sizhui: (Default)
Lan Sizhui ([personal profile] sizhui) wrote2019-07-16 08:47 pm

[community profile] prismatica App

PLAYER
HANDLE: Kiki
CONTACT: [plurk.com profile] kikibug13 or dm
OVER 18? Yes
CHARACTERS IN-GAME: None

CHARACTER
NAME: Lan Sizhui
CANON: The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Mo Dao Zu Shi)
CANON POINT: After he remembers his identity and talks to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji about it, chapter 111
AGE: 16 or so (dating in mdzs is approximate past a certain point.)
BACKGROUND:
The wiki is here, but as it doesn't contain much about him...
Once upon a time in ancient China when people formed cultivation sects for inner alchemy, trying to achieve immortality (not all philosophers' stones are physical) there was one clan that tried to take over the entire Cultivation 'world'. They did some pretty horrible things, and the remaining sects united to defeat them. Pretty thoroughly. The survivors were put into labor camps with the definite idea for them to die off sooner rather than later.

In one small branch of the Wen clan, a branch focused on healing (so mostly not culpable for the Crap that the clan did), at that time was a very young child. His elder cousin, the head of that small branch of the family, sought the help of the powerful Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian (who owed her a favor) to save her younger brother, and Wei Wuxian ended up taking up the entire small branch of the clan, 50 people or so, including the toddler in question, under his protection. They went off to where they wouldn't bother anyone. The younger brother, Wen Ning, was already dead by the time he got there - at the request of the sister, Wei Wuxian turned his already powerful fierce corpse into one with awareness and (mostly) his own will.

Of course... that was too good to last. People decided that the Yiling Patriarch was Too Powerful (TM) and, to cut the story short, went after him. He died from a spell backlash, the small section of the clan were slaughtered... and the toddler was hidden inside a hollow tree and lived.

When news of this came to the (currently heavily physically incapacitated) Hanguang-Jun, Lan Wangji, he dragged his broken body to that place, not finding a trace of the most important person... but he did find the ill and feverish young child that Wei Wuxian had been raising. So he took the boy home to the serene home of the Lan Clan and raised him as his own son, the only life that the boy remembered after his fever had subsided - at least for a good, long while.

Fast forward 13 years later, when the cast-away illegitimate child of a major sect's leader sacrifices his life to bring back the soul of someone terrifying to wreak revenge for him... and the soul he brings back is Wei Wuxian's. Coincidentally (ish, that is up for debate, but the choice is neither Wei Wuxian's nor the GusuLan Sect's), a group of juniors from the GusuLan Sect come to the same household to investigate and suppress corpses that have been plaguing the area. That group of juniors is led by Lan Sizhui. They are not up to going up against the (unexpected) evil that they actually encounter, though they try valiantly. Wei Wuxian helps them out until their call for help is answered by Lan Wangji, who eventually gets the situation under control.

Sizhui is then seen again participating in a night hunt at Buddha / Dafan mountain, where again the foe is too strong for cultivators in his age group. This time, Wei Wuxian has to take more of a part, summoning (without actually meaning to, since he thought that was no longer possible) the Ghost General, the fierce corpse of Sizhui's cousin, Wen Ning. In the aftermath, Lan Wangji realizes that it is Wei Wuxian and brings him to the home of the GusuLan sect, the Cloud Recesses. On the way as well as there, Wei Wuxian manages to shock the youths more than once. Lan Wangji, however, seems invulnerable, no matter how outrageous Wei Wuxian's behavior.

The next two times the narrative encounters Sizhui, he, among juniors of various sects, are either lured or captured in order for Plot Stuff to happen to the main characters; both times, he acts mature and calm for his age, helping out and learning actively. During the second of those, they are in the place where the last of his family were slaughtered, and their ghosts... show up to help out with the situation. Even though there are glimmers of 'this person seems familiar,' Sizhui does not actually remember.

On the way out from there, he gets a chance to talk with Wen Ning. The Ghost General doesn't tell him Sizhui's own identity, nor their relation, but for himself ascertains that it is his little cousin whom he did not expect to see alive. Sizhui thus becomes Wen Ning's second focal point in the world of the living, Wei Wuxian having been the lone one after the death of Wen Ning's sister.

Most of the remaining story, Sizhui is a witness of, rather than an actor in - until, after the plot has been wrapped up, he shows up and, holding once again Chenqing (Wei Wuxian's black flute / dizi), he finally gets to remember his childhood years. When Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji leave (to elope), he goes after them to confirm that he's not imagining those memories.

PERSONALITY:
The first impression Lan Sizhui gives off at around sixteen is 'almost too good to be real'. He is well-mannered, quick-thinking, gentle, considerate, clear-headed in a tight situation, respectful but not letting wrongs happen on his watch without taking action. He is competent and capable, yet also knows when a situation has gone beyond his limits and he needs help. Nobody among the junior questions his decisions, instructions, and even quiet beratings when they are breaking one of the many rules - not even the most un-Lan Lan who is Sizhui's best friend, Lan Jingyi, complains. This shows that he has earned the respect of his peers and they follow his instructions willingly, knowing that his choices are the best for them. With time, even (very stubborn) juniors from other sects and high standing accept his leadership.

And he is that good - with the provision that he is still rather young. Unlike the previous generation, who grew under the certainty of a coming war and so were pushed to their limits constantly, Sizhui is allowed to be young and inexperienced, to be sent off to and advised to do things according to his abilities, rather than expected to succeed always, at any cost. He is allowed to not be aware of the harsher realities, such as how lack of money would affect one's decisions (though once that's brought to his attention, he can reason and act accordingly, rather than dismissing the reality of it). He is even (not often, but while he tries not to, he doesn't seem upset at the slip) allowed to be a little childish sometimes.

What is not easy to see in the beginning, and what he tends to keep under wraps, beneath a gentle smile and kind words (an attitude he probably learned from his adoptive uncle, Lan Xichen, the Sect Leader and Lan Wangji's older brother), is that the calm and restrained nurture that is the one thing he remembers helps, but doesn't quite bridge the gap between the serenity that he knows and the other aspects of his nature and earliest upbringing. The QishanWen Sect's symbol was the sun, and even the remote branch of the family that Wen Yuan came from had brilliance and forcefulness, assertiveness in their own way. (Not so much Wen Ning. He was ever shy, even while his abilities were nothing to overlook.) From his early childhood, he has a brightness that the Lan clouds can't quite hide. Then, for a while, he was raised Wei Wuxian, who was never known for his restraint. Sizhui only very recently remembers growing up among his close family as well as corpses; being buried into the ground 'to grow up faster,' eating lethally spicy food (all right, once he tastes such again, he sort of remembers that, vaguely), and being taught how to charm girls (what the what, Wei Wuxian, he was THREE!), the wildness and freedom of it have always been within him. More than likely not strictly subdued by Lan Wangji, who saw his beloved's touch on the boy in that.

At best, the result is that he can interpret situations and make decisions that are more creative than the rule-following of the Lans would suggest. He also finds it easier to recognize and follow non-formulaic solutions, and less bothered for his own sake by behavior outside the lines strict propriety. And he can tease Wei Wuxian just as hard as Wei Wuxian teases others. At worst, he might join in fights/squabbles among his peers when under pressure; break some rules (like trying some alcohol even if there is a senior of his sect in far too close proximity, or going on night hunts with his cousin though he knows he will be punished for it - and leading others, as well); or, something that is seen later, trying to find ways to find himself in a world that will most definitely punish him for being who he was born as.

Another trait of his is the utter admiration and trust he has for Lan Wangji, and how much his adoptive father's approval means to him. His chosen instrument is the guqin, like Wangji, and he has learned and been evaluated on its use for Lan techniques songs by Wangji himself - and he remembers the comments verbatim.

Overall, Sizhui is a good, sweet, warm boy, mature, steady, and reliable and, after the age of three, growing up a little too sheltered. And he has some inner conflicts to deal with.

POWERS/ABILITIES:
* Cultivation: Discipline for controlling and enhancing the inner / spiritual / qi energy, allowing various effects, both internal and external, to be possible (improved health, strength, and speed; higher resilience, quicker recovery. Later, maintaining youth. Abilities to produce bursts of energy, or imbue objects or processes - such as music - with spiritual energy. Ability to transfer spiritual energy to help another body recover from damage, poison, or illness. Ability to control weapons, especially spiritual weapons, from a distance, and fly on them. Sizhui definitely is capable of flying on his sword, which means he has formed a golden core, putting him at a decent page for his age.)
* Self-discipline: The GusuLan sect's path to cultivation is based on two principles - self-restraint and music. Sizhui has been learning to contain, control, and discipline himself since he came under their care at the age of three or so.
* Six arts: Because all the cultivators in this canon know these.
* Sword fighting: Sizhui is fairly proficient within the Lan technique. He may have at least shown interest in learning the YunmengJiang technique from Jin Ling at this point. (Later, he learns the QishanWen technique from Wen Ning, as well)
* Arm strength: One of the defining characteristics of the GusuLan sect, and specifically the Lan clan within it. He can, for an extended period of time, copy texts (in acceptable calligraphy) while doing a handstand.
* Talismans creation and use: A lot of the magic effects are done via talismans - they can be used for protection as well as attack, to start fire or simply produce light, and various other actions that are necessary for night hunts. (An extension, of sorts, is that Sizhui is able to draw and use spirit-attracting flags, a technique that is somewhat dangerous but he can use it in a safe manner.)
* Lan music techniques: Lan cultivation is heavily based upon using music as the medium of power transfer. Spiritual energy imbued music can attack, protect, calm, agitate, query the (un)dead. Sizhui is still learning, but his skill with the guqin is deemed decent by his dad, who is an expert.
* Assumed: string assassination technique: A technique developed by the third sect leader. Using one, or merged several, guqin strings can produce a weapon that can assassinate - including a mythological massive creature, something demonstrated by 17 years old Lan Wangji.
* Beginner healer knowledge: he can do basic diagnosis from the pulse (very basic), transfer energy, and apply medicine (probably field first aid as well) - he is the first to get to the aid of someone stumbling out with overload of dealing with resentful energy.

INVENTORY:
> His sword
> His guqin
> A set of talismans
> A spare set of robes
> A first aid kit with some (ancient Chinese) medicine and acupuncture needles

MOONBLESSING: Iris

SAMPLES

link #1
link #2