The Hohenzollern Empire 5: Holy Phoenix - An Empire of Jerusalem Megacampaign in New World Order

[zenphoenix]

Damn, there's a lot to unpack here, Paullinist resurgence with Zhao being under suspicion for aiding, the new Tesla car, backroom politics and cajoling a senator. Merkel's fatigue being taking out of context.

Ah yes, the most important thing of the year, the new Tesla car.

Seems the world is slowly spiralling into madness as the year rolls by quickly. One good thing out of this is Alex finally graduating at least. Kid's getting ready for his next step in life.

Alex will be coming of age in an era of change for the Reich and its people. Let's see how well he handles it.

By the way I love how that Greater Perm thing is canonized now. We can thank whoever edited that idea and wrote it on the Tv Tropes entry.

I fear this will lead to a resurgence in Perm propaganda

Oof, I knew all those references to Paulluists in Yavadi, Nepal and Imperial Japan weren't going to end well. Not sure how willing the Japanese Paulluists would be to depose an Emperor who is very important to Japanese society, but who knows what they would do.

They're in the Shogunate, so their actions would be more directed at the shogun. Though I wouldn't say North Japan is immune to Paulluists...

Ironically, the TV tropes page was updated to say Perm defeated Catholicism and the Papacy itself instead of the Reich last time I checked, which is more accurate but still kind of overhypes Perm just a bit . Then again, the few Chapters mentioning the fourth crusade did say the few thousands of crusaders that went, including the pope, died, probably froze to death I imagine. Still, great touch with the reference there, it's a funny piece of lore. Something tells me Perm will be the new "Wikto is Tito", only semi canonized this time.

I have been considering canonizing Witko is Tito as well, although there isn't really a Tito.

Poor Merkel is having a tough time as Chancellor, especially with Wihelm and Elias working against her. Let's hope Henrich is genuine in what he says in protecting the Reich from Wilhelm, It would be what Otto would want.

Heinrich's loyalties will be tested as time goes on and Otto gets more and more distant.

The Anhorns have really become devoted disciples of Wihelm Karl haven't they. First there was all of Elias' plotting on Wilhelm's behalf, notably the smear campaign against Thersa and the terrorist attacks inspired it, and now we Gertrude blackmailing Brad. I won't lie, It kind of hurts seeing Elias spouting all that nonsense about a war on Christmas with Tesla, but to be fair he's done worse than that before and I didn't mind.

It's more like the Anhorns and Wilhelm Karl have a common enemy right now in the mainstream establishment. Sure, Elias is friends with the Kaiser, but Elias puts his interests first.

I agree with Theresa's comments about the dangers of Romans being so politically and culturally polarized. I hope for the best when it comes to the Reich's future, but Diana's visions still worries me, even if we don't know exactly what the Worm showed her.

We will see...eventually.

Weird to think how from this moment on, this AAR has left the modern day and is now in the future. I wonder if this now makes it an prediction of the future rather than an alternate history. Definitely excited to see how the rest of the 21st century will unfold now that the gameplay will be unscripted, I think this AAR will benefit from more emergent scenarios and storytelling in the future instead of the scripted narrative of prior gameplay.

Yep, there were a lot of unscripted scenarios happening, especially in the first half of the century, some of which I worked event chains around. There were also quite a few events I wrote where their descriptions became invalidated because I didn't predict just how unscripted things could get in some areas.

What about the Ronald Wilson conspiracy theories you've previously mentioned, like him murdering Gorbachev to start WW3 (although people now would probably know about the Sentinel/Syndicate's role there and be aware of how Wilson's anti equalists foreign interventions shaped the leadup to WW3 before Gorbachev's death)? You previously said he'd be compared to Trotsky and Angelos in previous updates and discussions for various reasons, so maybe Alex's College class would be a good place to put a reference to Wilson and Trotsky conspiracy theories. Just an idea.

Maybe I will put it there.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

They're in the Shogunate, so their actions would be more directed at the shogun. Though I wouldn't say North Japan is immune to Paulluists...

I'm... a little confused at why North Japan is Imperial and the South is the Shogunate, since it looks like the opposite on the map. Is this like lower and upper Egypt, because that was also something that also confused me for awhile in middle school history class until I got around how the Nile river determined that? Just curios if there's a specific geography reason for this.

Also, isn’t this the second Paulluist dictatorship that’s replaced the Shogunate? I remembered it being canon that the last Paulluist dictatorship of Japan was very anti environmentalist and denied climate change, which isn’t a good sign. I wonder just how Christian fundamentalist both this current regime and the last one were?

I’m definitely scared about Zhao exporting his populist ideology aboard and following in Paullu’s footsteps of creating an authoritarian non aligned bloc against the Reich and China. He’ll surely be more relevant and become a big player as time goes on. Guessing this is the pay off to all the references to Eurasian Populist movements in the last two decade summaries and several gameplay and story updates.

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

Heinrich and Merkel, an alliance that hopefully doesn't blow up in either's face.

 

[zenphoenix]

I'm... a little confused at why North Japan is Imperial and the South is the Shogunate, since it looks like the opposite on the map. Is this like lower and upper Egypt, because that was also something that also confused me for awhile in middle school history class until I got around how the Nile river determined that? Just curios if there's a specific geography reason for this.

No, you're right, north is the Shogunate and south is imperial. I got that confused.

Also, isn’t this the second Paulluist dictatorship that’s replaced the Shogunate? I remembered it being canon that the last Paulluist dictatorship of Japan was very anti environmentalist and denied climate change, which isn’t a good sign. I wonder just how Christian fundamentalist both this current regime and the last one were?

Not sure, I haven't really fleshed them out much.

I’m definitely scared about Zhao exporting his populist ideology aboard and following in Paullu’s footsteps of creating an authoritarian non aligned bloc against the Reich and China. He’ll surely be more relevant and become a big player as time goes on. Guessing this is the pay off to all the references to Eurasian Populist movements in the last two decade summaries and several gameplay and story updates.

Zhao is definitely following in Paullu's footsteps, only he's doing things his own way and in a more reliable manner.

Heinrich and Merkel, an alliance that hopefully doesn't blow up in either's face.

If you can even call it an alliance.

 

[zenphoenix]

Chapter 456: Shadow of the Phoenix​

Life moved on without Otto the Great. The people of the world grieved greatly, but in the end they had to move on, as with anything else. Slowly, things returned to normal again, although they would never be the same. Penglai became the latest country to establish a national space agency. Gaojiang Zhao hailed it as a triumph for Penglai science. However, he refused to let it work with the UN, which had already partnered with every other space program, on the grounds of “national security risks.”

The Russian government officially relocated back to Tsarberg, the ancient seat of Rurikid power. Kaiser Wilhelm was in attendance, as was Minister of Defense Boris Bradziunas on behalf of the Livonian government. For Tsar Borislav II, it was a much needed break from the unceasing war against the drug cartels lurking in the Russian countryside. But the Sostoyaniye, newly trained by its best instructor in years, was now better equipped to handle them. The Russian people had hope they could eventually win the war.

The reunification of Aztlan and Mexico was complete fifteen years after it had been promised by the coalition forces who had toppled Zolton Huicton. General Huicton Ollin apologized for the delays in a televised statement, saying it was due to logistical issues resulting from the long Mexican insurgency and the need to reconcile two very different political, economic, and cultural systems which had been separated for at least a hundred years, even longer if taking into consideration the many wars Fusang and the Triple Alliance waged over the region for centuries. That April, the two countries were reunited again, and the Acatl royal court finally moved back into Tenochtitlan after almost a century in exile, but they wielded little power over the civilian meritocratic government. The dynasty would remain unpopular among its own citizens for many more decades, as many Mexicans held the Acatls responsible for the centuries of suffering they had endured since the Sunrise Invasion. A referendum on keeping the monarchical governing system of the reunited Mexico narrowly passed, and only due to the fracturing of the republican vote due to Paulluists and neo-equalists boycotting the vote due to each other's participation.

In its move to Tsarberg, the Russian government signified much more than its return from the insanities of the Soviet regime and a pivot back to its traditional Roman ally. On the recommendation of Bradziunas, who wanted to strengthen ties between Livonia and Russia, Tsar Borislav signed into law a bill recognizing and protecting the cultural heritage of the country’s large Lithuanian minority, long discriminated against by both successive Russian governments and the cartels. Many saw it as an attempt to extend an olive branch to ethnic Lithuanian cartels. It sort of worked. Crime rates went down in majority Lithuanian areas, but the cartels remained. Many Russian cities, including Tsarberg, remained overrun with crime, and mass emigrations of Russians, Lithuanians, and Mongols to the Reich continued, inflaming political divides there.

The Eimerican Federation embarked on its most ambitious project yet, the first test of a combined super-national military and the troop-sharing agreement that created it, where Eimerican joint forces would intervene in Tawantinsuyu. The experiment was a resounding success. The joint forces, working together with local Tawantinsuyu military units, successfully put down the rebellion in Antisuyu ahead of many observers' expectations (although most of the region would fall under the control of rebel groups from Qullqisuyu), showing the strength and cohesion of the super-national military and its viability. Many member states were convinced to join the troop-sharing agreement, with the assurances that their sovereignty would be respected and they would get a say in how the joint forces were deployed.

In a speech before the Eimerican Federal Assembly which would later be remembered as the "War Against Suffering" speech, State Commissioner Jorvik Thordarsson announced he would do everything in his power to stamp out war and poverty within the New World. To assure his critics he wouldn't use this army to seize power, he established a neutral and nonpartisan Eimerican Security Oversight Authority (ESOA), which would represent each member state and give them joint control over the military. He also passed several laws which would reduce the powers of the State Commissioner and make the office a position directly elected by the meritocratically screened and democratically elected Federal Assembly every five years starting in 2020. After receiving the power to pass and enforce transcontinental legislation due to Kanata’s increased clout, the Federal Assembly gained sweeping influence as a transnational regulatory and legislative body. Fusang and its allies grumbled at this expansion of powers, but the smaller North Eimerican states, who had long worried about Fusang’s economic and diplomatic domination, welcomed the change with Kanata’s support, seeing its binding legislation as a way to keep Fusang on the same level as other member states.

The Vietnamese took a page out of Thordarsson’s book. Believing ASEAN needed to pass similar EF-style reforms to survive in this new era, they decided to open a transnational conversation on integration. At the next annual ASEAN conference, the Vietnamese delegation, to the Nusantarans’ frustration, rebranded itself as a “Srivijayan” delegation, giving the hitherto unnamed “Southeast Asian” identity many Southeast Asians had embraced a name. They took the name from the ancient Srivijaya thalassocracy which dominated much of Maritime Southeast Asia in the later medieval period (although the Nusantarans pointed out it was based in what is now Nusantara and had no territory in modern Vietnam). In successive conferences, the integration movement gained steam. Proposals to rename ASEAN to the “Srivijaya Commonwealth” and integrate its member states as was done in the EF became highly popular by both the ASEAN delegations and the common people. In polls taken in the ASEAN member states that year, an increasing percentage of people began identifying themselves as “Srivijayans” in addition to their nationality. By the end of the year, a majority of Siamese, including much of the government, had identified themselves as such.

Political scientists did not know what to make of it. Nobody could account for the sudden trend, but several theories floated around. First, the Southeast Asians closely watched the unfolding situation in North Eimerica, particularly Thordarsson’s Eimerican project. As the EF grew in power, terrorism and other violence across the continent died down. Many then believed the same could be done in Southeast Asia. Although the region was largely at peace since the Burma insurgency ended, tension simmered under the surface. Border disputes were common, as the modern borders of the region were carved up by China’s military junta when it withdrew after World War II. Second, hegemons like China, India, and the Reich, although as liberal as Southeast Asia was, were again exerting their influence in Southeast Asia. Burma had been effectively occupied by Indian troops since the end of World War III to combat frequent equalist insurgencies. China’s legacy as the region’s former colonial master unnerved many Southeast Asians. Modern China now again brought Vietnam, Laos, Qiandao, and Siam into its sphere of influence, replacing the Guominjun-aligned juntas with economic ties. Vietnam and its restored Tran emperors in particular had no desire to end up under China’s thumb again.

While most of ASEAN’s populations liked the Reich, they feared under the new Kaiser, longstanding trade agreements would not be honored, as he implied in his first New Year’s address. Many Malayans, especially ethnic Chinese who had settled there in the Tran and early Chinese Empire days, protested against continued Roman military presence. Malaya had been a hub for Roman military operations in the western Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean even after it was granted independence after World War II, and many locals saw it as a legacy of colonialism. But things improved following a UN peacekeeping operation against Chinese and anti-ASEAN nationalists in Kota Bahru, during which a Hohenzollern, Prince Horst, sacrificed himself in the line of duty, becoming a martyr for the integration movement. On the economic side, Malaya and Siam worried if their relations with the Reich soured, troops in Roman Sumatra, the only Southeast Asian colony which decided to stay with the Reich as a full Länder, could easily blockade the Straits of Malacca and occupy the commercial center of Singapura. Siam had proposed a new canal to be dug at the Kra isthmus to the north, but it lacked the funds to make it a reality. Its leaders saw the Srivijaya integration project as an opportunity to both reduce reliance on the Reich and make the Kra project a reality. So it was under these strange circumstances the nations of Southeast Asia came together, hoping to protect their own independence and forge their own path. In a way, the desire of the Burmese/Siam faction for independence from the superpowers had now merged with Vietnam's aspirations for a pro-Roman faction they could lead. Nusantara's pro-China faction, on the other hand, lost influence.

Kaiser Wilhelm IV was officially crowned Kaiser in a grand ceremony on December 16. After the usual formalities and a speech in which he vowed to uphold the values of the Reich as two founding Kaisers and two Saints intended (not bring the Reich back to traditional values as the media would suggest), he set to work. Imperial decrees flew off his desk, bypassing the frequently deadlocked Diet at times. Many of these bills were mundane enough, like improving certain environmental regulations, renewing treaties, or increasing subsidies to the impoverished eastern provinces. Others were eye-catching, like turning back a budget passed by the Diet because it provided too much money for Russian subsidies or not renewing a trade agreement with Yavdi, leading it to sign one instead with Russia. But the people were confident they and the Diet, alongside the many traditions and customs Otto had set, could keep Wilhelm in line.

(For the record, I wrote a lot of Wilhelm Karl’s in-game events before I had a concrete idea of what his character arc would be like. So most of this description is not canon.)

The 2019 Reichsrat examinations had a low turnout. Many potential examiners declined to, well, examine. They cited lack of choice, no time off from work, and no real change being made regardless of their choice as reasons. And the examiners for national examinations were almost always selected from the same places in the western provinces, the German/Greek core, Neurhomania, and the Middle East, marginalizing the post-equalist east, Africa, and other overseas . As a result, the composition of the upper house remained approximately the same, although mainstream parties continued to take a substantial beating in the aftermath of the Sentinel scandal. The PMS edged out the SPR, taking a little over half of the social meritocratic bloc’s seats. The conservative bloc’s seats were divided between the CSU and LKR at the expense of the CMU, which took a backseat in its own centrist alliance. The Greens, KRA, and CB maintained complete control over their respective blocs. Going into the all-important 2020 examinations, the Greens, PMS, and SPR retained a slim majority (which would become a supermajority if the KRA jumped onboard). The CMU and its allies remained in control of the Reichstag, continuing the deadlock.

It increasingly felt like the old guard was finally passing away. Just a week into the new year, Empress Sita of India also passed away. She had reigned since the end of World War II. She was the last of the four major wartime leaders—Otto, Sita, Sbyslava, and the Xuantong Emperor—to pass away. Kaiser Wilhelm and his brother Georg represented the Reich at her funeral, where India paid its respect to the woman who fought against Gandhi’s Rasas and led the country out of its bloody past and into an age of peace. The throne passed to her son, Jayasimha, who was crowned the new Samrat Chakravartin.

At home, the Reich grappled with an increasingly polarized society. In the three years since Sentinel was exposed, polarization swept down from the Diet and crept into all levels of society, radicalizing many and creating friction between demographics. Nationalists rioted in Chishinau and Kattowitz, among other places, capitalizing on the economic doldrums the eastern provinces had been stuck in since 1986. In some places the Imperial Guard was mobilized, but to save money the government contracted private security companies like Argus to help with riot control.

Examinations began in July. As in 2015, the main contenders for the chancellery were Merkel, running for a fourth term to cement her place as one of the longest serving chancellors in history, and Martin Schulz, the presumptive SPR candidate, who ran on a platform of revitalization and sweeping left-wing reforms, endearing him to the country’s youth and working class but alienating him from party leaders and donors, who preferred a centrist who would protect their current tax rates. Few paid attention to the “third-party” candidate, Thierry Baudet of CB. His campaign got off to a great start, but his polling numbers never rose above fifteen percent, and he would lose many of his gains due to a highly controversial attack ad against Schulz, thus making sure his campaign never got anywhere. The main contest was in the Reichstag, where all seats were up for grabs. The KRA hoped to use the examinations to consolidate their control over all of Neurhomania, at the cost of their last European holdouts. The SPR sought to stop its bleeding of seats to the rising PMS, particularly in former industrial strongholds such as the Rhineland. The CMU and CSU’s alliance broke after their agreement to caucus together broke down, spurring the CSU to aggressively target as many CMU seats as they could. The CSU considered the CMU too pro-corporate and resistant to change, while the CMU believed the CSU was too willing to compromise with groups like CB, which they considered a radical right party even though it shared nothing with the real far-right parties such as AfR and NDP. CB’s strategy was to ride out the storm and nab a few seats while the big players fought each other, but the controversy generated by the attack ads all but ensured they would be caught in the storm too.

The world continued working together to combat the climate crisis, meeting in Vienna to sign a new agreement to draw down greenhouse gas emissions. The Vienna Agreement signed in August 2019 intended to lay out a framework within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (signed in 1992) to mitigate emissions, adapt to a carbon-neutral if not carbon-free economy, and detail financially feasible routes to doing so. The agreement’s language was negotiated by representatives of every nation (with ASEAN and the EF member states signing together under single ASEAN and EF delegations, respectively) at the United Nations headquarters in the Viennese suburbs. The Vienna Agreement's long-term goal was to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to ideally limit the increase to 1.5 °C, since this would substantially reduce the risks and negative effects of climate change, among them the death of coral reefs and release of significant amounts of methane from the melting Siberian permafrost. Under the agreement, each country was mandated to determine, plan, and regularly report on the contributions it made to mitigate global warming. Roman public opinion was largely in favor of the agreement, with CB and its supporters the most ardent.

The campaign season took a dark turn in September, when Schulz was assassinated by a right-wing radical at a high school rally in Constantinople on the 16th. Police immediately apprehended the shooter, who surrendered peacefully and presented a manifesto calling for the complete eradication of equalism (the SPR and PMS) from the Reich and the establishment of a neo-Angeloi regime. Schulz died instantly. With their lead candidate dead and nobody to replace him, the SPR campaign imploded. Merkel was thus guaranteed her fourth term, even more after the Kaiser gave a speech that was implied to have been an endorsement of the CMU. She would now have a chance to pass Kohl’s record for time spent in office.

Even with Merkel effectively running unopposed, the examination remained contentious. However, once the points were counted on January 1, nothing really changed. The SPR, PMS, and Greens still controlled the Reichsrat with an expanded margin, while the CMU still controlled the Reichstag, though it now had to rely heavily on the centrist LKR, which forced it to adopt a more “conciliatory” corporate-friendly platform. CB was wiped in both houses, losing 3.6 points in the Reichsrat and winning only four percent of seats in the Reichstag, behind the NDP itself.

Gaojiang Zhao Yu and his Qimili Party continued chipping away at Penglai’s democratic institutions from within. On the 7th, Zhao announced his intent to do away with the Chinese multiparty parliamentary system and replace it with a centralized semi-Paulluist system encouraging only two parties (Qimili and an indirectly controlled opposition) through a first-past-the-post voting system and the legislature and judiciary made subordinate to an empowered executive in himself. Many opposition politicians protested the new law, but the newly subordinate courts upheld it as constitutional, spurring them to resign in protest and be replaced with more Qimili politicians.

Samrat Chakravartin Jayasimha VII’s coronation took place on the 14th. Again, Kaiser Wilhelm IV and his brother Georg visited Delhi to represent the Reich.

In February, as Merkel was sworn in for yet another term, the Laotian government was the latest to adopt a resolution declaring itself a “Srivijayan constituent nation” after Siam, Vietnam, and several other ASEAN nations. Only Nusantara remained the lone holdout, insisting it was the only rightful successor to Srivijaya. But the reforms sweeping Southeast Asia could no longer be stopped as the other member states eagerly approved resolutions binding themselves closer to each other.

That February, Merkel and the General Staff finally made good on a long awaited promise, the withdrawal of Roman and Schengen coalition troops from North Eimerica. Following the collapse of MSC, the Mexicanist movement was left without a leader, and the few remaining terrorist groups were destroyed or brought to justice by empowered EF peacekeepers. For the first time since 1989, tensions cooled in North Eimerica, and many of its countries finally experienced peace for the first time. Merkel announced it was time to hand over peacekeeping duties to Thordarsson and bring the troops home, as the Mexican government insisted. Even so, many Romans remained in North Eimerica to provide humanitarian aid, as the continent remained mostly poor and rural. Among these Romans was Prince Georg, a beloved civic figure around the world for his charity work. Unfortunately for him, he reached the end of his career. While on a routine trip to a remote village on the Fusang-Tejas border, his convoy came under attack from one of the last active MSC cells, and in the confusion, the Roman drone protecting him inadvertently fired on the convoy instead, killing everyone. The death of the beloved Prince Georg and his wife (following the death of his cousin Horst in a similar incident in Malaya) set off a firestorm in the Reich, with many calling for an investigation into the military to determine how they had let a drone operator accidentally fire on his own target. Kaiser Wilhelm, determined to learn who was at fault for killing his brother, authorized such an investigation, which found the drone operator at fault. The operator later committed suicide, unable to handle the overwhelming public attention. A week of mourning was declared for Prince Georg, and a quick state funeral was held.

By April, the Tawantinsuyuan government, with significant EF support, had defeated the last major rebel forces in the Andes, reuniting the country under Cusco’s control.

Thordarsson convinced surviving rebel leaders to sit down with the Tawantinsuyuan government and negotiated an agreement which would grant amnesty to rebels if they did not commit any serious crimes and allow the rebel groups to become political parties, provided they swear off violence and their leaders serve a short period of jail time. Despite not insignificant opposition from both sides, the agreement held, and peace returned to South Eimerica. For his efforts, Thordarsson won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Decisively ending Tawantinsuyu’s civil war gave Thordarsson even more political capital and lent more credence to his vision of a united Eimerica as a way to bring peace to the New World. His public approval skyrocketed, and he was given a standing ovation by the Federal Assembly when he returned to Jinshan. This allowed him to finally implement the last step of his vision, the final unification of Eimerica. Just as Friedrich the Great and his grandson unified the Reich centuries ago to bring peace to a warring Europe, he would do the same for a warring Eimerica. He made sure to keep enough links to Pierremaskin’s pan-Eimericanism to assuage the Meskwaki and other North Eimerican groups without encouraging the Paulluists or scaring the Fusangren or his own Kanatans. With Kanata firmly behind him and Fusang still weakened, he was free to act. One by one, the Federal Assembly and the individual member states voted decisively for further integration. First came a united currency, the eimerich. It would not replace national currencies unless the member states individually did it themselves, but its value would be fixed to the tetl/kakawa/Fusang yuan/Kanatan kroner rates. The Eimerican free trade zone was expanded and regulations standardized. Afterward, the Federal Assembly set up a single judiciary and other executive agencies to coordinate a united Eimerican government. Finally, on October 5, 2020, Fusang became the first country to ratify and adopt the Eimerican Federal Statute, a single legal document governing all of Eimerica. Over the next three months, the other member states followed suit, with Mayapan, Lenape, the UPM, and Tawantinsuyu the lone holdouts, not because they didn’t want to sign it, but because they had to rework their economies to comply with Eimerican standards first before accession talks could resume. The world’s first supernational state, known as the Federation of the Eimericas or still just Eimerican Federation, came into being.

Flag of the Eimerican Federation, introduced after the accession of Mayapan, Lenape, the UPM, and Tawantinsuyu. The 12 stars represent the twelve founding members of the Federation (Fusang, Kanata, Mexico, the MFS/Meskwaki Commonwealth jointly, Tejas, Tsalegihi Ayeli, Osage, the CSA, Shawnee, Illiwinek, Miami, and Creek); Pawnee, Assiniboine, and Lakota acceded to the Federation later with Mayapan, Lenape, the UPM, and Tawantinsuyu and so were not considered founding members. The red symbolizes strength and power (to overcome common enemies), but also beauty (to represent the natural landscape of the Eimericas as equal to the Old World's millennia of history) and happiness (in having a shared future free of the previous century's violence). The red is also inspired by the red on the old Meskwaki Empire and MFS' flags, where it symbolized war and military strength. The black represents victory and success in working together to overcome adversity.

All of the member states still existed as sovereign entities, to be clear, and still handled diplomatic and economic relations with each other as well as their internal affairs within the new supernational framework. They still had UN representation and recognition as sovereign nations, but their delegations were now grouped together in a single EF delegation. The EF would also represent the member states internationally and handle foreign economics and diplomacy. A clause in the Federal Statute allowed a member state to dissolve itself and become a Federal Territory directly administered by the EF, but only three—the CSA, MFS, and Meskwaki Commonwealth—invoked this clause after national referendums passed. The MFS government agreed to dissolve itself on the condition the Opeatako-Osceola dynasty would not be deposed but instead remain in some form. After deliberating for a month, the Federal Assembly agreed to the terms with 62% of delegates voting in favor. The former Meskwaki Free State, the last vestige of Pierremaskin’s Meskwaki Empire, would be administered as not only a Federal Territory but also a Federal Capital Region. The old MFS capital, Unity, located in the center of North Eimerica, became the official capital of the Eimerican Federation, though the Federal Assembly and most government offices remained in Jinshan for now. Emperor Pierremaskin II, the son of Dohumme and the shared monarch of the MFS, Meskwaki Commonwealth, and CSA, retained his imperial title and received the new title of “Emperor of the Eimericans.” Although no new executive office or monarchy was created and Thordarsson was still both the head of state and government, he was to be shown respect and dignity deserving of a foreign monarch. Pierremaskin II was expected to represent the Federation as a cultural ambassador. The dream of the first Pierremaskin was finally achieved, in a way.

Not all news was rosy though. In August of 2020, Paulluists seized control of Nepal through the military-supported Rastriya Prajantantra Party (RPP) after winning elections. Since the secession of Bhutan and the Nepalese royal massacre, public anger against the monarchy grew, blaming them for the country’s problems. The Paulluists rode the anger to power and immediately used their new mandate to dissolve the government, exile the monarchy, and declare a Paulluist republic which severed ties with its neighbors and cancelled efforts by the previous government to increase ties with India. India and China immediately imposed sanctions on the rogue regime.

That December, Paulluists in Yavdi pulled off the same thing, only this time they used a rigged referendum and a massive social media influence campaign run by Mongol bots to give themselves a fake mandate with which to overthrow the Toghorilid dynasty and establish the Uralic Republic. The Reich and Russia also imposed sanctions.

The 2021 examinations saw a return to the abysmal turnout of 2019. Again, very few potential examiners sent in points, leading to more of the same, although the socialist bloc lost about 3.5 percent of seats to the KRA and CB, surprisingly.

The new decade got off to a good start. This would be the first decade since the early 1900s without Otto as Kaiser, and all things considered it wasn’t that bad.

For now, at least.

 

[Golden Dragon]

That is a federation worthy of a superpower.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

Things are starting to look almost utopian in the Eimericas and Southeast Asia after centuries of chaos, I'm guessing Georg was a martyr for Eimerican unification just as Horst was for Srivijayan unification. Meanwhile first world countries like the Reich, Penglai and many other Eurasian countries look like they're heading towards dystopia. My how the turntables.

 

[TWR97]

Wow that Eimerican Federation is one, big, BIG boy. Pierremaskin must be looking on with approval. Even if it did not go in the way he would have wanted. Of course the resurgence of Paulists regimes across the world is also a bit of a concern, I wonder how would Willhelm Karl view this kind of event.

Thinking of the Eimerican Federation now, it seems if the Rise of the Reds mod for C&C Generals is made here, it'd be another expansion pack focusing on a united Eimerica and it drastically changing the War against the GLA and setting the stage for a Generals 2 (And with Westwood never having been bought by EA this becomes a reality compared to OTL) Bonus points for all the in-universe memes that will take off after Thordarsson's role in all of this.

 

[zenphoenix]

That is a federation worthy of a superpower.

It shot up to #3-4 on the GP list (tied with India) within a few years of this. Definitely a superpower in the making.

Things are starting to look almost utopian in the Eimericas and Southeast Asia after centuries of chaos, I'm guessing Georg was a martyr for Eimerican unification just as Horst was for Srivijayan unification. Meanwhile first world countries like the Reich, Penglai and many other Eurasian countries look like they're heading towards dystopia. My how the turntables.

In a way, Horst was a martyr for both blocs, although he was more associated with Srivijaya while Georg was associated with the Eimericas.

Wow that Eimerican Federation is one, big, BIG boy. Pierremaskin must be looking on with approval. Even if it did not go in the way he would have wanted. Of course the resurgence of Paulists regimes across the world is also a bit of a concern, I wonder how would Willhelm Karl view this kind of event.

Thinking of the Eimerican Federation now, it seems if the Rise of the Reds mod for C&C Generals is made here, it'd be another expansion pack focusing on a united Eimerica and it drastically changing the War against the GLA and setting the stage for a Generals 2 (And with Westwood never having been bought by EA this becomes a reality compared to OTL) Bonus points for all the in-universe memes that will take off after Thordarsson's role in all of this.

And once the remaining member states join, it'll get EVEN bigger...Pierremaskin is definitely proud.

Wilhelm Karl hates Paulluists because they are republicans and rebels, while he wants to remain in control as Kaiser.

I imagine there'll be loads of memes about Thordarsson after this.

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

The Eimerican Federation is absolutely going to be a thorn in Wilhelm's side. Here's hoping they dig in nice and deep.

 

[zenphoenix]

The Eimerican Federation is absolutely going to be a thorn in Wilhelm's side. Here's hoping they dig in nice and deep.

Oh, they will.

 

[zenphoenix]

Avatar: The Legend of Korra (intro and Book 1)​

(Note: This is not to be taken as a “fixed” or “improved” version of the show. While I acknowledge it has some flaws, it is still a good show, and this is merely my own take if I were writing it and its real life production issues never happened. I’m aware my changes could be both good and bad.)

The Legend of Korra (officially known as Avatar: The Legend of Korra) is an animated television series created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino (“Bryke”). A sequel to Bryke's previous series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which aired from 2005 to 2008 and continued in the form of an animated movie series, the series is animated in a style strongly influenced by Chinese donghua (animated series). The Legend of Korra ran for six seasons from 2012 to 2017. Like its parent series, it has been continued with a series of animated movies.

As with its predecessor, the series is set in an Asian-inspired universe where some can manipulate, or bend, the elements of water, earth, fire, or air. One person, the Avatar, can bend all four elements and maintains balance in the world. The series follows Korra, the reincarnation and successor of the previous series’ Aang, as she faces political unrest in a modernizing world seventy years after the previous series ended.

Like its predecessor, The Legend of Korra received critical acclaim, drawing favorable comparisons with the (completed) book and (12-season) television series A Symphony of Frost and Flame (as well as its own acclaimed companion series, A Hymn of Shadow and Jade) and the works of Studio Ghibli and the Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. The series has been praised for its writing and production values and has been nominated for and won several awards. The series was also praised for addressing sociopolitical issues such as social unrest, terrorism, globalization, and authoritarianism, as well as for going beyond then-established boundaries of youth entertainment regarding issues of identity, race, gender, and sexual orientation.

The Legend of Korra was initially conceived as a miniseries following the success of the first two animated movies released as sequels to The Last Airbender—The Promise, where Aang and Zuko negotiate the future of Fire Nation colonists in the Earth Kingdom, and The Search, which reveals the fate of Zuko’s mother Ursa—but was soon picked up for six seasons as Bryke insisted they could only tell the story they wanted if they were confident they had enough time to tell it, as had been the case with The Last Airbender. The story arc initially planned for the miniseries was expanded into the first two seasons of the series. Each pair of seasons (books) of 15-20 episodes per season contain a largely standalone story, although elements are carried over to the next pair, most notably in the transition from Books 3-4 to 5-6.


Setting

The world of Avatar

The Legend of Korra is set in the world of The Last Airbender 70 years after that series ended. The people of the world still largely belong to four nations: the Water Tribes (based on the Inuit peoples of the Arctic), the Earth Kingdom (based on feudal imperial China and Korea), the Fire Nation (also based on imperial China but at the height of Ming and later imperial Chinese power, as well as some Indian, Japanese, and Southeast Asian influence), and the Air Nomads (based on pre-Slavic Buddhist Tibet). The distinguishing element of the series is bending, the ability of some people to manipulate the classical element associated with their nation (water, earth, fire, or air). Bending is carried out by spiritual and physical exercises, portrayed with actual Chinese, Korean, and Japanese martial arts. As a result of the Air Nomad genocide in The Last Airbender's backstory (and title), there is only one living family of airbenders by the time The Legend of Korra begins. Only one person, the Avatar, can bend all four elements. Cyclically reincarnating through the four nations, the Avatar maintains balance throughout the world and serves as an international arbiter of peace and justice.

Cranefish City

The first season is mostly set in Cranefish City, a 1920s-inspired urban metropolis based on Fusang’s Hongzhou. Cranefish City is the capital of the United Commonwealth, a multicultural sovereign state whose origins are explored over in The Last Airbender’s sequel movies (specifically The Promise, which sets up the cultural and political circumstances for the Commonwealth's creation, and The Rift, which sees the first settlers arriving in what would become Cranefish City). Technological growth and social progress brought on by the mingling of the four nations’ cultures in the Commonwealth displaced the spirituality of bending. What was considered a renowned martial art 70 years ago is now commonplace. Pro-bending is a popular sport watched by thousands around the world. Bender gangs use their abilities to commit crimes, while other benders use their bending for ordinary jobs. Formerly rare special bending techniques such as lightningbending, seen only used by Fire Nation royalty in the previous series, and metalbending, discovered by Toph, have spread into the general public. Non-benders protest against their marginalization in the bender-oriented economy and society. Book 2 sees Korra visiting her home at the South Pole as well as the Southern Air Temple to connect with her spiritual side, while other characters visit Cranefish City’s sister city Yu Dao, building on plot points first established in The Promise and learning of the Commonwealth's early years. Books 3 and 4 expand to the Earth Kingdom proper, including locations from The Last Airbender like Ba Sing Se, Kyoshi Island, and Omashu. Book 5 again has a focus on the Earth Kingdom and Commonwealth, while Book 6 moves the setting to the Fire Nation.

Book 1: Air
(Spoilers for OTL Book 1 and the first two ATLA comics.)​

Earth.

Fire.

Air.

Water.

Many years ago, my father, Avatar Aang, worked with Fire Lord Zuko to end the Hundred Year War and bring about an era of peace. Together, they established the United Commonwealth, with its capital of Cranefish City a place where people from all over the world can live together in peace and harmony. But Avatar Aang’s time in the world eventually came to an end. Many years later, the White Lotus discovered the new Avatar, a waterbender named Korra. Although she has learned much already, her story is only just beginning.

The opening credits for this season feature the Avatars Kyoshi, Roku, Aang, and Korra bending their respective elements while Tenzin narrates the series' backstory and premise, before launching into shots of Cranefish City's skyline, including a statue of Aang in the harbor.

The series opens with White Lotus sages visiting the Southern Water Tribe home of Tonraq a couple years after Aang’s death. They ask why he is so sure his daughter Korra is the Avatar. Korra barges into the room and begins manipulating pebbles, small flames, and drops of water. She boasts she is the Avatar and they have to deal with it. Many years later, Tonraq is now chief of the Southern Water Tribe. Korra is 17 and living in a White Lotus compound dedicated to training and protecting her. She finishes the day’s training with her firebending master, Zuko’s sister Lady Kiyi, who reaffirms to the other masters, including an elderly Katara, she is close to mastering firebending. Unlike Aang, it is clear Korra excels at the physical side of bending, but she fails on the spiritual side and is unable to airbend or enter the Avatar State. Tenzin, Aang and Katara’s youngest son, arrives with his wife Pema and kids Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo to visit his mother. Korra insists on going with him to Cranefish City so he can teach her airbending, but Tenzin refuses as the political situation there is unstable, and the compound won’t be available in the city. He remembers a particularly terrible incident which led them to build the compound. Nevertheless, after he leaves, Korra and her polar bear dog Naga stow away on a steamer bound for the Commonwealth with Katara’s help.

Katara helps Korra and Naga embark on their journey

Having grown up in the compound her whole life, Korra is amazed by the skyscrapers, traffic, and crowds of Cranefish City. Brashly deciding to make herself known, she immediately begins beating up triad members attempting to extort townspeople, but the property damage she causes leads to her being arrested by metalbending police officers led by Lin Beifong, Toph’s daughter and chief of police.

Tenzin bails her out and reluctantly decides to teach her airbending, allowing her to live with his family on Air Temple Island in the harbor. In the background, a non-bender revolutionary group called the Red Lanterns, led by the masked Amon, organizes rallies of hundreds calling for the end of the Commonwealth’s bender-dominated society and for a truly equal society to replace it.

Although Korra eagerly embraces her training, she remains unable to airbend or even talk to her past lives, which frustrates her. She begins attending pro-bending games against Tenzin’s will. At one of these games, she befriends the firebender Mako and earthbender Bolin, orphaned brothers who play for the Fire Ferrets team. When the Fire Ferrets’ waterbender teammate quits, Korra impulsively replaces him. Although she is inexperienced and is allowed to only waterbend, she wins a pivotal match using airbending techniques. Impressed, Tenzin allows her to continue playing for Fire Ferrets.

Bolin (left), Mako (right), and Korra playing for the Fire Ferrets

After being accidentally run over by her, Mako falls in love with the heiress Asami Sato, who convinces her father, Hiroshi Sato, the wealthy founder of Future Industries and inventor of the car, to sponsor them. Bolin is pressured into resuming work with the triad which had raised him and Mako on the streets, but he and several other triad members are abducted by the Red Lanterns (seemingly using information only Asami knew). Korra and Mako infiltrate a Red Lantern rally where they find Bolin and the triad members tied up. Amon tells the crowd the spirits gave him the ability to take away bending, which he believes to be a tool of oppression and discrimination, and restore balance to the world. He demonstrates this on the triad members, who become non-benders. This terrifies Korra, who built her entire identity around bending. Before Amon can do the same to Bolin, she and Mako free him. The Red Lanterns sent to capture them hold their own using chi blocking and technology to make up for no bending.

Amon takes the bending of a powerful lightningbending triad leader

The next day, Cranefish City’s governing council, made up of Tenzin and four other benders representing each nation and Water Tribe, convenes to discuss Amon. Tarrlok, the Northern Water Tribe’s representative, insists on a heavy handed response to crush the Red Lanterns. Tenzin and Yue, Sokka and Suki’s daughter and the Earth Kingdom’s representative, oppose him on the grounds that would only galvanize the movement, but the other two delegates vote in favor of Tarrlok. Tarrlok then attempts to recruit Korra, who at first refuses, but he eventually pressures her into joining him by manipulating the media against her. After a successful yet brutal raid on a Red Lantern hideout, Korra impulsively challenges Amon to a duel. But Amon and his forces ambush her at the duel location. Just when she fears her bending will be taken, Amon relents and releases her, not wanting to make her a martyr to the benders, but he promises he will come after her eventually. Returning home, she begins seeing scattered flashbacks of Aang’s life. These range from interactions with Tenzin and his siblings at younger ages to his work keeping the peace around the city, focusing on a specific trial he attended where something went very wrong. Yue, getting nightmares of the incident Tenzin previously mentioned, which she was involved in, warns Tenzin to protect Korra better.

As the Fire Ferrets advance to the championships, Lin learns the Red Lanterns intend to attack during the match. Although the council wants to cancel the game, Tarrlok convinces them otherwise and pressures Lin into using it to lure out Amon. The match proceeds as scheduled, but Korra’s opponents cheat and wipe them out. Disguised as regular spectators, the Red Lanterns strike, shocking Lin, Tenzin, Yue, and the police officers with electrified gloves. The police officers are captured, while Lin, Tenzin, and Yue escape. Amon arrives and takes away the cheaters’ bending before delivering a manifesto to the captive audience in which he calls for all non-benders to unite and rise up against the oppressive bending establishment. He then blows up the arena and leaves with the police officers. His second-in-command, the Lieutenant, attempts to capture Korra, Mako, and Bolin as well, but they escape. In the aftermath, Tarrlok uses his media connections to pressure Lin into resigning as chief of police, replacing her with his preferred candidate. Yue suffers a traumatic reaction from her brief capture, flashing back to the old battle, where she failed to protect her father. Although Asami said she was going to attend the match, she is absent, saying her father had asked for her help on designing a new car model at the last minute.

As their living quarters at the arena were destroyed in the attack, Mako and Bolin move into Asami’s mansion. Korra and Asami gradually bond and have insightful conversations about the Red Lanterns and their ideals. Although Asami disagrees with their methods, she believes their desire to end non-bender marginalization is justified. Her mother was killed by a firebending mugger when Asami was young, and she hopes a larger conversation about non-bender rights can begin so nobody will have to go through what she did again. Korra inadvertently overhears a suspicious phone call by Hiroshi which she takes to mean he is colluding with Amon. Asami tries to defend her father, but Korra remains suspicious. That night, accompanied by Lin, now a vigilante, they find a secret Red Lantern factory under the mansion, where Hiroshi attacks them with platinum-armored mechas Lin can’t metalbend. The team fends off the assault, and Asami asks Hiroshi why he is supporting the Red Lanterns, realizing she had been manipulated into helping them. Hiroshi explains he wanted to keep Asami from ending up like her mother. He asks Asami to join him so they can avenge her mother, but Asami rejects him, and he escapes.

Asami turns on her father

Tenzin offers Mako, Bolin, and Asami sanctuary on Air Temple Island. Asami finds vast troves of information in Hiroshi’s archives about the Red Lanterns, which she gives to the council. Korra’s flashbacks become more vivid and focus more on Aang in the courtroom, now making out the faces of Sokka, Suki, and Toph. She asks Tenzin and Yue about the visions. Tenzin believes she is slowly building her spirituality, and Aang is trying to tell her something relating to the current situation. Yue focuses on the content of the visions, finding some of Korra's recollections matching events from her childhood, particularly one she doesn't want to dwell on.

After reading Hiroshi’s documents, Tarrlok convinces the council to impose a blanket curfew on majority non-bender neighborhoods, which causes protests. Tenzin and Yue attempt to reverse the curfew, but Tarrlok accuses them of nepotism since they are cousins. Overriding their complaints with the support of the other councilmembers, he sends the newly subservient police to arrest the unarmed protesters. Korra intervenes only for Tarrlok to arrest Mako, Bolin, and Asami as well. Later that night, Korra impulsively storms into Tarrlok’s office and demands their release. Tarrlok demands Korra obey him if she wants her friends back, and a battle ensues. She initially has the upper hand, but the battle turns against her when Tarrlok reveals he is a bloodbender, able to bend the water in a person’s blood, and a powerful one able to bloodbend without the full moon.

He overwhelms Korra and locks her up in a cabin in the mountains. The next day, he tells the press the Red Lanterns abducted Korra, using it as an excuse to intensify his non-bender crackdowns. Lin breaks Mako, Bolin, and Asami out of jail, and with Tenzin and Yue’s help they infiltrate the Red Lantern stronghold they believe Korra is in. While they find Lin’s police officers, who had been stripped of their bending, the Red Lanterns deny capturing Korra, and Tenzin realizes Tarrlok misled them. They confront Tarrlok only for him to bloodbend them all and escape.

Korra meditates and focuses on her spiritual side, eventually piecing together her flashbacks with Tenzin and Yue's advice. The next episode takes place about forty years ago, when the notorious mobster Yakone threatened the city. After a terrifying incident where a young Yue and Kya, Aang’s waterbending daughter, were almost kidnapped before Katara intervened, Katara suspected Yakone could bloodbend, which she had made illegal after the Hundred Year War. Toph, chief of police, arrested him with the help of Aang and Suki. Councilman Sokka and Councilwoman Kori Morishita, the country’s founding heroine, organized a trial in the highest court of the Commonwealth on account of Yakone’s situation. Although Zuko was busy, he sent his daughter, Crown Princess Izumi, an accomplished lawyer, to assemble the prosecution’s case. Izumi spent the next few weeks gathering evidence.

Izumi presenting her case before Sokka and the United Commonwealth council

Witnesses were reluctant to come forward, and many who did were either silenced or had invalid testimony due to the bloodbending. She was threatened by Yakone’s gang, but Tenzin, Lin, Yue, Kya, and Bumi, Aang’s non-bending son, protected her. When Yakone was convicted at the trial, he bloodbent everyone in the room in broad daylight, even with his limbs restrained. He forced Toph to free him and then escaped. Aang used the Avatar State to overcome the bloodbending and pursue him through the city, eventually capturing him and taking away his bending.

Tarrlok returns to the cabin, and Korra deduces he is Yakone’s son, having inherited his unique talent for bloodbending. Tarrlok confirms this. After Aang took away his bending, Yakone was exiled from the Commonwealth. He went back to his home at the Northern Water Tribe capital of Agna Qel’a, where he had once been a soldier defending the city during Zhao’s invasion. He raised Tarrlok and taught him everything he knew about bloodbending, hoping Tarrlok would avenge him, but Tarrlok refused to do so. The Red Lanterns then storm the cabin, having followed Tarrlok. Although Tarrlok bloodbends them, Amon is unaffected and takes his bending. The Red Lanterns capture Korra as well, and although she puts up a fight, Amon takes her bending away too.

Hiroshi and Amon make their move

Returning to Cranefish City, Amon declares the revolution has begun. In a coordinated assault, the Red Lanterns seize government buildings and capture the Fire Nation and Southern Water Tribe council members. Yue and Tenzin fight off the attackers sent to capture them. Due to the small number of airbenders still in the world, the Red Lanterns don't know how to fight airbenders like Tenzin. Although the Red Lanterns are used to fighting waterbenders, Yue's unique waterbending style takes inspiration from both earthbending techniques as well as her Kyoshi Warrior training, which they can't counter (not to mention having nothing to deal with the familiar boomerang and fans she fights with). The police, hobbled by Tarrlok’s meddling, are unable to fight back when Hiroshi flies a fleet of airships into downtown. Radicalized by Tarrlok, many non-benders rally around the Red Lanterns, who arm them. Yue and Tenzin reach the police headquarters, where Tenzin uses his airbending to save the officers inside from being knocked out with sleeping gas. He manages to send a message to the United Forces, the Commonwealth’s military, before the radios are jammed. The Red Lanterns attack the headquarters with Hiroshi’s mechas, which overwhelm Yue and Tenzin until Mako, Bolin, and Asami arrive to even the odds.

Pema gives birth to her fourth child, a son named Rohan, just as Lin reports the Red Lanterns are approaching Air Temple Island. Tenzin rushes back to the island and evacuates Pema and their children on his sky bison while the White Lotus sacrifice themselves to buy time. When Red Lanterns continue their pursuit with their airships, Lin also sacrifices herself to destroy as many airships as possible before she is captured and has her bending taken away. She is tied up alongside Korra. Amon broadcasts a message to the city announcing he has taken away the Avatar’s bending, and the world no longer needs the Avatar. This alerts Mako, Bolin, and Asami to her location. They board the airship but are also captured. Seeing Asami in danger, Korra desperately throws a punch and suddenly airbends. The gust of wind she creates throws Amon against a wall, buying enough time for Mako to charge up and fire a weak lightning bolt at him. Freeing Lin, they escape and hide in the sewers, where Korra worries she is worthless. Asami tries to encourage her, saying she still has airbending, but Korra doubts she can regain the other three or amount to anything now. She wonders what this means for the future. While the statue of Aang is covered with Amon’s mask, Amon declares the end of the United Commonwealth and the beginning of a truly equal society under the Red Lanterns. As the season ends, a United Navy fleet steams towards Cranefish City, led by Prince Iroh, grandson of Zuko, and Bumi, now a United Navy admiral and Iroh’s father.

Prince Iroh's fleet on its way towards Cranefish City

---

In the Annionaverse, the series is only picked up as a single season miniseries. Yue does not exist, and her screen time is given to Korra, Tenzin, and Iroh, who team up to defeat Amon. With only airbending available to her, Korra goes to the South Pole, but Katara is unable to heal her. Depressed, she contemplates suicide as she believes she is useless and should let the next Avatar’s life begin. But in her grief and self-reflection at her lowest point, she becomes open to her greatest change, and with Aang appearing to help walk her through unlocking her final chakras, she restores her own elements and enters the Avatar State.

Fans, or rather a very vocal minority, hated the entire show, particularly the "convenient" ending, with the flames spread quickly online with bad faith arguments alleging Korra was a “Mary Sue” and the series was garbage in various ways (mostly for being very different from The Last Airbender). After many sensational "video essays" encapsulating these opinions broke millions of views online, Bryke lost their confidence to write more, permanently ending the franchise. They went on to become writers for the highly popular series The Dragon Prince.

---

Here is the secret cultural update series I've been talking about. Remember how I said this had a similar reception to Edelgard and I wanted to avoid the controversy surrounding the new Star Trek series? Yeah...

Not much has changed here other than the addition of Yue, since the lack of Sokka and Suki was one of my only complaints about the series. I imagine Yue wearing a casual Kyoshi Islander dress, not the warrior outfit, and carrying around Suki’s fans and Sokka’s boomerang. She has Suki’s hair and Sokka’s skin tone.

(Something like this. I would credit the artist but the account associated with it is deleted, though I suspect this is the art style of u/kkachi95.)

I’ve incorporated plot elements from the comics, particularly the first two, for better continuity from the original series. Here, they were released much earlier and as animated movies as was the original plan. OTL Book 1 was planned as a single season miniseries, which meant plot points like Mako and Korra’s relationship, the Avatar State, and everything with Amon and his movement had to be resolved by the end of the season. As that is not the case here, I didn’t need to do that and extended the plot into the next season. Book 2 will be very different.

 

[TWR97]

Okay I did not expect this update, and me being an Avatar fan am absolutely thrilled at how TTL Legend of Korra goes, especially in regards to certain characters, the big bads, and of course Korra's character development. Right off the bat Amon is a really dangerous opponent, ending book 1 in a cliffhanger is big change. Hell I would have been at the edge of my seat anticipating how Book 2 begins. Especially compared to OTL' s. It's nice the comics were animated here, I only briefly read on some of em but they're pretty good in setting the stage for Legend of Korra.

Good to know Sokka's boomerang DID return after all. And in very capable hands. Shame his space sword is definitely still lost like OTL's.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

Ooh, an Avatar update! Now I'm hyped for these summaries. Good job focusing on Legend of Korra for these cultural updates. ATLA is already close to perfect and doesn't need much changing IMO, so it’ll be interesting to see your take on Korra and various changes. Also that roast of LOK’s haters in the Annionaverse section was pretty funny. I’ll be looking forward to future updates. Flameo Hotman!

Here is the secret cultural update series I've been talking about. Remember how I said this had a similar reception to Edelgard and I wanted to avoid the controversy surrounding the new Star Trek series? Yeah...

Spoiler

You also talked about a comparison to Alyssa and Cassie being drawn here. Just out of curiosity, were you referring to the Korrasami ship when you said that in the last FE update, or were you referring to another relationship you have planned?

Also, would the Kyoshi novels have animated adaptations like the ALTA comics or would they be the same?

 

[zenphoenix]

Okay I did not expect this update, and me being an Avatar fan am absolutely thrilled at how TTL Legend of Korra goes, especially in regards to certain characters, the big bads, and of course Korra's character development. Right off the bat Amon is a really dangerous opponent, ending book 1 in a cliffhanger is big change. Hell I would have been at the edge of my seat anticipating how Book 2 begins. Especially compared to OTL' s. It's nice the comics were animated here, I only briefly read on some of em but they're pretty good in setting the stage for Legend of Korra.

Good to know Sokka's boomerang DID return after all. And in very capable hands. Shame his space sword is definitely still lost like OTL's.

I wasn't going to abandon the iconic boomerang. And I've left the space sword's fate ambiguous for now.

Ooh, an Avatar update! Now I'm hyped for these summaries. Good job focusing on Legend of Korra for these cultural updates. ATLA is already close to perfect and doesn't need much changing IMO, so it’ll be interesting to see your take on Korra and various changes. Also that roast of LOK’s haters in the Annionaverse section was pretty funny. I’ll be looking forward to future updates. Flameo Hotman!

Spoiler

You also talked about a comparison to Alyssa and Cassie being drawn here. Just out of curiosity, were you referring to the Korrasami ship when you said that in the last FE update, or were you referring to another relationship you have planned?

Also, would the Kyoshi novels have animated adaptations like the ALTA comics or would they be the same?

My headcanon is the main change with ATLA is Suki appears in more episodes, but that's all I have so far.

Spoiler

Yes, I mention a comparison with Korrasami in the production notes I'll post after Book 6.

The novels would still be novels because they are more suited for a written format with all of the internal monologues of certain characters.

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

A pleasant surprise. Starting off knowing it wouldn't be a single season is quite handy to improve the pacing, and I've got high hopes for Amon and his movement considering they're related to one of the biggest issues I had with Korra. Also, Yue is a totally logical addition to the cast.

 

[zenphoenix]

A pleasant surprise. Starting off knowing it wouldn't be a single season is quite handy to improve the pacing, and I've got high hopes for Amon and his movement considering they're related to one of the biggest issues I had with Korra. Also, Yue is a totally logical addition to the cast.

I liked Book 1 a lot and was dismayed to hear due to pacing issues Amon and his movement had to be pushed aside in the rest of the series (making stuff like Asami's shock glove look out of place), so I wanted to do it justice here.

And there will be even more additions (especially Sokka/Suki family members) to come. I think by the end of Book 6 there are 7-8 members of Team Avatar, and the eighth spot rotates between three people.

 

[zenphoenix]

Legend of Korra - Book 2: Harmony
(This is mostly original, with most of the spoilers still for OTL Book 1 and mild spoilers for OTL Book 2.)​

The opening credits now feature Bolin, Mako, Korra, and Yue bending earth, fire, air, and water, and there are now shots of Yu Dao mixed in with those of Red Lantern-occupied Cranefish City. The closing credits' shots of Cranefish City show the skyscrapers covered in Red Lantern propaganda banners.

Occupied Cranefish City, with Red Lantern mechas stationed in front of City Hall

The season opens with the United Navy arriving in Cranefish Harbor, where they begin shelling targets on the shore. But the targets were only a distraction, and the Red Lanterns retaliate with a swarm of biplanes, newly invented by Hiroshi, which lay waste to the unprepared fleet with torpedoes and bombs. Iroh’s powerful firebending takes out many of the planes, while the non-bender Bumi’s unorthodox tactics surprise the enemy, but their ship is overwhelmed. Just as a bomb is about to destroy the bridge, Iroh is saved at the last moment by his aide, Hua, who evacuates him and Bumi on a lifeboat. Yue, who had joined the battle, covers their escape with her waterbending and takes down more planes.

The Red Lantern biplanes (based on Chinese World War I designs, with extra propellers) lay waste to the unprepared United Navy fleet (whose battleships resemble early Schlachtschiff-class Roman designs as well as their Zhu Yuanzhang-class Chinese equivalents). The battle intentionally invokes the imagery and shock of the 1941 Chinese attack on the Roman naval base at Singapura.

They join Korra and her friends, now calling themselves the new “Team Avatar,” in the sewers, where they plan their next move. Bumi calls for a reckless attack on downtown, recalling a crazy story when he inexplicably defeated a numerically superior enemy that way, but Iroh shoots him down. Hua calculates with the fleet destroyed and another one weeks away, they have no hope of retaking Cranefish City. Mako suggests regrouping elsewhere, especially in Korra’s current state. Using Bumi’s plan, they escape the city.

Bumi and Iroh (no picture of Hua because she's completely original)

The group meets with Tenzin’s family. Tenzin is dismayed Korra lost her bending but is also surprised she can airbend. Korra also doesn’t understand how she can airbend. Yue believes since she hadn’t learned airbending when her other elements were blocked, Amon didn’t block that one as well, and she connected enough spiritually to start airbending. She suggests they head to the South Pole and seek Katara’s help with restoring her bending, but Tenzin insists she must focus on mastering airbending first so she can stand a chance against Amon. Korra sides with Yue. They go to the South Pole, where Katara and Kya, now a healer like her mother, attempt to heal Korra and Lin, but they can’t restore their bending. Korra feels powerless and even contemplates suicide before Asami motivates her again. She decides to make the most of her situation and master airbending while she figures out how to restore her other elements.

Team Avatar arrives at the Southern Air Temple

Tenzin takes her, Kya, and the rest of Team Avatar to the Southern Air Temple, where he teaches Korra advanced airbending. Yue passes on her skills as a Kyoshi Warrior, believing her chi blocking knowledge can counter the Red Lanterns’ chi blockers, and reflects on Tarrlok being the son of Yakone, who almost abducted her and Kya as kids. Iroh and Mako practice their firebending. Iroh is jealous Mako can lightningbend while he couldn’t. He talks about Zuko and his mother, Izumi, who is estranged from Bumi. With Mako’s help, he attempts to ask his father about it, but Bumi is unwilling to talk. Hua catalogues their resources. Kya and Bumi vent their frustrations about Aang on their brother, believing their father favored Tenzin as the only airbender of the three of them, but they eventually repair their relationship. Asami helps Lin adjust to life as a non-bender, while Bolin helps Asami adjust to life without luxury. Mako and Asami drift apart, having little in common besides both having lost parents to firebenders. Lin and Pema talk about Tenzin. He and Lin had been in a relationship until Aang died and he was pressured to have airbending children, which Lin didn’t want, leading to their break up and Tenzin marrying Pema. Lin apologizes for being so harsh on Pema when the break up happened (to the point of laying waste to half of Air Temple Island and attempting to arrest Pema). After learning more about the previous history of Tenzin, Lin, and Pema, Korra decides not to act on her own unrequited feelings for Mako out of respect for Asami.

The months pass, and Korra gradually masters airbending just like with the other elements. Eventually, she invents a new airbending technique, a giant tornado which shoots tendrils of wind similar to waterbending and firebending, and meets the criteria to become a master. Hua analyzes news from the Commonwealth. Amon has taken complete control of Cranefish City and eliminated most of its benders. His forces prepare to take Yu Dao, the Commonwealth’s oldest and second largest city. Unable to dislodge the Red Lanterns from Cranefish City, the United Forces, led by Yu Dao’s mayor Raiko Morishita, son of Kori Morishita, focus on fortifying Yu Dao in preparation for the coming invasion. If Yu Dao falls, the rest of the Commonwealth will fall too. They have only a limited amount of time to stop Amon. Bumi again suggests a crazy plan which Tenzin, Kya, Yue, Iroh, and Hua oppose. Korra doubts she can defeat Amon with only airbending. She focuses more on her spiritual side, hoping her past lives can help her. She first asks Aang more about how he could take away bending. Aang replies he used energybending, and Korra figures out if energybending can take away bending, it can probably give it back. But Aang had never done that. Korra consults older past lives, such as Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, and Yangchen, but they also can’t help. On a whim, Asami asks how the first Avatar even got all four elements, which gives Korra an idea to talk to them. She puts herself into a very deep meditation, reaching back thousands of years until she arrives at Wan, who is surprised to have been contacted. Wan then tells his story.

Thousands of years ago, humans lived on the lion turtles, which protected them from the spirits roaming the rest of the world. The lion turtles would temporarily give them the ability to manipulate the elements when they needed to go to the spirit wilds. Wan, a petty thief, decided to not return the ability of fire manipulation and was expelled into the wilds with only the fire to protect him. He showed compassion to the spirits and defended them against humans, earning their trust. Over time, he learned how to properly firebend from the dragons. While traveling, he came across two powerful fighting spirits—Raava, the spirit of order and light, and Vaatu, the spirit of chaos and darkness—and accidentally weakened Raava. Newly empowered, Vaatu began warping the spirits of the world, turning them dark and malevolent. Raava explained a phenomenon known as Harmonic Convergence was about to begin. During this event, Raava and Vaatu must fight and the winner will set the spiritual order until the loser reincarnates and challenges the winner again. Determined to stop Vaatu, who would indirectly destroy humanity and corrupt the spirits into mindless monsters if he won, Wan decided to learn how to bend all of the elements. With Raava’s power allowing him to physically and spiritually control more than one element, Wan gradually mastered all four elements, using them to keep the peace between humans and spirits. When Harmonic Convergence arrived, Wan and Raava confronted Vaatu. Although they were initially no match for the dark spirit, Wan convinced Raava to permanently fuse with him, giving him the Avatar spirit and allowing him to enter the Avatar State. Using the spiritual energy unleashed to become the first Avatar, Wan defeated Vaatu and sealed him away in the Tree of Time.

After Harmonic Convergence ended, Wan convinced the spirits to leave the physical world for the spirit world through a portal at the South Pole which he then sealed, so both they and humans could live in peace without destroying each other. Wan then spent the rest of his life attempting to maintain peace between humans, who left the lion turtles and established their own societies. Korra’s flashback ends with a final message from Wan warning a new Harmonic Convergence will begin and Vaatu freed again in several weeks. Realizing the threat Vaatu poses, Korra decides to go into the spirit world to stop him and figure out a way to restore her bending. Tenzin offers to guide her, but he is unable to do so. Jinora discovers she is more spiritually inclined, and against Tenzin’s wishes she guides Korra into the spirit world. They are soon separated due to Korra’s lingering frustration over her self-identity and losing the other elements inadvertently corrupting spirits and changing spiritual geography, and Korra’s insecurities reflect in her spirit reverting to how she looked like as a child. But she is found by Uncle Iroh, who had left his physical body to live in the spirit world after his death.

His wisdom inspires her to slowly make peace with what happened and work to improve herself, and she reverts to her present day self. Learning to control her impulses and stay calm, she helps out several spirits with their problems and slowly increases her spirituality, which leads her back to Jinora. While Korra was talking with Uncle Iroh, Jinora had traveled across the spirit world without much incident, although she was briefly trapped in the Fog of Lost Souls. There, she overcomes her worst fears as well as the insane spirit of Admiral Zhao, who was trapped there after his death at the North Pole and now misidentifies Jinora as Aang. Leaving the fog, she reunites with Korra and comes across Wan Shi Tong’s library. Although Korra is the Avatar and Jinora is the granddaughter of the previous Avatar, the spirit refuses to let them in due to what Aang did. Jinora challenges Wan Shi Tong to an intellectual debate and wins due to knowing how a radio works, and the humiliated spirit grants them access.

Hoping to find out how to restore her elements, Korra reads up on energybending, eventually learning of a technique opposite to taking away bending. After obtaining the knowledge they need and getting a map to the Tree of Time, Korra and Jinora go to the tree next to check on Vaatu. Vaatu, still imprisoned in the tree, refuses to acknowledge them, only addressing Raava in Korra. Knowing she can’t bend as long as she meditates into the spirit world, she reopens Wan’s portal, located near the tree, so she can bring her physical body and bending into the spirit world, at the cost of allowing Vaatu-corrupted spirits to enter the physical world and harass settlements. Back in the physical world, Korra attempts to use the energybending technique she learned to restore her other elements, but she can’t get it right. It seems she still needs to be more spiritually balanced to perfect it.

While Korra and Jinora visit the spirit world, Mako, Bolin, Asami, Lin, Iroh, and Hua leave the temple to find allies against Amon, eventually striking a deal with the shady Water Tribe businessman Varrick and his assistant Zhu Li. Varrick produces popular propaganda movies starring Bolin, turning public opinion against Amon, and helps Future Industries manufacture weapons and equipment for the United Forces. However, Mako is suspicious of Varrick, and Hua uncovers evidence Varrick is selling weapons to both the Red Lanterns and United Forces, profiting off the war. By then, though, Varrick has manipulated Future Industries into declaring bankruptcy and then bought a controlling stake in it, rendering Asami financially powerless. Varrick then attempts to sell information on Yu Dao’s defenses to Amon and the Red Lanterns and then expose the plot to stir up outrage and sell more weapons to the United Forces, but Lin and Mako uncover the plot and Bolin and Asami arrest Varrick during a movie premiere where he tries to abduct Raiko and frame Amon.

Varrick

As Harmonic Convergence begins, the Red Lantern forces launch their attack. Bumi, Kya, Tenzin, Lin, Iroh, Hua, and Asami head to Yu Dao to bolster its defenses, while Mako, Bolin, and Yue go with Korra into the spirit world. Korra is worried she may not be able to defeat Vaatu, but she has no choice now since she couldn’t energybend correctly in time. While waiting for the spiritual event to begin, Yue takes a detour to visit Uncle Iroh for the first time in decades and runs into her father’s spirit there. Sokka tells Yue she shouldn’t blame herself for his death but should instead move on and honor him that way. With Iroh's encouragement, Yue finally manages to let go of her trauma. In the spirit world, and Vaatu breaks free of the Tree of Time. Korra and her friends attack with all they have. Although Korra can only airbend, Mako, Bolin, and Yue make up for it with their firebending, earthbending, and waterbending, bringing all four elements to bear on Vaatu. Even so, Vaatu is still a powerful foe, and he is aided by hundreds of dark spirits summoned from all over the spirit world, which Korra counters with her special tornado attack.

In the physical world, the Red Lanterns use their technology to punch through the United Forces defenses and reach the walls of Yu Dao. Leading the charge is the Lieutenant, who counters his enemies’ bending with his agility and then electrocutes them with his batons. Hiroshi’s airships and biplanes bombard the city, destroying the jail holding Varrick and Zhu Li and allowing them to escape. Harmonic Convergence begins affecting the physical world, plunging the world into a darkness only illuminated with the aurora lights. Tenzin and his siblings fight desperately but are pushed back, and Tenzin, already disheartened by his lack of spiritual connection, feels he is letting down his father’s legacy. As a result of the spiritual energy released in the event, Aang’s spirit appears to his children like how Sokka appeared to Yue, and he tells Tenzin he shouldn’t keep comparing himself to him. He should be his own person instead. He apologizes to Bumi and Kya if he didn't live up to their expectations, telling them he loves them no matter what. Tenzin regains hope, while Bumi is encouraged to use one of his crazy plans. He improvises a strategy which sets off a chain of events leading to the Lieutenant's defeat, the destruction of multiple airships, planes, and mechas, and a decisive setback for the Red Lanterns, allowing the United Forces to consolidate their lines and make a counterattack. The Red Lanterns retreat, sparing the city.

In the spirit world, Korra, Mako, Bolin, and Yue are about to be overwhelmed by Vaatu and his dark spirits. Korra thinks quickly about the energybending technique. She realizes she can’t do it correctly because of the same reason she still can’t access the Avatar State: her chakras are blocked by her unhealthy attachment to her identity as the Avatar. She keeps clinging to the belief that being the Avatar is the only way she can identify herself, and she can only be the Avatar if she bends all of the elements. She has to let go of that. She climbs into the now empty Tree of Time and begins meditating, tapping into the tree’s spiritual energy. She acknowledges being the Avatar means much more than bending four elements. It is a role dedicated to maintaining peace and balance in all things. Wan was much more than someone who could bend the four elements. He was the Avatar because of who he was at heart. Like Wan, she has power as her own person and not just as the Avatar and a bender of four elements. She finally lets go and embraces herself for who she is, as a person in her own right and not just the Avatar. Her final chakras are unlocked, and her eyes glow. Tapping into the spiritual energy of Harmonic Convergence, she enters the Avatar State for the first time and calls on Raava’s power to finally perfect the energybending technique. Korra restores her other three elements and lets loose an elemental barrage which drives back the dark spirits. Fighting just as Wan did, she defeats Vaatu and seals him in the Tree of Time again, ending Harmonic Convergence. The physical world returns to normal, although leftover spirit energy is infused into plant life around the world. Korra leaves the spirit world and reseals Wan's portal to prevent more dark spirits from entering the physical world or any human entering the spirit world and interacting with Vaatu. As a result of meditating in the Tree of Time, she learns something else: the spirits never interacted with Amon, let alone gave him energybending.

Korra, Mako, Bolin, and Yue regroup with the others at Yu Dao. The older members of their group stay at Yu Dao to lead its defense, as the Red Lanterns will likely attack again. Korra, Mako, Bolin, Asami, Iroh, and Hua head to Cranefish City to confront Amon and take out the airfield from which the Red Lanterns launch their air raids. Iroh, Hua, Bolin, and Asami head for the airfield while Korra and Mako head to downtown. Hua sneaks them into the base. Asami confronts her father, denouncing him for throwing in with the Red Lanterns, and then defeats him in a mecha fight alongside Bolin. Iroh uses his firebending to propel himself into the air and destroy the other planes and airships, ending the raids on Yu Dao and destroying the mask on Aang’s statue. Korra and Mako find Tarrlok locked up in Air Temple Island. Tarrlok reveals Amon is his brother, Noatak, and a fellow bloodbender. When Tarrlok lost his bending, he recognized Amon's technique as Noatak’s bloodbending, which he had honed into a method of blocking chi and preventing bending. Yakone had raised the two of them to be his instruments of revenge against Cranefish City, but Noatak rebelled when he saw how cruel bloodbending was and turned his technique against him. Noatak then left, telling Tarrlok he believed bending was a curse on the world and can only end in oppression of the weak. Tarrlok admits in trying to oppose Amon, he inadvertently fulfilled his father’s wishes to take over the city, and he was wrong to do what he did. He asks Korra to stop Amon for good. The next episode is another flashback told from Amon’s perspective, showing how he got the idea to take away bending with bloodbending and how he met the Lieutenant and founded the Red Lanterns.

Korra and Mako confront Amon at a rally where he is taking away people’s bending. Korra outs him as Noatak and a waterbender, but Amon denies it. He takes off his mask, revealing the scar left by the firebender. Korra and Mako attack him, pursuing him into the building’s backrooms. There, Amon finally bloodbends to subdue them. He is surprised Korra somehow regained her other elements, but he will just take them away again. The Lieutenant rushes into the room and is shocked to see Amon bloodbending. Betrayed, he turns on Amon, only to be bloodbent too and thrown out a window to his death. Mako surprises him with a sudden lightning strike, and Korra overpowers Amon’s bloodbending using the Avatar State, just like Aang did with Yakone, and blasts him out the window and into the harbor with her tornado attack, where he is forced to waterbend to save himself. The water dissolves the makeup he used for his “scar,” revealing him as a fraud to his supporters, who denounce him. Amon flees to Air Temple Island, where he convinces Tarrlok to help him escape. They leave in a speedboat, but as soon as they are at sea, Tarrlok blows up the boat’s gas tanks, killing them both so the world will never have to deal with Yakone’s legacy again.

The Red Lantern movement collapses. Most of its members surrender after the Commonwealth promises them amnesty and political reform, while the United Forces defeats the scattered remnants refusing to stand down. To address the institutional issues which led to the movement’s rise, the council is dissolved and replaced with a democratically elected chancellery. Raiko Morishita is unanimously chosen to be chancellor for his role in defending Yu Dao and for being a non-bender. His first act is to return ownership of Future Industries to Asami. Asami quietly breaks up with Mako, recognizing they are incompatible, and invests heavily in rebuilding Cranefish City. Tenzin and his family return to Air Temple Island. Iroh is permanently stationed in Cranefish City, with Hua accompanying him as always, while Bumi takes a leave of absence from the United Forces to reconcile with Tenzin and Kya. No longer a council member, Yue heads home to Kyoshi Island to rest. Leaving sports behind, Mako is hired as a police officer, and Bolin embraces his stardom. Hiroshi is imprisoned, and Asami occasionally visits him, although she refuses to forgive him. Korra uses energybending to restore the bending of Lin and others (except the triad members).

As the season ends, the scene shifts to a remote mountain prison, where White Lotus guards watch a non-bender prisoner named Zaheer. Zaheer asks the guards if they have heard of the Air Nomad guru Laghima, who discovered the ability to fly without a glider, and then surprises them with airbending, using it to free himself. Locking the guards in his former prison, he declares it is the dawn “of a new age, the end of the White Lotus, and soon, the end of the Avatar.”

“Did you ever read the poetry of the airbending guru Laghima? I thought not. It’s not a story the White Lotus would tell you. It’s an airbending legend. Guru Laghima lived four thousand years ago in the Northern Air Temple. He was an airbender so enlightened and detached he could influence the wind to create...weightlessness. He had such a knowledge of airbending that he spent the last forty years of his life without touching the ground. The spiritual side of airbending is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. He became so untethered from the earth the only thing he was focused on was letting go of his remaining earthly tethers, which eventually, of course, he did. He wrote down everything he knew in his poems, then he entered the void, emptied, and became wind. Ironic. He could teach himself the secret of weightlessness, but not others.”
(probably not canon...or is it?)

---

Unfortunately, there was a lot I liked in OTL Book 2 I had to cut out here, namely Korra’s decision with the spirit portals. Since I deleted Unalaq and the entire first half of the season and folded the rest into an extended Book 1, Korra never gets the idea that humans and spirits shouldn’t be separated. There is another one at the North Pole like in OTL, but it is irrelevant to this story. Maybe the spirits will be something for the next Avatar to handle...

I’m putting my next point in a spoiler tag because it’s an extremely major spoiler. If you watched the show you probably know which one. Just in case, I kept it vague.

Spoiler

While I understand why the stuff with the past lives was done and how good it was for Korra’s later character growth, it doesn’t happen here since I deleted Unalaq and that entire plot.

I had to remove Tenzin’s great scene in the Fog of Lost Souls because he is busy in Yu Dao, but I tried my best to replicate it with whatever spirit world shenanigans I could come up with.

I liked General Iroh a lot and was a little dismayed by how little (if at all) he appeared in future books. So I made him a main character, and he will stay as one for the rest of the series. I know there are now three firebenders on the main cast (Hua is the third), but they all have different fighting styles, power levels, and personalities which I try to explore later on. I created Hua after reading a pretty good (albeit unfinished) fanfiction about an aide to Iroh and decided to give Iroh an aide of his own to explore other parts of his character. I imagine her as looking somewhere between Asami and Zhu Li.

As much as I liked Raiko as a stereotypical selfish politician type, I changed him to be a more competent and dedicated leader due to his parentage and upbringing, and I gave him an arc of his own in later seasons.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

The highlight of this update is definitely Korra’s character arc and how she needed to come to terms with her hang ups with her identity in order to regain her bending and embrace her role as the Avatar during her spiritual journey. It’s very powerful stuff, I think it more than makes up for the stuff cut from Book 2.

The stuff at Yu Dao was pretty fun as well. Neat reference to the comics there. Plus the character developed for Aang’s children and Yue was nice. Looking forward to see how Raiko develops.

Wasn’t expecting a prequel meme in that cliffhanger. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Looking forward to Book 3, or in other words...

 

[zenphoenix]

The highlight of this update is definitely Korra’s character arc and how she needed to come to terms with her hang ups with her identity in order to regain her bending and embrace her role as the Avatar during her spiritual journey. It’s very powerful stuff, I think it more than makes up for the stuff cut from Book 2.

It's often said that while Aang was a person learning to become the Avatar, Korra was the Avatar learning to become someone normal. In OTL Book 1 and 2, she always insisted she didn't want to be normal, but rather as the Avatar and a bender of four elements, as the only way to define herself. Her growth in Book 2, both here and OTL, leads her to realize she can still be her own person independent of the Avatar or the elements. There will always be an Avatar, but there will only be one Korra. It wasn't as clear in OTL Book 2, so I put it front and center here.

The stuff at Yu Dao was pretty fun as well. Neat reference to the comics there. Plus the character developed for Aang’s children and Yue was nice. Looking forward to see how Raiko develops.

Raiko's moments will be mainly in Books 5 and 6, but they will be amazing.

Wasn’t expecting a prequel meme in that cliffhanger. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Looking forward to Book 3, or in other words...

While Book 3 will be more of a return to form, there will be some differences and additions I made.