Avatar: A Legend Reborn is the a roleplay with the goal of changing a popular story of how a single person can change the world into one of how the combined efforts of many have the power to. Although I love Avatar, I feel the message that a single person with immense power is far less endearing than one of a whole world of conflicted people bound together in a unified struggle to overcome oppression and preserve their culture and way of life. That is the essence of this roleplay. No single person can do it alone, and I even communicate that in how the rebels have no single leader, but two with entirely different perspectives and a single combined motivation. In short, the Legend has been reborn and the story is being retold... without an Avatar.

The characters within this roleplay may come from a variety of paths, several walks of life, whether they travel the road of traditions or a highway of self-fulfillment. Although new bending styles and techniques have been formed, the strength of these styles is still found within the fundamentals and the masters are those whom have practiced the traditional methods for a lifetime. Even Phoenix King Ozai, the central figure of oppression and power, is so because of his years of practice and dedication towards bending - not natural talent. No one is born a master and with no Avatar, there is no one alive with the potential to master an element in a decade or less. That said, cultural ties will also often be symbols of power, and that is simply how this world works.

This world is also not one of constant war. Although small skirmishes and police brutality do exist, there is no huge conflict. Those happened in the past. The Hundred Year War did not last a Hundred Years; it lasted just over twenty-five. In this world, the Fire Nation won. The Phoenix Kingdom was built on a treaty that gave birth to a Kingdom of flame that outshines all others, and the Fire Nation was the spark for that kingdom. The Phoenix King rules over all, including the Fire Nation. That is the nature of this roleplay. The Southern Water Tribe has no interest in resistance, the Fire Nation is the enforcer outside the impregnable palace of the Phoenix King and the portions of the world still resisting are deprived through trade or oppression, if not both. This roleplay is not about a war of mass destruction. This roleplay is about rekindling a resistance. It is about starting a war in hopes of bringing down the Phoenix King and making sure he never returns from the ashes.

This roleplay is obviously an alternate universe, but from where does that start? What is the first and most fundamental difference? Well, it's rather simple:

Avatar Aang died in the storm as he left the Eastern Air Temple instead of being suspended.

The question now becomes: how did the death of Aang change the world? Well, it did in quite a few ways. First and foremost, the dating system changed. In canon, the dating system is rooted in a single epoch: the genocide of the Air Nation. In this world, that didn't exactly happen. The Air Nation, under intense pressure and with only a few thousand left of their nation, conceded to the Fire Nation and sent forth representatives to prove that the Avatar was dead. They willfully handed over the half-frozen corpse of Aang and all children that could have possibly been of age to be the Avatar; all of whom were executed simply to make sure the Avatar was, in fact, dead. Alongside the most fundamental changes, what else happened in this world?

Well, the Fire Nation started with a brutal assault in the South, clearing through the Southern Water Tribe with relative ease due to the superiority of their naval fleet, incredible tactical might of Fire Lord Sozin, and use of advanced technology such as coal engines. With the Southern Water Tribe locked down, the Fire Nation invaded Southern areas of the Earth Kingdom to set up small colonies, all while managing to keep their actions hidden from the rest of the world until Sozin could launch his assault on the Air Nation with the passing of what would be Sozin's Comet. In canon, this would have marked the year 0 BG (before the genocide.) The Air Nation surrendered far before the use of Sozin's comet, having known that Avatar Aang had perished in the storm. Taken prisoner by the Fire Nation, held within the Southern Air Temple as if it were concentration camp, thus intimately changed the course of history.

The Fire Nation began its campaign by pressing North. Fire Lord Sozin was in control of the East, West and South with the largest and most powerful navy in the world as well as the most prosperous Nation of the era. In a decade's time, the only Earth Kingdom City that had not fell was Ba Sing Se and the Fire Nation had yet to successfully assault any farther North or through the mountains due to an alliance between the Northern Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom that made the waterways and land North of Ba Sing Se almost untouchable. But, a stroke of luck fell onto the Fire Nation. Within the battered remnants of the Southern Water Tribe was born Kiareu, the Avatar of her generation. Three years into the stalemate, she was identified as the Avatar at the age of thirteen and taken by the Fire Nation.

Ordered by Sozin himself, the Avatar was not only trained in all four elements by masters acquired by deceit and manipulation, but she was brainwashed so thoroughly that she believed she was truly spreading prosperity to the world. In addition to that, Sozin was capable of using Chi Blocking via acupuncture to prevent Kiareu from entering the Avatar State, thus keeping her out of contact with her former selves. In short, Fire Lord Sozin procured the perfect weapon to conquer the rest of the world. Unfortunately, he did not live to see such a task. It was not until Avatar Kiareu was twenty-six, thirteen years after she was found, that she aided the Fire Nation in finally breaking through the Northern Water tribe. At that point, Fire Lord Sozin had died and his son, Fire Lord Azulon, had taken his place. It was at this time, what would have been 26 AG, that marked the new epoch: the birth of the Phoenix King.

Now this year was 0 APK (Age of the Pheonix King) and the Fire Nation effectively controlled all four nations. The home of the Phoenix King was made Ba Sing Se, the most impenetrable city in existence - made even more so by leveling the ground to its Northeast so much that it could only be accessed by sea and expanding its borders to the mountains. Nearly a decade was put into creating the Fourth Outer Wall and the deep trench of seawater that surrounded it like a moat, but in the end, the Phoenix King succeeded in creating a Capitol more impregnable than the one before it. This would lead up into the world we know today. 84 APK with Phoenix King Roku inheriting the throne from Azulon in 79 APK and the death of Avatar Kiarue two years prior to the beginning of the roelplay at the age of 98. Her death was kept a secret from the world, but as the Phoenix Nation scoured the remnants of the Earth Kingdom for the next Avatar, the secret escaped. Now is the first time in eighty years that the nations of the world have had a real chance against the Fire Nation.

Established by The Treaty of the Phoenix in 0 BPK, the Phoenix Kingdom spans the world over with representatives in every town as well as large embassies in every larger city. The Capitol of the Phoenix Kingdom is Ba Sing Se and is currently ran by Phoenix King Ozai. The Phoenix Kingdom has the only formal army in the world and it acts as a police force in every major city that assists in small towns as embassies see fit to help. The actual army of the Phoenix Kingdom is fairly small as most soldiers either become Agents of the Dai Li, which now take any bender to be trained by masters, that are the personal guard and secret police force of the Phoenix King, or part of the militant police force and set out to an embassy barrack to be used as they see fit. That said, the actual forces of the Phoenix Kingdom are spread relatively thin with a large concentration within Ba Sing Se and close ties with the Fire Nation, which itself holds and trains the sum of a purely fire bending army. This makes the Fire Nation often considered the actual enforcer of the Phoenix King as their army could be mobilized and used at any time outside the impregnable walls of Ba Sing Se.

The Air Nation stands several thousand strong and is broken up into two groups. The fundamentalists that returned back to the Eastern Air Temple after their release and those that took advantage of the titles and advantages given to them throughout the world by the Fire Nation. Those in the Eastern Air Temple search through the remnants and ruins while they rebuilt their civilization and attempt to achieve enlightenment once more after the destruction of their culture. Although many Airbenders traveled the world, the second largest concentration of them is actually within the Fire Nation itself where they have been granted titles of nobility and work as secretaries of the Fire Lord. Iroh has provided them their own section of the city, known as the Little Air Temple, to practice their culture as they see fit, although most fundamentalists would call their practice a bastardization of their former nomadic culture. The third largest is in Ba Sing Se where they have received similar grants, but none to the degree of those in the original Fire Nation.

While Fire Lord Zuko is being tutored by his uncle Iroh, now the Fire Lord regent, and being trained alongside his sister by their prodigious cousin, Lu Ten, the new Fire Nation has prospered greatly. With the assistance of the Airbenders, that were rewarded greatly by Fire Lord regent Iroh, the Fire Nation has become a peaceful, complacent place where an army of firebenders is constantly honed and improved using methods of enlightenment integrated from Airbender society. This new army is often considered far more effective and skilled than the one Sozin and Azulon used to take over the world, thus making the already-prosperous nation a huge player in the world as well as the cultural root of it due to the rule of the Phoenix Kingdom. Some say that the Fire Nation has gone soft in comparison to when Ozai led it, but the use of the Fire Nation Army to quell and uprisings has kept that word at bay for decades.

The Earth Kingdom and its social hierarchy was essentially dissolved by the Phoenix Kingdom, and was continually oppressed by such. As the Earth Kingdom is the single largest territory and Earthbenders technically outnumber all other benders, those of this land are often the ones that stand up and from time to time create small rebellions that are ultimately quelled by the Fire Nation Army. That said, the Earth Kingdom has no rulers or formal government. It is mostly a loose coalition of farmers and Earthbenders that make crude towns and settlements, while paying taxes and living under the harsh rule of the Phoenix Kingdom's militant police.

The Southern Water Tribe has not given birth to a waterbender since Avatar Kiareu as Fire Lord Sozin had wiped them out. The tribe now exists as the largest commercial fish distributor in the world, but aside from that has no real notable traits. Few waterbenders in recent decades have came down in search of talent and to extend former waterbending culture, but most efforts have been fruitless as the Southern Water Tribe shares the prosperity of the Air and Fire Nation. The boats and fishing techniques of the Southern Water Tribe are always evolving and becoming more finely tuned. Remarkable advancements in technology have been made in the Southern Water Tribe, and a direct line of trade have made industry from the Fire Nation easily accessible to assist in the mutual trade.

The Northern Water Tribe was the last to fall and the nation that has managed to preserve its culture and animosity toward the Fire Nation to the most degree. Although Chief Arnook was born in the Age of the Phoenix King, he is not blind to the abuse of power and consolidation of wealth found by the Phoenix Kingdom. Additionally, while he has not seen first-hand, he believes that the Earth Kingdom lives in squalor while the Phoenix Kingdom resides behind ivory walls. He believes the Fire Nation exploits the depleted and debauch Southern Water Tribe. Because the Northern Water Tribe is the hardest Nation to reach, the embassy and militant police there is the largest, but least used. Most of the police act as guards for the embassy and the Phoenix King allows the Northern Water Tribe to essentially run itself with its own policing and preserve its culture without interference, aside from the taxes imposed on every Nation. The Northern Water Tribe, to this date, has not provided any more resistance to the Phoenix Kingdom, but many believe the Phoenix Kingdom and Fire Nation will inevitably be forced to bare down on them again.

The Northern Watertribe Colonies are the remnants and of the colonies and alliance made by the Northern Watertribe and the Earth Kingdom during the twenty-five years of war before the creation of the Phoenix Kingdom. Seeing an opportunity to create disharmony in the powerful Northern Watertribe, Phoenix King Azulon spared most of the colonies and forts of the time if they surrendered after the fall of Ba Sing Se, and later bound them together in a far lower taxing range than the Northern Water Tribe itself and paid them well for their assistance in creating the fourth outer wall of Ba Sing Se. Ozai even went as far as granting the title of Chief to the representative of the colonies. This caused those in despair and those more willing to forfeit their culture to leave the Northern Water Tribe to take refuge in these colonies. Waterbenders from these colonies still hold an incredible endurance and level of skill as they helped carve out the waterways for Ba Sing Se for nearly a decade. Additionally, traditions such as the exclusion of women and need for betrothal necklaces have died out in these colonies. The Northern Watertribe itself considers these colonies as debauch as their Southern sister, but does keep trade routes and open negotiations with them.

The Foggy Swamp Tribe is a small, peaceful group of backwater people residing in the marshlands of the southwestern Earth Kingdom. They believe in equality for all genders and all benders and non-benders alike, but they remain uneducated about matters in the world at large. Though the Foggy Swamp can hardly be called a nation unto itself, it is the last location in the world to truly maintain autonomy from the Phoenix Kingdom. This is due to their being so deeply tucked away in the Foggy Swamp that neither knew of the other’s existence. It wasn’t until the Phoenix Kingdom began a deforestation project on the Swamp that awareness came. Because of the dense maze of flora and the superstitions about monstrous Spirits that protect the place, soldiers have not been able to access the Tribesmen easily enough to force their surrender. Unfortunately for the Swamp natives, their numbers are too low and their weapons aren’t sophisticated enough to altogether halt the destruction of their homeland.
- Thought Manifest

The Phoenix Kingdom is like any regime in that there have been rebellions and resistant to it all throughout its lifetime. Few, if any, have ever provided a complication for more than a few weeks. Most were quelled within a few days of the mobilization of the Fire Nation Army if the Phoenix Kingdom police force wasn't enough. In essence, no rebellion has ever lasted long enough or left any impression on the Age of the Phoenix King. It is the goal of The Rising to change that. The Rising itself isn't a rebellion. It is a unification of all those oppressed by the Phoenix Kingdom. Founded by two Northern Water Tribe brothers, Ukoda and Uquolaan, the Rising has gained allies all throughout the Northern Water Tribe and remnants of the Earth Kingdom in the six years it has existed. The Rising has members from every nation, although some not from their homeland, and people from many walks of life. Although some only lend support, some have promised their arms. The Rising itself has even ended several rebellions so that they could add those rebels to their rosters instead of having them prisoners. The Rising, although young, has spent its time making allies and growing in influence among those that with for liberation.

The brothers than lead the Rising are both powerful waterbenders, but too far different degrees with significantly different skills. Ukoda is considered one of the most powerful waterbenders of his time, practicing the chauvinistic and traditional ways of waterbending and warrior principles taught by his people. Additionally, he is capable sailor and effective tactician, but as his skills are set around war, so is his mind. Ukoda believes that just as it was sheer force that brought down the Northern Water Tribe, it will be sheer force that returns it to its glory, and many support him. In person, many consider him a brute and his attitude is poor, but behind a podium or in armor, many consider him more charismatic than his brother. Uquolaan, often called Uquo, is a talented waterbender as well. Versed in the traditional ways of water bending from his tribe, he has found he has an odd affinity for manipulating the characteristics of water, making it less or more viscous as well as being able to change its form from water to gas and condense it into clouds easily. Uquo often uses these techniques as he travels. Uquo is the voice of the Rising, recruiting allies as he travels across the Earth Kingdom as he can. In person, many consider Uquo to be charming and witty. His ability to solve problems and his tactics are not weak, either, as he with just a small band of benders, has ended rebellions that could have cost the Rising potential allies.

In short, the Rising is far from short of natural talent and with its supporters are growing every day, it is only a matter of time before they take action. The Rising accepts anyone from any walk of life, any bender from any nation and refuses to discriminate against anyone. Although, this is mostly because Uquo leads the branch that explores the Earth Kingdom in search for allies while Ukoda unites and rallies the Northern Water Tribe. Within the Earth Kingdom, there are several inns and taverns that act as secret havens for the Rising. Shadowy meeting places that are never used for long or are actual establishments with hidden intentions. The Northern Water Tribe, however, can afford to be much more bold in the sense that Ukoda can afford to have his meetings as his own home in his leisure or at the docks he runs. The brothers use entirely different tactics to help the Rising under the masquerade of expanding trade within the Phoenix Kingdom in an attempt to compete with the Southern Water Tribe. It could be noted that their cover is also highly profitable, as the brothers also represent one of the richest businesses in the Northern Water Tribe. That said, there is immense faith building in a unified rebellion. It could be the only key to success. Or, its failure could mean the end of all hope.

We all hate this part, right? It's where I have to break suspension of disbelief and tell you guys all the ways this roleplay limits you and that you can't powerplay or godmod. I always hate it and I'm surely not going to make one of those "post this in your CS to prove you read these" rules, as I always found those silly. Anyway, it's casual. I'm aiming for 2-4 paragraphs per post of five well-constructed sentences. Shouldn't be a biggy. No bloodbending, Avatar-level bending, or dual bending. Metalbending has not been invented yet, thus none of that until it is. Lavabending, steambending, icebending, plantbending, cloudbending, etc. are all allowed. Any questions on anything like that, just PM me or ask. Basic rules of don't be an idiot or a dick. I dictate what will be woven into the roleplay, resolve disputes, etc.. If you make something for this roleplay, it may be used by anyone for this roleplay. It does not require your permission; it requires mine. I will keep all requests for unique natures in mind, but I do try to be fair. I really do hate this part of a description, so I'll cut it short here and just deal with anyone who wants to be a fuckhead when I see them. Have fun guys!

As of now, recruiters for the Rising have met in the Underground of Omashu after their monthly assessment of those seeking out the Rising. Most have gathered in a recreational center and are waiting for Uquo to approve or deny them, as well as more thoroughly assess their place in the Rising.