Avatar: The Last Airbender provided a broad but relatively shallow overview of a fascinating world that Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game fleshes out better than ever before. The TTRPG developed by Magpie Games recently debuted a core book that gives Avatar fans all the lore they could ask for, with such an expansive look at every time period in the franchise that players can feel comfortable dropping themselves into almost any epoch.
The Era of Roku was perhaps one of the most mysterious times of any named Avatar in the series, primarily seen through only a single episode with a narrow viewpoint in the original series. Avatar Legends fleshes that viewpoint out to include all of the Four Nations, offering fascinating information about one of the world's most unique time periods.
Previously seen primarily through the Season 3 episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender "The Avatar and the Fire Lord," the Era of Roku offered a look at the world of Avatar before the Hundred Year War that dominated the original series. However, while Aang's Era and Roku's preceding time in Kyoshi's Era have both been seen extensively through the shows, comics and novels, Roku's Era always represented something of a blindspot in the lore. Although the twin perspectives of the titular Avatar and the Fire Lord in the Season 3 episode provided valuable insight into Roku's upbringing, development and later conflict with Sozin that preceded his untimely demise, there was much about the Four Nations that fans did not have access to.
... Until now. Avatar Legends offers an extensive look at Roku's Era that focuses individually on each of the Four Nations during that time period. The era detailed in the book concerns the span of time prior to Roku's wedding during the episode "The Avatar and the Fire Lord," meaning that relations remain tense yet unbroken between the Fire Nation and the rest of the world. It fleshes out some details from what was seen in the episode, such as providing names for Roku's waterbending master Taqukaq and earthbending master Sud, but perhaps more valuable, it delves into areas of lore never before seen in any adaptation.
Much of the lore concerns the uneasy tensions between many of the Four Nations, and within each other as much as with one another. The Northern and Southern Water Tribes, for instance, experience conflict in their growing separation, which were known to worsen during the South's economic troubles in Kyoshi's Era. The influx of attacks from the Spirit World resulting from the fading traditions that kept them at bay establishes just how far back the two tribes' spiritual conflicts went before the civil war of Korra's Era. The Northern Water Tribe even experiences tensions with the northern part of the Earth Kingdom, with tidal waves and earthquakes threatening the delicate balance between them as each blames the other side for these occurrences.
The ever-mysterious Air Nomads prove to be some of the most interesting figures in the world, traveling around the globe to try to stave off the political and spiritual conflicts that threaten global harmony. One of the most intricate plotlines detailed by the core book involves a group known as the Guiding Wind, creating tension between the Air Nomads and the nobility of the Fire Nation. Sozin's sister even becomes involved with the group, adding depth to his motivations for the Air Nomad genocide that never before could have been imagined.
Such details are valuable to avid fans of Avatar regardless of their interest in the TTRPG. The core book could well be worth seeking out just for the sake of learning about parts of the Avatar world never before seen if for nothing else, as there is ample material there to sate even the most voracious of fan appetites.
It's also important to remember that the lore of Avatar remains organic and ever-growing. As much as the Avatar Legends core book fleshes out the past, further installments in the franchise could build on those same elements even more. The more the canon presses on into the future, the more fans always have to learn about its past.
