Xiaoli

Xiaoli has the appearance of a humanoid female.

Xiaoli is Shengshi's first avatar, created from an unnamed tributary of the great river Nanhe. She is a powerful river water spirit that takes the shape of a beautiful humanoid female. As she was the first of Shengshi's sentient creations, she was dubbed "the First of the Court", being the first among the river god's planned advisors and administrators. She is also romantic partner to Hermes the Dreamer and co-progenitor of the dreamer race.

## Persona

Xiaoli was given two tasks upon creation: Firstly, she would be the heart and the voice of reason of the river god. For this task, she was given the gift of great empathy, while still possessing an unyielding rationality. These two qualities were meant to aid her in the completion of her secondary task: To act as "the jailor of [Shengshi's] hedonism". Before creating the avatar, the river god realised that he has little to no control over his drinking habits, unfortunately succumbing to a way of life that allows for a bottle of wine here and a bottle of wine there. To aid him in readjusting his path along the moral middleway, he tasked Xiaoli with preventing him from succumbing to his desires and instead display the qualities of a moral paragon - to a degree, of course. Her tasks are not limited to the River God, however, and Xiaoli is more than happy to be of aid to anyone else who may request it.

As time has passed, however, it has become clear to Xiaoli that serving as her master's advisor is a task more daunting than initially thought. She has consequently developed a slight dislike for her master and a cold front towards him whenever he drinks.

In terms of social behaviour, Xiaoli carries out her courtesy to a near-radical standard. She inherited Shengshi's view of hierarchy and treats every other god as, well, gods - even to mortals, she displays unnecessarily good manners.

## Description

While Xiaoli's shape and form are humanoid, very little about her actual body consists of human features. Upon closer inspection, one would quickly see that her skin is not skin at all, but a layer of very fine sand atop a skeleton of water. It acts in many of the same ways as living skin would, but the sand has a tendency to glisten in bright light.

Her hair is not made of hair at all, but long, thin, black strands of grass, earth or other dark detritus from her river. Her eyes possess the same quality as Shengshi's, where the irises take on the colour of the river she last looked into. Xiaoli's teeth are perhaps a little unsettling to other beings, as they are each represented by a river pebble - with every tooth being a differently shaded and sized pebble from the next. Her tongue is also not actually a tongue, but a collection of flower petals in the shape of a tongue.

The avatar wears a white silk shirt with long sleeves and cuffs. To complement the shirt, she has a long, azure skirt that reached past her ankles. To keep the skirt properly tucked in underneath the overshirt, she wraps a blue ribbon around the shirt at waist level. She does not wear shoes. Around her neck, she wears a necklace with a polished red stone from her origin beck as a memory of her cradle.

## Abilities

Xiaoli possesses similar powers to Shengshi, though not at the same divine level. She also possesses her master's swimming speed.

## History

After her creation, Xiaoli promptly made attempts to get to know her master. Upon realising that her master had some issues with his carnal desires, she made him a drink she had estimated would calm the river god's tormented spirit. Her estimate proved fruitful, as her invention, which the two of them named 'tea', managed to soothe her master's mind to a level of tranquility that the river god had not experienced since his inception.

Shortly thereafter, the avatar demonstrated that she also could create species in a way that her master could. She showed this by creating the Yong'ai flower tea, a type of tea that strengthens interpersonal relationships, especially those forged in love.

Thereafter, the she has accompanied her master on his adventures around Galbar. The two first traveled to Kalgrun, where they met Kalmar and Phystene. The conflicts that ensued left Xiaoli dumbstruck at her master's reckless and petty behaviour. The following nights of drinking that ultimately left her master unable to sail the Jiangzhou, and Xiaoli in charge of the ship, sliced a deep wound into the girl's psyche. While the snake god did gift her a beautiful river as an apology, the trials of the past have already begun to take their toll on the avatar.

Upon meeting Hermes, Xiaoli decided to sneak out with her while her master was asleep after a night of drinking.