Yeah, I think a general decontamination (or reconsecration/deconsecration...) of the Fire Lord’s palace would be Mai’s first step. And, oh man, haunted places: fantastic. Plus, Ba Sing Se has such potential – I remember reading somewhere that the creators envisaged it starting out as an actual underground city – hence the remaining catacombs. So perhaps the whole city is built on a network of empty houses and spirit-colonised caverns.
It's also a nice explanation for why the Dai Li all have the same general face-shape.
I THINK YOU MEAN A HORRIFYING EXPLANATION, which is also of course awesome. I too am very fond of the (essentially Embers-verse?) idea of the Dai Li as the spiritual immune system of Ba Sing Se. And the idea of them somehow being imprinted with some spirit-deep link to the city itself is fantastic. But ... I’m guessing you never exactly retire from the Dai Li, oh man (or perhaps if you do make it through, you still have the city in your head the whole time. Or you miss it horribly if they mindbend you back ... argh can you tell I find this totally disturbing?).
And, yep, that looks a more than plausible scenario for the final meltdown in the Fire Nation from Zuko’s pov. And I guess the Fire Nation wouldn’t spend all its time under Fire Lord Mai being plunged into mini Fimbul Winters and being otherwise subject to crazy spirit attacks – I imagine they’re considerably better off, overall, under Fire Lord Mai (heh – I love typing that!) than under aca!Zuko, even if he would act as an automatic bulwark against spirits.
And, man, if writing is the easy part ... it would be totally great if some iteration of aca!Zuko got written! Totally. I mean, not to pressure you or anything...
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It's also a nice explanation for why the Dai Li all have the same general face-shape.
I THINK YOU MEAN A HORRIFYING EXPLANATION, which is also of course awesome. I too am very fond of the (essentially Embers-verse?) idea of the Dai Li as the spiritual immune system of Ba Sing Se. And the idea of them somehow being imprinted with some spirit-deep link to the city itself is fantastic. But ... I’m guessing you never exactly retire from the Dai Li, oh man (or perhaps if you do make it through, you still have the city in your head the whole time. Or you miss it horribly if they mindbend you back ... argh can you tell I find this totally disturbing?).
And, yep, that looks a more than plausible scenario for the final meltdown in the Fire Nation from Zuko’s pov. And I guess the Fire Nation wouldn’t spend all its time under Fire Lord Mai being plunged into mini Fimbul Winters and being otherwise subject to crazy spirit attacks – I imagine they’re considerably better off, overall, under Fire Lord Mai (heh – I love typing that!) than under aca!Zuko, even if he would act as an automatic bulwark against spirits.
And, man, if writing is the easy part ... it would be totally great if some iteration of aca!Zuko got written! Totally. I mean, not to pressure you or anything...