Ruan Mei

Name: Ruan Mei Gender: Female Height: 164cm Path: Erudition Affiliation: Genius Society Family: Unnamed grandmother; Deceased nnamed father; Deceased unnamed mother; Arlice (aunt)

Appearance: Ruan Mei is a young woman with turquoise eyes, fair skin and long brown hair with turquoise streaks that is loosely tied with a golden colored DNA hairpin. She wears a pearl earring on her left ear and a pearl necklace around her neck.

She wears an elegant, short qipao colored dark-green, brown, and white with gold highlights, elbow-length dark green gloves and a silver bangle around her left wrist. She also has flowers on the center-left side of her hips. Her right thigh has a dark green thigh garter shaped like a double-helix DNA strand with a flower in the middle. She also wears black high heels with gold patterns.

Ruan Mei is shown to be very introverted. She dislikes talking to people more than she needs to and is a solitary person. She has long since left behind her past, as well as taking on a new name. When she joined the Genius Society, she hid herself in a secret corner of the universe for her research so she could conduct it without interruptions. After receiving the gaze of Nous, it is said that she became a recluse, and that "she became even more apathetic and impassive, and even more immersed in her research." She also made sure to enter and leave the Herta Space Station quietly, avoiding all the researchers who wanted to greet her.

Ruan Mei lacks empathy and doesn't form closer relationships with anyone. According to her, "I do not have a life outside of research. People always think this price is unimaginable, but it seems rather acceptable to me." She also does not feel an attachment to the lifeforms she creates, despite them having a strong attachment to her, and does not know what to do with them most of the time. Due to her past, Ruan Mei has learned to not trust anyone, causing her to act superficially and avoid people altogether. This can also cause her to be overly cautious when dealing with others.

Despite this, Ruan Mei is able to put up a good facade in front of others. She clearly understands what society decides is right or wrong, even if she herself does not have any moral direction. She will never say anything rude, nor does she try to make people upset, as this is not pragmatic nor conducive to any of her goals. Ruan Mei uses this understanding to her advantage by saying and doing things to please people when it benefits her.

This behavior stems from her understanding of "love." As a child, Ruan Mei understood that love came in different forms. One type of love, the one she particularly liked the most, was love by reward. When she was small, Ruan Mei preferred to do things when rewarded with her favorite snacks and desserts, and would look forward to her "rewards" after coming back from scientific expeditions. As such, her favorite type of love was her Aunt's, as she would buy little Ruan Mei snacks. This view of the world meant that she quickly realized that to get people to do what she wanted them to do, she needed to give them an incentive.

This is the incentive Ruan Mei gives to the playerbase, the Trailblazer. Her Occurrence is an example of the "reward" she gives us in order to make the Trailblazer do her bidding. This, along with Ruan Mei's sweet words and actions, gives the Trailblazer an illusion of receiving "love" from her. Even if she does not truly care for the Trailblazer, or anyone for that matter, she understands that the Trailblazer is useful to her, and she acts accordingly to gain what she needs from the Trailblazer.

Is this manipulation? Yes, it is. However, Ruan Mei does not find anything wrong about this. As long as both sides gain benefits and are satisfied, there is no problem for her. Ruan Mei rewards the Trailblazer for helping her, and if the Trailblazer isn't satisfied, she will simply offer more rewards. To Ruan Mei, that is what "love" is. She does not understand such emotions on a deeper level and herself admits that she doesn't understand "love." All she has learned is that living beings will do anything when given the proper incentives. She uses this to her advantage, noting that "Children will become more well-behaved when they see random rewards."

Ruan Mei also generally finds emotions and human sentiments, such as attachment, love, and relationships with others, an inconvenience. In her Myriad Celestia Trailer, she states that "'Attachment' involves the insular cortex, which controls anxiety and pain...The laws of "emotion" can be easily broken down." To Ruan Mei, emotions are simply unnecessary and something that hinders living beings.

Due to her nature as a scientist who trusts only her research, Ruan Mei expresses visible dissatisfaction with the capriciousness of emotions and views attachment similarly. When her parents died, a major takeaway of hers was that "Only science... never lets anyone down". Furthermore, when explaining to the Trailblazer why she elects to remove their memory, she states that the connection between her and the Trailblazer, an inherently complex one, will be destroyed. Ruan Mei also states that she thinks this will be more relaxing for both parties, as to her, having an emotional connection with someone is bothersome.

Ruan Mei's Character Story also indicates that although she does not understand it, Ruan Mei does feel deeper emotion, as she expresses visible grief in the face of her parents' death. However, her form of grief is different than the typical idea one conjures when thinking of "grief." She does not cry; instead, she views the situation as a "let-down" and a chain of failed promises. She understands how she is "supposed" to feel according to society's expectations, but she does not feel that way herself. Nevertheless, their deaths catapulted Ruan Mei into a period of obsessive research, and she took their names (Ruan and Mei) as her own in tribute.

Genius Society Members: Ruan Mei's relationship with the Genius Society is questionable at best. Of course, as the Genius Society is full of socially inept introverts, Ruan Mei also being one, she does not bother to interact with or befriend other members. Due to joining the Simulated Universe project, she was forced to socialize with Herta, Screwllum, and Stephen Lloyd, all of whom she seems indifferent about. She does slightly enjoy their meetings at times, but that is about its extent. However, it can be said that as Ruan Mei continues to work with the Simulated Universe Project members, her relationship with the members has grown from indifference to something slightly more positive. The only other Genius Society member Ruan Mei has been known to interact with is Yu Qingtu, whom Ruan Mei is good friends with.

Herta: Ruan Mei and Herta respect each other as colleagues. They trust each other on a work level and acknowledge the talents and achievements of the other. However, neither cares enough about the other to get closer than that. Herta is someone who is very focused on the projects she is interested in, and she will ignore everything else she deems not worth her attention. Similarly, Ruan Mei is only interested in her own research topics, and while she will do anything to advance her research, she will not try to get close to anyone she works with.

Herta and Ruan Mei regard each other as equals. When asked by the Trailblazer if Ruan Mei is a great person, Herta responds, "That's like asking 'Is Herta a great person?' The answer is obvious!" She even regards Ruan Mei as a "master of creation" and someone who is very capable, ambitious, and intelligent. While Herta may be competitive and often thinks she is the best, she does not deny that Ruan Mei's achievements are incredible. Still, she may be blunt about Ruan Mei, such as when she finds it hilarious that the IPC described Ruan Mei as "lowkey" or when she points out that Ruan Mei only accidentally saved an ecosystem because it was an unintentional byproduct of her research.

When Ruan Mei first met Herta, she felt indifferent and even annoyed by her. She only joined Herta's Simulated Universe project because it would help Ruan Mei research more about Aeons. However, over time, she learned to interact more with her colleagues. Ruan Mei realized that she and Herta were both people who would ignore anything for their research, and she felt closer to Herta because of this similarity. While studying Aeons is still her top priority and her motivation to continue the Simulated Universe project, she also is willing to work with Herta. The success of Herta's project shows that they work well together, even if they may not interact often outside of work matters. It is likely that after working long enough with each other, the two women trust each other by now and their relationship will continue to grow in a positive manner.

A notable difference between Herta and Ruan Mei is that Herta seems to seek Ruan Mei's attention often, but Ruan Mei does not reciprocate that behavior. Ruan Mei is generally an aloof person who does not appreciate any attention or interaction, while Herta enjoys acknowledgement and recognition by others and shows great interest in many things. Herta may act like she does not care, but that is more of a front to flaunt her superiority over others.

In reality, Herta is very interested in the happenings around her, which is why she utilizes puppets to monitor everything. While she doesn't pay attention to seemingly many things, it is not because they do not interest her. Rather, it is because it is simply not worth Herta's attention. Ruan Mei, on the other hand, genuinely does not pay attention to anything that does not accelerate her own research. Both Ruan Mei and Herta are very interested in their fields of study, but Herta is more willing to explore beyond her horizons, whereas Ruan Mei is focused on only one thing.

Trailblazer: The Trailblazer, as the main protagonist of the story, inevitably encounters Ruan Mei in the main story, during the 1.6 Trailblaze Continuance chapter. At this point, the Trailblazer already knows of Ruan Mei, as they have likely encountered her famous occurrence and/or her Simulated Universe avatar beforehand.

In the main story, Ruan Mei uses the Traiblazer's reputation, trust, and abilities to her advantage. The Trailblazer is easily swayed, to the point of consuming an anti-truth serum given by Ruan Mei, which allows Ruan Mei to easily get the Trailblazer to do her bidding. Of course, while this is definitely behavior that should not be encouraged, Ruan Mei makes sure to reward the Trailblazer. She believes in having an incentive for everything, so she assures that the Trailblazer will sufficiently benefit from helping her and stands by her word.

The Trailblazer seems to have mixed feelings towards Ruan Mei. On one hand, they seem attracted to her beauty and elegant demeanor. On the other hand, they also don't like how she forced them to fight an Emanator of Propagation without prior warning. It has also become a slight running joke that Ruan Mei will offer the Trailblazer pastries with "weird ingredients" as a reference to the time the Trailblazer unknowingly consumed a pastry with anti-truth serum. In general, though, the Trailblazer's opinion towards Ruan Mei seems fairly neutral or slightly positive, depending on what dialogue options the player chooses. As for Ruan Mei, she merely sees the Trailblazer as a tool for her. However, she will occasionally acknowledge the Trailblazer, whether it be their character, strength, humor, or other qualities.

Debunking Common Misconceptions: As Ruan Mei is a very complex character who unfortunately does not have much screentime, many people unfortunately have formed false ideas about her character. It does not help that people will often quickly jump to conclusions without understanding a character and then spread misinformation about them. After more lore about the Swarm Disaster was revealed to the playerbase, further misunderstandings have unfortunately arisen. This section will hopefully clear up any misconceptions about Ruan Mei's character.

Misconception: Ruan Mei Is Evil; Ruan Mei Is a Villain: The most common misconception about Ruan Mei is that Ruan Mei is evil. Many people will often jump to this conclusion or assume such, mostly because they are unwilling to understand Ruan Mei's character and will believe the simplest assumption about her.

What needs to be realized is that people, even fictional characters, are not as simple as black and white. Very rarely are people purely good or purely evil. Ruan Mei is a perfect example of a morally gray and complex character. She's not completely a bad person, but she's not necessarily a good person, either. Very few people are purely good or purely bad, and Ruan Mei is a great example of that.

People's opinions of Ruan Mei, both in-game and in real life, vary greatly. Some people praise Ruan Mei endlessly for her accomplishments, what she has done for others, her admirably outstanding intellect, and her multitude of talents. Some may even praise her because they think she is a villain. Some will simply hate her due to her aloof personality and disregard for others, citing incidents such as when she "abandoned" her creations, manipulated the Trailblazer, and cloned the deadly Emanator of Propagation. The varying opinions on Ruan Mei just goes to show that she is in fact, a very complex character.

However, one thing is for sure is that she is far from a villain or someone with evil intentions. When people accuse Ruan Mei as a villain, they only look at the surface level of her character. Did she abandon her creations? Did she leave them because she did not care about them? No. Ruan Mei simply could not care for them anymore and entrusted them to someone who could; in this case, the Department of Ecology at the Herta Space Station. She even asks the Trailblazer for pictures and updates on her critters.

Did Ruan Mei mistreat the Trailblazer out of malice? No. Ruan Mei never intended for the Trailblazer to suffer, and to her, there were no consequences to having the Trailblazer ingest the anti-truth serum or fight the Emanator of Propagation. She did not even think that the Trailblazer would or had suffered. While her actions were definitely not okay, and she did not consider asking for the Trailblazer's consent, she was fully aware that there would be no real danger and even compensated the Trailblazer properly for their efforts.

This can be thought of in reverse, as well. Ruan Mei revived Tingyun and gave her another chance at life. Did she do it out of pure goodwill? No. She did it because she was asked to. Although it is not exactly clear why Ruan Mei accepted Luocha's request to revive Tingyun, she was aware of what was going on in Xianzhou and what happened to Tingyun. Despite this, she gave Tingyun a choice to decide what she wanted to do moving forward. What Ruan Mei did with Tingyun was ultimately a good thing, but she did not do it out of goodwill or malice. She simply did what she wanted to do because she wanted to.

What is important to understanding Ruan Mei's character is not necessarily what she has done or does, but rather why she does it. When she performs a good deed, it is usually not out of goodwill. The same applies for any bad deed she has done. Of course, this does not justify or excuse anything Ruan Mei has done wrong. However, Ruan Mei has never shown to be a real threat or someone who would perform villainous acts.

Ruan Mei is a very flawed person. She has no empathy for others and will only consider her own goals. Ruan Mei lacks understanding of social norms and cues. However, she is not necessarily a bad person, and she is far from evil. It is important to acknowledge Ruan Mei's faults but also understand her character.

Ruan Mei Wants to Bring back the Swarm: Ruan Mei has zero desire nor reason to bring back the Swarm. This conclusion is extremely baseless and unfounded, and it has unfortunately led people to believe false conceptions of Ruan Mei's character and lore.

A basic playthrough of the 1.6 Trailblaze Continuance quest would show that Ruan Mei has never once cared to bring back the Swarm. There is no need to even read Ruan Mei's character stories or readables to know this, because it is just that obvious. In fact, the Swarm is still present, just on a much smaller scale after Qlipoth's intervention.

Ruan Mei is in fact interested in studying the Swarm and the Propagation, and she often experiments with the Swarm. However, this is not because she wants to bring back the Swarm. Doing so would not align with Ruan Mei's true goals at all. Rather, Ruan Mei is interested in the Swarm because they are easy to work with. Unlike other life forms and even Emanators, the Swarm consists of very simple, easy to understand, and easy to replicate lifeforms. This allows for easy experimentation for Ruan Mei, as the Swarm is disposable to her.

Ruan Mei is interested in studying Aeons, and by relation, she is interested in studying Emanators. While she has easy access to an Emanator of Erudition, Herta, Ruan Mei cannot just experiment on a someone who is her coworker and acquaintance, especially someone who is a high-profile and important figure. She cannot toy with Herta's life in that manner. In contrast, Skaracabaz, the Emanator of Propagation, is not only a creature who is already dead, but a much simpler and disposable one. It would make more sense to Ruan Mei to experiment on that kind of creature rather than an existing, highly intelligent, powerful, and important person.

As Ruan Mei is interesting in studying Aeons, it is just not aligned with her interests to bring back the Swarm to its former peak. Many players will often describe Ruan Mei as emotionless, unfeeling, and other similar terms. However, Ruan Mei is perfectly capable of feeling emotion, and she has done so in the past. Ruan Mei is just like any other human, and she can feel happiness, sadness, anger, frustration, wonder, and other emotions, just like a normal person. What makes Ruan Mei different is how she handles her emotions. Ruan Mei suppresses her emotions and often shows that she is very emotionally immature. Ruan Mei finds emotions to be a hindrance, so instead of acknowledging them and facing them, she hides them. This doesn't mean that she has no emotions, it just means that she is bad at dealing with them.

Ruan Mei Is Incapable of Emotion: Many players will often describe Ruan Mei as emotionless, unfeeling, and other similar terms. However, Ruan Mei is perfectly capable of feeling emotion, and she has done so in the past. Ruan Mei is just like any other human, and she can feel happiness, sadness, anger, frustration, wonder, and other emotions, just like a normal person. What makes Ruan Mei different is how she handles her emotions. Ruan Mei suppresses her emotions and often shows that she is very emotionally immature. Ruan Mei finds emotions to be a hindrance, so instead of acknowledging them and facing them, she hides them. This doesn't mean that she has no emotions, it just means that she is bad at dealing with them.

Ruan Mei's research is centered on the topic of life and its "essence." She also seems to have an interest in immortality, stating that "Life is countless and varied in form...Its beauty is like a myriad of flowers, and I want to pluck the one that never wilts."

Ruan Mei firmly believes that life, while taking on a variety of forms, is always the same at its very core. According to her, all life is simple underneath its exterior. She endeavors to find and understand this kindling of life and believes that when she does, many of the questions she has posed will be solved. If one were to trace life back to its very roots, she believes that only one equation is necessary to solve the mysteries that life has to offer.

Ruan Mei is shown to neither care nor know what to do with the results of all of her experiments. This can be seen with the life forms she creates that the Trailblazer encountered, as well as her research with biology on other planets. She frequently breaks the known laws of life and leaves experimental sites with an explosion of seemingly impossible results.

Despite this, she doesn't seem to care and views her growing reputation for her groundbreaking studies as a nuisance. Ruan Mei, unlike Herta, prefers to stay away from the limelight and dislikes any praises or publicity she receives from her research. She also views much of research as too insignificant for her: she was disappointed by how easy cultivating a planet was and longed for something more "fundamental."

After her encounter with Nous, Ruan Mei became increasingly interested in the Aeons and became even more obsessive with her research. At this point, part of her intense perseverance is to draw the eye of Nous again, as it seems to have been an incredible experience for her. Aeons (and their Emanators) fascinate Ruan Mei, and the only reason she accepted her invitation to the Genius Society was so she could research more about the Aeons in the Simulated Universe. This constant drive can also cause her to feel lost and confused at times since her experiments are coming to a standstill, as can be seen in the Trailblaze Mission before she decides to emulate an Emanator.

Initially, Ruan Mei did not want to join the Genius Society, viewing it as an interruption to her life as a recluse. She even threw away the invitation that she received from them. It was only after Herta invited her to work on the Simulated Universe, and by extension the study of Aeons, that she accepted the invitation.

After her encounter with Nous, Ruan Mei seems to have experienced a burning fascination with Aeons and an even deeper interest in "life." According to her Character Story IV, "Only the word 'Aeon' can stir her heart. Everything else in the universe is a mere distraction." As such, she viewed everything else about the Simulated Universe as not worth her time. She did, however, enjoy the meetings between her, Herta, Screwllum, and Stephen Lloyd.

Ruan Mei is known to have contributed to the Simulated Universe DevLog for Lan, the Aeon of the Hunt, since Herta couldn't find any records on Lan in the IPC.