[hider=The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy and drive to achieve what they want.][CENTER][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/26f16045-6356-41aa-8cbe-d241d0cb2fc7.png[/img]

[img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/1250f85b-6299-4477-89bd-73060bd54510.jpg[/img]
[sub][color=FC5E04]“The Earth King took our kindness for weakness. That won't happen a second time.”[/color][/sub][/center] 
[indent][color=FC5E04][sub][u]NAME[/u][/sub][/color]
[indent]Zai Yao[/indent]
[color=FC5E04][sub][u]AGE[/u][/sub][/color]
[indent]18[/indent]
[color=FC5E04][sub][u]BIRTHPLACE[/u][/sub][/color] 
[indent]Fire Nation Capital[/indent]
[color=FC5E04][sub][u]ELEMENT[/u][/sub][/color] 
[indent]Fire[/indent]
[color=FC5E04][sub][u]APPEARANCE DETAILS[/u][/sub][/color] 
[indent]A young man of average height, like many of his neighbours, Zai has clearly seen better days. While it is clear he was once fit and strong, his cheeks have grown sallow on long days and short rests, and a few visible ribs attest that it's been a long time since he's seen a hearty meal. His dark brown hair hangs limp and lifeless at his shoulders, chopped raggedly with a knife and often pulled back in a ponytail. He dresses like any Earth Kingdom peasant down on his luck, his clothes weather-stained and well worn, and often wears a wide-brimmed straw hat to ward off searching eyes. Underneath, although often rimmed by tired circles, his topaz eyes contrast his tired frame, remaining at all times sharp and alert.[/indent]
[color=FC5E04][sub][u]PERSONALITY[/u][/sub][/color] 
[indent] [i][color=FC5E04]"Firebending has no training wheels. Learning requires boldness. You have to step beyond the limits of your control and trust in your ability to wrest it back again. Every time you bend, you walk a razor's edge between control and chaos. It is not for the faint of heart."[/color][/i] 

Zai is a true son of the Fire Nation: proud, strong-willed, and driven. What little that dares to stand between him and what he wants is met with ferocity and uncompromising resolve. Similarly, his experience shadowing his father in diplomacy has shown him to approach problems from many angles, and given him an appreciation for solving problems with words as well as actions. 

However, most of his shadowing was done in talks with existing allies, and they rarely involved truly opposing interests - in almost all cases, a deal could usually be reached to mutual satisfaction. As such, his skill in diplomacy is still lacking when it comes to an obstinate adversary, and Zai can quickly become frustrated with them, too proud to concede too much in the name of compromise. Zai also knows that his instincts and discipline need work; try as he might, he is still vulnerable to letting his own feelings get in the way of getting a truly insightful read on a situation. 

Above all, Zai loves his country and his heritage, and chafes bitterly under the yoke of the Earth Kingdom. A stewing distrust and growing hatred for the Earth Kingdom has taken root in his heart as the insult and betrayal of his father’s disappearance and his own attempted arrest festers, fueled more by every grueling day and hungry night he spends as a fugitive on their soil. [/indent]
[color=FC5E04][sub][u]BIOGRAPHY[/u][/sub][/color] 
[indent][i][color=FC5E04]“Dad, why do we get our food from the Earth Kingdom?”[/color]

[right][color=orange]“It’s a beneficial relationship, Zai. We have things they want, like money and resources, and they have something we want. By trading in this way, both nations are made stronger and more prosperous than they were before.”[/color][/right][/i]
Zai’s father was a highly ranked government official in the Fire Nation. As the dignitary of foreign affairs, he worked closely with the Fire Lord himself to arrange trade agreements and other dealings with the other three nations. It was a good gig; the nations had always been at peace and maintained amiable relationships, and it was rarely very difficult to finalize deals - there was rarely friction, and most of his job was just a matter of negotiating the minutiae to every party’s satisfaction. He travelled often and had many friends across the world, and considered himself very lucky. 

Until things started getting… tense. 

By the time Zai, his first son, was born, the Fire Nation’s relationship with the Earth Kingdom was starting to get a little strained. Prices of imported goods, especially food, began to rise, and proved something of a stumbling block for their relationship. It seemed like nothing at first - the Earth Kingdom had a weak harvest this year, the seas were rough that year, and so on - and later, reports of strife inside the Earth Kingdom seemed to confirm that the trade interruptions were simply the result of a series of unfortunate events befalling the Fire Nation’s long-time trade partner. 

By the time Zai was 10, the effects of poor trade were becoming noticeable even in the Capital. Shortages were taking their toll even on the aristocracy’s dinner tables, and high inflation was sparking the beginnings of civil unrest. However, the people of the Fire Nation did not easily yield to stress, and their strong sense of unity and patriotism allowed them to band together and maintain order even as their situation grew more and more precarious. 

Fortunately, as the son of a dignitary, Zai was shielded from much of his Nation’s growing suffering. He never went hungry, never felt unsafe, and never had to go without. He enjoyed a happy home life and a fine education, receiving firebending training from the same Master who trained the children of the Fire Lord. He took to bending readily and with great enthusiasm, and it wasn’t long before he became an accomplished firebender himself. 

But as the years wore on, the Fire Nation’s position only got worse. Trade slowed to a trickle, and although Zai was still sheltered from the worst of it, his Nation’s hardships were always present to him. He was not blind to the suffering of his people; his heart hurt for them, and he wanted nothing more than to learn all he could from his father to follow in his footsteps and serve the Fire Nation. 

When he was 17, his chance finally came to make a real difference. Things were becoming desperate for the Fire Nation, and increased reliance on the Water Tribe and Air Nomads was not enough to effectively ease the strain. Zai had shadowed his father for a few years on stop-gap measures with the two more friendly nations, but now the Fire Lord tasked him with his most important job yet: to visit the Earth King and negotiate an end to the trade interruptions. To his delight, Zai was allowed to accompany his father on the trip to observe his father working his magic when it mattered most. 

Ba Sing Se was a marvel to behold, and Zai and his father received a royal welcome. Many meetings were held with Earth Kingdom representatives - of agriculture, shipping, fisheries, and many more - and before long, Zai’s head was spinning from the complexity of it all. It was over a month before the Earth King himself would meet with Zai’s father. 

But when the time finally came to see the Earth King, Zai's father told him to stay behind. Confused and hurt, Zai tried to argue, but begrudgingly agreed to wait for his father in their guest mansion in the Upper Ring, wondering why his father thought he was unworthy. 

But his father never came back. 

In a single evening, Zai turned from guest of honour to fugitive - and worse, he didn’t know why. He had to escape the clutches of the Dai Li in Ba Sing Se and flee on his own, his father’s royal escort nowhere to be found. By the time Zai reached the coast, and was turned away, he learned the horrible truth: the Earth King had declared war on the Fire Nation and launched a brutal assault, only barely held off with the help of their allies in the Water Tribe. As a result, the coast was locked down, and Zai was stranded. 

It’s been a year since then, and Zai has been barely scraping by in a small Earth Kingdom village near the coast, forced to conceal both his identity and his bending under threat of internment. He does not know what became of his father, and he has no way to contact his mother. He watches anxiously from the other side of the sea, scratching for any information he can get on the status of his home, but powerless to do anything to help. All he knows is that somehow, he needs to find his father - and make the Earth King pay for what he's done.[/indent]
[color=FC5E04][sub][u]TRIVIA[/u][/sub][/color] 
[indent][list][*]Zai’s favourite food is blackened eelfish. He’s yet to find it outside the Fire Nation. 
[*]In the Earth Kingdom, he goes by "Sho."[/list][/indent][/indent]
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