ALT SCENARIO: Zhu Ran | Wu

Name: Zhu Ran

Age: 24 (Born 182 AD)

Appearance: A slender, average height, handsome young man with youthful features, bright gray eyes, and messy, dark hair. Zhu Ran is often wearing bright shades of red, yellow, and orange, with white accents. Funnily enough, his clothing color scheme is a mirror of Lu Xun’s. Zhu Ran commonly wears a cuff around his left ear, styled after a flame. He’s got a wayward strand of hair that he can never seem to keep out of his eyes.

Personality: A general who is a cut above the rest with his superior talent and intellect. He’s a pyromaniac and gets way too excited when something lights on fire. Really excited. He lights a lot of things on fire, and honestly it’s pretty terrifying and concerning for most of the people around him, but he usually keeps it to his enemies. Usually. Childhood friends with the young ruler Sun Quan, Zhu Ran is full of the fire, energy, and passion of his kingdom.

Despite his rather chaotic personality, he’s still a highly intelligent and capable general, with no fear of his enemies and a fierce rivalry with his “friend” Lu Xun that propels them both forward. (Lu Xun is actually pretty scared of Zhu Ran, but wouldn’t admit it in front of him.) Zhu Ran is very fond of making metaphors about fire in his speech. He deeply respects his fellow generals and strategists, even if his energy can exasperate the much calmer strategists of Wu, and he tends to unnerve them with his cheerfully callous behavior. In his free time, he often experiments with flammable materials and reads at libraries. He also shares an affinity for fire attacks like Lu Xun, often praising its effectiveness in battle, but Lu Xun is significantly tamer about his usage of fire.

Zhu Ran’s definitely not quite right in the head, and takes a gleeful, almost perverse joy in his fire attacks. He takes satisfaction when he lights someone on fire, greatly enjoys arson, and thinks absolutely nothing of the people he kills. There’s no traumatic backstory or real reasoning behind his behaviors-- he simply just really likes fire.

Zhu Ran’s weapon of choice is a large bow augmented with various flammable substances, but he can also wield a staff. Zhu Ran’s accuracy with his bow isn’t as good as, say, Sun Shangxiang’s, but he doesn’t need to be super accurate, as long as he gets to light things on fire.

Background: Originally from Guzhang County, Danyang Commandery, Zhu Ran was a maternal nephew of Zhu Zhi, who favoured his then 13-year-old nephew and asked his lord Sun Ce to grant him permission to adopt the child. Since Zhu Zhi had contributed considerably to Sun Ce's conquests in Jiangdong and had not bore a son, Sun Ce specifically ordered the Administrator of Danyang Commandery to bring presents to Zhu Ran's family for the ceremony and celebration. Thus, Zhu Ran became an adopted son of Zhu Zhi and had his family name changed from "Shi" to "Zhu". In addition, he studied together with Sun Ce's younger brother, Sun Quan, as a young boy, and the two became very close companions.

After Sun Ce died and was succeeded by Sun Quan, Zhu Ran was appointed as the Prefect of Yuyao County at the age of 19. Zhu Ran was later appointed as the Chief of Shanyin County, acting on authority of a Commandant, to oversee five local counties around the area. Pleased with his abilities, Sun Quan further promoted him to be the Administrator of Linchuan Commandery, and gave him command over 2,000 soldiers.