Jade Spider

Jian Kar Fei (a.k.a. James)

Little is known about James Jian Kar Fei before he became a pupil of the mysterious Master Lee, wizened master of numerous fighting arts. From his dojo in Freedom City, Lee has trained numerous fighters. Many of these former students went on to become champions or even heroes. The old man hoped the same for James, but it was not to be.
All James cared for was himself. He loved the thrill of besting an opponent, but saw no reason to fight with honor or restraint; winning was the point. He enjoyed the skills his master taught him, but ignored the old man’s philosophical prattle. Lee taught James much before he saw the young man would not be swayed from his path. Then, reluctantly, he cast the young man from his dojo.
James became an enforcer for local gangs and other criminal groups. However, he soon left Freedom City in search more training. In East Asia, he found the Order of the Jade Spider. The Order taught a lost style of martial arts based on the movements and abilities of its namesake, a deadly arachnid native only to the valley where the Order’s monastery was found. Convincing the monks to take him in, he learned their arts, becoming their best student.
Slowly, his black-hearted nature revealed itself. Before he could be cast out by his teachers he stole the Order’s relics and sacred scrolls, locked the monks inside their own temple, and burned it to the ground. The relics he sold on the black market to support himself in comfort while he studied the scrolls. After mastering the last of the Order’s arts, he joined the criminal underworld as the Jade Spider, masked killer for hire.
As the Jade Spider, James often works as a mercenary or assassin serving any number of criminal syndicates and costumed masterminds. He is also interested in finding other ancient scrolls and manuals like those from the monastery to further his mastery of the martial arts, allowing him to command even higher prices and grow his already fearsome reputation.

Physical Description

Specialized Equipment

Jade Spider is a skilled martial artist and master of the secret Jade Spider Style. As the style’s only known living practitioners, Jade Spider can paralyze foes, strike vital points causing them to react as if poisoned, or weaken other martial artists by tainting their chi (life force). He is also an exceptionally agile individual adept at infiltration and acrobatics.

Mental characteristics

Intellectual Characteristics

Jade Spider is, simply put, a selfish, self-centered bastard. He uses his skills to gain money and power. He has precious little loyalty, though he understands the need to “stay bought” in his profession. He has no need for enlightenment or spiritual growth, though he would gladly pretend to have such interests to obtain more power. He studies various fighting arts not for personal betterment, but to learn their weaknesses so he can defeat their practitioners.
The Jade Spider loves deception and misdirection. He often tells contradictory stories about his life; he has claimed to be exiled Asian nobility, a former street urchin, and even the son of a lowly shopkeeper. Why he does this is unknown, but he seems to enjoy the confusion it causes. It is not even known if James Jian Kar Fei is his real name, or just a longstanding alias.

Social

Contacts & Relations

When the need arises, Jade Spider works with a secret brotherhood of killers known only as the Five Exalted Deaths. As a group, they’ve been responsible for various kidnapping, murders, and assassinations around the world.
Jade Spider targets anyone who embarrasses him in an attempt to keep his reputation as spotless and possible. He also delights in tormenting other martial artists who have studied under his old teacher, Master Lee. Lee’s dojo in Freedom City has produced many martial arts oriented heroes, and any of them could easily find themselves on Jade Spider’s radar.