Jiugui
The Wine Demon | The Unquenchable Thirst | The Rose-Cheeked God
Aspect - Wine
Wine - that most flavourful and ruinous substance. All throughout history, this drink of water and yeasted sugars has been a source of great joy and celebration, and terrible downfalls and loss of face. The effects of wine on the body are well-known: The senses begin to dull; the skin begins to warm; one’s vision may start to blur; and one’s courage may grow to irregular proportions. For every sip of the potion, one’s neighbour seems just a little more interesting, a little more attractive. Friendships feel stronger; the tongue grows looser; passions bubble forth to the surface. Suddenly, you can sing; you can write; you can dance. You are the centre of the celebration, and everyone’s eyes are on you!
Then the dream shatters. It is morning. The light of midday assaults your crusted eyes like rays of sharpened steel. You blink (or try to, anyway) and assign every single ounce of energy in your body to your sore abdominal muscles - you have to get up. You look around - this isn’t your room. This isn’t your house. You look down and your face drains of blood. That’s your best friend’s husband, but you are not at your best friend’s house, either. You stumble to get dressed, but finding your clothes is a treasure hunt in and of itself. While you search, your friend’s husband awakens. You ask what happened, but he is in shock. The door opens to reveal your friend, your husband, the village chieftain and many others. The chastise begins, paining your mind even worse than the headache: You called the chieftain a fat swine; you vomited in your husband’s lap; you punched the neighbour’s son and poked his eye out; you escaped into the woods and forced the whole village to call off the feast to search for you; only to find you here, sleeping with a man who had not participated as part of his vow of temperance. You try to blame it on the wine - a worthless argument. You are tossed in a cell for the day - that’ll show you.
Jiugui can turn any grain, fruit, vegetable, plant substance or animal product with enough sugar content into wine. He can even turn water into wine and can unnatural amounts of wine from small amounts of raw materials.
The power of wine is the power to intoxicate through the medium of yeasted drink. Intoxication implies the above-mentioned symptoms - a little will give the target an exciting buzz; a bit more will cloud their mind and louden their voice; even more than that may stagger them and make laughter come as easily as breathing; and consumption beyond that may bring blackouts and, in the worst of cases, death. Jiugui cannot force intoxication upon anyone who has not consumed his wine, however - while the god can decide the strength of his concoctions up to lethal levels, he cannot actually make anyone intoxicated so long as they refuse to drink the concoction. The power of wine also lets Jiugui grant others reduced or increased resistances to alcohol, even immunity. However, this blessing, too, must be granted through drinking. In this vein, Jiugui can communicate through wine and through wine containers, whispering into their drinkers' faces.
Persona
Jiugui is a similar to most drunks one might meet around midnight: Hearty of spirit and stuffed to the brim with song and kind words. He is a wonderful drinking buddy, and will gladly offer up a cup of wine and invite anyone to have a seat to drink and talk about life. His purse strings are as loose as his passions and he will spend his power lavishly to make certain his friends and guests are enjoying themselves to the fullest.
Issues begin appearing whenever Jiugui is given any responsibilities. He is at the very least tipsy at any point in time, frequently drunk beyond reason, and will regularly shirk his duties for another drink in the pavilion with his friends and a sheet of paper to write poetry on. He keeps secrets for maybe fifteen seconds - if you’re lucky, he’ll forget them first - and has a tendency to get himself into trouble left and right when he falls into one of his stupors.
At the very least, he makes for a comical show.
True Form
While Jiugui’s normal form is that of a small, fat, drunken man with blood-red skin and black hair, his true form takes on the literal meaning of his name, “wine demon”. When assuming this form, Jiugui grows five times taller, ripping his robes in the process and leaving only rags as a loincloth. His hair falls off, horns sprouting forth from his head instead. Everywhere on his body, his skin sags with fat and laziness. The air around him oozes (even more) with the stink of alcohol, and every breath taken is bitter with spirit vapours. However, apart from his ugly appearance and intoxicating smell, his true form does very little in addition to what his base form already does. Perhaps he becomes more dangerous on account of being five times taller, but just as out of balance as usual? Maybe he has additional powers, but forgets them in his stupor? Who knows? He sure doesn’t.
Normal form, the man Jiugui.
True form, the demon Jiugui.
Musical theme