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74621b.jpg
Rain Sea
74621b
Well, we've officially leveled up, so I suppose I'll give a bit of background info on my character now.
Yisheng Ji's design is modeled after the Chinese Xianxia fantasy genre's concept of a Taoist cultivator. An ordinary mortal human, who cultivates their inner qi, contemplates the heavens, practices powerful, often larger-than-life martial arts techniques, pursues their inner Dao, and so forth, to become an ascended form of individual, enjoying greatly-lengthened lifespans, powers such as flight, magical techniques, superhuman martials arts, etcetera, all of which grow in strength as the person's cultivation base becomes more profound, climbing tiers of power, and culminating in the ultimate goal of personal immortality within their Dao. However, it's important to note that cultivators are not untouchable pure saints by any means, and are still subject to many normal vices and desires, just with altered priorities and methods. (e.g. desiring power for revenge, and therefore going into a sealed cave to quietly cultivate for a few years, surrounded by treasures infused with rich spiritual energy.)
The Xianxia genre itself is developed from, and shares many characteristics with, the Wuxia (lit. "Martial Hero") genre, and both are big parts of modern Chinese popular culture.
Movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero are pretty good examples of the Wuxia genre. Here's an excellent fight scene from Hero: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeeoEpmyb2Y
Here are links to more information on these genres, helpfully provided by Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xianxia_novel
It's important to note that in Xianxia stories, animals can also cultivate, which grants them human-like intelligence along with the other benefits of cultivation, and at a certain point, allows them to take human form at will. Think kitsune in Youkai folklore, but extended to any animal.
In particular, Yisheng Ji is inspired by a background lore character from the Xianxia novel Emperor’s Domination (帝霸). In the story, the character was known as the Nine Saint Virtuous Paragon, having reached great heights of power and gloriously swept through the Nine Worlds; his illustrious and arrogant name spread to the four corners. However, he eventually encountered the person who would later become his master, and angered them with his rudeness and arrogance. He was defeated in battle by that person, and temporarily forced to return to his original form. It turned out he had once been nothing more than a humble forest chicken, who had successfully cultivated to his incredible height of power, but forgot his origins and lost his humility along the way. Having been brought down to his original animal form, he was then taught a lesson by having every one of his feathers plucked out, and left miserably naked there for a while. He would later go on to use the words "Mere chicken above the earth" as the passphrase to open his treasure vault, as a reminder to himself forever after.
In the same vein, Yisheng Ji is a similarly prideful individual who believes himself to be above most other people he meets, in some manner or another. He does inherently have a bit of divine spark in him, has internal powers normal people do not, and is overall a well-learned individual, with ample knowledge of medical and alchemical practices. The first two items almost certainly being how he managed to get the opportunity to receive the formal education necessary to acquire that knowledge, despite his humble birthplace. He surely excels in the traditional four arts of the Chinese scholar, able to produce beautiful calligraphy and magnificent paintings, well-versed in the music of the zither, and could probably kick your butt pretty hard at the board game of Go. However, at the end of the day, he is just that, a doctor and a scholar, not a martial hero or a divine champion, regardless of how highly he thinks of himself.
That said, neither is he a braggart, a bully, or a pompous buffoon. His particular brand of hubris could be likened to a veterinarian treating animals. He is serious about his work and does what he can for his patients, forms attachments with ones he likes, and can even put his life on the line for them if he likes them enough. But in his heart, he does not believe them to be equal beings to himself. This arrogant attitude has the side-effect of causing him to have little empathy for the concerns of others, and means he'll typically only lend his aid when it fits his own interests and obligations. (Hence his lower ambition being money.) Despite the detached attitude, his supportive skillset and weakness in combat allows him to thrive only amongst others, and he is generally at a loss when alone. Thus, his alignment is lawful neutral.
More details about the four arts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_arts
Xianxia heroes are naturally a lot more powerful than would be possible for characters here in Please do not [T]ake these Organs, with amazing skills in multitudes of different fields. There are no shortage of interesting Xianxia powers that I could have taken for Yisheng Ji's ability. But after much consideration, I ultimately went with the floaty wire-fu power, characteristic of most Wuxia films, which I felt was the most visible way to create the character atmosphere I wanted. The healing specialization was to extend the overarching character theme of cheating death and defying the heavens.
If anyone is interested, a good number of excellent Xianxia novels can be read online at http://www.wuxiaworld.com (Which is where I've been reading them.)
The story I Shall Seal the Heavens (我欲封天) hosted there is another big inspiration, and is the source of the image on this post. I especially recommend it to mageykun, as it answers the question posed of "How does agelessness affect family structures?" Given even relatively low-level cultivators regularly live for hundreds of years, and high-level ones close to forever, (to the point that a 60-year cycle is frequently used as a unit of time) it's commonplace for a clan of cultivators to have many generations of the same bloodline alive at the same time and coexisting. The question of inheritance is solved primarily through authority based on the profoundness of one's cultivation base, with older family members naturally having a tendency towards higher power levels, as they've been cultivating longer. (i.e. ass-kicking equals authority)
For example, your clan patriarch could be your great-etc-granduncle of ten generations ago, while your father is the second highest ranked, having discovered good fortune in a faraway land and made a great breakthrough in cultivation base, surpassing your third great-aunt, who has been stuck at a bottle-neck for many years. And so on, so forth. Naturally, powerful parents favor their children, and bestow magical treasures on them to help their cultivation or boost their power, while a person's rank in the clan may dictate what level of clan resources may be at their disposal, including, but not limited to, secret bloodline techniques. Ancient patriarchs may seal themselves away in coma-like meditation states to further preserve their lifespans, awakening to take action only when the clan itself is threatened, which would, of course, leave clan administration in other hands. There are many more intricate details, so I highly recommend taking a peek if you're interested in any of that stuff.
Lastly, just for fun, Yisheng Ji is written 醫生雞
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