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After Avatar Aang died, the next Avatar was reborn into the Swamp Tribe. Boa, the new Avatar, was informed upon her coming of age at the Northern Water Tribe, but with complications. She rejected the idea of needing to learn all the elements, feeling that the Avatar ought to unite Benders to help the needy and ordinary folk. Now the world is split into two sides, one towards Boa's beliefs of unification among benders, and one for Boa's need to discipline herself in all the elements.

Boa's supporters name themselves the Unionists, as they strive to unite all benders as a whole group. This consists of many scattered benders, and non-benders, seeking to help lower-class and troubled people of the world. While Boa did not form or lead the Unionists, she often works together with them to fight off criminals and help build and repair damages from natural disasters.

The group opposing the Unionists are called the Deists, as they support the idea of Boa being a full-fledged spiritual Avatar, leading all the Nations rather than just benders. While mostly consisted of the councils of the Four Nations; Fire Sages, Earth War Council members, Water Tribe Spiritualists, and Air Nomad monks, they are unified so that the symbol of peace is singular and pure, rather than a broad ranged group that could be corrupted.

While the Great Collide (as the age quickly comes to be called) is not a strict combat war, it is still a difficult era where people are torn between a sole symbol, or unionism.

Characters:

-Avatar-
Name: Boa
Side (Union/Deist/Neutral): Union
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Nation: Water Tribe (Swamp)
Element/Weapon: Water
Other Specialties: Plays the biwa lute, has extensive knowledge of weaponry
Bio/History: When the Avatar was reincarnated in the Water Tribe, there was a great deal of panic when it wasn't discovered in either of the twin poles. What they had negelcted were the babies born in the tribe in the Great Swamp...so Boa grew up with a far more carefree life in the swamp. When she came close to being of age, she accompanied her mother to the North Pole for a confrence, where it was discovered she was the next Avatar after looking over some of the Avatar Relics with extreme interest. But when approached on having to learn all the elements, Boa felt unconvinced that learning more on how to bend was the answer to the world's problems, feeling there ought to be more of a need to help ordinary people. Despite their attempts at keeping her back to learn the elements, Boa leaves to find the answers herself, determined to find her own way of being a useful and successful Avatar. Eventually she discovered the existence of the Unionists, and chose to occasionally help them in their mission for global union of benders, although she reminds them tha their combined strength must be powered by their own will.
Image/Description: Has a paler skin tone than her cousins in the Swamp, but lots of dark freckles on her arms. Eyes are slightly saggy from unusual sleeping habits of Swamp benders, and she laughs with a snort. Her hair is dark, and tied up in a half ponytail, the tied up part being slightly mangy and wild while the rest that goes over her shoulders is considerably smoother. She's lanky and tall and wears a murky colored tunic over a short green hakama with wooden sandals and matching wrist-guards. (picture coming soon!)

~Unionists~
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+Deists+
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Name: Tayu
Side (Union/Deist/Neutral): Deist
Age: 14
Gender: Female
Nation: Earth Kingdom
Element/Weapon: Earth
Other Specialties: Diplomacy, advanced education
Bio/History: Tayu is the young princess of the Earth Kingdom, child of the Earth King Kuei, and despite her father’s enthusiasm at seeing the world, Tayu possesses little of that explorative spirit. She prefers to stay in Ba Sing Se, aiding in the tearing down of the walls separating the Upper and Lower Rings and making changes to the duties of the Dai Li. She has much inner confliction at her own mental and physical capabilities, causing her to make feeble, but persistent, attempts to learn earth bending. With her own mind set on revolutionizing the royal custom, Tayu is determined to prove her worth to her kingdom. This determination is often stuttered by her deep love for Quan, one of the Air Nomads. She often tries to keep her feelings underwraps, but has difficultly holding back when Quan is involved. She wears a special gift from Quan, a pair of kukui nut bracelets that are said to help bestow peace and balance, worn often by Air Nomad women.

She chose Deism simply because she feels that the duty of the Avatar precedes that of ordinary benders; and that there should always be a symbol of hope for troubling times. She often sends invitations to Boa in hopes of swaying her opinion.
Image/Description:


Name: Quan
Side (Union/Deist/Neutral): Deist
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Nation: Air Nomad
Element/Weapon: Air
Other Specialties: Spiritual expert, trainer of sky bison
Bio/History: As a descendant of the Avatar, Quan was raised in the same way Aang was, believing in peace and serenity and rejected violence. He fully believes that the revival of the Air Nomads is necessary to put the world back together again, but her often serves as an ambassador for the Northern Air Temple to discuss peace options with the other nations along with delegates from the other temples. However, he suffers one very dangerous symptom, he is in love with Princess Tayu of Ba Sing Se. Despite the deep mutal love he bestows upon her, both of them become distracted by their duties, yet doubly pained by seperation. It is even more pained by the oaths they've both sworn to their nations. However, Quan keeps an upbeat attitude about their future, and seeks creative ways to bend the rules so they can be together. Tayu often likes to tease him for his slight femininity. He wears a gift from her; a long necklace of jade beads, meant to be worn by the royal heir to the Earth Kingdom.

He chose Deism as he agreed with the ideas of the Air Nomad Council, as well as reflecting the knowledge that comes with learning the four elements. He feels Boa ought to learn this knowledge, not only to empower her with the ability to control all the elements, but to better understand the Nations that symbolize them.
Image/Description:


Name: Kaya
Side (Union/Deist/Neutral): Deist
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Nation: Fire
Element/Weapon: Fire; she also carries broadswords.
Other Specialties: Can succesfully lightening bend
Bio/History: Kaya is a spunky 17 year old from the Fire nation. She's a descendant of Prince Zuko so naturally she has a taste for adventure. Kaya was born into a very wealthy and noble family. She's grown quite bored of her life and decides to head to Omashu to join the new avatar. She believes it is her duty to teach the avatar or at least find her a firebender teacher.
Image/Description:


-Neutrals-
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Name: Amarante
Side (Union/Deist/Neutral): Neutral
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Nation: Swamp Tribes
Element/Weapon: Water
Other Specialties: She is a sucessful bloodbender, the first of the swamp benders.
Bio/History: She is the daughter of Huu, the waterbending master from the Foggy Swamp Tribe. He taught her how to bend the water in the vines when she was little, and she 'helped' him protect the swamp. When she grew older, she learned more techniques, and travelled to different Water tribes, and parts of the Earth kingdom. She learned bloodbending, and came back to her tribe as a master. She helps her father Huu with protecting the swamp, and is more of a dreamer than a fighter. She is Neutral in the great Divide, for she thinks both sides are right in their own way.
Image/Description:

In the thick humidity of the swamp, Boa rowed along, the small waves of her gangly hands propelling the boat. Underneath, tied to the sides of the boat, was a net to catch the usual fish and occasional otter-bug, which made for good eating when stuffed with possum chicken.

"Ooo der's fish to caught and flies to swarm, and there's screamer birds playin' real loud horns but I never never never wanna go back out again!" she yodeled loudly as she fished.

She wished she had a spare pair of arms to play her long, dingy lute, but she had to fish in order to add to the enormous pot of stew to be cooked for the annual coming-of-age celebration. Amarante, fresh into another year of growing up, would undergo a small trial on where her path was meant to go in the Foggy Swamp Tribe. Most of the tribesmen felt it went in her father's steps, as a Swamp Guardian, a very special and sacred task. Huu had difficulty acheiving the said job; he'd come in as an outsider from the Northern Water Tribe to achieve enlightenment, but eventually was accepted.

At the edge of the village, Boa skidded her boat to a halt, spraying the shore with a fine wave of water, and hauled up her load. She was very lucky; over ten dozen silvery-brown swamp herring wriggled in the net, along with not one, but two otter-bugs. They were coveted prey in the tribe for their crunchy, succulent meat; a furry backed creature with spindly legs and a pair of pincers around it's head, the entireity of an otter-bug roughly as long as her forearm and as thick as her waist. They snapped at Boa, who simply waved her hands and froze their pincers into a halt, before swinging them under each arm and ignoring their tickling, prickling arms. She handed this to the cook, who made quick work of chopping off their heads with a crunch. They'd serve the open-head baked and as a delicacy. Boa grinned widely, showing the small gap in her teeth.

"Where's our birthday gal?" she asked with her thick accent. The cook pointed at the pinnacle of the woods, the Great Tree, and Boa understood.

"Awrighty then! I'll haul up the fishes!" She cackled with a snorting laugh before going to work.

Even as the Avatar, she refused to shirk her duties to her people. Amarante would become an adult of the village, and as the Avatar...and her friend, she was duty bound to give her the proper trials and induction.

"...Did you know it's not just for you?" Huu said gently. He took hold of the swamp peonies growing on the tree, white blossoms with thick green veins. "At this time of year, the swamp peonies need to bloom. But look," he pointed to a bud, still firmly green and wrapped in it's protective leaves. "This one's barely gotten by in its bloom. But believe it or not, it is the most valued and precious of the bunch." He picked it out gently, handing it to his young daughter.

"Once that bud begins to bloom, it usually has a hard time, being overshadowed by the flowers around it. But give it some extra sunshine and a little hand, and it'll grow more beautifully than the rest," He patted her hand gently, tucking it behind her ear. "By the time the ceremony is over, you'll see just how well that bud will have grown in the morning."

"Huu! Ama!" Boa called, her boat skipping on the water as she sailed towards them. "I know its a special day 'n all but you can't skip out on yer duties!" She reminded in a light-scold. "Time to pull on yer ceremony garb and get to the village. Cookie's gone and gotten the swamp gumbo near done!"

"Naww, everyone else is just near done. All you gotta do," she clapped a hand firmly on Amarante's shoulder, "Is get ready for the trials tonight. They won't be easy, but they weren't none easier for me either. It's a parta growin' up."

Boa was one year older than Amarante, the baby of her swampman father and air nomad mother. Despite the easy, gentle beauty of her mother, who remained at the nunnery at the Western Air Temple, she inheirted little of her traits, and was born and raised as dingy and murky eyed as the other children. Amarante had been born beautiful, a daisy dropped in a mud patch. But despite it, she was one of them. Boa argued fiercely against any outsider who disagreed.

"I'm tha Avatar now," she said, a little solemn. She was still slightly uncomforted with her title, even after a year of being declared Avatar, "That makes my job of initiating you doubly important. So get some rest, get ready to eat, and prepare for the night. It'll be a long'un."

"Awright folks!" Boa directed everyone's attention, rasing her wood carved cup, "Tonight we celebrate Amarante's coming-of-age. As she follows the road of the Swamp Guardian, our Huu will throw the shells to decide her trial,"

Huu stepped forward, quiet and solemn on this occasion. Depending on what the shells landed as, their position, and what might smear on them, the result could forsee a very hazardous trial. Shaking them into a large cylinder, he rattled them around. Every tribesman was quiet. Boa calmly sat and watched, one hand firmly on Amarante's shoulder both as a comfort, and a precaution. Some youths chose to bolt at what fate laid in store for them, and it prolonged the ceremony to weeks at a time.

Finally Huu let them fly to the ground. The five shells rolled and rolled before stopping by the fire. Huu examined them carefully, and there was a slight show of relief.

"The shells have spoken," he spoke out, "Amarante is to perform the Water Hike."

The tribesmen cheered with a deafening pitch. The Water Hike was a deeply spiritual journey from the base of the main river to the top, where the mountains began to pull at the Swamp. It was extremely long and quite exhausting, but it was a good sign. For Amarante to travel along the main channel was a sign that she would pursue the role of Guardian, a coveted and honored role. It was not the most dangerous one, but it was a worthwhile one.

Boa handed Amarante a spare set of clothes, plaited and woven from water-proof plants that scattered on the few dunes of the Swamp. "Better change into these." she said, looking equally relieved. "I'll lead ya to the base and give ya the breifing."

Boa took Amarante to her boat and made off for the base of the river. It was a wide mouth at the edge of the Swamp...the trees vanishing as it lead off to a glossy, long field that dragged on down towards Omashu. The beginning of her trip would be from the enormous murky pool. Boa had Amarante stand in the water as she gave her the instructions for the Water Hike.

"Here are your rules," Boa instructed. "You are to follow this channel for many miles until you reached the top of the river, where the mountains sink into the Swamp. You must always be on the river-bed. You must not ever Water-bend. And you must not speak to anyone. Any outside powers or beings that try to interfere with the ceremonial Hike can corrupt the journey, even if well meant." Boa looked a little uneasy...she was sending one of her best friends on a difficult journey all alone.

"Fortunately the river is fulla life." She pointed out, "There'll be small dunes and rocks to sleep on, and there's more food and water to have than you can stomach. And I'm warnin' ya," she looked extremely stern, "If you break these rules, the Swamp will pass it onto yer pop. I 'magine he'll be mighty upset to see his own lil' girl cheatin'."

She gave her one final nod, then sped off. She would follow and stalk her at a distance to ensure her safety, but she would not interfere. If the Spirits meant for her to be the Swamp Guardian, even Boa as the Avater was powerless to stop them.

The Hike was dragging on for over a week. The Great Swamp was quite long, and Boa chewed on her nails in worry as Amarante struggled by herself. If there wasn't the issue of fighting for her food with the wildlife, or being awakened to the river rising onto her sleeping spot, it was everything else. Elbow leeches, thick patches of still air; a potentially dangerous spot if one stayed too long, and more. Boa mainly kept to the trees...Amarante would need to watch her feet to keep her head from dashing into the muddy water.

"Maybe the shells were wrong..." Boa passed onto Huu, "We can't expect perfection each time. She could go through simpler trials."

"I've got faith in my little girl." Huu defended firmly. "If she keeps on trucking in the first half, she won't go up and quit in the middle of it."