This first chapter is backstory, setting up a story of the Avatar in a post-apocalyptic world. If there is sufficient interest, I will continue it. Thanks for reading!
Long ago, the Nations lived together in peace and harmony. But everything changed when the Barbarians attacked.
The Barbarians first arrived on civilized shores in the later days of Avatar Korra. Their explorers came on boats from beyond the western sea. They were a frightening sight. Their unkempt hair and beards were colored light brown, gold, or red, and their eyes were large and bright, giving them the permanent appearance of outraged fire demons. They were massive men, nearly giants. The helmets of their leaders had the horns of bulls protruding from the sides. And they eyed our lands and our people with a savage hunger. But they were welcomed to our shores. Cautiously.
The Barbarian explorers spent time among our people, learning of our society. They had little interest in our history, literature, or philosophy. But they were particularly fascinated by bending, which did not exist in their homeland. Unknown to us, they sent this knowledge back to their homelands so that their countrymen could prepare for attack.
When the Barbarian hordes came, they bore weapons made not of steel but of ivory. They had fashioned knives, hammers, spears, and even swords from the claws, bones, and fangs of whatever terrible beasts inhabited their land. Their ivory weapons were as strong as steel and immune to bending.
However, their true advantage came from their mastery of a weapon so terrible, no civilized person had even thought of it. Disease. Somewhere in their history, the Barbarians had learned to weaponize disease. They smeared their weapons with poisonous black paste. From the giant eagles they rode, they rained upon their victims orange smoke that seared their skin. In every place they conquered, they would poison the soil and the wells so that only they could eat the crops and drink the water without fear of death.
Avatar Korra had long since passed away and the burden of the war fell to the young Avatar Ao. Though he fought valiantly against the Barbarians, they still managed to conquer the lands of the Fire Nation, the Republic, and much of the Earth Kingdom. Though they had not conquered the North and South Poles, the plagues they created had spread to the Water Tribe territories.
Eventually, the young Avatar Ao succumbed to the Barbarian plagues and passed away. He had carved out a refuge for civilization in the mighty city of Ba Sing Se. But with the White Lotus Society in disarray and the people of the Four Nations scattered, there is little hope of finding his successor.