Name: Liling 'Lily' Yang
Canon: Mage: The AscensionSex: Female
Age: 30s - 40s appearance wise, Actually born 1880
Orientation: Bisexual
History: Liling was born in the year 1880 to a wealthy family in what was then Manchuria. Her parents both belonged to the
Wu Lung, a group of wizards claiming ancestry dating back from the Yellow Emperor. These Dragon wizards believed that they were the chosen speakers for humanity, intermediaries between humans and the gods. Accordingly her childhood was heavily steeped in ancestor worship, ritual magic, and imperialism. Following in her mother's footsteps, she was admitted to the Phoenix School, a subgroup of the Wu Lung, consisting solely of female wizards who specialized in Life magic, healers who focused on rewarding humanity, rather than judging or punishing it like the Dragon and Tiger schools.
By the end of the 19th century China was divided into foreign spheres of influence enforced by unequal treaties, and the Qing Dynasty was weakening. The Wu Lung and its old enemy, the
Akashic Brotherhood temporarily put aside their differences in 1900, and fought to expel the foreigners in the Boxer Rebellion. Liling and her parents were among their number. The attempt failed spectacularly, the casualties were heavy, and her father and mother were both killed in battle. Sick with grief for her parents and her homeland, Liling had no desire to remain on Earth, and when she was offered the chance to travel to Kun Lun, a realm resembling the mythic China of the past, to continue her training and studies, she accepted.
However, time passes differently in the Horizon realms than it does on Earth. Liling spent 20 years there, studying and training hard, but when she returned to Earth, it was the year 1990, and she was, understandably, more than a little disoriented. It took time for her to readjust to the modern world, but she has managed. To an extent. She still distrusts newer technology and most 20th century pop culture references fly right over her head. She does, however, enjoy the advances in women's rights, which, to her great amusement make the older, more traditional elements of the Wu Lung extremely uncomfortable.
As of 2015 Liling is settled in San Francisco's Chinatown, but she travels often. Among the highly bureaucratic Wu Lung, she is more or less a magical civil servant, acting sometimes as a diplomat among the Traditions. In mundane society, she maintains a public face as a Qigong master, and practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Personality: Liling was born into nobility, and is in many ways a product of her time. She was brought up to be well mannered, circumspect, and proud of her station and heritage. She still is still all of the above, appearing every inch the lady from her bearing to her grooming, but her past experiences as well as an uncertain future have forced her to re-evaluate many things.
Proud, capable, and confident are all words one might use to describe her. As a child gifted with a propensity for Life magic, she studied hard to make the best of her gift. She’s a hard working perfectionist, because she had to be in order to get anywhere at all in the highly patriarchal Wu Lung. Women were not even officially recognized as members of the sect until the 17th century when the Phoenix Empress Consort established the Phoenix School.
Her intelligence, attention to detail, and talent for subtlety make her a very good diplomat while her ambition, sharp tongue, and tendency to question authority make a her a huge thorn in the side of the stuffy old wizards who are invested in keeping the women of the Wu Lung subservient. That is to say, she's polite, but she's also very good at couching an insult in a seemingly innocuous comment, and she's much more likely to quietly undermine authority than she is to question it out right.
She's also vain, occasionally condescending, and as one might expect from her upbringing, she considers Chinese culture to be superior, and she can be a snob about it, but she's a lot more casual and good natured about it than her fellows most of the time. (ie. You're a barbarian, but that's okay. Not everyone can be Chinese.)
She is at times, over confident, and prone to reckless behavior. Acknowledging her own vulnerability is not something that comes easily to her, and she is loathe to show it in front of anyone, unless you happen to be particularly close to her. She puts up a tough front, but underneath all the artifice and polish, beats a gentler heart, and she can be very kind. The teachings of the Phoenix School- the celebration of the cycle of life and death have left a deep impression on her. She believes that mages have a responsibility to protect Sleepers (non-magical folk), and she abhors pointless violence and death.
Essence (Avatar Archetype): Pattern -
When other mages create new methods, Pattern mages refine and reuse these methods until they become stable and well-defined. The Pattern Essence cements magic into reality, gives shape to the poorly executed, and repairs the flawed. Instead of seeking new and dynamic means of change, Pattern Essences stabilize existing elements or methodically build on solid foundations. Naturally, such Essences are vital to stability, learning, and society. As the Essence most driven by a need to form connections, the Pattern Essence fits naturally into such a role.
Mages who feel the push of Patterns often experience periods of crystal clear lucidity. They're commonly rational thinkers driven by a strong desire for familiarity and most comfortable with clearly defined archetypes. These Avatars may manifest in dreams as authoritarian figures, repeating patterns, or fantastic machines, but they usually keep the same appearance from instance to instance.
Nature: Director -
You desire order. Whether by taking charge, building organizations, or educating others, you seek to eliminate chaos and randomness. You want things under control so that you have a nice, evenly predictable world, where you fit in easily and shape things to your desires. By bringing separate visions together, you unify a group in search of classification. Regain Willpower whenever you influence a group in the orderly completion of a task.
From Organization you develop a hierarchy and a system under which everyone can prosper. Your aid establishes leadership, clear goals, and a concrete means to accomplishment.
In order to really unite a group, though, you must overcome your Lack of Tolerance. Your vision of order isn't the only one, or even necessarily the "correct" one. You must compromise and learn that not everything will go your way, and that a little chaos and creativity is a good thing.
Demeanor: Perfectionist -
There's the best, and then there's everything else. You plan to be the best, and you'll hold for nothing less than that in everything you do, say, and experience. You keep the highest standards, and you make similar demands of the people around you. Exacting attention to detail is your hallmark; constant striving for the top is your way. Regain Willpower whenever you manage to accomplish a significant achievement without the slightest hesitation or flaw.
Your Strength is Exactitude. Because of your unswerving desire to get things absolutely right, you have an incredible attention to detail and a consuming desire to make the best out of every situation that you dive into.
You have a problem, though, with Incompleteness. You're unwilling to let go of a task until it's perfect or totally unsalvageable. You need to learn to accept "good enough" so that you can move forward instead of working on the same things all the time.
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SpiritMerits: Spark of LifeWeaknesses: While she has basic self-defense skills, and a few neat defensive magic tricks up her sleeve, Liling is not a fighter or a martial artist, and she has very little combat experience.
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