#Atla lore

[zukkaart]

Do you guys think Zuko made Aang’s final air-nomad outfit?

Like canonically out of them, only Katara and Zuko can sew. And I’d imagine Katara was pretty wrapped up after that final battle with not only healing Sokka’s leg, but knowing her- probably healing anyone else she could get her hands on. And she also would have no knowledge of what traditional air nomad formals would look like.

And yeah I guess Aang could have made it himself. But he was only 12 the last time he saw the monks. And I highly doubt they taught him much past how to repair is own clothing.

But who spent years studying the monks and air bending? Who became obsessed with their culture and traditions in an attempt to find the last one? Who searched all the air temples not once but twice, from top to bottom? Who canonically makes his own clothes (i.e. the blue spirit outfit)?

Zuko, always Zuko

I also like to think that the relic/amulet Aang wears in that same scene was also given to him by Zuko. Just bc I’m sure Zuko kept a lot of air nomad things on his ship, and I think either he or his uncle would have salvaged it- probably out of convenience. Zuko as a reminder of his “purpose”, and Iroh as a symbol of hope.

[iil-nonbinary-baby-bitch]

Wakes up in dead of night sweating and crazy eyed

Would lesbians in the the ATLA universe call themselves Kyoshins?!

[nyxelestia]

New headcanon:

The East India Western Kingdom Trading Company was founded by the Beifongs.

We know that the Beifongs are rich, but we don't actually know where that wealth comes from. It doesn't sound like they're nobility, so it's not from owning land (or at least, not just from owning land). We do know that documents from them are recognized and respected as far as Ba Sing Se despite their home being all the way down in Gaoling almost on the other side of the Earth Kingdom...specifically, over in the southwest of the Earth Kingdom.

Meaning Gyatso's sister was killed by Toph's ancestor.

[biconickyoshi]

Hello! I wanted to ask, in The Avatar and the Fire Prince AU, how does reincarnation (The Avatar Cycle) works? In Canon, the Avatar is a human soul (Wan) who after death reincarnates on Earth in a new body to live a new life with the Spirit of Peace (Raava) bounded to it. But how about in your AU? I'm asking because I want to know whether or not we're going to have a scene with Aang having an existential crisis over the fact that in his previous life he was Zuko's great-grandfather.

Hello anon! :) Yes, I do my best to ensure that my AU is as canon compliant as possible when it comes to lore (including all known lore from Legend of Korra, the comics, the TTRPG, and the Chronicles of the Avatar novels), so the Avatar Cycle does indeed work the exact same.

I honestly haven't given a ton of thought to Aang and Zuko's reaction of who Roku was (though it will definitely still be revealed at some point just like in the show). While I think they would both maybe find it a little weird of a coincidence at first, I don't think it would cause either of them to freak out or anything lol.

We've definitely seen weird coincidences/connections like this before with other Avatars - for example, Kuruk and Hei-Ran were past lovers (before he met Ummi), and then he was reincarnated as Kyoshi, who fell in love with Hei-Ran's daughter Rangi. Then we have Korra, who was taught waterbending by someone who is basically a grandmother figure to her (Katara), and who was also technically "her" wife in her past life. She was also taught airbending by someone who is a father/uncle figure to her (Tenzin), who was also technically "her" son in her past life.

In general, there seems to be an understanding amongst everyone in the world of AtLA that each Avatar is very much their own distinct person, each with different lives, memories, and personalities. Sometimes more spiritual people - like Toph for example - can see that the Avatar has the same spirit/soul, but again, even Toph knows Korra is her own person and not just Aang with none of his memories lol.

Of course, if Aang had a problem like Yangchen did in which he was constantly having flashbacks to memories from his previous lives, then I'd say that yeah lol, he'd be much more likely to have an existential crisis. But as far as we know, Aang does not have any "memories" of living as Roku or any other previous Avatar - he only views previous Avatars' life events from an outside perspective. And even if he did have the ability to "remember" living as Roku, at least he wouldn't be able to "remember" actively being a grandfather to Zuko, since Zuko and even Ursa were born decades after Roku's death. That would definitely be awkward if that wasn't the case lol.

All of this has actually got me thinking about the theory where an Avatar could possibly reincarnate as their own child/grandchild/relative, especially with mixed-ethnicity/nation families becoming more common in the time of Korra. Like, say an Earth Avatar dies right as their child with someone of Fire Nation descent (or their grandchild, or sibling, or cousin, etc.) is born. As long as they have the right DNA, a relative of the Avatar could theoretically be the next Avatar in this scenario. The closest thing I could compare this to is like a Steven Universe situation (where he kind of both is and isn't his own mom - it's hard to explain if you haven't seen that show lmao).

Anywayyyy sorry for the long ass response anon lol. I just love talking about AtLA lore! :)

[mfelewzi]

Yes, I made a screenshot with my Mobile Phone.

So?

And I don't know, but I think that these Avatars are not so much for 10000 years, am I right? AMYWAY, this could be an idea for some Animated Adventurous and Fantasy Series for a lot of characters in the past, while they could give a final for Aang and Korra...

No. Di Martino had just written some boring D&D manuals for the player, with short adventures and not so entertaining.

They are losing time for a Movie that they don't know how starting, with useless novels more similar to manuals for RPG players, or fore useless comics, when they could have a Fantasy Version of Mobile Suite Gundam's franchise?

Who are the Gurus of Flatulence and that pile of results from a Mexican dinner of their collaborators that had planned in this way?

[therealbluespirit]

AFTER LONG FREAKIN LAST

I am ecstatic to announce...

CHAPTER 17

In which Zuko fades in and out of consciousness, the crew faces a tough inquisition, and bigger and badder plots begin to germinate

[sharlmbracta]

me on this take:

So we know firebending gets weaker at night and stronger during the day, that's been established. But are the phases of the moon also a factor into how powerful firebending can still be at night?

Think about it, the light of the moon is a reflection of the sun. So if there's a full moon, firebending should be more powerful than during a new moon. It wouldn't be as powerful as during the day obviously, but it would be significantly stronger than when there's no moon visible.

That's probably why the fire nation also depends on the moon like Iroh says. Firebenders would have given themselves quite the disadvantage if they had succeeded in destroying the moon. And if the other nations were to figure it out, they could have planned an invasion at night. (Of course the invasion during an eclipse was also a good idea, but the eclipse only lasts a few minutes, while nighttime lasts several hours.)

[demaparbat-hp]

Golden Boy (and Silver Girl) for the Kintsugi AU.

[mfelewzi]

Well, It depends. If we follow the Korra's ideas, when all is caused by personalistic reasons, yes.

But if we follow the first ideas and lore, no. Sozin didn't development his ideas by nothing: there was a social substrate who permitted that (and if we want to consider some elements of New Lore, the Avatar before Yangchen, Avatar Szeto, developmented some ideas of "Sozinism"). As someone said: "The Napoleons never born casually".

That could be an interesting thing to do: a spin-off manga series about the First Half od the One Hundred War.

Sadly, with two libertarian authors as Konietzko and Di Martino, It would be impossible, cause they had some problems to Imagine a Fantasy World and to describe a society and a world Who isn't similar to American Society.

And more important, they wanted a Space-opera, not an Epic Fantasy, and I don't think that they want to describe a thing so distant to their ideas.

Do you think Roku killing Sozin would've prevented the 100 Year War?

I think that even if it had, people like Sozin will always be attracted to power, and eventually there would’ve been a problem sooner or later.

If it wasn’t the Fire Nation it would’ve likely been the Earth Kingdom.

Either way, the cost of freedom is constant vigilance.

[hinamie]

off on an adventure ! this au turns 1 week old today

jjk atla!au with @philosophiums

pose ref [x]

[elderwisp]

ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴄʜʀᴏɴɪᴄ, ʙɪᴛ ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴɪᴄ ✮⋆˙ happy birthday, rowan

[biconickyoshi]

Opinion on Bloodbending for medical purposes?

I've honestly never thought about this anon, but I think that is a very cool way that it could be used! I'm assuming it would be something like helping with blood flow?

It makes me think of how the healer Atuat from the Kyoshi novels used her waterbending to slow down the process of death by lowering the body's temperature. Waterbending in general is so cool because these techniques could both be used to totally just kill someone, but they could also be used to save lives.

[mfelewzi]

From r/AvatarMemes, by u/HAZMAT_Eater: yo

The Legend of Koran, Book 3: Fitna

Man, I love this parodistical AU! More than original show.

I would have loved some references to the other two Great Traditional Religions of Asia, Islam and Christianity (I intend the Syriac Christianity that was in China and India before Jesuit Missions, especially in the last country with One of the secular Malabarian Community), and not Just those. The Earthlings of South Earth Kingdom (Omashu folks, Sand Folks of Si Wong Desert) could have a more persian and arabic references, and the same could be for the Air Temples, making them more differents Just like Water Tribes.

Maybe Eastern Air Temple Monks could be more like these:

While Southern Air Temple Monks a fusion between this

And this

Chinese representation of Tang Dinasty about a nestorian/eastern christian chinese/turk monk.

And a theme for The Rift and other comics could be the differences among different Monastic traditions of Air Nomads, and a difference between Monks and normal Air Nomads, more similar to turks and mongolians.

That's cause a thing that I loved of Ehasz's ideas was the Return of Air Nomads and Air Bending. And a return without "spirit things" would be more interesting than what Bryke had done.

And speaking about "Spirit things": It would be more Better for Lore and Avatar's Origins some changes about Spirits, especially Raava and Vaatu (maybe a third subject with them: Brahman as one of the Three Great Ones Who would had seen the World's Story and Formation).

A thing like this.

And yes, I created this Retcon and AU because I had seen a meme!

[mfelewzi]

Well, in the original lore, Air Nomads were nomadic tribes that followed the Air Monks, like Tibetans and Mongolians, and the islands of the Air Temples are a sea version of Tibet, so there weren't economic interests to colonize them.

And It wasn't a headcanon, sadly.

Ah, here an illustration of Tibetan Warriors, maybe the other original Air Nomads were more like these, with a dark past about a Terrible and Bloody Great Khan.

Maybe there were some resources like coal for industries and machines, or oil and some special metals, but they didn't know (as happened with my country when It colonised Libya, a sad Page of our history, especially during fascist regime), and more important Bryke (especially Di Martino) retconned the old lore, so frankly It doesn't matter.

Why didn't Fire Nation ever colonize the Air Nomad territories after wiping out the population?

As far as I remember, we didn't really see any Air Nomad territories other than the Air Temples. And I would assume that the reason the Fire Nation didn't colonize them is because it was just impractical. They are located high in the mountains, and the easiest way to get there is by flying, and the Air Nomads probably got there on Sky Bisons. So, the Fire Nation probably didn't colonize them because they didn't want to live there and they didn't find it useful.

[the-badger-mole]

Clouds, Fog and Mists

The scholars and archeologists that Aang had been working with had come out of their museum basements and dimly lit studies with a wealth of Air Nomad histories and artifacts that had been lost during the war. Aang now had access to recipes he hadn't tasted in years, scrolls that gave historical context to the things he had just begun learning at age 12, and objects he had never seen, but was excited to learn the use of. At 22, he was just now learning that the Air Nomads had a variety of subcultures and customs he'd never encountered, even though he had visited every Air Temple that existed back then.

"Did you know..." became as common to his vocabulary as "hello" and "custard tart". Every day, he approached his wife with some new bit of lore he'd learned.

"Did you know that the Southern Air Nomads had a Festival of Remembrance?" he'd excitedly asked as Katara was hanging the laundry out to try. She was only half listening while she tried to keep Bumi, their nearly three year old son out of the basket of wet sheets, but she gave a polite hum of encouragement.

"For a whole week," Aang continued needing no further prompting, "no one was allowed to play music or speak. They even wore velvet over their feet so their footsteps wouldn't be too loud. Then, at the end of it, there was a huge party! Loud as anything with music and plays and games. I think I remember going one of those ending parties, but I didn't know about the vow of silence before it."

"That's fascinating, sweetie," Katara said, rubbing her heavy belly with a look of discomfort. She was seven months along with their second child, and this one was very active. "Bumi, last warning. Do not touch the clean clothes!"

"Okay, Mommy!" Bumi said before swatting at one of the sheets Katara had hung on the line. She sighed and turned to her husband.

"Can you take him?" she asked. "I'm tired, and I'd like to take a nap after I finish this."

"Oh," Aang said reluctantly. "I was going to have an afternoon session with the Acolytes. I'm dying to tell them what I've been learning."

"Aang, please?" Katara sagged tiredly, taking Bumi's hand and pulling him away from all her hard work.

"Alright," Aang sighed. "I'll watch him for a bit. Come on, Bumi! Let's go practice some air katas! I want you to be ready when your airbending kicks in!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

All Air Nomads were airbenders. That's what Aang had always been taught. He had to account for late bloomers, of course, but at age four, going on five, if Bumi was going to be an airbender, there would've been signs by now. Kya was a lost cause. She had started waterbending just before her second birthday, and despite the fact that her father was the Avatar, there was no chance that she would inherit the ability to control more than one element.

"Well, maybe it's not true that all Air Nomads were benders," Katara said with a shrug. "After all, not every Water Tribesman is a waterbender, and not everyone in the Earth Kingdom is an earthbender."

"It's different," Aang insisted. "The monks told me that all Air Nomads were benders because we have a unique connection with our spirituality." Katara didn't quite manage to hide her annoyance from him.

"Then explain our kids," she said. "Unless you're the first Air Nomad in history to have children with a non-Air Nomad, someone somewhere got something wrong." Aang went quiet after that. He had no response.

"Just because the Air Nomads may have had children with people from other nations doesn't mean that their children were Air Nomads," an acolyte named Qiao said. She was one of the most apt and studious of Aang's Air Acolytes, and they had spent many hours together pouring over the newly discovered texts. Sometimes, Aang thought that she had a better grasp of Air Nomad culture than even he did.

"I suppose....I suppose that's true," Aang said thoughtfully, taking a sip of his tea.

"The Air Nomads were mostly not monogamous," Qiao pointed out. "I'm sure there were a lot of Nomads who had understandings with their lovers from other nations. Especially among the Air Acolytes of the day."

Aang pondered that for the rest of the day. Then the next. Then the rest of the week before he finally approached Katara. He found her by the fountain with Kya and Bumi. Kya was busy making imperfect little shapes with the water while Katara was teaching Bumi how to put his hair into a warrior's wolf tail.

"You look just like your uncle Sokka," she laughed, pressing a kiss on her son's cheek. "I bet you'll be a great warrior just like him, too." That twisted Aang's gut uncomfortably. He cleared his throat to get Katara's attention.

"Hey, sweetie," he said.

"Hey," Katara smiled at him. "We're just about to have story time. Do you want to stick around for How Umiak Rowed Her Boat to the Stars?"

"Oh, um..."Aang shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Sure. I was just...thinking of something."

"Yeah?" Katara raised her brow at him. "What?"

"I was just thinking of how all the Air Nomads were benders." Katara didn't bother trying to hide her disgusted snort or the rolling of her eyes.

"Okay, and?" she huffed. "Did you draw any new conclusions?"

"I can't have been the only Air Nomad to have children with someone from a different culture," he said. Katara stared at him blankly for a long moment.

"I told you that," she responded finally. "It's just now sinking in?'

"No, I understood you," Aang told her. He kicked at the ground. There was a loose pebble under his toe and he focused on rolling it back and forth. "It's just...well, the Air Nomads, they weren't strictly monogamous."

"Monogamous," Katara scoffed. "That's a big word for you." Aang bristled a bit at that, but he took a breath and let it go.

"I was just reading," Aang said with a shrug. "It occurred to me that maybe because the Air Nomads weren't monogamous, they just didn't bring their non-bending kids into the Air Nomad society." Katara looked up at Aang with her eyes wide.

"That's awful!" she said. "So because their kids didn't bend the right elements, they had to be cut off from one of their parents?"

"No, I'm sure it wasn't as bad as all that-" Aang started to protest.

"What exactly are you saying, Aang?" There was a dangerous edge to Katara's voice. A warning.

"Nothing, nothing!" he scrambled back, tripping over his tongue, trying to call back his words, and cursing himself for trying to bring up the subject without a plan. Katara eyed him coldly. She was angry and trying not to show it.

"It's time for lunch," she told her children. "Let's go inside and fix something to eat."

"But Mommy," Bumi protested. "I want to hear about Umiak!" Katara turned to him with a tight smile.

"That's okay, sweetie," she said. "I'll tell you while you help me fix lunch." With one last scowl at Aang, she took Bumi's hand and swung Kya up onto her hip and went inside.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Aang felt vindicated when it was discovered that he and Qiao were right. The Air Nomads would often leave non-airbending children with their non-Nomad parents. Sometimes the Air Nomad parent would stay with their non-Nomad partners and build a life with them and their children (something he made a note to tell Katara about). Then it was discovered that they were only partially right.

Some of the Air Nomads stayed and raised mixed heritage families. Some left their non-airbending children behind with their non-Nomad partners. That was expected. Reasonable, even. What Aang was not expecting, however, were the accounts of non-airbending children being given away. Some were adopted, and those adoptions were traceable through documents and letters. Others were sold. Those transactions were traceable, too. By most accounts, those children went into indentured servitude and many of them learned trades and were able to start businesses once their indenture was up. Aang tried to focus on the positives. Katara, however, was horrified.

"What right did they have to sell those children into...into slavery?" she demanded hotly while they were getting ready for bed.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Aang insisted. "After all, the Air Nomads wouldn't have put children into situations where they could've been hurt."

"Yes," Katara sneered. "I'm sure their new owners were very gentle with their exploitation."

"That isn't fair!" Aang protested. "Do you know how difficult it would've been for those kids to live among the Nomads?"

"Probably about as easy as it's been for our kids." Katara glared at Aang meaningly. He felt his cheeks heat as he looked away, pretending not to understand.

Bumi was going on eight now, and Kya was five. They were both old enough to ask questions about why it was so difficult for them to move around their own home. Katara and the Acolytes had an easier time being adults and able to maneuver obstacles that short legs and small hands couldn't without help, but it was still a regular challenge to get around the Air Temple for them. Aang was in the process of building a complex near Republic City where non-airbending Acolytes could live and learn with more ease, but it wouldn't be ready for anyone to move into for another year or so. It would be safer for children with no airbending ability, too. Aang glanced over at Katara from the corner of his eye, at the soft swell of her stomach, already showing signs of pregnancy at her second month.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Tenzin was the last of Aang's children with Katara, and the only airbender. When he was almost one, he airbent for the first time, and Aang couldn't stop celebrating for an entire week. When Tenzin was two, the first of the burial mounds were discovered.

Archaeologists working at the mostly restored Northern Air Temple found it at the base of the mountain. There were several layers to the grave, suggesting generations' worth of use. Most of the bones were small. Infant and toddler sized. The largest bones were about the size of an average eight year old. The bones were all jumbled together, as if they had been tossed in a heap. Some of them wore the clothes they were buried in, but most of the bones were too broken to hang on to any frabric. There were also no signs of any shrouds or anything indicating that they had been given any of the customary funeral rites of the Air Nomads. The fact that they were found at the base of the mountain in itself was unusual. All the different groups of Air Nomads had their own unique funeral customs, but one thing that remained the same was that they were laid to rest as close to the sky as possible.

When the first reports of how the children came to be at the base of the mountain came out, Aang was certain it was the rankest propaganda. None of the Air Nomads, no matter how stringent they were about non-airbenders living among them, would ever harm a child. For a while, he seemed to be right, as all the proof was from secondary and tertiary sources.

"Lies the Fire Nation used to justify genocide," Aang said confidently.

"But how did the children get there?" Katara asked. Aang had no answer for her. Yet. There must have been a good one, though. Maybe a plague had run through the Air Temple, forcing them to bury the bodies at the bottom of the mountain to prevent contamination, or something equally tragic. Aang began talking to the archaeologists about giving the bones a proper burial as soon as they could be sorted. The count at that time was 700 bodies in the pile and there were still so many more to go.

A few months after that, the oldest of the Air Nomad accounts were uncovered. It went back a good 300 years, and it spoke about a surplus of infants born without the gift of airbending. There were too many to be disposed of the normal ways, and many of the non-bending parents were unwilling or unable to raise the children themselves. The anonymous monk wrote of a meeting to discuss the crisis. They wouldn't be able to care for so many that couldn't get around the temple, or travel with the Nomads. There was a food shortage. A water shortage. An everything shortage. So the head monk suggested giving the children to the air. That had been the first time the practice had been recorded, near as anyone could tell. But some of the bones were older than that.

That's what they called it. It sounded lovely. Poetic even. In practice, though, the babies were carried to the edge of the temple grounds and held in the air. A short prayer was said for the souls of the children, and then they just...let go. They were so high up, they probably couldn't hear the children hit the ground.

The public began to call them the Fog Children. They were babies born to Air Nomad parents, but without airbending abilities themselves. People clung to the term and it soon spread all over the world in hushed whispers. Aang hated it. Katara hated it. It was the only thing they could agree on by that time.

"It isn't fair!" Aang bemoaned. "It's like people are using it to justify the Fire Nation killing all the Air Nomads."

"If it bothers you so much," Katara said after she'd put the kids to bed, "then speak up! Condemn what they did."

"I do!" Aang insisted. He had protested, loudly that all of the Air Nomads shouldn't be judged by what one fringe sect did.

"Not just them," Katara said. "All of it. It's just like with the Fire Nation. Remember what Zuko said? You can't expect to move forward without acknowledging the past. All of it was wrong. The Air Nomads treated their non-bending children as if they had no value. Condemn the adoptions and abandonings and the selling of the children!"

"How is it my responsibility to make up for all of that?" Aang demanded.

"You're the only one left," Katara reminded him, trying to be gentle. "I'm not saying you have to call the Air Nomads monsters. They did something wrong. They were human. You can acknowledge that and commit to being better than that."

"How?"

"Start with your children."

It had been a frequent argument between Katara and Aang how Aang treated their children. Bumi was 13 now, well on his way to becoming a man. Kya was 11 and Tenzin was five. Often, Katara would quiz Aang on his children- what Kya's favorite color was, or the name of Bumi's best friend. Aang could admit that he was correct about Tenzin more often than the others, but it was only because Aang had so much he had to teach his youngest. Katara should've understood that. After all, there were things she did with Kya that she couldn't do with Bumi or Tenzin.

"It's not the same," Katara told him. Aang could never remember why, though.

For the next year or so, Aang spent much of his time doing damage control. He did his best to separate the practices at the Northern Air Temple and the particular sect of Air Nomad culture that grew around it from the rest of the Air Nomads. Every criticism of the culture was met sharply by Aang's rebuttals and justifications. Penning article after article espousing the virtues of the Air Nomads at large became his full time job, and obsession. It took him two weeks to notice that Katara had left with all three of his children, and another month for him to find the letter Katara had left in his bedside table telling him she was seeking a divorce.

He got Tenzin three months of the year. It was all he could manage, being completely unused to parenting alone. Aang taught his son what he could of airbending and the Nomad philosophy he could in that time, and did his best to ignore the people whispering fog children in the same breath as his oldest children.

[demaparbat-hp]

Izumi of Jang Hui died young. She was sixteen and unwed. A kind child, protective and lonely—thus unfit for this world.

Izumi of Jang Hui was murdered. The Painted Lady was born out of hatred and grief. Her skin is painted red with the patterns of her scars. Her home is the river where the Dark Water Spirit dwells—he who found her, drowned and beautiful.

Build shrines by the river and pray for her good will. Harm her land or people and pray for mercy.