Set in the Earth Kingdom during the years of occupation by Fire Nation forces before the Avatar's return. A village called Gensu, surviving unscathed so far in the war, is now a breeding ground for rebellious opinions and desire to overthrow oppression.
First IC post will be up later. My characters so far:
[Male | 19 | Earth Kingdom]
Jun is a loud-mouthed, aggressive vagrant who wanders the Earth Kingdom partaking in his three favourite pastimes: drinking, arguing and brawling. Claiming to be “the best swordsman the world's ever seen,” he is not only stubborn and (stupidly) fearless but incredibly competitive. His underhanded fighting tactics even in 'friendly' fights have had him barred from entering all the taverns in his home province.
Despite his hot-headed tendencies, Jun is a cheery fellow, enjoying the simple life on the road and even finding pleasure in protecting the weak... notably small pockets of resistance set against the might of the Fire Nation. Though he is not selfless by any sense of the word, he rarely accepts monetary payment for his services – instead asking for a night's shelter, or information on earth-bending techniques.
With his morality a dark grey on the spectrum from black to white, he rarely finds issues with his violent behaviour or any problems with bending the truth as he often does. While never outright lying, he uses his mixed parentage and carefully adjusts his stories to fit in with both the Earth Kingdom peasants and firebending noble – without even realising he's doing it.
Traits
Relations
History
Miscellaneous
Suyin, 15
Daughter of General Jia Zhang
PERSONALITY: Suyin is efficient, hard-working and most of all determined to be great. As one of the rare children born to Fire Nation nobles without the ability to bend fire, she is particularly jealous of benders like her adopted brother and so trains even harder to be better. She is a bit of a control freak and is at her kindest when she is allowed to lead or otherwise make decisions. Suyin is loyal to her family first and her nation second.
BACKSTORY: When the esteemed general, one of the rare folk with the ability to bend lightning, realised that his only heir was a daughter and, above that, a daughter who could not bend fire, his first reaction was utter despair. Even so, he was loyal to his lineage first and foremost: no child of his would be weak. He ensured that Suyin had the best education money and reputation could buy, apprenticing her under the Yuyan Archers in her teenage years.
Suyin was forced to get along with her brother, Ran, and thinks of him as nothing less than family despite him being a waterbender. Though she may have been apprehensive about him previously, she has long since gotten past her difficulties with him as a newcomer and sees herself as caught up in a friendly competition with him for their father's affections and approval.
WEAPONRY: Suyin doesn't go anywhere without her throwing knives, taught to her by the various maids and concubines her father 'keeps' on their small island home; however, her true skill is in archery. "If a bender can't reach you, they can't hurt you" is a rule taken to heart by the girl and she usually spends her time on cliffs and treetops looking for vantage points. She can use a sword but is mostly hopeless at it.
Azel's characters:
Name: Jia Ran
age: 16
Appearance: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120814025337/pokemon/images/4/42/Ranmaru_pokemon.png
Personality: As an adoptive outsider Ran is well aware he doesn't truly belong in the fire nation which has led to boy to take on an honest, eager but ultimately meek personality that just want to please everyone. Even to his adoptive family Ran is completely submissive. ''no'' Is a word Ran never dared to utter to his adoptive father and he has a tendency to behave more like a butler then a little brother to the child the general already has.
Ran has no love for violence and would rather have an administrative post, something he excels at but if his family needs him on the front then that is where he will be, shutting himself out so he can bring himself to boil men alive that he holds no ill will towards.
Ran doesn't hate the fire nation for destroying his old home in the south pole but he doesn't hold any loyalty to them either. His only loyalty is to the family that took pity on him and adopted him as their own rather then leave him to his sorry fate. The thought that they only use him for his power did sometimes occur to Ran but he tells himself that he doesn't care, as long as he belongs with them he is happy.
Backstory: One of the generals leading the invasion against the southern water tribe was general Jia Zhang, a favorite of fire lord Azulon thanks to his cunning and brutality. Under his command city after city, and when they ran out of city village after village fell to the fire nation. In his last mission before being allowed to return to the fire nation something strange happened. A child clung to Zhang's leg and started crying uncontrollably, only when a soldier tried to kick him away did the boy pause to shoot a wave of snow at the soldier. Zhang was baffled by the child clinging to him like that but whether it was to recruit a water bender for himself or because he genuinely couldn't send a child this desperate to the fire nation's prison is unknown but only a few weeks later the renamed Jia Ran was being raised in the Jia palace back in the fire nation.
Zang did make it clear there was an expectation to being a member of the Jia family. Ran wouldn't just contribute to the family, he would excel while doing so and beatings would follow should he not perform up to expectation. This was harsh but no harsher then how he threatened his actual child who he raised alongside Ran. The two grew up as siblings and Ran would grow to greatly admire his older sister and would act subordinate to him/her
Water bending: Ran's style of water bending reflects his new home. Rather then turn his water into ice as a means to shield himself or attack others with it he heats the water he controls up in order to burn his enemies before him. (Its usually ice they use but I don't think there's any reason why water benders couldn't make their water hot if they can freeze it at will.)
Ran is able to extract water from the air itself but this is very taxing on him. He and his sibling can create and control steam by heating up his water to such extend it turns into steam which allows them to spread it out over a large area.
Name: Yu Jin
Age: 14
Appearance: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130712160358/s__/sengokubasara/images/0/0c/Ranmaru.jpg (manually implanting those pics is weird here)
Personality: Jin is a true rookie brimming with enthusiasm of finally driving the ''bad guys'' from his home. As one of the few earth benders that managed to escape incarnation he is crucial for the rebellion to succeed and he knows it. Jin is very cheeky and arrogant when it comes to his enemies but he is quick to look up to his allies and act the cute little brother around them, partly because he does loves them but also because Jin knows he can be very endearing when he puts his mind to it...and exploits it.
Jin thinks in black and white but on the job he isn't exactly honorable. Jin gleefully pickpockets from or otherwise loot from defeated fire nation soldiers to help his big sister pay for the rent. He claims not to enjoy doing so and just doing what he needs to do but....his smile does spread wide when he takes home gold from the defeated fire nation nobles.
Backstory: Jin never knew either of his parents. His mother died in a fire nation raid when he was two and his father left the village to become a pirate and taking advantage of the Earth kingdom removing troops from the islands to better defend the mainland. The village never heard from him again.
With no parent to take care of him Jin was raised by his big sister who owns a little house on the outskirts of the village. Cheeky as he always act towards others Ranmaru always acted like her little angel and seeks to help her as much as possible. One particular time when he defended his sister from a drunk that kept pestering him they discovered something very dangerous....Jin was an earth bender.
Against his own will Jin kept his powers hidden, never moving earth outright as a means to attack or defend. Instead Jin used hard earth to craft various kinds of weapons, especially arrows for his bow so he could either sell them or use them to hunt. There are many artist that could craft things from earth or clay and Jin was good enough an artist to convince everyone that was the way he made the stuff that he sold.
Selling wasn't the only way Jin took care of his sister, he also regular went out stealing so she could pay the rent. One man however proved to have been a very , very bad target (Jun?). This meeting would eventually result in him taking place among the rebel rank.
Earth bending? As said Jin often craft weapons from earth he can use in combat, being able to from and reform them very quickly to adapt to any situation. Jin has never been schooled in any official earth bending style and has actively been discouraged from training
First IC post will be up later. My characters so far:
Jun is a loud-mouthed, aggressive vagrant who wanders the Earth Kingdom partaking in his three favourite pastimes: drinking, arguing and brawling. Claiming to be “the best swordsman the world's ever seen,” he is not only stubborn and (stupidly) fearless but incredibly competitive. His underhanded fighting tactics even in 'friendly' fights have had him barred from entering all the taverns in his home province.
Despite his hot-headed tendencies, Jun is a cheery fellow, enjoying the simple life on the road and even finding pleasure in protecting the weak... notably small pockets of resistance set against the might of the Fire Nation. Though he is not selfless by any sense of the word, he rarely accepts monetary payment for his services – instead asking for a night's shelter, or information on earth-bending techniques.
With his morality a dark grey on the spectrum from black to white, he rarely finds issues with his violent behaviour or any problems with bending the truth as he often does. While never outright lying, he uses his mixed parentage and carefully adjusts his stories to fit in with both the Earth Kingdom peasants and firebending noble – without even realising he's doing it.
Traits
Jun isn't just blowing smoke when he claims he's good with a blade in his hands. Years of practice have honed his stilted Earth Kingdom swordplay (taught by his great-uncle) into a unique style designed to be used in tandem with his own firebending and specifically against other benders.
His firebending is hardly flashy and he rarely uses naked flames, given that he learned to keep it hidden from a young age. Instead, it usually manifests as heat, making it easier for him to boil water and stay warm even in colder climates. A beneficial side effect of keeping so much energy pent up inside himself is that his natural strength is well-above average... linked to – as he puts it – “a strong inner fire”.
His firebending is hardly flashy and he rarely uses naked flames, given that he learned to keep it hidden from a young age. Instead, it usually manifests as heat, making it easier for him to boil water and stay warm even in colder climates. A beneficial side effect of keeping so much energy pent up inside himself is that his natural strength is well-above average... linked to – as he puts it – “a strong inner fire”.
Relations
Uncle Kanan – Raised Jun from a young age. Currently imprisoned in an undisclosed location by the Fire Nation for rebelling.
Mother – Dead, died in childbirth.
Father – Unknown. Presumably sent Jun his sword and is keeping tabs on him.
Mother – Dead, died in childbirth.
Father – Unknown. Presumably sent Jun his sword and is keeping tabs on him.
History
Jun was born into a community of impoverished refugees looking for a fresh start out from under the thumb of the Fire Nation. Their former village was infamous at one point in time for being a bastion of organised resistance for the Earth Kingdom; however, nine months before Jun's birth it was practically erased from the map, a footnote in a history of failed rebellions.
His mother, Lea, was a peasant girl of few talents and passable beauty, twenty years old. Given his talent for firebending, his father was almost certainly an occupying soldier, although little else is known about the man. The secret of Jun's paternity was presumably lost forever when his mother died in childbirth, leaving her infant son with only old stories and worthless heirlooms.
Jun's uncle, an ex-soldier named Kanan who harboured bitter resentment against the Fire Nation for... well, almost everything, took him in and raised him far away from civilisation. It was in part due to the fear that he would be taken away if any soldier travelling to the outlying villages caught wind of the young firebender and sought to take him away. He cultivated Jun's distrust for other firebenders very early on.
From an absurdly young age, Jun was trained in swordsmanship (albeit the stilted, old-fashioned style that his uncle mastered) and was forbidden to learn even the most basic of firebending moves. Of course, that didn't stop him – it just made him sneakier about his practice after he turned into a rebellious teenager and led him to develop more subtle techniques.
Once he turned of age (roughly fourteen), his uncle began taking him to small resistance meetings in local taverns, and even out on trips to sabotage supply chains or other illegal business. By his sixteenth birthday, he was actively seeking out his own opportunities to undermine the Fire Nation... until he received a package: a Fire Nation sword and an unsigned letter.
Shortly after this, Jun had a change of heart and refused to join a small uprising in another nearby village. A wise decision, as it turned out his enemies were well-prepared and arrested the insurgents on the spot – his uncle among them. No longer wanted in his community despite being completely loyal to the resistance (after all, what sane rebel would consort with a possible enemy?), he began to live a hedonistic life, partaking in as many pleasures as he could.
His mother, Lea, was a peasant girl of few talents and passable beauty, twenty years old. Given his talent for firebending, his father was almost certainly an occupying soldier, although little else is known about the man. The secret of Jun's paternity was presumably lost forever when his mother died in childbirth, leaving her infant son with only old stories and worthless heirlooms.
Jun's uncle, an ex-soldier named Kanan who harboured bitter resentment against the Fire Nation for... well, almost everything, took him in and raised him far away from civilisation. It was in part due to the fear that he would be taken away if any soldier travelling to the outlying villages caught wind of the young firebender and sought to take him away. He cultivated Jun's distrust for other firebenders very early on.
From an absurdly young age, Jun was trained in swordsmanship (albeit the stilted, old-fashioned style that his uncle mastered) and was forbidden to learn even the most basic of firebending moves. Of course, that didn't stop him – it just made him sneakier about his practice after he turned into a rebellious teenager and led him to develop more subtle techniques.
Once he turned of age (roughly fourteen), his uncle began taking him to small resistance meetings in local taverns, and even out on trips to sabotage supply chains or other illegal business. By his sixteenth birthday, he was actively seeking out his own opportunities to undermine the Fire Nation... until he received a package: a Fire Nation sword and an unsigned letter.
Shortly after this, Jun had a change of heart and refused to join a small uprising in another nearby village. A wise decision, as it turned out his enemies were well-prepared and arrested the insurgents on the spot – his uncle among them. No longer wanted in his community despite being completely loyal to the resistance (after all, what sane rebel would consort with a possible enemy?), he began to live a hedonistic life, partaking in as many pleasures as he could.
Miscellaneous
1. The back pockets on his trousers are filled with sand to use in an emergency combat situation. Nobody ever won a war being fair, after all.
Suyin, 15
Daughter of General Jia Zhang
PERSONALITY: Suyin is efficient, hard-working and most of all determined to be great. As one of the rare children born to Fire Nation nobles without the ability to bend fire, she is particularly jealous of benders like her adopted brother and so trains even harder to be better. She is a bit of a control freak and is at her kindest when she is allowed to lead or otherwise make decisions. Suyin is loyal to her family first and her nation second.
BACKSTORY: When the esteemed general, one of the rare folk with the ability to bend lightning, realised that his only heir was a daughter and, above that, a daughter who could not bend fire, his first reaction was utter despair. Even so, he was loyal to his lineage first and foremost: no child of his would be weak. He ensured that Suyin had the best education money and reputation could buy, apprenticing her under the Yuyan Archers in her teenage years.
Suyin was forced to get along with her brother, Ran, and thinks of him as nothing less than family despite him being a waterbender. Though she may have been apprehensive about him previously, she has long since gotten past her difficulties with him as a newcomer and sees herself as caught up in a friendly competition with him for their father's affections and approval.
WEAPONRY: Suyin doesn't go anywhere without her throwing knives, taught to her by the various maids and concubines her father 'keeps' on their small island home; however, her true skill is in archery. "If a bender can't reach you, they can't hurt you" is a rule taken to heart by the girl and she usually spends her time on cliffs and treetops looking for vantage points. She can use a sword but is mostly hopeless at it.
Azel's characters:
Name: Jia Ran
age: 16
Appearance: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120814025337/pokemon/images/4/42/Ranmaru_pokemon.png
Personality: As an adoptive outsider Ran is well aware he doesn't truly belong in the fire nation which has led to boy to take on an honest, eager but ultimately meek personality that just want to please everyone. Even to his adoptive family Ran is completely submissive. ''no'' Is a word Ran never dared to utter to his adoptive father and he has a tendency to behave more like a butler then a little brother to the child the general already has.
Ran has no love for violence and would rather have an administrative post, something he excels at but if his family needs him on the front then that is where he will be, shutting himself out so he can bring himself to boil men alive that he holds no ill will towards.
Ran doesn't hate the fire nation for destroying his old home in the south pole but he doesn't hold any loyalty to them either. His only loyalty is to the family that took pity on him and adopted him as their own rather then leave him to his sorry fate. The thought that they only use him for his power did sometimes occur to Ran but he tells himself that he doesn't care, as long as he belongs with them he is happy.
Backstory: One of the generals leading the invasion against the southern water tribe was general Jia Zhang, a favorite of fire lord Azulon thanks to his cunning and brutality. Under his command city after city, and when they ran out of city village after village fell to the fire nation. In his last mission before being allowed to return to the fire nation something strange happened. A child clung to Zhang's leg and started crying uncontrollably, only when a soldier tried to kick him away did the boy pause to shoot a wave of snow at the soldier. Zhang was baffled by the child clinging to him like that but whether it was to recruit a water bender for himself or because he genuinely couldn't send a child this desperate to the fire nation's prison is unknown but only a few weeks later the renamed Jia Ran was being raised in the Jia palace back in the fire nation.
Zang did make it clear there was an expectation to being a member of the Jia family. Ran wouldn't just contribute to the family, he would excel while doing so and beatings would follow should he not perform up to expectation. This was harsh but no harsher then how he threatened his actual child who he raised alongside Ran. The two grew up as siblings and Ran would grow to greatly admire his older sister and would act subordinate to him/her
Water bending: Ran's style of water bending reflects his new home. Rather then turn his water into ice as a means to shield himself or attack others with it he heats the water he controls up in order to burn his enemies before him. (Its usually ice they use but I don't think there's any reason why water benders couldn't make their water hot if they can freeze it at will.)
Ran is able to extract water from the air itself but this is very taxing on him. He and his sibling can create and control steam by heating up his water to such extend it turns into steam which allows them to spread it out over a large area.
Name: Yu Jin
Age: 14
Appearance: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130712160358/s__/sengokubasara/images/0/0c/Ranmaru.jpg (manually implanting those pics is weird here)
Personality: Jin is a true rookie brimming with enthusiasm of finally driving the ''bad guys'' from his home. As one of the few earth benders that managed to escape incarnation he is crucial for the rebellion to succeed and he knows it. Jin is very cheeky and arrogant when it comes to his enemies but he is quick to look up to his allies and act the cute little brother around them, partly because he does loves them but also because Jin knows he can be very endearing when he puts his mind to it...and exploits it.
Jin thinks in black and white but on the job he isn't exactly honorable. Jin gleefully pickpockets from or otherwise loot from defeated fire nation soldiers to help his big sister pay for the rent. He claims not to enjoy doing so and just doing what he needs to do but....his smile does spread wide when he takes home gold from the defeated fire nation nobles.
Backstory: Jin never knew either of his parents. His mother died in a fire nation raid when he was two and his father left the village to become a pirate and taking advantage of the Earth kingdom removing troops from the islands to better defend the mainland. The village never heard from him again.
With no parent to take care of him Jin was raised by his big sister who owns a little house on the outskirts of the village. Cheeky as he always act towards others Ranmaru always acted like her little angel and seeks to help her as much as possible. One particular time when he defended his sister from a drunk that kept pestering him they discovered something very dangerous....Jin was an earth bender.
Against his own will Jin kept his powers hidden, never moving earth outright as a means to attack or defend. Instead Jin used hard earth to craft various kinds of weapons, especially arrows for his bow so he could either sell them or use them to hunt. There are many artist that could craft things from earth or clay and Jin was good enough an artist to convince everyone that was the way he made the stuff that he sold.
Selling wasn't the only way Jin took care of his sister, he also regular went out stealing so she could pay the rent. One man however proved to have been a very , very bad target (Jun?). This meeting would eventually result in him taking place among the rebel rank.
Earth bending? As said Jin often craft weapons from earth he can use in combat, being able to from and reform them very quickly to adapt to any situation. Jin has never been schooled in any official earth bending style and has actively been discouraged from training