Archived:Jim Taopei

Personality
Jim is a very cheerful lad, but tends to slip into moments of melancholy when reflecting on how much the world has changed in his lifetime. He tends to act as an older brother to certain people around him, but it never ends up working out in Jim's favor. He's said to hate losing and be patronizing, and he's only recently completely changed his half-hearted ways and begun to put serious effort into everything. Jim has a love of cute things, particularly cartoon characters, Hello Kitty, and pandas, and he is frequently seen carrying around a stuffed panda. He is also prone to giving advice that sounds like it came from a fortune cookie.

History
Lin Taopei worked in the military for a while, serving her country in the armed forces on the front lines. She fought in the Persian Gulf and in the Bosnian wars, serving her countries ideals both times. However, Lin was injured badly in Bosnia, and lost the use of her right hand. Shortly after the Bosnian War, after being discharged from duty, Lin met another soldier. While many around Lin were intimidated by this man, she seemed to be attracted to the power he radiated, and he seemed to be attracted to her as well. The two then enjoyed an affair that lasted a few weeks, before the mysterious man disappeared. Before he did, he appeared one last time, telling Lin all about the gods of Olympus and that he was Ares, god of war. She believed him, strange as it were. He told her of a camp that the child she would have would go to, as it was a place where there were more children like the child there. Lin wrote down everything for a latter date.

Lin remembered those times, but kept them to herself, soon dating another man, by the name of James. However, Lin soon found out she was pregnant, much like Ares had foretold. Soon, young Jim entered the world, with his mother and her fiancèe. As Jim and his newlywed family lived in New Jersey, they had some work cut out for them, but they worked hard. Young Jim was surprisingly mature for his age, quickly learning things that would take other toddlers years to master in mere months. Jim, however, did not apply this talent in his studies in school; rather, he would be lazy and pass the time doodling pictures of warriors fighting battles, and cute little animals to accompany these heros.

This continued for many years, with Jim failing until it mattered, then barely scraping through to pass on to the next year. His mother decided to tell Jim his legacy when he was 11 years old. By then, Jim had acquired a love for Hello Kitty, something that the other boys in his classes laughed at. When Lin told young Jim that he was the son of a ward god, and that he had a destiny of being a hero, he finally snapped. He went on about how his life hadn't been great since the other boys decided that liking little cute animals wasn't boy-like, and that this news wasn't very good news to help him cope with that. He also claimed that some large dogs tried to attack him at the playground today, and another one of his friends fought it off, and offered the same story that Lin had just told her son. Jim then lamented that he couldn't just be her son. Lin smiled softly and said, "Jim, you are my son, but you also have a bigger future ahead of you than I could of planned. Please consider going to this camp."

However, Jim decided that he would not go, seeing as he wanted to try and finish his education up to high school first. The first year of middle school was fine, but 7th and 8th grades were torture for Jim. He was attacked 3 times within the course of 2 years. However, Ares had also given Lin a weapon for young Jim, in the form of a xiphos disguised as a pen, and Jim quickly learned to fight off these monsters, with crazy, unpredictable attacks. However, Jim still needed help with his formal training, and went to a friend of his mother's, a sensei in a dojo. The sensei soon helped Jim learn his swordplay better, while also providing wisdom that Jim would carry with him for the rest of his life.

However, there was one attack when Jim was 14 that nearly had him killed, involving a horde of Stymphalian birds. They rushed him, making a huge scar on his lower backside, before he was able to escape the horde of birds. This moment scared Jim, literally, and Jim vowed that one day he would get his revenge on the flock of birds.

By the time Jim was 15, he was confident in his abilities with his blade, untrained and wild as his actions were, and was doing rather well in school, compared to his early attempts. At the urging of his mother, he started to focus more on school, and friends. He was picked to be the representative of his class at the Mock UN, and the story continues in the group history...