ABOUT

The only child of Raja Seri Malam, head of the Bayang Clan, Yuwei was born a Siluman princess. As such, she also holds the royal title of Tengku, often called Tengku Chandra by her retainers. Despite being born into a life of luxury, free from the suffering of the human world, Yuwei has always felt stifled by the strict rules and expectations that came with their birthright.

Quiet and curious, yet brash and headstrong, Yuwei hates being controlled by others and craves the freedom to forge their own path. They hate rules, but love structure; Yuwei is a visionary and idealist who sees what the world ought to be and strives to make that dream a reality by developing plans and theories. However, most of this happens in their head, and to most people around them, Yuwei is nothing more than a silly girl with fanciful daydreams. Because of this, Yuwei struggles to make friends among the Siluman, as she's more interested in ideas and breaking boundaries than she is with practical matters. It doesn't bother her much though, as she finds socializing and partaking in the subtle intricacies and etiquette of the royal court both exhausting and irritating. Thus, she relishes in her solitude.

However, many centuries ago, Yuwei had at last reached a limit in his isolation, and decided to descend from the realm of the Siluman and into the realm of Man. Here, he befriended the ancient tiger spirit of the forest, Sang Rimau, and fell in love with the wonders and sights of the human world. Still, though, finding friends—true friends—among humans remained a difficult task, and the stories about him as Sang Ribut seemed to only reinforce this barrier between him and the rest of humanity. And all this was only made worse, far more tiresome and discouraging, and even greatly painful, by the fact that Yuwei would quickly outlive whatever friends of acquaintances he did make. Humans were transient, and Yuwei was eternal.

But then it all changes when he meets Indra. Indra, who is more dead than alive, more ghost than man. From the hole Yuwei had dug and lived in for the past few centuries to hide himself away, burying himself in countless projects, he now can't help but peek out to examine the sudden appearance of this strange man in his life.

Thus, Yuwei lets Indra in. Only out of curiosity, he tells himself initially, but then he can't help it, how much he grows to seek the other man's company, savouring their time together and quiet talks, yearning and longing for just a glimpse of Indra's smile, his laugh, his beautiful eyes which hide so much.

Against her better judgement, Yuwei falls in love. She lets Indra in. She shouldn't, but she does. This entanglement could ruin her and him both, and statistically speaking, it most certainly will. But Yuwei and Indra are both anomalies in this awful, odd universe of magic and the mundane. Maybe they can make it work. Maybe, somehow, they can find a way to save each other.

NOTES

• Yuwei is coded as ethnically Peranakan.
• Yuwei has a "kitchen sink" approach to gender, thus being okay with gendered terms whether masculine or feminine, as well as gender neutral terms.
• Yuwei's character is based on the Chinese folk legend, Mulan, and the titular hero from the Indo-Malay epic, Hikayat Panji Semirang. Panji Semirang begins his life and story as a princess named Candra Kirana, who is then exiled from her kingdom and gets her hair cut off as punishment. From there, she assumes the identity of a prince named Panji Semirang, who establishes his own kingdom. While taking this new identity, a prince from another kingdom falls in love with him after an epic battle. As such, this epic is considered one of the few pieces of queer Indo-Malay literature in its inclusion of a genderfluid character and same-sex romance.

RELATIONSHIPS

Indra anak Kersani [ spouse ]

Description TBA.

Aruvi Ratnam [ friend, confidant ]

Description TBA.