Xi Lan Kong

Breathes-the-Smoke

Leaf of the Emerald Sentinels
New Moon of the Third Wheel
Steel Tutor of the Warrior Ways
Adren Trickster of the Glass Walkers
Hongzi Monkeywrencher of the Boli Zouiszhe
Blazing Dragon of the Court of Bamboo Talons

Description


Homid: ~Shifty, slanted eyes survey the drab environment. Those eyes see colors no one else does, and that's why Xi Lan bears that eery smile most of the time. The Chinese woman, apparently in her late 20s, arrives with a twinkle in her bright brown eyes. A wave of ebony hair hugs close to her head, as it was not given permission to grow long. Slim legs, tucked into black leather pants and boots, stride the slick woman forward. A black leather vest roped shut across the swell of her chest is common wear, granting a peek of nothing but a shiny black sports bra beneath. Often, the leather outfit is completed with a black trench coat. The collars are usually turned up to frame her smooth and attractive, if unusual, features -- the woman's smiling, purple-painted lips and indigo eyeshadow most noticeably. In spite of her apparent good cheer, her persona conveys something...off... Something...cruel.~

OOC: Appearance 3; Glory 8, Virtue 4, Wisdom 4

Glabro: ~Xi Lan's leather fare seems to expand with her sudden growth of mass and muscle. Her limbs all seem to broaden and cordon. Her slick hair grows shaggier, and similar hair can be noted on the tops of her hands. Her lips aren't smiling as much, and the twinkle in her eyes has become a mad glint of barely-repressed anger.~

OOC: Appearance 2; Glory 8, Virtue 4, Wisdom 4

Crinos: ~All humanity is shed as Xi Lan takes her true form. Launching up to her hind legs, the wolf-woman towers at eight and a half feet and 700 pounds or more. The clothing she wore simply vanishes, replaced with thick, hard, bristling fur. The woman's raven hair lightened to a deep brown that pales around the belly. Sharp, pointed ears catch all sound and a wet black nose detects all scents. Deep black and brown eyes reflect baleful energy as the monster's whole body heaves with edgy Rage. Long, powerful, and spindly limbs end in razor-keen claws. The wolf-woman's muzzle drips with the hunter's hunger, revealing bright-white, sharp teeth designed for tearing through flesh and sinew.~

OOC: Appearance 0; Delirium; Glory 8, Virtue 4, Wisdom 4

Hispo: ~Becoming a full-time quadrupedal killer wolf, Xi Lan is now a hulking beast of a lupine. About 500 pounds of thick, dark fur with a white underbelly, the hispo's paws sink deep into the earth. The eyes take on an even more primitive, hungry rage, and those teeth gnash with anticipation of the kill. Nightmarish...and she's supposed to be a good guy? Ha!~

OOC: Appearance 0; Glory 8, Virtue 4, Wisdom 4

Lupus: ~This normal-sized wolf is not quite as savage-seeming as her other forms. She bears the same colorations in her fur as the larger shapes. Xi Lan seems keener and more aware in this form, less primal and more intent. Compared to her more war-like forms, she seems quite docile - but that predatory gleam in the Trickster's lupine eyes reminds others that this is still a hunter.~

OOC: Appearance 3; Glory 8, Virtue 4, Wisdom 4

"Is that so? Pardon me. Now, what were you saying? Oh, don't mind that explosion..."

History


Youth

Duya Kong & Huatan Youdang should have known better. Lonely nights and desperate passions were no excuses to break the Litany and bring a cursed werewolf into this dark world. But these two Boli Zouiszhe went to bed anyway, and Xi Lan was the result. Born a surprisingly mellow crinos cub under the sign of the New Moon, Duya gave up his daughter to the Sept of the Council for Universal Trade in Hong Kong.

Xi Lan seemed to be a normal, precocious werewolf cub. She bore no physical deformities whatsoever. She ran gladly around the peach tree glen of the Caern of the Mother of Peach Trees all the day. Some dared to whisper that perhaps she was a blessed metis, that the curse had overlooked her. Or perhaps she was an evolutionary step, proving the Glass Walkers the most adaptable Tribe. But the elders cautioned that mental illness, while not common, was not unknown in metis. They decided to watch and wait for her to mature and undergo her First Change. And so while waiting for that day that could take anywhere from 6-14 years, two of the Sept elders: Li Kwei and Revenge-of-the-Land volunteered to teach and guide the metis cub. They taught Xi Lan about Garou life and why she could not leave the peach tree glen. Curiously, both of these elders were Ahroun, and perhaps it was their influence that transformed Xi Lan into such a vicious Trickster.

First Change & Tutelage

But more likely it was the side effects of her First Change that came in 1990, when she was ten years old -- equal to around sixteen years old in "human years". Her New Moon curiosity got the better of her, so she snuck out of the glen while Revenge-of-the-Land snoozed under a young tree. Slipping past the waterfall on the mountainside, which she was instructed to never go beyond, Xi Lan found it emptied into a decent-sized lake. She sneaked through the brush, enrapt when she found a family of people -- normal humans -- picnicking at the lakeside.

And against all good sense and prudence, Xi Lan lumbered forward through the brush to meet and speak with these apes. In the process, her fur was shed and replaced with human flesh. So luckily, the picnickers never saw a crinos werewolf. Instead, they saw a naked teenage girl. Freaked out by the "streaker", the family hastily packed up and fled the scene. Xi Lan just blinked at the utter failure of communication, hardly knowing what she did wrong.

Disturbed, Xi Lan slunk back into the brush, unconsciously returning to her natural crinos form. Revenge-of-the-Land summarily pounced and dragged (well, not literally) the First Changed cub back to the peach tree glen. Revenge summoned Li Kwei to assist in further mentorship. Revenge taught Xi Lan how to change through all of her forms and Reach the Umbra. Li Kwei (a fellow metis) was willing to help teach Xi Lan how to adapt to her new life and how to behave among the "apes". As Li Kwei instructed the cub, the elder metis was curious to note that Xi Lan still manifested no particular disfigurement or mental disease, even though his face was terribly malformed. In fact the only difference he noted was that she was grinning wider and more consistently, and as he taught, she seemed to space out more. Fortunately, Xi Lan learned much as a cub. So within a month, Li Kwei and Revenge-of-the-Land both considered her ready to undergo her Rite of Passage and become an adult.

Suspecting that her metis ailment may be mental, the elders decided to make her Rite of Passage a test of heart. She was sent forth from the caern, unaware of the Cockroach-spirit sent along to observe. Her mission was simple: she was to explore and learn of the world of humanity and technology. But she could not let herself frenzy or kill anyone. She had to return with tangible evidence that humanity was redeemable and that technology was not evil. She was directed to the city proper.

Thus, in Hong Kong, Xi Lan took up life as a vagabond teenager. She did have enough money to rent a hotel room, as well as purchase meals, for up to two weeks. But she spent most of her days exploring her urban surroundings. Quick on the uptake, Xi Lan learned much of humanity and the city in her first days. Many of the things she only heard hints of back at the caern still astounded the young metis, but none of it truly shocked. At first, Xi Lan was filled with wonder and awe. But the pollution got to her quickly -- especially cigarette smoke. To her eyes, the smoke seemed to waft up and form weird, wicked designs in the air. Just standing on the street near a group of smokers almost provoked Xi Lan's first frenzy right there. But she minded her temper and retreated to the hotel to ponder.

So Xi Lan decided she might do something about this smoking habit people seemed to have. She went forth and ingratiated herself to a handsome English businessman named Jerome Landorn. She saw this man in the marketplace, then in the tea shop, always smoking. So she went to him and pleaded for home and help. Posing as a destitute vagabond, she was able to weasel into his home -- even if it meant going straight to his bed. She didn't care about that, holding no human morals about sexuality.

There in his home, Xi Lan was able to examine life as a human woman. And she noted how the Cockroach was able to worm its way into the most complex and homey human place (they saw a few in the kitchen one morning). Jerome's complaint about the vermin were that they befouled food, carried disease, and could even damage electrical wiring. That gave Xi Lan the idea on how to help cure him of his smoking habit, which was quite frankly getting on her nerves!

One morning, Xi Lan kept Jerome occupied longer than he usually intended. Through extra sex and a full breakfast, she made sure that he was forced to rush out the door to get to work on time. Once he was gone, she made sure that the gas-powered oven was allowed to run and fill the flat with combustible hydrocarbons. Then she made sure a few of his cigarettes were lit and simply left out. She grabbed her few belongings and dashed out the door. A few minutes later: kaboom!

Later, fire police explained to Jerome what was to blame. His fire insurance helped cover much of the loss. When he asked of Xi Lan, the police found no trace of her there. The Englishman had no idea what became of the girl (and the police had no record!). Xi Lan left him before he even came home to the destroyed flat, taking back to her hotel room nothing but a shattered, burnt toilet seat. But from the shadows, Xi Lan observed Jerome for three days. She found that he didn't quit smoking, but smoked much less and warily. Indeed, he virtually trembled every time he lit one up.

Xi Lan returned home with her strange trophy. When inquired about what she actually learned, she demonstrated how man can be much more careful about his own health and that of others. And she noted that technology provides great comfort, but is also quite useful for teaching lessons. While these declarations were not exactly what they expected, apparently it was good enough "for a Ragabash". She was inducted into the Tribe with proper pomp and ceremony.

Early Years

In exchange for arranging the education of her preliminary Gifts, the Sept Leader, Jo Wu, insisted that Xi Lan see a psychologist. Dr. Thomas Jao was a highly acclaimed specialist on severe mental disorders in all of Hong Kong, and he was Kinfolk to boot. Numerous tests, both psychiatric and physiological, were run on the metis. The expert soon discovered that Xi Lan indeed suffered from the early stages of schizophrenia. And the stages would only worsen. Dr. Jao, of course, recommended immediate treatment through the use of psychotropic drugs. But the Sept refused to treat a full-blooded Garou with such artificial drugs. At least, not when better medicine could be obtained. Li Kwei volunteered to help Xi Lan find a proper Glass Walker treatment.

Together, the old and young metis worked together in a laboratory as well as on the caern grounds. In the lab, they experimented with various pharmaceutical chemicals. In the caern, they summoned and questioned various spirits. And even as they sought the right combination of science and spirit, Xi Lan's condition noticeably worsened. She began to hallucinate, especially in the lab (resulting once in a nasty burn on her hand when she stuck her fingers in the Bunsen burner). Her moods would flip without warning, particularly to a dejected depression. Furthermore, her logic never quite followed track, making her little better than a guinea pig for which Li Kwei to test his own formulas. So it took six months of rigorous trial-and-error research and experimentation. But at last, they struck the right chord through a blend of natural herbs, modern chemical compounding, and a spirit of Serenity. Xi Lan had her medicine, and though it would never cure her dysfunctional mentality, it would help suppress it far more effectively than any man made drug of the day.

So with that hurdle hopped, Xi Lan could turn her attention to just living life. She studied hard in various academic, scientific, and technological courses. This ranged from learning how to best wire a new house to driving a car. She also helped at the caern by assisting the Warder, Song Chiang, in keeping nosy humans away from the caern's secret entrances. This she accomplished through cunning if sometimes cruel (but never fatal) pranks. All the while, Xi Lan began to experiment and toy with explosives, having gotten a taste of that destructive power during her Rite of Passage. She was limited to learning how to make home-mad dynamite, gun cutton, pyrodex, and napalm. She took her dangerous chemicals and compounds away from the caern, of course. She practiced near the rockier beaches by Kowloon Bay away from people and trees alike. Xi Lan trained with only small quantities and left the magnifications of having more (or just better) explosives to her own demented imagination.

However, Xi Lan's training was not kept a secret. She told her Septmates of her interest in demolitions, no less. A couple years after her Rite of Passage, the Iron Brotherhood -- an organization dedicated to the physical enforcement of Asian domination of local trade -- requested her aid. This organization largely involved local Boli Zouiszhe and their Kin (including a few of her Septmates), with clear ties to the Triads as well as the Council for Universal Trade. A group of aggressive English corporate merchants were determined to be Western vampires, known as Kin-jin in China. They had to be stopped. So Xi Lan was asked to help by cutting off their escape. They would be involved in the main assault on these Leeches' haven, a hostel they pretty much booked up for their own use. All she had to do was bomb their cars. In preparation for the mission, she was able to beef up her repertoire and knowledge with handling plastique. When the operation arrived, it was a full-blown success. But Xi Lan was disappointed because only one vampire and his ghoul escaped the slaughter inside the hostel. And naturally, they were blown to bits inside their vehicle.

With her skills in evidence, the Iron Brotherhood invited Xi Lan to join their organization full-time. But news of her deed spread beyond the shapeshifters of the Sept of the Council for Universal Trade and the Iron Brotherhood. A Monkeywrencher team in Hong Kong, basing its membership on hengeyokai rather than just Garou, invited Xi Lan to join -- no strings attached. So she declined the Iron Brotherhood's offer politely and joined this Monkeywrencher outfit. Her Sept was somewhat disappointed, but she was not an enforcer -- she was a destroyer. And these Monkeywrenchers intended to destroy all that was enemy to the Garou and more importantly, Gaia the Mother Earth.

Xi Lan found that she was not required to take up the Great Burden and join the Beast-Courts of the hengeyokai. This team of Monkeywrenchers was fairly informal. It consisted of three Garou (four with her), two Nezumi wererats, and a Tengu wereraven. Pooling their abilities and talents, this team called itself the Empty Shell Shards. Together, the team aided hengeyokai and Asian shapechanger domination in Hong Kong by assaulting corporative and industrial outposts of the mega-corporation, Pentex. As Pentex purposely installed unethical and environmentally destructive policies in their company operations, the Monkeywrenchers were essentially eco-terrorists.

Xi Lan's demolitions skills, combined with her Ragabash skulduggery, proved quite handy for the Monkeywrenchers' missions. Many Pentex subsidiaries suffered, and many Pentex security teams were viciously pummeled. Expecting brash, animal-like frenzies from their shapeshifter opponents, few teams were prepared to get a taste of their own medicine and then some. For her efforts among the Empty Shell Shards over three years, Xi Lan was accorded great renown, achieving her second Rank and appropiate secrets thereof. Her brutal traps and fearless pranks set to befall the agents of the Dragon helped the disturbing metis acquire great standing for one so afflicted. Her fellow Monkeywrenchers, nearly as wild as she was, enjoyed her aid and presence. Though often quite eccentric, she never failed to get her job done.

Recent Years

But soon her madness and the strange quirk of her irregular medicine routine began to disturb her teammates -- even the Nezumi. Seeking lower profile missions when the Hong Kong police began to really take interest in closing them down, her unpredictable nature seemed too risky. The Tengu subtly hinted this to Xi Lan, and her fellow Garou on the team made the formal request for her departure. Though upset, she relented and left the Empty Shell Shards. Unfortunately, the Sept of the Council for Universal Trade did not want the metis back. While she proved herself useful as either Monkeywrencher or Iron Brother, she rejected the latter. This disappointed her former Septmates enough. For a year, she languished dejectedly in Hong Kong, doing next to nothing with herself. A run-in with a Bane attempting to corrupt her further, perhaps drive her to Harano or greater derangement, convinced her to seek companionship and purpose again.

Thus, wanting to pull her weight in life and wanting to prove to everyone she wasn�t that handicapped, Xi Lan went to the hengeyokai of her former team. She inquired how to join the Beast-Courts formally. The Tengu, Sing Oh Soon a.k.a. Dives Deep, took Xi Lan to mainland China. He presented the Boli Zouiszhe to the Court of Sun-Pearls not far from the central city of Changan. The elders of this Court were Zhong Lung, and were the most prominent hengeyokai in the region. The great elder Middle Dragon, Hei Lungren, considered young Xi Lan Kong. She never felt more humbled in her life before this Zhong Lung, and she waited breathlessly for his response.

And Hei Lungren determined that she was definitely useful. And he informed her that the Beast-Courts would be willing to help her nurse through her ailments. But he advised Xi Lan to go somewhere with younger, more open-minded hengeyokai. She would find her life far too limiting and difficult in Old World Asia. Hei Lungren contacted a fellow Zhong Lung elder, Yamakita Mori, who was now Regent of a Court located in America. Mori sent his approval regarding the circumstances.

So Xi Lan Kong packed her belongings, brushed up her English, and traveled to Kansas City's growing Little Asia district. There she joined the Court of Bamboo Talons with faithful passion in her heart, if chaos lingered in her mind. Regent Mori expressed his pleasure to have such an unusually trained warrior in their midst. But he warned that his fellow gai'nan would watch and help and guide the young metis. Xi Lan did not argue that and prepared for a new life and new path.

Fetishes


Mind Medicine (talens)
Gnosis: 8
Origin: Devised especially to help Xi Lan cope with her severe "mental handicap", this concoction merges Weaver-like pharmacy with Gaia-blessed healing (a spirit of Serenity). Xi Lan has 6 bottles of Mind Medicine left, but she doesn't know how to prepare the stuff herself. Not only does it require a Rite of Binding, but the creator must also have at least Science 2. Xi Lan can help a hengeyokai with the chemistry of it, but she has zero spirit-binding know-how.
Description: Capped up in small, glass vials, Xi Lan's "Mind Medicine" is a strange, dark violet-colored fluid with no more density than water. Every vial contains 60 ml (2 fluid ounces). It tastes horrible (like antifreeze), Xi Lan will readily admit, but it wouldn't work if it didn't! ...Right?
Effects: Anytime Xi Lan begins to have problems with her Madness, she can quaff one of these talens. Successful activation suppresses all psychological problems associated with the Madness for the rest of the scene. She can choose to drink one of these "potions" before the standard Willpower roll to resist the nastier problems of her Madness. If she waits until after the roll is made (and failed), she may not even want to drink her medicine, but if convinced (or forced), it can still take effect. It must be ingested and it cannot be injected.
Activation: Hold your nose. Down the hatch. Try not to gag it back up. It is quite useless for anyone without a Derangement to suppress, and will make anyone unable to activate the talen's magic physically ill. They will throw it all back up. Mind Medicine can even combat the effects of Harano, though this is as yet untested.

Battle Scars


Class: Deep
Description: A dozen tiny bead-sized pock marks
Location: Upper right arm
Origin: Silver buckshot from a Pentex security guard (who didn�t survive the return fire!)
Effects: Aches when the weather changes

Class: Deep
Description: Missing her ring and middle fingers
Location: Left hand
Origin: Accident while handling plastique explosives
Effects: Phantom aches on occasion; +1 difficulty on extreme dexterity actions with left hand

Weakness
Lunatic


Well, poor Xi Lan was cursed with madness since birth. It is a burden she will have to live with forever. Unfair as it may be, it will likely be her undoing. But she is not ignorant of, nor spiteful of, available treatments (which are few). She is also eager to prove to her extended family that despite this handicap, she is quite useful. Hopefully, she won't kill them all in the process.

Likelihood of Corruption


High.

The wily Wyrm looks for a seed of corruption in those it would twist. For most Garou, it is their berserker Rage alone. But on top of that burning hate, Xi Lan is a full-on schizo. Though this can make direct corruption via Bane possession actually harder, subtle nudges can push a madwoman to the brink of her self-control...and turn her into a living, unwitting instrument of war against the Wyrm's enemies: her own people. Suffice to say, her allies must be highly vigilant...always.

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