Snowdrops
Izurich
Bombardier
ChronoBovino
"Draw."
Name:
Bai Hu Baihe
Title(s):
William Baihe
White Tiger Lily
Appearance:
William has short, unkempt white hair and blue eyes. He stands at a 179cm because this is an international organization off-shot from a European group, you damned savages. His physique is well-honed, and his wardrobe full of dress clothes and various types of leather outerwear. He is often seen in a hat that's matte black with boots that are black to match.
Gender:
Male
Age:
24
Alignment:
Runaway Good
Rank:
(Cattle) Brand lmao
Command Seal:
Personality:
William is a man wandering towards the sunset. He is a man who believes in chance encounters, in jolly cooperation, in limitless possibility. Some may say he is a passionate, romantic person, and others simply call him a idiotic fool. Regardless of what others think he is, William lives by the ideals he holds in his heart.
But wandering is not the same thing as chasing. "Possibility" doesn't necessarily mean "purpose". As someone who grew up surrounded by possibility, there are few who know this better than William himself. Even beyond all the aesthetic trappings, perhaps it is the lack of destination that makes him most like those heroes he used to look up to.
In terms of temperament, William is straightforward and compassionate. Despite (formerly) being someone always on the move, he keeps very little emotional distance from others and values even his those once-in-a-lifetime meetings. With respect to those opposed to him, has a very "foes today, friends tomorrow" outlook; to him, most problems can be solved over a few drinks or a friendly scrap. However, he holds no compassion for those who would trample upon the livelihoods of others.
He likes hamburgers and baseball. He dislikes mayonnaise on fries and shut-ins.
Bio:
The Baihe are a very old family of magi from China who specialize in magecraft rooted in eastern divination practices and their related schools. Their goal to reach Enlightenment is "decoding". If the trigrams of the I Ching have correspondences with everything in creation, if one can understand the randomness underlying their cleromantic results, it should be possible to actualize any result. And if that is possible, then it is possible to actualize a result of "Enlightenment", which would allow them to work backwards in order to acquire "the steps taken to achieve Enlightenment".
Generally speaking, their history is "uneventful" save for the 1800s, when a sizeable branch of the family moved to the American West due to dangers in their homeland. While many still remain in America, prospective heirs are sent overseas to research magecraft in a place more conductive to their art.
Bai Hu, known as William by most, is not one of them.
Instead of growing up in his ancestral estate with his elders, he grew up in California. He was still exposed to the family's magecraft, associated with the Eastern association, and so on just in case he needed to become a political marriage tool, a back up plan, or some other such contingency. He never managed to outshine his elder brother, who was what someone would consider a once-in-a-century genius, but he did have free reign of his destiny.
As child, he was inspired and enamored by the image of a "wandering warrior" present in both American Wild Westerns and Chinese Wuxia. This is mostly due to the fact they only had these types of movies in their household. As he grew into an adult, he also came to a profound realization the sheer scope of human civilization and the connections between various people and cultures, and decided to spend his life traveling towards the sunset like those heroes in the old films he used to watch.
Unfortunately, traveling around the world is very expensive. Without financial support from his family, William was forced to find work.
He found Chaldea.
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Magic Circuit Switch:
The cocking of a gun's hammer
Number of Magic Circuits:
B
Quality of Magic Circuits:
B
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Elemental Affinity: Metal, Water
Magecraft:
- General Magecraft - Includes normal boring stuff and the ability to use that normal boring stuff with his much cooler personal stuff.
- I-Ching - Chinese cleromancy has been the specialty art of the Baihe family for generations. I-Ching divination works by generating and interpreting hexagrams, sets of six lines in sequence that carry various concepts associated with them. A set of three lines is referred to as a trigram, of which there are eight. These eight trigrams and their combinations are said to represent processes and cycles of change present in the universe. William's magecraft draws primarily from the concepts behind these trigrams.
- Wu Xing - The elemental system used by far eastern magi. It is very similar to the western system in terms of function, albeit with different associated concepts. William's application of this is focused on the concepts as they relate to the eight trigrams and martial arts/self. Also available is the obvious function, but that's rightfully looked down upon.
- Baguazhang - An internal martial art based around the principles of the I-Ching. It is characterized by circular movements and palm strikes; although that is not the extent of its techniques, as it also incorporates other strikes, kicks, throws, locks, and even weapon techniques. Due to William's martial arts experience, he has acquired a proper rhythm of breathing and walking. As a side note, Baguazhang practitioners are said to be able to use anything as a weapon using the basic principals of their art, but if that is the case...
- Mystic Code Construction (Wild West Armorer) - Self explanatory.
Crest:
Does not possess his family crest.
Weapon:
- Boy with the Dragon Tattoo - In eastern tradition, tattooing a dragon upon someone is said to provide them with a blessing of power and fortune--assuming they have rightfully earned their dragon tattoo through valorous works. Otherwise, it is said to inflict calamity upon those who would dishonor the symbol. This tradition is carried on in the modern day by some groups, such as the various Asian criminal organizations. William is not a criminal, at least in terms of intent, but he acknowledges the necessity of "a dark past" in regards to the image of a wandering warrior. This mystic code enhances his bodily capabilities. The quality of this depends on how "valorous" he is acting, and can even become detrimental if he is acting against that ideal. In some ways it can be considered more of a "style meter" than a numerical bonus.
- Dragon Shot - Good night, sweet Prince 😢
- Hexagram Bullets - William's marque mystic code is a series of "bullets" made from the shards of ritual jade and gold coins, combined with yarrow stalks. Taken together, the materials represent the Earth and the Heavens, and the spiritual connection between these two concepts--in other words, the structure of the projectile is "all creation". Implementing a broken or unbroken stalk of yarrow into the chassis and assembling them into sequences of six creates a hexagram representing one of the aspects of creation. Coins and yarrow stalks are used to reinforce their concept as a hexagram, as they feature prominently in I Ching divination. Being propelled or otherwise launched serves as a metaphorical "flipping of the coin" or "tossing of the stalks". When all six projectiles are fired, the hexagram has been "divined", and an effect inherent to the concept of the hexagram sequence(a divination) is actualized on the target(s) of these projectiles. William uses these bullets in his twin revolvers. However, the revolver is not intrinsic to the mystic code; it is simply a convenient way to use the mystic code.
It also looks real slick.
Change Log (6:20PM on 6/20/2019):
-RIP Dragon Shot 2016-2019
-Slightly modified the purview of Mystic Code Crafting to better reflect intent
-Expanded on hexagram bullets to fit things I didn't mention in initial draft
-Annoying typos
