"In a land of dragons,
one hero is called.
Where war was waged,
beyond a Great Wall."
Name: Captain Li Shang
Appearance
Stats & AbilitiesPersonality:On the surface, Shang appears to be stern and disciplined. He puts on the face of a confident, tough-as-nails soldier. But all that pride and no-nonsense attitude is just an exterior. Underneath all that is a young who often feels in over his head and has no idea how to deal with that or even how to ask for help. He wouldn't want to risk bringing dishonor to his family after all.
Backstory:The son of General Li, Head of the Chinese Imperial Army - Shang was groomed from a young age to take up the sword and become a soldier. And Shang was quite talented, consistently staying at the top of his class in tactical training and military affairs. This combined with an "impressive military lineage" that his father was quite proud of, all but guaranteed Shang an officer's rank. That chance came when the Hun Army invaded China. At the outset of the war, General Li appointed Shang as Captain and left him in charge of training the newly conscripted troops until Chi-Fu - the Emperor's Council - believed them ready to join the war effort.
The men Shang had been assigned proved rowdy and difficult to train. And one of them - Fa Ping - proved especially difficult to train. Shang was even ready to send Ping home until the latter gritted his teeth and finally started making progress. This seemed to trigger a cascade among the men. From that point on, the training went smoothly and quickly. And although Chi-Fu had his reservations, he was given an urgent requesting reinforcements at the front lines. And So Shang and his men went on the march.
This time in the story, Shang and his men were able to successfully reach the encampment in time to save the life of General Li in addition to some his men and the village itself. Another change in the story was that the ambush in the mountains never came, due to the cannon never being fired by accident. This allowed the remains of the Chinese Army to regroup in the Imperial City. There they would have to settle in and defend the palace against a siege by the Huns. It was a long and grueling effort, but eventually Ping got the idea to use fireworks as a way to hide where their cannons were being fired from. With this they were able to whittle down the Hun Army until only the elites remained. In the midst of the battle, Ping was injured and had to be rescued by General Li while Shang held off the final assault by Shan Yu.
In the aftermath, the war was won. Ping was revealed to be a woman named Mulan. And although their laws demanded that she pay the price for impersonating a soldier, her actions were what largely led to their victory. And so in his wisdom, the Emperor granted Fa Mulan a full pardon and honored her, in addition to Shang, as heroes of China. Mulan left China on what she said would be a short journey, but never returned. Worried about what fate may have befallen her, Shang slipped away from his duties and also left China in order to try and find the missing Mulan.
"I wish... to bring my family honor. And to find out whether I was meant for more than just a soldier's lot."
