War of Chin the Conqueror

"earth"

- In my day, Chin the Conqueror threatened to throw the world out of balance.

The War of Chin the Conqueror was a major hostile takeover of the Earth Kingdom by the tyrannical warlord Chin. Almost the entirety of the Earth Kingdom was invaded in the epic campaign. The only territories to remain in the last stages of the war were Ba Sing Se and a peninsula, the home of Avatar Kyoshi. The war was ended when Chin was killed by Avatar Kyoshi as she separated her home from the mainland, creating Kyoshi Island.

History
Chin the Conqueror, a tyrannical warlord, had raised a large army in order to gain power over the Earth Kingdom. The 46th Earth King was very unpopular; Chin, seizing this advantage, began expanding his army to all corners of the continent.

War
Chin's campaign proved to be a success. Commencing from a small island in the northwestern part of the kingdom, his armies steadily conquered every city, and after an unknown period of time, only Ba Sing Se and Avatar Kyoshi's home peninsula remained unconquered.

Kyoshi had attempted to keep Chin from reaching her land, but she failed in this endeavor, as Chin was able to lead an army to the neck of the peninsula where she lived. In a standoff, Chin confronted Kyoshi and demanded their immediate surrender. Kyoshi, in turn, warned him that she would not sit passively while he took her home, but Chin did not back down and challenged her.



Kyoshi unleashed a display of powers of the Avatar State by creating a large fissure across the width of the neck of the peninsula to sever it from the mainland. Bending lava, she deepened the crack, and utilized airbending to completely separate her homeland. The ground shook as the newly formed Kyoshi Island slowly made its way toward the middle of the ocean, leaving Chin standing on an unstable cliff. Although the cliff started to crumble away underneath his feet, Chin, screaming in anger over Kyoshi's actions, refused to move. As a result, he plummeted to his death in the depths below, ending his life and the war.

Aftermath
Around three hundred years later, very few remembered the war, and the details of Chin's death became unclear.

The citizens of Chin Village are the only known people that still commemorate Chin's death. For this occasion, they created Avatar Day, a festival that celebrated their hatred for the Avatar for killing their great and beloved leader. However, the accuracy of the grounds for the event were biased at best, leaving out several important details.

The village would celebrate this holiday on those grounds for 370 years. When Team Avatar arrived at the village, Avatar Aang was jailed for Chin the Conqueror's "murder", so Katara and Sokka set out to discover the truth behind it all. With the help of Avatar Kyoshi's spirit, the exact facts of Chin's demise were revealed. During the following invasion of Chin Village by the Rough Rhinos, Aang was able to clear the Avatar's name. From that day on, Avatar Day became a day to commemorate Aang saving the village.



Before the Battle at Wulong Forest, Aang summoned Kyoshi for guidance. She reminded him that her forceful ending of Chin the Conqueror's war for dominance brought a great era of peace. Aang pointed out that she did not actually kill him, but that Chin's own arrogance had led to his downfall. Kyoshi replied that she saw no difference in this, and told Aang that she would have done anything necessary to stop Chin. After hearing this, Aang regretted consulting Kyoshi on this complex moral matter.