(no subject)

[meekest]

▶ PLAYER
HANDLE: Laura
CONTACT: jojoveller
OVER 18? yes
CHARACTERS IN-GAME: Junpei coolerjunpei & Emil illequipped

▶ CHARACTER
NAME: Wen Ning (courtesy name Qionglin but literally no one calls him this ever)
CANON: Mo Dao Zu Shi/Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation
CANON POINT: chapter 72
AGE: 18~20ish... the timeline is Vague
BACKGROUND: sad wiki page that goes into more depth about After He Dies, so:

• Wen Ning is born into a small and distant branch of the Wen Clan, a rising cultivation sect
  
• as the Wen Clan gains more power, it more or less conscripts all of its minor branches and other sects
  
• Wen Ning is treated poorly by everyone in the sect besides his sister, because they're both from a distant family branch and Wen Ning himself is clumsy and timid
  
• at the Nightless City (Wen territory) Discussion Conference (a big cultivation sect sports festival, basically), Wei Wuxian witnesses Wen Ning's archery skill when he's practicing in secret
  
• Wen Ning is bullied out of actually participating in the conference because he's "barely a Wen" and gets too anxious to prove his skill in front of the other Wen family members
  
• Wen Qing, his sister, is given control of the Yiling territory, and presumably Wen Ning helps her out there until their presence is demanded at Lotus Pier after it's burned and taken over by the Wens
  
• Wen Ning protects and hides Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng at Yiling when they're on the run from the Wens because WWX was nice to him once
  
• during the actual battle parts of the Wen takeover and then Sunshot Campaign, Wen Ning and Wen Qing are not involved in the fighting because they're healers
  
• after Sunshot, they and the other remaining Wens are forced to live in poor conditions in a very small piece of their old land, this is the canon point

PERSONALITY:

Wen Ning is not underestimated, or mistyped, or any other typical tropes for someone like him - pacifistic and seemingly weak and timid - but he is overlooked. It's the simple fact that he's just not important enough to be important to many people that ironically gives him the ability to do things unexpected of a person with his temperament. Because, frankly, Wen Ning is fairly timid, and compared to the other cultivators of the world he lives in, he is rather weak. He's from a branch family that specializes in healing, while the head branch of their clan specializes in warfare and conquest, and Wen Ning's behavior and personality really do not match the people he's been brought up with. He is timid and shy and not cut out to be even an average cultivator, but at the same time he's loyal and demonstrates bravery in his own, admittedly reckless way when it comes down to it.

Despite being a member of a ruthless cultivation clan, Wen Ning is and is not a product of his upbringing. Most young people from his sect follow the Wen clan's rules to the letter, as well as the ruthlessness and superiority complexes their leader feeds to them; Wen Ning, on the other hand, was raised by healers. He's known to be somewhat weak of body and possesses at least one noticeable "detriment" for a Wen clan representative - he stutters - but his sister Wen Qing raised him to believe that the actions of the whole clan do not reflect on the members of their immediate family. So Wen Ning is naturally shy and anxious thanks to his comparative lack of skill and his stutter, but his sister instills in him a confidence that at least on some level, this is okay; this is even good, because they aren't like the rest of the Wen clan. This isn't to say that Wen Ning is confident and stands up for himself, because he isn't and he doesn't, but he has a strength coming from his beliefs that years of mockery and mistreatment from the other Wens could not stamp out. He knows, ultimately, that he is a good person.

And as a good person, he is possessed by a certain... single-minded desire to help people. His sister is a famous healer, he's expected and wants to follow in her footsteps, so it's only natural that Wen Ning wants to help other people however he can. Of course, he then takes this to extremes: Wei Wuxian is kind to him twice and Wen Ning risks his life for him three distinct times as a direct result of this, then immediately does it again when Wei Wuxian threatens him himself. This shows Wen Ning's desire to help compounded with his loyalty and empathy: he cannot abide a person he cares for in danger, and he cannot abide the mistreatment of people who just do not deserve it. This still doesn't manifest in any grand, sweeping gestures - he remains timid and unsure of himself at the best of times, but when under pressure he can think quickly and often makes the choice to throw himself into harm's way to protect someone else. He wants to be kind and to be useful to others and to be appreciated for it, it's just that no one has ever taught him, like, a normal way to do this thing instead of risking his safety in the process.

Wen Ning also demonstrates a lot of blind faith in the people he considers good, or friendly - when Wei Wuxian threatens him with a sword literally held to his neck, Wen Ning's concern is not that he'll be killed, but that his sister might not believe Wei Wuxian is a good person and turn him in to the Wens. Being kind to Wen Ning just once is enough to endear him to a person, and standing up for him in front of his clan earns his loyalty for life. He admires people who can be bold, and brash and confident and stand up for themselves because he's too anxious for any of that. As a result he tends to put other people up on a pedestal, or defer to them as more important in the grand scheme of things: he addresses everyone with formality, and allows himself to be put aside as a helper, but not a friend. An ally, but not a confidant. While he isn't happy about this, he isn't discontent with his lot either; it takes him years to even admit out loud that it disappoints him that he isn't anyone's favorite person. But he isn't bitter, and he doesn't harbor resentment - he's just a little sad. This tendency to follow also means he has trouble making his own decisions and taking care of himself; both Wei Wuxian and Wen Qing worry at various points that he won't make it on his own because he puts others first too much and doesn't think for himself.

Overall, Wen Ning is just a decent person with the misfortune to be born into a clan of monsters. He's naturally timid, too anxious to open up to strangers, but still possesses a fierce loyalty and a desire to see good things happen for good people. While he wants to prove himself and be appreciated for his efforts, he isn't so much of a sucker that he can be taken in by false flattery and empty promises - you do have to actually be nice to him, genuinely, to unlock his lifelong friendship. He's a bit of a follower and lets himself fade into the background of what other people want, but he'll get better about that one day.

POWERS/ABILITIES: Wen Ning is a cultivator in a wuxia world, meaning he's been trained to hone what's called a "golden core," or like, a magical power heart, in order to one day achieve immortality. However, Wen Ning has never been shown to actually use spiritual powers, although presumably he has basic training with spiritual focus and waving a sword around.

His actual skill is archery and he is very good at it; he's also learned some healing arts and medicine-making for his sister, but he's not well-practiced in those.

INVENTORY: His clothes and a bow & arrows.

MOONBLESSING: Iris

▶ SAMPLES

link #1
link #2