Luckily, the airbender genocide was only about three human generations away a blink of an eye, genetically. Furthermore, their genotype did not express their phenotype the mutation had occurred successfully, and the surviving population began to reproduce. In airbending populations adjacent to the Fire Nation itself, the statistically few non-bending offspring could successfully inject themselves into the Fire Nation with minimal discovery. In this case, the mutation simply made airbending recessive. A change in the expression of the airbending gene had to occur for the population to continue.īut, as it often occurs in nature, survival occurs even under extreme stress, usually as a result of genetic mutation. Although bending is commonly a recessive gene in waterbending and earthbending (although, on a higher level of genetics, alleles aren’t nearly so rigid), airbending has been traditionally dominant and seen in all Air Nomads, thus providing an easy indicator for Fire Nation determinants. This sudden pressure on population levels meant that only genes with certain characteristics would survive the purge. The worldwide population of airbenders, Air Nomads or otherwise, were reduced to a dwindling population. This would not last long after the denomination of Sozin's Comet: following Fire Lord Sozin’s rule, the Fire Nation treated the phenotypic expression of airbending as a disease to be purged. As such, several non-nomad airbenders arose in various populations. With no cultural or physical barrier, and no taboo against the matter, it only follows that airbenders intermingled with the world. During and after Avatar Yangchen, airbenders still pursued consistent interaction with the outside world. The result of Guru Laghima’s enlightenment and the nationalization of the Air Temples resulted in a cultural shift towards isolationism and enlightenment, but this was not enough to majorly shift the culture of the nomadic population. In fact, around the time of Guru Laghima, Air Nomads encouraged constant interaction with other nations, in the name of spiritual harmony and understanding. In fact, expanding the human gene pool is healthy for the species, provided no cultural barriers.Īir Nomads have no such reproductive suppression. The latter half is, again, subjective, but the propensity of humanity towards reproduction is well-documented. An infestation, however, is another story.Īn infestation commonly refers to the invasion or overpopulation of pests or parasites. Parasitism, in cultural terms, is a highly subjective term: on a biological level, they can be described as either completely isolated or, in fact, reciprocally altruistic. In Fire Nation propaganda following the genocide of the Air Nomads, several textbooks and scholarly articles describe Air Nomads as “parasitical” and “an infestation”.
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