wei wuxian & empatheias

[rikoren]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Kes
Contact: rikoren
Age: 29
Current Characters: n/a


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Wei Wuxian
Age: ~24
Canon: Mo Dao Zu Shi
Canon Point: Chapter 67 (on the way to his old base)

Background:
The Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian, infamous among Daoist cultivation clans for his widely disapproved-of research into forbidden arts, was once a precocious teenager whose worst crime was pranking his classmates in school...and then one day the Wen clan, already thinking of themselves as leaders of all the clans in China, annihilated his adopted clan and abandoned Wuxian in a zombie-infested corpse dump on Luanzhang Hill. Having invented what was basically necromancy in order to survive, he came out three months later as a much paler, angrier young man, and subsequently slaughtered thousands of Wen clan members with his newfound powers over the undead. While these accomplishments were lauded during the war against the Wen clan (which had started during those three months he was missing), as soon as the war was over, the rumours began to turn malignant. His being more hot-tempered than he once was caused a good number of public fights and arguments, which in turn broke his relations with basically all the other clans, leaving what remained of his own adopted family to live on his own at the corpse hill from which he'd once escaped. Wuxian's increasingly bad habit of acting on instinct, letting his emotions getting the better of him, etc. eventually led to the deaths of a good number of people, some of which were very important political figures, some of which he deeply cared for, all of which were blamed on him. Soon enough the clans united to assault his "base" on Luanzhang Hill, slaughtering the "dissidents" he'd been living with and ensuring there weren't even ashes left of Wei Wuxian's body. His reputation lived on years after he'd died, with even common villagers blaming him for things like illness, natural disasters, or plain old bad luck.

Thirteen years later, a young man named Mo Xuanyu, having been kicked out of his sect, mocked and ridiculed by his family, uses one of Wei Wuxian's spells to summon his spirit for revenge, sacrificing his own life in the process. Wuxian, now "reborn" in Mo Xuanyu's body, then gets to watch as his new family gets systematically slaughtered by an angry disembodied hand (entirely unrelated to his summoning, though it helpfully kills everyone he was supposed to get rid of) before running away to avoid detection by the Lan clan, which came to exorcise it. His travels, however, are almost immediately interrupted when he gets caught and dragged home by the second head of the Lan clan, Lan Wangji. Wangji is surprisingly kinder to him than he'd expected, though, and the two eventually head out on a journey to collect the rest of the ghost hand's body together.

While traveling across China in search of body parts, the two uncover the truth behind a pair of famous practitioners' long-ago disappearance, babysit the Lan clan's many students, deepen their relationship with each other, and consistently keep running into Wuxian's old sect brother Jiang Cheng, current head of the Jiang clan and also a guy who really wants him to die a few hundred more times. Despite all the distractions, the two eventually manage to piece together all but the head, but the body itself is familiar enough to recognize as the leader of the Nie clan, and based on clues they'd picked up on their journey, they decide that Jing Guangyao (an incredibly high-ranking member of the Jing clan, and close friend to Wangji's older brother) must be the culprit. Wuxian uses his magic to sneak into Guangyao's private chambers during a big conference, only to get caught by the man in question, who - using quick wit and amazing acting skills - not only manages to hide the evidence before the others can catch him, but also manages to out Wuxian as the infamous criminal brought back from the dead. Having been outed in front of probably every important clan head in the cultivation world, Wuxian and Wangji go on the run, hoping to find more clues and solutions while taking less-traveled back roads through the countryside. This eventually leads them to hear that someone's been masquerading as the Yiling Patriarch, and practicing using his long-lost zombie-controlling talisman. The two immediately decide to head back there, not realizing all those important clan heads from before are also heading to that same spot...

Personality:
Wei Wuxian is a happy-go-lucky troublemaker whose favorite activities include playing pranks, annoying people, and just plain stirring up trouble. He was that kid in school who skipped classes, never did his homework, and somehow aced every exam. He's impulsive too, acting and speaking largely on instinct, a habit which sometimes tends to hurt rather than help the situation. His outgoing personality makes it easy for him to make friends, however, and most of the people he runs into tend to enjoy his company for the most part. It helps that he's a positive person, too, always keeping a smile on his face regardless of the situation - he was smiling when his adopted father first found him as a homeless child on the streets, he took his adopted mother's constant berating without ever getting angry or talking back, and his first reaction to getting reborn is to make dumb complaints and run wild for a week. Even when stuck on a dangerous journey with the famously expressionless Lan Wangji (his favorite prank target as a child), he takes every chance he can get to joke around with him, even managing to get him drunk a couple times. Death apparently calmed him down quite a lot as well, the angry impulsiveness of his youth replaced with a greater willingness to watch the situation before trying to cause any trouble - though he still gets into quite a lot of trouble, regardless of the lack of malice in his intentions. The friendliness can go a little far, too: he had a reputation as a huge flirt in life, because he saw nothing wrong with calling girls cute or teasing them on a whim. He never had much of a sense of personal space to begin with, either...and yet, despite being such a flirt, he never seems to notice the fact one of his friends is head-over-heels in love with him.

Despite the silly attitude, Wuxian is kind at heart, and can't bear to watch others suffer needlessly if he can do something about it. The novels mention at one point that when he sees a girl crying he can't help but try to tease a smile out of them, and that the sight of a man in tears is terrifying to him. There are scenes throughout the novels where he causes trouble to draw attention away from others, or lets himself get seriously injured to help them - during one fight against a gigantic turtle monster, he nearly gets himself killed trying to make sure everyone gets out safe, tears his own clothes to use as bandages for Wangji, and gives away the only bit of medicine he has, causing his own wounds to fester. His self-sacrificing love can be said to be a little extreme, in fact, as 17-year-old Wuxian was willing to let his own arm get cut off to keep his family safe. Adding to this, he has a short-term memory in regards to what acts of kindness he might happen to give; favors he does for others are often forgotten by the end of the day, and he forgets injuries/insults done to himself basically the second it stops hurting. While he's no longer the genius practitioner he was in his previous life, he still retains a strong sense of responsibility, unable to resist using what little ability he has left to help those around him. His deductive reasoning skills are developed enough he manages to solve the mystery of the undead hand long before the Lan kids do, as well as the mystery of whatever killer creature is wandering the mountain where he first gets caught by Wangji. He knows perfectly well when to keep quiet and follow rules; it's just that he doesn't bother a good chunk of the time. If it's a situation where his actions might affect people he cares for, he's perfectly willing to keep his head down and take whatever pain or humiliation might come for him. His personal reputation isn't something he cares for at all though, which is why he's so willing to play around or throw himself to the dogs when given the option - though admittedly being treated like the world's greatest criminal does hurt his feelings somewhat, and he gets noticeably worried whenever he hears rumors of another terrible crime getting attached to his name.

Lastly, having lost everything near and dear to him in his previous life, and starting at zero in his new one, Wuxian has subconsciously become sort of needy - he's desperate for affection. While he never outwardly shows this, flippant and inured to death as he is, it does mean he softens more easily than he used to, and is more willing to bend to keep a friend. He also has a serious phobia of dogs, his greatest weakness, which Jiang Cheng and his nephew both happily take advantage of a couple times. (While he doesn't remember anything of his childhood on the streets, somehow the memory of getting chased by stray dogs is the one thing that stayed.)

Abilities:
- Can see/sense/communicate with the dead
- Can control lower-level undead
- Can create written talismans on the fly (flame spells, spirit-sealing pouches, evil-attracting flags, etc.)
- Can make lifelike puppets to do his bidding (with pre-made figures, he's not Gepetto)
- Can transfer his soul to other objects (limited time, risk of injury to his soul if the vessel gets so much as scratched)
- A master of the flute (songs also used for spellwork)
- Great art skills
- Good with a sword
- Insanely high tolerance for spicy foods and alcohol

Alignment: Daimonia! He's always been a positive thinker, finding joy in anything both big and small, and loves instilling joy in others - or getting a smile out of them with his mischief, at least. (But when he gets hit with grief it's absolutely crushing.)

Other:
I've only just started reading the english translations so if anybody else is into this series I apologize in advance for probably accidentally renaming a few things!


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉

General Sample: TDM toplevel and tdm thread

Emotion Sample: Toplevel feels prompt, this tag


Questions: He's got an item pouch that can hold infinite stuff and another that can contain spirits, are those okay to keep?