The Butterfly Princess, also known as 'Cho'

Ageless

It is said that long ago, a young maiden was born in a poor village. There, she grew up among poverty and the ill. However, it is told that she was a kind soul and found her happiness there where she could. Her family was a normal one, trying their best to get by where they could.

There in that village, the maiden met a young man by the name of Ryugan and he slowly become her lover as they grew older. However, life was not as simple as the maiden would have liked. The village was suddenly being taxed by the emperor, far more than it could bare to give up. The maiden was upset but did not condone violence, and so, she spoke with the soldier that came to take the tax. She tried her best to convince them but it was all in vain, they would only listen to their emperor and their orders were absolute. They hit the poor maiden and sent her back, hoping the scare would be enough to keep her away from them.

However, it only managed to anger Ryugan, her now husband. He formed a group with the young men and some women of the village and planned an attack on the soldiers that came. They were successful but... all was not fine. Not only was the maiden upset with him, when the soldiers returned, they returned with the general, a powerful man who took Ryugan away from the maiden and took him to the palace to be executed.

Distraught, the maiden packed her things and made way for the palace, nothing on her mind except for her precious loved one. However, her horse was not as fast and as she reached the steps to the palace, it had begun. There stood before her, her love, Ryugan. He was staring lifelessly out at he crowd forming but his eyes lit up as he saw her.

Time slowed as the maiden screamed, running up to her husband. However, as she did, the candle had died and the blade was lifted. Another shrill scream came as it all ended. She cried over the body of her dead husband, his face looking so peaceful. The guards tried to take her away and... as the story goes... she turned around with a rage in her eyes and clawed out the eyes of the first guard to touch her.

Gone was her notion of violence being bad, gone was the sweet maiden they had known before. All that was left, was a shell of the woman she'd left behind. The maiden was broken, her heart shattered. She attacked anyone who came near her. It wasn't until the general approached that she even spoke a word.

"You..." She breathed and then charged at him. To say it was unfair would be an understatement as the general quickly restrained her. The general not one to kill women, made pretense with the people before him and claimed he would kill the wench in his own bedchamber after taking her for himself.

These words broke her further as she fell limp against him, her will completely gone from her. The general's biggest mistake was what he'd done that night. He was kind to the maiden and eventually let her go once things had died down. Not even his niceties would warm her cold heart. She wandered the land, gathering warriors for her cause. She was very charismatic and with this group she attacked many regimes of soldiers, killing innocents in the crossfire.

Eventually, her group grew to the size of an army that she herself led. Clad in shining armor, she and her army comprised of hand picked men made way for the palace. She would have her revenge on this emperor and his men. Blind in her war path, the maiden killed all who stood in her way and finally found herself once again at the steps of the palace, staring at the general who stood before her.

At once and without warning, she rushed at him and the battle commenced. This time, she was an equal match for him and they fought for ages before the general finally consented defeat and laid down his sword. Satisfied, the maiden walked the steps of the palace and smiled as she saw the man before her. The emperor.

However, she did not see him for long as she felt the stinging feel of a sword through her back. The general had lied and now his sword sat inside of her stomach.

That day, the maiden died and as she did, the emperor looked down at her with piercing gray eyes. She slowly drifted... to where, she didn't know. But soon, she came to a meadow where Ryugan sat, smiling at her. However, as she approached, his smile faded and she looked down to see herself covered in blood. He smiled turned to tears as he watched her.

"My love... what have you become? I'm so sorry..."

His voice was soft and trembling as he lifted a hand to touch her. She jumped away as he came close, realizing exactly what she had become. She could feel her body being pulled away from him by the hands of the people she had killed. She could feel the darkness wrapping around her, pulling her in.

And then... a light pierced it's way in the form of a single blue butterfly. It flittered down and the darkness crept away. It's light was utterly blinding to the maiden.

"Hello. It seems you have been lost on your path, little one..." It spoke to her, or so the story goes. The lone butterfly offered the maiden a choice. She could spend eternity in darkness, or she could come back to earth as a goddess and spend her entire life making up for her actions. If she saved enough people, she might be able to come back and be with Ryugan again.

The maiden, not having much of a choice, took the entity up on their offer and thus the legend of the Butterfly Princess was born. Now named Cho, she has long forgotten her real name. The only memory she keeps with her now, is the smiling face of her loved one in the meadow. Since then, she has been chased by generations of emperors who no longer know the reason why they chase her, what chaos she had inflicted upon them in her life.

Chokan Shi Lan (Forgive me for making up BS names. Especially if they sound silly.)(I'm pretty sure Fao Shang is from Mulan too. Lel.)

26 y/o

Chokan, as the child of a widowed bride, finds himself often fighting for the things he wants. Though, he never really condoned his mother's actions, he never tried to stop them. He watched as she wormed her way into the high court and eventually at the Emperor's side as his bride.

Li Fang had many children with the Emperor, most of them sisters for Chokan but a few of them were born brothers. Li Fang, not wanting those children to become the Emperor so that she could keep her power, knew that she still had to have children for her son-less husband. If she hadn't it would have been bad for both her and Chokan.

Having spent a good deal of her time with herbs while with her new husband, Li Fang had discovered she had a natural talent with poisons and over the years made both herself and her son, Chokan, immune to them by having them eat them constantly.

It was the day of Chokan's brother, Kouran, to ascend the throne as their father had just passed and was the time for Li Fang to strike with the help of her son. That morning, Chokan brought to his brother a 'well-wishes' drink of sake, wanting to toast to the soon to be Emperor's success. Li Fang had spent the night changing the other brother's clothes and while Chokan did his part, she was dressing her sons in clothes lined with poison.

Before the ceremony was over, all that was left was Chokan and Li Fang. The advisers were shocked and did not know what to do. Li Fang, using her cunning, convinced them all to continue the ceremony with Chokan since he was the next rightful heir. After all, it would be a waste to stop now.

Chokan was crowned as the Emperor and his brothers were laid to rest. Later, he read in his step-father's diaries about a beautiful being that eluded the family for years. A smiled crept it's way onto his face. What a perfect way to show that his family was a much better choice for royalty.

Now, Chokan sits with the Butterfly Princess in his possession and his mother grinning gleefully at his side. The only problem... is his sister. Naoi Fao Shang. She claims to have seen their heinous deeds and plans to ruin Chokan and his mother. She swears that he will have no sons and that her own will become the true emperor. What will she do if he decides to attack her or her only son?