Cyberpunk Avatar: Part 2
Bending. One of my big motivations for this AU in the first place was that there seemed to be this line of thought in a lot of Avatar that went something like this “bending is going to disappear as technology becomes popular”. Frankly, that line of reasoning always pissed me off. First, it wasn’t true to the story, one of the things I liked about Avatar was that a lot of the tech as based on bending, like the Ba Sing Se trains, the submarines for the invasion, or the NWT’s canal system. Furthermore, it doesn’t make sense from a real world perspective, bending let’s you move around several tons (or thousands of tons in the high level cases) of material, that’s really useful.
I think it stems from three fallacies.
1)bending = magic, magic is anti tech. Which is actually a number of problems in one. First, bending is a fairly limited application of TK, not some catch all no-limits “magic”. Secondly, it misunderstands what technology is, yes technology is stuff we understand, because in the real world there is no magic. But technology isn’t about only working with what we can understand, it’s about using and exploting every advantage from the possibilities in our world. In the real world, if magic existed, technology wouldn’t be about sticking its fingers in its ears and ignoring magic, it would be about figuring out how to exploit it even more efficiently.
2) Is the idea that bending is stagnant. Not even sure where this one comes from, since we saw new techniques in the show being developed. In a society with high levels of education and information transfers, that only likely to be expanded.
3)…. I kinda forgot three as I was writing the other two.
Anyways, it’s been a pet peeve. And it’s seeped into most the “cyberpunk” verse Avatar AU’s I’ve seen. Which either ignore bending or downplay it. As such, one of the big goals of this Au was to punch those assumptions in the face.
For working out how bending had evolved I assumed that absolute power level hadn’t changed much. In terms of total among people can bend, I figure it’s a combination of physical ability and spiritual … spirit, both of which haven’t changed that much (though given that I have genetic engineering as a major part of the setting… might have to rethink that… hmmmm). Rather, the major change has been in technique, a lot more techniques exist, and teaching has become a lot more complex. So to given an example, metalbending is widespread, and is considered fairly easy.
The other big change I had was “Xue’s” Xue’s are a subset of each bending discipline, and can be thought of as the bending equivalent of college degrees. Highly technical and complex, and usually fairly specialized compared to more general arts. Xue studies allow people to manipulate things in their chosen subfield with precision unmatched, the only “canon” example of Xue’s would be waterbending healing, but some new one’s would be things like DainXue, a firebending discipline that allows people to control electricity so precisely than can manipulate computers and electric systems directly, or JinXue and earthbending discipline that can manipulate the metal to alloy it with other metal and create materials that would be impossible in real life.
In general, Xue’s, like college degree, have a variety of levels of advancement. Basic studies, which just cover the precise manipulation, can be thought of as equivalent to a two year technical degree or vocational studies, while more advanced degrees, which include a lot of theory, exist. Certain disciplines (such as nuclear bending) pretty much only exists in advanced degrees.
That said, let’s get on to basic bending arts
Firebending
Of all the bendings, Firebending has changed the most, to the point where the majority of benders don’t even tend to bend fire. Firebending has undergone a radical change in what is bent, to the point where some say it should be called “energy bending”. Most of the disciplines are subspecilized and require advanced training, but electricitybending, and lightbending.
Firebending has some use, but with the advent of widespread metalbending it’s just not that useful outside of warfare (though it does have occasional uses). Lightbending, likewise, remains mostly a novelty, thought there are a few stars, who give lightbending created performances. The mainstay of the average non-Xue firebender is electricity bending, which is exactly what it sounds like (and is considerably more controlled then lightning bending). The biggest use for lightningbenders is as living generators, powering plants and places. Ironically, they don’t tend to be used that way in the Fire Nation, where good power infrastructure and hide wage demand tend to make in economically unsound. Instead, it mainly appears in the Earth Nation’s and fourth ring of Ba Sing Se.
Waterbending
Basic waterbending is probably the least changed of the disciplines. Basic waterbenders tend to be engaged in water manipulation tasks, ship assistances, sanitation engineers, etc. The one major innovation has been in the advent of widespread plant bending, which makes it possible to harvest fields in record time without the use of expensive, easily destroyable, in-need-repair, tractors.
Earthbending
Earthbending lies somewhere in between waterbending and Firebending. On the one hand, it’s original form it still going strong. Canal’s need to be dug, brick, stone and concrete still make very popular building materials (and dirt, in poorer areas of the world) and of course, earthbending mines are among the most productive in the world. At the same time, it’s alternative art, metalbending, is amazingly useful and widespread, being used for hand manufacture and manipulation within industry.
Airbending: The what? There are only three bending disciplines, everyone know that. Certain research have theorized that since waterbenders can manipulated gassus water, and it’s been proven that they can manipulate oil (see below) they might be able to manipulated other gasses. Granted, a few ancient legends exists, but ancient legends also exist of magic man/women who can manipulate all the elements, so they really aren’t taken seriously.
Bending and the Nations
Fire Nation: For the most part, the Fire Nation only contains firebenders. There are a few water-tribe doctors, and earthbenders brought in for building projects as contract workers to help with building projects, but the Fire Nation tend to have stringing immigration policies and a cultural bias against non-firebenders. On a more positive note, the Fire Nation has the highest education levels in the world. Nearly 90% of Firebenders attain at least a two year degree, and many go on.
Northern Water Confederation: Like the Fire Nation, the Northern Water Confederation tends to have only waterbenders. There is much less of a cultural bias against other benders, it’s simply that the area is decidedly unpleasant for firebenders, and lacks easily accessible earth. They’re polite to other benders, but you aren’t one of them, which is generally considered better than the undercurrent of hostility/snobbery of the Fire Nation.
The Northern Educational system is somewhat…. Odd. Among males, the training levels are as high as the Fire Nation, among females it tends to be much lower, around 50%. In addition they tend to not earn as advanced degrees and even among equal holders, have lower positions and wages.
The Earth Nations: Unlike the other nations, the Earth Nation’s have a large diversity of benders, thought they tend to be concentrated by area. The west tends to have more heavy concentrations of firebenders, while the south has heavier concentrations of waterbenders, earthbenders exist throughout. The instability and relative poverty of the earth nations means that education tends to be lower, and the vast majority of benders are not Xue-trained. There are a few scattered schools, but they tend to be regarded as distinctly secondary to the universities fo Ba Sing Se, the Fire Nation and the Northern Confederations. The different Earth Nations tend to have widely divergent policies with regards to each bending type, ranging from total openness to occasional bouts of ethnic genocide.
Ba Sing Se: Ba Sing Se’s make-up is rather odd. The upper layer tends to be surprisingly even, since a lot of it’s inhabitants are foreign. The middle ring tends to have mostly earthbenders, though specialists from other disciplines are brought in from time to time (as consultants, not citizens). Ba Sing Se’s stability also makes in the world center for earthbending-Xue’s, thought he graduation rate tends to be lower than the Fire Nation of Water Confederation (unless on restricts oneself to only the middle and upper rings). The lower ring has almost no fire or waterbenders.
The fourth ring, however, tends reflect the makeup of the Earth Nations as a whole, and is a melting pot (one can expect to get smashed, drowned, and boiled alive) all three types of benders exist in large numbers (with a slight bias towards earth). What one can’t find are benders with advanced training. Those in the fourth ring have no hope of being accepted into the colleges of the upper rings, and even if they did, they’re first priority would be to get out.
Xue name (Opiras name)
Name dilemma: So I was originally going to give these a set of pseudo latin names ((name)-opiras-‘to work, as opposed to sciences -ology ‘to think/talk’) but thought that latin backround names were rather wrong, so I instead chose to take on Chinese names, taking a work and ending in Xue- chinese for “to think”. However upon further reflection, I’m reconsidering that. First, Avatar had a fairly consistent rule set, names of places and people were Asian, everything else was English, so that says go latinesque.
The second reason is for my reader’s sake. There are a lot of different disciplines, and it’s going to be hard to keep them straight, every time I use one, I’m going to need to look at my “Cheat sheet” to remember what for example Shiyouxue corresponds to. If I need to do that, it’s gonna suck for readers even more, making people refer back to a list of words does not a fun story make. By contrast, the opiras is much easier to understand, hyrdopiras would be water, pyropiras would be fire etc. Thoughts?
Edit: Dilemma solved. Professor Zei mentions archeology. So latin derived names are canon. Opiras it is. I’m leaving the text “as is” so you can see my thought process. Also included original names for the disciplines I had them for so you can see how hard they were to remember:
Shuixue Hydropiras (water bending)
Shuixue (Hydropiras) - Basic advanced water manipulations. Honestly, this discipline doesn’t see much use (if you have suggestions to make it more useful I’m up for some). Think of it as the equivalent of a “history of art” degree. Seen as mostly a substitute for people who are there to have a degree, rather than as an actual heavy field. A lot of women get encouraged to go into it.
Bingxue (Cryopiras) - Ice based specialization, tends to focus on making difficult or complex ice structures, from a social perspective, displays similar traits to basic kydropiras.
Chixue (Biopiras) -This is the healing specialization, with the advent of formal training, biopiras has largely replaced traditional healing in the Northern Water Tribe. The job tends to be, like doctors in the real world, high prestige and in high demands, tends to be one of the most male dominated fields.
On quick difference is that the chi-manipulation of the world is easier than medicine of our world. As such, there is a lower level “entry” training, and basic water tribe doctors tend to only need training similar to a bachelors degree in our world. That said, the more exotic and specialized fields take as much training as the real world.
XueXue (Hemopiras)- Blood manipulations, a subdiscipline of biopiras. It’s been found that the difficulty manipulating blood is largely due to creatures natural chi fields. This discipline focuses on both overcoming that and chi manipulation to make it easier. Once the blood can be manipulated it makes it possible to use it to operate on the body for truly non-invasive surgery
HuanXue (Genopiras)- A fairly new field, the focuses on genetic manipulation and its effects on the chi field. Very advanced, these guys (and they are almost all guys) tend to be consulted before any heavy genenginnerring is undertaken, and called up on to check for complications.
Zhongxue (Botanopiras )- Specialization focusing on plants. This is not the same as plant bending, while plant benders focus on manipulating the plants, botanopiras focuses on understanding and manipulating the chi fields and properties of the plants, to increase yields and favorable traits. Botanopiras is notable for being the “serious” discipline with the highest number of females. Which ironically means it tends to get treated with less respect.
DongXue (Zooopiras)- Animal Chi fields. Not much more to say.
Fanxue (Chemopiras)- The chemistry based discipline. Use of waterbending to manipulated water soluble chemical compounds.
Taixue (Phyoprias) - Probably the most esotic, advanced, and specilized fields to Hydropiras. Phyoprias is a subspecilization of Chemopiras makes use of a fascinating property of waterbending. Waterbending based freezing does not change the temperature of the water. Rather it forces the water molecules to bond at unnaturally high temperatures (or unbound at unnaturally low ones, if turning ice to water).
Normally, this is little more than a curiosity, but it can have show fascinating properties in advanced chemistry, allowing the creation impossible compounds or impossible material states. Since these compounds are inherently unstable without a bender to maintain them, the most common usage is what is known as the “bracing method” which works as follows.
1) Create impossible compound/matter state for compound A
2) Use compound A in a reaction to create compound which is stable, but would be impossible (or prohibitively expensive) to create normally.
Since the actual work is merely freezing certain compounds, the actually manufacture can be handled by ordinary waterbenders. This means almost all Pyoprias practicioners are involved in research, and all degree’s tend to be of the either year type.
Shiyouxue (Elaiopiras/ Anti-Hydroprias)- By far the newest, and most radical, of the disciplines. “Oilbending” as it is more commonly know, was thought to be immposible until about (still deciding on time) years ago. It was discovered as a result of a group of Genopiras attempgint o use gene-engineering to increase bending potential. During the project they found that, contrary to what everybody knew, waterbending had always been capable of manipulating hydrocarbons, it was simply that the movement needed to do so were not possible with the human body.
And so oilbending burst on to the scene as the most controversial opiras ever. Not only did it’s study require that every member radically genetically manipulated themselves, but to add to the controversy, the base treatments made waterbending motions impossible (there were treamnets that allowed both, but these have proven to be unbelievablly expense, for any normal bender, it’s one of the other.). Which only adds to the controversy, and makes them pariahs for many companies and the subject banned at many institutions.
Oilbenders, for the most part, have taken this in stride, filipintly naming themselves “anti-Hydroprias” as opposed to the “official” name of Elaiopiras. This social outcast has created a rather odd dynamic with women in the field. On the one hand, the disengagement from mainstream water tribe culture) means they tend to be more friendly to the idea of training women (though that should not be confused with equal right, some are radically equal rights, some aren’t, on average they tend to be more so, but individuals vary)*. In addition, while women are more accepted “in group”, the same is not true for the rest of the north. Any woman undergoing the gene therapy can be expected to be disowned from her family and never hired up north.
Still despite its controversy, Elaioprias, or Anti-Hyrdoprias, has been growing extremely rapidly. Not only does it offer a wealth of new ways to bend, but the number of compounds that were previously insoluble in water gives it a myriad of uses in chemical applications.
*The closest analogue I can think of real world is second wave feminism and other social justice issues. Yes, they were probably, on average, more pro minority, cultural differences, and sexual differences (etc) than mainstream culture at the time, but that doesn’t mean they were really sensitive to it. It wasn’t until third wave that those issues got addressed. Except in this case the oilbenders are in the position of the second wavers. They are semi-pro women, but they’re still looking at it from a male perspective….. is this making any sense?
Geopiras (Earthbending)
Caixue(Materiopiras) - Materiopiras is by far the most popular of the earthbending arts. Materiopiras uses earthbending to force various earth materials together, forcing them to bond in ways that would be difficult or impossible to do without bending. A lot of synthesized materials are made this way.
(Ferropiras)- Subset of Materiopiras dealing with metal’s and alloys. (OOC this also provided a nice in universe reason why “super-metals” tend to be really expense, the best of these require tons of man hours by high paid professionals, they’re impossible to make with mass productions)
Another big subset of Materiosopiras deals with examining the metals and attempting to find way to replicate without bending. This has been relatively successful, while cutting edge one’s tend to be unavailable, the boost of being able to examine the metals means that the worlds materials, even those in mass production, are far in advance of our own. (OOC Honestly, the only reason I put this in is I want the “bending halts technological progress” meme to die in a fire)
DituXue (Seismopiras)- The study of vibrations and tectonic movement. Sesomopiras is main used to map deposits of oil and other minerals before mining.
FungWuXue (Archopiras)- Architecture and building based opiras. This deal with earthbending difficult or odds structures, making sure they don’t collapse on themselves, since more normal ones can be handled by standard earthbenders. The buildings made by teams of Archopiras tend to be stunning, often seeming to defy gravity and and know rules of architecture.
HiYuXue (NucleFerropiras)- Very subspecilized field, dealing with nuclear materials. Takes a lot of training, very specialized, people are required to register, and Ba Sing Se forbids anyone one within this field from applying to citizenship for any other country (to the tune of a Dai Li hit squad). Often works with Firebending based nuclopiras.
Liexue(roboopiras) - Discipline dealing with robot’s and artificial limbs. Is probably the discipline that works with other types of benders the most, mainly Biopiras for artificial limbs (in order to insure the limbs works with the patient) and Electropiras and Neuropiras.
Pyrooperias (Firebending)
Rouhue (Pyroopiris)- Heat based opiras. One big difference between many of the fire based operiases, and other disciplines, is that they tend to focus much more on the detection aspect of bending, not the generation aspect of bending. Since all types of Firebending tend to inherently generate power in the moment, a machine that relied on an operias would need one powering it all the time. Not a very efficient use of time.
Pyroperiases (still working on the pluras here, might change it) work mainly by used their firebendign to since the heat distribution throughout machines as they run, and combined with training in thermodynamics to figure out what the problem is. Two year degree tend to furfill the function of “repair men” while more advanced degrees tend to go on to jobs in industrial design, helping to create prototypes that won’t overheat.
DainXue (Electropiras)- Electricbased opiras. Functions similar to pyro only for electrical systems, not a lot to say.
(Magnopiras) - Magnetic based operias. Somewhat more complex dsicipline dealing with the magnetic fields created by electrical power systems.
NaoHue (Neuropiras)- Very exotic field of Ectropiras. Deal with the human nervous system, and specifically, brain. Has major applications in certain types of medicine, but also have applications in AI research, as neuropiras are able to observe MRI’s of the brain directly, and can compare that to AI based brains, allowing them to, as one practitioner put it “see thought”. (something of an exaggeration, they can see that people are thinking, and what areas of the brain, but that’s it, no mind reading for them)
ShouyiXue (Radiopiras)- Originally a discipline focused on radio waves, it has expanded to encompass any electromagnetic wavelength signals used in long distance communication, at this point phone and extranet signals are it’s main area of focus. Like other disciplines, it’s typical used to examine signals in an area, helping to create more efficient usage. However it has one rather…. Unique area of influence.
Spooks and spy games. At its most basic it can be used to detect radio waves and track down calls and information. More advanced users can send signals (though the complexity of the signals required means only very crude messages can be sent. It’s final application is in redirecting signals to other phones to allow them to be listened in on. Note that a few, very few, radioperias can actually observe the signals directly, however this is extremely unusual, requiring not only the precision to detect them well enough to make it out, but a very usual field of expertise to understand them. Thus is remains very small, very exotic, and very, very, well paid.
YangXue (Opticopiras)- Field dealing with visible light. Used occasionally in the entertainment industry for live performances (though ordinary lightbenders can do that). It main use is in hologram design, where images can be conjured and compared to simulations to help create better holograms. Also has application in laser science. The advances in holographic technology which are now nearly as realistic and any opticopiras image, has caused many to predict its demise.
HeXiXue (Nuclopiras)- Nuclear based opiras. Unlike other opirases no one has managed to wield to create the atomic flames (yet). However, experiments in reactors have proven them to be manipulatable, if very, very difficult to control. By contrast, radiation can be created, but requires genetic modifications in order to do so, as normal humans are not capable of making the movements required. Most nucleopirases are trained in the Fire Nation, and any that are not permitted to leave without permission and a security detail. Various Earth Nation have their own training programs, programs which the other great powers (both national and corporate) watch with trepidation (and the occasional assassination/sabotage, cue, etc)
Miscellaneous notes.
Bending and warfare : Gun do exist in this universe, and when first invented many predicted it meant the end of bending in warfare. Ironically, in modern warfare guns have probably made bending more useful. Modern warfare is all about cover, bullets tend to account for a very small percentage of deaths (surprising, but true, look it up). Most deaths are the result of heavy weapons and other blow-through-walls stuff, with guns for suppressing fire. As such bender are extremely useful, functioning as heavy weapons teams without the need to carry around a flamethrower/grenade launcher. There role has changed, they do the bending from behind cover, but they’re still vital roles.
Apprenticeships : While the main universities for the various opiras are located only in developed regions, poorer regions have found a degree of substitution in apprenticeships. The basic are pretty self explanatory, though the exact nature of what the apprentice is expected to give back (money, work, etc) varies for each one. Apprenticeships by and large focus on more practical applications, so a electropiras apprentice would be focusing on how do you get the damn computer/holovid/cell phone, working? Not the theoretical applications. Also means that they tend to focus on practical degrees, not the more theoretical ones (no such thing as a nucleopiras apprentice). The quality of these unofficial opiras varies, from huslers who will take your money and scram to masters that are probably better at the practical stuff than any university trained egghead.
AI’s: Canon for Ai’s work as follows. First, normal computers cannot have true AI’s. Doesn’t matter how fast the processer, how good the program, or anything else, they just don’t work, human thought process is a developmental thing that really, on a fundamental level, isn’t compatible with the direct input-output of a normal computer.
However, AI’s are possible through complex hybrid computers that actually mimic human brain and though patterns. Unfortunately these tend to be hideously expensive, as they must be custom built by teams of ferro, electro and neuropiras working together. There are two general types of AI’s, the first are based directly on the human brain and are essentially replicas, while the second are custom mega-AI’s
For the most part both tend to be white elephants. the simple fact is a human sized AI brain, turns out, fascinatingly enough, to be about as smart as a human sized human brain. Sure they can run thousands of mathematic formulas as second, but so can any human with a decent pocket calculator. They are better at interfacing with computers, but they generally aren’t better enough to justify widespread usage.
The mega AI’s are smarter than human’s, however, the problem is that their expenses are even worse. Not only do they have to be custom built, but they also have to be custom-designed. The brain is a complex organism, simply making more of it doesn’t work, it can make them thing faster, and it can make them remember more, but in order to have an AI that’s truly smarter, it requires ground up design. The entire thing is fraught with hazard, on misstep and the entire thing can go insane, costing years of work and forcing an attempt at reprogramming (which is a much more complex task than for normal computers, computers essentially run on instinct, while an AI must learn.) All of this means that almost all of these projects fail. To date, there is only one know mega-AI, built by the (apply named) Fire Nation AI co. Unfortunately it’s construction cost the company so much that even the AI itself could find no way to pay back all its debts, thus the company was forced to declare bankruptcy, the AI being brought by the Fire Nation energy Co.
(Two others exist in secret, the monitoring system for Ba Sing Se, as well as the Northern Confederation’s climate control project. The Ba Sing Se one is kept secret because… well, Dai Li. The Northern Confederation’s is kept so due to cultural bias against AI’s and robots. Most people are aware a program is running it, but not that it’s an AI, and the manager of the project has no intent of letting anyone know.)
Genetic engineering: Not sure where I’m going with this. I know it exists, I know it’s done, I know that’s isn’t not unlimited (some treatments are very expensive) other than that…. Yeah. Will probably depend on what characters I want to connect it to.
Cloning/custom built children/test-tube babies are defiantly possible. “Designer children” are rather popular (there is currently heavy research being invested in find a combination that can guarantee bending, so far, none have been found).
In addition the rapidly aged- emerged from tube fully grown type creation is also available. Their main use actually tends to be sneakily getting around various anti-slavery laws, as they are often not covered. Surprisingly, the Northern Confederation is the most progressive of this, guaranteeing freedom to anyone, regardless of method of birth. Of course, they also ban their creation in the first place*, so all it really means is that no owner takes one there. Ba Sing Se treats them as property, the Fire Nation is the oddest, it officially guarantees universal freedom, however thanks to a quirk in the laws (and some bribes, assassinations etc) the clones are recognized as being their chronological age, under the care of their “guardians” (owners) for the next eighteen years.
Many feared that with the possibility of vat grown slave, ordinary workers would be eliminated, however, this didn’t come to pass. They emerge fully grown, but you can’t simply download information, basic stuff yes, but you can’t make skilled/college educated workers with them, and frankly, growing a clone is expense, and you still have to feed em and keep them healthy. Workers from the fourth ring don’t require manufacture and cost about the same per day.
*The irony being the company that makes the majority of these is a Northern Confederation company.
And that’s the world. Finally. Now on to the characters.
Sokka and Katara: Sokka and Katara live in the fourth ring of Ba Sing Se. Their family (big extended family) used to live in the southern earth kingdom (though the waterbending that pops up means they used to be from the South Pole but nobody remembers that far back). I haven’t’ quite decided why they came, maybe it was for a better life, maybe they were fleeing war or genocide. Not sure, regardless they’re now in Ba Sing Se.
Initially life was good, or at least as good as it gets in the fourth ring. It was an economic boom, so jobs were available, and the y were able to settle together. The large size of the family (or as some would call it tribe) meant they essentially claimed a small section of the city for themselve. The large number of adults and waterbenders quite willing to defend their turf meant they weren’t threatened by other gangs, while their own disinterest in expanding outwards of influencing anyone meant they didn’t get into the fights and daily danger that categorized much of the city.
And then things went to pot. I’m haven’t quite decided what started it, maybe it was simply unprovoked, maybe it was the result of some members being fired and breaking the only rule of the fourth ring, do not try to steal from/interfere with the other rings. Regardless something caused the police and Dai Li to come down heavily on the group, and a series of raids were conducted where many of the adults were arrested and taken away. Some were even let back after being found to have done nothing, some. Worse, sensing the weakness of the community, a lot of other gangs attacked the area, taking special trouble to go after waterbenders, by the time they were done, there were no waterbenders left.
Now I’m trying to work out the effects from there. In canon, the tribe could still survive because they were isolated, so no one bothered them, even with no one to defend them. Here the fourth ring is supposed to be cutthroat. I’m thinking two options
1) Another gang took over the territory, protection money is mandatory. Little recruiting from the area, since gang tend to be along ethnic lines.
2) The remaining members united together to defend themselves, sure a few gangs tried to take over, but when literally everyone is against you….
Looking at it, I’m probably going to go with #1, it’s more depressing, and cyberpunk demands crapsack world.
Anyways, let’s get on to the actual siblings shall we? Katara and Sokka. To start off, Sokka. Or rather, to start with we need to talk about Hakoda and Kya, since there status affects the others. Kya’s dead, more to her backstory in Katara’s bit. Hakoda’s…. probably gone (what can I say, parents being there tends to be a major cramp on adventuring) not sure why, there isn’t a major war, and the factories are located right by them so it can’t be that…. Wait I got it. He’s a corporate mercenary, original factory decided to downsize, he had a family to support, so when the recruiter came he took it. (and it makes sense world wise that corporations would occasionally send recruiters into the fourth ring, the violence means practically all of them know how to fight, and the poverty means you get em dirt cheap). So yeah, I like that, he sends money home, keeping them afloat, but it isn’t much.
Sokka : I figure Sokka’s something of a disgruntled young man. He’s seen his father, and the rest of the extended family, toe the line, work hard, and what did it get them? A fat load of nothing. Laid off at the first drop of a hat. No compensation, no nothing, now half of them are gone, and the territories ruled by other gangs. Sokka’s decided screw it, that isn’t going to be the life for him.
Now if this were a happy movie, his solution would be to study real hard, and get a scholarship to college. This isn’t a happy movie. First, Sokka has no ambition for college, sure he’s smart, but college is, well it’s not even on his worldview, Sokka’s lived his whole life in the fourth ring, college is about as foreign as the Fire Nation. Secondly, even if he wanted to, this is Ba Sing Se, advancement it not encouraged. Sokka has plans to become someone in the fourth ring, the kind of person people respect, and don’t push around. He’s not exactly sure how, but he’s going to.
He’s got a few idea’s though, he pretty good at repairing stuff, maybe he could be an independent contractor? Then again, he heard a few places were recruiting, maybe he can work his way up through the ranks. Or Katara’s waterbending, he’s seen a few others, and frankly, he’s pretty sure she’s powerful, her tantrums can cause more disruption than some of the other waterbenders attacks (at least the few times he’s seen them fight).
Katara: Her entire life, Katara has been told one overwhelming single thing “don’t waterbend, if you do, you’ll be taken away”. Everyone in the family has warned her about it, and for a long time she believed it. But things changed. She’s seen other waterbenders in the fourth ring, powerful, respected ones, they bend just fine, and the police don’t come after them. Plus, she’s fourteen; the constant warnings of her elders just don’t have the same effect they once did (or to put it more cynically teenagers are morons).
So she’s been training. The only problems is that well, it’s kinda hard to train when you can’t let anyone in your community see you, and staying in any other community means risking getting knifed. Instead she’s found a alternative place to learn, cyberspace. Katara has gotten an implant that lets her directly plug in, to VR simulators and practice simulated waterbending there. (Her “hair loops” are wires in this verse).
One bit I’m having a bit of touble with is working out how she got the money for it. Keep in mind, these implants are fairly conmen, so this isn’t some super tech, and she’s got an old model installed from a back alley doctor from the slums, so it’s not terrible expensive. But still, she’s a kid from the slums to end all slums, even something like this should be hard to get.
1) She just paid for it. She’s been able to make a few bit of cash here and there, doing odd jobs and scavenging the dumps, plus Hakoda makes fairly good money (by the standards of the fourth ring, at least) she has a tiny allowance and has never touched it.
2) Sokka helped pay for it. He’s learned to scavenge and repair stuff from the dumps, so he’s got some money. Unlike canon, he’s much more pro-bending, he’s seen what it can do, and this is the fourth ring, you take any advantage you can get. If Katara could learn some basic techniques it would be great in a fight, and waterbenders who can heal or mix drugs are some of the best off in the slums.
3) Paid for by a mysterious patron (see plot), in this case she probably has a model way more powerful than she ought to.
On final note about Katara, and one things that makes her learning to bend both doubly helpful and doubly dangerous, has to do with her ID chip, Katara’s ID chip does not register as a bender. When her mother was killed, it was a result of a run in with a police officer, in the encounter he scanner picked up Katara’s chit, identified a water bender, and ended up shooting Kya when she began making threatening motions. When the report was filed, the clerk entering the data noticed that the data has Kya listed as a non-bender and her daughter as a bender. In one of those quirks of large bureaucracies, rather than relizing what actually happened he/she instead assume that they had been originally labeled wrong, changed Katara’s status to “nonbender” and moved on. Since the Dai Li/police rarely check down in the fourth ring it’s never been corrected, and unless someone sees her bending and thinks to scan her ID chip, it likely never will. (Note that the Katara and the rest of the family don’t know why she’s registered as a non-bender on her chip, but they know she is)
The final thing I’m working out is the Katara-Sokka relationship, I know Sokka is more pro-bender (in fact he might have plugged into a VR simulation once or twice to see what it was like, though he doesn’t have Katara’s implants, so the interface isn’t as good), but other than that I’m still working on it. I think, in the original series a lot of the reason that Katara had so little respect for Sokka was the dynamics of social adulthood. Katara was able to attain social adulthood, by looking after the children and doing other “women’s work” (in both the gender and age). By contrast, the lack of men meant that Sokka was unable to attain manhood (via ice dodging, dangerous hunting, war etc), while he could “play” at it, such as building a small fort, training the kids or catching a few fish, it wasn’t really able to earn the sense of adulthood, thus a lack of respect.
Plus Sokka is kinda a goober.
So I’ve been trying to think how that transfers to here. My initials thoughts were a more even work distribution, causing Katara to be more respectful of Sokka, especially as the setting allows him to show off his “idea guy” skill much faster. Finding good salvaging areas, repairing stuff, suggesting she use VR to train, etc. She tends to follow his lead.
However, then a second thought occurred to me, which is that, thinking about it, “getto” cultural actually tend to have that masculine-emphasis. Be a man, be tough, etc. Which, if present, might cause Sokka to esque women’s work, and in turn, likely cause Katara’s respect to decrease (she’s helping around the house, he’s out there thinking he’s going to be a gang leader) . Then I had a third thought, which is that that was really applying a particular modern gang values from our world to the avatar verse. Aside from the water tribes, the avatar verse is notably less sexist, no one bats an eyelash at Toph, Azula, Ty Lee or Mai fighting. So at this point I have no idea….. suggestions?
Aang: Aang is weird. Like really weird. First, there was the fact that Katara and Sokka found him in some sort of abandoned underground lab (who builds a lab in the fourth ring? And how do you hide it?), in a pod, so he’s probably vat-grown. Bu that isn’t the weirdest part, he claims to be an “Air Nomad” and he’s not talking about the trader either, but some sort of wacko sect.
All this might be enough to convince people (well specifically Sokka)that he was just some deficient vat-grown that sat a little too long. Except he bends, air. No, he doesn’t bend water in the air, he doesn’t use firebending to heat the air to move it, he doesn’t even bend the dust in the room to somehow move the air (Sokka checked, extensively) he, bends, air. Oh and apparently he can waterbend as well, but really, after the whole airbending thing, it doesn’t feel that surprising.
If that wasn’t enough, he seems to think he’s like, from the middle ages. Cell phones, VR’s simulations, holodrama’s, thinks they’re the coolest thing ever, and this is despite having a really really advanced VR implant, Sokka’s not sure how, he hasn’t seen that many, but it’s loads above anything he’s seen. The only thing that might be weirder than his reactions to machines (aside from the whole, AIRBENDING thing) is the machines reactions to him. They like him, a lot. Like, any machine that’s anything seems to hum at his touch, and he somehow can get through can passwork, lock or security system (“How” How did you do that?” “I dunnoh, I just hit the “enter” button like you said.”). Sokka thinks this is the greatest thing ever (“he, can, get, thorough, any firewall/safe. You and me, we are going places buddy)
Unfortunately it seems like he’s attracting a lot of attention, gang leaders, mercenaries, and even the Dai Li and involved. Somebody (made/put?) Aang in that lab, and it looks like they want him back……
Plot: Honestly, what you saw for Aang’s entry is about what I have for the plot. I know it’s kinda sad, but that’s just about it. To expand upon the “mysterious patron” mentioned in Katara’s write-up, I kninda had an idea that maybe someone hired Katara to find it (taking advantage of her status as an unregistered waterbender. But honestly, I’m really starting to think that’s not a good plot point. It tips them off to early that this is something really, really big. And they would be pre-prepared to be suspicious of Aang (moreso than finding him in a lab), so I think I’m gong to avoid it.
Even sadder is I really don’t have many of the other characters developed (expect for spoiler ones that I don’t want to give away), I have a few minor ones, but nothing big, and honestly, this is 11k words already, I never meant for it to get so long and I just want it over with, if you’re interested in a specific character (or have suggestions, I loooooove suggestions) just request more info.
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