Air temples

> "It's often a little cold but it looks great in the spring when the cherry trees bloom." - Nico Tshomo
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An **air temple,** or an **airbender temple,** is a large structure usually built within mountains or naturally forming locations that are inhabited by Air Nomads, Air Acolytes and the pilgrims they take in from other nations. These temples are typically isolated in difficult-to-reach environment,s such as mountaintops of islands, so they can preserve their isolation.

There are six known temples to date: the Southern, Northern, Western and Eastern temples are the most well-known and were built prior to the Air Nomad Genocide. Air Temple Island was formed after the end of the war by Avatar Aang and his Air Acolytes, building their temple upon an island off the coast of Republic City. The sixth temple, Caeli Temple is extremely isolated to the point of falling into mere legend.

## Temples

### Southern Air Temple

The Southern Air Temple is located in the Patola Mountain Range, and is one of two temples that traditionally housed male Air Nomads. It is notable for being the home of Avatar Aang. It features an airball arena and an inner sanctuary that houses numerous statues of past Avatars. The temple also contains a statue of Monk Gyatso and was the last known residence of the winged lemur. It was restored to its former glory by the Air Acolytes after the end of the Hundred Year War, and is used to house the new generation of Airbenders.

The Southern Air Temple is regarded to be the closest of the original temples (with exception to Air Temple Island) to still adhere to Tenzin's ideology of creating a generation of Airbender Peacekeepers. Many Air Nomads within the Southern Air Temple are encouraged to travel across the globe as part of their training. Some stricter elders critcize the Southern Air Temple's airbenders of being 'too soft'.

### Northern Air Temple

The Northern Air Temple is located in the mountains along the northern coast of the Earth Kingdom and is one of the two temples that traditionally housed male Air Nomads. It also serves as the location of the bison polo championship. Years after the devastating blow the Fire Nation had dealt to the Air Nomads, the deserted temple was colonized by a group of Earth Kingdom refugees, led by a renowned inventor, after their town was destroyed in a flood. The mechanist modified the temple to make life easier for the new inhabitants. The temple once held statues and paintings; however, these and other parts of the temple were destroyed by the mechanist to make room for his new technology. The temple returned to its more traditional appearance after it was restored by the Air Acolytes after the end of the Hundred Year War, though it was destroyed in 171 AG when Ghazan used his lavabending to melt the foundations. The temple was recovered in the years after this fight, although not quite to its former glory.

The Northern Air Temple is regarded as one of the strictest and toughest air temples of them all, with a deep focus on spiritual enlightnment and combatative airbending. Residents of the Northern Air Temple are encouraged to follow a strict routine, and will engage in long hours of Airbending and acrobatics training, as well as extensive classes and meditative sessions. The Northern Air Temple is known to have produced the most Airbending masters to date, as well as the most Airbending masters who are under the age of eighteen.

### Eastern Air Temple

The Eastern Air Temple is located in a mountain range southeast of the Earth Kingdom and is one of the two temples that traditionally housed female Air Nomads. The site includes many statues of Avatar Yangchen. After the Air Nomads were killed, the temple became the home of Guru Pathik, who taught Avatar Aang how to unlock his chakras and gain mastery of the Avatar State. It is notable for being situated on three separate mountains, connected by bridges and was the place where all young airbenders would choose the flying bison that would become their life companions.

The Eastern Air Temple is regarded as one of the most spiritual of all air temples (prior to the rediscovery of Caeli Temple), especially as airbender Nico saw spirits there in his youth, and being the location for Avatar Aang to open his chakras. Thus, many Airbenders and deeply spiritual sages and monks will often begin their path to spiritual enlightnment here. Whilst the other temples focus on airbending training, those in the Eastern Air Temple are encouraged to study spiritual enlightnment and meditation in order to achieve inner peace at a young age. Many young Air Nomads have reported seeing spirits within the ground of the Eastern Air Temple, too.

### Western Air Temple

The Western Air Temple is located in the mountains north of the Fire Nation and is one of the two temples that traditionally houses female Air Nomads. Like the Eastern Air Temple, it boasts statues of Yangchen. The temple is notable in that, unlike the other three temples, it is situated underneath the edge of a cliff instead of atop a mountain. The spires seem as though they were built upside-down, and because of that, the temple is hidden from passersby. The site is also decorated with many flying bison paintings that have remained in relatively good condition, unlike those in the Northern Temple. Renowned as the birthplace of past Avatar Yangchen, Avatar Aang and his friends later made it their temporary home in the later stages of the War.

The Western Air Temple is unique to create some of the most intelligent of Air Nomads, as much of their curriculum focuses on several classes and educational facilities. History, literature and arts are very popular, as those in the Western Air Temple believe it to be a gateway to inner peace. It also has produced the majority of Airbending instructors that now teach the younger generations across the globe.

### Air Temple Island

Air Temple Island is the most recent air temple, built by Avatar Aang himself, where his ancestors continue to live. Located off the coast of Republic City near the entrance of Yue Bay, the tides and its coastal geography keep it secluded from casual access. The island sports several structures, including a large tower and several smaller facilities that are used by the Air Acolytes and airbenders who live there. The temple is inhabited by some sky bison and a different species of flying lemur, the ring-tailed winged lemur.

Air Temple Island has been designed to become a cultural hub for Air Acolytes and other members of the nations. Unlike the other Air Temples, who adhere to an partial isolation policy, Air Temple Island is open to members of other nations, although usually only on business rather than just accepting tourists. The Council of Elders who lead the Air Nation meet on Air Temple Island at the beginning of each season (and on rare emergency council meetings) in order to discuss recent events that have influenced the nation.

### Caeli Temple

Before the era of the Avatar, the Airbenders dedicated studies brought them to the island of Caeli, in which they fashioned a temple that their spiritual research could be dedicated to. Overtime, the temple was abandoned but was rediscovered once more by Guru Laghima, the wise and famous Airbender who inspired many prominent Airbenders such as Zaheer and Avatar Yangchen. But like the ones before him, he too would leave the temple and it was eventually lost to time.

Legends of this temple read it as a grand and peaceful temple set high in the skies on the sloping mountains, covered by trees and greenery, often cloaked in dense fog, with grand waterfalls that gushed into the pristine lakes below. The temple was likely once its own original design, but the remodel by Laghima was inspired from Fire Nation architecture. Included in this temple, as the scrolls that write of this temple read, is the ‘Hall of Elements’ - a small but mysterious room that honours all the elements and their unification in the world where guests of the temple, especially incarnations of the Avatar, may meditate in peace to their element. Four red pillars line either side of the room with banners holding the elements symbols hung on them, whilst the floor and wall of the shrine has carvings of the four elements in a box to signal their unification. The room has half a foot of water as the scrolls say this room also acts as a gateway to the spirit realm, similar to the Spirit Oasis in the Northern Water Tribe.

This temple was eventually lost to time, but was rediscovered by members of the Southern Air Temple, namely Nico Tshomo. There, the group discovered that Caeli Temple was not all abandoned: true Airbenders had survived the genocide committed by the Fire Nation in the Hundred Year War, and had completely isolated themself within the temple. The doors were opened to refugees of the south, but the monks here do not wish to re-enter society.

## Trivia

* Caeli Temple is an original creation of the server, created as a mysterious location for Team Avatar to potentially claim as their own base if things go poorly. The addition of the surviving monks was a last-minute addition.