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Description

Shr Lin was born and raised in the Arctic Plateau of the remote Northern Peninsula, in Outworld. An ancient Edenian cult of mystical monks trained the young recipient in matters of war and ice magic. He proved to be an exceptional prodigy and quickly mastered the arcane art of cryomancy. When his teachers discovered that he had been secretly studying the forbidden Scroll of the Void; that was said to be tainted with evil, and indeed; was the very cause for their deportation from Edenia: they stripped him of all ranks and honors, and exiled him.

The Grandmaster's daughter was romantically involved with Shr Lin, and in the dead of night, she stole her father's sacred Ram Dao Sword, and fled the Temple. Shr Lin and his beloved reunited on the mainland, and they made their way to the Capital of Outworld. Quickly finding favor with the Dragon King; Outworld's most powerful ruler, Shr Lin set up a spy network and established an elite clan of highly skilled assassins, who would operate in secret, and counter, neutralize or eliminate particularly dangerous threats to his new Lord's reign. Not long thereafter, his beloved Kobalt bore him a child.

Disagreements between Shr Lin and one of the King's Generals; an ambitious warlord named Shao Kahn, spiralled out of control, and mutual hatred festered between the two. Lin became suspicious of Shao Kahn's motives and allegiance, and placed him under surveillance. Soon, Shr Lin was framed and imprisoned for a grave crime he did not commit. During his incarceration, his beautiful wife died under mysterious circumstances. Upon hearing this, Shr Lin broke out of the dungeons, found his daughter, and with the aid of Fujin, forever left Outworld behind. An uncharacteristically impulsive decision, but he believed it was the only way to save his daughter. Holding the General responsible for murdering Kobalt, Lin's hatred for Shao Kahn would always linger, but an opportunity to kill his nemesis never presented itself. If not for his daughter, his cold soul would have been consumed by vengeance and rage.

The two landed in Earthrealm. Filled with bitterness and grief; him and Ameena withdrew to an isolated mountain range in the land of Qin, where a small and unassuming community of Earthrealmers welcomed the two extradimensional fugitives. Over time, Shr Lin created a new clan and named it the Lin Kuei. He'd take another wife, and possibly had more children with her. But this time, he made sure the clan and families would remain hidden away in obscurity; only offering services via proxies, to underground factions, and never again getting involved with Kings and court intrigues.

Shao Kahn, in the meantime, had leveled the Cryomancer's Temple and incessantly persecuted them. You see: Kobalt was given the Ram Dao sword by her father, to ensure Lin's trust, and she was sent on a mission to manipulate him; establish themselves in Onaga's court, and eventually have Lin assassinate the Dragon King. The Cryomancers were Edenians, and Onaga had recently bested Edenia's chosen warriors in a 9th consequetive Mortal Kombat tournament. The Cryomancers' elders decided to frustrate Onaga, and ensure the survival of Edenia, in hopes of gaining favor with Edenia's Royalty. The younger Cryomancers did not share these sentiments, as Edenia was but a distant memory to them. Their best bet was to infiltrate Onaga's court and have their most formidable warrior (i.e. Shr Lin) kill the King.

But Shr Lin quickly became loyal to the Great Dragon, viewing him as a competent ruler. He would never stab his King in the back, Kobalt knew. Kobalt was having an affair with Shao Kahn, and it was the two of them who framed Shr Lin once he started monitoring Shao's movements. She did it out for fear of him discovering her disloyalty. Shao Kahn, however, blamed Onaga's death on Shr Lin. Kobalt soon came to regret these things, as she genuinely loved Shr Lin, but Shao had been using her all along, and with Shr Lin imprisoned, he betrayed Kobalt and had her killed.

How Shr Lin died is unknown, but his legacy, and indeed, his chilling bloodline, lives on in Earthrealm. What ever happened to the Void Scroll and the Ram Dao remains a mystery. Some speculate that Shao Kahn knew about the Scroll, and sought to obtain it. He also wanted to make sure they'd never send their assassins after him for murdering the Grandmaster's daughter. He might have feared them, as the mighty Shr Lin himself was too dangerous an opponent for even Shao Kahn to fight one on one. And so did the Cryomancers of Outworld vanish into extinction. Bi Han and Kuai Liang are the descendants of Shr Lin and Kobalt, via Ameena. Frost can trace her ancestry back to one of Shr Lin's other children.

Visual design choices:

The ancient Edenian Cryomancers were quite advanced in terms of technology and magic, and they used to create bio-synthetic body armor that could fuse with the skin and muscles, enhancing strength and boosting resistance to the damaging effects of the cold powers they commanded. This technology would be lost when the Isle of the Mystics (i.e. the home of the Cryomancer society in Outworld) was destroyed by Shao Kahn and his forces. Shr Lin and Kobalt still use these organic circuits, giving them an oddly futuristic appearance.

Shr Lin has a bald head, with a long black Chinese 'manchu queue' style braid. I wanted Shr Lin to resemble MK Deception Sub-Zero's alternate costume design. I know most fans hate this design, but I see great potential in it. Later in life, Shr Lin would grow a long, pointy snow-white beard, but his braid would always remain pitch-black.

Shr Lin should be an absolute elite ice caster, and so he'd use his cryomancy powers constantly during fights. But I also wanted to do something different with the character, because Kobalt is a Cryomancer as well, and I don't want this to simply be a different male and female version of Sub-Zero. So when Shr Lin discovers the Void Scroll, which contains arcane methods of opening dimensional portals, he manages to summon a window that connects to a distant location in deep-space: a desolate and exceedingly cold place, filled with strange, numbing shadows, and a glacial aerosphere that even Shr Lin could hardly withstand. The experience marked him, and scarred his body; the deep dark frost 'boiling' his flesh, leaving tears and gashes. The Edenian synthetic biology circuits restored as much as they could, and prevented permanent physical debilitations, but his body retained a pale blue greyish hue. Shr Lin can now draw some of the creeping coldness from that distant, grim realm, by briefly opening minute apertures, similar to how Noob Saibot would use portals to summon shadow entities or teleport around. Perhaps this is how the Cryomancers originally acquired their abilities. And perhaps the Ram Dao Sword was infused with some of the power extracted from a black rift, like the one Shr Lin opened.

Description

Shr Lin was born and raised in the Arctic Plateau of the remote Northern Peninsula, in Outworld. An ancient Edenian cult of mystical monks trained the young recipient in matters of war and ice magic. He proved to be an exceptional prodigy and quickly mastered the arcane art of cryomancy. When his teachers discovered that he had been secretly studying the forbidden Scroll of the Void; that was said to be tainted with evil, and indeed; was the very cause for their deportation from Edenia: they stripped him of all ranks and honors, and exiled him.

The Grandmaster's daughter was romantically involved with Shr Lin, and in the dead of night, she stole her father's sacred Ram Dao Sword, and fled the Temple. Shr Lin and his beloved reunited on the mainland, and they made their way to the Capital of Outworld. Quickly finding favor with the Dragon King; Outworld's most powerful ruler, Shr Lin set up a spy network and established an elite clan of highly skilled assassins, who would operate in secret, and counter, neutralize or eliminate particularly dangerous threats to his new Lord's reign. Not long thereafter, his beloved Kobalt bore him a child.

Disagreements between Shr Lin and one of the King's Generals; an ambitious warlord named Shao Kahn, spiralled out of control, and mutual hatred festered between the two. Lin became suspicious of Shao Kahn's motives and allegiance, and placed him under surveillance. Soon, Shr Lin was framed and imprisoned for a grave crime he did not commit. During his incarceration, his beautiful wife died under mysterious circumstances. Upon hearing this, Shr Lin broke out of the dungeons, found his daughter, and with the aid of Fujin, forever left Outworld behind. An uncharacteristically impulsive decision, but he believed it was the only way to save his daughter. Holding the General responsible for murdering Kobalt, Lin's hatred for Shao Kahn would always linger, but an opportunity to kill his nemesis never presented itself. If not for his daughter, his cold soul would have been consumed by vengeance and rage.

The two landed in Earthrealm. Filled with bitterness and grief; him and Ameena withdrew to an isolated mountain range in the land of Qin, where a small and unassuming community of Earthrealmers welcomed the two extradimensional fugitives. Over time, Shr Lin created a new clan and named it the Lin Kuei. He'd take another wife, and possibly had more children with her. But this time, he made sure the clan and families would remain hidden away in obscurity; only offering services via proxies, to underground factions, and never again getting involved with Kings and court intrigues.

Shao Kahn, in the meantime, had leveled the Cryomancer's Temple and incessantly persecuted them. You see: Kobalt was given the Ram Dao sword by her father, to ensure Lin's trust, and she was sent on a mission to manipulate him; establish themselves in Onaga's court, and eventually have Lin assassinate the Dragon King. The Cryomancers were Edenians, and Onaga had recently bested Edenia's chosen warriors in a 9th consequetive Mortal Kombat tournament. The Cryomancers' elders decided to frustrate Onaga, and ensure the survival of Edenia, in hopes of gaining favor with Edenia's Royalty. The younger Cryomancers did not share these sentiments, as Edenia was but a distant memory to them. Their best bet was to infiltrate Onaga's court and have their most formidable warrior (i.e. Shr Lin) kill the King.

But Shr Lin quickly became loyal to the Great Dragon, viewing him as a competent ruler. He would never stab his King in the back, Kobalt knew. Kobalt was having an affair with Shao Kahn, and it was the two of them who framed Shr Lin once he started monitoring Shao's movements. She did it out for fear of him discovering her disloyalty. Shao Kahn, however, blamed Onaga's death on Shr Lin. Kobalt soon came to regret these things, as she genuinely loved Shr Lin, but Shao had been using her all along, and with Shr Lin imprisoned, he betrayed Kobalt and had her killed.

How Shr Lin died is unknown, but his legacy, and indeed, his chilling bloodline, lives on in Earthrealm. What ever happened to the Void Scroll and the Ram Dao remains a mystery. Some speculate that Shao Kahn knew about the Scroll, and sought to obtain it. He also wanted to make sure they'd never send their assassins after him for murdering the Grandmaster's daughter. He might have feared them, as the mighty Shr Lin himself was too dangerous an opponent for even Shao Kahn to fight one on one. And so did the Cryomancers of Outworld vanish into extinction. Bi Han and Kuai Liang are the descendants of Shr Lin and Kobalt, via Ameena. Frost can trace her ancestry back to one of Shr Lin's other children.

Visual design choices:

The ancient Edenian Cryomancers were quite advanced in terms of technology and magic, and they used to create bio-synthetic body armor that could fuse with the skin and muscles, enhancing strength and boosting resistance to the damaging effects of the cold powers they commanded. This technology would be lost when the Isle of the Mystics (i.e. the home of the Cryomancer society in Outworld) was destroyed by Shao Kahn and his forces. Shr Lin and Kobalt still use these organic circuits, giving them an oddly futuristic appearance.

Shr Lin has a bald head, with a long black Chinese 'manchu queue' style braid. I wanted Shr Lin to resemble MK Deception Sub-Zero's alternate costume design. I know most fans hate this design, but I see great potential in it. Later in life, Shr Lin would grow a long, pointy snow-white beard, but his braid would always remain pitch-black.

Shr Lin should be an absolute elite ice caster, and so he'd use his cryomancy powers constantly during fights. But I also wanted to do something different with the character, because Kobalt is a Cryomancer as well, and I don't want this to simply be a different male and female version of Sub-Zero. So when Shr Lin discovers the Void Scroll, which contains arcane methods of opening dimensional portals, he manages to summon a window that connects to a distant location in deep-space: a desolate and exceedingly cold place, filled with strange, numbing shadows, and a glacial aerosphere that even Shr Lin could hardly withstand. The experience marked him, and scarred his body; the deep dark frost 'boiling' his flesh, leaving tears and gashes. The Edenian synthetic biology circuits restored as much as they could, and prevented permanent physical debilitations, but his body retained a pale blue greyish hue. Shr Lin can now draw some of the creeping coldness from that distant, grim realm, by briefly opening minute apertures, similar to how Noob Saibot would use portals to summon shadow entities or teleport around. Perhaps this is how the Cryomancers originally acquired their abilities. And perhaps the Ram Dao Sword was infused with some of the power extracted from a black rift, like the one Shr Lin opened.