Tai Shan, the Earthbender

Name: Tai Shan

Age: 25

Origin: Earth Kingdom

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Lineage: Toph - Great Grandmother

Biography: Tai Shan was born into a relatively large family, 12 years after the population control measures were lifted. He decided at a young age that he would try and live up to his great grandmother's stature and become an amazing Earthbender, the things legends were made of. Following in her footsteps Tai ran away from home at the age of 14 and lived with the badgermoles underground. Within a short amount of time Tai learned to "see" with Earthbending, increasing his already impressive skills. Whilst underground he Tai found a chunk of iron ore and bent it into a shield. He resurfaced after a year only to tell his family he was leaving again. After saying goodbye to his family Tai left for the desert to learn Sandbending. Tai trained with the Sandbenders for 3 years before making his way South towards the sea. After a week of travel he came across an outpost of Beetle-Head Merchants under attack from a Canyon Crawler. He helped fend off the giant creature and was awarded a Giant Beetle for his help. He used this beetle, now named Jin Jie, to travel quickly to the southern port so he could make his way to the Fire Nation. While in town he learned that Chen Dilong, the Avatar, had disappeared. Hearing the swirling rumors Tai Shan set off to the Southern Water Tribe on his own search for the Avatar.

Abilities: Tai is an exceptional Earthbender, having a good grasp on many Earthbending techniques, a tremorsense ability, and the ability to bend unrefined ferrous ore (i.e. iron and tin). His shield is unrefined allowing him to always have a source for him to bend. This isn't technically Metalbending, as he is bending the large amount of earth present in the metal.

Personality: Tai is fiercely independent, disliking help from anyone. On the other hand he's never shy about offering his help to others and will fight to the death to defend something someone else has put their all into.

Weapons: A shield made of unrefined iron that Tai has mastered the bending of.