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"When the Department of Cultural Affairs started to implement increasingly harsher policies with approval from the Council, the Silver Fangs grew from the shadows. Trying to help those we are able. It is a responsibility we all take very seriously."
<infobox theme-source="nation"> <image source="image" /> <title source="name"><default>Silver Fangs</default></title> <group> <header>General information</header> <label>Leader(s)</label> <label>Notable members</label> <label>Founder(s)</label> <label>Headquarters</label> <label>Affiliation</label> <label>Purpose</label> <label>Engagements</label> <label>Status</label> </group> <group> <header>Chronological information</header> <label>First appearance</label> <label>Last appearance</label> </group> <header></header> </infobox> The Silver Fangs was a business syndicate in Ba Sing Se representing a group of associates that banded together against the conspiracy in the capital.[1] They were a major player in the city's black market, but did this in order to stop money leaving the hands of the people and falling into the hands of corrupt officials and the gangs they controlled. The group tried to support the poorest in society as much as they could, from beggars to refugees.[2]
The association was, in some ways, a front for the Order of the White Lotus. One of the two overseeing representatives of the Silver Fangs had ties to the ancient order,[3] and the Silver Fangs' secret hiding places contained White Lotus imagery.[4]
After the Coup of Ba Sing Se, the Silver Fangs arranged for their members and associates to flee the city before the city gates were opened to the Fire Nation.[5] Over the following weeks, the Silver Fangs pretended to be subdued, but in fact planned to strike back when the Fire Nation would be weakest. It stopped its members from acting rashly, but started to spread the word of uprising shortly after the Day of Black Sun.[3][6] When Sozin's Comet arrived, revolutionaries organized by the Silver Fangs helped to take back the city, fighting alongside White Lotus masters in the liberation of Ba Sing Se.[4][7]
History
Growing its influence
The Silver Fangs was founded in the last few decades of the Hundred Year War, when the Department of Cultural Affairs started to implement increasingly harsher policies without opposition from the Council of Five.[1] Founding members like Patron Wu, the most renowned performer in Ba Sing Se, established a group that could help all those they were able to.[8] They built up influence in the Lower Ring with businesses and the common folk,[9] with the Judge growing particularly well-known as someone who would mediate disputes between Lower Ring citizens and Earth Kingdom officials.[10] Nevertheless, the Silver Fangs remained relatively obscure to many people, with some people believing they might have simply been another gang.[2]
While looking for a money to pay off the Wens' debt, Jin became involved with the Silver Fangs. Her classmate, Xuan, first got her to fill in for a delivery to Professor Om at Ba Sing Se University after one of his sisters got sick.[11] Xuan later got her to handle a regular delivery to Madame Macmu-Ling in the Upper Ring. Xuan was impressed by how much progress Jin was able to make with her,[12] and started to explain more about the Silver Fangs. Jin was hesitant, and believed the Silver Fangs were likely just another kind of criminal gang, but still agreed to see what they were like for herself.[2] At an ink stick shop in the Middle Ring, Jin met with one of the group's two representatives, Aunt Sumi. The older woman was impressed by Jin's intelligence, and agreed that Jin would make a good initiate for the Silver Fangs. She also told Jin that the group could be an opportunity for earn more money, but that she would have to work her way up through the ranks.[2][13]
Xuan soon took Jin to a hallway beneath Bamboo House in the Lower Ring's entertainment district, where they met up with other new initiates, Smellerbee and Longshot. Xuan gave the new recruits their next mission, which was to take back a stolen item from Pine House. The mission relied on a safe that could only be opened by earthbending, so Xuan helped train Jin to be a more precise bender before the heist.[9][14] The trio broke into Pine House to steal an expensive fan, and delivered it back to Patron Wu. Patron Wu laughed, and explained that the mission had all been a ruse to test initiates. Patron Wu let the three initiates swear oaths of loyalty to the Silver Fangs, and declared that they were now full members.[14][8][15]
After being told about brainwashing underneath Lake Laogai by Smellerbee and Longshot, Jin hoped that the Silver Fangs could work to free her friend, Susu, who was likely being held there. Xuan was optimistic that the Silver Fangs would help, and took Jin to an emergency meeting that had just been called at Patron Wu's entertainment house.[1][5] There, the members were shocked to learn from the Silver Fangs' representatives that the Fire Nation had been able to infiltrate the palace and take over the Dai Li. The Silver Fangs warned members that Fire Nation war machines would soon take over the city. They offered to help some members flee, and advised those who would be staying behind to go into hiding. Some new members like Smellerbee felt betrayed over the apparent cowardice of the Silver Fangs.[5]
Preparing for revolution
After the occupation, the Silver Fangs won the allegiance of several Dai Li agents who refused to collaborate with the Fire Nation. Sumi had either already held a ranking position within the secret police or managed to gain it after the occupation.[3] Having established a foothold within the Dai Li and newly-established Supreme Bureaucratic Administrator's government, they falsified the arrests of certain due-paying members, hoping to make others believe the group was disbanded or at least heavily subdued after the coup.[16][6][17] Members like Doctor Jan could even access the palace easily thanks to the aid of Dai Li members.[3] The Silver Fangs started to learn of successful rebellions and the failed invasion of the Fire Nation, and planned the right opportunity to take back Ba Sing Se.[6]
Meanwhile, younger members like Jin, Longshot, Smellerbee and Xuan tried to take matters into their own hands. Jin helped save Longshot when he was injured during the initial Fire Nation occupation,[18] and tried and failed to save her grandfather during a serious medical episode.[19] Jin, Xuan, and Smellerbee worked to infiltrate Lake Laogai in an attempt to save Susu. Jin could not find her friend there, but helped get other Joo Dees to safety. She also broke General Sung out of captivity. The group chose to destroy the Dai Li base with earthbending and blasting jelly, hoping to completely destroy the Joo Dee program.[20][21][17] The friends also got a tip-off from Sung about the upcoming solar eclipse. They planned to utilize this to save Susu from palace, where she was posing as a double to the Supreme Bureaucratic Administrator.[17] Jin and Xuan were able to reach Susu on the Day of Black Sun, but another Joo Dee alerted the Dai Li, and the pair were arrested.[22]
After some time spent in a jail cell, Jin and Xuan were told they were being brought to their trial. They were surprised to be led to Aunt Sumi instead, and immediately believed that she had been working with the Fire Nation. They were even more shocked to see Doctor Jan in the palace after her supposed arrest. Sumi started to explain what the Silver Fangs had truly been doing, and used a white lotus Pai Sho tile to illustrate a metaphor about having to know "all the moving pieces on the board".[3] Sumi charged Jin and Xuan with making sure the people still had hope, as they were ready to start preparations for uprisings against the Fire Nation.[6]
Jin and Xuan used a secret passage with the White Lotus symbol on it to get from the palace to a monorail station, and left for the Lower Ring.[23] Jin's apartment became a temporary base of operations for the rest of the Silver Fangs. After noticing that Fire Nation soldiers did not like savory pastries, Jin started a plan to spread hidden messages to the people using Wen Bakery's goods. After getting Aunt Sumi's approval, she and her allies made thousands of salted duck egg pastries. These contained small strips inside, telling the people to rise up when the comet arrived. The team and their allies delivered them to trusted citizens across Ba Sing Se, and also shared a second message in-person to avoid certain streets in the Lower Ring and Middle Ring during the uprising.[4] When the comet arrived, Earth Kingdom citizens rose up all over the city to disrupt the Fire Nation. Many of them tried to attack the Fire Nation with makeshift weapons, while earthbenders worked to both protect non-benders and attack the Fire Nation themselves.[7] Jin's Silver Fangs group fought through the Lower Ring and Middle Ring, and defeated the Rough Rhinos in one battle before the White Lotus masters liberated the palace.[24]
Organizational structure
All due-paying members had a say in how the Silver Fangs were run. They were overseen by two representatives, the Judge and the Singer, whose decisions carried a lot of weight.[13] They had several initiates, who were entitled to some level of protection, but they were not a priority they got into serious trouble.[9] Full members, even those who did not pay dues, enjoyed all the protection and wrath of the Silver Fangs.[15]
The group practiced a kind of "redistribution of wealth" with the money they were able to obtain. However, it made sure not to promise too much money to any new initiate. Instead, it told prospective members that they would have to try to seek a position in the Silver Fangs that had good pay.[13]
The Silver Fangs viewed themselves as the guardians of the truth, in opposition to the vast conspiracy in Ba Sing Se. Nevertheless, they advised their new initiates about the lies they had to say in order to protect themselves from the government, a fact lamented by senior members.[13]
Their network was much larger than most new members initially realized. Jin was surprised to discover a series of storerooms and narrow passages in the Lower Ring that could be used by the Silver Fangs.[25]
Known members
- Aisha
- Jan
- Jin
- Layla
- Len
- Longshot
- Mei
- Sing
- Sumi ("The Judge")
- Smellerbee
- Tangbo
- Tong
- Wu ("The Singer")
- Xuan