Zhétiān es sen Chén

Zhétiān es en Chén is the principal lightkeeper of Kumaur's lighthouse. He is rarely seen in town due to the demanding nature of his occupation—along with the fact that provisions and other supplies are delivered to the lighthouse every month which removes the necessity of shopping in town. He previously worked as a factory worker, portrait painter, and propaganda artist.

He is notorious for getting into fights with other people and is generally disliked by most of Kumaur's citizens for this reason. His already tarnished reputation is further worsened by the suspicion and worry that surrounds his continued engagements with the foreign chemists that he invites into the lighthouse, as they are rumored to be experimenting on underdeveloped phantoms in the bottommost levels of the building.

Appearance
Zhétiān stands at 180 cm and possesses a lean build. He had a significantly more muscular build in his youth, but a sudden deterioration in his health caused him to lose most of his muscles over time. His muscles aren’t the only thing he’s lost, however; he has also lost a majority of his strength which forces him to delegate the more labor-intensive tasks at the lighthouse to his assistant.

Overall he is considered to have a very cat-like appearance. His hair is black and cut into a crop that is left unstyled for practical purposes, usually appearing unkempt due to the odd way his fringe is cut and the leather straps of his gas mask dragging over his head during removal. He has a heart-shaped face, sharp and upturned eyes that are black in color, fair skin, and lips that seem to be in a perpetual pout. As is usual to most Kumaura, his canines are much longer than those who aren’t native inhabitants of Kumaur which adds to his likeness to cats.

On the rare days when he makes an appearance in town, he will most likely be seen wearing the prescribed uniform for lightkeepers which consists of a light gray fur-lined jacket underneath a thick dark gray overcoat—a steel-buckled, black leather belt wrapped around the waist to define the lightkeeper's form—black woolen trousers tucked into lace-up boots, and undyed leather gloves that the wearer may dye themselves if they so wish. Zhétiān's leather gloves are dyed in the same dark brown color as his gas mask.

Occasionally, when the weather takes on a harsher lilt than usual on his visit to the shore, he will wear a fox fur cap and a fur cloak over his uniform.

Personality
[Editing]

Zhétiān lacks a distinct personality of his own. After a series of mistakes and failed ventures, he realized that he was never the man he believed himself to be—outstanding, superior, and destined for greatness—and suffered an ego death from which he never recovered.

There is a difficulty in interacting with him which stems from his neuroticism. One minute he is joyful, kind, and full of life; the next he is cynical, pessimistic, and self-deprecating, and the person who has to the bear the misfortune of interacting with him—for one reason or another—will be puzzled as to what it was that set him off, and if they do manage to pinpoint the reason for his changed behaviour then they will find it difficult to comprehend why something so small had changed the man completely.

Another difficulty is his banality. Zhétiān tries to mimic the personality of whomever it is he’s interacting with as a means to connect with them. It hardly ever works as most people realize that he is only mirroring them and that he has nothing of value to offer them—not even a decent conversation. There are times, however, when traits from his original personality return to him. These traits being insensitivity, arrogance, and impudence. The return of these traits naturally make him even more unlikeable to the average person than when he didn't have them at all.

Influence of the Lighthouse
The lighthouse is occupied by a malevolent spirit that preys on the negative emotions of all who enter the premises. The longer a person stays in the lighthouse, the stronger the spirit's influence over them becomes. Zhétiān is an easy victim for the spirit due to his physical and mental weakness that allows the spirit to repeatedly beat him down and wear away at his mind and physicality. (Other than the aforementioned weaknesses, Zhétiān is also easily influenced due to how much he's been exposed to the spirit from working at the lighthouse.)

Apart from being a large contributor to Zhétiān's emotional fluctuations, the spirit also terrorizes him with delusions of grandeur and fulfilment, preying on the regret and shame he feels over the life he's lived. The opposite is also true: the spirit has no qualms in terrorizing him with the mistakes he's made over the course of his life that landed him in the position he's currently in. These delusions cause him great pain and misery; and at times cause him to become violent.

Meta

 * The name Zhétiān uses the characters 哲 (zhé) meaning "sage, wiseman" and 天 (tiān) meaning "sky". Meanwhile the surname Chén uses the character 陳 (chén) meaning "to explain, old".
 * Art by S2 on the Stoneworks MC discord server.