[b]Name:[/b] Yan Tao

[b]Age:[/b] 38

[b]Gender:[/b] Male

[b]Nationality:[/b] Air Nomads

[b]Traits:[/b] 
Yan only has a few real skills and they really apply to his life prior to leaving the temple. Other than his skill in Airbending, Yan is very knowledgeable in the lore of the world around him due to his intense studies at the Eastern Air Temple, he as also learned how to cook even though he himself has taken the vow to never eat meat. Other minor traits include weapon upkeep, tailoring and minor spiritual training. 

[b]Appearance:[/b]
[img]http://www.deviantart.com/art/Zaheer-464226102][/img]

[b]History:[/b]
Yan's childhood life is a bit of a blur to him, since most of his life was spent under the teutalge of the monks of the Eastern Air Temple. What he does remember is the fact that he was born into a family of airbender but his parents died shortly after his birth and ever since that day he was raised by the monks. As he grew older and learned of the Pheonix Kingdom and the Fire Nation assault on his people he has felt a growing desire to wander the earth and find more airbenders and bring them back to the temple.

Growing up among the monks was always interesting from discovering new information about the Air Nation to learning new techniques of airbending, there was always something new to discover. From an early age Yan was always drawn more to the spiritual side of the Air Nomads and so spent a great deal of time learning the 36 paths as well learning what he could about the teachings of different gurus. Around the age of sixteen Yan had mastered around twenty of the paths when he felt the need to leave the temple and search the world for other airbenders and try to bring them to the ways he was taught, Teyri-yhama declined saying that he was not yet ready to face the realities of the world around him. Yan agreed and continued with his training. By the age of twenty four, mastering having mastered thirty-three paths Yan left the temple against the wishes of Teyri-yhama.

Riding atop Jampo, his faithful bison, Yan began his journey with the highest of hopes that airbenders near and far would come to learn the wisdoms taught at the Temple. As the years progressed, however, all he seemed to find were airbenders held under control with false titles and over inflated sense of power, a perversion of everything that he held dear. On the day he entered the Fire Nation and saw that his system of beliefs had been reduced to little more than a lofty title, was the day that he decided to bring down the Phoenix Kingdom and all others attached to it.

Over the next ten years Yan joined and left several resistances and left when they would either fall apart or wouldn't have the stomach to go as far as necessary in order to create real change among the kingdoms, finally he put himself in four years of self imposed isolation having given up all hope of ever defeating the Phoenix Kingdom or returning to the temple with any airbenders. While living in the wilds outside of Omashu he began to hear rumors of a group that was recruiting from the local farmers. The fantastic tales of this group of people that had began causing trouble for Phoenix King Ozai reached his ears and piqued his interest causing him to once again jump atop Jampo and set off on another trip to Omashu. Perhaps this time there will be a possibility for real change. 

[b]Relations[/b]
Other than Monk Teyri-yhama he never really kept much connection with other monks.

[b]Personality:[/b]
Yan in his youth was a rather headstrong young man, an unusual trait for an airbender, which has seemed to transfer into his middle age. The years of fighting in countless smaller rebellions has given him a better understanding of gurella warfare and tactics as well as quick thinking airbender mind makes him come off as a wise military commander. While he understands that not all firebenders adhere to the same principles of Ozai, Yan hold a mild contempt for all firebenders although he carries a special loathing for anyone within the Phoenix Kingdom. Most of all his judgmental mindset is focused on the airbenders of the Fire Nation, those who would willingly lay down their freedom to continue living feels the full disdain that he can muster. Deep within his soul, however, Yan still holds what the monks taught him at the temple to heart and carries a small flame of hope that one day that he will be able to restore the Air Nation and show all the airbenders the true path of the Air Nomads.