Lu Chen's Bio
Name: Lu Chen
Age: Unknown
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 125lbs
Blood Type: O
Origins:
Lu Chen was born and raised in the Celestial Dawn. He was trained from a young age in the techniques of the order and excelled in them all. His dedication and potential were enormous, so his Sifu began teaching him advanced techniques. By the time Lu Chen was twenty, he had mastered nearly every technique his teachers had at their disposal. Also, in his twentieth year Lu Chen’s parents, humble disciples of the Celestial Dawn, were killed by soldiers in the service of a Covenant puppet lord. He dedicated himself to becoming the best warrior he could be, driven by his failure to protect his parents to make himself unstoppable.
The Order of the Celestial Dawn elders, particularly Lu Chen’s favorite Sifu Lao Long, though sympathetic to the young man’s pain, were concerned that Lu Chen was not training his mind and spirit in tandem with his body. He was letting his anger and his desire for vengeance drive him, rather than seeking peace and harmony. They put a halt to all of Lu Chen’s martial training, refusing to share with him their most hidden and sacred techniques until he had attained a measure of serenity.
Disgusted, Lu Chen left the Order and continued to train on his own. He traveled throughout the world, seeking out new teachers and new opponents. Everywhere he went he would fight, whether there were willing opponents or not, and while he never killed he was often cruel to those he defeated. Lu Chen became boastful and proud, having achieved what he saw as pure physical perfection. He had defeated more than one hundred opponents, once vanquishing twenty men in a single battle.
One day, Lu Chen came to a village that was caught in the grip of a virulent plague. Oblivious to the suffering of the people, Lu Chen demanded that a champion come forward to fight him, making all his usual threats and boasts. With all the able-bodied men and women in the village debilitated by plague, there was no one to stand up to Lu Chen…except for a six-year-old girl, delirious with illness and weak with hunger. She marched up to Lu Chen and defiantly spat into his face before her equally-sick father could restrain her. Enraged, Lu Chen beat the girl’s father within an inch of his life, declared himself the victor, and returned to his isolated mountain retreat.
All of Lu Chen’s training, however, did nothing to protect him from the plague. When he realized he was becoming ill, Lu Chen visited every town and village he could find, searching for a cure; alas, all of them remembered the last time Lu Chen had visited and denied him any aid or assistance. Within days, he was as weak, feverish, and delirious.
It was then that a strange, hooded visitor came to his retreat to challenge him to single combat. Barely able to stand, Lu Chen dismissed the visitor, telling him to return when he had recovered. The visitor laughed, telling Lu Chen he was a coward who would fight only when he was certain he would win. His pride wounded, Lu Chen staggered to his feet and prepared to fight.
The mysterious assailant defeated Lu Chen with only his left hand, displaying baffling and potent techniques that seemed to defy the laws of nature. The hooded man seemed able to project pure Chi energy from his hands, and to knock Lu Chen senseless without even touching him. A single touch of his fingers was enough to blind Lu Chen with pain, and no matter how he struggled Lu Chen wasn’t able to land a blow on his opponent.
Beaten and humbled, Lu Chen knelt before the masked man and asked to know his identity. Removing his hood, the visitor revealed himself as Lao Long, the Sifu of Lu Chen’s childhood. He told Lu Chen that all his fears had come to pass, and that Lu Chen had become anathema to the Order of the Celestial Dawn’s ideals. Lu Chen was forced to acknowledge the truth of his teacher’s words, and agreed to return with him to the Order and begin his training anew.
The Order used Chi healing techniques to cure Lu Chen’s plague, and then began to train his mind and spirit. Lu Chen internalized the teachings of the Celestial Dawn, his experiences on what he came to refer to as his “journey” providing a stark relief for his lessons. Rather than fostering the divine spark in the people he met, Lu Chen had been a bully and a tyrant, and the suffering he himself endured was of his own making.
With his newfound humility and devotion, Lu Chen quickly mastered the philosophy and wisdom of the Celestial Dawn and proceeded to learn all the most advanced and secret techniques that this philosophy espoused. Now an elder himself, Lu Chen is regarded by many as the best teacher the Order of the Celestial Dawn has ever had. Although he undertakes missions for the order only rarely, he is legendary in combat and in discourse alike, using advanced martial techniques and eye-opening rhetoric as the situation demands. Far from the boastful youth he once was, Lu Chen now always offers his opponent the opportunity to depart in peace and is genuinely sad when they decline.
Personality
Although he has no children of his own, Lu Chen claims that all his students are his grandchildren, and they are all delighted to call him grandfather. Having been a brash and headstrong youth himself, Lu Chen is understanding but not indulgent with difficult charges. Lu Chen affects irascibility and exasperation, but his students all come to understand that his gruff demeanor is only skin deep.
Lu Chen has become wise in his old age, but he also has the wisdom not to offer unasked-for advice. He understands that a lesson can be learned only when the student is ready, and prefers to let experience serve as the best teacher. He likes to use himself as an example and let others learn from his own experiences. He likes to say that he is the most profound example of the truth of the Celestial Dawn’s teachings: a divine spark resides in the breast of even the humblest of human beings.
Due to his strength, compassion, wisdom, and devotion, and in recognition of the many services he has done for the Order of the Celestial Dawn in his long life, Lu Chen is known as the Pillar of Heaven.
Fighting Style
Over the course of his life, Lu Chen’s style has changed dramatically. Where in his arrogant youth he was all power and speed, now Lu Chen has mastered the art of the effortless way. Since his discovery of Chi techniques (and, though he would be unlikely to admit it, now that he is past his physical prime), Lu Chen uses Chi-energy based attacks and maneuvers extensively in his battles. Due to his complete mastery of almost every fighting technique known to man, however, Lu Chen is able to completely change his style on the spot to effectively combat his opponent’s technique.
His favorite style focuses on disrupting an opponent’s attack by striking against the wrist, elbow, or knee to steal all the energy from the punch or kick. Once the opponent’s attack has been disrupted, Lu Chen likes to follow up by knocking his opponent off balance and then firing a blast of Chi energy to impact from an unexpected direction.
