Ma Xiaoling
Background: A long, long time ago- *WHAP!* Sorry, I must remind myself that this I'm NOT telling a fairy tale. Okay, here goes. Since ancient times, there existed two well-known families in China, the Ma clan in the north, and the Mao clan in south. Like paladins of light, the members of these two clans are devoted to the practicing of Taoist sorcery, using their divine-bestowed powers to hunt down demons, undead and other hostile supernatural forces, ridding the countrysides and towns of ancient China from the scum of the netherworld - not for rewards or recognition, it is not a motivation to them, but as a service to the people and the Huang-di.(emperor) Oh well, it's all ancient history I'm talking about right here. Today, times have changed, the world has since moved on. However, the legacy of Clans Mao and Ma still lives on, right to this very day, members of these two families continue to devote their lives to the practising of Taoist sorcery for hunting down creatures of evil and upholding justice. So begins the story of a descendant of Clan Ma. Born under the name Ma Xiaoling, which also happens to be the name of her grandaunt; after spending most of her childhood and early teens training under her aunt's tutelage, she was named as the 59th generation's clan leader(the clan leader is the one who does most of the uphold justice thingy.) by the family elders. The family traditions have clearly stated the responsibilities of the future generations - the sons' duties are to ensure continuation of the family line, while the daughters' duties are study magic and prepare to be the next clan leader. (it's somewhat contrary to Clan Mao's customs, where the position of clan leader is always passed down to an eldest son) However, the 59th generation's clan leader was also a source of headache to Clan Ma's ancestral spirits... you see, Xiaoling has inherited some of her grandaunt's traits of having a rebellious and somewhat greedy streak. Well, this whole divining and monster-hunting stuff is a lucrative business, and boy, she makes the best of it. As mentioned before, Clan Ma render their sevices out of a drive to serve the masses and uphold what is right, but not so with Ma Xiaoling the Second(that's the best way for me to distinguish her from her grandaunt since their names are the same), the 59th generation's clan leader. Defying over 2000 years of family tradition, she turns it all into a profitable business. While her services don't come cheap, she was nonetheless widely recognized for quality - gets the job done right, every time. In her long family history, she was among the most accomplished in the area of abilities. Well, monster-hunting and divination is big business, and she soon made enough money to go interdimensional. Of course, where better in all existence than Khazan itself? By setting up office in the Nexus of All Realities, she could have access to clients all over the known Omniverse. Lured by the smell of mint, (she claims she could already smell the money before she's seen it, but ignore that, she likes to exaggerate.)and with Clan Ma's ancestral spirits cautiously observing her every actions, she conjured up a wormhole that led to Khazan, where she has remained ever since, with her rented office unit in the prestigious uptown sector, eagerly waiting for and picking up business calls that require of her services.*Phone rings, and instantly answered* "Yes? Good afternoon sir, Ling's Cleaning Service here..." Ah, here we go again...
Character Personality
Overzealous and hyped, and leaning dangerously towards the fanatic side would be
the best words to describe her usual personality. She's motivated by a love for
money rather than a drive to serve the people. While the clan's ancestral
spirits largely frown upon her mercenary (With the exception of her grandaunt,
Ma Xiaoling the First) behaviour, they do understand that she needs the dough to
survive in today's highly commercialized world, therefore, they try not to nag
too much about her behaviour. But beyond her zeal and hype, is a soft and gentle
side which longs for a few true, close friends, and romantic commitment from
someone of the opposite gender... she's basically a nice girl, though she'll
never admit it. (Trust me, never should you say that she's a nice girl right in
her face - it's for your own good.)
Powers and Abilities
A Girl of Limitless Resources
Well, this may seem somewhat unorthodox
in the eyes of Clan Ma's ancestral spirits, but that happens to be Ma Xiaoling
the Second's specialty - a strange affinity with guns, grenades and all things
hi-tech. And she always goes into action with all her custom-designed gadgets.
Some personal favourites include her extendable Holy Rod of DOOM with a 40,000V
taser built into its tip, stoppered glass vials of holy water(can be replaced
with concentrated sulphuric acid in a pinch.)which can be thrown, "Fu"(paper
talismen) imbued with elemental magicks, folded into origami stars for a flashy
look and aerodynamic performance, a 9mm Glock loaded with blessed bullets(can
also be switched to normal ones) and other similar small-caliber pistols or
submachine guns, and not to forget those KOMBG big GUNNS, whose recoil alone
could knock an elephant and its mahout right through the Taj Mahal's walls, and
the list goes on... she couldn't possibly carry all her nifty tools around all
the time, but she does have a KOMBG weapons transporter to call her own, built
into her digital wristwatch. It allows her to teleport any of her techno-magical
gizmos into her hands, so long as she's still wearing it on her wrist.
So There You Are!!
Another "regulation"
equipment. No job undertaking is complete without her going into action wearing
her expensive pair of designer shades. Just to look cool? I don't think so. She
worked her magic on them; whenever someone -or something- tries to sneak up on
her, she can clearly see an image of the opponent right before her eyes, akin to
a heads-up display unit. Left or Right? Up or down? Behind? Doesn't matter, she
can clearly see what direction they're coming from. But they're just a pair of
sunglasses, and they can easily be knocked away or shattered.
Ancestral Protection
Unfortunately, not all threats register
on normal human vision, and sometimes, just because one can see the source of
threat doesn't necessarily mean one can sufficiently prepare for it. The good
thing is, the spirits of Ma Xiaoling's ancestors, her grandaunt in particular,
keep watch over her 24/7. If something dangerous tries to gets near her, the
ancestral spirits will send a warning signal, in the form of a tingling feeling.
Xiaoling has since learned what this feeling means, and that means to take
evasive action, fast!
Ancestral Protection 2
A minor space shift spell she mastered,
it is automatically triggered whenever the ancestral warning signal kicks in,
teleporting the descendant of Clan Ma out of harm's way, to a safe haven nearby.
She can also invoke this spell at will, and it allows her to instantly reach
anywhere she desires, provided the location is within the spell's range of
influence.
Decoy Spell
Another trick she has. Whenever she
teleports, or anytime she desires, she can conjure forth this spell, creating an
illusionary duplicate of herself. While it's only a phantasm, it does look real
enough to fool and/or distract at a first glance, which is the primary purpose
this spell serves. While an opponent is caught offguard trying to figure out
who's who, it allows her to make a tactical retreat or seize the opportunity to
attack. However, it is a waste of energy to use this spell in the Hall of
Mirrors, as she feels that one more mirror image won't have any additional
effect on the opponent, and what's more, she can also be distracted while
reciting the magic words.
Flashbangs
In the event the decoy spell fails, the
resourceful Ma Xiaoling has a backup solution - flashbangs! Thrown at the
opponent, it generates a brilliant flash of light which will temporarily blind
most opponents, or at least partially blind those with a hyper sense of sight to
a normal human level. She can't help but shout "Fire in the hole!"
everytime she throws one of them, the whole thing reminds her too much of
special forces in action; Unfortunately, she doesn't have a good grip on them,
so they can be easily knocked aside.
Business Mind
Well, in the business world, one needs
to have an edge in order to be on the winning side of a deal. Throughout her
career, she's been carefully observing every potential client; get to know them
better, see what they want. Her understanding of the other party often allows
her to be an expert negotiator when it comes to discussing the price for her
services rendered, driving bargains they simply can't resist. Applied to combat,
it allows her to roughly predict an opponent's possible moves, as well as
finding weaknesses in them, and would no doubt find a way to exploit them to her
advantage.
Ancestral Protection 3
Clan Ma's ancestral spirits help and
protect their descendants in many different ways, both tangible and intangible;
sometimes Ma Xiaoling herself doesn't even realize that her clan's ancestral
spirits were backing her up during a fight. From being in the right place at the
right time, her opponents klutzing out at unexpected times and end up screwing
themselves, to her gizmos working better than they normally would and other
strange coincidences, it's all thanks to the intervention of the ancestral
spirits of Clan Ma. However, the spirits are fickle; sometimes they help in an
obvious way, sometimes just a little covert aid, and at other times they may
just decide it's better for their descendant to handle things by herself without
their interference... it's just that unpredictable, but it's saved her hide
during many a risky job undertaking, the thing being that few can accurately
predict what's going to happen next.
Shui Yu, Water Jade
Ma Xiaoling chanced upon this ancient jade talisman by accident while looking in a Chinese antiques shop. Further studies of this artifact confirmed her belief that it was a piece of "Shui Yu", or Water Jade, dating back to the Warring States Era. "Shui" is the Chinese word for water, and water has long been regarded as the symbol of life. Hence, just as water gives life, the Shui Yu, containing the elemental power of water, gives life to the one who beholds it. Or to be more precise, prolongs life by treating wounds and purging poisons and disease. While it's nowhere near miraculous, Ma Xiaoling has realized that so long as she's wearing it, it's kinda made her more resistant to physical damage; swiftly recovering from mild injuries thanks to the Shui Yu's life-support capabilities; and she's only starting to discover the Water Jade's true powers... However, the Shui Yu's healing powers fail in Khazan's Lava Cliffs - for the Lava Cliffs represent the element fire - fire and water are two conflicting elements, hence it cancels out the Shui Yu's powers whenever it's taken there.