Name: Yao Yahui, the Living Library
Patrons: Zhuhaiken, Imperial Chamberlain
Goals: To seek and record knowledge on the expedition, and to
Appearance: An ancient, wizened man. His handful of whiskers are stark white, standing as the only hair on his starkly-shaven head. Short, silent, and disciplined, people often mistake him for a statue. He looks almost stereotypical in his monk's robes, but he seems to radiate a surprisingly strong aura of energy, and vitality.
Personality: Many assume upon meeting him that Yahui has taken a vow of silence. The reality is simpler; he doesn't waste words on mere people. A sea of tranquility, he has dedicated his life to accumulating knowledge, bit by bit. Although his time is limited (nobody is sure exactly how old he is) he listens to anyone who is willing to tell their story. He seems to have been blessed with perfect recall, describing (in writing or gestures) events that happened decades ago.
Backstory: Yao Yahui's backstory is relatively unknown, thanks to his speaking problem. It is known, however, that he was brought in and raised as an orphan in a mountain-top monastery. Small for his size, Yahui had serious developmental issues. Even at a few years of age, he could not be made to speak, and had trouble socializing with other people. However, he was prodigious in reading, writing, and math. He seemed to have a perfect memory, writing incredibly detailed scrolls about the tiniest of events years afterwards.
Yahui was soon put to work in the library. He sorted, directed, and practically worshiped the stacks of tomes. On his own time, he read everything he could, memorizing most of the works the monastery contained. In all likelihood, he would've been happy to stay there until the end of time. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
When he was roughly ten or eleven, a fire started somewhere deep in the complex. Before his brothers could put it out, the fire spread, consuming much of the building. Masonry doesn't burn, but wooden support beams do, and soon the building began to groan and collapse. The library was buried in the collapse. Most of the monks, and all of the books, were lost.
The handful of monks left alive spread word of the destruction, and raised funds to rebuild. Although the monastery was rebuilt, as imposing as ever, the priceless tomes could not be replaced.
Three years later, a lone hunter stumbled upon a teenaged boy, living in a cave. He seemed feral, barely understanding speech, with only three leather-backed manuscripts for company. The hunter brought him to the monastery, where he found his true purpose. For years he worked, sun-up to sun-down. He rewrote every scrap of writing lost in the fire, slowly filling the new rows of shelves in the empty library. After years, decades perhaps, he emerged from his library. The old monks who had rebuilt the monastery were dead, and the new ones saw him as a myth, not a man. It was time to move on.
Yahui spent decades wandering the Empire. He read every scroll and every manuscript. He heard every tale and every song in every tavern. After decades and decades of information gathering, he came upon the Imperial Palace. The guards stopped him at the gates; just another monk begging for coin, right? Luckily (for everyone), the Chamberlain heard of the arrival of the Living Library, and sent for him. A man who remembers everything he ever sees? A man who knows everything there is to be known? Very useful.
It has been a few years since he arrived at the Palace. He has proven very useful, as expected, and now the Chamberlain has a new task for him; go out, beyond the Iron Gates, and learn. Few have ever made the journey, and none have properly chronicled it.
Specialisation:: Feats.
Author
Topic: Beyond The Iron Gates [OOC] (Read 1280 times)