#scholar ling

Bioware's follow up to "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" was this lesser-known action RPG and their first original IP, "Jade Empire," a love letter to the Wuxia genre. While I had created a single piece of fan art focused on one of the companion characters back in the day, I recently was rummaging through some old files and found a half-completed pencil draft of my favorite player character option: the magic-focused Scholar Ling. So twenty years later, I decided to finally finish it.

Scholar Ling and Empress Sun Lian enjoying a moment of piece for @sunlians!

Confession: Scholar Ling can beat my ass any day and I would thank her.

Aka "the Spirit Monk with the coolest outfit," Scholar Ling was my first playthrough character when I bought Bioware's "Jade Empire" video game RPG twenty years ago. The qipao-esque top, embroidered dragon on the trouser leg, and blue and gold color scheme all seemed to befit the tale that lay ahead. And true to her name, I played her as an intelligent character who would try to defuse a situation first, but if negotiations failed, took a measured and tactical approach to combat in order to dominate her opponents on the battlefield.

Sketch commission for @sunlian of a smiley Scholar Ling! My favorite of the JE player characters. <3

The thief and the scholar.