Jigoku-cho App

[taintedpeony]

PLAYER INFORMATION

PLAYER: Ani
ARE YOU AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD?: Yes
CONTACT: peacockdance or Discord@ peacocksdance#4901
CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME: Jin Guangyao (Meng Yao) Slumscape CRAU
CANON: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel)
CANON REFERENCE:
Wiki Link
CANON POINT: Post Death (Chapter 108)
CRAU HISTORY:

Jin Guangyao is coming to Jigoku-Cho after assisting with the third shrine at Hakagemachi. He is currently possessed by a thousand-plus-year-old tenko (Celestial fox) Kitsune named Koemi. She had picked him up at the point of his death, spiriting his body away and bringing him to Hakagemachi as a vessel to share with her and help calm the shrines. This spirit is linked to him through a kitsune mask that he needs to keep near him at all times, lest he fades.

His connection to Koemi was weak at first, only feeling an overwhelming desire for survival. He had a hard time differentiating what was his own desperate need to live and what was hers. Having a Yao sharing his body was odd and as a cultivator, he had a hard time dealing with her but as time passed she got more vocal.

Koemi takes a somewhat maternal role in his life, being so old she sees him as a child. This works rather symbiotically for Jin Guangyao since he was young when he had lost his own mother, a prostitute who had died when he was thirteen or fourteen.

As a celestial fox, Koemi is one who fights against evil and had been actively working on alchemizing the insecurities that had caused Jin Guangyao to commit the evil deeds he had in his previous life. She tends to calm his anxieties and urge compassion against his enemies rather than revenge.

He met Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji upon arrival. He had a contentious relationship as they were partially responsible for his downfall. He was still reeling from the trauma from his death and had to deal with some harsh truths (Wei Wuxian being particularly combative and telling him that no one would light any incense or make offerings for him after he had passed.)

The other important person he had met was his nephew Jin Ling though now with a youkai of his own possessing him, an Okami who is able to sniff out any falsehoods. He had held the teenager hostage in his previous life in an attempt to escape before dying himself.

The encounter was awkward with many heavy feelings between uncle and nephew. They both ended up sitting under the awning of a dilapidated building and Jin Ling heard his story, what had actually led him to become the broken and paranoid man he had ended up becoming from the hopeful and eager youth he was. Nothing was forgiven but at least communication was brought up.

During his time in Hakagemachi, both Jin Guangyao and Koemi tended to be found cleaning the communal areas of the building, he was an anxious man when he did not have much to occupy him, so he would either play his guqin in the lobby and offer tea and company to residents or occasionally make food and invite neighbors. He is social and knows that connections are what saves a person and was also a bit lonely. Because of this nature, he made a few good friends and allies, often adopting them into the fold and telling them about his cute nephew.

Slowly, during quests and events, he began to repair his relationship with his nephew. At first, being impressed by Jin Ling's willingness to get his hands dirty on a quest when their reward was money that was covered in disgusting toilet water. He had noticed how much he had grown up from the spoiled little boy he used to be.

Thier relationship took the hardest turn when Jin Guangyao was trapped in the illusions of the Lake spirit.

The lake spirit had shown him a false reality, where he was growing up side by side to his brother and his mother alive as a second wife to his father. Where his brother and sister-in-law were alive and happy. Where thier birthdays were celebrated equally unlike in his past where his brother was the heir and golden child and he was nothing but a whore son. He found himself in his mother's arms and feeling that false sense of catharsis. He almost succumbed to this, the guilt of how terribly his life had gone and how much suffering he had caused weighing on him. That perhaps it was better to just stay. However, Jin Ling brought him out of this illusion, telling him that he owed him after everything that happened. That he owed him his life and to fight beside him.

And this was his new truth. He couldn't keep running from the things he broke he had to do the hard work on fixing things, and he chose to live for Jin Ling. This gave him the anchor he desperately needed and they both made a hasty retreat despite the Lake Spirit's insistence they stay with her under the lake, with nothing but a few scratches and some waking nightmares to show for it.

Together uncle and nephew met the onmyouji and took his proffered talisman, but did nothing with it at the end of it, deciding unknown magics were better left untouched until they knew what the talismans did, opting to have some time together at the local ramen-ya to try and come back from that misadventure.

Soon after he saw an illusion of his half-brother, he had the chance to meet Jin Zixuan who showed up in the city shortly after, with an Okami residing inside him much like his son. He was surprised to see him but he supposed that he himself had appeared here post-death why not his brother? All he could do was to bring him home and settle him in with some hot food and clean clothes. Jin Guangyao at the prodding of Koemi to face his past and come clean to his brother about the crimes he had committed.

And surprisingly, Jin Zixuan forgave him. He understood and empathized with his brother knowing what the Jins were like and chose not to throw him away or use him as their father did. Telling him that family was more important to him than the crimes he had committed in the past. It was the first time he felt seen and chosen by someone and the brothers grew close afterward choosing to live together with Jin Ling soon after. He spent much of his time learning archery from them and teaching them both life and survival skills in return.

Despite his initial contention with the Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian he had ended up mending it over their shared hometown cuisine and their love for their nephew Jin Ling.

Much of Jin Guangyao's development in Slumscape was internal rather than external and most of his relationships were with his close family members and a few friends. While he didn't go and fight and investigate too much on his own, he offered his home and support to any who needed aid. His apartment was always open to those who needed a warm meal and some polite company. Thanks to his youkai's urging he had learned to strive for true compassion and deeper connections than prestige. It is a journey he is still on and hopefully will continue through Jigoku-Cho.

AGE:36

APPEARANCE:

Original
Post Slumscape.
Mask.


CONTRACT PAYMENT:

Jin Guangyao has lived life with many regrets and much guilt. He cannot turn back time to fix it either. If he was offered the lives of his family members (Mainly, his mother, his wife, and his son.) and could be promised that they would live happily, healthily, and with dignity, he would do anything.

QUESTIONNAIRE:

❀ An enemy of your faction has asked for a meeting, proposing a truce of sorts to deal with a greater threat. On one hand, there is indeed a threat at hand, but on the other, this person double-crossing you is just as likely an outcome. Do you agree to the meeting? Do you trust them?

"Meeting then would be the best option.

I would, however, take some precautions as I tend to do. I would make a contingency plan or have an ally nearby in case things go awry.
I would also make certain to meet them in a neutral place and see what information I can glean from them. If the threat is indeed as dire as said I would be more inclined towards a truce, after some thorough negotiation.

Trust... is an altogether different story. I will plan for them to betray me and have a plan against it. But if we can put our differences aside to work towards the greater good that would benefit both of our factions.

Well, wouldn't that be the best for everyone? No one can cause great changes by themselves. In my homeworld, the Sects had all come together to work on larger projects after all. And some situations are bigger than only one group to handle."

❀ An oni of the Shuten Clan has gone completely berserk and is going on a violent rampage through the city. You can't stop him, but you CAN lead him elsewhere, but you only have two choices: a road by a discotheque with a large crowd in front, or the nearby park that you do not know is unoccupied, and may have children present. What do you choose, and why?

"I would lead them to the park. The discotheque has a certainty of having far more casualties. And fitting the Oni in a narrow area would prove to be far more difficult than in an open space. Oni are said to be very strong, yes? A narrow area would be far more destructive.

In the park, there may be children, or there may not. It is an unknown.

But making a choice where one option is certain to have high casualties and the other where there may be a few but vulnerable casualties, isn't it always better to try and strive for the least amount of lives lost? When I was a spy in the Sunshot Campaign, I killed and tormented people, yes. But I shortened the war by years saving thousands. A small sacrifice can be made for the greater good.

And practically an open area like a park would be easier to capture said oni. I would have an advantage of using my environment that I would not have otherwise."

❀ What does family mean to you and who do you consider a part of your family? (Trigger warnings: Prostitution, Incest, Rape, Patricide, Infanticide. Suicide)

"This is a complex feeling with a rather complex answer, I'm afraid.

What does family mean to me? In my past life, I had always wanted a family. My mother had loved me so much, she worked hard for me to survive, had educated me, and killed herself doing so. She was so desperate for my father to come back. She waited for him from when she was young until her hair turned grey. And for what? A man who could have lifted a finger to save her but did not. He spent gold like water. But he didn't at the end of it because she was 'too much trouble!' My mother loved me deeply enough for me to be hungry for it when I lost her. I knew what real love felt like.

I wanted so badly to be loved I was greedy for it.

I wanted my father to see me. To praise me for my talents. To hold me on the same level as Jin Zixuan. Even after he kicked me down the stairs initially, I doubled down to win favor in the war. In the end, it took Wen Ruohan's head for me to win a place among the Jin. It still wasn't enough. He used me. I let him use me. Sullied my hands in doing whatever disgusting war crime he wanted me to commit, that was how desperate I was for his love. At the end of it, all I was worth to him was a simple phrase.

'Ah, Meng Yao. Forget him.' All the crimes he had me commit, and that was all I was worth to him. I do not regret killing him.

Alright, Alright Koemi. I should have not involved innocents in such a horrible murder. But I wanted him to feel it.

To have him feel for a moment how my mother had felt. No control over herself and her situation had to please men to survive, and someone who could help but chose not to.

I had thought I could start a family of my own. Qin Su was so kind and I loved her so much. She was always so kind to me and we were going to have a child. I wanted to fill Koi tower with a lot of children, I was so happy. But then her mother had to tell me that horrible truth.

That my father, that beast, had raped her. And that the sweet, kind woman I was marrying was my own half-sister.

My child an abomination who was fated to die from birth.

Our marriage bed was cold and empty both of us playing at being married in name alone. I carried this secret alone until the day she found out the truth and ended herself. I was ready to bear it to the grave.

Strays. Those who can understand the same pain because we share the same scars.
I have a tendency to pick up strays. Those who were hurt as children and be that family to them. My closest friends were that. We were all stray animals trying to survive in that cruel and callous world.

I wanted a family so desperately in my life that every familial relation I either hurt or they hurt me. I killed my brother and my brothers killed me. Betrayal runs on both ends. I don't hate them. I understand why they did it. It still however feels like my heart had been ripped out of my body.

I expect that it will take time to heal.

Koemi is helping me heal. I was lucky to find my family in Hakagemachi. Not all of them. But my nephew Jin Ling. I raised him when he was a baby and though I made a terrible, unforgivable mistake, he accepts me and chooses to love me. As my brother chose to love me. If you ask me now, family is who you choose to love. I want to keep finding the meaning of family. I want a family still. People I can love and accept and those who will love me unconditionally, despite my many flaws. I am trying to be better."

❀ What are your greatest regrets, if you have any? What would you have done differently?

"I have as many regrets as there are stars in the sky.
I do not know which point in my life I could have turned in another direction, however.

So much of it had felt out of my control. Should I have not been filial to my mother and not chosen to desperately plea for my father's regard?

Should I have stayed with the Nie sect? Even though I would be unrecognized for the rest of my life?

Should I have not saved Nie Mingjue from Wen Ruohan's wrath even if it meant killing his men?

Should I have not been filial to my father and sect to balk at the order of killing Nie Mingjue? Even if it meant that my life would be the price.

Should I have told Lan Xichen, about all the crimes he did not want to see, did not want to hear, only wanting the image of me as something I was not.

I regret sleeping with Qin Su before we were married, perhaps we may have been able to make a different arrangement. She did not deserve what happened to her. Perhaps I should have been less kind to Mo Xuanyu, to discourage his adoration to turning to something else. I regret the death of Jin Rusong, his eyes bright and warm, even though his life would have been worse than death had the truth come out. He was fated to die because he was my son.

I regret sending my brother to his death. I think that perhaps I should have hitched my horse to him rather than our father. Jin Zixuan is kind and noble and people respected him. I feel that perhaps if I was his right hand our skills would be a good balance for the clan.

I do not regret killing my father. I only wish I did it in some other way. I allowed my rage and anger at both him and my mother's profession to get the better of me."

POWERS & ABILITIES:

Mo Dao Zu Shi Powers and Abilities:

❀ Eidetic memory: Jin Guangyao has an eidetic memory. It is mentioned that once meeting a person he never forgets his face. He is also capable of remembering their name, likes, dislikes, and more. This memory is a double edge sword. He can learn things quickly but he also remembers pain intensely. He uses this to his advantage both in learning new skills and easily as well as using his memory of people's like to endear himself to others. This ability shouldn't be affected at all in Jigoku-Cho.

❀ Cultivation. Since he manifested his golden core in his late teens, he is a weaker cultivator than many in his generation. He makes up for this lack by memorizing the techniques of many of the other sects and is known as a technique stealer. He lost this in Slumscape and will not have it when he comes to Jigoku-Cho. However, he can work towards getting it back.

❀ Chord Assassination Technique: He uses a guqin to perform this Lan technique which uses the strings as garrottes. He lost this in Slumscape and will not have it when he comes to Jigoku-Cho. However, he can work towards getting it back.

❀ Swordsmanship: Jin Guangyao is a war hero and is very adept at sword fighting. He uses a soft sword, Hensheng. It uses his spiritual powers in order to move like either a sword or a whip, sometimes it can wrap around the swords of his enemies in order to break them. Hensheng was a normal softsword in Slumscape.

❀ Sword flight: He can use Hensheng to fly by stepping on it, often traveling that way. This ability is no longer applicable since he does not have cultivation.

❀ Collection of Turmoil: Dark music that can harm the spirit. The music has spiritual powers imbued in them. It is said it can take lives and cause illness and harm to those who hear it. While he has his guqin and plays it often, Jin Guangyao has no spiritual power to use this ability. Maybe in the future.

❀ Political Savvy: Jin Guangyao is extremely intelligent and uses his political savvy in order to oversee large projects like the Lookout towers when he was the Chief Cultivator. This shouldn't be affected.

❀ Housekeeping: He is very good at household chores, from cooking and cleaning, organizing, and just being able to care for a place. Much of the work he did as a child involved serving food to clients and taking care of cooking, as well as keeping things clean and organized. He sometimes ended up caring for the babies that were born in the brothels as well since he was shown to be a natural at calming babies in the audio drama. This will not be affected.

❀ Bookkeeping and administrative tasks: Jin Guangyao has a love for organization, mathematics, administration as well as bookkeeping. His life is so chaotic that he finds solace in organization and numbers. Later in life, he will also have a love for public works projects, working on solutions that will benefit a great number of people efficiently.This shouldn't be affected.

❀ Acting: He is a fantastic actor naturally who can go from calm to frenzied with ease. This is mostly used as a defense mechanism to keep himself safe or to get what he needs from people. He is a master manipulator. This shouldn't be affected.

❀ Silver-tongue: Jin Guangyao is a natural orator who can talk around people in circles, persuade them to see his side of things, or distract an opponent. He has also been known to destroy a person with a few choice words, getting into the heart of their insecurities. This shouldn't be affected.

Slumscape Powers:

❀ Ring of Healing: only leveled once, can heal minor cuts and bruises. This can be keyed back at entry.

❀ Shapeshifting: Can shift to either a small gold fox or a large kitsune. As a celestial fox Koemi was powerful enough to take the form of another person mimicking them perfectly or as a large monster if needed. This can certainly be a power he gains later on down the line.

❀ Enhanced Strength: A boon granted by the Farm Spirit. He is a bit stronger than a human but not by much. This can be keyed back at entry.

❀ Illusion Magic: Koemi's ability. She is able to perform powerful phantom shapes, sounds, and sensations. While Jin Guangyao does not have this yet it would be fun to play with in the future.

❀ Foxfire: An illusory fire called kitsunebi. Does not have this ability on entry.



SUITABILITY:

Jin Guangyao is a character who has a questionable moral compass, complex emotions, and layers of compartmentalization. His homeworld is similar and deals with Chinese mythology, magic, and supernatural elements, so he certainly is no stranger to ghosts, monsters, demons, and fierce corpses. The nature of this world with its various youkai is similar and different enough to his own to be very interesting.

He is the type of person who exudes an immense amount of control, not only on his actions but his outward expressions as well. He is an excellent actor who can go from looking pitiable one moment to malicious the next. I want to explore what would happen as things grow more and more out of his control and to see what type of decisions he would make here.

Furthermore, Jin Guangyao was born and raised in a brothel. The seedy underworld of Jigokucho is very similar to the environment that he himself was raised in. And even in adulthood, he had to do many seedy things that required a ruthless hand. How are the factions much different than murdering his father's political opponents or torturing Wen Ruohan's prisoners of war? He also seems to get along the most with people who had struggled in childhood.

He is very adaptable so he will do his best to learn and do as much as he can in order to survive. He wouldn’t have much of an issue doing morally questionable things even if it is something that goes against his values if it ensures his survival or his ambitions. He is a man who was born the son of a prostitute and climbed up to the position of Chief Cultivator with his own resourcefulness (and some blood on his hands along the way).


FACTION SUITABILITY:

Jin Guangyao is a very very versatile man who can honestly fit into any place he ends up being in, taking in the culture and not only chameleon himself within it but working to rise through the ranks.

❀ The Shuten Clan: While Jin Guangyao is a resilient man and does not go down easily. He does tend to lie a lot but he tends to put it in favor of those he is aligned with. He has a lot of experience working for people who do. Working for his father had primed him really well for a role here and his experience with the Nie clan would have him well suited here as well. He is very familiar with those of similar values. He would be good at running a gambling ring as he is very good with math and numbers.

❀ The Tamamo Clan: As a brothel son who is both cunning and values offering people what they want while taking what he wants Jin Guangyao would be a good fit here. He is very familiar with brothel and courtesan culture as well as entertaining. He threw perfect parties and events while he was with the Jin. As someone who sees stability in power, his values would align here. He had spent his life being so many things he was not, it would be really interesting to see how he would develop here and learn what freedom is, Though he would be.

As for what he has to offer he is an excellent host with an eidetic memory and can remember people's likes and dislikes which would probably be helpful in this industry.

❀ The Sutoku Alliance: Jin Guangyao is a former spy and knows the value of information, attaining it and utilizing it in the right places. He is very good at money and knows where and how to utilize it well. He would do well in real estate and would offer his accounting services well. He was also fond of large-scale public projects, using his frugal political capital to build the watchtowers a set of 1200 towers that alert nearby cultivators of issues relating to Yao or ghosts. This project had saved more lives than any project done in the past. He would want to work together on public works projects.

❀ The Department of the Enma: While Jin Guangyao has a skewed view of justice and law, he can understand order and administration. He is prone towards organization and loves things that fall into nice neat little boxes. His accounting, admin, and eidetic memory would be valuable skills for the Enma indeed. He was the Chief Cultivator in his world an elected position. His job was to delegate and work on problems the society as a whole. Often working together with many sects to take larger problems or mediate disputes.

SAMPLES

❀ Jigoku-cho TDM Top level
❀ Slumscape, meeting the lake spirit with Jin Ling.