Post by Ren on Aug 30, 2008 15:13:15 GMT -5
/Player Information\
User ID: Ren
Experience: An ancient Role Player from the annals of history. I ended up retired for awhile, but back with a vengeance.
/Basic Info\
Name: Ren Hoshigawa
Age: 47
Alias: The Oni
Nation: Fire Nation
Occupation: Leader of the Bunkaku (A Fire Nation Supremist group), An Avant-Garde Revolutionist, Artist, Philosopher, Poet, Idealist, Geographer, Biologist, Florist, Surgeon, etc.
Political Standpoint/Allegiance: Ren's belief on the world, at least the world as he knows it, is shrouded in his enigma of a mind. His brain works in intense brush strokes, the paint being compiled from the utter contempt he has for anything lying outside of the Fire Nation's borders. From his erratic and transient past, he's gained a burning hatred from the outside nations; one that's steeped in his extremely ethereal beliefs of art, the world, and everything. His eyes only see the Earth Kingdom as full of mindless brutes, while his imagination paints obscene pictures of rock heaving primates who exist in world completely consumed with the physical side of reality. To him, the Water Tribes are full of racist heathens completely immersed in their own disgusting culture, failing to see past their own noses.
And thus, an elitist regime as begun to spark, one that see's the Fire Nation as the only capable nation of expressing and appreciating the beauty of his world. He views fire as a symbol of beauty in its purest form; and sees fire's spontaneous yet destructive nature dangerously enticing. For Ren, the Fire Bender is the ultimate symbol of art- in terms of both creation and destruction. One can give both warmth and visual ecstasy, and intolerable pain and destruction in a simple exhale. His philosophy is completely encompassed in the entire concept of fire: from it's conception and eye pleasing spontaneity, to the underlying meaning of it's blood wrenching nature.
However, Ren despises the concept of royalty, or totalitarian rule all together. In his eyes, the concept of a single, ruling individual is completely inadequate to the desires of a Nation. For a Fire needs to be fed with many minds, not from the selfish rule of a single person. His revolution is constructed through giving "Power to the People" the people being the people of the Fire Nation, everyone else is just a sniveling, artless, barbarian. Of course the concept of people having a voice in government is rather appealing to the general public, so in recent times Ren has developed quite a following and voice within the Fire Nation. As a whole, his movement is just as much against the complete authoritarian rule of Prince Zuko and the royal family, as it is against the unthinking scum of other nations. Ren's views and revolution remain as a scathing blade against the onslaught of unappreciative minds that continue to plague the land, as he intends to bring back the conceptual voice of beauty to the masses and through fire- to the world.
Appearance: To maintain an anonymous persona Ren masks his identity through a ceremonial, scarlet Oni mask. The mask itself is displayed with fierce, exaggerated eyes, and gnarled curved teeth emerging from a gaping mouth. Around the sides of the mask are black striped brushstrokes curving up- similar to tiger stripes. His wild and untamed hair is desperately maintained with a lack luster ponytail, while the rest of his hair falls hopelessly in jet black strands in front of the mask. He wears canvas pants, cut off at the knee, while an open, rather plain, red and black kimono halfway covers his frame. The obi is worn underneath the robes, covering his waist and mid-stomach. He wears traditional wooden geta sandals, but often thrusts them off in frustration. He's immersed completely in his own mind, and rarely pays his physical embodiment any attention- giving him a somewhat skinny stature. He's rather tall however, marking around 6' 2'', and wears a pair of daggers, along with a small flute and some paint brushes slightly visible underneath his open kimono.
/Combat Structure\
Bending: Firebender. He's at an upper advanced level, but rarely uses his bending in combat. He prefers to bend just for the mere prospect of gazing into the inferno, philosophizing endlessly into the blaze. However his bending in battle has earned him a reputation when unleashed, and although he prefers meditating on fire as an art form, he's just as in tune with its blood thirsty and assaulting nature.
Weapons: Ren maintains a simple arsenal of merely two, discrete, and rather bland daggers. There is absolutely no embroidery or decoration on the hilts of sheaths, however the blades themselves are extremely sharp.
Combat Style:
Bending style: Although his bending is rarely presented in a combat situation, the fires raging within his own mind are universally demonstrated through his bending. His brain is consumed by a degree of insanity, therefore his bending, although controlled, is rather erratic and unique. He bends with a complete mind over matter, visualizing every technique thoroughly before unleashing it. Before acting, he thinks of the beauty of the technique itself, making sure that its appearance, as well as its deadliness is completely harmonized. This complete absence of conventional bending makes reading his moves nearly impossible, since depending on a situation- such as the lighting of the sky- will alter how he initiates his technique. To define his style completely; it ranges from the quick and extremely aggressive- to the slow and drawn out. Again, it all depends on his mental state, the opponent, and countless other factors. Viewing Firebending as a complete art, Ren has experimented with the various colorations of firebending, and has worked extremely hard to control ridiculous color combinations. Through intense mental training, Ren discovered that the colorations of Fire are normally determined upon the mindset of the bender. Thus through shifts in mental outlook through an artists mentality, he has obtained an artists palate of various blends and colors of flame. He blends rainbows of fire, not only for effectiveness, but for the utter beauty of the actual bending. He never bends in a complete color, and often adds dashes of green and purple to the basic fire blast, and tinges of orange to more intense colorations. As for manipulating lightning, it remains as just another tool on his artist's repertoire. He never utilizes it completely and solitary, but adds green and blue sparks to colored fire, or emerald flames to a fully charged yellow thunder. It's all in the aesthetic for Ren, rather than in the actual combat. To be blunt, it's extremely effective, and the style itself is likely to catch his opponent off guard with its random and completely ridiculous nature.
Weapon Style: Ren's daggers are completely assimilated into his everyday attire, so he's invested many hours into the perfection of utilizing them as tools, rather than as complete weapons. He refuses to acknowledge them as "weapons" and refers to the two as merely "tools of the trade". This conclusion on the philosophy of weapons has given Ren a detached connection with the daggers, as they are merely what he uses for his work, which is often times killing. He uses a single dagger with equal proficiency as he does with both of them unsheathed, and often prefers to switch up fighting styles on the fly with the knives. Often times he begins with one, and then progresses to using both, or vice-versa, not really showing a preference in utilizing them. Again, he mixes up ways of using his tools rather frequently, and often fights with a surgeon-esque accuracy on vitals, to a wildfire mix of slashes and kicks, to throwing them as projectiles. "As long as it will get the job done". Noticeably, Ren's outlook on fighting with tools is extremely different than with his bending, mainly because he connects fire with art, and his daggers with the mere idea of taking another human life.
Fighting style: Ren turns to martial arts first and foremost in an altercation, using his own body before using either his bending or daggers. His fighting style is completely immersed in the philosophy of "Aiki" or harmonizing with ones opponent. If his opponent his much less skilled than he is, he'll hinder his own capabilities to harmonize with the opponent. He views it as "Joining ones energies" in order to read the opponent better, and get an overall better foothold of attaining the final blow. Many martial arts evoke the thought of either using an opponent's force against them, or overwhelming the opponent. Ren shows neither, and simply IS the opponent. He completely conforms himself into their realm of capability, and when finally achieving the upper-hand, initiates the final blow. If fighting an evasive prone opponent, he'll supplement his own movements with equally evasive tendencies, forcing them to step out of their comfort zone to deliver any progressive damage. Forcing the opponent to relinquish their preferred way of fighting is the fist step to victory, and allows Ren to completely maintain control of how his opponent thinks within the fight. Of course that is all situational, and many opponents have styles and degrees of fighting that Ren simply doesn't know. However he can infact harmonize with the overall flow of aggressive, passive, evasive, etc. Although, since Ren is rather sporadic and unconventional, his impatience is often known to overthrow this philosophy, and he simply reverts to unleashing his preferred style of Genbukan Ninjustsu- a defensive but extremely effective martial art based on vital knowledge and offensive-defense. As you can see, with Ren, everything's situational, for everything is based off of his mental standpoint at the moment. He'll either harmonize for hours and hours, methodically achieving the upper hand, or merely initiate the final blow without any philosophy whatsoever.
/Biography\
Personality: Ren’s personality deals in utter extremes, and rarely demonstrates any luke-warm feelings towards a subject. He’s either passionate to the extent of near obsession, such as in the case of his pursuit of the arts- or he holds a cold contempt for the subject at hand. Ren attempts to embrace a myriad of human emotions underneath the human psyche, and doesn’t choose to limit himself to the likes of positivity or negativity alone however. Although he does in fact hold strong opinions to the extent of extremes, he allows his natural thought progression to flow through the likes of anger, love, hate, passion, and other human emotions. Why limit oneself from feelings that are naturally there? He chooses to accept the various facets of his emotions, and use them for the benefit of the situation. For instance channeling the utter energy of anger to energize, rather than hinder. Or use love’s sympathy and warmth to convince and persuade.
Ren’s words are colored through the likes of flowery and exuberant quotation, and often cites the likes of great minds of the past. The uneducated would simply be incapable of comprehending some of his speech. Technicolor imagery and ridiculous adjectives are used frequently, often diving into near Shakespearean in his languages poetic and dialectic quality. However when emancipated in the heat of the moment he isn’t opposed to bark serious orders in a rather rugged and unrefined manner. His infatuation in the arts and obsessive nature has transformed him into a perfectionist in his own artistic endeavors. He often sets canvases aflame, and spits fire from his gape if stumbling in rhetoric. His unconventional approach to the likes of living life has a tendency to keep those around him on edge, as if he’s made of some sort of explosive and volatile substance. Often times he will be briefing the higher positions of his rebellion on an endeavor, and can’t seem to grasp a certain quote that would perfectly describe the situation in its entirety. This would lead him to break into a superheated outburst of anger at his inability to remember said quote. Fortunately, this instability is vented into subjects purely artistic, and doesn’t normally leak into the likes of his logical thought process.
Amongst the mental arsenal that is Ren’s mind, various techniques and points of view are often used to completely grasp a topic. His words often leak extremely eloquent propaganda, the kind that is expertly in tune to change ones entire belief system. This has allowed him to gain quite a following in his recent outward rebellion. Amongst this, he has two, rather polished perspectives on the world around him. These are the perspectives of classic and romantic. His classic perception allows him to look at the underlying meaning of a situation. This gives him the technical and professor-like intellect to logically apprehend a situation. This perspective is most dominant when reading an opponents moves, surveying a battlefield, planning various aspects of the rebellion, or in the pursuit of the likes of philosophy, science, or other forms of higher thought. His romantic perception follows more along the line of guttural feeling. This drives his artistic obsession, and is used in every aspect of his firebending, writing, speaking, and roughly every artistic endeavor he pursues. The romantic outlook allows him to “feel” rather than think, and often his instincts overwhelm the process of higher thought. This balance in between schools of thought allow a extremely efficient manner of approaching situations, and is one of the major reasons why he leads the Bunkaku rebellion.
History: Ren was born in the golden age of Fire Nation aristocracy and royalty. It was a time where pride was at it’s peak, and every citizen of the Fire Nation walked with a strut of utter arrogance and condescendence upon the rest of the world. It was odd, because Ren wasn’t born into this mindset at all, for his hate towards Earth and Water benders developed much later in his life. Ren’s parents were artisans, his father a metal work, and his mother a painter. They seemed despondent and disconnected from the lavish luxury of the world around them, and didn’t seem to uphold any sense of Nationalism whatsoever. While the Fire Nation praised the likes of Azulon and the royal family, Ren’s parents secretly spat at their selfish tendencies, refusing to accept the complete monopolization that they had upon the minds of the Fire Nation. The two disconnected parents were political activists, and under the cloak of a complex network of relationships- they protested silently against the disgusting rule of the Fire Nation Monarchy.
Various meetings would frequently be held in their compound, and diplomats and people of importance from the lands of Water and Earth would often meet to discuss the direction of the Fire Nation’s totalitarian government. Of course these meetings were under complete social lockdown, and were shielded with great efforts from the prying eyes of the Fire Nation’s military. A young Ren was completely surrounded in culture, from across the globe. Water Tribe soldiers would often bring him carved artifacts from their village, and even presented him with a sculpted traditional hunting knife. Ren was looked upon as a promising youth of unity, one to which should be doted upon with the likes of culture and inheritance. Earth Kingdom officials would tell him folk tales of badgers and maidens, while Ren himself would listen to the diplomatic discussions amongst the peace-yearning individuals.
Ren’s father talked with purpose, his words falling heavily upon the ears of his 'companions'.
“I have lived, and continue to live with the overwhelming thought that your worlds would be completely obliterated during my lifetime. That’s a concept I just cannot accept.”
The surrounding water and earth officials broke into chattered conversation, each one doubting, fearing, or scorning the likes of the Fire Nation. One, a Water Tribe captain spokes.
“We know you mean well, and greatly appreciate this circle of unity amongst nations you have developed. But our people are strong, and I simply don’t see our demise happening, especially from the likes of the Fire Nation.
This was in the time of Azulon. The people were mindful of the Fire Nations growing threat, but the rumors of airbender genocide weren’t accepted as full on fact in the general public, for the killings had been suppressed by the Fire Nation monarch.
It was a time of not necessarily arrogance in the Water and Earth realms, but of unacceptable views of a outwardly militant Fire Nation. For no attacks on their borders had been initiated as of yet…however they were in for a surprise.
The days of fascinating observation of the people of the water and earth tribes were dwindling for Ren. When they came now, they were silent to him, serious looks upon their faces. They had the faces of war. Of sorrow. Faces that have looked upon the placid eyes of death himself. Faces that had seen the unspeakable. They ceased to dote upon the young Ren, and spoke to his parents with a more untrusting tone. Regardless of his parents political position, they were indeed Fire Nation, and with the unspeakable atrocities that the Fire Nation had begun to commence upon the Southern Water Tribe and outlying Earth Kingdom villages, the diplomats had eyes of contempt towards both the young Ren and his parents.
Of course Ren was halfway involved in these affairs. Although he did listen in on the debates and discussions, his mind was that of a child. He played with Fire Nation kids, attended a Fire Nation school, and was often confused when the teachings of his school master contradicted the beliefs of his parents. While the school spoke of supremacy and war, his parents spoke of equality and peace. Thus there were turbulent waters raging on opposing shores of Ren’s mind. He refused to accept much of what either of them told him. He did love his hunting knife however, and couldn’t see how the kind Water Tribe captains, or Earth Kingdom soldiers were inferior to his likeness.
Eventually the discussions weren’t necessarily peaceful anymore. While his parents continued to talk of peace and outreached their voices of acceptance, the other Nations had seen far too much than to trust in their words. A debate finally boiled over, and tensions exploded in what was supposed to be a congregation of peace.
“I don’t want to hear it” yelled an Earth Kindgom official. “Regardless of what you say, our people are dying! Dying from the likes of YOUR people” He put great emphasis on the word “your” pointing a finger between Ren’s fathers eyes.
Ren’s Father’s words stumbled. “Long Tzu, you know us. We’re artists, accepting the likes of the mind over the likes of war and aggression.”
The Earth official shook his head. During the continuing discussions, a red faced Earth Soldier smoldering behind the arguing men. He was from one of the attacked villages, and you could tell that tremendous terrors had occurred in his vision.
Ren’s father spoke “We don’t mean war, we mea-”
His words were cut off by a blood curling scream that erupted from the red faced soldier. An earth spire speared through the shoulder of his father, blood erupting from the sharpened spear. The crimson liquid flowed prevalently, splattering across a terrified Ren’s face. His father screamed in pain, looking at the burning liquid that cascaded from his girth. Chaos erupted.
Ren’s mother, a firebender, blasted forward in an emotion fueled attack. Flames danced amongst the diplomats, all being in some way burned from the onslaught.
“I knew it!” shrieked a Water Tribe man, “There are no allegiances but our own Nations.”
And with that, what once was a place of peace erupted into an emotion filled war room, as the diplomats fled from the now halfway ablaze compound. As wood and comfort crumbled beneath a smoldering sorrow of war.
Ren’s family left the city, relocating itself to a more rural countryside region of the Fire Nation. His father was alive, just completely incapacitated from the injury. Although his parents were mournful of the destruction of the united congregation, they held no grudges. They wished for the peace talks to continue, and tried not to let emotions derail them of their original purpose of peace. Ren, however, saw it differently. That man had tried to kill his father. All of a sudden, the talks that the over zealous school master had given all made sense. These people were heathens, to come into their house, under a concept of peace, and unleash senseless violence like that. Unexpected violence! It was cowardice! Disgusting cowardice! No wonder the Fire Lord spoke with a vicious tongue, a tongue that meant for the utter destruction of the Earth and Water realms. No wonder they were considered inferior.
No matter the situation, Ren’s household was that of openness. His family had continuously involved Ren in the arts from a young age, and talked about issues as a family. When afflicted by an issue, they would communicate about said issue until it was gone. It was an extremely healthy relationship. His parents would constantly teach Ren anecdotes and concepts of peace and prosperity amongst nations, and not only encourage outward expression and creativity, but try to evoke Ren’s mind through intellectual studies of philosophical texts and scientific analysis. It was more of a university than a house. During meals they would cross examine concepts and tear apart political outlooks. They would define morality and attempt to decipher the concept of their very existence. The household was exhilarating in the sense that it was a nesting ground of creative energy, one teeming with knowledge and culture. However after the incident, Ren grew more and more solitary.
Instead of outwardly expressing himself to his parents, he would choose to individually pursue his artistic endeavors. He honestly ceased to care about his parents opinions upon his creative products. He delved into his own meditations, and in his adolescence sought knowledge not through his parents, but on his own. Although he still lived with them, he would rarely communicate, seething farther and farther now the path of isolation. His parents rarely questioned his actions, fearing they would infringe on his choice of creative expression. He studied dialectic, wrote poems and koans, questioned, began to build up a huge basis of literary skill though the likes of rhetoric and speech, he painted, sketched, played music, read, oh he read constantly. He would religiously finish any text he began, absorbing the words as if they were a needed vitamin for his existence. He continued to pursue the study of civics and politics, physical properties of the world around him, he studied plants, animals, human anatomy, spirituality. He was fascinated by botany, anthropology, geology, volcanology, the medical field, various media for visual arts, projection, theatre, prose, and other countless forms of human expression. All this without a word to his parents.
And then came Fire.
Through his intellectual endeavors, Ren came across the ability of Firebending. It was a monumental step, Ren's first step into the likes of being completely consumed by even the thought of fire. It was discovered through a painting, oddly. The fifteen year old Ren contained the same perfectionist-like attitude, and in a moment of complete frustration in a painting he was methodically working upon, set the piece ablaze in a whirlwind of blazing flame.
A quivering hand moved the brush over the taught fabric, it was combining various color's to create homespun concoctions of his own. "Color engineering" is what he called it, and he considered it to be a promising aspect of inventing new paths in the likes of visual arts. However in the combination he was presently working upon, all that was being established was a mud-colored brown.
Ren's face cringed in frustration, for this was his fourth attempt at combing an intense violet with a emerald green. He had been experimenting with different quantities, paint types, and canvas materials, and again not his desired outcome. His mind was set ablaze in pure anger at the situation. He wanted results, not these undesired outcomes. And thus his fury leaked outward, from the pure thought of anger, and a sharp exhale.
Flames erupted from his hand, as dancing spurts of fire outstretched towards the paint-stricken canvas. It immediately erupted in a display of wood splinters and charred fabric, as Ren's eyes widened at the utter beauty of this amazing spectacle. That beauty had come from HIM; that destruction had come from HIM. His experimenting with paint seemed petty in comparison to the alive and malleable entity that was fire.
He was consumed from then on.
Ren was set off with this discovery, catalyzing his newfound ability with his artistic drive. He would wander to the outstretching forests around his compound, making flares and manipulating fire into various forms and objects. His creative mind forced him to create arcs, whips, and circles of flame. Soon simple shapes evolved into living, breathing entities. Instead of the normal toys that youth found enjoyment in, Ren had his fire. He would create swirling serpents and dragons to spike his fascination in Fire Nation mythology. Eventually his mind would wander into creating creatures that the Water and Earth diplomats had told him about. Mutated penguins, and huge deformed "badgers" were his entertainment. Oddly enough he would conduct theatre performances that were seemingly disturbing in their story line. He would align boulders and logs to represent the likes of people of the Earth Kingom and Water Tribe, and would puppeteer figures of flame to represent soldiers of the Fire Nation. In a weirdly produced display, the figures would burn the logs and destroy the boulders in a mock representation of Ren's growing hatred of the outside world.
Despite his detest in the Water and Earth realms, Ren's intellect in politics and government prevented him from having full allegiance with the Fire Nation. Although he did see the Fire Nation as a superior entity, he viewed the Royal family has a disgusting monopolization of the Fire Nations great minds and warriors. There were obviously smarter and stronger people throughout the Fire Nation than the Fire Lord, why not allow them to have a say in the running of the government. He viewed Azulon as a dictator that robbed the Fire Nation of their natural and superior mind and power, using it to his advantage. His hate for royalty equaled his developing hate of the other nations. And it was a downward spiral from then on. Ren versed himself in the likes of revolution, reading texts of rebellions and insurrections of the past. He drew inspiration from conspiracy theories and attempts to overthrow the royal family, and identified greatly with the radical revolutionists that colored the pages of history. HE wanted to become the likes of those revolutionists, and were his childhood heroes in his entirety. It was a downward spiral of sanity from then on.
His insane theatrical performances and artistic training involving fire got out of hand. His parents began to question what he was up to, and he merely shook them off, a manic fire in his eyes showing them his intentions. Ren held great respect for nature, and from a separate spiritual standpoint, saw natural entities having soul residents equal to his own. He heralded a view of nature that was equal to his view of the people of the Fire Nation, and his respect for all the elements, separated from their benders, was great. His gripe with the outside world wasn't with trees, water, earth, or nature itself, it was with outside humanity. However his obsession with fire flared upward, and sadly, Ren accidentally set fire to his compounds surrounding Forest. The Trees and habitats were scorched to the ground, as leaves and bark were rendered to ash.
Ren was devastated at his actions, but he was also entranced. He was saddened to see nature bow in submission, and ultimately burned to ash, however he was also fascinated in the spontaneous and destructive nature of fire. It seemed to spark Ren's obsession further, for he philosophically engaged every aspect of Fire, taking it's warmth, destruction, life, and death into account. It fueled that Fire had the capability to give, and to take away, developing Ren's attachment to his element. Obviously Ren's parents didn't take kindly to Ren's "experiments", and their normally open and accepting views on things did an about-face. They saw Ren's habits developing into a destructive lifestyle, and tried to explain to Ren that his actions weren't peaceful. Ren, a growing adolescent, didn't accept his parent's opinions as valid, ignoring their efforts, and eventually showing pure contempt towards them. Ren spat words of hate, kindling fire's destructive nature into his view of his parents. He saw them as hindrances to his vision, his vision of eventual revolution, and his vision of fire as a supreme entity. Obviously if they couldn't see and accept his standpoint, their intellects weren't as developed as he'd like to think.
This surprising, and nearly militant reaction from Ren was combated with extreme discipline. Normally peaceful, Ren's parents resorted to the likes of supression and restriction to bring sense to Ren's mind. They stumbled upon his room, finding charred canvases and texts on violent revolution, human vital manipulation, dangerously violent martial arts, and to their horror a human body. The now faceless corpse had been dissected to an extent, various organs removed, and books on surgery methods. Sketches of various organs and human systems were surrounding the embalmed body. It was a disgusting display, the lower leg of the corpse had been charred black, and various other parts had been mutilated beyond recognition. Ren explained rather somberly that it was used with research, and intellectual purposes. It had been for the pursuit of knowledge, and to quench his natural curiosity. But who was this man? Who was the now unrecognizable corpse? Ren stated that it was the Earth Kingdom diplomat, the one that had skewered his father. Apparently he had returned to reach out in a second development of the congregation of unity, and when traveling with his company of other Earth Kingdom officials, passed by Ren while he was experimenting with Fire in the Forest. The man was killed rather brutally, for when Ren had recognized him as his father's assailant, he was consumed with hatred. It was near sunset, meaning Ren would compliment such scenery with not overly exuberant firebending. For the sky had provided a stage to which is was demonstrating it's own form of Firebending, and Ren would bow in humble submission to it's power. Thus, a well timed small tendril of fire, glazed with golden flames scorched the man's throat. It was aimed with surgeon-like accuracy from the top of a tree, and had landed with excruciating results. The man’s pharynx imploded instantly, and his entire tracheal tract had been rendered completely mutilated. Upon the man’s instant death, the other officials stumbled like animals, and in Ren’s judgmental eyes acted like scared swine.
His parent’s were disgusted, bewildered that their own son had resorted to such blatantly morbid habits. Their own son, one born into culture and acceptance had destroyed an oncoming peace convey, butchering any further chance of underground understanding. It was ruined, and it was from the scathing hate of Ren Hoshigawa. In response they exploded, not knowing what to do with their obviously hate befallen son. Ren was so blindly infuriated from their displays of not understanding his motives that he had to suppress unleashing his seeping hate in the form of violence onto them. And so he fled, for both their benefits. Even if they didn’t agree with him, he couldn’t let his anger rob the lives of his own parents. And so he ran, falling into a state of terrestrial purgatory, a mindset between appreciation and hate.
He often would wander forests, appreciating their all encompassing nature, only to feel spurts of aggression that wished to level the life to ash. He was unaware why these strikes of violence plagued him, however he sunk further into isolation to prevent the all encompassing violent fire within him to overcome his nature appreciation and warmth. There was a battle of two fires raging within him, one of warmth and life, the other of destruction and hate. Thus he delved into deep meditation, starving himself within the confines of the foliage and nature of the Fire Nation rural-scapes. He transgressed through mountaintops and rivers, caves and canyons not opening his eyes to his surroundings, but feeling them. It lasted years of his life, this peregrinating of movement. Turns would be made on a whim, directions chosen at random, and time melted away peaceful through his adventures. He would paint mental images and construct poetry in his own mind of what surrounded him, using his other senses as his paint and brush. This solitary confinement from not only society, but from humanity allowed his inner thought to calm and settle. The hate was still their, but nevertheless Ren had CONTROLLED it, which was the most valuable asset a Fire Bender could possibly have. The violence was locked, and luckily, Ren had the key to where it could be unleashed whenever he saw fit.
After his reclusive and cleansing wanderings, Ren made the sudden choice to reacquaint himself with the human world, and became a begger on the streets of a bustling Fire Nation city. Dressed in rags of the past, he saw the humanity of the Fire Nation for it’s beauty, it’s compassion, it’s utter energy. Carts and pedestrians inspired Ren’s mind to the confines of obsession as he fell in love with the Fire Nation yet again. This wasn’t the lives of Royalty and military. It was the lives of the people! The lives of what the Fire Nation really was. They laughed, played, and worked. They lived extraordinary lives as he saw scribes, artisans, workers, and merchants. This wasn’t the bloodthirsty land that he had heard the Earth Kingdom and Water tribes speak of. In fact it angered him that they could be blind of the actual majority of the Fire Nation. It wasn’t a nation of Azulon and Ozai, but one of the people, one of the poet and peddler. Ren joined their ranks, incorporating his color engineering with paint into his bending. In his early to mid twenties he dazzled passerby’s with his spectacles of colored Fire bending. He would spurt blazes of deep purple, mixing a matching them with flares of the most royal of greens, to the most every day of red’s and oranges. It was a huge hit, and Ren earned quite a following with children and the people of the town. He did it to see the joy within theses people’s faces, as it brought him comfort to see such a sight.
He would fight for them. Ren decided it was time for their voices to be heard, and to be put to use towards the direction of the Fire Nation. In his eyes, Fire Nation royalty was wasting it’s biggest resource, the power of the people of the Fire Nation. How blind they were! And thus Ren began using his voice. He penned beautiful speeches filled with flame and passion of how people needed to stand up for themselves to be heard. Yelling on street corners, Ren would let his words befall the ears of commoners, their eyes alight with the imagery of activity and importance. This passionate, older Ren became a hero through words, bringing the concept of individuality and freedom of choice to the people of this middle-sized town. Soon nearby districts caught wind of this individual, and there became a network of people working together to get their voices heard. It was infectious as Ren’s public speaking caught fire to people’s minds as they worked at grassroots levels in rewiring local public policy, allowing different forms of education that weren’t military run and bringing the concept of democracy to familiarity. Of course, the Fire Nation government took notice of this stirring rebellion, as Ren’s words were getting continuously volatile against the crown and its atrocities.
The Fire Nation government unleashed a campaign against the province that had caught fire with inspiration, and quelled this up rise through suppression and fear. They restricted creativity and freedoms, pressuring the people to merely keep doing their jobs and work for the glory of the Fire Nation royalty. The military continued to stress how their work was helping the crown, and they should be honored to feed the fire of Azulon and the rest of the royal family. However, still inspired, Ren launched violent resitance. It was a pitiful attempt, as the people with poor bending skills armed with tools and no defense were crushed against the trained Fire Nation army, and blood ran through the streets until fear seeped deep within the region. No one would dare speak out against the crown or the military, and hope was diminished into acceptance that they wouldn’t be able to do anything against the governments force. With the blood of many a Fire Nation soldiers on his hands and no where to run, Ren diverged into hiding, writing memoirs and sending out anonymous essays that were a futile attempt to re-inspire and criticize the Royal family.
Ren took up the mask for the sake of an anonymous persona, and resorted to temporarily peaceful tactics against the crown. It was now the time of Ozai, and Ren agreed with his actions against the other nations, however he didn’t agree with his intelligence. To Ren, Ozai was a power-hungry fool who although was correct in initiating war against the heathens, disregarded internal policy that could make the Fire Nation great. Policies of democracy, freedom of choice, enlightenment ideas, and people-fueled government were at the opposite end of the spectrum from Ozai’s basic dictatorship.
Ren gained a more passionate, localized underground following. These were those who weren’t afraid to fight, to lay their lives down for the sake of the “true” Fire Nation. These were the roots of the Bunkaku, and Ren led them through effective internalized campaigns that brought pride to the unfortunate people. For years this deeply effective unit of revolution delt heavy internal blows towards the Fire Nation military, as Ren gained experience in leadership, combat, and overall intelligence. There were constant rumors of an underground force that had robbed, plundered, or destroyed a convoy. For the Fire Nation military regularly stole resources from its rural towns and people, and thus Ren and the early Bunkaku would form natural blockades and hindrances against the Military. To them, the Fire Nation needed to think and give power internally before it could control and transform outside its borders.
With the defeat of Ozai, Ren’s anger flared even more violently. Not only was the royal crown going to stay intact, but the Fire Nation was going to assimilate it’s resources and throught into the outside world. When so much needed to be accomplished internally, for the PEOPLE of the Fire Nation- efforts were going to be made to conform into the artless heathens and inferior of the outside world. Ren was well versed, so he didn’t consider himself racist against these people. He merely thought that they were simply unable to comprehend beauty, which made them unable to stand equal to the people of the Fire Nation. Ren thought they should deal with their own problems and the Fire Nation their own. The people’s voices, much still exhibiting animosity towards these other nations, were never going to be heard from the new “Fire Lord Zuko”. It was still a dictatorship, no matter the regression from war, it was still in control by a family, and his new outsider “friends.”
Ren was…and is, disgusted, and seeks to inspire the Fire Nation for change and rebellion against the royal family, and retain the supremacy that it the Fire Nation People.
User ID: Ren
Experience: An ancient Role Player from the annals of history. I ended up retired for awhile, but back with a vengeance.
/Basic Info\
Name: Ren Hoshigawa
Age: 47
Alias: The Oni
Nation: Fire Nation
Occupation: Leader of the Bunkaku (A Fire Nation Supremist group), An Avant-Garde Revolutionist, Artist, Philosopher, Poet, Idealist, Geographer, Biologist, Florist, Surgeon, etc.
Political Standpoint/Allegiance: Ren's belief on the world, at least the world as he knows it, is shrouded in his enigma of a mind. His brain works in intense brush strokes, the paint being compiled from the utter contempt he has for anything lying outside of the Fire Nation's borders. From his erratic and transient past, he's gained a burning hatred from the outside nations; one that's steeped in his extremely ethereal beliefs of art, the world, and everything. His eyes only see the Earth Kingdom as full of mindless brutes, while his imagination paints obscene pictures of rock heaving primates who exist in world completely consumed with the physical side of reality. To him, the Water Tribes are full of racist heathens completely immersed in their own disgusting culture, failing to see past their own noses.
And thus, an elitist regime as begun to spark, one that see's the Fire Nation as the only capable nation of expressing and appreciating the beauty of his world. He views fire as a symbol of beauty in its purest form; and sees fire's spontaneous yet destructive nature dangerously enticing. For Ren, the Fire Bender is the ultimate symbol of art- in terms of both creation and destruction. One can give both warmth and visual ecstasy, and intolerable pain and destruction in a simple exhale. His philosophy is completely encompassed in the entire concept of fire: from it's conception and eye pleasing spontaneity, to the underlying meaning of it's blood wrenching nature.
However, Ren despises the concept of royalty, or totalitarian rule all together. In his eyes, the concept of a single, ruling individual is completely inadequate to the desires of a Nation. For a Fire needs to be fed with many minds, not from the selfish rule of a single person. His revolution is constructed through giving "Power to the People" the people being the people of the Fire Nation, everyone else is just a sniveling, artless, barbarian. Of course the concept of people having a voice in government is rather appealing to the general public, so in recent times Ren has developed quite a following and voice within the Fire Nation. As a whole, his movement is just as much against the complete authoritarian rule of Prince Zuko and the royal family, as it is against the unthinking scum of other nations. Ren's views and revolution remain as a scathing blade against the onslaught of unappreciative minds that continue to plague the land, as he intends to bring back the conceptual voice of beauty to the masses and through fire- to the world.
Appearance: To maintain an anonymous persona Ren masks his identity through a ceremonial, scarlet Oni mask. The mask itself is displayed with fierce, exaggerated eyes, and gnarled curved teeth emerging from a gaping mouth. Around the sides of the mask are black striped brushstrokes curving up- similar to tiger stripes. His wild and untamed hair is desperately maintained with a lack luster ponytail, while the rest of his hair falls hopelessly in jet black strands in front of the mask. He wears canvas pants, cut off at the knee, while an open, rather plain, red and black kimono halfway covers his frame. The obi is worn underneath the robes, covering his waist and mid-stomach. He wears traditional wooden geta sandals, but often thrusts them off in frustration. He's immersed completely in his own mind, and rarely pays his physical embodiment any attention- giving him a somewhat skinny stature. He's rather tall however, marking around 6' 2'', and wears a pair of daggers, along with a small flute and some paint brushes slightly visible underneath his open kimono.
/Combat Structure\
Bending: Firebender. He's at an upper advanced level, but rarely uses his bending in combat. He prefers to bend just for the mere prospect of gazing into the inferno, philosophizing endlessly into the blaze. However his bending in battle has earned him a reputation when unleashed, and although he prefers meditating on fire as an art form, he's just as in tune with its blood thirsty and assaulting nature.
Weapons: Ren maintains a simple arsenal of merely two, discrete, and rather bland daggers. There is absolutely no embroidery or decoration on the hilts of sheaths, however the blades themselves are extremely sharp.
Combat Style:
Bending style: Although his bending is rarely presented in a combat situation, the fires raging within his own mind are universally demonstrated through his bending. His brain is consumed by a degree of insanity, therefore his bending, although controlled, is rather erratic and unique. He bends with a complete mind over matter, visualizing every technique thoroughly before unleashing it. Before acting, he thinks of the beauty of the technique itself, making sure that its appearance, as well as its deadliness is completely harmonized. This complete absence of conventional bending makes reading his moves nearly impossible, since depending on a situation- such as the lighting of the sky- will alter how he initiates his technique. To define his style completely; it ranges from the quick and extremely aggressive- to the slow and drawn out. Again, it all depends on his mental state, the opponent, and countless other factors. Viewing Firebending as a complete art, Ren has experimented with the various colorations of firebending, and has worked extremely hard to control ridiculous color combinations. Through intense mental training, Ren discovered that the colorations of Fire are normally determined upon the mindset of the bender. Thus through shifts in mental outlook through an artists mentality, he has obtained an artists palate of various blends and colors of flame. He blends rainbows of fire, not only for effectiveness, but for the utter beauty of the actual bending. He never bends in a complete color, and often adds dashes of green and purple to the basic fire blast, and tinges of orange to more intense colorations. As for manipulating lightning, it remains as just another tool on his artist's repertoire. He never utilizes it completely and solitary, but adds green and blue sparks to colored fire, or emerald flames to a fully charged yellow thunder. It's all in the aesthetic for Ren, rather than in the actual combat. To be blunt, it's extremely effective, and the style itself is likely to catch his opponent off guard with its random and completely ridiculous nature.
Weapon Style: Ren's daggers are completely assimilated into his everyday attire, so he's invested many hours into the perfection of utilizing them as tools, rather than as complete weapons. He refuses to acknowledge them as "weapons" and refers to the two as merely "tools of the trade". This conclusion on the philosophy of weapons has given Ren a detached connection with the daggers, as they are merely what he uses for his work, which is often times killing. He uses a single dagger with equal proficiency as he does with both of them unsheathed, and often prefers to switch up fighting styles on the fly with the knives. Often times he begins with one, and then progresses to using both, or vice-versa, not really showing a preference in utilizing them. Again, he mixes up ways of using his tools rather frequently, and often fights with a surgeon-esque accuracy on vitals, to a wildfire mix of slashes and kicks, to throwing them as projectiles. "As long as it will get the job done". Noticeably, Ren's outlook on fighting with tools is extremely different than with his bending, mainly because he connects fire with art, and his daggers with the mere idea of taking another human life.
Fighting style: Ren turns to martial arts first and foremost in an altercation, using his own body before using either his bending or daggers. His fighting style is completely immersed in the philosophy of "Aiki" or harmonizing with ones opponent. If his opponent his much less skilled than he is, he'll hinder his own capabilities to harmonize with the opponent. He views it as "Joining ones energies" in order to read the opponent better, and get an overall better foothold of attaining the final blow. Many martial arts evoke the thought of either using an opponent's force against them, or overwhelming the opponent. Ren shows neither, and simply IS the opponent. He completely conforms himself into their realm of capability, and when finally achieving the upper-hand, initiates the final blow. If fighting an evasive prone opponent, he'll supplement his own movements with equally evasive tendencies, forcing them to step out of their comfort zone to deliver any progressive damage. Forcing the opponent to relinquish their preferred way of fighting is the fist step to victory, and allows Ren to completely maintain control of how his opponent thinks within the fight. Of course that is all situational, and many opponents have styles and degrees of fighting that Ren simply doesn't know. However he can infact harmonize with the overall flow of aggressive, passive, evasive, etc. Although, since Ren is rather sporadic and unconventional, his impatience is often known to overthrow this philosophy, and he simply reverts to unleashing his preferred style of Genbukan Ninjustsu- a defensive but extremely effective martial art based on vital knowledge and offensive-defense. As you can see, with Ren, everything's situational, for everything is based off of his mental standpoint at the moment. He'll either harmonize for hours and hours, methodically achieving the upper hand, or merely initiate the final blow without any philosophy whatsoever.
/Biography\
Personality: Ren’s personality deals in utter extremes, and rarely demonstrates any luke-warm feelings towards a subject. He’s either passionate to the extent of near obsession, such as in the case of his pursuit of the arts- or he holds a cold contempt for the subject at hand. Ren attempts to embrace a myriad of human emotions underneath the human psyche, and doesn’t choose to limit himself to the likes of positivity or negativity alone however. Although he does in fact hold strong opinions to the extent of extremes, he allows his natural thought progression to flow through the likes of anger, love, hate, passion, and other human emotions. Why limit oneself from feelings that are naturally there? He chooses to accept the various facets of his emotions, and use them for the benefit of the situation. For instance channeling the utter energy of anger to energize, rather than hinder. Or use love’s sympathy and warmth to convince and persuade.
Ren’s words are colored through the likes of flowery and exuberant quotation, and often cites the likes of great minds of the past. The uneducated would simply be incapable of comprehending some of his speech. Technicolor imagery and ridiculous adjectives are used frequently, often diving into near Shakespearean in his languages poetic and dialectic quality. However when emancipated in the heat of the moment he isn’t opposed to bark serious orders in a rather rugged and unrefined manner. His infatuation in the arts and obsessive nature has transformed him into a perfectionist in his own artistic endeavors. He often sets canvases aflame, and spits fire from his gape if stumbling in rhetoric. His unconventional approach to the likes of living life has a tendency to keep those around him on edge, as if he’s made of some sort of explosive and volatile substance. Often times he will be briefing the higher positions of his rebellion on an endeavor, and can’t seem to grasp a certain quote that would perfectly describe the situation in its entirety. This would lead him to break into a superheated outburst of anger at his inability to remember said quote. Fortunately, this instability is vented into subjects purely artistic, and doesn’t normally leak into the likes of his logical thought process.
Amongst the mental arsenal that is Ren’s mind, various techniques and points of view are often used to completely grasp a topic. His words often leak extremely eloquent propaganda, the kind that is expertly in tune to change ones entire belief system. This has allowed him to gain quite a following in his recent outward rebellion. Amongst this, he has two, rather polished perspectives on the world around him. These are the perspectives of classic and romantic. His classic perception allows him to look at the underlying meaning of a situation. This gives him the technical and professor-like intellect to logically apprehend a situation. This perspective is most dominant when reading an opponents moves, surveying a battlefield, planning various aspects of the rebellion, or in the pursuit of the likes of philosophy, science, or other forms of higher thought. His romantic perception follows more along the line of guttural feeling. This drives his artistic obsession, and is used in every aspect of his firebending, writing, speaking, and roughly every artistic endeavor he pursues. The romantic outlook allows him to “feel” rather than think, and often his instincts overwhelm the process of higher thought. This balance in between schools of thought allow a extremely efficient manner of approaching situations, and is one of the major reasons why he leads the Bunkaku rebellion.
History: Ren was born in the golden age of Fire Nation aristocracy and royalty. It was a time where pride was at it’s peak, and every citizen of the Fire Nation walked with a strut of utter arrogance and condescendence upon the rest of the world. It was odd, because Ren wasn’t born into this mindset at all, for his hate towards Earth and Water benders developed much later in his life. Ren’s parents were artisans, his father a metal work, and his mother a painter. They seemed despondent and disconnected from the lavish luxury of the world around them, and didn’t seem to uphold any sense of Nationalism whatsoever. While the Fire Nation praised the likes of Azulon and the royal family, Ren’s parents secretly spat at their selfish tendencies, refusing to accept the complete monopolization that they had upon the minds of the Fire Nation. The two disconnected parents were political activists, and under the cloak of a complex network of relationships- they protested silently against the disgusting rule of the Fire Nation Monarchy.
Various meetings would frequently be held in their compound, and diplomats and people of importance from the lands of Water and Earth would often meet to discuss the direction of the Fire Nation’s totalitarian government. Of course these meetings were under complete social lockdown, and were shielded with great efforts from the prying eyes of the Fire Nation’s military. A young Ren was completely surrounded in culture, from across the globe. Water Tribe soldiers would often bring him carved artifacts from their village, and even presented him with a sculpted traditional hunting knife. Ren was looked upon as a promising youth of unity, one to which should be doted upon with the likes of culture and inheritance. Earth Kingdom officials would tell him folk tales of badgers and maidens, while Ren himself would listen to the diplomatic discussions amongst the peace-yearning individuals.
Ren’s father talked with purpose, his words falling heavily upon the ears of his 'companions'.
“I have lived, and continue to live with the overwhelming thought that your worlds would be completely obliterated during my lifetime. That’s a concept I just cannot accept.”
The surrounding water and earth officials broke into chattered conversation, each one doubting, fearing, or scorning the likes of the Fire Nation. One, a Water Tribe captain spokes.
“We know you mean well, and greatly appreciate this circle of unity amongst nations you have developed. But our people are strong, and I simply don’t see our demise happening, especially from the likes of the Fire Nation.
This was in the time of Azulon. The people were mindful of the Fire Nations growing threat, but the rumors of airbender genocide weren’t accepted as full on fact in the general public, for the killings had been suppressed by the Fire Nation monarch.
It was a time of not necessarily arrogance in the Water and Earth realms, but of unacceptable views of a outwardly militant Fire Nation. For no attacks on their borders had been initiated as of yet…however they were in for a surprise.
The days of fascinating observation of the people of the water and earth tribes were dwindling for Ren. When they came now, they were silent to him, serious looks upon their faces. They had the faces of war. Of sorrow. Faces that have looked upon the placid eyes of death himself. Faces that had seen the unspeakable. They ceased to dote upon the young Ren, and spoke to his parents with a more untrusting tone. Regardless of his parents political position, they were indeed Fire Nation, and with the unspeakable atrocities that the Fire Nation had begun to commence upon the Southern Water Tribe and outlying Earth Kingdom villages, the diplomats had eyes of contempt towards both the young Ren and his parents.
Of course Ren was halfway involved in these affairs. Although he did listen in on the debates and discussions, his mind was that of a child. He played with Fire Nation kids, attended a Fire Nation school, and was often confused when the teachings of his school master contradicted the beliefs of his parents. While the school spoke of supremacy and war, his parents spoke of equality and peace. Thus there were turbulent waters raging on opposing shores of Ren’s mind. He refused to accept much of what either of them told him. He did love his hunting knife however, and couldn’t see how the kind Water Tribe captains, or Earth Kingdom soldiers were inferior to his likeness.
Eventually the discussions weren’t necessarily peaceful anymore. While his parents continued to talk of peace and outreached their voices of acceptance, the other Nations had seen far too much than to trust in their words. A debate finally boiled over, and tensions exploded in what was supposed to be a congregation of peace.
“I don’t want to hear it” yelled an Earth Kindgom official. “Regardless of what you say, our people are dying! Dying from the likes of YOUR people” He put great emphasis on the word “your” pointing a finger between Ren’s fathers eyes.
Ren’s Father’s words stumbled. “Long Tzu, you know us. We’re artists, accepting the likes of the mind over the likes of war and aggression.”
The Earth official shook his head. During the continuing discussions, a red faced Earth Soldier smoldering behind the arguing men. He was from one of the attacked villages, and you could tell that tremendous terrors had occurred in his vision.
Ren’s father spoke “We don’t mean war, we mea-”
His words were cut off by a blood curling scream that erupted from the red faced soldier. An earth spire speared through the shoulder of his father, blood erupting from the sharpened spear. The crimson liquid flowed prevalently, splattering across a terrified Ren’s face. His father screamed in pain, looking at the burning liquid that cascaded from his girth. Chaos erupted.
Ren’s mother, a firebender, blasted forward in an emotion fueled attack. Flames danced amongst the diplomats, all being in some way burned from the onslaught.
“I knew it!” shrieked a Water Tribe man, “There are no allegiances but our own Nations.”
And with that, what once was a place of peace erupted into an emotion filled war room, as the diplomats fled from the now halfway ablaze compound. As wood and comfort crumbled beneath a smoldering sorrow of war.
Ren’s family left the city, relocating itself to a more rural countryside region of the Fire Nation. His father was alive, just completely incapacitated from the injury. Although his parents were mournful of the destruction of the united congregation, they held no grudges. They wished for the peace talks to continue, and tried not to let emotions derail them of their original purpose of peace. Ren, however, saw it differently. That man had tried to kill his father. All of a sudden, the talks that the over zealous school master had given all made sense. These people were heathens, to come into their house, under a concept of peace, and unleash senseless violence like that. Unexpected violence! It was cowardice! Disgusting cowardice! No wonder the Fire Lord spoke with a vicious tongue, a tongue that meant for the utter destruction of the Earth and Water realms. No wonder they were considered inferior.
No matter the situation, Ren’s household was that of openness. His family had continuously involved Ren in the arts from a young age, and talked about issues as a family. When afflicted by an issue, they would communicate about said issue until it was gone. It was an extremely healthy relationship. His parents would constantly teach Ren anecdotes and concepts of peace and prosperity amongst nations, and not only encourage outward expression and creativity, but try to evoke Ren’s mind through intellectual studies of philosophical texts and scientific analysis. It was more of a university than a house. During meals they would cross examine concepts and tear apart political outlooks. They would define morality and attempt to decipher the concept of their very existence. The household was exhilarating in the sense that it was a nesting ground of creative energy, one teeming with knowledge and culture. However after the incident, Ren grew more and more solitary.
Instead of outwardly expressing himself to his parents, he would choose to individually pursue his artistic endeavors. He honestly ceased to care about his parents opinions upon his creative products. He delved into his own meditations, and in his adolescence sought knowledge not through his parents, but on his own. Although he still lived with them, he would rarely communicate, seething farther and farther now the path of isolation. His parents rarely questioned his actions, fearing they would infringe on his choice of creative expression. He studied dialectic, wrote poems and koans, questioned, began to build up a huge basis of literary skill though the likes of rhetoric and speech, he painted, sketched, played music, read, oh he read constantly. He would religiously finish any text he began, absorbing the words as if they were a needed vitamin for his existence. He continued to pursue the study of civics and politics, physical properties of the world around him, he studied plants, animals, human anatomy, spirituality. He was fascinated by botany, anthropology, geology, volcanology, the medical field, various media for visual arts, projection, theatre, prose, and other countless forms of human expression. All this without a word to his parents.
And then came Fire.
Through his intellectual endeavors, Ren came across the ability of Firebending. It was a monumental step, Ren's first step into the likes of being completely consumed by even the thought of fire. It was discovered through a painting, oddly. The fifteen year old Ren contained the same perfectionist-like attitude, and in a moment of complete frustration in a painting he was methodically working upon, set the piece ablaze in a whirlwind of blazing flame.
A quivering hand moved the brush over the taught fabric, it was combining various color's to create homespun concoctions of his own. "Color engineering" is what he called it, and he considered it to be a promising aspect of inventing new paths in the likes of visual arts. However in the combination he was presently working upon, all that was being established was a mud-colored brown.
Ren's face cringed in frustration, for this was his fourth attempt at combing an intense violet with a emerald green. He had been experimenting with different quantities, paint types, and canvas materials, and again not his desired outcome. His mind was set ablaze in pure anger at the situation. He wanted results, not these undesired outcomes. And thus his fury leaked outward, from the pure thought of anger, and a sharp exhale.
Flames erupted from his hand, as dancing spurts of fire outstretched towards the paint-stricken canvas. It immediately erupted in a display of wood splinters and charred fabric, as Ren's eyes widened at the utter beauty of this amazing spectacle. That beauty had come from HIM; that destruction had come from HIM. His experimenting with paint seemed petty in comparison to the alive and malleable entity that was fire.
He was consumed from then on.
Ren was set off with this discovery, catalyzing his newfound ability with his artistic drive. He would wander to the outstretching forests around his compound, making flares and manipulating fire into various forms and objects. His creative mind forced him to create arcs, whips, and circles of flame. Soon simple shapes evolved into living, breathing entities. Instead of the normal toys that youth found enjoyment in, Ren had his fire. He would create swirling serpents and dragons to spike his fascination in Fire Nation mythology. Eventually his mind would wander into creating creatures that the Water and Earth diplomats had told him about. Mutated penguins, and huge deformed "badgers" were his entertainment. Oddly enough he would conduct theatre performances that were seemingly disturbing in their story line. He would align boulders and logs to represent the likes of people of the Earth Kingom and Water Tribe, and would puppeteer figures of flame to represent soldiers of the Fire Nation. In a weirdly produced display, the figures would burn the logs and destroy the boulders in a mock representation of Ren's growing hatred of the outside world.
Despite his detest in the Water and Earth realms, Ren's intellect in politics and government prevented him from having full allegiance with the Fire Nation. Although he did see the Fire Nation as a superior entity, he viewed the Royal family has a disgusting monopolization of the Fire Nations great minds and warriors. There were obviously smarter and stronger people throughout the Fire Nation than the Fire Lord, why not allow them to have a say in the running of the government. He viewed Azulon as a dictator that robbed the Fire Nation of their natural and superior mind and power, using it to his advantage. His hate for royalty equaled his developing hate of the other nations. And it was a downward spiral from then on. Ren versed himself in the likes of revolution, reading texts of rebellions and insurrections of the past. He drew inspiration from conspiracy theories and attempts to overthrow the royal family, and identified greatly with the radical revolutionists that colored the pages of history. HE wanted to become the likes of those revolutionists, and were his childhood heroes in his entirety. It was a downward spiral of sanity from then on.
His insane theatrical performances and artistic training involving fire got out of hand. His parents began to question what he was up to, and he merely shook them off, a manic fire in his eyes showing them his intentions. Ren held great respect for nature, and from a separate spiritual standpoint, saw natural entities having soul residents equal to his own. He heralded a view of nature that was equal to his view of the people of the Fire Nation, and his respect for all the elements, separated from their benders, was great. His gripe with the outside world wasn't with trees, water, earth, or nature itself, it was with outside humanity. However his obsession with fire flared upward, and sadly, Ren accidentally set fire to his compounds surrounding Forest. The Trees and habitats were scorched to the ground, as leaves and bark were rendered to ash.
Ren was devastated at his actions, but he was also entranced. He was saddened to see nature bow in submission, and ultimately burned to ash, however he was also fascinated in the spontaneous and destructive nature of fire. It seemed to spark Ren's obsession further, for he philosophically engaged every aspect of Fire, taking it's warmth, destruction, life, and death into account. It fueled that Fire had the capability to give, and to take away, developing Ren's attachment to his element. Obviously Ren's parents didn't take kindly to Ren's "experiments", and their normally open and accepting views on things did an about-face. They saw Ren's habits developing into a destructive lifestyle, and tried to explain to Ren that his actions weren't peaceful. Ren, a growing adolescent, didn't accept his parent's opinions as valid, ignoring their efforts, and eventually showing pure contempt towards them. Ren spat words of hate, kindling fire's destructive nature into his view of his parents. He saw them as hindrances to his vision, his vision of eventual revolution, and his vision of fire as a supreme entity. Obviously if they couldn't see and accept his standpoint, their intellects weren't as developed as he'd like to think.
This surprising, and nearly militant reaction from Ren was combated with extreme discipline. Normally peaceful, Ren's parents resorted to the likes of supression and restriction to bring sense to Ren's mind. They stumbled upon his room, finding charred canvases and texts on violent revolution, human vital manipulation, dangerously violent martial arts, and to their horror a human body. The now faceless corpse had been dissected to an extent, various organs removed, and books on surgery methods. Sketches of various organs and human systems were surrounding the embalmed body. It was a disgusting display, the lower leg of the corpse had been charred black, and various other parts had been mutilated beyond recognition. Ren explained rather somberly that it was used with research, and intellectual purposes. It had been for the pursuit of knowledge, and to quench his natural curiosity. But who was this man? Who was the now unrecognizable corpse? Ren stated that it was the Earth Kingdom diplomat, the one that had skewered his father. Apparently he had returned to reach out in a second development of the congregation of unity, and when traveling with his company of other Earth Kingdom officials, passed by Ren while he was experimenting with Fire in the Forest. The man was killed rather brutally, for when Ren had recognized him as his father's assailant, he was consumed with hatred. It was near sunset, meaning Ren would compliment such scenery with not overly exuberant firebending. For the sky had provided a stage to which is was demonstrating it's own form of Firebending, and Ren would bow in humble submission to it's power. Thus, a well timed small tendril of fire, glazed with golden flames scorched the man's throat. It was aimed with surgeon-like accuracy from the top of a tree, and had landed with excruciating results. The man’s pharynx imploded instantly, and his entire tracheal tract had been rendered completely mutilated. Upon the man’s instant death, the other officials stumbled like animals, and in Ren’s judgmental eyes acted like scared swine.
His parent’s were disgusted, bewildered that their own son had resorted to such blatantly morbid habits. Their own son, one born into culture and acceptance had destroyed an oncoming peace convey, butchering any further chance of underground understanding. It was ruined, and it was from the scathing hate of Ren Hoshigawa. In response they exploded, not knowing what to do with their obviously hate befallen son. Ren was so blindly infuriated from their displays of not understanding his motives that he had to suppress unleashing his seeping hate in the form of violence onto them. And so he fled, for both their benefits. Even if they didn’t agree with him, he couldn’t let his anger rob the lives of his own parents. And so he ran, falling into a state of terrestrial purgatory, a mindset between appreciation and hate.
He often would wander forests, appreciating their all encompassing nature, only to feel spurts of aggression that wished to level the life to ash. He was unaware why these strikes of violence plagued him, however he sunk further into isolation to prevent the all encompassing violent fire within him to overcome his nature appreciation and warmth. There was a battle of two fires raging within him, one of warmth and life, the other of destruction and hate. Thus he delved into deep meditation, starving himself within the confines of the foliage and nature of the Fire Nation rural-scapes. He transgressed through mountaintops and rivers, caves and canyons not opening his eyes to his surroundings, but feeling them. It lasted years of his life, this peregrinating of movement. Turns would be made on a whim, directions chosen at random, and time melted away peaceful through his adventures. He would paint mental images and construct poetry in his own mind of what surrounded him, using his other senses as his paint and brush. This solitary confinement from not only society, but from humanity allowed his inner thought to calm and settle. The hate was still their, but nevertheless Ren had CONTROLLED it, which was the most valuable asset a Fire Bender could possibly have. The violence was locked, and luckily, Ren had the key to where it could be unleashed whenever he saw fit.
After his reclusive and cleansing wanderings, Ren made the sudden choice to reacquaint himself with the human world, and became a begger on the streets of a bustling Fire Nation city. Dressed in rags of the past, he saw the humanity of the Fire Nation for it’s beauty, it’s compassion, it’s utter energy. Carts and pedestrians inspired Ren’s mind to the confines of obsession as he fell in love with the Fire Nation yet again. This wasn’t the lives of Royalty and military. It was the lives of the people! The lives of what the Fire Nation really was. They laughed, played, and worked. They lived extraordinary lives as he saw scribes, artisans, workers, and merchants. This wasn’t the bloodthirsty land that he had heard the Earth Kingdom and Water tribes speak of. In fact it angered him that they could be blind of the actual majority of the Fire Nation. It wasn’t a nation of Azulon and Ozai, but one of the people, one of the poet and peddler. Ren joined their ranks, incorporating his color engineering with paint into his bending. In his early to mid twenties he dazzled passerby’s with his spectacles of colored Fire bending. He would spurt blazes of deep purple, mixing a matching them with flares of the most royal of greens, to the most every day of red’s and oranges. It was a huge hit, and Ren earned quite a following with children and the people of the town. He did it to see the joy within theses people’s faces, as it brought him comfort to see such a sight.
He would fight for them. Ren decided it was time for their voices to be heard, and to be put to use towards the direction of the Fire Nation. In his eyes, Fire Nation royalty was wasting it’s biggest resource, the power of the people of the Fire Nation. How blind they were! And thus Ren began using his voice. He penned beautiful speeches filled with flame and passion of how people needed to stand up for themselves to be heard. Yelling on street corners, Ren would let his words befall the ears of commoners, their eyes alight with the imagery of activity and importance. This passionate, older Ren became a hero through words, bringing the concept of individuality and freedom of choice to the people of this middle-sized town. Soon nearby districts caught wind of this individual, and there became a network of people working together to get their voices heard. It was infectious as Ren’s public speaking caught fire to people’s minds as they worked at grassroots levels in rewiring local public policy, allowing different forms of education that weren’t military run and bringing the concept of democracy to familiarity. Of course, the Fire Nation government took notice of this stirring rebellion, as Ren’s words were getting continuously volatile against the crown and its atrocities.
The Fire Nation government unleashed a campaign against the province that had caught fire with inspiration, and quelled this up rise through suppression and fear. They restricted creativity and freedoms, pressuring the people to merely keep doing their jobs and work for the glory of the Fire Nation royalty. The military continued to stress how their work was helping the crown, and they should be honored to feed the fire of Azulon and the rest of the royal family. However, still inspired, Ren launched violent resitance. It was a pitiful attempt, as the people with poor bending skills armed with tools and no defense were crushed against the trained Fire Nation army, and blood ran through the streets until fear seeped deep within the region. No one would dare speak out against the crown or the military, and hope was diminished into acceptance that they wouldn’t be able to do anything against the governments force. With the blood of many a Fire Nation soldiers on his hands and no where to run, Ren diverged into hiding, writing memoirs and sending out anonymous essays that were a futile attempt to re-inspire and criticize the Royal family.
Ren took up the mask for the sake of an anonymous persona, and resorted to temporarily peaceful tactics against the crown. It was now the time of Ozai, and Ren agreed with his actions against the other nations, however he didn’t agree with his intelligence. To Ren, Ozai was a power-hungry fool who although was correct in initiating war against the heathens, disregarded internal policy that could make the Fire Nation great. Policies of democracy, freedom of choice, enlightenment ideas, and people-fueled government were at the opposite end of the spectrum from Ozai’s basic dictatorship.
Ren gained a more passionate, localized underground following. These were those who weren’t afraid to fight, to lay their lives down for the sake of the “true” Fire Nation. These were the roots of the Bunkaku, and Ren led them through effective internalized campaigns that brought pride to the unfortunate people. For years this deeply effective unit of revolution delt heavy internal blows towards the Fire Nation military, as Ren gained experience in leadership, combat, and overall intelligence. There were constant rumors of an underground force that had robbed, plundered, or destroyed a convoy. For the Fire Nation military regularly stole resources from its rural towns and people, and thus Ren and the early Bunkaku would form natural blockades and hindrances against the Military. To them, the Fire Nation needed to think and give power internally before it could control and transform outside its borders.
With the defeat of Ozai, Ren’s anger flared even more violently. Not only was the royal crown going to stay intact, but the Fire Nation was going to assimilate it’s resources and throught into the outside world. When so much needed to be accomplished internally, for the PEOPLE of the Fire Nation- efforts were going to be made to conform into the artless heathens and inferior of the outside world. Ren was well versed, so he didn’t consider himself racist against these people. He merely thought that they were simply unable to comprehend beauty, which made them unable to stand equal to the people of the Fire Nation. Ren thought they should deal with their own problems and the Fire Nation their own. The people’s voices, much still exhibiting animosity towards these other nations, were never going to be heard from the new “Fire Lord Zuko”. It was still a dictatorship, no matter the regression from war, it was still in control by a family, and his new outsider “friends.”
Ren was…and is, disgusted, and seeks to inspire the Fire Nation for change and rebellion against the royal family, and retain the supremacy that it the Fire Nation People.
