Age: 16
Gender: Male
Bender: Yes, of course. He is the Avatar, and bends all four elements
Nation: Earth Kingdom
Personality
Zhi is a cold and terse individual, having grown up in an environment that shaped him to be such a way. Zhi has been surrounded by death all his life, and before it was discovered he was the Avatar, he led a pretty rough and desperate life, trying to survive one day at a time. Ever since he came into the care of the Earth Sages, he's become a little less hostile and somewhat more trusting of people, but his previous life as a penniless orphan has still hardened him to a great degree. Still, when he makes friends and allies, he becomes fiercely loyal to them, and would be willing to do anything for them.
History
Zhi grew up in the Earth Kingdom town of Saitong, and for a few brief and blissful years, he had a decent life with his parents; they weren't rich, but they weren't poor. So for the most part, things were well for them. However, shortly after Zhi turned four, things drastically changed. His father was conscripted into the local warlord's army, to fight in the endless civil war that plagued the Earth Kingdom. While his father wasn't happy with these turn of events, he still did his best to assure his wife and son that things would be alright, and that he'd send half his wage to them, to help support them while he was gone.
Zhi never saw his father again, and two months after he was conscripted, he stopped sending money to them. Most likely he died out there, in one useless battle or another, but the ultimate fate of Zhi's father is still a mystery.
Soon enough, Zhi's mother was forced into desperate means to care for herself and her son. She turned to prostitution to help supplement their income, and for a time that helped them scrape by. One day, however, Zhi's mother was strangled to death by one of her clients. From that moment on, Zhi became an orphan, and was soon forced into living off of the streets.
Being a penniless orphan was rough living, but Zhi soon adapted to this harsh new way of life. He matured fast and quickly, his innocence fading within weeks, and he came to learn that Survival of the Fittest was the rule of law on the streets. As a result, he became cold and distant to others, never trusting anyone for quite a few years. Eventually he discovered he had skill with earthbending, though he did his best to hide those abilities, least he too be conscripted by the very people that had sent his father to his death.
When Zhi was seven, he crossed paths with a young girl named Kai. While wary and reluctant of her, at first, he soon struck up a fast and true friendship with the girl, coming to trust someone again for the first time since he was a small child. He and Kai became a skilled team together, over the years, and Zhi even started to teach her what he knew of earthbending. This continued on for many a year, until fate intervened.
Shortly after Zhi turned twelve, he accidentally bent fire at a thug who was trying to rough up Kai. That scared his opponent off, sure enough, but Zhi was still shocked by that unexpected event; for there was only one way he could be both an earthbender and a firebender, and that was if he was the Avatar.
Sure enough, word spread around Saitong about this extraordinary event, and within a week a group of Earth Sages, spiritual leaders who studied the metaphysical and guided the Earth Avatars through their training, showed up. They calmly explained to Zhi that he was the new Avatar, and that they were taking him to a monastery in the northern Earth Kingdom. Zhi leapt at the chance, eager to get away from his horrible life, but demanded that his friend Kai be allowed to come with him. After a brief debate, the Earth Sages accepted his request, and took the both of them away from Saitong forever.
The next four years of Zhi's life were spent learning the ways of the Avatar, and mastering the first element up on the cycle, Earth. The Sages introduced Zhi to a young man named Gao, who soon became Zhi's teacher and mentor in the ways of earthbending; and, at his insistence, Gao also taught Kai as well. Avatar Zhi continued to progress in his training, eventually mastering Earthbending and getting a good grasp of the spiritual side of being the Avatar, coming into contact with his previous life, Fukoda of the Water Tribe, when he was fifteen.
Now Zhi is sixteen years of age, and he has been officially announced by the Earth Sages as the new Avatar to the world at large, per tradition. However, Zhi has started to get impatient with his training. Against the advice of the Sages, Zhi is now seeking to accelerate his learning. He has already acquired a firebending master, a young girl named Zira, to be his next teacher, but he hasn't stopped there. He has also sought out masters in Waterbending and Airbending, so he can simultaneously learn Air and Water at the same time. It is an unorthodox method of training, perhaps, but it is what Avatar Zhi insists on doing.
This training regiment may not be the best type for the Avatar, but Zhi does not care. He is growing impatient, as with each passing year, more and more of his people die in the Earth Kingdom due to strife and infighting. Zhi has grown tired of being unable to do anything about it, and has decided to put that to a stop. He will master all four elements, even if he has to rush his training. For once he becomes a fully realized Avatar, there is a chance that peace can once again be brought back to his dying homeland. And that, more than anything else, is what Zhi desires to do.
Goals
Zhi has two goals in life: bring back peace to the Earth Kingdom, and become a good and righteous Avatar.
Pets
Like previous Avatars before him, Zhi has been brought together with an animal of special quality and intelligence, a beast that shall help him guide through the twists and turns of life; a pet that is more friend than servant.
Zhi has found this bond in his pet Badger-Mole, a female he has called Kun. She is a beast of extraordinary skill and power. She was but a cub, when he was gifted the animal by the Earth Sages, but now is a tall and proud adult, willing to follow her master wherever he may go.
Zhi has also recently acquired a Messenger Hawk for a pet. It was gifted to him by one of the Fire Lords in the Fire Nation, during the tournament they held in his honor to determine his firebending teacher. While he hasn't formed as strong a bond with the bird as he did with Kun, Zhi has nevertheless taken a liking to it. He has called it Harumi, naming the Hawk after his deceased father.
So far both Kun and Harumi have served Zhi well, and will no doubt continue to do so as time goes on.
Likes
- Learning the Four Elements
- His pet Badger-Mole, Kun, and his pet Messenger Hawk, Harumi
- Peaceful and quiet nights
- People with a good moral code and some amount of decency and honor
- Being the Avatar in general, and the power it grants him
- His best friend Kai
Dislikes
- Power-hungry Tyrants
- Slavery
- Those who thrive on war or chaos
- Loud, obnoxious people
- People who bully and intimidate others around them
- Children being orphaned due to war