__________________QUICK STATS
Name: Mingke
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Species: Shijie-ren
Ethnicity: Sheng-gu-ren, but it's hard to recognize
Height: 5'9
Occupation: Scientist, alchemist
Residence: A comfy house in Gushui. Quite possibly the only comfy house in Gushui.
__________________IN-DEPTH STUFF
Physical Description: Mingke may be the most Huohu-minded Sheng-gu-ren in existence, and it shows. Her attitude towards her hair and antlers, the pride of Shijie-ren, is full of begrudged practicality. She's taken to filing the antlers every now and then to keep them short and prevent them from getting in the way. In a way, it's a good marker of how her research has been progressing - the longer a period of work has been going on, the longer her antlers get with no time wasted on cosmetic maintenance.
Her hair usually faces a similar fate. It's a necessity to keep them long enough that people won't mistake her for a criminal, but she finds it little more than nuisance. Most of the time, she would braid and bind them around her head so they wouldn't get in the way or catch on things.
As her alchemy work frequently involves handling dangerous substances, most of the time she's wearing a wrought metal mask that covers her entire face. It is a simple concave plate with two eyeholes, both secured with smoked glass. She takes it off to eat and sleep, but most of the time she doesn't bother removing it even when she's not working for once. Her face underneath is mostly unremarkable, save for the discolourations and skin problems caused by her work.
Personality: Mingke views the natural laws and physics as nothing more but a set of rules no more inviolable or perfect than the rules of men. She has little interest in the laws of society, leaving the complex process of enforcing and improving them to the Songtu-ren, but the laws of nature seem like a personal insult to her. She sees no convincing rational to obey them, save for the lack of power to do the otherwise - and it is precisely this power that she aims to create.
She is dedicated to her work and has little time or interest for other matters. She does have a lot of respect and regard for fields connected to alchemy, such as botany and geology she relies on for ingredients used in her projects. Her devotion resembles the ambition of other Sheng-gu-ren, but she tends to eschew the association and avoid their company. While her research will ultimately benefit her people, she seeks neither their acclaim nor their company. Whether her achievements change the life of the empire entirely, or gather dust, forgotten in some library; her victory will be no less complete.
Magic/Abilities:
- Ace of Alchemy: Mingke dedicated her life to studying and progressing the science of alchemy. She is not the very best alchemist in Shijie, but her skills and knowledge are top-notch.
- Secondary Skills: Mingke has an acceptable knowledge of botany and geology all over Shijie, mostly to know where particular ingredients can be found, and how to safely harvest, transport and preserve them.
- Commanding Rotation: Mingke has a minor power that Le'raanians would consider magical. When touching something directly and saying a number, the object touched would spin until it has completed that set number of rotations.
- Survived Four Years in Gushui: Whereas Mingke only ventures outdoors to obtain what she doesn't trust staff to fetch, these sporadic excursions and travel grant her more experience and orientation than what one might expect from Sheng-gu-ren
Relationships
- Out of necessity and for convenience, Mingke keeps some "staff" at hand. Their job is to handle chores like cleaning, cooking and procuring what's needed, for a hefty sum. One additional duty assigned to them concerns her finances. She "makes a living" by producing some alchemical supplies essential to the life in Gushui - oils that protect against freeze, some preserving agents, sealants etc. Selling them for markers and purchasing necessities are solely the staff's tasks. As Mingke has neither interest nor time to supervise if they're not pocketing anything on the side, she has a preference for hiring Huohu-ren and Songtu-ren, for their reputation of honesty.
- Periodically, Mingke gets visited by a spirit that looks like a jewelled turtle.
History: Mingke considers herself fortunate not to be born a Rulastinian. From as early as she remembers, she's had trouble conceptualizing these so-called laws of nature. The closest she got to understanding them was by viewing them as some sort of a game. A game had clearly defined rules that one had to follow - not out necessity, but to use them as framework to best display one's skill and cunning. Anyone can overturn the game board and stomp all over the pieces, but it's far from a true victory.
Mingke grew to cherish most those victories that were won with the closest adherence to these rules. She began viewing them as handicaps that proved mastery, and wanted to prove herself within them. Thus, rather than lending her expertise to the already existing research into the postmortem transformations of Shijie, she recognized the gap in their scholarship. Almost all of the scholars focused on reversing or preventing the transformation, sometimes battling the opinions of philosophers who argued against their work. Few realized that there was another solution to pursue. The problem would naturally disappear, should immortality be achieved.
Her path was laid out for her. It was by no means the only intriguing project to take on, but it seemed most logical to begin there. Should she succeed, she would have an eternity to pursue other victories. For now, she focused her efforts on producing deterrents to death and observing their results to further refine her craft.
She remained in Sheng-gu for a while, until she's grown too disillusioned with the way Sheng-gu-ren did things and moved to Songtu. It was not the best move for someone researching postmortem transformations, as the skull wolves are a respected and desired part of their society. She learned to rebrand and present herself as an alchemist working on enhancing natural physical abilities - not a lie, as longevity counted among these. But the damage was done, and it didn't seem like she would be getting any more work in Songtu for a while.
Mingke was considering moving to Huohu, where people at least recognized that being turned into a bloodthirsty tiger was a problem that needed solutions. It was then that she heard of the poet Guyang. It was purely by coincidence - she wasn't into poetry, but one of the fellow alchemists she was working with was a huge fan. It was from him that she learned that Guyang had chosen to spend his twilight years in Gushui, to seek inspiration in its harsh beauty. A few probing questions revealed that the poet had an entire house built for himself in the frozen wastes, with all the appropriate comforts and close enough to a settlement for the staff to provide him with what he needed.
She was intrigued. She never before thought of working in Gushui, considering how inhospitable the province was, but if an elderly poet could survive a few years there, it should not be impossible for her. She's sank what coin she managed to amass into purchasing his house, and moved to continue her research there. It's been four years since she's made herself at home, and has rarely regretted it.
Character Limitations: Leave her thoughts alone. Minor actions and words are acceptable if the plot is heading in this direction (i.e., if the characters are running from some danger, feel free to describe her running alongside).
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