Jia Hua

Name: Jia Hua (Ji to his frinds)
Age: 873
Profession: Painter
Mate: Unknown
Home: A small cozy island off the shores near the Oasis Market

Some Shiji have a head for business or battle. Jia Hua had never been able to understand this. Math made his head hurt. Politics made him want to break something. And battle? Yeah... he'd get around to that if he had to but it wasn't his first choice in ANY situation. No, even at a young age Jia Hua cared little for any of these things. What he found instead was passion. It started with a small piece of chalk, discarded on the ground by his mother after she'd grown frustrated with once more trying to teach him about economics. He'd squirrelled away the small bit of white stone until his lesson was over and then disappeared into his cave for hours. What she'd found when she finally came to apologize for losing her temper she found herself speechless.

Her son had covered nearly every wall of his cave in endless drawings. Many were nothing more than chicken scratch. But some showed a latent ability the businesswoman had never even considered her son might have. Chalk became crayon. Crayon became pencil. Pencil became pen. Pen became brush. The boy found his muse. His mother did what she could to encourage him, though she held no skill or true understanding. His father... well his father endured his "flights of fancy" so long as Jia Hua kept his grades up.

At 65 the young man sold his first painting. An accomplishment that sent his heart soaring. There was a burst of activity, buyers coming from all around to see and purchase his work. It lasted only five years. Though those years were glorious. Another young artist showed up on the scene and he found even his most rabid fans looking elsewhere.

His parents had encouraged him to save and, to be honest, he had little need for anything but his supplies, a roof over his head and food so he was able to set aside a fairly sizable nest egg. Knowing the man had little understanding of money or expense, his father took over his accounts. Shrewdly investing in different traders and markets across both the Shiji and human dimensions. What had started as a small hoard grew, soon growing well past anything Jia Hua could even fathom needing. His father created an account to deposit a not insubstantial allowance into that Jia Hua could easily survive on, often forgetting it was there altogether.

When he was 360 his father purchased him an island, using the funds that had been made of the interest of his capital gains. Jia Hua filled the island with thousands of paintings, none of which he even bothered to present for sale. Tired of caring for his son's growing wealth, his parents hired a firm to handle his investments, brokering a deal that would ensure the man could focus on his passions despite their own continued misgivings that he was wasting away the centuries.

It was nearly 50 years before Jia Hua realized his parents had stopped visiting or calling. Another 25 before the emptiness set in. His island was beautiful and full of wonderous locals and countless works of art he had crafted but it all began to feel... like it was almost a waste. With no one to share it with anymore he began to lose interest in doing anything at all. Decades would pass between his works. Those decades soon stretched to a century.

Now on his fourth rebirth, Jia Hua has finally decided to leave his island and seek the world. A desire to not only see new things but also spark his muse consuming him. Maybe he'll finally fill that empty void in his heart. Maybe he'll recapture that love of beauty he once held. It was impossible to tell. But he knew that whatever happened, it was well past time to end his seclusion.