Vo Lian was a Yuuzhan Vong warrior who served under Commander Tsaak Vootuh in the second year of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion as a subaltern. Lian accompanied the commander to Yavin 4, where Vootuh confronted Captain Imsatad of the Peace Brigade, a collaborationist organization that had attempted to capture Jedi present on the moon. It was Lian who, at a signal from Vootuh, killed Imsatad with an amphistaff. The warrior was then charged with ensuring the security of the jungle moon's orbital perimeter, deploying a garrison, and supervising the landing of the first shaper damutek on the newly-conquered moon.
The Yuuzhan Vong male Vo Lian was born into Domain Lian and by 26 ABY had attained the rank of subaltern, serving under Commander Tsaak Vootuh as his lieutenant. Vootuh's fleet traveled to Yavin 4 in the second year of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion in order to seize the moon and the Jedi who were rumored to have located their headquarters on its surface.
Arriving in the Yavin system, however, Vootuh and Lian learned that the Peace Brigade, a collaborationist organization, had already attacked the Praxeum in order to abduct any Jedi present and hand them to Warmaster Tsavong Lah, the military coordinator of the invasion who had promised rewards for captive Jedi. Lian was present on the bridge of Vootuh's vessel as the leader of the Peace Brigade forces, the Human Captain Imsatad, attempted to explain the situation to the commander. Intending to regain some semblance of control over the proceedings, Imsatad offered the Yuuzhan Vong the support of his troops and vessels, but the commander had little use for the Brigade. When Vootuh informed Imsatad that the Peace Brigade ships would be destroyed, and ordered the Human to take the Yuuzhan Vong to see Tahiri Veila, the one Jedi who had not escaped capture, Imsatad refused. At a nod from Vootuh, Lian stabbed the collaborator through the back with his amphistaff, killing him.
Vootuh then ordered Lian to secure the moon and its immediate surroundings, and to supervise the Yuuzhan Vong landing. The lieutenant was also tasked with ensuring that the damutek which would house the shapers—the biological engineers of the Yuuzhan Vong—was swiftly installed on the surface. There, the shapers would be experimenting on any captured Jedi, seeking to discover the science of the Force and hoping to attempt to bend a Jedi to the will of the Yuuzhan Vong. The warrior had soon fulfilled his superior's commands.
Vo Lian was an efficient and obedient Yuuzhan Vong warrior. Trusted by his commander and willing to kill at a moment's notice when ordered to do so, Lian was swift and lethal in his dispatch of Imsatad. His duties were not merely confined to killing for Vootuh, however; the warrior was also capable of large scale administration and organization, as demonstrated when he was placed in charge of a number of Yavin 4's security operations, such as its orbital perimeter, and the deployment of its garrison.
Vo Lian's appearance in Edge of Victory I: Conquest is brief, lasting several paragraphs, and he is introduced concurrently with Vootuh, a peripheral Yuuzhan Vong protagonist in the novel. His affiliation with Domain Lian recalls that of Deign Lian, a character from Michael A. Stackpole's The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin.