Qindo Mei Li

[Mei Li]

Name: Qindo (Family name) Mei Li

Age: 22

Race: Human

Description: Mei Li has a smooth, unlined oval face with well-placed dark brown, narrow eyes and high cheekbones typical of people from the Gur’yeo region. Her black hair is kept fairly short, trimmed meticulously above her ears, with the majority kept in a topknot, which if let down, would fall just short of hitting her shoulders. Thin, colorless lips, typically without much expression, give voice to a deep, gender-neutral tone. Her frame is medium, compact, to the point of being stocky. Standing at 5’6” and weighing 155 lbs, the woman is well muscled and wears plain, boyish clothing. Her hands are neither overly large, nor small, rough and well-calloused from years of weapons handling.

While traveling or fighting, Mei Li will wear armour of her heritage- consisting of a metal-reinforced leather breastplate with thick leather straps layered and dyed family colours of dark crimson red and deep, hydrangea blue which cover her shoulders, sides, and back. Light gauntlets of wood and leather protect forearms and the backs of her hands. Similar greaves protect her shins from glancing blows. Gauntlets and greaves are coloured similarly to her body armor, though the colours have faded slightly, the armour having been a pass-down from her father. Being of leather and wood, the armour allows free range of movement and protects best against light weapons and far shot arrows, and could withstand a single direct slashing strike from a heavier weapon, but it would not protect for long against heavy weapons or heavy missile attacks. Careful attentions once every other week suffice to keep the armor in good, durable condition.

Possessions: In addition to family armour, she possesses two weapons- one halberd and one double-headed spear. The halberd, actually an Eastern weapon called a quandao, has a single edged blade 18 inches long, slightly curved at the tip, its back side (the non-bladed side) a jagged edge which is used for blocking and catching opponents’ weapons. The double-headed spear has a sharpened, 9 inch tip, with a pair of crescent prongs. Brightly coloured strips of cloth are tied at the base of the spear’s head to serve as distractions. The wooden staff of both weapons is made of a flexible but sturdy wood commonly called rattan poles.

A handful of foreign currency has gotten her as far as Thar Shaddin. She had a black, thick mare, well-breed for war and bearing warriors such as herself, but she had to pawn it in exchange for her trip to Marn. Other than her weapons and armor, she only has a traveller’s possessions: a cloak, some paring knives, cleansing cream and tools to maintain her armour, and a sharpening stone for her weapons.

Strengths:
Weapons Prowess- Mei Li is well-trained in using her family’s traditional weapons. Generations upon generations of honing the skills, combined with training from childhood leaves Mei Li practically unmatched with her polearm weapons. Discipline drives her to continually practice, spending a minimum of 2 hours a day on katas and forms to train her body and instill muscle memory. She can fight as well on horseback as she can on foot. From years of conditioning, she is very strong and has a high endurance for wielding her 45 lb quandao, and agile and quick enough to adapt to the lighter, 10 lb spear.

Faith- The Qindo family, renown in their part of the world for their quandao and spear techniques, are just as famed for their staunch faith in a strange and very localized religion. Outsiders speculate that their monotheistic religion might have been inspired by the more common ancestor worship, sparked by a great leader in the Qindo family tree. Mei Li’s faith in her god, whom the Qindo’s hold to be an omniscient, sentient being who cares about and will intervene in human affairs, approaches fanatical fervor. It has sustained her through trials in her journey over land to Keltaris.

Weaknesses:
Youth- Mei Li is inexperienced of the larger ways of the world. She grew up fairly sheltered and traveled exclusively with a kind trading caravan to get to th West. She has not dealt with betrayal or ulterior motives first hand. Though warned through typical childhood lessons and stories, the young Gur’yeon has yet to deal with the seedier aspects of humanity.

Un-blooded- With only skirmishes against mostly unskilled foes and wild animals, Qindo Mei Li has never faced a real opponent. She only knows fighting through her forms and regulated sparring matches held with strict sport rules from her family and neighboring schools. As such she considers herself “Gak’usein Yong”- student-warrior- only and lacks confidence against seasoned opponents in earnest.

Specialization and size- Mei Li has not studied any other weapons form and has only limited unarmed combat knowledge. With this comes the weaknesses inherent to her weapons- should anyone close quarters with the student-warrior, she would not stand a chance against a sword or dagger-bearing foe. Because of Mei Li’s relative small stature, she can be easily overpowered and her weapons depend on agility, very open space, and swift attacks to be effective. Both of her weapons are two-handed, leaving her no hand to spare on defensive equipment like shields. Also, the quandao is a slicing, slashing weapon, and the spear is obviously a thrusting weapon; she is adaptable enough to switch styles in a fight, however, she would have to disengage long enough to find her other weapon.

Beserker- This is a strange affliction that has come out in the Qindo family over the last three generations and only very spottily. She has a cousin who is affected, and her father’s brother as well as her father’s aunt have displayed this beserk rage. While deep in concentration, there is a chance for Mei Li to slip into a beserk state – this gives her a boost of adrenaline, strength, and heightened awareness of physical movement but masks intellectual thought and cognizance of persons and things around her. For a short period, the Gur’yeon can decimate everything around her that moves, but she would just as soon kill friends or family since she would not recognize them in this state. The rage can last anywhere from 2 to 15 minutes, unpredictable in duration. It taps into the very core of the body’s reserves and then it is completely drained, requiring two days of complete rest and immobility after only 5 minutes of beserker. Muscle, joints, and tendons are taxed to their limits and the brain essentially shuts down after such an expenditure of energy. It is not yet completely understood what trips the Qindo beserk state or if it can be ended prematurely through will power or outside influence, though in all likelihood, slipping into intense mental focus or meditation contributes to inducing it. Because she will not risk going into this state, she cannot further her weapons studies to attain higher levels since that would require concentration. It is not practical for her to attempt to use this state in a fight either, since its length is erratic and focussing to that level could easily let her misstep and get killed before achieving the devastating berserk state.

Isolated- Mei Li is half-way around the world from her home, her family, and everything in which she was raised. She has learned the language of the region during her journey to the West, but she is still hesitant, understanding slowly spoken language and cannot read the written. Culturally different, in addition to being completely dedicated to her religion, leaves the Gur’yeon in a very lonely place. She has turned even deeper to her beliefs, which may prove to further her isolation.

History: The Far East region that calls itself Gur’yeo is a mountainous region with a small, close-knit populace. Those who call themselves Gur’yeon claim an ancestry of the ancient war-faring Mongoloid race who ravaged the lands, their range extending from beyond the Great Moon Lake to the Eastern Sea. It’s said that they once held power over the entire Tian Xia region, but a disagreement between the eldest members ensued, resulting in five different factions forming. Paruk Jyong-Lee , the ancestor of the people calling themselves Gur’yeon, chose the Gur’yeon Peninsula for its mountainous borders, hoping that they would provide natural protection against his power-hungry peers who wanted his land as their own. The Paruk family prospered and populated the Gur’yeon region, passing down tradition of warfare while living peaceable amongst their own. Clans, mostly human, though the rare, stray humanoids were not turned away, formed, each one holding modest households and lands, and each one pursued different specialities in the martial arts. During the build up of the Changer’s War, the isolated Gur’yeons felt no need to send their warriors to the aid of enemy clans. As a result, they maintained a healthy populace while the rest of Tian Xia sent many warriors to their deaths to aid the Changer. Their land was not untouched by the earth-shattering chaos which ensued from the Changers’ War, however, and the Gur’yeons did suffer their own losses and chaos with the rest of Pal Tahrenor.

The Qindo family traces their roots to one of the survivors who re-settled the Gur’yeon peninsula after the Changers’ War. The clans were re-established and suspecting magic as one of the causes of the War, they focused even more exclusively on martial arts prowess and weapons study. The Gur’yeons also fell to ancestry worship, idolizing those who had protected them from the demons and spirits that had been awakened during the Changers’ War. The Qindo religion, as practiced in this day, has some peculiar tenants, differing from views and beliefs held by other Gur’yeons. Its source hasn’t been well defined, but their monotheistic belief in a higher power has thus far proven benign, and so, although radical, their neighbors have mostly left them alone to practice as they see fit. Most attribute their odd religion to their Chi’in ancestry, as the Qindo are relative newcomers to Gur’yeo settling just prior to the Changers’ War climax and not of Paruk lineage.

Mei Li was born as first daughter, second child to Liang and Chun Hae. The Qindo family was well-enough off to own land, horses, and a small school, at which her parents taught spear and quandao techniques to neighboring clansmen for a modest fee. The school was a family affair- her paternal grandparents, old and retired from teaching, tended the adminstrative matters; her mother’s brother and his family diligently, without complaint, saw to the fields; and her father’s extended family served various roles, like assistant teachers and classroom aides. Mei Li showed martial aptitude, whereas her older brother was more scholarly, and she picked up the family trade at an early age, beginning her basics at age 5 and picking up her first quandao at age 8. She excelled at both spear and quandao, but in competition, the girl continually placed second or worse. She seemed a very astute, devout student in everything she studied, from weapons to religion class. Her skill was tempered by humility, partially caused by her religious teaching, but primarily due to never reaching the best student at her parent’s school. At 15, Mei Li was introduced to mounted warfare, and again, excelling at her art yet never boasting the top awards, she was resigned to being second best.

Regardless of her failed attempts to be the number one student, her parents loved their daughter and gave her the family armor on her 20th birthday. They had it refitted and modified from her father’s taller, lankier frame to better suit her smaller, stouter one. She was now considered a proper Qindo warrior, fit to go to war if needed. Border excursions were infrequent, however, and Mei Li never got a chance to test her skill against anything other than the stray monster that wandered into their lands. She continued to practice, study, and compete against other Gur’yeon weapons Clans, humbly retaining her self-professed title of student-warrior- Gak’usein Yong.

One such bout was marred, however, and in no small part responsible for Mei Li’s “trip” to the Western World. During one of the summer festival gatherings, a few months before she turned 21, Mei Li was set to fight a young man of a neighboring clan whose specialty was dual short knives. She had never been much good against her peers who had shorter reach weapons- if she couldn’t disarm them within the first minute or so of the round, it was inevitable, if they were quick, for them to get inside her reach and end the match. The Qindo girl dutifully and single-mindedly trained with her quandao nearly constantly the week prior to the scheduled match. With a fervour that was typical for Mei Li, she dedicated herself to the art, forbidding herself any of pleasures or taking time to enjoy the festival atmosphere.

The day of the fight was in the middle of the weeklong festival and was the highlight of the day. Everyone gathered around the ceremonial sparring ring, a large, raised platform, eagerly placing bets on their favorite. The Qindo family observed with pride and some apprehension, knowing Mei Li’s history of losing rounds and her increased chance of losing to the short sword opponent. The two competitors took their places, opposite from each other and performed the ritual bows of respect to the presiding official, to the referee, and then to each other. With a wave of referee’s flag, the match began. The two had not faced the other before, but each had some familiarity with the strengths and weaknesses of the other’s weapons. Circling cautiously, Mei Li, with the longer reach, made some interrogative feints. Her short stabs and slashes sparked the young man into action, the two were soon dancing what would look to outsiders choreographed movements.

Their weapons were bladed, dulled, but were real, not training- both were students advanced enough that their bouts were fought with real weapons because of the precise amount of skill and restraint had been previously proven in various tests. Each trusted that the other would restrain him or herself from using their full strength in their strikes, or that they had the level of control to stop a weapon from inflicting full damage. The dance was deadly and in earnest, but rarely did any competitors sustain permanent or fatal injury.

Mei Li and her opponent moved together, coming to clash, seperating to gage a different approach, steel against steel striking again as one blocked, the other attacked. The onlooking crowd grew quiet with eager anticipation as the match went on- most had assumed it would have been finished in the first few engagements but it seemed that the young Qindo was performing better than expected. The young man with short swords was not quite fast enough to snake inside the furiously whipping quandao but he was wise to her attempts to disarm him and was gracefully evading both offensive and disarming thrusts. He was a fast thinker on his feet, and in an attempt to try something new, he stepped inside one of her strikes, catching and locking the rattan pole against the guard of one of his swords.

They were at a deadlock, but before the referee could reset the two, the Qindo’s brown eyes seemed to cloud over. Her normally calm, composed visage contorted and with a vicious, frothing snarl, the smaller girl pushed her quandao against the sword with incredible strength. The pole nearly bent in half, but did not break, and using it like a taut bow string, she abruptly released the tension with a back step, flinging her opponent half way across the ring. Following up without even a breath, Mei Li charged at the astounded young man, her quandao moving in incredibly, almost inhumanly rapid circles at her opponent, whistling sharply in the air. He started to defend, but she was moving too fast, with too much strength, and unrestrained, the Qindo disarmed one sword, then the other and before the crowd to move to intervene, she began slicing into the man. The referee, an old veteran of these trial matches, came up behind Mei Li, but in her beserk state, she heard him and moved in a circular manner, swinging her quandao behind her, allowing her body to follow through with her weapon. In an incredible, beautiful show of unity with her weapon, the quandao an extension of her body, Mei Li proceeded to beat into the referee and three other men and women who climbed onto the sparring platform before she was finally subdued by a force of ten, half of which were her own Qindo kin.

Mei Li woke up, still completely exhausted four days later in her parent’s house. They related to her the outcome of her actions, of which she had no recollection beyond her quandao being locked in the young man’s sword. Her actions had cost him to lose an arm, amputated at the elbow due to infection her slashes had caused. The referee had died from blood loss, as she had slashed through his thigh, cutting his femoral artery. Nobody else sustained fatal injures, but two of the three initial responders would be recovering for at least a month from their wounds. The officials had inspected the quandao afterwards, and it met with the standards for their contests, but in Mei Li’s beserk state, she had used lethal force and strength enough to cause it to cut. She feared that she had shamed their family’s name by losing control, though after careful counseling from her father, she came to understand that this state was not considered the same as simple loss of control. For that she was spared a death sentence, since it was not any secret that the Qindo family was afflicted with this strange disease.

Her parents were distraught. The girl had carefully grown up in her own way, imposing on herself the strict regimen of studies. She never showed any interest toward the opposite sex- in fact, her chosen clothing, hair style was very genderless and strangers often thought her to be a young boy- and they knew she would never be happy to be simply married off. She could no longer practice with even training weapons as a result of the beserker that lay unpredictably dormant. After much prayer and contemplation, they came to the conclusion that the best option was to send her off into the world as a sort of missionary to promote their religion.

Seeing her off with tears in their eyes, Liang and Chun Hae said farewell to their daughter, never expecting to see her in their lifetime again. They gave her a well-bred horse, her armor, a pouch full of coin, and two plain but well made weapons, spear and quandao, concealed until she got out of Gur’yeo. She made her way to the large coastal city of Jiangwei, at which the Northern and Southern Trade Routes met the sea. Her Qindo reputation preceded her and she was quickly hired on as a guard to one of the rare trading caravans that made the dangerous but profitable trek to the West every other year. Learning a small bit of the Western tongue along the way, Mei Li made time to practice her art, contemplate her religious beliefs, and maintain the good condition of her armour, even while passing through the damp, jungle forests of Daloyxiu. She mostly kept to herself but made a point to talk to the people of the various towns they stopped at, learning about their beliefs and cultures, while hoping to impart some of her own on them in the short stopovers. Unfortunately for the young Gur’yeon, the most difficulty the caravan had faced during the trip was a disease that spread through their livestock and horses, and when they reached Shim, feeling that they had not received their money’s worth from her guard services, they took her battle mare as extra payment.

Mei Li simply sighed, bade farewell to her horse in Gur’yeon, and parted ways with the caravan, hoping to find employment between Shim and Marn.