Katsu

Ishan (younger brother)

Shichi (paternal grandfather)

Katsu is a male non-bending citizen of the Fire Nation. He was born and raised in the coal mining Fire Nation village of Sekitan. Katsu grew up in the poverty-stricken village with built up rage towards the people who harm and bully his family and village. Secretly and illegally, he mastered the art of dual swords and would do all he could to bring the money and bring food back to his people. After being found out and arrested, Terra helps bring down the bullies and Katsu vows to protect her on her journey.

## History

### Before Terra

Katsu was born to Ding and Hoshi in 195 AG. Ever since Katsu was three, the five firebenders that were sworn to protect their village would bully them and take their money as "taxes". Because of this, Katsu's family and the entire village are forced to live in poverty, except for the benders, who live like kings. As a non-bender, Katsu didn't have much to fight back with, but he always felt duty bound to help his village.

At the age of five, he encountered a journeyman. His family housed him and his mount, and were able to feed him with what little they had. The journeyman was extremely grateful. As a gift, the journeyman presented Katsu with the only precious thing in his possession: his dual swords. The journeyman said to learn the art of dual swords and to protect his family with all the life he had in him. Katsu, from then on, trained every night in order to one day fight back for his village.

He would learn how to fight by watching the firebenders practice, and would occasionally ask passing travelers to show them a few moves. With eight years of practice, Katsu felt ready to defend his village. Every night, Katsu would disguise himself in all black and a theatrical mask and set out to take back his villagers' money and steal food from the benders' houses. Katsu never told a soul that he did what he did for the sake of his people. If they never knew, they couldn't get in trouble. For three more years, he did this every night with varied success and was never caught.

### After Terra

One day, Katsu was walking by a trail when he noticed a traveler by his village's coal mine being mugged by other travelers. Seeing as neither of them belonged to his village, Katsu took out his swords and began to duel with the muggers, who ended up being earthbenders. This didn't trouble him at all and he took them all down with great ease. He gave the victim his bag back, who payed him kindly and gratefully a gold coin. Katsu was excited and couldn't wait to show his family when Terra came up from behind a tree and began to question how he did that. Scared of being found out, Katsu ran away from a confused Terra.

## Personality

Katsu believes in an honor code. He will never strike down a man unarmed, and he believes in justified retribution. He is not afraid of killing a man he deems worthy of being killed, and is sort of like a Robin Hood for his village. Katsu is disciplined enough to have mastered the art of dual swords at the age of 13. He appreciates money a lot and will never turn down a pittance when offered. He loves his family dearly, along with his village, and will go to any lengths to protect them.

When he is not acting as his village's vigilante, he works in the coal mines with his father. He is very strong because of the manual labor, both physically and mentally.