Mu Lian is pale, extremely so; her skin has a blue tint, bluish with how white it is, and her lips blue. Her eyes have also changed color, from a plain brown to a dark grey. Abrasions are present on her wrists, the marks usually light. She has long hair that is currently dyed purple and facial features that make her, in the words of someone probably, "pretty for a dead girl". Sometimes, her skin goes from pale blue-white to actually creeping with pale blue, veins defined, lips turning black, the abrasions darkening to an ugly, obvious sign of rope-burn – that's when she truly looks like the victim of a horrible drowning, before the water pours from and nose, an occurrence beyond her control. 

When she stands instead of hovering above the ground and floating from place to place, it is evident Lian is small, standing at the height of 5'3.

MORTEM: Mu Lian was born from a nonmagical human woman's union with a warlock. The shame of Lian's mother upon finding out she had been sleeping with a monster all along was so great that she made plans to get rid of Lian and gave her up to Mortem when she was only three years old, quietly hoping that perhaps the hunters would terminate the child and her shame would never be known to the world. However, Mortem was unaware Lian was even a magical child, and she was placed in Squad 719's ranks for Ailell Brier to train. Even though she was trained to be a soldier, Lian didn't grow like most of the other children; she was soft and sympathetic, refusing to kill monsters and instead turning her attention to tech training, learning to hack and operate a comm station. Because of the the teachings of Mortem, Lian grew up hiding her powers with Ailell's help until she could control them herself. She considered Mortem Squad 719 her family, even up to the bitter end.

MURDER: And the end was indeed bitter. Lian was exposed by her best friend for having powers, and the head of Mortem had Lian executed publicly. She was brutally drowned, in front of everyone in her squad with the exception of Ailell and in front of another squad that she didn't know, as an "example" of what would happen when people "attempted to betray Mortem".

She’s pulled out of the water again, choking and coughing and maybe she’s crying but she barely gets a moment to breathe before she’s slammed forward again and her head hits the side of the barrel on the way. Lian’s dazed, dazed and oxygen-deprived, confused and feeling like her consciousness is swimming around her. She inhales water and it burns going down; when they pull her up again there are dark spots dancing in her vision and Lian doesn’t fight anymore, a limp ragdoll in their hands when, yet again, her head is pushed under the water.

THE UNDEATH: There was something about realizing that she was dead, staring down at her cold, abandoned body, that made Lian realize in clear detail why Ailell was always so determined to keep her powers a secret. She was confused, uncertain, and pained to realize that she didn't merely lose consciousness; she had in fact been killed and she was, in fact, a spirit. And as a spirit, she was going to haunt those responsible for her death. She was going to make them miserable, she was going to punish them for what they had done to her.

NOW: That led her to the Dream Guard, meeting with Demitri Gautier to inform him she wanted to join their ranks—that she was once a member of Mortem and now she wanted to destroy them for her murder.