Avatar:Camellia-Peony War

"Caoli had imaginatively suggested calling it "The Camellia-Peony War." Despite war being precisely what Zoryu managed to avoid, he liked the sound. It was pretty and poetic."

— Zoryu musing about the war.

<infobox> <image source="image" /> <title source="name"><default>Camellia-Peony War</default></title> <group> <header class="first-child">Chronological information</header> <label>Previous</label> <label>Concurrent</label> <label>Next</label> </group> <group> <header>Historical information</header> <label>Began</label> <label>Ended</label> <label>Place</label> <label>Outcome</label> <label>Major battles</label> </group> <group layout="horizontal"> <header>Combatants</header> </group> <group layout="horizontal"> <header>Commanders</header> </group> <group layout="horizontal"> <header>Forces involved</header> </group> <group layout="horizontal"> <header>Casualties</header> </group> <group> <header>Appearances</header> <label>First appearance</label> <label>Last appearance</label> </group> <header></header> </infobox> The Camellia-Peony War was the name given to a succession conflict between Fire Lord Zoryu and his illegitimate brother, Chaejin. The conflict involved the various noble clans of the Fire Nation, with the Keohso clan fiercely supporting the Fire Lord, while the rich, influential Saowon clan backed Chaejin. Although an open war was narrowly avoided, the period of history was nevertheless marked by some violent clashes and thus poetically called a war. The conflict's name was related to the feuding families' crests, with the Keohso clan being represented by a winged peony and the Saowon by a stone camellia.

Prelude

Under the rule of Fire Lord Chaeryu, the Fire Nation was stable and relatively prosperous. The nation experienced bountiful harvests and catches of fish, and the nation thrived. Chaeryu kept his teenage love, Lady Huazo of the Saowon clan, as his royal mistress, but was encouraged to end the relationship and marry Lady Sulan of the Keohso clan.

Shortly after Chaeryu committed to marrying Lady Sulan, Lady Huazo revealed that she was pregnant, greatly embarassing Chaeryu. To avoid dishonoring Huazo or her house, Chaeryu acknowledged their son, Chaejin. Some time later, Sulan died giving birth to her son, Zoryu. Zoryu's own name caused great offense to the Saowon clan, as it made use of a character traditionally only used by the Saowon. Chaeryu eventually sent Chaejin to the Fire Sages and excluded him from the royal family, forbidding the matter to be talked about at court during his reign.

History

Fire Lord Chaeryu passed away, and his son Zoryu came to the throne. The good harvests of his father's reign came to an end and the fisheries declined. Some of the older Fire Sages began to believe that the spirits themselves were unhappy with the Fire Lord. Chaejin returned to court as a liaison for the High Temple, but had been embittered by being sent away, and wished to claim the throne for himself. Meanwhile, Lady Huazo had managed to greatly improve the wealth and influence of the Saowon clan, and amassed power across the Fire Islands. When Yun was believed to be the Avatar, he and Jianzhu skillfully mediated the succession conflict in the Fire Nation. The two Earth Kingdom nationals also advised Zoryu to recruit doubles, including for Yun, to maintain his power and protect himself from assassins.

In 295 BG, Fire Lord Zoryu invited Avatar Kyoshi to the Fire Nation to celebrate the Festival of Szeto, hoping to settle some of the unrest in the palace. However, diplomatic disaster struck when Kyoshi mistook Chaejin for Zoryu. Upon being informed of her mistake, the Avatar proceeded to defy protocol by attempting to dismiss Chaejin, and by making the Fire Lord look weak by proposing to resolve all his problems. The same night, the palace was attacked by a vengeful Yun, who held the gathered nobles hostage with earthbending and murdered Lu Beifong and Chancellor Dairin. Many nobles grew outraged about the attack, some even wishing for war with the Earth Kingdom.

Kyoshi set out for North Chung-Ling with her companions in order to protect Hei-Ran from Yun and resolve the latest crisis by bringing the false Avatar to justice. The city had become a frontier in the rivalry between the Saowon and Keohso after Lady Huazo purchased several properties in Keohso territory. After a message appeared in the town's melonyam fields championing Chaejin as Fire Lord, a crude scuffle broke out between the Saowon and Keohso's warriors.

Assuming that Yun was working with the Saowon clan, Kyoshi kidnapped Lady Huazo and Chaejin in an effort to get them to confess, but realized that they truly knew nothing about Yun. In spite of this, Zoryu procured a double of Yun, who confessed to conspiring to treason with the Saowon. An immediate purge of the Saowon began in the capital, with the Fire Lord wishing to execute the entire clan. Kyoshi demanded clemency for Saowon and the false Yun, and was determined that they should be spared.

Aftermath

After Kyoshi killed the true Yun, Zoryu still intended to execute the Saowon, but was intimidated into keeping his promise with the Avatar by Lao Ge. After discussing the conflict with Chancellor Caoli, Zoryu named this period of history as the Camellia-Peony War. As a direct result of the conflict, Zoryu resolved to break the strength of the Fire Nation's noble clans and to have its citizens be loyal to only the Fire Lord. This was a generational project, and Zoryu intended for his descendants to continue his policies until the royal family controlled the Fire Nation autocratically. Thus, the Keohso would not greatly benefit from their perceived victory in the Camellia-Peony War. Though Zoryu did promote members of the loyal clans, he made sure to limit the Keohso clan's influence and worked to covertly undermine it alongside all other noble clans. Meanwhile, the Saowon clan was just struggling to survive in any capacity.

As a result of Zoryu's policies, clans in general became less significant in the nation. Common people who were unhappy with their current clan's ruler began to look to the Fire Lord to resolve the situation instead of keeping it an internal clan matter. Some clan leaders chose to become sycophants in the presence of the Fire Lord in the hope of maintaining their crumbling power, while others preferred to let their influence slip away instead of groveling before their liege. Having supported Chaejin, the Fire Sages were also subject to new scrutiny by the Fire Nation government.

The Fire Lords' efforts gradually reduced the clans' power over the course of about two centuries. By the reign of Fire Lord Taiso, the clans were still influential, but their might had been severely curtailed with new elites rising in their place. The last real conflict between the crown and the clans occurred soon after Taiso's death, with a decisive victory being won by General Oraso Eiko in support of the government of newly crowned Fire Lord Sozin. After bringing the warring families to heel, Sozin could begin to implement policies to uplift all his subjects, as well as strengthening the nation and planning to expand its reach.

Appearances

Chronicles of the Avatar

• The Shadow of Kyoshi