China Sorrows

In addition to secretly being a jerk, China tries to ferret out all the information she can about the people and events around her. Because of this, I understand that other players may want to define, restrict, or completely avoid interactions with her. 

Please comment below if you would like to opt-out of interactions with China, if you have any restrictions/boundaries you'd like me to consider when tagging you, or if there are things you'd like her to figure out/notice about your character(s). If you'd prefer your comment to be screened, just ask. I'm also always open to pms if you'd prefer more privacy/discussion. 

While I will be working very consciously to avoid infomodding, if you feel I've overstepped and/or want to discuss something with me, I'm happy to do so here/by pm/whatever. 

Thank you!

CHARACTER NAME: China Sorrows
CHARACTER SERIES: Skulduggery Pleasant

[OOC]
Backtagging: Yes! I'll backtag forever
Threadhopping: Sure, just ask first!
Fourthwalling: I'd rather avoid this
Offensive subjects (elaborate): I'm fine with most stuff as long as it's warned for.

[IC]
Hugging this character: Yes
Kissing this character: Yes, but she might be offended depending on the circumstances.
Flirting with this character: Yes
Fighting with this character: Yes. She's a pretty competent fighter and won't take any attacks lying down, though.
Injuring this character (include limits and severity): Yes, to any degree, but I'd prefer we talk it over first.
Killing this character: Yes, but only if we've talked it out/planned first.
Using telepathy/mind reading abilities on this character: Go ahead, but her brain is boobytrapped, so just be warned!

Warnings: Please see above! China is out for number 1 first and wants to know everything about everyone. She is not a nice person and can be brutal in a fight.

Get your own copy of the IC/OOC Permissions meme!

OOC Info
Name: Erin
Age: 24
Contact: crowghostie/crowghostie#2437
Current Characters: N/A


IC Info

Name: China Sorrows
Canon: Skulduggery Pleasant
Age: About 400
Appearance: Magic drastically slows aging, so China appears much younger than her ~400 years, more like someone in their 20s or 30s. She’s known as the one of the most beautiful women in her world, though some of that may just be an effect of the magic she uses to make people fall in love with her. She has long black hair and pale blue eyes. She is meticulous about her clothing and grooming; her outfits always match perfectly and tend to be simple but expensive and carefully curated. The magic symbols tattooed and cut into her body generally aren’t visible until activated, at which point they either glow a certain color or swarm across her body like trails of ink.
Canon Point: post-Death Bringer, when she’s in hiding after her secret is revealed to Skulduggery and Valkyrie.
Background: Wiki entry

Personality:

To most people, at least at first, China presents a pleasant face; she's charming and polite, always carrying herself with dignity. The simple reason for this is that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, and China's eternal goal is to get what she wants with the least fuss. She's found that she can coast by on charm rather well and sees no reason to exert herself further. Even though she doesn't necessarily like schmoozing, it's easier to dazzle and sweet talk a priceless book out of someone's hands than to debate price and, heaven forbid, actually pay for the thing.

Above all, China's calculating and manipulative. She has no compunctions about turning on the doe eyes and simpering at someone if it gets her a rare book. While she favors the soft touch of simply guiding someone into doing what she wants, she also feels no remorse for killing a man to keep a secret. If she makes a move, there's something in it for her. Even when she performs actions that may seem kind, she usually has a selfish motive. For example, she allows a man stealing a book from her library to keep it, knowing that the person who assigned him to do so would kill him and his family if he failed. She admits frankly that she did this only because she has extra copies and her friend Valkyrie was watching; she knows that Valkyrie dislikes meanness.

And China can be very mean indeed. When humans and sorcerers are driven to attack her and her companions by evil remnants, China doesn't hold back and uses lethal force. Another character points out that when the remnants are removed, the bodies they inhabit revert to innocent people. China doesn't particularly care; it's her or them. Before the start of the series, she was a feared zealot who followed the dark gods, the Faceless Ones. She's since turned her back on her religion and, as she herself notes, calmed down. But she also admits that she can still feel the destructive urges inside. On a less dire scale, she can be snarky and cruel with her words as well to those who've displeased her; if there's nothing to gain by being nice, she's not going to waste her time with it.

China prefers to see herself as apart from most events. She has her connections and her collector's world and only intervenes beyond that for the few people whose company she enjoys, her own gain, or if the world might literally end. And even in the first and third cases, she may need some prodding to do so. When the status quo is favorable to her, as it is for the first several books in the series, she's not inclined to take much action unless she's forced into the thick of things. She's a cautious person who prefers to maintain the balance--even going so far as to prevent Valkyrie from getting help for Skulduggery when he's kidnapped, for fear it could provoke war. War would be bad for her business.

As part of being a control freak, China's even-tempered to the extreme. Fury manifests on her features as a brief look of irritation. The only time she's seen actually enraged is when another character accidentally destroys a shelf of priceless books--and even then she shrieks a little before counting to ten and resuming her balanced facade. She's cold and calm even when being threatened or attacked because she sees keeping her poise not only as a way to save face but as a way to survive. She leaves little up to chance and has safe houses and escape routes and contingency plans--as an untrustworthy, underhanded person herself, she knows you have to be prepared for sudden attacks, betrayals, and other emergencies.

She accepts few into her inner circle and takes no one into her confidence. Generally, China'd rather be alone with her books. The people who she genuinely likes tend to be those who make her laugh and who hold her interest with good conversation. Those who do wind up on her good side, like the main characters in the series, see more of her behind the pleasant mask. She's self-aware and open about her arrogance and vanity and is sarcastic and sharp-tongued. She willingly shares information with the two main characters to assist in their investigations, though typically helping them avert the end of the world is in her interest. Despite her aloofness, she doesn't disdain all company--in moderation, other people can be interesting and enjoyable to be around. Over the course of the series, she develops a genuine fondness for Valkyrie and enjoys chatting with her and living vicariously through her relationship drama.

Feelings of fondness, though, don't mean that she'll suddenly become a noble or self-sacrificing type. China's not really a great friend. She keeps secrets--secrets of the "I assisted in your beloved wife's murder" kind--and won't visit you in the hospital. Indeed, she's loathe to admit that she even has friends. Falling into China's heart isn't necessarily a good thing for the object of her affections (or those around them) either; she's in love with Skulduggery, but it's a jealous and coveting love that played a role in her battling his wife.

Weaknesses/Temptations:
Avarice: China is a collector of books, antiques, curiosities, etc.--basically anything with some sort of historical or scholarly interest. She'll do nearly anything to acquire a rare artifact or book.
Power and control: China jealously guards her control over her own life and sphere and sure wouldn't mind having power over others too.
Selfishness: China will nearly always put her own self-interest--whether it's saving her own skin or just getting a book she likes--above the lives and care of others.
Sins:
Murder
Attempted murder
Accessory to murder
Familicide
Attempted familicide
Betrayal
Theft by deception
Manipulation
Heresy
Blasphemy
Lying
Jealousy
Envy
Injury
Vanity
Pride
Powers/Abilities:
China is what her world calls an "adept"; a sorcerer who specializes in one type of magic. Hers is symbol magic; she can create symbols to perform various functions and has many invisibly tattooed and carved all over her body. The symbols are typically triggered when she taps or touches them. The ones she uses most frequently:

• Shoot daggers of red light


• Shoot a wave of blue energy


• Shoot a single energy beam


• Enhance her speed (temporary)


• Enhance her strength (temporary)


• Land easily after a drop from a great height


• Trigger "thorns" to trap and injure a mind-reader/influencer (gives her a severe headache)


• Healing sigil: Slowly (over the course of a few days for more major injuries) recover from severe wounds, like being shot. Using this on major, life-threatening wounds takes all of her magic for the time.


• Facades: Carve symbols into other people to make false faces or "facades" for them.


• Set up a barrier that will alert her to trespassers or prevent magic people from entering an area


• Cause incapacitating pain when she touches someone with her hand

She also has the ability to make people fall in love with her on sight. She always has this "on" by default, but characters who know about it/figure it out can generally resist it with little trouble. I'd like to nerf this power completely, if possible!

For general abilities, she's a relatively competent physical fighter, both in fencing and hand-to-hand combat.
Items: Just the clothes on her back!

SAMPLES

Network: Link
Log: Link 1, Link 2