Hegemon's Folly

Hegemon's Folly
Physical information
Location	Southwestern Earth Kingdom
Government
Position	Burial site
First appearance	Avatar: Generations (only appearance)
Location on map

Referred to as Hegemon's Folly by Earth Kingdom historians, this location is the ancient burial site of General Wei, a disgraced Earth Kingdom hero who was consumed by his endless appetite for greatness. The massive mausoleum is located in the southwestern Earth Kingdom at the Mo Ce Sea.

History

Origin

General Wei became known to historians as a regional hero who devised many war strategies and a talented martial artist. By the time he had become an "old warrior", Wei was desperate to forge a long-lasting legacy for himself. Not satisfied with his successes up until this point, he tried to achieve a completely unrealistic level of greatness. In the process, he declared war "against an impossible enemy". This started his final downfall and led to his doom at sea.

The statue of Wei which symbolically presents him as a fisherman.

After his death, Wei was honored with a massive mausoleum, even though his legacy was one of shame. His burial site became known as Hegemon's Folly, and his surviving family members attended his burial wearing "bleak and spiteful" masks. They also placed statues and an inscription in front of his crypt which emphasized the general's hubris. The inscription cryptically stated: "The insatiable fisherman hungers more than ever. The poor fish wonder, 'When will we be free?' But his endless appetite may not last forever, when blind to the bigger fish in the sea." The statues in front of his grave represented Wei as a fisherman whose attention was focused on two fish, even as his enemy — symbolized by an unagi — had turned its gaze on him.

Hundred Year War

A significant number of items and texts associated with Wei were stored as grave goods in his mausoleum. In the late Hundred Year War, several people tried to access the general's crypt, seeking the information it contained.

After Captain Masaru's failure at Razor Reef, he launched an operation in which he moved his unit to Hegemon's Folly, where he tried to enter the mausoleum of General Wei, searching for his writings on strategy and martial arts, and hoping that the Fire Nation could profit from studying these texts. However, his forces struggled to open the mausoleum without damaging it, while a superior Fire Nation officer, Commander Mamushi, regarded the entire operation as a waste. In order to speed up his excavations, Masaru hired various criminals and Earth Kingdom collaborators, hoping they would succeed where his soldiers had failed. Among these people, there was Jiang, a pirate who was considered a highly capable safe cracker. He offered her a deal, in which she would keep any sellable treasures among the grave goods while the Fire Nation troops would keep any writings, to which the corsair agreed.

Around the same time, Jade, a merchant from Omashu, traveled to Hegemon's Folly in search for quality antiques to sell. She was joined by Chef Lee, owner of Double Dumpling in the same city. The pair encountered Masaru's soldiers and the local collaborators, who suspected the pair was searching for the riches that they were meant to find. When one of the soldiers started to aggressively interrogate them, Jiang stood up for them, defeating the bullies. When Jade explained to Jiang their real mission, the pirate agreed to help them crack into the mausoleum and plunder whatever she found there. As the trio approached the grave, they noticed the entrance was flooded and the door sealed. After noticing the inscription and examining the statues, they turned them to a position in line with the inscription's riddle, and the water blocking their entrance was drained, allowing them to enter the mausoleum.

When they went inside, they encountered Wen, an archeologist from the Earth Kingdom, who had shut themself in by accidentally leaning on a lever. However, at that moment, they were confronted by Masaru and his company. After Jiang successfully defeated the soldiers, Wen pointed out that none of the relics were particularly valuable to most. Jiang expressed her disappointment and left, while the rest of the group decided to look through some smaller tombs around the area.