This week for #FourGodsFriday, we’re going to take a look at The Four Gods’ protagonist. Gen’s profile is posted below, and you can learn a little more about him. As always, I am open for any questions, too. This profile template was originally made by my CP many years ago, and we’ve shared it between us for most of the profiles we’ve done. This is also a segue to next week’s WAW, where I will cover how to make a basic character profile! 

Character Name: Ming Gen (明根)

Physical

Race: Gen was originally a human, but he becomes a xianren, or an immortal being. Ethnically, he is Han Chinese. 

Birthday/Age: Gen was born on April 12th, 167 CE and is 18 when he achieves immortality.

Height: Gen stands about 5’8". This is tall for a human, but is average height for a heavenly being.

Weight/Body Type: He weighs around 157 pounds. He is stockier than many of his peers, but most of his bulk is lean muscle.

Skin: Gen’s skin is somewhat pale, and he’ll tan in sunlight, but that’s about all there is to it. His general complexion can be compared to a person living in Northern China or Mongolia.

Eyes: His eyes are dark brown in color that border on black, and are large and almond-shaped. 

Other Facial Features: Rounder/oval face shape, wide nose, thin lips. He has very little facial hair and rarely keeps what he is gifted with in the mustache or beard department since he prefers a cleaner look.

Hair:  Gen has dark brown hair that is ungodly thick and slightly wavy. Due to difficulty in maintaining his hair, he will often pull it back into a low ponytail to keep it out of the way, but he’ll begrudgingly wear topknots for special occasions.

Clothes: Gen prefers simpler garments in the neutral spectrum, mainly blacks, grays, and browns. He can sometimes seen be wearing clothing in green or blue, but he’ll only do this for special occasions. While he was a prince, Gen would wear solid colored hanfu robes in darker shades, mainly black, green, and red. When he becomes a god, Gen prefers dark-colored hanfu robes with minimal decoration or he prefers wearing deels of nomadic tribes because of their comfort and ease of movement. 

Skills

Occupation: Gen was originally a prince and soldier of the Eastern Han empire, but once he achieves enlightenment, he serves as the Northern Guardian of the Si Ling (Four Symbols) Organization.

Hobbies: Gen has a love for poetry (both reading and writing) and philosophy. Despite his calm and academic personality, he also has a love for combat and swordsmanship. If he is not working or in a library, he can be found drilling weapons either alone or with his comrades. 

Powers: Gen has very selective powers and abilities once he gains them. His magical abilities focus on water and earth, but his fortes are ice and poisonous plants. He can create both by using his qi, but he must be focused in order to use his abilities successfully, as adrenaline hinders his usage of these elements.  

He also gains transformation abilities and has a mythical beast form in the form of a Bixi (dragon-tortoise), but he rarely uses this aspect of his magical powers and much prefers a more human form.

Weapons: Being a warrior and a previous soldier, Gen can use a variety of weapons, but his favorites are spears and scimitars.

Mental

Common Sense: Gen has a great deal of common sense, and he knows what to avoid and what to jump in on. However, he lacks a certain sense when it comes to touchy subjects of his peers. He also has problems with tunnel vision, and his judgement becomes clouded if he is focused on a specific task or goal he has in mind.

Intellect: Gen is a very intelligent individual. He learns new philosophies for enjoyment and was recognized as a naturally skilled tactician in the Han court.

Improvisation: Gen’s improvisation skills are nowhere near his intellect. This area is definitely not his greatest area of skill, and he is known to be the “screw-up” out of his group of friends as his endeavors to do something outside-of-the-box ends up in disaster. He does learn from mistakes rather well, and if he does screw something up, he will try to find a better alternative to not do it again.

Emotional

Likes: Gen has a love for simplicity, despite living in such a flamboyant environment. This is a carrying over of a trait he had as a mortal in which he meditated multiple times of the day and studied the ways of the Dao. He also enjoys taking part in any problem solving activity and even enjoys a taste of the arts every once in a while, specifically painting or calligraphy.

Dislikes: His dislikes are not very extensive, as he tries to see the silver lining of any bad incident, but he does not care for giant piles of work to the point where he’s overwhelmed. While he is very diligent, he feels work should be done in small steps because it is done more efficiently then. He hates injustice, no matter if it’s against the highest deity or lowliest beggar. He also does not take a liking to public speaking, despite his past life and experiences.

Spiritual

Religion: Gen practices Daoism.

Strengths: As mentioned before, Gen is very skilled in strategy and problem solving as well as being an advisor to his peers. His realistic views of both the mortal and immortal realms often shows everyone a bigger picture. While some may see him as distant and cold, he has the biggest heart and is an overflowing fountain of compassion to anyone and everyone who may need something.

Weaknesses:  Gen has a problem with properly showing emotions. He has been conditioned to “save face” and often shrugs his feelings off for matters he deems more important, which can lead him becoming pessimistic or exploding at inopportune times. 

He has an awful sense of direction and has the habit of losing people that he’s with if traveling together. 

Social

Family: Gen has no family in the Heavens when he arrives, but during his mortal life, his family consisted of about 5 brothers (1 older and 4 younger) and 2 sisters (both younger). His father was the Emperor of the Han empire and his mother the Empress.

Gen was not particularly close with most of his siblings, and preferred spending time with the royal guard or scholar officials in his father’s court. 

Friends: During his mortal years, Gen was closest friends with his personal servant, Zhen, and members of the royal guard. Once he achieved immortality, he became close friends with a Fenghuang named Guang Fengge.

Gen also became friends with the other two members of the Si Ling organization by default: a Qilin named Bing Chonglin and a Long named Zhang Longwei.

Back Story:  Gen was an heir to the Han throne that served as a military advisor and political prodigy under his father, the emperor. Being the oldest son, he was expected to take on the throne as any oldest child should. Shortly after being named Crown Prince, he received a vision from the gods. With their instruction, they gave him the option to become one of them. In order to do this, though, he had to purge himself of all earthly desires and needs and continue to meditate for the transformation process to be complete. 

In response to this vision from the gods, Gen followed their request, meditating frequently and consistently without taking in food or drink as they were considered earthly things. His family, very worried for the prince’s sake, tried everything they could to get their son to eat once more but, Gen was determined to follow the gods wishes and not long after that, his request was granted and he was allowed admittance into the heavens. 

It was everything that he had dreamed it to be with their ornate decorations and brightly patterned robes. However, there was a surprise waiting for him. Although he had purged himself of all earthly materials, Gen’s body was worse for wear and he was given a completely new, divine body that resembled his old one.

Now that Gen was in the heavens, the gods decided to give him a position in the Si Ling, hoping that his presence would replace Guang Fengge, the phoenix of the group. Since then, he has been along for the ride, helping out in any way that he can and attempting to keep the peace between the other three members.

---

And that’s it for today! Feel free to send any questions if you have them!