[h1][b][i][color=f6989d][center]Li Ju[/center][/color][/i][/b][/h1]
[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/VEVsn0q.png[/img][/center]
[h1][color=f6989d][center]Character Summary[/center][/color][/h1]
[b]Name:[/b] Mrs. Li
[b]Age:[/b] Middle Aged
[b]Race:[/b] Chinese Mantis
[b]Gender:[/b] Female
[b]Class/Job:[/b] Widow

[h3][color=f6989d]Belongings[/color][/h3][list]
[*]The full estates and manor of her late husband, Mr. Li Chen, and all associated enterprises
[*]Li Chen's journal of alchemical formulae, kept on her person at all times
[*]A sample kit of her late husband's more popular wares
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[h3][color=f6989d]Skills and Abilities[/color][/h3][list]
[*]Mrs. Li is a capable housewife and highborn lady in all respects, from entertaining company to cleaning up when said entertaining goes horribly, inevitably wrong.
[*]Mrs. Li is possessed of all the abilities common to her kind- flight, camouflage, razor-sharp sickle arms, the ability to rotate her head 180 degrees, etc.
[*]Though considered a clumsy and an untalented fighter for her kind, the aftereffects of her husband's alchemical experimentation has gifted Mrs. Li with prodigious- some would even say [i]freakish[/i]- size, strength, and appetite. She has also developed a tendency to spit corrosive acid when under duress, a fact which she finds extremely embarrassing.
[*]Mrs. Li is possessed of some minimal knowledge of alchemy due to her upbringing, though she still can't make heads or tails of her husband's more complex formulae. Li Ju's real talent lies with her deceptively sharp business acumen and experience in dealing with the noble houses.
[*]Mrs. Li knows her manor and the surrounding lands like the back of her claw, along with all it's myriad secret rooms and passages.
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[sup][color=f6989d]"It gets so lonely at night, up here in the manor..."[/color][/sup]
[h3][color=f6989d]Personality[/color][/h3]
Mrs. Ju was often noted for being a perfect match with her late husband up until his death: Remarkably well-mannered, exceedingly helpful, and monstrously absentminded. Following the death of her husband, Mrs. Li attempts to ward off loneliness with company, inviting all manner and class of arthropod into her manor for lunch. Unusually for a mantis, Li Ju prefers not to dirty her hands, considering violence boorish and unbecoming of a lady.
[h3][color=f6989d]History[/color][/h3]
Li Ju (Originally Tang Ju) hails from the noble house of Tenodera. The 14th daughter of her brood, she likely would have languished her whole life as a minor court official had she not been the nymph-hood sweetheart (and occasional test subject) of the renowned alchemist Li Chen. Chosen as the famously-chaste apothecary's mate only a week or so into full adulthood, what followed was a whirlwind romance filled with passion, excitement, and highly unethical mantid experimentation. 

All dreams, however, must come to an end, and so too did Mrs. Li's husband. He was found messily decapitated in his study one summer night, the remains of his head having vanished without a trace. The door, though locked, showed no signs of forced entry, and the only other person with a key had been Mrs. Li herself- who confirmed that none could have possibly entered her husband's study without her knowledge, due to the layout of the manor. In absence of any clue to the murderer's identity, it was deemed a freak accident; the case remains unsolved to this day.

Mrs. Li was, of course, inconsolable over the entire matter. To cope with her grief, she threw herself into work, seizing full control over her husband's estates to protect them from the notoriously-ruthless noble houses. In doing so, the late Mr. Li's business enterprises have seen a remarkable rise in profits. Surprising, to be sure, considering the poor woman's reputation for absentmindedness.