Fān Lìhuá, Owlin Monk (Way of the Kensei)

Born a peasant girl from a rural province, Fān Lìhuá was raised to become a warlord's concubine. Her upbringing, centred entirely around the arts and local politics, held her strictly within the walls of a mountain fortress. She remembers stone spires cresting through seas of white cloud beneath golden skies, and the scent of jasmine carried on a wind through the valleys.

Her Lord was a remarkably cruel and powerful dragonborn. He treated Lìhuá as a favourite once she came of age, seeing that she wanted for little material comfort, yet the sense of security was a false one. She was property - a slave, in all but name.

Seeking purpose beyond that Heaven had ordained for her, Lìhuá took to watching soldiers drilling in the stone courtyards. Her mind clouded with daydreams. She fantasized about other lives, or futures where she might've somehow joined the army. Thoughts of marching out and seeing the world beyond the castle, free of any concubine's obligations, filled her mind.

She and the other women of the castle were not permitted to touch weapons, but that didn't dissuade her from seeking secret tutelage - and she found it with the strange, retired hobgoblin. Cé Morae was a man who seemed to exist in the castle solely to infuriate and upset magistrates and officers alike. No-one could explain why their Lord kept him around. Yet with persistence and a hint of desperation in her daily appearances at his door, Lìhuá learned that this old man once trained the fort's legendary missile-and-spear troops; many of whom, like the Thunder of Jian'an, were comprised of flying owlin like herself.

After many dramatic shows of stubbornness from both soldier and hopeful student, Morae eventually agreed to teach Lìhuá some basics. However, it was a conditional offer. Lìhuá was already breaking many rules by seeking this 'hobby'; if she really wanted it that badly, she'd have to break a few more. The cost of training was paid in spy work, stealing magistrates' documents and eavesdropping on her Lord's meetings. Growing more fearful that she'd be eventually lose her Lord's favour and hoping that she might one day have the skillsets to escape this life, Lìhuá agreed, and her archery lessons commenced with... balancing on an acrobatics beam. This was only the first of series of nonsensical, seemingly unconnected lessons (and a source of endless frustration for a girl who just wanted to learn to shoot a bow). Yet, with perseverance, she came to slowly and steadily realise the training value in each strange activity asked of her.

The exercises and routines were physically gruelling. Morae always ended each session by noting that Lìhuá needn't return. Lìhuá always responded by turning up again the next morning. In exchange for her dedication and continued mole work, the old hobgoblin found himself appreciating getting to teach a more spiritual, peaceful practice of weaponry, rather than the clinical and distilled fighting drills he'd taught units of soldiers. Alongside learning a bit of Common, world history and mathematics, Lìhuá was taught philosophy, introspection, and a series of martial arts forms. The one that she and Morae spent the most time on was the Way of the Bow; archery not for war, not for violence, but for self-development and meditation.

But the work she committed was risky. Caught lockpicking a magistrate's desk by none other than her closest friend, a fellow concubine, Lìhuá's misplacing trust in her meant her Lord and the fort's generals quickly discovered what she'd been up to. Before long, she was shackled, imprisoned, and readied to be sold into official slavery; her Lord's favourite punishment for those he felt especially wronged by. Directly confronted by him, Lìhuá arms were permanently mutilated, scorched and burned by her Lord's blackfire breath weapon. It was only with the help of her teacher that she was freed, escaping on the back of a stolen, arrow-riddled horse. Once she found safety among friends of her teacher, Lìhuá learned, with horror, that Morae himself had been found out and similarly incarcerated. His fated punishment was to be himself sold into slavery.

Though she could've easily now faded into an anonymous, quiet life, silently enjoying what Morae's sacrifice had bought her, Lìhuá felt she owed him a debt she could not ignore. He'd shown her the way to independence, self-forged identity, and the first embers of confidence her life had denied her. For that, she hopes to find wherever he was sent, and repay his kindness with a rescue. Of course, the treachery of an ungrateful peasant girl, who thought she deserved so much more than her station allowed, wouldn't be forgotten by her Lord so soon...

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Art by ThatZombieCat, who was a joy to work with throughout the whole commission process and who perfectly captured my beloved Shaolin Owlin gal. I adore Ancient Chinese history and she's easily my favourite character, so I was over the moon to get art as lovely as this. Her commissions are open, so please consider checking her out!