The History So Far...

Bend THIS! is an AU Avatar RP based roughly on Avatar: The Last Airbender, with heavy influences from it's successor, the Legend of Korra. The original premise of the site was actually thought up long before LoK was even announced; and existed primarily in the head and RP logs of 3 of the site's 4 founding members: Avery, Houjin, and Arawn. While the original concept still weigh heavily on the site, it is no longer the absolute forefront of the canon we follow; but it does still have a place.

Currently, the timeline of the site is set at roughly two to three hundred years post LoK; in order to make sure that all series canon characters have passed from the world of the living. Because we function entirely on non-canon, we can't have series canon character walking around and causing problems, obviously. A new Avatar has risen, however they choose to remain far out of the public eye, using a very gentle touch to keep the balance of the world from shifting. No one is even sure of the name of this current Avatar, who has spent much of their life in seclusion and isolation from the world. It is said that this Avatar is so highly attuned to the Spiritual aspects of the world, that they are almost unable to function on the physical plane anymore. Whether or not this is true will not be known until the Avatar decides to reveal himself again.

40 years before the start of the current canon, a school was founded deep in the realms of the Earth Kingdom; separated from the world by thick forests and perched high on a cliff overlooking the southern ocean. The premise of the school, at least as far as the public was concerned, was to be the top academic academy that existed at the time; the forefront of intellectual and technological innovation. The children recruited would be given all the best; they would live pampered lives while in the school, under the idea that they would go on to be the best of the best one day. The public lapped this up like a kitten with their first taste of thick, sweet cream. For a while, there was no reason for anyone to think the school was anything but what it was; and the first graduating class did indeed go on to be some of the top scientific and military minds in generations.

Then children started disappearing.

At first they were just street children, the faceless backdrop of the poor sections of the larger cities. Police forces paid little attention to this; it wasn't that odd for kids to suddenly disappear off the streets. Cartels and unscrupulous business owners would abduct kids and force them into labor; organ harvesting wasn't unheard of either; and there was always the attrition due to death from lack of food, health care, and shelter. It happened. Unfortunate; but the police had enough to deal with otherwise, things they classified as higher priorities. This trend went on for a good 5 years before the first major incident happened, and the 'official' beginning of the real problems.

At first, reports would come in of houses broken into; usually places famous for squatters, or else small apartments in the bas sides of town. These were only noticed as anything because of the level of damage seen; fires would engulf entire buildings, water damage that made no sense, dirt everywhere, physical damage that seemed impossible. It became obvious that benders were involved somehow; but as the break-ins and reports increased, and the quality of the areas reporting problems went up; heads began to turn. There was something going on, something concerning the benders in all of the cities; even the floating fortress of the Air Nomads was reporting constant break-ins and abductions of many of their children.

It was around this time that attention was focused on the school once more; a new Headmaster had come into power; a Firebending Grandmaster from a line so ancient that it had spawned several Fire Lords and Avatars in the past. He was famous for his skill, and almost as much so for his cold nature. He was a perfect militaristic leader; concern only for the goal at hand and keeping numbers high, more powerful soldiers under his command. An odd choice, for a school that claimed academics as it's purpose. Under his command, the school was quickly transitioned from a place of equality to a more classical hierarchy system. Those at the bottom, while still treated well, had nothing compared to the top of the classes. The best minds and strategists lived lives of luxury and ease in decadent dorms and classrooms. However, there were those above even that; or so the majority of the school and the public believed. The 'Prodigies', they were called.

Benders, each and every one.

Benders being trained to be soldiers for shadow armies owned by the rich and powerful businessmen of the world. Brainwashed, conditioned puppets for the highest bidder; extremely well trained and almost one man armies. The missing children turned into a fighting force no one knew about unless they were part of the creation, or a buyer. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, there was nothing to outright tie the school to anything. For years this continued; the abductions went unsolved, the school continued to inch towards military power; even the civilians were being coached and lead down a path to be military and business leaders by the current shadow powers that would pick favorites and fund them from behind the curtains. It was a disaster for the outside world waiting to happen; but no one could do anything to stop it. Not yet.

It was during these early years of Headmaster, as he is referred to by most sources, that world of the benders truly began to change. Entire temples were being wiped out; whole clans found dead save for the children, and even then, only the best of them were taken. Even the Headmaster's own family was not immune to the attacks and kidnapping; the temple they had maintained for generations was razed to the ground, all but the eldest grandson found dead and burned almost to ashes.

The grandson would reappear many years later; emerging from the school with a small group of allies and like-minded individuals to tell the story of the horrors they faced, and with vital information to end the shadow armies before they could cause irreparable damage to the world. The grandson's name is Houjin Jun Chi; and he was considered within the school to be one of the brightest and most talented students they had, if only he would put any effort into his work. He had a reputation for being lazy and a troublemaker, however never bad enough that it couldn't be written off as teenage angst or issue stemming from the death of his family.

A waterbender, Arawn Reztark; a late comer to the school; he was taken very near the end of Houjin's tenure there. They met one day when the waterbender decided to do a runner from class, and due to several.. incidents, they ended up becoming unlikely allies, and even less likely, friends. Avery Tatsumaki as another late comer; a fiery tempered and wild airbender with strange powers that no one had ever seen before. Marquetta Yanagi, Earthbender and Avery's closest friend. Kei Minato, another earthbender, one that had been there longer than any of them and still managed to keep his mind as his own. Natsuru Kaisen, Houjin's only true friend, an airbender with a mind so open to suggestion that he was always falling right into the brainwashing, but whose unusual brain chemistry and an old head injury allowed him to snap right out of it when the right knock to the skull was applied. Younger than them, a set of twins, Orran and Alexei, a waterbender and earthbender, both highly skilled and prime targets for super-soldier status when they were older; still too young for proper brainwashing, merely the targets of the structuralized raising the school gave the youngest children.

In the end, they were the only ones to survive the school mostly intact; a rebellion of 8 against an army of soldiers in training and the adult masters. Planning, skill, and a HELL OF A LOT of luck on their side; they broke through the walls of the school and escape; but not without casualties. Natsuru, he was lost in the final fights. The brainwashing had finally stuck, nothing could remove it this time. Natasuru and Houjin fought to the death; with Houjin all but defeated because he couldn't bring himself to give the final blow; not until Natasuru was able to break through just enough of the programing to beg for release; for the freedom of death and the peace of the final sleep. In his grief, a single bolt of lightning through the heart; he ended the suffering, and the life, of the closest friend he'd ever had; the closest to a brother he'd had since his own was murdered by their grandfather for not being a firebender. Then his grandfather, the old master who was happy to end the life of his own grandchildren because they weren't what he wanted them to be. The man that had murdered an entire clan for standing in his way; murdered thousands for the same reason by that point.

HE was weaker, far less experienced, but the fire of his rage burned so hot at that point that he was just able to hold his own; it wasn't until Arawn returned to help him that he was able to gain the upperhand; a second bolt of lightning ending the life of the man that had ruined his own; ruined so many before him, and would continue to ruin them long after his own fires were snuffed. They ran for weeks, far from the Earth Kingdom and the easy reach of the remaining recruiters and the loyal teachers that were out for their heads. To the land of the Air Nomads, to Avery's home, the 7 remaining fled. Once there, a week or so spend recovering, mourning and grieving their loss; then splitting up. Kei took the children, they had always been closer to him than anyone else. He swore on his honor as an earthbender that he would get them home to their family safely. Houjin disappeared one night, nothing but a note saying he'd be back on the day they'd agreed to meet back up again, 4 years in the future. He needed to be alone, needed time to deal with losing Natsuru, more than the rest of them did. Into the mountains and the world he left; loneliness was needed then. Arawn disappeared not long after, no one is really sure what happened to him when he was gone; he was surprisingly tight lipped about his adventures alone. Avery and Marquetta remained with Avery's grandmother, at least as far as the rest knew.

The day they swore to meet up again came, and the elders did indeed return. Kei came baring good news, he'd found the twin's family; they were safe and happy. He'd even been sort of adopted into the family; he was acting as the guardian of their family temple now, so he wasn't going to be staying very long with them. A few days, then he was gone; best wishes left and the hope of a quiet life ahead of him. Arawn and Houjin; older and changed in some ways; Arawn with a gourd of ice he'd never had before, Houjin swords and a Shirshu he'd adopted during his travels; Avery alone now, Mar was gone; and the boys had seen enough death in their lives to not ask what had happened; they could sense something strange had happened, but the story would be told when Avery was ready. The three of them decided then that they would stay together for a while; Houjin and Arawn had missed each other in their own ways; the odd relationship they had needed some time to grow if they planned on keeping it, and Avery was happy for the company that she could relax around. They had fought for each other's lives; a bond like that was not something broken easily.

Back out in the world they went; a world that was still recovering from the shock of everything that had happened at the school so very recently. A world that just wanted to move on and forget, in the way it did all bad things. New players rose in the shadows as old stepped aside or died off; the civilian world continued on like nothing happened. New temples for the benders rise to replace the old, with new masters and new faces to be found everywhere. Times of peace had returned, for the moment. How long this lasts is anyone's guess. The future is ever changing, ever flowing; the people will decide their own fates. As it should be.