Kaede Jin is a cunning intelligence officer of the Fire Nation; having infiltrated the resistance under the alias of Akemi Ueno. A shrewd and acute thinker, Kaede is adept at disguises and espionage thanks to a background in Fire Nation theater. Kaede’s troupe was well-respected throughout the Fire Nation, and it was eventually realized that aspects of theater could be used to its political and military advantage through the skills of its actors. Years of military service prepared her for duty in its intelligence branch, where she could best put her talents to use. Kaede is no slouch when it comes to bending, however, having honed her talents over the years since her recruitment.

Kaede maintains in contact with a network of Fire Nation spies that dot the Phoenix Kingdom. To these messengers, she relays information regarding the resistance along with potential uprisings. News regarding the Avatar would be of tremendous importance to her. As her day-to-day alias among the resistance, the rebels know "Akemi" as a passionate defector with a distaste for the Fire Nation's nobility and international policies. The reality is quite the opposite, however - Kaede is a strong supporter of the Fire Nation's ideology that unity and order are central to prosperity.

WIP

Kaede keeps in touch with various local spy networks & pro-Phoenix Kingdom cells
As she is an officer, Kaede can give orders to Fire Nation soldiers if the circumstance requires it

Born in 53 APK, Kaede was raised by theater actors Uma and Shou Jin. As tradition would have it, Kaede would be taught how to act, as well as sing and dance as a member of the theater troupe. As a popular pastime and cultural tradition, to perform theater was a highly-regarded profession. Kaede was reminded throughout her youth that it was both an honor and a duty to perform - serving not only as a medium for income, but as platform for preserving the history and culture of the Fire Nation. Kaede's training was both physically and mentally taxing; good physique and health was important, but so was the ability to take on the personality of different characters and historical figures on a whim.

In her mid-teens, Kaede was performing significant roles onstage, notable for her ability to copy habits and mannerisms, as well as getting into the minds of the characters she was to play. Fortune would have it that her troupe was one of the more famous groups in the capital, and many performances were displayed in front of nobles, as well as commoners. At this point in time, thanks to a performance at the capital garrison, the political value of acting was realized by Fire Nation leaders. With agents well-versed in theater, the Fire Nation could more easily spy on its enemies with a much reduced risk of detection.

Kaede had reached the age of eighteen before she made the decision to volunteer in the military. Her announcement came as something of a shock to her family and her troupe, as she had been performing admirably and generating a steady income with her roles. Perhaps the Fire Nation's military publicity had made its way into her heart, but Kaede had developed a strong sense of patriotism following a shift in theater trends to very pro-Fire Nation, propaganda sets. Though Kaede had earned her troupe much recognition, she reasoned military service would still allow her to bring honor to it and her family.

Basic training in the Fire Nation's army had exposed Kaede to a talent she had been ignorant of until now - firebending. A new and exciting art, Kaede became enthralled by the practice and put great effort into replicating the examples set by the drill sergeants. Her physical training for theatre prepared her well enough for the rigors of basic training, and soon enough, she was a fully-fledged soldier. Assigned to the local capital garrison, Kaede would keep her theater talent up to par by entertaining her fellow soldiers, and constant practice of her bending developed her martial skills further. The katas of bending and fighting bore some resemblance to movements she would make in dance, and through careful experimentation and a blending of the two, adopted a unique style of movement.

Years had passed, and Kaede was gradually climbing up ranks following the suppression of several uprisings in the Earth Kingdom. The idea of using agents inspired by theater techniques had become a reality, and Kaede was sought out due to her background. Following a period of more specialized training, Kaede was a formal intelligence officer, and set out to gather information regarding a growing resistance movement...

WIP