The Spider

Art by http://kopianget.deviantart.com/

Will skip the concept for this one for the time being, and give her brief bio. Not as indepth as some of the other ones but that is because of her role in the story.  

The woman known as The Spider was once a promising fighter in Zhu society, seen as someone who would one day becoming a legendary martial artist due to her unique abilities and skills.  But following problems in her life she turned away from society and became a deadly fighter feared in distant lands.  No one knows what exactly she was doing in her absence, but the woman that came back was changed and beneath her polite actions were always sinister undertones.  She hangs around high society once more, but many feel she is plotting something and all fear the venom that her name implies.

Kanak Sujah

Art by Henry

Kanak Sujah was a hunter in a small village on an isolated island, when a pirate attack destroyed his home he expected to die as well but fate had a different path in store for him.  An ancient phoenix spirit bonded to him in his final moments, restoring his body and granting him powers and martial arts skills beyond that of any mortal.  Wielding the cosmic flames themselves he erased the pirates from the world before leaving his ruined home, to travel the world and beyond.  Through the spirit he had gained knowledge of ancient fighting styles long forgotten from the world, and his body was reborn with every death stronger then before.  For decades he used his powers to spread peace, and grant the helpless the power to protect themselves and their homes.  As time went on though he often found peace rarely lasted more then a generation and those he helped often turned into the wicked themselves as years passed.  At first he didn't falter but with each of his deaths the doubt and anger grew within his new body, until after 100 years it consumed him.  He decided people didn't deserve the knowledge of war and combat, and together with a band of disillusioned heroes they decided they would remove the capability from the world by any means necessary.

Hirara Bio

Art by Henry

Hirara is an anomaly, not a single person alive knows where she came from or has any memory of her being a child or even when she first appeared.  There are no records of her family or any jobs she held in the past.  All people know is that she tends to show up wherever large scale events happen, always offering her assistance for whatever is going on.  Outside of that it was more likely for people to encounter her at random, the woman seemingly walking towards and unknown destination always willing to help out anyone she meets along the way or at least talk to them.   While always known, Hirara reached Empire wide fame after effortlessly beating several high profile martial arts masters who challenged her to a duel over what they saw as a slight against them.  Her combat prowess soon being what she was most known for as people from all over the universe came to either fight her or to try and learn from her, very few actually being taken as students (most notable of which is Xing Yi)

Nowadays Hirara can be found hanging around the Heaven's Gate monastery as an unofficial monk of discipline, but she still wanders about from time to time and is always willing to speak to and assist people.  Although her and Xing Yi apparently had a falling out there has been no government decree against her, and the rulers who followed the Matriarch have all held a great respect for Hirara and used her insight on many occasions. While she is respected there are many who worry about what her knowledge may cause, fear that she may cause them to be an early target of the System or that she may attempt to control the strings of future herself.

Dokura Ibeshi Concept

By Henry

The idea behind this character actually goes back several projects and many iterations, but I'm going to focus on the idea behind the final version.  I decided to work with the idea of retainers for the Imperial family and decided each member would have their own head retainer/body guard normally one that mixes with their own style and personality.  These individuals would often be picked at an earlier age by older family members based on their chi potential and trained to cover the perceived weaknesses of the royal they would guard.  They would be conditioned to be loyal to them, often to the point of love to ensure that they would protect them at all costs and always try to keep them happy.  The last part is the biggest reason for Dokura, a character that loves her master so much that even when her master seems to have lost her way she will aid her darker plans.  She was made to be sort of a side kick role in the 1st timeline, and sort of a reluctant antagonist/frenemy in the 2nd.   The claws are there just because I've loved them as martial arts weapons ever since I played dynasty warriors as a child.

Nisu Bio

Art by Henry

Born to a famous Priestess known for her service dealing with demonic hordes and dark spirits, Nisu had been surrounded by stories her whole life.  Her mother was a hero, a living legend among Zhu of all races. When she was little all the stories and games focused on her mother made her happy and proud, loving how awesome and cool her mom was.  But as she grew her mom stayed active, and not only was she gone all the time but her identity was solely as a daughter and not as an individual.  As she studied magic in school she always felt her accomplishes meant little, as the focus was always on her mom's latest exploit or big mission.  Nothing she did mattered in the grand scheme, every accomplishment was quickly forgotten with talks about the important member of the family.  Her parents always insisted how much they loved her but she just couldn't see it, instead she focused on trying to find a way to make them and everyone else have to care. A way to prove that she was just as important as her mother was. So she set out, leaving her home town to find a way to prove herself to the Empire and her mother. 

Nisu Concept

Art by Henry

 

Since very early in the creation of the setting, I decided the Zhu Empire had multiple races that made up the central Zhu species.  One of the more populous of which was Xerin, a kitsune inspired race that I will write about later. And so it only made sense that I should have one of them as a central character in what is planned as a big exploration into the setting.  Working with the theme of change and growth decided a young not so special character would fit best into the role. So went with a girl in her early teens, to have the most room to work and to go with the still in training princess Xing Yi.  Only instead of straight martial arts training and warrior spirit, showing the other side with magic and religious work within their culture.  Yeah not a whole lot to what sparked her creation, but there it is.  

Xing Yi image sheet

Just an awesome image of xing Yi and expressions, by Sara and Gi, a link to their page is under the artists tab. And their name is on the peace/

Hwang Ce Bio

Art by Henry

Hwang Ce is considered a living legend among not just his planet but any planet that knows about life beyond their own.  His raw power and dedication to knowledge is the cause of both great respect as well as great fear among civilizations, with just as many developing measures to fight him as those who wish to work with him. Initially an unremarkable scholar known more for fringe theories than anything else, the once low class Zhuni disappeared one day along with a young girl both returning over a decade later almost like different people.  He was much wiser than before and carried a powerful presence more befitting a noble than the commoner he was.  Most notably however was his new found power, his magic had grown immensely and he showed the School of Magi a strange substance, a creature that looked as if it was made of shadow but had an energy composition unlike anything anyone had ever seen.  The creature had bonded with his spirit and become a part of him, him claiming he was tapping into the power of existence itself through it.  Through his new power he was able to shed new light on the Universe as well as what the Zhu people refer to as the system.  With new found influence he began to travel the universe growing stronger and learning more, eventually the School of Magi retooling their entire methods of teaching and knowledge based on what he brought back, the ideas spreading across the universe as he brought new technology and mystic techniques across various planets and societies.  For 200 years he ushered in an era of progress across interstellar space, though recently his attention has drifted elsewhere.  Frequent meetings with the Seer Hirara indicate that something serious is going on, yet neither is speaking publicly about it. All people know is if Hwang Ce can't handle what is coming, then even the gods will wish to hide from the future.  

Hirara concept

Sketch by Henry

The idea for Hirara spent a long time being bounced around in my head.  Pretty since I decided to do a tale focusing on Xing Yi it was decided that it had to be some sorts of martial arts journey, even before then I know I had to go back to that theme with her.  And any such journey needs to have a master of sorts who teaches the fighting style and contributes to the character growth. The initial idea had a standard master, just some old character who teaches their fighting style to Xing Yi.  The archetype works and as long as the design and character were strong they'd serve the purpose so it was left as for a while.   As I began to flesh things out more I settled on her being a woman and having her look more like a mother over a grandmother to Xing Yi when it came to appearance.  With the change in look I decided to make Hirara more of a primary fighter and Xing Yi fall into a sidekick or partner role over Hirara simply being her Master.  The idea behind that was so that Xing Yi could grow and develop her own journey while taking part in her master's.  

I started think about how in some stories a big part of the training of swordsmen is to forge their blade, uniquely to their ability and soul.  It inspired me to do something like it with her, only for martial arts in general. Instead of Hirara teaching her student a specific style, she would help build a foundation and philosophy within the girl and help branch it into it's own unique fighting style.  Besides liking the idea, the choice gave me much more room in what to do with both characters since they no longer had to match up. Eventually resulting in me making Hirara a more mysterious legendary figure who just appears place without any known story of where she came from.  This is furthered by her clothing style being very different from the royal fighter look of Xing Yi or even the random Zhu garb, to hopefully give the feeling of a woman not bound by that specific land.  

Xing Yi Profile (1st timeline)

Image by Sara & Gi

Xing Yi Qiao is the youngest member of the head Zhu royal family, the daughter of the current Empress. As she has two older siblings she is unlikely to become Empress herself and as such isn't treated like an heir, instead being free to take her pick of any appropriate number of jobs for a Zhuni royal. Despite that she really has little interest in any of the politics or official positions expected off her, instead drawn to the combat arts of their allies the Fah Family.  Getting in close with the legendary family, they began to teach her some of their art specifically a Dim Mak technique way more advanced then someone of her mental maturity level should know. Not fully understanding how easy it was to slip up and how hard to reverse, she while playing around sought to joking use it on a friend.  Before she could though, she was stopped by a woman named Hirara and her life was changed forever.

Hirara had built quite a reputation for herself by that point in time, and when she offered to train Xing Yi the Empress had no issues with it.  Both of the teens parents had assumed training with Hirara would give her discipline and insight to fully appreciate her place in life and move forward in society.  Now with their blessing she lives with Hirara, training with and following the older woman in her personal quest.  All the while Xing Yi remaining blissfully unaware of the darkness that taints her soul and the path that lies waiting for her to stumble down it. 

Xing Yi Concept

Image by Sara and Gi. You can commission them here http://stkstarbullet.deviantart.com/

The character Xing Yi is one of the central characters of the first timeline, and supporting character in the 2nd timeline.  She came about when I was trying to flesh out the empress more and decided to try and create some other family members.  I needed someone who could give context to Li Hua's rule, someone that the Empress would always be compared to no matter what she did.  So I came up with Xing Yi Qiao, Li Hua's grandmother and the most honored empress of the modern age.  

The sketch above is actually her as a princess still, which is what the game I'm working on will feature.  The lead up to her becoming Empress which will serve as some what of a parallel to what happened to Li Hua and how they two are almost variations of the same person/idea. Not really too much to say beyond that of the idea behind her, except that with her as a character I wanted something to bring a greater sense of power than Li Hua does.  By the time Li Hua's reign comes around Xing Yi as a person fully represents the might of Zhu tradition and as such is the greatest obstacle to overcome in actually bringing about a new era.