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Kuei-jin
In General
Located in Chinatown, the Kuei-jin are a species of strange, vampire-like creatures originating from Asia who arrived in Los Angeles. After a history of war with the Anarchs, the Camarilla returning to town has led them to strike a truce with them, though nobody really trusts them.
- Chinese Vampire: Averted in two different senses. Firstly, they are almost nothing like the legendary jiangshi which that trope describes. While they have some traits in common with Western vampires, those similarities are superficial - they are a different kind of creature entirely with no connection to Caine. The characters in-game (including Ming-Xiao) make it clear that they are not the same kind of being as Kindred.
- Elite Mook:
- Kuei-jin in black uniforms are this compared to Kuei-jin in yellow uniforms, being stronger and harder to drain. They are even worse in the unofficial patch where most of them usually have crossbows with fire arrows.
- The guards that protect the Jade figures are definitely this, they are not only strong, but they have crossbows with fire arrows that can do a lot of damage to the player, even if they have high combat defense and soak pool.
- Fantastic Racism: Neither Kindred nor Kuei-jin particularly like each other, seeing the other as disgusting monsters and untrustworthy devils respectively. The Anarchs have a deep grudge against them following years of wars, and while the Camarilla maintains an uneasy truce with them, it's pretty obvious both sides are just waiting for the right opportunity to strike again, with the Kuei-jin actively preparing for that day.
- In-Series Nickname: Yukie refers to them as "Ghost People", while Kindred have been known to refer to them as "Cathayans".
- Mooks: Kuei-jin in yellow uniforms are the most common and easy to kill.
- The Triads and the Tongs: They hold influence over them in Chinatown, using them to control the area from behind.
- Vampiric Draining: As explained by Ming-Xiao, their kind feed on Chi rather than blood.
- Yellow Peril: Downplayed, but they do incorporate elements of the stereotype, including being Asian, enigmatic and considered treacherous and backstabbing.
- Zerg Rush: If you alert a single Kuei-jin, a lot more will come to kill you.
The Cathayan
These Cainites are a curious and fragile race. They waste the gift of their immortality on petty schemings and fleshly gain. We will have little problem making this city our own.
A Kuei-jin agent sent to spy on the Kindred of Santa Monica. Knox and Tung ask for the Fledgling's help to take care of him.
- Degraded Boss: The black-uniformed Kuei-jin return at the end of the game as normal enemies.
- Foreshadowing: The reports in his computer are clues about Ming-Xiao's plan for taking control of L.A., and the first mention of the Kuei-jin's influence on the story for some time.
- Katanas Are Just Better: He fights with a katana, which has better stats than anything you can get at that point in the game and can't be looted from his body. Unless you have the Unofficial Patch Plus installed, which makes this weapon, among others, available to the player.
- No Name Given: Only known as "the Cathayan" (or nicknamed "the Asian vampire" by Knox), which is synonymous with "the Kuei-jin" (note that this word is used by Western Kindred but perceived as offensive by Kuei-jin themselves). The character is never named in-story, but this title appears on top of his life bar during his Boss Fight.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Unlike the other Kuei-jin and the Mandarin, he doesn't bother to monologue or taunt the player character, but immediately attacks without saying a word.
- Underestimating Badassery: His reports talk of Kindred in rather condescending terms, describing them as capricious and wasting their abilities on pointless schemes and conspirations against each other, leading him to the conclusion they should be easy to take down. Bertram has you find his hideout and kill him precisely by using one of these schemes he criticized.
- Undying Loyalty: He tells Ming-Xiao in his final email that he's attracted the PC's attention and may die in the ensuing fight, but seems nonplussed by such a possibility and encourages her that the disorderly Santa Monica is ripe for the Kuei-jin's taking.
- Unusable Enemy Equipment: It is impossible to loot his weapons after his death in the unmodded game.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: To a non melee-oriented player character. While Gimble and Dennis' gang are both fairly easy to take down, the Cathayan uses better weapons, is more resilient, and actively exploits the environment against you, making him potentially dangerous if you didn't invest some experience in combat.
- Worthy Opponent: He realizes you're onto him in his last report and considers you a much bigger threat than Knox, acknowledging that he has a pretty decent chance of dying in his inevitable encounter with you. It almost makes you feel bad about killing the guy, as he's one of very few early-game characters who acknowledges your competency...
Ming-Xiao
Voiced by: Edita Brychta
You may think of me as the Baron of Chinatown, to borrow from your coarse, Cainite language.
Leader of the Kuei-jin vampires in Chinatown. Despite being strongly disdainful toward Kindred, she keeps an uneasy truce with the Camarilla, though clues suggest she is planning a new conflict and an invasion of the city.
- Asteroids Monster: Clones of her grow from amputated pieces if the player isn't careful during the boss fight.
- Bad Boss:
- So bad, apparently, that the Mandarin prefers to make a suicidal last stand against the Fledgling rather than running away and having to suffer whatever horrible punishment she will inflict him for his failure.
- She also seem to view her actual Kuei-Jin minions as expendable, as she kept the high-ranking Chang Brothers in the dark that her alliance with LaCroix is a joke and glosses over their deaths if you bring it up.
- Looking back, this is one more reason you should know right away siding with her is a bad idea.
- The Bad Guy Wins: In the ending where you side with her. Her chief political rival is taken down by a Kindred pawn, which leaves her and the Kuei-jin in a perfect position to drive out all the other Kindred and take over the city for themselves. Unlike LaCroix, Ming-Xiao is also wise enough to not open the Sarcophagus, choosing instead to dump it into the ocean, along with said Kindred pawn who just outlived their usefulness.
- The Baroness: She enjoys tormenting people and lording her superiority, real or imagined, over them.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Secretly, with LaCroix, who uses her to weaken the Anarchs' position in Los Angeles. However, she is using him to keep the Camarilla off her back, and their alliance ends as soon as he outlives his usefulness.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Comes off as very wise and eloquent, at least at first, but don't be fooled for a moment.
- Blob Monster: Shapeshifts into one.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: To a lesser extent than LaCroix, but only just. She disposes of all of her allies the second they are no longer useful to her. Including you if you side with her.
- Combat Tentacles: In her battle form.
- Cultural Posturing: And how. It's to the point where she flat-out lies about certain things Kindred and Kuei-jin actually have in common (like being burdened with an ancient guilt), just to insult the PC and their race.
- Did You Actually Believe...?: If you finish off the Syndicate, you can call her out on her actions, and she merely responds that Kindred and Kuei-jin are at war and any attempt at peace is a mere pretense to that.
- Dragon Lady: While she speaks perfect, unaccented English, she otherwise fits the bill quite accurately. With some Cultural Posturing thrown in for good measure. Unusually for this character type, she's the head of her own organization in L.A., rather than serving someone else (meaning she's not The Dragon.)
- Evil Brit: Ming's English is unaccented; her London-raised voice actress portrays the character with a sophisticated bite.
- Femme Fatale: Sultry, elegant and seductive to the PC, but also extremely dangerous and totally untrustworthy.
- Fantastic Racism: Ming-Xiao considers Cainites to be horrible disgusting monsters. Which they admittedly are, but the Kindred of the East aren't any better. She has a particular distaste for Malkavians, and her polite mask will slip into open contempt for your "strain" of vampirism very quickly into a Malk PC's first meeting with her.
- Faux Affably Evil: Like LaCroix, she acts quite charming until it looks like she isn't going to get what she wants, at which point all decency goes out the window. Must be why they get on so well. Notably, her "polite" greeting to the PC is actually loaded with racist slurs and Stealth Insults.
- Friendly Enemy: To a point. She's very polite and well-spoken towards the PC, but gives some scathing commentary on western vampires and clearly believes herself your better. This gets fully subverted if you call her out on her shit after finishing up the Chinatown quests and learning she's behind all the stuff going on there.
- Hate Sink: She's a stuck up, hateful murderer who wants to see the Kindred exterminated. She's also behind the recent rise in criminal activity in Chinatown. Even LaCroix is more sympathetic than she is.
- Hypocrite: She'll snidely remark that Kindred use and mistreat humans and that the Kuei-jin share a much more civilized, mutually beneficial relationship with mortals. However, with a little digging, you can find out that she's bankrolling a local violent street gang and is planning to assassinate Wong Ho—who is a genuinely good man and pillar of the community—simply because he's trying to clean up Chinatown. The Mandarin states that she's also a Bad Boss, who will give him such an excruciating punishment for failing at killing the fledgling that he'd rather throw himself into a hopeless one-on-one fight with a vampire than face her. The Anarchs and Camarilla, on the other hand, are relatively neutral on humans and discourage killing them for any reason other than upholding The Masquerade and self-defense.
- She will also mock the Kindred’s relationship with Caine and the Antediluvians. A Malkavian PC can respond by beginning to recite the names of the Yama Kings to her, resulting in a very satisfying Oh, Crap! from her.
- Imposter Forgot One Detail: While she's able to replicate Nines' appearance and voice perfectly, she fails to replicate his gruff-but-casual mannerisms, and slips into her usual elegant politeness while speaking to the Fledgling outside of Grout's manor. It's enough of a breach of his usual behaviour that you can tell LaCroix while you're reporting to him (as well as Jack, should you choose to speak to him first) that you're not actually sure if it really was Nines, despite how much it looked like him. To her credit, she seems aware of her shortcomings in this regard and tries to cut the conversation as short as possible.
- In-Series Nickname: "Mistress of Mirrors" by the Malkavian.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Your fight against her is a satisfying case of this, since you're not just killing her! Background materials say that if a Kuei-jin dies without fulfilling their Dharma, they get sent back to Hell. Your fight against her is essentially sticking "Return to Sender" on her.
- Meaningful Name: Is called "The Mistress of Mirrors" by a Malkavian, giving the idea of a person who shows different faces to those she meets and hides behind smoke and mirrors, aka deception and lies. Proven true when confronting her on the fact that she sent the Hengeyokai to kill you, was behind the Tong rising to power, and pretended to be Nines using her Flesh Shintai to appear as him after she supposedly killed Grout.
- "Not So Different" Remark: She has some unique dialogue with a civil Ventrue player, conceding that your clan's stewardship of lesser subjects is not dissimilar from her own people's approach to governance. Could be an early hint to her alliance with the Ventrue Prince LaCroix.
- Not So Stoic: A Malkavian can really get under her skin with her own superstitions.
- One-Winged Angel: She'll turn into a slimy, tentacled slug monster for her boss fight.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: She definitely believes in this if the PC sides with the Kuei-jin.
- Smug Super: While the way she expresses herself is unfailingly polite, she's constantly taking cheap shots against how much inferior vampires, their nature, their mentality etc. and also Western humans are when compared to the Chinese alternative. The player character has abundant opportunities to call her on out on this, though.
- Unexplained Accent: She has a more convincing British accent than LaCroix, despite that she's supposed to be Chinese.
- Villainous Breakdown:
- A minor one, but converse with her as a Malkavian and her true self starts shining through when you nickname her and when you namedrop the Yama Kings in response to her posture about "silly Cainite superstitions".
- She has a bigger one before her boss fight, dropping her condescending attitude and lashing out at the fledgling.
- Villain Respect: Notes the "significance of your path" after you kill the Chang brothers and decides to try and win you over to her side.
- Villain Reveals the Secret: Shows up late in the game to confirm her former alliance with LaCroix and tell you all about how she killed Grout on his behalf, pinning the crime on Nines; whether the fledgling appreciates her sudden candour or still doesn't trust her is up to the player.
- Villain with Good Publicity: She has convinced the people of Chinatown that she is a force for good, even as she bankrolls the street gangs terrorizing the populace and moves to ruin or kill a good, honest man and a prominent member of the local community.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Hence her nickname above. She uses this power to frame Nines for the murder of Grout, then again to go One-Winged Angel if you come to kill her.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: If the PC sides with the Kuei-jin, she betrays them as soon as they do her dirty work. Ditto for LaCroix, since she exploits their alliance to turn the Cainite factions against each other and has him killed if she gains the upper hand.
The Chang Brothers
Voiced by: Michael Yama
We Chang Brothers accept your life graciously.
Blade and Claw, twin Kuei-jin dispatched by Ming-Xiao to retrieve the Sarcophagus. You must fight them in the Giovanni crypt.
- Affably Evil: Downplayed, but they offer you several chances to leave without a fight and are just as confused as you are that you've been sent to cause one. As far as they know, you're meant to be on the same side.
- Anti-Villain: See above. They don't seem like particularly bad people and don't understand why you've come to fight them, since their boss and your boss are supposedly allies. Interestingly, it's the PC who forces the fight in every scenario.
- Co-Dragons: To Ming-Xiao, if only by virtue of being the only named Kuei-jin you get to face besides her.
- Combination Attack: If both are still alive, they can join their chi to fill the crypt with a Sphere of Destruction that deals massive amounts of damage if the player can't find cover.
- Contractual Boss Immunity: Able to No-Sell powers from most of the "spellcasting" disciplines, like Dementation and Thaumaturgy.
- Dual Boss: They attack you two-on-one, and separating them is part of the challenge.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Blade Brother.
- Locked Out of the Loop: They haven't been let on that the alliance between Ming and LaCroix is a hoax.
- Sibling Team: Assuming they're blood brothers.
- Teleport Spam: Unlike Andrei, they use it to aggressively flank you rather than purely for escape.
- They Call Him "Sword": Their monikers match their favoured weapons.
- Wolverine Claws: Claw Brother uses them as his primary weapon, naturally.
