En Chang Kuei

En Chang Kuei – Agent of the Dai Li

Even in his earliest childhood days in Ba Sing Se, En Chang Kuei was known as a misfit.  He could always be counted on to get into some kind of trouble.  Stealing, picking pockets, running cons on the street, it seemed he was destined for a life of crime.  The truth was much deeper than that.  En always detested the city’s preference for order and security over freedom and expression and rebelled any way he could.  He delighted in giving city officials as much grief as possible.

What people were quick to dismiss about En was his intelligence.  He possessed a natural gift for earthbending.  He attended Ba Sing Se University, graduating with honors and surprising everyone in his old neighborhood.  As he grew older, En swore to do whatever he could to get out of the city and make a life for him self elsewhere.  He had heard that Omashu wasn’t nearly as oppressive and that King Bumi shared a world view similar to his own.  Despite all of this however, En also had a deep love for his home and a quiet sense of patriotism.  

Immediately after graduating he enlisted in the Earth Kingdom Army.  He wanted to defend his home against the invading Fire Nation.   He was shocked to discover that the Earth Kingdom scouts already knew all about him.  An agent took him and inducted him into the Dai Li.  They had been watching him for years, as he was ideally suited to the life of a field agent.  He was smart, cunning, and a talented earthbender.  His instructors taught him to master his earthbending as well as all the skills he would need to survive in the world as a spy.

Upon completing his training, En was sent out into the world to conduct operations against the Fire Nation.  Fostering dissent in the provinces, sabotaging infrastructure, collecting intelligence for the army, he soon racked up an impressive string of victories.  He was quickly becoming a rising star within the Dai Li.  In all his efforts, however, En was always careful to make sure the common people of either side didn’t suffer.  En had been brought up in the lower classes of society and knew commoners rarely had a say in things.  He had lived among the people of the Fire Nation long enough to know that the commoners had no interest in conquest.  The Firelord simply viewed them as another cog in his war machine.

Everything changed when Ba Sing Se was besieged by the Dragon of the West.  Corruption within the Dai Li had been forming for years, and the corrupted factions within the organization used the chaos of the siege to grab power.  After General Iroh was repelled, the gates to the city were closed and all agents stationed abroad found themselves completely cut off.  

Afterwards, En was forced to work for hire.  Though he was still dedicated to stopping the Fire Nation, he would often take on odd jobs helping out the locals with their problems in order to fund his missions.  During one such mission, En was investigating rumors of a Fire Nation outpost in the Earth Kingdom.  There he stumbled upon a group of what seemed to be refugees living high in the mountains.  He was soon shocked to discover that these were in fact the worlds last surviving Air Nomads.  He befriended them and calmed their fears of being discovered.  He learned their story, swore to keep their secret and convinced them that the only way they would ever be safe again was to help stop the Fire Nation.