Here is my sheet! Let me know how it goes. [hider=Lei Fan] [center][h3][b]L E I F A N[/b][/h3] [sub]'Vague words of wisdom strike as hard as a feather and teach us what we already know.'[/sub][/center] [b]Character Age:[/b] 18 [b]Character Gender:[/b] Female [b]Character Race:[/b] Earth Kingdom [b]Bending:[/b] Earthbending - Novice. Lei’s earthbending is misguided instead of unskilled. Her tutors have been unable to pick up on her peculiarities and rectify the issue, writing her off as a poor student. Her bending is crude, abrupt and often destructive. It lacks the finesse of a proficient bender and copies the basic forms and movements taught to novices because Lei’s form is too loose and flowing to hold more complex attacks. Under the right training she could become an exceptional sandbender or learn to manipulate stone more fluidly instead of presuming it to be a rough, immutable element. She may take to mudbending with more enthusiasm. [b]Skills:[/b] Martial Arts: Lei’s fighting style is similar to Aikido and Jiu Jitsu. It specialises in nonresistance, manoeuvrability, grapples and joint locks, working with the opponent’s momentum and strength to pin and subdue them. This style helps Lei take on opponents that are stronger and larger than her or evade oncoming attacks with ease. It is a form of self defence as her strikes aren’t capable of seriously injuring anyone. Spiritual Sensitivity: Lei was born with a significant amount of spiritual energy. This makes her sensitive to the spirit world and more in-tune with her surroundings. Her rampant emotions prevent her from being able to deliberately use this sensitivity to her advantage; in fact, it is unlikely that Lei even recognises what this phenomenon is. Instead she is acutely aware of the way the atmosphere in a room can change, pick up on the prickles of fear before an ambush, is deeply affected by the pain and suffering of others and has an easier time communicating with spirits. On rare occasions of deep internal conflict, mortal peril or other significant opportunities (as decided upon by the GM when they see fit), she can temporarily visit the spirit world in her dreams. Without the proper guidance it is unlikely Lei will be able to tap into these energies. [b]Weaknesses:[/b] Lei's self esteem is tied to her feelings of validation. She takes critique too personally. Disapproval from role models can make her lose confidence in herself and leave her dispirited and morose, even going so far as to disrupt her bending abilities. Lei is governed by her emotions. She acts irrationally, speaks out of turn, rushes headlong into problems and is easy to manipulate. Her empathetic demeanour pushes her to do ‘the right thing’, even if it’s a hindrance to her own goals and even when the other party is preying on her gullibility. Lei’s spiritual sensitivity leaves her vulnerable to spiritual attacks. Spirits can possess her with little to no resistance. Energybending is devastatingly effective against her. Her attunement to her surroundings means that areas of corruption, pollution or extreme hatred can make her sick or weak. Lei’s reticence to hurt other people is a hindrance in her combat abilities. Her offensive capabilities are weak, the lack of control over her bending frightens her against using it often and her sensitivity towards others can cripple her with guilt. [b]Posessions:[/b] A small hemp doll which she sleeps with at night. Helps ground her emotions and calm her down. She calls it Woo. [b]Biography:[/b] To understand how Lei Fan got into the mess she's presently in, you have to go back through her family history. The Jiying bloodline can be traced back for hundreds of years. They used to be beings of spiritual importance, devoting their lives to meditation and refinement of their link to the spirit world. When Wan closed the portals, the clan moved from the south to the north pole and became sequestered in the foggy swamp. Through the generations the practices of intense spiritual piety waned and the spiritual energy within them diluted with each new child. In tandem with this, the Fan bloodline wandered from their ancient roots in the Si Wong desert towards the mainland Earth Kingdom with the growing prosperity of the monarchy and began to use their fluid bending style as mudbending for agricultural purposes. As nonbenders filtered into the clan and harsh winters made farm labour more important than earthbending training, the priorities shifted. Soon, the old techniques were figuratively buried by the accessibility of traditional earthbending training in schools and the matter of their heritage was forgotten in the annals of time. Lei is a figurative relic of these two bloodlines, a curious remnant of a varied history now muddied, watery and clouded in her tumultuous search for what truly feels 'right'. She is significantly weaker than her ancestors but feels that insatiable nagging urge for something different that has been tugging her headlong into all manner of trials and tribulations since the day she knew she could bend. Her childhood was comfortable and prosperous; she never went hungry and had plenty of friends as well as her two sisters to play with. Her mother taught her how to read and write, whilst her father taught her the importance of tending to the land and respecting the area she grew up in. By and large she was brought up in a loving home with a compassionate family that even went so far as to push Lei to pursue her interest in earthbending by signing her up to a school in Ba Sing Se. Their intentions were kindhearted and sincere; after her sister Hui left with her grandparents back to the foggy swamp, Lei had grown even closer to her remaining sisters and missed Xue terribly as she spent long hours in the city and was starting to change, grow distant from her roots... This is the start of an internal conflict that will haunt Lei for over a decade. Almost immediately upon starting her training, Lei struggled to keep up with her peers. Her form was considered sloppy, too loose and ineffective for standard earthbending techniques. She managed to grasp the basics and even perfect them but her skills weren’t up to par with the people around her. In order to remedy her form she also started to take martial arts classes, and whilst she did well in the dojo she scraped by with a passing grade for her earthbending training. The stubbornness of rock made her hesitant to further its practice, affecting her self confidence. After all; why would a bender feel such resistance against their own element? The transition to Ba Sing Se also had a significant impact on her health as well. Moving from the peaceful countryside to a large city was always going to be a culture shock, but for reasons that Lei could not understand the swollen crowds, cramped spaces and rampant individualist greed gave her stomach aches, headaches and paranoia. Since there was no real explanation to her problems she pegged it down as her own silly nerves and this compounded her rapidly dwindling self esteem alongside the failing classes. This belief was compounded by those brief but highly sought after visits to see Xue, who dismissed her concerns and encouraged her to keep working through the 'growing pains'. After she passed she returned home and languished in the farm, detached and listless, firm in her belief that she couldn’t keep up with the high paced requirements of the city nor could she merely settle into growing radishes for the foreseeable future. Lei believed she was a failure when compared to her sisters. Luo remained to watch the aftermath and knew that Lei needed some more life experience under her belt to discover where she truly belonged. She pulled some sisters with Xue to get her some employment that kept her out in the sunshine, moving and talking with people - all things that Lei enjoyed more than dingy offices or gruelling labour. Working as a courier in the grand Si Wong City would suit her well once she got used to the shock! All she had to do was write back to her family, and often; with as much detail as she could fit in. They didn’t want a repeat of Ba Sing Se, after all. Lei packed her things and made her way towards the desert with a smile on her face and a brief letter of recommendation from her father for her new flatmate; a grizzled yet kindly man called Lalo Zheng, who had helped her father long ago to construct a water tower and agreed to take the youngling under his roof until she had settled in. [b]Supporting Cast:[/b] Qian Fan: Lei’s father. A kindhearted family man, eternally proud of his daughters. He is a native to the Earth Kingdom who uses his earthbending techniques solely for the benefit of his radish farm. Meng Fan: A foggy swamp waterbender who ventured into the Earth Kingdom at a young age, met and fell in love with Qian and had four daughters. Uses her waterbending to tend to the radish crop that has sustained her family. Her spiritual sensitivity was passed down from her mother, Lei’s grandmother. Xue Fan: A ruthless, cruel and apathetic politician in the upper echelons of Ba Sing Se. Currently lobbying for the takeover of Si Wong city. The oldest Fan daughter, whose shadow engulfs Lei and produces the image to which she often compares herself. Xue wholeheartedly believes that the stability of the Earth Kingdom would be a better government for the independent city to maintain its prosperity and longevity, and for this she is willing to take any measure to seize control over it - purely for the benefit of its denizens. Though extremely busy, she does sometimes try to take the time to send letters to her siblings and her parents. She is fond of Lei but believes she knows what is best for her. Does not possess any bending capabilities or spiritual sensitivity. Luo Fan: The second oldest daughter of the Fan family. Tends to the radish farm and is married to Chun Liuxian, a carpenter. Physically strong but academically weak, she invested into the family business and is heavily pregnant with her first child. An earthbender like her father. Hui Fan: The second youngest daughter of the Fan family. Returned to the Foggy Swamp to live with her maternal grandparents at a very young age. A deeply spiritual individual who shares Lei’s sensitivity yet chose to fully devote herself to honing her connection with the spirit plane, revoking worldly goods and becoming a monk. Rarely, if ever, writes to Lei - though perhaps keeps an eye on her little sister through their spiritual connection. A waterbender and a healer. Toyen Yang: Lei’s old mentor. Teaches at one of the earthbending schools in Ba Sing Se. His desire to teach as many students as possible scripted his training style to produce a universal standard instead of bringing out a student’s natural advantages. Lei stands out, albeit marginally, as one of his less capable students who managed to scrape a pass in the end. More characters may be added at the GM’s discretion, provided a quick discussion prefaces the ones that may have a predetermined connection to the character. [/hider]