>>Long ago, in the early days of the Chun Tai era, Avatar Korra helped
>>the five nations of our world find a new balance among themselves.
>>The world of Díqiù entered a peaceful age of invention and
>>discovery... but then everything changed when we discovered the world
>>beyond the Veil.
>>
>
>I quite enjoy this passage for the verisimilitude it establishes. The
>era name is a very, very nice touch; much like the Chinese (and
>Japanese, come to think of it) tradition it is aping, it gives an idea
>of the grand sweep of history at work here in a very concise way.
>
>Also, the pedant in me immediately started wondering how they do eras
>in Diqiu as opposed to here in the real world, but that's my damage,
>not yours. :) I admit cadging from http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/History_of_the_World_of_Avatar#Era_names
It would appear that possibly the eras roll over during transitions between Avatars. As such, the rundown for known Avatars would be as follows:
Yangchen - Fen An (氛安, "Clouded peace")
Kuruk - Zhang Shun (漳順, "Smooth as the Zhang River")
Kyoshi - Yuan Zheng (垣正, "Bastion of righteousness")
Roku - Zhuo Guang (焯光 "Brilliant light")
Aang - Ri Wu (氜武, "Superior military")
Korra - Chun Tai (淳泰, "Honest and exalted")
... which fits surprisingly well, considering...
>>She gave me the wry grin again and said, "I didn't say it it was a
>>good alias. Now, if I was Fire Nation, I'd probably pull it
>>off. But I'm from the Southern Water Tribe, and we get a lot more sun
>>than those guys." With a thoughtful little frown, she went on,
>>"Always wondered about that, 'cause they're equatorial and we're from,
>>y'know, the South Pole, but hey, I'm no biologist.
>
>Clearly not. There are... a lot of things wrong about Korra's ideas
>about where skin tone comes from here. She might want to spend a
>couple years studying the life sciences rather than engineering at
>some point.
She'll take care of getting a biology degree during her copious free time, when she's not putting out brush fires or charting the migration patterns (and historical antecedents) of Lion Turtles.
>>Korra seemed to find that encouragement enough. "On my side,
>>the world we call Dìqiú, certain of us can manipulate the elements -
>>earth, fire, air, water - and ages ago we organized ourselves into
>>four nations: Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, Air Nomads, Water Tribe,"
>>she said. Her face, not exactly stony to begin with, became more
>>animated as she described the situation. "At any given time, one
>>person - the Avatar - has the ability to manipulate - to 'bend' - all
>>four elements. That person's job is to look after the balance,
>>safety, and well-being of our world and the Spirit World that stands
>>between it and Zipang, and for the time being, that happens to be me."
>
>I like this speech very much, because of the subtlety involved here;
>you don't have vocal tone to work with directly, but it manages to
>both be recognizably something Korra would say (I can totally hear
>Janet Varney delivering it) and also to recognizably be something she
>clearly spent some time rehearsing and thus it has that slight
>unreality to it you get from, say, college professors or car salesmen.
She also, by now, has over 70 years of practicing explaining it to several generations of Zipang government officials.
>... I may be rambling.
Yes, Merc. Yes you are.
;)
>>For the rest of Avatar Korra's first adventure in the City in the
>>Sphere, keep an eye out for "An Avatar in New Avalon" - Chapter 1 of
>>Undocumented Features Future Imperfect: The Legend of Korra, Book
>>6: Galaxy - coming Soon™ from Eyrie Productions, Unlimited!
>
>Awwwww. I was hoping Project Phoenix Flight would be next. :(
I need to do more reading before we get to that -- I have The Real Space Cowboys, The Right Stuff and Failure Is Not An Option to go through before it locks into my brain the right way.
>Nice little mini-story. For once I have nothing hypercritical to say!
>I should sleep on that, though. It's like, four in the morning. I'm
>sure I can find something tomorrow.
Oh, no need to trouble yourself, Merc.
--- Philip
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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" | |
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