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No Islamophobic and/or "terrorist" comments will be tolerated. Thank you.
| By Chechensichkeria | See other fanon and fan fiction works from Chechensichkeria. |
| "As a non-bender, I cannot satisfy my own family and the widespread bending community, but if I had stayed a bender, I would never be content with my own self. No matter what I do or who I try to be, it is impossible for me to please everyone. I guess, then, I must think of myself and my own well-being before I consider the scorn and disappointment I will inevitably receive from others." |
| — Rostam |
Rostam (罗斯塔姆), also known by his pen name Rasul (拉苏), was a Si Wong Desert-born Earth Kingdom anti-bending advocate, civil rights activist, controversial author, and the original founder of the "Equalist" movement.
Born as a sandbender into a nomadic Si Wong tribe, he was the son of bandit Mamoun and artist Jawahir, the former husband of the late Esavura, father of Vinevyt (with Esavura), and father of Tural with his former mistress, Zareen. Initially a supporter of peaceful resistance against the non-bender inequality issue, he originally founded the nonviolent "Equalism" movement that was later modified to become the well-known radical terrorist group. With the conclusion of Book 1, the reveal and demise of Noatak, the fall of the Equalist movement, and his realization of his mistakes, Rostam ended his own life.
History
Early Life
Rasul, originally named Rostam, was born in 123 AG in the Si Wong Desert, Earth Kingdom to the nomadic Kabiri sandbender tribe. He was the third of four children after his elder sister and brother Saira and Zaman, respectively, and before his younger brother, Ehsan. Rostam's father, Mamoun, was an ambitious non-bending bandit while his mother, Jawahir, was a sandbender, Si Wong folk artist, and fair-minded merchant. Despite the scorn of raiding, Mamoun directed a subgroup of Kabiris on various attacks on nearby towns, other tribes, and the few travelers who dared journey the arid landscape. Jawahir, on the other hand, chose to remain docile and utilized her bending abilities to create elaborate, coveted sand mandalas that she would sell to the rest of the Earth Kingdom and other nations for profit.
Rostam—who had inherited Jawahir's bending like his elder sister—followed his mother in her trade while Saira, Zaman, and Ehsan worked with Mamoun and his bandits in thievery. Because of this, Rostam never grew close to any of his three siblings. Instead, he chose to remain with Jawahir who was frowned upon by Mamoun and was thought to be strange by Saira, Zaman, and Ehsan. Jawahir taught Rostam of the beautiful and aesthetic aspects of sand, hoping her son would keep her lessons to heart and not follow in Mamoun's footsteps. Under Jawahir's tutelage and influence, young Rostam flourished in the craft of fashioning sand mandalas and came to develop a deep-rooted love for the beauty of the Si Wong Desert. As a boy, Rostam learned to play several folk instruments of the sandbender tribes while studying Earth Kingdom and archaic Air Nomad poetry (his uncle, Mirza, was a scholar who traveled the world and would occasionally bring Rostam literature from the former Air Nation). As he watched his siblings steal, destroy, and utilize the desert to their own, Rostam realized their actions disrupted the natural flow of the environment. Upon this revelation, Rostam (who'd grown accustomed to using bending on a daily basis for the simplest of tasks) began restraining himself from using his abilities. Nevertheless, he continued in his mother's trade, but trained himself to hand-craft each sand mandala without the use of bending, much to Jawahir's dismay.
While Saira, Zaman, and Ehsan remained at Mamoun's side, Rostam distanced himself from his father and found an interest in the outside world beyond the Si Wong Desert. Because he had never stepped foot outside the desert's outermost boundaries, he became curious of the other nations, their lifestyles, and the other forms of bending (he'd only witnessed sandbending and minimal earthbending as a child). Rostam's poet uncle Mirza grew to become one of his most esteemed role models to the point where the boy would go on for hours with questions for Mirza about his travels and experiences. Rostam continued educating himself about the bending arts, the historical inequalities faced by non-benders, and the histories of the four nations—most notably of the Hundred Year War and the Air Nomad Genocide. The adolescent's distaste for bending and the use of bending for personal gain grew, deeply concerning Jawahir.
At the age of fifteen, Rostam's sister, Saira, was arranged to be engaged to the leader of another tribe and subsequently wedded to him. With her union came the her official release from the Kabiri tribe into her new husband's clan. With his sandbending child gone—Zaman was a non-bender while Ehsan was much too young to actually participate—Mamoun turned to Rostam to replace Saira as his pawn and weapon for raids. A clever and thoughtful man, Mamoun knew approaching Rostam about the matter with brute force and anger would only drive his son farther from his goal. Instead, Mamoun confronted Rostam with a false yet seemingly sympathetic demeanor about his concerns. Growing up mostly without the presence of a paternal figure, Rostam was initially wary of his father and surprised as to why he suddenly wanted to speak with him. Mamoun explained his goal to Rostam who hesitantly listened but was too intimidated and overwhelmed by Mamoun's mere presence to comprehend his words. Rostam was shocked by Mamoun's proposal—not to mention he was much too timid to join his commanding father—but tentatively agreed, as he thought it would be the only way to grow closer to Mamoun as his son.
During his first few raids, Rostam found it difficult to steal from others. A passive boy and a pacifist at heart, Rostam had grown accustomed to executing his everyday life and tasks without the aid of bending.
In Republic City
TBA
170 AG
TBA
Personality
TBA
Physical Appearance
Physical Features
A 47-year-old man who stood at 6'2" (or about 1.88 m), Rostam was of above-average height with features typical of a Si Wong sandbender: tanned brown skin, olive-green eyes, and dark-brown hair. He presented a slim, lean, yet semi-muscular physique with long arms and legs. With a slender face, he possessed a prominent nose, thin eyes, and bushy eyebrows that almost met to form a uni-brow. Rostam's shoulder-length hair was usually seen styled in a top-knot, and a widow's peak similar to Kuvira's framed his forehead. In most occasions, his bun was concealed by a traditional, dark forest-green turban (دلبند) or Peshawari lungee (پېښورۍ لونګۍ) with a drape or a taqiyah (طاقية) or doppa (دوپپا) embroidered cap. A beard and mustache adorned his chin and philtrum, respectively, and a noticeable, long gash ran down Rostam's left cheek (a scar left by an incident during one of his raids as a teenager). He owned—but rarely ever wore in public—a pair of black-framed, rectangular glasses.
Attire
Casual Attire
TBA
Celebratory Attire
TBA
Relationships
Amon
| "I know that what I attempt to bring to this city is not profound enough to move those who are so deeply dependent on their bending. Unfortunately, inciting violence and war will only further divide friends from friends and neighbors from neighbors. I may not agree with your ideology or your plan to shift my movement into a revolution, but I understand that this is the only way for the citizens of Republic City to listen to our desperate cries. If I continue on my current path of peace, it will all be for naught at the end—nothing will be achieved. And so, I humbly offer all the support and aid I can give to you... Amon." |
| — Rostam to Noatak |
TBA
Tural
| "I don't expect you to ever forgive me for what I've done to you or what I've put you through, but I truly hope we can end on good terms. As your father, I am obliged to care for you and protect you, but I have done neither of those things when you needed them most. I cannot fully express my sorrow for the many mistakes and slip-ups I've made in my life, but my lack of compassion for you is, and will always be, my biggest regret." |
| — Rostam's apology to Tural |
Esavura
TBA
Zareen
Zareen and Rostam are on horrible terms with one another with the former being a radical bending supremacist and the latter being manipulated by her. Born into a conservative Fire Nation family that formerly had ties to the New Ozai Society, Zareen was an influential member of a supremacist-like group that sought to place benders at a higher position in Republic City society than non-benders. After the leaked death of Rostam's former wife, Esavura, Zareen took advantage of the scenario and approached the grief-stricken Rostam at a tavern late at night.
Abilities
Sandbending
TBA
Trivia
- The name Rostam (رستم; alternatively spelled as Rustam or Rüstem) [1] is of Persian origin but with a debated meaning. Some theories suggest it may mean "braveness, boldness" (from the Avestan language), "strong, strength" (from Middle Persian/Pahlavi), "tallness", or "freedom, liberation".[2][3][4][5][6] The name most famously refers to a hero in pre-Islamic Persian mythology and a character in the Persian epic Shahnameh (by the poet Ferdowsi).
- His pen name, Rasul (رسول) means "prophet, messenger" in Arabic.[7]
- The term is also used to refer to the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, who is also nicknamed as Rasul Allah (رسول الله) meaning "messenger of Allah [God]".[8] This alternative name is also most famously mentioned in the Islamic shahada (شَهَادَة) "testimony, witness"[9],: لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا ٱلله مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ ٱلله translating to "There is no God but God. Muhammad is the messenger of God".[10]
- His pen name, Rasul (رسول) means "prophet, messenger" in Arabic.[7]
- Even in the modernized Republic City, he chooses to display his Si Wong heritage and can be spotted wearing his headscarf or other clothing/accessories from his native culture. His most notable piece is his green head-wrap.
- Unlike other sandbenders who mostly wear tan or brown-colored articles, Rostam wears more colorful variants of the traditional garments.
- The overall character and appearance of Rostam is inspired by Islamic, Persian, Balochi, Uyghur, Arab, Pashtun, and Turkic culture.
- He was the only person who knew of Noatak's true identity and bloodbending abilities before his reveal at the hands of Avatar Korra.
- Rostam was the first to both have his bending stripped and have it removed willingly by Amon.
- Unlike Noatak, Rostam truly cared about civil justice and equality and chose to have his bending taken to experience the hardships that non-benders faced in everyday life.
- His tribe name, Kabiri, is from the Arabic word كَبِير meaning "big, large, great".[11]
- When Rostam first arrived in Republic City with only little food and water, he played Si Wong folk songs on the rubab for money to sustain himself.
- In this fanon, the real-life rubab (Pashto, Urdu: رباب, Persian: رباب, Azerbaijani, Turkish: rübab) is native and exclusive to the sandbender tribes in the Si Wong Desert. When Rostam first played it in the city, crowds of people swarmed in to watch as most non-Si Wong natives had never seen the instrument before.
- His father's name, Mamoun, (مأمون) means "trustworthy" in Arabic[12] while his mother's name, Jawahir, (جواهر) means "jewels" or "jewelry"[13][14].
- Rostam's son is named Tural meaning "to be alive" in Azerbaijani[15] while his daughter's name, Vinevyt (Въинэвыт), is meant to contrast this and means "deceased" in Chukchi.[16]
- Zareen (his former lover; زرین) means "golden" in Persian[17] and is meant to contrast to her truly flawed personality. His deceased wife's name, Esavura (Есавура) is of unknown meaning but of known Nivkh origin.[18]
- When feeling down or exhausted, Rostam used cactus juice as a vice to achieve the equivalent of a "high" (as in drugs).
- This is a reference to Rick Sanchez, whose own vice is alcohol.[19]
- He was a closeted pansexual, but he only engaged in romantic relationships with women in his lifetime.
References
See more
For the collective works of the author, go here.