Wusao

Note: This backstory is my personal story for this character and does not completely follow Foxtopus lore

Having lived for 800 years, Wusao's early years as a foxtopus were spent wandering alone and understanding life. Getting used to life in the forested hills near a fishing village in southern China, she lived mostly reclusively for 100 years until she was able to morph into a humanoid form, albeit with a single octopus-like tail sticking out. Curious to finally be able to enter the fishing village, she slowly understood the concept of dynasties and realized that only recently under Mongol occupation was it the Yuan dynasty. (Around 1275)

At this time, in addition to the losses suffered in war, an epidemic wiped out about a quarter of the Chinese population, and the situation in the fishing village was dire. Although at first many were wary of a woman with a strange tail walking around, her understanding of medicinal herbs in the hills nearby, as well as her rapid ability to find and locate them (thanks to her fox-like senses) saved the lives of many of the people in the village. This helped people warm up to her, despite her strange singular octopus looking tail. Because of her tail, the village people would call her 小鱆(Xiao Zhang) or 'little octopus'.

During this time, widow chastity was common among women in China who had lost their husbands due to Confucian teachings, and so Xiao Zhang would often go and visit the village's widows to keep them company. Enjoying hearing their stories while helping out in different areas when she could, Xiao Zhang enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by what felt like a family to her.

During this time, widow chastity was common among women in China who had lost their husbands due to Confucian teachings, and so Xiao Zhang would often go and visit the village's widows to keep them company. Enjoying hearing their stories while helping out in different areas when she could, Xiao Zhang enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by what felt like a family to her.

One widow Xiao Zhang would often visit in particular was auntie Wu, who worked under a woman named Song Wusao. A successful business woman who made a name for herself through her restaurants and her fish soup that even impressed the previous emperor, auntie Wu always idolized her for her ability to create something delicious and receive such renown for it. As she knew the recipe from working there, one day she made it for Xiao Zhang, who instantly fell in love with the delicious soup. Xiao Zhang, who had never had such a delicious soup with such variety in texture and depth in flavor, ate with such vigor that antie Wu laughed and offered to teach her the recipe, to which she quickly agreed.

Unfortunately, the life of a human is much shorter than the life of a foxtopus, and as centuries pass, auntie Wu and all the people in the fishing village she met when she first arrived in the village would slowly pass away, leaving behind only their children or new residents to the village. Despite her immense grief, Xiao Zhang would still stay in the fishing village until the middle of the Ming dynasty (around the 1500s).

Over the years, the village would expand as trade increased, and would be rebuilt many times. Despite this, Xiao Zhang kept mostly a low profile and got by doing odd jobs for others or helping with the fishing boats when needed. Though as time passed, some of the village people became envious of Xiao Zhang's seemingly lasting youth and immortality. A group of village men hoped to capture her and eat her in hopes of granting them immortality, though before their plan could commence, Xiao Zhang had overheard them. Hurt and betrayed, she went to their wives and the other women in the village, expecting to find comfort but instead getting ambushed.

Finally having had enough, Xiao Zhang transformed into her feral form and dashed far away. As it had turned out, she discovered how deeply humans fear death, and how gratitude does not pass down through generations.

Unsure of where to go next after leaving the place she had known all her life, she ended up at the port of Guangzhou, where for the first time she saw a multitude of foreigners, travelers and traders from afar. Though the fishing village had traders, she had never seen such large ships and diverse people in her life. Hearing a call to join a merchant boat, she did her best to hide her 3 tails under her robes and clothes, and joined the crew.

Working on merchant boats and fishing boats for a while, Wusao made an effort to not stay in one place and on one ship for too long, but became accustomed to the feeling of sailing and being at sea would simply switch boats as she pleased. Learning a little bit of Portuguese, English and Dutch from her crewmates, she enjoyed meeting and hearing stories from all over the world. While she was not always able to hide her tails, for the most part she was able to still stay around due to her usefulness, particularly her swimming ability and to fetch other crew who fell overboard. And if she felt threatened in any way, she would simply jump off the ship, swim to the nearest port, and find a new crew.

Living like that for the next two hundred or so years, despite her trying her best to focus on what was in front of her, she had witnessed and lived through numerous wars, Manchurian conquest, the Great plague of the Ming dynasty, and more- All of which slowly chipped away at Wusao’s humanity. Death became ingrained into her being, and she felt unable to form deeper relationships with other people. FINISH LATER

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