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Name: Sage King Zhen Chan
Age: Unknown, though a number of centuries, probably a few thousand years old.
Canon: Feng Shen Ji Not the best wiki, I'll try to explain as best I can in the post
History:
In Feng Shen Ji the world is ruled by the Gods and has been for the past hundred thousand years. In the ancient past, the Ancient Gods waged war against the Ancient Dark Ones, their nemeses and only rivals in power. The war was finally won by the strength of their greatest warrior, Hei Long (meaning Black Dragon), who killed the Dark One's leaders and drove the rest into Hell. Hei Long was betrayed by the rest of the Ancient Gods who feared his power, killing his lover and ambushing him. Proving them right to fear him, he killed the other Ancient Gods, leaving himself the only one left. Their spirit's power, Transcendent Vigour, formed a great mass sealed into a mountain. Hei Long lived in isolation for a time, until he discovered a way to revive his lover using a material that needed to be mined called Bloodstones. Choosing the most suitable race alive on Earth, cavemen, he educated and cultivated them into humans. Calling himself Tian (meaning heaven, as in the will of heaven), he ruled them and set them to work. When he grew weary of personally controlling them, he created the new Gods. Choosing the most intelligent and most physically worthwhile humans, he infused them with some of the Ancient Gods power. Those became the ancestors of all the modern Gods that ruled the world and oversaw the humans. Modern Gods are unaware of their true origin and believe they are a completely separate species to humans. Every few hundred years, the Dark Ones would attempt to take back the surface and as time passed human uprisings became more common, but always failed. The Gods ruled tyrannically.
Born in the Realm of the Gods hundreds of years ago, Zhen Chan was considered to be an exceptional individual even from a young age (though young for a God, as they age and mature much more slowly than humans, making him still a child in his twenties). When he underwent his Divine Revelation, the time when his powers became first active, it was discovered he had Divine Power: Eternal Life, the ability to heal and restore. Normally such a power prohibited one from becoming a warrior god, but Zhen Chan's superior power was so great he was invited to join in the contests to decide the Great Gods, a temporary position to represent the Gods military might. He refused. Zhen Chan had no interest in violence or titles, instead wishing only to contemplate the universe and try to find truth, inner peace. He did not enjoy the decadent lifestyle of the Gods and instead live in seclusion, though he would occasionally preach his philosophies to the others.
At one point, he left the Realm of the Gods and travelled the Central Plain, the main human area controlled by the Gods. Witnessing human lives, in particular when he saw humans killing and eating other humans, he began to believe that they were afflicted with what he called 'wicked roots' that made their natures dark and violent. Without Gods to guide and oppress them, they would destroy themselves.
Despite his pacifistic attitude, he was still given the title of Sage King, usually reserved for ex-Great Gods who possessed the greatest combat powers of all the current Gods, one of five at the time. Unless he was absolutely necessary he did not participate in any form of combat.
One day whilst preaching to some of the Gods, a number of the then current Great Gods declared his preaching nonsense and refused to see reason. This was the last of a number of similar incidents. Whenever Zhen Chan was confronted by the unreasonable few that would purposefully be ignorant, his saintly nature would be reversed and he would transform into the demonic Er Chan (meaning False Zen). On that fateful day, he killed several Great Gods. Due to his special circumstances, the incident was not punished but Zhen Chan still locked himself in the Divine Tower for several years as he attempted to free himself of his inner monster. When he believed it to be done, he rejoined the God's society.
When the God's realm was invaded by a unique army of Dark Ones, rebel Gods and a few extraordinary humans, Zhen Chan was the lynchpin of the God's strategy to repel them. The God's highest ranking officer aside from Tian, Elder Shen Yen, requested him to assist in the first line of defence. One hundred of the strongest Gods, all ex-Great Gods, call the God's Hundred Companions were amassed and Zhen Chan blessed them all with his healing, making them all near immortal. Thanks to this advantage, the early stages of the invasion lead to heavy losses for the Dark Ones with hundreds of thousands of deaths against a mere one hundred warriors. However, when the stronger invaders realised there were ways to kill those under the blessing, the formation began to fall apart. Zhen Chan concluded that the key to victory was that whilst the average Great God was vastly more powerful than the average Dark One, the Dark Ones Generals were equally beyond the average God. Joining the other three active Sage Kings on the front lines, Zhen Chan easily dispatched three of the Dark Ones Generals, though was impressed to see how one of them felt true love and kinship for his own kind, not as barbaric as Zhen Chan believed. Before he could move on to more Generals, he was found by Zi Yu- the strongest human swordsman in history who possessed the superhuman power of Smelting Aura.
Zi Yu's sword, Heaven Punisher, was created to burn a God's Transcendent Vigour and thus gave him the power to overcome Zhen Chan's defences. Impressed with Zi Yu's sense of justice but believing it misguided, he wished to convert him to the side of the Gods and drew him into an illusionary world. Zi Yu's escape from even that trigger Zhen Chan's transformation into Er Chan, which ultimately lead to Er Chan being burned away in the flames of Heaven Punisher. Zhen Chan himself survived and healed the near death Zi Yu out of gratitude. No longer interested in fighting and reconsidering his idea about humans, he warned Zi Yu that Tian had awakened and was vastly stronger than him.
Even the combined strength of the greatest warriors of the invasion couldn't defeat Tian, but the culmination of a series of specific events (including the partial revival and then total beyond hope of recovery death of his lover) ended with Shen Yen betraying Tian and killing him. A peace treaty was made with the Dark Ones, who were given a realm of their own on the surface as a new age began. Zhen Chan had only remained loyal to the Gods because of Tian and felt Shen Yen did not have the qualities needed to make him serve any longer, so left to preach to humanity (there are hints that he took the young Dark One that had impressed him, GuiMei SenLin, and revived him somehow).
During the time when the leader of the Dark Ones and nephew of Zi Yu, the human Ah Gou, was conquering the land the Gods had given (as it was land they had ignored for millennia, allowing the humans to live in a tribal society there), Zi Yu asked Zhen Chan for a favour. Ah Gou's soul had been twisted due to events occurring during the invasion and Zhen Chan was tasked with helping heal his soul, which he did through his illusionary world. He spoke with Zi Yu about how curious he was to see how the Dark Ones society would turn out and offered to preach to the swordsman, who politely said maybe later. Zhen Chan then left to spread his philosophies.
Five years on, GuiMei SenLin returned alive and well, referring to a mysterious master whilst assisting Ah Gou and the other Dark Ones fight a threat from the Phantom Island. Whilst still far away, he lends his support by offering anonymous telepathic encouragement. Arriving after the city they were fighting in was transported to the neighbouring world (riding a giant bull, no less), he explains he has been travelling the world under various guises and learning from people, as well as monitoring suspicious activities. He warns the Dark Ones (that cannot survive in the parallel universe of Phantom Island and have thus been left behind) that the Gods are planning something and it is likely revenge. He witnesses the city returning in the form of a giant weapon in the shape of a huge stone man.
He continues to investigate the activities of the Gods, coming across a cruelly and apparently pointlessly destroyed human city. Finding the last survivor, he heals the young boy just as another of the Sage Kings arrives with the mission of bringing him home to the Gods. Zhen Chan refuses, claiming the 'newcomers' (strange winged and horned gods who have been performing the unprovoked attacks) cannot be taught peace. The other Sage King, Tian Wu, attacks him and the boy, but Zhen Chan redirects the force of the attack to allow them both to escape.
From a distance, Zhen Chan witnesses that the Crystal Mountain of the Gods is now mobile, flying on the back of Tian's Divine Beast, a gigantic dragon. He realises it is heading for the Dark Ones city. He tells the human boy they were destined to meet and once the battle is over he will return, then takes off in the form of petals. His cow leads the boy to a town.
When the battle between the revived Ancient Gods (the winged newcomers and others closer to Tian, lead by Shen Yen) versus the humans, Dark Ones, Phantom Island Inhabitants and the new gods rages on, Zhen Chan sides with the latter- alongside reviving and healing many, his major contribution was defeating the dual souled final Sage King, Lan Yue & Zi Ri. Together they were the only gods able to use multiple Divine Powers. Deciding redeeming them of their evil would be a good choice, he bound their hands with his prayer beads, sapping their strength should they think of committing evil actions. Once that was done, he healed the wielder of the giant city statue which destroyed the Crystal Mountain, a key part of defeating Shen Yen once and for all.
Thus he was witness to the return of Tian, who revealed having his plans end prematurely was nothing new. Each time he simply destroyed the entire god and human society and started anew- in fact, the current generation of gods were the fourth generation. He had only taken some time to mourn the final loss of his wife before returning. Ah Gou challenged him to a handicapped battle and the outcome remained unknown- but Tian no longer appeared before anyone in the world from that day forward.
Zhen Chan called together the now leaderless gods and told them from now on he wished for them to live equally with humans, with he and the remaining Sage Kings enforcing his wish. None wished to challenge them and he spent the rest of his time preaching to gods and humans, whilst easily fending off assassination attempts from Lan Yue & Zi Ri. In time, he, Lan Yue & Zi Ri and GuiMei SenLin head out on an untold but perilous Journey to the West.
Personality:
Called the True Saint and exhibiting a great number of qualities of a Buddha, Zhen Chan is serene, calm and disconnected from Earthly wants and vices. He has no interest in enjoying the luxuries usually afforded to the Gods and doesn't desire human reverence, although he did believe they should follow Godly laws- but importantly, because it was for their own good, not for his own ego. He is humble and does nothing for the sake of glory. He immediately owns up to and accepts any failure of his and is willing to make amends for it too.
He was loyal to the God's civilisation due to respect for Tian, and unlike the other Gods, due to his great wisdom and not his power. This is linked to one of his dearest beliefs, that what is good and beautiful should not descend into barbarism. To him becoming a wanton, barbaric being that lives for violence and without ideals is the worst state a creature can be in. Only to protect lofty ideals such as truth, justice and civility will he breach his pacifism. Even when forced to violence, he apologises to his opponents and expresses sadness at his and their own actions, finding killing to be a horrendous thing. Notably, he visibly (though silently) prays whilst fighting, counting on his prayer beads. He informs others he would rather they cease fighting and go or convert to his way of thinking rather than harm them, and truly pities those he must harm without any malicious intentions on his part.
He often talks in proverbs and with an elaborate esoteric manner, seemingly incapable of reigning in his need to spread his wisdom. Preaching to people and helping them through their problems is practically the only thing he actually likes doing. As a result, he has a reputation for talking too much. That said he has his share of wisdom to give out, words to encourage inner peace and true happiness. Those who listen to him earnestly say speaking to him is like being purified from within. He acts only when there is no uncertainty in his heart, which gives him a strong will but has its downside- if he is made to doubt himself, it can cause him to stop and reconsider everything before acting once again. Quite stern but utterly serene, he deals with everything in a calm, collected manner with small, subtle expressions of his emotions. As Zhen Chan, he never expresses anger or fear (though he does show surprise on occasion). He also very rarely shows happiness overtly, smiling infrequently and often at enigmatic times.
That's as Zhen Chan, however. When his transformation into Er Chan is triggered by an utter, unrelenting refusal of his beliefs and a willingness to purposefully be an ignorant barbarian his personality flips. Though it is vastly more difficult to induce the change now (and perhaps impossible if Er Chan has truly been destroyed permanently) than it was in the past, Er Chan emerges in a blustering flurry. Endlessly violent and angry, his arrogance is also enormous. He claims he is omnipotent and omniscient, so everyone should revere him and follow his wisdom without question. Not hesitating to kill anyone who is foolish enough to disagree with him he refers to those people as 'vile spawn.' He subjects them to torments and threatens to seal their souls, preventing them from being reincarnated.
Powers: See here!
Notes:
I play the transformation into Er Chan as still being possible, but extremely difficult.
Abilities:
Jul. 1st, 2014 08:17 pmZhen Chan is a God, which in his world runs upon a series of rules-
1) Every God has a Divine Power, separated into many categories. This Divine Power is something they are born with and cannot change. These powers are usually separated into groups and then into more specific subsections. For example, Divine Power: Heaven and Earth has been shown in three forms- one for control of lighting, one for control of wind and one for control of earth. Each user can only control that one area of influence.
2) Gods can learn Divine Skill, mastering the power they have and releasing a great deal of strength in an instant. Divine Skill can be completely different or complementary to their Divine Power.
3) Gods can learn Mantra, essentially casting spells by consuming an amount of Transcendent Vigour, their life force. Mantra has many uses, ranging from defensive enchantments to binding spells to cursing beings to undeath to controlling minds.
All Gods are more physically powerful in all respects than humans, a child stronger than tens of humans. They are also much more inherently intelligent than humans. They are also able to sustain themselves in harsh environments such as Hell. On average they live three hundred years or so, aging and maturing much more slowly than humans, but more powerful individuals live longer- the oldest is over ten thousand years old.
Zhen Chan is an especially unique God. He possesses the Divine Power: Eternal Life, an ability used for healing and protection primarily, but his skill in it is so incredible he is one of the five given the warrior title of Sage King, a title given only to the utmost of the elite and usually reserved for those who had become Great Gods, the winners of combative competitions. He is also very skilled in Mantra and has an advantage over other users in that his Divine Power restores his Transcendent Vigour immediately. He possesses great strength and durability, far beyond that of most warrior gods but there is little chance of him directly utilising them. His 'fighting style' in fact has very little directly offensive abilities and of those, none are physical. He is also agile and able to fly. As with all users of Divine Power: Eternal Life he can heal others. His is great enough he is effectively immortal himself- the true manifestation of Eternal Life. Often as an unintended side effect of using his powers, plants and animals come into existence, usually just flowers, grass, butterflies and birds but he can conciously control it.
It is unclear sometimes whether the abilities Zhen Chan uses are Divine Power, Divine Skill or Mantra and I choose not to speculate. The following is a list of the powers he uses.
Unnamed Blessing; Using Divine Power he spreads light to his companions to grant them incredible regeneration. Even this weaker version can restore serious wounds.
Divine Power: Eternal Life- Endless Reincarnation Increasing the blessing, even fatal wounds are negated. However it cannot revive those already dead, and decapitation will still kill.
Unnamed Blossom Skill Zhen Chan turns himself into blue blossoms and travels quickly through the air. He can also make small platforms of blossoms around his feet to float on. He can communicate in this form.
Binding Curse A curse that binds.
Over powering A simple but effective ability to release his power in a manner that can even breach dimensional walls. Effective physically and on energy.
Divine Skill: Wheel of Judgement Using Divine Skill Zhen Chan inflicts the wounds the target has created in the past upon them themselves.
True Form of Arhat This skill creates a huge statue like form used for brute force combat. Zhen Chan is inside.
Divine Power: Empty Reflection of the Moon Zhen Chan focuses his power to become intangible. He is unaffected by attacks and instead the attacker receives the damage.
World Within The World More of a side effect than a skill. When Zhen Chang gets serious the landscape changes, creating a small universe.
Boundless World A more focused and effective version of the above, Boundless World creates a real world that plays out the life of the target changing it through countless reiterations to enlighten them. This requires the creation of a stone totem that is hard to leave quickly for Zhen Chan. It is possible to escape the Boundless World with an incredibly clear mind that values the things changed too much to let them go. Boundless World does not have to be damaging and can be used to save someone's soul from dangerous influences, or allow people to learn more about themselves.
Prayer Bead Binding By wrapping his beads around an opponent he can attune them to that person at which point they will tighten and drain the target's strength whenever that person has evil thoughts, making them unable to harm others so long as the beads remain.
This collection of sophisticated abilities lend themselves well to a defensive style, that overcomes opponents with non-violent means and allows Zhen Chan to not take responsibility for the death of his opponents as they (often literally) bring it upon themselves. Even his direct attacks are not done by himself but rather by a construct.
However, under certain circumstances Zhen Chan transforms into Er Chan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
listenhereyoushit), a representation of his internal struggle with enlightenment and the world. Physically and mentally the opposite of the serene Zhen Chan, Er Chan also has very different abilities.
His physical durability is utterly insane and his 'overpower' is always in effect. However, his Divine Power: Eternal Life is inverted. His great physical strength makes just his voice a weapon and his speed and skill are not lacking either.
He possesses a single seen power-
Wheel of Sin This skill traps the target in realm of gears that reflect their sins. In this way it is similar to Wheel of Judgement, but with the difference that the boundary is infinite. Because the universe of Wheel of Sin exists in the palm of his hand he can crush it at any time. Wheel of Sin can be escaped by a force great enough to hold it together and punch outside.
Although his destructive capacity has increased massively, it is a brute power that (barring Wheel of Sin) lacks the unconventional nature of Zhen Chan's abilities and thus is in some ways easier to deal with.
Weaknesses
Although generally lacking in any specifically crippling holes in his armour, Zhen Chan does have his weaknesses.
Heaven Punisher is a sword wielded by the strongest human swordsman, Zi Yu. It is created by the power of Smelting Aura, an ability to forge objects with special qualities by using material from another world. The special quality of Heaven Punisher is a flame that burns Transcendent Vigour and can therefore destroy the power of the Gods. It renders Divine Power: Empty Reflection of the Moon useless (as the flames do minimal damage to anything but Gods and the process still sets Zhen Chan alight), though he can still dispel it by overpowering the flames when in small amounts. Similar powers would have the same effect.
Divine Power: Monochrome is the rarest divine power, and possesses the ability to suppress all forms of attack or defence within its colour draining field of effect, draining the power of all skills by an amount equal to the user's power. Although Zhen Chan has not fought anyone with the power, I would imagine it would be quite effective on him due to his reliance on his abilities, although they would still have to over power him.
Psychological fighting is likely to be fairly effective, as Zhen Chan ultimately would like to resolve matters without bloodshed and seeks only truth and peace. By manipulating his feelings, either purposefully or not, it is possible to cause him to cease fighting. Although he firmly holds his beliefs, successfully causing him to question them demoralises him. Additionally, Er Chan is easy to anger and trick into making mistakes.
Lack of Battle Experience as a result of his low number of fights and abilities that help him to avoid conventional combat, Zhen Chan can be taken by surprise by more experienced warriors or especially tricky ones.
Focus is required for most of Zhen Chan's techniques and he can only use one at a time. Shortly after the use of one, there is a window where it is difficult to use another.
1) Every God has a Divine Power, separated into many categories. This Divine Power is something they are born with and cannot change. These powers are usually separated into groups and then into more specific subsections. For example, Divine Power: Heaven and Earth has been shown in three forms- one for control of lighting, one for control of wind and one for control of earth. Each user can only control that one area of influence.
2) Gods can learn Divine Skill, mastering the power they have and releasing a great deal of strength in an instant. Divine Skill can be completely different or complementary to their Divine Power.
3) Gods can learn Mantra, essentially casting spells by consuming an amount of Transcendent Vigour, their life force. Mantra has many uses, ranging from defensive enchantments to binding spells to cursing beings to undeath to controlling minds.
All Gods are more physically powerful in all respects than humans, a child stronger than tens of humans. They are also much more inherently intelligent than humans. They are also able to sustain themselves in harsh environments such as Hell. On average they live three hundred years or so, aging and maturing much more slowly than humans, but more powerful individuals live longer- the oldest is over ten thousand years old.
Zhen Chan is an especially unique God. He possesses the Divine Power: Eternal Life, an ability used for healing and protection primarily, but his skill in it is so incredible he is one of the five given the warrior title of Sage King, a title given only to the utmost of the elite and usually reserved for those who had become Great Gods, the winners of combative competitions. He is also very skilled in Mantra and has an advantage over other users in that his Divine Power restores his Transcendent Vigour immediately. He possesses great strength and durability, far beyond that of most warrior gods but there is little chance of him directly utilising them. His 'fighting style' in fact has very little directly offensive abilities and of those, none are physical. He is also agile and able to fly. As with all users of Divine Power: Eternal Life he can heal others. His is great enough he is effectively immortal himself- the true manifestation of Eternal Life. Often as an unintended side effect of using his powers, plants and animals come into existence, usually just flowers, grass, butterflies and birds but he can conciously control it.
It is unclear sometimes whether the abilities Zhen Chan uses are Divine Power, Divine Skill or Mantra and I choose not to speculate. The following is a list of the powers he uses.
Unnamed Blessing; Using Divine Power he spreads light to his companions to grant them incredible regeneration. Even this weaker version can restore serious wounds.
Divine Power: Eternal Life- Endless Reincarnation Increasing the blessing, even fatal wounds are negated. However it cannot revive those already dead, and decapitation will still kill.
Unnamed Blossom Skill Zhen Chan turns himself into blue blossoms and travels quickly through the air. He can also make small platforms of blossoms around his feet to float on. He can communicate in this form.
Binding Curse A curse that binds.
Over powering A simple but effective ability to release his power in a manner that can even breach dimensional walls. Effective physically and on energy.
Divine Skill: Wheel of Judgement Using Divine Skill Zhen Chan inflicts the wounds the target has created in the past upon them themselves.
True Form of Arhat This skill creates a huge statue like form used for brute force combat. Zhen Chan is inside.
Divine Power: Empty Reflection of the Moon Zhen Chan focuses his power to become intangible. He is unaffected by attacks and instead the attacker receives the damage.
World Within The World More of a side effect than a skill. When Zhen Chang gets serious the landscape changes, creating a small universe.
Boundless World A more focused and effective version of the above, Boundless World creates a real world that plays out the life of the target changing it through countless reiterations to enlighten them. This requires the creation of a stone totem that is hard to leave quickly for Zhen Chan. It is possible to escape the Boundless World with an incredibly clear mind that values the things changed too much to let them go. Boundless World does not have to be damaging and can be used to save someone's soul from dangerous influences, or allow people to learn more about themselves.
Prayer Bead Binding By wrapping his beads around an opponent he can attune them to that person at which point they will tighten and drain the target's strength whenever that person has evil thoughts, making them unable to harm others so long as the beads remain.
This collection of sophisticated abilities lend themselves well to a defensive style, that overcomes opponents with non-violent means and allows Zhen Chan to not take responsibility for the death of his opponents as they (often literally) bring it upon themselves. Even his direct attacks are not done by himself but rather by a construct.
However, under certain circumstances Zhen Chan transforms into Er Chan (
listenhereyoushit), a representation of his internal struggle with enlightenment and the world. Physically and mentally the opposite of the serene Zhen Chan, Er Chan also has very different abilities.His physical durability is utterly insane and his 'overpower' is always in effect. However, his Divine Power: Eternal Life is inverted. His great physical strength makes just his voice a weapon and his speed and skill are not lacking either.
He possesses a single seen power-
Wheel of Sin This skill traps the target in realm of gears that reflect their sins. In this way it is similar to Wheel of Judgement, but with the difference that the boundary is infinite. Because the universe of Wheel of Sin exists in the palm of his hand he can crush it at any time. Wheel of Sin can be escaped by a force great enough to hold it together and punch outside.
Although his destructive capacity has increased massively, it is a brute power that (barring Wheel of Sin) lacks the unconventional nature of Zhen Chan's abilities and thus is in some ways easier to deal with.
Weaknesses
Although generally lacking in any specifically crippling holes in his armour, Zhen Chan does have his weaknesses.
Heaven Punisher is a sword wielded by the strongest human swordsman, Zi Yu. It is created by the power of Smelting Aura, an ability to forge objects with special qualities by using material from another world. The special quality of Heaven Punisher is a flame that burns Transcendent Vigour and can therefore destroy the power of the Gods. It renders Divine Power: Empty Reflection of the Moon useless (as the flames do minimal damage to anything but Gods and the process still sets Zhen Chan alight), though he can still dispel it by overpowering the flames when in small amounts. Similar powers would have the same effect.
Divine Power: Monochrome is the rarest divine power, and possesses the ability to suppress all forms of attack or defence within its colour draining field of effect, draining the power of all skills by an amount equal to the user's power. Although Zhen Chan has not fought anyone with the power, I would imagine it would be quite effective on him due to his reliance on his abilities, although they would still have to over power him.
Psychological fighting is likely to be fairly effective, as Zhen Chan ultimately would like to resolve matters without bloodshed and seeks only truth and peace. By manipulating his feelings, either purposefully or not, it is possible to cause him to cease fighting. Although he firmly holds his beliefs, successfully causing him to question them demoralises him. Additionally, Er Chan is easy to anger and trick into making mistakes.
Lack of Battle Experience as a result of his low number of fights and abilities that help him to avoid conventional combat, Zhen Chan can be taken by surprise by more experienced warriors or especially tricky ones.
Focus is required for most of Zhen Chan's techniques and he can only use one at a time. Shortly after the use of one, there is a window where it is difficult to use another.
