Bai Shāhuá

Bai (白) Shāhuá (沙華): The Bai family name means 'white' a color tied to death and funerals, while her given name Shahua is in reference to Mànzhūshāhuá (曼珠沙華), a heavenly flower relating to death and memories that's said to bloom along the yellow springs of the next world.

Origin:

Clan III (-9)

Martial Spirit Foundation: Immortal Ghost Lily Foundation

Divine Spirit (-5)

Natural Talents: (-30)

• "Err... Ahem. I am but a fair maiden, dainty and frail, unsuited to violence... I'll be hiding over there while you deal with the bandits~"

Skill 1
Intelligence 5
Body 0
Perception 5

Perks: (-46)

• "Hmhmhm~ A peerless jade beauty, blessed by divine fortune, and a genius for the auxiliary arts never before seen. Truly I am amazing. (When you spend most of your life bed-ridden, there's little else to do but read books and ponder what death really means. My talents are simply a product of circumstance at the end of the day... Except for the beauty- that was inevitable.)"

Attractive II
Alchemist II
Talisman Master II
Physician II
Natural Insight (Death)
Hidden Technique II

Techniques: (-29)

Nine Yin Bone Claw (Earth rank Combat)

• "Hmm... What? It's not like we have all nine parts of the classic. That'd be silly. We couldn't keep a secret like that."

Great Purity Needles (Earth rank Utility)

• "I'm really quite confident in my skills as a doctor. Quite the shame that no one wants me operating on them, isn't it?"
• Utility method for physicians which seeks to control the flow of Qi in a patient's body, empowering their natural functions while weakening illnesses, toxins, curses, and other maladies. Often used to support other forms of healing such as surgical physician techniques, alchemical medicines, etc. For minor maladies it allows the patient to overcome their condition themselves, which then strengthens them against similar maladies in the future, making it excellent for the long term care of patients whose profession pushes them to contract new illnesses. However for patients with innate, chronic conditions, this technique is at most able to weaken and isolate the condition. Can also be used to stimulate and overdraw unique physiques for short periods, bringing out greater than normal strength at the cost of taxing the patient's body.

Eight Trigram Steps (Earth rank Movement)

• "It'd be annoying having to remove and reset formations all the time... Better to just walk on through. (Especially when breaking into someone else's tomb- even if I can break their formations it doesn't mean I can remake em'.)"
• Movement method founded on the principles of talisman formations. A very elusive method with benefits depending on relative positioning and local fengshui. Broadly speaking, it excels at stealth and escape over direct combat applications. It's greatest benefit is for slipping through talisman formations and for silently making temporary formations using the surroundings as stand-ins for talismans. Great for sneaking into large sects... even better for sneaking into old crypts full of traps.

Nine Yin Nether Furnace (Heavenly Rank Utility)

• "Okay, so you caught me. We have two parts of the nine. That's it though- I swear! (Whistles suspiciously)"
• Utility method for alchemy which uses evil-aligned Yin qi to create a frigid blue flame to help refine materials. Works best with a proper alchemy cauldron, but can be used to produce crude drugs with just a plume of flames on the user's palm. Although not the intended use, these flames can be used in combat, working particularly well against targets with evil-aligned Yin qi, such as the undead. Finally, has some limited medical applications for purging toxins or curses relating to evil-aligned Yin qi in patients when used in conjunction with proper physician techniques.

Corpse Refining Method (Hidden Rank Cultivation)

• "For the record- no, I'm not a zombie. Not a Jiang-shi either. I'm still human, just very corpse-like. It's a side effect of my cultivation technique."
• When life changes to death, lifely vigor doesn't simply vanish... It settles... It rots... It twists and writhes into Corpse Qi. If left to fester, it will eventually concentrate within bodies (dead or alive), transforming them into undead abominations. This cultivation method allows the user to greedily absorb Corpse Qi from corpses and places with them. Naturally the user is immune to Corpse Qi poisoning and won't become an undead, but it does tend to give the user undead-like traits, from superficial traits like cold, pale skin to more important traits like being able to live without functioning organs.

Soul Ferrying Mantra (Hidden Rank Utility)

• "Hahaha, what? Buddhist chanting? You must be hearing things. No Buddhists here, no siree."
• Many methods exist to target lost souls or banish the undead, but with one constant- those souls aren't returned to the cycle of reincarnation. The Soul Ferrying Mantra is the exception to that rule, granting mercy and understanding to lost souls. The mantra itself is indistinct when spoken, seeming at once both as the voice of one and many, of the old and the young, sounds blending together yet somehow clearly feeling like a Buddhist chant. Souls returned to the cycle of reincarnation in turn grant their strength to the user, purifying and strengthening their soul.

Item:

Nine Yin Coffin (Earth)

• Magical device meant to contain particularly powerful undead that the user cannot cleanse without a dedicated ritual with proper equipment, or the aid of a more powerful cultivator. With the correct methods, the user can temporarily command an entrapped undead for self-defense if needed.

Elders: (-2)

Bai Yanluo, the Funeral Director (Soul Ferrying Mantra, Nine Yin Bone Claw, Eight Trigram Steps)

Bai Shahua's great-grandfather, the oldest living member of the Bai Family and sole survivor from the original Bai Clan. Enjoys a very high status to those that know who he is, but most of the Xun clan see him sweeping in front of the Bai Family manor or working the front desk and assume he's a regular old man or perhaps a hired servant. Deeply grateful to Xun Clan for sheltering him when he only an orphaned teen, he's more than willing to pay the Xun Clan with his life whenever it might be needed.

Bai Yanluo represents the orthodox methods of the Bai Family, knowing how to care for the souls of the deceased, purge the undead, and traverse tombs and crypts without disturbing them. In particular, the Soul Ferrying Mantra is something members of the Bai clan learn specifically from him or not at all. Every funeral for the Xun Clan's main family is handled personally by him, and grave robbers attempting to break into the Xun Family's tomb will likely be handled by him as well regardless of cultivation realm.

Like with every member of the Bai Family, Bai Yanluo is a constant yet distant presence in Bai Shahua's life. She's long since lost track of how many times she's had small talk with him, and in spite of how shallow those conversations seem, time always reveals that every line he speaks is done so with great care and wisdom. Yet at the same time, she, like everyone else, knows nothing about him. His likes and dislikes, his triumphs and failures- all a mystery, even to his own children. Yet this attitude seems to send a message- that fame comes and goes like the wind, and that true virtue is in one's actions rather than one's words.

Bai Meng, the Funeral Fairy (Nine Yin Nether Furnace, Eight Trigram Steps, Great Purity Needles)

Bai Shahua's aunt, a woman who branched out from funerary services into physician arts. While many cultivator clans disparage the Bai Family as graverobbers, Bai Meng is the exception. She rarely if ever ventures into tombs or crypts to skulk around, and instead her focus was on caring for the living who suffered from improperly handled graves and the creatures born of them. While her family fixed the root of the problem, she would tend to villagers and martial artists, mending wounds and purging curses. If you asked the average person about the Bai Family, Bai Meng would likely come to mind as their most notable member.

Bai Meng is an expert at the auxiliary arts, knowing alchemy, talismans, and physician techniques all to a high standard. Her mixture of the Bai Family's Nine Yin Nether Furnace and her self-made Great Purity Needles was particularly powerful, said to do everything short of bringing the dead back to life. Contrary to her grandfather, Bai Meng is almost always traveling, either seeking out new medical arts or rushing to aid those in need of care.

As a child, Bai Shahua spent quite a lot of time with her aunt. If Bai Meng was home, she was probably with Bai Shahua, doing a mix of checking in on her condition, suppressing her illness, and teaching her about the auxiliary arts- after all, a bed-ridden girl was really suited to teach martial arts, but books and recipes suited her just fine.

Complications:(+21)

Clan Enmity, Target on your Back, Bad Reputation

• "Hmm... Some people are truly ungrateful. Here we are, doing a public service, making sure that no one needs to cut down their undead ancestors- isn't it quite rude to be calling us graverobbers?"

Insidious Cult, Ghost Domain, Stars of Destiny

• "Earth rots and Heaven darkens. Destiny is obscured; upheaval draws near."

Backstory

The Bai family is a humble group of undertakers in the employment of the Xun clan. Publicly treated as a minor clan unworthy of the Xun name, their heritage and strength is closer to that of a major clan. Long ago they were a hermetic, independent clan specialized in funeral rites and cleansing undeath. However the clan was destroyed under mysterious circumstances, and the survivors were given shelter by the Xun clan, resulting in their current employment. A few centuries later, and the family has recovered much of it's original strength.

Bai Shāhuá herself is proud and loves standing out, but unlike the typical spoiled young mistress her confidence is a tool she uses rather than something innate. She was born with a frail constitution but a peerlessly sharp mind. For much of her life she was bed-ridden and prone to losing consciousness for days at a time. She turned her attention to the hidden legacy of her family. One which had never been mastered before. She'd need to be left alone, sealed in a crypt full of deadly Corpse Qi... She would either master the method and grow stronger, or she would fail and her family would be left to deal with creature born from her body.

Considering she's still around, naturally she was successful. With the corpse refining method, she could persist even when her organs started to fail. Though she could never cure her illness, she could grow to ignore it. Now she wants to make up for lost time- to live for all the time she spent on the edge of death. To stand out for all the time she spent locked away in her room... And of course to make connections now that she finally can. (In other words, her bluster serves the purpose getting people to notice and like her.)

Often coughs up blood for dramatic or comedic effect. It's like her version of crocodile tears.