Book Of Air Poster Flats

An update of [link] with the flat colors and our world intro text. Ladies, please let me know if you want your character's color-scheme altered before I start shading this.

Characters from top to bottom, left to right.
- Ellil, QiShi, Sinaaq, Nunataq, Malu, Enlai, Kosei, Lin, Karu, and Ru.


Intro:[link]

Two hundred years ago, the four nations lived in peace.

Or so the stories tell us.

To be honest, the idea that there was ever real peace between the four nations seems pretty absurd. Our cultures, values and traditions vary too greatly. Besides, it couldn't have been that peaceful, because two hundred years ago, the Fire Nation used the power of Sozin's Comet to amplify their bending and attack the other three nations, sparking the Hundred Years War. Early in that war, the Air Nomads were completely wiped out. As time passed, the Earth Kingdom and and the Water Tribes were driven into corners, holding only fortresses and major cities truly safe from the forces of the Fire Nation's military might. The Avatar, who was supposed to maintain stability between the four nations disappeared, and the new Avatar didn't show up until one hundred years after the war began.

And one hundred years ago, Avatar Aang, "The Last Airbender" appeared. With the aid of the leaders of the Southern Water Tribe, the legendary metal bender Toph Bei Fong, and the then Prince of the Fire Nation, Avatar Aang defeated the insane Fire Lord Ozai and his daughter, restoring the true and honorable heir to the seat of the Fire Lord. Fire Lord Zuko brought an end to the Hundred Years War, and made treaties between the three nations.

The Avatar went about trying to restore the Air Nomads via some some strange form of bending available only to the Avatar. To be honest, I never really quite understood the concept of "energy bending". A few air benders were brought into the world, and the Southern Air Temple was turned into a home and training ground to attempt to restart the fourth nation of the Air Nomads. After Avatar Aang passed away, the art of energy bending was lost, but more air benders still appeared, born into families within the other three nations. The best guess is that the Spirit World itself was trying to restore balance to the world by giving air bending to the children of families that had even the tiniest bit of Air Nomad ancestry. It turns out that the Air Nomads really were a nomadic people, and a few families all over the world still carry the Air Nomad bloodlines. So the small population of Air Nomads continued to live on together in the Southern Air Temple.

Well, they did until Ellil came. He, like every other child that developed air bending, was sent to the Air Temple to train and live. No one is quite sure what happened, but one day when Avatar Tootega of the Water Tribe came to visit, she found everyone in the Air Temple dead, except for Ellil. Air Bender Ellil had killed every last person in the temple by bending the air from their very lungs, causing the Air Nomads to drown on dry land. When the Avatar came, he even attempted to kill Tootega. He did not succeed, and Ellil escaped the Avatar's wrath. Thusly, air benders became a cursed people. When the ability appeared, it was hidden. No one wanted to become the next Ellil, or his next victim. Air bending became a taboo because of that monster. The three nations began to regulate bending. In any "civilized" area, the only people allowed to bend are those with license to do so, and only for the purpose for which they hold a bending license.

Two years ago, Avatar Tootega died. She never found Ellil, and so that monster air bender is likely still out there. The new Avatar emerged from the royal line of Ba Sing Se, Avatar QiShi. Rumor says that QiShi is obsessed with technology, and looks down on bending. I don't know what kind of Avatar can look down on bending, but I guess, it's normal to be able to sneer at things that come easily to you.

According to the stories, if the Avatar Cycle gets back around to the Air Nomads and there are no Air Nomads left, the Avatar will cease to exist.

---

My name is Karu. I was born into a farming family in the southern islands of the Fire Nation. We are a big family and poor, but happy. I learned farming from my father and hunting from my brothers. When I turned 21, I left my family to enlist as an honorable Fire Nation soldier. It was something I had wanted to do since I was small, and the extra income would help my family immensely. Two years later, in the final month of my training, everything in my peaceful life went suddenly and horribly wrong.

This is my story.
No.
This is our story. The stories of a handful of people from the three nations: our meetings, our partings, our separate journeys that became one story. I don't know if any of us started out with the intent to change things, I certainly didn't, but sometimes The Spirits have plans for our lives whether we want them or not.

Book of Air
LEGENDS OF THE AVATAR

"Oh stop belly-aching, Karu."

"Grandmother?!"

"I told your father there was always a possibility this would happen. There is Air Nomad blood in our family, girl."

The bottom dropped out of my stomach.

Malu and the "Avatar: The Last Airbender" universe is © Michael DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Nickelodeon.

The plethora of original characters and the stories being create with them belong to © =elfgrove, ~secondlina, ~earthstar, & ~Zenavvy