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Deer Country Application
Character Base
• Character Name: Shen Yuan (alias Shen Qingqiu)
• Age: Canon age unclear; is obviously part of the Millennial generation and spent at least one year at university, so I'll be playing him as somewhere in the range of 25-30. Transmigrated into a 37 year old immortal body.
• Canon (Date/Year Released)/Canon Point: Canon began serialization in 2014; I will assume that this is the year Shen Yuan's first body died, and he spent another three years as an immortal cultivator before transmigrating to Deer Country.
• Items Coming Along: Xui Ya Sword (nerfed), a painted silk fan, a
• Content Warnings for Character: Character's canonical actions revolve his attempts to avoid torture and dismemberment, which was described on-screen; canon also includes descriptions of predatory monsters and the results of their attacks on human characters.
Character Background
• History: Shen Yuan is described as a "second-gen" rich kid in modern China; with wealthy parents and two older brothers in line to inherit the family business, he saw little point in striving or working harder than he had to to keep up appearances. Shen Yuan lived according to the principle that finishing in the top ten was fine, as long as the contest had more than ten people. Despite all of his family's wealth and privilege and his own access to a university education, he spent his days reading trashy webnovels and getting into flame wars on the internet until the day came that he finished "Proud Immortal Demon Way," a stallion novel of extraordinary length and negative quality. His admiration (read: closeted crush) on the protagonist was only exceeded by his hatred for the lame harem politics, abandoned plot threads, and cheesy sex scenes; the ending enraged him so much that he accidentally ate expired food, contracted food poisoning without noticing, and died.
He woke up in the body of Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu, scum villain of "Proud Immortal Demon Way" and abusive teacher of its protagonist, Luo Binghe. In the book, Luo Binghe eventually avenged himself on Shen Qingqiu by literally tearing him limb from limb and leaving him to rot in a dungeon -- so of course Shen Yuan immediately turned all his thoughts towards avoiding this terrible fate. Unfortunately his actions were restricted by the mysterious "System," an omnipotent intelligence with the voice of Google Translate that simultaneously encouraged him to amend the plot of the novel until it was a "true classic" that would satisfy its readers, while blocking his every attempt to prevent Luo Binghe's "blackening" into the wicked, vengeful protagonist that killed the canonical Shen Qingqiu. By the end of the first volume, Shen Yuan's efforts appear to have been ultimately futile: he was unable to avoid pushing Binghe into the purgatorial Endless Abyss, and is now himself trapped in limbo while he waits for Binghe to return with his cursed sword and protagonist power-up to seek his revenge. However, an alliance with another transmigrator -- who turns out to be the author of "Proud Immortal Demon Way," "Great Master" Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky himself -- gives him a way out. Using the Sun and Moon Dew Seed, Shen Qingiu and Airplane-bro plan to create back-up bodies for themselves for their souls to flee to, in the event of their fated demises. But in this timeline even this plan turns out to be pointless, as Shen Yuan transmigrates into the world of Deer Country! Better yet, Luo Binghe doesn't even seem to exist in this world, thank god! Sorry for ditching you, Airplane-bro, but in Shen Yuan's defense it really wasn't his call to make!
• Core Relationships: Luo Binghe -- the protagonist of "Proud Immortal Demon Way" and Shen Qingqiu's disciple. In attempt to make up for the abuses of the original Shen Qingqiu, Shen Yuan showered him with affection, personal instruction, and the best training material Qing Jing Peak could provide. Though their relationship during this phase of the story was NOT sexual (Shen Yuan appears to have completely suppressed his crush on the OG!Binghe in favor of being a good mentor to the teenaged version) they enjoyed an unusually high degree of intimacy even by the standards Asian martial arts traditions, with Binghe moving into the spare room in Shen Qingqiu's house, cooking for him every day, doing the housekeeping, etc and Binghe shows the first hints of developing a physical attraction to Shen Qingqiu even before he begins to outwardly turn over a new leaf. Though Binghe takes on an antagonistic role for a while after his return from the Endless Abyss, as is common in Chinese BL novels, he is nevertheless the love interest to Shen Yuan's "crypto protagonist"...not that you could convince Shen Yuan of that!
Shang Qinghua/Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky: the author of "Proud Immortal Demon Way," Airplane apparently died in a freak electrocution accident after posting the final chapter of his most popular work, and woke up in the body of cannon fodder. He joins forces with Shen Qingqiu in order to avoid his ignoble death, and Shen Qingqui would argue that that is the full extent of their relationship -- but in reality the two quickly become good if volatile friends, united in their shared origins and Shen Qingqiu's burning need for a punching bag upon which to vent his frustrations with this crapsack world Airplane created.
Yue Qingyuan -- Sect Leader of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, the headmaster to Shen Qingqiu's teaching position. A gentle and kindly man, Shen Yuan doesn't understand why he's so solicitous towards his most troubled and least popular Peak Lord, but he nevertheless appreciates Yue Qingyuan's "big brotherly" aura (when he's not interally mocking Yue for sounding a bit like a quest-giving NPC, anyway).
Liu Qingge -- In PIDW, Peak Lord Liu Qingge died mysteriously in the spiritual caves of Cang Qiong Mountain, and his death was eventually pinned on Shen Qingqiu and used to discredit him so completely that nobody remained to stop Luo Binghe from taking his revenge. Shen Yuan saves his life, hoping that Liu Qingge might be an ally in the future -- and though Liu Qingge is suspicious of Shen Qingqiu's seemingly unnatural change of heart, he nevertheless returns the favor when Shen Qingqiu receives a poisoned wound during a demonic invasion shortly afterwards. He helps Shen Qingqiu manage the poison for the next three years, and though their relationship remains volatile Shen Yuan is sure Liu Qingge is someone he can rely on in dire straits -- especially if those straits involve hitting a monster with a sword until it dies.
Character Personality Through Key Moments
(2+) Positive Experiences: Empathy. Shen Yuan hates being a witness to suffering, and will do whatever he can to stop it. This is seen when he sees Binghe being picked on and forced to run on a dusty road into town while the other disciples ride on horses; despite the fact that his actions are being restricted by the System, he argues it down into letting him invite Binghe into his carriage, protecting him from the bullies.
Lore Enthusiast. Despite having apparently shotgunned the excessively, overly-padded entirey of "Proud Immortal Demon Way" in a mere twenty days, Shen Yuan still retains enough memories of the first arc to guide Binghe and save his life on more than one occassion. When Binghe and Shen Yuan are pulled into a dream world by the demon Meng Mo, Shen Yuan remembers that the constructs he and Binghe see in the dream world are constructed from Binghe's own mind, meaning that any attack made on the own constructs will reflect back on Binghe himself. When Binghe loses control of his emotions and attempts to strike a construct with his qi, Shen Yuan takes the blow for Binghe's sake, impressing his student further. More generally he remembers the names and weaknesses of every monster he read about in PIDW, and is able to pick up enough cultivation skills to pass for a real Peak Lord by reading every single book in the Qing Jing library.
(2+) Negative Experiences: Closed Mind. While normally good at taking in and synthesizing new information, Shen Yuan has a massive blindspot when it comes to emotions, especially the romantic variety. He completely fails to notice Luo Binghe's crush on him, leading to trouble both in the first volume and throughout the story. During the journey to the Immortal Alliance Conference, Shen Yuan takes notice of the beautiful young warrior Liu Mingyan, who in canon was one of Luo Binghe's chief wives. Binghe notices his teacher's attention and engages Liu Mingyan in conversation in order to subtly draw her away from Shen Yuan's carriage -- not, as Shen Yuan thinks, because he's interested in Liu Mingyan and wants to spend time with her away from their teachers, but because he's jealous of *Shen Yuan's* attention and wants to block his wandering eye.
Overly Critical. The glossary at the back of my edition describes Shen Yuan as a borderline toxic fan. He left harsh comments on several chapters of PIDW and both joined in and started flame wars on the website where PIDW was hosted. While he stopped short of harassing Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky on social media or reading pirated versions of the book, the impression he left was so strong that Airplane still remembered his handle over thirty years later (from Airplane's perspective). While he rarely shows this side of his personality to its fullest extent in person, it sneaks through in the condescending way he treats other people, such as by mentally comparing Yue Qingyuan to an NPC or the passive aggressive way he responds to criticism from Qi Qingqi. Under high-stress situations, or if he were in a place where he thought he was free of consequences, it might come out again.
Deer Country Attributes
• Canon Powers: Qi manipulation. Though Shen Yuan's body apparently lost its golden core in its most recent transmigration, he retains the ability to sense the flow of spiritual energy in his body and manipulate it for small magical tasks, such as turning a fistful of leaves into floating blades or ejecting weaker poisons from his body before they can do harm. He cannot, however, project his soul outside his body, absorb spiritual energy from other bodies or geographic locations, or use the Xiu Ya sword to its furthest extent. This last point I'd like to unlock through in-character research and relationships.
• Blood Type: Darkblood.
• Omen: Xiu Ya sword. This spiritual weapon was first claimed by Shen Qingiu, and then rewritten by the System to be used by Shen Yuan. The spirit within seems unusually cognizant since being dragged into a new world by the Pthumerians, and will not allow Shen Yuan to yield it -- yet. It doesn't bear a grudge against him, but like any spiritual weapon it refuses to be wielded by someone who hasn't yet proven themselves worthy. Perhaps regrowing his golden core will be enough win over this recalcitrant weapon?
• Blessed Day: June 22, representing the 22nd chapter of the Seven Seas English translation of "The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System." Chapter 22 contains the Immortal Alliance Conference and Binghe's descent into hell, so from Shen Yuan's perspective it's when things REALLY get bad.
• Patron Pthumerian: Remina
• Blood Power Manifestation: There's something not quite right about Shen Yuan's powers. He can feel the qi circulating in his body, but it pulses with the beat of his heart and follows the blood in his circulatory system, instead of having its own set of spiritual veins. Xiu Ya too, is different here. He can feel an *awareness* in the sword, a sense of personhood that was never there before. Or did he just not know how to see it? Is he too married to the concept of seeing everything through a cultivational genre lense, or is magic just magic regardless of what you call it? He wants to learn more, he wants to learn EVERYTHING, but this seems like such a dangerous world, maybe he should focus on honing his self-defense skills first. Spiritual swords like Xiu Ya respond best to powerful cultivators with advanced golden cores, so maybe if he grows a new core the sword will be more willing to cooperate with him. It seems like as good a place to start as any.
(OOC: I want to Shen Yuan to spend time researching and tinkering with his powers before they manifest into a concrete set of abilities, and I'm interested in exploring the potential consequences of making the local magic system behave like another one. In cultivator settings like Scum Villain or The Untamed (which were created by the same author!) magic users advance their abilities by condensing their spiritual powers into a golden core, which forms in the lower abdomen and behaves like a supernumary organ. What would happen if Shen Yuan tried to condense his Darkblood into a new organ in his lower body cavity? Would it power him up, or kill him? That's what I want to play around with IC, at least for the first year of gameplay.)
Writing Samples
One: Arrival Thread
Two: Apple prompt
The Player
• Player Name: Drake
• Player Age: 33
• Player Contact: Drake [Ellarinne]#1436, but try PMing me here first if you want to discuss gameplay.
• Permissions: https://xiaoxiuya.dreamwidth.org/416.html.