Ran Aishi

Ran Aishi was born to an old but impoverished noble family in the Kingdom of Guanxi; her father held a pity sinecure in some government ministry that allowed him to raise his family and ensure a proper education for his children. Her father planned to send her to be the second wife of an older, richer lord in exchange for patronage, but this plan derailed when Aishi announced her intent to take the civil service examinations and earn her own place in the world. Her father forbade it, and after a full-volume argument, threw her out of his house.

Aishi easily ranked herself among the distinguished scholars of the realm, but without her father's connections, she found no positions available with the royal government; a disowned daughter was noble in name only. She at first took a couple of poorly-paid tutoring positions to meet ends meet, and later took to the road with the magical skills she had learned in her studies. She ended up basing herself out of a great roadside inn, and spent several years plying her trade across the province and practicing her craft, dealing with monsters and bandits both peaceably and through force, and occasionally descending into the province's ruined temples in search of forgotten lore. In between and even during adventures, however, she spent her time in writing, scholarship and correspondence, creating several new texts of science and commentaries on older literary classics.

In recent years, however, Ranzi has become disenchanted with Guanxi, as the great families tighten their grip on her home's politics. Honors once given to meritorious scholars have effectively become hereditary sinecures, respect for the gods has been replaced with cults of ancestry, and her philosophical positions are rapidly finding themselves at odds with the powers that be. She has accordingly travelled to the Jade Empire in the company of a trade mission, ostensibly to peddle fireworks, but in fact hoping to find a governmental position in the overlord's empire.

Selected sayings from her writings

*The law of Heaven is Love.

*Show Love impartially to all, without concern for familial or romantic connection. Treat a stranger as if he were your brother. (Often misquoted as "All men are brothers.")

*Those who govern the kingdom should be chosen for their righteousness and erudition, without regard to family connection. Only through impartial testing can one ensure that those most fit will lead.

*Show due honor to all righteous gods, according to their festivals and holy days.

*Avoid excessive ostentation, and take pleasure in moderation.

*More than any other art, music pleasures and strengthens both mind and soul, and leads both toward enlightenment.

*It would be best to abolish the institution of marriage, if this can be done without causing disharmony with the gods. Children should be raised by the village as a whole, romantic love requires no recognition but its own, and marriage to secure alliances is nothing more than subjugation.