Prop Owner: DoctorComics
Lu Bin is a crime-solving magistrate who lives in the Court of Sparrows in the city of Xian. He is a brilliant detective, but so corpulent and so devoted to his daily routine of gardening and eating that he seldom leaves his house. Tasked with adjudicating criminal cases in villages surrounding Xian, he instead sends his clerks to these sites to gather evidence and testimony. When all this is brought back to him, he solves the case from his armchair and then directs the employee back to the village to implement the magistrate's commands.
Beyond his impressive girth, Lu Bin is distinguished by his dignified manner, his impeccable grooming, and his fastidious attention to detail. He avoids personal relationships and, though he treats his trusted employees like friends, does not really allow them to get to know his inner thoughts. Proud, serene, and intellectual, he only seems to lose his cool when his daily routine is upset. He has black hair, a mustache, and small goatee, and typically dresses in comfortable silken robes. Most of his crime-solving work is done from an opulent armchair in which he passes his afternoons.
Lu Bin is a shameless homage to Nero Wolfe, Rex Stout's great armchair detective. His name, however, comes from a character of Chinese adventure fiction in the 1930's. Lu Bin was "the Chinese Arsene Lupin," a French gentleman thief created by author Maurice LeBlanc. He is an NPC, and was created to give the PC hero Kemala a way to engage in crime-solving detective work without technically being a member of the scholar class. Other players are welcome to use Lu Bin in their stories, provided they do not kill him. Questions or comments can be directed to Kemala's player, DoctorComics.