Post by aden on May 10, 2006 2:01:16 GMT -5
Name: Aden
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Nation: Northern Water tribe
Group: Northern Tribe Warriors
Bender?: Waterbender
Physical Appearance: Aden is built solidly, cramming a good deal of muscle on a relatively thin frame. He has darkened skin and dark brown hair with almost a tint of red to it. His eyes are crystal blue, almost clear, giving him a very striking gaze that can be intimidating to those unaccustomed to it. His hair reaches his neck and is usually pulled back into a messy ponytail that resembles a spikey puff behind his head. He also braids two thin sections on the sides beginning just in front of his ear with a bead at the beginning and end of the braid. And though usually concealed, Aden has a large burn scar onthe right side of his chest that spreads up to the base of his neck on the right side.
Clothing/Armor: Aden wears relatively simple clothing most of the time. In colder climates he has a standard water tribe parka. Its color is a rich indigo, the bottom extends almost to his knees with cuts on the side that go up to his waist, and lined with cream-colored fur on the edges. There are ties of string on the arms, just below the shoulders, that have tufts of fur tipped in black dye. The hood is usually down because of his ponytail, and he has a black scarf that he usually keeps tucked away.
In warmer weather he wears a pale blue tunic with the sleeves removed just past his shoulders. On top of that is a slightly richer blue sleeveless tunic with a deep v-neck. He wears loose black pants, tucked into the tops of knee-high, seal-skin boots. The boots have knee pads lined with elk fur on the inside, and adorned with the symbol of the water tribe on the outside. He has a simple obi belt with a dagger hanging off his right hip, as well as a waterskin that hangs diagonally across his back, with the cap on his left side. Also has a pair of metal bracers on his wrists that extend half-way up his forearm.
Weapons: Weapons: A single, long, curved knife with a serrated back edge near its hilt which is made of ivory. With steel being a very valuable material in the North Pole, he covents the weapon, which has been in his family for generations (the family motto "Strength Through unity" is carved into the handle).
Personality: Aden has a tendency to be reclusive, yet not exactly brooding. He's respectful and polite, especially in new company, but won't hesitate to speak his mind. Past tragedy has left him with no love for the Fire Nation, and he can be quite cold-hearted when it somes to dealing with anyone who aids their cause. Aden keeps up a strong emotional defense most of the time, but if anyone ever took the time to gain his friendship, they'd find he has a sharp wit and good sense of humor under that stern facade he maintains.
Deep down, Aden is motivated by a song sense of guilt that he survived the incident with the Fire Nation patrol boat while his friend did not. Everything he does is tempered by what warriors call "Survivor's guilt." In the years since his friend's death, he has come to realize that such an attitude really does lead to nothing but sorrow and that his deceased friend wouldn't have wanted him to waste his own life feeling a sense of obligation to share his pain. However, even though Aden realizes the folly of such an existence, it has become a habit of his to avoid feelings of joy. As he matures, such tendencies are slowly starting to give way, but old habits take time to change.
Background: Aden was as normal a boy as any growing up during war time. His family was part of the working class, though they never had trouble putting food on the table. His father made a living as a utility bender in the city. He built, repaired, and maintained the various ice structures that were essential to the city's ability to function using his bending. Aden looked up to his father as a model citizen as well as a knowledgeable bender.
Aden showed promise as a bender himself at the young age of four. His father often made small igloos and slides for him and by mimicing his dad's movements, it wasn't long after his powers surfaced that he discovered his bending talents. For several years before he began his form training at age 7, Aden soaked up all of the knowledge he could about bending from his father. Before he ever set foot on the training grounds he had learned a great deal about the methods of manipulating water into precise shapes and freezing them smoothly into strong ice.
During his first few weeks with Master Pakku, the old teacher was impressed by Aden's ability to precisely manipulate ice. The boy was average in terms of being able to move larger amounts of water, but he had never seen a child who was so precise with just a handful of liquid. During sparring matches, Aden was often outmatched by other students who had what Pakku described as a deeper connection with their element, but when limited to the contents of a single waterskin, Aden never lost. It was because of that curious set of talents that the waterbending master agreed to give Aden an occasional private lesson when the boy expressed a desire to learn some of the more advanced techniques.
Simultaneous to his bending lessons, Aden also spent his early years learning the basic knowledge that any Water Tribe boy should know. His mother, who had no work other than keeping the house and preparing meals, spent evenings teachning Aden all the miscellaneous things he'd need to get by in life. She taught him to read and write, how to prepare a meal, even a little bit of sewing. She also taught him the various tales and legends of their people, including the ones about the Ocean and Moon Spirits.
Around age 8, Aden struck up a friendship with a boy his age named Mani. The two shared a similar upbringing, though Mani had two younger siblings and his father was a warrior. Mani himself was beginning his training to become a fighter and Aden found himself greatly interested in the profession. Being a protector of the city was a highly regarded position and it was the first time Aden considered joining the military instead of apprenticing himself as a utility bender like his father.
Over the years, Aden and Mani grew inseperable and spent nearly every day having fun around the city after their respective training was done. Despite not being a bender, Mani still had much to teach Aden, especially in the area of melee combat. The two often sparred with mock spears or simply grappling, though Mani's training gave him the edge in those encounters. Aden occasionally won, though, and benefited from the lessons his friend was willing to share. In return, Aden used his bending for their amusement on boring days. He would make sleds or rafts of ice and propel them around the city at high speeds, and the two were nearly unbeatable during snowball fights. Aden's forts were impenetrable and Mani's aim was perfect.
This happy existence last for several years. When Aden turned fourteen he partook of his ritualistic Ice Dodging challenge. The crew consisted of him, his father, Mani and another father-son pair who were friends of Aden's dad. It was summer, and there weren't any ice drifts near the city so they set out a little further in order to find a challenging ice field. They finally spotted a suitable location through an archway of ice that extended out of the main shelf. But when they passed through the arch, they suddenly came into view of a Fire Nation patrol boat.
Before there was time to properly react, the scouting ship immediately opened fire on the relatively small ice-dodger with a catapult. The fireball struck the center of the ship, instantly killing Mani who was unfortunate enough to be standing there and splattered Aden with a glob og burning pitch. The fire stuck to his clothing and began to eat through, despite his attempts to douse it with water which only spread the greasefire wider. Since it was summer, he wasnt wearing his parka for protection. In an attempt to extinguish the flames, he jumped overboard into the icy water and nearly froze to death. He passed out and woke up several hours later after his father and surviving crew members had started traveling back toward the city on an improvised ice raft.
Aden later learned that his father and the other bender onboard had managed to fish him out of sea and improvised a raft of ice. They swiftly retreated back through the arch of ice and collapsed it behind them in order to provide cover for their retreat. The other waterbender knew a little bit of healing and provided some first aid, but he didn't have any more skill than to keep the wound clean and start the skin on its way to re-growing. That thought brought little comfort to th young man who was now permanantly scarred and missing his best friend.
Upon their return, it seemed that the majority of the Water Tribe was out on edge. The loss of one of their own was regrettable, but many feared the presence of a Fire Nation ship so close meant an impending attack. For the next few weeks, there were scout ships sent out in all directions and the city defenses were bolstered. However, no attack ever came and eventually things returned to normal. The details of the trip saturated the city's gossip for a short while too, though for the most part it was much more exaggerated than the reality of it. Aden became an object of curiosity for a short while, but it faded along with the fear that an attack was imminent. Life returned for normal, but the incident had a deep impact on Aden. His wounds had been mendled to the best of the healers' abilities, but there was still a large discolred scar across the right side of his chest. It wasn't as bad as it could have been considering the speedy first aid and powerful healers, but it was an obvious reminder of his loss and he kept it covered whenever in public.
Aden became reclusive and engrossed in his training both as a water-bender and as a warrior. Mani's death galvanized him into abandoning his original thoughts of apprenticing to his father and to enlist as a warrior. For the next three years he did almost nothing but eat, sleep, and practice his bending and combat drills. His parents were concerned for his emotional well-being, but still supported his decision. And yet, despite several attempts to try and discuss the matter, Aden remained as stubborn to their advances as an iceberg. He kept his feelings bottled up and allowed a hatred for the Fire Nation to grow inside of him.
Three years later, a few months after he turned 17, the Fire Nation finally launched an attack on the Water Tribe during the Siege of the North. Aden was almost grateful for the opportunity to pay back the Fire Nation for the death of Mani, but he was not truly given the chance. While his father helped organize the collapse of several structures alongside the strategic retreat of the Water tribe forces, Aden himself was assigned the task of safely guiding a handful of women and children into the safety of the city's inner sanctum. And though he was furious at first that he wouldn't be on the front lines, given the Fire Nation hell, he obeyed his orders and kept the people safe. However, as several Fire nation soldiers managed to break through and rampage in the streets, Aden was afforded just one opportunity to actually see combat. He spotted an advancing trio of Fire Nation soldiers as he guarded the rear of the displaced citizens and he swept them into a nearby canal with his bending. He froze the surface over them and as far as he knew, they never came up for air. That was the first time he'd ever killed anyone, but considering the distance and the indirect method, it hardly felt satisfying or made him feel like he'd done anything to get vengeance for Mani's death.
The Siege was eventually won, however, and several weeks afterward there came a call for volunteers to travel to the Earth Kingdom. The damage to the city was still being repaired, giving Aden's father quite a handful of work, but the Fire Nation's Navy was decimated and the Water Tribe felt as though it could spare a small war party to help their allies elsewhere in the world. Aden volunteered, and though his parents were concerned for his safety, they supported his decision. Aden's father presented him with his old dagger for the trip and wished him luck.
Aden was one of a dozen benders to set out for the Earth Kingdom in a war party of 40 men being led by one of the Chief's subordinate war commanders, Hissun.
Sample RP:
"The streets of the small village of Tay'lo were relatively calm for noon time. Only a few women and the occasional child was visible, most traveling to, or carrying food home from the market that occuppied the main boulevard. It was a quaint, peaceful Earth Kingdom town. One wouldn't even know it was under Fire Nation rule except for the red banners that adorned several of the buildings, or the occasional patrol that wandered down the streets.
Aden was sure to avoid those patrols, because he was certain his features would betray his nationality. Slipping into the town by descending the hills that formed its southern wall, the young water bender had managed to avoid having to pass through one of the check-points. Even so, he kept himself close to the walls of the buildings as he headed for the markets. There he could lose himself in the crowd while he got a change of clothes.
Aden had been a part of a Northern Water tribe war party, recently sent down to aid the Earth Kingdom. En route to the rallying point, Aden had been cut off from his fellow warriors after they ran into a fire nation platoon. They were far from the nearest water source, and were forced to retreat from the fire bending assault. Aden hoped he could find some supplies in this town and perhaps gather some information on the fate of the rest of his comrades before setting back out to meet at the rally point. "
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Nation: Northern Water tribe
Group: Northern Tribe Warriors
Bender?: Waterbender
Physical Appearance: Aden is built solidly, cramming a good deal of muscle on a relatively thin frame. He has darkened skin and dark brown hair with almost a tint of red to it. His eyes are crystal blue, almost clear, giving him a very striking gaze that can be intimidating to those unaccustomed to it. His hair reaches his neck and is usually pulled back into a messy ponytail that resembles a spikey puff behind his head. He also braids two thin sections on the sides beginning just in front of his ear with a bead at the beginning and end of the braid. And though usually concealed, Aden has a large burn scar onthe right side of his chest that spreads up to the base of his neck on the right side.
Clothing/Armor: Aden wears relatively simple clothing most of the time. In colder climates he has a standard water tribe parka. Its color is a rich indigo, the bottom extends almost to his knees with cuts on the side that go up to his waist, and lined with cream-colored fur on the edges. There are ties of string on the arms, just below the shoulders, that have tufts of fur tipped in black dye. The hood is usually down because of his ponytail, and he has a black scarf that he usually keeps tucked away.
In warmer weather he wears a pale blue tunic with the sleeves removed just past his shoulders. On top of that is a slightly richer blue sleeveless tunic with a deep v-neck. He wears loose black pants, tucked into the tops of knee-high, seal-skin boots. The boots have knee pads lined with elk fur on the inside, and adorned with the symbol of the water tribe on the outside. He has a simple obi belt with a dagger hanging off his right hip, as well as a waterskin that hangs diagonally across his back, with the cap on his left side. Also has a pair of metal bracers on his wrists that extend half-way up his forearm.
Weapons: Weapons: A single, long, curved knife with a serrated back edge near its hilt which is made of ivory. With steel being a very valuable material in the North Pole, he covents the weapon, which has been in his family for generations (the family motto "Strength Through unity" is carved into the handle).
Personality: Aden has a tendency to be reclusive, yet not exactly brooding. He's respectful and polite, especially in new company, but won't hesitate to speak his mind. Past tragedy has left him with no love for the Fire Nation, and he can be quite cold-hearted when it somes to dealing with anyone who aids their cause. Aden keeps up a strong emotional defense most of the time, but if anyone ever took the time to gain his friendship, they'd find he has a sharp wit and good sense of humor under that stern facade he maintains.
Deep down, Aden is motivated by a song sense of guilt that he survived the incident with the Fire Nation patrol boat while his friend did not. Everything he does is tempered by what warriors call "Survivor's guilt." In the years since his friend's death, he has come to realize that such an attitude really does lead to nothing but sorrow and that his deceased friend wouldn't have wanted him to waste his own life feeling a sense of obligation to share his pain. However, even though Aden realizes the folly of such an existence, it has become a habit of his to avoid feelings of joy. As he matures, such tendencies are slowly starting to give way, but old habits take time to change.
Background: Aden was as normal a boy as any growing up during war time. His family was part of the working class, though they never had trouble putting food on the table. His father made a living as a utility bender in the city. He built, repaired, and maintained the various ice structures that were essential to the city's ability to function using his bending. Aden looked up to his father as a model citizen as well as a knowledgeable bender.
Aden showed promise as a bender himself at the young age of four. His father often made small igloos and slides for him and by mimicing his dad's movements, it wasn't long after his powers surfaced that he discovered his bending talents. For several years before he began his form training at age 7, Aden soaked up all of the knowledge he could about bending from his father. Before he ever set foot on the training grounds he had learned a great deal about the methods of manipulating water into precise shapes and freezing them smoothly into strong ice.
During his first few weeks with Master Pakku, the old teacher was impressed by Aden's ability to precisely manipulate ice. The boy was average in terms of being able to move larger amounts of water, but he had never seen a child who was so precise with just a handful of liquid. During sparring matches, Aden was often outmatched by other students who had what Pakku described as a deeper connection with their element, but when limited to the contents of a single waterskin, Aden never lost. It was because of that curious set of talents that the waterbending master agreed to give Aden an occasional private lesson when the boy expressed a desire to learn some of the more advanced techniques.
Simultaneous to his bending lessons, Aden also spent his early years learning the basic knowledge that any Water Tribe boy should know. His mother, who had no work other than keeping the house and preparing meals, spent evenings teachning Aden all the miscellaneous things he'd need to get by in life. She taught him to read and write, how to prepare a meal, even a little bit of sewing. She also taught him the various tales and legends of their people, including the ones about the Ocean and Moon Spirits.
Around age 8, Aden struck up a friendship with a boy his age named Mani. The two shared a similar upbringing, though Mani had two younger siblings and his father was a warrior. Mani himself was beginning his training to become a fighter and Aden found himself greatly interested in the profession. Being a protector of the city was a highly regarded position and it was the first time Aden considered joining the military instead of apprenticing himself as a utility bender like his father.
Over the years, Aden and Mani grew inseperable and spent nearly every day having fun around the city after their respective training was done. Despite not being a bender, Mani still had much to teach Aden, especially in the area of melee combat. The two often sparred with mock spears or simply grappling, though Mani's training gave him the edge in those encounters. Aden occasionally won, though, and benefited from the lessons his friend was willing to share. In return, Aden used his bending for their amusement on boring days. He would make sleds or rafts of ice and propel them around the city at high speeds, and the two were nearly unbeatable during snowball fights. Aden's forts were impenetrable and Mani's aim was perfect.
This happy existence last for several years. When Aden turned fourteen he partook of his ritualistic Ice Dodging challenge. The crew consisted of him, his father, Mani and another father-son pair who were friends of Aden's dad. It was summer, and there weren't any ice drifts near the city so they set out a little further in order to find a challenging ice field. They finally spotted a suitable location through an archway of ice that extended out of the main shelf. But when they passed through the arch, they suddenly came into view of a Fire Nation patrol boat.
Before there was time to properly react, the scouting ship immediately opened fire on the relatively small ice-dodger with a catapult. The fireball struck the center of the ship, instantly killing Mani who was unfortunate enough to be standing there and splattered Aden with a glob og burning pitch. The fire stuck to his clothing and began to eat through, despite his attempts to douse it with water which only spread the greasefire wider. Since it was summer, he wasnt wearing his parka for protection. In an attempt to extinguish the flames, he jumped overboard into the icy water and nearly froze to death. He passed out and woke up several hours later after his father and surviving crew members had started traveling back toward the city on an improvised ice raft.
Aden later learned that his father and the other bender onboard had managed to fish him out of sea and improvised a raft of ice. They swiftly retreated back through the arch of ice and collapsed it behind them in order to provide cover for their retreat. The other waterbender knew a little bit of healing and provided some first aid, but he didn't have any more skill than to keep the wound clean and start the skin on its way to re-growing. That thought brought little comfort to th young man who was now permanantly scarred and missing his best friend.
Upon their return, it seemed that the majority of the Water Tribe was out on edge. The loss of one of their own was regrettable, but many feared the presence of a Fire Nation ship so close meant an impending attack. For the next few weeks, there were scout ships sent out in all directions and the city defenses were bolstered. However, no attack ever came and eventually things returned to normal. The details of the trip saturated the city's gossip for a short while too, though for the most part it was much more exaggerated than the reality of it. Aden became an object of curiosity for a short while, but it faded along with the fear that an attack was imminent. Life returned for normal, but the incident had a deep impact on Aden. His wounds had been mendled to the best of the healers' abilities, but there was still a large discolred scar across the right side of his chest. It wasn't as bad as it could have been considering the speedy first aid and powerful healers, but it was an obvious reminder of his loss and he kept it covered whenever in public.
Aden became reclusive and engrossed in his training both as a water-bender and as a warrior. Mani's death galvanized him into abandoning his original thoughts of apprenticing to his father and to enlist as a warrior. For the next three years he did almost nothing but eat, sleep, and practice his bending and combat drills. His parents were concerned for his emotional well-being, but still supported his decision. And yet, despite several attempts to try and discuss the matter, Aden remained as stubborn to their advances as an iceberg. He kept his feelings bottled up and allowed a hatred for the Fire Nation to grow inside of him.
Three years later, a few months after he turned 17, the Fire Nation finally launched an attack on the Water Tribe during the Siege of the North. Aden was almost grateful for the opportunity to pay back the Fire Nation for the death of Mani, but he was not truly given the chance. While his father helped organize the collapse of several structures alongside the strategic retreat of the Water tribe forces, Aden himself was assigned the task of safely guiding a handful of women and children into the safety of the city's inner sanctum. And though he was furious at first that he wouldn't be on the front lines, given the Fire Nation hell, he obeyed his orders and kept the people safe. However, as several Fire nation soldiers managed to break through and rampage in the streets, Aden was afforded just one opportunity to actually see combat. He spotted an advancing trio of Fire Nation soldiers as he guarded the rear of the displaced citizens and he swept them into a nearby canal with his bending. He froze the surface over them and as far as he knew, they never came up for air. That was the first time he'd ever killed anyone, but considering the distance and the indirect method, it hardly felt satisfying or made him feel like he'd done anything to get vengeance for Mani's death.
The Siege was eventually won, however, and several weeks afterward there came a call for volunteers to travel to the Earth Kingdom. The damage to the city was still being repaired, giving Aden's father quite a handful of work, but the Fire Nation's Navy was decimated and the Water Tribe felt as though it could spare a small war party to help their allies elsewhere in the world. Aden volunteered, and though his parents were concerned for his safety, they supported his decision. Aden's father presented him with his old dagger for the trip and wished him luck.
Aden was one of a dozen benders to set out for the Earth Kingdom in a war party of 40 men being led by one of the Chief's subordinate war commanders, Hissun.
Sample RP:
"The streets of the small village of Tay'lo were relatively calm for noon time. Only a few women and the occasional child was visible, most traveling to, or carrying food home from the market that occuppied the main boulevard. It was a quaint, peaceful Earth Kingdom town. One wouldn't even know it was under Fire Nation rule except for the red banners that adorned several of the buildings, or the occasional patrol that wandered down the streets.
Aden was sure to avoid those patrols, because he was certain his features would betray his nationality. Slipping into the town by descending the hills that formed its southern wall, the young water bender had managed to avoid having to pass through one of the check-points. Even so, he kept himself close to the walls of the buildings as he headed for the markets. There he could lose himself in the crowd while he got a change of clothes.
Aden had been a part of a Northern Water tribe war party, recently sent down to aid the Earth Kingdom. En route to the rallying point, Aden had been cut off from his fellow warriors after they ran into a fire nation platoon. They were far from the nearest water source, and were forced to retreat from the fire bending assault. Aden hoped he could find some supplies in this town and perhaps gather some information on the fate of the rest of his comrades before setting back out to meet at the rally point. "