Zhao Ming

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What if Lo Pan was a cool dude who did cocaine?

Zhao Ming, also known as the Iron Dragon, is one of the two legendary lords for Cathay in Total War: Warhammer 3 and one of the first playable Cathayan characters in any Warhammer setting. While the fan reaction wasn’t as overtly positive as his sister’s, most of the fanbase has proven to be fond of Zhao’s appearance and lore.

Zhao is the son of the Dragon Emperor and Moon Empress. While his parents chill above Wei-Jin, Zhao runs the Western Provinces of Cathay from the city of Shang-Yang, which borders the Mountains of Mourn and as such has to deal with incursions of Skaven and Ogres; with him fending off such incursions with the aid of his army, plus his mastery of metal and yang magic, and the occasional bout of fire breath courtesy of his dragon form. However, being on the entry-point to Cathay he also sees the travellers and traders that make it from the west, with permanent embassies from the Empire, Estalia and Tilea.

Zhao Ming holds great skill in alchemy and likes to integrate it into his armies. He welcomes mages of all kinds, which causes his siblings to worry about his mental stability due to his proximity to the Great Maw, especially when he comes under a moment of eccentricity. This eccentricity is actually treating the people he leads as actual human beings with value and not simply viewing himself as above them unlike the rest of his family, so take it with a grain of salt. He is not exactly on good terms with his older sister Miao Ying, and is often offended by her aloofness when they and their other three siblings meet.

Surprisingly, he's on pretty decent terms with Greasus Goldtooth, the two having met in a negotiation to allow Cathayan Caravans through his territory. The two had bonded over their not so great relationship with their dads and came to an agreement to allow Cathayan Caravans through the Goldtooth lands in exchange for a toll. It seems to be a pretty major friendship, as Zhao's faction in Total War Warhammer 3 comes with a factionwide army upkeep buff to Ogre Mercenaries. Gotta respect a guy who sees beyond appearances.

It's worth noting that Cathay has a sort of "Charlemagne/Genghis Khan" issue (related to how in the real world if one goes far back enough in a family tree you'll eventually hit someone who is related in some way to Charlemagne or Genghis Khan), except it's Zhao Ming. Cathay has a LOT of Dragon-Blooded nobility, and while his other siblings have felt the itch over the centuries, Zhao's more open-minded treatment of his subjects and followers means that the guy has never had issues warming his bedside. Needless to say, a large percentage of Dragon-blooded families trace their lineage back to Zhao.

He also turns out to be a bit of a mamas boy and is the Moon Empress' favourite child, which probably contributes to his continued rule over the West while his other siblings think he might be nuts.

Chaos Corruption

Zhao has a subtle bit of characterization that hints to the fact that he may be beginning to fall to the corruptive effects of Chaos. While he is considered "eccentric" by his siblings, several of his voice lines suggest that he is beginning to hear voices and that they are becoming loud enough to cause him some level of distress. Combine that with the fact that he spends a lot of time around the Warpstone desert and that as an alchemist he has probally come into contact with a lot of Warpstone during his experiments and his eccentricity starts looking less like a personality trait and more like Chaos corruption. Which would be bad to say the least.

Tabletop Extrapolations

While it probably be years before the Old World picks up steam enough to be able to feature Cathay and the Dragon siblings as units, one can extrapolate what kind of abilities Zhao Ming would bring to the tabletop. Thanks to Total War, we know three of these:

• Dragon Shapechange: A bit of a given, though it really begs the question whether Zhao (or any of his siblings) will start out in human form, or dragon.

• Spellcasting: Zhao is a hybrid caster, drawing from both the Lores of Yang and Metal.

• Ward of Iron: Zhao's unique ability in Total War, which gives units surrounding Zhao a boost to their defense.

• If Old world has an ally system, maybe the ability to take a few Ogre units in a kind of Age of Sigmar style coalition.