Jai Long

Sacred Arts
Cradle Locations
Cradle Factions
Cradle Theories

Jai Long and his sister Jai Chen first appear in book 2, Soulsmith

## Child Prodigy

Jai Long is the son of a leading family in the Jai clan, located in Serpent’s Grave, a big city in the heart of the Blackflame Empire. His clan follows the Path of the Stellar Spear. He was the bright hope of his clan, the only one to show promise of advancing to Underlord. This all came crashing down at age fourteen.

## His Injury

Jail Long was a peak Jade already at age fourteen, with a brilliant future, when he was ambushed. In the heat of battle, he advanced to Lowgold, adopting a twisted snake remnant. His sister Jai Chen, only six years old at the time, was also attacked and seriously injured.

> Excerpt, Soulsmith: 'Jai Long’s suffering had begun when he first advanced to Gold. In the heat of battle, he’d been forced to adopt a strange Remnant instead of the one his family had planned for him. Instead of the Goldsign borne by most on the Path of the Stellar Spear -- hair as sturdy as a helmet, and rigid as iron -- he was cursed with a face that…a face that he didn’t like to think about.
> There had been a few other consequences of that Goldsign.'
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## Banishment

His family, guided by Patriarch Jai Daishou, banished him to the Desolate Wilds because they were ashamed of his hideous fanged facial goldsign. He took his sister along, to care for her.

> When the Jai Patriarch banished him to the Wilds, the words were hollow and empty, forms without substance. The old man's disappointment oozed across the room, so tangible that it might as well have been vital aura taken form. The star that would have guided the clan into the future had stepped off the Path, ruining his future advancement. And he was hideous...how could he represent the Jai like that? (Soulsmith, ch 6)
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### Welcomed in the Wilds

Banished. They left Serpent’s Grave in the heart of the Blackflame Empire. In the western wilds, Gokren and Kral of the Sandviper Sect welcomed them. This was a relief to the shell-shocked fourteen-year-old and his little sister. The welcome may have been partly because Jai Long added to the Sandviper’s strength:

>  Jai Long wasn't arrogant enough to assume that he was the strongest Highgold in the Five Factions Alliance, but he was certainly the best among the Sandvipers. If he'd thought the sect was treating him unfairly, he would have cut his way through them, and Kral knew it. The only one that could have overpowered him was the current chief, a Truegold, and Kral's father was out hunting. (Soulsmith, ch 6)
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## His Goals

* He seeks healing for his sister and vengeance on his clan, especially Patriarch Jai Daishou
* "The Jai clan wouldn't take his sister back anymore, and she had no one else. To create a home for her" (Soulsmith)
* He seeks to find his clan’s legendary Ancestors Spear in the Transcendent Ruins, with help from the Five Factions Alliance  in the Desolate Wilds
	+ As a Jai clan rep, albeit exiled, he’s in the alliance with the Fisher Sect, the Sandviper Sect, the Purelake Temple sect, and several representatives from the empire’s Cloud Hammer School

## Age, Appearance

* Eight years older than his sister Chen. Since she is around age 14 in Soulsmith, he would be about 22, give or take a year.
* "Jai Long had met the man before; he was early in his second decade and had already reached Highgold, which made him a peer with Kral and Jai Long." (Soulsmith)
* "He was roughly as tall as Lindon, but thinner, so that his build matched that of his spear"(Soulsmith)
* Disfigured face:
	+ Jai Long has his head wrapped in scripted red cloth because his face is disfigured as a result of a Goldsign given to him when he hastily advanced to Lowgold, by a Remnant from a guy on a warped version of the Path of the Stellar Spear. The Goldsign is a hideous fanged face. Jai Long does not like to think about it or deal with people’s horrified reactions, so he covers it with red bandages.
* Manic laughter: "His voice hadn’t changed, but his laugh… It rang out of him, wild and crazy, like the cackling of a deranged murderer. His usual voice was cool and composed, but when he laughed, he sounded like a blood-drunk killer. *(Soulsmith)*

## Personality

* As a child, he was the beloved golden child of his powerful Jai clan, a quick study in the sacred arts(Soulsmith, ch 6)
* Bitter when his father banished him to the Sandviper clan, one of their vassal families out in the Wilds.
* Loyal to people who help his sister and himself, including Sandviper Gokren and Sandviper Kral.
* Vengeful towards the Jai clan Patriarch, Jai Daishou who discarded both him and his younger sister Jai Chen because they were both damaged in battle.
* Loving and protective towards his little sister, Jai Chen, who was badly damaged in the same battle that destroyed Long’s face.
* Vengeful towards Wei Shi Lindon for the death of his friend, Sandviper Kral
* Jai Long speaks in a flat voice and has a manic shrill laugh
* Expects enmity and dishonor from others, distrustful
* A superb warrior, true grit

## Sacred Arts

* He started out on the Jai clan’s Path of the Stellar Spear but after his encounter with a Remnant, he’s on a variation, Path of the Stellar Spear 2.0
* Stellar Spear Iron Body: "For Jai Long's Iron body, he'd been forced to undergo a ritual that blistered all the skin on his body, broke most of his bones, and kept him in bed for three months afterwards." (Soulsmith)
* Rank: at the peak of Jade at 14 years old
* Lowgold at 14 years old. Goldsign, a disfiguring fanged face
* Highgold in early twenties, about twenty-three
* Truegold within a year
* Underlord late twenties, about 28