed when she managed to learn rudimentary Jurchen from ambassadors that her parents were hosting; she was five. After going through the traditional education of a noblewoman as well as learning many different languages of the kingdoms and empires that interacted with her homeland, she was selected to work as part of the diplomacy corp immediately after reaching adulthood.
The emperor, being a curious and active mind himself, decided to send out a group of explorers and scribes to the west in order to learn more about the foreign customs, cultures, and histories. Xian was chosen for her linguistic abilities and her skills in writing, and her family was honored to send her daughter to such an important mission at such a young age.
Life on the Silk Road was harsh but transformative for the young Xian, who learned to be self-sufficient and resourceful as she adapted to the bleak realities of the road. After passing through the Gtsan empire, the group decided to stay in the Delhi Sultanate for a year while studying its rich and advanced culture and lifestyle. Xian took part in opening the relations with its female Sultan, and her admiration for the capable, independent woman clashed violently with her patriarchal upbringings, leading her to develop her complex.
The group moved on to the Seljik dynasty, where the culture and lifestyle were as advanced and rich. Xian's outburst with one of the Sultan's grandsons, however, cut their stay very short and had them flee for their lives.
After witnessing the disappointing civilizations in existence west of Seljik, the group decided to move on south to the land of Flowing Gold while leaving the much less desirable western expedition to the youngest of the scribes, Xian. Making her way through the primitive tribes and pseudo-kingdoms, she had heard a rumor of a relatively advanced kingdom in existence on a westernmost island. Intrigued, she went on with only a few servants left under her will.
Having arrived at the island, Xian spent three years learning the local language while posing as a foreign performer to earn money. Once she was satisfied with her handle of the language, she cleaned herself up and moved on to Camelot to chronicle the last lingering hope of the worthiness of exploring the westernmost lands. Little did she know...
Additional Information:
Note on the character creation:
This character was completely inspired by that Monglian looking "knight" that appeared during the knight competition on the 1st season, 2nd episode. I thought it was quite fascinating to see the show exploring the extent and impact of the Silk Road unto a mythical place like Camelot, and I strove to do the similar.
...and I was reading Journey to the West as well... ;D
Essentially, I saw her as a chronicler/historian of sort who would observe & record the adventures and wonders of Camelot and send it back to her homeland for everyone to read it.
Sample Roleplay:
The rain was driving Xian crazy. Never had she seen such strings of dreary weather, even in the Southlands or the land beyond that. Wiping her eyes to clear her vision yet again, she searched the horizon again hoping for any sign of villages or forts... or even any sign of human civilization.
"My lady!" One of the servants that Xian never bothered to learn the name of spoke out. "Perhaps we should break camp in that forest!" Xian shook her head and answered,
"The village elder told me to avoid the forests; apparently, there are bandits all over this place just looking for a chance to strike." However, she thought irritably, I might as well risk it before I catch one of those awful island diseases.
Her observation of the island has, so far, been less than impressive. Some of the "villages" were much worse off than even the most rudimentary civilizations on the continents that she had observed, and even large population centers were run over with unsanitary conditions and pure barbarisms. "Westernlanders..." she spat bitterly, "This Camelot better be worth all this trouble."
The southernlanders, she had heard, were even richer and more advanced than the Seljiks or even the Delhis. Some of their cities were so wealthy, the story went, they coated all of their buildings in precious stones and gems. "That's the kind of thing the emperor is interested in, not..." she wiped her face again while brushing her hair upward to keep it out of her eyes, "not the perpetual-rainland." While she pondered calling the island 'Perpetual Rainland' in her chronicle, the weather ironically turned for the better as rain began to subside and some sunlight could be finally observed.
"My lady!" Another servant, whose name remained an impertinent mystery to Xian, exclaimed while pointing at something. "I believe that is the capital of Camelot!" Somewhat excited to see the reason she had spent three years learning the ridiculous language, Xian observed a modestly sized castle with a predictable designs and patterns that she had seen throughout the entire Westernlands.
"... That's it?"
"My lady!" One of the servants that Xian never bothered to learn the name of spoke out. "Perhaps we should break camp in that forest!" Xian shook her head and answered,
"The village elder told me to avoid the forests; apparently, there are bandits all over this place just looking for a chance to strike." However, she thought irritably, I might as well risk it before I catch one of those awful island diseases.
Her observation of the island has, so far, been less than impressive. Some of the "villages" were much worse off than even the most rudimentary civilizations on the continents that she had observed, and even large population centers were run over with unsanitary conditions and pure barbarisms. "Westernlanders..." she spat bitterly, "This Camelot better be worth all this trouble."
The southernlanders, she had heard, were even richer and more advanced than the Seljiks or even the Delhis. Some of their cities were so wealthy, the story went, they coated all of their buildings in precious stones and gems. "That's the kind of thing the emperor is interested in, not..." she wiped her face again while brushing her hair upward to keep it out of her eyes, "not the perpetual-rainland." While she pondered calling the island 'Perpetual Rainland' in her chronicle, the weather ironically turned for the better as rain began to subside and some sunlight could be finally observed.
"My lady!" Another servant, whose name remained an impertinent mystery to Xian, exclaimed while pointing at something. "I believe that is the capital of Camelot!" Somewhat excited to see the reason she had spent three years learning the ridiculous language, Xian observed a modestly sized castle with a predictable designs and patterns that she had seen throughout the entire Westernlands.
"... That's it?"
[Optional] OOC Section:
Name: Kay
Location: Arizona
How long have you been RPing for: about a year... I think?
Any other characters on the site?: Nope
