Sun Wukong

Handsome Monkey King! He was born from a stone egg on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, ruling over the monkeys, baboons, gibbons, tamarins, aye-ayes, and gorillas. There is a poem to prove it:

Playful bonobos scale the branches,
Chimpanzees use sticks as weapons.
On the slopes of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit,
Primates great and small take their leisure.
Their king, the Handsome Monkey,
Actually isn’t all that attractive.
This guy counts as a Buddha?
How is that a thing?

After cultivating his conduct with a Daoist teacher, Sun Wukong made havoc in Heaven, fighting Heaven’s most distinguished warriors and generals. He stole Laozi’s immortality pills, erased his name from King Yama’s records, and generally proved himself a nuisance until the Tathagata Buddha, who happened to be visiting for a social function, trapped him under the Five Elements Mountain for 500 years to teach him a lesson. Then the Tang Priest Xuanzang snookered him, along with Pigsy and the Sand Monk, into bodyguard duty on his journey to India to fetch the Tripitaka scriptures. For his devotion, the Tathagata made Monkey the Victorious Fighting Buddha, which is apparently a real job you can have. The Chinese classic Journey to the West and its infinite adaptations chronicle Monkey’s adventures.

The Monkey King is, depending on whom you ask, either a) living proof the Shén can rehabilitate even the most troublesome and intractable monsters, b) living proof that rehabilitating the most troublesome and intractable of monsters will backfire catastrophically, or c) all of the above. Still, no one can deny he’s talented. His favorite outfit is the elaborately made-up costume that represents him in the Běijīng Opera, though he often appears as a completely ordinary monkey. His Scions tend to share his indefatigable commitment to noble goals, and his incorrigible demeanor and pranks which will leave you constantly doubting that commitment.

Purviews: Epic Strength, Epic Dexterity, Epic Stamina, Artistry (Opera), Beasts (Monkeys), Chaos, Deception, Journeys, @War

Aliases: Miao Min, Tôn Ngô Không, Heng Chia, Son Ogong, Sun Gokong, Son Gokū, the Monkey King, the Great Sage Equalling Heaven, the Protector of the Horses, Sūn the Novice, the Victorious Fighting Buddha, Clever Stone Monkey, That Damned Macaque

Callings: Liminal, Trickster, Warrior