App for Mask or Menace

[qinghe_oriole]

PLAYER INFORMATION

PLAYER NAME: Airawyn (she/her)
PLAYER CONTACT: airawyn@gmail.com
CURRENT CHARACTERS: N/A
RETURNING CHARACTER?: No

CHARACTER INFORMATION

CHARACTER NAME: Huaisang Nie (Nie Huaisang)
JOURNAL: qinghe_oriole
CANON: The Untamed (drama) + Fatal Journey (spinoff movie)
CANON POINT: Just after the end of The Untamed
AGE: 30s
ALIAS: The Oriole

SYNOPSIS:

Nie Huaisang is an artist and a dreamer, never a fighter. He'd rather be painting than practicing saber. He goes to the Lan Sect to study as a teen, but he and his friends are more interested in drinking, catching fish, and pulling pranks than actually paying attention to their studies. He's not lazy, since he'll put hours into his paintings and spend days stalking a bird to capture it alive, but he avoids doing things that he knows he'll do poorly at. His brother is the Nie Sect Leader and Nie Huaisang was his heir. Nie Mingjue did not succeed in making Nie Huaisang the fighter he had hoped his younger brother would be, but Nie Huaisang did learn how to use his own natural talents for the tasks that needed to be done.

When his beloved older brother dies, Nie Huaisang is thrust into the role of Sect Leader, a role he never wanted. When he realizes that a Jin Guangyao, an old family friend, murdered his brother, he decides to keep up the image of himself as frivolous and weak, to keep his enemy from suspecting him. This works extremely well, and Nie Huaisang manages to stay under the radar in plain sight, gathering information and feeding it to the right people. Eventually Jin Guangyao's deeds are exposed and he is killed. Nie Huaisang's quest for revenge is complete.

ADAPTATION:

He would be a hero, because he cares about helping people, but he'd be a hero with a dark side. He's willing to exploit people's weaknesses in the name of the greater good and to do harm to those who have wronged him. Also, his culture has no problem with their heroes killing villains, so he's not going to have a no-kill rule. Still, he does what he can to avoid loss of life unless it's absolutely necessary.

He's not very powerful physically or magically, but he's very good at gathering information and manipulating things behind the scenes. I see him as someone like Oracle from Birds of Prey, where he does his heroing second-hand, by gathering formation and directing and sometimes manipulating other people.

PRESENTATION:

Nie Huaisang does put on an act. When he was younger, he was flighty and irresponsible and did very poorly in school. He's never been stupid - he's memorized reams of poetry and can quote it at the drop of a hat - but he's not very good in an academic setting. He also lives in a society that highly values martial arts skills, but Nie Huaisang has never been physically adept. When his peers went to war, he stayed back.

Because of this, many in his world considered him weak and foolish. When he inherited his brother's position of Sect Leader, he also took on a quest to avenge his brother's death. He played into his reputation and made himself seem weak and nonthreatening so he could stay close to his brother's killer and reveal the man's secrets.

He achieved his revenge, but now some people from his world know that he's much more dangerous than he seems. Still, it's been an effective ruse, and he'll continue to keep his intelligence and ruthlessness under wraps.

PSYCHOLOGY:

Nie Huaisang has been working to expose his brother's killer for years. He's had to pretend to be ignorant and foolish while carefully manipulating things in his favor. It's been like walking a tightrope, but now it's done. All the secrets have been exposed and his brother's killer is dead. Now he needs to figure out who he's going to be, since he doesn't have to pretend anymore. His brother was a powerful man, physically, mentally, and politically. Nie Huaisang knows he will never be like Nie Mingjue, but he has his own skills and strengths. He just has to figure out how to stop scheming and just live his life.

POWERS:

• POWER #1: Golden core cultivation

  DESCRIPTION:

  Like most characters from The Untamed, Nie Huaisang is a cultivator. He has a golden core of spiritual energy that he has cultivated since he was a child. His spiritual energy is not as powerful as others, but he's still got the full range of cultivator abilities. He's just weaker and tires more easily than some of his peers.
  
  Athletics: Cultivators can leap high in the air (up to a roof) and fly short distances (like across a courtyard). Skilled cultivators who are martial artists can do a number of fancy flips and turns in the air.
  
  Saber: The Nie Sect cultivates with sabers. They're spiritual weapons, which in this case means a physical weapon that's been imbued with spiritual energy. The spiritual energy makes their strikes more powerful and lets them be wielded against spiritual creatures or wards - general "magic weapon" stuff. They can also fly; usually by standing on the sword's blade, but clinging to the hilt and being dragged along is also an option. Nie Huaisang will not have his saber with him when he arrives, though it is possible he could acquire a replacement at some point.
  
  Musical cultivation: Music can be used to direct and control spiritual energy. This can be used to heal or to hurt someone, or to communicate. Nie Huaisang has a bangdi (bamboo flute, in the same range as the piccalo).
  
  Talismans and Arrays: Talismans are either drawn in the air or on paper. They usually are for less powerful spells, like lighting candles. However, multiple talismans can be used together for stronger spells and wards. Arrays are bigger, round, and usually drawn on the floor to hold in or keep out spirits and evil beings.
  
  Qiankun bag: A teeny bag that holds a whole lot of stuff. A Bag of Holding, basically. Some have additional protections to hold in magic items or spirits.
  
  

  WEAKNESS:

  A cultivator can be countered by someone else using spiritual energy or magic. Wards and spells from another magical system should stop it. Sabers can be blocked with any weapon. Qiankun bags can be picked up and opened by anyone.
  
  Also, cultivation comes with a risk of qi deviation. Qi deviation is when a cultivator has used forbidden or dangerous spiritual energy becomes unstable and their body is damaged physically and mentally. This can be deadly.
  
  

• POWER #2: Bird transformation

  DESCRIPTION:

  This is the power Nie Huaisang received on arrival. He can chose to turn into a black-naped oriole at any time. If he is unconscious or badly injured, he will revert to human form automatically. His clothes and any small items he's carrying will change with him and return to normal when he changes back.
  
  

  WEAKNESS:

  He has all the weaknesses of a natural bird while in bird form. He will revert to human form if badly injured or knocked unconscious.
  
  

• POWER #3: N/A

SKILLS:

He is trained in saber combat; however, he's not very good at it. He has no other superhuman skils outside of his cultivation ability, and the bird transformation that he'll gain on arrival.

IN-GAME DEVELOPMENT:

N/A

SAMPLES

THREAD SAMPLE:

November Test Drive

VOICE SAMPLE:

1. "Why do you want to return to your world of origin? What did you leave behind?"
   
   
   I'm the Sect Leader of the Nie Clan. If I don't return, they'll realize they don't need me and then what will I do? Haha.


2. "What is the most historically important event that has occurred within your lifetime?"
   
   
   Historically? Hm. A lot has happened in my lifetime. We've been very busy. I'm sure you can imagine! But I suppose the biggest event was the Sunshot Campaign. The Wen Clan tried to rule all the other clans by force, and they - we - all joined forces and destroyed the Wen Clan. Um. All of them. Well, that's big, isn't it? The destruction of an entire clan. You don't get much bigger than that.


3. "Has anyone ever harmed you? How will you react if you encounter them in this world?"
   
   
   Yes. Jin Guangyao murdered my brother. He's dead, though. What's the chance of seeing him here? Is that - is that likely? Really? Wow. Well. I don't know what I'd do if I saw him again. I really don't know. I'll have to think about that.


4. "Have you ever done something that you regret? What would you do differently?"
   
   
   Hasn't everyone? Ugh, I've said so many stupid things. I look back now - wait, that's not the stuff you mean, is it? Okay. There's things that I've done that I wish I hadn't had to do, but I don't regret the choices I made. I regret that I didn't see things earlier. I regret that I didn't do something before it was too late. But the actions I took once I finally understood? I would do those again.


5. "Have you ever served in the military? What is your experience with armed combat?"
   
   
   Oh, no, no, no! I'm a liability in combat. During the war, I stayed back and assisted the healers.