Jing-Yu

"Your kind killed my father!" - Jing-Yu on his relationship with the Kenku

Jing-Yu was born to a rich family of elves within the elven citadel of Yyrael, where a few short months into his life he was discovered to be a half-elf hybrid, a result of a forbidden and previously secret relationship between his birth mother and an unknown suitor. After this, his presumed 'father' promptly flushed him down the toilet.

Jing-Yu's birth mother, her husband, and the birth father are unknown. His elven heritage and childhood in the sewer allowed him heightened vision in the dark.

Once in the sewer system of lower Yyrael (referred to by nearby pure elves as Ulthylia), Jing-Yu was rasied by his 'rat-dad', giving rise to his affinity with Animal Speak. Rat-dad was present at Jing-Yu's graduation from the Bard's College of Ulthylia, where he was taken as prey by a nearby bird-like creature. Hence, Jing-Yu developed a complicated relationship with any flying entities, or acts associated with heights due to trauma surrounding the area. He has been known to descend into a murderous rage upon seeing any members of the race of creatures known as the Kenku.

As a youthful, naive and brash half-elf, Jing-Yu scraped an existence for himself through sheer determination and grit, joining the only guild that would accept him - the nearby Bard's College. Once years of training had progressed, he became adept with his silvered tongue, being able to persuade, deceive, intimidate and perform with ease.

Jing-Yu was raised by a rat in the sewer, and is therefore unafiliated when it comes to religion, and prefers to stay away from the topic.

Jing-Yu became adept with light armour, and simple weapons such as crossbows, rapiers, short swords, and daggers as these are the only weapons he was ever able to purchase. As such, he usually carries small amounts of charlatan's items in order to cheat large bounties or surpass adversity rather than holding on to large amount of supplies.

As a bard, Jing-Yu learnt large amounts of the glories in the world, and is somewhat fascinated by the idea of becoming a king or regent of his own town, thus he always carries the signet ring of a fake lord, in order to push this impersonation in any chance he gets.

Jing-Yu had a hard upbringing. His sucesses and failures have always been his own. Left to his own devices, he often follows thought processes others may think of as neurotic, paranoid or outright aggressive. He learnt this through hard trials in the sewers, facing oppression and degradation in his majority pure elf hometown. The height of this was when he applied to a Rogues Guild to learn their trade, yet was refused entry due to his ancestry.

Being naturally paranoid, Jing-Yu is almost never seen without his classic Rabbit-skin armour, Rapier or Dagger. In addition to this, once he finds something useful, he will rarely share or reveal these items until they are useful to him.

Jing-Yu has an anxious-avoidant attachment style, due to tremendous loss in his childhood. He is resistant to forming bonds with new people, and can too easily ruin potential alliances or friendships with his withdrawn, argumentative personality. He does not reveal much about his past with others, and lives by the idea that sincerity is scary. His favourite poem he learnt in the Bard's College is of an ancient fictitious mage called Aes Sedai. The passage is labelled 'the colour of trust';

*“Give me your trust, said the Aes Sedai. On my shoulders I support the sky. Trust me to know and to do what is best, And I will take care of the rest.*

*But trust is the color of a dark seed growing. Trust is the color of a heart's blood flowing. Trust is the color of a soul's last breath. Trust is the color of death.*

*Give me your trust said the queen on her throne, for I must bear the burden alone. Trust me to lead and to judge and to rule, and no man will think you a fool.*

*But trust is the sound of the grave-dog's bark. Trust is the sound of betrayal in the dark. Trust is the sound of a soul's last breath. Trust is the sound of death.”*

Due to Jing-Yu's general mistrust and avoidant nature, he has never had any experience with relationships. Whilst he can flirt and charm well, when he feels he is genuinely being approached by someone with romantic interest, he will become flustered and attempt to escape the situation.

Jing-Yu became swept up in the Vault-Hunter's Guild on his search for glory away from the feeling of obligated gratitude to the Bard's Guild, being healed by a travelling cleric called Clover, experiencing recent adventure with Keaton.