Name: Taiyang
Meaning: Chinese “太阳 / 太陽 ” - sun
Age: Sixteen, born 252 AG, Dragon Year
Gender: Female
Orientation: Demisexual
Nationality: Sun Warrior
Hair: Black, kept short
Eyes: Amber, golden hues
Height: Five feet, eight inches
Weight: 155lbs, muscularly toned
Skin: Tanned, sun-kissed / red face paint
Face Claim: San from Princess Mononoke
Bender Status: Firebender
Animal Companion: Yin the Dragon
Pro Bending Teams: the Sun Dragons + the Lotus Pandas
Airbending Master: to be revealed, Eastern Air Temple
Waterbending Master: to be determined, Northern Water Tribe
Earthbending Master: to be determined
History: She is a young bender far from being called a Fully Realized Avatar. Taiyang (close friends call her Tai or Yang for short) is of pure Fire Nation ancestry through the ancient civilization of the Sun Warriors. Taiyang once approached the masters when she was thirteen years old to receive judgement from them. Like the select few who had been deemed worthy before her, she learned the true nature of firebending. From an early age her skill with the element was apparent long before her identity was known. While she has never generated her own lightning, she is aware of the technique to redirect it- though she has never used it. Maintaining the traditions of her past lives, Taiyang was informed of her heritage on her sixteenth name day by the chief. Recently she has set out from her homeland to begin learning airbending at the Western Air Temple. With her animal companion together they leave the ancient city ruins and fly northeast for the nearby Air Temple. With practically the whole world still unaware of the Sun Warriors existence Taiyang assumes the cover of a mere teenage from the Fire Nation. On the day she left her people Taiyang discarded her cultural possessions. She cut her long hair down to only an inch or two and shaved the sides nearly all the way down. Finalizing her historical shedding she washed away her red face paint and burned her clothing.
Family: Both of Taiyang’s parents died tragically. On her sixth birthday there were summer storms raging across the ancient city. Monsoons of rain caused flash flooding and the temples became overwhelmed. While trying to evacuate to higher ground at the top of the temples the water levels skyrocketed and caught up to Taiyang and her parents. In their efforts to save their only child they drowned. Kwang (father, Korean word meaning “light”) and Hyunh (mother, Vietnamese word meaning “yellow”) were both firebenders and respected members of the Sun Warrior community. While they were fleeing from the rapidly approaching water they succumbed to the waves. Taiyang was with them and began to drown but entered the avatar state after seeing her parents die. Chief Shandian (Chinese word meaning “lightning”) found the young avatar at the top of the temple in a bout of rage and emotional turmoil. Taiyang had used a combination of airbending and waterbending to propel herself, along with her parent’s bodies, to the summit of the temple where lightning began to strike. Taiyang unconsciously redirected lightning away from the water soaked stones and back into the sky. She began to bend the rain and flooding back to a non-life threatening level. Enveloped in the avatar state, Taiyang was out of control and began to bend the stones and rocks comprising the temple, causing them to crack and shudder. The anger and grief of watching her parents die, as well as her own near death experience, combined with the overwhelming sensation of entering the avatar state for the first time caused Taiyang to blackout. Chief Shandian was a witness to her rampage and rather than approach her physically he reached out to her spiritually to calm her. In the aftermath he only told the small handful of elders about Taiyang’s true nature. She is deeply afraid of water and did not know the full extent of that day until her sixteenth name day.
Personality: On the nature of Taiyang's emotions she is struggling to cope with the sudden swift separation from her culture. Generally she is stoic and reserved due to an internal fear of loosing control over her dangerous bending. In regards to her previous way of life Taiyang is widely naive and detached in her understanding of the world. She has some qualities like that of a foreign exchange student, she does not fully understand the new advanced and futuristic world. Taiyang is blunt, straightforward, and unaccustomed to slang and modern social behaviors.
Yin the Dragon: As a parting blessing from her people the Sun Warriors bestowed upon Taiyang the options for an animal companion. There was no hesitation when she selected a young grey dragon as her counterpart and named her Yin. Taiyang’s animal companion is a descendant of the masters Ran and Shaw and resembles Fire Lord Zuko’s dragon Druk (larger and more bulk- rather than Ran, Shaw, and Fang who are more slender and streamline). Yin is primarily grey in color with a darker underbelly and white accents resembling the darker side of the taijitu symbol. Yin grew up alongside Taiyang within the Sun Warrior community (with a few other dragons) and formally become bonded with her rider in the farewell ceremony. Yin is a little over half the size of Druk and is still growing. She is directed by the reins around her horns and later a saddle is fashioned to fit around her back for carrying passengers and those of Team Avatar.
Alternate Aliases: Taiyang assumes a few identities throughout her life to hide her status as the Avatar. One primary disguise is that of the Red Spirit (yes, a parallel to Zuko as the Blue Spirit) where she only uses firebending, hand to hand martial arts combat, and indirect airbending- basically just augmenting her physical skills of jumping and out maneuvering opponents. This persona as the Red Spirit helps those in need or enacts secret missions to preserve Taiyang’s identity (see the gif / images with red mask).
Combat Abilities: Fire is her strongest element, naturally, and she demonstrates her proficiency in wielding beautiful flames. While she utilizes no physical weapon during combat Taiyang is interested in swordplay. Her body is in peak fighting shape due to her intense training as a Sun Warrior. Bending is a sacred art for Taiyang, she feels that it connects her with the sun and the warmth and lightness of spiritual energy. From a young age (before it was known she was the avatar) Taiyang possessed strong bending abilities.
Clothing Attire: She wears black boots with gold toe and heel points along with golden stripe up the front and down the back. Loose black pants are stuffed into the boots and she wears a long sleeved black tunic with golden cuffs and collar and other gold accents. A dark rustic red vest is worn over her tunic and it extends down to just above her knees and has open slits on the side for mobility. Over her tunic she wears red arm braces on her forearms and gold bands on her biceps.
* gif disclaimer, all of these were found on Imgur and stated free for use.
