[center][b][h1][color=olive]I R O N F I S T[/color][/h1][/b][b][color=yellow]Orson Randall, Older than Dirt (b. 1890 - kept young by the chi of Shou-Lao the Undying)[/color][/b] [i][sub][color=yellow]Protector of K'un L'un Adventurer, Former WWI soldier[/color][/sub][/i] [img]https://comicvine1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/original/0/40/141473-112959-orson-randall.jpg[/img][/center] [center][color=yellow][i]"Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres. There is music in the midst of desolation And a glory that shines upon our tears. They went with songs to the battle, they were young, Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn..."[/i][/color] - From 'For the Fallen', by Laurence Binyon[/center] [INDENT][h3][color=olive]Character Concept[/color][/h3][/indent][hr] [color=999999]In the late nineteenth century, revolutionary scientist/mechanical genius Phineas Randall, deemed to circumnavigate the world in his colossal airship. With an incredible stroke of fate, Phineas crashed into the mythical heavenly city of K'un L'un during the brief window where it aligned with our dimension on Earth. Healers did their best to save the life of Phineas wife, at that time eight months pregnant, but were only able to save the child. Their new son, Orson. Phineas was brought before the Yu-Ti, the Dragon Kings and the Gods of K'un L'un as they demanded an explanation for his desecration of the Holy City and asked what he could offer in recompense. Presumably unable to pay, Phineas was put to work. Meanwhile, the son, Orson was left to roam the streets, the outsider often getting picked on by local children. Until Lei Kung the Thunderer saw potential in the young boy. His spirit was strong. He had become hardened to their bullying. The Thunderer took Orson Randall into his tutelege. He began on his path to find The Way. So much so, that when the Heavenly City next reunited with the Earthly plane he chose to stay in K'un L'un of his own volition. All he knew was there. Over the next cycle his mastery of the martial arts slowly became more refined. He was a naturally spirited fighter, but was more of a blunt implement than most. As many young students of K'un L'un would learn to counter with flow, Orson would find a way to persevere through spite and grit. He seldom met a challenge he couldn't bear down on and break face first, and in those instances where he did, he was generally resourceful enough to shift marginally and just change the point of attack. For that had always been enough. So much so, that Orson Randall had been able to sweep through the field in K'un L'un's tournament for the right to face Shou-Lao the Undying. A fight that would bring the young man face to face with a real dragon; a being of fire, fang, myth and magic. Still the young man was able to best this challenge, and in doing so, would plunge his hands in the dragon's heart and become the next [color=olive][b]IRON FIST - PROTECTOR OF K'UN L'UN[/b][/color]. For whatever that would mean. The city was an oasis hanging between dimensional planes, aside from the occasional attack from H'ylthri, which generally even the farmers could make short work of themselves. The time had come, once again, for K'un L'un to realign itself with the Earth. This time Orson would be sent out into the world, to round out his learning. A twenty year old child, left to discover the world beyond the walls. Orson had an adventurous spirit, and managed to find others of a similar mind. They formed the Confederates of the Curious, and would travel the world in Phineas Randall's airship doing many great things. But then, one day, the 28th of June, 1914, a bullet stopped the clockwork mechanics of the world. Gavrilo Princeps shot the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. [indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]In a month to the day Austro-Hungary declares war on Serbia.[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent] [indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]In four more days Germany declares war with Russia.[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent] [center]In two more days Germany declares war on France.[/center] [right]Less than forty-eight hours later Britain declares war on Germany.[/right] And a man born off world, for violence, jumps into the fray. His will, as with his fists, like unto a thing of iron! But iron, whilst strong, can be brittle... and for as strong and imposing a force of will Orson possessed, even those closest to him could see that he'd never mastered the flexibility. The flow. For proper balance. And so, when the mechanist's son entered the meatgrinder of the trenches in The Great War, he snapped under the sheer weight of death and darkness of man's violence unto man. This was the man who would return to K'un L'un as the dimensional planes shifted. A man who trudged a different walk and smelled richly of drink and the poppy. Drenched in the desire to forget. A born and trained fighter who had seen too much fighting. But he must fight. For now has come the Tournament of the Heavenly Cities! The contest which determines the divine mechanics of the Heavenly cities and their intersection with the Mortal plane! But he has seen too much violence, too much fighting. And so the Iron Fist of K'un L'un refuses. However, refusal is not an option. The Immortal weapons of the seven cities are sent to bring forth the Iron Fist of K'un L'un and force his participation... But then tragedy. Orson Randall, sharpening rapidly out of an opium-induced haze from the surprise attack on his person and the chi of Shou-Lao ever-flowing through his chakras, inadvertantly killed the Immortal Weapon of K'un-Zi! Such a crime could only have one sentence, but when Lei Kung the Thunderer was sent for the execution he found himself unable to kill the drunk, drug-addled wretch which Orson Randall had become. He went back and told the Yu-Ti and the leadership of the Heavenly cities it was done. That Orson Randall, once the Champion of K'un L'un was gone and would not be back. With K'un-Zi left without a champion the tournament was delayed until K'un Zi could produce a new one. K'un L'un was left without dimensional cycling back to Earth until such allowances could be made to restore K'un-Zi's honour. Orson Randall was indeed gone. He had fled with the Book of the Iron Fist. In his drug-addled state he foolishly believed this theft could prevent the cycle of violence that was the legacy of the Iron Fist from coming to pass. Of course it could not, it was just a book. A text made of dragon scale and "Immortal ink". The egg still in the tomb of Shou-Lao the Undying remained and continued to gestate. Orson looked to keep himself hidden. For whilst K'un L'un would not be in the celestial clockwork, he was hated by ALL of the seven cities. He kept himself sedated and withdrawn in a series of opium dens throughout the Orient, lest any sense the mystical presence of the chi of Shou-Lao the Undying. He dreamed away the Second World War, a Civil War and afterwards the First Five Year Plan of the Maoists. As China implemented a Great Leap Forward the dragon within stirred in a way it hadn't in years. Orson Randall awoke to a new nightmare. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/jTF0DR6.png[/img][/center] The chi of Shao-Lao the Undying broke his slumber, he sensed a new dragon had been born. But that shouldn't be possible unless... The Heavenly Cities were once again realigning with the Earth for their Tournament. But that would be none of Orson's concern, except... This new Chinese leader, this Chairman Mao. He had been destroying Buddhist temples, and monuments of various faiths all across their lands, which they considered to include from the Pacific, across the Mekong to Tibet. The CCP had heard legend from monks who spoke of an Immortal Heavenly city which would breach this plane of reality periodically. But he was just one man, and this was an army, and he'd seen such violence already. But just as always the words and wisdom of Lei Kung the Thunderer and he new he couldn't turn his back on his people, the Heavenly Cities and their ways. This is one man's path to inner and outer peace. The Way of the Iron Fist. [Img]https://i.imgur.com/RC1zZAM.jpg[/img] [/color] [indent][h3][color=olive]Key Notes[/color][/h3][/indent][hr] [color=999999][hider=Rough Timeline][b]Roughly 1890[/b] [list][*]Orson Randall is born through mystical means in K'un L'un after his father's accident.[/list] [b]1900[/b] [list][*]Orson Randall turns down the opportunity to escape this strange world as the dimensional planes first realign.[/list] [b]1908[/b] [list][*]A young Orson Randall wins the tournament for the right to face Shou-Lao the Undying. Defeats the Dragon. Becomes Iron Fist of K'un L'un.[/list] [b]1910[/b] [list][*]Orson Randall is sent out into the world, to further round out his experience and learning on Earth as the dimensional planes once again realign.[/list] [b]1910-1914[/b] [list][*]Time spent Adventuring. Confederates of the Curious.[/list] [b]Mid-1914[/b] [list][*]World War I kicks off.[/list] [b]Late-1914[/b] [list][*]Orson Randall enlists in World War I for Her Majesty's Army.[/list] [b]1918[/b] [list][*]Conclusion of World War I[/list] [b]1920[/b] [list][*]Orson Randall returns to K'un L'un as the dimensional planes realign with Earth.[/list] [b]1921[/b] [list][*]Communist Party of China founded.[/list] [b]1927-1937[/b] [list][*]Chinese Civil War - First Phase.[/list] [b]1939-1945[/b] [list][*]World War II. Orson Randall not present, spent most of his days in various opium dens.[/list] [b]1945-1949[/b] [list][*]Chinese Civil War - Second Phase. Republic of China driven out to Taiwan.[/list] [b]1951[/b] [list][*]The Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet is signed by representatives of the 14th Dalai Lama and the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China. The situation surrounding which this document was signed will not be described here...[/list] [b]1958-1962[/b] [list][*]The Great Leap Frward (the Second Five Year Plan) is implemented by the CCP.[/list] [b]1959[/b] [list][*]1959 Tibetan Uprising quashed. A rebellion broke out as rumours abound regarding plans to arrest the Dalai Lama. 87,000 Tibetans killed. 2,000 Chinese killed squashing the Rebellion. The Dalai Lama managed to flee to northern India. The aftermath saw thousands of monks arrested and or executed, and monasteries and temples looted or destroyed.[/list] [b]1966[/b] [list][*]The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is launched by Chairman Mao Tse Tung of the Chinese Communist Party. Between August and November 1966, eight rallies are held before over 12 million people, in which Lin Biao called for the 'Destruction of the Four Olds' (namely customs, culture, habits and ideas), in the resulting revolutionary fever Red Guards destroyed, laid siege to the Temple of Confucius in Shandong as well as other significant tombs and artefacts. Libraries full of historical and foreign texts were destroyed, books burned, statues vandalised. Temples, churches, mosques, monasteries, and yes, even cemeteries were closed down, often looted or destroyed. Many members of the clergy were arrested and sent to camps, Tibetan Buddhists were made to watch, and often forced to contribute, to the destruction of their monasteries at gunpoint.[/list] [/hider] [hider=Rogues Gallery]TBD[/hider] [hider=Supporting Cast]TBD [/hider] [/color] [indent][h3][color=olive]References / Sample Post[/color][/h3][/indent][hr]