#chaisee

I enjoy any Avatar content that comes my way, including Reckoning/Awakening of Roku. But presenting Sozin as sexist and trying to imply that it’s systemic didn’t really make sense? With any previously published material on the Fire Nation or even with the Roku books themselves?

Atla:

Azula is the favored heir for the THRONE. Has been from the time she was a TODDLER. She was trained in both combat and military strategy from childhood, just as much if not more so than her older brother. Not only was this the case when Ozai was Fire Lord, but even when Ozai was a Prince and the primary use for his children was to elevate his standing in Azulon’s eyes. Meaning Ozai did not see any detriment in winning his father over with a daughter rather than a son. So, Ozai doesn’t care about gender. Azulon, SOZIN’S SON, doesn’t care about gender. Despite Sozin’s comment in RoR, gender doesn’t appear to be a significant factor in line of succession.

Mai and Ty Lee clearly indicate that combat training for noble girls is not unique to Azula. In fact, considering how restricted Mai is portrayed and how she seems to have chosen to conform to the decorum expected of her station, it’s pretty clear that combative prowess is an EXPECTATION for noblewomen.

The Home Guard portrayed in “The Headband” is predominantly female. The guards at the Boiling Rock, the highest security prison in the Fire Nation, appears to have a roughly even mix of male and female. Admittedly, the deployed soldiers that are given faces/voices seem to be all male. Which could indicate a divide where men are generally stationed abroad while women are generally stationed domestically. But still generall not shy about women in the military and military-adjacent professions. (Obviously, military isn’t everything. But as the show is mostly focused on the war, that’s the majority of what we have to work with.)

Kyoshi:

Rangi and her mother exist. Hei Ran apparently even taught the Fire Lord himself, and as his former teacher is one of the few people in the world allowed to treat him like an equal, not to mention having been chosen to teach the Avatar twice over. Also, in Shadow, Hei Ran and Rangi’s main political rivals are female.

Yangchen:

At a time when each of the 3 more-monetarily minded nations could only interact and trade through one city each, the Fire Lord appointed appointed a woman named Chaisee to manage that city, and therefore the entirety of their immigration and international trade.

Avatar Legends “Era of Roku” information:

Yuyan archers were founded by a woman. One whom Sozin asked to pass on her archery training.

Technically Hundred Years War Era, but one of the pre-made campaigns centers around a female Fire Nation General.

Roku books:

Ta Min is able to go into a career in politics.

Dalisay is a scholar, apparently respected enough to tutor the princess.

Sozin himself, despite the occasional sexist narration, works almost exclusively with female specialists. A scholar with a rope dart, a mercenary, a politician.

Honestly, the vast majority of interesting Fire Nation characters we meet are female. All of them are clearly encouraged to excel (whether for their own benefit or the benefit of those who would use them). Many of them hold positions of power and respect. There is no particular indication of separate gender roles with the possible exception of where soldiers are stationed. So the handful of mental comments that Sozin makes don’t really mesh.

The Water Tribes were most definitely and explicitly sexist. The North more than the South, but the show clearly explored that as being part of both cultures. The Earth Kingdom doesn’t explicitly state anything about gender roles outside of beating them out of Sokka on Kyoshi Island, but it does appear to be implied as a patriarchal society (with the exception of Kyoshi Island itself. Though, considering Suki wasn’t confused by Sokka’s attitude and the island was so isolated, that attitude must have existed to some degree there as well).

The Fire Nation and Air Nomads don’t seem to have that. Ironic, considering the Air Nomads literally separated the temples by gender. But I’m pretty sure that’s mostly to ensure that children are raised by the Temple rather than a Family Unit, and what little we have about their daily lives shows no difference between the men and the women except for where their home base is.

“So,” Kalyaan leaned back in his chair. He looked completely at ease, giving his brother the same vaguely smug grin he remembered well. “How is the whole Avatar business going?”

Across the room, their parents were occupying a loveseat, with little toddler Kaito giggling between them. The grandparents had been beaming with happiness all day; overjoyed by a rare visit from their prodigal son and his family.

For their sake, the other two couples were making every effort to pretend nothing was wrong.

“Fantastic,” Kavik put on a less convincing smile. He didn’t want his brother to think he was important enough to deserve his best performance. “Just when you think it’s over, another spirits-forsaken corner of the world decides to catch on fire.”

“The Four Nations always seem to think bashing their heads together will accomplish something,” Kalyaan nodded. “They always seem to let the dimmest people be the ones running things.”

His words earned a sincere grimace from his younger brother. “It’s like running a daycare, that caters only to the most spoiled!”

“Perhaps we would have been better off with something new,” Kalyaan’s tone seemed to have lost some of its levity. “A system, a new nation even, where talent was rewarded more than birth.”

Kavik’s brief feeling of agreement was gone. He’d known his brother still wasn’t over Unanimity’s crash and burn. He was surprised he’d made it this far into the week before he ran his mouth about it.

“A system that would put people’s lives at the mercy of anyone greedy enough to get rich,” Kavik retorted. “A pretty rotten idea, if you ask me.”

“And now that we’re going back to the old ways,” Kalyaan kept talking, and pretended he hadn’t heard his brother. “The shang city’s might end up under the thumb of somebody really merciless,” His smile was designed to cut, and draw blood. “Like Bin-Er is.”

Kavik understood the insult immediately, and almost started seeing red. “Watch your mouth about Yangchen,” he leaned forward to growl in his brother’s face. “I’m not going to hear it from you! Besides,” He gave his older brother a smile that had no goodwill in it. “Even mom and dad won’t forgive you if you insult the Avatar under their roof!”

“Hey, easy now Kavik,” His brother put his hands up in mock protest. “I’m not trying to start anything. I just want my family to have a chance to enjoy a few day when we’re all together again. Why can’t we just joke around like we used to, like brothers?”

“Sure,” Kavik remembered how things used to be between them, and he had never really appreciated the kind of “joking” his older brother seemed to be a fan of. “Just like brothers.”

“So, tell me,” Kalyaan leaned in closer, and gave his brother a sly wink. “One man to another; what’s the Avatar like in the sack?”

In the kitchen, the avatar in question sat at a small table, across from her former nemesis from Jonduri.

Chaisee did not look like a woman who had been living on the run for the better part of two years. Though she now dressed more humbly, and was affecting a more casual air compared to her former authority, her beauty seemed in no way diminished by her new reality. She wore motherhood particularly well.

Her husband had actually cooked breakfast for the entire house, with Chaisee helping so she could make a point to ensure there were enticing vegetarian dishes included. Yangchen took this to be an unspoken gesture of thanks, for the avatar had gone through a lot of trouble to make sure that this little family holiday could happen safely. Whatever their previous disagreements, the former Zongdu wanted her to know that she was very grateful.

Yangchen trusted that as much as she would trust a rattle-cobra.

 “I suppose I should congratulate you, avatar,” the older woman spoke before the silence could become too awkward. “I heard about your handling of the provincial dispute south of the Taihua mountains. A simple but effective solution.”

“Thank you,” Yangchen accepted the compliment with a straight face. “I admit I was surprised the governors of Sheim and Shiam were amenable to coming to a compromise over the silk town as quickly as they did.”

“When the alternative was to have you all but endorse the Earth King taking direct control over all that tax revenue,” Chaisee sipped her tea. “It is good that you and Feishan have such a trusting and respectful relationship, or you would have been in a great deal of trouble if they had called your bluff.”

“Very fortunate indeed,” Yangchen had not been looking forward to a whole week of this verbal sparring. She had been half tempted to let Kavik visit his parents by himself; but it hadn’t seemed very safe to have him stay alone in the same house as his mendacious brother and sister-in-law.

“I suppose you have a similar strategy,” Chaisee continued as if they were discussing the weather. “To bring the other Shang cities back under heel?”

Yangchen made a face over the rim of her cup. The former Zongdu was staying remarkably well informed on events.

The Avatar had only just begun to implement greater control over the other shang cities, when their leaders finally started to consolidate against her. Chaisee’s “retirement” had led to one of her most vicious lieutenants ascending as her replacement; after several other high-ranking operators suddenly disappeared mysteriously. Ashoona was as tepid as ever, but one of his daughters had begun to take a firm hold of his association, and breathe new life into it. Both of these new players were pursuing ambitious agendas of their own; and had decided they had a common enemy in the meddlesome Avatar.

And they were receiving no small amount of help from Iwashi, who never forgot a slight.

“There has been some resistance to the reforms Feishan and I have begun to implement,” Yangchen talked about it as if the Earth King had been an entirely willing recipient of her proposals. “We have a conclave in Jonduri in a months time to smooth over the . . . miscommunications.”

“I suppose you have a team that is already infiltrating the city,” Chaisee asked casually, as if she were only absently curious.

The Avatar’s face gave away nothing. “I’m confident the situation will be resolved through open diplomacy.”

The former Zongdu took a thoughtful sip of her tea. “It would be a great benefit to you,” she said, “If you could find a way to utilize the association already set up in Jonduri.”

“If is a word for the idle, and the discontent.” Yangchen repeated the old maxim with a casual shrug, but her mind was tense.

She thought she knew where the former Zongdu was going to go with this.

“There are operators I still know in the city,” Chaisee abandoned any pretense of coyness. “And I know the right leverage to put on them them.”

The avatar returned her favor with equal bluntness. “I doubt I would be able to afford the price that will cost.” If you think I’m going to trust you . . .

“A refugee will not turn up her nose at a simple meal, if it is nourishing,” Chaisee was staring down at her teacup, as if trying to decipher valuable wisdom from its leaves. “I am tired of living on the run; and it’s not the life I ever meant for my son. To live on borrowed time is to taste a bitterness in every breath you take.”

The older woman’s voice was flat, carefully emotionless; and Yangchen could not tell if her words contained any hint of accusation, or promise of vengeance, towards the Avatar who had put her family in this position.

So that was it; she wanted the Avatar to help take the heat off of her family. Forever.

The offer was a tempting one. But did she dare trust the architect of Unanimity?

When Chaisee looked back up, her carefully crafted smile had returned. “But perhaps talk of business can wait.” She raised her teacup. “This week is for the family, and should not be sullied by disagreements. Past or present.”

“Yes,” Yangchen picked up her own teacup in reply, forcing an almost convincing smile to her lips. “Let us always have harmony in the home-“

I sure do! One of my friends and I have developed a ton together (shoutout her, you know who you are) which I will now share here :)

Chaisee & Kalyaan Headcanons

Based on my other headcanons about Kalyaan's age compared to Kavik's as well as the timeline of events before the novels, I'm saying that Kalyaan was around 20 years old when he arrived in Jonduri as a plant

With Chaisee being around 30 during the novels, this puts her at about 28 when Kalyaan arrives, giving them an 8 year age gap

Okay cougar ;)

Gender takes a very important role in the novels, a role that is highlighted even more once you switch the characters genders. So what would a male version of Yangchen be like? I would say that pretty much the same, in the airnomad culture there aren’t really any gender norms so I believe that as a guy Yangchens personality remains fairly the same. However that just applies to Yangchens personality, people would definitely treat her differently. Though in the novels we see that Yangchen is treated as a naive little girl by the Shangs and dare I say other important political figures (Northern Watertribe chief/Earth King). She has to learn to adapt and use this to her advantages. As a man I do think Yangchen would inherently be treated with more respect, however that naive little girl stereotype would become the naive airnomad stereotype. Which is why I do not think this gender change wouldnt affect very deeply Yangchens approach to how she deals with political issues, I think it would just make things easier since as “man” he might be trusted more to take charge or make decisions, all the while using the naive airnomad act to get the upper hand.

Kavik’s narrative as a girl becomes very interesting. I mainly say this because he is literally me, and I’m a girl so. Let’s begin at the core, Kaviks relationship with Ksylaan, one that as women becomes far more complex. Kaylaan is the perfect girl, expected to become the perfect woman, Kavik could barely compare to her. Infact she owed her sister her life, after all she saved her. That remains pretty much the same, Kaylaan would manipulate Kavik into thinking she was less than her, less smart, less mindful, less athletic, less beautiful. In the books we see that Kavik and Kaylaan are very often referred to as handsome. Beauty can play an important role in Kaylaan and Kaviks stories as woman. For kaylaan it would be one of her weapons, she knows what men think about beautiful girls and she knows exactly how to exploit it. Kavik on the other hand keeping things faithful to the books is very very painfully insecure. I think she would pay no mind to her looks and the few times she does she is just reminded that she would never be as good as her sister, so she needs to be good in other aspects. However I do think it would be a problem in her street runner life style, Kavik wouldn’t use beauty as a weapon, becuase she wouldn’t know how, that’s just something her sister does. As a handsome man Kaviks street runner life is like any others, as a beautiful girl, danger is much more evident. I also believe Kaylaans and Kaviks reunion would be much more shocking. Imaging finding your sister again after risking your life to locate her and she not only remains as condescending to you as she was before, but she is also pregnant? The speech the Kaylaan give to Kavik about Chaisee, “Why not trust the man I love?” Would hit so much harder in many different levels.

Yangchen had every right to hate Chaisee

Song:

[ID: Screenshot from the Avatar Wiki that reads: "Chaisee's home island and the island where the experiments of the Unanimity project were later conducted were possibly the same location, as both harbored night abalones which produced unique black pearls on extremely rare occasions." End ID]

HELLO?? oh my god. Her home was destroyed so she turned it into hell. What if some of those prisoners were her own neighbors? Her own friends? I hope she didn't... forcibly remove everyone. I hope that after the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom burned their village down, they left instead of rebuilding. And fled far, far away.

But realistically most of them would've settled on neighboring islands. The same islands that Chaisee took her prisoners from.