When facing evil,

Player Information

Name: Riddle
Age: 34
Contact details: tiger_eyes & madviolinist#5122 on Discord.
Other characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Meng Yao
Canon: The Untamed
Canon Point: After he meets Lan Xichen for the first time in the Cloud Recesses.
OU/AU/CRAU/OC: OU
Age: 18

World Information: Cultivational Sects; Locations; Events & Creatures.

Personal History: The Untamed is slightly different (i.e. less detailed) than this history, however since I am taking him from so early on, it shouldn't be too different. The important points are he was born in a brothel where he lived with his mother. She prepared him to be a Cultivator as best as she could, hoping he would be acknowledged by his father. Jin Guangshan - said father - refused to acknowledge either of them because Meng Yao's mother was literate. Then, when Meng Yao approached Jin Guangshan after Meng Shi's death, he was tossed down a long flight of stone steps for interrupting Guangshan's true son's/heir's birthday party.

Once he healed from that atrocity, he slowly worked his way into the Nie clan's good graces and that is how he came to arrive at the Cloud Recesses.

Personality: First and foremost, Meng Yao is, unquestionably, a genius. He has an "eidetic memory" (or photographic memory) which means he can memorize the face, name, title and age of any person after one meeting. Upon meeting them a second time, he can easily recall their likes and dislikes. He is a damn fine actor too. Meng Yao can cry on cue, shift from panicked to relieved or delighted to sorrowful and none of it is deeper than the muscles of his face.

He has used his unique abilities to direct situations to his favor (for example when he caught the attention of the Nies after being rejected by the Jins). It is questionable whether or not he feels any regret or remorse when he manipulates others with his aforementioned skills and, as his future will show, he is willing to go to lengths others would never consider in order to keep certain people in the dark/under his thumb.

It would be understandable to therefore consider him an unreliable and wicked person (because he doesn't seem to feel much genuinely (beyond his own desire for power/happiness)), however that would be a mistake. Because he is the son of a prostitute and unwanted and unloved by his father (whom he will kill embarrassingly in the future), Meng Yao is deeply uncomfortable about himself and his place in the world. He has learned to defend himself with a smile while plotting revenge behind the backs of those who abuse him. While it might not be morally correct for him to act as he does, the feelings that he experiences are completely normal. He wants to be respected; he wants to be loved. And when that respect/love is denied him, he becomes defensive, willing to do anything to silence the dissent/get what he lost back. Meng Yao never lets anything he deems good go without a considerable fight - and said fights can (and will) include him using his wit, his blade and his Cultivation magic.

When he encounters genuinely good people, he therefore has a difficult time ever letting them go. He gives them his whole heart, his emotions for them reaching deeper than he fully understands. If and when they reject him (a sad fate for him since he always goes too far, demanding more and more of them), his sanity is taxed further. Eventually there will be no sanity left and only the drive to keep what he deems as his will keep him alive.

But, for now, he keeps their love through a web of lies (or simple evasion), knitting the life he wants together by using those he deems important enough/powerful enough to help him rise in the ranks of the Cultivational sects. His first goal is to show his father his true worth and, at last, have the man's esteem. Thus, for now, he contents himself serving others and playing the role of a humble bastard son who means no one any harm. However the truth is another matter: when rejected, he has no trouble lashing out lethally.

Key themes: Loss, acceptance, hope.

Main Motivation: Acceptance. Meng Yao desires to be accepted and loved above all. He has spent his life being ignored and he has grown very tired of it.

Skills: He has what is known as a Golden Core. His magic/power is derived from that place and while he is weak compared to his Cultivator fellows, he is cunning. He knows how to use what he has in any given moment. I would say, at this early canon point, about all he can do, besides the usual banishing/fighting of spirits/monsters/demons, is the suppression of the Golden Cores of others. That means he can temporarily stop his fellows (or foes) from being able to produce magic. He usually does so with a touch.

He can also use his sword, Hensheng. It, like him, is rather special as it is a very flexible sword. He can hide it up his sleeve or around his waist.

And, lastly, with Hensheng, he is able to fly for short distances.

Item: Hensheng, his sword.

Sample: TDM (I am taking him from a slightly later canon point than I displayed in the TDM threads.)