Ah, I really enjoy this idea! If I end up writing a longish fic in this fandom, decent odds of it being this one. I have nearly 2k words of background info and outlined scenes in this document, but haven’t fully plotted the story out in its entirety yet.
The backbone of it is essentially that Shen Wei wakes with slightly different timing and under different circumstances from his 10k-year-dirt-nap… in this version the Regent/ruling elite decide Shen Wei has too much potential to disrupt the current status quo to allow him to get comfy and establish a power-base for himself, so they turn against him and set up an ambush almost immediately after his waking. He barely manages to escape with his life from the trap and eventually flees from Dixing and makes his way to Haixing… but he has no ID, no friends, no knowledge of modern culture, no resources other than his own powers (which he will never allow himself to abuse to harm or exploit others), and has to avoid drawing attention from both the authorities in Haixing and Dixing if he wants to survive. He has a pretty rough time of it, basically squatting in abandoned warehouses and tenements, scavenging for scraps and trying to do odd under-the-table jobs when he really needs to/thinks it’s worth the risk of exposure (there are still undercover Dixing agents trying to quietly hunt him down on the Regent’s orders, but everyone’s trying to keep the whole situation away from the notice of Haixing's populace/government), but, the way he sees it, even this relatively under-privileged life is far better than what he was accustomed to during his youth or during the war, so it's easy for him to be content with the small corners he manages to carve out for himself.
The degree of humbleness of his life is more than a little ludicrous, because he could live a comfortable lifestyle *so easily* by taking just a little bit from immoral people who have plenty to spare by using his powers, but he *absolutely* refuses to compromise his morals in any way to do so, convinced that using power in such a way inherently corrupts, and once he lets himself start down that path, it’s just a slippery slope before he’d be willing to justify taking more and more; he’s seen the results of power being abused too often to allow himself even an inch of leeway with his own... if he had the option of using his powers to make an honest living, that would be one thing, but his fugitive status really does keep him in a difficult position). He mostly lives day by day blending in anonymously among the Haixing populace when he's out and about, but he does still occasionally maintain his identity as a robed/masked figure who intercedes to protect those in need; it’s the garb he woke in and what he was wearing when he fled to Haixing to begin with, but it’s not connected to any official role or authority this time. So, he can only act in vigilante-mode when he sees/hears about an unavoidable situation where he feels compelled to intervene. (And he’s really trying to keep his head down; he isn't looking for a life of prestige, there's no existential war that needs his power and leadership now, the world has moved on and apparently there's no place in it for him anymore...and the last thing he wants is to be the cause of bystanders being harmed in a firefight that he's the target of or to be used as an excuse to incite an uprising/war).
So, ZYL’s first meeting with him is him showing up as the infamous and elusive (almost cryptid levels of elusive here) Black Cloaked vigilante when he absolutely needs to step in to save the SID/innocent bystanders from a ruthless Dixingren criminal on a rampage with deadly powers they can’t contain. (The impression he makes does not exactly hold up well in comparison to the propaganda/official information passed from Dixing government channels about the 'powerful and ruthless criminal operating from the shadows' he is purported to be...)
I have a couple variations of how different the world is otherwise from canon (one variant is Very Different Indeed! involving a Dixing that never lost the Hallows so never went into decline; its relationship with Haixing being very different as a result as well, while the other version sticks fairly close to the canon set-up, with Ye Zun’s rise/Shen Wei’s waking being just a *little* bit later in the timeline than in canon, with that making all the difference.
I don’t really have any snippets written out for it, but for a bit of background world/character building:
Shen Wei discovers public libraries fairly early on and they become his refuge; he camps out in the quietest, darkest corners among the bookshelves he can find, for hours at a time, just reading and coming as close to happy as he ever has in his adult life by absorbing all this *knowledge* miraculously just *there*, that any member of the public can freely come inside and peacefully learn from... The librarians of his most-often-used haunts all come to recognize him, and are invariably charmed by him, and want to take care of him/spoil him, but quickly learn how skittishly he responds to any attention/overt acts of kindness… so they’ll come up with these convoluted schemes to do nice things for him, like organize a whole lil’ small-scale conference room community event, just to have an excuse to offer him some ‘leftover’ tea and pastries that he won’t shy away from accepting.
Heh, and I *promise* I’m not cheating, but fic idea bullet that lands on #7 in the document is: ---A few vignettes told parallel to the canon story, where a series of ‘un-important’, not-powerful, background characters decide to do the right thing, make sacrifices or take risks or even give their lives to stop the evil taking shape around them, and that’s why good *actually* prevailed in the end, as much as because of the epic Protagonist!character actions that moved the main/visible plot of the show along… Background Characters Making a Difference in ways that weave in with the main narrative plot, who supported and empowered the victory against violent genocide, and who ended up being significant drivers that allowed the Main Characters to achieve victory in the end (impact/format a la Rogue One, minus the team-coming-together bits)
Possible vignette characters: Shadowman (and/or a member of his family, who Shen Wei had visited to ‘console’), one of the Dixing invaders recruited by Ye Zun who has regrets and acts on them when he sees all the civilians being slaughtered in the streets (including the kids), a Haixing lab worker, a palace guard/worker (maybe finds Shen Wei’s weapon/Guo Changcheng and drags them out of sight), Dixing bar owner pov, maybe Ye Huo or Dr. Cheng?
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2021-05-03 11:48 pm (UTC)The backbone of it is essentially that Shen Wei wakes with slightly different timing and under different circumstances from his 10k-year-dirt-nap… in this version the Regent/ruling elite decide Shen Wei has too much potential to disrupt the current status quo to allow him to get comfy and establish a power-base for himself, so they turn against him and set up an ambush almost immediately after his waking. He barely manages to escape with his life from the trap and eventually flees from Dixing and makes his way to Haixing… but he has no ID, no friends, no knowledge of modern culture, no resources other than his own powers (which he will never allow himself to abuse to harm or exploit others), and has to avoid drawing attention from both the authorities in Haixing and Dixing if he wants to survive. He has a pretty rough time of it, basically squatting in abandoned warehouses and tenements, scavenging for scraps and trying to do odd under-the-table jobs when he really needs to/thinks it’s worth the risk of exposure (there are still undercover Dixing agents trying to quietly hunt him down on the Regent’s orders, but everyone’s trying to keep the whole situation away from the notice of Haixing's populace/government), but, the way he sees it, even this relatively under-privileged life is far better than what he was accustomed to during his youth or during the war, so it's easy for him to be content with the small corners he manages to carve out for himself.
The degree of humbleness of his life is more than a little ludicrous, because he could live a comfortable lifestyle *so easily* by taking just a little bit from immoral people who have plenty to spare by using his powers, but he *absolutely* refuses to compromise his morals in any way to do so, convinced that using power in such a way inherently corrupts, and once he lets himself start down that path, it’s just a slippery slope before he’d be willing to justify taking more and more; he’s seen the results of power being abused too often to allow himself even an inch of leeway with his own... if he had the option of using his powers to make an honest living, that would be one thing, but his fugitive status really does keep him in a difficult position). He mostly lives day by day blending in anonymously among the Haixing populace when he's out and about, but he does still occasionally maintain his identity as a robed/masked figure who intercedes to protect those in need; it’s the garb he woke in and what he was wearing when he fled to Haixing to begin with, but it’s not connected to any official role or authority this time. So, he can only act in vigilante-mode when he sees/hears about an unavoidable situation where he feels compelled to intervene. (And he’s really trying to keep his head down; he isn't looking for a life of prestige, there's no existential war that needs his power and leadership now, the world has moved on and apparently there's no place in it for him anymore...and the last thing he wants is to be the cause of bystanders being harmed in a firefight that he's the target of or to be used as an excuse to incite an uprising/war).
So, ZYL’s first meeting with him is him showing up as the infamous and elusive (almost cryptid levels of elusive here) Black Cloaked vigilante when he absolutely needs to step in to save the SID/innocent bystanders from a ruthless Dixingren criminal on a rampage with deadly powers they can’t contain. (The impression he makes does not exactly hold up well in comparison to the propaganda/official information passed from Dixing government channels about the 'powerful and ruthless criminal operating from the shadows' he is purported to be...)
I have a couple variations of how different the world is otherwise from canon (one variant is Very Different Indeed! involving a Dixing that never lost the Hallows so never went into decline; its relationship with Haixing being very different as a result as well, while the other version sticks fairly close to the canon set-up, with Ye Zun’s rise/Shen Wei’s waking being just a *little* bit later in the timeline than in canon, with that making all the difference.
I don’t really have any snippets written out for it, but for a bit of background world/character building:
Shen Wei discovers public libraries fairly early on and they become his refuge; he camps out in the quietest, darkest corners among the bookshelves he can find, for hours at a time, just reading and coming as close to happy as he ever has in his adult life by absorbing all this *knowledge* miraculously just *there*, that any member of the public can freely come inside and peacefully learn from... The librarians of his most-often-used haunts all come to recognize him, and are invariably charmed by him, and want to take care of him/spoil him, but quickly learn how skittishly he responds to any attention/overt acts of kindness… so they’ll come up with these convoluted schemes to do nice things for him, like organize a whole lil’ small-scale conference room community event, just to have an excuse to offer him some ‘leftover’ tea and pastries that he won’t shy away from accepting.
Heh, and I *promise* I’m not cheating, but fic idea bullet that lands on #7 in the document is:
---A few vignettes told parallel to the canon story, where a series of ‘un-important’, not-powerful, background characters decide to do the right thing, make sacrifices or take risks or even give their lives to stop the evil taking shape around them, and that’s why good *actually* prevailed in the end, as much as because of the epic Protagonist!character actions that moved the main/visible plot of the show along… Background Characters Making a Difference in ways that weave in with the main narrative plot, who supported and empowered the victory against violent genocide, and who ended up being significant drivers that allowed the Main Characters to achieve victory in the end (impact/format a la Rogue One, minus the team-coming-together bits)
Possible vignette characters: Shadowman (and/or a member of his family, who Shen Wei had visited to ‘console’), one of the Dixing invaders recruited by Ye Zun who has regrets and acts on them when he sees all the civilians being slaughtered in the streets (including the kids), a Haixing lab worker, a palace guard/worker (maybe finds Shen Wei’s weapon/Guo Changcheng and drags them out of sight), Dixing bar owner pov, maybe Ye Huo or Dr. Cheng?