The Yiling Patriarch

He's so tired. So heavy. He's been fighting the current for what feels like hours, yet the shore he can scarcely make out through the water in his eyes never draws closer.

Arm over arm. Kick. Kick. Breathe.

They're motions Wei Wuxian could make in his sleep. For the first time since he startled from slumber to the phantom slither of a whip, Wei Wuxian wonders if he'll die making them too. He should have ignored it, ignored her, but even in death Madam Yu is not a woman who will hear no.

Not even fully corporeal, her specter stands on the far shore, watching him struggle with disapproval in every hard line of her face. Despite his fatigue, Wei Wuxian shudders, words from long ago rising to his ears as if carried on the wind.

If you want to slack off and swim while the others train, swim then. Swim until I say you can stop. Zidian is waiting for you if you fail, boy.

In his youth, Wei Wuxian survived by making a game of it. He treated her torments and tests as trials to make himself stronger, more resilient, a better disciple for Yunmeng whether she wished it or not. He'd been younger then, stronger, and even when she whipped him Wei Wuxian still had a core.

Now he has nothing but the faint lights of home at his back and a growing sense of despair. If he stops now, he'll be lucky if Zidian is the worst thing to find him, for the current of the river is only growing stronger, threatening to sweep him away the moment he falters.

Surely he can stop soon. Surely, even at her angriest, Madam Yu wouldn't actually kill him.

It's horrible.

Wei Wuxian pokes the thing that emerges from the oven, watches it jiggle, then pokes it again.

It's varying shades of grey and an ill sort of green, smells of garlic and carrots, and according to the box Wei Wuxian had used it's called a vegetable loaf. It's an awful name, but Lan Wangji will no doubt love it, provided that Wei Wuxian's use of three different types of lentils doesn't prove too flavorful. If it does, Lan Wangji is unlikely to tell him, Wei Wuxian thinks as he busies himself in the kitchen, trying to clean up the worst of the chaos before Lan Wangji returns from town, new sheet music in tow. He's still got a few gluten free oats stuck to his cheek when he hears the door open, and Wei Wuxian tramples over fallen cherry tomatoes to call out -

"You're early! Stay in the front room!"

Wei Wuxian has grown fond of a good many things that once used to annoy him about Lan Wangji. Once known beneath that implacable veneer, the man really isn't stodgy at all, but he does still restrict himself to set activities at set times. Today, this works perfectly with Wei Wuxian's plans.

It is 5pm.

5pm means it's time for dinner, and Lan Wangji will be exiting the library in search of it. Only he needn't search for long! Wei Wuxian is there when he passes through the door from the library, beaming at him with a steaming cup of tea in hand.

"We're going for a walk!" he explains as he places the cup in one of Lan Wangji's hands and seizes the other. "You might get thirsty."

Hello! I'm not here, but you are!

OOC INFO;
Player Name: Sarah/fahrbot
Contact Info: fahrbot @ plurk
Current Character:

IC INFO;
Character Name: Wei Wuxian
Canon: The Untamed (Live Action)
Canon Information: Wiki link to the canon. (Note: This canon began as a novel, then became a comic, an animation and finally a live action, which is what I'm apping from. Unfortunately the live action has no comprehensive wiki, but while some plot events differ in the live action version of canon, the world is the same as the novel. However, since they're not quite the same canon, I'm also providing a brief history of Wei Wuxian's life, death, and rebirth. If it helps, his world is the same as Wen Qing's!)

Wei Wuxian was born to a family of cultivators, magical warriors who fight evil by cultivating a golden core of power within themselves. This golden core gives them access to magic and allows them to use their swords in unconventional ways. For example, cultivators can fly on their swords, call them to them physically if separated, and a sword only answers to its master. When Wei Wuxian was only four, his parents were killed. He spent some time on the streets begging and fighting vicious dogs for food, but was eventually taken in by the Yunmeng Jiang Sect of cultivators and raised as a brother to Jiang Cheng and Jiang YanLi. Though not related by blood, Wei Wuxian was talented and quickly rose to being Yunmeng Jiang's chief disciple.

Wei Wuxian excelled at cultivating and went with his siblings to the Gusu Lan Clan sect for lecturing, a common practice wherein other cultivating sects share their learning and wisdom. It was here that he met a stoic cultivator named Lan Wangji, whom Wei Wuxian delights in teasing with his much more outgoing personality. The unlikely pair strike up a friendship and work together to find a rare, dangerous talisman called the Yin Metal, which had long ago broken into several pieces. Anyone who wielded this metal had access to enormous power, and they suspect it must be the reason that the dangerous Qishan Wen Clan has so much power. They are correct, and the Qishan Wen Sect commit many terrible acts in the name of being the only cultivating power in the world, including the murder of Wei Wuxian's adopted parents. In the aftermath of the slaughter, Jiang Cheng's golden core was melted, leaving him unable to cultivate.

Wei Wuxian tirelessly researched a cure for his brother. He found that he could transfer his own golden core to his brother, which he had done in secret. It was a huge sacrifice, but while Wei Wuxian can survive a life without great power, Jiang Cheng can't, so Wei Wuxian is more than willing to make this sacrifice for him. Without the ability to cultivate, Wei Wuxian was vulnerable. As he waited for his brother's return, Wei Wuxian was attacked by the Wen Clan and dropped into the Burial Mounds, where he was expected to die. Instead, Wei Wuxian discovered Yin metal of his own, which called to him. Its promise of power despite the lack of a golden core and of revenge was too good to pass up, and Wei Wuxian used it to become a demonic cultivator. This was a forbidden practice in his world, but now orphaned twice over, removed of his golden core, and furiously seeking revenge, Wei Wuxian spent three months learning this new, dangerous cultivation, channeling his powers through a flute by using music to call on resentful energy and angry spirits to fight for him.

Using this demonic cultivation, Wei Wuxian defeated the Qishan Wen Clan, ending their reign and avenging his adopted parents. In the power gap that followed, the LanlingJin Sect rose and became the dominant cultivating sect. Their leader, Jin Guangshan, was immediately suspicious of Wei Wuxian and coveted his Yin Tiger seal. Pretending he only wanted to keep everyone safe, Jin Guangshan successfully turned other cultivators against Wei Wuxian, even his own brother Jiang Cheng, and Wei Wuxian left to start his own clan.

Many innocent servants, women, and children of the fallen Qishan Wen Clan were being killed by the LanlingJin sect as revenge. Believing it the right thing to do, Wei Wuxian rescued them and brought them to live among his new Yiling Clan. This move was seen by others as him trying to amass power, but Wei Wuxian simply believed they didn't deserve death because of their masters' actions, and he wanted to help them live life in peace. The new Yiling Clan was poor, but happy. Unfortunately, this didn't last. Wei Wuxian was manipulated by other members of the LanlingJin sect and eventually drawn into battle. By this time, the strain of demonic cultivation and relentless persecution had taken a toll on Wei Wuxian's sanity. He both laughed and cried his way through the battle, but during the chaos, his beloved sister was killed. Wei Wuxian, despairing of all that had come to pass, leapt to his death from a cliff. Lan Wangji never stopped looking for him and/or his body.

Sixteen years later, Wei Wuxian was reincarnated by a rare spell and brought back to inhabit another cultivator's body. He was still without his golden core, and continued to use his flute and demonic incantations to cultivate. He wore a mask so that no one would suspect he's the returned Yiling Patriarch, who was now a legend in the cultivating world, and a figure that inspired great fear. Little children were frightened of the specter of the dread Yiling Patriarch in order to eat their vegetables, a fact that never stopped to confound or amuse Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian was found and recognized by Lan Wangji, who took him back to the Cloud Recesses of the GusuLan Sect. Together they worked to uncover new evil maneuverings of the Lanling Jin sect, eventually removing the clan's new, scheming leader Jin Guangyao, who so many years ago helped to set into motion the events that led to Wei Wuxian's death.

In yet another power gap, Lan Wangji became chief cultivator, and Wei Wuxian, though he loved him dearly, didn't have the personality that can bear a quiet life in the Cloud Recesses. He left and wandered the world on his own, fighting evil and protecting innocents wherever he could, but he never stopped hoping to run into Lan Wangji.

Canon Point: end of series

Age: 20ish (reincarnation makes this sticky)

God Houses:

Frigg - Wei Wuxian might have developed a fearsome reputation at home due to his skills at necromancy, but Wei Wuxian only chose that power as a last resort. He's a nurturer by nature, he hates to see suffering and injustice, and all he truly desires is for all to live a peaceful, unencumbered life. He would deeply appreciate the ability to heal and protect, a nice change from the death and suffering he knows at home.

Heimdell - As well as a nurturer, Wei Wuxian is also a protector and defender. He takes in the weak and offers them a home when no one else will, and gladly fights on their behalf. Wei Wuxian would again chose to learn abjuration powers from his god, and would use them to keep the people around him safe from harm.

Personality:

Wei Wuxian once said, 'If I'm the second most outrageous person in the cultivating world, no one would dare to be first.' It's absolutely true. Wei Wuxian might have been born into a rigid class system, but he's a free spirit that's never taken propriety to heart. In happier times, he's an endless prankster, disturbing the rather stifling world of cultivation by making his brother and his fellow junior cultivators laugh. No amount of punishment has ever been able to dissuade him of this, and if anything, only makes him more determined to have fun. He manages to wear even the most stoic people down, because even though he's a pest and a prankster and generally too much all around, people eventually see that he's got a good heart, and that he only wants other people to enjoy themselves as much as he does.

That's not to say Wei Wuxian doesn't have a serious side. When the situation calls for it, Wei Wuxian is focused and alert, and his cheerful demeanor hides a brilliant tactician beneath the charm. This surprises many people, a fact that Wei Wuxian uses to his advantage, allowing enemies to ensnare him, only to escape at the last moment because he saw it coming all along. He takes cultivation seriously, whether through his golden core, or through demonic cultivation. Above all things, he wants to protect the weak, and though he is eventually forced to choose a dark path to do so, the only reason he takes up demonic cultivation at all is to protect his adopted brother and sister and avenge the death of their parents.

Wei Wuxian is very much a tragic figure. Both life events and other scheming cultivators brought about his downfall, but if he had to choose, Wei Wuxian would change very few things. He's not aware of it, but he has an enormous savior complex. He happily gave his golden core to his brother so his brother could continue cultivating. He accepted the dangerous path of demonic cultivation as a means of avenging his adopted parents. He rescued the remaining Wen sect from death because it was the right thing to do, even knowing that the rest of the cultivating world would vilify him for it. Wei Wuxian's only regrets are that he couldn't get his brother to support him on this dark path, causing a fissure between them, and that the ferver around killing the Yiling Patriarch led to his beloved sister's death. Even so, Wei Wuxian never brings himself to resent his brother, for his brother doesn't know how much he owes to Wei Wuxian and the golden core he gave to him.

Ultimately, despite his willingness to cultivate negative energy for power, Wei Wuxian a good, kind man. He's surprisingly humble for a man so demanding of attention, but when it comes to it, Wei Wuxian would rather be scolded than praised. It's why he never tells anyone about his golden core, and allows people to think him power hungry when he created his own sect, rather than simply wanting to give them a life of peace. Like his intelligence, his willing martyrdom often surprises people, because he's very good at hiding it. Still, he's a man and not a saint, and Wei Wuxian does have a temper. He can absorb many insults before exploding, but insult someone he cares about and Wei Wuxian will come right for your throat. He's fiercely, intensely loyal, and he'll stand up to anyone to protect his loved ones, no matter how powerful or strong they are.

Writing Sample: Thread from the TDM