Series: Touhou: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
Class: Gatekeeper
Alignment: Lawful Remilia
Gender: Gatekeeper
Species: Yokai
Age: Unknown
Birthdate:
Height: Unknown
Weight: 175 lbs
Short Description: Tall, well-built red-haired woman in a green Chinese dress and matching hat.
Miscellaneous: While Touhou has not definitively established this yet, there is strong evidence to suggest that Hong Meiling may be a dragon. Her spell cards tend to be associated with flowers, rain, colors, rainbows, and weather patterns-- all things Chinese-style dragons are known to be bearers of. Even her martial arts and the ability to control her qi could be compared to the "Breath of Life" that Chinese dragons are said to breathe.
She wears a green, sleeveless tunic with a white, short-sleeved blouse underneath. The sleeveless tunic has gold-colored piping; the blouse has puffy sleeves, and a ruffle at the end of the sleeves and the bottom hem of the shirt. Her skirt matches the sleeveless tunic -- it is the same color green and has gold piping. The skirt reaches to her ankles, but it is split up to the top of her hip on the left side, presumably for mobility's sake. On her feet she wears a traditional pair of kung fu shoes; they are green like her hat, tunic, and skirt.
Danmaku: Gensokyo's denizens like to fight, but realize that they are powerful enough to cause massive destruction if they went full-on. So "danmaku" was created, a sort of "fighting game". By gathering energy, Meiling can activate "spell cards", trances that let her cast danmaku that are arranged in specific patterns. However, while in a spell card trance, she can ONLY cast that particular pattern.
Martial Arts: Hong Meiling is one of the only yokai in Gensokyo that actively practices martial arts, which went out of practice due to the invention of the safer and less destructive danmaku. She specializes in a style called Tai Chi Chuan, which focuses on control of one's internal energy.
Qi Control: This is a seperate skill from her fighting, though the two are linked; Tai Chi Chuan focuses on the principles of change and relativity, not on internalization of one's own inner energies. Meiling's control over her own qi is primarily how she is able to utilize danmaku-- where others' is magical in nature, hers is spiritual manifestation of her own qi. She has the control over this to use her qi exactly as others in Gensokyo would use magic.
Logs
Background
Touhou is very vague on the characters' backgrounds, even the events of the games. Nothing AT ALL is spoken of Meiling's background, only the events of the games, and the games generally focus more on danmaku than story. Adding to this the fact that Meiling herself is only a minor character in most of the games she appears in, and it's impossible to really piece together a comprehensive backstory for her. However, this is what I managed to piece together.
Hong Meiling has been gate guard to the Scarlet Devil Mansion for about 200 years. She, along with Remilia, Patchouli, Koakuma, Flandre, and Sakuya, appeared in Gensokyo in the year 118 (2003 C.E.) with the Scarlet Devil Mansion during the Scarlet Mist Incident -- Remilia Scarlet decided to cover Gensokyo with thick red mist to make it easier for her to walk about in the daytime. Reimu Hakurei came to investigate, and Meiling did her best to keep Reimu out, but ultimately Meiling was unsuccessful. Reimu eventually faced Remilia and convinced her to stop with the red mist, and that was pretty much that.