Tenpou / Saiyuki Gaiden

Handle: Sana
Over 18?: Yes.
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Character Name: Tenpou
(His full name in Mandarin is Zhu Tianpeng, but having spent the past few years in Japan, he usually goes by the Japanese pronunciation. Although his canon name is usually given as "Tenpou Gensui," "gensui" is actually just a military title meaning "field marshal.")
Character Age & Birthdate: September 23rd, 1984, age 36.
Character Canon: Saiyuki Gaiden

Character AU History:
The genius of Zhu Tianpeng (he prefers to go by his nickname, "Tenpou,") was apparent from an early age. He was a voracious reader who easily mastered various languages and subjects, especially sciences and military history, but his academic abilities weren't matched by any particular sense of drive or ambition. Still, as the eldest son of a prominent Chinese government official, his future seemed secure regardless of whether he put much effort into it. After quickly completing undergraduate and master's degrees in biology, he surprised those who knew him by serving his two-year mandatory military service with skill and distinction. Although it seemed as if a military career might provide the necessary structure to keep Tenpou engaged, he soon settled back into academia and spent several years lazily working towards a PhD at the Beijing Institute of Technology. Enthralled by anything strange or alien, he eventually gravitated towards studying the unique biology of deep-sea life forms.

After the first few Kaiju were killed in desperate nuclear strikes, scientists from leading universities, including those in Beijing, were brought in to study what samples of their highly toxic remains and excrement could be obtained. Tenpou was fascinated by the sheer alienness of Kaiju, so he joined the newly created PPDC in Hong Kong as a cryptozoologist. He toyed with the idea of undergoing pilot training when the first Jaeger Academy opened (his Kwoon combat ability is quite good for a casual amateur, especially in swordplay), but he repeatedly failed psychological exams and was deemed a poor candidate for Drift. During Drift tests, he tended to dominate and overload the mental connection with his relentless need to know everything. Confronted by failure for the first time in his life, Tenpou transferred away to the Japanese branch of the PPDC for a change of atmosphere and developed or improved many techniques used in the analysis of Kaijuu remains. In 2019, he relocated to the Valparaíso facility.

Character Personality:
Although Tenpou is one of the PPDC's lead crytozoology researchers, his appearance and behavior do little to inspire confidence in his abilities. He shuffles through the lab in his bedroom slippers with a sleepy expression on his face, clutching a coffee cup in one hand and a cigarette in the other. His glasses are smudged with fingerprints, his neglected hair is long and oily, and he frequently wears the same clothing for several days in a row. When he remembers to eat, he leaves the takeout containers strewn around his workstation until their half-eaten contents begin to fester. Despite his insistence that he only needs two hours of sleep to function, Tenpou is frequently found napping throughout the base.

Exposure to the ammonia-based preservatives used to stabilize Kaiju remains tends to dull the sense of smell, though, and those who can get past Tenpou's other eccentricities usually find him difficult not to like. He lacks the callous, judgmental nature of many other high-ranking PPDC officers. He's easygoing and understanding, with a soft spot for children and young people. He has a playfully self-effacing sense of humor and is usually polite and amiable, albeit in a detached way. Tenpou's conversations tend to meander away from the original subject as his attention wanders, only to return with a flash of insight. He's full of useless information and odd trivia, but he forgets most of his appointments and sometimes gets lost on the way to his own office.

Many would dismiss Tenpou as an unambitious, unmotivated fool, but one desire drives him: the desire to escape boredom. He devours books in an effort to sate his hunger for knowledge, and he has a large personal library crammed into his quarters. He's constantly "borrowing" (but never returning) other people's books. Books aren't the only thing he hoards, either. Tenpou feels driven to surround himself with objects (and people) of dubious value. This and other evidence of compulsive behavior disqualified Tenpou from Ranger training, even though his calm demeanor and combat experience initially made him seem like a promising candidate. Despite his military background, Tenpou dislikes titles or official responsibilities and ignores authority when it suits him. He is very concerned about the welfare of soldiers, and takes losses very personally.

In a way, Tenpou's spacey detachment is a barrier to keep him from having to care too deeply about other people or acknowledge his own anger - anger that, while rarely seen, is no less a part of him. He hates being powerless against the Kaiju and powerless within the bureaucratic hierarchy of the PPDC. He hates seeing lives wasted. Tenpou's anger is slow to ignite, but the resulting cold fire lacks nothing in intensity. He sinks his teeth into a challenge and pursues it with methodical viciousness. Although he appears calm, tactical and decisive under stress, there are times when he'll attack recklessly with no strategy in mind. Even self-preservation becomes a distant concern, and he almost seems to reach a point of enlightenment (reminiscent of his canon role as a Buddhist war god). Tenpou tends to underestimate the capabilities of others, so he'll take their burdens onto himself before he thinks of working together. Even so, he's extremely competent and respected by those who know him well.

Why is your character joining the Jaeger Academy?:
At the time of the first Kaiju attacks, Tenpou was a postdoctoral researcher at the Beijing Institute of Technology. Biological samples from the Kaiju Hundun were sent to various universities for analysis, and his interest in the rapidly emerging field of cryptozoology was piqued. Once the PPDC was established, Tenpou immediately signed on as a researcher. After almost two years at the Hong Kong Shatterdome, he split his time between Tokyo and Nagasaki, and in 2019, he requested a second transfer to Valparaíso. Ostensibly, his goal was to expand the Academy's K-Science research program... but really, as a hardcore military otaku, he nursed a not-so-secret ambition to take a combat role (despite multiple failed psychological evaluations and Drift tests in the past). He can also function as an instructor/mentor for students with an interest in K-science, although his teaching methods are unorthodox at best.

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