Grandmother Rui: The oldest elder in the caern, a motherly Philodox (rank 4) with a sense of sharp wit that boggles even some of the quickest Ragabash. She heads the Caern of Rat's Tail, taught Yi the Litany and decided her RoP. She is not particularly well traveled herself, but does attentively listen to any of the talesingers that pass through or even just the ramble of someone who wants to talk. She tries to keep in touch with the kinfolk and other septs in larger cities of the U.S. where orientals may reside. (Whether the Gnawers in St. Claire know of her or not, would be something I'd work out with whoever is in charge)

Yi's mother (Tsao Luen Shi, ~Reads-In-Darkness~): A Bone Gnawer Theurge, she made it a key goal in her life to try and give Yi a better life than she had, whether or not her daughter turned out to be Garou. She was Yi's first stable source of family, as Yi's father was always out working, and then gambling the earned money away. Luen worked at the club she met Yi's father at, and continued working there until her death. She was not a member of the Sept of Rat's Tail, but from another caern deeper in the city. The only reason why her caern members did not retrieve Yi, was that the Sept of Rat's Tail got to Yi first. It didn't matter too much, since the two Gnawer septs kept in contact. Her love for her corrupt husband was her tragic downfall, and though Yi doesn't know it, her mother had died trying to protect her father from the angered vampires he gambled with.

Kinfolk in St. Claire: The person she is looking for is one that Grandmother Rui called, "Xia Doh." Yi wasn't given a description, but she knows the person is affiliated with Garou.

Yi's personality: While seemingly very extroverted in the self-narrated bio given, all her wit and words usually never make it past her throat. She grew up in the clash of British/Chinese culture and the underground rebellion of youth, where manners are a required tradition, and at the same time those manners are thrown aside when blades are drawn and bullets fired. She has known the family life since she did live with both parents until she was 13, and then with various Gnawers in the caern's boundaries. Yi is a sort of happy-go-lucky girl, but underneath the mask of the clown are some very black tears that she holds back from flooding; the act of crying is seen a sort of weakness, a source of vulnerability, in the environment and culture Yi was raised in. Since her First Change, Yi has cautioned herself from attaching readily and closely to anyone, for fear of losing the companionship she’d gain. The break off of her companionship with Li hits her hardest; the ingrained fear of failure that comes from her culture sits heavily inside her, and deep down she feels she failed Li. Though she distances herself from others, she also is searching for something, or someone, to fill the hole that Li left.

Kailindo/Martial Arts: Who doesn't know a little bit of the kung fu action that so many have seen through the films of Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and countless other wuxia (Hong Kong super-action movies) films? Yi doesn't have a blackbelt in the schools of martial arts, but she does know how to defend herself. As I play her, she's mentioned a few times of her teacher, a nameless mentor she merely calls Sifu (chinese for master/sempai). I've not gotten a chance to demonstrate it, but she also knows a tiny bit of Kailindo, the martial art of the Garou Stargazers. Still, Yi is not nearly at any level close to the great masters of the martial arts. She would need quite a few more years of rigorous training for it. It seems logical to me that way, and makes it easier a bit for me to play out. I don't know any martial arts beyond the stuff I see from movies and watching my older brother perform tai chi katas out in the backyard. So while she does have a Brawl/Dodge/Melee of 3 and Dex of 4, she still has a lot to learn when it comes to fighting. She's a no-moon, not an ahroun. ;)

Sifu: (Added 02-13-2001) As RPed out with Rides-Fire, Yi's Sifu finally receives a name to the mysterious presence. His name is ~Wind's-Touch~, a fostern Stargazer Philodox who took it upon himself to spread some of the knowledge to those willing to listen, namely, Yi and a few others. He's all about the Yin an Yang, the balance of oneself. And he knows Kailindo. Spiff eh? :) Maybe someday I'll actually develop this character a bit and flesh him out. Until then, be content to know he can kick ass in HK.

Oriental Names: The name Song Yi Ling does not actually have a Chinese character base to it. The name 'Yi' was just a random name I plucked out of my head that sounded Chinese. 'Ling' was picked in the same fashion. 'Song' came from similar origins, except the surname I'd picked was actually part of a Chinese dynasty, much to my surprise as I researched later. Now, Yi's from Hong Kong, and I don't know any Cantonese beyond a few phrases, so I have no clue how she'd pronounce it were she a real person. Hell, she'd probably have a different, more sensible sounding name. The other names, such as Li Ching, Jin Shu, and Grandmother Rui are also names formed from my head. I've no clue what they'd actually be pronounced as, or written as. Don't ask me! ;P

Creation/RP Notes: This application started off as an application for yet another lupus character. You could say I'm stubborn. I'd already been rejected twice, and here was a third try at it. ^-^x Well, after running it through a few times, I got a second and third opinion from some of the players on GarouMUSH. One of them told me that the app sounded more like a homid than a lupus, lacking in some ingrained sense of being wolf. So, after a few more days of futzing, I came out with the application in a different sense, changed storyline, adding a few characters and such. This one, luckily, made it through. *victory sign*
The application's original idea of lupus, was my way of saying 'I don't want to be just another Garou on the MUSH.' Or rather, 'I don't want to be a homid Garou on the MUSH.' Well, guess my want didn't quite make it that far. On another point, I wanted an Asian character, as there were so few of them as I noticed when I was a Guest. However, since Hengeyokai (Eastern shifters) weren't allowed (especially to newbies) I settled for a tribe that was easy to be a Garou in, and also was noted in the Werewolf books of having presence in Asia: the Bone Gnawers. I didn't choose Glass Walkers, because at the time the application was already meant to be a Gnawer one. ^-^
Ragabash was the first auspice that came to mind, as I was deciding between Galliard and Ragabash. I didn't so much want the idea of playing a trickster, but the fact that ragabash thought differently. They are given some more freedom of thought, and are allowed to express themselves where other auspices wouldn't be. That, and I was fresh out of ideas for making a Galliard type of personality.
What is interesting about Yi, to me, is that I'm not Cantonese, nor am I an immigrant from Hong Kong in real life. I'm Taiwanese, and an ABC (America-Born Chinese) at that, which means I've got little to no knowledge of how growing up in China or HK is. The few facts I've gathered, come from stories my roommate tells me, research over the web on Chinese culture, listening to way too much Canto-pop and J-pop, and a compilation of my own experiences growing up in my family. In that way, I've sort of placed a portion of myself into Yi's creation, enveloping her with the oriental air where she's quiet, polite (I dare say she's a bit -too- polite for a raggie Gnawer ;p), and respectful - very knowing that the Gnawers are a tribe looked down upon by others, but also taking pride in her tribe's ability to survive as she'd done. This is kind of my way of experiencing the immigration to America, exploring the teen/Garou culture.
Still, the idea of playing a foreigner is a foreign concept to me. ^-^ I'm still in the works of Yi's development, trying to see how she fits into the picture, getting her interact with Jay and Nevada (The Three Musketeers. Whoo!) and the other Garou. Seeing as she was from Hong Kong, and only interacted with the Gnawers, Glass Walkers, and an occassional passing Garou of other tribe, her eyes are just being opened to how large Gaia's expanse is... and how far the Wyrm has spread.