The Scrolls

[Kwokinator]

Alright, post character sheets here, people ^_^

Some history, maybe personality, his/her skills in the various skills, etc. ^_^

Merc, Edward, Corwin, Liddo-kun and Jeram are all in, although the plushie said he's probably gonna watch and decide if he wants to join ^_^

[Edward]

Shan Zhu-Lin

Zhu-Lin is an orphan.  He has a dragon tattoo on his right forearm and has wondered if he has siblings.  He was raised by an old herbalist and healer, Shan Lao, who lived in the forest, near a lesser-traveled road.  Zhu-Lin heard tales of adventures from the few travelers he saw.  About a year ago, Shan Lao died and Zhu-Lin set off seeking adventure.

Zhu-Lin is slender, just below average height, and slightly sensitive about it.  He's also agile, moderately strong, and has an excellent sense of balance.  He dresses simply, typically wearing a loose green tunic and dark slacks, and is not particularly concerned with wealth.  Typically, he has a small pouch of medicinal herbs and bandages, a few coins, a staff, and a bamboo flute.

Zhu-Lin is at home in the woods and is hard to detect if he doesn't want to be seen or heard, still and silent as the forest.  He can survive quite nicely there by gathering edible plants and making snares for small animals.  Zhu-Lin can swim.  In more civilized areas, Zhu-Lin will use his medicinal skills or play the flute in return for lodging or the few coins he needs.

Zhu-Lin is somewhat of a free spirit, going where the wind takes him.  Barring a specific goal, he will stand his staff at any fork in the road and go the way it falls.   He is idealistic and somewhat naive.  He hates bullies and injustice and will always take the side of the oppressed.  He's heard of the Ming Sect and would cheerfully help others against them.

Zhu-Lin is also chivalrous and will definitely aid a woman of any age, though he prefers aiding young and comely ones.  He's also a bit too trusting of women, and would have a hard time striking a woman in battle unless she was threatening someone weaker.  If a woman chooses to offer her favors as reward for Zhu-Lin aiding or protecting her, he will not refuse unless she is married or betrothed.  But he does not expect any reward, either intimate or monetary for helping others.  Given the anime-style chance to observe a young woman (or better still women) bathing, he would, and he's quiet enough he probably wouldn't be noticed.  Though if caught, he would take the beating.

Zhu-Lin is also somewhat of a romantic and would aid any couple that loved each other in being together, even if it angered their parents or authority figures.  He is unconcerned with wealth and if he somehow came into some money, it would be given to those in need, favoring orphans, poor families who would otherwise have to sell a daughter to a brothel to survive, and young couples needing a stake to elope or get a good start in life.

Skills – General

Herbalist, Medicine, Survival, Stealth, Swimming

Skills - Wuxia.

Zhu-Lin is better at defense than offense, evasion than parrying.  He's definitely better at fighting large numbers of average opponents than a lone powerful foe.

Anqi

Zhu-Lin can hurl hidden bamboo 'needles' or chopsticks short distances.  He cannot hurl them hard enough to penetrate armor and they would generally be no more than annoyances unless the eyes or open mouth were targeted, something he would only do in extreme circumstances.   While he could use his medicinal skills to put a sleeping draught on the bamboo needles, he has never needed to and this would take time and effort.

Weapons

Zhu-Lin is very good with a staff, using its reach to compensate for his slightly below average height.  He also knows a variety of spinning maneuvers that are good for dealing with lesser thugs, but not with the truly skilled.  He can use a staff in a vaulting maneuver to give more power and range to a kick, but if he misses he could end up prone.

Zhu-Lin can still fight if disarmed, being quite good at kicking.  He can also use short, one-handed staves; which could be handy if his staff is broken.

Qinggong –

Zhu-Lin is built for speed, not strength.  He can run faster and jump farther than an average person.  He is far better at leaping using trees or tree limbs than buildings or furniture, though he can use his staff and/or his opponents' wooden weapons to spring farther than one would expect.

He is very good at evading attacks, moving like the wind.  If struck, he attempts to be as flexible and resilient as the bamboo, rolling with the blow.

Dianxue

Zhu-Lin knows pressure points and uses them supplement his medical skills.  However, most of his attacks are too blunt and wide-based to use pressure points with (staff and kicks).  He can throw bamboo 'needles' (Anqi) and use his Dainxue skills to cause paralysis, or sleep in less powerful foes.

He can also cause sleep or paralysis with his fingers, but he is best at this outside of combat.  In combat, he usually has to get inside an opponent's guard and he's not guaranteed of success.

Ki

Zhu-Lin has some Ki abilities.  He's good at resisting damage, not so good at inflicting it.  He's also good at using Ki to restore damage, better at using it to help others recover, thanks to his skills at medicine and pressure points.

[Merc]

Name: Feng Tai-Sun

Family:
Feng Kuan (father-deceased)
Shan Mei-Ling (mother)
Feng Mei Zhu (younger sister)
Feng Wu Sheng (younger brother)

Appearance:
Tai-sun's a tall young man with long, almost silk-like, black hair that is tied back in a ponytail reaching just past his shoulder blades. His frame is lean with just enough muscle showing without it looking bulging, managing to present a balance of flexibility and power.

His outfit is for the most part traditional, though his robes are odd. A two layered set of robes, the innermost robe is azure in shade, with white trims, and has the loose long sleeves reaching just past his elbows. Atop this is the second layer of the robes which is a sleeveless white robe with a black trimmings.

Tied together by a dark blue cloth as a belt, the robes are slitted on the sides past the belt section, for ease of sideways movement. Underneath the long robes one can see a sandy brown set of loose pants tightened at the waist can be seen, with dark brown slippers completing the outfit.

If one were to look carefully at his arms, one could almost see splotches of discoloration on his arms, the remnants of a fire accident from his youth. They have mostly vanished, long years under the sun removing the most obvious signs of the event. The splotches will always be there, the skin having long since healed, but the discoloration will fade as the skin's tan begins to match closer to the rest of his skin.

Background:
His family was a fairly respected, if not too well-known, martial arts family. Since he could stand up, he was taught to move fluidly. When he was fourteen, a fire broke out in the area he lived in, many lives were lost. He was on the second floor of the house sleeping at the time the fire broke out, while his whole family was outside. By the time he woke up, the fire had made escape impossible to his panicked young mind.

Fortunately, his father broke through the burning building to come rescue him. Unfortunately however, his father failed to survive the fire, and he only did so thanks to his father. In his panicked state, Tai-Sun suffered many bad burns through his body, and his father worse entering the building and then trying to protect his son from worse as he exploded out a window with a powerful leap, carrying his son and protecting him from the flames as best he could.

Both were in bad condition afterwards, but his father sacrificed himself, pouring his own ki into his son to heal the worst of his burns...and leaving too little within to save himself. Tai-Sun's father died from his wounds days later, one of the many victims of the widespread fire.

The fire claimed more than just his father to him though, it claimed the art that his father had loved as much as his children. With his family school lost, and a sense of responsibility plaguing him, he left on a journey to become a great martial artist and restore the Feng name among martial artist circles with a new school to honor his father.

Many obstacles were in his way though, prime amongst them being his being expected to stay as the eldest son and the fact that his arms were still burned much worse than the rest of his body. He ran away, promising to return every few years, and decided to focus on a school dedicated to leg techniques until his arms healed.

Every few years he stops to visit his remaining family, his mother and a younger brother and sister, though for the most part, he goes about China, seeking to grow in technique, power, and most importantly, recognition.

Personality:
Tai-Sun's a young man with a lot of regret in his heart. He yearns to be calm, collected and analytical, yet also caring, much like his father, and to do honor to his sacrifice and memory.

The truth though, is that while he maintains a collected appearance, he has somewhat of a temper and has to leash it very tightly. He's also kinda...well, 'happy-go-lucky' in attitude.

Getting into fights is not only a way of testing his technique and power or gaining recognition as a fighter, but also releasing some of his pent up frustrations.

He seeks knowledge in the martial arts above all else but one thing, he won't seek knowledge at the expense of someone else. Still, this search for knowledge results in a wandering spirit, though he does have a somewhat planned idea of where to head towards at any given time.

Tai-Sun has a bit of a soft spot for kids, and will occassionally offer to teach children some beginner techniques in martial arts in places he plans to stick around for a while. He's developed quite a bunch of little 'brothers' over the years in various places, a thought that makes him smile, and he hopes that each and every one does something worthwhile with their lives.

He loves spending time with his family, and whenever he visits, he always brings presents for everyone. Admittedly, the presents are mostly to appease his younger brother, who had some issues with him for abandoning the family to go on his 'journey' despite being the eldest. He suspects Wu Sheng no longer minds and simply likes the presents, but errs on the cautious side.

Martial Arts School:
The foundation of his style is all that he learned of his family's school of martial arts during his formative years, a style that emphasized dodging and quick strikes. However, a foundation is all that it was, as the fire resulted in the loss of the school.

Tai-Sun found that with no one left to teach him and any scrolls gone, his father's art effectively died. In its place, Tai-Sun found himself trying to create a new school to suit his situation.

Many years of exploring the vast lands of China has taught him much, whether under the care various masters, fighting against opponents, or simply experimentating. Due to the problems with his arms, he focused on learning and developing techniques emphasizing his legs. Even once his arms sufficiently recovered, he stuck with this path, though he did work on building his arm muscles and throwing in some arm movements back into his style.

The result? Tai-Sun's style is a mostly self-taught style that consists almost entirely of kicking techniques that vary in intensity and speed, and have a few random fist techniques added to make the mix that much more difficult to read. Primarily, the arms are used for deflecting attacks that cannot be dodged and to set up for kicking attacks though.

His knowledge of weapons is fair, with knowledge primarily on staff forms which were taught to him as a child. His style does not particularly merge with the use of weapons, as his arms are not used for attacking motions usually, but a few encounters with armed opponents and some advice at Shaolin temples caused him to seek a weapon to carry for ocassional battles. After much training with the odd weapon, he has adopted the use of a San Jie Gun (See Weapons for details) which he found the least obstrusive to his style.


Skills[/b]

Anqui:
Tai-Sun does not use projectiles, due to his confidence in his style and belief that they detract from the fight. He does recognize that others will use them against him though, and is always alert for any surprise attacks, both in and out of fights.


Weapon:
Tai-Sun's weapon of choice is a flexible type of staff called the San Jie Gun (Three Section Staff), though he is familiar with various other weapons (and an expert with a normal staff). When not in use, his staff is held securely by a strap lining the inside of his bag, and is in it's collapsed state to use the least space.

This weapon is basically a wooden staff that has been split into 3 sections held together by short metal links. Tai-Sun's staff, specifically, consists of three wooden sections of equal lenght, each exactly his arm's lenght. Steel caps cover the sections' tips, and four chain links connect the outermost sections to each side of the middle section.

As mentioned earlier, Tai-Sun's martial arts techniques are primarily unarmed, and he only learned to use them on the advice of some of the Shaolin monks. Weapons do not aid his fighting style in general, rather they limit the techniques he's familiar with.

It's only in certain conditions that Tai-Sun considers the trade-off they provide worth it. Thus, though he carries a staff with him, he limits his use to three situations:
(1) Practice/Training.
(2) Protecting People.
(3) Blocking/Disarming Skilled Opponents.


Qing Gong:
Tai-Sun's muscles throughout his limbs, both in his arms and legs, are not only powerful, but have an almost spring-like nature to them. Because of them, he absorbs damage fairly well, can shift from one position to another with rapid energy while maintaining such movements flexible, and can quickly spring between locations.


Dianxue:
Pressure point strikes are known to Tai-Sun, but as with Anqui, they're not techniques he cares to use. He simply knows enough to recognize strikes targetting such and thus, countering. Of course, that's not to say he knows all existing pressure points, so its possible a specialist could still target his without his knowledge, but he at least knows the more obvious and dangerous ones.

About the only one he'll use is a sleep point when travelling companions get too panicky during a bandit attack and become distracting.


Ki:
Tai-Sun's knowledge of ki is almost purely instinctual and somewhat limited, though he has begun to learn more about it from other practioner's advice. As his knowledge of ki grows, his kicks are becoming more destructive, as his use of ki is primarily to enforce his own body's abilities.

Tai-Sun is continually learning and experimenting with how ki can be used in his body as he explores the lands around him, but his knowledge is still behind what it could have been.

[Jeram]

Fu Jie-Ming

Jie-Ming was born the fifth son of seven children of a poor family in a village somewhere in Northern China.  As a middle child, he had no significant prospects and a household that could barely support any of its members.  To alleviate his family's financial troubles, Jie-Ming left to join a traveling troupe of monks that had passed through his village.  A young boy, the elder monks took pity on him and began to teach him the ways of their school until he was old enough to fare for himself.  He hopes to one day find enough fortune to help ensure his family's welfare for the future, but will not return home until he achieves that goal.

Jie-Ming is about average height, with slightly pronounced musculature on his arms, but slender legs - as his teachings tended to focus on the usage of arms.  He is shaved bald, with a meticulously trimmed goatee his only indulgence.  Jie-Ming lived on the road for a few years after leaving the temple, so he has a fairly good sense of direction and a good tracker on the open road.  He has not lived much in the forest, which tends to be a mystery to him.

Jie-Ming tends to carry very few items and travels lightly, as his art and life on the road preclude a careful usage of his food or money.  Jie-Ming is exceedingly prudent with money, to the point he will buy things of lower quality, but adequate to live by, instead of more expensive, but better quality products.  His only expensive item is a small but sharp razor he uses to shave his head and trim his beard.  On a typical day, Jie-Ming carries dried foodstuffs in a pouch, and conceals his meager share of coinage in a hidden belt-purse.  He keeps his razor and a few other miscellaneous camping and medicinal items (flint, a few bamboo needles, and string).  He wears a worn black tunic and brown slacks, with sandals that have seen better days.

Jie-Ming greatly enjoys swimming, and often finds the river and rare lakes to be a greatly appreciated luxury.  He can hold his breath for nearly three minutes if pressed, and is fairly good at fishing with his bare hands.  He occasionally attempts to use rods and snares for hunting, but invariably fouls things up and returns to using his hands.  He occasionally deep-water dives to search for small items of value he can sell to support himself.

Because of his background, Jie-Ming has a soft spot for families with many small children, and will always volunteer his time to help guard a traveling family on the road, or assist with hunting or fishing.  Jie-Ming was involved with a young woman during his travels, but they eventually went separate ways, as it was clear he was not ready to settle down in any one place.  He is often wistful of his ended relationship, but feels that he cannot marry until he can take care of his family.  He sometimes feels that he could have convinced her to continue traveling with him if not for her brother, who had always shared a mutual dislike with Jie-Ming.

Skills

General

Swimming, Diving, Climbing, Basic Suture

Wuxia

Jie-Ling is more skilled at quick defensive measures, using techniques to disarm and unbalance attacking opponents without seriously damaging them.  He knows many striking attacks with his arms (fists, fingers, elbows) and a small number with his legs.

In close combat, he can use certain techniques to put opponents off balance by striking very close to them without actually touching them.  He can catch slower-moving projectiles with reasonable skill, and knows better than to try  for faster projectiles.  He is fast enough with his upper body and arms to avoid attacks, and uses his arms to block or deflect the rest.

Anqi

Jie-Ming, if pressed, can throw small blades (if available, he does not have any daggers or knives) with reasonable strength, but only marginal accuracy.  He is better at throwing heavier objects with accuracy (such as large rocks), as this specifically reflects some of his training.

Weapons

Jie-Ming was taught almost solely in the art of open-hands fighting, and prefers not to use any weapons at all.  The only weapon he is at all familiar with is the bamboo sword, with which he is somewhat skilled.  He had begun to learn the art of using the fan as a defensive tool, but left before achieving any proficiency.  He is not good with other weapons.

Qinggong

Jie-Ming is not the fastest at running or jumping, but can move quickly while in a more stationary poisition (i.e., he can move quickly around an opponent to strike at their back, but would have difficulty outrunning them).  On the other hand, he is a fast and accurate climber, as he used to practice constantly on the mountains near the temple.  Using his arms, he can vault somewhat quickly and fairly accurately, but prefers to climb, with which he is far more proficient.  If prepared, he can scale even sheer surfaces.

Dianxue

Jie-Ming was taught basic pressure points, and can use temporary weak points to knock opponents off balance.  He knows no advanced or permanently damaging techniques.  He can be fairly precise with his fingers, and fast enough to use them, but lacks the knowledge or control to use advanced dianxue.

Ki

Jie-Ming uses Ki to infuse his arms with additional strength - he can do two specific things:
1) "Hardness" - using Ki, Jie-Ming can give his arms the hardness of a bamboo staff.  The elders in his order could effectively simulate heavy steel rods.
2) "Sharpness" - by infusing Ki and keeping his arms in the correct position, Jie-Ming can increase the cutting ability of his arms.  The elders in his order cut potentially cut through an opponent's blades.  If he concentrates and prepares, Jie-Ming could potentially cut through harder wood, but not easily.  At any specific moment, he probably could cut through softer wood or softer bamboo.

Additionally, Jie-Ming can use Ki to move a little faster or strengthen his body against attacks.

[Corwin]

Apologies for my lateness! And now, without further ado....

Bin Bing-Gan

Bing-Gan is an only child. Though her parents, nameless and faceless farmers in a rural, out of the way village, are still very much alive, she had spent most of her formative years around her old grandfather, Ban-Ban. In his advanced age, the elderly man only bothered with two things -- practicing his unique style of martial arts, and slacking off. She picked up on both.

Nowadays, Bing-Gan travels around the countryside, while hunting for bandits occasionally. Especially when there's a reward involved. Keeping an honest job is just too bothersome, plus requires actual work-related skills, as far as she's concerned. Still, sometimes money seriously becomes an issue, and she can't always get it by normal means. In those case, she overcomes her phobia and uses her hobby -- puppeteering -- to put on a show in the street. The doll she uses most often is a pretty close replica of herself, down to her style of clothing and choice of weapons. She can't count, except where it comes to money.

Bing-Gan is fairly tall for a girl, measuring slightly above what would be considered average for a guy her age. She has short, messy bluish-black hair. A large hat usually covers her head, a yellow ribbon going under her chin holding it in place. One could say she's crossdressing by the way Bing-Gan sticks to simple tunics and slacks, but she makes no effort to hide her gender. She simply finds that outfit the best fit for just about any activity, and is too lazy to either carry or use a variety of clothing for different occasions. Her only vice in that area is that she gets tired with any given pattern or color fairly often. So, when she's bored with her current clothing, she replaces it for a similar outfit, which features her currently-favorite design pattern and coloring scheme. She would at times go to ridiculous lengths to achieve this goal of hers.


Skills:

Normal:

No non-combat skills aside from puppeteering. No useful non-combat skills.

Combat:

Bing-Gan prefers to fight from a distance, so her hand-to-hand abilities are merely average for someone of her level of training. Most of her combat skills are centered around the use of her weapons. In general terms, unarmed, she would do slightly better at avoiding being hit than dishing out pain.


Anqi:

No secret projectiles, can't be bothered to train to use them. Plus, keeping hidden weapons somewhere on her person or in her sleeves all the time is too much of a chore.


Weapons:

A flexible, two meter long staff is her main weapon. The uppermost third of the staff hosts a blade, which can be deployed much like a switchblade, resulting in a scythe. Created by her grandfather, she inherited it upon leaving home for greener pastures. she had trained in the use of her scythe for most of her life.

Upon leaving for her travels, Bing-Gan discovered many things in the world she didn't want to touch even with a six feet pole, and picked up another weapon. Her hat has a razor-sharp surface, and can be thrown like a boomerang, which she finds especially useful for decapitations or knocking things off really tall trees she doesn't want to waste time climbing. Unfortunately, she's pretty much a novice with this weapon, and can't even be certain of catching it every time it returns, not to mention targetting more than a single target in front of her. When she tries catching her weapon, she usually does so while wearing a reinforced glove she carries with her for this very purpose.


Qinggong:

Bing-Gan can use her staff to make leaps that seemingly defy the laws of nature, both vertically and across impressively vast distances. She can also strike slightly faster with her main weapon due to her extensive training with it, but that's about it.


Dianxue:

Her training with her grandfather covered the standard pressure points, which would be the best areas to hit on the human body to maximize damage, plus pressure points for inducing paralysis or muteness, or even sleep in untrained individuals. Unfortunately, the effects of those don't last long.

Her future goal is to be able to hit them with her hat to make combat even easier, but for now she's just satisfied with it flying in the right general direction.


Ki:

Using ki, Bing-Gan can make her staff inflexible for short periods of time, to maximize damage from its hits. She can also use it with her puppeteering somewhat, to enhance the performance, by sending ki through the strings to move the appropriate limb of the doll with precision.