About Li MuiPrelude:
One can't change the world more than a golden fish can push the waves of the ocean. Li Mui was born in a village north of Naxiong, in China, at the second half of the XIX century. Her parents were already old when she was born, and the modest elder couple, traditionalist as they come, were quick to find an arranged wedding for her. She was barely 4 when she was promised to marry the young son of the recluse merchant Bo Shangyou - a rich man from the big city which would for times engage the people of the nearby villages to transport his spices to the ancient port. Li Mui's parents were skilled on the silk decorations used for packaging and the artistic paints, and were honored their daughter would supposedly have a brighter future. They ended up passing, however, before she came of age, and she was taken to be raised by the servants of Bo Shangyou until old enough to consumate the wedding with his son. The years of the large manor at the mountains were strange, as she barely ever saw their main occupants, being relegated to even live in the servant quarters, and take on some of their chores. There, her biggest friendship was with old Mai Zhi, a sweet widow that led a harsh life and lost sons and grandkids to disease. In a given night, Li Mui was tasked to serve tea to Bo Shangyou and his business partners. As she approached the paper walls of the main abode, she noticed they were switfly sprayed with what looked like thick red ink, and instead stopped to try to clean it herself. Between the thing layers between the bamboo pillars and the paper, she saw Bo Shangyou - maybe the third time, by then - surrounded by the foreigners with whom he'd negotiate. Despite her silence, they somehow noticed her, and she was yelled out with ire. Little she knew her life had almost ended that night, and that the red stains weren't ink... Just a few months later she was forced to drink Bo Shangyou's vitae for the first time, becoming one of his retainers. She would be neglected sometimes for weeks, which made her age almost as a normal woman. It quickly became evident for her, as well, that not only Bo Shangyou didn't or couldn't even have any children, being an undead creature, but also that she was always intended to become just another servant to replace another he had lost, brought in as practically a child to be tought the rules from an early age. Bo Shangyou wasn't a good master; he barely cared for his retainers, as was adept of cycles of insane violence against the oldest ones around. Yet, his blood was a nectar like no other substance in the world, to the point that she'd almost tolerate him in name of a platonic love. Old Mai Zhi was way beyond 120 years of age by then, more than half of those as a retainer, and she was the main responsible to explain to Li Mui about human culture, martial arts, the cainites, the Camarilla... And the Malkavian curse that ran through their veins. Li Mui was beyond her two decades of life when her master was finally revealed a traitor - his strange way of approaching existence was in truth a deranged view of the Path of Self-Focus, an ancient philosophy practiced by members of the "True" Black Hand. The monstrous man fled with his retainers towards the West and embraced the oldest ones, ordering them to dispose of the younger ones and then take a stance against the pursuers. Old Mai Zhi, by then, showed to actually resist her sire's influence - due to something on her old, madness-cursed blood - and fought against his orders, defending the Camarilla and the young retainers. The result of the "civil war" was the destruction of most of Bo Shangyou's retainers. The old vampire was too strong to actually make the challenge fair, but by then the pursuers hunters from the clan had already caught up with them, and the traitor was staked and taken to Europe. Li Mui was alive, but barely, and the Camarilla authorized Mai Zhi to embrace her and take as her own childe. The two sole survivors moved to England, where they were accepted by the Prince and start serving the court directly with information from the East. Mai Zhi and Li Mui held faithfully to their loyalty to the Camarilla. After the two world wars and with the ongoing cold war, the prejudice against the Chinese women grow - despite not really being comunists - and Li Mui ended up moving to the United States; Mai Zhi stayed behind, since her status within the Camarilla had grown by then. The "young" cainite derangements had exponentially raised, almost to the point of making her obsess with the strange philosophies guiding her mind; while her sire's way of coping with losses and prejudice had been that of embracing Humanity and seeking a path of good, Li Mui disagreed and - as a dichotomy - felt driven to follow the same Path that had been imparted in them by their late master. Li Mui started to dedicate her unlife to write fiction books and martial arts stories around such philosophies, without actually naming what they were. It was around the 70s that she received the worst news - that Old Mai Zhi had been found killed, and the Camarilla believed by mortals themselves - and that threw her already fragile mind into an even deeper spiral. Li Mui had been working with an editor (Samara McGill) for a while, and Samara ended up finding about her secret occult life - which drove Li Mui to turn her into her retainer, a fact that ended up saving the cainite from her own destructive path. Nowadays, their friendship still persists, and Samara became a manager of all Li Mui's affairs. The Chinese woman fame grew somewhat locally, due to her books, to the point that a small "cult" of women started to follow her teachings in a profound way, turning her into a sort of Life Style consultant for them; and turning them into her own private herd...
Character Sheet:
Player Lapyd
----------------- Physical Strength oo
Social Charisma ooo
Mental Perception oo
-------------------- Talents Alertness o
Skills Animal Ken
Knowledges Academics o
-------------------- Disciplines Auspex 1
-------------------- Backgrounds Generation ooo
-------------------- Virtues Conscience/Conviction ooo
-------------------- Path of Self-Focus 6
Derangement (Clan) Schizophrenia -------------------- Merits/Flaws Infertile Vitae -5 During your Embrace, something went horribly wrong, causing your blood to mutate under the stress of dying and rising again. All those you try to Embrace die. No matter what you do, you may not create any childer. However, your blood can still be used in blood rituals like Thaumaturgy and the Vaulderie, or for any other vampiric needs like making ghouls. Kiss of Death -2 Should you drain a mortal vessel of all blood minutes after their heart stops beating, the corpse rises as a zombie (using the statistics for zombies on Necromancy). These zombies are free-willed, hostile toward you, and cannot be directed without some sorcerous or necromantic means to command them. Language +1 Chinese (Native), English Iron Will +3 When you are determined and your mind is set, nothing can thwart you from your goals. Characters using Dementation, Dominate, or any other mind-altering magic, spell, or Thaumaturgy path against your character are at +3 difficulty. Elder levels of powers like Dementation and Dominate may overwhelm even this resistance. Against Level Six powers, the expenditure of a Willpower point through Iron Will only raises the difficulty of the Discipline roll by two. Against Level Seven powers, the difficulty is increased by only one. Level Eight and higher powers cannot be resisted with Iron Will. Acute Sense +1 (Hearing) One of your senses is exceptionally sharp, be it sight, hearing, smell, touch, or taste. The difficulties for all tasks involving the use of this particular sense are reduced by two. This Merit can be combined with the Discipline of Auspex to produce superhuman sensory acuity. Enchanting Voice +2 There is something about your voice that others cannot ignore. When you command, they are cowed. When you seduce, they swoon. Whether thundering, soothing, persuading, or simply talking, your voice commands attention. The difficulties of all rolls involving the use of the voice to persuade, charm, or command are reduced by two. |
