[OOC] Ba Sing Se

[Silent Whispers]

_{just popping in to say hi}

@Undine

Hey there! Been a long time! :D How have you been?

[vancexentan]

I hope this is enough. I can't credit my image because it is from Full Metal Panic.

Shin

Shin

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Age: 22 | Gender: Male | Sexuality: Heterosexual | [Element]Air Bender

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Occupation
Metalworks/blacksmith

Place of Origin
Originated from Northern Air Temple, Lived in various cities before residing in Ba Sing Se

Residence
Middle Ring

Appearance
Shin is a rough individual covered in small scars, bruises, and callouses from his job, and strict training schedule. He typically wears light brown standard peasant clothes that are easy to move around in. A simple pair of pants, and a shirt is usually enough to placate him. Though he does tend to wear a small set of light leather armor if he knows he's going in a dangerous part of town just for the sake of protection. It consists of two arm guards, and a small chest piece. He tends to walk in a straight forward position, and doesn't often slouch.

Personality

Shin is a simple man with very few things that could be said for, and or against him. He is a person who values his own freedom, and choice to live the life he chooses to live. Though he lives with very few requirements he is adamantly focused on keeping them. Those requirements being a simple house, food, and a job to keep him busy. He is usually a calm individual who is neither quick to anger, or passionate emotion in general. Though he heavily disapproves of the Earth Kingdom monarchy he sees it as preferable to the life of a fire nation slave. He tends to heavily hate people who force their ways on others, and often is one of the first to put down people who think that way, and try to act on doing so. He sees such people as brutes who squash the individual for the sake of the masses, or even just to placate their own distorted desires. He sees the Dai Li as protectors who would violate those rights and doesn't fear them so much as he tolerates their presence because he can't change them being there. He hates the Earth King for being a simple figure head instead of an actual force behind the throne. Shin himself is also willing to use dirty tricks if it means he can win a fight for a better good. Sometimes the methods used justified the means. Shin doesn't enjoy fighting but views it as a means to an end. He has no strong opinion on fighting if it solves an issue that needs to be addressed but he doesn't enjoy mindless combat.

Shin has found peace in his life, and while this is true he does have certain flaws. He can be rather blunt to others, and refuses to not tell the truth that way he sees it. He doesn't like to admit he is wrong however if given evidence he can't refute he will back down. He is known for having the fatal flaw of being fickle. He is all too willing, and able to abandon a lost cause, or a person who has disrespected him greatly. If someone has acted in a way he sees as ill suited to others, and or himself he straight up would leave them for dead since they have not only disrespected themselves but the people around them as well. He has a reverence for the spirits but he believes them to be unnatural to the world they live in and strongly believes that they should remain separated from humanity. Some may call him a stoic heartless young man, others would simply claim he is trying to live his life without interruptions.

Likes and Dislikes
At least three of each. Consider more than just likes 'good things' and dislikes 'bad things'.

• Freedom
• Honesty
• Respectfulness
• Pointless Murder
• Royalty/nobility
• Self indulgence

Skills

Air Bending - Shin is a talented Airbender he is no master but he is a qualified fighters. He practices his moves and talents frequently in private. As opposed to normal airbender tactics of hit, and run and using the opponent's momentum against them Shin is more of a hard hitter. Shin uses quick dodges, and parries followed up by feints, and attacks towards the feet, and arms of the opponents to off balance them or set them up for a powerful blast of air. He is willing to use strong air blasts to break bones if necessary. Still he has trained in classical air bending techniques on order of his mother, and father.

Minor Martial Arts - Shin has learnt some minor martial arts that he uses alongside his air bending. It is nothing major it is used to disarm, disable, and compliment his bending prowess. It is a fall back in case his air bending is ill suited, or fails to do the job. He also practices with swords, and other weapons and has a proficiency in wielding them though he doesn't like to. This extends to Shin's endurance as his training has turned him into a hearty fellow.

Minor Medical Training - Black smithing is a dangerous job and as such Shin can treat minor burns, and cuts as need be. He is not a natural healers and others with actual training would be much better at him however in case of injuries Shin can cope with being hurt better than some people.

History
Born to a set of former Air Nomads his parents were considered to be extremists by the elders of the northern air temple and left due to being considered as such. Shin grew up in a small town initially and his parents did their best to raise him while keeping up jobs as farmers, and or workers. Shin didn't have a stable family life as his parents weren't around much and he was left to his own accords. When he was still little more than a boy he moved closer, and closer to Ba Sing Se. His life was full of minor joys, and he never really grew attached to anything believing nothing ever stayed and was destined to leave him. His parents however for their part did teach him to the best of their ability in the ways of airbending. While his father hated the concept of working for bosses, and preferred his life as a nomad over his life as farmer he never complained and did the jobs he got with stride. His mother simply helped his father, or kept the houses they lived in in shape.

Shin had a talent for air bending and used this talent to help his parents, and in turn they helped him become a stronger air bender as he approached the age of 10. When his parents afforded it they bought a small house in Ba Sing Se and moved there to open up a metal works shop as his father had been one among the air nomads before he left. This life suited them better after an initial period of unrest, and hard work. Growing up in an Earth Bender environment Shin was often left out because he was different which only solidified his view of others as fickle, and actually rather pathetic in their own way. Still he never truly got angry the more and more he thought about friendship the more and more he viewed it as a crutch. A nice crutch but one none the less. Shin took an apprenticeship with his father when he wasn't in school, and his father insisted on training him personally on his philosophy, and his art as an air bender.

With no intents to work up to the higher escalons of Ba Sing Se Shin, his father, and his mother all simply lived a quiet life which was promptly ruined when the fire nation not only exterminated the air nomads, or attempted to, and then declared war on Ba Sing Se. Suddenly Shin was making knives, and swords for the soldiers instead of nails, and doorknobs for the elderly, and normal folks of the city. Shin used this as a chance to learn martial arts from his neighbor Fei who was an ex-soldier. He wasn't a particularly good fighter in terms of hand to hand skills but he was passable. As war approached the city he wondered if life would ever be simple again as people may try to kill him just for simply being an air bender. He grew to distrust government people, and his disgust for corrupt government officials using the war as a way to increase taxes, and hurt the average person. He also hated the fire nations brutality killing off so many people for unknown reasons to Shin. Wanting to a simple life to come back to Shin simply intends to do his best to restore what medium of peace he can to his life.

Ambitions
Shin's ambitions are few and far between. His short term is to return Ba Sing Se to a state of normality. A long term goal is to leave the city for a town more suited for one who is quiet, and wants to live a simple life.

Other
None

[Regitnui]

Concept: Young Earthbender noble/middle ring who can't control much at once but has great control (high Dex, low Str), wanted to learn from the sandbenders but went to the airbenders instead as a compromise with their parents. Has a talent for crystallising stone into sharp, fine dust, being dubbed a "gembender". Essentially learning meditation and redirection techniques to apply to their peculiar talents.

[Undine]

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[Regitnui]

@Undine, it wouldn't be a special accolade. It would be what their parents call the kid's style so that they aren't embarrassed by their child having a natural talent for sandbending. Instead of rocks, the character uses dust and sand to create "airbender"-like effects such as whirlwinds or spinning discs of sand.

Also, there's precedence for compressing stones and earth as part of the natural earthbender set, so I figured that would be what they learned from the air nomads: the ability to feel/sense the patterns in the stone and realign them. No pulling rubies from city streets, but diamonds from coal dust (same chemical) or rubies and sapphires from corundum dust (same chemical).

[Elle Santiago]

I might be going for a broke Earth Kingdom citizen that is secretly a pretty bad firebender (can only light candles /exaggeration) attending the University, doing her best to just go with the flow and hopefully not get disappeared. I dub her, Fumiko.

Gonna write that sheet up tomorrow. This is more to remind me what I'll be going for because memory is a fickle thing.

[banjoanjo]

Are there still open slots for this RP?

If so, would this be an okay picture for my character?

[Spiffy]

Wouod you allow a lightningbender spy that works directly under the head spy in ba sing se?

[McHaggis]

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[McHaggis]

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[Regitnui]

@McHaggis Alright, how about the family being recently rich types with sandbender in the blood (the character's grandparents) they've sworn off to fit in with Middle Ring Ba Sing Se culture. The character is a bender, but is incredibly poor at earthbending (which the parents would encourage) but is naturally talented at sandbending.

The character attends an earthbending academy, and has to often stay for extra lessons (aka cleaning up, a punishment from a bad teacher). The character learns/practices their talent with the dust and powder left over from the training rocks/discs. The parents are embarrassed by this talent, despite the fact it makes the character the equal or better of their peers.

As for the airbending teacher, I'd be interested in exploring cross-cultural influences; the loose, shifting nature of sand might make air- or waterbending techniques applicable in the same way waterbending was applicable to lightningbending. The character would be thoroughly outclassed by a real sandbender, but the other bending styles would teach them tricks and skills a "pure" sandbender might not know.

[Spiffy]

@McHaggis I was thinking someone about 28-35 years old who utilizes the lightning only in his weapons. (i.e. sword, dagger). He cannot fire it off safely at all and rarely uses it due to it being seen from everywhere. As a spy he only uses it as a last resort. When I said head spy I meant the head in ba sing se. Not of all the fire nation.

[vancexentan]

@McHaggisalright I'll pull out of this roleplay than. The whole reason I wanted to make, and use this character was for a more offensive, and brutal based Air Bender. If I can't do that then I have no interest in changing the rest of the character to go with him. Traditional airbenders are too oriented towards defense, and allowing their opponents to survive when Shin would be all the more willing to break their arms if it stopped the fight, or even kill them if he believed they deserved that.

[McHaggis]

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[Spiffy]

@McHaggis I just didn't want him to be an old man, haha.

I'm a little disappointed about his channelling lightning. In the show, there were things that people said was impossible: metal bending, combustion man, blood bending all the time etc. I wanted to point out a special instance where Mako used lightning constantly without circular motions. He just pointed and zap! Even while he was being blood bended by Amon. No motion necessary, just pointed his two fingers. I don't believe it would be too far to stretch lightning into a specific weapon. Perhaps, a high-officer's sword with specific steel designed to absorb the electricity. At the end of the day, it is your call and I will respect your decision whatever that may be.

For background, could I go for the son of a high-ranking officer, or an officer himself? At his age I believe it would be possible to climb the ranks through hard-work and money.

[McHaggis]

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[71452K]

[Regitnui]

@McHaggis, I'm not assuming handicap. I'm asking that the character is more suited to sandbending.

You do get bloodlines suited to particular aspects of bending. The ability of Fire Nation nobility to exclusively bend lightning in this age as well as (I know it's LoK) Yakone's bloodline to be exceptionally talented at bloodbending is precedent for the character I propose to be able to have a bloodline with a predisposition to sandbending along with normal earthbending.

How about; a Yakone-esque potential to be especially good at sandbending, poor to average at big earthbending acts (maximum is throwing the small military discs with precision). Sandbenders in the family, but forbidden to explore that heritage by family. High (potential) control, low brute force. Sandbending talent that has been stumbled on by accident (like Katara could waterbend before being taught) but clumsy and uncontrolled.

I'm not asking for special. I'm asking for differently skilled.

[Milkman]

I will proberbly have my character finished tomorrow.

[Undine]

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