Sorry for the late reply everyone. My job slammed me and kept me busy. I'm back and working on completing my character. I like all of the links for my character to everyone else.
@Jabes-
Zhang's grandfather took a forced exile of his entire family and left the area. The alternative was death for pretty much the entire male line.
Zhang is definitely looking for vengeance and wants to prove his family's innocence. While he knows he will find some with the tip of a sword, he's smart enough to know patience and investigating will bring him the rest.
Was grandfather given self-exile as a choice or did they basically flee for their lives? The latter would make Zhang Wei a fugitive.
Point of order: we need to agree on naming conventions. Does the family name precede the given name, or the reverse? I have no preference either way, but we need to be consistent to maintain verisimilitude. Most of the others have not stated their family names, but Vorn's character's name is given as Zhuang Rong Hua, Zhuang being the family name.
Wu would be the family name, and Meng his given name. That would be Chinese convention, since all our names thus far are Chinese inspired, as opposed to say Japanese based.
I specifically went Chinese for this game to switch things up for myself.
Besides bonds I probably won't get much in the way of backstory completed till I'm on my desktop next week, but just know that Xian Feng was fairly average before the possesion: worked as a shopkeeper, normal parents, nothing extravagent about her lifestyle.
How would you recommend the background for Zhang Wei? He pretty much found out the truth by a death bed confession. How recognizable would his family name be if he say...dropped it at an inn or other place?
Have our characters known each other long? If not are we meeting in the first adventure?
I'll leave the Zhang clan's level of notoriety up to you. Have you had a chance to go over the World Almanac? Can you name the rival clan that betrayed yours?
Your characters all know each other in varying degrees. We can work that out during gameplay. You will not all be together in the opening scene. I will split you into two groups - who ends up with whom is a surprise. :-D
As soon as we have Vorn's character sheet we can begin.
Let's go with Li Jie. He's the current head of the clan that betrayed Zhang Wei. He presented falsified evidence and either bullied or paid off witnesses and the other people needed to make it believable. They did it in order to gain the lands and the wealth that came with it.
As far as Zhang Wei's notoriety level...I say keep it realistic. It's been a good number of years since his grandfather fled. So I say in most places his name may not mean much. Yet the more of a reputation he builds and the more people hear about him...sooner or later the right/wrong person will get wind of it. That's when things get interesting.
Great! I have updated the World Almanac. I see your Signature Weapon is an ancient family heirloom. Wanna give it a cool name? You don't have to, but you can if you wish.
I actually Mythical Chinese Swords and found this. I think it fits.
The Kun Wu Broadsword
Appearance & Construction:
Named for being constructed from the material mined from Mt. Kun Wu.
Lore:
It was said that on Mt. Kun Wu grew a special type of flame-red copper. Moreover, the legend says that a blade made out of such copper is able to cut through jade.
I see two potential ways: Wei had the opportunity to kill Feng and instead spared her. There was a disagreement over what sacrifice truly meant -Wei lost his position and Feng lost her normal life- which resorted to blows.
The nicer option is the two have fought together and Wei saved her life. I wouldn't be surprised if there are people who wish Feng's death for multiple reasons linked to her current occupation.
@somebox- how about a rough combination of both
They could have fought like in the first option, but while they may not see each others point of view (yet), they do respect each other.
@Jabes- I'm going to have Wei's occupation be a simple wandering mercenary. It's simple enough to explain him moving around and searching.