Zhang Chu, the Heaven General

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My life's work has been healing the corruption of this dynasty. Now, heaven itself bestows upon me a new ring, a new mandate. Let it be: the Guan's sky shall fall, and the Zhang sky shall rise under not ten rings, but one golden ring!
~ Zhang Chu ~

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A chuiist healer, champion, and then rebel leader, Zhang Chu was one of the most prominent figures in the later end of the Guan dynasty. Born to a small scholar's family in Qingdao, Chu would see in life the famine and death the corruption the Guan court was bringing upon the land, and wielding the Heaven Ring of Huifu, would incite one of the most radical conflicts that had ever occured in Dachi. Zhang Chu was an ambitious, honorable, and tranquil sorcerer.

Scholarly Healer

Zhang Chu was born to a scholarly Chuiist medicinal family in Konto Pass of the Jin commandery. However, after a freak flood ruptured the town as a kid, his family had to migrate east to Liliang, where he spent most of his life on the street while his parents performed healings. After they passed, he took up their work, mostly aiding those who were sick and frail like he was.
Over time, Chu even began applying magic to his healing.

Healer of Jin

Though he was an impoverished civilian, his work was well handled and his name slowly grew in popularity through the city. Word of his deeds soon even reached the name of the Faguan of Liliang, an orc named Gong Sha. At the time, Sha's wife, Lady Gong (or Gong Sajin) had fallen very ill, and Sha had scrambled in a fright to find someone who could aid her, for he had gone to every doctor in the city, yet none had succeeded.
Hearing of Zhang Chu's work, servants urged the governor to request him, and though very doubtful of a commoner's capability, he was convinced. When Zhang Chu was summoned, he arrived in very poor clothes, which angered Sha, but he was deterred by his servants, who explained Chu had nothing else to wear.
He was brought before Lady Gong, and Zhang Chu, revealing herbs and other materials, requested he be left with her in quiet in her chambers while he healed her. Gong Sha shouted, "He means to poison her!" He was about to order him executed, but once again was stayed by his servants' pleas.
Gong Sha's body twitched with angst all the while he waited. But, when the doors to Lady Gong's chambers opened, lo! the lady herself came bursting out in joy, exclaiming, "The pain! It is gone! I am healed!" Sha was bewildered, and at once went in to see Zhang Chu, who had just finished packing his things.
Gong Sha was astounded with what the healer had done, and prostrating himself, asked forgiveness many times for all the doubt he had showed. Zhang Chu would have left, but Sha stopped him. "Talent like this? It is a waste to toss it back out on the street like garbage!" At once, Zhang Chu was given the title Healer of Jin, his work being devoted to medicinal care for Gong Sha and other men like him.
However, he snuck off many times back into the streets to continue healing the frail, instead.

Zhang Qiang

One day, the governor of Konto Pass, a strong man named Zhang Qiang mustered a force and traveled south to fight off Jiangli and her Xing Mountain Bandits. However, in the fighting, Qiang was inflicted with a terrible poison from an arrow shot by Jiangli herself and rushed back to the pass. Soon after, word of this injury reached Gong Sha, and he sent Zhang Chu west to heal him.

When Zhang Chu met Qiang, he joked with the governor over the surname they both shared as he worked. But Qiang lamented all the while, fearful of the pain that his life would not last. In one moment, Zhang Chu asked, "My lord, you lead the people of my old home. What is your view of them?" Ignoring the pain, Qiang answered, "They are good people. But many go hungry and still hurt from the day long ago when the flood ruined this pass. Its damage still remains, and my heart aches, for provisions are rarely sent to somewhere as a pass; there has been little I could ever do!"

At this, Zhang Chu wept, for he felt the same way, and the two bonded.
The governor was still doubtful of his situation, but Chu healed him, and the poison left Qiang's body. Zhang Qiang was amazed, for the poison Jiangli and her bandits used was a deadly petrification poison extracted from cockatrice in the mountains — very difficult to cure.
At once, Qiang took Chu in his arms, weeping. "Such a lethal dose, and you handled it in an afternoon!" From then on, Qiang regarded the Healer of Jin as a personal friend.

Zhang Tao

Later on, out east in the Gao commandery at Quwu, its governor, a goblin named Zhang Tao, was forced to fight off a raid led by Jiang Yan, Jiangli's older brother. Tao was a skilled archer, and he dropped many foes in the fighting, and though Yan was scared off, Tao lost his eyesight as a an arrow pierced both eyes from the side. No one in Quwu saw Tao for many days, and feared the worst.

Gao's Vassal King, Han Shu, heard about Zhang Chu in Jin and sent a request to Gong Sha to have him help Tao regarding the governor's injury. When Sha told Zhang Chu of this request, the healer laughed, exclaiming, "From one Zhang to another! I shall go." But, Gong Sha said, "Cuts I've seen you heal, and poisons and sickness I've seen you cure. But even a man's sight?" Chu reassured the governor, then left.
When Zhang Chu arrived in Quwu, he was brought to Zhang Tao's chambers, who was riled up with anger and fury over his misfortune.

"An archer's greatest weapon is not his bow or his arrow, but his eyes!" Tao lamented. Even when he heard Zhang Chu's arrival, his fit did not stop.
"Keep thrashing about, and you surely will have no chance. But, be still and the chance will reveal itself." At Chu's words, Tao quieted, though still was reluctant. Like before, Chu humored Tao over the fact they shared the same surnames, but Tao cried, "I remember seeing yours before this. It is the character for a leader! Mine is but for a chapter in a composition. I am surely no more than a step to your journey." But Chu dismissed the self-degradation, calling it folly.
"My lord," Zhang Chu asked, "you lead the people of a peaceful farming settlement. What is your view of them?" Tao sighed, then said, "I see now the pain many feel which I once brushed aside as a nuisance. Yet I receive the treatment they've desired much longer!" Zhang Chu was glad with Tao's answer, and the two bonded.
By the time the sun had begun to set, a crowd had gathered around the governor's chambers. Everyone jumped when a cry suddenly rang out from within from Zhang Tao. Civil officials and guards burst in, for they thought something terrible had happened. But lo! tears filled Tao's eyes, the life restored and damage gone. All that remained was a slight scar across the governor's nose.
"Wounds, disease, and now blindness!" Tao exclaimed. "What can't he heal?" After this event, news of Zhang Chu's power spread exponentially, and people all over the land prayed he might visit and heal them one day.
Having fostered a great relationship with Qiang and Tao, he invited them out together, where the three went hunting. They talked about the state of the land, and in one moment Tao explained, "Much like this downward slope we trek, I fear this land is headed toward a great and utter collapse." Chu and Qiang agreed, for they felt the same way.
That day, they swore an oath of brotherhood with each other.

Becoming Champion of Jin

Zhang Chu's fame spread throughout the Jin and Gao commandery and beyond. But, in those days, famine and poverty as a result of the Guan courts continued to worsen the land. Even the Champion of Jin, the Hero of Xing named Ta Dun fell victim to this dark time and passed from sudden illness. The Jin Vassal King, Liu Kin, lamented, saying, "If only Zhang Chu had been by his side!"
Then, Liu Kin met with all other governors in Jin to discuss who its next champion would be. With him was his son, Liu Bo, governor of Hardu, Huang Zhan of Wuliao, Zhang Qiang of Konto Pass, Xian Shao of Qingde, Lu Zu of Qiao Pass, and Gong Sha of Liliang. Together, Kin asked their views on who they would recommend. The governors hopped between different candidates, but then Qiang and Sha both rose, exclaiming in unison, "Only a man such as Zhang Chu is fit to fill the shoes of a man like Dun!" At this, everyone gave a rousing agreement.
After the council, Zhang Chu was summoned and posthumously honored as the Champion of Jin in Wuliao. He accepted the title, though his heart still ached for the common people suffering at the hands of the ruling powers of this age.

Heaven Ring of Huifu

Zhang Chu spent many years as Jin's champion continuing to heal the wealthy, but rarely saw opportunity to heal the common people. This only got worse after Emperor Guan's death at the hands of Dong Bao. As he continued restoring the very people who chose to get fat off the corruption of the Guan, his heart went out to the truly poor in heart and fostered bitter resentment for the dynasty, which showed no signs of repentance.
Finally came a day when it angered Chu so much that he fled to the wilderness to meditate in peace. He cried, for he saw no end to the foodless families and the coinless pockets. He prayed, for he wanted to exact vengeance on the trivial and corrupt nobility that was its root cause.
Then, lo! the clouds opened before his very eyes, and gleaming light shone from the sky. It was as if heaven itself — the Chui Serpents — was revealing itself to him, and he became frozen in awestruck wonder. Then, a strange voice sang out to Chu, saying, "Fear not, for a time is coming when this great evil will come to an end. A time of tribulation will befall this dynasty you despise, but its blood will be spilt, its palaces toppled. By your hands, you shall see the Green Sky fall. By your hands, a new Yellow Sky will rise."
Then, coming down from the clouds was a small glittering object that flittered into Chu's palm. It was a golden ring! The moment it touched his skin, its magic — its power — filled his body and at once, Zhang Chu knew its name. The Heaven Ring of Huifu.
When this extraordinary experience ended, filled with a fanatic confidence, Zhang Chu donned the ring, exclaiming, "Yes! The time of the Guan's end is near. The people, once citizens, are now nothing more than slaves for exploiters. The Guan rules with ten rings, but by my hand, a new dynasty will rise, ruled by one!"

The Golden Ring Rebellion

At once, Zhang Chu returned to Jin and began recounting this encounter to Zhang Qiang and Zhang Tao, who had been drinking together at the time. Astounded at what they heard, Tao asked, "Elder brother, we swore our oath of brotherhood long ago and feel the same of this dynasty. Even against the land, we will fight with you. Tell us what we must do."
From there, the Zhang brothers went out across Dachi, slowly gathering the people under their banner for a rebellion that would topple even the tallest Guan tower. Among those they gathered was Gong Sha of Liliang, Xian Shao of Qingde, Lu Kai of Xinbao in the Lu commandery, Liao Cang of Karayang in the Mu commandery, and Cheng Man, the Vassal King of Yue.
As this fanatic group grew, inspired by Chu's Heaven Ring, members started wearing yellow clothing and fake golden rings as a sign of their loyalty. Meanwhile, Zhang Chu looked on with hope and ambition of the new prosperity he was determined to set out and accomplish.

Zhang Chu continues to serve as the Champion of Jin, but also continues to muster more and more people to his cause. Wielding the Heaven Ring of Huifu, and with Zhang Qiang and Zhang Tao at his back, when Chu gives the command, the Golden Ring Rebellion will start and usher in the period of the Warring Heavenstates, unaware of what entity truly gave him his ring.

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A fool I was not to trust him when my wife's life teetered. Even in revolt, I will not be the fool to not trust him again!
~ Gong Sha ~

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Alignment

Neutral Evil

Species

Tiefling

Ethnicity

Dachian

Year of Birth

154 AC

Aligned Organization

Guan Dynasty