Bao is a half-Tatar, half-Ch'in peasant from the northern Ch'in village of Tonghe. After a tumultuous upbringing and living as a gang leader on the streets of Shuntian, Bao became the student and "magpie" of the ancient scholar Master Lo Feng, aiding him in his travels to distant Terre d'Ange.
There, Bao met Moirin mac Fainche of the Maghuin Dhonn, who became Master Lo's second student and later Bao's lover.
History[]
Early life[]
Born to Yingtai after she was raped, by the Tatar general Arslan, he was raised by his mother and her husband Ang Shen. When he was a baby, his mother would affectionately call him Bao, meaning "treasure." When it became clear to his parents that the boy was not the child of Ang Shen, his father arranged to sell him to a traveling circus, although his mother did not want to and wept when the contract was signed.
Within the circus, there were a number of stick-fighters, who performed by day and at night took wagers to fight againsts townspeople, to earn extra money. The most skilled of these was Brother Lei, also known as Brother Thunder, who never lost. Wanting to learn to fight and in love with Brother Thunder's daughter, Lin, Bao asked the man to teach him. He agreed, only on the condition that Bao provide him sexual favors, which would end if the boy ever beat him in a fight. After two years, Bao was victorious and asked Lin to run way with him but, angry at the loss of her father's reputation after losing to a young boy, she refused.
Following Lin's refusal, he ran away to the great city of Shuntian, the center of Ch'in's empire, and took on a new name for himself, Shangun, meaning "Lightning Stick." There, he made a name for himself, and although everyone wanted to fight him because he was young, Shangun won every match. Over the years, he fought the members of a major gang, defeating them one by one, until finally defeating the leader and becoming the leader himself. As a group, Shangun's gang made merchants and travelers pay for their protection and beat up rivals for money.
After some five years, the alechemist, scholar and physician Master Lo Feng Tzu came to the gathering place of the stick-fighters in Shuntian, seeking a companion for his journey to Terre d'Ange, a person both clever and strong to aid him and willing to learn about the Way from him. Shangun and the others laughed at Master Lo Feng, disbelieving that he would ask such "no-good thugs" for help. Two days later a young peasant-boy from the countryside of about fourteen asked Shangun to teach him to fight. Frustrated by how the boy's desperation to learn at any cost reminded him of himself, Shangun gave him the same offer as Brother Thunder had to him. The boy accepted, but Shangun could not bring himself to go through with it and walked away from his old life, accepting Master Lo's offer. He left everything behind, taking only his best staff. He even abanonded the name he chose for himself, taking back the name Bao, as his mother had called him.
Family Tree[]
| Yingtai's grandfather | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arslan's first wife | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ang Shen | Yingtai | Arslan | Arslan's second wife | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ang Song | Daughters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Great Khan Naram | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Erdene | Bao | Moirin mac Fainche | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||