Xin

Xin, also known as Xin of Oaths, is a spiritfolk from the land of Onorhant. He is perhaps best known as the creator of the city Xinkala, for which it was named, and leader of the Ban after the Great Iconoclasm.
== History ==
In an age long in the past, Xin along with the rest of the Spiritfolk migrated from their homeland to the Free Isles. As the Spiritfolk continued to reincarnate and change form, this information and the memories were lost to all except for those who never reincarnated even once. Xin is one of those few, if not the only one remaining.
He was once Onorhian clan leader - of the lost fourth clan - alongside Meer of Gold, Tenui of Rust, and Kairen of Lillies.
Xin is in ownership of a staff that elevates his powers over life and death. During the events of BIG WAR, it came into the ownership of The Alaran Empire and stored at Tax Haven.
== Appearance ==
His statue within the shrine on the Stone of Kairen was described as made of a sparkling blue stone, cool and smooth to the touch. Within, it featured a humanoid-looking figure. It was the smallest statue.
Xin, as he appears in Liquor and Spirits, appears to be a man of indeterminate age. His hair is a sandy blonde, and cut relatively short. He appears to be lightly tanned. Xin's face and forearms, however, have an almost reddish-brown coloration (which is not paint, it is "just how he be"https://twitter.com/FrameDodge/status/671844982425284608).
In terms of clothing, Xin dresses lightly, wearing a dark brown sleeveless turtleneck and a multicolored skirt-like garment over white pants. He also has a necklace made of large wooden beads, resembling prayer beads.
Small areas around his body are still in a constant state of disintegration due to the iconoclasm spell Markus used on him.
== Personality ==
Xin has a fondness for mind games, showy displays, and his own appearance. He appears to enjoy making others uncomfortable by acting unpredictably.
== Abilities ==
As a spirit of reincarnation, he holds power over growth and life, able to cause flowers and even trees to sprout from nothing in a manner of seconds. He claims to have "molded" the Ban village himself. He is also able to speak to animals. Xin's dominion over reincarnation itself makes him of the most influential spiritfolk, with his paths of wandering and habits of doing so in part determining how Spiritfolk wander and travel, as well as where they may do so.
At any period of time, Xin is able to exert his influence in a radius around himself and alter the nature of the world itself. This radius increases gradually over time until such events as those that occured in BIG WAR. The Staff of Life gives Xin the ability to siphon part of his domain into an object to embue it with his energy, allowing him to remain in a location without his life energy spilling into the world constantly. As long as Xin remains moving around the world, his domain of influence remains small.
He also posses the ability to create "lazerbears", animal-shaped cloud-like beings from his breath that seem to act as sentries and guards. He can also walk over water by creating lilypads beneath his feet, as well as turning people into flowering trees, and the flowers can turn into butterflies and fingers. The tree can also bleed.
Unique to Spiritfolk, he has an ability to forgo reincarnation thanks to his regenerative properties, having never reincarnated even once.
When in possession of his staff, Xin's power increases to even greater heights, with the staff itself being linked to his domain over life and death. With his staff, he is able to do things such as creating large pillars of foliage, and creating frost.
== Relationships ==
=== Horaven ===
Horaven and Xin seem to be long-time friends, with Horaven well aware of Xin's various tricks and habits. Horaven mentions that he sees Xin as a friend, although Xin "doesn't like that very much".
=== Telvillian ===
Xin cites himself as a great friend of Telvillian, despite the latter's inability to speak in an understandable language.
=== Ashe ===
Xin claims a familial role to Ashe, calling her "sister" when they meet, due to their shared spirit-folk nature. Despite Ashe's growing aversion to his pretentious airs, secrecy, and manipulation, Xin rarely breaks from his tolerant (condescending) nature when speaking to her. 
=== Markus ===
Xin and Markus only briefly meet, but during their few interactions, they show each other a begrudging amount of respect, Markus conceding that Xin is quite the vizier, and that perhaps if things had been different, Xin would not have been perceived as the villain. it was also noted by Thog that there is a resemblance in personality between Markus and Xin.
== Trivia ==
* Xin raised Zeke for a time when he was younger.
* Xin has trouble talking with people, needing about 16 hours of careful consideration (usually done in a bath) before knowing how to even say hi to a person. Horaven and Ashe saw his habit of bathing before meeting with people as a power move.
** Markus interpreted this as social anxiety, and offered to do conversation practice with him in the future.
== References ==
Category:Side characters
Category:Spiritfolk