LAST EDITED ON Aug-14-13 AT 06:19 PM (EDT)
 
>I never really thought we'd actually get Avatar folded into UF, and
>now that it's happening I don't quite know what to do with myself.
>This is like back when Utena ended up folded in; I was pretty stoked
>then too.

To be honest, Merc? It's all your fault.

I'd had the thought off and on about how bending and the Avatar world could incorporate into UF, and mostly wrote it off as not plausible (especially given its metaphysics and event timing), but it was your comment about Katara or Korra at the CTF Snowball fight that caused me to re-think the possibility and re-ignited the creative juices for the integration (especially since it'll tie into several other things later on involving [INFORMATION REDACTED].)

And believe me, after hearing about the event from Corwin and Utena, Korra will NOT be missing the next one.

>>XINQIWU, SANYUE 12, 291 ASC
>
>Hmm, so we're about a hundred twenty years out from the series. I
>understand the reasons behind it, but man, I am rather disappointed
>that this makes it deeply unlikely Tenzin, Lin, Asami, and Bolin won't
>be around except maybe in Valhalla. Especially Asami.

Yeah, well, that's life in the big city. I want all 4 Books of Legend of Korra to be Canon for our purposes (as far as is reasonable), which puts us in a bit of a pickle thanks to Books 2-4 not being released yet. Is it September yet? *whine*

>Tenzin's kids are REALLY hanging in there, tho. I mean, that's not
>unheard of in Diqiu; the line of Fire Lords are super long-lived, and
>Bumi managed to last a long time. Hell, Lin and Tenzin look amazing
>for people pushing sixty, in LoK. But man, based on what we see later?
>Jinora et. al. are rocking it awesome old lady style.

Admittedly, a lot of that appearance is derived from fanart depictions of the older Airkids, though I suppose I should draw Ancient Master versions of them one of these days, with Korra.

>>"The Acolytes aren't airbenders," she said. "They follow the
>>Air Nomads' old ways to honor them, but so far as we know, no amount of
>>study can make a bender out of someone who wasn't born with the gift."
>
>I'm not sure how much you guys care about hewing strictly to canon
>(Ben implied in a previous thread that it's a Big Deal for Phil) but
>I'd like to note that we have Word of God on this not being correct
>within the source materiel. It is possible within the context of
>Avatar to become a bender through focused study and spiritual
>discipline. It's just extraordinarily, incredibly rare, a
>bodhisattva-level accomplishment of spiritual development.

Which, well, "bodhisattva-level accomplishment of spiritual development" doesn't come along everyday. Do you know many current bodhisattva running around these days? Also, I'd like a citation on that Word of God, since I don't recall it being listed as a possibility for attaining bending on the Avatar Wiki (which remains our go-to source on matters Avatar for the time being).

Yes, it may be possible, but in "today's" fast-paced world of Diqiu, it certainly isn't considered likely. Far more possible for devoted Air Acolytes to give birth to airbending children (or for a random genetic 'sport' to show up in the wider population) than it is for the intense-study method. They just haven't encountered them yet.

>>Korra grinned. "True. Go there and give the person at the desk
>>my card," she said, handing him such an object. "They'll take care of
>>you. You're set up for three nights, it's all taken care of. My
>>wedding present to the pair of you," she added, her grin becoming a bit
>>sentimental.
>
>There are way to many instances of this scattered throughout the story
>for me to document them all, so I'm just gonna seize on the first one:
>I am really digging Korra actually being adept at the whole, you know,
>"I am an important person thing" thing you guys have going on. Korra
>the fully realized, mature Avatar is still recognizably KORRA, but she
>has that fluid skill at existing within the system and working the
>resources available to her she didn't have in the series. It's all
>very organic and well-executed; I can easily see this Korra showing up
>to address the President and the Council and, rather than ending up
>awkward and manipulated, working the room like a professional elder
>statesman.
>
>And then going out for noodles afterwards, because noodles rock.

Well, it also helps that, for all practical purposes, Avatar Korra is the only Avatar the living population of Diqiu has ever known. There's no more "aangst" about living up to Aang's legacy, because everybody who could have known Aang in life and compare her to him is now dead. That brings about a level of freedom that Korra didn't have growing up, because she pretty much knows everybody who's worth knowing on the planet, being contemporary or older than them.

Of course, that brings along its own set of problems, which we'll get into later...

(It's like having the Queen or the Pope running around negotiating treaties and kicking bad guys in the face. She's an accepted fact of life, and you can't imagine the world without her, but you don't believe she'd just drop in at a food stand on the street to pick up food skewers for her polar bear dog.)

>>No one seemed
>>to think it was all that strange that the pattern had just been joined
>>by a huge flying animal with two people aboard. People waved to them
>>from the windows of airship gondolas and took photos.
>
>I was reminded of this of an older work by Elliot S! Maggin in which
>people find it good luck for Superman to fly by their windows. I can
>see Republic City finding sharing the immediate sky with a sky bison
>as being auspicious, a sign of good fortune.

This is a common sentiment, especially among the other major cities of Diqiu, as the Air Nomads have returned to existence. They're very much a "community outreach service" organization in the modern day, providing support in disaster areas, quelling disputes, relaying messages and goods to remote corners of the globe, etc. Kind of a mix of Amnesty International, the International Red Cross, and the Peace Corps. On flying bison.

>>Nall cleared his throat, looked significantly around to make
>>certain he wouldn't be overheard, and then leaned nearer to the window
>>and said portentously, "The Earth King has invited us to Bosco's
>>birthday party."
>
>This whole ticket-buying sequence was well-executed, but it was a
>bit... twee, I guess is the word I want?
>
>I get that Diqiu wants to keep things on the down-low, but there's
>enough commerce between it and Zipang that Standard has crept in as a
>widely-spoken second language and it can economically support regular
>transit service and commerce. Bare minimum, we're talking thousands
>and thousands of people who are in on it. That's not really the kind
>of thing you can keep a lid on anymore, even in a galaxy of trillions.
>I mean, this isn't even strong encryption; any idiot could have picked
>up that passphrase, handed over anonymous, untraceable cash, and
>headed for Ba Sing Ce.

Yes, this is a concern, but it's also rooted in the whole relationship between Diqiu and Zipang (the details of which will be covered, hopefully, in later stories). However, in summary:

Zipang was founded in the late 2100's/early 2200's by a bunch of Tomadachi settlers and other first-wave colonies that had decided that those colonies had gotten rather too urbane for comfort. Since they wanted that real frontier experience, they settled on Zipang and started up again, this time going for a Tokugawa/Edo/Meiji aesthetic, but with much less of the social stratification, and allowing concessions for modernity like automobiles, telephones, etc.

(In essence, a planet founded by historical anime fans. You may cringe now, if you like. They still view Ruroni Kenshin as historical drama.)

Things went along well for several decades until 2282, whereupon the WDF fell, GENOM came to power, the Galaxy went down the toilet, and the Zipangi went "Whoah, we don't want no part of this" and locked down their borders save for Dejima Station (much like their historical counterpart of Japan did, back in the day). However, this left them with a conundrum of what to do about trade and general interaction for however long this exile would take ...

... and then they started realizing they'd never been entirely alone in there, anyway.

Well, things happened, contact was made with Diqiu, and a symbiotic relationship evolved enough that in the present day, pretty much the entire government of Zipang is in on the secret. And they're very good at respecting their sister planet's privacy. Hence things like automatically changing passports for Diqiu natives heading out into the galaxy, or hiding Diqiu's internet traffic within Zipang's.

>>"If you get out to Ba Sing Se
>>sometime, check out the Wall Museum. Some of the stuff the Fire Nation
>>got up to back then... " She shook her head. "Seriously crazy."
>
>... it's the drill, isn't it? They kept the drill in situ and turned
>it into a museum.

The Wall Museum of Ba Sing Se contains many historical artifacts from the 600-day Seige of Ba Sing Se and the Fall of Ba Sing Se and the following Comet Day. It's quite the tourist attraction.

>>"No it is not. This is a representation of Noatak,
>>alias Amon, the figurehead of the Equalist 'revolution'.
>
>... eh?
>
>Amon... wasn't really a figurehead. He was actually in charge. Or does
>the historical record take the stance that Amon was, in fact, just a
>figurehead and the real mastermind was Hiroshi Sato?

Even the testimony of the Avatar only takes one so far. And believe me, Korra's still annoyed about it.

>>"Most of them I vetoed." She rolled her eyes. "I
>>don't think anyone today really wants to know that I was once arrested
>>for vigilantism on San Hua Bridge, for instance," she added, drawing a
>>laugh from the others.
>
>I dunno, it seems like, with a distance of some years in place, Korra
>would be obscurely proud of that one. :) Although I imagine that
>negotiations broke down when she wanted the wording to be "On this
>spot in 170 ASC, Avatar Korra was arrested for doing the police's job
>better than they did." With a footnote reading "YOU HEARD ME LIN."

Well, they also wanted to put up a giant statue of Korra to go with the one of Aang out in the harbor, but she said they could only do that if the statue would be going "I'M VERY VERY VERY SORRY!" to Aang's statue, which kinda put the kibosh on the idea.

Also, Korra, in hindsight, readily acknowledges that her first day crime fighting really didn't go so well. She trashed a street, a clock shop, AND left an iceberg over a canal bridge. All over three petty Triad members. These days, she'd just lock them in stone and ice and call it a day.

>While I acknowledge they've fucked up a number of times, I'm pretty
>sympathetic to the White Lotus. Being the support network for an
>Avatar as headstrong as Korra can't be easy, and Utena is a giant
>metaphysical wild card. Wanting them not to hurl headlong into each
>other is a natural precautionary measure.

Again, the issue is complex, as Korra herself would acknowledge. It'd just help if they talked about it with her, you know? It's not like she's hard to reach, she's even got a (screened) email address and most of the Master Lotuses have her direct-line cell number...

--- Philip

	Philip J. Moyer Contributing Writer, Editor and Artist (and Moderator) -- Eyrie Productions, Unlimited CEO of MTS, High Poobah Of Artwork, and High Priest Of the Church Of Aerianne -- Magnetic Terrapin Studios "Insert Pithy Comment Here"