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| By King Bumis Heir | Part of the Avatar: Civil Strife continuity. |
| Juji's fine. He comes back to life in the end when the doomsday device shifts the polarity of the Earth. Oops. Spoiler. Sorry.
Warning! This page contains spoilers for Avatar: Civil Strife.
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| "Coward, I'd rather die a warrior's death that Lord Qin is willing to give me!" |
| — An earthbender muttered after Gan strikes him in the head with a mace in Chapter 1: Ascension. |
Gan is a mercenary and a member of the Meng clan. Gan is the main antagonist of Book 1 in Avatar: Civil Strife.
History[]
Not much is known about Gan other than he was hired by King Gun a month before his death to destroy the Haijun Kingdom from within. The mission was to get into Ba Sing Se undetected and assassinate Earth King Shuicheng, Gan had the reputation of never failing in the past. The highest bidder always got what they wanted, with a steady stream of income from Earth King Gun, Gan set his sights on taking provinces along the way.
Later Yeman, gives Gan the authority to command soldiers during the war which helps the Meng clan mercenary immensely to further his goals. As a non-bender he's proficient in weapons, and specializes in bluntsfighting with a mace which serves as his primary weapon although he's also skilled with a bow. It is rumored that Gan can speak the Haijun Kingdom dialect of Kingsmen, as well as Northern and Southern Tribesmen dialects, and the Nationalist language.
He has a reputation to defeat master benders in combat he's underestimated a lot of time because he's a non-bender but years of training have helped Gan in finding ways to easily defeat benders in combat. While on missions he involved himself in duels for money against benders. The name Gan is feared across the barbarian clans of the Oma Kingdom.
Assassinating a Governor[]
Knowing Gan's skills Brigadier-General Yun requested that he pick four other individuals and assemble a team to infiltrate the city of Guandi and assassinate Governor Luyou Bei. Giving Gan four hours before he assaulted the capital with the army camped in the mountains. Gan chose four team members, Fen Mo Fu, Suo Pi Dao, Bian Nu Xing, and Chao Lin Xi. Each of the four had a unique skill set that would help him accomplish his mission.
His objective along with Lin Xi was to infiltrate the siheyuan of Governor Luyou disguised as a Yanzhao agent meeting him on behalf of the Earth King and Spymaster. Along with Lin Xi who only served as minstrel he hired since he knew the governor loved music. After tasking Nu Xing to find Jian and get the information she needed on the governor's steward, his family, and the location of the bunker. He sent Mo Fu and Pi Dao to a storage house where baopo xiang or blasting crates could be found.
He met with Mo Fu and Pi Dao at the service entrance and gave them a map of the main house of the estate, something Mo Fu had to do while Gan and Lin Xi distracted the governor. The meeting involved an operation following a lead from an anonymous tip that a cult of daozhi were hiding somewhere in the Guandi mountains just north of the city.
The meeting was interrupted after thirty minutes, when a guard came to escort Luyou to the infirmary after his steward Lao Piao was found severely injured at the House of Ravishing Flowers. An expression of anger that he had for Nu Xing for allowing her emotions to jeopardize the mission. Mo Fu and the thief came for Gan and the bard, escaping from the estate. After they escaped via carriage, and passed the House of Ravishing Flowers; the governor's estate blew up which alerted the watchtowers and placed the city on lockdown.
After the four hours were up, Yun attacked the city in the wee hours of the evening leading to the city surrendering after losing their entire chain of command in the explosion.
Pingyao Campaign[]
Gan along with his brigade have been positioned and tasked to take over outposts, towns, and smaller military forts to blind the bigger ones within the borders of Pingyao province. Fort Li Jun being the closest to Taiyuan and Zi Guangi was to be avoided for the time being until they amassed a bigger force to take the fort for the Oma Kingdom.
In the midst of Gan taking a smaller outpost near the fort, an enemy soldier fired a flare that was seen by a rider heading to the capital. Gan however believed that the flare was not seen by the fort and continued further west into the province. Meanwhile the rider who saw it reported it to General Da Taifeng in Fort Li Jun. Causing all outposts, forts, and locations on the map to remain on high alert about the imminent threat.
Eventually, the next afternoon Gan and his army ran into Captain Qishi's company, an intense battle occurred which prompted Gan to check the battlefield. When he only saw a woman bending all four elements for a brief moment, this caused Gan to use all of his men to overpower them but then when he saw her use the Avatar State he along with most of his army fled.
With continuation of the campaign he was tasked to recruit Deng Shan Jia of the Ke clan in the mountains of Ru province. After his success he was to report to Yun in the recently captured town of East Lo Shao Cha. Traveling to the mountainous region proved to be easy for the division of troops. Gan and his main four soldiers were led to Deng's longhouse where they would discuss the recruitment with the Big-Horned Bear. After Deng introduced himself, he and Gan exchanged a few words before Deng joined the Oma Kingdom. Which resulted in Gan ordering his best men to follow him to East Lo Shao Cha, and his metalbenders teaching those capable of bending minerals within Gan's division their art of blacksmithing.
Later in the day, they returned to the town with new allies, Yun was grateful and then debriefed both the champion of the Meng and the chieftain of the Ke on their plans of wreaking havoc in Li Jun county. Which detailed the destruction of towns and the assassination of their leaders. Leaving Fort Li Jun and Taiyuan isolated while they closed in on the capital, Gan's team and those chosen by Deng left East Lo Shao Cha and headed to their points of interest.
Abilities[]
Gan was born a non-bender, with skills like stealth, disguise, fluent in different languages, archery, lockpicking, and even a weapon master who specializes in mace combat. Often underestimated for his lack of bending abilities by benders Gan has learned to accept the fact that he was born a non-bender but has made up for it by learning to fight and mastering other skills in life.
Appearances[]
Avatar: Civil Strife[]
Book One: War[]
- Chapter 1: Ascension
- Chapter 2: A Strange Visitor
- Chapter 3: Of Conquerors and Guardians Part 1: The Siege of Laofung
- Chapter 4: Of Conquerors and Guardians Part 2: The Fall of Guandi
- Chapter 5: Coming of Age (Mentioned Only; no lines)
- Chapter 6: The Shipment
- Chapter 8: Secrets and Quarrels
- Chapter 9: Havoc in Li Jun
- Chapter 10: Escalation Part 1: Union of Two Bloods
- Chapter 11: Escalation Part 2: Storming the Spire
Trivia[]
- Gan means "the bold one" in Mongolian.
- Gan's hairstyle was popular for Göktürk Mongols.
- Gan comes from the Meng clan, their name means "powerful" in Cantonese.
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