I revisited this old map. The original basemap was made by Mathuen. I edited some of the coasts and whatnot, and added in the Water Tribe continents. The idea, as always, is a more politically complex, 'adult' world for
Avatar: The Last Airbender. Normally I would add a key but it should be pretty self-explanatory. The Fire Empire is the strongest military power. Darker shades denote occupation zones in the northwestern earth states, while the lighter shade shows areas of heavy Imperial colonisation. The front has stagnated somewhat in the seige of the city of Phong. Areas with a yellow outline show the lands once settled by the air nations. In the north, there was once a powerful race of airbending warriors (think Buddhist Mongols on flying bison) that conquered a massive region there, attempting to take over the entire world, as Genghis and his descendants once wanted in real life. They were torn apart in civil war, and eventually reclaimed by the authority in Ba Sing Se, becoming an autonomous province on their plataeu. When Sozin II began the war, the authorities in Ba Sing Se acquiesced to his entering their territory to exterminate the airbenders there, which is a note now lost to history (deliberately so).
Ba Sing Se, the capital of the Empire of Yoneng, is led by the Shin Dynasty, but in reality the secretive Dai Li run the show. There is no war in Ba Sing Se, and although they accept refugees from the beseiged northwestern kingdoms, these refugees are confined to the outer ring of the city where they cannot disturb the fragile peace within. The Kingdom of Omashu in the west has formed an alliance with the northern kingdoms, and sends vast armies of troops to the north to fight the Fire Empire. Currently a column of troops is on its way to try and relieve the seige of Phong, but King Bumi II of Omashu is blissfully unaware of the threat to the south; the Chin Empire, once a noble and expansive land, has been making overtures to the Fire Empire for an alliance to try and reclaim some lost prestige.
The great empty area is the Si Wong Desert, which has various names in various languages. The local clans call it Al Farak, the Emptiness, though they make a profit extorting a toll out of any merchants hoping to cross. On the periphery of the desert, small princes have risen and built cohesive states through trade with their neighbours. The dark circle around this area denotes the extent of the desert cultures. In the east are the kingdoms of Kawongo and Rodanda, relatively isolated. Although they have made plans and overtures to the other earth states to send aid and troops, they have been ignored; it seems that even in this world of wonders racism is a true thing, and the western kingdoms don't plan on calling on those dark-skinned savages for help any time soon, despite their goodwill.
The northern continent is home to the last true water nation. Although it consists of a series of practically independent city-states, surrounded by poor farmland, they are united under a high-king, Arnook. Once, the water tribes were a force to be reckoned with, raiding the earth coasts and as far as the Fire Empire before the empire became united and powerful. They were once slavers and pirates, but now they are alone, isolated in their shivering homes, waiting for the day when the Fire Empire finally returns to strike them once again. Their kin in the south have been broken, after all.
This map is on the eve of the discovery of Avatar Aang, trapped in a place known as the Spirit Glacier to the southern water tribes. Katara and Sokka of the Amarog Tribe do not realise it yet, but their hunting trip into the wilderness will result in both their lives changing forever.
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