Avatar: A Legend Reborn

[Prince]

[Themes: Dark Fantasy, Alternate Universe (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Oppression, Rebellion]

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but with her on their side, the world had only hope. A hundred years past and the former Avatar did with it. My brother and I founded the Rising, united a rebellion against the Fire Nation. And although our numbers are great, we have a lot to prove before we can save anyone. But I believe we can save the world.

Introduction

I want to create a roleplay in the Avatar world... without an Avatar. I want this world to be one were the heroes aren't born special and the rebels are the protagonists, where everyone has an equal chance to have a spotlight. I find this in contrast to a few other ideas I've seen, one remarkably similar, in that this roleplay is not centered around saving the Avatar or finding them. This roleplay is quite the opposite: it takes advantage of the time the world is without the Avatar and has no real way of discerning whom the new one is yet. In canon, Aang was not confirmed as the Avatar until the age of 12, so that should leave a solid decade before the Avatar truly becomes a factor.

With that said, I want characters and their bending styles to truly get back to their roots and cultural descent. Strong themes in this roleplay will be the oppression and abuse of almost every Nation aside from the Fire Nation itself. In this world, the Fire Nation will have won. Ozai will be the Pheonix King like his father before him. This world will not be about fighting a war or preventing mass destruction. That's already happened and in the past. This roleplay will be about rekindling resistance and starting a whole new war. This roleplay will be about bringing down a phoenix in hopes that it won't ever raise from the ashes.

Where this becomes an AU

This roleoplay 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.

Now the question is, how did this affect 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 around 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 claim that the Avatar was dead. They willfully handed over 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. With that said, 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 Sozin's Comet. In canon, this would have marked the year 0 BG (before the genocide.) The Air Nation surrendered, 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, this 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 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 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 earlier 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.

Corrected Timeline

Before the death of Aang

Before the Era of Raava (before c.19,855 BPK)

- Tui and La manifest in the physical world, assuming mortal forms as koi fish.
- The Mother of Faces gives birth to Koh, the Face Stealer; however, they later become separated.
- Vaatu breaks through the barriers that separate humans and spirits, allowing both to travel between the spirit and mortal worlds.

Era of Raava (c.19,855 BG — c. 9,855 BPK)
c.19,855 BG — Era of Raava

- Raava, the spirit of light and peace, duels with her counterpart, Vaatu, the spirit of darkness and chaos. The first known Harmonic Convergence occurs.

9,876 BPK — Year of the Dragon

- Wan is born.

9,874 BPK — Year of the Horse

- Jaya is born.

Unknown date before c. 9,859 BPK

- Humans begin to build their cities on the shells of lion turtles to protect themselves from the dangers of the Spirit Wilds. Whenever the people have to venture into the wilds to collect food, the lion turtles bestowed upon the hunters the ability to control one of the elements either being fire, air, water, or earth.

c. 9,858 BPK — Year of the Dog

- Wan steals the element of fire from a lion turtle to incite rebellion and steal food from the Chou family.
- Wan is banished into the Spirit Wilds.
- Wan befriended the spirits and learned the Dancing Dragon firebending form.

c. 9,856 BPK — Year of the Rat

- Wan severs the link connecting Raava and Vaatu, in the process releasing chaos into the world.
- Wan and Raava begin their journey together to master the other elements.

c. 9,855 BG — Year of the Ox

- A large group of firebending settlers, led by Jaya, are killed by dark spirits during the battle in the Spirit Wilds.
- The second known Harmonic Convergence occurs.
- Wan and Raava become permanently bonded, making Wan the first Avatar.
- Wan defeats and locks away Vaatu in an elemental barrier in the hollow of the Tree of Time.
- Wan separates the two realms by sealing the two spirit portals located in the North and South Poles.

First Age of the Avatar (c. 9,829 BG —)
Before war (c. 9,835 BPK — 26 BPK)

Unknown date before 371 BG

- In the advent of the Avatar, the lion turtles collectively decided that their task as protectors of mankind was done and that they would no longer grant any more bending powers.
- The humans begin to wage war against each other, forcing Wan to intervene in order to maintain peace. His efforts, however, are of little success. The violent conflicts continue until his death and beyond. The next Avatar is born into the cycle after Wan's death.
- Wan Shi Tong brings his library from the Spirit World into the physical world.
- The four bending arts are proliferated across humanity, giving way to the establishment of the four nations.
- Humanity splits into the four nations, each divided by the respective elements. The Air Nomads learn the art of airbending from the flying bison, the Earth Kingdom learn the art of earthbending from the badgermoles (Oma and Shu being the first known humans to earthbend), the Sun Warriors learn the art of firebending from the dragons, and the Water Tribes learn the art of waterbending by observing the pull of the moon on the ocean tides.
- A group of waterbenders from the Northern Water Tribe construct a large city out of ice in order to unite the various tribes inhabiting the North Pole region.
Following a civil unrest, the Water Tribe —which was originally centered around the North Pole— splits into two groups: one stayed at the North Pole, while the other group went out to settle the South Pole. Relations with their sister tribe were later healed, and the two tribes would gather together at annual New Moon celebrations.
- A large group of waterbenders from the Southern Water Tribe, who are wandering through the Earth Kingdom, discover the Foggy Swamp and, comfortable with the large amount of water there, decide to stay, forming the Foggy Swamp Tribe. The Southern Water Tribe never learns of this offshoot and the Foggy Swamp Tribe itself later forgets its own origins.
- The Sun Warriors gradually fade into obscurity as their civilization declines, leaving many ruins across their island archipelago. The Sun Warriors are believed to have gone extinct, though in reality a handful hiding in the ruins would continue their culture for centuries. The art of firebending, however, was passed on to the other inhabitants of the islands. These would gradually coalesce into the "Fire Nation" Originally the Fire Nation was a spiritual people ruled by Fire Sages, much as the Air Nomads were led by their monks. Over time, however, one sage rose to prominence above the others, ruling the Fire Nation as a sovereign, and the office became hereditary, beginning the line of Fire Lords.
- The vast Earth Kingdom is gradually united under the political authority of the city-state of Ba Sing Se. The King of Ba Sing Se becomes Earth King, overlord of all of the smaller kingdoms within the Earth Kingdom, some of which retain their own hereditary lordship.
- Avatar Yangchen of the Air Nomads is born in the Western Air Temple, after the death of her predecessor. Her reign as Avatar is a peaceful one, due to her fierce dedication to keeping balance and serving the world. She dies around 371 BPK, and Avatar Kuruk is born in the Northern Water Tribe.
- Avatar Kuruk tries to kill Koh, the Face Stealer, as revenge for stealing the face of his fiancée Ummi. This event is confusing to place chronologically, as if Koh's description of the event is taken literally, it would have happened c. 800-700 BPK, over three hundred years before Kuruk's death.

c. 3,845 BPK

- The airbending Guru Laghima achieves weightlessness, and lives his final forty years without touching the ground.

338 BPK — Year of the Dragon

- Avatar Kuruk dies; Avatar Kyoshi of the Earth Kingdom is born.

c. 306 BPK — Year of the Dog

- Avatar Kyoshi kills the warlord Chin and founds Kyoshi Island; the War of Chin the Conqueror ends with the victory of the Earth Kingdom government. The 46th Earth King restores his reign over the whole Earth Kingdom, though civil unrest begins to spread on the continent. The day of Chin's death is remembered as Avatar Day in Chin Village and Kyoshi Day on Kyoshi Island.
- Sometime after this event, a peasant uprising in Ba Sing Se spurs Kyoshi to create the Dai Li. In the process, the Earth Kingdom is turned into a constitutional monarchy.

108 BPK — Year of the Horse

- Avatar Kyoshi dies at age 230; Avatar Roku of the Fire Nation is born.
- Fire Lord Sozin is born the same day as Roku.

92 BPK — Year of the Dog

- Avatar Roku is confirmed as Avatar at his sixteenth birthday, and leaves the Fire Nation to master the elements.

c. 84 BPK — Year of the Horse

- Fire Lord Sozin ascends the throne, following the death of his father.

81 BPK — Year of the Rooster

- Avatar Roku destroys the Fire Temple on the winter solstice while stuck in the Avatar State during his training.

80 BPK — Year of the Dog

Avatar Roku returns to the Fire Nation after twelve years of travel and marries Ta Min, a noblewoman from the Capital.

76 BPK — Year of the Tiger

- Guru Pathik is born.

59 BPK — Year of the Rabbit

Avatar Roku discovers the first Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom and confronts Fire Lord Sozin. Roku and Sozin engage in battle, resulting in Roku destroying part of the Fire Nation Royal Palace.

34 BPK — Year of the Dragon

Avatar Roku is killed while fighting a volcanic eruption at age seventy; Avatar Aang of the Air Nomads is born.

before c. 24 — 25 BPK

Aang receives his tattoos after inventing the air scooter technique, making him the youngest airbending master in recorded history.

c. 24— 25 BPK

- Aang and his eccentric childhood friend Bumi would slide down the Omashu delivery system for fun.
- Aang played with his friend Kuzon in the Fire Nation

(26 BPK - 0 APK War Years)

26 BPK

- Avatar Aang is confirmed as Avatar at the age of twelve, four years earlier than normal, because the monks were fearful of a possible war. The monks decided to send Aang to the Eastern Air Temple to continue his training. Distraught and confused by his destiny, he flees from the Southern Air Temple with his flying bison, Appa. Upon getting caught in a storm and being pulled underwater, drowning tragically and being found later by search parties from the Eastern Air Temple.
- Fire Lord Sozin begins his war on the other nations. He uses the power of a comet, later renamed Sozin's Comet in his honor, to launch a genocidal attack on the Air Nomads. Instead, he is informed it is "proven" the Avatar is dead and the remaining Airbenders are relocated, then forcefully detained in the Southern Air Temple, which is now essentially a large prison complex.
- c. The city of Taku is destroyed by the Fire Nation.
- Azulon of the Fire Nation is born.
- Avatar Kiareu of the Southern Water Tribe is born.

13 BPK

- Fire Lord Sozin finds and commences the training of Avatar Kiareu, assuring she would not follow the same path as his former friend, Avatar Roku.

6 BPK

- Fire Lord Sozin dies at age 102; Fire Lord Azulon ascends the throne.

4 BPK

- Fire Lord Azulon forces a more reckless, time-pressed advance on the Earth Kingdom, including severing its ties with the Northern Water Tribe.
-Fire Lord Azulon successfully stops all import and export from Ba Sing Se and begins his march on other Earth Kingdom and territory (as well as Water Tribe camps.)
- Fire Lord Azulon and Avatar Kiareu successfully take over Ba Sing Se and execute the Earth King, ending the reign of the Earth Monarch.

0 BPK

- Fire Lord Azulon and Avatar Kiareu successfully breech the frozen walls of the Northern Water Tribe
- The Northern Water tribe agrees to surrender to the Fire Nation after the initial raids on their tribe.
- Pakku, considered the world's greatest Waterbender, is killed.
- The Fire Nation creates the Treaty of the Phoenix, signed by the Air Nation, Earth Kingdom General (former Head of the Dai Li), Southern Water Tribe and now Northern Water Tribe
- The Treaty of the Phoenix ushers in the Age of the Phoenix King

16 APK

- Phoenix King Azulon released the detained Airbenders from the Southern Air Temple and in an attempt to integrate them back into society (and somewhat as an apology for the forty-years of detainment creates new jobs and titles for the cooperative Airbenders.

34 APK

Arnook, future Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, is born. He is the first chief born during the Age of the Phoenix King.

69 APK

- Mai of the Fire Nation is born to a Fire Nation nobleman and his wife.
- Princess Azula is born to Prince Ozai and Princess Ursa.
- Ty Lee and her six identical sisters are born into a noble Fire Nation family.

78 APK

Princess Yue is born to Chief Arnook of the Northern Water Tribe and his wife. A sickly infant, Yue is healed by the Moon Spirit, Tui, by having some of its life spirit infused within her.

79 APK

- Princess Ursa conspires with Fire Lord Ozai to kill Phoenix King Azulon in order to save Zuko and make Ozai Phoenix King. With Azulon's passing at age ninety-five, Ozai succeeds him as Phoenix King and Ursa is banished from the Fire Nation.
- Prince Zuko becomes Heir to the throne of the Fire Nation with his uncle, Iroh, as Fire Lord regent

82 APK

- Avatar Kiareu dies at age 98. Her death is kept secret from the public by Phoenix King Ozai. Not even his brother or son know
- The new Avatar is born in the Earth Kingdom... somewhere..

84 APK

- Knowledge of the death of Avatar Kiareu is leaked to the Rising and the roleplay begins.

Notes

- Because Sozin essentially obliterated the Southern Water tribe in this universe, Azulon was never accredited as being an incredible tactician due to what would have been his chief accomplishment.
- Because Fire Lord Azulon is now accredited with the fall of Ba Sing Se as his chief accomplishment as a tactician, General Iroh was never considered the brilliant mind of his generation. Additionally, Lu Ten never died.
- Because Ozai ascended to the throne too early for Zuko to take the throne (or Azula), General Iroh was made Fire Lord regent. General Iroh has made dragon-hunting a sport with Lu Ten, as his history and persona are significantly different now and Sozin was too busy to encourage the hunt for Dragons in his era.
- Because Pakku, paternal grandfather of Katara and Sokka is killed, Chief Hakoda is never born and thus neither are Katara and Sokka. Kya and Kanna, however, remain the untouched.
- Because of the changes to the Earth Kingdom, Toph is never born.

The Nations

The Phoenix Kingdom
Leader: Phoenix King Ozai

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
Leader: Monk Teyri-yhama

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.

The Fire Nation
Leader: Fire Lord regent Iroh

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
Leader: N/A

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
Leader: Chief Kiroka

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 frmo 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
Leader: Chief Arnook

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.

[bears]

This sounds like the greatest thing every. May I join in on your endeavor?

[ML]

Okay, I'll bite. Can't promise anything, but I do love a good Avatar RP.

[Prince]

There's an OOC and IC started already; it can be found here.