Avatar: The Last Stand - A Last Airbender RP

Roleplay thread.

Discussion thread.

Backstory

It is the year 93 after Sozin's Comet. The Four Nations have finally settled with the fact the books will soon refer to this grim era of the world's history as the Hundred Year War. But some fear worse. Some fear the war will continue forever... some fear it will end soon with a Fire Nation victory. The Spirits of Fear spread their claws all over the world, and no one is certain of what the future will hold.

But one last bastion of hope still stands: the magnificent city of Ba Sing Se, the capital of the Earth Kingdom, known as safe haven for those seeking to escape the Fire Nation, and known as the last obstacle to those that seek to aid it. With the numbers of waterbenders in the South diminishing every day, it seems like Ba Sing Se is the only safe place in the world.

However, that safety will soon be threatened by the Fire Nation, as it will soon attempt to invade Ba Sing Se once more. Under the helm of General Iroh, the firebenders are quietly training for what they believe will be the greatest day in its history. But one soldier decided that money was more important... and he gave the plans to a resistance member hidden in the Fire Nation. The plans were in their hands, and all the resistance had to do was send them to Ba Sing Se, and victory would be in their hands.

The winds of fate, however, were not kind, and soon this member of the resistance found himself on the run from the Fire Nation army. Using the last of his strength, he heads to a town on the coast, hoping to at least get the plans on their way to the resistance leaders in Ba Sing Se. Little did he know that this task would soon fall in the hands of a ragtag group, who would become... the last stand.

Introduction

Hello! This RP is based on Avatar The Last Airbender, and it takes place six years before Aang awakens. The plot follows a ragtag bunch of misfits who are thrown into the War as the plans for a grand siege on Ba Sing Se falls on their hands- plans that could help the Earth Kingdom fight back the Fire Nation. It is now their task to travel across the world and deliver these plans to Ba Sing Se, escaping many threats coming from the outside... and from inside the group. Will they succeed? Let's find out!

Rules

General RP rules apply. Don't be a douche, listen to the GM, don't metagame, no godmodding, yada yada, you guys know the drill. If you don't, well, you should read this before planning on joining this roleplay. Some rules specific to this roleplay:

• You can play as a waterbender, earthbender, firebender or non-bender. No airbenders for obvious reasons (you know, they're all dead, and the last one is kinda frozen in an iceberg).
• Be original. Try mixing and matching things, and most of all, don't make your character a carbon copy of a character from the show. If you come up to me with an earthbender that's blind and can see through seismic sense, I'll suggest you find some other RP and play as Toph instead of a thinly veiled Expy.
• Remember: this takes place six years before Aang awakens. So everybody thinks the Avatar is dead, Prince Zuko is just strolling around the place instead of brooding on a ship searching for the Avatar and Azulon is still Fire Lord. A suggestion would be to use this timeline in case you want to remember what already happened and what didn't.
• The City of Lei Shan is a fairly big town in the coast of the Fire Nation, named after one of the first Fire Sages. It's got a decent port, but the main thing that attracts people to it is how relaxed its lifestyle is. It's a coastal city, yes, but due to various economical and historical reasons, no one really cares a lot about it. The Fire Nation's Army doesn't have a strong presence there- there's a small force, but they're friends with everybody in the city, even people who came from the outside- and most of the money comes from people docking in the city to buy, sell, or just enjoy their lives for a few days. Your character must be in the City of Lei Shan prior to the beginning of the RP. He can be there doing whatever he want- he could be there for a few days or he could have been living there for years, it's all up to you, the important part is that he has to be there once the RP begins.

Character Sheet

• Name:*
  A friendly tip- use Chinese names.
• Age:
• Appearance:
• Nation of Origin: (Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom or the Water Tribes*
  If you're choosing the Water Tribes, remember that the Southern Raiders have been taking waterbenders from the Southern Tribes for a long time.
  )
• Element: (Water, Fire, Earth or None)
• Personality:
• Abilities: (Here you can detail what your bender can do- his mastery over the element, if he has some sort of specialty, like sandbenders- or if your character is a non-bender, here you can detail what does your character specialize with- swords, bows and arrows, knifes, chi-blocking, you get the idea.)
• Backstory: (From your character's birth to the days in the city of Lei Shan just before the RP begins.)

Accepted Characters

• Guang, from the Fire Nation, played by Replica.
• Hong Xian, from the Earth Kingdom, played by Chilifro.
• Ren Shi, from the Earth Kingdom, played by Savato.
• Tai Cheng, from the Fire Nation, played by The Big Bean.
• Ryo, from the Southern Water Tribe, played by chadderbox.
• Jia Li, from the Earth Kingdom, played by Bombadillo.
• Zhia Luo, from the Fire Nation, played by Kiefen.
• Cho-Li, from the Fire Nation, played by Spicy Waffles.
• Peizhi Cheng, from the Earth Kingdom, played by Kiri Ame.
• Qing Zhu, from the Southern Water Tribe, played by desdendelle.
• Yumen, from the Northern Water Tribe, played by Insano.
• Huore, from the Northern Water Tribe, played by Palindromee.
• Izaya, from the Fire Nation, played by luckybreak.
• Yin Lieren, from the Northern Water Tribe, played by Xargnio.

Good luck to y'all, and I look forward to seeing you in the field.

edited 28th Feb '13 4:22:36 AM by Stratofarius

I'll be making my sheet and posting it soon...

Just letting you know I'm still very much interested, Strat! As it stands, I think I'm looking at a non-Bender of some sort; leaning more towards an odd sort of Earth Kingdom bardic warrior, though I suppose I'll see where that takes me before I officially commit to that submission.

I have a character I think I can make work here.

What would be the youngest you would allow?

No younger than... thirteen?

Kind of attracted to the idea of a firebender who maybe went AWOL, pursued a career as an actor (cheesy, Ember Island Players style) and is thus on the run from the authorities.

I was thinking about a non-bender character using explosives, but then I realised that she has nothing to lit the damn things with...

Maybe a dinamic duo with a firebender? Or a primitive lighter?

Ah problem solved: our main enemy is the fire nation and those fellas like to parry with fire. Add some knives to the mix and I think I got it covered.

So, at first I thought "Nice RP, but I don't really have a character I can use there". Now I've got ideas for an Earthbender who can only create weapons and/or shields; a guy who thinks he's a Metalbender (he isn't), because he can swing chains like no other; and a guy who can fight really, really well with anything that isn't a weapon. And a few less defined ideas.

I wonder if using bows is plausible against opponents that either can incinerate the arrows or fight by moving around a lot.

I'm thinking of an earthbender and a waterbender, who've been childhood friends and thus adopted a bit of the style of the other ones bending.

The earthbender would form golem-like structures to attack his opponents, while the waterbender would focus on larger blocks of ice. Still thinking about which one to use, though...

I was planning on creating a waterbender that was raised in the earth kingdom so that could work with your idea if you chose the earthbender . Although I was planning on him using a more precise and stealthy style of bending rather than large blocks of ice...

What a wonderful coincidence! So...wanna do this?

Sure! I haven't finished my character yet so I can easily change things.

Attempting a conversion from a failed Avatar-inspired RP.

• Name: Guang
• Age: 13
• Nation of Origin: Fire Nation
• Element: Fire
• Personality: Odd and eccentric. Has a tendency to act very hyperactive large portions of the time, but at certain triggers will become much more focused and less active, almost the inverse. Tends to be seek out opportunities and socialise often, but still somewhat cautious. Actively tries to act maturely but will often slip up, largely due to his previously described tendencies.
• Abilities: An above average firebender for his age, with a reasonably agile style. He can create bursts of fire that propel him through the air, although this only works due to his fairly small size and weight, and if combat is required often either fires off small bursts of fire or, more often, channels it through his twin daggers, turning them into flaming blades.
• Backstory: Guang was discovered as a baby in the ruins of a burned building when it was searched after most of it burned down and the fire extinguished, although nobody had been seen in the building and its burning was unexplained, his twin daggers wrapped in a small cloth beside him and the fire leaving his body covered in burns. He was brought up by various different people, but passed between many guardians by either them not being able to handle bringing him up or by him running away. He ended up wandering the world, going from place to place, and for some time now has been in Lei Shan.

Name: Quan Liu (Flowing Spring)

Age: Unknown, looks 17.

Nation of Origin: South Water Tribe (Justified)

Element: Water

Personality: Sweet Tooth, Moe, Tsundere, Ambiguously Gay

Abilities: Ice specialty, and is ok at healing.

Backstory: Quan was taken as a slave when he was young. His life was uneventful, practicing waterbending in his cell every day. The ship he was on suffered a massive engine failiure, and his door opened, so what did he do? Quan ran for his life. He got on a life raft, and was set adrift. Now, he is on the docks of Lei Shan, free at last.

Accepted.

Alright, here's the thing... first of all, I find it a bit hard to believe this guy could have trained himself in waterbending and develop a specialty with ice under the watchful eye of Fire Nation guards. The example we had in the show was Hama, and she was already a waterbender before she got captured by the Fire Nation. And I doubt there'd be a way to train waterbending deep into a ship, inside of a cell designed to hold waterbenders and would-be waterbenders. To quote from the article on Hama:

So that makes it literally impossible for a very young person to train himself in waterbending in an environment that was built to stop people from waterbending. Rejected.

So...what age were you thinking of with your character?

Interest garnered...I loved the show. Haven't gotten a chance to see The Legend Of Korra yet, but considering when this RP is set, that doesn't matter much, aye?

Here's my application, by the way.

Name: Hong-Xian (which means "flies with the grace of a swan", if this site I'm looking at is anything to go by...)

Age: 45

Nation of Origin: Earth Kingdom

Element: None

Personality: Being the assassin that he is, Hong-Xian is a coldhearted, calculating killer, looking out for his interests and only his interests. His assistance is only offered to those that might be useful to him later, and when they've outlived their usefulness, he disappears like the wind, off to con some other sod out of his money and valuable time. The years have taught him to suppress his other emotions and to look at things from a purely objective point-of-view...and a monetary point-of-view.

Abilities: As his name implies, Hong-Xian is once graceful dude; he utilizes his many bladed weapons — those being a couple of daggers, some throwing knives, and a scimitar — to dance around his enemies, slicing them to ribbons before they can get a shot off. If necessary, he can use a bow and arrow to some degree, but he's not nearly as refined in his shooting as he is in his chopping. Hong-Xian is also pretty good with stealth; specifically, the kind that requires a man to blend into a crowd and slip through unnoticed.

Backstory: Hong-Xian's life began innocently enough — he was just a simple farmer's boy for a while. Eventually, however, the war began to take its toll on their little homestead; soldiers would drop by often to "borrow" food and money from him and his family, and by the time Hong-Xian was reaching the beginning of adulthood, the farmstead was on the verge of collapsing under bankruptcy. Doing the only obvious thing, Hong-Xian took up the sword and wandered the Earth Kingdom for a decade or so, doing odd jobs and assassinating odd people. Eventually, he caught wind that there might be some good work in the Fire Nation, and so he hopped on a boat and sailed his way to the city of Lei Shen.

I was thinking maybe around 17, would that be okay?

Accepted.

• Name: Ren Shi (Man of Stone)
• Age: 18
• Nation of Origin: Earth Kingdom
• Element: Earth
• Personality: Ren Shi is a patient and collected personality, always trying to stay calm. He tends to avoid direct confrontations. Usually, he does not understand sarcasm or at least fails to recognize it as such. While Ren Shi may not be overly greedy, he does like money and often tries to think of ways to get some money out of his current situation.
• Abilities: Ren Shi is a talented earthbender, using a more fluent style of earthbending. His techniques focus on forming structures of earth in the form of humans, hands etc. then sending them after his enemies via his bending. (The structures are at no point alive and will be referred to as "golems" in the future for the sake of simplicity.")
• Backstory: Ren Shi spent his fairly uneventful childhood in the Earth Kingdom, his family consisting mostly of traders. He often met with his friend, the waterbender "chadderbox 1618's character". While the two of them were training their bending together, Ren Shi adopted a bit of the more fluent style of waterbending, developing the style he uses today. Currently, he is staying in Lei Shan on a business trip, having followed his family's tradition of becomming a trader.
  
  chadderbox 1618, if there's anything in here that contradicts your idea, just tell me and I'll see, what I can do.

edited 16th Feb '13 12:33:22 PM by Savato

Accepted.

• Name: Tai Cheng
• Appearance: Without the glowy eyes, of course.◊ And he's usually not glaring, just... staring.
• Age: 18
• Nation of Origin: Fire Nation
• Element: Fire
• Personality: When you look at him, you wouldn't guess that Tai would be a very protective person. In fact, he always places his friends' needs in front of his own, especially when it comes to protecting them on the battlefield. But he lacks any kind of social skills, often preferring to stay in the shadow of the group. He's not chatty, always trying to make every word count, and will only show his emotions when he's with his group, taking the mantle of the stoic when it comes to talking with others. Very respectful of everyone, including his enemies, he aims to be someone his group can look up to. However, he also has one golden rule: do not kill.
• Abilities: Tai is not a firebending master, in fact, compared to what the great masters can do, some would call his firebending "simple parlor tricks". But Tai has mixed his firebending with his fighting style: a quick, focused style that always has him on the moves. He'll always be jumping from side to side, dodging his enemy's attacks and using his agility to deliver quick, focused bursts of fire combined with punches and kicks. He even knows how to use the bow and arrow, but he prefers to stick to his fists, his legs, his firebending, and the occasional dagger.
• Backstory:
  • Tai comes from a long line of bodyguards to important members of the Fire Nation's government. Ever since he was a kid, Tai was trained in martial arts, stealth, firebending, anything that would ensure that he could perform his job without any problems. At the age of thirteen, he was the pride and joy of his family, and was assigned to protect a General on a trip to the Water Tribes. While he made multiple friends on that trip, he never found himself agreeing with the General: he was taught by his family to respect everyone, no matter their origin, for every man and woman and child is important to the balance of the world, but the General would constantly belittle the other nations and even attack merchants who didn't treat him like a king.
  • The final straw came when, one night, while sailing back to the Fire Nation, the ship stumbled upon a group of Southern Waterbenders escaping on a boat from the Southern Raiders. Weak and begging for mercy, the General said he wouldn't give them back to the Raiders only if they bowed to him. One young waterbender, the same age as Tai, refused to do so. Tai didn't know why the child wouldn't bow, but he knew that whatever his reason was, it was a good one. The General didn't care, and killed the waterbender in cold blood. That triggered a reaction from Tai, who, tired of the General's attitude towards the rest of the world, killed him, throwing his body into the water. Tai almost entered a panic attack once he realised what he did, fearing the soldiers would turn him in, but instead, they said they would give him the chance to escape, since only one or two soldiers liked the General. However, once they arrived back at the Fire Nation, they would have to do their job and inform the army of Tai's "betrayal".
  • And so, Tai escaped with the group of waterbenders. Some of them went to the Earth Kingdom and some hid inside the Fire Nation, but Tai decided to stay at the city of Lei Shan, where he continued to train, and train, and train... but even with the training, he could not sleep at night, believing he had betrayed all that his parents had taught him once he killed the General. And so, he established one simple rule: he would never kill another person again. At the age of eighteen, Tai has been living in Lei Shan for four years, only leaving the town in case he had to protect a travelling merchant. Every day, he trains, repeating to himself there is always room for improvement, and he spends his nights, watching over the town, like it's own personal bodyguard.

edited 16th Feb '13 8:09:27 PM by TheBigBean

Accepted.