Dai Hei

Dai Hei. He's a wall of a man, wearing only some loose trousers belted around his waist with a sash. He leans on his banjo-ruan and looks on the world with kind old eyes, his black hair tied up in a messy bun, and sideburns outlining his strong jawline.

Your favourite song. Sunlight dappled off the face of the river. Rainwater dusting a creosote bush. Is he sentimental? Yes. But there are few men who have known such grief, and fewer still who could so deftly bring you to your knees in laughter and in tears.

What did you expect…? He’s my ex.

Content Warnings: War, violence, addiction.

Dai Hei was once Motu’s most esteemed general, and was the first and last to leave the god’s service. His departure struck a decisive blow to the fanaticism of his colleagues, but came at such great personal cost it could not be called a willing one. He has since retired to a quiet life of music, badly tempered by his hand in the war.

Background

Everyone who is someone in high Asthaom knows Dai Hei—If not by his family name, then by his deeds. General Dai Hei is heir to the wealthy Dai family, and the most decorated general of Motu’s Lexarcs.

He’s also going through something of an existential crisis, right now.

Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Dai Hei used to be considered a worthless layabout and a disgrace to his family name. He much preferred the life of a partyboy to the social and political responsibilities he had inherited. ? In truth, his hedonism belied a love for the arts, but his hobbies were rarely seen as anything but self-indulgent nonsense.

He would have been content to make art and break hearts, probably forever. This changed when he fell head over heels for a quiet printmaker.

He was everything that Hei wasn’t—a working-class man with a soft-spoken manner and gentle heart. Hei couldn’t help himself. He made a point to bother the man whenever he could. The printmaker—Sadren—was stunned by Hei’s attentions, but flattered. What followed was a whirlwind romance. The two were swept up in one another’s theatrics, driving each other to distraction, to giddy inspiration, and to ever more outrageous heights. Hei followed Sadren to the ends of the earth, through the highest highs of the art world and the lowest lows of addiction…. And eventually, into the arms of the Lexarcs. ?

Though his lover originally came to the order seeking penance and treatment for his addiction, Dai Hei quickly realized that he had much to gain from becoming a Lexarc. His family name did him many favors here, and for the first time in his life, he felt a sense of community and belonging. As Hei cleaned up his act, high Asthaom took note. No longer was he the weak link of the Dai family. It seemed that their wayward son was finally coming into his own.

But as Hei ascended through the Lexarcs’ ranks, something changed in him… And in Sadren. There came a day when Hei woke up as General Dai Hei. While he was outfitting himself for war, Sadren was working in secret to stop the violence before it could begin.

Sadren tried to reason with Dai Hei. He spoke to him of the tyrant-god Motu, the despot who sows hate in the hearts of men and sends them away to be slaughtered for a senseless war. He spoke of love, of his own shaken faith, of a better world. Spoke heresy.

Hei tried to stop Sadren, but the traitor slipped like water from his grasp. The man fled west, warning anyone who would listen of the false god Motu and his Lexarcs. Hei was heartbroken.

Abandoned by his lover in his hour of need, and left to fight alone in a foreign war, General Dai Hei is now rotting from the inside out. He knows that something is profoundly wrong, but he cannot name it. Soon he will be forced to choose between the Lexarcs and his lover, but few choices are made meaningfully on the fields of war.

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  • Dai Hei

    Your favourite song. Sunlight dappled off the face of the river. Rainwater dusting a creosote bush. Is he sentimental? Yes. But there are few men who have known such grief, and fewer still who could so deftly bring you to your knees in laughter and in tears. What did you expect…? He’s my ex.

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