| "Any claim this city was better than Bin-Er was a load of crock. It was just more organized." |
| — Kavik's thoughts.[1] |
Jonduri is a city located on almost the entirety of a Fire Nation island in the Baizhi Sea. Following the Platinum Affair, Jonduri was designated as one of the four shang cities open to international trade.[2]
History[]
Platinum Affair and aftermath[]
The Fire Nation entered an isolationist period after the major diplomatic blunder known as the Platinum Affair, with the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes also pursuing similar policies. However, it was agreed that four cities would be open to controlled amounts of international trade, and would be put under the purview of noble and merchant families, later known as shangs. Jonduri was the only shang city formally located in Fire Nation territory.[2][3] Like the other shang cities, workers from the other nations migrated to Jonduri in search of fortune or a better life.[4]
Under the leadership of Zongdu Chaisee, Jonduri became the "jewel of the shang system", and everyone reaped massive profits. Fire Lord Gonryu enjoyed the revenue the city brought him enough to largely keep out of the city's affairs, though he did send spies to watch Chaisee, as he did not want to see any zongdu linger.[3] Chaisee managed to wield an absolute grip over the other shangs in Jonduri, and was able to unilaterally control the flow of intelligence on the island by having every errand runner in the city work for her as a member of a single association, monitoring the residents who could be a threat to her smooth operations.[5]
Chaisee had grand plans for herself and wished to build a dynasty.[6] Aware that the shangs were susceptible to the heads of state of the formal nations, she worked with Zongdu Dooshim of Bin-Er to plan the Unanimity project, working to engineer a potential weapon of mass destruction that could break the shang cities free from the nations.[7][6] After various experiments on an island in the Mo Ce Sea, the project managed to produce three combustionbenders.[8] These benders were mentally conditioned to obey Chaisee's commands no matter what upon hearing a certain passcode. Chaisee planned to use the hitherto unknown power to assassinate Earth King Feishan, Fire Lord Gonryu, and Chief Oyaluk in one fell swoop at the Convocation of Taku, hoping to create a power vacuum that could allow her to establish a true independent fiefdom outside the control of the four nations.[9][10]
Dooshim's successor, Henshe, kept tabs on Chaisee by sending his spy, Kalyaan, to Jonduri, having him act as a deep plant for Henshe within Chaisee's organization.[11] However, Kalyaan and Chaisee would secretly fall in love and marry one another, with the zongdu even becoming pregnant by Henshe's spy. This change to their relationship dynamics meant that Chaisee would eventually end up forgiving Kalyaan when she learned that he had been working for Henshe.[12]
Some years after the Platinum Affair, Tayagum and Akuudan would also resettle in Jonduri after being freed from an Earth Kingdom prison, and set up an inn which doubled as a safe house for Avatar Yangchen's allies.[5]
Unanimity project[]
Some time after the three combustionbenders trained for the Unanimity project on Shimsom Big Island, they were brought to Jonduri. It was known by the shangs of Bin-Er that Chaisee controlled the implementation of Unanimity, and they appealed to her to send the human weapons to Bin-Er, as Yangchen threatened to expose to Earth King Feishan that the shangs there had broken the terms of their charter unless they implemented charitable reforms. Yangchen personally spied on Henshe's meeting with the shangs of Bin-Er. Determined to investigate the Unanimity project more, she agreed to declare Jonduri the next stop on her official tour of the shang cities.[7] Sidao, an Earth Sage and advisor of Yangchen (who was in the pocket of the shangs of Bin-Er), came to deliver the message, but Chaisee had him killed, as she believed that he could have betrayed the shangs to Yangchen. Qiu was also killed for being in possession of valuable information; a letter belonging to the Avatar.[13][6]
Yangchen reached the island escorted by a delegation of monks from the Northern Air Temple, though she dropped off Kavik so that he could meet up with Tayagum and enter the city undiscovered. In order to avoid the harbormaster's suspicions, Kavik smashed his face against a hard surface to make him unrecognizable, and had to spend some time recovering with Tayagum and Akuudan.[14][5] In the meantime, Yangchen met up with Chaisee, and while the zongdu promised Yangchen that Jonduri would be reformed, the Avatar realized that Chaisee was trying to take advantage of her as she would not be planning to follow through on her word. Yangchen was also given a diversion of several days when Chaisee alerted her to the urgent situation with the Saowon clan on Ma'inka Island.[3]
With Yangchen gone for days, Kavik took an opening to enter Chaisee's association of errand runners. He was partnered with Jujinta, and was disgusted when their first task was to dispose of Qiu and Sidao's bodies.[15][13] Yangchen learned about this when she returned to the city, and was horrified at what had happened. After getting over the initial shock, Yangchen approved for Kavik working with Chaisee's association to "emphatically vacate" anyone inside, as it would give the Avatar's team the potential to learn about Unanimity if he retrieved the logbook during the mission.[16][4] Although there were many more workers than they had been expecting in the warehouse, Kavik and Jujinta managed to defeat them, though a threat to set the cargo on fire meant that Kavik had to put it out with waterbending, damaging many goods. The team leader, Pang, was killed for his stupidity, and the association manager, Tael, took Kavik to see Kalyaan.[4][1] However, Kalyaan had been keeping an eye on his brother, and sought to use him for his own gain by having him redirect Yangchen to Port Tuugaq, delaying her response to Unanimity. Kavik capitulated to his brother, and told Yangchen that Unanimity was not in the city any longer.[11]
Meanwhile, Zongdu Henshe came to personally visit Jonduri after receiving Chaisee's curt response in the negative. He threatened to have the Fire Lord replace her, and so she agreed to sending Unanimity to Bin-Er, though Henshe knew he was bluffing.[6] He used Kalyaan as his double agent and got him to arrange for the members of Unanimity to be moved to Bin-Er by ship. Kavik left with the members of Unanimity, and Yangchen returned some time later, figuring that she and Kavik had been wrong about Unanimity being on the Sunbeam.[11][17][18] She found Jujinta blowing Nujian's bison whistle as she arrived, and they left for Bin-Er together.[19] However, Henshe was unable to fully control Unanimity to take power for himself, as he did not have access to the passcodes, leaving the combustionbenders with free will to make their own demands. While Yangchen and her allies dealt with the demonstration and apprehended all the members of the Unanimity project, she covered up the display of power as a spiritual incident, and her hands were tied in dealing with Chaisee and Jonduri.[20]
Over the following months, Chaisee gave birth to her son in Jonduri.[21] She later received a missive from Thapa, who had struck up a rapport with a monk guarding him at the Northern Air Temple and had been able to convince him to deliver a written message to his mother, which in fact contained coded instructions for the zongdu to come rescue him.[22] This allowed for Thapa's escape and the assassination of Zongdu Henshe. Chaisee left to meet up with Thapa at a resort on the Su Oku river, where she regained control of the combustionbender through the use of the passcodes.[23] This revived her plan to use Unanimity to assassinate the world leaders in Taku. Chaisee left her child in the care of house staff in Jonduri before she left for the convocation.[24] Many agents of Chaisee's association were also sent into the Taku during the new stage of Unanimity.[12]
After an intense investigation mission by Yangchen and her companions, the Avatar learned enough of Chaisee's plan to confront Jonduri's zongdu in Iwashi's parlor. Thapa's location was revealed to her, and the Avatar defeated the combustionbender under Chaisee's control, bringing the Unanimity project to a permanent end.[25][26] In the wake of the zongdu's defeat, Yangchen granted her the boon of collecting Kalyaan from Taku and their child from Jonduri, before her family planned to live their rest of their lives in anonymity, moving place to place.[27][28]
In a private meeting with Earth King Feishan, Yangchen revealed more about the truth of Unanimity. While Yangchen had been hoping to dissolve the shang system entirely at the convocation, she had come to believe that such a move would lead to a no less problematic state of affairs. She therefore asked him to endorse her controlling all shang cities at the convocation's ratification, wishing to administer the others like she had done so in Bin-Er so that she could hold all the reins of power and then later let them go. Chaisee's treacherous actions were used as justification for Yangchen taking hold of Jonduri. Meanwhile, Feishan suspected that Yangchen had let Chaisee intentionally escape, and planned to send his hounds to go after the former zongdu who had tried to murder him. The constant risk of Feishan catching up to Chaisee meant that Yangchen could essentially turn the former zongdu into an asset of the Avatar.[27][28]
Layout and description[]
The city of Jonduri was located on almost all of a swelteringly hot island. Most of the island was surrounded by cliffs and dangerous shoals, making it almost impossible to bypass the official checkpoints at the port. Sections of the coast had names such as Tigerdillo's Roar or Limpet's Teeth, and even rather strong waterbenders could not survive any attempts to lay ashore.[14]
The estates of the shangs were located above the main city, with their compounds nestled in greenery. Some of their houses were very ornate, and had gilded gates, though Chaisee's personal estate was remarkably plain.[3]
Notable figures[]
References[]
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