Azula

Azula is a soldier, politician, and warlord from the Fire Nation (though more recently she's been living it up in both New Jersey and a future apocalyptic version of the Vatican). She arrived in-game on 5/2/11 and currently lives in Garden Zone 13, with an abandoned apartment in Hawking.

age: 18

origins: Avatar: The Last Airbender, [AU/DramaDramaDuck canon]

app link: here!

hmd: here!

played by: Iddy contact: ZieglerFan719@gmail.com

Setting
Azula's world appears to be relatively small in size. There are only four nations (one of which technically doesn't exist by the time the main story starts): the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes (northern and southern), and the four deserted Air Temples of the now-extinct Air Nomads. The largest and most diverse nation appears to be the Earth Kingdom; along with the Fire Nation, it is also the most technologically advanced. The Water Tribes are much smaller and more old-fashioned-- ideas that seem to have become obsolete in the larger nations (such as sexism) are still more common and ingrained there.

One hundred years before the start of canon, the Fire Nation began waging a war against the other nations with the intent of taking over the entire world. Azula is the great-granddaughter of the Fire Nation leader ("Fire Lord") who started the war, daughter of the current Fire Lord, and-- thanks to her older brother being dishonored and exiled-- heir to her country's throne. Many of the people of her world are "benders"-- elemental users who can control and sometimes even create the element of their country. Each generation also has an Avatar, a powerful and spiritual figure capable of learning to bend all four elements: earth, water, fire, and air. The Avatar is essentially one soul that is reincarnated over and over again in accordance with the Avatar Cycle, which dictates the order in which each new Avatar will be born into what nation. By the time that the Fire Nation started their war, the Avatar was due to be born as an airbender. Knowing that an Avatar would oppose a world dominated solely by one country, all but one of the airbenders were wiped out in a (failed) attempt to break the cycle.

Because of the premise of the game she's been ported from (characters stay in their home worlds unless they choose to leave, and are connected via a magical internet community), Azula's canon was derailed fairly early on, and therefore turned out quite differently from how it did on the show. The first major difference is that, thanks to a version that turned on her and spent months trying to kill her, Azula stopped trusting her friend Mai fairly early on. This meant that, while she didn't dislike any later versions that she came across after the first disappeared, she stopped involving both her and their other friend, Ty Lee, in military or state affairs. By the time both of them disappeared from the community-- and their world-- for good, she didn't consider either of them "traitors" the way she did in show canon, and they were still her friends in her mind (she and Ty Lee had even been involved in a tumultuous on-and-off romantic relationship). While she's aware that there are versions of her world where they "betrayed" her and were thrown in prison, that fact matters little to her; she considers her Mai and Ty Lee to have been different.

The second major difference is that, soon after discovering the community himself, Ozai decided to have Azula crowned Fire Lord early. However, it didn't take long for them to have some major disagreements with how to handle the reality of other worlds (Ozai wanted to spread the Fire Nation throughout the multiverse, while Azula thought it would be best not to spread their armies too thin, particularly with one war already going on). Eventually, Azula earned enough of his ire that he decided to just do away with her entirely, and assassins were sent so that she would be killed and he could reclaim the throne. The ensuing power struggle lasted for months, with first Azula on the throne, then Ozai (with Azula first being tortured in prison, then being harbored off-world), and then finally Azula again (with Ozai in hiding and presumed dead). By this point, Azula was nearly sixteen, but her mental state did not lend well to running a country solo.

In DramaDramaDuck canon, the Fire Nation wasn't doing so well economically in the last year of the war (DDD AU's war lasted one hundred and two years, instead of one hundred like show canon). The majority of the hardship was caused by the internal Ozai vs. Azula power struggle that went on for months, as well as its aftermath. While Ozai was in charge, he had to deal with assassins and the like sent by Azula's supporters as well as general public dissent for what he was doing to his daughter and heir; while Azula was in charge, she had to deal with assassins and the like sent by Ozai's supporters as well as the tremendous pressures that come with being a young teenage leader. After Ozai's "death", Azula was faced with being a fifteen-year-old girl who, essentially, had to lead the country all by herself-- and while she had already had some experience as Fire Lord at that point, she was neither emotionally nor mentally mature enough to handle such a daunting task. The Fire Nation enjoyed government stability throughout most of the war, but when that stability ended, the country couldn't remain solid and united. If she were older, Azula would have been able to handle running the Fire Nation alone. If Ozai had stayed at her side, she would have been able to handle running the Fire Nation even at the young age of fifteen. But since neither of these things happened, the country was suddenly being led solely by a teenage girl who, at this point, was extremely emotionally unstable and was reeling from the aftermath of the betrayal of the most important person in her life. There was no way that could be anything but a recipe for disaster. By the time Zuko came into the picture, the people of the Fire Nation were desperate enough that many of them were willing to accept an end to the war and a "traitor" as their leader, just as long as things were made better. Instead of throwing her in prison or a hospital, Zuko allowed Azula to be harbored off-world (with the stipulation that if she came back and tried to cause trouble, he'd have to take more severe action). She was taken in by Dr. Lisa Cuddy (of House canon), the same person that she had stayed with during the times that Ozai had been on the throne.

Without her father, Azula had hated being Fire Lord. She wasn't capable of handling it at that point in time, and while her sense of duty and dedication to her country and the war never wavered (even at the worst of times, the idea that she could surrender the war and hand the throne off to Zuko or Iroh was something that she would never even have considered), she employed a fair bit of escapism. She was constantly running off to Earth, and she refused to allow herself to see any negative consequences that her unstable rule was having on the Fire Nation-- the reality that she wasn't doing "good enough" and that she was harming her country rather than helping it would have completely pushed her over the edge at that point in time. Even months after the throne was forcibly taken by Zuko (as he did in canon), it's mostly only ever been hinted at her how much of a disastrous affect her rule had on the country. Her uncle Iroh told her straight out at one point, but she didn't believe him. In order to start accepting it, she'd really have to see it for herself, and that hasn't happened yet.

Though Azula enjoyed and benefited from living with Lisa Cuddy (who she saw as the first person who had ever loved her completely and unconditionally), she was restless. Sitting around being "useless" wasn't really her cup of tea, and in her mind, there wasn't really anything on that version of Earth for her achievement-wise-- she was a soldier/leader/fighter, but modern-day America expected her to be a teenage student and nothing more. This sometimes caused her to pick fights or take unnecessary risks, simply to give herself something to do. Finally, after months of being stir-crazy, a woman named Cardinal Caterina Sforza ( of Trinity Blood canon) world offered her the chance to start training to join the AX Division of the Vatican's Department of Foreign Affairs. Doing this would eventually enable her to fight against the TB world's Big Bad, Cain Nightlord, who Azula hated for various reasons. Before being dropped on Sacrosant, she was a little over halfway done with her training-- she'd been taught how to drive a car (which she's pretty good at), shoot a gun (which she's decent at), and speak/write in five languages other than her native English/Chinese (which she's passible at, but not that great).

Personality
In canon, Azula's most obvious traits are her extreme nationalism, utter ruthlessness, and lack of any sort of sympathy for her enemies. To put it in the simplest and crudest of terms, she's a bitch-- a huge bitch, with a side of rudeness, cruelty, sarcasm, and the occasional sadism. For the most part, she has no interest in gaining friends (other than the ones she already has) or making people like her personally; in fact, she doesn't seem to like very many people personally herself. She's shown to be completely ineffectual at dealing with people on a social level-- the few times she does try, she ends up putting her foot in her mouth, or accidentally upsetting the other party. However, this only seems to bother her on a minimal level. To her, the vast majority of people are merely tools, there to be used and then discarded when they are no longer useful. She sees herself and her father as better than everyone else, and has an extreme sense of arrogance and self-worth. She is also prone to jealousy when people are able to do things that she can't. That said, she has no qualms about letting people do things for her (as long as it's clear that she could do it herself if she wanted; being seen as weak or incompetent is one of her greatest fears). Another of those fears (ironically, due to her unpleasant personality) seems to be being alone or discarded herself. She holds a great deal of resentment towards her mother, who she felt hated her and abandoned her in favor of her brother. She craves her father's approval. And even though she can treat them horribly, it's clear that at least a part of Azula values her friends as friends, not just as tools or playthings-- even if she has no idea how to appropriately show it.

At this point, pretty much all of those personality traits are still there, though some are more muted and less prominent. Her nationalism is as strong as ever-- in nearly three years, she's had absolutely no development that would cause her to start thinking that the Fire Nation's war is wrong and that they have no right to forcibly take over the rest of the world. She's still just as ruthless towards those she considers enemies, she still has no qualms about killing those she feels deserve it, and she still has a great deal of trouble empathizing with most people (her reasoning is, why should she care? they're not her, nor are they someone that particularly matters to her). However, as she's matured, her unabashed cruelty and occasional sadism have lessened. Just as at fourteen she had grown out of throwing rocks at pond animals like she did when she was eight, at seventeen she's largely grown out of mocking or berating people for fun. In most of her day-to-day interactions, she's more serious and grounded-- experience with other worlds and dealing with those stronger than her has taught her to be wiser and more cautious, as well. While she still isn't above using people for her own gain and she doesn't see anything morally wrong with it, she does realize that there can be extreme negative consequences to using people willy-nilly, and she's more likely to simply ask for help or assistance directly (unless it's a situation in which her pride gets in the way, that is). She still wants to attain perfection and gets frustrated with the failures of herself and others, but she's less arrogant-- being pitted against fighters that vastly outranked her and finding herself unable to defend herself or the things she wanted to protect have actually done quite a number on her overinflated self-esteem, and while it's still pretty high in some cases, it's not ridiculously so. She does still believe that she was very close to perfect in the past, during her "high point" when she was hunting the Avatar and conquering cities, and (though she isn't going to admit it to just anyone) the fact that she sees herself as having gone into a decline since then causes her quite a bit of insecurity at times.

How she interacts with other people is another thing that has undergone some changes. While she's certainly capable of working with others, holding conversations, and forming shallow relationships (moreso now, even, than she was in canon), her ability to truly care about most people hasn't really improved at all. She has formed a few more meaningful relationships in-game, however (they'll be described in more detail below), and she's definitely gotten better at showing concern, feelings, affection, and etcetera for them. This has really helped her in learning how to function normally in a healthy social relationship, something that, in canon, she has a great deal of difficulty with. In addition, she's gotten a little better at showing/feeling empathy even for those that she isn't close to, though this is generally reserved for people that she feels are similar to her in some significant way. She's more of a generally pleasant person (though this shouldn't be mistaken for being a generally nice person), and she is capable of forming casual friendships-- though the majority of them are shallow and loose connections, as "friend" and "person that I genuinely care about" aren't categories that necessarily always overlap. Stressful situations that cause her to be more emotionally vulnerable than usual are more conducive towards her forming close relationships-- she became close to one of her two Most Important People when Ozai first betrayed her, and she became close to the other during a plot that caused her to think that Most Important Person #1 was dead. Being dropped on Sacrosanct would shake her pretty badly, and up her chances of growing attached to people (that doesn't mean that it definitely will happen-- it'd just be more likely to than it would normally).

Obviously, there's still a great deal that she could improve upon, and she's still way behind most people in terms of social normality-- but at least in dealing with people that actually mean something to her, she's getting better at it. Diplomacy is another area in which she's gotten a bit better-- while she's shown in canon to view any sort of disagreement as an act of personal betrayal, she's more willing to let the little things go now, particularly when it comes to those that she does care about. Still, she's increasingly frustrated with how socially stunted she is, even with strangers-- if she accidentally upsets or angers someone, she'll rage at both herself (for being deficient enough to make a mistake) and the person she angered (for being sensitive enough to be hurt by her words, particularly if they had no real ill intentions behind them). In the end, though, she'll still see it mostly as their fault, which makes it hard for her to improve herself.

In terms of personality and how she acts, this Azula is somewhere between how she is for the majority of the series (cold, calculating, in control at all times) and how she is during the show's finale (uncontrolled, unbalanced, prone to hysterics and crying fits). On her good days, she can be nearly as calm and collected as she was in the past, not allowing others' opinions to get to her and able to simply brush off anything. On her bad days, however, even the most mild of criticisms can send her flying into a rage. Though some days are better than others, she's far from completely stable and emotionally healthy. She suffers from both insomnia and nightmares, thanks to some of the things she's been put through during her time on the community (for example, a plot that involved her mother figure having her head ripped clean off has given her a bit of a phobia of headless bodies, even though gore doesn't normally phase her). Hiding her emotions and forcing herself to appear unflappable and flawless is another thing that she's generally given up-- while she still avoids admitting to "weaker" things such as fear or sadness, she's more willing to talk about herself and what she's feeling, even with people that she doesn't know all that well.

In some ways, Azula has changed a lot. In other ways, she hasn't changed much at all. A lot of this has had to do with necessity of change (or lack thereof)-- for example, one of her biggest flaws in show canon is her single-minded determination to win the war and take over the rest of the world, at any cost. In this AU, that hasn't changed, because she's been given no reason for it to change. Sometimes she can be mature beyond her years. Other times, she can act much younger than she actually is. This is especially true in DDD canon, where some parts of her psyche have matured while others have devolved. All in all, she can be a pretty odious character, but she can also be surprisingly pitiable. She was trained from very early childhood to be the perfect soldier, and unlike her brother, she eagerly jumped at the chance to do whatever her father asked of her. While I personally don't think that she was brainwashed or forced into doing the things that she did and I believe that a great deal of responsibility for her actions should lie on her shoulders, early childhood indoctrination and lack of healthy, nurturing parental relationships essentially obliterated any chance she might have had of growing up normally. Though it's shown that she is far from simply the emotionless soldier she'd like to portray herself as, years of unquestioning belief in and fighting for a cause can't be simply erased. While the creators of her canon have said that she does have the potential to heal and even "redeem" herself in the long run, there's no denying that this would be a long process with far more opportunities for failure than for success.

Abilities & Weaknesses
thumb|300px|right|Fighting style video #1 thumb|304px|right|Fighting style video #2Azula is a firebender-- one of the best in her world, in fact. Essentially, this means that she can create and control fire, and use it for a variety of purposes (namely, fighting). It's indicated that fire in ATLA canon is a bit different from regular fire-- people who fight and are attacked with it can come away with burns, but this doesn't always happen, which indicates that a talented user can, to a certain extent, control the damage their fire causes. Azula is capable of a few special techniques that seem to require a certain skill level, such as the creation of blue flames, which are hotter and more intense than the more elementary red or orange ones. While she normally uses her hands and feet to bend, she's also been shown to be capable of shooting fire out of various orifices, such as her mouth and even her ears.

Additionally, Azula is a master of lightningbending, which is just what sounds like (that is, the creation and control of lightning). Very few firebenders are shown to be capable of this technique, and it is indicated to be exceedingly difficult to learn and become proficient in. Azula's mastery of it at the mere age of fourteen really solidifies her place as a firebending prodigy. However, it does have its limitations, even for her. Unlike firebending, which is fueled by anger and rage, utter peace of mind is needed to successfully bend lightning. Should someone attempt the technique without being completely calm, they could easily kill themselves via accidental electrocution.

Even without her firebending, she's still a damned good fighter-- though in those cases she tends to work more defensively than offensively, using her strength and acrobatic skills to evade, distract, and literally run circles around her opponents rather than all-out attacking them like she would with her bending. She was a full-time Fire Nation soldier overseeing armies by at least age fourteen (my personal headcanon says that she started out as a foot soldier at age thirteen, since it's canon that children of the Fire Nation royal family are expected to fight in the army and she seemed to have already had quite a bit of experience by the time she appears on the show). Because of this, she has a lot of experience with leading people, as well as convincing them to be led by her-- a gifted public speaker, she does a good job of getting people to follow her, either through intimidation, manipulation, or simple persuasion. In the world of her AU, the last has become a lot more common than the first two.

Despite all this, Azula isn't on the level of a canon godmode. She's still human, after all, and can be hurt as easily and as badly as anyone else. She also doesn't have super strength, super speed, or any other superpower (on her world, bending is completely normal; if asked ICly if she had any super-human powers her answer would be no). Any equally-talented fighter with such extraordinary powers would be able to take her down eventually, and there are plenty who would even be able to call an easy person to beat. She knows this, though she doesn't like to admit it (even to herself sometimes), and in DDD she's been handed her ass multiple times by those far more powerful than her.

Character Relationships
♥ Pure, unconditional love. You are Azula's Most Important Person (or one of them), and she would do literally anything for you. If something bad happened to you, her heart would break.

☺ Generally you have to get to this level (which is hard!) for there to be any significant emotional attachment on her part. She's fairly attached to you. She would help you out in most situations. If something bad happened to you, she would be angry and a bit upset.

☀ She's friendly towards you, and for one reason or another puts you a bit higher than acquaintance level. She would help you out as long as it wasn't overly inconvenient, or didn't get in the way of something more important. If something bad happened to you, she would be irritated.

★ She considers you a friendly acquaintance. She would help you out as long as it only posed a mild inconvenience, or didn't get in the way of something more important. If something bad happened to you, she would raise an eyebrow.

☎ She considers you a neutral acquaintance. She would help you out as long it wasn't inconvenient at all, or didn't get in the way of something more important. If something bad happened to you, she probably wouldn't notice.

☁ She considers you an unfriendly acquaintance. She wouldn't consider you deserving of her help. If something bad happened to you, she'd be okay with that.

☂ She considers you very irritating, rude, threatening, or some other negative thing. She would never help you. If something bad happened to you, she'd be pleased.

☓ She considers you an enemy. She despises you, and would go out of her way to hinder you or make your life miserable. If something bad happened to you, she would be thrilled.

Alejandro Borges - ☂HEY JERK WHO SUCKS AT FIREBENDING, WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE HARRASSED SOME MORE? OH OKAY

Astrid Hofferson - ☎

Azure Kite - ☎

Camille - ★ Yeahhhhh llama-killing buddy yeahhhhhh.

Carter-A259 - ☎

Davesprite - ☎/? They talked when he was high on sopor slime. (Being a veteran of another LJRP, she assumed that he had been hit by a drunk event.) Kind of hard to tell what you think of somebody when that sort of thing is going down.

Eridan Ampora - ☁

Gamzee Makara (canon) - ☁/☎/? People that are constantly high are weird guise. She still isn't sure if she finds him tolerable or annoying.

Gamzee Makara (AU) - ☎

Jack Sparrow - ★

Jade Harley - ☁/☎/? First she was all "oh you seem fine" and then she was all "LEAVE VRISKA ALOOOOOONE"

Jaedri Harleigh - ☎

Jaime Reyes - ☎

John Egbert - ☎ On Sacrosanct she's only interacted with him during the aforementioned sopor slime event, but she knew an alternate of him due to previous-game CR, and they got along. She's aware that this version might be different, but unless she finds out otherwise, she'll just assume that his personality is similar to the one she knew.

Jonah - ☎

Jun-A266 - ★

Karkat Vantas - ☎ So, so much fun to annoy. So much fun. Despite the fact that they harrass each other a lot, though, Azula doesn't have a hugely negative opinion of him (mostly because she thinks he's too ridiculous to be taken seriously).

Kevin Flynn - ☎

The Kingdom of Denmark - ☎ SO WEIRD??? But overall she has no problems with him.

Marian Hawke - ☁/☎/? They've only interacted as dragons so far, which made things a little awkward. She charged Azula in a playful manner, but Azula took it as a threat and attacked/wounded her. Oops?

Nemesis Prime - ☁ He asked the network a question. Azula basically used this as an opportunity to brag about her ~*knowledge of the multiverse*~. He was unimpressed.

Shockwave - ☎

Sollux Captor - ☁/☎/? He was both rude and helpful in the same conversation. Wat do.

Spartan-B312 - ☀

Starfire - ☁/☎/? They've only interacted briefly on Sacrosanct, but she knew an alternate of her due to previous game CR, and Azula found her annoying. That was close to two years ago though (not to mention a different version), so things could very well end up different here.

Tavros Nitram - ☎ They've only interacted briefly on Sacrosanct, but she knew an alternate of him due to previous game CR, and they were on friendly terms. She's neutral towards this version.

Vriska Serket - ☀

Free Space


Appearance-wise, Azula's on the short side, but she looks like she could easily be years older than she actually is-- at her canon age of fourteen she looks like she could easily be eighteen or older, and at seventeen she looks to be in her early twenties. She has long, very dark brown hair that she usually wears up in a topknot or back in a ponytail. As a young teenager, her obsession with perfection extended to her appearance too, and while she's relaxed somewhat since then she still always likes to look clean and well-groomed-- brushed hair, neat clothes, manicured nails, the works. At home in the Fire Nation she tends to wear orate royal costumes, military armor, or-- when she's just bumming around-- silk robes. While on Earth, she tends toward more simple tunic-style shirts and loose pants.

Her current inventory includes:

Her day clothes (plain harem-style pants and a tunic shirt, bought on Earth).

A feather (infused with magic that allowed her to go from world to world in DDD's setting; on here it's just a plain old feather with no magical properties).

A large leather-bound book (used to contact the community in DDD's setting; here it's just a regular book with blank pages).

A thin gold chain necklace.

A chain with a sterling silver pendant, engraved with "Lilith" and some Chinese writing on one side, and "Azula" and some Chinese writing on the other.

An ornate gold rosary with "soror fidelis" engraved on one side.

Basic camping gear, bought on Sacrosanct.