The literal antichrist

First of all, Aang is the one I've made the most notes on, as he's the one who's changed the most from his canon counterpart. I wanted to keep as many elements as close to canon as possible while still making it believable for a 16 year old Aang to make certain choices. I'm pushing Roku's death and Aang's birth back 4 years to 16 BG, which would give Sozin 4 extra years of plotting without a fully realized avatar to take into account.

I'm also assuming the Fire Nation would be under close scrutiny from the other nations due to Sozin testing the waters in establishing colonies on Earth Kingdom territory before Roku's death, and thus their rearmament efforts wouldn't go unnoticed either. The unstable political climate combined with Aang being a prodigy and mastering air bending at age 12 results in him being told about his avatar status too early in this universe as well. Now, while Aang is still under a lot of pressure and isolated from his peers, he's not under threat of being sent away due to the global situation not seeming as dire yet. (would be kinda counterintuitive if he just ran away at 12 as in canon lol). Instead he's trained and educated at the Southern Air Temple until he's deemed ready to master waterbending, while the monks are keeping a close eye on the Fire Nation situation.

I've played around with the idea of making Aang this older brother figure to the Air Nomad children, and I felt like it made a lot of sense. It could be a way for Aang to emulate monk Gyatso by trying to be for others what he was for him, and it's also a realistic way for him to have more connections to other airbenders who wouldn't have that same view of Aangs status as the avatar as his peers. (I also see it as an interesting parallel to Zuko tbh, which I coukld elaborate on but it'll get far too long). This will also lead to the absolute delight which would be Aang and Toph's dynamic, where she's a younger sister figure who also bullies the absolute crap out of Aang at every turn.

Aang's feelings and thoughts about being the avatar would probably be a bit different as well. He'd have more time to get accustomed to being the avatar, but it's not something he'd actually come to fully accept about himself until he gets unfrozen. He associates it with a loss of freedom, connections, and choices, so it's something he truly struggles with coming to terms with. It's not something he shares about himself either, as he's terrified of being viewed through that lense of responsibility. He longs to be viewed as everyone else, and hates being defined by something he doesn't have control or a choice over. I imagine that Katara and Sokka being the first people his own age he actually opens up to, and I think it could be a pretty significant character moment. or something.

I have some thoughts about the zukaang aspect of the AU as well ofc! The entire AU was made for them specifically, because the show is already the Zuko and Aang parallels show. And I wanted to explore that in a romantic context with them being the same age :) I think their dynamic at the start of book one is pretty clear from what I've already posted, but the idea is that the attraction between them is there, but it starts out as a joke from Aangs side. It's meant to throw Zuko off, and him being flustered and bothered by it is absolutely a bonus. The Blue Spirit ep would be a turningpoint where Aang means it less as a joke, and it becomes more serious as time goes on. (I've low key written the dialogue and thumbnails for an altered conversation after Zuko wakes up, I'm planning to draw it at some point). There's a lot of potential for inner turmoil from Zuko, both about being queer and attracted to the avatar, and Aangs feelings about the situation is interesting as well tbh. I can't imagine a version of Aang who would struggle with his sexuality, but he'd have plenty of complicated feelings about being into Zuko specifically. Most of my thoughts on the AU is book 1 centric for now, but I've had some thoughts regarding book two as well. I've played around with changing things up in Ba Sing Se, like would it work if they actually met here? Aang finds Zuko at the tea shop, and Zuko goes through the seven stages of grief as he realizes he can't actually capture Aang? Maybe he helps Aang look for Appa while the rest of the gaang searches with Jet. Or something. I haven't set anything in stone, but I think it could be fun, I can't get the idea of Aang being put out by Zuko having lost his passion for hunting him down, and kinda encourage him to keep trying to capture him. Idk, I just really want them to team up and then rip Aangs heart out when Zuko inevitably betrays him :)