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[ Player Name ] : Von
[ Personal DW ] : himewakako
[ Age ] : 24
[ Timezone ] : GMT
[ Other Characters ] : Chōsokabe Motochika / Samurai Warriors / behisstrength

[ Character's Name ] : Sima Yi
[ Character's Age ] : 38*
[ Series ] : Dynasty Warriors
[ Canon Point ] : Dynasty Warriors 7; during the Jin story mode, after he chooses to retire.

[ History ] :
Sima Yi @ KOEI WIKIA

[ Personality ] :
There is a legend regarding Sima Yi: it is said that he has a wolf's neck. It was thought that a wolf could turn its head near 180 degrees without moving its body, so that it could bite enemies at its front and at its back. Applied to Sima Yi, what is inferred is that he was a man of incredible personal ambition. This ambition is at the core of his character in Dynasty Warriors 7. He is referred to as having a wolf's gaze, and we see this gaze for ourselves clearly. As Jia Xu states: 'you're like ambition personified'.
But there is more to it than that – the value Sima Yi himself sees in a wolf's gaze is their wary cunning. Sima Yi is not a wolf in sheep's clothing, but rather a wolf acting tamed only as long as it suits his purposes. He will serve those with the talent to wield the power they hold, yet will also eliminate those too incompetent to do so, without hesitation or regret. To him, loyalty and respect are privileges earned through skill and competency. As with all privileges, they may be revoked at any time. An example is how he served Wei under both Cao Cao and Cao Pi without issue, before turning on later generations of the Cao line when their actions weakened the kingdom. In the end, he only truly defers to himself.

Sima Yi is very pragmatic. He regards idealism and emotionally-driven actions as fanciful, and the mark of fools. He presents himself as someone calm and detached, ruthlessly practical; he plans carefully and thoroughly, with great patience, unwavering drive and meticulous thought. However, he is a very passionate man underneath – this is a part of himself that he cannot always contain. He is egotistical, he derides those he considers beneath himself with pleasure, he grows frustrated by inefficiency, he cannot stand to be bested, he despairs of idiocy and grows disinterested when a generation of talented foes and allies pass on, leaving lesser, unworthy successors behind. He has no qualms about executing those whose incompetency mar the land. His maniacal laugh is perhaps famous in itself. Sima Yi is very much a man of extremes; nothing about him is half-hearted.

That said, Sima Yi is not actually evil. He is perfectly capable of being civil, even pleasant. At one point he saves the life of the wife of one of Wei's generals, Guo Huai. Not only does he later ask after her, but also after Guo Huai as well. Sima Yi expresses genuine wishes of good health and longevity towards him, showing that he does value and enjoy the company of select others, though it is a rare occurrence. He even tries to comfort Wang Yi when she is drowning her sorrows in far too much wine -- though when she calls him out on it, he denies that was his intention.
Amusingly, Sima Yi is someone who is embarrassed by displays of fondness or affection. In those situations, he becomes both flustered and indignant.

Despite his self-absorbed and often scornful nature, Sima Yi is actually one who shows intelligence and talent respect – though it should be said that he has very high standards, and that he is still prone to some condescension despite his praise.
He allowed Wang Yi to prove that she could keep her calm in battle despite her all-consuming desire for revenge on Ma Chao, rather than simply deciding that she wouldn't manage, or fussing over the matter after she had given her word. He trusted her to do as she promised, and he was not disappointed.
Whether the person in question is an ally or and enemy is irrelevant -- after all, the man that he valued above all others (excluding himself) was Zhuge Liang, his long-term rival. Zhuge Liang stood for all that Sima Yi despised: childish notions of benevolence, righteousness and justice. What Sima Yi revelled in was Zhuge Liang's impressive intellect and skill as a strategist. Zhuge Liang forced Sima Yi to strain his knowledge and abilities to their limit in their encounters – the Shu strategist presented a challenge he could not always overcome.

Without that challenge, Sima Yi grows bored and becomes despondent, feeling that the world is undeserving of his attention, when it is only full of idiots bursting into hysterics. It is for this very reason, as well as to prevent in-fighting in the Wei court, that Sima Yi decides to retire. However Sima Yi's intolerance for mediocrity soon compels him to step out of retirement to perform a coup d'etat on the Wei court and take control himself. When he falls ill, rather than resting, he hides his state of health from everyone, including his own family, and works in overdrive to manoeuvre the Sima clan into a position stable enough to ensure an even greater seat of power, and therefore future, for his descendants.

What is surprising – at least on the surface, considering the kind of man he is – is Sima Yi's relationships with his family. Sima Yi has close bonds with his sons, Shi and Zhao, and his daughter-in-law, Yuanji. It grows less surprising when one realises that all three are highly intelligent and practical people.
Shi is Sima Yi's son through and through – sharp, amibitious and relentless – and so Sima Yi holds nothing but pride and a desire to see Shi surpass his own brilliance.
Sima Yi's relationship with Zhao is more fraught; whilst Zhao is just as intelligent as his brother and therefore has Sima Yi's pride, Zhao is lazy and rarely bothers to apply himself. Sima Yi is perfectly aware of Zhao's ability, and as a consequence irritated by Zhao's refusal to act or be decisive. He often chides Zhao over it.
This frustration concerning Zhao is something he shares with Yuanji, Zhao's wife. Sima Yi not only respects her, but clearly appreciates her presence in Zhao's life, as a voice of reason and firm support.
There is obvious, unspoken affection between Sima Yi and his sons, as well as mutual trust. Sima Yi is willing to give his boys control of major tasks, not only trusting them to do well, but also trusting them to exceed his expectations and think for themselves. He taught them personally, and instilled in both the notion that those with the talent to wield power the most effectively are those whom should hold it – it is this very notion that would eventually result in the birth of the Jin dynasty.

Sima Yi is not a popular or good man, but is undeniably a brilliant one: a puppetmaster with the ambition, knowledge, cunning and enduring tenacity to change the hold of power over China, he sets the foundations for a new era.

[ Strengths/Weaknesses ] :
STRENGTHS;
Of his normal abilities, those that make Sima Yi truly formidable are those concerning his intellect.

He is highly intelligent to begin with, and this has been honed by many years of study. He came from a large family, all of whom were famed scholars, so it was always part of their upbringing to pursue knowledge. This ability to study is in itself a skill.

As an ancient chinese strategist, it is heavily likely that he studied at great length historical records, philosophical texts and pure military strategy. In his age, strategists not only had to know how to manoeuvre an army within battle, but also how to sustain it from the ground up – concepts like ration supplies and delivery, tactical locations for the defence of one's territories, and governance to keep one's territories not only content, but productive. He also possesses an understanding of diplomacy – it is, after all, a way of pacifying enemies without using up resources, or a way of gaining allies to halve one's own expenditures and gain a tactical advantage.
The reason that he became a military strategist in the service of Wei was because of his own and his family's reputation – Cao Cao himself requested Sima Yi to serve him, rather than Sima Yi offering his services to the warlord.

Just as “the mind will vanquish the sword” is a strong belief of his, there is also his base understanding of what actions any army can take: if you can, fight; if you cannot fight, defend; if you cannot defend, flee; if you cannot flee, surrender; if you cannot surrender, die. It is the first consideration he makes when crafting any given strategy – a basic assessment of the strength available to use, and how to use it to best effect.

His intellect has given him a very realistic and pragmatic way of thinking. He instantly disregards notions that he considers fanciful or wasteful; it is with detached emotions that he makes any decision. He is sharp enough to cut through any waffle to reach the heart of the matter, and so he will make practical decisions based on what he perceives rather than any tainted by high emotions. It means that he is a very perceptive man – and the fact that he does not allow himself to feel sympathy or empathy for others means that he can exploit this to the fullest, making him very cunning.

His incredible ambition lends him tenacity and drive; it means that he never settles for any less than his best, and with his skilful mind and sheer self-confidence, his output is always consistent and to very high standards. He is reliable – as long as one remembers that it is only as long as you are reliable in his view. This view of his means that he is never crippled by loyalty.

He is also very experienced by this point in both warfare and court, meaning that he can engage these scenarios with confidence and calmness. Even if matters do not go to plan, experience means that he will be able to reign in his panic and think critically – provided we're not talking about unnatural states, such as madness wavelength and so on.

In terms of physical skill, he has mastered the war fan. In the Dynasty Warriors universe, strategists have highest stats in their musou abilities, which is effectively battle magic. Translating that means that Sima Yi has aptitude for magic – he can work with more than one element, and his magical power is stronger than his physical power – and he specifically gains a skill called elemental resistance, which gives a decent boost to his physical resistance to elemental attacks. With a fan in his hand, Sima Yi can summon miniature whirlwinds, rain down bolts of lightning within a certain radius of himself, and shoot magical laser beams. He possesses two distinct musous – special attacks which also give the user brief invulnerability and unnatural speed. His first musou cocoons a single target in magic wires, squeezing them tight and knocking them down upon release. His second musou, triggered only in the air, shoots out a number of wires, which briefly freeze those it touches. He's not the most powerful magic wielder within the series, but he has a wide variety.

WEAKNESSES;
Sima Yi's biggest weakness is his personality – not only does it cause problems in terms of relationships with others, but it also can be detrimental to himself. His arrogance, ruthless pragmatism, cold demeanour and sharpness means that he's not particularly likeable. Even within Wei, these combined with his ability means that he is met with a lot of distrust, dislike and fear – most often by those below Sima Yi's level of talent. Much of the conflict within his part of the Jin story is created by someone's fear over his skill and the power that he has accumulated for his clan within Wei, amplified by their distrust of him.

His considerable pride is a weakness; his enemies use it to turn others against him, and try to provoke Sima Yi through attacking it. While he is sharp enough to see through such ploys, making these kinds of attempts ineffectual, if he is bested, especially on an intellectual level, his pride stings. He will most certainly not admit to weakness, and brushes off concern. When bettered he will not let it go, though that is the smartest course of action. A wound to his pride cuts through his composure, and incites his emotions – he'll get moody, caught somewhere between anger and vicious humiliation. His passionate core is very much a double-edged sword.
His pride is based upon his intellectual worth, and therefore this skews his interaction with those lacking intelligence. He will condescend those of mediocre intellect, and regards idiocy with loathing – once again taking a hit to his popularity.
Finally, his pride means that yes, he sees himself and his views as superior to others, and will voice as much if he does not perceive them as threatening.
It's little wonder that Sima Yi makes few friends and large numbers of enemies.

Sima Yi is also someone who hates to be idle. He needs challenge to be content, or at least the knowledge that he's conquered all challenges available. If he has nothing or no one to engage his mind, he grows bored, and when he's bored he quickly grows irritated, prickly and eventually depressed.

Sima Yi's ambition, while a huge strength, also has considerable drawbacks. Those who can recognise it regard him with at least caution, but more often distrust. He has to carefully balance his interpersonal relationships to avoid others turning on him; it's fairly rare that others completely trust him, or that he does so in return.

His independent nature means that he is terrible at sharing control. He will concede to those he must, such as the warlords he serves and respects, but otherwise he has difficulty – especially if they are inferior in his eyes. He would rather control power himself than have to trust another to wield it in conjunction with him. He is perfectly capable of working well with others, but far more on a professional level than an interpersonal level.

In terms of physical weaknesses, Sima Yi is not a born warrior. More scholar than soldier, his strength, endurance, speed and physical hardiness are merely average in comparison to the great generals he has worked alongside with. He has enough skill to hold his own in a fight, but this is more because of his exceptional mind and musou affinity. For example, in the Shu story, when he is at Jiang Wei's mercy – though Jiang Wei was not an intellectual match without Zhuge Liang's constant interference – Sima Yi is literally sprawled on his arse, with no way to defend himself against Jiang Wei's spear. He has to be rescued by his sons.
In a world filled with naturally-talented fighters and his own disdainful nature, this is most certainly a weakness.

[ Other Important Facts ] :
* Age is tricky, since Dynasty Warriors covers a long period of time. While he still looks young, he has two adult children at his canon point in the game, and historically he was an old man by that point, so this is number is purely mun-fudged, based on an age I felt was reasonable.

[ Sample ] :
What a miserable world this was. Zhuge Liang's death had been a blessing for Wei, but a curse for Sima Yi personally. It seemed like a cruel twist of fate that none of Zhuge Liang's descendants possessed even a tenth of the man's intellect. Defeating unworthy opponents who barely required any thought to best had grown tiresome all too quickly; he had not anticipated how little challenge he would face.

There were only imbeciles, inside and out.

Cao Shuang was certainly no exception.

It had not been long since Sima Yi had chosen to retire, partly to disarm the rising tension in court, born from his own well-known prowess in war and Cao Shuang's failure. Infighting would only serve Wu and Shu, but he alone seemed to realise it. How frustratingly stupid. It was beneath him to spell it out.

Unfortunately, retirement was also proving boring, however less irritating it was. He longed for the days when Wei's leaders were sharp and ambitious men, when he strained the limits of his mind to snatch a victory from his opponent's grasp. Days when he did not have the urge to see another fool eliminated for making yet another incompetent decision.

Sima Yi sighed, closed his eyes and pinched his brow.

Had anyone's children lived up to their fathers, then perhaps Zhao would have been forced to abandon his laziness by now. It was unlikely that Cao Shuang's ill-thought attack on Shu that he had sent Zhao to put down in his stead would truly challenge his younger son, let alone force him to the limits of his ability – Sima Yi could hardly emphasise the need to utilise one's full talents when none could even match Zhao's half-hearted efforts.

For a moment, it seemed like sleep had taken him.

(In the space of a breath it felt like he was falling, drowning; the sensation resembled a potent afterimage.)

His eyes snapped open. He was cold and wet, aching, sprawled on his back on grass. He blinked and then stared. There was an ocean above and all around, where the sky should have been.

“What...?”

His breath escaped him; he froze and waited for his mind to catch up.

It looked like a dream. Yet it did not feel like one to his senses; there was no floating disconnect; everything was painfully visceral.

Sima Yi rose to his feet, his silk robes heavy with water, his sodden hair dripping trails down the back of his neck. He forced his panic down. The mind was meant to rule over the heart. He looked around, scrutinising his environment keenly.
The architecture visible in the distance only supported his suspicions. It was quite unlike any design he had ever seen; completely foreign. This was no product of his mind.

“Impossible,” he spat the word like a curse, then shivered.

It was real.
How unprecedented.

There was only one course of action for Sima Yi to take. He headed inwards, towards the buildings, in search of someone to question. When he found what he presumed was a local, he questioned them, perhaps too sharply. Nonetheless, he received plenty of information.

He did not understand all that he heard, but enough was apparent that it felt as if scales had fallen from his eyes, the despondency that plagued him lifted in the wake of this strange, dreamlike challenge.

“So I am stranded in a new, mysterious world... without position or an underlying comprehension of my true situation. Mwahahaha!”

Laughter erupted from him, irrepressible. Thoughts of potential stretched through his mind, delicate and numerous, strands all connected like a spider web. His eyes blazed, ambition rekindled.

Retirement had not suited him anyway.

[ Questions? Comments? Concerns? ] : \m/