Cáo Zhí 曹植

Translated Description:
Eight-Tenths of the world's Talent 八斗之才 (bā doù zhī cái)

Who is he:
Brother, or adulterer? Feeble poet, or crouching usurper? Genius, or drunkard? Cao Zhi is a contradiction that has romanticized the entire Three Kingdoms era. Wikipedia would sing his praises for his famed poetic ability, while on the same page hark on his lack of sobriety as if it were tabloid news. Cao Zhi was never much of a military person, and is usually belittled in comparison to his elder brother, Cao Pi 曹丕. Yet Cao Zhi has left his mark in ways that Cao Pi could never equal. If you love the vagabond wanderer without a care in the world, or the merry-making hippie culture that spun off incredible lyrical literature, you would probably fall in love with Cao Zhi. Maybe you would even grin understandably when Cao Zhi flirted with his elder brother's wife. Merry-making, eh?

Character ability 1: "Falling Bloom 落英 (luò yīng)"
When other players discard or flip judgement cards with "clubs" into the discard pile, you can take possession of these cards.

Character ability 2: "Drunken Quatrain 酒诗 (jiǔ shī)"
When your character card is facing up, you can choose to flip over your character card and this will be considered as having used WINE 酒 (under reasonable situations only).

When you suffer damage while your character card is facing down, you can choose to flip over your character card such that is faces up after the damage you received is concluded.

Ability's relation to story:
Brilliant!!! Cao Zhi's abilities are so well linked to the story that his first ability actually has double meaning! The chinese words for "Falling Bloom" is an olden way of describing the falling of spring flowers from the trees. This can be seen to describe Cao Zhi's youthful and care-free nature in his young adult days. On the flip side, the chinese words 落英 is actually a word play on Zhen Ji 甄姬's nickname 洛神, where 英 here can refer to 英雄 or hero. In other words, Cao Zhi is secretly Zhen Ji's hero and lover, a rumour that does seem to carry some weight historically. Notice how beautifully this ability pairs up Zhen Ji's "Goddess Luo 洛神" ability?

"Drunken Quatrain" is also deeply based on the story. In his later years, Cao Zhi became a drunken wreck. In fact he was so drunk that he did not attend his own father, Cao Cao 曹操's, funeral. Living in a perpetual state of despair, Cao Zhi continued to write poems that sank deeper and deeper into misery mongering.

Additional info based on story:
1. Most famous achievement - The Seven Step Quatrain (fictional). In the ROTK story, Cao Pi was furious at Cao Zhi for being so drunk he did not attend Cao Cao's funeral. At the same time, Cao Pi had been plotting for sometime to remove his younger brother so that there would be no more threat to his throne. Cao Pi gave Cao Zhi one final chance to demonstrate his ability: Come up with a poem within 7 paces, or die. Cao Zhi came up with not one, but two poems. The second poem made no direct reference to the two brothers, speaking of a pot of beans boiling atop a fire fueled by beanstalks, however the inference behind the poem moved Cao Pi sufficiently to pardon the execution of his younger brother.

2. Cause of death - Illness, probably brought about by depression and alcoholism. After Cao Pi's death, Cao Zhi argued valiantly to be re-instated in the court of Wei Kingdom 魏国, but the new emperor, Cao Rui 曹睿, would still view Cao Zhi as a threat to the throne. Cao Zhi never got to fulfill his desire to contribute to the Wei Kingdom, and he died as a depressed loner with little fanfare.

Wiki Link:
Cao Zhi Wiki