Jiutian Xuannü, Goddess of War [Warrior, Chinese pantheon]

[GongsunYiru]

Jiutian Xuannu is the goddess of war, sex, and longevity. She's generally depicted as a swordswoman and phoenix rider.

The concept is mostly based on the academic articles:

• Cahill, S. E. (1992). Sublimation in Medieval China: The Case of the Mysterious Woman of the Nine Heavens. Journal of Chinese Religions 20 (1).
• Liu, Peng (2016). "Conceal my Body so that I can Protect the State": The Making of the Mysterious Woman in Daoism and Water Margin. Ming Studies 74.

Mechanically, in short, the main unique features in the kit are:

• Blind - Enemies can not see their own teammates and vice versa (basically forced into stealth for their own teammates).
• Friendly fire - Those enemies forced into stealth receive and deal friendly fire damage (as they can't see each other).
• Combined skills - Using an ability while channeling another ability to trigger a distinct combined ability.

Jiutian Xuannu Dark Lady of the Nine Heavens 九天玄女

PANTHEON: Chinese

TYPE: Melee, Physical

CLASS: Warrior

LORE: In ancient times, Chiyou had set forth calamities that harmed the people. The Yellow Emperor's reign had spanned over two decades by then. Seeking to punish Chiyou, the emperor's army fought those of Chiyou, but they could not obtain the triumph needed to end hardship placed upon the people. Chiyou had covered the lands in a thick fog so impenetrable that it obscured both daylight and the dark of night. The Yellow Emperor and his armies dwelt in this fog for several days.

The goddess Jiutian Xuannu, traveling on a cinnabar phoenix, descended from heaven into the great fog. Riding through the dark clouded fields of war, she would ultimately arrive before the Yellow Emperor. The emperor knelt and humbly asked the goddess to gain a myriad victories in a myriad battles to expel the harm placed upon his people, so she bestowed him divine objects and taught him military strategic knowledge. Thereupon, the Yellow Emperor rid the lands of evil, eventually destroying and burying Chiyou. After a long virtuous reign, the Yellow Emperor ascended upon a dragon to heaven. All of this was the result of the divine intervention by the goddess Jiutian Xuannu.

APPEARANCE

• In Daoism, Jiutian Xuannu is depicted as a swordswoman in a hanfu (漢服, see images), which is a flowy traditional dress or robe with large sleeves and y-shaped collar. The clothing could be decorated with flower and phoenix motifs (stylized like motifs in mother-of-pearl lacquerware).
• Historically, her physical appearance has been described as: with a snow-white complexion and cherry-colored lips, with a gorgeous face and majestic body, as well as elegant as Chang'e and Xi Wangmu.
• She's has a straight-bladed jian sword (劍, 8th image below). It could be strapped behind her back. The sword could be designed with a stylized rhombi-like pattern on the blade (reminiscent to ancient regal swords, like Goujian's sword), black silk threads wrapping the grip, and a phoenix-head pommel (see 8th image below).
• She has flowing black hair, framing her face, styled with side-swept bangs (like windswept hair in wuxia) and a simple updo at the back. She could have hair ornaments with phoenix motifs, such as a flowery buyao (步摇, with dangling pendants, see 3th image below) and other types of hairpins (see 6th image below).
• At the front of her skirt, hanging from her waist sash, there's a stringed jade pei ornament set (組玉佩, see 7th image below), comprising bi disks (璧), huang arcs (璜), and other ritualistic jade accessories (with a phoenix pattern maybe).
• For the Chinese phoenix (鳳凰, fenghuang), see the ultimate for more information.

References of design details:

PASSIVE — WAY OF THE VOID AND NOTHINGNESS

Enemy Gods have reduced healing if they are affected by Jiutian Xuannu's abilities and basic attacks.

• Healing reduction: 20% for 3s

By circulating life's energy, if enemies get healed while under this reduced healing effect, the reduced healing is transferred as healing to Jiutain Xuannu.

Lore: This alludes to a line from the Central Classic of Laozi, a text that describes Jiutian Xuannu as the originator of the way of the void and nothingness in connection to the rituals to gain longevity of life. A health-related passive is thus appropriate.

ABILITY 1 — THE DARKNESS WITHIN

Jiutian Xuannu leaps through the air, spinning her sword. This damages enemies in her path.

• Type: Ground target (leap), line (spin)
• Leap ground target radius: 15ft
• Leap range: 55ft
• Spin range: 20ft either side (front and back)
• Damage: Medium-low

Enemies hit by this ability are shrouded in profound darkness, perceiving hazy and distorted surroundings. They can not see their own teammates and vice versa (that is, enemies are in stealth for their own teammates), which causes the affected enemy to receive and deal friendly fire damage.

• Type: Debuff
• Blind: 3s
• Friendly fire: 75% of their damage for 3s

COMBINE SKILL: If this ability gets activated during the channel of Mandate of Heaven (ability 2), Jiutian Xuannu will dash forward with her swords instead, cutting down all enemies in her path. This damages them, cripples them, and causes them to do reduced damage. Both abilities will be put on cooldown.

• Type: Line (wide dash)
• Range: 55ft
• Damage: Medium
• Cripple: 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2s
• Damage reduction: 10/15/20/25/30% for 3s

Lore: This is inspired by the first verse of the text Daodejing, in which either men can only see the manifestations that are born out of darkness or in which darkness within darkness is the gateway to understanding. It is an obscure quote that refers to the mysterious and profound that's difficult to discern to those consumed by desire, but the darkness within is paradoxically the source of enlightenment. It's the same term (玄) in the goddess' name (the dark lady). The blind and friendly fire mechanic highlights this theme of darkness.

Appearance: Jiutian Xuannu, with sword shrouded in darkness, does an almost-horizontal full body spin like a wushu butterfly kick/twist.

Appearance: The affected enemies are visually impaired by a blurry and dark screen as if it's a different realm.

ABILITY 2 — MANDATE OF HEAVEN

As the celestial protectress, Jiutian Xuannu maneuvers with her swords, damaging enemies around her and mitigating damage from allies around her.

• Type: Area
• Radius: 20ft
• Damage per tick: High / every 0.4s for 2s
• Damage mitigation: 10%

Lore: This alludes to heaven's mandate (天命), a political concept that signifies the divine right of kings and rulers: those wicked will be stricken down by heaven and those righteous may rule with heaven's blessing (as exemplified by Jiutian Xuannu's coming). The goddess was also officially recognized as a tutelary deity of the Ming dynasty.

Appearance: Her balletic swordplay comprises rapid circular attacks, maybe taking inspiration from movements in wushu changsuijian (長穗劍, see example).

ABILITY 3 — THE DARK GATE

Jiutian Xuannu moves through the rifts within the universe itself to travel into the emptiness of the otherworld. In doing so, she teleports to a targeted enemy God, striking that enemy God with her sword, before returning to her original position.

• Type: Ground target (teleport)
• Radius: 15ft
• Range: 55ft
• Damage: Medium-high

If there are other enemy Gods in the close vicinity of the initial targeted enemy God, Jiutian Xuannu will also appear at the location of those nearby enemy Gods and attack each of them in sequence, before returning to her original position.

• Type: Area (teleport)
• Radius: 30ft
• Damage: Medium-high

COMBINE SKILL: If this ability gets activated during the channel of Mandate of Heaven (ability 2), Jiutian Xuannu selects an enemy target and teleports to their location, restarting her Mandate of Heaven (ability 2) for the full duration (with the total damage equal to this ability) instead. Both abilities will be put on cooldown.

• Type: Ground target (teleport), area (channeled damage)
• Ground target range: 55ft
• Ground target radius: 15ft
• Area radius: 20ft
• Damage per tick: Medium-high / every 0.4s for 2s

Lore: This theme reflects Jiutian Xuannu's martial capability to move through so-called irregular gates (奇門), seen as rifts in the fabric of the universe itself and entrances into the emptiness of other realms. These gates are associated with the skill of concealment (隱身), which I suppose is like striking swiftly from darkness as it's described as a martial strategy.

Appearances: Her dress and hair flows during the movements, reminiscent to wuxia cinema. She and her swords have a smokey energy-like trail, as if moving through the atmosphere of dark dimensions.

ULTIMATE — DARK PHOENIX OF THE NINE HEAVENS

Jiutian Xuannu rides her phoenix, soaring above the battlefield, where her phoenix irradiates the cosmic forces of the Northern Dipper stars over the battlefield below, damaging and slowing enemies. She can dismount at any time by canceling.

• Type: Trapezoid-shaped ground target
• Range: 20 to 70ft
• Radius: Variable size; short and wide, aimed nearby; long and narrow, aimed far
• Damage per tick: Very high / every 0.1s for 3s
• Slow: 20/25/30/35/40%

Lore: Jiutian Xuannu descended from heaven to earth on a cinnabar phoenix, holding phosphors and clouds as reins, when she appeared before the Yellow Emperor. The Chinese phoenix is the fenghuang, an enormous mythological cosmic bird. Secondly, she also had the power to mobilize the stars of the Northern Dipper to protect states from harm.

Appearance: The attack would look like a surge of energy, like a laser.

Appearance: Jiutian Xuannu rides the phoenix, while raising her sword high (similar to depictions in statues). Her phoenix is shrouded in smoke-like darkness.

PERSONALITY AND VOICELINES

• She's a military strategist, commanding and wise, as she's described as a goddess who won wars by intellectual means rather than just by violence and taught military strategy. The voicelines could be based on military classics such as The Art of War, The Methods of The Sima, Six Secret Teachings, Thirty-Six Stratagems, etcetera.
• As a Daoist god, the text Daodejing could provide few quotes, with conceptions of darkness or mystery (xuan, like the term in her name).

Directed voicelines...

• ...to Jingwei, because she is the daughter of Yandi, who is the rival of Huangdi. Jiutian Xuannu is the teacher of Huangdi.
• ...to Xingtian, because his lord is Yandi...
• ...to Chang'e, because Yutu (jade rabbit) makes elixirs of life and Jiutian Xuannu is the goddess of longevity.

General voicelines could be loosely based on various classical prose and poetry about wars, its aftermath, darkness, heaven, and related topics:

• [Introduction] Majestic phoenixes once frolicked these war-torn lands. The birds are gone, the lands are empty, the gowns and robes of the past lie in ancient mounds buried beneath dark trails.
• [Introduction] Let your plans be impenetrable as the dark of night. All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but none can see the strategy out of which victory is evolved.
• [Taunt] You, insignificant worm, deserving to die ten thousand times over, do not even merit the punishment of Heaven.
• [Taunt] Darkness within darkness is the gateway to wisdom. But you, caught by desire, can only look into darkness and dread the manifestations that lurk within.
• [Taunt] All beings under Heaven arise from darkness. They must all ultimately return to the point where they began.
• [Ultimate] Submit to Heaven's Mandate!
• [Death] Heaven is inscrutable and earth keeps its secrets.

Inspired from historical quotes...

• The phoenix birds once frolicked on the phoenix terrace. The birds are gone, the terrace empty, and the river flows on. Flourishing flowers of Wu palace are buried beneath dark trails; caps and gowns of Jin times all lie in ancient mounds. (from Li Bai's Climbing Phoenix Terrace at Jinling)
• These insignificant worms, deserving to die ten thousand times over, trembling in fear, did not even merit the punishment of Heaven. (from a poem by Yan Rong)
• Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved. (from Sun Tzu's The Art of War, chapter 6)
• Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt. (from Sun Tzu's The Art of War, chapter 7)
• Heaven is inscrutable. Earth keeps its secrets. [...] Heaven dreaded the time when teeth would close and rend them. (from Li He's Don't Go Out of the Door)
• Under Heaven. (an idiom)
• Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations. Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness within Darkness. The gateway of understanding. (from Daodejing, verse 1)
• All creatures in the universe return to the point where they began. Returning to the source is tranquility because we submit to Heaven's mandate. (from Daodejing, verse 16)

[amelixo]

I love this idea, she sounds so majestic and elegant. ◕ ‿◕
The Chinese pantheon is my favourite, so adding a female warrior to it would make me so very happy

[GongsunYiru]

I love this idea, she sounds so majestic and elegant. ◕ ‿◕
The Chinese pantheon is my favourite, so adding a female warrior to it would make me so very happy

Thanks.

I wanted a graceful sword-fighter (like Jiutian Xuannü) with movements that are delicate, swift, and refined (like a dance as an artform). I think it's a nice change from the current roster of warriors who are all sheer brute force.

[Claymore07]

This is cool. I am a fan of Kung Fu/Wuxia cinema. We need another female warrior for Smite anyway. Whathey t would you say about Ao Kuang's swordplay? What would make Xuannu's swordplay differ from his? Hopefully are able to make the two have different basic attack chains. Chinese gods use similar weapons like spears and swords. My most requested Chinese gods are Da Ji and Erlang Shen.

[GongsunYiru]

This is cool. I am a fan of Kung Fu/Wuxia cinema. We need another female warrior for Smite anyway. Whathey t would you say about Ao Kuang's swordplay? What would make Xuannu's swordplay differ from his? Hopefully are able to make the two have different basic attack chains. Chinese gods use similar weapons like spears and swords. My most requested Chinese gods are Da Ji and Erlang Shen.

Ao Kuang is hacking and slashing a lot, throwing full momentum from his arms and upperbody. There's little movements that comes from the wrist or--more importantly--a pattern of circular motions that transitions from one to another in a seamless flow.

Yeah, my most requested is Su Daji as well.

[Claymore07]

I hope Hirez would take a look at your concepts when they decide to work on another Chinese god. Because your concepts are very creative. Like i wouldnt be able to make a concept with that bit of information about Xuannu. I think the Mayan,Hindu, and Chinese are the most unique pantheons in the game.

[Vradomor]

How do you feel Amaterasu compares to your design?

[GongsunYiru]

How do you feel Amaterasu compares to your design?

In what aspect?

• Motifs? Jiutian Xuannu is an actual warrior goddess in lore, Amaterasu is not. And the whole look of this concept is based on Chinese culture.

• Kit? My concept predates Amaterasu's release by a lot and my concept always had this playstyle.
  
  
  • Jiutian Xuannu's passive is just a protection shred, which works on abilities. Amaterasu has a damage increase if she basic attacks. Both nothing really fancy.
  • Jiutian Xuannu's 1 is sorta similar to Susano's 1 (two AOEs, followed by a mobility skill), but my concept had that since September 2015 (way before Susano's release).
  • Jiutian Xuannu's 2 is just a conventional area ability, but with a heal.
  • Jiutian Xuannu and Amaterasu have a dash that ends in CC upon hitting an enemy God, except that Jiutian Xuannu roots herself during that CC and locks the enemy down with her, followed by a cripple. It's a bit more dangerous to use, but it is also a stronger lockdown.
  • Ult is Jiutian Xuannu being a phoenix rider with a channeled aerial ground target ability. Not similar to anything.

[Vradomor]

Your post predates her arrival to Smite, and since she is the first Chinese Warrior, I was curious about what you think about her in terms of design and play style compared to your own God, and if you think she sort of nullifies the need for Jiutian, or if they could coexist as viable Gods.

I'm new to Smite, so I don't know all the ins and outs, but I greatly appreciate your God designs!

[Shogunzai]

HiRez please add. Thanks. . .