Unification wars of the Fire Islands

"fire"

- The first Fire Lord [...] brought the warlords to justice and ushered in an era of prolonged peace.

The unification wars of the Fire Islands were a series of military conflicts in the disaggregated archipelago that later became the Fire Nation, fought by first Fire Lord against several warring warlords. His victory resulted in the first known unification of the Fire Islands into a single nation, paving the way for the establishment of the Fire Nation.

History


After Avatar Wan closed the spirit portals, the humans began to wage war among themselves, eventually spreading out across the Fire Islands to establish villages all over the archipelago. Over time, warlords arose and took control of these settlements, fighting each other for land and power. The common people were often caught in the middle of the conflicts, forced to suffer from the warlords' wrath and to pay tribute in order to keep their armies fed and paid.

Eventually, however, the worst warlord, Toz, abducted the children of a village which had disobeyed him. As the children were never seen again, their mothers died of sadness, resulting in the rise of the dark spirits known as Kemurikage. These spirits began to haunt not only Toz, but also several other warlords, weakening or destroying their regimes.

Eventually, one ruler on the Fire Islands who was deemed rightous by both the Kemurikage and the local people, defeated all warlords and brought them to justice. Uniting the Fire Island into a single political unit, he eventually became to be known as the first Fire Lord.

Aftermath
The first Fire Lord ushered in an era of prolonged peace, so that the sadness of the Kemurikage receded, causing them to permanently retreat into the Spirit World, though they continued to be remembered as folk legend for coming centuries in the Fire Nation. After his death, the first Fire Lord was interred in a crypt that later evolved into the Dragonbone Catacombs. His regime eventually collapsed, leaving the Fire Islands without any known form of central leadership. The archipelago was permanently united into the Fire Nation by the Fire Sages, whose rule ended when the lead sage reclaimed the title of Fire Lord, reforming the nation into an autocratic empire ruled by his family.

Many centuries later, Fire Lord Sozin had the Dragonbone Catacombs largely sealed, causing the first unification of the Fire Islands to be forgotten. Only in 102 AG, a Kemurikage eventually retold the story to Avatar Aang.

Trivia

 * The soldiers of the first Fire Lord strongly resemble the warriors of the Yayoi period, an era during which the first known Japanese state emerged.