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Jun. 4th, 2014 12:27 amOUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Player Name: Elly
Player Journal:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tigerphoenix
Age: Pushing 40.
Contact: AIM: luvinanellyvator Plurk: tigerphoenix
Characters Played: Maebhrin Tillinath
IN CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Jou Shan Aleflower
Canon: World of Warcraft
OU/AU/OC: OC
Canon Point: During the Siege of Orgrimmar (Patch 5.4).
History: Long before she was born, Jou's great-grandparents left mainland Pandaria to follow in the footsteps of Liu Lung, a famous explorer. Travelling on the back of Shen-zin Su, a mighty turtle, they had a number of adventures, retired, and took up farming in the Dai-Lo Farmstead area of their mystical "island". Eventually, Jou Shan came along, as descendants do. The second youngest daughter of five children, she helped her parents out on the farm, until it was decided that she would enter the Temple of the Five Dawns for monk training, in the hopes that it would be a way for Jou to better herself. However, they also expected her to return to the farm, and enter into an arranged marriage with the son of another local farmer...
The years passed quickly, if without event, until the island itself fell mysteriously ill, and Jou and two other monks were sent to discover why, consulting the elemental spirits and even Shen-zin Su himself, to find that a "thorn"--in truth an Alliance gunship--had crashed into, and injured, the turtle.
With her homeland and family in danger, she accompanied the Huojin monk Ji Firepaw and the Tushui monk Aysa Cloudsinger and aided their attempts to rescue the turtle. With explosives gathered from the fallen gunship, Ji blew the wreckage out of the wound, despite Aysa's protests. Jou abstained with reservations--luckily the plan worked, and, with the Horde, Alliance, Tushui, and Huojin working together, Shen-zin Su was saved.
Upon return to the Temple of Five Dawns, Jou was given a choice: choose to join the Huojin faction of monks, and adopt their philosophy of action before thought, or adopt the Tushui way of firm discipline and inner contemplation. She chose the Huojin faction, wholeheartedly. It was then decided that she should accompany Ji Firepaw to Orgrimmar, to attempt to set up an embassy there. (Though with Garrosh Hellscream in charge, it was more like being yelled at and bossed around by a large, ogrish blowhard. He did surprise her once in the Stonetalon Mountains, though, when he severely reprimanded one of his generals for massacring a druid encampment. Jou felt it was a pity, however, that Garrosh himself apparently learned nothing from that.) She was given no opportunity to say "no", and worries that her parents are back on the Wandering Isle, angry because she "ran off" from the marriage that they had decided on for her.
Upon her arrival in Orgrimmar, she followed Ji as he announced them to Garrosh. Little did she realize that the Warchief was going to demand they do battle with three of his "pets"--a gronn from Nagrand, a magnataur from Northrend, and an ettin from Gilneas. Luckily, she and Ji swiftly defeated the monstrous trio. This only led to the Warchief sending her on more errands to "serve the Horde", but at least Jou had more control over where she was sent and who she dealt with.
She spent the next year or two exploring the rest of Azeroth and adventuring through the lands of her new allies. Some of the places she traveled, like the Blood Elven Ghostlands or Desolace, where Tauren and Night Elven druids came together to study the healing of the land that had once been wasteland, were filled with folk she could relate to. Folk that were trying to simply live, and make their way in life--much like her people. Though she journeyed a bit through the lands of the Forsaken, their bitterness towards those who were still alive disturbed her deeply, and the Orcs were far too warlike for war's own sake for her tastes. The trolls, however, led by Vol'jin, also earned her respect for their traditional ways.
Jou wandered both the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, righting wrongs and generally fixing things. Soon enough she headed to Outland, where she learned about the shattered homeland of the orcs and Draenei, and then to Northrend, where Jou helped clean up the remnants of the Lich King's army and learned about the Dragon Aspects, including something of the fallen Aspect of Earth, Deathwing. She was surprised to learn that he was the one who had almost destroyed her homeland, in a roundabout way. It was the gunship that the Alliance had created, used by both the Alliance and the Horde to destroy the crazed dragon titan, that crashed into Shen-zin Su and sent him swimming, crippled, towards the Maelstrom.
In the aftermath of the Shattering, Jou traveled around Azeroth, first to Mount Hyjal, a druidic stronghold, then to Deepholm, and finally to the formerly hidden land of Uldum, working to either rid those lands of the Twilight Hammer's influence, or bring the cultists to justice. In Uldum, she also helped a human named Harrison Jones stop the cult from summoning the ancient Titans back to Azeroth, where they would destroy all life to recreate the planet, considering the current design flawed.
After her return from Uldum, Jou Shan was summoned before Garrosh. The Warchief revealed the discovery of Pandaria, "a land shrouded in mist". He ordered her to go with General Nazgrim, one of his most trusted soldiers, in order to conquer the new continent for the Horde. What Hellscream did not count on, however, was the presence of the Alliance.
Following a brief skirmish, the airship captained by Nazgrim was brought down while Jou and the general himself were attempting to rout the Alliance they had discovered using an old temple as a base. Nazgrim was possessed by a strange dark energy, which turned out to be the fabled Sha of her grandparents' stories. Only the appearance of the Shado-Pan monk, Taran Zhu, freed Nazgrim from the Sha's control. And yet Nazgrim dismissed that as Pandaren trickery, and ordered Jou deeper into the Jade Forest.
After a number of recruitment missions that only bolstered Garrosh's war effort, Jou ended up in the Temple of the Jade Serpent, and met the first of the August Celestials, the Jade Serpent herself, Yu'lon. Despite the Sha of Doubt's shattering of the Celestial's statue, she sent Jou further into Pandaria. The growing threats simply would not wait for Yu'lon to build another statue and continue her reincarnation cycle. She herself flew Jou into the Valley of the Four Winds, continuing the Pandaren's journey and enlisting Jou as her agent.
Jou's travels through the Valley's farmlands made her terribly homesick with how much it reminded her of her family's farmland. She actually ended up taking over a small farm and made it her home for a time, helping out the owner, who eventually deeded it to her.
Traveling south into the Krasarang Wilds, she discovered two things: the human prince Anduin Wrynn's presence, and the Temple of the Red Crane, under siege by the Sha of Despair. With the prince's aid, she rallied the monks, and drove off the Sha, freeing the Red Crane, Chi-Ji, of its influence. She then moved on to the village of Stoneplow, only to find it under attack by a new threat: the mantid. Under the guidance of both the Shado-Pan and an old pandaren going by the name of the Hidden Master, Jou helped fend off the burgeoning invasion. Taran Zhu himself sent her to the Kun-Lai Summit to visit another Celestial, Xuen, the White Tiger.
To her surprise and disappointment, Taran Zhu met her there, opposing the human prince's pleas to open the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and its secrets. Jou Shan was chosen to undergo a trial of strength by Xuen, effective immediately. She found herself being influenced by the power of the Sha, as well as a test to see how she reacted under stress. Much to Taran Zhu's surprise, Jou passed the Celestial's test and controlled her emotions, thereby convincing Xuen to open the Vale.
Sadly, Garrosh's greed had the Warchief capturing the Vale, and using one of its secrets--the tainted heart of an Old God--on one of the Vale's holiest sites, nearly destroying the Vale entirely. In his arrogance, he had his Kor'kron bodyguards attempt to murder one of the other Horde leaders, Vol'jin of the Darkspear Trolls, which sent the Horde into rebellion bordering on civil war.
Vol'jin himself and the leader of the Tauren, Baine Bloodhoof, enlisted Jou Shan's aid to follow Garrosh back to Orgrimmar, where the Warchief had taken refuge. Joining with a dozen other adventurers, Jou and her companions entered the city after fighting their way through the Dranosh'ar Blockade. To her horror, Jou found that her old friend, Ji Firepaw, had been tortured by the Kor'kron, under Garrosh's orders, to extract information on the Vale and its secrets. Aysa Cloudsinger, who had accompanied some of the Alliance forces also laying siege to the city, spirited Ji away to be healed.
Jou and her allies battled through the streets of Orgrimmar, tracking Garrosh to his new stronghold beneath the city. When they arrived, they found that former allies against the mantid, the Klaxxi, turned traitor and were defending Garrosh, due to the Klaxxi's worship of the Old Gods and Garrosh's manipulation of the power of Y'shaarj. After a long, difficult battle, Garrosh is defeated. Thrall, the former Warchief, was among the number of heroes gathered, and attempted to kill Garrosh. The king of Stormwind, Varian Wrynn, Anduin's father, stayed his hand. Garrosh was led away in chains, to stand trial for his crimes in Pandaria.
Personality: "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. There is a path before you, but you choose the trials you will face, and the trials you will overcome."
Jou Shan Aleflower grew up a simple farm girl, and for the most part, it shows. She isn't given to putting on airs or holding herself above other people. Due to her monastic training, she was given an education greater than a typical farm girl, and that gave her a love of reading. Despite her Huojin training, putting action before thought, Jou tends to alter that a bit, and undertake action WHILE thinking--she's had examples in Ji Firepaw and many of the heroes of the Horde that action can be good, but she also knows that action with no thought can end in sorrow (The story of Dranosh Saurfang at the Wrath Gate is a stunning example).
Like most Pandaren, she gives of herself totally--once she's named you a friend, you have a friend for life. It will take a great deal to dissuade her from that, but she isn't stupid--harm her enough times, or take advantage where she knows that is what's happening--and, well, she IS a bear. Although one of her master's greatest teachings was "Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses," Jou believes that no one should be a doormat--except a doormat.
As a former farmgirl and a gourmand, Jou believes that food should not be wasted. There were many a Pandaren-sized vermin on the Wandering Isle that would cheerfully steal your vegetables as soon as look at you. However, if she's fond of a person, she will share her excellent cooking and her excellent brew. If she doesn't care for you...well, she is a bear. At best, expect a dressing down. At worst, expect to dodge cookware that has become projectiles.
A typical Pandaren has a tendency to live in the moment. This holds true of Jou as well--while she did not have to deal with the affliction of mainland Pandaria as she grew, her parents told her tales of the Sha, and she also got to experience that first hand when she reached Pandaria itself. It helped reinforce the training that she'd received at the Temple of Five Dawns.
One of Jou's favorite ways to pass the time is a game popular on mainland Pandaria. Called Jihui, the objective is not for one player to win or lose, but for both to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion--technically, for both players to win. (She is also very good at it.)
Jou is very willing to trust at first, unless she is given a good reason to not to (Such as the Forsaken's obsession with vengeance).
Strengths: Healing: Keeping your allies alive, sometimes seemingly against their intentions.
Centuries ago, Pandaren were subjugated by a race of warlords called the Mogu. Slaves were not allowed to use weaponry, so the first monks learned to use their fists and their inner strength, or chi, to resist and eventually overthrow their cruel masters.
As a Mistweaver, Jou Shan's powers center more around healing than true offense, however, she still uses strikes to build chi, which fuels certain healing techniques. Jou can only have 5 Chi points at one time, and it does diminish over time. Eminence is the mastery ability of Mistweavers, which turns damage dealt by certain abilities into smart healing for allies.
Renewing Mist - Places a heal-over-time on the target, which will then spread to two other players. Grants 1 Chi.
Expel Harm - A small instant self-heal that generates 1 Chi.
Soothing Mist - A channeled heal-over-time, with a chance to generate 1 Chi each time it ticks.
Surging Mist - A fast, expensive, and powerful single-target heal. Generates 1 Chi. If you cast this while channeling Soothing Mist, it will heal your Soothing Mist target instantly without breaking the channel.
Enveloping Mist - A powerful heal-over-time effect, your main tank heal. Costs 3 Chi. If you cast this while channeling Soothing Mist, it will heal your Soothing Mist target instantly without breaking the channel.
Uplift - Delivers a small heal to every player currently affected by your Renewing Mist. Costs 2 Chi. This is the main area-of-effect heal. Can heal targets that are out of line-of-sight or are very far away.
Healing Sphere - Summons an orb at a designated location, healing an injured player who walks through it. Neither generates nor spends Chi, but an excellent - if hard to use - emergency heal for tanks
Mana Tea - Consumes stacks of Brewing: Mana Tea (For each 4 Chi used to power healing abilities, you gain 1 stack of Brewing: Mana Tea) to restore 4% of mana per stack. Channeled ability.
Eminence Spells
Jab - An expensive single-target damage ability that generates 1 Chi and grants Muscle Memory, which makes your next Tiger Palm or Blackout Kick deal additional damage and refund half the mana cost of the Jab.
Crackling Jade Lightning - A powerful, channeled single-target damage-over-time spell with a chance to generate 1 Chi each time it ticks. Can be cast from range.
Spinning Crane Kick - A channeled area of effect damage ability that also heals nearby allies. Generates 1 Chi if it heals at least 3 allies (yourself not included) or damages at least 3 enemies. Also grants Muscle Memory if it damages at least 3 enemies.
Tiger Palm - A single-target damage ability that costs 1 Chi and grants you two buffs: Tiger Power(ignores 30% armor) and Vital Mists (Reduces the cast time and mana cost of your next Soothing Mists by 20%).
Blackout Kick - Deals strong damage to the primary target and cleaves on up to 4 nearby enemies. Costs 2 Chi.
Self-buffs
Stance of the Wise Serpent - Enables Eminence (When the monk deals auto-attack damage, she will heal the target with the lowest health within 20 yards equal to 25% of the damage done) healing, buffs all healing by 20%, and grants 50% additional Haste from items.
Legacy of the Emperor - Increases your Strength, Agility, and Intellect by 5% for one hour.
Summon Jade Serpent Statue - Creates a statue which will duplicate your Eminence healing and Soothing Mist casts on nearby players.
Utility Spells
Detox - Dispels Magic, Poison, and Disease type debuffs from the target.
Spear Hand Strike - Interrupts a spell and locks the target out of that spell school. Melee range.
Provoke - Taunts a target, forcing it to attack you, and causes it to move 50% faster.
Zen Meditation - Reduces all damage taken by 90%, and occasionally redirects spells that were cast at your allies to you instead. Mostly used as a personal damage-reduction cooldown.
Fortifying Brew - Increases your health by 20% and reduces incoming damage by 20%.
Nimble Brew - Removes all root, stun, fear, and/or horrify effects.
Roll - Personal mobility cooldown on a charge system. Allows you to move a long distance fairly quickly.
Crowd Control
Paralysis - A moderate-range CC ability that freezes its target in place. Breaks on damage.
Disable - A melee-range ability that slows the target's movement speed by 50% for as long as the target is within range of you. Using this a second time on the same target causes that target to be rooted instead of slowed.
REMOVED
All Glyph-related powers
Resuscitate - Resurrects a dead player; can only be used out of combat.
Transcendence - Places a "spirit" version of yourself in your current location.
Transcendence: Transfer - Swaps your current position with your "spirit" version's position. Use these spells together to move quickly across large distances.
Thunder Focus Tea - empowers your next Uplift or Surging Mist cast. Costs 1 Chi. Usually used with Uplift to refresh the duration of all existing Renewing Mist HoTs, which allows you to cast Renewing Mist on more targets. Use this just before a heavy-damage phase, so that your Uplifts during the phase will heal more targets.
Life Cocoon - applies a very strong damage-absorption effect to the target, and increases HoT healing by 50% while it is active. Typically used on the tank.
Revival - Deals a large chunk of healing instantly to all players within 100 yards. Also dispels any Poison, Magic, or Disease debuff on affected players. Use this after a heavy-damage ability.
Weaknesses: The same "living in the moment" that is a strength is also a weakness. Jou Shan is not usually given to extensive planning or forethought about most things (food, healing, and beer being exceptions).
Jou is slow to anger, but...she is still a bear, and the phrase "do not poke the bear" applies. When she DOES get angry, she is slow to cool down, and not liable to think about consequences until long after she does cool her head.
If she is not careful about managing her mana and chi while healing during battle, Jou is apt to run out of both--while mana will spontaneously regenerate, chi will not, and this can make both Jou herself and her allies suffer for her carelessness. While in canon there are both drinks and potions that can restore mana, the former cannot be used until out of combat, and the latter are only made by alchemists, which Jou will not have access to in Equestria. (Sorry, Zecora. You're good, but...)
Jou has both a great capacity and a great love for food and drink, and can be driven to distraction if offered fare she has not tried before. Or if it's a favorite! She also has a tendency to drink a great deal.
She still gets terribly homesick for the Wandering Isle and her family, which can lead to uncharacteristic depression. Jou tries very hard not to think about this, but it happens.
Possessions: Leather armor and a backpack-turned-saddlebag containing a dragon-headed stave that is enchanted to boost her intelligence, her De-Weaponized Mechanical Companion (a robotic rabbit), a pouch with a handful of gems, and her Arclight Spanner (a wrench).
Pony/Animal Type: Zebra
Cutie Mark: An intricate, Oriental-style serpent's head in green and black.
Pony Picture:
SAMPLES
First Person: And the idea of the noodle shop is seeded...
Third Person: With a huff, Jou Shan Aleflower wiped the sweat from her brow, and looked up at the tiny shack that was to be her noodle shop. "WOK 'N' ROLL" was clearly painted in red over the whitewashed wood, with a pair of brass windchimes dangling on each side, ringing when the wind blew (or when Jou knocked a hoof against the wood. She still wasn't quite used to being a four-footer). A small statue of a dragon--actually Yu'Lon, the Wise Serpent--stood against one of the posts, and a small dish of sand with an incense stick at before the statue. She might no longer be in Pandaria, but some old habits died hard--or really, Jou wasn't about to give them up.
"It looks good," she murmured to herself. "Here is hoping that my food tastes as good to these others!"
She set a little sign that said "Open" on the front of the shack, and ducked within, starting the little fire in the brazier to sizzling. Soon delicious smells, redolent of toasted sesame and soy sauce, began to drift into the air near the shop and the bravest of the curious ponies came to see what this new zebra had to offer. They were quite familiar with Zecora, after all.
"Welcome to my noodle shop!" Jou called merrily as the first few ponies approached. "Who wants to be the first to try my noodles? Fresh ramen, par-boiled, then flash-fried with sesame seeds, bamboo shoots, baby corn, and carrots, with a dash of sweet soy!"
Suddenly the front of her shack was surrounded by clamoring ponies, bits in hoof, each and every one shouting for a taste. It was almost like home, after a hard day in the fields, and Jou grinned a little before shouting, "Calm down, I have enough for all!"
Ah, if only Master Shang Xi could see her now!
Player Name: Elly
Player Journal:
tigerphoenixAge: Pushing 40.
Contact: AIM: luvinanellyvator Plurk: tigerphoenix
Characters Played: Maebhrin Tillinath
IN CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Jou Shan Aleflower
Canon: World of Warcraft
OU/AU/OC: OC
Canon Point: During the Siege of Orgrimmar (Patch 5.4).
History: Long before she was born, Jou's great-grandparents left mainland Pandaria to follow in the footsteps of Liu Lung, a famous explorer. Travelling on the back of Shen-zin Su, a mighty turtle, they had a number of adventures, retired, and took up farming in the Dai-Lo Farmstead area of their mystical "island". Eventually, Jou Shan came along, as descendants do. The second youngest daughter of five children, she helped her parents out on the farm, until it was decided that she would enter the Temple of the Five Dawns for monk training, in the hopes that it would be a way for Jou to better herself. However, they also expected her to return to the farm, and enter into an arranged marriage with the son of another local farmer...
The years passed quickly, if without event, until the island itself fell mysteriously ill, and Jou and two other monks were sent to discover why, consulting the elemental spirits and even Shen-zin Su himself, to find that a "thorn"--in truth an Alliance gunship--had crashed into, and injured, the turtle.
With her homeland and family in danger, she accompanied the Huojin monk Ji Firepaw and the Tushui monk Aysa Cloudsinger and aided their attempts to rescue the turtle. With explosives gathered from the fallen gunship, Ji blew the wreckage out of the wound, despite Aysa's protests. Jou abstained with reservations--luckily the plan worked, and, with the Horde, Alliance, Tushui, and Huojin working together, Shen-zin Su was saved.
Upon return to the Temple of Five Dawns, Jou was given a choice: choose to join the Huojin faction of monks, and adopt their philosophy of action before thought, or adopt the Tushui way of firm discipline and inner contemplation. She chose the Huojin faction, wholeheartedly. It was then decided that she should accompany Ji Firepaw to Orgrimmar, to attempt to set up an embassy there. (Though with Garrosh Hellscream in charge, it was more like being yelled at and bossed around by a large, ogrish blowhard. He did surprise her once in the Stonetalon Mountains, though, when he severely reprimanded one of his generals for massacring a druid encampment. Jou felt it was a pity, however, that Garrosh himself apparently learned nothing from that.) She was given no opportunity to say "no", and worries that her parents are back on the Wandering Isle, angry because she "ran off" from the marriage that they had decided on for her.
Upon her arrival in Orgrimmar, she followed Ji as he announced them to Garrosh. Little did she realize that the Warchief was going to demand they do battle with three of his "pets"--a gronn from Nagrand, a magnataur from Northrend, and an ettin from Gilneas. Luckily, she and Ji swiftly defeated the monstrous trio. This only led to the Warchief sending her on more errands to "serve the Horde", but at least Jou had more control over where she was sent and who she dealt with.
She spent the next year or two exploring the rest of Azeroth and adventuring through the lands of her new allies. Some of the places she traveled, like the Blood Elven Ghostlands or Desolace, where Tauren and Night Elven druids came together to study the healing of the land that had once been wasteland, were filled with folk she could relate to. Folk that were trying to simply live, and make their way in life--much like her people. Though she journeyed a bit through the lands of the Forsaken, their bitterness towards those who were still alive disturbed her deeply, and the Orcs were far too warlike for war's own sake for her tastes. The trolls, however, led by Vol'jin, also earned her respect for their traditional ways.
Jou wandered both the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, righting wrongs and generally fixing things. Soon enough she headed to Outland, where she learned about the shattered homeland of the orcs and Draenei, and then to Northrend, where Jou helped clean up the remnants of the Lich King's army and learned about the Dragon Aspects, including something of the fallen Aspect of Earth, Deathwing. She was surprised to learn that he was the one who had almost destroyed her homeland, in a roundabout way. It was the gunship that the Alliance had created, used by both the Alliance and the Horde to destroy the crazed dragon titan, that crashed into Shen-zin Su and sent him swimming, crippled, towards the Maelstrom.
In the aftermath of the Shattering, Jou traveled around Azeroth, first to Mount Hyjal, a druidic stronghold, then to Deepholm, and finally to the formerly hidden land of Uldum, working to either rid those lands of the Twilight Hammer's influence, or bring the cultists to justice. In Uldum, she also helped a human named Harrison Jones stop the cult from summoning the ancient Titans back to Azeroth, where they would destroy all life to recreate the planet, considering the current design flawed.
After her return from Uldum, Jou Shan was summoned before Garrosh. The Warchief revealed the discovery of Pandaria, "a land shrouded in mist". He ordered her to go with General Nazgrim, one of his most trusted soldiers, in order to conquer the new continent for the Horde. What Hellscream did not count on, however, was the presence of the Alliance.
Following a brief skirmish, the airship captained by Nazgrim was brought down while Jou and the general himself were attempting to rout the Alliance they had discovered using an old temple as a base. Nazgrim was possessed by a strange dark energy, which turned out to be the fabled Sha of her grandparents' stories. Only the appearance of the Shado-Pan monk, Taran Zhu, freed Nazgrim from the Sha's control. And yet Nazgrim dismissed that as Pandaren trickery, and ordered Jou deeper into the Jade Forest.
After a number of recruitment missions that only bolstered Garrosh's war effort, Jou ended up in the Temple of the Jade Serpent, and met the first of the August Celestials, the Jade Serpent herself, Yu'lon. Despite the Sha of Doubt's shattering of the Celestial's statue, she sent Jou further into Pandaria. The growing threats simply would not wait for Yu'lon to build another statue and continue her reincarnation cycle. She herself flew Jou into the Valley of the Four Winds, continuing the Pandaren's journey and enlisting Jou as her agent.
Jou's travels through the Valley's farmlands made her terribly homesick with how much it reminded her of her family's farmland. She actually ended up taking over a small farm and made it her home for a time, helping out the owner, who eventually deeded it to her.
Traveling south into the Krasarang Wilds, she discovered two things: the human prince Anduin Wrynn's presence, and the Temple of the Red Crane, under siege by the Sha of Despair. With the prince's aid, she rallied the monks, and drove off the Sha, freeing the Red Crane, Chi-Ji, of its influence. She then moved on to the village of Stoneplow, only to find it under attack by a new threat: the mantid. Under the guidance of both the Shado-Pan and an old pandaren going by the name of the Hidden Master, Jou helped fend off the burgeoning invasion. Taran Zhu himself sent her to the Kun-Lai Summit to visit another Celestial, Xuen, the White Tiger.
To her surprise and disappointment, Taran Zhu met her there, opposing the human prince's pleas to open the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and its secrets. Jou Shan was chosen to undergo a trial of strength by Xuen, effective immediately. She found herself being influenced by the power of the Sha, as well as a test to see how she reacted under stress. Much to Taran Zhu's surprise, Jou passed the Celestial's test and controlled her emotions, thereby convincing Xuen to open the Vale.
Sadly, Garrosh's greed had the Warchief capturing the Vale, and using one of its secrets--the tainted heart of an Old God--on one of the Vale's holiest sites, nearly destroying the Vale entirely. In his arrogance, he had his Kor'kron bodyguards attempt to murder one of the other Horde leaders, Vol'jin of the Darkspear Trolls, which sent the Horde into rebellion bordering on civil war.
Vol'jin himself and the leader of the Tauren, Baine Bloodhoof, enlisted Jou Shan's aid to follow Garrosh back to Orgrimmar, where the Warchief had taken refuge. Joining with a dozen other adventurers, Jou and her companions entered the city after fighting their way through the Dranosh'ar Blockade. To her horror, Jou found that her old friend, Ji Firepaw, had been tortured by the Kor'kron, under Garrosh's orders, to extract information on the Vale and its secrets. Aysa Cloudsinger, who had accompanied some of the Alliance forces also laying siege to the city, spirited Ji away to be healed.
Jou and her allies battled through the streets of Orgrimmar, tracking Garrosh to his new stronghold beneath the city. When they arrived, they found that former allies against the mantid, the Klaxxi, turned traitor and were defending Garrosh, due to the Klaxxi's worship of the Old Gods and Garrosh's manipulation of the power of Y'shaarj. After a long, difficult battle, Garrosh is defeated. Thrall, the former Warchief, was among the number of heroes gathered, and attempted to kill Garrosh. The king of Stormwind, Varian Wrynn, Anduin's father, stayed his hand. Garrosh was led away in chains, to stand trial for his crimes in Pandaria.
Personality: "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. There is a path before you, but you choose the trials you will face, and the trials you will overcome."
Jou Shan Aleflower grew up a simple farm girl, and for the most part, it shows. She isn't given to putting on airs or holding herself above other people. Due to her monastic training, she was given an education greater than a typical farm girl, and that gave her a love of reading. Despite her Huojin training, putting action before thought, Jou tends to alter that a bit, and undertake action WHILE thinking--she's had examples in Ji Firepaw and many of the heroes of the Horde that action can be good, but she also knows that action with no thought can end in sorrow (The story of Dranosh Saurfang at the Wrath Gate is a stunning example).
Like most Pandaren, she gives of herself totally--once she's named you a friend, you have a friend for life. It will take a great deal to dissuade her from that, but she isn't stupid--harm her enough times, or take advantage where she knows that is what's happening--and, well, she IS a bear. Although one of her master's greatest teachings was "Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses," Jou believes that no one should be a doormat--except a doormat.
As a former farmgirl and a gourmand, Jou believes that food should not be wasted. There were many a Pandaren-sized vermin on the Wandering Isle that would cheerfully steal your vegetables as soon as look at you. However, if she's fond of a person, she will share her excellent cooking and her excellent brew. If she doesn't care for you...well, she is a bear. At best, expect a dressing down. At worst, expect to dodge cookware that has become projectiles.
A typical Pandaren has a tendency to live in the moment. This holds true of Jou as well--while she did not have to deal with the affliction of mainland Pandaria as she grew, her parents told her tales of the Sha, and she also got to experience that first hand when she reached Pandaria itself. It helped reinforce the training that she'd received at the Temple of Five Dawns.
One of Jou's favorite ways to pass the time is a game popular on mainland Pandaria. Called Jihui, the objective is not for one player to win or lose, but for both to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion--technically, for both players to win. (She is also very good at it.)
Jou is very willing to trust at first, unless she is given a good reason to not to (Such as the Forsaken's obsession with vengeance).
Strengths: Healing: Keeping your allies alive, sometimes seemingly against their intentions.
Centuries ago, Pandaren were subjugated by a race of warlords called the Mogu. Slaves were not allowed to use weaponry, so the first monks learned to use their fists and their inner strength, or chi, to resist and eventually overthrow their cruel masters.
As a Mistweaver, Jou Shan's powers center more around healing than true offense, however, she still uses strikes to build chi, which fuels certain healing techniques. Jou can only have 5 Chi points at one time, and it does diminish over time. Eminence is the mastery ability of Mistweavers, which turns damage dealt by certain abilities into smart healing for allies.
Renewing Mist - Places a heal-over-time on the target, which will then spread to two other players. Grants 1 Chi.
Expel Harm - A small instant self-heal that generates 1 Chi.
Soothing Mist - A channeled heal-over-time, with a chance to generate 1 Chi each time it ticks.
Surging Mist - A fast, expensive, and powerful single-target heal. Generates 1 Chi. If you cast this while channeling Soothing Mist, it will heal your Soothing Mist target instantly without breaking the channel.
Enveloping Mist - A powerful heal-over-time effect, your main tank heal. Costs 3 Chi. If you cast this while channeling Soothing Mist, it will heal your Soothing Mist target instantly without breaking the channel.
Uplift - Delivers a small heal to every player currently affected by your Renewing Mist. Costs 2 Chi. This is the main area-of-effect heal. Can heal targets that are out of line-of-sight or are very far away.
Healing Sphere - Summons an orb at a designated location, healing an injured player who walks through it. Neither generates nor spends Chi, but an excellent - if hard to use - emergency heal for tanks
Mana Tea - Consumes stacks of Brewing: Mana Tea (For each 4 Chi used to power healing abilities, you gain 1 stack of Brewing: Mana Tea) to restore 4% of mana per stack. Channeled ability.
Eminence Spells
Jab - An expensive single-target damage ability that generates 1 Chi and grants Muscle Memory, which makes your next Tiger Palm or Blackout Kick deal additional damage and refund half the mana cost of the Jab.
Crackling Jade Lightning - A powerful, channeled single-target damage-over-time spell with a chance to generate 1 Chi each time it ticks. Can be cast from range.
Spinning Crane Kick - A channeled area of effect damage ability that also heals nearby allies. Generates 1 Chi if it heals at least 3 allies (yourself not included) or damages at least 3 enemies. Also grants Muscle Memory if it damages at least 3 enemies.
Tiger Palm - A single-target damage ability that costs 1 Chi and grants you two buffs: Tiger Power(ignores 30% armor) and Vital Mists (Reduces the cast time and mana cost of your next Soothing Mists by 20%).
Blackout Kick - Deals strong damage to the primary target and cleaves on up to 4 nearby enemies. Costs 2 Chi.
Self-buffs
Stance of the Wise Serpent - Enables Eminence (When the monk deals auto-attack damage, she will heal the target with the lowest health within 20 yards equal to 25% of the damage done) healing, buffs all healing by 20%, and grants 50% additional Haste from items.
Legacy of the Emperor - Increases your Strength, Agility, and Intellect by 5% for one hour.
Summon Jade Serpent Statue - Creates a statue which will duplicate your Eminence healing and Soothing Mist casts on nearby players.
Utility Spells
Detox - Dispels Magic, Poison, and Disease type debuffs from the target.
Spear Hand Strike - Interrupts a spell and locks the target out of that spell school. Melee range.
Provoke - Taunts a target, forcing it to attack you, and causes it to move 50% faster.
Zen Meditation - Reduces all damage taken by 90%, and occasionally redirects spells that were cast at your allies to you instead. Mostly used as a personal damage-reduction cooldown.
Fortifying Brew - Increases your health by 20% and reduces incoming damage by 20%.
Nimble Brew - Removes all root, stun, fear, and/or horrify effects.
Roll - Personal mobility cooldown on a charge system. Allows you to move a long distance fairly quickly.
Crowd Control
Paralysis - A moderate-range CC ability that freezes its target in place. Breaks on damage.
Disable - A melee-range ability that slows the target's movement speed by 50% for as long as the target is within range of you. Using this a second time on the same target causes that target to be rooted instead of slowed.
REMOVED
All Glyph-related powers
Resuscitate - Resurrects a dead player; can only be used out of combat.
Transcendence - Places a "spirit" version of yourself in your current location.
Transcendence: Transfer - Swaps your current position with your "spirit" version's position. Use these spells together to move quickly across large distances.
Thunder Focus Tea - empowers your next Uplift or Surging Mist cast. Costs 1 Chi. Usually used with Uplift to refresh the duration of all existing Renewing Mist HoTs, which allows you to cast Renewing Mist on more targets. Use this just before a heavy-damage phase, so that your Uplifts during the phase will heal more targets.
Life Cocoon - applies a very strong damage-absorption effect to the target, and increases HoT healing by 50% while it is active. Typically used on the tank.
Revival - Deals a large chunk of healing instantly to all players within 100 yards. Also dispels any Poison, Magic, or Disease debuff on affected players. Use this after a heavy-damage ability.
Weaknesses: The same "living in the moment" that is a strength is also a weakness. Jou Shan is not usually given to extensive planning or forethought about most things (food, healing, and beer being exceptions).
Jou is slow to anger, but...she is still a bear, and the phrase "do not poke the bear" applies. When she DOES get angry, she is slow to cool down, and not liable to think about consequences until long after she does cool her head.
If she is not careful about managing her mana and chi while healing during battle, Jou is apt to run out of both--while mana will spontaneously regenerate, chi will not, and this can make both Jou herself and her allies suffer for her carelessness. While in canon there are both drinks and potions that can restore mana, the former cannot be used until out of combat, and the latter are only made by alchemists, which Jou will not have access to in Equestria. (Sorry, Zecora. You're good, but...)
Jou has both a great capacity and a great love for food and drink, and can be driven to distraction if offered fare she has not tried before. Or if it's a favorite! She also has a tendency to drink a great deal.
She still gets terribly homesick for the Wandering Isle and her family, which can lead to uncharacteristic depression. Jou tries very hard not to think about this, but it happens.
Possessions: Leather armor and a backpack-turned-saddlebag containing a dragon-headed stave that is enchanted to boost her intelligence, her De-Weaponized Mechanical Companion (a robotic rabbit), a pouch with a handful of gems, and her Arclight Spanner (a wrench).
Pony/Animal Type: Zebra
Cutie Mark: An intricate, Oriental-style serpent's head in green and black.
Pony Picture:
SAMPLES
First Person: And the idea of the noodle shop is seeded...
Third Person: With a huff, Jou Shan Aleflower wiped the sweat from her brow, and looked up at the tiny shack that was to be her noodle shop. "WOK 'N' ROLL" was clearly painted in red over the whitewashed wood, with a pair of brass windchimes dangling on each side, ringing when the wind blew (or when Jou knocked a hoof against the wood. She still wasn't quite used to being a four-footer). A small statue of a dragon--actually Yu'Lon, the Wise Serpent--stood against one of the posts, and a small dish of sand with an incense stick at before the statue. She might no longer be in Pandaria, but some old habits died hard--or really, Jou wasn't about to give them up.
"It looks good," she murmured to herself. "Here is hoping that my food tastes as good to these others!"
She set a little sign that said "Open" on the front of the shack, and ducked within, starting the little fire in the brazier to sizzling. Soon delicious smells, redolent of toasted sesame and soy sauce, began to drift into the air near the shop and the bravest of the curious ponies came to see what this new zebra had to offer. They were quite familiar with Zecora, after all.
"Welcome to my noodle shop!" Jou called merrily as the first few ponies approached. "Who wants to be the first to try my noodles? Fresh ramen, par-boiled, then flash-fried with sesame seeds, bamboo shoots, baby corn, and carrots, with a dash of sweet soy!"
Suddenly the front of her shack was surrounded by clamoring ponies, bits in hoof, each and every one shouting for a taste. It was almost like home, after a hard day in the fields, and Jou grinned a little before shouting, "Calm down, I have enough for all!"
Ah, if only Master Shang Xi could see her now!
