Elder Rai
Introduction
Elder Rai is a personable and passionate Elder. He can be known to get lost in his own thoughts, causing some particularly comical situations, yet he is still wise and knowledgeable. The following article tells the story of Rai's life.
Table of Contents
Character
PersonalityRai is a caring and passionate person over everything else. He values his friends and the people around him more than he does himself, leaving him too often not taking care of his own health over that of others. He also tends to find himself spacing off and not really paying much attention to what is going on, which renders him confused in many situations.
Rai is a tall average Air Nomad standing at 6’2 with long black hair that would typically pass his shoulders, but often has it tied in a bun or ponytail with some hair flowing down behind it. He has dark blue eyes and a thin beard fully grown around his face. Rai wears a yellow robe under a dark red robe, followed by a light white and orange sash across his body. His ears are pierced in a few different ways as both ears have small black gages; his right ear has two smaller piercings around his ear towards the top.
Life
Rai was born at an unknown Air Temple. When he was little, he was traveling across the world by boat when the boat his parents were on was killed by a storm. Rai was the only survivor of the shipwreck, and ended up drifting to a beach in the Fire Nation. A woman named Toye would then raise Rai as his adoptive mother.
During his early childhood, Rai would be raised in the streets of the Fire Nation slums in New Kasen. His mother, Toye, would always try to support Rai by giving him food on the table, a roof over his head, and clothes on his back, but Toye’s husband Daoka did not feel the same about Rai. He viewed Rai as an outsider and a parasite leeching off his food and house. During these years Rai still wouldn’t be given a name, and would only be referred to as “boy” by Daoka. During this time Rai would often play in the streets with a handmade toy of the Avatar where he would save the day with the all mighty Avatar. Days like that were simpler for Rai. He would always have to hide the toy before his adoptive father Daoka would come home though. Daoka would always tell Rai that the Avatar was the reason they live so poor or couldn’t have nice things. Daoka was hard on Rai, raising him on his past criminal beliefs that the Avatar was always after him. Unbeknownst to Rai, Daoka was using his wife and Rai as a way to blend in without the Fire Nation authority catching onto what he really was doing. Daoka ran a black market behind the scenes often selling exotic goods across the nations, always afraid the Avatar would come after him after he sold goods to Red Lotus, which were used to attempt to kill the Avatar.
When Rai was 10 years old he had heard a rumor that the Avatar was coming to the Fire Nation and would be in a local city nearby. He ran to New Arsen in what seemed like only a few minutes to see the Avatar. When he got there he saw the Avatar standing there, and got in line to meet them. When it was finally his turn to meet the Avatar, he handed the Avatar his little wooden toy of them when a man called out of the line that this man was a liar and he is not the real Avatar. Rai was hurt that this man would claim to be the Avatar, and that he would use the Avatar’s name as his way to make money. “They are all the same people: thieves and liars.” Rai ran back to New Kasen that night with tears in his eyes, hurt that his hero may not even be a hero after all.
During his teenage years, Rai would find himself not going to school, and working odd jobs where he would mostly work as a carpenter help fixing buildings and working on scorching hot roofs during the summer. Here Rai would find his love for building and fixing things, repairing old into new, taking a lot of pride into the work. He made good money working as a carpenter, as he was able to take money home to his mother, Toye. During this time Daoka was caught by the Fire Nation authorities, and was arrested and sent to live in a prison for men like him.
One night when Rai was 17 years old, he was standing over a roof enjoying the cold air during the night after a long day of working on roofs. Then, he noticed a sky bison and a group of airbenders riding the bison above him. Rai envied the way the Air Nomads had lived free of earthly attachments. While he was watching them pass, Rai lost footing and slipped off the roof. But just before he hit the ground, he was able to airblast to save his fall. At first Rai was shocked at what just happened. He quickly realized he had air bent, and ran home that night to tell his mother what happened. His mother entertained the idea that Rai was to join the Air Nomads, and the very next day Rai packed his belongings. Before he had left, his mother sadly handed Rai a white sash. He laughed at her, saying that the Air Nomads don’t wear white, but his mother smiled at him and said, “Well my son Rai does.” Rai smiled kindly while she continued on saying, “You were my hope, take care of yourself, Rai.” Tears filled his eyes as he was finally given a name after all these years. The next few days Rai would make his journey to Republic City, where he would take the next boat to Air Temple Island.
During Rais’s early days of being a novice, he would travel the temples with Air Nomads of all abilities and sizes learning their way of life. Rai would find himself at the Northern Air Temple, where he would feel a strange connection, like somehow he had been there before. He stared at Northern, as at the time it was in very poor shape. It almost seemed like no one was really living there. During his novice days, Rai spent a lot of time getting lost at the temple and exploring. During this time he would meet three Air Nomads: Hasan, Maia, and Avia. After a short period of time, they had become very close friends to Rai.
Rai would pick up most of the basics of air bending as an apprentice, as he still struggled with mastering his newfound bending skill. When Rai was not practicing his air bending, he was off exploring the Northern Air Temple and helping expand the farm, which he was familiar with, and happy to provide any kind of improvements to. This is when Rai met the Elder of the Northern Air Temple: a woman named Samten. He would often find himself a bit afraid to talk to her at first, and would keep his distance away from her.
Rai would not become a Monk right away and he would fail the test to become a Monk at first. Crushed that he did not pass, he would take the time to study the Air Nomads more in the Keeper libraries, where he would then pass the test and receive his Air Nomad glider. Rai would often leave Northern and travel the world with his friends Avia, Hasan, and Maia.
During Ray’s time as Monk, he trained hard to become a Guardian, passing the first phase almost immediately. However, as he went along, the phases became too hard, and his confidence vanished. It became so bad that Rai strongly debated returning home to the Fire Nation, when it dawned on him that Northern was his new home, and he needed to treat it like such. He started working closely with Elder Samten, creating new projects to improve the Northern Air Temple. Before Rai’s eyes, the temple expanded across the broad mountain range, something it hadn’t done in over 100 years.
Elder Samten had approached Rai about becoming her Abbot after his tireless effort on helping the temple and its residents, to which he agreed. It was also during this time that Rai would meet his bison, an albino type he named Sheeta. During Rai’s time as abbot, he would start his biggest project yet: creating the first ever Northern Air Temple Dojo. It was remade underneath the infamous Red Lotus base, and took the horrible history correlated with the area, into something new and exciting. It would also lead to Elder Samten coming to Rai, and asking him to lead the temple as Elder in her upcoming resignation.
Rai works to this day to make the Northern Air Temple the best it can be, and helps the residents as much as possible. Yet these improvements were not made alone. In the winter of 316 AG, Rai asked Keeper Padma to become his Abbess. Together they work tirelessly to make Northern the best it can be, and for the overall betterment of Nomads and non-nomads alike.
by OMGItsQuali
Rai
Political Figure:
Northern Air Temple Elder Reign:
316 AG - 322 AG Predecessor:
Elder Samten Nation:
The Air Nomads
Appearance
Year of Birth
287 AG
30 Years old
Children
Eyes
Dark blue
Hair
Long black
Height
6'2
