Songque

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Songque, originally named Maria, is a prominent character residing on Amber Street within the Martian ruins of Langqiu. Behind her playful persona as a smooth-talking fortune teller, she carries a profound and tragic past tied to the fate of her world. Maria grew up in a resource-scarce, isolated orphanage far from Amber Street. During a childhood theater performance, she was cast as a villainous princess. Despite playing an antagonistic role, she was filled with joy because she dreamed of becoming a princess as a means of finally leaving the orphanage and escaping her circumstances. After leaving the orphanage, she struggled to survive and began making a living as a street hustler and fortune teller under the alias "Songque." Her sharp wit and knack for misdirection caught the attention of Bai Ji, the Shu of Wisdom, who took her in as his disciple and mentored her until she officially unlocked the authority of "Deception," an esoteric power capable of deceiving even the fundamental laws of physics. She eventually became one of the Seven Shus, the legendary protectors of Langqiu. However, unlike her peers, she was inherently a noncombatant, relying entirely on her tricks, intelligence, and ritualistic powers. Upon ascending to her position, Songque gained a tragic fallback mechanism: her authority allowed the other Shus to reset the corruption caused by the "Shadow" by executing her if necessary. When a massive Shadow disaster struck a century ago, the other six Shus were forced into a deep slumber, leaving Songque as the sole operational guardian of Langqiu. Because she lacked the direct combat power necessary to permanently eradicate the Shadows, she relied on a magical artifact called "Jue," which embodied the collective will of the Shadow, to maintain the containment seals. To keep the system functioning and prevent Langqiu's collapse, she underwent repeated Samsara cycles, during which the world was reset.

Songque

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Songque is a Martian that lives in Amber Street, Langqiu. She is one of Seven Shus, titled the Shu of Deception. During her childhood, she was an orphan than resided in an orphanage far from Amber Street. While preparing for a performance, during a drama theater in her orphanage, she was cast as a villainous princess. Despite the negative role, she was full of happiness, having dreamed of becoming a princess in order to leave her orphanage. In the second Samsara, in which the Seven Shus never existed, she was a famous performer in Oxia City. She was scouted out by Thelema while singing alone in a theater and, despite not having any credentials for preforming arts, Thelema hired her.