Growing up a street urchin in Sze, Ban-niang came to view other urchins as her siblings. She pulled them and herself through to adulthood by working as a racketeer before securing a position as an imperial soldier guard. Her siblings remained in the criminal world but retained loyalty to their sister and acted as informants and financiers to help her climb the ranks of the city watch.
Planning ahead for the day when she grew old and frail and simply wanted to enjoy the wealth and power she'd amassed, Ban-niang volunteered to be an inaugural village guard captain in the “backwaters” that was Willowshore when Lung Wa started its lumber operations. Occupying the position for over two decades, Ban-niang retired in 7088 IC but, by that point, had grown fond of the town she'd once dismissed as a backwater and stayed on in her retirement. She favors the businesses and goals of Northridge and serves as the faction's spokeswoman.