IsleOfJade/Instructors
Contents
The Two Rivers School Instructors
Master Li - Head Instructor, Supernatural and Secret Forms
Master Li is an ancient and sagely Air Aspected Dragon Blood and the Sifu of the Two Rivers School of Enlightenment and Martial Arts. As such he is easily the most influential and respected individual in Two Rivers. He serves the community as counselor and protector, settling disputes among town-folk and farmers and safe-guarding the town from bandits and hungry ghosts from the neighboring swamp lands. The people of Two Rivers know they owe Master Li for much of their village's success over the past two decades.
At over 200 years of age Master Li assuredly has seen many things, but he rarely speaks of his life before coming to Two Rivers. It is rumored--and perhaps highly probable--that Master Li was once a Llama of the Immaculate Faith, for many of the advanced techniques he teaches are the same as those employed by the fighting monks of the Immaculate Order. Whatever the source of his knowledge and depth of his experience, the martial arts he teaches at his school are rare and as formidable as any taught at any school in Creation.
Despite his advanced age, Master Li is far from decrepit. Like many who carry the Blood of the Elemental Dragons, he is fit and strong and incredibly capable. Perhaps he is not quite as fast or as strong as he was in his youth, but he more than makes up for this in wisdom and experience. Though he rarely displays his true power, on those rare occasions when he does it is truly a spectacle. Students relate their eye witness accounts for months and years afterward.
Master Li's disposition is that of a kind but firm Sifu who expects nothing less than perfection from those who learn under him. His deep voice is rarely raised in anger, but he can cut down even the most confident student simply by revealing his displeasure with them. On the other hand, it is certainly not rare for him to praise a student when they have done well, and for this reason he is generally thought of as fair and wise. It is also a known fact that Master Li is generous and thoughtful, even taking in troubled students when the occasion arises and setting them on a more balanced and benevolent course.
But most importantly, Master Li gives students who show aptitude and promise a lot of one-on-one attention that many masters leave to their underlings. Nowhere is this more evident than in the personal interest he has taken in the training of one particular mortal student who, despite her inability to wield essence and therefore the most important and secret techniques he can teach, has nonetheless shown incredible skill and ability and has far exceeded all but the most advanced Dragon-Blooded in fighting prowess.
Twentieth Leopard - Advanced Techniques
Twentieth Leopard teaches the advanced techniques to students who have grasped the fundamentals and are ready to begin learning more complex forms. He also teaches sparring tactics, and it is under the snarling middle-aged mortal man that many students first learn to fight and spar. He is a harsh and demanding instructor, and seems to take the success or failure of anyone he teaches personally. Furthermore he clearly seeks Master Li's approval, and thinks that each student's competency reflects directly on him as an instructor. For these reasons most students fear and loathe working with Twentieth Leopard, and the hot-headed instructor has been known to severely berate and even lash out at a student that is not keeping up or otherwise excelling.
For all this, Twentieth Leopard is a superb martial artist and instructor, having been one of Master Li's first students at the school, and those students who can handle his severe manner come out of it for the better. It is assuredly for this reason that Master Li keeps this master of the mortal version of Tiger Style around, and to the students' knowledge the Sifu has never repremanded Twentieth Leopard for his aggressive training style.
Smiling Mountain - Basics
Smiling Mountain is not unusually tall, but the massive mortal man is easily three times as wide as most adults. Beyond his size, his thick friendly eyebrows, and round shaved head, the way he smiles with his eyes and whole face are his most prominent features, and they reveal his open and kindly nature.
Smiling Mountain is in charge of training novice students. He oversees their conditioning when they first arrive at the school, and teaches them the basics of stance, punches and kicks, and blocking. He introduces them to early exercises, the most fundamental forms and katas, as well as the underpinning philosophies espoused by Master Li.
Because all students work with Smiling Mountain and he is the least harsh of the instructors, he is almost always the first place students go when they need advice or counsel. He therefore doubles as confidant and adviser at the School, and most students trust him and like him. Like Twentieth Leopard, Smiling Mountain was one of Master Li's early students and he knows the ways of Master Li's training philosophies quite well.
Others at the School
Henpecked Hou - Cook
The thin, seemingly malnourished Henpecked Hou is the School's cook, and he is in charge of preparing all meals eaten by its students and instructors. He also maintains the mess hall and is responsible for securing the provisions and tools necessary for feeding approximately 30 people three times a day.
Life has not been too kind to Hou, at least according to him. As he tirelessly explains to any student who will listen to him, he has been cursed with the gift of undying love for a whining, nagging, hag of a wife. The students call him "Henpecked" because of the unceasing stories he spews of the terrible creature to whom he is married, and how she controls every aspect of his life. He even claims that in his youth he was a master of the rare martial style Drunken Master, but he hasn't fought since he was tricked into marrying the niece of a fighting promoter, who then spiked his drink before a match to convince him to give up the dangerous career. When he woke up the next day he reluctantly became a cook, and remains one to this day.
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