Fang Runin

**Fang Runin**, oeeften referred to simply as **Rin**, is a former Sinegard student, member of The Cike, soldier of the Dragon Republic, and general of the Southern Coalition. She was the last living Speerly.

## Biography

### Early Life

Rin was born on Speer and was heavily implied to be the daughter of Hanelai, a Speerly general. After the destruction of Speer by the Federation of Mugen, she ended up in Nikan as one of many war orphans. She was adopted by Fang Xusang (Auntie Fang) and Fang Ketze (Uncle Fang), a pair of opium smugglers from Qiguani, a small town in Nikan's Rooster Province. The adoption was an imperial mandate issued by the Empress, dictating that all households with fewer than three children have to take in war orphans.

Rin worked as a shopgirl for the Fangs from an early age. She also helped raise the Fang's biological son, Kesegi. Rin received some education from Tutor Feyrik's tuition-free classes as a child, but her education was cut short when the Fangs decided she should spend more time as a shopgirl.

On her fourteenth birthday, the Fangs introduced Rin to Matchmaker Liew. Rin was promised to Qiguani's import inspector, a man three times her age. Horrified by the prospect of marriage, Rin bribed Tutor Feyrik to help her pass the Keju, the prestigious and notoriously difficult Imperial Examination.

After studying intensely for two years, Rin passed the Keju with the top mark in Rooster Province, and was admitted into Sinegard Academy.

### Sinegard Academy

When Rin first arrives at Sinegard Academy, she is stunned by everything around her. However, she is also ridiculed for being from the south and dark-skinned by the majority of the students and as a result, only has one friend, Chen Kitai. Despite her early struggles, Rin excels at the academy, even learning combat from Lore Master Jiang Ziya after her dismissal from the class. She aces her exam for Strategy, ensuring at least one teacher will take her on for another year and securing her spot at the school.

During her time at Sinegard, she first meets Altan Trengsin, at the time believed to be the last Speerly and Sinegard's star student. Rin witnesses Altan's fights in the arenas, then later meets him in person by accident in the Lore garden, where she trained in martial arts after being excluded from the Combat class.

At the very end of her term during the last fight of the combat portion of the trials, Rin fights Yin Nezha, her fiercest rival. During the fight, Rin calls the Phoenix for the first time without realizing. She wins, but nearly kills Nezha. After her victory, she runs to find Jiang who helps to calm the god. Rin pledges Lore after this in order to learn how to use this power. She spends her remaining time in Sinegard training with Jiang.

### Joining the Cike

After the events of the battle of Sinegard, Rin is placed under the command of the Cike, a mysterious group of assassins who live to serve the Empress. Here, she meets Altan again, her new commander, who disappeared seemingly without trace after graduating from Sinegard after Rin's first year. She joins them in the siege of Khurdalain, where she fights alongside them under Altan's command.

## Personality

Rin appears to have, since the beginning, a decisive and thorough personality. She shows herself to be determined to fulfill her goals, without taking importance in what she is to sacrifice in order to get them. She has a cunning side that shines through mostly during her exams at Sinegard Academy. Throughout her time at Sinegard, she hardens her personality and becomes more and more enraged, both are herself and at others for either diminish her abilities or not helping her hone them. She’s shown to be tranquil enough to understand the Pantheon, but quickly bursts into fits when she’s not given the tools to channel and use the Phoenix.

As time passes, and the war progresses, Rin began to use more and more of her anger and despair as fuel, using her stubbornness as a way of keeping up her goal, turning herself into another version of Altan—a war addicted junkie who knows nothing of peace. It’s her anger and inability to look at Nikan throughout eyes bigger than the Phoenix that ultimately becomes her demise.

## Physical Description

Rin is described as dark-skinned, scrawny, and short. She wore her hair long prior to her time at Sinegard Academy, but cut it short with the advice of Tutor Feyrik. During her studies at Sinegard Academy, Rin trained and gained a fair amount of muscle, filling out her form. Her eye colour was originally brown, but after she destroys the Federation of Mugen, her eyes turn the same Speerly red as Altan's.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Combat Abilities**: Rin has formidable combat skills, and she was taught animal-based martial arts by Jiang. She was named the top student of her year in Combat after beating Nezha in the Battle Ring, who was previously the class's reigning champion. She is proficient in sword-fighting and combat with Altan's trident.
* **Shamanism**: Rin has the ability to channel The Phoenix, a deity traditionally worshiped by the Speerlies. This allows her to summon fire at will, but she requires opium to control the influence of the god. After Daji places a Seal on Rin that bars her from being able to reach the Pantheon in *The Dragon Republic*, she is cut-off from her fire-summoning abilities. This lasts until Daji's venom is removed by the Sorqan Sira and she becomes anchored to Kitay, through whom she manages to once again call the Phoenix. Her fire power is unreachable when the two are separated.

## Relationships

### Jiang Ziya

Jiang Ziya is the Lore Master at Sinegard Academy, and he directly tutored Rin in martial arts and shamanism. Rin is Jiang's first student in several years. He takes interest in her after learning that she was teaching herself martial arts, even after being kicked out of Jun's Combat class.

During her time in the Cike under Altan, she goes to free the former Cike operatives from the Chuluu Korikh and comes across Jiang, who has imprisoned himself there. She learns that he was The Gatekeeper. He warns her not to follow Altan.

Rin meets him again when she is waging war against Nezha, and discovers his close companions had been responsible for the genocide against Speer. She is disgusted by his passivity, but also attached to him as a mentor and father figure. Jiang sacrifices his life for Rin, cementing their bond.

### Chen Kitay

Rin met Kitay during her first year at Sinegard Academy, and he quickly became her closest and most loyal friend during her school years. When Rin was ostracised by her classmates due to her rivalry with Nezha, Kitay was the only person who remained her friend. Kitay invited Rin to stay over at his home during the school break at the end of her first year.

They remained close after the school years, although the events at the end of *The Poppy War* revealed fundamental and potentially irreconcilable differences in their moral ideologies when Rin annihilated the Mugenese islands after calling on the Pheonix.

In The Dragon Republic, we learn that Kitai left the company of the Cike to dwell in Ankhiluun, an amphibious town that operates extralegally of the Empire, where he worked as an accountant for the Pirate Queen Moag. However, he was treated more like a prisoner under house arrest than an employee, and was later rescued by Nezha's crew after Rin was recruited by the Dragon Warlord.

Kitai and Rin eventually reconciled during the Northern Campaign. Kitai served as a strategist for Nezha's older brother, Jinzha, and even became spiritually bonded for life with Rin by the Sorqan Sira, which was the only known way for Rin to call the Phoenix after Su Daji Sealed her.

After this bond was established, Kitay and Rin grew closer than before; however, the relationship between these two characters by the end of the second book appears to be purely platonic, with a dynamic not unlike Chaghan and Qara's before the latter's unfortunate death.

The second book ended with Kitai and Rin on the run from The Dragon Republic, determined to rally the Southern Provinces to defeat the Hesperians and the Dragon Warlord, effectively setting themselves against Nezha.

Kitai and Rin fight alongside each other against Nezha, but face conflict once Rin defeats him. Rin's rule is short-lived, and Kitay passes away after she takes her own life.

### Altan Trengsin

Rin first saw Altan Trengsin during her first year at Sinegard. At the time, Altan was a fifth year student and the star of the school. She quickly became infatuated with both his fighting skills and looks, but thought little of him in the subsequent years after he left.

After the battle of Sinegard, Empress Su Daji and General Irjah decided that Rin would be best suited in the Cike, the Empress's elite team of assassins, because of her powers. At this point, Rin comes back into contact with Altan, who is now the Commander of the Cike. Because of the past events at Sinegard, Rin discovers she is a Speerly like Altan and finds immediate connection to him, which later turns into almost a deep obsession.

Together, they travel to Khurdalain to meet up with the rest of the Cike. During the next several months, Altan tries to get Rin to unleash the Phoenix again. Altan begins his descent into madness around this point, which is later revealed to be a consequence of his relapse into opium addiction. Rin criticizes his paranoid, violent behavior, but is quickly shut down by Altan's lieutenant.

After the tragedy in Golyn Niis, Rin begins to reevaluate her perception Altan. While she considers him mad, she believes the Empire needs someone "mad enough to save it", and agrees to accompany him to the Chuluu Korikh. Unfortunately, when they finally reach the Chuluu Korikh, they realize the danger in releasing the shamans that lay dormant there, but not before they accidentally let the Wind god, inhabiting the body of the former Cike shaman Feylen, escape. They are then captured by the Federation, having been betrayed by Su Daji, and sent to the old Federation Lab in the Snake Province, where they are tortured by Dr. Eyimchi Shiro, the same scientist who experimented on Altan and hundreds of other Speerlies in the Second Poppy War. Altan is close to giving up, but Rin encourages him to fight back. They make a successful escape, but ultimately Altan is forced to sacrifice himself to save Rin.

The grief and anger of losing Altan is the driving force for many of her decisions in The Dragon Republic, and also the reason she is unable to call upon the Phoenix after Su Daji injects her with venom. Despite its uselessness, she uses Altan's trident for most of the book, though eventually turning it into a sword after encountering the Sorqan Sira with Kitay, who helps her overcome her grief.

After fleeing the Dragon Republic, she uses Daji's poison to communicate with a hallucination of Altan. The hallucination is a manifestation of her desires and fears and vacillates between being romantic and violent.

### Yin Nezha

Rin met Nezha on her first day at Sinegard Academy and punched him in the face soon after he insulted her teacher and upbringing. They continue to clash throughout the academy due to Nezha's prejudice towards her, until Rin is able to defeat him in the Tournament. Rin is forced to call the Phoenix for the first time in this fight. Afterwards, Nezha ignores her rather than taunting her. They begin to connect when they fight the Federation together in Sinegard. Rin calls the Phoenix for the second time during this fight, as Nezha is stabbed, Jiang is out of sight, and there is no one else coming to their aid. They would go their separate ways after the battle and meet in Khurdalain, where Nezha apologizes for his behavior at Sinegard. Their relationship begins to mend before Nezha is captured during a gas attack.

They meet up again when the Republic captures her and the Cike, and Nezha explains that he survived the gas attack and attempts to convince her to join the Republic. After Rin decides to join the Republic their friendship strengthens, but is sometimes strained by their clashing worldviews and Nezha's prejudice towards Speer and shamans. Rin admits to developing romantic feelings for Nezha during this time, but Nezha betrays Rin out of obligation to his father and the Dragon Republic, placing them on opposite sides of a civil war.

Rin and Nezha lead opposing armies in the following civil war. Rin has conflicted feelings, hurt by Nezha's betrayal and wanting him dead for various reasons, yet unable to find the resolve to kill him when she had the chances. Ultimately, Rin decides she may be "worse than Riga'" after hurting both Nezha and Kitay, and takes her own life. She forces Nezha to hold the blade, and to promise to fix the damage they had done.

In "The Drowning Faith", it is revealed Nezha harbored an infatuation, almost to the point of obsession, towards Rin. This is hinted at throughout the trilogy as well. Nezha was conflicted between his feelings for Rin, his prejudice towards her people, and his faith in his family who had always been a part of Nikan's elite class. He dreamed and desired to die at her hand.

### Suirin Venka

Rin and Venka meet as students attending Sinegard Academy in the same year. Immediately Venka has a strong distaste for Rin because of her background, lack of status and apparent rivalry with Yin Nezha. The hatred is mutual as Rin and Venka’s feud cultivates with the typical patriarchal sense of animosity against other women. This soon changes as the Third Poppy War makes them set aside their differences to seek injustice for what the Mugenese soldiers had committed against Venka. Rin vows to burn the Federation for Venka and fulfills this request towards the end of the first novel.

Venka and Rin don’t interact until the second book when Rin overhears a conversation Venka has with her father whilst traveling with Yin Vaisra.

### Su Daji

Rin first sees the Empress during a parade in Sinegard and is immediately smitten with her. After the battle of Sinegard, she wakes to find the Empress standing over her, having cooled the Phoenix within her. She, along with General Irjah decide to send Rin to serve with the Cike. After Rin sees Daji as having betrayed the Cike and Nikan both, Rin's goal becomes to kill her at all costs.

After Mugen's destruction, Rin and the rest of the Cike become wanted criminals because Daji placed bounties on their heads. Seeing that they have a common enemy, they join the rebelling group, the Dragon Republic, and make it their new mission to help them take out the Empress.

After Rin and Kitay leave the Republic, they meet Daji again in Tikany. After Tikany is bombed, she takes Rin with her to persuade Jiang to leave the Stone Mountain, and helps Rin recover Kitay from the Republic. She encourages Rin to rise higher within the Southern Coalition, and acts as a guide and mentor to her through the march to Tianshan until her death on Tianshan.

## Gallery

from the cover of Book 1by colouranomalyby ycnyangs
## Trivia

* There are several influences on Rin's character, including Mao Zedong and Azula of Avatar: The Last Airbender.