In Avatar: Legends, fans of the franchise will finally have the chance to add to the world they love so much with stories their very own. The tabletop-RPG promises a chance to inhabit the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender like never before, but there may be changes to the world that took place after the original series ended that many fans are not aware of.
In the setting of Aang's Era, fans will not pick up from where the show finished, but on the heels of its comic continuations. Here's what fans of the franchise need to know before joining one of the richest eras in Avatar's history.
The description for Aang's Era from the legendary Kickstarter page already titillates the imagination. "Aang's Era is set immediately after the events of the Imbalance comic trilogy, a couple of years after the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Play in Aang's Era if you want to heal the world after tragedy and help push it into a brighter future." This means it's important not only to know the setting of the original series inside and out, but also the continuations to that story.
Most fans will be familiar with the Gaang's adventures from the original series as the return of Avatar Aang brings about the end of the Hundred Year War, restoring balance to the Four Nations. With Zuko wearing the crown of the Fire Lord and Team Avatar working tirelessly to repair the damage done, there are plenty of plotlines from the original series to pick up on. Some of the most notable changes include the establishment of Toph's Metalbending Academy, the proliferation of chi-blocking as Suki and Ty Lee spread the art to nonbenders, and the eventual development of those talents into the Metalbending police force of Republic City and the Equalists both from The Legend of Korra.
Much of the space between the two series that the comics fill in deals with the effects of industrialization and colonialization in the Avatar world. Many Fire Nation colonies on Earth Kingdom territory became a melting pot that plants the seeds for the United Republic, but these have also caused cultural and political tensions between the nations, as well as between benders and non-benders. While new technologies bring untold opportunity for revitalizing the war-torn Southern Water Tribe, those advancements clash with the world's cultural and spiritual traditions.
Aang's Air Acolytes represent a slow restoration of the Air Nation that would later grow by leaps and bounds in Korra, but there are aspects of the other nations that are a far bigger mystery. The Fire Nation has its own problems shedding its repressive history under Ozai's reign, and some groups even resist Zuko's claim to the throne. The Fire Nation was rarely seen throughout Korra and explored at most in the Smoke and Shadow comic, so it is probably the area with the most room for creative invention.
There are other gaps between the comics and Korra that offer intriguing possibilities. The secret bloodbender Yakone would have been in the early days of honing and amassing his power in the criminal underworld that would plague the early days of Republic City. The transition of power from Northern Water Tribe Chief Arnook to Unalaq and Tonraq's father also remains a mystery and could be rife with intrigue.
Aang's Era represents a time when the world of Avatar was rapidly evolving, and exploring the repercussions of those changes make the setting intriguing and unique. Groups seldom seen since the original series, such as the Foggy Swamp Tribe or the Sun Warriors who swore Aang and Zuko to secrecy, could make for promising stories in their own right. Whatever direction the players and their Game Master decides to go in, they can rest assured in one belief: they can change the world.
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