Zhishi

Personality
Zhishi is a seeker of knowledge. As an intellectual, Zhishi enjoys interactions with people so long as they are on “meaningful” subjects. He tends to be somewhat dry and emotionless, only ever enthusiastic in combat or when discussing/debating with someone about an intellectual subjects. However, as a fortune teller, Zhishi is also an expert at psychoanalysis, enabling him to read people very quickly and supposedly even their thoughts. Zhishi does not care much for frivolities and tends to not involve himself or his followers in conflict, siding only with whomever provides him with knowledge. While he will debate morality, Zhishi himself does not formally align with either side, arguing that no situation is ever black and white.

History
Much of the early past of famous fortune teller Zhishi is an enigma. According to rumors he has supposedly confirmed, Zhishi grew up in the Earth Republic to a fire bending mother and earth bending father. As his mother was a scholar and teacher, Zhishi often studied with her on a regular basis and learned much about studious subjects such as science, math, language, etc. He learned about earth bending around age 7 and “hard-work and all that stuff” from his father. Zhishi, while appreciative and curious of the inner workings of earthbending and its potential, leaded more towards the side of academia as he grew older. However, as he continued seeking to learn more and more, Zhishi realized something; he had just about run of material to study.

The rest of Zhishi’s life has been retold by Zhishi himself several times. Zhishi left to travel the world and search for more knowledge. He first went to the Fire Nation to learn as much history as he could, even supposedly sneaking into archives that were off-limits to citizens. He also learned more about the Fire Nation culture and studied it intensely. However, because of how quickly he learned, Zhishi left the Fire Nation rather abruptly and traveled to the Air Temples. These trips were much the same as his trip to the Fire Nation, so Zhishi then made his way to the water tribes.

On one such trip to the Northern Water Tribe library, Zhishi learned of the spirit portal. Zhishi falsely tells people he snuck into a portal one day. Zhishi was astounded by the spirit world and wandered around aimlessly studying the new realm. As fate would have it, Zhishi found himself in Wan Shi Tong’s library, finally stumbling upon the massive amount of knowledge he had been seeking. No one knows how long Zhishi remained in that library, but supposedly he spent long enough there to go through every book and scroll available to at least gather a sizeable understanding of “everything.”

After Zhishi claims to have finally emerged from the library and returned to the physical world, Zhishi presented to the world his newfound power that he claims (falsely) to have discovered: the ability to read the future. Zhishi became famous around the world for his ability to read people’s pasts (a skill he previously learned growing up that he had used to earn money to fund his trips) and predict their futures, so much so that he has even received a small calling of followers who began dubbing him “The Fortune Stone.” One would be remiss not to mention that Zhishi also amassed a small “fortune” (no pun intended) thanks to his fortune telling. While he would provide people his services free of charge if they presented him with new knowledge, very few people could tell him things he did not already know.

Having been just about everywhere in the world, Zhishi eventually learned about Republic City’s citizenship program, seeing it as yet another place to gain knowledge, especially more "modern" knowledge.

Other Abilities
Zhishi is incredibly skilled at psychoanalysis, enabling him to