ApfelSeine
Murder by Numbers 🏳️🌈🖥️
Bai Xiang
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Vitals
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Age: 62
Race: Human
Affiliation: UEF, ex-Union soldier
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Theme Song: Wong Fei Hung - Hero of China
Appearance: Bai is an elderly Chinese woman with a fairly average height (5’2”) but a rather stocky build. She has somewhat tanned skin and almond shaped, brown eyes. It is generally not immediately evident how muscular she is due to her preference for wearing loose-fitting clothing with long sleeves. In the event that she chooses to wear short sleeves, the muscular build of her one remaining arm becomes apparent, and her cybernetic right arm draws a lot more attention. She chooses to wear loose clothing such as cardigans to avoid standing out too much, though her preference for bright pastel colors is a bit at odds with her ever-present scowl. Her salt and pepper hair is generally held back in a tight bun by a hairpin.
Birthplace: Haikou, China
Profession: Citizen, former Union soldier
Psionics or Cybernetics: She has a cybernetic arm, extending from her fingertips up to her shoulder blade.
Usual Equipment: She carries a concealed handgun and a hunting knife
Known Associates: Her son Lei, many Chinese business owners on the station, and local educators (and other volunteers such as herself)
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Character Skills/Flaws
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Character Skills:
- Major Skill 1: Hand to hand combat
She has extensive knowledge of fighting and has studied southern style martial arts. Bai found the sport fascinating as a child and has continued practicing daily to stay in shape ever since. In a fistfight with those with less combat training, she has the distinct upper hand. As such, she rarely goes out of her way to start a fight - though quite a few people with broken bones would beg to differ.
- Minor Skill 1: Marksmanship
She’s a pretty dang good shot. Nowhere near as skilled as the best marksmen, but skilled enough from her training that if she intends to hit something (or someone) with a gun then she probably will. Specifically, she’s experienced with machine guns and handguns. Types of guns she is unfamiliar with are much more difficult for her to fire.
- Minor Skill 2: Athletic
She is remarkably spry, especially for a woman of her age. Bai regularly keeps up a physical training regimen to stay strong and healthy. She is good at lifting things, running, and swimming. Trouble making children are very wary of incurring her wrath.
- Minor Skill 3: Cooking
She enjoys cooking and has a knack for it. In general, she prefers to cook traditional foods that she grew up with, but she knows enough to be able to follow a recipe and have it come out right. Bai considers cooking to be closely tied to culture, and as her grandfather once taught her she often tries to share the joys of her culture’s food with others when the opportunity presents itself.
Character Flaws:
- Disadvantage 1: Abrasive
She is immensely abrasive and tends to rub people the wrong way as a result. Bai is quick to criticize people and pulls no punches, verbal or otherwise. In general, she has little concern about how people feel and will scold or reproach people from the tiniest child to the most distinguished individual. Depending on who she decides to criticize, she can tend to start arguments or fights without meaning to. Additionally, she is typically oblivious of her own responsibility for instigating fights, and she views people as being excessively sensitive to critique.
- Disadvantage 2: PTSD
She suffers from PTSD as a result of her experiences in combat. This leads to her having a tendency to be hostile and hypervigilant, especially in unfamiliar environments. When meeting new people, she tends to be very suspicious of them. She also tends to become very irritable as a result of sudden and unexpected loud noises. Even with all of these symptoms, and people telling her that she has it, she denies that she has PTSD.
- Disadvantage 3: Unquestioning of Authority
Bai will always agree with whatever choice the government makes, and when asked she will profess her view to be that the government knows what it is doing and has the best interest of the people in mind. She has more deference towards people who are, or who claim to be, working for the government. Although she still has a tendency to be rude, she is quick to comply with any order from the government she is living under.
- Major Skill 1: Hand to hand combat
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Personality
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Fears:
Bai will not admit to fearing anything, but her greatest fear is failing to do what is needed to help the Union. Failing on a personal level also frightens her to an extent, but she is more afraid that she will have failed to do her duty - or worse still that she has harmed the Union by giving birth to a child who allied herself with anti-Union individuals. She fears that her grandson will follow the wrong path, and as such she constantly tries to manage every facet of his life.
Optimism vs. Pessimism:
Bai deems herself a realist. Her perspective is that life does not owe anyone any favors, but it is also not the case that fate is out to get anyone. Things merely happen and people must respond accordingly. She feels that either one is prepared to face what life will bring, or they aren’t, but all outcomes are on the individual’s own capacity. One will either prove themselves competent or inadequate depending on the outcome of any given event.
Introvert vs. Extrovert:
Bai is an introvert, typically finding people to be tiresome. Much of that is likely her own fault, as she can sometimes antagonize people. She is no stranger to working together, particularly on a team, and she does know how to work cooperatively with others. If given the option to choose though, Bai would always prefer to do things on her own and feels that other people get in her way more often than not.
Justice vs. Mercy:
Bai finds justice more satisfying than mercy. She very much believes that whatever methodology is necessary for the greater good is worth utilizing, regardless of the costs of doing so. She is no stranger to the reality that this philosophy has real and devastating consequences, but she remains committed to her ideals.
Feelings on the Union:
Overall, Bai has positive feelings about the Union. She sees the existence of the Union as evidence that humans have the capacity to all come together and focus on something more than their own wants and needs. It also seems to her to be the pragmatic solution to facing non-human threats, since being racist is silly when one can be speciesist. Her inherent tendency to trust authority also contributes to her favorable view of the Union. She considers those who are against the Union to be acting against their own self-interest.
Common Mannerisms:
Bai always maintains a rigid posture when standing, and always stares people down when speaking to them. She rarely moves without a purpose, and is very careful about her body language, though this leads to her occasionally appearing stiff and intense.
Interests & Hobbies:
She regularly practices southern style kung-fu techniques and tai chi, and generally, enjoys most athletic activities that she can do alone. Bai also enjoys shooting as a sport. In addition to that, she likes cooking and takes an interest in current events (if only so she can know what to praise the government for). She is very passionate about the importance of educating young individuals, and so she will occasionally look for events or groups to volunteer in to support education.
Overall Personality:
Bai is a very severe individual and is quick to criticize others even over small things. She genuinely feels that this is helpful to people though since she is helping them on the road to self-improvement. It is very rare that Bai will compromise on her opinion, and she has very staunchly held beliefs. Her tongue is quick and her mind is sharp, and if it were not for her age she would likely get into even more trouble than she already does with others - which is saying something since she still frequently gets into arguments and even physical altercations at times. While she has no desire to show off, she is by no means modest or humble. Bai has a very high opinion of herself and a very low opinion of most every other person she meets. It still baffles her why there are some people who cannot see her point of view.
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History
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History:
Bai has been alive for a very long time, born on earth in Haikou, a large coastal city in southern China. She had always been told by her older relatives how wonderful the Union was and how good it was that all the people of the world could come together to protect the people from the aliens who wanted to do them harm. Loyalty to the government was practically ingrained into her from birth.
She learned a lot from her grandparents, who were usually the ones to look after her while her parents worked. Her grandfather instilled a love of cooking in her, and an appreciation for her ancient culture while teaching her southern style kung-fu. It was her grandmother who would often talk politics with her and tell her how wonderful it was to be protected from the Tha’Kar by the brave and noble Union soldiers. The constant praise of the government instilled a sense of pride and duty in Bai, and as soon as she was old enough she enlisted as a UEF soldier.
Her desire to help protect Earth and its citizens were not at all diminished by the atrocities of warfare which she saw. If anything, she was bolstered by the knowledge of what soldiers had really been enduring. She was raised to have a thick skin, though that also resulted in her denying to herself that she was affected by the things she saw. The deaths of her comrades and the brutality of what she witnessed took a toll on her. She stayed in the army for quite some time, eventually leaving to start a family with the goal of producing one or more children who could follow in her footsteps. It was, from her perspective, a way of continuing to help the war effort. Unfortunately, that did not translate into a very happy home life.
When she was 38, a few years after she’d given birth to her daughter, Bai left her family to rejoin the war, leaving her husband and parents to raise their daughter. Part of this was motivated by the new addition of a cybernetic arm which allowed her to rejoin combat at full if not improved capacity, but also in part by her dissatisfaction in being kept away from where the real work was being done on the battlefield. She tried to keep in touch with her family, but in general, she felt that they were more of a distraction than a motivation. Bai relied upon her husband to try to raise their daughter to be loyal to the UEF, but their daughter was rather rebellious and rejected the mindset that was being forced upon her. Bai was dismayed to discover upon her eventual retirement that her daughter had run away with an anti-union sympathizer after the death of Bai’s husband.
It was about ten years before Bai, aged 55, discovered the location of her daughter. It appeared that her daughter’s husband was abusive to her - further solidifying Bai’s prejudices against anti-union individuals - and Bai’s daughter had been raising a son on her own for about 2 years. Bai fought for custody of the child and won, at which point Bai’s daughter disappeared. Bai felt that this justified her decision, and has focused on raising her grandson, Lei, for the past 7 years. Thus far her attempts to win the boy over to her way of thinking have been unsuccessful.
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