ｓｌｕｍｓｃａｐｅ 🦊 i'll try to save the ghost lights

[supremity]

PLAYER
NAME: Snow
CONTACT: folklores / folklorist#9385
OVER 18? yes
CURRENT CHARACTERS: N/A

CHARACTER
NAME: Hua Cheng
CANON: Heaven's Official Blessing
CANON POINT: Start of book 5, after Xie Lian broke free from Mt. Tonglu
BACKGROUND: here
SUITABILITY:

Everything about the aesthetic of Hakagemachi screams of the same aesthetic of the city that Hua Cheng himself built up and runs: Ghost City. He would be right at home in such a place, all of the strange inhabitants and all. (Pedestrians filled the street, many wearing masks of faces crying, laughing, angry; some human, some not. Those without masks could only be described as "bizarre." Some had large heads and small bodies, some skinny as a bamboo stick, some flat like a pancake; pressing on the ground, letting pedestrians walk all over them while complaining.) He's used to the chaos of such a place, as well as the strange comings and goings that one might encounter, in a place so full of spirits.

On top of that, he comes from a world with gods and ghosts, ones that swiftly rise to fame and glory before falling twice as hard into disgrace and history. He, himself, is one such ghost (and god, on a technicality), but he finds himself caring very little about the plight of others like himself outside of Xie Lian. Being faced with the fate, with more promise than any threat a god or priest has thrown at him, would definitely be interesting to explore. Add in the fact that he would have to come to care more readily about other people to actually reach a solution, I think it would be rather interesting to see him on familiar ground... but finding it just off-balance enough that he has to figure out how to keep his footing.

QUESTIONNAIRE:

● Your character finds an injured okami deep in the woods. Its leg is broken, trapped under a fallen tree, but it’s clearly in good health otherwise. They know this type of youkai is able to discern the morality of their past actions, and can turn hostile to them based off that judgment. What do they do?

While the okami in question may find him a little wanting, a lot morally grey, it wouldn't be a concern of Hua Cheng's: while he wouldn't go out of his way to mend the youkai's leg (especially if it turned aggressive), he would at the very least free it from where it was trapped so that it might escape to where it could lick its wounds. Any hostility towards him would be met with a lot of disinterest.

Hua Cheng's known amongst the Heavens (and its residential gods) as a scourge, someone that is dangerous and fickle and morally wrong. He's not a kind person, and he doesn't do good things - something that is mentioned time and again by other characters, and referenced by Hua Cheng himself. All of the stories of Crimson Rain Sought Flower, with his cursed sword that can cut through anything and reopen wounds, the one who continues burning down the temples of 33 gods and stealing all their followers, who hunts down corrupt officials and scares them to the point of them taking their own lives rather than suffering at his hands? All real!

Yet for as dangerous and ruthless as he is, there's still something genuinely good at his core that motivates them. He takes in and gives sanctuary to ghosts and spirits and demons that have nowhere to go, or are being hunted with prejudice in the mortal world. He hunts down those corrupt officials. He helps human villagers with their farming, repairs, the like - simply because he is capable of it, and because it's a kind thing that Xie Lian would approve of. His major reason for simply existing in the three realms is because of love and devotion. He is not a kind person, but he does kind things.

(If the okami just vibed with him freeing it, he'd lead it to somewhere it could be tended to.)

● Your character's worst enemy asks to meet alone by moonlight in a remote location, to discuss temporarily banding together against a larger threat. How do they respond to the invitation?

Considering his worst enemy is tied with him for second most powerful entity in the three realms, the antithesis to much that he is, and is the overarching antagonist that has actively tried to quash his existence and otherwise plague (word choice intentional) his beloved for a good 800 years... nah.

The White No-Face brought a calamity down on the kingdom that he and Xie Lian originated from, helping to spur on a war between Xian Le and the neighboring YongAn - the human face plague and this war helped to wipe out the kingdom, and caused the downfall of Xie Lian from godhood as his followers turned on him. At every turn, he has done nothing but torment Xie Lian, and has made Hua Cheng watch more than once as Xie Lian has suffered. Lying, gaslighting, and sowing the seeds of chaos are all that the White No-Face knows - it's 95% likely that any "greater threat" would be a falsehood, and Hua Cheng is too smart and too hateful towards him to fall for that.

So, no. Fuck him. Hua Cheng has rushed to fight him at every encounter, and would do so in this situation as well. If there truly is a greater threat, then he'd simply address it once he'd run White No-Face through once and for all.

● Your character has the option to lead a rampaging oni away from path where it would find and attack a lone, inhabited farmhouse. However, the only road they can distract it down leads to the city, where it will inevitably do more damage. What do they choose to do?

Why is it rampaging? Is it doing so by choice, or is it compelled to? Innocent, or guilty?

Doesn't matter. It's a threat, and an eyesore, and that's not tolerated lightly.

Hua Cheng would fight it at the convergence of the paths, rather than let it go anywhere else, with the blatant intent to kill the youkai. "I might not be able to decide whether the road is easy or not, but whether I walk it is entirely up to me." Having fought greater opponents for all of his life, and being too stubborn to go down easy, it would be the simplest solution in his opinion. It isn't even about the choice between saving the few or the many, at its core. (Though it does factor in.)

Should the oni make a break for it, and thus have to be corralled on one of the two paths, with no option to force it back the way it came, Hua Cheng would in the end pick the farmhouse. The loss of innocent life does bother him regardless of how he acts, considering his personal targets are always guilty, corrupt, or otherwise immoral, but.

Risking fewer people as he fights to divert the oni's attention and ideally kill it would be more preferable to a city's worth of people - especially as the master of a city, himself.

● A shrine of a powerful god offers your character a unique boon crafted to overcome the biggest challenge they’re currently facing. In return, it only asks to be able to possess your character for a 24 hour span of its choosing, which they will not necessarily get warning for. How do they feel about the exchange, and more importantly, do they accept it?

Short answer: no.

Long answer?

Hua Cheng spent a great deal of his childhood powerless. He spent the early stages of being a ghost - nothing more than a will o' wisp - powerless, and was even forced to watch his most important person suffer in the most unimaginably horrible ways, unable to do anything. "To watch with your own eyes your beloved be trampled and ridiculed, yet unable to do anything. That's the worst suffering in the world." To be locked in his body for even a moment, unable to control it and thus possibly subject to doing things that go against all that he is? Absolutely not.

He's fought gods and soundly won. If the god turned out to have goals that were harmful, he'd fight to eliminate it, even if he was nerfed. And, frankly, he's a collector of powerful boons and artifacts that he simply lets collect dust - being offered yet another one, even one that might vanquish or weaken the White No-Face, wouldn't be remotely enough to tempt him towards accepting such an offer.

Take your boon and shove it up your ass.

YOUKAI: Kitsune
INVENTORY: All of these items are powered, so. Obviously nerfing is fine, considering Hua Cheng himself will be nerfed.

● E-Ming - found here, E-Ming is the scimitar that he forged himself. It has a personality of its own, and two particular skills that are terrifying in the three realms: the ability to cut through most anything, and being able to reopen any healed wounds that it previously inflicted.

● Red string -worn on his right ring finger, a spiritual device created by Hua Cheng (Mr. I Created the Red String of Fate in My Canon), it ties two people together and allows them to find each other again. Should the person on one end die, the other end of the string will disappear.

● Pair of bone dice - innocuous looking, the dice are imbued with a Distance Shortening Array spell, and allow him to transport to another location with his intent more than the results of the roll. The results of the roll are actually an indicator of how dangerous the location will be - when rolled by Hua Cheng, a rare snake eyes means that he himself will be in a great deal of danger.

SAMPLES:

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