Avatar: Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Gang

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Year 48 AG - Year of the Dragon

Azulon has succeeded Sozin as Fire Lord of the Fire Nation. The world is in state of war. The Air Nomads are virtually extinct, the Southern Water Tribe city is destroyed, and the Earth Kingdom struggles to push back the Fire Nation invaders. The dragons are an endangered species.

And caught between all of this is the Sea Dragon Gang, who sails around in the eponymous Sea Dragon. The Sea Dragon is a small sailing ship with two large semi-circular silk sails and a prominent dragon figurehead in the front. It can be operated by either two people, or one skilled sailor. It has enough room in the cabin for up to twelve people. The Sea Dragon is built for speed, and is one of the fastest ships out there. The Sea Dragon is captained by Mizuki, who also uses waterbending to further speed the ship up.

The Sea Dragon Gang are wanted criminals, and are hunted to the four corners of the known world by both the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom. The reasons the gang are hunted are various. Some are enemies of the state, and some are criminals by nature. And some are just guilty by association. Whatever the reason, they have gathered together because each and every one of them has one mutual interest: survival.

The Sea Dragon Gang makes its living through collecting bounties, espionage, and through shipping illegal goods and people. In such a time of war as this, opportunities to make a cheap buck are numerous. However, with almost everyone seemingly out to get them, the gang finds itself constantly on the move from location to location.

One thing leads to another, and the gang soon finds itself in a mess that was much more than they bargained for. A seemingly simple mission gets them caught in a turning point that decides the very fate of the Avatar World.

This story is based upon Avatar The Last Airbender. I recommend watching all of A:TLA first before taking part in this roleplay. Watching The Legend of Korra might be helpful in understanding a few story elements, but it's hardly necessary.

The story events are set decades before Aang is discovered.

You get to roleplay a member of the Sea Dragon Gang, and decide both who this character is and what skills they bring to the table.

How the Skills and Elements system works: you have the choice of playing a character who has either anyone of the four elements (you can even play an Airbender if you want), or you can play a character who has no bending ability at all.

If you play a bender, you begin the game with two different bending techniques, plus two skills. At various points in the game, I will announce in the discussion page that your characters advance a level. With each level, you pick a new bending technique or upgrade an existing bending technique. With each fourth level, you pick a new skill.

This is where non-benders have the advantage. You begin the game with three skills, and you pick a new skill every second level.

• Name:
• Age: A character must be at least thirteen years of age; otherwise characters can be any age. Unlike in the original series, where the main characters are mostly adolescents to cater to the child demographic, here I won't focus so much on that.
• Nation: Fire Nation, Air Nomad, Water Tribe, or Earth Kingdom.
• Appearance: I prefer that you use descriptions. Write what you like. I will accept drawings so long as there is detail, and if drawing approaches a publishable standards.
• Element: Just skip this if you aren't playing a bender. Does your character bend Fire, Air, Water, or Earth? What two techniques do they know to begin with?
• Skills: Skills are a mixture of mundane abilities which do not involve bending. They can be mental skills, such as deception or lore, technical skills, such as demolitions or navigation, or creative skills, such as art or story-telling. Being good with a weapon counts as a skill.
• Equipment: Any gear your character uses, such as armour, weapons, accessories, navigational equipment, instruments, or medicine.
• Backstory: Where did your character grow up? How did their experiences shape who they are? How did your character acquire their skills, or learn their bending powers? How did your character come to join the Sea Dragon Gang?
• Personality: Again, write what you like. The more depth the character has, the more enthusiastic I'll be in having them aboard.
• Other info: If you're really itching to say things about your character which doesn't fit in the above categories, this goes here.

Once your character build is accepted, you will be listed among the players involved in this roleplay.

I require active posting from players. If you're going to be away for a couple of weeks or so, please say so and we can work out a way to explain your character's absence in the story. If you want to leave, let us know.

Accepted Characters

• Mizuki, played by Jumpin' Jack Flash (GM)
• Katsu played by 3of 4
• Prithvi, played by Scorpio Rat
• Shouren Midou, played by Nick The Swing
• Xue Shehui, played by The Big Bean
• Sharif al-Jita, played by Red Cedar
• Mala, played by silverpunk
• Choden Samdup, played by Stratofarius
• Sohan, played by Truth Hurts 22
• Lanyin Xiang, played by amporiusrex
• Hosu, played by Kosjurake
• Haile Selasie, played by Tojin

edited 9th Nov '14 6:23:32 AM by JumpinJackFlash

• Name: Mizuki
• Age: 24
• Nation: Water Tribe
• Appearance: 5”6, slender, olive brown skin, raven-black hair that ripples down below her shoulders, and opal blue eyes with a slightly wild gaze, set in a elven face. Mizuki wears a blue silk bandana, large silver crescent earring in her left ear, light-grey pants with knee-high black leather working boots, black garb with an open neck and long sleeves – the garb is not a fancy silk one but a tough cotton one for wear and tear – and a blue silk sash around her waist. Her mouth forms a cheeky half-smile most of the time – when she isn’t in the mood for smiling you know there’s something wrong. Mizuki’s voice has a musical rhythmic quality to it that lures in a lot of people.
• Element: Waterbender
  • Water Whip: Mizuki can bend water to create a lashing tendril of water. It is a useful means of disarming opponents – not to mention knocking them senseless – and the whip can be sharpened to be a lethal cutting tool.
  • Healing: Mizuki can use her waterbending to redirect the chi in a person’s body towards injuries. Many serious injuries, such as burns and open wounds, can be treated half a minute through her healing powers. However, diseases take longer to treat.
• Skills:
  • Deception: Mizuki is very skilled in changing her body language to match the nature of her lies, which makes her a skilled gambler. She also has the creativity necessary to cook up convincing lies through the facts around her.
  • Seafaring: Mizuki is highly skilled in the sailing of many different kinds of ships, and this has allowed her to sail the eponymous ‘’Sea Dragon’’ her crew inhabits. She is skilled with reading the tides, air currents, and stars to determine location, and has knowledge of navigational skills.
• Equipment: Large water skin filled with mineral water, tumbling dice, Pai Sho set, compass, backstaff, various maps and waterbending scrolls, a 14-inch silver knife with a recurved blade and a thin tube in the handle to lodge a small phial, black leather sheave for the knife, various coloured phials filled with poison, a pouch containing the currencies of various communities, another pouch for medicinal herbs.
• Backstory:
  • Mizuki was born in the Southern Water Tribe city sometime back in 23 AG. She had a happy childhood, which she spent playing with the otter seals and bending snowballs with the other kids. From a young age, she proved herself a skilled liar when she could invent excuses on the spot when caught up to trouble. Her father was a sailor, and showed her how to operate many ships, both large and small. Her mother was a waterbender, and taught her healing techniques.
  • Her father went off to fight a war against the Fire Nation when she was thirteen, and from there her life got worse. A few months since then, Mizuki got a letter saying her father died during the war. Little more than two years later, shortly after she turned sixteen, the Fire Nation invaded the Southern Water Tribe. They destroyed the city, massacred her people, and the survivors were shipped off to prisons. Mizuki managed to escape the massacre by hiding in a house, ambushing a female soldier, and then slipping out in disguise.
  • All the people Mizuki ever cared about were either dead or in chains and sent off to who-knows-where. And she has not loved since then. Her experiences made her cold and ruthless. Once she slipped off to a shady backwater Earth Kingdom city, she quickly found a niche for herself in that city as a con artist through her beauty and deceit. She rose in her position until her work involved bounty hunting, espionage, and even assassination throughout the Earth Kingdom – all while still in her teens. To further aid herself in her work, Mizuki took to learning more lethal forms of waterbending, hence her learning water whips.
  • Until one day, on her 21st birthday, Mizuki remembered how her father used to take her out on trips in his boat so they could watch the Aurora lights that played on the ragged ice sheets around her home. She had just conned a rich merchant out of his ship – the Sea Dragon – in a game of dice. She decided to sail the harbour outside of the Earth Kingdom city in order to try and relive those memories. There were no Aurora lights, but the Full Moon was up and the cool wind blew through her hair, and it was the first time she felt that good about herself. This made her decide not to kill another person ever again, because she felt so bitter about killing. She wanted to return to some shred of childlike innocence through such a gesture of respect for life. However, Mizuki could not return to a normal life because she was wanted throughout the Earth Kingdom as a dangerous criminal, and the Fire Nation saw her as the enemy because of her waterbending. So Mizuki decided to leave the criminal underworld and work solo as the captain of the Sea Dragon, while moving from place to place to escape capture. That was until other people started to join her…
• Personality:
  • In some respects, Mizuki has not changed since childhood. She still has a thirst for excitement. She can inspire others through her enthusiasm, as well. However, Mizuki’s mood is very much subject to change. In the space of a few hours, you may also find her brooding in a dark corner of the Sea Dragon.
  • Mizuki is highly sociable. Whenever the gang touches down in a new port, she is ingratiating herself with the locals. She’s a bit of a flirt, and doesn’t take gender into consideration either.
  • Mizuki is mostly an unscrupulous woman. Her only rule is “no killing”, but that doesn’t stop her from blackmailing, deceiving, or poisoning her enemies. She does like helping people, so long as it doesn’t inconvenience her, but she acts mostly in her own interest. Thus she has no problems with stealing from or conning hapless fools. The “no killing” rule is something she struggles with occasionally when killing may better her interests in some way.
  • She enjoys gambling, sailing fast through dangerous waters just to prove she can, and likes to crack wise even in dire situations.
• Other info: Nothing else to add here.

edited 11th Oct '14 3:18:28 AM by JumpinJackFlash

• Name:Katsu
• Age: 18
• Nation: Fire Nation
• Appearance: 5'7", slender build and bright skin. Black Hair goes down below the chin in a bob-cut and fire-blue eyes. By Fire Nation Standards, and with proper grooming (which she does not), she would probably be considered classically beautiful, with a full mouth and slim eyebrows. Her usual garb consists of red pants, soldier-boots and a black jacket, mostly open, as well as fighting bracers. Underneath she either wears a think shirt (if suitably cold) or a wide red bandeau (when not), revealing her midriff. Her face sports a severe look most of the time, and her voice sounds firm. If someone makes her laugh, she might sound surprisingly girl-ish though.
• Element: Fire
  • Fire-Blasts: Katsu fires concentrates blasts of fire out of her kicks and punches.
  • Fire Daggers: Meant for close-combat in the cramped confines of a ship, Katsu creates short, hot blowtorch-jets out of her closed fists.
• Skills:
  • Navy: While primarily trained on Fire Nation ships, she she fully capable of navigating on the oceans as well as all the other skills this implies. She is a bit less confident with the Sea Dragon, but quickly learns. As a side effect of being trained on mechanical ships, she has a working knowledge of engineering...and crude explosives by knowing what not to do.
  • Combat: Even outside of her Bending, Katsu was trained and reared for fighting a war. And more, she was expected to be a leader of men, not just another soldier. She has received tuition in tactics and strategy, both domestic and foreign. While mostly focused on naval topics, she also has some knowledge of land based combat. Her knowledge of Fire Nation bureaucracy also allows her to fake documents to a degree.
• Equipment: Having lost most of her normal equip back when she had to flee. These days she owns a number of firebending scrolls (purchased in the occupied lands), books on military topics, a small set of engineering tools as well as a calligraphy set and a field tea set.
• Backstory:
  • Katsu is the daughter of a Fire Nation Admiral and was thus expected to follow in his, and many of her ancestors, footsteps as a seafaring Warrior of the Fire Nation. She thus grew up being tutored in both firebending and all the other skills a future officer would need. She completed basic training under the Domestic Forces by the time she was 16 and set out for a tour of duty as a mere crew rating, before advancing to Officer School.
  • But after returning to the Fire Nation she witnessed the mistreatment of captured prisoners of war. What words were exchanged between her and the Prisoner Guard are not known but the Agni-Kai that followed was the source of a well-known scandal.
  • Katsu, after years of tutoring by Firebending Soldiers, misjudged the force of her final attack and instead of just burning her opponent, she delivered a lethal strike, killing him before dozens of witnesses.
  • The guard, as it turned out, had connections to influential families himself and his relatives came after Katsu with a vengeance. Her Agni-Kai was declared illegal and she was charged with deliberate murder of a "brother officer". Her father, in shame, disavowed and disowned her. She was convicted and expected either death or life in prison.
  • In the end, the crewmates of her former ship saved her, managing to help her escape on the eve of her sentencing and smuggling her on a freight-ship to the occupied Earth Kingdom, leaving her free and alive, but a fugitive.
  • When she attempted to cross into the Earth Kingdom she was arrested and was to be imprisoned simply for the crime of being Fire Nation. Busting out of the prison, she escaped, now a fugitive twice over.
• Personality:
  • Katsu is somber, maybe sometimes even severe. She was trained to military standards and thus gets sometimes a bit flustered when dealing with non-military solutions. She also hides a deep anger about the way she had to leave her home, being shunned and convicted for doing a right thing. In combat, Katsu is focused and aggressive, but sometimes hesitating when it comes to finishing moves.
  • Being on the run from the Fire Nation has started to show her the truth beyond the propaganda she grew up with. The fact that the Earth Kingdom wanted to arrest her for being a Fire Nation citizen has not endeared it to her.
  • While she by now disagrees on the Fire Nations actions, she still considers herself a child of it, stating that every Nation has made mistakes, and that one day the Avatar will return not to punish her homeland but to bring balance to it again.
  • Katsu herself is not about snarking, though more in a form of gallows humor, outright futzing by others is known to shock her out of her serious shell sometimes. Those few who are willing to prank her might even discover a serious temper hidden inside her.
  • When dealing with strangers (and often enough comrades), Katsu usually acts all-business, soldier-like, hiding behind the shell of training and routine. In the few, and rare, moments she feels relaxed enough to come out of the shell, she tends to be supportive and encouraging, willing to listen and even give advice if she feels she can. In these situations, she seems very deliberative when choosing words and actions, at odds with her usual fast and decisive behavior.
  • While not a verbally supportive person most of times, Katsu is very willing to help her comrades, take over a watch shift, help with repairs, etc. She is also far more willing to use aggressive fire bending moves in defending a comrade than herself.
  • She very very rarely speaks of why she is a fugitive from her home nation, only stating that she is a "Deserter" when asked.

edited 17th Oct '14 9:18:28 AM by 3of4

Name: Prithvi, but he's fine with being called Prith.

• Age: 21

• Nation: Earth Kingdom

• Appearance: Prithvi is 5'5" but built very solid, with square shoulders and a thick torso and arms. He has shoulder length straight brown hair that he ties back with a piece of rope to keep out of his face, and deeply tanned skin. A green square stone is always in the middle of his forehead, where his "Third Eye" would be. He wears a green and light yellow Earth Kingdom army tunic with the long sleeves torn off, and long brown pants ending in a pair of dark leather boots. Prith also wears a brown belt with the Earth Kingdom symbol as the buckle, which he ties some of his supplies to.

• Element: Earth.

-Earth Wall: Prithvi can pull the earth together into a rough wall shape (and pull one down), letting him block attacks and close off areas. The walls can be shattered with enough force applied to it. Bigger and thicker walls take more time for him to bend and move around, and he sticks with 8 feet high and a few feet thick as his limit so far.

-Earth Projectiles: He can control launch chunks of rock at high speed by punching, but smaller rocks are more accurate and he can't lift and throw anything bigger than the size of a cannonball.

• Skills:

-Sharpshooter: He's been hunting with a slingshot since he was a child, and has developed very keen eyesight and near impeccable aim from all the practice. He uses this to serve as the Sea Dragon Gang's lookout while on the ocean, and becomes a "gunner" when they're pursed by other ships.

-Expert hunter: He can track both animals and people on land, as well as construct simple snares to catch them.

• Equipment:

-A green rice picker hat styled helmet and some banged up plate armor he stole a while ago from the Earth Kingdom army.

-A simple but effective wood and rubber sling shot and a leather pouch of tiny rocks for ammo

-Rope and metal bits to construct traps

-A retractable telescope he bought while on the run

-A simple metal shovel he brought from home, used for digging and doubles as a clumsy blunt force weapon.

• Backstory: Prithvi was born in 27 AG, in a small Earth Kingdom farming village outside Omashu. He grew up working on his family's ranch, tending to crops and their livestock. During that time, he was taught to track and hunt in the nearby woods, but his earthbending stayed subpar and untrained as neither of his parents knew how to teach him.

At age 18, the City of Omashu called for a draft to add troops to the Earth Kingdom army, and started forcefully recruiting young boys and girls alike from the other towns in the state. Earthbenders were especially favored, and Prith was quickly dragged off to boot camp against his will. After a solid 2 months of training, he learned to earthbend more effectively and improved his aim even more, but Prith still had no desire to fight in a war. The night before he was to be sent to the front lines, he stole some armor and supplies and ran for it. The state branded him a deserted and gave chase, sending soldiers to hunt him down for punishment.

For 4 long years he kept moving around the Earth Kingdom, always trying to stay ahead of the law as he worked odd jobs for money and food. Eventually, he ran into Mizuki and her ship the Sea Dragon, and joined her crew for a steadier job and the protection of the open ocean.

• Personality: Prithvi isn't quite paranoid, but he has become far more cautious over recent years, and he tries his best to not stand out while walking around in public, keeping to himself. Besides that, he is highly loyal to his fellow crew members, and even if he wants to run from most conflict, he won't abandon someone in the lurch. He's not a very good liar, and so leaves the deceit up to others and focuses on doing the heavier work as best he can. When he's not trying to keep a low profile, he's very curious about the people and places he sees, along with the concept of spirits. He enjoys hiking in the woods and has an interest in reading books, something he didn't have much access to in his hometown. He dreams of finding a way to clear his criminal charges and eventually returning to his farm after the war ends. After traveling around for so long, he also aspires to become a scholar, collecting knowledge on the world's cultures.

• Other info: He's a little jumpy around fire benders, because of all the horror stories about the Fire Nation that travelled around the Earth Kingdom during the war.

edited 21st Oct '14 7:48:35 AM by ScorpioRat

I am so in. Sheet soon!

@30f 4: I'd like to see more dimensions to Katsu first. What situations cause her to break her seriousness? How does she act when she's not being serious? How is she around other people, as well as those she knows well (such as our crew)? Otherwise Katsu's a good character.

@Scorpio Rat: Just a few things I was wondering about first. What interests does Prithvi have? What are his hopes and aspirations?

@The Big Bean: I await your character sheet with anticipation.

edited 11th Oct '14 6:12:31 PM by JumpinJackFlash

I added some more to the personality section.

@Scorpio Rat: Prith is good to go.

edited 11th Oct '14 11:42:37 PM by JumpinJackFlash

Added a bit. Anything more?

That's plenty. I'm listing your character right now.

So I have an idea. Namely, an Earth Kingdom scholar whose desire for knowledge stems from an even deeper desire to accomplish his family's dream of completing a truly comprehensive guide to life (sorta like a proto-encyclopedia).

However, the Earth Kingdom's academic community is too noble- as in, it focuses on the lives of the rich and powerful instead of the people- and too prissy- restricting itself from chronicling true experiences- and in order to truly complete his guide, my character has renounced his association with the academic community and the Earth Kingdom as a whole, taking to a life of crime simply to fund his ventures, which leads to him joining the Sea Dragon Gang as their chronicler, money guy, everything.

But my character's cold behavior and love for rules and order is manifesting itself in dark ways without the restrictions that come from living in a city, following things like morals and ethics, and he may find himself turning to darker ways to fullfil his desires. How does that sound?

On an aside, I think it'd be kind of weird to allow Air Nomads... I mean, it wouldn't be 'the Last Airbender', would it?

Remember that this is set decades before Aang is discovered. Airbenders in this roleplay now will be dead by the time of the main series. But yeah, airbenders are an anomaly, and any airbenders will look very conspicuous to NP Cs.

I don't have problems with amoral characters in the crew, so long as it doesn't get taken to grim-dark levels. This roleplay is a little darker than the main series because we're not shying away from saying "dead" and other variants of that word, and characters can get poisoned or bleed. But it's not like there's going to be any profanity, explicit violence, or anything sexual. The overall tone is still fairly optimistic.

I see.

I can work with that, and the character I had in mind. Optimism never hurt anyone, and writing optimistically should be a good exercise.

• Name: Shouren Midou
• Age: 24
• Nation: Water tribe
• Appearance: Shouren is a quite eerie looking customer, having almost constantly matted down, light hair that is somewhere between very light blue and albine silver, and correspondingly, he looks rather pale. He has a very thin, gangly build that make him look a deal younger than he actually is. While he's normally be some sort of Pretty Boy, he's thin enough that it gives him less attractive traits than normal. He wears a black jacket over a torn up looking blue shirt, gray slacks, and boots. Shouren is noted to have a lot of scars across his body, and he seems to feel them as if they were still fresh wounds, resulting in a withdrawn posture, and a dislike of touching that results in him trying to keep himself from touching people.

• Element: Water. However, due to his teacher's...preferences, he's only capable of Bloodbending at the start...and nothing else.

• Skills: He is a skilled manipulator, and can be a skilled planner.

• Equipment: He carries some herbal medicine – it hurts like you're being submerged in Naraka, but it'll cure you right back up.

• Backstory: Shouren was brought up by a man who was very strict with him and his six younger sisters, but was lackadaisical and outgoing when in public. When he was seen to have a talent for certain less common Bending talents, his father encouraged these to develop to the point of neglecting to teach him anything else. To this end, he ended up learning Bloodbending and only Bloodbending, being capable, like a certain Masked Man, of using it outside of the Moon's light.

How he ended up with the Gang is a long story. First he ran away from home, deciding he could not handle how two-faced everyone was. This pretty much shaped the kind of person he would grow up to be. He ended up hitching a ride and ending up involved with a group of Anti-Fire Nation Insurgents, who, despite using him basically as a servant, treated him better than his father did.

They all ended up captured by the Fire Nation, but after a beating delivered to him, he awoke his “power” and Bloodbended his captors to escape. He ran and ran, never being able to stay in one place. He learnt his “skills” in order to make sure he wouldn't be put back “in the dark place”. Eventually, he found his way to the Gang, and his manipulative abilities, plus his Bloodbending prowess, proved to be intriguing.

• Personality: Shouren is, while a manipulator and “user”, someone who has a strange tendency to look at himself and become ashamed of himself for using his talents in such a way. In his point of view, he was broken by a world that valued people that have two faces over people who have merely one. He acknowledges that his activities are probably not good, and that the father he started to emulate was not a good role model either, but finds it difficult to change his track. He acts like he has a plan in mind going forward, but its mostly just acting – he doesn't have a “grand master plan”, he's just acting like he does because “people expect there to be one.” While he lets himself get tied up in You Can't Fight Fate and particularly perplexing Honor Before Reason, he does have a tremendously snarky personality, and a wise remark for every little bit of nonsense he comes across. And even though he's a manipulative guy, there's a few lines even he won't go across, and he takes an extremely dim view of anyone who does cross these lines. Case in point; hurting children.

• Other info: His favorite food is fried seaweed.

Your comment "at the start" suggests Shouren will eventually learn other waterbending techniques. This is okay with me, so long as Shouren doesn't start learning them until a few levels later. I can have Mizuki teach him some techniques she knows, as an opportunity for building chemistry between them.

I take it Manipulation and Strategy are his two skills, then.

And as for the tone of character, I think it's been toned down enough. Shouren's still creepy, but not in a psycho kind of way. In fact, he's now less creepy than Azula. So it feels more natural for the direction of this roleplay. I'm listing your character.

Oh no, I'm not planning on going full grimdark. It's just that I wanted to apply some 'philosophy' (I say it in quotes because I'm not a philosophy geek in any way, shape or form, just a... mild fan of the subject) to the character, exploring the idea of what it means to be in a society, morals and ethics, that kind of stuff. Which isn't new to the Avatarverse, especially after Legend of Korra.

I see his transition as being from a mild-mannered scholar to a contained sociopath- that word immediately brings to people's head the image of a murderer, but a sociopath is someone whose 'whose behavior is antisocial and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience', so it doesn't always imply murder. A lot of the basis from this character is coming from Mads Mikkelsen's performance as Hannibal Lecter from the Hannibal TV show: his voice, mannerisms, demeanor... just without the gore and the cannibal stuff.

I figured that was where you wanted to go with your character. I sort of envisioned an early Scrooge Mc Duck (before he went too nice and became like Bill Gates) when I read your ideas.

Anyway, I'm very keen to see what you come up with for your character. It's refreshing to have a Token Evil Teammate who's not all "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"

edited 13th Oct '14 3:10:10 AM by JumpinJackFlash

If the idea is acceptable in its current state, I'll get to work on a sheet as soon as possible.

• Name: Xue Shehui
• Age: 32
• Nation: Formerly of the Earth Kingdom.
• Appearance: A tall man (approximately 6'1), Xue is very slender, to the point many believe he is sickly. He hides this slenderness with the appropriate amount of clothings, although those don't stop people from comparing him to a stick. It doesn't help that his face is long, square, with droopy eyes and an almost permanent frown, complementing the look. Small shoulders and long arms top the entire thing off, which is hidden by a beige and green nobleman's tunic, with a green and yellow cap holding his unruly hair down. His green, slightly puffy pants end in sharp shoes- the kind you'd see a genie wearing.
• Element: Earthbender, but believes himself to be a non-bender.
• Skills:
  • Photographic Memory: A sharp eye and an even sharper eye allows him to recollect even the smallest detail of something he has seen.
  • Know-It-All: His photographic memory, combined with his family's extensive collection of books has led to him knowing a huge number of academic subjects as if they were the palm of his hand.
• Equipment: Has a round, tubular backpack in which he keeps several blank scrolls, writing equipment, and a telescope.
• Backstory:
  • The Shehui family are a mainstay of Ba Sing Se, their library a sign of pride for those who live in the city. One of the first families to settle in what would become the Earth Kingdom, the Shehui have, since the beginning of their history, established themselves as collectors of knowledge. That designation evolved with time, going from physicists to philosophists, from mathematicians to teachers. Their original house is now a library open for students of all educational establishments who wish to drink from the finest well of wisdom in Ba Sing Se to enhance their studies. Ever since the Shehui family received a giant payment from the Earth King to turn their house into a public building, they have been living in wealthiness on a mansion in the finest neighborhood near the Earth King's palace. The tradition to mingle with the poor and give them lessons has long been abandoned, and the Shehui have almost turned into private teachers for the rich. To pay for a Shehui to teach your child is to give him or her a certain path to success.
  • And whilst this status quo is appreciated by most members of the Shehui family, it wasn't for Xue, for he was the child of Gan Shehui, the man who desired to create a comprehensive, complete and easy to read guide to the entire world. Everything, from the more objective to the more subjective sciences, compiled in one book. This task was not only daunting, but expensive, which led to Gan's wife, Sheng, doing even more private classes. So when Xue was born, none of his parents had time for him. The Shehui family legacy was a very distant thought for the small boy, and since he never had his mother or his father's attention, he often stood on the outskirts of his neighborhood, watching the poor people live their lives.
  • Gan Shehui, the great collector, died when Xue was only fifteen. It was a time of woe, but it was also a time of discovery. Xue's gift for understanding society was already known by his grandparents, and they were devising plans with his mother to use that gift to further the Shehui family's position in the Earth Kingdom society. Sheng, seeing that her child was ostracizing himself from others at school, his thought proccess overshadowing even the teachers, decided to encourage him to seek a hobby. Unfortunately, he chose the hobby of completing his father's work. At age 29, Xue was barely through the first quarter of his book when tragedy struck the family yet again. His mother died at the hands of an Earthbender who lived in the poorer sections of Ba Sing Se. His grandparents, hanging onto their last strands of life, counted on Xue to keep fueling their rich lifestyle. But on his mother's funeral, he stood up and delivered a scathing speech against them, denouncing their actions and exclaiming that their choices had tainted the Shehui's family name. The reason his father couldn't complete his book was because the family's now-corrupt ideals were holding him back. Now holding a sharper tongue and an even colder outlook on life, Xue renounced his Earth Kingdom citizenship. If he wanted to offer a truly comprehensive guide to life, he could not bind himself to any kind of shackle. His last act as a member of the Shehui family was to pass the torch to his cousins, who were glad to become the main strand of the Shehui name.
  • At age 30, now living as a do-it-all all over the Earth Kingdom, Xue continued to work on his book, sending scrolls every month to his childhood sweetheart who lived outside the walled city. She, with the help of his cousins, would compile the book once Xue's work was complete. Whilst studying prisons and the reasoning behind them, Xue found himself face to face with the man who murdered his mother. The truth came out after a few minutes of conversation: the man was framed. Xue's mother had been giving lessons to the poor people of Ba Sing Se for years, and when she died on an unfortunate accident, he was blamed for the death. That wasn't the most shocking revelation, though: the man told Xue how he was one of Sheng's first students, and how the two were intimate. It didn't take a lot of math for Xue to understand that, perhaps, his separation from the Shehui family had its roots on his true family tree. If this had happened to him years ago, perhaps Xue would have cried. Or even smiled. But after the man told him his life story, Xue only... looked at him. He could not feel a thing. That thought... troubled Xue. But he thought that perhaps freeing this man would help him feel something. Acting as his lawyer, Xue used the laws of the land to free the man... but when he saw him getting frisky with a few ladies of the night on the day of his liberation, Xue knew that he couldn't gain a single thing more from that man. His usefulness had been spent.
  • At age 32, Xue discovered that if he wanted to improve on his writings, he'd have to become a true nomad, and break the last shackle holding him- that of the law. Following clues laid out by previous contacts, he found the Sea Dragon Gang, and after offering his services as chronicler, master of coin and diplomacy expert in return for a spot in their group, Xue found a new place to continue his studies. Yet, it was here, in the sea, that he found himself being tugged at from two unknown forces. One, no longer bound by morals put upon him by the laws, telling him to go wild and truly understand what made society tick and what made it tock... and one telling him to return to the earth, for that was his true place. It is here, at these crossroads of destiny, that Xue currently finds himself in.
• Personality: Cold, detached and calculating. Those are the three words in which Xue's entire personality is built on. It is common for people to believe that he cannot smile, as the sight of the sides of his lips curling up is rarer than a dragon these days. However, that is not true. Whilst Xue's behavior can at times seem purposefully angering- as if he is poking and prodding at your very core, trying to see what makes you clench your fists and grit your teeth, just so he can learn more and nothing else- he does have in him the things one needs to feel for others. He can smile, yes, he can cry, yes, and he can do everything else. It's all just buried under ten layers of depressing thoughts, a mistrust of everything and a desire to see his father's dying wish finally completed- if that man was really his father.
• Other info: Xue doesn't know he's an earthbender (a result of his mother's affair or just a genetic mistake?), and due to his upbringing, his abilities haven't yet appeared- and we're unsure if they ever will.

You're putting yourself at a disadvantage in having your character's bending abilities be inert while having the same number of skills as a bender. If you don't ever intend on Xue learning earthbending during the events of this roleplay, I can treat him as a non-bender and let him learn more skills.

I'm also a little concerned as to how Xue will handle himself if he gets forced into a fight.

Otherwise your character is great. There's multiple dimensions going on, some of them pointing to various routes of character development.

I have a submission to make. I'm not sure if I'll be able to stay with the game all the way through, as my future is a bit uncertain right now, but I see no reason why I shouldn't give it a shot, and I can certainly make at least one post a day. So, here is my character idea.

Name: Sharif al-Jita

Age: 37

Nation: Earth Kingdom (Si Wong Tribesman)

Appearance:

Sharif is a short, solid block of a man, still heavily muscled, though age has begun to soften the hard lines of his frame. His arms and legs retain the most strength, compared to the rest of him, speaking to a lifetime of hard work, but his gut has just begun to expand.

He has a face like a gnarled knot on the scrub trees that mark the desert's edge, all deep furrows and skin like bark, burned the characteristic golden brown of the desert tribes from the sun. His head is shaved like a monk, but he retains a goatee that is mostly grey, with only a few dark brown patches left. His eyes are such a dark brown as to be nearly black.

Sharif tends to wear practical clothes, with his normal outfit being a simple short-sleeved robe over knee-length pants, held shut by a worn leather belt. He generally goes barefoot, with a pair of grass sandals hanging from his belt in the event he feels the need for them. A short, heavy fisherman's knife is thrust through his belt.

Skills:

-Carpentry: Sharif's skill with timber and wood has been earned over a lifetime spent aboard ships and when the ship is damaged, he is the first to know and to do what can be done to fix it until they can reach a proper shipyard. With land-based carpentry, though, he is less skilled, but still competent.

-Seamanship: Sharif's expertise is all with sailing ships, mostly the smaller, flat-bottomed vessels of the Si Wong tribes, though in his long travels, he has learned much about other such ships, such as sampans, junks, fast crabs, and scrambling dragons, as riverboats are called. He can tie knots, mend sails, set sails, maneuver a ship, and catch and gut fish. However, since fishing boats rarely stray too far out of sight of land, and neither did his navy, his navigational skills are extremely lacking, particularly on the open ocean.

-Swordsmanship: Sharif was an excellent student of the Five Sword Dances style, having reached the Fourth Dance at his peak, before he left to take up his duties with his navy. However, he is older and slower than he was, and does not practice very much, so he would be horribly rusty if he ever wished to fight again in anything beyond a tavern brawl.

Equipment:

A heavy scimitar, spare clothes and sandals, carpenter's tools,

Backstory:

Sharif is a rarity among the tribes, having grown up in one of the fishing villages on the northern border of the tribal territory, where wealth is to be found in date trees and fishing boats. His father was a fisherman when the need was great, but most of the time he was helping to repair and maintain the village's little fleet, and Sharif was to follow in his footsteps.

He was a boy of fifteen when his talent for the blade became visible. An Earth Kingdom pirate ship raided the village. The sandbenders and warriors of the tribe beat them off, but at one point, the battle spilled into the village proper and Sharif killed his first man with only his gutting knife. The act was brought to the attention of the leader of the warriors, who offered the boy a chance to study under the tribe's swordmasters on the strength of said warrior's own name and wealth.

Sharif had four other siblings, and his father was anxious for him to advance in such a way, so he accepted, and for the next four years, trained in the Five Sword Dances style that the desert tribes practiced. His skill and talent proved that he had been a good investment and in good time, he took over the protection of the northern coast, making his tribe's tiny navy a force to be reckoned with by any pirate who thought to prey upon the fisherfolk and trade vessels of the great inland lakes of the Earth Kingdom under his watch. After many forays against both pirates and even Earth Navy vessels that came demanding tribute, he became fairly well known. He even took a wife and began a family in his home village, confident that he would end his days much as his ancestors had.

However, as with all things, it did not last. He was thirty-four when a terrible plague struck. Through some cruel trick of destiny, Sharif lived, but his wife and older two children did not, leaving only an infant girl. Grief-stricken, he searched for answers. When the priests of his tribe came, they declared the plague the work of a dark spirit, called down upon the northern coast by a hostile shaman of some kind. Sharif immediately abandoned his duties and family and left in search of that person.

He made his living as a bounty hunter, mercenary, and sailor, putting to use his skill with ships and swords, and hunting down every priest, shaman, and sage he could find, looking for the one who loosed sickness upon his people.

After three years, he was no closer to his goal, and began to believe that the priest had lied to comfort his village and that there was no shaman. He had been eager to believe there was because he could not face the responsibility of caring for the remnants of his family. But by that same token, he couldn't go back and face them now and was ashamed of his weakness. He justified it because in his travels, he had made himself a wanted man by both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom by killing many of their citizens in his search, including some prominent sages or priests when they would not tell him what he wished to know, and so his presence would endanger them. He put away his sword and tried to make his living as a common sailor.

Unfortunately, his status as a very wanted man made it so that no honest captain would employ him and he would not give a false name. Mizuki of the Sea Dragon was the only one who would take him on. Now he serves as the ship's quartermaster, ensuring that all members of the crew do the necessary work to keep it afloat and intact. He keeps his sword hidden away with his few belongings, but the crew have seen him keeping it sharp and polished, for he still looks for whatever whispers he can find of anyone who trafficks with dark spirits, both in the faint hope that the priest did not lie and to ensure that what happened to him will happen to no one else.

Personality:

Sharif is a man in whom the fires of life only flicker most of the time. He is quiet and solemn much of the time, carrying out his duties with resolve and enforcing his will upon the crew mainly through invoking Mizuki's name. He knows his business and does attempt to correct and teach others where he can, but will not push ahead against determined resistance. When he speaks to the younger members of the crew, he shows a faint paternal instinct, smiling and laughing occasionally. He rarely jokes, and never about serious matters. He has seen more than most people and will tell a story if asked, but usually just about other people or things he has heard of that didn't involve him personally.

However, when he can be roused to action, he looks ten years younger and exudes the intense charisma of a leader. In such a case, he is once again the happy, brave, and ruthless commander of ships and men. But such a thing only tends to happen if the Sea Dragon is in danger of sinking or about to be boarded. And even then, he defers to Mizuki's commands, for the debt that he owes her and because of his ingrained obedience to those of a higher rank.

edited 14th Oct '14 1:23:46 AM by RedCedar

It's in Xue's nature to avoid a fight, be it by using his words or by simply hiding behind his teammates. And his inability to perform well in a fight could be a reason for him to seek training from other teammates.

The thing about his inert abilities is that I'm using them as a way of representing the split path that's in front of him. Finding out about his abilities and eventually developing them will lead Xue down one path of character development, whilst remaining a non-bender (or maybe finding out about his abilities and choosing to not develop them) will lead Xue down another path. I'm fine with him having two skills for now.

@Red Cedar: I don't expect this roleplay to go on for ore than a few months, but you can stay with us for as long as it works for your time schedule. Sharif is accepted. It's pretty refreshing to see someone on board who's not a bender - not to mention a character in the Avatar world with an Arabic name.

@The Big Bean: You know best about what you're doing with your character, so I'm going to accept Xue. Besides, we have enough fighters to defend ourselves; with or without him in the fray. Welcome aboard!

We have six characters already. Twelve is the limit. Although we can always accept more characters once the roleplay begins, I think we'll find other players fairly soon. I'm going to wait a few more days at least, and see who else pops up.

Interested... thinking up a character.

Very interested at least.