Voidtrecker Application

[jingyeets]

Character Information

Name: Lan Jingyi (Jingyi given name, Lan surname), Childhood name Lan Zhi (AU related, not Untamed canon)
Canon: The Untamed
Canon Point: "Post"-series
OU/AU/CRAU/OC: AU
Age: 21

World Information:

Jingyi is still from a world that's set in a space akin to ancient fantasy China, where cultivators, individuals who focus on self-cultivation to achieve immortality, provide safety to normal people within regions of their influence, but otherwise largely stay uninvolved and do not have political sway in normal people's lives. Cultivators focus on handling the 'supernatural' aspects of their world, protecting normal people from all kinds of disasters, hauntings, demons, and otherwise no-good nonsense they would otherwise be overwhelmed by, to their individual detriment, or to a more mass-scale "everyone here died" level of detriment.

Specifically to the AU, cultivators also have ties to various mythological beasts, as in they're part of cultivator heritages. Sometimes known as inheriting the spirit of the dragon, the five major sects (and many smaller sects) of the regions known in Untamed generally have dragon-linked cultivators, who take on their "true" form in childhood, which most commonly is a sort of dragon form. Individuals also have elemental affiliations, with techniques passed along in bloodlines; anywhere from a strong single element affiliation to usually weaker multi-element affiliation.

Golden cores are also formed young in those capable of cultivation, as part of their initial coalescing of qi, spiritual energy, within their bodies. Higher level cultivators all have golden cores, with one notable exception in world: Wei Wuxian, though this is only recent knowledge, and he'd had to rely on external devices to hold "qi" in order to execute various techniques he developed over his lifetime.

More AU specific world history:

The Yiling Patriarch was a figure of much controversy, but after the Jin Clan slaughtered the remainder of the Wens, and the "ashes" of Wen Ning and Wen Qing were tossed down on the ground in Nightless City, rather than join with Lanling Jin to attack the Yiling Patriarch, Yunmeng Jiang took a firm stance against it, and was backed up by Gusu Lan and Qinghe Nie. Lanling Jin had to give up their agenda, but Lanling Jin decreed the surrender or destruction,of Wei Wuxian's Tiger Seal, made from Yin Iron. While "destruction" was not thought possible initially, the Tiger Seal was ultimately destroyed by Wei Wuxian after he was attacked while in recovery at Yunmeng Jiang, his former sect. The collection of elders and juniors from all four clans that participated, citing the recent near-death of Jin Zixuan due to Wei Wuxian's mishandling of Wen Ning (now presumed dead) as evidence that he could not be trusted to control the Tiger Seal. Jiang Yanli, who had been injured in the fight at Nightless City where Wei Wuxian was injured, spoke on behalf of herself and her husband, taking a stance against this incursion. When she was overpowered, but not killed, Wei Wuxian joined the fight alongside Jiang Wanyin and Lan Wangji, leading to significant damages in Lotus Pier before the Tiger Seal was rather dramatically shattered.

Restitution was owed to Lotus Pier/Yunmeng Jiang in the aftermath, and a memorial to the slain Wens was erected by Wei Wuxian and Jiang Wanyin and placed on Dafan Mountain. A-Yuan was found in Yiling by Lan Wangji prior to this fight at Lotus Pier, and after Lan Wangji was returned to his sect and punished for having injured his elders in defending Wei Wuxian, brought to Gusu Lan with Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian visited Lan Wangji in closed cultivation, as a sort of uneasy truce with the Lan Elders and the Lan Sect Head, and peace-keeping measure with the rest of the major sects, as Yunmeng Jiang would accept no one else, and Qinghe Nie respected Lan Xichen in this capacity.

In the years that followed, Nie Mingjue disappeared after a final, severe deviation at Lanling Jin, where his blood brother Jin Guangyao had been attempting to help him. He disappeared after, unable to be located.

In the political upset following the missing sect leader, presumed dead, Jin Guangshan likewise passed in uncertain circumstances. Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian rejoined the world at large, focussed on handling the more chaotic situations that arose, with many headbutting situations over the years over Wei Wuxian's unorthodox form of cultivation. At a point much of their achievements were in unearthing truths behind things erroneously attributed to the Yiling Patriarch, while Wei Wuxian likewise painstakingly helped cleanse Yiling from its heavy resentful burden.

Sixteen years following, tensions between the chief cultivator Jin Guangyao, since given a new generational name by his farther prior to his passing and now called Jin Ziyao (at the same time Mo Xuanyu was taken in and given the name Jin Ziyu, so was Jin Guangyau given the name Ziyao), and his ideas versus those more progressive and less centralist ideas from Jin Zixuan and his wife, Jiang Yanli, and their at that point six children. The eldest, and heir, was involved in a near fatal injurying that ended up driving Mo Xuanyu (now known as Jin Ziyu) to his mother's home, alongside other accusations of inappropriate advances made on his half-brother Jin Ziyao and other cousins. He was believed to be going insane, and made an attempt on his life which ended up almost succeeding, and instead creating a sort of curse array that the juniors from Gusu Lan encountered at Mo Manor. Upon calling for Hanguang-jun's assistance, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji helped break the array, only to leave Wei Wuxian cursed and both of them dealing with a sword spirit that had been attacking the Mo Family at the same time. Mo Xuanyu/Jin Ziyu was comatose and did not wake up, but was also the only Mo Manor survivor; Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli brought him back to Jinlin Tai for recovery.

(Cue more or less canon shenanigans, with accusations being leveled at Wei Wuxian for his associations with demonic cultivation, before the locations of Wen Ning, and ultimately Wen Qing, are unearthed and the perpetrator is tracked down in following months. Jin Ziyao is revealed as having orchestrated Nie Mingjue's qi deviations, and later his murder, along with the murder of his father and various small sects over the years, in order to ensure smooth sailing for his ideas concerning protective measures taken to keep the normal people safe from abnormal disasters (also to ensure extra funds). Truths about events from sixteen years prior are likewise revealed, and Jin Ziyao is ultimately killed by the resentful spirit of Nie Mingjue, and... the cultivation world had to get a new chief cultivator, who temporarily was filled as a position by Lan Wangji.

Personal History:

Lan Jingyi was born and raised in Gusu Lan, as part of the main clan instead of one of its branches. Due to his loud and more "I think that's nonsense so I'm going to ignore it when I feasibly can" personality, he's been a chronic offender of Lan Precepts growing up, and is well used to being punished for various small misdoings, to the point he simply does what he wants fully excepting and accepting the consequences up front. He does have a better sense of scale, so these days he usually manages to follow the majority of his clan's precepts while in Gusu Lan, and then lets loose when outside... while more or less remembering his clan dignity.

When he was young, five or so, he first met A-Yuan, a young man being adopted in by Hanguang-jun, also known as Lan Wangji. He became fast friends with the young boy, who suffered from memory issues following a massive fever, and was supportive during his slow memory return in the years following. While Hanguang-jun was recovering from injuries sustained defending the Yiling Patriarch, Lan Yuan was largely left in Zewu-jun's hands, with Jingyi happily dragging him out and around and accompanying him to lessons and sneaking various vegetables to the rabbits on the back mountain.

By and large, his growing up wasn't particularly noteworthy, as his generation benefitted from being young at the time of the war with the Wen Sect/Clan, and was raised largely in the aftermath. He can remember Gusu Lan burning, and the panic and worry as they were shepherded first to the back mountain, then away; his low regard for Su She started at that time, and never grew any better as he aged. It also made him much more sympathetic in particular to another child who came to Gusu Lan a year later, who was also displaced by the war at one point, and ended up there after adult shenanigans he largely didn't follow.

Having the Yiling Patriarch as part of his childhood left him starry eyed over both him and Hanguang-jun, but visibly biased toward Hanguang-jun, particularly once he joined in Night Hunts in his teenage years. He was always an avid audience for Wei Wuxian's stories, and perhaps related a touch too much, though he was vocally put out never getting to see Wei Wuxian's once famed swordwork. /wipes single tear from eye

Meanwhile, truly exciting things didn't start happening until the curse array at Mo Manor, which combined with a sword spirit that attacked the juniors at the Manor, left half their number catatonic from backlash. Jingyi was not as badly injured in the process, and ended up retreating with the rest to Gusu Lan alongside Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, who consulted with Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren as to the sword spirit's origin with its trace of Yin Iron energies, which no one had seen in the cultivation world since Wei Wuxian destroyed his Tiger Seal.

He was sent out with his fellow disciples and a number of disciples of similar ages from the other great (and minor) sects to pursue Night Hunts across their combined realm, gathering experience and running across Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji in Yi City, where an outbreak of puppets eerily similar to the ones from Wen Ruohan's time were located. When that mystery was ultimately resolved, he and the other juniors eventually were returning to their homes, only to end up captured and left bound in Yiling at the Burial Mounds.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji found them before significant injury could be achieved, and were then confronted by another combined task force of the sects, who attempted to blame recent hardships on Wei Wuxian attempting to forge another object of power: the juniors were clearly going to be murdered and used for this new seal! The resentful energies of Yiling Burial Grounds went on the offensive, unable to resist such a large group of emotionally charged people, and even possessed villagers from the outskirts to send them in an attack against the gathered cultivators. As was learned during the time where all those who came to Yiling were gathered in Wei Wuxian's former home, there was in fact another person stirring up these energies, and Jingyi helped be part of the speaking out that ultimately exposed Su She's actions, and one of the people behind the kidnapping of himself and the other juniors.

Eventually things come to a head where a confrontation with Jin Ziyao at the temple he built in honour of his mother, and while all the current sect heads ended up present, Lan Jingyi only heard about events from Lan Sizhui later, who was somewhat circumspect on details. (Somewhat. Lan Jingyi learned most of what happened, minus specifics on conversations, and is close mouthed on it beyond being a bit kinder to Jin Ling, who showed up in defense of his father and uncles and couldn't understand what happened that one of said uncles ended up harming him in order to try and save his own life.)

Personality:

Jingyi is a straightforward, loud, and low-nonsense tolerance young man of the Gusu Lan sect; he can have a hot temper, and has no patience for people lying or making unfounded accusations. He's proud of his clan but not particularly married to following all of its rules and regulations when outside Gusu Lan proper, and thus bends and breaks rules where he feels its warranted (for his own, or other's, purposes). He's willing to adapt to changing situations, and complains earnestly, and supports the people important to him equally earnestly. He'll call people out, have visible, large, and often vocal reactions to things he's witnessing, but will also pretty easily fall into assistive patterns in questioning or fighting, as is needed. He's brave enough, and just foolhardy enough, to hold his ground in situations where he's defending his fellows and especially friends, be it confronting a 'living' statue (time to get choked out!) or facing down the Ghost General (Wen Ning) for the sake of his friends.

He can act before thinking things through, but more on a level of feeling he needs to act when within his purview, and will listen to his elders and the more informed on things he doesn't know. He may be grumpy when things are getting bothersome, but he keeps it in line, and only really lets loose in more appropriate situations... most the time. He has decent emotional intelligence, and picks up on people's cues around him, though if this means he stays quiet or loudly states something is a mixed bag, depending on what he personally thinks is important. Or if he's thinking about it at all!

He's a stalwart friend, and he stands by his beliefs and the people he believes in, regardless of it being popular opinion. He'll also point out unpleasant truths without dressing them up, and try to motivate people into dealing with situations on hand by cutting to the point of what's going on, so they can move forward.

Key themes:

Friendship, honesty, calling... out... ness... Can't keep his mouth shut and will definitely call you out on your shit, rather than stay silent or be polite about it. He puts himself forward for his friends and for what should be done, rather than what's easiest to go along with.

Main Motivation:

Honestly, most likely it's defense/being a protector (of friends, clan, honesty/truth, loyalty, and principles/justice). His secondary motivation is to eat chicken, clearly, much less noble but much more stomach filling!

Skills:

- Cultivation! This is the use of spiritual energies to perform feats of physical strength, speed, or acute senses; it can be used to do things like ride spiritual weapons/swords/maybe non-spiritual ones, as well. Qi can be used to write talismans, make arrays, and generation barriers, usually through written symbols or characters of some kind, but can also be sewn or made in another form to be used (such as resentful spirit attracting flags).

- Sword arts/martial arts! He's been trained since his youth in swordwork, martial arts, and archery, though all are more for show than practical use (given Gusu Lan is vegetarian, one did not go hunting for the sake of eating what you kill).

- Lan Clan techniques! In this case, just knowing the Spell of Silence (you tell me he wouldn't learn after having it used on him as much as it probably was), and having learned Inquiry not as thoroughly as Lan Sizhui, but not doing bad in using his guqin to communicate with ghosts and disallowing them to lie. He's also really, really not bothered by the cold physically, and is actually more sensitive to heat. He's unsettled and uncomfortable with human-ghosts, and used to be outright scared of them, but that's since been tempered into feeling more in control as long as he can communicate with them and knows how to make them go away. If he doesn't have to be the one directly dealing with them, all the better! Can he just send them on. Make them leave forever.

- Dragon transformation! He'd be a Big Dragon of the Eastern styling (in my mind similar to how Soursoppi's dragons are in colouration, I'll see if I get around to trying to art this), but while on train restricted to fox size. He'll complain, that's basically being forced back to toddlerhood, what the heck! Dragons can fly, this is more a mix of physical and mental endurance than one or the other, and flight as dragon is often preferred by the Lans versus on their swords (as usually at least one in the group can get some cloud cover going for them to disguise specifically where they are from most normal folks, etc). Formal occasions demand swordflight, for the most part, and then preferences during emergencies tend to lend toward sword flight. As a dragon he can also swim, but he's not as good a swimmer as, say, those from Yunmeng Jiang, and mostly sees it as a leisure activity.

- Dragon appearance: he can have a size-appropriate version of his horns and his tail manifested in 'human' form, and will naturally unless he purposefully shifts them away, or is in a world that doesn't allow for qi manipulation and was in full human form at arrival. (In theory, he'd be stuck with these features if he arrived with them, or stuck in dragon form for the same reason.)

- Dragon affiliated magic: wind and precipitation, which can manifest as fog, or light rains. He does need moisture in the surrounding environment to make this work, but wind is as long as ... gasses are around, he's able to manipulate gasses to make a breeze basically. He usually does not rely on either of these and considers them more environmental effects or useful for certain situations, but they're things he can do. It's limited to his qi repository, so he can burn through all his energy summoning these things, just like any other qi-related technique cultivators use.

Item:

... Is it cheap to ask for his holding pouch, with his guqin in there? Or his sword with no official name, it'd basically be a secondary "bag" that holds just either of those things and spare robes, most likely. If you feel whimsical, also a jar of alcohol, since that's what'd be shoved into the bag.

But yeah, just let me know what he can actually have, it's all good!

Notes:

"If everyone's dragons do they fight as dragons" yes, sometimes, but it's actually considered uncouth by and large since it's so physical, so fights are usually preferred to be in civilized, human forms. Even wars. Use your swords, not your talons!