Prologue: Anthology of Time
Firelord Sozin had a dream. Or more appropriately a will. A will to create an empire ruled by the Fire Nation and unencumbered by the Avatar cycle. His belief in the notion that fire was the mightiest element, allowed him to also believe that; by rights the Fire Nation was the supreme ruler and sole governance of the world. He used that as the main reason he used for justifying his warmongering. The majority of his court all agreed with his idea of a Fire Nation, and started coming together with the Generals to plan attack strategies and invasion plans of the Earth Kingdom and the Northern and Southern Water tribes. However, their was one problem, the Avatar.
The current Avatar was a fire nation citizen named Roku, who was well regarded and respected around the world and he would certainly not allow his Firelord to subjugate the other nations to his rule. But most importantly, he and Sozin were childhood friends, and the bond the two shared went beyond blood. It was an eternal brotherhood. Yet, the dream of an empire was something that the Ashanti Royal Family wanted but Sozin was reluctant to act whilst his friend was still alive, because Roku was vehemently almost the idea of one solitary nation governing the other three. Which wasn't to be unexpected, it was the job of each Avatar to maintain the balance of peace in the world and be the bridge between humans and spirits. And whilst Roku was powerful enough to stop any invasion of any of the other nations, that could only be done in his lifetime. Once Roku died the Avatar cycle would begin again; in another tribe, following the ancient pre-ordained route of elements: Earth, Fire, Air and Water.
Although Sozin was getting on in age, and could no longer lead armies into battle, the same was true of Roku; who was by now an elderly man and whilst remained powerful, was suffering ill health and had retired to his person island retreat. Also, thanks to the Fire Sages, information of the Avatar cycle had been smuggled out of the Earth Kingdoms desert library to the War Cabinet, where Sozin and his commanders learnt about secret tunnels beneath the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se. Tunnels that his invasion force could use to take the city and dispose of the Earth royal family. Moreover, they also received a message from an exiled air nomad who, in exchange for revenge against his people, wanted to join the Fire Army. Sozin didn't hide his intention to massacre the air nomads from this exiled monk who simple shrugged the "idea" off as "justifiable".
Sozin also knew that once Roku died the next avatar would be born into the Air Nomads, a situation that would need to be dealt with quickly to ensure incarnation process moved on without delay. And once the avatar was Fire Nation born that child would be indoctrinated by the fire sages to believe in the righteousness of the Fire Empire, and carry out its creation. And by the time that avatar died the empire would be so strong that they could simply locates and rely on the Avatars power for continued prosperity and expansion; indoctrinating all successive avatars to the empires will as each Firelord saw fit.
The Fire Nation had always known that the sun enhanced their fire bending, but it was during the reign of Sozin's great great great grandfather; Firelord Lang, that an astonishing discovery was made. High in the mountains in the west of the fire nation stood the Monastery of Shendu, the dragon god of fire. It was here that a lone monk observing the night sky, and plotting star charts, discovered a comet on a course with the Earth. Every day the monk charted it's route but the main discovery was "the closer the comet got the more power fire benders could wield". The monk wrote all findings down in a journal and passed it onto the Lord Commander of the Order of Fire Sages, Sao Wen.
'The Dragon Comet and the Fire Bender - by Monk Cirac'.
In all my years of charting the night sky, I have never encounter a celestial object that has quite literally made me feel like a raging volcano. That is what the Dragon's Comet does to fire benders. It's presence, once a century, empowers those of fire nation citizenry with said ability to increase their power hundred fold.
However, the comet is only in direct contact with the Earth for one day before it moves on in its orbital cycle. Therefore the empowerment is limited but during that time fire benders are infinitely more powerful than they would normally be. The impossible becomes the certain. Weakness turns to strength and plans become manifest.
I know that there are certain people in this country that would seek to utilise this knowledge for military usage or political gain, that is why I have placed this document deep in the Dragon Bone Library beneath the Royal Palace. The only people who know of its existence are the Lord Commander of the Fire Sages and second Prince Marin. The precise power that the comet awakens can only be describe as "heavenly".
Cirac's journal lay hidden in the Dragon Bone Library undisturbed for two hundred years until it was discovered by Firelord Sozin's appointed Lord Commander, Chiron Li. Commander Li was furiously loyal to his Firelord and made public to his ruler the existence of the Dragon Comet. Sozin was extremely pleased of this rediscovery but was also displeased that so many Lord commanders before had withheld this information. Sozin created the Fire Militants, a special division of the Fire Army hand picked by Sozin himself to to hunt down and kill any threats to his plans. These men dedicated their lives to the task, showing a level of fanaticism that other soldiers mistook, and labelled as madness. Yet despite the mockery, the Militancy were by far the strongest faction of the military. All militants shaved their heads and wore around their necks a gold chain from which hung a small red scythe. The scythe was the symbol of silent execution, whilst the Fire Nation emblem branded on their chest marked them out as superior to other soldiers, and as a warning to any potential attackers that they were not to be trifled with.
Avatar Roku's death was confirmed by Lord Sozin himself after he went to his old friends island home to help stave off a volcanic eruption. The events around Roku's death were surrounded in mystery but the official death record was inhalation of toxic volcanic gases, due to Roku's heroic stand of refusing to leave until all of the islands inhabitants were evacuated going against Sozin's pleas to leave. This story made the citizenry of the fire nation idolise Roku as ultimately loyal to his homeland despite his status as the Avatar, never knowing the truth that Roku had his own misgivings about letting Sozin get away with warmongering. However, it granted Sozin the opportunity he needed to put plans into action. "Let the Empire rise".