Personality:

Adler carries himself with the particular quietness of someone who learned very early that being loud earned him nothing. He is not cold by nature, but is guarded by experience, and there is a meaningful difference. He is serious and reserved, rarely having intense reactions unless instilled to do so, and diligent in whatever he undertakes, yet beneath that composure sits something genuinely warm that surfaces in small, deliberate gestures rather than grand declarations. He has a reserved demeanour and little intention of getting close to people, does not necessarily want sympathy for his past but would not find it insulting if someone offered it.

He speaks sparingly by choosing words the way he chooses sword strikes: only when necessary, and precisely. When he does offer a compliment or a word of thanks, it lands with weight precisely because it is rare because he prefers to give significance than triviality. He does not waste warmth. Kindness directed at him tends to confuse him more than hostility does; hostility he knows how to answer, but genuine care without an ulterior motive is a language he is still slowly learning to read.

His sense of duty is the scaffolding he built himself when family failed to provide one. He protects settlements not because anyone asks him to, not for reward or recognition, but because it is simply what he has decided he is for. He sacrifices himself repeatedly to protect others regardless of the pain it causes him, and he would bristle at anyone who framed this as heroism. It is closer to a contract he made with himself than any noble calling.

He is not humourless, but his humour is dry enough that most people miss it entirely, and he never corrects them. Animals tend to take to him quickly and without reservation, which quietly pleases him more than he would ever admit. He sleeps lightly, eats simply, and finds a particular peace in solitary tasks: fishing, sharpening his blades, sitting at the edge of a high place watching the land below. In those moments, the weight he carries becomes almost bearable. The thing he fears most is not the bounty hunters, not his parents, not even the Aberrant Beasts; it is becoming someone who stops noticing that the world is worth protecting.

Appearance:

Adler is a 5'6" young man who wanders the world in pursuit of his own truth and purpose for life. He didn't seem to take much care of his appearance, though his skin stayed clear to reasons unknown. His raven hair was shaggy and shoulder-length with messy curtain bangs, tied into a half-ponytail with a bit of rope like those Chinese Drama characters. He had wizened ashen slate eyes on his androgynous face, and scars sat over his nose, on his cheek and upwards across the right of his mouth. There is also a notable "unimpressed" stare about him, he has "Resting Bitch Face".

He had a unique outfit. A rice hat on his head with a veil to conceal his appearance had now sat on his back by a rope strap. He wore a long-sleeve, dark grey and black tunic with bandaging around his torso underneath.

The coat is white along the shoulders that ombre to black to his hips with accents of olive green and flecks of red, similar to blood. The sleeves were then tied to his back with thick ropes, like Japanese Tasuki sashes for kimonos, revealing his bandaged left arm up and his right arm with a fingerless glove up to his elbow. There's a design on the underside of the sleeves and along the sides with stitched words, and bandage-like arm guards sit on his forearms.

He wore a belt around his waist which held a lot of things by a rope, such as two short swords on either side of his hips, two other short swords in their hilts crossed over at the small of his back, a gourd for water and an additional pouch. His pants are calf-length, black, and slightly baggy with tears at the edges. He adorns black and silver boots lined with bandaging just up to his knees and calf guards that are bound by ropes.

==== STORY - CONDENSED ====

Born as a genetically modified baby only to serve as "spare parts" for his terminally ill brother. His parents are looking for him because his brother's surgery is overdue, they need a donor, and by many accounts Adler had never consented to it at all, he's already lost a kidney and a good chunk of his liver, even some of his bone marrow just to try to save a life that is beyond repair.

His true name, "Jade" was a blessing from his grandmother meant to bring prosperity and luck, and honestly? It did work, she was the only one who saw him as a life, and not a walking organ box, and this blessing of hers granted him freedom from the confines of his purpose and why he was born.

==== STORY - LENGTHY ====

In the nation of Yindian, a pair of twins were born to a prosperous family affiliated with the Spirit World and the Divine. Their eldest son, "the sun on earth", and the bearer of the Kalachakra Skyplume, "Jinhuo" is a blessed Diviner-in-training with luck and prosperity beyond measure. He foresaw a conundrum before the birth of these twins, where one would have to be taken by evil, and the other bestowed power above the average human. So the parents took it into their own hands, getting genetic modification treatment for the twin they thought would be the one with enhanced abilities to be "spare parts" for the one taken by evil, hoping to defy fate through science.

The divinations were not proven true as of yet, both of the boys were doing fine after a few months, and even well into their childhood. One was named "Lapis", he had fluffy white hair, an appearance considered a blessing from the gods as white haired individuals were believed to be scions of the 5 Gods, and he also had blue tear-drop pupils in his eyes, meaning he had been blessed by Qinglong, the Azure Dragon.

The other was merely named "Jade", by his grandmother who wished prosperity and luck onto him as he was never the centre of attention in his family, and yet radiated a quiet kind of power that may have been a sign that Jinhuo's divinations are true. Jade Yúnquè-Adler was completely unremarkable, according to his family, because he had raven hair and slate eyes, and no traces of any extraordinary abilities from birth. Unlike Lapis, who learned to read and write relatively early, and he developed much quicker than his own brother did, who was merely an "ordinary boy".

Jinhuo himself had been blessed by beings outside the 5 Gods, the Fenghuang in particular. In fact, his true name is "Fenghuang Yúnquè-Adler", he chose the alias "Jinhuo" to hide his true identity from any individuals with ill will. Only his closest relatives know of his true name.

By this nature, Jade was left to his own devices, his parents were estranged, too busy coddling Lapis who remained oblivious to his twin's isolation. But within this isolation, Jade found tranquillity, as he can pursue the path he choses for himself, and it involved learning to fend for himself against the Aberrant Beasts within the Mountains caging Yindian in.

Luckily, his grandmother Jingshu, the same one who named him, was able to help as she was a master of the sword and the spear. From her youth, she had endured this training for the sake of passing the art on through the generations to come, and her own children rejected this art, but not Jade, who found himself curious of this tradition.

Through his grandmother's guidance, he picked up a blade, and began to train. For him, hard work is the way to success, and if he worked harder, he'd have a better resolution. This began at age 8, where he is in elementary with Lapis who continually overperformed him in every subject, earning the praise of his parents, overshadowing Jade.

Even when Jade preferred to be alone, the lack of warmth from his parents still stung him deeply, and thus he began to distance himself from his own parents even more. At this time, Lapis' spiritual abilities were still developing and unstable, leading to inconsistencies in his Qi Balance.

This was worsened when Aberrant Beasts attacked Yindian from inside, one of them was the Elite Beast "Baoying", and they were a corrupted Suanni. Baoying ended up going after Lapis, and even when Jade tried to save him, the damage had already been done. Lapis went into a vegetative state after Baoying inflicted the Weathering Curse on him, where his soul loses an increasing amount of Qi over time, causing an imbalance and rendering him unable to live normally. This resulted in constant hospitalisation, he spent his birthdays bedridden and hooked onto IVs. His parents thought that the only way to save their "shining lapis" is to have Jade become an organ donor for Lapis.

The Weathering Curse ended up compromising Lapis' kidneys and liver, which were the main routes for the body to cleanse itself of impurities. This led to his condition worsening, even when Jade, coerced by his parents into thinking they'd only approve of him this way, to "save Lapis" by donating his perfectly-fine organs to his brother... Whose condition only worsened as Lapis' body rejected Jade's organs since they did not have enough Qi to stabilise his balance. Even at the Age of 15, both Jade and Lapis already had to suffer quite a lot.

Jade still did not earn recognition from his parents, even after all he has been through, he realised that he was merely a tool for them, a tool for them to rejuvenate their "golden child" with. He was nothing more than "spare parts" for his brother, and from birth too.

So knowing this, he ran away, he fled, on his 16th birthday shared with Lapis, but he only celebrated in wandering silence and solitude with his belongings; 4 short swords obtained after completing rudimentary training, a jade charm gifted him, turquoise binding rope for his hair, and all of this was gifted to him by his grandmother who wished him a safe journey.

Jade had then left for the mountains caging Yindian in, spending the next years of his life in the wilderness, purging evil and fighting off the Aberrant Beasts that drew nearer to the city. He considered this a part of his training, a wanderer going from town to town, protecting nearby settlements from monsters.

His parents were well aware that he would do such a thing, so they hired trained bounty hunters to capture Jade, specifically alive so they could harvest him of his organs. Jade was well aware of this, they knew who he was, they knew where he would be, so he adopted a new identity: "Adler", meaning "Eagle" in German, and changed his clothes from a wealthy nobleman's garb to a wanderer's ragged attire.

Through this, he retained anonymity, and found respite at a Shaman's Sanctum, where he sought Spiritual Awakening since he could not fight the Aberrant Beasts with just his physical abilities alone. A Shaman named "Samsaara", a white tiger beastwoman, took him under her wing, training him for the next 5 years, where he is now 22 years old, and to thank her, he pledged to vanquish evil by helping settlements ward the beasts off.

Today, he is regarded as a Wandering Warrior who doubled as a medium, his parents are still in search for him, since Lapis remained alive due to extensive technological developments being done to him to keep him living.

Additional Information:

Trivia:

• Adler can tie his shoelaces, and sometimes ties them so tight that he spends an incredibly long time trying to pick his laces apart with his nails.

• His favourite food is Steamed Rice as it is simple, filling and balanced in flavour.

• Adler weighs 68kg, roughly the same as half of an Adult Giant Panda's weight (he has compared himself to this).

• He regularly eats breath mints because he likes the taste of mint.

• He is easily spooked despite also accidentally sneaking up on people, so he purposely makes his footsteps loud in settlements or safe areas so people know he's around.

• Adler has incredible hearing to a point where he has to wear noise-cancelling headphones at social gatherings so he does not become overstimulated.

• Adler's internal body clock makes him wake up at what he would deem as "5AM" according to the seasons. This was adapted from his training with his grandmother Jingshu.

• Adler likes to go fishing as it is how he got his protein in without having to kill land animals, he is a Pescetarian, meaning he eats fish rather than land animal meat.

• Adler's type of affection is Quality Time and Giving Gifts; he does bamboo and wood carving for crafting totems to place on people's doorsteps, but occasionally carves something for his partner.

• He is easily flustered when his partner enacts physical touch PDA on him, and at the first week of the relationship, he isn't comfortable with PDA.

• Whenever Adler first arrives at a settlement, he places numerous concentrated Warding Talismans on every entrance and exit of the settlement, infusing each one with his Qi, which the Shaman tapped into for him and gave him access to.

• Whenever Adler's neighbours warn him of his parents' or the Bounty Hunters' arrival, he gets ready to leave immediately, and places warding totems carved from Qi-infused wood or bamboo on their doorsteps before setting off again.

• The name Yindian, or "Yíndiàn" is derived from "银殿", which means "Silver Palace" in Chinese.

  • "Yín" (银): "Silver" has a lot of meaning, which can derive from: - Purity and the Moon: Silver is closely associated with the moon (月亮), lunar energy, and the feminine yin (阴) principle. The moon palace in Chinese mythology, 广寒宫 (Guǎnghán Gōng), is often described with silvery, cold, luminous imagery.
    • Wealth and Prosperity: Silver was one of China's primary currencies, so it carries connotations of abundance and imperial treasure.
    • The Celestial and Divine: In Daoist cosmology, silver represents a refined, spiritual substance; lesser than gold but still celestial and pure.

• "Diàn" (殿): "Palace Hall/Grand Hall" is a heavily loaded word: - It refers specifically to the grandest, most formal halls, used almost exclusively for imperial or divine spaces (e.g., 大殿, 天殿, 龙殿). - In mythology, it appears in places like 阎王殿 (the Hall of the Underworld King) and 凌霄宝殿 (the Jade Emperor's celestial throne hall in Journey to the West). - It carries immense gravitas; a "殿" (diàn) is not merely a building but it is a seat of cosmic or royal authority.

• "Jade" is regarded as a Heavenly Stone in Chinese Mythology in many forms, but Adler's tale drawns inspiration from Daoist Cosmology and the Creation Myth:

  • The supreme ruler of Heaven is the 玉皇大帝 (Yù Huáng Dàdì): the Jade Emperor, whose very title enshrines jade as the divine substance of ultimate authority. The celestial realm is called 玉京 (Yù Jīng), the Jade Capital. Daoist texts describe jade as a condensed form of cosmic energy, and consuming jade (in powdered or liquid form) was believed to confer immortality, a central Daoist pursuit. Jade is also associated with 龙 (Lóng / Dragons), who were said to guard jade deposits beneath mountains and rivers.

• In some versions of 女娲 (Nǚwā)'s myth, she uses a five-colored stone (sometimes interpreted as jade) to patch the broken sky, connecting jade to the very fabric of the cosmos. 昆仑山 (Kūnlún Shān) — the mythological cosmic mountain, home of the gods, was said to be made partly of jade and was the source of China's great rivers. The goddess 西王母 (Xī Wángmǔ / Queen Mother of the West) rules there and tends a garden of immortal peach trees, with jade as the defining material of her palace.