Bai, Jin

Born in 1758 to a family of Chinese puppeteers, Jin Bai eventually traveled to Prague with his brother Yín to study alchemy. Their goal was to create more lifelike puppets. In Prague, he met a girl named Francine and fell in love with her immediately. However, when she fell in love with Yín instead, he considered it a betrayal on both their parts, and kidnapped her mere hours after the wedding.

[Spoiler] They eventually settled in a mansion outside a small village in France. Francine did not attempt to run away, but she never returned his feelings, and when she fell ill the villagers locked her up in a small hut where she remained for several years.

By the time his brother Yín found them, Jīn had gone mad. He finished his work on the Soft Stone shortly after Yín's arrival, but when he arrived at the hut he found it in flames. Francine, reunited at last with Yín, had refused the chance of an extended life from the Aqua Vitae and burned herself to death. Jīn, however, blamed the villagers, and vowed his revenge.

Before departing the village, Yín gave Jīn some of Francine's hair that she had cut off before her death. Jīn used it along with Aqua Vitae to create Doll Francine, believing in his madness that he was simply returning Francine to life. 20 years later, he destroyed Krohg Village along with Les Quatre Pionniers. However, Doll Francine was still unable to laugh or smile, and Jīn, realizing she was merely a doll, rejected her and departed, leaving her lying in a field after strangling her.

He traveled for many years and finally returned to his hometown in China, where he planned to create a spring of Aqua Vitae and jump into it, effectively killing himself. Before doing so, he created a book explaining the story of his brother, Francine and himself, which would later pass into the hands of a descendant of his family, Liáng Jiànfēng.

Moments before jumping into the spring, Bái Jīn realized the mistake he had made when creating Doll Francine, and decided that there still remained a chance of bringing the real Francine back. His new plan was later set into motion... [/Spoiler]