Name: Seung
Meaning of Name: Successor
Gender: Female
History: Seung is the reincarnation of a Sonyo. The Sonyo were daughters of Heaven and descendents of the Creator of humankind.
Korean legend tells of a poor woodcutter who could not find a bride. One day while chopping wood, he saved a deer from a hunter. The deer decided to reward his kindness saying, “I can help you get a bride. Go to the lakes in north of here at noon tomorrow. The Sonyo will bathe there. Steal one’s robe then bring her home. But do not give her back her heavenly robe until she has borne you four children.”
The woodcutter did as the deer instructed and the next day saw eight Sonyo, heavenly maidens, come down from heaven to bathe in the lakes. The woodcutter spied on them and stole the clothes of the youngest and most beautiful. When they finished bathing, the youngest found she could not go home without her heavenly clothing. Her sisters left her alone to return to heaven and the woodcutter came to greet her. He treated her kindly and took her home to be his wife. For a time she resented her husband, but grew to love him. After a time, they lived happily together and she gave birth to two children. The Sonyo then begged her husband to return her heavenly clothing, for she missed her family.
The woodcutter refused for once he returned it, his wife would regain her powers and fly off with his children under each arm. She then gave birth to a third child. The Sonyo begged her husband for her clothes again. Thinking that she couldn't escape with three children, he gave them back. She put on the garments and flew back to heaven with her three children, one under each arm and the third held between her legs. The woodcutter grieved at the loss of his beloved wife and children.
Saddened, he returned to the lakes and saw a large gourd drawing water from one, the rope holding it going straight up to heaven. Quickly, he dumped out the water and placed himself inside. The gourd was drawn up and the Sonyo saw a man inside. The woodcutter explained who he was and the maidens brought him to the Heavenly King. The King, though unhappy that his daughter’s husband was mortal, allowed the woodcutter to be reunited with his family and they lived happily in the Heavenly Kingdom.
One day the woodcutter thought of his aging mother back on earth. He asked his wife if he could go down to see his mother, just once, but his wife refused. He persisted and finally his heavenly wife agreed. She gave him a dragon-horse to take him down to earth saying, “Whatever you do, do not get off the dragon-horse. If you do, we will never see each other again."
The woodcutter said he would not dismount and rode the dragon-horse down to earth. He soon arrived at his mother's house. Mother and son were overjoyed to see each other and chatted while he stayed mounted. As he prepared to leave, his mother begged him to have a bowl of porridge she had made for him. Unable to refuse, he took the bowl but dropped it because it was too hot. The hot porridge landed right on the dragon-horse's back. It reared in pain, throwing off its rider and raced back to heaven. The woodcutter never went back to the Heavenly Kingdom, spending all his days crying at the sky. At last he died and was reborn as a rooster, to spend all his days on the highest rooftops, crowing for his lost love.
When the dragon-horse returned to heaven without her husband, the heavenly maiden despaired. She begged her father to let her fetch her husband. However, the Heavenly King, glad to be rid of an unworthy son-in-law, would not allow her to go down to earth. So the maiden spent all of her time weeping for her lost husband.
When he was transformed, the rooster's crowing reached her ears, making her even sadder for she felt his death was her fault. Unable to bear the pain of the rooster's calls, she tried to ignore its cries. The Heavenly King quickly became frustrated with his daughter, calling her a disgrace. He forbade the rest of the family from speaking to her or acknowledging her until she came to her senses.
Days passed and soon she wouldn't notice anyone, not even her own children. The guilt and grief continued to consume the Sonyo and she rarely spoke or ate. Finally, unable to bear her guilt another moment, she took a knife and tried to cut the guilt out of her heart. The Sonyo’s children found her dead, with the knife clenched tightly in her hand.
Her three children desperately wished to have their mother back and asked the Heavenly King to bring her back to life. He quickly refused, as she had fallen from favor in his eyes. So the three tried to revive their mother without the King's knowledge. They used what little magic they had to place life back into her body. The Sonyo's spirit felt the magic, but had no wish to be revived. Instead, she transformed it, hoping for a life where she could make her own choices. She would be revived, in another body and another time. But no one would be able to tell when or where…
Personality:As a baby, Seung would be the squirmy type. The kind that will wear you out, even if they're just sitting, and will only sit still for an episode of Teletubbies and barely that. She'd want to get into everything and explore. Basically, she's the reason there are outlet covers and child locks for kitchen cupboards. She'd get more interest from banging pots together or pulling off the labels from every soup can in the pantry than playing quietly with dolls.
This sort of curiousity would carry on throughout her life. Once she starts talking, she'd probably annoy everyone around by asking the same question: "Why?" over and over again. Most likely she wouldn't even notice she's annoying.
When she's very young, Seung would be extremly picky and overbearing. She'd want things done exactly the way she like it or she'd throw a fit. As she gets older (and gets yelled at a few times for acting like a brat) she'll mellow out from this. She'll always be a perfectionist, but won't get as angry when she thinks people don't do things right.
Seung is very much a hands on type of person. If a quest or somesuch comes up, she figures that so long as she's there it will succed. She'll gladly offer help, even if it's not needed. On the flip side, she rarely asks for help or accepts it when it's offered. It tends to p***k her pride and get her back up.
Seung's main fear is of getting caught up in a romantic relationship.
(I'm still working on updating Seung's personality. Bear with me while I do so. ^_^)
Powers: Seung instinctively knows how to speak, read, and write Korean. She has a high amount of physical stamina and grace. She would only have powers in a magical sense if she obtains clothing made in Heaven. She would probably get the clothing through a quest that would involve her going to Heaven. While wearing it, she's able to fly. Even without the heavenly clothing, she's able to project a vision of herself to people far away and speak telepathically to them. This ability doesn’t always work, as some people are not receptive to telepathy. This power works best when the other person is sleeping. She can only maintain this communication for short periods of time (about ten minutes or so) before her energy runs out. Wearing heavenly clothing increases the strength of this power and the length of time she can speak this way.
