Shou Lushan

WIP.

[edit] Details Personality Relationships Rumors Gallery OOC Notes GENERAL INFORMATION Shou Lushan is a career Thaumaturge and archaeologist for the Pathfinders' Free Mercenary Company, where she serves as head of Aetherial research and development. APPEARANCE Shou Lushan is a short, slightly overweight Miqo'Te, with slate-gray skin, and black hair, highlighted with orange. Shou generally appears frazzled, with head and tail hair shaggy and mussed, and her choice of clothing is slightly wrinkled with smudges and spots, but always well-tailored and in otherwise immaculate condition. Her body hosts a large number of scars, none deliberate, but several modified for either magical, or ritual purposes, with the scar tissue embedded with deeper rents that form magical arrays. Her left ear bends over about halfway up, and doesn't always keep up with her right as they pivot towards sound. She favors dark cosmetics for everyday wear, including black lipstick, and a large stripe of charcoal painted across her eyes to divert some of the light from the sun. Though she makes extensive efforts to conceal it, Shou bears a coiling, abstract brand on the back of her neck about six ilms in diameter. It's a deep, black rent, perpetually damp, and clearly magical in nature, both by its' effects on her Aether, and the fact that it tends to squirm when observed. Note: Aetherial analysis, such as through Sharlayan goggles, reveals the brand on the back of her neck seems to be draining her aether towards some location. However, the stream is thin and sufficiently obfuscated that it is virtually impossible to determine where it's going, and Shou's aether appears otherwise normal for a healthy adult Miqo'Te despite this affliction, even if it's a little chumpy for a Thaumaturge. PERSONALITY Owing perhaps to her numerous and bizarre experiences throughout her life, Shou comes across as a bizarre, but committed individual. Devoted to her Company, and solidarity within it, Shou values principles of honor, harmony, and generosity. Unlike most scholars of antiquity, her studies into the-- often apocalyptic-- mistakes that have defined the vanished civilizations of Eorzean history gives her hope for the future, instead of despair. She's a driven idealist, placing trust in the goodness of people, and answers with spite and vindictive force when that trust is betrayed. A trained mercenary, she defers to her superiors, and sees value and dignity in rank and title, but generally regards authority as an abstract with contempt. Literary, and driven by scholarly knowledge, she regards endeavours of the mind and soul with enthusiasm, and has a tendency to gush about metaphysical mechanics and thought to an often baffled audience, even quoting her own translations of centuries-old philosophical esoterica at length. However, despite her intellectual nature, her typical manner of speaking is coarse and direct, and tact seems to be a secondary concern, and often considered as an afterthought. L I K E S ■ Solidarity. Little else holds higher priority for Shou than harmony and internal peace within her companymates. This is motivated by equal parts love and fear, as she sees internal strife as nothing less than a death sentence for a Company with as many enemies as the Pathfinders. More broadly applied, Shou's a soft-hearted idealist who genuinely believes peace and cooperation is possible among all peoples, though experience and spite has showed her less-than-saintly means will be necessary to bring that about. ■ Philosophy. The discipline of Thaumaturgy requires intense regulation of emotion and knowledge of the Self and its' Aether. While this does not necessarily equate to restraint or temperance, Shou bears an intense passion for matters of the soul, and that passion can often equate to great power. ■ Aetherophysics and Phenomenology. Despite, or perhaps because of, her mediocre Aetherial capacity, Shou's grasp of her own personal Aether, and her ability to manipulate it, borders on prodigal for her age and experience. While her abilities often want for raw power, Shou's study of arcane lore gives her a veritable library of spells, and ways to implement them, and little gives her greater pleasure than zeroing in on a commonality between magical traditions separated by centuries, and combining them for increased effect. She says it gives her faith that common ground can be found among all peoples. D I S L I K E S ■ Disharmony. Nothing is quicker to drive Shou to anger than squabbles within an organization, from bar fights, to passive-aggressive sniping to outright betrayal. Shou is always swift to demand at the very least a veneer of solidarity within those she considers comrades. This doesn't always mean deference to authority, or even hierarchy, and Shou is swift to condemn unjust command as well. Similarly, while she refuses to tolerate such things within the Pathfinders, Shou is quick to capitalize on them within her enemies', relying on fear, distrust, and doubt both on the battlefield and in diplomacy to slice the ankles out from tyrants, while hesitating to strike immediately at mere lackeys, who she tends to view as victims, instead of co-conspirators. ■ Voidsent and Void Magic. Shou has every reason to fear the Void. However, through familiarity, Shou's fear of the Void has matured into a roiling contempt. She finds void magic odious and its' practitioners despicable. Even in the hands of sympathetic practitioners, Shou finds invoking the void idiotic at best, and Voidsent themselves to be creatures deserving only of immediate and utter destruction, full stop. Further, her staunch defense of Thaumaturgy as a practice often puts her in a position where she publicly has to put as much distance between its' history and her own art-- an opportunity she relishes. Curiously, she can often be heard defending Mhachi methodology and ideology in the same breath, a distinction she's more than eager to delineate at length, typically to an often confused and disinterested audience who immediately regret asking. ■ Arrogance. Though unbothered by swaggering and bombast, Shou has been looked down upon for most of her life -- often literally, considering her unimpressive stature-- and holds no sympathy for those who exploit the weak and think themselves great or noble by sheer virtue of power, status, or wealth. Her most acrid contempt lies with those who see their own cruelty as some kind of twisted virtue, which she sees as the height of delusion. ■ Moogles. After being allegedly pranked by a Moogle as a child, Shou despises the things with a frankly irrational fear. To Moogles, however, this makes her great fun to mess with. So, every trip to the Shroud (along with horrendous allergies), Shou is oft subject to their pranksterism. Some even recognize her phobia for what it is, a futile effort that Shou ultimately interprets as an affront that illicits only more rage and contempt. H O B B I E S ■ Literature and Poetry. Given her profession, Shou spends days utterly buried in books, but particularly enjoys literature and poetry, both archaic and modern, particularly ones of romance. Among her most treasured is her ever-expanding collection of Allagan erotica, whose historical merit she's quick to defend. That said, the actual contexts of the tomes are richly illustrated and unspeakably perverse, evidence both of the Allagan literati's decadent lifestyle, and Shou's own blasphemous interests. She, nonetheless, finds them deeply romantic and moving, presumably somewhere in the subtext between the lechery and pseudopods. ■ Magic. Given the deeply spiritual nature of her Thaumatalurgical practice and her intuitive grasp of her own Aether, Shou finds practicing and experimenting with magic to be a holistic practice, and expressing her Aether to be like exercise for the soul. This is, of course, supplemented by the simple joy she finds in blowing stuff up. ■ Food and Drink, and Inebriation.. Shou's developed a love for exotic fare in her life, often having to subsist on creatures never considered to be edible by less desperate folk, only for Shou to discover they're delicious when fried in batter. Perhaps genetically prone to it due to her Miqo'te ancestry, Shou will proudly admit she enjoys the taste of everything from nutkin, to rat, to warmoura. Beyond this, she favors confectionary of all kinds, subsisting on them as snacks during long periods of study. Though not a drunk by any means, Shou favors potent, throat-burning spirits, with a particular love for those produced by the Nami still in Wellwick, one she finds particular significance in, since that whiskey, too has survived the Calamity only to emerge stronger, richer, and a touch more bitter. Additionally, she has been known to partake in other inebriating substances, and has a stash of Red Moko Grass in her room, which she quietly partakes in after great successes or crushing failures. S T R E N G T H S ■ Intuition. Shou's aetherial reserves are almost offensively average, so her grasp of Thaumaturgy comes not from raw force, but with the swiftness and efficacy by which she can manipulate it. Shou's internal discipline, and knowledge of herself gives her incredible ability to manipulate her own life force. ■ Intellect. Shou is an almost worryingly quick study, with an ability to read, process and recombine a vast wealth of information in a short period of time, and it shows. Shou's sheer breadth of knowledge is impressive even by academic standards, and she's fully capable of discoursing on any of the great civilizations of eld, on topics practical, esoteric, to flat out weird. This is particularly striking, given that Shou has never attended a day of school in her life, and it's hard to say if her applying her knowledge to a formal, academic setting would end in tenure, or a fistfight with the dean. ■ Devotion. Shou can come off as lazy, but she is damn stubborn. While always willing to take a hit for what she believes in, her dedication to her ideals goes beyond simple martyrdom-- Shou is willing to pour her soul (often literally) into her work, be it frantic translation, scouting runs, or the chaos of battle, Shou is fully capable of throwing the whole weight of her being behind a cause. W E A K N E S S E S ■ Deconditioned. While many physiques possess a superficial layer of fat as a component of a hardy constitution, Shou's is not one of them. ■ Obsessive. Shou has a tendency to throw herself mind, body and soul into her work, and the success or failure of her most recent project can tend to consume her entirely, for good or ill. M O T I V A T I O N S ■ Harmony and Vindication - Shou is a frankly dangerous idealist. Her rock-solid will drives her to prove her worldview-- that of harmony and justice between men, not over men== as not only possible but able to be realized, but for a select few delusions possessed by human, and if pressed, she's not above putting a few heads on pikes to prove it. That said, Shou's experiences in war and mercenary work have actually given her a fairly intense merciful streak. She spares everybody she can, and has even hired a few desperate, misguided folks on to the company in hopes that they could build better lives. ■ Invention and Discovery' - Shou believes the scholarly work of Archaeology is two parts evidence, one part imagination, much like her idealism, Shou is driven to make stuff work, whether they be ancient arts of magic, forgotten magitek, or her own polymathematic inventions of spellcasting. In particular, she delights in fusing ancient wisdom, with modern perspective to create something truly new-- or spectacularly dangerous, depending on who you ask. ■ Vengeance and Vindication - Both in contrast and in keeping with her values of mercy, hope, and solidarity, Shou is terrifyingly angry when betrayed, and will go to frankly grisly extents to persecute those who betray her trust, steal her stuff, or both. RELATIONSHIP STATUS LEGEND ♥ Family – ♥ Involved – ♥ Romantic – ♥ Platonic – ♥ Physical – ♦ Friend – ★ Acquaintance – $ Business – ✝ Deceased – ✔ Positive – ✖ Negative – ● Neutral – � Unsure FAMILY Person Name, relationship. ( ) - Title. Character's Thoughts: " ." Description of their relationship. T'Zhena Gao, Sister. (♥) - The Family Line. Shou's Thoughts: "Zhena's responsible for a lot of both of our anxieties growing up, but I was ultimately responsible for her stint in prison. Having what we had, I can't blame her for the work she does, much less blame her for being good at it, but... I want to show her a better way." Shou and Zhena grew up together under the adoptive care of Skinned Tree, and after Zhena was kicked out, Shou followed her a few moons after. Ultimately, they became runners for a Smugglers' guild called the Pilotfish, and Shou ditched Zhena with the contraband when an operation went bad. After Zhena was released from jail, she found her way to the Pathfinders', where the two reconnected. Now they're coworkers. Things are still kinda awkward. NON-FAMILY Person Name, relationship. ( ) - Title. Character's Thoughts: " ." Description of their relationship. RUMORS N P C Some of these rumors are untrue, speculation, or are greatly exaggerated. ◢ Common Rumors - Easily overheard. Use these freely! ■ "She's got a suit of living armor in the Pathfinders' garage. Calls it Hawkmoth." ◢ Uncommon Rumors - A little more difficult to hear. Use sparingly or ask first! ■ "Shou collects Allagan Erotica in her spare time. Ask her about it, she totally spazzes out." ◢ Rare Rumors - Very rarely overheard. Please ask before using! ■ "She has a brand on the nape of her neck. It's got to be some kind of curse; I caught a glimpse of it in the bathhouse, and it... squirmed at me." P C Feel free to add your own rumors to this section. ◢ Player Character Rumors - Some of these are more rare than others! ■ "Rumor." — Rumormonger. Artwork Screenshots OOC NOTES OOC INFORMATION Player Note Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Etiam pretium at magna nec volutpat. Ut et fermentum erat, a eleifend justo. Nunc facilisis tellus sem, at suscipit nunc semper sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras vehicula vehicula risus vitae molestie. Mauris dui dui, rhoncus vitae lacus vitae, varius blandit metus. Maecenas ipsum justo, varius at tortor sit amet, scelerisque elementum arcu. Maecenas consectetur libero in mi molestie facilisis. Nam nec lectus pellentesque, ullamcorper tellus semper, sollicitudin nulla. Nam eget nulla sed nulla tincidunt ultrices quis a sapien. Ut faucibus bibendum nulla, ut ultrices dolor convallis in. Nam efficitur dui nec dolor pretium tempor. Nam tempor vestibulum eros, sed eleifend odio congue quis. 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Maecenas ipsum justo, varius at tortor sit amet, scelerisque elementum arcu. Maecenas consectetur libero in mi molestie facilisis. Nam nec lectus pellentesque, ullamcorper tellus semper, sollicitudin nulla. Nam eget nulla sed nulla tincidunt ultrices quis a sapien. Ut faucibus bibendum nulla, ut ultrices dolor convallis in. Nam efficitur dui nec dolor pretium tempor. Nam tempor vestibulum eros, sed eleifend odio congue quis. Duis laoreet sodales augue, at mollis risus malesuada et. CHARACTER TIDBITS Potential Plot Hooks Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Etiam pretium at magna nec volutpat. Ut et fermentum erat, a eleifend justo. Nunc facilisis tellus sem, at suscipit nunc semper sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras vehicula vehicula risus vitae molestie. Mauris dui dui, rhoncus vitae lacus vitae, varius blandit metus. Maecenas ipsum justo, varius at tortor sit amet, scelerisque elementum arcu. 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Error creating thumbnail: File missing INFORMATION Name - Shou Lushan Race - Keeper of the Moon Age - 27 Name Day - 26th Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon Religion - Pantheist, but favors Rhalgr ■ Aliases: "Show Lady", "Marshmallows" ■ Citizenship: Dual Ul'Dahn/Lominsan ■ Occupation: Archaeologist, Thaumaturge ■ Hair color: Black ■ Eye color: Orange ■ Complexion: Slate Gray ■ Piercings: None ■ Marks or tattoos: Plenty ■ Alignment: Chaotic Good ■ Key Items: Acherontia-Class Allagan Hazardous Environment Suit "Hawkmoth" ■ Favorite Food: Eft Dumplings ■ Favorite Drink: Thanalan Coffee, (Cream, Three Sugars) ■ Favorite Color: Ink Blue Template made by Abagail Graves and free for use!