#we came up with so much backstory and teenage drama and bisexual polyamory it’s not even real

[gatoraid]

THE RADIANT NEXT GENERATION HAS ARRIVED!! ✨

In case you’re wondering who these people were/are, here are some notes from the character creation/ OC-fication process:

Zhu Di

Historically one of the sons of Zhu Yuanzhang, became the Yongle Emperor who built the Forbidden City and the porcelain pagoda of Nanjing

Described as handsome and energetic, fortune-tellers told him he had ”the walk of a dragon and the stride of a tiger”

Allegedly Zhu Di was not even Zhu Yuanzhang’s biological son, since upon becoming the Hongwu Emperor he married one of the Khan’s wives who might have already been pregnant with the Khan’s child at the time(!!!)

Which leads us to TRNG and how Baoxiang sires the child that Ma and Zhu will then raise as their heir = Zhu Di

Since he is the son of Ma and Baoxiang, he is ofc the prettiest prince to ever have princed, and he’s sensitive and empathetic under all his bravado

Xu Yihua

Historically, Xu Yihua was the daughter of Xu Da. She married Zhu Di and became known as Empress Xu

Sooo in the TRNG universe we are definitely acknowledging that Xu Da left some offspring behind before dying, and one of the mothers came looking for him at Zhu’s palace and they took her in to give her a place to raise her child

Xu Yihua definitely takes after her dad by being tall and handsome, to the point where Zhu finds it kind of uncanny and she is kind of bothered by not being able to live up to the ghost of her father

She is very unfeminine, and while she is clever she will also do the dumbest shit when dared by Zhu Di and Zheng He

Historically she was said to have religious dream revelations, which we interprered to mean that in the TRNG universe she is the one who gets the mandate, not Zhu Di

Zheng He

Historically, Zheng He was Zhu Di’s eunuch servant and later Admiral who is most well known for his impressive naval expeditions

Originally called Ma He, he was born in a muslim family and was later given the name Zheng by the Yongle Emperor/Zhu Di

Even though he was a eunuch, he was said to be very tall and broad

He was made into a eunuch when the Hongwu Emperor sent his troops to subjugate mongol rule south in Yunnan, and the young sons of prisoners were castrated

In our TRNG universe we concluded that Zhu would have outlawed cutting anyone against their will, but some soldiers would still have done it just to be cruel. One of Zhu’s trusted generals finds Zheng He and brings him back to the capital with him

The historical Zheng He was much younger than Zhu Di but in TRNG they are about the same age

So Zhu Di and Zheng He become friends and grow together from around age 10

Yeah, you guessed it, they are kind of like reverse Esen and Ouyang in so many different aspects

Oh, and they are all tutored by Wang Baoxiang, who stays in the palace and is living his best life as a teacher who gets to see these kids grow without being restricted by gender roles or toxic parenting 🥺

Sources: Louise Levathes - When China Ruled the Seas, Wang Qijun - Chinese Architecture, some Wikipedia

Disclaimer: I’m not a history expert by any means, just a fan who likes to read books, so if you have better info and sources, feel welcome to share!

you know how sometimes you're reading medieval chinese history w friends and you cast the miku binder blorbofication OCfication alternate history beam on some more unsuspecting real dead people? yeah. here's tre next gen

outstanding thanks and credits also to @gatoraid and @thestoriesthatweweave for coming up with: zhu di, the child of half a dozen parents, pretty boy prince and most loved son in the great ming. xu yihua, wang baoxiang's star student, poet and strategist, mandate haver, and bisexual daddy issue laden icon. and zheng he, himbo eunuch, smug bitch, world traveller and lover of royalty.