Oh, wow, SPIRITUAL CHAOS after the collapse of Sozin’s line (or whatever – I mean, they’d probably actually be called after some much more ancient Fire Lord) would be awesome – there’s such a lot of potential for a canonically active spirit world to have juicy political ramifications. And I can absolutely see Mai pinning her family tree to the wall in front of a group of ornery nobles, and chucking in a dart to mark every second cousin and great-grandparent who is demonstrably either vaguely royal or a Fire Sage ... whereupon the scroll ends up pretty much bristling, and everyone backs down rather hastily.
And the prospect of someone as down-to-earth as Mai holding elaborate ceremonies, or even negotiating with spirits, is delicious! And, heh, aca!Zuko persuading Wan Shi Tong to give him library access, so to speak, is an awesome idea in and of itself.
I suspect the Fire Lord having to be a bender (though, mind you, I think that’s only canon by implication) is very much a result of their Fire Sage-y roots. Though I imagine it would be less a matter of being able to throw fire at spirits (given that bending doesn’t even work in the Spirit World – it seems like an iffy weapon to use against them even in this one) and much more a result of benders being seen as blessed by Agni or what have you – which of course could easily shade into the ugliness of ‘the superior element’ propaganda we see Zhao spouting on the show.
everything the Fire Nation got out of the war (which was mostly lots of dead soldiers and angry citizens, really)
Well, plus presumably a fair amount of plunder and possibly, say, massive rice shipments from the Earth Kingdom – post-war reconstruction just seems like a giant mess for whatever Fire Lord you have attempting it, which is one reason I was reticent about seeing Mai as willing to take on the job, given that she isn’t all idealistic and dutiful in the way that Zuko is. But then, she is undeniably efficient and unwilling to take any bullshit! And, yeah, if Mai and Kuei could get through the first couple of years – and produce heirs – everything would probably simmer down. I mean, it’s not as though people would have any illusions about how ugly war could be, as you say.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-10-01 10:25 pm (UTC)And the prospect of someone as down-to-earth as Mai holding elaborate ceremonies, or even negotiating with spirits, is delicious! And, heh, aca!Zuko persuading Wan Shi Tong to give him library access, so to speak, is an awesome idea in and of itself.
I suspect the Fire Lord having to be a bender (though, mind you, I think that’s only canon by implication) is very much a result of their Fire Sage-y roots. Though I imagine it would be less a matter of being able to throw fire at spirits (given that bending doesn’t even work in the Spirit World – it seems like an iffy weapon to use against them even in this one) and much more a result of benders being seen as blessed by Agni or what have you – which of course could easily shade into the ugliness of ‘the superior element’ propaganda we see Zhao spouting on the show.
everything the Fire Nation got out of the war (which was mostly lots of dead soldiers and angry citizens, really)
Well, plus presumably a fair amount of plunder and possibly, say, massive rice shipments from the Earth Kingdom – post-war reconstruction just seems like a giant mess for whatever Fire Lord you have attempting it, which is one reason I was reticent about seeing Mai as willing to take on the job, given that she isn’t all idealistic and dutiful in the way that Zuko is. But then, she is undeniably efficient and unwilling to take any bullshit! And, yeah, if Mai and Kuei could get through the first couple of years – and produce heirs – everything would probably simmer down. I mean, it’s not as though people would have any illusions about how ugly war could be, as you say.