Post by Rusauswan on Jul 18, 2010 22:20:00 GMT -5
Character information:
Character name: Wang Yao
Nation: China
Age: 4000 (immortal? –actually 4708 years old, considering the Chinese calendar)
Gender: Male
Appearance:
Height: 169 cm
Hair/eyes: black/ brown
Notable features: slightly long hair in a ponytail
He has a scar on his back, a reminder of when Kiku attacked him when they were younger, and a panda-shaped tattoo above his buttocks.
Personality:
[Now now, this requires an explanation.
Truth to be told, this will be the first time I’ll rp China. My experience on roleplaying is one year old, so I had the opportunity to interact with China as other characters during this time. I’ll create his personality based on official description, personal opinion and previous rp experience. All in all, this will be the first time I’ll try to elaborate how I see China.]
Yao is one of the oldest living nations [India is the other nation that probably has the same age as China]. This makes him one of the most experienced and – in a certain way – one of the most mature nations, a fact that gives him a different way of understanding the world – that way which only the eyes of an elder can see.
Yao is generally in a good mood, well-mannered and patient (to a certain extent), but also very vigorous. He’s wise and has large knowledge about various subjects. He can’t help but feel nostalgic from time to time, but he always finds different ways to deal with it. Overall, he tries to get the best of the moment he’s living.
“Family” is a precious thing for him, and his strong point of view towards this caused a couple misunderstandings, discussions and even a few fights. But he cherishes his family a lot, and this will hardly change.
He feels and acts as an elder brother, but many times his efforts aren’t taken as seriously as he would like to. He strongly believes that family issues must be solved within the family. So don’t expect to get a positive reaction if you try to tell him how he should act towards familiar issues, as he won’t go around telling how people should treat their families. If you ask him for advice, however, be sure he’ll gladly talk to you.
He loves cuisine and is pretty skilled at drawing, especially human beings.
He’s very religious and superstitious, thus having a powerful connection to the Chinese mythology and culture.
Mythology:
Chinese culture is rich, with so much material that it might drive me crazy. The sample post will mention the Ba Gua (or Pa Kua), but this is like the top of the visible part of the iceberg. Legends, Stars, Martial Arts, Calendar, Animals, Emperors, Gods and Goddesses… there is plenty of themes and characters to work with. I’ll add some links so you can have a general idea.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_astrology
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_calendar
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Emperor
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba_gua
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching#Trigrams
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuxi
etc.
Sample Post:
“Ah, look at this!”
Yao had been spending that rainy afternoon looking through some old boxes that were forgotten in a corner of his house in Beijing. The pouring water made an unexplainable boredom take over him, something quite unusual to happen, which led him to conclude he should let himself be carried by it. He believed it was good for the mind to be blank every once in a while, so the soul could have a moment for itself only. He hardly had the time for this nowadays.
Thus, he was sitting in the living room, drinking tea and observing the rain through the open window. It was when his eyes started to randomly glance through various parts of the house that they spotted the forgotten boxes. After considering for a moment if he should move or not, he gave up to curiosity and stood up.
The content of the boxes smelled ancient. There was all the kinds of objects: clothes, small pieces of furniture, a tea set, notes… and finding all those things reminded Yao of how many times that very scene had been repeated. For each time he moved to a new place, for the past 4000 years, the ritual had been performed the same way. To pick belongings worth keeping, to let what wasn’t of use anymore behind, to store the belongings in boxes or chests, to let them somewhere in the new house, to forget them, to find them by accident years later, to wonder the reasons he picked those things and not others, to regret some choices, to agree with others, to find a very precious belonging among all those memories.
And there he was, holding above his head a very old looking amulet, observing it with sincere amusement, after shouting to himself in surprise. Yao could never mistake a self-made handcraft. The wood was a bit worn, the metal rusty, the paints slightly faded… even so, the object still had its own charm and certainly its meaning was intact.
“Ba Gua!”
The eight diagrams could be seen clearly in Fu Xi “Earlier Heaven” Arrangement, placed in symmetric and complementary manner. Heaven in the South, Earth in the North, Fire on the left, Water on the right… Thunder and Wind, Mountain and Lake… He could hear the voice of Fu Xi echoing from the small words carefully written in the back of the amulet as a reminder of its principle, even though he remembered them from memory easily…
Upon a closer examination, it occurred to him that the amulet belonged to a family he had crafted a long time ago, one of them remaining with him, the others being in the care of each one of his siblings. With the trigrams arranged in that way, it represented an ideal state, when everything was balanced. Also, it represented the many possibilities people faced in life, as there was always more than one possible way to go and that it was up to each one to decide it. That was something he wanted to pass to the younger ones, so he made the amulets as a gift for all of them. As him, they would grow up and have to walk their paths on their own someday, and Yao wanted them to always remember the teachings that have been passed through so many generations among the people. He wanted too that they remembered he would be there for them. Someone they could always count on.
And how much they have grown! Their paths have gotten apart – maybe farther than he would have wanted to –, things didn’t go as he expected sometimes. Life hadn’t been as nice has he hoped for, but it hadn’t been as terrible as he feared. For the better or for the worse, they all had acted based on what they believed…
Yao wondered if they have kept the amulet, even after so long.
“Maybe I could ask them… or rather…” He stood up slowly, stretching his back lazily. It wasn’t a bad idea to test his craftsman skills. This time, however, he would make a King Wen Later Heaven arrangement of Ba Gua.
Other important notes:
Fail English. It happens with me. I’m sorry if it eventually happens (and you can correct me, it would be much appreciated!)
I write walls of text.And now I can call them Great Walls of China of text. Sorry for this. :’D
Character name: Wang Yao
Nation: China
Age: 4000 (immortal? –
Gender: Male
Appearance:
Height: 169 cm
Hair/eyes: black/ brown
Notable features: slightly long hair in a ponytail
He has a scar on his back, a reminder of when Kiku attacked him when they were younger, and a panda-shaped tattoo above his buttocks.
Personality:
[Now now, this requires an explanation.
Truth to be told, this will be the first time I’ll rp China. My experience on roleplaying is one year old, so I had the opportunity to interact with China as other characters during this time. I’ll create his personality based on official description, personal opinion and previous rp experience. All in all, this will be the first time I’ll try to elaborate how I see China.]
Yao is one of the oldest living nations [India is the other nation that probably has the same age as China]. This makes him one of the most experienced and – in a certain way – one of the most mature nations, a fact that gives him a different way of understanding the world – that way which only the eyes of an elder can see.
Yao is generally in a good mood, well-mannered and patient (to a certain extent), but also very vigorous. He’s wise and has large knowledge about various subjects. He can’t help but feel nostalgic from time to time, but he always finds different ways to deal with it. Overall, he tries to get the best of the moment he’s living.
“Family” is a precious thing for him, and his strong point of view towards this caused a couple misunderstandings, discussions and even a few fights. But he cherishes his family a lot, and this will hardly change.
He feels and acts as an elder brother, but many times his efforts aren’t taken as seriously as he would like to. He strongly believes that family issues must be solved within the family. So don’t expect to get a positive reaction if you try to tell him how he should act towards familiar issues, as he won’t go around telling how people should treat their families. If you ask him for advice, however, be sure he’ll gladly talk to you.
He loves cuisine and is pretty skilled at drawing, especially human beings.
He’s very religious and superstitious, thus having a powerful connection to the Chinese mythology and culture.
Mythology:
Chinese culture is rich, with so much material that it might drive me crazy. The sample post will mention the Ba Gua (or Pa Kua), but this is like the top of the visible part of the iceberg. Legends, Stars, Martial Arts, Calendar, Animals, Emperors, Gods and Goddesses… there is plenty of themes and characters to work with. I’ll add some links so you can have a general idea.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_astrology
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_calendar
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Emperor
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba_gua
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching#Trigrams
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuxi
etc.
Sample Post:
“Ah, look at this!”
Yao had been spending that rainy afternoon looking through some old boxes that were forgotten in a corner of his house in Beijing. The pouring water made an unexplainable boredom take over him, something quite unusual to happen, which led him to conclude he should let himself be carried by it. He believed it was good for the mind to be blank every once in a while, so the soul could have a moment for itself only. He hardly had the time for this nowadays.
Thus, he was sitting in the living room, drinking tea and observing the rain through the open window. It was when his eyes started to randomly glance through various parts of the house that they spotted the forgotten boxes. After considering for a moment if he should move or not, he gave up to curiosity and stood up.
The content of the boxes smelled ancient. There was all the kinds of objects: clothes, small pieces of furniture, a tea set, notes… and finding all those things reminded Yao of how many times that very scene had been repeated. For each time he moved to a new place, for the past 4000 years, the ritual had been performed the same way. To pick belongings worth keeping, to let what wasn’t of use anymore behind, to store the belongings in boxes or chests, to let them somewhere in the new house, to forget them, to find them by accident years later, to wonder the reasons he picked those things and not others, to regret some choices, to agree with others, to find a very precious belonging among all those memories.
And there he was, holding above his head a very old looking amulet, observing it with sincere amusement, after shouting to himself in surprise. Yao could never mistake a self-made handcraft. The wood was a bit worn, the metal rusty, the paints slightly faded… even so, the object still had its own charm and certainly its meaning was intact.
“Ba Gua!”
The eight diagrams could be seen clearly in Fu Xi “Earlier Heaven” Arrangement, placed in symmetric and complementary manner. Heaven in the South, Earth in the North, Fire on the left, Water on the right… Thunder and Wind, Mountain and Lake… He could hear the voice of Fu Xi echoing from the small words carefully written in the back of the amulet as a reminder of its principle, even though he remembered them from memory easily…
The Limitless – Wuji – produces the delimited, and this is the Absolute – Taiji.
The Taiji produces two forms, named yin and yang.
The two forms produce four phenomena, named lesser yin, great yin*, lesser yang, great yang.
The four phenomena act on the eight trigrams – ba gua –, eight eights are sixty-four hexagrams.
Upon a closer examination, it occurred to him that the amulet belonged to a family he had crafted a long time ago, one of them remaining with him, the others being in the care of each one of his siblings. With the trigrams arranged in that way, it represented an ideal state, when everything was balanced. Also, it represented the many possibilities people faced in life, as there was always more than one possible way to go and that it was up to each one to decide it. That was something he wanted to pass to the younger ones, so he made the amulets as a gift for all of them. As him, they would grow up and have to walk their paths on their own someday, and Yao wanted them to always remember the teachings that have been passed through so many generations among the people. He wanted too that they remembered he would be there for them. Someone they could always count on.
And how much they have grown! Their paths have gotten apart – maybe farther than he would have wanted to –, things didn’t go as he expected sometimes. Life hadn’t been as nice has he hoped for, but it hadn’t been as terrible as he feared. For the better or for the worse, they all had acted based on what they believed…
Yao wondered if they have kept the amulet, even after so long.
“Maybe I could ask them… or rather…” He stood up slowly, stretching his back lazily. It wasn’t a bad idea to test his craftsman skills. This time, however, he would make a King Wen Later Heaven arrangement of Ba Gua.
Other important notes:
Fail English. It happens with me. I’m sorry if it eventually happens (and you can correct me, it would be much appreciated!)
I write walls of text.