>>>(I may be overthinking this.)
>>
>>Or simply not bearing in mind that a building with a square footprint
>>has four sides. :)
>
>I... er, am actually completely clueless as to what you mean by this.

There are four sides to that part of the tower. We only know from the text provided that it says PHOENIX HOUSE HOTEL in Standard on one of them. It's entirely possible - in fact, likely - that the name is rendered in Tongyu on at least two of the remaining three.

>>Indeed. One hopes that at some point he attempted to escape and one
>>of the Kyoshi had the opportunity to put him down like the mad dog he
>>was.
>
>One of the things that makes Ozai so frightening, at least in my
>opinion, is that he isn't really mad, per se.

It's a f---ing figure of speech, for f---sakes.

... sorry, too sharp? :)

>Besides, him dying in an escape attempt is way too merciful.

Well, yes, arguably, but they don't have the technology base to construct a proper prometheon*, and the guy's like Hannibal Lecter. As long as he's capable of walking around and speaking to people, he's going to be a problem.

Toph's right, you know. Those guys are just born bad. That's why Zuko is so shit at being a good guy. He has to make a Will check every time he doesn't murder somebody. It's an umpty-point Flaw, which explains why he started the game at like level 15, but in the long run it wasn't really worth it. He's a bad design. Someone needs to have a word with his player. :)

>I forget where, but I once read a fairly decent little fanfic wherein,
>after Ozai rather comically declared "I'm still alive" in response to
>Suki's query, Sokka considered the architect of his peoples
>near-genocide philosophically for a couple seconds, and then simply
>straight-up knifed him right there in front of Aang.

Hmm. Nearly plausible, though I'm seeing it more as a redneck katana fugue with that whale jaw club thing. III've been WORKin' on the RAIL rooooad, ALL the LIVElong DAAAAY...

>Interesting. I am now curious as to his thoughts on Big Fire. I mean,
>really. "The Magnificent Ten?" Even for a cadre of metahuman
>supervillains, that's a pretty on-the-nose piece of branding. They
>might as well have their own line of action figures; the Fabulous
>Fitzcarald with real snapping action, Shockwave Alberto with a pack of
>tiny cigars you can tuck inside his suit.

Oh, they're branding, all right. It's fairly well-agreed within the International Police that the Ten are just a front for something much less colorful and - let's face it - fun to punch. They want the public to fear them, but also to find them interesting, which is not something 100% Committed Bad Guys care about. They're dangerous branding, but then, so was Amon.

--G.
* Breathtakingly cruel and elegant 14th-century Gamilon torture device. Employs a combination of tailored stasis and cellular regeneration inducers to keep the prisoner alive while a vicious animal eats bits of him. Indefinitely. Illegal everywhere, including on Gamilon, nowadays.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.