Taishi Ci | Wu

Name: Taishi Ci

Age: 33 (Born 166 AD)

Appearance: Taishi Ci is a tall, physically powerful man with broad shoulders and a strong stature. He has brown eyes and short, slightly spiky dark hair, an angular face with sharp and commanding features, and a surprisingly gentle smile. In battle, he wears red armor with gold accents, and a distinctive helmet with a crest and a long purple plume on top.

Personality: Taishi Ci is an upright warrior with strong character. Striving to live a warrior's life, he searches for ways to improve himself. He feels obligated to return any kindness given to him and will work hard to repay their feelings in kind-- If he feels he owes someone a debt, he will go out of his way to repay them. Taishi Ci is loyal, righteous, and trustworthy-- but if directly insulted, he’ll sometimes mutter to himself about how he’s not supposed to hit them, and occasionally snarks a bit under his breath.

He came to admire Sun Ce's character and, though they first meet as enemies, he treats the lord as his friend. He’s easy to befriend, and warms up quickly to people who share his same sense of strength, righteousness, and martial spirit. He’s old companions with Liu Bei, after he sent reinforcements to Kong Rong.

Taishi Ci’s weapon of choice is a pair of large blunt twin rods. He’s also an archer of immeasurable skill, and often enjoys archery practice with the princess Sun Shangxiang. For some odd reason, people keep asking him if he knows how to play the drums-- maybe it’s because his rods look like large drumsticks? He’s started picking it up as a hobby anyways.

Background: Taishi Ci was from Huang County, Donglai Commandery. As a youth, he was known for being studious. In 186, at the age of 20, he became famous after successfully completing a mission to prevent a letter from the provincial administration from reaching the imperial court in Luoyang first. However, out of fear that the provincial administration would take revenge against him, he went into hiding in Liaodong. After returning from Liaodong, he travelled to Beihai to rescue Kong Rong, who was besieged by Yellow Turban rebels (and had treated Taishi Ci’s mother kindly in the past). By resorting to trickery, he managed to break out of the siege and seek aid from Liu Bei. The siege was lifted when Taishi Ci returned to Beihai with reinforcements from Liu Bei. Taishi Ci travelled to Yang Province later to join the warlord Liu Yao, an old acquaintance of his. He fought for Liu Yao in the war between Liu Yao and Sun Ce, once engaging Sun Ce in a one-on-one fight. Following Liu Yao's defeat and death, Taishi Ci headed to Jing County and tried to establish his own power base there. However, he was eventually defeated and captured by Sun Ce's forces. Touched by Sun Ce's sincerity and generosity towards him, Taishi Ci agreed to serve Sun Ce and even helped to persuade many former followers of Liu Yao to join Sun Ce as well. Sun Ce appointed him as a Commandant and put him in charge of security around Jianchang County. During this time, he drove back Liu Pan and his men, who often raided Sun Ce's territories in that area.