Jinhua [Ready]

[Ciraxis]

Sooner or later, all those pathetic worms will learn where they belong! Usurper ruling from Huangjing will feel the hatred of two thousand years and fall! And at long last First Dynasty will take it's rightful place under the sun once more!

- Jinhua, Daughter of Tian

 

Name: Jinhua. A very, very few earned themselves the right to call her Hua for short.

 

Sex: Female

 

Age: Mare

 

Species: Quilin

 

Eye Colour: Crimson red

 

Coat: Cream white. Changes to metallic bronze when affected by her 'Emperor Armor' breath. Her scales are red, just like her eyes. And while they don't change the color under effect of the 'Armor' they gain metallic shine all the same.

 

Mane/Tail: Middle length and fashionably unkept, with two long bangs framing her face and others covering her forehead. Color of qureolin normally, it changes to metallic silver when 'Emperor Armor' is active.

 

Physique: Tall and build like amazon, very much representing a brute strength approach Hua has to most things. Jinhua reveals in how her stature is found intimidating by other, and as such maintains her body carefully. Her  horns are impressive and posses many prongs, giving Jinhua somewhat regal appearance. Normaly blue, they took color and pattern of Damascus Steel when affected by her 'Armor'.

 

Residence: Wingapore. She however has apartments in Long Kong, Manhattan, Talonopolis, Canterlot and Stalliongrad as well. As a high ranking member and Commander in the ranks of WRAITH she also travels around the world on various missions.

 

Occupation: Jinhua is a CEO of Iron Dragon Metal Industries as well as member, funder and Commander of World Revolutionary Agency for Imperialism, Tyranny, and Hostility with ambitions of eventually becoming Empress of Long Guo.

 

Cutie Mark: A White Tiger, symbolizing her incredible skill with Metal Breathing as well as ties with that Aspect.

 

Unique Traits: Jinhua most distinctive feature is a silver gem in the middle of her forehead, in reality a magical amplifying artifact of her own design and Inoculated by surgeons hired by her. The gem (called Pinyin Engine by Hua) greatly amplifies her powers over Metal Breathing as well as her perceptions to keep up with this boost, putting them far above over what is normally possible for her species. As such she is capable of manipulating lesser known parts of the Aspect that inhabitants of Far East call 'Jīn' , namely gravity and lightning. But most important of all, the additional power  granted by the Engine allowed Jinhua to master her trademark 'Emperor Armor' technique. By enveloping herself in her own Metal Flames Hua can turn her skin, scales and coat into metal like surface - granting her strength of twenty quilin and unrivaled toughness and endurance. A very fearsome ability indeed. But all things have a price....the procedure amplified not only her Metal Breathing, but also her tyrannical tendencies and other negative traits, with occasional lapses into insanity when provoked.

The gem is not normally visible, Hua had enough insight to ingrate chameleon spell in it's very structure. It's becomes visible when Jinhua using the Armor due to necessary energy normally used for keeping up the spell being re-directed towards Hua breath techniques. The fact it emits silver light while doing this doesn't help.

Jinhua is also skilled material arts master, having techniques from Judo, Aikijutsu, Pankration and Bajiquan in her repertoire.

 

History Pt. 1 - The Story and Legacy of Prince Cao: Long Guo had long and convoluted history. While it's inhabitants follow the road of harmony, many times the peaceful balance was disrupted. Like during feud that ultimately resulted in fall of Tian Dynasty. Xi Hua and Xiao Huo had many children, among them a stallion of the name Cao Rui. Prince Rui wasn't as popular as his siblings, nor he rivaled them in magic, charisma or strength. What Cao had however was extraordinary cunning, and using his great mind he goaded his brothers and sisters towards infighting among themselves - with intent of besting them and claiming throne for himself when they will be too weak from struggle. Cao plan however failed when one of his servants was eventually caught, and blabbered everything about his Master's plan. Rui siblings made a temporary agreement to deal with their nefarious brother, leaving him in unwinnable position. Cao however outwitted them once more. Using a body double, he staged his own demise and fled overseas with group of loyal followers. Cao ended up in the far west, in the land of Maretonia, far enough from any possible grudges and once there, he begun amassing resources to return with vengeance and claim what was rightfully his.

However news reached Maretonia slowly. A few years after his escape Prince Cao, now a proud father, finally heard what has transpired in his homeland during his absence. A deserter of the general have approached the Long of the Longri-La and pleaded them for intervention. And treacherous dragons agreed to his requests! The had blackmailed his siblings into giving up what rightfully belonged to them, abdicating and  dropping all pretenses towards the throne....but not Cao, by the virtue of Long Guo believing him him dead leaving him - ironically - the only one with valid claims. It was at that moment that Prince Rui realized that he will never again see his homeland. By now the position of Long Dynasty was secure, and his protests would amount to nothing! Cao wept, wept and cursed treacherous general and traitorous Long,  who proved themselves no better the the wickedest of Mó. And yet Cao didn't gave up, instead doing all he could so one day his blood, children of his children would secure what was rightfully belonged to them. Even his final moments served towards this goal, with Cao using his final breath for a powerful dying curse at the serpents of Longri-La - so that when the time was ripe they will regret their fickleness and treachery.

And so they did endure, waiting centuries, millennia all for the ambition of regaining their former glory. Over time Cao's descendants returned to Long Guo, while keeping their descent a secret. Patiently, they infiltrated high Government positions  Finally, during reign of Gang Dynasty, when any more waiting became unbearable, they struck. However the blow came too soon, the current Empress was killed, but her children were unharmed. Most of the living descendants of the Cao were rounded up and thrown into dungeons of Empire to rot. Yet they were forever loyal to the blood in their veins. Despite most valiant attempts of Empress servants, they didn't said a thing about their true heritage. Meanwhile, the few of the clan that avoided capture fled Long Guo once more, while swearing an even more terrible vengeance. Evidently the 'Time of Reckoning' spoken by their ancestor didn't came yet. The Curse of Cao was yet to be fulfilled....

.

History Pt.2 - Jinhua:

Centuries later the Jinhua was born as the descendant of those survivors, living in Wingapore as the business-quilin.

From her very first days Hua was fed with tales of their former glory, with her parents cultivating ambition and hatred towards ruling Féng Dynasty.

Young Hua took her parents words to the heart - perhaps too much - working hard from the young age, all for the cause of taking what was hers. Young filly proved herself a worthy descendant of her genius ancestor. She quickly showed her cleverness, and while she wasn't an unrivaled genius like Great Cao was, unlike him she was also blessed with incredible physical strength and magical might. There was no other word that could describe her but 'prodigy'.

Cutie Mark Story: It was during her studies when Jinhua found out about the greatest of her numerous talents. One day when attempting to read one of her favorite works, Jinhua accidentally made an entire heavy bookshelf fall on her instead. The heavy piece of furniture didn't crushed her however. In the panic, the scared filly shrouded herself in her own flames, and that action was what saved her. Embers licking her body made Hua's coat and scales shine like most precious of metals, she was now able to shrug off the weigh of furniture and it's contents the with ease. It was only when she crawled out from under the bookshelf that she noticed the change, a White Tiger had appeared on her flank, the symbol of her potential with metal flames. Truly she was marked for greatness if the very symbol of the Aspect was what represented her talent!

History Pt.2 Continued: Despite seeing how talented their daughter was, Hua parents  didn't cut her slack. Opposite, seeing that she was gifted to advance her bloodline's goal like no one before her, instead they paid even more attention to her. As they were true Emperors of Long Guo, her father demanded for Huo to study their homeland history. As sullied as it was by Usurper's hooves, in the end Dragon Throne was rightfully theirs, and knowledge of the enemy never could hurt.  But as the filly as more she grew and studied, the more she came to hate the very moniker 'Dragon Throne' itself. The creatures that painted themselves as paragons of detachment and serenity were nothing but bunch of hypocrites! 'Give a thing and take a thing, to wear the Mó's gold ring.' would describe them perfectly, but injustice towards her family wasn't a beginning nor an end of their misdeeds. Hua found proofs of their crimes all over Long Guo's history - not limited by blind worship that whitewashed them in the eyes of other quilin and longma, she was able to see the full extend of their sins.  They meddled when not asked, and chose to ignore the the Empire when they were - all so they would remain on top of the chain on the continent, they were the puppeteers that pulled the strings all this time! During her studies Hua even managed to uncover secrets that serpent dragons wished to remain lost.  Long forgotten pasts, and decisions that scarred the world.  By the time Jinhua reached her teenage years, her grudge against Serpents of Longri-La grew to the such extend that she started to wish for Mount Suncrest and dragon dwelling atop it to turn into nothing more but a pile of rubble. She also came to hate 'Usurpers' even more as well, as none of the so called 'Dynasties' were strong enough to deal with the arrogant snakes, instead allowing themselves to be nothing more then their pawns, oblivious to their manipulations.

 

That said not all her time was spent tending the ancient grudge that she inherited from her ancestors. One of her favorite pastimes included the practice of judo and aikijutsu. Hua always liked to think that in the days to come, ones when she will finally sit on the Dragon Throne her very majesty will redirect ill intent, just as the material art allowed her to do with a physical threat. Jinhua was skilled enough that she helped bring her school to victory in the Junior High World Tournament. The very moment when she trampled her last opponent remains one of Hua's fondest memories.

After finishing high-school, Jinhua attended prestigious University of Wingapore. Not being a mare to do thing half-way she attended not one  but two degree courses. The first one being Engineering and Metallurgy, the second Magic Theory. She of course proved to be successful, and few years later Jinhua was in possession of doctorates in both fields. Using her talent and knowledge, as well as businesses know-how she founded her own company Iron Dragon Metal Industries , with the goal of amassing fortune big enough to overthrow Feng Emperors.

 

History Pt.3 - WRAITH: Jinhua proved herself more then successful businessmare. Not only she had all the tools one the craft would need, and she had no qualms about using...less then legal means. And while would she? After all, there was no nobler goal then avenging injustice that befallen her family. And if her rivals wasn't strong or determinate enough to survive the competition from her? Well, that simply meant that those maggots didn't had a place in this businesses to begin with. Iron Dragon grew, and Hua ended up establishing outposts overseas. When it was time for opening one in Long Guo, Jinhua decided to attend it in person. After all there was no better cover to know the enemy then the guise of truth.

Hua however wasn't prepared for sigh that  sprawled before her eyes. She expected a nation lagging behind the world, one that remained in the game solely because of it's size and population. What she saw instead was a true Empire, prospering and strong. This sigh, this very sigh shook Jinhua up more then any single individual could. Was she really attempting to bend this might, might of the massive nation to her will?

Hua didn't stay in Long Guo ended up not lasting long. After all the necessary things were taken care of, quilin's massive ego crumbled and she basically fled the nation. With doubt, want, envy, rage and many other emotions swirling inside she couldn't take it anymore. Hua took a lengthy vacation and traveled to Maretonia, in hopes that the stay in a distant land will help her arrive to some kind of epiphany, just as it happened to her venerated ancestor once. In the end, her 'vacation' in Maretonia extended to a whole two years. During them, Hua ended up trying various activities, in an effort to occupy her mind from near crushing knowledge that the task before her was almost literally impossible - like practicing Maretonian material art Pankration or studying the country's mythology.

However, eventually Jinhua's luck changed for the better.

One day she was approached by the agents of WRAITH. The shadowy organization knew about her ties with criminal syndicates and tried to blackmail Jinhua with that information. While being in her office.

Unsurprisingly that ended poorly for the messengers.

Quilin mare quickly beat the unfortunate mooks into the ground and after some 'convincing' managed to disclose the location of the nearest WRAITH safe-house. Absolutely fed up with everything and thus not thinking clearly, she opted to deal with rest of the offenders on her lonesome. When she arrived to the location, inside she found only one soul - one of WRAITH Elite Operatives. Bizarrely the potential fight somehow devolved into a lengthy discussion. And even more surprisingly Hua found herself agreeing with what her conversationalist. In the end, in the most surprising of results, the supposed victim of WRAITH schemes ended up joining the organization, as well as becoming one of it's more prominent - and willing - funders.

This turn of events revitalized Jinhua's spirit. Now that she found others working towards the goal common enough, which dispelled all her previous doubts.

Still, she recognized that the journey will not be easy. To rises up to this future difficulties Hua designed and build the powerful Pinyin Engine for the sole purpose of enhancing her abilities. She was successful when it comes to that, but in her haste she failed to throughtly test the device before-hoof, and as such it put a great strain on her mind that ended up magnifying her less desirable personality traits. Worse yet, the process of putting the gem in her forehead turned out to a irreversible.

 

Still so far the things turned out great for Jinhua and her WRAITH allies. It's no just a matter of time before the Usurper, Dragons of Longri La and the whole Long Guo will be put in it's place. Beneath her hooves and on their knees respectively.

 

Character Personality: Tyrant. If one word could be used to describe Jinhua it would be the best one. The quilin mare has all the qualities and traits that could be found in worlds despots and dictators, but the biggest of them is her belief in her own self-worth. Jinhua has absolutely, enormous, gargantuan ego, which paradoxically is Hua's both greatest strength and the most crippling weaknesses.The only thing being able to rein her pride is her determination towards obtaining the Dragon Throne, a life's goal that made her determinator of the biggest order - she committed herself to that goal completely, absolutely, and unflinchingly. After all if she would give up, it would mean that both two thousand years her family endured and her very existence were pointless. Her will toward achieving that end bent only once, but afterwards it became even more steel-like. Hua simply doesn't acknowledge the the existence of the of term 'give up' - at least in relation to herself.

 

Jinhua's pride and sense of superiority, became even greater after she embed Pinyin Engine into her body. The mare believes now that she's the greatest being under the sun, and is on the way of developing full-blown God Complex. Even Number 1 is unable to downplay this conviction of self importance (but she has other ways of dealing with it, See below). In fact she absolutely refuses to address 'Number 1' as such. After all quilin mare is working with Shadowmane, not for her. Empress answers to no-one, and no one is first before her.

Jinhua also greatly enjoys proving her superiority, either through words or action. This is a reason why she took so much liking in practicing material arts for example. It's not like she has any faith in this ridiculous 'inner peace' rubbish, and she doesn't even like the act of fighting that much. It's because it is direct way of showing all those  'mongrels and maggots' their rightful place - namely below her hooves - and for Hua doing just that is absolutely blissful experience.

Of course her overblown ego tends to hamper her as well. Those shrewd enough can manipulate her by appealing to it (which is method that Shadowmane milks for all it's worth to make Hua do anything), and she is a real sucker for compliments.

 

Hua is wise enough to know that in order to make her dream a reality, she needs to keep her true linage a secret for a time being. Which is a problem, because she has a compulsion of rubbing her own superiority into everyone faces. Being caught between this necessarily and her own ego gives Hua - predictably - a huge amounts of frustration. She deals with it in various ways. Spending time and flirting with handsome, 'worthy enough' stallions is one. Other is her hobby of art collecting. Jinhua is huge connoisseur when it comes to craft from her ancestral homeland, and knows all styles coming from it true and through. She is also fond of jewelry, the ones made of silver being her favorite. And there is of course her 'other' line of work. Dealing with enemies of WRAITH - either personally or by proxy of minions - gives quilin mare a huge amounts of satisfaction and a way to vent her frustrations.

 

Because of her upbringing, as well as her ego, the only way to earn Jinhua acknowledgment is to show strength. Surprisingly however, Hua has tendency of seeing 'strength' in almost anything. Be it convictions, willpower, pure physical might or genuine cunning as long as you excel in something, it's enough to stop her from perceiving you as a (complete) maggot. Of course this is not enough to be considered equals, but in Hua's mind nopony is on the same level as her. Still gaining her respect is not impossible. This way of thinking makes Hua - surprisingly - quite a benevolent boss. After all she alone is an Emperor, it would be foolish to held others to the same standards and expectations. As long as one show obedience and does not oppose her will she can be quite generous and understanding of others faults and shortcomings. Hua also is very intelligent and insightful, with firm grasp of equine psychology in rare, rare, rare moments when her ego doesn't need to be polished. Those qualities along with her diligence is among the reasons why she is so successful as businessesmare....

 

As long as she doesn't have one of her 'episodes' that is. The Pinyin Engine that Jinhua that she ordered to be embed into her temple increased quilin's mystical might tremendously, at the price having more then few nasty side effects. Making her negative traits more prominent is one, the occasional violent mood swings is another. But there are times when it enlarges her ego to such levels that it makes her legitimately insane. During those moments Jinuha perceives almost anything (like standing on the same ground, or daring to gaze at her) form as an affront to her pride, and she wastes no time in dealing with the 'offenders' - violently - self preservation be damned. Those attacks are brief, and showing total subservience is an effective way for snapping Hua out of it, but they only make her more dangerous and unpredictable.

 

Other Quirks: Hua refuses to address almost everyone by the name. In fact she doesn't even bother to remember them in the first place instead using terms like 'maggot', 'insect', 'vermin' or 'spec' and those are not even used in contempt. After all, one wouldn't say that they 'despise' a single ant, right? It's when she switches to more cutesy sounding (but still belittling) terms like 'squirrel' or 'piglet' that you know that you earned both Hua's attention as well as little bits affection.

Those who on other hoof earned Jinhua's recognition and ire are called in more emotional matter, sometimes involving cusses and profanities.

The living individuals that managed to earn enough of Jinhua's respect to make her calling them by their names number in only twelve, and that includes her mother and father.

Jinhua mind also is terrible place to be in. Due to combination of Pinyin Engine influence, willpower, her sheer ego and occasional bouts of madness - any telepath or dream-walker that would find himself in unfortunate situation of being present her mindscape would be quickly crushed by the sheer pressure of simply being there.

 

Character Summary: An egomanical quilin buissnesmare of the ancient descent with ambitions of gaining the throne of Long Guo. Which she seeks to help by working by terrorist organization WRAITH. Very dangerous in all sense of the world and at time even insane.

[Bellosh]

Just a couple things:

1. Having an entire family line executed is a bit extreme for WoE standards. How about just having them all imprisoned instead? Pretty much accomplishes the same thing narrative-wise, but without introducing gratuitous violence in our setting.
2. I assume the family that's being rounded up is the Lesser Line in question and not the entirety of those claiming First Dynasty descent, right?

[Ciraxis]

1. Sure, let's change it to life imprisonment. Indeed results are much the same - world believing the bloodline of Xi Hua and Xiao Huo came to an end.

2. I afraid I was unclear with that one. Most of the First Dynasty died out as the result of infighting among various branches preceding the fall. The Lesser Line survived because they were smart enough to stay out of this mess, which ironically made them the Main Line. But before they could take the throne, other (unidentified) Dynasty claimed the the reins of power, thus forcing them to plot and scheme.

[Ciraxis]

Incorporated info from the new and fresh Lore about Long Guo history. Much appreciated Bellosh!

[Bellosh]

Keep in mind that stuff ain't technically official lore. Still, a craftsman is always proud to hear his work is appreciated.

[Bellosh]

How's progress on this app coming along?

[Bellosh]

I assume this app progresses well? It would be a shame if Jinhua missed out on any WRAITH operations.... 

[Bellosh]

*insert poking sounds here*

[Ciraxis]

Slowly adding more and more into the app. I feel I will be in need of discussion about other members of WRAITH soon, in order to clarify relations with she has with them. After all she is not some fresh meat but a long time member.

[Bellosh]

*finally gets around to checking in on app*

 

I imagine Jinhua has the necessary evil mastermind qualifications to sit in on strategy meetings with Shadowmane and the rest of the higher-ups. Based on her actual WRAITH responsibilities, she could be designated any number from 10 on up to #3 (#2 is reserved for Revenant).

[Ciraxis]

Aaaand it's ready

Well this sounds fair Bellosh. But Shadowmane better not call her that. In Jinhua mind she is working with WRAITH, not for it. In a sense, working with Hua is like being sole person in the world in possession of nitroglycerine. It will blow you up if you mishandle it, but it's simply too useful and has to many applications to give up.

 

It probably also helps that Hua has no desire to wrestle the organization reins from Shadowmane. It's 'beneath her' to aspire for something like that.

[Bellosh]

Hmmmm..... assuming Jinhua would rather be her own mare than be tied down by a hierarchy, I'm sure things can be arranged so that she takes a few "business trips" each year for meetings with Shadowmane. Anywho: