Book 1: The Fall of Fire

## Previously, on Avatar: A New Era…

Beginning from a very familiar point in history, the passing Comet empowered the Fire Nation to destroy a crippling majority of the Air Nomads (& their temples) in the grand attempt to eradicate the world of the newest Avatar following Roku's death.

Surviving this wretched ordeal was the young Avatar Zaku, only being 16 when his people were slain. Zaku had survived by virtue of fleeing his avatar duties, hiding from the heavy responsibility of keeping the world at peace.

Along with the young avatar, four other airbenders famously survived the genocide; Hanzo, a dear friend to Zaku… Jang, a father figure to Zaku… Tenzing, who survived due to her harsh lifelong training ... & Skal, an unorthodox air nomad who had been banished years before the genocide…

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Hanzo had survived alongside Zaku, as he had to bring the young Avatar out of his hiding to inspire him to start the age-old journey around the world to learn under the masters of their time. It was clear that the world needed the Avatar to stop the fire Lord's path of destruction.

Jang flung himself at the feet of their attackers, pleading his case to the Fire Nation to exchange his loyalty to them for their protection. He later became one of the Fire Prince's closest allies.

Tenzing had spent most of her youth training harshly under her father's wishes traveling to each temple constantly in order to become a master of masters for their bending and culture. Upon her graduation to master level, she had rushed to the temples in joy, only to find the still cooling hot ash of her culture and people. She traveled to each temple and performed each and every individual's funeral rites for her fallen people, and joined the efforts to stop the Fire Nation.

Skal had only survived due to renouncing his people's culture decades before the genocide took place. In fact, during the time of the genocide, he was already a feared crime lord operating under the name "Rush" ruling Ba Sing Se's seedy underbelly.

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When Zaku lost Jang, a father figure to betrayal of their people, Hanzo had to turn his focus to getting them to the Southern Water tribe. A native girl to the SWT named Aya took an interest in helping the pair, even agreeing to be Zaku’s water bending teacher until they found a better one. She was admittedly not well versed in her element, but for that time, she was what they had.

Before finding a waterbending master, they were forced to flee the SWT because the Fire Prince Hekaro had begun to lay waste to the tribe and their people. Over the following month, the Fire Prince had managed to kill most of the water benders & publicly execute their Chief.

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His soldiers would continue to harass the South Pole until the end of the war, effectively destroying it.

Meanwhile… The Earth King Vihaan began a secret project to build an iron-clad fleet to counter the Fire Nation’s fleet.

Using their previously established colonies in Yu Dao as a launching point, the Fire Nation began a series of attacks on the Earth Kingdom, pushing towards Omashu.

After leaving the Southern Water Tribe, venturing toward the next element, our Team Avatar met Jinzi, a young earth bender from Kiyoshi Island, who joined them on their quest.

Soon the Fire Nation army gathered on the outskirts of Omashu, leading up to Team Avatar joining the fight with Omashu's army. Together, Team Avatar & Omashu's fighters managed to beat back the enemy utilizing powerful earth bending techniques & the Avatar State.

Once the battle was done, they flew to Ba Sing Se, to appeal to the Earth King & his son Jun about the plight of the airbenders & the fate of the world.

The meeting was short & tense. A peace conference would be planned for the end of the year, where delegates from all three remaining nations would meet to discuss an end to the war. Distressed, Hanzo & Zaku demanded air bender representation, to which Vihaan refused, only seeing it as the Avatar taking sides in the conflict instead of being a pillar of equality. Zaku & Hanzo painfully demanded that the Fire Nation pay for the destruction of their people.

Elsewhere… The news of these events reaches the fallen airbender Rush/Skal, who is eternally hateful towards other airbenders, lends his own efforts towards stamping out the rest of them.

Team Avatar spent a month in Ba Sing Se, celebrating the Avatar's birthday during their stay. The earth Prince arranged a party full of officials & important people from all over the free nations. This is when tensions between the headstrong Zaku, & the determined Prince Jun came to a head.

During the party, a fight sparked between the two; Zaku voiced his opinions of how the Fire Nation should be brought to justice, & that the air nomads needed representation in the upcoming conference. Though the Earth Prince agreed with these opinions, he refused to go against his father's wishes.

Leaving to continue his journey, Zaku made his way north, unknowing if another party was coming up from the south.

The son of the Southern Water Tribe chief, a young man named Katari, had managed to flee the destruction of his home. Katari was set on going to the North Pole to ask for help to rebuild his nation. Upon crossing Ba Sing Se, Prince Jun made a snap decision to join Katari on his mission north.

During this… Fire Nation Prince Hekaro returned home only to find that instead of the praise he expected for his actions in the Southern Water Tribe, his father was unwelcoming. Fire Lord Uzen banished his son, casting him away from his homeland. Hekaro began his journey west, determined to help his nation win the war through any means necessary, despite his father’s words.

Due to the rising conflict in the Earth Kingdom, Prince Jun had to halt his mission with Katari & his crew, unable to go with them. Making his way alone to the North Pole while the Earth Kingdom prepared its best diplomat (an old man named Xuon) with a plan to negotiate peace. When the pressures of the conference became too much for Zaku, he stepped away to be alone with his thoughts.

Awaiting this very opportunity, Rush seizes the moment to strike the ill-prepared secluded Avatar. The tense battle that ensued ultimately resulted in the fall of Avatar Zaku.

(Clickable Ref-Doc: The Fall of Avatar Zaku)

Following this… The conference went on, between Fire Nation delegates, Representatives from the Earth Kingdom, Prince Jun, & the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, Kori.

Unfortunately before making it to the North Pole, Kataru's ship had been sunk by a terrible storm, leaving fellow crewman Aldar as the only survivor. Aldar was sadly in no shape to make it to the meeting because of this devastating loss.

A treaty was negotiated, where the Earth Kingdom would give up certain lands, in exchange for an end to the war. Prince Jun, unsatisfied with this, was the sole person not to sign the treaty. He still desired justice for the Fire Nation’s crimes. The war ended there at the conference, only a mere six months after it had begun. Regardless of the treaty, Jun knew justice still needed to be served.

Jun arranged for the Earth Kingdom’s fleet of ironclads to gather. With a blessing from the Northern Water Tribe's Chief, a small force from the Northern Water Tribe joined their fleet to storm the Fire Nation. Within a week of gathering the fleet, the army tore through the city & political structures in a matter of hours.

The main Fire Nation palace was destroyed in an earthquake caused by Prince Jun, who’s earthbending was recently rediscovered. Though his earth bending was very powerful, it was also uncontrolled.

Those in the Fire Nation who relinquished control to the Earth Kingdom were spared & brought into a new system of power under Prince Jun.

Once Prince Jun took down the Fire Nation in a glorious battle of Earth Kingdom vs Fire Nation armies, destroying parts of the city with his powerful earthquakes. He killed the Firelord & brought the kingdom under Earth Nation rule, declaring his father Vihaan ruler over all of it.

At that time, every leader of the Fire Nation that could be found—both nobility & military—was brought forward. Each was given a choice. To swear fealty & loyalty to the Earth King Vihaan, or to be executed. Those that swore loyalty were absorbed into the structure of the Earth Kingdom. Those that refused were executed that same day, & the next in line was given the same choice. Ordinary soldiers were absorbed or dissolved of rank according to their leaders’ choice. Prince Jun considered it a mercy.

As for the Fire Nation Royal Family… Prince Hekaro was locked away in an Omashu prison, his sister Sarah had remained disguised as a maid in the Earth Kingdom's Palace, and their sister Raina had been one of the many executions back in the Fire Nation as it fell.