General Haixi

*Lilac: "You're asking me to betray my family... the closest thing I have to it.*

*Haixi: "No, Lilac. I'm not asking you to betray your family. I'm asking if you have the strength to save it."*

**General Haixi** is the acting regent of Shang Tu during the current events of SatPM Freedom Planet. He is one of the central antagonists of the story, though his true driving motives remain unknown for the moment. He is responsible for the successful destruction of the Scarves hideout in Shang Tu, and believes both they and the party to be traitors to Shang Tu. It is not known how he came to be regent. Cold and calculating, he has an excellent read on people, and is capable of bullying even strong-willed individuals into serving his will.

## Appearance

Haixi is a small, unimposing panda who looks out of place in the army, and especially in his general's armour. Like most of Shang Tu's military, he wears a suit of striking blue armour, armour which is reinforced with large, purple shoulderguards similar to the ones worn by General Gong. His guards lack Gong's spikes however, and he lacks other regalia, which suggests that he is normally of a more junior rank. He also looks younger than Gong, suggesting that his career is somewhat younger, and he is less tested.

Despite this, he carries himself with great confidence. He is fond of staring down others, and can use his body language very effectively.

## Personality

Haixi immediately strikes the party as a very hard individual who is not to be crossed. He also shows great skill at exposing attempts at deception. When the party attempted to shield their plan to warn the Scarves about his impending attack on their hideout, he quickly established first of all that they had something to hide due to Alyssa Scroll's suspicious behavior during an interrogation. He then proceeded to extract confessions from two of Alyssa's allies, exposing not the plan to warn the Scarves, but also Carol Tea's part in tipping the party off in the first place.

He also shows signs of being quick to judge others harshly. When the party's deception is uncovered, he immediately throws them in jail. Haixi is a bully and a skillful one at that. In the face of Lilac's attempts to get him to change course and spare the Scarves, he lands her with a sadistic dilemma. She can either lead the Scarves straight into his hands, thus ensuring a potential conflict between the Scarves and the army is forestalled, or let him drown them all under hundreds of tonnes of river water. Miserably, Lilac agrees to lead her estranged comrades into a trap, showing that Haixi is capable of extorting just about anyone when he has enough leverage over them. Haixi knew that Lilac was familiar with the Scarves and would have a better chance of gaining their trust, and his willingness to put his fifteen-year-old charge in such a painful and dangerous position so as to better ruin the Scarves shows either a lack of compassion or a high level of both personal and impersonal ruthlessness.

Haixi's former position within the ranks of Shang Tu's army remains unclear at present, as does the mechanism by which he holds power within the guard.

## History

Haixi is presently the regent of Shang Tu after an attack on the palace left the Magister comatose and General Gong and Neera Li injured and, for the moment, seemingly missing. How he gained power in the ensuing vacuum is not immediately apparent.