Wu Zetian
- Inspired by the historical Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in Chinese history
- 5’2/157cm, oval face, sly feline eyes, full lips, thicc figure, uses Tang dynasty makeup elements like huadian (that lotus between her brows) and yedian (those dots on either side of her mouth)
- pilot of various mecha
- uses a cane or wheelchair because footbinding (a creative liberty for thematic reasons, not historically accurate to the real Empress Wu. if you want real history go watch my YouTube videos on her.)
- didn’t get any sleep because of the patriarchy, patriarchy won’t get any sleep because of her
- looks like she could kill you, would actually kill you
Li Shimin
- Inspired by Emperor Taizong of Tang
- 6’5/195cm, short wild hair, deep-set eyes, cheekbones that could finish off the rest of his family, nerdy glasses
- pilot of the Vermillion Bird, because his historical counterpart once wrote a poem flexing about how he was a “soaring phoenix”
- could’ve been a great politician but the Iron Widow world has much more systemic racism than Tang dynasty China (the Tang emperors were Han-Xianbei mixed race and the society was very open and diverse)
- literal death row inmate, has to wear the ultimate fashion faux pas of orange jumpsuits
- bisexual beginner
- looks like he could kill you, would indeed kill you, but would feel really bad about it
Gao Yizhi
- Inspired by a variety of the historical Empress Wu’s pretty boy lovers because she had like 5 of the same type and I’m not about to fill a series with that many twinks
- 5’7/170cm, long hair with the front half tied back, soft eyes, baby face, wears fancy white robes embroidered with golden bamboo shoots and leaves (in book 1, at least)
- doesn’t pilot anything. he’s just there.
- bisexual legend
- superpower is being rich (in book 1, at least)
- looks like a cinnamon roll, would actually gleefully kill you
Dugu Qieluo
- Artist: 皊野
- Inspired by Empress Wenxian of the Sui dynasty, who went down in history with a reputation of being “ruthlessly jealous” because she forbade her husband Emperor Wen from having any concubines but honestly that’s completely valid. why should he get to sleep around while she doesn’t
- 5’8, Xianbei, sharp features, unbound feet (*Xianbei voice* we don’t do that here)
- Yīn pilot of the White Tiger
- Mean, but can you blame her when the Iron Widow world is so racist and sexist