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Yuchou [Ready]


Windwright

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Name: Ao Yuchou

 

Sex: Female

 

Age: Ancient

 

Species: Long

 

Eye Colour: Pale Silver

 

Coat: Varied shades of green, depending on how the light hits the scale. This often means she has waves of colour ranging from hunter green to bright teal, all with a nacreous sheen.

 

Mane/Tail: The verdant green of a bamboo forest, piled into a traditional bun on her head, and cropped short for the ridge running along her spine.

 

Physique: Compared to other Long her age she seems a bit stockier than is usual for their lithe frames, and a smudge shorter. This is most clear in her face, which is rounder, with laugh lines around her eyes and muscles that suggest she's used to smiling.

 

Residence: Longri-La's hidden Nursery district, except when she's doling out advice at Lake Huahuo.

 

Occupation: The Matron, a member of the Serpent council.

 

Unique Traits: Tradition dictates that a strip of Shimmersilk be presented to her at the end of each imperial foal's time under her care, dating back to the early days of the Pact between the Long and the Long Sun. Over time they began to dye, then embroider, the foal's name into the cloth. She usually keeps the most recent strips wound into her mane, out of affection more than an official arrangement. For particularly formal or ceremonial occasions, or when she wants to remind Long Sun of exactly who and what she is, she has all of them carefully arranged and threaded through her mane, from the newest vibrant ribbons all the way down to ones so ancient that the sun has bleached them to near transparency.

 

She was one of the original Council members, and is so far the only dragon to hold sway over the Nursery. She took an apprentice when her last counterpart on the original Council did, but he left for deep meditation. So she took another at the then-current Council's behest. She left too. So she's training a third now.

 

History: It was an uncertain age that Yuchou was hatched into. Barbarian herds raided deep into the lands, and local creatures sought out Long for advice, protection, guidance, or power so frequently that the delicate balance maintained to allow Long time to meditate and study, and thus grow, was threatened. Her mother, therefore, took it upon herself to collect Long eggs in secret, and bring them to a cave hidden in what would eventually be the Mu Xinzang forest. It was during this time that Yuchou learned about sacrifice, determination, and how to care for hatchlings.

 

When Ao Tianlong left the world for his meditations, his son, Ao Shenlong, gathered five wise serpents to his side. He extended an invitation to Wu Mai, but she couldn't bring herself to part from her hidden nursery. So she sent Yuchou in her place. Where another serpent would take sleight with this, Ao Shenlong recognized the wisdom in both keeping watch over the young and in sending a dragon who had all of the knowledge with none of the bitterness that came from clutches lost before the nursery's establishment.

 

It was Ao Yuchou who pushed for the new Mu Xinzang Nursery in Longri-La with the concession that it be forbidden to outsiders, reasoning that the first few years of a Long's life were delicate, and while older dragons might be more comfortable with the nursery where it was, there was wisdom in placing it close enough that she could oversee it and advise the Council.

 

When Ao Shenlong vanished, Yuchou was the serpent with whom the letter for Ao Ailong was left. Since she had helped to raise the fledgling Serpent Prince, this wasn't a terribly unexpected part of the mystery. Though the Council itself was in shock, Ao Yuchou took things in stride and assumed that he had departed for his Meditations, and that whatever secrets the letter imparted were for Ailong alone. This was one of the only matters outside of her traditional purview in which she has ever counseled Ailong.

 

She was the youngest of the original Council, so it seemed appropriate to her that she was the last to take an apprentice. Unfortunately, she never developed the urge to enter deep meditation, as her mother had. And whenever she did, it was only in brief flashes of doubt that were quelled when she considered the work she was still doing. Her last apprentice was one she had seen hatch during her time before the Council. Her current one is one she helped hatch herself. And still she continues as she has since the founding of Longri-La. Advising the Serpent King and Council, caring for hatchlings and honoring the pact by advising the Long Sun and warding Imperial foals for one year of their lives.

 

Character Summary: Poised, confident, wise, and kindly, Yuchou is every bit the type of person one would expect her to be, given her position and title. She was once the youngest Council member, and was only there as an extension of her mother. She is now the oldest, and one of the oldest Long still part of the general population.

 

Her advice to new and prospective mothers is well respected throughout the Empire, and her secret role as the keeper of the Long’s true legacy grants her a subtle pride that fulfills the promise of her honorific. She is Ao Yuchou, Matron of the Serpent Council and bearer of the silken legacy.

 

Text Colour: India Green

 

Poison Joke Reaction: none. Ao Yuchou knows herself well enough that Joke holds no tricks to surprise.

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