Xiumei Klein

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Xiumei Klein
Xiumei.jpg
IC Information
Full Name: Xiumei Klein, née Zhang
Gender: Female
Age (Birthdate): 24 (April 4, 481 PC)
Hometown: Meria Boule
Hair Colour: Purple
Class: Model User
Role: Drifter
Bounty: 0 Gella
OOC Information
Theme: Original Character
Groups: ARMS
Player: Star

"Oh, I'm just happy to help! However that may be."

Xiumei Klein is the wife of Eleanor Klein, the heir to the Marchioness of Klein. Xiumei is the fourth daughter of the owner of Zhang Great Sea Trading Company, one of the largest trading companies operating out of Meria Boule. Set neither to inherit her family's company nor with particularly promising prospects for an alliance with the Merian nobility, Xiumei became a member of ARMS after acquiring an ancient artifact called a Biometal. Known as Model AV, it contains the spirits and weaponry of two sapient robots from the Zeboim Era, Varius and Avile. While she was initially reluctant, Xiumei now uses their weapons, her skill, and her analytical mind to support her wife, ARMS, and those she cares for. She is polite, often nervous, and quiet, but has found resolve and happiness in a world that seems to teeter on the brink.

Background

Prior to Chapter 2

The Zhang Great Sea Trading Company was founded in 398 PC by Zhang Shi, a prominent trader from Meria Boule. It came into existence to trade goods from the Great Sea region to nations in Aquvy, Elru, and even as far as Ignas. By the middle of the fifth century PC, Zhang Great Sea Trading Company was an economic powerhouse bar none, renowned for its unearthed ARMs and relics sold across FIlgaia -- but built solidly on the back of trading common goods throughout Aquvy.

The current head of the company is Shaolong's great-grandson, Zhang Liu. Liu had six children, and the fourth was a girl named Xiumei. Xiumei, born in Meria Boule, grew up in a life of luxury... but into a family that viewed its children as a way to get ahead. For decades, now, the Zhangs had been seeking a way to graduate from the well-to-do merchant class to honest-to-god nobility.

The family's children were earmarked for various plans to further the family's fortunes. Xiumei's older brother and sister were to inherit the company and manage it. The third child, her sister, was engaged to a cousin of a Duke. Her two younger brothers were purchased commissions in the navy. Xiumei's future was an open question, and no good marriage prospects presented themselves.

The hope, early on, was that she might become a renowned mage. They paid for her entry into Meria Boule's preeminent preparatory school, Arcadia Lyceum. She studied history, mathematics, composition, and tried to learn magic. She excelled at the first three, but manifested no sorcerous talent. Her parents' original plans were dashed, but she showed enough talent with numbers and letters that a role in the company seemed guaranteed.

It was at Arcadia Lyceum that she also met her best friend, Eleanor Klein, a prodigy was in her class but two years younger. The two became inseparable from a young age. Xiumei, as many of her peers began calling her, also developed a love of football, hiking, gardening, and making tea. It gave her an outlet for stress experienced during increasingly complicated coursework, to prepare her to one day take over the company's accounts and become an administrator for their company.

At ages thirteen and eleven, Xiumei and Eleanor graduated from the Lyceum. Eleanor went to the academy at Sielje; after that, the two became pen pals and saw each other on holidays.

Xiumei grew up, after that, in a secondary school aimed at teaching her the skills necessary to become a clerk. By the time she turned eighteen, she graduated and entered the family business as a mid-level clerk in their warehouse. She helped check in ARMs that arrived, managed inventory, and began to accompany salespersons for making high-profile sales -- though she was always in a support role. The hope was, in about ten years, that the company would have a Zhang on the front lines, to help sell goods to high-profile clients that appreciated the personal attention from the family.

Naturally, because it is Filgaia, things fell apart.

During a trip to purchase a powerful ARM from Drifters who located a cache of relics from a Metal Demon Wars-era ruin, a firefight broke out between members of Zhang Great Seas Trading Company's security force, the Drifters, and several members who decided the deal went badly. In the midst of the firefight, she found a half-broken square of green armor, and grabbed it while running for cover. As she did, she was shot in the back.

The ARM she held synchronized with her. Its name was Model V; it was a fragment of a Zeboim-era machine called Varius, a Reploid. It merged with Xiumei to repair the damage that, otherwise, would have been lethal. In doing so, it also manifested the armor and arms that Varius wielded, seemingly from thin air. With Model V, Xiumei was able to turn the tide.

Unfortunately, the ARM wasn't one she could end the synchronization with. Xiumei returned to a family that was glad she was alive, but concerned that their daughter was using an ARM. The Zhangs, who viewed ARMs as a means to make money but not a thing to use, were horrified. ARMs were something that dangerous hirelings and outlaws used. However, it did present an opportunity. They learned of Irving Vold Valeria's recently created Agile Remote Mission Squad, and its need of combatants.

They contacted Irving, and arranged to have Xiumei placed with ARMS. Xiumei went along with it, not knowing what else she could do; the idea of displeasing her family was unacceptable, even as she found herself getting angry with them for their disdain. Xiumei joined with ARMS just after they were revealed at Sword Cathedral, and departed with them to Ignas -- while trying to use her newfound abilities.

Chapter 2

Xiumei was whisked off to Spira with the rest of ARMS, as a result of Vinsfeld Rhadamanthus activating the Sorcery Globe's teleportation abilities. There, she tried to come to terms with Model V's true nature. She learned that it contained the conscience of Varius, and more about him: he was a Reploid, a Zeboim-era creation similar to Kamui and Gami, created by the Zeboim Federation's military. He had outlived that Federation and fallen into despair, ultimately betraying Kamui and siding against humanity in the Metal Demon Wars when his partner Avile was murdered by humans. He had come to regret those actions, though, and was -- if begrudgingly -- trying to help Xiumei.

As it happened, though, Xiumei had a tough time of it. She found herself falling in love with Eleanor, but convinced herself that love could never be reciprocated. She also felt as if she was a vessel for Varius's abilities and skills, which was made worse by the fact that he did sometimes take over her body when she was knocked unconscious, to keep them both alive. This came to a head when Odessa attacked ARMS at Macalania Temple, and she forced Varius to assume control. It was only later, with Eleanor's help, that she was talked back into regaining control.

Afterward, she agreed to help Varius recover Avile. Doing so exposed her to the treachery of the Reploids' creator, Doctor Weisheit, who had survived -- somehow -- and had a control mechanism that let him take over Xiumei's body, through the Biometals for both Varius and Avile. Avile was reawakened, but under his control. ARMS helped to free her, and Xiumei combined their Biometals into one: Model AV, a fusion of both of them. Working with Eleanor, Kamui, Acacia Saitani, and others, they managed to kill Weisheit and free her.

Eventually, Xiumei's love for Eleanor became something of a headache. Eleanor was engaged to Montgomery Curie, and that engagement went ahead. Despite several false starts, and a relationship kept clanedstine, Xiumei could never quite say her intentions. She only managed to do so at Eleanor's wedding, disrupting it... but after that, they became an official couple, to Xiumei's tremendous relief. Unfortunately, this time saw Kamui falling into more despair -- and ultimately falling prey to Weisheit's creation, DELTA, a networked entity driven to its own despair as Zeboim collapsed. Between that, Eleanor's nature as the Sage of Light, and Vinsfeld's desperate maneuvers on the world, Xiumei found herself quite busy trying to protect her girlfriend, her friends, and the world. Ultimately, she managed to save Kamui, but only at great cost to Varius and Avile, as the Biometal was overloaded in doing so.

But Kamui survived, and Vinsfeld was defeated.

Shortly thereafter, Xiumei and Eleanor wed. This time, there was no interruption to the wedding. Xiumei also created, with the help of friends from ARMS and Azoth, a compatriot of Varius's and Avile's, a device that allowed Varius and Avile to continue to fight -- but bound them to her more permanently.

Skills, Powers and Abilities

Xiumei uses Model AV Remix, a Biometal that combines the powers of Varius and Avile. This allows her to summon their weapons an armor. With the Remix Gear, this appears as armor in their style worn atop Xiumei's clothing. The armor enhances her strength and reaction times, and has highly advanced barriers that provide her body with additional protection from harm; hurting her is difficult, but each blow can deplete its energy stores. With enough damage, the Biometal's armor will deactivate, and leave her as a fairly athletic but entirely mundane woman in her mid-twenties. Xiumei also uses their weapons, including:

  • AV Buster: A hand cannon, roughly shaped like an oversized pistol, that can fire blasts of energy or a charged shot.
  • AV Saber: A beam saber.
  • Cross Barrier: A barrier of four crescent-shaped beams of light, which can deflect-incoming attacks.
  • Timestopper: A beam of light that can cause things struck by it to freeze in place.

Pokémon Team

Work in progress!

Relationships

Work in progress!

Logs and Cutscenes

Chapter 2, Act 1 Logs

Chapter 2, Act 2 Logs

Chapter 2, Act 3 Logs

Chapter 2, Act 4 Logs

Chapter 2, Epilogue Logs


Chapter 2 Cutscenes

Gallery