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[BottomGuy]

Character Creation Contest #5

 

Ready...Set...BEND!

 

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~~~~~Setting Description~~~~~

It has been several years since the Earth Empire invasion of Republic City led by Kuvira. Fortunately for the world there have been no further catastrophes for it to face. There has been a lot of re-building to be done and general order in the new Earth States to be re-established, but that is to be expected.  True to his word, Wu has abolished the Earth Kingdom monarchy and given the states independence. The success of this has varied from state-to-state. Not surprising anyone though was when Ba Sing Se rose up as the most powerful of the new states. Republic City has become known as a hybrid of technology and spiritualism with the opening of the third portal. With a new portal in such a high profile and accessible location there has been a surge of spiritual migration to the city. For the sake of the Spirit World, Avatar Korra worked with President Raiko to limit access to the portal. This has turned the section of the city with the portal into a sort of National Park and spirit-wildlife preserve. With the Avatar and the Air Nomads nearby to boot, it is unlikely the spirit world will be abused for at least the near future. Speaking of the Air Nomads, they continue to grow stronger. More Air benders are emerging from the Earth States and there are even scattered reports coming from the Fire Nation and Water Tribes, although these are rather minuscule. While many are officially joining with Tenzin and Jinora, others are still choosing to remain independent. The world is on the road to recovery and prosperity.

This does not mean there are not new mysteries and dangers emerging for in this way the world will never change.  There is still a great deal of turmoil to be found in the new Earth States. The bandits are running rampant again with Kuvira gone, the backlash of her education camps need to be dealt with, and the displacement of thousands when the Empire was being "purified" of outsiders. The majority of issues are contained inside the Earth States, but there are always problems emerging in the other nations. The Water Tribes are still undergoing political turbulence caused by Unalaq many years ago. The United Republic is still recovering from the invasion and making a deliberate effort to help its new neighbors. The Air Nomads of course are still a fledgling people having to deal with an influx of new members from a plethora of backgrounds. The Fire Nation appears to be the most stable at the moment, but that could be caused more by a lack of information reaching the other nations.
 

As for new mysteries, the resurgence of the spirits in our world has certainly contributed to that. Old tales are emerging as truth alongside a fair share of new tales being created. Creatures are roaming the countries that are hard to tell whether they are beast or spirit. New powers are emerging that are working with the spirits and combating them. Just when it seemed that technology was going to tame the world, the reopening of the spiritual portals and the opening of a third have shown that the old world will not go quietly if at all.  There are even whispers of a new group of unique individuals calling themselves the Ji Lu. Whether they prove to be on the side of the world like the White Lotus or poised to shake the world further like the Red Lotus,  only time will tell.

The battles between the Old and New World, Spirit and Physical World, are only just beginning.

 
A few things of note that are not mentioned in the backstory.

• There is no central event or calling that characters need to conform to or be gathered for. The idea is more to create characters who are notable and might catch the attention of others in the world for any number of reasons. As far as I'm concerned, entrants can be from all over the world and still currently in that place. 
• Try to keep relations to characters from the series to a minimal if not to a zero. It's ok if you've met someone, but you ain't buddies with Verrick. 
• In regards to the sheet below, you don't have to be a bender. Majority of people in the world aren't, but we all know the fun is being the guy who can hurl rocks. Still, you don't have to go the bending route. 

 
~~~~~Character Sheet~~~~~
 

Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Bending:

Nationality:
Personality:
History:
*Other:

*Feel free to add new fields for Other information if you want (like a Weapon field) or just use this as a place to mention information that doesn't fit nicely anywhere else. 
 

 
~~~~~Prize~~~~~

$25 Commission

 

~~~~~Deadline~~~~~

February 7, 2015

CLOSED 

 

Voting is now open!

 

~~~~~Contest Entries~~~~~

 

Damascus - BottomGuy

Spoiler

Name: Damascus

Age: 22

 

Family:

Father: Yokote

Grandfather: Hikaji

Mother: ??? (Deceased)

Bending: Fire

 

Nationality: Fire Nation

 

Hometown: Isuzu Village

 

Appearance: Damascus has hands akin to the rough skin of a komodo rhino. Thick pads cover his palms from countless hours of working them raw in the forge. Streaks of scars from lessons learned break up the surface of his hands here and there. This roughness is not reflected in his face which is sharp and smooth like freshly carved wood. Deep lines run from the sides of his nose to the tips of his mouth, growing deeper when he frequently smiles. A ponytail runs down to the middle of Damascus' back with a sheen that rivals black silk. When he pushes the hair aside, the face of an angry hog pig can be seen tattooed on his back. Damascus wears thick clothes that can withstand the heat and rigor of his work. Black soot and scorch marks form a patchwork on his chest-high overalls. The thickness of the overalls combined with the scuffed boots he wears gives the impression that his clothes are swallowing up his lower half. Two wisps of hair always manage to protrude from beneath the bandanna he wears to keep the rest of his hair tamed. 

 

Personality: Damascus good-spirited individual who tries to find excitement in everything he does. Sometimes this leads him to taking unnecessary risks, but usually he doesn't do anything dangerous. He can be extremely tough on himself as he always pushes himself to do better or be more innovative than before. Most of the time he enjoys the company of other, especially his family. He has a lot of respect for his father and grandfather for what they have done for him. When Damascus gets absorbed in a project he will isolate himself to get work done. It's not uncommon for him to stay at the garage all night with no sleep in order to get the last few details juuuuust right. While he is confident in his own skills when it comes to Fire bending and working on cars, Damascus becomes very timid when outside of his comfort zone. When trying new things he's not his jovial self and will rub his arms in anxiety. It's made him pretty bad at talking to women as he loses all self confident. Usually the only way he can get through new experiences is by having someone he trusts to lean on during the process. The fact it was one of his best friends from school that gave him his hog monkey tattoo is probably the only reason he managed to get through the experience of getting a tattoo at all. 

History: Yokote was the eldest son to a family of accomplished metal-smiths in the village of Isuzu. The patriarch of the family, Hikaji, was once one of the finest sword-smiths in all of the Fire Nation and Isuzu steel among the best in the world. While the skills Yokote mastered were his own, he struggled to continue the traditions of his family. Since the end of the 100 Year War, demand for skilled sword-smiths had drastically decreased as the nation tried to put its violent history behind it. This had been a concern even during the elder Hikaji's time. The family had managed to persevere because of the quality of the metal they forged. Now that too was threatened by the advent of new forging technology being developed in the Earth States and United Republic. Yokote could not hope to compete with massive machines to meet the growing needs of the world for metal. When his son Damascus was born, Yokote tried not to worry what he could offer his son. All he knew was that he would do anything he could to provide for his family. 

 

Unable to obtain reliable work in Isuzu beyond the occasional farming equipment repair, Yokote made the decision to travel to a nearby city.  A new factory had just been built to construct new machines called "automobiles". It was simple work and Yokote managed to get a higher position on the factory floor due to his metal working experience. Every week he sent as much of his earnings back home to his wife and child. He would live on the bare essentials to ensure his family could save up enough for him to come home someday and stay home.

 

When his father left for the city, Damascus was only 8-years-old. While he missed his father immensely, he continued to attend school and help his family. After all he wasn't alone as he still had his mother and grandfather. With every paycheck that his father sent, Damascus also received a letter. It let him stay close with his father but more importantly it exposed him to a new fascination: cars. It all started when his father sent him a flyer advertisement featuring the car they were producing in the factory.  There was just something about how the machine looked and the sense of power that even a mere illustration emitted.  Damascus made it a point to ask his father new questions every week. How much do they weight? What are they made of? How does the engine work? How fast can it go? It could have easily have become an obsession for Damascus if it were not for the fact that there were no cars in Isuzu. The village was simply too small for anyone to really benefit from have an automobile.

 

While he was still fairly young it was a fine passion for Damascus to have. As he entered his teenage years though he started to become depressed and longed to be with his father. It was less that he wanted to be with his father and more that he wanted to be with the cars. Soon Damascus would come home from school, quickly finish the chores he had, and then lock himself in his room drawing sketches of cars and re-reading his father's letters. One day his grandfather Hikaji took it upon himself to give Damascus something else to think about. Even though Hikaji had not used it in well over a decade, he had maintained the family forge that was nestled on the back of their small property. The schools had instructed Damascus on proper Fire-bending techniques, but only to a rudimentary level where he would be safe. Now Hikaji set about teaching Damascus advanced Fire techniques for forging metal. Damascus gladly fell under the wing of his grandfather as he had always wanted to strengthen his bending skills but had never had real drive to do so. Even if learning the family traditions of Fire-Forging was not going to lead to a career for Damascus, it let him spend more time with his grandfather getting some exercise and out of his stuffed up room. He never gave up his passion for cars, but now he had something to direct his energy toward instead of letting it go to waste.

 

It had been nearly a decade now since his father had left for the city and he had still not come home. Yokote had managed a few promotions and was making decent money at the factory. Every few months when Damascus asked him when he would come home he just said soon. One day when Damascus return home from work, as he was now finished with school, something magical happened. A local farmer was speaking with his grandfather with a special request. The farmer had recently bought a truck to haul his harvest on the farm. Unfortunately as he was not entirely confident with driving yet, the farmer had accidentally let the truck slide into an irrigation ditch where it broke one of its axles. The farmer did not have enough money to purchase a new axle and hoped that Hikaji would be able to repair it. Hikaji was reluctant to take on the job because of how unfamiliar he was with these newfangled automobiles. Damascus had been listening to the conversation in the other room when he burst in to excitedly offer his services if his grandfather would not. Even though he had never worked on a car enough, Damascus was confident that between his deep well of information on cars and the smithing skills he had refined with his grandfather that he could do this.

 

After successfully completing the repair for the farmer, a fire was once again lit inside of Damascus. Whereas when he was younger and unable to do anything about it, now he was older with the skills needed and a little money saved up. With the little money he had and some connections from his father, he bought a beat-up vehicle. It was an old model that probably hadn't been used for nearly as long as Damascus had been alive. He didn't care though. He owned a car that he could do anything he wanted with. Slowly over the next several months Damascus made necessary repairs and not-so necessary improvements. When at last it was finished it was something to behold. Damascus had completely worked over the body until it was something that no factory was producing. Indeed it was something that no factory could produce. When it was finished his father even returned home to take a look along with a friend from the factory. Yokote was immensely impressed with what his son had managed to produce all on his own. Even more impressed was Yokote's friend who offered to buy the car from Damascus. Although Damascus loved the car, he loved making it more than he did owning it and so he agreed to the sale.

 

With the profit he earned from selling his first custom car, Damascus did something he never thought he would do. Not because he didn't think he would never be able to but because he had never even heard of anyone doing this before. He opened a custom garage. He started looking for cars that he could improve and customize. Perhaps one of the best benefits of opening his own business was that his father finally returned home for good to help him out. Yokote saw greatness in what his son was trying to do and greatness for the family again. Damascus was going to show the world that factories cannot compete with skilled metalsmiths at everything.

Other Information:

• Damascus' business is called Houzi Garage. Houzi means 'monkey' in Chinese and the base concept of Damascus was inspired by the business and TV show Monkey Garage.
• His mother died during a flood brought on by a massive storm when he was 15. Not elaborated on for length purposes.
• Damascus enjoys working on Cabage Corp. vehicles the most. Part of it is because they are usually the cheapest, but there's just something about the style he likes.

 

Anik - Puffin

Spoiler

Name: Anik

 

Age: 34

 

Brother: Ila (water bender)

 

Appearance: He stands at 6'3”, although he's hardly imposing due to his thin, wiry build. His stringy dark hair brushes just past his shoulders, but it's almost always haphazardly tied back in one way or another. His eyes are steel blue.

 

Bending: Air

 

Nationality: United Republic

 

Hometown: Republic City

 

Personality: Cynical, but remorseful. He doesn't want to cause trouble, though he would agree that his current life is more interesting than that of an ordinary fisherman. He doesn't like being told what to do, but has grown too passive to argue about it. He appreciates quiet moments where he can lay back and relax.
 

History: Anik and his brother grew up in Republic City, their parents were fishers and the two had grown up around boats. Their mother died when they were teenagers, leaving them with several uncomfortable anger and grief filled years all while cramped on a boat for a good chunk of their time. As their father grew older, they were saddled with more and more of the work load, until Ila inherited their family's fishing ship and the two of them were left with the whole of the business. Only a couple of years passed when they returned from sea one day to learn that their father had a heart attack and passed away in their absence. It wasn't a complete shock to them, their father drank too much- especially after his retirement- and was too easily riled up. Something like this was bound to happen eventually. What they didn't know was that their father had racked up a large gambling debt, that they now owed.

 

 Knowing there was no way to pay off the debt honestly (or otherwise get rid of it), the two decided to put their fishing boat to use by robbing other ships. Relatively small pleasure cruisers were their ideal target, the type to have just enough money to make it worth it, but low defenses. Their technique consisted of lying in wait, knowing that no one would see their ship as anything other than a fishing vessel. Once a decent target was sighted, Ila would freeze the water surrounding the cruiser, leaving them unable to escape. They'd strip the ship of anything valuable, then slip away. They did this as seldom as possible, at first. Just enough to make sure they could pay the gang their father owed and not be harassed, since both of them were wary of being caught.

 

At first it seemed like they would only have to keep doing this for a few weeks, maybe a few months, but no matter how much they paid, they always owed more. Ila's solution was simple: rob more ships, which wasn't what Anik was hoping for. He had noticed that Ila was becoming less inclined to return to their normal habits and business. Not to mention, he was growing more impatient with those they stole from. If they experienced any resistance from their targets, Ila would thaw out the ice as soon as they were back on their own ship- leaving the passengers little to no time to deploy a life boat or call for help before water flooded their cracked and broken hull. Then Ila decided lying in wait all of the time was too slow, so they took to roaming the coastline to find targets. This was, admittedly, the part of the life that Anik liked. Since they had to move faster, all of the vestiges of their fishing life fell away. While before they might have filled their time with work pertaining to some legitimate business, now it was about keeping an eye out- or, as Anik preferred to think of it- sitting back and relaxing. It was enjoyable, until he realized they were getting a reputation. The identities of the pirates weren't known, but everyone had heard of their exploits by this point.

 

Ila seemed unconcerned by it, but it was easy for him, Anik thought, he had his bending. Out at sea he had the advantage. Anik didn't know what he would do if the Republic City police sent someone after them. Half the time, the most he did in this pirating affair was carry whatever they stole back to their boat. As unconcerned as he was for his own safety, Ila was at least persuaded to keep a lower profile for Anik's sake.

 

They were away at sea during Harmonic Convergence and Republic City seemed like an entirely different place when they returned. Soon after, Anik lost his excuse of having no bending, as he discovered by accident aboard their ship one day. While doing some menial chores, he accidentally created a blast of air. It wasn't long before Ila had him practicing his new bending. Not that he had any real clue how to go about it other than lots of trial and error. And accidents. Lots of accidents. Yet, by the end of it, he couldn't complain.

 

 When passengers didn't cooperate, it was simple enough to blast them back. He could tear a room apart in seconds flat and, he had to admit, it was fun seeing the extent of his air bending abilities. At sea and on land, he used it as a shortcut for everything. Heavy cart needs moving? Air bend it. Dirty floors need cleaning? Air bend it. Valuables need to be hefted from one ship to another? Air bend it. It was the solution to everything.

 

Granted, being able to find a new way to work didn't ease his conscience much. When the air nomads approached him, telling him how much more he could learn to do with his air bending, he was tempted to go with them, but he couldn't bring him self to leave Ila alone with the debt. Even if his brother seemed to enjoy the work, he knew it was more than one man could handle alone. He'd end up caught or unable to make their payments. He inevitably turned them down, though it's a decision he's often regretted.

 

Now, years later with the world in a state of change and unrest, the two can get away with anything unnoticed, since authorities are usually too busy dealing with more pressing matters than a couple of pirates. Ila has used extra money they've brought in to modify their vessel and make her faster, much to Anik's disappointment, who feels it's just another sign that his brother has no intention of ever turning back. Especially as they take on bigger targets than the mere pleasure cruisers they started with. He has suspicions that Ila isn't telling him everything, but by this point, he's not sure if he has any choice in what they do.

 

Additional notes:

• While Ila and Anik were born and raised in Republic City, their parents both come from the Southern Water Tribe.
• Ila tried to make it as a pro-bender when he was a teenager, but eventually had to drop it altogether to make time for the family business. This is why he enjoys pirating, it's a more challenging use of his water bending.
• Ila actually changed the terms of the deal with the gang, instead of paying them back for their father's debt in increments, he and Anik are working for them. He hasn't yet told Anik this, since he's afraid his younger brother would walk out on the operations.

 

Amir - Kamau

Spoiler

Name: Amir

 

Age: 28

 

Appearance: At 5 feet, 8 inches, you may not pick Amir out from the crowd based on height. Nor will his dark skin or shoulder-length black hair (at times tossed up into a ponytail, at times not) cause much of a stir, unless you happen to be attracted to the graceful way he brushes it away from his eyes (or if you follow the line of toned muscle up his arm and down his chest). The move is calculated (though he’d deny it), drawing your attention to the first thing that may make you look twice - his richly colored eyes, one green, and one grey. “The Eyes of Destiny”, he will joke if you ask him about them, then draw your attention to the second thing about him that may not cause as much of a stir in these days, but is still different enough to make you wonder what else about him you don’t know: his attire. Unlike many you’ll pass in the streets of the Earth Kingdom, Amir chooses to embrace more than the traditional green and brown of his home country, instead donning a multitude of colors in a mishmash of styles. 

 

Bending: Earth…Fire…AIr… The question is, which of those is real? ;) 

 

Nationality: Earth Kingdom

 

Personality: Amir likes showing off. He likes being the center attention, especially having been in the background for so long. He can be easily persuaded to try something that sparks his interest (and it can definitely be said that a lot of things interest him), and that leaves him with a tendency to get in over his head. It’s usually his quick-thinking that keeps him out of trouble - that, and his charming personality when it comes to women and men alike. 

 

History: Amir will be the first to tell you that he was destined for greatness. Quite possibly, he will also be the only one to tell you this, as no one in his family ever expected him to succeed at more than being a pretty face. It was clear from a young age that he’d be a looker, but more importantly…it was clear that unlike most members of his family, he lacked the ability to Earth bend.

 

For a good portion of his childhood, Amir let his family’s belief that lack of bending meant lack of any talent whatsoever guide his actions. His looks continued to develop, but he faded into the background, seemingly content to go along with the flow, because that was all he’d ever be good at.

 

Until one year, he came across not one, not two, but three people who believed that he was meant for more. Meant to be more. 

 

The first was one of the teachers at the public school attended. She looked past his lack of bending and saw something more important: intelligence. She pushed him to work harder at his studies, and he came to realize how easy many of the classes he was taking actually could be when you sat down and studied each night. 

 

The second was the leader of his school’s martial arts club. He looked past his lack of bending and saw something else more important: strength. He persuaded Amir to come to the club’s practice one day, and Amir happened to enjoy what he found. Even after graduating, he’s still found ways to keep his skills up-to-date. 

 

And the third was his best friend at the time, Kanan, who had always looked past Amir’s lack of bending despite his own ability to excel at it. He saw something even more important grow within his friend: quick-thinking. It was easy for him to convince Amir that between the two of them, they could pull the biggest prank of all. 

 

They could convince people that Amir actually could Earthbend. 

 

From that year on, Amir became more than his lack of bending. He was strong, he was smart, and he became really good at making people think he was something he wasn’t. They started small, traveling to nearby towns and doing simple Earth bending tricks and tasks. Amir would approach someone while Kanan hid just out of sight, and they’d use a series of code phrases and movements to make it seem like Amir was doing to bending people wanted to see. 

 

It was just something for the two of them to do for fun at first. Something they could both take as a challenge. It enabled Kanan to fine-tune his bending, and it enabled Amir to feel like he belonged in a world where bending was becoming so prominent. (That, and it allowed him to show off.) They continued the act for years, growing better and better at creating a class act, and their range of travel took them as far as other countries, where Earthbending wasn’t so everyday as to be unable to draw a crowd. 

 

It took the sudden emergence of Airbending for their ‘fun’ to spiral out of control, into something more. One day, in the middle of showing off the latest Earthbending trick they’d mastered, Amir accidentally shot off a blast of air. The rocks Kanan had been lifting hovered a moment more, then collapsed to the ground as both realized what had just happened. Both boys may have been dumbfounded, but the crowd reacted strongly to the boy who could seemingly bend two elements, calling for him to show them again. 

 

Not prepared to be caught in a lie, Amir quickly convinced Kanan to continue the act, and it wasn’t long before Amir found that he’d amassed quite a few followers, people who believed that perhaps more had happened than the reemergence of the Air Nation. 

 

Perhaps more than just the Avatar could now master all of the elements.

 

*Other:

-Amir is attempting to master fire tricks to go along with his ‘multi-bending’ performances, but so far all he’s succeeded at is burned fingers. 

-Amir isn’t sure how Kanan feels about his newfound and growing ‘fame’. To be honest, he’s afraid to ask, and has worked hard to keep the subject from coming up. But he’s well aware that while he may be the face of the crowd’s attention, without Kanan, he’d be nothing but an air-bending fraud. 

-If anyone asks about why Kanan is always hanging around, Amir likes to joke that his friend is his lover. Kanan has yet to tell him to knock it off.

 

Taktuq - Stars

Spoiler

Name: Taktuq

Age: 19

Appearance: He is of average height but very thin, almost to the point of appearing malnourished. Dark eyes and a mop of short, wavy hair belie his Water Tribe ancestry.

Bending: Water, Light

Nationality: Earth States

Personality: Carefree and creative while growing up. In later years he became melancholic, with forced smiles spoiled by sad eyes.

History: Taktuq was born and raised in the Earth Kingdom - before it became the Earth Empire or the Earth States. His father was a water bender from the Northern Water Tribe, seeking his fortunes abroad, and his mother was a non-bender native of the Earth Kingdom. His childhood was peaceful, and his family was happy and relatively well to do.

From a young age, Taktuq displayed a knack for water bending. He never felt any desire to train in combatative water bending forms, caring more for artistic applications of the ability. One of Taktuq's favorite distractions on sunny days was to bend the water in the air to create small rainbows. Eventually this technique became second nature to him, and he learned to refine it to create elaborate patterns of light. He became fairly well known for this in his hometown since he would often attempt to flag people down and put on a quick show for them whenever the sun was shining.

When Kuvira began rounding up foreigners during her unification campaign, Taktuq's water bending apparently outweighed his Earth Kingdom birth. Metal benders came to take him and his father to one of the education camps, but his father resisted and was killed in the struggle. Taktuq's mother was left alone - in more than one sense - and soon fell ill from grief.

At the camp, bending was of course forbidden, but Taktuq secretly took any chance he could to still make his rainbows for the comfort they brought. After a time, he became so proficient at "bending light" that he could create distinct images. This skill was practiced and honed further by creating illusions to play tricks on any guards he particularly disliked - which was all of them. One day, Taktuq decided to really put his light bending skills to the test.

 

 

He was going to escape.

 

Taktuq succeeded in bending the light around himself so that he could all but vanish from sight. He wasn't nearly skilled enough to become completely invisible, but with some illusory distractions added in, it was good enough to slip out of the camp undetected. After escaping, Taktuq tried to return home, only to find that his mother had passed away during his imprisonment. He became determined to reunite families that had similarly been torn apart by Kuvira's campaign so that others would not have to feel the same pain he himself had experienced.

Taktuq perfected light bending to the point where he could infiltrate education camps and smuggle people out with ease. Though he always kept his original purpose in mind, he found himself helping people regardless of their family situations. No one deserved to be treated the way Kuvira's prisoners were.

There were far too many education camps for Taktuq to possibly free everyone, but he tried none the less. Fortunately, the Avatar put a stop to Kuvira's plans and abolished the camps. But with his goal rendered moot, Taktuq had to find a new purpose. It was around this time that he was approached by the Ji Lu...

Other: Whenever investigators managed to find any information on Taktuq's identity, it was generally assumed that people were claiming to be rescued by that one character from the movers. Partly thanks to this misunderstanding, Taktuq's true origins were never discovered by the Earth Empire.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

In the past I've tried to keep this contest topic clean with just the entrants, but now I'm going to say screw that! Feel free to discuss and ask questions here. When it comes time for people to post their entries, they will be added to this post for easy access for everyone to see and vote on.
 
Please let me know if you want anything further explained, tweaked, or guidelines altered for a better experience. Also note that I might be willing to do something with this afterwards. I'm kinda feeling the sting of a lack of a regular social life and because I love the Avatar world, I would by happy and more comfortable running something with this. First we need to see how this goes.

[Stars]

 

Let me know if you guys want to do a sort of point system for Tech / Magic / Gear / Physical Attributes. Not as a way of enforcing this notion but as a way of creating the characters in a way that everyone can better understand what your fighter can do.

I love numbers and stats because I'm weird like that, but I don't know that it's a fit for something like this.

 

EDIT: So have you been binging G Gundam lately? =p

[Shoulder Devil]

Hrm. Well outside my usual comfort zone with characters, but I'll try to give it a go! 

[BottomGuy]

As much as I liked the idea of the fighting tournament, clearly others are not so excited. So in honor of the closing of the Korra chapter of Avatar, we're changing the theme to Avatar! I would have done this theme eventually, but now is probably the best time with the show having wrapped up. I'll post more details soon, but most people should get the gist of what will be expected.

 

What I would like to know from you guys is whether you would prefer A) This being a general Avatar setting or B) it being a competition. The competition would be in the vein of something the nations created to help foster closer relations and to vent potential aggression to prevent future Kuvira's. It could be a fighting tournament or it could be more like the Olympics. Let me know if you'd prefer general setting or something Olympics-esque. If you guys like the idea of the competition I'll be trying to work something special out for it *wink wink* *nudge nudge* *wink wink wink wink* OH GOD WHATS WRONG WITH ME EYES!?!?

[Shoulder Devil]

I'd vote for general Avatar setting :U

[Puffin]

Same here. While your reasoning behind there being a tournament is interesting, I kinda feel like the idea is a tad limiting for any potential characters. We'd all be pro-benders, basically.

 

Edit: Additionally, if it's to prevent any more Kuvira's from popping up, it'd likely limit the setting to the Earth Kingdom. I mean, you could include the water tribes and fire nation, of course, but it just seems like it'd be a thing to promote unity amongst the Earth Kingdom, judging by your explanation for it. Which, while that wouldn't limit what kind of benders we could choose (since, obviously, all four types of benders can be found in republic city alone) it does potentially limit ideas for character backgrounds.

[BottomGuy]

New description is up. Feel free to discuss, ask questions, and begin creating those characters!

[Stars]

Ooh, a prize. I assume that's a commission of the winning character?

[Puffin]

What does the group Ji Lu actually do? Just wondering since it could be interesting to have a character that is either associated with or has been affected by this group somehow.

[BottomGuy]

If you are interested then I can speak with you about it privately. In all honesty, I included the Ji Lu as a pivot point that would be used if we play with this past the contest. Talking about it with people who are interested won't spoil anything too much so if you're interested, I'll talk.

[Stars]

If you are interested then I can speak with you about it privately. In all honesty, I included the Ji Lu as a pivot point that would be used if we play with this past the contest. Talking about it with people who are interested won't spoil anything too much so if you're interested, I'll talk.

That being the case, same question.

[BottomGuy]

Less than a week left for entries.

[Puffin]

I was going to take another day to edit this, but I couldn't stop myself from finishing it off tonight. I may pare down the history some more later, but it just seems like this guy is going to be lengthy (I put it in a spoiler tag for that reason).

 

Spoiler

Name: Anik

 

Age: 34

 

Brother: Ila (water bender)

 

Appearance: He stands at 6'3”, although he's hardly imposing due to his thin, wiry build. His stringy dark hair brushes just past his shoulders, but it's almost always haphazardly tied back in one way or another. His eyes are steel blue.

 

Bending: Air

 

Nationality: United Republic

 

Hometown: Republic City

 

Personality: Cynical, but remorseful. He doesn't want to cause trouble, though he would agree that his current life is more interesting than that of an ordinary fisherman. He doesn't like being told what to do, but has grown too passive to argue about it. He appreciates quiet moments where he can lay back and relax.
 

History: Anik and his brother grew up in Republic City, their parents were fishers and the two had grown up around boats. Their mother died when they were teenagers, leaving them with several uncomfortable anger and grief filled years all while cramped on a boat for a good chunk of their time. As their father grew older, they were saddled with more and more of the work load, until Ila inherited their family's fishing ship and the two of them were left with the whole of the business. Only a couple of years passed when they returned from sea one day to learn that their father had a heart attack and passed away in their absence. It wasn't a complete shock to them, their father drank too much- especially after his retirement- and was too easily riled up. Something like this was bound to happen eventually. What they didn't know was that their father had racked up a large gambling debt, that they now owed.

 

 Knowing there was no way to pay off the debt honestly (or otherwise get rid of it), the two decided to put their fishing boat to use by robbing other ships. Relatively small pleasure cruisers were their ideal target, the type to have just enough money to make it worth it, but low defenses. Their technique consisted of lying in wait, knowing that no one would see their ship as anything other than a fishing vessel. Once a decent target was sighted, Ila would freeze the water surrounding the cruiser, leaving them unable to escape. They'd strip the ship of anything valuable, then slip away. They did this as seldom as possible, at first. Just enough to make sure they could pay the gang their father owed and not be harassed, since both of them were wary of being caught.

 

At first it seemed like they would only have to keep doing this for a few weeks, maybe a few months, but no matter how much they paid, they always owed more. Ila's solution was simple: rob more ships, which wasn't what Anik was hoping for. He had noticed that Ila was becoming less inclined to return to their normal habits and business. Not to mention, he was growing more impatient with those they stole from. If they experienced any resistance from their targets, Ila would thaw out the ice as soon as they were back on their own ship- leaving the passengers little to no time to deploy a life boat or call for help before water flooded their cracked and broken hull. Then Ila decided lying in wait all of the time was too slow, so they took to roaming the coastline to find targets. This was, admittedly, the part of the life that Anik liked. Since they had to move faster, all of the vestiges of their fishing life fell away. While before they might have filled their time with work pertaining to some legitimate business, now it was about keeping an eye out- or, as Anik preferred to think of it- sitting back and relaxing. It was enjoyable, until he realized they were getting a reputation. The identities of the pirates weren't known, but everyone had heard of their exploits by this point.

 

Ila seemed unconcerned by it, but it was easy for him, Anik thought, he had his bending. Out at sea he had the advantage. Anik didn't know what he would do if the Republic City police sent someone after them. Half the time, the most he did in this pirating affair was carry whatever they stole back to their boat. As unconcerned as he was for his own safety, Ila was at least persuaded to keep a lower profile for Anik's sake.

 

They were away at sea during Harmonic Convergence and Republic City seemed like an entirely different place when they returned. Soon after, Anik lost his excuse of having no bending, as he discovered by accident aboard their ship one day. While doing some menial chores, he accidentally created a blast of air. It wasn't long before Ila had him practicing his new bending. Not that he had any real clue how to go about it other than lots of trial and error. And accidents. Lots of accidents. Yet, by the end of it, he couldn't complain.

 

 When passengers didn't cooperate, it was simple enough to blast them back. He could tear a room apart in seconds flat and, he had to admit, it was fun seeing the extent of his air bending abilities. At sea and on land, he used it as a shortcut for everything. Heavy cart needs moving? Air bend it. Dirty floors need cleaning? Air bend it. Valuables need to be hefted from one ship to another? Air bend it. It was the solution to everything.

 

Granted, being able to find a new way to work didn't ease his conscience much. When the air nomads approached him, telling him how much more he could learn to do with his air bending, he was tempted to go with them, but he couldn't bring him self to leave Ila alone with the debt. Even if his brother seemed to enjoy the work, he knew it was more than one man could handle alone. He'd end up caught or unable to make their payments. He inevitably turned them down, though it's a decision he's often regretted.

 

Now, years later with the world in a state of change and unrest, the two can get away with anything unnoticed, since authorities are usually too busy dealing with more pressing matters than a couple of pirates. Ila has used extra money they've brought in to modify their vessel and make her faster, much to Anik's disappointment, who feels it's just another sign that his brother has no intention of ever turning back. Especially as they take on bigger targets than the mere pleasure cruisers they started with. He has suspicions that Ila isn't telling him everything, but by this point, he's not sure if he has any choice in what they do.

 

Additional notes:

• While Ila and Anik were born and raised in Republic City, their parents both come from the Southern Water Tribe.
• Ila tried to make it as a pro-bender when he was a teenager, but eventually had to drop it altogether to make time for the family business. This is why he enjoys pirating, it's a more challenging use of his water bending.
• Ila actually changed the terms of the deal with the gang, instead of paying them back for their father's debt in increments, he and Anik are working for them. He hasn't yet told Anik this, since he's afraid his younger brother would walk out on the operations.

[Kamau]

I may play with personality a bit more, but ta-dah! (Following Puffin's spoiler decision.)

 

Spoiler

Name: Amir

 

Age: 28

 

Appearance: At 5 feet, 8 inches, you may not pick Amir out from the crowd based on height. Nor will his dark skin or shoulder-length black hair (at times tossed up into a ponytail, at times not) cause much of a stir, unless you happen to be attracted to the graceful way he brushes it away from his eyes (or if you follow the line of toned muscle up his arm and down his chest). The move is calculated (though he’d deny it), drawing your attention to the first thing that may make you look twice - his richly colored eyes, one green, and one grey. “The Eyes of Destiny”, he will joke if you ask him about them, then draw your attention to the second thing about him that may not cause as much of a stir in these days, but is still different enough to make you wonder what else about him you don’t know: his attire. Unlike many you’ll pass in the streets of the Earth Kingdom, Amir chooses to embrace more than the traditional green and brown of his home country, instead donning a multitude of colors in a mishmash of styles. 

 

Bending: Earth…Fire…AIr… The question is, which of those is real? ;) 

 

Nationality: Earth Kingdom

 

Personality: Amir likes showing off. He likes being the center attention, especially having been in the background for so long. He can be easily persuaded to try something that sparks his interest (and it can definitely be said that a lot of things interest him), and that leaves him with a tendency to get in over his head. It’s usually his quick-thinking that keeps him out of trouble - that, and his charming personality when it comes to women and men alike. 

 

History: Amir will be the first to tell you that he was destined for greatness. Quite possibly, he will also be the only one to tell you this, as no one in his family ever expected him to succeed at more than being a pretty face. It was clear from a young age that he’d be a looker, but more importantly…it was clear that unlike most members of his family, he lacked the ability to Earth bend.

 

For a good portion of his childhood, Amir let his family’s belief that lack of bending meant lack of any talent whatsoever guide his actions. His looks continued to develop, but he faded into the background, seemingly content to go along with the flow, because that was all he’d ever be good at.

 

Until one year, he came across not one, not two, but three people who believed that he was meant for more. Meant to be more. 

 

The first was one of the teachers at the public school attended. She looked past his lack of bending and saw something more important: intelligence. She pushed him to work harder at his studies, and he came to realize how easy many of the classes he was taking actually could be when you sat down and studied each night. 

 

The second was the leader of his school’s martial arts club. He looked past his lack of bending and saw something else more important: strength. He persuaded Amir to come to the club’s practice one day, and Amir happened to enjoy what he found. Even after graduating, he’s still found ways to keep his skills up-to-date. 

 

And the third was his best friend at the time, Kanan, who had always looked past Amir’s lack of bending despite his own ability to excel at it. He saw something even more important grow within his friend: quick-thinking. It was easy for him to convince Amir that between the two of them, they could pull the biggest prank of all. 

 

They could convince people that Amir actually could Earthbend. 

 

From that year on, Amir became more than his lack of bending. He was strong, he was smart, and he became really good at making people think he was something he wasn’t. They started small, traveling to nearby towns and doing simple Earth bending tricks and tasks. Amir would approach someone while Kanan hid just out of sight, and they’d use a series of code phrases and movements to make it seem like Amir was doing to bending people wanted to see. 

 

It was just something for the two of them to do for fun at first. Something they could both take as a challenge. It enabled Kanan to fine-tune his bending, and it enabled Amir to feel like he belonged in a world where bending was becoming so prominent. (That, and it allowed him to show off.) They continued the act for years, growing better and better at creating a class act, and their range of travel took them as far as other countries, where Earthbending wasn’t so everyday as to be unable to draw a crowd. 

 

It took the sudden emergence of Airbending for their ‘fun’ to spiral out of control, into something more. One day, in the middle of showing off the latest Earthbending trick they’d mastered, Amir accidentally shot off a blast of air. The rocks Kanan had been lifting hovered a moment more, then collapsed to the ground as both realized what had just happened. Both boys may have been dumbfounded, but the crowd reacted strongly to the boy who could seemingly bend two elements, calling for him to show them again. 

 

Not prepared to be caught in a lie, Amir quickly convinced Kanan to continue the act, and it wasn’t long before Amir found that he’d amassed quite a few followers, people who believed that perhaps more had happened than the reemergence of the Air Nation. 

 

Perhaps more than just the Avatar could now master all of the elements.

 

*Other:

-Amir is attempting to master fire tricks to go along with his ‘multi-bending’ performances, but so far all he’s succeeded at is burned fingers. 

-Amir isn’t sure how Kanan feels about his newfound and growing ‘fame’. To be honest, he’s afraid to ask, and has worked hard to keep the subject from coming up. But he’s well aware that while he may be the face of the crowd’s attention, without Kanan, he’d be nothing but an air-bending fraud. 

-If anyone asks about why Kanan is always hanging around, Amir likes to joke that his friend is his lover. Kanan has yet to tell him to knock it off.

[Stars]

Super late but here's mine!

 

Spoiler

Name: Taktuq

Age: 19

Appearance: He is of average height but very thin, almost to the point of appearing malnourished. Dark eyes and a mop of short, wavy hair belie his Water Tribe ancestry.

Bending: Water, Light

Nationality: Earth States

Personality: Carefree and creative while growing up. In later years he became melancholic, with forced smiles spoiled by sad eyes.

History: Taktuq was born and raised in the Earth Kingdom - before it became the Earth Empire or the Earth States. His father was a water bender from the Northern Water Tribe, seeking his fortunes abroad, and his mother was a non-bender native of the Earth Kingdom. His childhood was peaceful, and his family was happy and relatively well to do.

From a young age, Taktuq displayed a knack for water bending. He never felt any desire to train in combatative water bending forms, caring more for artistic applications of the ability. One of Taktuq's favorite distractions on sunny days was to bend the water in the air to create small rainbows. Eventually this technique became second nature to him, and he learned to refine it to create elaborate patterns of light. He became fairly well known for this in his hometown since he would often attempt to flag people down and put on a quick show for them whenever the sun was shining.

When Kuvira began rounding up foreigners during her unification campaign, Taktuq's water bending apparently outweighed his Earth Kingdom birth. Metal benders came to take him and his father to one of the education camps, but his father resisted and was killed in the struggle. Taktuq's mother was left alone - in more than one sense - and soon fell ill from grief.

At the camp, bending was of course forbidden, but Taktuq secretly took any chance he could to still make his rainbows for the comfort they brought. After a time, he became so proficient at "bending light" that he could create distinct images. This skill was practiced and honed further by creating illusions to play tricks on any guards he particularly disliked - which was all of them. One day, Taktuq decided to really put his light bending skills to the test.

 

He was going to escape.

 

Taktuq succeeded in bending the light around himself so that he could all but vanish from sight. He wasn't nearly skilled enough to become completely invisible, but with some illusory distractions added in, it was good enough to slip out of the camp undetected. After escaping, Taktuq tried to return home, only to find that his mother had passed away during his imprisonment. He became determined to reunite families that had similarly been torn apart by Kuvira's campaign so that others would not have to feel the same pain he himself had experienced.

Taktuq perfected light bending to the point where he could infiltrate education camps and smuggle people out with ease. Though he always kept his original purpose in mind, he found himself helping people regardless of their family situations. No one deserved to be treated the way Kuvira's prisoners were.

There were far too many education camps for Taktuq to possibly free everyone, but he tried none the less. Fortunately, the Avatar put a stop to Kuvira's plans and abolished the camps. But with his goal rendered moot, Taktuq had to find a new purpose. It was around this time that he was approached by the Ji Lu...

Other: Whenever investigators managed to find any information on Taktuq's identity, it was generally assumed that people were claiming to be rescued by that one character from the movers. Partly thanks to this misunderstanding, Taktuq's true origins were never discovered by the Earth Empire.