ATLA High Seas AU
Jul. 30th, 2012 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
loopy777And yes, there are pirates!
One hundred years ago, Aang didn't run away from his home in the Southern Air Temple. He stayed, but before he could be transferred to the Eastern Temple, the Fire Nation attacked and changed everything! Everything! Seriously, I'm not fooling, here. On the day of the comet, Aang was the last of the Airbenders to fall, having watched everyone he knew and loved perish in flames. Except something funky happened. Lying in the center of the Hall of Avatar Statues, his body failing, the Avatar State activated. It drew on the power of the spirits of the entire Air Nation, much like the whole nation's love could have been reborn in the form of the unwavering support of a hopeful Water Tribe girl. It drew on the power and anger of all the Avatars that came before. It drew on the power of the Comet above.
It drew on so much power, it became unbalanced.
It knew only pain and desperation, and thirsted only for blood and vengeance. Even as it slaughtered all the Firebenders around it, it reached out into the Void, and much like Aang might have found the call of the last good Lionturtle, the angry Avatar State found the last dark Lionturtle. It whispered of long forgotten powers, of methods that humanity tried to erase from memory. To sustain the dying body of this Airbender boy, the Avatar touched the foreheads of the last few living Firebenders, and feasted on their Qi, using the energy to heal and fortify its physical form. It reached out to the forbidden heavens, and used the power of Earth and Fire to seize the Comet and lock it into a stable orbit. It would become known as the Demon's Moon.
The Demon Avatar moved West towards the Fire Nation, constantly drawing down the heat of the Comet. The world boiled, the poles melted. The Demon Avatar seized control of the Waters, and led a massive tidal wave towards the Fire Nation.
One hundred years later, there is no Fire Nation, just a collection of tiny islands that used to be the Fire Nation's highest elevations, and a bubbling volcano where the Capital Island used to be. The Demon Avatar's temple sits in the center of the lava. The Demon Avatar is sealed within that dark temple. The only things that go into the temple are human sacrifices of powerful benders, so that their Qi might keep the Demon Avatar alive. The only thing that comes out is the booming voice of the Demon, giving commands to its priests living in artificial islands around the volcano.
The world is still warm and tropical, but the Comet has been pushed out and settled into an orbit beyond the senses of any mortal. It is merely a second moon, dusky red in color.
The largest of the former Fire Nation islands is Shu Jing, but all support some form of life. Firebenders are rare among them, and they live like savages, hidden in the shadows of trees and caves, lest the Demon Avatar take notice of them once more.
It is rumored that Sozin's wife fled the Capital before the Demon arrived, one hundred years ago. There are legends that the royal line survived, and a Chosen Prince or Princess will rise again and lead a new age of redeemed and ascendent Firebenders. Among the few Fire Nation descendents who fled to or were trapped in the Earth Kingdom, this is merely a pleasant bedtime story.
The old Water Tribes are gone, killed or scattered across the world, but with so much of the globe now covered in Water, a new culture has emerged. The only thing keeping the Waterbenders in check is that they make easy prey for the priests constantly seeking out powerful benders to sacrifice to the Demon. The oceans are now highly trafficked, plied by fishermen, merchants, and people who simply prefer to live on boats and artificial islands than the Earth. They are descended from all the former nations, but proudly wear blue.
The coasts of the Earth Kingdom suffered heavily during the Flood, but as a single landmass covered in mountains, much of the Earth Kingdom survived. However, its dynamics are completely changed. Ba Sing Se was too close to the coast, and the only thing that saved it was the Demon Avatar's choice to hoard the rising waters for a strike against the Fire Nation. The shaman, astrologists, and academics had time to read the signs, and Ba Sing Se used all its Earthbenders to grow its famous walls even higher. As the seas rose, so did the walls, until Ba Sing Se survived as a hole in the ocean. It built a new way of life based on the seas around it, and also became popular as an exotic tourist attraction. Many come to "The Sunken City" for all manner of thrills, except for the Earth King.
One hundred years ago, the Earth King at the time fled Ba Sing Se rather than trust in its walls. He moved his throne to Gaoling, and sought to appease the Demon Avatar. The Earth King of the modern era does little more than balance the competing interests of its provinces and play the various Governors against each other. He knows, academically, that a certain tithe of powerful Benders are sacrificed from his lands to please the Avatar, but his ministers don't bother him with the messy details. The most powerful of the ministry-families just celebrated the promotion of their scion, General Jet, in the Kingdom's peacekeeping army.
The other great power in the Earth Kingdom are the Bei Fong pirate lords, who command a loose association of pirates from their castle just below where the Northern Air Temple sits empty and looted of its treasures. They Bei Fongs settle all disputes amongst the various pirate fleets, make decisions regarding the ongoing conflicts with the Earth Kingdom, and negotiate with the Water Nomads. It has been years since Lord High Commander Lao and his wife Supreme Master Poppy have sailed. The youngest child of the family, and the heir to the Crown of the Pirate Lord, is a blind girl named Toph. She and her parents hide her Earthbending power, lest she be turned in to the priests as a sacrifice by an ambitious underling.
The commander of the Earth Kingdom's navy is Admiral Long Feng. His main task is to hunt pirates who would prey on Earth Kingdom interests, but as a practical matter, he finds it easier to work with the Bei Fongs. They keep things organized and in control, and they toss him enough wins to solidify his position. (Not to mention the gold and goods they give him.) He is also tasked with hunting down runaway Bender sacrifices on the high seas, a job he takes much more seriously, lest his own Earthbending skills come to light.
A small island once known as Kyoshi is no more, swallowed by both the flooding and its own ancient pet sea monster, The Unagi. If any of its people survived, they have long dispersed and forgotten their heritage. Its only legacy is the order of the Kyoshi Warriors, who are known on the seas as the most honorable and trustworthy group of guards-for-hire. They have a long rivalry with the pirate fleets, and while they have no official opinion of the Demon Avatar, they have never been known to turn over a Bender sacrifice to his priests.
The priests themselves are descended from the so-called "Spiritual Brothers and Sisters" to the Air Nomads. They assembled and followed in the Avatar's wake (literally) as he moved towards the Fire Nation, and built him his temple on the resulting volcano. They are fanatically loyal, but the truth behind their modern culture is that they are true hedonists who take what they want from the rest of the world. Descendents of mixed blood are dispatched as "ambassadors" to the Earth Kingdom and Water Settlements, to oversee the collection of the Bender sacrifices and ensure that no revolutions are brewing. The earliest ambassadors have founded their own dynasties, and the latest generation are nothing more than shallow heirs and heiresses concerned only with their wealth. One girl from the dynasty of the Omashu Ambassadors has discovered a kind of watered-down classic spiritualism, but no one pays much attention to a circus freak like her.
Omashu itself is a haven in the Earth Kingdom. It is landlocked, away from pirates and raiders, and suspicious of strangers. Its last king, Bumi, died of a weak heart decades ago, but he left many plans and secrets in the hands of his most trusted allies. Hidden in the city is the long forgotten Order of the White Lotus. The group's only purpose is to kill the Demon Avatar deader than dead. They've been training and dispatching assassins for the last century, to no avail. They've produced powerful Benders of all three remaining elements, swordsmen of supernatural skill, bombers, trapsters, and all manner of killers. It doesn't matter if a skill like, say, knife-throwing might not do much good against a Demon Avatar, because you never know what skillset might eventually be useful in a plot.
Working on one particular deep-see fishing vessel in the Western Ocean are two hungry siblings named Sokka and Katara. They used to live in a Southern Port Town, raised by their mother, until a tropical storm ravaged the town and left them orphans. They never knew their dad, but their mother insisted that they share a single father. The girl, Katara, is well-paid as a trained Waterbender and Healer, although she hides the true extent of her power. The boy, Sokka, is a tough and scrappy fighter, but he's thinking on some ideas he had for a chronometer accurate enough to tell longitude at sea. They both sleep with knives in their hands in the boats' hold, lest they be attacked by their shipmates and robbed of what little they have.
The lives of these siblings are about to change, thanks to new friends who take them on an epic quest across the seas, to the Temple of the Demon itself!
This is what I think of when bored. I might do some short stories exploring this, but if anyone wants to crib from this idea (even if you file the serial numbers off and publish it as an original novel), feel free.
One hundred years ago, Aang didn't run away from his home in the Southern Air Temple. He stayed, but before he could be transferred to the Eastern Temple, the Fire Nation attacked and changed everything! Everything! Seriously, I'm not fooling, here. On the day of the comet, Aang was the last of the Airbenders to fall, having watched everyone he knew and loved perish in flames. Except something funky happened. Lying in the center of the Hall of Avatar Statues, his body failing, the Avatar State activated. It drew on the power of the spirits of the entire Air Nation, much like the whole nation's love could have been reborn in the form of the unwavering support of a hopeful Water Tribe girl. It drew on the power and anger of all the Avatars that came before. It drew on the power of the Comet above.
It drew on so much power, it became unbalanced.
It knew only pain and desperation, and thirsted only for blood and vengeance. Even as it slaughtered all the Firebenders around it, it reached out into the Void, and much like Aang might have found the call of the last good Lionturtle, the angry Avatar State found the last dark Lionturtle. It whispered of long forgotten powers, of methods that humanity tried to erase from memory. To sustain the dying body of this Airbender boy, the Avatar touched the foreheads of the last few living Firebenders, and feasted on their Qi, using the energy to heal and fortify its physical form. It reached out to the forbidden heavens, and used the power of Earth and Fire to seize the Comet and lock it into a stable orbit. It would become known as the Demon's Moon.
The Demon Avatar moved West towards the Fire Nation, constantly drawing down the heat of the Comet. The world boiled, the poles melted. The Demon Avatar seized control of the Waters, and led a massive tidal wave towards the Fire Nation.
One hundred years later, there is no Fire Nation, just a collection of tiny islands that used to be the Fire Nation's highest elevations, and a bubbling volcano where the Capital Island used to be. The Demon Avatar's temple sits in the center of the lava. The Demon Avatar is sealed within that dark temple. The only things that go into the temple are human sacrifices of powerful benders, so that their Qi might keep the Demon Avatar alive. The only thing that comes out is the booming voice of the Demon, giving commands to its priests living in artificial islands around the volcano.
The world is still warm and tropical, but the Comet has been pushed out and settled into an orbit beyond the senses of any mortal. It is merely a second moon, dusky red in color.
The largest of the former Fire Nation islands is Shu Jing, but all support some form of life. Firebenders are rare among them, and they live like savages, hidden in the shadows of trees and caves, lest the Demon Avatar take notice of them once more.
It is rumored that Sozin's wife fled the Capital before the Demon arrived, one hundred years ago. There are legends that the royal line survived, and a Chosen Prince or Princess will rise again and lead a new age of redeemed and ascendent Firebenders. Among the few Fire Nation descendents who fled to or were trapped in the Earth Kingdom, this is merely a pleasant bedtime story.
The old Water Tribes are gone, killed or scattered across the world, but with so much of the globe now covered in Water, a new culture has emerged. The only thing keeping the Waterbenders in check is that they make easy prey for the priests constantly seeking out powerful benders to sacrifice to the Demon. The oceans are now highly trafficked, plied by fishermen, merchants, and people who simply prefer to live on boats and artificial islands than the Earth. They are descended from all the former nations, but proudly wear blue.
The coasts of the Earth Kingdom suffered heavily during the Flood, but as a single landmass covered in mountains, much of the Earth Kingdom survived. However, its dynamics are completely changed. Ba Sing Se was too close to the coast, and the only thing that saved it was the Demon Avatar's choice to hoard the rising waters for a strike against the Fire Nation. The shaman, astrologists, and academics had time to read the signs, and Ba Sing Se used all its Earthbenders to grow its famous walls even higher. As the seas rose, so did the walls, until Ba Sing Se survived as a hole in the ocean. It built a new way of life based on the seas around it, and also became popular as an exotic tourist attraction. Many come to "The Sunken City" for all manner of thrills, except for the Earth King.
One hundred years ago, the Earth King at the time fled Ba Sing Se rather than trust in its walls. He moved his throne to Gaoling, and sought to appease the Demon Avatar. The Earth King of the modern era does little more than balance the competing interests of its provinces and play the various Governors against each other. He knows, academically, that a certain tithe of powerful Benders are sacrificed from his lands to please the Avatar, but his ministers don't bother him with the messy details. The most powerful of the ministry-families just celebrated the promotion of their scion, General Jet, in the Kingdom's peacekeeping army.
The other great power in the Earth Kingdom are the Bei Fong pirate lords, who command a loose association of pirates from their castle just below where the Northern Air Temple sits empty and looted of its treasures. They Bei Fongs settle all disputes amongst the various pirate fleets, make decisions regarding the ongoing conflicts with the Earth Kingdom, and negotiate with the Water Nomads. It has been years since Lord High Commander Lao and his wife Supreme Master Poppy have sailed. The youngest child of the family, and the heir to the Crown of the Pirate Lord, is a blind girl named Toph. She and her parents hide her Earthbending power, lest she be turned in to the priests as a sacrifice by an ambitious underling.
The commander of the Earth Kingdom's navy is Admiral Long Feng. His main task is to hunt pirates who would prey on Earth Kingdom interests, but as a practical matter, he finds it easier to work with the Bei Fongs. They keep things organized and in control, and they toss him enough wins to solidify his position. (Not to mention the gold and goods they give him.) He is also tasked with hunting down runaway Bender sacrifices on the high seas, a job he takes much more seriously, lest his own Earthbending skills come to light.
A small island once known as Kyoshi is no more, swallowed by both the flooding and its own ancient pet sea monster, The Unagi. If any of its people survived, they have long dispersed and forgotten their heritage. Its only legacy is the order of the Kyoshi Warriors, who are known on the seas as the most honorable and trustworthy group of guards-for-hire. They have a long rivalry with the pirate fleets, and while they have no official opinion of the Demon Avatar, they have never been known to turn over a Bender sacrifice to his priests.
The priests themselves are descended from the so-called "Spiritual Brothers and Sisters" to the Air Nomads. They assembled and followed in the Avatar's wake (literally) as he moved towards the Fire Nation, and built him his temple on the resulting volcano. They are fanatically loyal, but the truth behind their modern culture is that they are true hedonists who take what they want from the rest of the world. Descendents of mixed blood are dispatched as "ambassadors" to the Earth Kingdom and Water Settlements, to oversee the collection of the Bender sacrifices and ensure that no revolutions are brewing. The earliest ambassadors have founded their own dynasties, and the latest generation are nothing more than shallow heirs and heiresses concerned only with their wealth. One girl from the dynasty of the Omashu Ambassadors has discovered a kind of watered-down classic spiritualism, but no one pays much attention to a circus freak like her.
Omashu itself is a haven in the Earth Kingdom. It is landlocked, away from pirates and raiders, and suspicious of strangers. Its last king, Bumi, died of a weak heart decades ago, but he left many plans and secrets in the hands of his most trusted allies. Hidden in the city is the long forgotten Order of the White Lotus. The group's only purpose is to kill the Demon Avatar deader than dead. They've been training and dispatching assassins for the last century, to no avail. They've produced powerful Benders of all three remaining elements, swordsmen of supernatural skill, bombers, trapsters, and all manner of killers. It doesn't matter if a skill like, say, knife-throwing might not do much good against a Demon Avatar, because you never know what skillset might eventually be useful in a plot.
Working on one particular deep-see fishing vessel in the Western Ocean are two hungry siblings named Sokka and Katara. They used to live in a Southern Port Town, raised by their mother, until a tropical storm ravaged the town and left them orphans. They never knew their dad, but their mother insisted that they share a single father. The girl, Katara, is well-paid as a trained Waterbender and Healer, although she hides the true extent of her power. The boy, Sokka, is a tough and scrappy fighter, but he's thinking on some ideas he had for a chronometer accurate enough to tell longitude at sea. They both sleep with knives in their hands in the boats' hold, lest they be attacked by their shipmates and robbed of what little they have.
The lives of these siblings are about to change, thanks to new friends who take them on an epic quest across the seas, to the Temple of the Demon itself!
This is what I think of when bored. I might do some short stories exploring this, but if anyone wants to crib from this idea (even if you file the serial numbers off and publish it as an original novel), feel free.
