Water Tribe Civil War

"water"

- Opening the spirit portal was only the first step in getting the Southern Water Tribe back on its righteous path. There's more difficult work to be done before our two tribes are truly united.

The Water Tribe Civil War is a conflict between the two Water Tribes that occurred six months after the Anti-bending Revolution.

Prelude
Eras before the Hundred Year War, the Water Tribe solely existed in the North Pole, but due to civil unrest, some of its citizens headed to the South Pole and engendered a new tribe. Despite the separation, the tribes mutually maintained a healthy relationship, temporarily convening during festivals such as the New Moon Celebration.

The events of the Hundred Year War hindered the two tribes from connecting with each other. The North continued to flourish as the war raged on, while the South lost all of its waterbenders because of the constant Southern Water Tribe raids, as well as its spirituality.

After the Siege of the North in 100 ASC, members from the North headed to the South to help them rebuild. Since then, the tribes reconnected, with the South subjugated under the North's leadership. Since then, tensions between the South and the North began rising, as the Northern Chief had little power over the men in the South.



In 151 ASC, in the Northern Water Tribe, Unalaq, the second son of the then-tribal chief, wanted to usurp the throne from the heir-apparent, his older brother, General Tonraq. Exploiting his brother's lack of spirituality and tenacity in times of war, Unalaq framed Tonraq by hiring a band of barbarians to attack the Northern Water Tribe, then flee to a sacred forest. Unalaq did this knowing Tonraq would follow and continue to attack, destroying the forest and unleashing dark spirits onto the tribe. This resulted in the tribe's near destruction, Tonraq's banishment, and Unalaq becoming the ruler of the Water Tribes.

Early conflicts
In 171 ASC, Unalaq's men invaded the South, and Unalaq claimed this was to prevent the South from falling into any further spiritual decay. Feeling as if the North was invading, the South held a meeting at the house belonging to Tonraq and his wife, Senna. Tonraq tried to dissuade the members of his tribe from doing anything particularly violent, but Varrick managed to persuade the men otherwise, despite Tonraq's protests.

A first battle almost began as children waterbent snowballs at soldiers, and the soldiers attacked the children back. Angered that adults would attack children, several Southern waterbenders threatened the soldiers to try and pick on somebody their own size. The fight was interrupted by Korra, who attempted to create peace between the two groups. When Korra appeared to be failing, Tonraq arrived and dissuaded the Southern people from attacking as he felt it would not be worth their time.

Later, rebels attempted to assassinate Unalaq at night, and were stopped by Avatar Korra. She later discovered that they had been acting on directions from Varrick, and conveyed the information to Unalaq, who arrested them and Varrick, as well as his brother and Senna. A trial was held for these people, and all were found guilty except Senna. All of the rebels and Tonraq were forced to serve their lives in prison, excluding Varrick, who had gone into hiding.

Korra then attempted to rescue her father from prison, and in the process discovered that it had been her uncle who had orchestrated Tonraq's banishment. She relayed this information to her friends and Varrick, and they decided to break Tonraq and the rebels out of prison. Upon breaking them out, Korra told her father about the truth behind his banishment. Upset that his brother would do such a thing, Tonraq agreed that war was inevitable and he instructed Korra, Varrick, and the rest of Team Avatar to go to the United Republic of Nations to attempt to persuade the president to get the United Forces on their side, so they may have a chance of winning the war.