Read the description goddamit the clothes are different
"Ohohoho, a spirited effort to be sure, but that doesn’t mean much without the skills to back it up"
Wen Taihou
Title: Wen Sifu (master/teacher, term of respect akin to sensei), The Drunken Dervish (in his youth)
Race: Hume
Job: Martial artist
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Warrior of Light: No
Appearance Information
Physical Features: Though he stands at a fairly respectable 6 feet tall, one could be forgiven for underestimating Wen Taihou given his rather portly appearance. His body wrapped in traditional Taisong clothes, he just undeniably looks rather fat, no two ways about it. If not for that, then his amicable, relaxed posture and expression combined with his glasses and funny moustache make for more of a friendly uncle type rather than an intimidating or dangerous man on a first glance. And Wen Sifu admits he has let himself go a little bit of late, having come to weigh more than 250 pounds, but there’s definitely more to him than meets the eye.
Simply a naturally rounded man, Wen possesses a powerful core of highly trained and developed muscle underneath a layer of fat that actually serves a purpose as natural padding against blows. Taihou sports the telltale signs of a dedicated fighter, as well. One may find a myriad of scars on him from head to toe and his skin is rough and leathery from conditioning and battle, much of his arms and legs are actually calloused into rock hard striking surfaces. His hands in particular sport bulging knuckles that look as though someone inserted pebbles into them and his fingers are as thick but dextrous talons.
Clothing/Armor/Weapons: After a lifetime of training and fighting without them, Wen Taihou has no need for weapons or armor. His body has been developed for the right mixture of strength, speed, toughness, stamina and flexibility needed to best perform in combat, traits he has managed to retain even as he ages and gains in weight, and his martial arts expertise makes excellent use of his physical attributes. Clothing-wise he dresses in simple Taisong fashion, wearing a
grey jacket that he typically carries open exposing a white undershirt, along with undecorated black pants and simple black cloth slip-on shoes. His glasses are nearly everpresent although of course he tends to take them off for a fight.
Wen Sifu practices his own version of the famed Monkey Fist. Originally educated in the simplistic but effective martial arts from the Three Peaks Valley where he was born, Taihou eschews much of the actual “monkey business” of the style and its acrobatics. Instead he employs flowing, stable footwork punctuated by bursts of explosive movement and favors hand and arm techniques, often focused on power generation at short ranges, mixed with primarily low kicks. With quite the eye for occupying the center line of attack and deflecting incoming offense, much of his monkey mannerisms center around wrestling and grappling with opponents to control them as well as delivering unexpected blows such as body checks, headbutts and even a few spinning or jumping strikes.
Psychological Information
Personality Traits: Honest to a fault | Seemingly always in good spirits | Loyal | Unyielding | Confident to the point of arrogance | Sarcastic sense of humor | Can be quite lazy | Adventurous | Surprisingly cold-blooded at times | Self-reliant | Nurturing, often in a tough love kind of way | Meritocratic | Critical | Polite |
Likes: Combat | Strength | Excitement | Competence | Luxuries | Growth
Dislikes: Cowardice | Weakness | Boredom | Magic | Overblown spiritualism | Stagnation
Personal History
Hometown: Nanchuu Islands (also referred to as the Nanchuu Kingdom), Kimura. A chain of islands to the southwest of the Kimuran mainland, they were once an important trade hub between Kimura and the now sunken nation of Taisong, a vast and storied culture that had made the islands into a tributary state in ages past. Kimuran lords, however, understood Nanchuu’s importance and conquered the land a few generations before the great flood. It did not come easy. The Kingdom possessed a particularly hard-nosed population with a strong martial culture, born from having to fend off pirates and all manner of undesirables for ages, and fought bitterly until a near stalemate was declared and they were guaranteed a high degree of independence.
Seeking to weaken the Kingdom in hopes of eventually bringing it to heel, the mainland laid down a restrictive decree as part of the peace negotiations: Nanchuu was not allowed to stockpile arms or armor. While the idea was to curtail rebellion and make the islands’ authorities reliant on forces from the mainland, the prohibition did not stop the development of combat skills in Nanchuu. Rather, it only managed to incense the warriors of the land and many travelled to Taisong to train and pioneered new schools of combat upon their return, often under the backing of the court. A number of methods based around the use of improvised weapons, chief among them staves, and a strong focus on body strengthening became the norm.
Nowadays the Kingdom remains ostensibly a vassal state of the mainland, but it is entirely a matter of status quo and their degree of independence makes them effectively a nation of their own. After the great disaster the islands took in a massive amount of Taisong survivors, making them the last bastion of a civilization that once rivaled that of Kimura itself, along with a variety of smaller diasporas from lands further east that could not be saved. The islands' culture is a strange mix, with Kimuran orthodoxy replaced in many areas by now firmly established enclaves and much intermixing between them all, and the state is now a parliamentary monarchy with representatives from all major groups within the Kingdom. Relationships with Kimura are cordial and mutually beneficial if somewhat tense.
While the old decree was abolished, Nanchuu now possesses its own standing army, its influence cannot be understated. Many a scholar believes that many a monastic combat tradition in Kimura actually come from Taisong by way of Nanchuu, while many other curious practices were developed within the islands themselves. The Kingdom is a hotbed for martial pursuits to this day, which has led to the creation of a most peculiar organization: The Institute for Martial Studies. An academy dedicated to the spread and preservation of martial arts, backed by a cadet branch of the Kingdom’s royal family, it is also concerned with keeping the rough and tumble the fighting culture of the land under control on some level.
Current Residence: Nanchuu Islands, often struck by wanderlust.
Occupation: Martial arts instructor, examiner for the Institute of Martial Studies, vagabond, sometimes masseuse and bonesetter to make money on the road. Not a real doctor, but he can relieve muscular or skeletal pains and similar ailments through massage and manipulation of joints and is also capable of restoring fractured or dislocated bones to their correct alignment.
Backstory:Though he was born into a simple family of farmers from Taisong in Nanchuu, Wen Taihou had one distinct advantage when it came to rising out of his humble station. The Three Peaks Valley where he lived had a thriving, if generally ignored by outsiders, martial culture. The local fighting skills were simple and straightforward but quite practical, meant for self defense and tested in local grudge matches and against bandits and their ilk. It made for an excellent base for a young Taihou, who took to studying the arts like a fish to water. Even without a formal master, simply lessons passed down from family to family and little scuffles with others in the area, he became a noteworthy fighter.
Of course, a man of his gifts in an environment with little in the way of limitations is bound to stray from a righteous path. Wen Taihou, though still relatively good-hearted, soon earned a reputation for being a ruffian, a violent man who used his strength to bend others to his will and indulge himself in ill-gotten gains. Though it should at least be acknowledged that he never faltered in his martial studies and continued to train with great devotion, the damage his drunken brawls often caused soon earned him the nickname of the Drunken Dervish. Soon, however, his misdeeds caught up to him and he became a wanted man by none other than the Institute of Martial Studies.
What could've been the end of Wen's martial path, however, became a golden opportunity. The master who arrived at Three Peaks was Lau Sifu, a wanderer prone to working outside of the Institute's strict regulations. He was also an expert in several less than common fighting styles, and he was quite impressed with the young brawler even after besting him convincingly in their fight. Feeling at home in the valley, he decided against arresting or crippling Taihou and instead made him his apprentice. With his fighting urges under control, Wen began a process of growth and reform that both improved him as a person and greatly advanced his martial arts skills.
Feeling that the portly man could use a less predictable, brutally straightforward style, Lau educated him in the basics of the playful Monkey Fist. Rather than try and mold Taihou to the style, however, Lau instead encouraged his student to integrate and adapt its concepts to what he already knew. Together they developed a school all of their own, a distinct Monkey shaped by the Three Peaks, a mixture of strong foundations with unorthodox skills. Eventually, however, Taihou wished to leave his home, enamored with the dream of studying the arts of the many masters at the Institute surrounded by peers of many different schools. Lau Sifu wished to stay in the peaceful valley, but as a final gesture he granted his student a certificate marking him as an expert trained by his own hand and sent him on his way.
Wen’s dream, however, soon turned to disappointment. He was accepted in the Institute, yes, but his teacher was not particularly appreciated. Both Lau and now Taihou were seen as country bumpkins in a courtly environment, their schools ridiculed for lacking glorious lineage stories or flowery techniques meant to impress in exhibitions. He advanced in his martial studies and was eventually given a position as an examiner, tasked with testing the mettle of those who seek to enter the organization and those who call themselves masters, but found he received little in the way of recognition and no one was willing to train exclusively under him. He felt stuck.
With advancement within the Institute hierarchy seemingly well out of his reach, in time Wen Taihou grew bored and disillusioned with his situation in Nanchuu. Fortunately for him, his abilities grew in turn, and one day his rebellious spirit of old flared up once more. He would put his skills to good use, he swore to himself, and took to travelling the world on any possible occasion. He is determined to test himself and prove to everyone the validity of his martial arts. And what better occasion than the big festivities in Thorne?
Other: Despite his skills, he is not some kind of invincible perfect athlete. He won’t beat a minotaur or similar creatures in pure weightlifting or sheer strength competitions, he won’t outrun athletes of similar caliber who train specifically to sprint or be more flexible than a cat burglar or gymnast. His body is built specifically for the purpose of fighting and that’s what he excels at, though he does have the cardio to engage in marathon-like pursuits.
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