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Chongyun ([personal profile] pureyang) wrote2022-02-05 12:41 am

Songerein App

Player: CS
Age: 30
Contact: PM or [plurk.com profile] pocketnoivern
Current Characters: Roxas, Toge Inumaki

Character: Chongyun
Canon: Genshin Impact - Post 2.4 Update (post Lantern Rite)
Age: 16

Background Information: Chongyun’s Genshin Impact Wiki page

Personality:
Chongyun is a calm, stoic, and composed individual, who has a rather serious disposition and a polite manner of speaking. Many of the citizens of Liyue have described him as having “a heart of clear water, and a face of ice.” This comes mostly due to his nature as an exorcist, which he takes very seriously. Hailing from a clan of exorcists that are highly respected in Liyue, Chongyun takes great pride in his heritage, and wants to follow in his clan’s footsteps and continue their legacy. In order to do this, he follows a strict training regiment that he executes daily to hone his skills. He holds his family’s traditions and exorcism arts in high regard, to the point where he regards other methods of exorcism as “not the true way”. Much of this is not necessarily because of any pushing or demands from his family, but rather his own sense of personal pride and admiration for his clan and all they have accomplished. He wants to live up to his family's legacy, and wants to prove himself as a capable exorcist like his ancestors before him.

While he is quite well-versed in exorcism arts as a result of his training, Chongyun does tend to lack awareness in social settings and can be quite awkward at times. His extensive training regiment often means he has little time for casual activities, and has even admitted during his Hangout Event that he does not know what normal people do for fun. It is often thanks to his friends dragging him out that he even experiences casual, fun events; otherwise he'd probably just spend all his time hunting evil spirits and training. Though knowledgeable in spiritual arts and occult matters, and surprisingly perceptive at times (such as surmising something “incredible” about Zhongli in one of his voice lines, not knowing that the man is secretly the Geo Archon in disguise), Chongyun also has a naive, oblivious streak, and can easily be tricked or deceived by others just by being promised the chance of encountering an evil spirit. In fact, Chongyun actually believed that the Test of Courage, a fake ghost-hunting amusement event for couples to test their courage and have fun, was a seriously haunted locale and went to it seeking to purge it of any evil spirits. He has been swindled out of money in the past, believing that he is getting valuable information on where to find an evil spirit, often resulting in his good friend Xingqiu resolving to go and fetch the money he was tricked out of. Despite his naivete and obliviousness with some people, Chongyun is very loyal to those who prove to him to be a true friend, and he will regard them quite highly and go out of his way to repay their friendship, such as gifting a friendship tassel to Xingqiu or carving Xiangling a protective talisman by hand. That being said, he does still often end up as the victim of Xingqiu’s pranks, who often tells him outlandish stories of spirit sightings or slips him spicy food, which he cannot handle without triggering his congenial positivity.

Chongyun possesses a condition knowns as congenial positivity, a condition so rare that it only appears once every thousand generations or so. This results in him having a spirit that is completely full of yang energy. What this means is that, despite his seemingly calm, stoic appearance, Chongyun is actually full to the brim with positive energy, to the point where he actively needs to constantly control his body and mind to help keep his emotions in check. When he succumbs to a yang “flare up”, Chongyun’s personality undergoes a complete 180, and he becomes loud, boisterous, uninhibited and impulsive. In one instance when Chongyun’s yang spirit overtook him, he jumped on the reception desk of the restaurant he was in to declare “everything’s on me tonight!” despite having no money on him, chatted up every table like they were old friends, bragged about his clan’s abilities and sampled all the foods available around him, and then later claimed to have sensed an evil spirit before he slapped a charm on his friend Xiangling’s forehead and chased her around with his sword. Another yang-induced incident resulted in him causing some damages to the restaurant he was in, before he jumped on one of the tables and danced while waving his claymore in hand. Each of these instances Chongyun has no memory of, but he often feels deep embarrassment for getting to this point, and swears to pay for any damages his uninhibited state had caused. Fortunately, most people seem to take Chongyun’s congenial positivity in stride, and consider him to be a very boisterous “life of the party” kind of person during these instances. Xiangling actually believes that this crazy, wild side of Chongyun is actually the “true” Chongyun, since he acts with no personal walls up barring his emotions.

Abilities:
Chongyun is an exorcist who hails from a clan of well-respected exorcists, and he carries this distinction and lineage with pride. He has trained extensively to master his clan’s exorcism arts, learning thaumaturgy and martial arts from his family. His thaumaturgy skills include using special glowing seals, crafting protective talismans, being able to sense residual auras and traces of evil spirits, and other such techniques. His martial arts abilities come in the form of his swordsmanship, and he trains daily to be able to fight off enemies who are not susceptible to his thaumaturgy abilities. Chongyun is a very strong and skilled swordsman, capable of lifting and swinging heavy claymores with ease, be it slashing before him, spinning in a circle, or bringing it crashing down from overhead.

One of the most unique things about Chongyun is his pure-yang spirit. A condition so rare that it only appears once every thousand generations or so, Chongyun is excessively overabundant with positive energy, moreso than any average human being would possess. Since most evil spirits are composed of negative yin energy, Chongyun’s pure-yang spirit actually works as a natural deterrent for spirits, and he is able to drive evil spirits away with his mere presence alone. In fact, one of his character stories describes him being able to chase away a particularly stubborn and nasty spirit who had been plaguing a Liyue noblewoman that no other exorcist could banish. All he did was sit in the middle of the house for a few hours, and he was able to effectively banish the spirit. Despite this incredible natural ability, it also means that Chongyun cannot get close to malignant spirits without them being driven away first. This is actually very distressing for Chongyun, since he is unable to get close enough to a spirit to exorcise it using his thaumaturgy rather than his pure-yang spirit, which makes him sometimes doubt if his actions can truly be called exorcism if he doesn’t actively exorcise a spirit using his clan’s techniques. As he states in one of his voice lines, “It means I repel all evil for miles around... *sigh* Actually, that's a bad thing. I must be the only exorcist in history who can't get within ten miles of an evil spirit.”

Chongyun’s congenial positivity also has a few side-effects that affect his day to day life. His overabundance of positive energy means he is incredibly susceptible to increased body temperature and emotional impulses and urges, and if left unchecked can result in hot-bloodedness and explosive emotional outbursts. To alleviate this, Chongyun abstains from any sort of “heated” activity: not drinking or eating hot or spicy foods, wearing light clothes, not getting into arguments and keeping himself from being angered, meditating to control his emotions, keeping away from rousing music, staying indoors on sweltering days, and always bringing a parasol when on the job. There are several instances where after Chongyun consumes something hot or spicy (whether unknowingly or as a result of a prank from Xingqiu), he either falls unconscious or blacks out and succumbs to his emotions and impulses. Such acts of “public buffoonery” are highly unbecoming of an exorcist, and he works hard to ensure that his emotions remain in check. Unfortunately, even with his extra precautions, Chongyun has still yet to fully suppress his pure-yang spirit and has yet to see an evil spirit with his own two eyes, a fact that has disheartened him at times.

In addition to his exorcism skills, Chongyun is also a Vision Bearer, and is in possession of a Cryo Vision. Visions are said to be gifts bestowed upon mortals by the gods of Teyvat, and allow the wielder to wield one of the seven elements of the world. It is said that “When a person’s ambition reaches a certain strength, the gods look upon them with favour. In other words, a person’s Vision represents their ambition”. It is still unclear exactly how each of the elements are granted to individuals, but it is generally thought that those who embody specific attributes or personality traits reflective of the associated Archon will be granted their specific Vision (for instance, it is thought that those with a Pyro Vision tend to be very fervent and enthusiastic, while those who receive an Electro Vision tend to be outcasts or those who stand alone). Those who wield a Cryo Vision seem to all possess a duality of sorts, faced between two opposing positions, which falls in line with Chongyun’s desire to be a traditional exorcist despite the “hurdle” of his pure-yang spirit. Chongyun’s Cryo Vision allows him the power over ice, and allows him to channel ice into his attacks. Two of his main attacks he uses with his Vision is Chonghua’s Layered Frost (wherein he slams his claymore into the ground to create an explosion of ice and create a temporary area of frosted energy) and Cloud-Parting Star (wherein Chongyun summons forth 3 frosty spirit blades to stab into one spot and then explode into Cryo damage). Though his position as a Vision Bearer puts him as a cut above most, Chongyun regards his Vision in a similar fashion as he does his pure-yang spirit: not being particularly fond of possessing it and believing he should still commit to his training despite the power it grants him.

Inventory:
- His Cryo Vision
- His Sword, Skyrider Greatsword
- Exorcism Tools - A small, personal collection of various exorcism tools; some slips of paper for seals, whittling tools for carving talismans, and some salts and incenses for cleansing
- The Field Guide to Demons and Beasts - a series of books Chongyun’s family have passed down from generation to generation, detailing various monsters, demons, and evil spirits
- A few yang-suppressing popsicles - special popsicles crafted especially for Chongyun, using ingredients that naturally help suppress his pure-yang spirit

Suitability & Plans: Chongyun is a very driven and hardworking individual. Once he is made aware of a serious situation, he will work tirelessly to ensure that the problem is solved. As such, he would be a very motivated individual when it comes to assisting with rebuilding the dreamworlds and clearing out the Noctrae. In fact, Chongyun would take it as a personal responsibility for him to help banish these nightmares and “evil sleep spirits”, since he is an exorcist sworn to protect innocent people. He would feel that he has an edge in helping to purge nightmarish apparitions that may be plaguing people, and would gladly offer his assistance in this matter. He is also not adverse to physical activity and hard labour, seeing it as its own form of training. I do believe that an area Chongyun may personally struggle in, and by extension grow from, is personal interaction with others. Since much of his training and work happens individually, he may still be awkward around others and need to learn a few more interpersonal skills. However, I see this as a growth area for Chongyun, learning how to work with others more and perhaps learn to share the burden of fighting evil with others. Though he is socially awkward, he isn’t exactly a hermit, and so I believe that getting the chance to interact more with others and work with others will help him to grow his confidence (and maybe teach him some street smarts as well).

One big thing that I think would be a very interesting aspect to play with in Songerein would be Chongyun’s pure-yang spirit. Since it is a condition literally referred to as “congenial positivity”, Chongyun’s over-abundance of positivity could honestly cause some pretty wild Dreamotion effects. He is usually actively suppressing his emotions to ensure he doesn’t have an outburst of pure-yang spirit, so I am honestly wondering how that could affect the world around him. Whether it be accidentally leaving a path of ice everywhere he goes, or whether he be bursting with fireworks and sparkles when his pure-yang spirit flares up, I think it could be a lot of fun. Also, I feel like the development of Dreamotion energy could be a positive development for Chongyun, since as a technique used for fighting the Noctrae effects he would probably come to view it as another form of exorcism, which would mean he is finally able to dispel evil spirits using a technique that he has learned, rather than just chasing them off with his pure-yang spirit.

Test Drive Sample: Sample (you may include more)

Questions: N/A