Profile
General Information:
Domain of: Willow trees division.
Sex: Female
Nationality: Chinese
Country of Origin: China
Original Name: Shé Liǔ
Lived: 289 - 310
Birthday: March 22
Downfall: She poisoned herself with snake venom because she couldn't bear the pain of her disgraceful deeds (kinda like Be!)
Physical Appearance: -
Personality:
She is yearning and curious, yet hopeless and possesses the mind of a cynic.
Believes the ends justify the means because the world is going to die anyway, and so anything to bring about some good at all is excused by the fact that it would have happened anyway.
Questioning, seeking, doubtful nature, yet always is sure she is being very wise since she strongly thinks through each and every situation.
Can be obsessive on occasion; a trait she somewhat dislikes because she has a difficult time excusing it.
Is somewhat anti-religious; though she practises Confucianism, she only does this as a way to blend into and unite society. She feels the world is already going to hell and nothing can save it. However, she does believe in all religion or philosophy sort of as the "perfect world"; a grand idea, but one that can never work or actually exist.
This is another main area of contention between she and Cantua.
Appears charming but somewhat intimidating beneath the surface; she has a reputation for being mysterious and unpredictable.
A spy, assassin and bodyguard for an empress whom everyone wants to kill. Therefore, she possesses great determination.
View of life is somewhat romantic, in a demeaning way.
Wily and manipulative.
Like Be, frequently finds ways to get around the rules, but she never outright breaks them or lies directly.
Sneaky; uses her humility as a weapon so that no one learns of her true identity.
Has a great fear of people learning everything about her and then using it against her; as a result, she is afraid of deep romantic relationships and prefers the more sensual. However, she does not like to feel she is acting "purely instinctually/as an animal". She believes this is a large of what makes humanity evil, but is also somehow afraid to be identified as it herself.
Great at philosophy, though she denies it.
However, she is still relatively humble and does not possess much true selfishness; though inclined in this direction, she excuses it all as being “for the state”; “for China”; “for the Empress”
Mature, but not maternal as is Orchid; there is still a childish side to her.
Above all, she prizes wisdom, and it is the most humiliating to her when she has been unwise.
Often more than she is manipulative of situations by objective means or pure strategy, she is manipulative of the subjective; people, their emotions, their feelings and words. Thus she can “rework” a situation rather than simply predict it. (this is also a large part of why Cantua hates her)
Wishes she could be more trustful, but truly trusts no one. This is not in an angry manner, as with cactus, but more because … “it is the wise choice; for the better”.
Does not disobey society out of willfulness or because she does not like it; it is more because she deems it to be for the better good, whether her superiors recognise it or not.
She can be a snob intellectually.
Background:
This was done very quickly, and is more of an alternate history than any of the others', due to the use of real life people. Please do correct me if I have made a mistake.
Shé Liǔ was born in 289 into a noble family, long known retainers of the emperor. She grew up in Luoyang and at the young age of 9 was dedicated as the main retainer of Lady LiangBi, the wife of Prince Chi.
The two were somewhat close in age, and throughout her life, protecting and serving her lady faithfully was more important to her than anything else.
Liǔ herself was secretive and quiet, but determined. She did not wish to be married due to it possibly causing her to dishonor the one she was meant to protect, or become distracted and/or selfish. The young woman's ideas made sense to LiangBi and so, as she was also a good friend of Liǔ, she used every power at her disposal to allow the girl this privilege.
Eventually, though, political infighting in the royal families of China reached a fever pitch, and, becoming very paranoid about this, decided to take up training as an assassin and a spy, vowing once more to protect LiangBi, the newly crowned Empress, at all costs. Always having an affinity for snakes and reptiles, with many of them as pets, she begin to train them to help her on her missions, also learning how to use their venom and make weapons.
With her sharp eye and wit, Shé Liǔ soon sees many threats to the Empress … however, the one creating these threats is anonymous. She tries everything at her disposal to try and figure out this mystery, and soon discovers it to be none other than the Emperor, Huai himself, to be putting the life of his own wife in danger. The two had been together since they were children, and this left the young assassin mystified.
This threw Liǔ into a confusion, and she was rather cautious in her approach to the situation, spying on the man in question for quite some time before acting. Eventually, not being able to solve anything, the problem came to a head. She wished to respect the Emperor and of course not to kill him, she had decided to try and get his attention and being rather more bold than the average woman, to simply and respectfully ask him why he would do this.
Liǔ had gone into the meeting expecting to be executed afterward for her daring. However, what she found out left her in complete shock; the emperor, known for being a smart man, had been sending out his own spies and assassins after the Empress for one reason; he had apparently been watching Liǔ, wishing her to be all his own. The woman is disgusted by this but against her own will, had been falling for him for quite some time ever since she begin to spy on him, and she ends up giving into her impulses.
This leaves Shé Liǔ in complete disgrace to herself and to the Empress; being unable to bear the pain, she ends up committing suicide by poisoning herself with a snake bite, dying before LiangBi could discover her terrible deed.
This took place outside the royal palace in the year 310; she died with the venom in her veins surrounded by her pets, and had wrapped herself in snapped willow branches, a symbol of her broken humility and servitude. Ever after in the Garden, she not only was bound to the willow, but also retains the qualities of the venomous animals, with all it's sensitive features. Never would anything of this kind happen again to disgrace her, nor would she let any threat slip beneath her ever watchful eye, undiscovered.
...
Relationships: *Absolutely best friends and inseparable from Be, treating her as a younger sister of sorts; this is most likely because Be reminds her of the empress LiangBi.
*Due to both claiming to be humble, yet both being disgusted by the despicable deeds of the other, and finding the other to be a bad example, she and Cantua cannot stand each other and get into arguments and fights often. She is the only person who Cantua actively and publicly hates and denounces. However, the two have a chance for reconciliation; Be respects them both and continually tries to get them to like each other.
*Despises the trio of Madrono, Cantua and Cactus, and usually tries to attack them. It bothers her greatly that Be is in a relationship with Madrono.
*Decent friends with Orchid, Venus and Amaryllis, having earned the respect of many in the Garden.
*She hates Tsubaki but not to the degree that Be does.
Fun Facts: - She plays the guzheng and has composed many songs for it.
-She was trained in traditional dancing, and that is exactly what she is doing here, though her passion in art is certainly music (and this makes her a little jealous of the more naturally talented Cantua)
- She is okay at cooking and often prepares gāo diǎn for Be.
-She has many properties of snakes, and occasionally has odd habits such as "tasting the air", laying down and sort of scooting or slithering, etc.
-Due to her death from poisoning being by an injection into her blood rather than from ingestion, the venom has merged with her body and helps her grow; removing it would prove deadly.
-Always wished she could be more royal, more majestic like the dragon, but feels destined to be a slithering snake tied to servitude; this desire, deep down, is something that has always eaten away at her humility, and inspired her manipulative behaviour. She had always wanted higher power, but her tendencies of extreme loyalty to the empress prevented this dangerous desire from growing.
Confusing details: - It cannot be seen in this picture, but she actually has snakelike fangs and vertical pupils. I will be doing a portrait of her soon to illustrate this.
-Skintone is very pale. Though it looks decorative, she does have a few small moles/freckles on her face.
-She is very tall and very, very thin.
-This is probably visible, but her hair is tied in the front.
-She does NOT have green highlights; rather, she has willow branches growing from her head as if they were hair, sort of resembling the snakes of Medusa.
-Though not visible in the drawing, her body has many qualities of wood. Therefore, the brown on right arm is not a mistake; it resembles tree roots.
-Her eyes are green with red specks.
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