Jiang Zhen Yi

>   *"Those who think of immortality as anything except a curse is either inexperienced or a fool."*
>
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Zhenyi is a young Chinese mage and swordsman, part of the Yi Shou Tribe.

## **Appearance & Outfit Preference**

Zhenyi has narrow, deep aqua eyes, more green than blue in resemblance of some sort of steely water, and a stern, taciturn demeanor matching the lack of light and dull luster within his steely, watery irises. He also has black hair with a prominent shade of blue to it, shorter than many of the mages’ hair; that is, a bit beyond his shoulders, and he ties it in a casual ponytail. He appears to be in his teenage years. He has been observed to be about as close as being able to tighten his mouth in a semblance of a completely straight line as a human can get. He has a flawless complexion, though it is not just his skin that is said to be ‘perfect’. In fact, by many standards in his place and time, he is very handsome. Standing at a height of about 5’ 8’’, Zhenyi has a clearly muscular and fit build. His stance is noted to be completely straight and similar to that of Yue Zheng Qu Xiao's.

He often adheres to a black, gray, blue, yellow, and purple color palette for his clothing; he dresses like most other mages, with robes, pants, and boots. However, his robes are shorter than others’, going only halfway down his upper leg, and his pants are wider and in a different fashion than others’ choice of attire. In addition, instead of a belt, he uses a simple rope, and he also has a small cotton pouch connected to a clasp around his shoulder. Zhenyi wears gloves that resemble vambraces, which are tight and only cover his palm and the top of his hand, and not his fingers. However, they both wrap around his thumbs, the left in a stiffer fashion to an observant eye. He also often has a long cloth wrapped around his neck, very wide and loose sleeves, and a high collar, for most of his attire choices. Zhenyi usually ties his hair higher up with an elegant piece of black cloth, and his sword is always at his side, be that the right or left.

Zhenyi is usually depicted with two other outfits. The first outfit has a high collar outlined with purple and cyan. It is then surrounded by a black, lower collars, with golden yellow zigzag patterns diagonally down its length, and a cyan robe. He wears full gloves in this outfit.

His other outfit is a high, stiff scarf, over a simple tunic and robes. A belt is clasped around his hip. He wears boots halfway up his calves. He wears fingerless gloves that cover his thumbs.

## **Personality**

Zhenyi’s personality is everything others don’t see about him at first glance other than his obvious seriousness. He would seem to have a completely polished heart that only has the strongest core remaining; unfortunately, this results in an aloof attitude towards any he believes to know have not refined their attitude or prowess to such a degree. To those who have not, he may even seem outright defiant, unwilling to accept their opinions. He has forgotten what it means to be normal, if he ever was normal in the first place.

The reason why Zhen Yi deals with such absolutes is because there is only life or death, victory or loss, on a battlefield. He faces the world he is in as if it is an eternal battlefield, scorning the curse of immortality that has kept him in this state. He is more willing to fight his world than come to terms with its truths--he is more willing to be hopeless towards the world than have his hopes be crushed--he would rather listen than talk and be interrupted or ignored--he is more willing to distrust others than trust and have it shattered--he is more willing to hurt others than have them hurt himself. Such absolutes are his ways to living and fighting. They are his priorities, even as he has forgotten all other desires to live and fight. Those desires are not even to break their world to escape, or even to break their world to break the curse. His only reason for fighting on in a life he sees as without worth otherwise, after being able to die every day but not doing so, is because it is his only way of vengeance towards the curse itself. It tells the curse that it cannot revive him after killing him and humiliating him on a frequent basis. It tells the curse that he is still strong and will defeat it one day. So he prevails.

Jiang Zhen Yi's morals are hard to explain. His vengeance would have twisted him, but his original sense of good and justice has been strong enough to stop him from completely warping in a quest for revenge, and has helped him retain his sense of right and wrong to an extent. It continues in him the idea that dying honorably is the way of the warrior, but it is unable to stop him from reacting to death as if a sentient entity. It has stopped him from developing evil views for harming others indiscriminately, but it has not been able to strike hesitation in harming others for what he believes to be for reason at all or for him to truly voice his own opinions, even about that same justice he used to revere. Though silent, he often seems straightforward, blunt, and speaks to hurt, even to allies. However, he relies on those same allies to give him anything to do other than the persistent goal of harming those who are deemed to be deserving of it, and in fact, is prone to being manipulated and ordered by those he views as worthy, especially if they turn for the worse.

The warrior is known for taking too much upon himself, and will easily protect those he deems worthy of protection. He will take on pain for others believing that he cannot feel it, but the truth is something akin to his pain being his motive. He is determined to take vengeance for that part of himself that was slaughtered by the curse he defies, along with all he loved before. He is merely a warrior, nothing more.

## **Relationships**

Yue Zheng Xu Qiao
The two have a somewhat awkward relationship. Even though their tribes are allied with one another, the two don't work together. In fact, the two boys don't seem to really tolerate each other's presence that well. Nonetheless, both sides recognize the other's potential and helpfulness.