![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
DUPLICITY APP
« « « SELFISH » » »
« « « OOC INFORMATION
« « « IC INFORMATION
Name: The Nian Beast Door: Door Pass Canon: Original Character Canon Point: 5 years after being given a human body, and starting a life with a human host family Age: ~4000 years old (born ~2000 BCE) | Mindset closest to that of a young man, with occasional and unexpected bits of ancient behavior/thought sprinkled on top Appearance: Human body, Beast body History: The Nian Beast came into being around 2000 BCE at the mouth of the Yangtze River, right outside of Shanghai. He terrorized villages around the riverside and ocean front during the start of each lunar year, eating cattle, foodstuffs and people whole without an ounce of remorse. At the end of these feats he'd return to the ocean to slumber for the remainder of the year. A god came down to visit the people of these villages, and told them how to scare away the once a year monster with the color red, bright lights, and loud noises. It worked spectacularly, and drove the baby monster back into the ocean to hide and sleep for over two thousand years. In the ocean the Nian beast aged. His body grew, his brain developed, but in his sleep he gained no more life experience until the dragon of the river Yangtze was chased into the ocean by human development and the pollution of its river. The dragon came across the sleeping Nian, waking the beast and a battle began. Though the dragon was weakened by the human treatment of its home, it still outclassed the Nian beast in strength, and the Nian was forced to retreat up the river to safety. He traveled to the junction of the Yangtze and Minjiang river, and followed the Minjiang all the way up to the town of Zipingpuzhen, at the mountain foothills in the Chengdu province. There the Nian retreated into Longchi National Forest park to lick his wounds and recover, but recovery did not happen. After such an intense battle, and such a long journey the Nian's health continued to decline. His savior came in the form of a small boy named Luo Yang, who was staying with his grandparents during a holiday. He offered the Nian small scraps of food, which the greedy monster readily inhaled, but even this food couldn't seem to pull Nian into a state of recovery. In a low moment, when the young boy lost his initial shyness and approached the dangerous monster's mouth, the Nian debated eating Luo Yang for more sustenance than the small bit of food that was offered to him could provide. But then something strange happened, the Nian changed his mind. The boy approached, close enough to pet the Nian's large nose, and the Nian closed his mouth and allowed the boy to have his fill of lavishing attention on him, before returning safely home to his grandparents. Not once in his long life had the Nian ever done something even remotely selfless, and this small act of basic decency was so out of character for the monster that it caught the attention of a goddess, the daughter of the god who had taught humans how to scare off the Nian so long ago. She came down to the foothills of the mountains, and offered Nian a chance to live if he accepted her conditions: he would be given a human form and his beastly powers stripped from him, to be returned only as he proved his own ability to learn empathy and compassion, and most importantly of all, he would not intentionally harm a human being without just cause. With no other option available the Nian readily agreed, and the next time he opened his eyes he found himself in a human hospital, in a very human body. The little boy who had been feeding him when he was a beast had found a young man of indistinct age, and no identification lying half dead where he'd last left his monster friend, and immediately gotten help from his grandparents. Getting the Nian out of the hospital proved to be difficult, not because of his weakened state, but because of his lack of records that proved he belonged in the country in the first place, and his inability to speak in a way that anyone around him understood. You see, the dialect spoken in Shanghai is very, very different than that spoken in Chengdu area. Also, the Nian spoke and read the Chinese that people spoke and read thousands of years ago, and the evolution of the language left him sounding like he was speaking a foreign language to the staff, and Luo Yang's family. Still, through a small miracle the Nian was taken in by the boy's family, and even returned with the boy to his mother and father's home in Chongqing where he became both a friend, guardian, and student to the little boy. While he watched him and kept him safe from harm, he also learned lessons from him including language, understanding of the modern world, and the basic interactions and behaviors of humans. Years passed peacefully, and good behavior reaped benefits. The Nian's beastly senses returned to him, his smell, hearing and sight growing sharper as he settled in comfortably with his new family. Even his strength began to return, though it was still a pale imitation of the strength he used to possess. It was enough for Nian to realize that the goddess' promise was good, and he sunk himself into following Luo Yang's simple teachings to better himself and regain the power he'd lost. Personality: The Nian Beast is an inherently selfish creature. Having come into being in this world alone he never had anyone to take care of him as a child, and as a result lacked interest in the safety and well-being of others. After all, why should he care about anyone else when there was no one to care about him? While the introduction of a pseudo-family into his life has changed some of his former mindset, by and large he still holds little regard to anyone other than himself and those he immediately cares for. Because what small bit of concern and affection is held for a small few, however, the Nian can be a fiercely loyal beast. It does take a lot to earn his trust and loyalty though, or just a lot of luck and a little basic compassion when finding him at a particularly low point. Either will do. For such an ancient being the Nian is also lacking in worldly experience which is a nice way to say that he's kind of clueless and gullible. Spending most of your life asleep under the ocean, and the chunk of it before that living entirely alone does not give you the greatest range of knowledge when it comes to social customs and norms of any living creature. Though he has a crude natural intelligence when he wants to apply himself, he often finds himself struggling to understand proper behavior in any given situation. He's a fast learner in many ways, but very easily frustrated which causes him to give up before a lesson can be fully absorbed. He's also come a long way from when he was a child, and while he won't run away in fear at the color red or a flash of bright light he is still something of a coward in situations that seem over his head. Loud bangs will still have him clamping hands over his ears, and he'll quickly run from an unwinnable fight without a second thought, so he may not be the most reliable person to have your back. He is physically strong, however, and very proud of the strength he possesses. In most conflicts, unless the other party is a god or some greater kind of monster than himself he will naturally assume that he has the upper hand. Lastly he's very friendly on the surface, and seems easy enough to get along with, though the comment about his loyalty still remains true. The agreement with the goddess means that directly harming humans could set him back on his journey to regain his strength, but that does not mean he's not still dangerous if properly provoked. Powers and Abilities: Greater sense of sight, smell, and hearing than your average person. The ability (and need) to eat larger quantity of food than most people (hell of a power...). Enhanced strength that allows him to lift and manipulate objects much heavier than his physical form would seem capable of. If he plays his cards right he may be able to regain his old body in a diminished (Bigger than a wolf, smaller than a horse?) size with time. [Given mod permission?] Inventory: None Samples: Some talk Some walk |
