Cheng Wen's page

About Cheng Wen

I am an opera singer/I sing in foreign lands/Most people seem to know my name/Or at least know who I am.

-Opera Singer, Cake

Solid life, of crime/A man of odd circumstance/A victim of ghetto demands/Feed me money for style/And I'll let you trip for a while/Insecure from the past/How long can a good thing last?

-Pusherman, Curtis Mayfield

'Cuz when a person gets to be such a hero, folks/And marvelous beyond compute/You can never really tell about a guy like that/Whether he's really a nice person/Or if he just smiles a lot.

-Billy the Mountain, Frank Zappa

Cheng Wen, Tien actor extraordinaire, has performed in the theater all his life. His travels have taken him to grand opera houses, noble palaces, and even the imperial courts of two Tien nations, and now they have taken him to the Chelaxian city of Westcrown. Wen sees in the city a chance to bring the arts of cultured Tian Xia to a fearful and broken people held in a dangerous thrall to diabolic influence- a difficult audience indeed, and one worthy of Wen's prodigious skills. Perhaps his work will even help break the pall that hangs over the city these days, the cloying miasma of darkness and oppression thick enough in places to cut with a knife, and Wen will be recognized as more than a mere pretty face, but as a hero. It is a role Wen is eager to take on.

Wen loves the finer things in life, from the arts to quality vices (alcohol and fine tobacco, mostly) to tailored silk clothing and fine jewelry. Even his favored weapon was given to him as a gift from a grateful lord and patron of the theater, and is a work of art unto itself. Wen treasures it greatly, and is hesitant to use it for its intended purpose, mostly carrying it as a deterrent to would-be thieves.

Wen has recently found work performing roles in midweek matinees at the various opera houses in Westcrown (a fact that drives him crazy, since he considers himself to be one of the best actors ever to grace Golarion, and such entry-level roles are beneath him), but he is willing to bide his time until the opportunity to "make it big" arrives. Until that opportunity arrives, Wen is happy to keep exceeding the expectations of the bored nobility that comes to see the midweek shows and show up the plebeians who keep throwing him such castaway parts.

Recently, Wen became friends with a fellow actor named Aloysia Zarella after they uncovered a murderous plot to eliminate one of Westcrown's minor opera divas. The two share a dislike of the powers that be, and hope to find a way to change the established order, but as of yet, they haven't found a way to make that happen.

Until now, that is. Wen and Aloysia have fallen in with a group of rebels and revolutionaries, including a middle-aged half-elf outdoorsman named Jonathan Whiteling and a short but tough-looking Wiscrani who goes by the appellation Slappy Wet-Trousers. Wen has become nervous about the chance for success with allies like these, but so far no one's died, so that's a good sign... right?

Current character art available here. Follow the misadventures of Cheng Wen and his friends in "Reports of Certain Events in Westcrown," which can be found here.

Full Stats (Current as of 11/09/09):