OC Spotlight July: Nian // nsfw

this OC spotlight is all about nian. i've recently posted a bunch of sfw sketches of him, as well as a nsfw image of him and tu shen. buckle up--this might be the longest OC spotlight text so far. i guess i had a lot to say about him?

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first of all, my nian is based on the nian of chinese myth, associated with the new year's celebration. according to the stories, nian was a beast that, once a year, would descend on the villages and eat food, livestock, and unfortunate humans. the terrified villagers eventually figured out that he was afraid of loud noises and the colour red, and managed to scare him off with firecrackers, red lanterns, red robes, loud music, and drums. they kept doing so year after year, and nian never attacked them again.

and this all holds true for my nian: at the start of his story, he's a human-eating monster terrorising human villages, until they manage to drive him away. but there's more to his story than that.

as it turns out, my nian has good reason to be angry with humanity. you see, he's the last of many. there once was a whole species of nian, far older than humanity, living in an underwater city and venturing landside to explore and hunt. i'm not saying that the nian behaved blamelessly in their encounters with the first humans--people would sometimes fall prey to hunting nian, or get killed in the fights that occasionally ensued when members of the two species clashed. but that understandable fear of powerful predators soon turned into hatred and prejudice against "blood-thirsty monsters." 

the first humans were essentially defenseless against the nian, but as their societies and technologies developed, they started figuring out ways to defeat them. they laid traps, created weapons, built machines. they grew in numbers far faster than the nian, and the tables eventually turned. people went from simply defending themselves against nian to deliberately hunting them. many of them were driven by fear and anger, wanting to avenge dead loved ones and protect those who remained; "we must kill them before they kill us". others acted out of greed, making a profit from selling their hides, scales, fangs, claws, and horns as trophies, crafting materials, or medicinal components. yet others were driven by pride, hunting the ferocious beasts in an attempt to turn themselves into heroes--or simply for the sport of it. 

the nian fought back, of course. they're formidable creatures; large, strong predators, with claws and fangs to bite and crush and tear. a single human couldn't stand a chance against a nian. but ten? twenty five? fifty? even if a nian warrior killed a hundred humans, there would be twice as many to take their place. the humans killed them much faster than they reproduced. the human towns grew--as did the nian cemeteries.

_our_ nian was just small child, a cub, when his parents tried to flee to safety with him. human hunters sprung a surprise trap around them, and when his mother and father turned around to fight they yelled at him to run and hide. as he ran for his life, he heard their furious roars turn into howls of pain. 

hours later, when everything was quiet, he snuck back and found their bodies--their hides flayed from their flesh, scales torn off their backs, eyes gouged out of their sockets, fangs and claws pulled out, tongues cut out of their mouths, horns sawed off.

there was no-one else left. he didn't know anywhere else to go except back home to the underwater city, but it was all empty now. he grew up alone in the decaying ruins of his people, the last of his kind. there was so much about them he never had the time to learn--their history, their culture, their customs. there was no-one to teach him, no-one who still remembered. he was a stranger in his own home, oddly separated from his own ilk. 

he spent many lonely decades in the depths. nian age slower than humans, so several mortal generations passed before he became an adult. he had plenty of time to let his grief and loneliness simmer into anger and hatred towards those who had taken everything he loved away from him. he bided his time, growing big and powerful, and more and more eager to wet his claws and fangs with human blood. 

by the time he ventured out of the water to seek revenge, human recollection of the terrible nian had turned from memories to stories. the greater their horror, then, when a live nian attacked a village one night, killing everyone in his path and disappearing before sunrise.

now that nian had the upper hand, he gave the humans no peace. he returned again and again, claiming new victims every time, tearing them apart with terrible ease. they had forgotten how to defeat a monster like him, their weapons had rusted away, there were many farmers but few warriors.

he didn't make any friends with other non-humans, either. some of them were relieved to discover the nian hadn't been completely extinct, but he had no social skills whatsoever (having been isolated and angry for so long) and his demeanour left much to be desired. he was aggressive, rude, and antagonistic; a violent creature with a nasty temper, who didn't know how to get along with others.  

he and tu shen, the rabbit god, clashed from the moment they first met. nian hated tu shen's cheeky mischief, and tu shen despised nian for being a grumpy brute. once the humans figured out how to scare nian off, putting an end to his reign of terror, tu shen kept teasing him for it. nian tried to straight up kill tu shen more than once; the fleet-footed rabbit always made it out alive, but one time nian bit off tu shen's long tail, leaving him with a fluffy stump while nian carried the severed length as a trophy in his belt. 

one day, tu shen and nian made a bet. long story short, if tu shen lost, nian would get to kill and eat him; if nian lost, he'd end up in servitude to tu shen for a hundred years. 

guess what? nian lost.

at first, tu shen kind of abuses his new-found power; nian has to obey his every order and can't hurt him, so tu shen gets his revenge by teasing him and ordering him around. don't feel sorry for nian, though; tu shen is angry with him for having bitten of his beautiful tail (although he also very much likes how cute his new tail is), but at his core he is also a very gentle being. he is a god of love, after all--homosexual love, to be precise. nian doesn't fare that badly, and with time, tu shen comes to realise that nian hides a lot of grief and pain behind all that anger. he's very out of tune with his emotions, and even after all these years he doesn't know how to handle his sorrow or deal with his loss. his only outlet is acting out in violence and wrath, even after discovering that killing all those humans didn't really help. vengeance hasn't healed his wounds the way he'd hoped it would, but he's loath to admit it to anyone else. 

tu shen starts empathizing with nian, and their relationship changes from mutual dislike to tu shen sort of wanting to help and nian not letting him, at least not at first. even as the whole thing rapidly blooms into a cautious sort of attraction, nian figuratively keeps tu shen at arm's distance. things gradually take a turn for the sexual; tu shen, being a rabbit, has quite the libido, and soon starts desiring his new 'servant.' nian, meanwhile, has never had relations with anyone; he went from living completely alone to everyone avoiding the 'savage creature,' so he never had the opportunity, plus he had other things on his mind. but now, with tu shen flaunting his shapely butt in nian's general direction, something New stirs in him. he still holds a grudge against his 'master,' but at the end of the day, it's not difficult for tu shen to coax nian into his bed. tu shen has often found himself out-lasting previous lovers, but he rarely has that issue with nian; he has all the stamina of a young virile monster who's just discovered sex, and there's _a lot_ of new things to try.

it's still a while before nian drops his walls for tu shen, but with the rabbit god's tender care, the healing process starts. it doesn't happen overnight, but little by little nian starts dealing with his issues, ranging from learning how to control his hot temper to overcoming the lifelong pain of his loss. thanks to tu shen, other non-humans starts accepting him into their society, too. they take tu shen's word that they can trust him now, that he's changed his ways and become a more balanced person. it helps when their daughter, xiao tu, is born from a huge budding flower that sprouts at one of their favourite spots; it gives nian something to love and protect, instead of focusing on hating and destroying.

and he finally stops having nightmares about his parents' mutilated dead bodies.

there's some things he'll never get over, though. he's still triggered by too loud noises, sudden explosions of lights, and too much of the colour red. he hates the new year's celebrations, so him and tu shen usually escape to a quiet, isolated spot where it won't bother him. in short, nian is dealing with a bunch of ptsd, and before he meets tu shen he doesn't deal with it _well._  he spent his childhood in fear and loneliness, and rage and revenge consumed his early adulthood; it's only after allowing tu shen to help that he finds better coping mechanisms, and only thanks to him that nian starts healing. 

it culminates when a survivor of nian's attacks confronts him about all the humans he killed--including the man's own family. by then, nian has realised that revenge breeds revenge, that he did something very wrong. he doesn't want to kill another human, but they end up battling one another. the human, in his own search for vengeance, has learned sorcery, which allows him to overpower and mortally wound nian. tu shen rushes to his side, cradling him as he draws his dying breath. the human man realises his mistake when he sees their little daughter tug at her father's arm, asking if he's sleeping. 

tu shen lays nian's body out in preparation for burial, but is unwilling to seal him away; he refuses to leave his side, withering away while cuddled up beside nian's body which, oddly enough, is not decomposing. 

meanwhile, nian's soul has ended up in the afterlife, with very little memory of how he died, and only foggy images of his life... and in the afterlife, he's reunited with his family and his ancestors. he meets his mother and father, his siblings and cousins, his aunts and uncles and grandparents and all the others. they're all there, all the other nian. he finally gets to embrace them again, talk to them, hear the stories of their people, learn about their history and customs, reconnect with that forgotten legacy. he's happy.  

at the same time, though, something feels wrong. he feels like he has left something--someone--behind. memories starts slipping out of the fog, and thankfully it's not too late before nian manages to recall his life, his husband, his daughter. he's faced with the difficult choice between staying with his people, with the beloved family he lost so long ago, or try to return to his new loves, his new family. his ancestors help him decide; his parents hold him close, (he's grown so much since the little cub they remember) and tell him that "you've lived for the dead all your life. go back to them, and live for the living. we'll wait for you."

it hurts to part with them again, but it's the right choice. nian steels himself with determination and somehow, against all odds, manages to claw his way back to life--and in the nick of time. it's been weeks, and tu shen is finally ready to accept his love's death, to bury him and move on, to raise their daughter on his own. right before the tomb is to be closed off, the corpse of nian breathes in, the warmth return to his limbs, he opens his eyes. tu shen spends hours curled up in his lap, barely able to fathom that nian has returned to him.

the human who killed him offers his own life as payment for his mistake, but by now, nian has learnt mercy. he forgives the man, and all humans with him, understanding that the man did to him only what he himself had done to the man. the circle of revenge is broken.

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nian and tu shen are involved in a bunch of other stories, too, but that's the main outline of nian's personal arc. i really like typing these OC spotlights; it helps me define the major themes of a character, as well as notice certain patterns in the way i design character stories. it's safe to say i have a Major Thing for the theme of revenge, and for anger over a loss or suffered wrongs. but with nian there's also an important theme of dealing with ptsd, healing, and living for what you have instead of mourning what you've lost. it's a reminder that even big scary monsters can be afraid of things, that it's never too late to forgive, and that no matter how ugly your past, you can build a new and beautiful present. 

as always, feel free to comment with sfw and/or nsfw questions about nian; i'd love to answer!

(also, on the topic of these texts getting longer and longer--let me know if you enjoy that, or if i should try to keep them shorter. i've been toying with the idea of trying out some different formats for OC spotlights. so far, i have mostly been recounting their backstories and main character arcs/storylines; would you be more interested in learning about various fun aspects of their personality, their interests, likes and dislikes, personal beliefs, that kind of thing? perhaps i could try writing a series of paragraphs that provide interesting snapshots, rather than typing out their biographies in such a linear and chronological way? i love writing these OC spotlights, don't get me wrong, but it's also fun to experiment, and i'd absolutely love to hear your input!)

// nian © me; tu shen © kubi.