Teylan

Like the other children, Teylan was kidnapped from the Sarentu clan by John Mercer and Angela Harding when he was a young child and forced to participate in the TAP program. Being the youngest of the survivors, his memories start at TAP.

He is said to be the best student of the Sarentu children by far,[1] and answered the teachers' questions correctly, and began to develop an affinity for human science and technology. At night, he often had nightmares about his kidnapping, and according to Nor, he screamed in his sleep in the Na'vi language. Teylan also once wet his bed and was beaten by Mercer, and the bruises took weeks to heal.

At the same time, Teylan was the only child who believed John Mercer's propaganda, convinced that the man had saved them. This exposed him to the displeasure of his peers. Being Mercer's star pupil, Teylan began to view him as a father figure. Mercer groomed him into feeling special and he would withdraw affection whenever Teylan showed interest in Na'vi culture.

In 2146, at Aha'ri's instigation, he and his friends attempted to escape the RDA base, but were stopped by Mercer.

In 2154, after a forced evacuation due to Jake Sully's rebellion, Mercer ordered the children killed. They were saved by their teacher Alma Cortez, who personally killed the soldiers sent by Mercer and then put the children into hibernation.

In 2169, Teylan and the rest of the group awakened and were taken under the wing of the Resistance. Having arrived at the Resistance HQ some time before the protagonist, he accompanied him in a conversation with Alma, who confessed that they had been in hibernation for almost 16 years, this information surprised Teylan.

Teylan quickly became friends with Alexander Tremayne, who, like him, is very interested in technology. Teylan introduced him to the protagonist and merchant Rajinder Singh Grewal. He enjoys spending time at the headquarters, instead of the wild outdoors of Pandora, and seeing all the machinery to tinker with. While spending time outside on Pandora, Teylan finds life difficult and is disappointed that the animals like hexapedes keep running from him. He planned to create a device known as the Remote Xeno-Emotion Analyzer (R'XEA) which could detect the emotions of animals.

However, his radio picks up a message from Mercer, and he begins to become manipulated by him to turn against the Resistance. Eventually, he lives with Mercer for a while at his base. Upon being told that the RDA attempted to kill everyone at the Resistance HQ, Teylan is horrified. While he thinks about leaving, he remembers what happened to Aha'ri and refrains, and believes the Resistance and his former friends would never forgive him.

After defeating Mercer, Teylan manages to escape from Drill Base Omega by jumping aboard a Samson, in which Anqa Salaam, along with Alma and Ri'nela, came to his rescue. A moment later, the entire team gathers on a hill overlooking the base. Teylan is happy to see his friend. However, Teylan is clearly reluctant to Alma's proposal that they live as a family from now on. Ri'nela explains that they must find their own place in the world and Teylan expresses his willingness to fully integrate with the Na'vi.

As a child, Teylan was naïve and conflict-free, and was noted to be eager to please people. He believed Mercer's propaganda, but at the same time trusted his TAP colleagues, who encouraged him to rebel.

While exploring the Western Frontier, he is shown to have a knack for tinkering with technology. He does exhibit some difficulty fitting in with the Resistance and is rather introverted. As revealed in an audio log, he misses the simplicity of life in TAP, mainly due to not having to make difficult moral decisions, as well as being with all his friends including Aha'ri.

As time goes on, he becomes incredibly conflicted about whether to side with the RDA or to join the Resistance, as Mercer tells Teylan that the Resistance will be on the losing side. Teylan nearly condones the protagonist being killed under Mercer's orders, but when the protagonist sings their clan's song, Teylan probably realizes he could never live with himself if he was complicit in the deaths of his childhood friends, and decides to turn against Mercer.

Na’Vi are humanoids in general in their anatomy, although they also have feline characteristics such as flat, forked noses, large and round eyes, pointed ears that can move independently and a long and prehensile tail used to grip and balance. The neck is long and the body is thin, with a narrow, elongated waist and broad shoulders that create a V-shaped upper back. Despite their thin proportions, their muscles are drastically defined and have about four times the strength of even the strongest human. The Na’vi use their superior strength, agility and strange sense of balance to climb trees, rocks and other obstacles with ease. In the unlikely case of a fall, they usually escape unharmed, since their bones are reinforced with a type of natural carbon fiber. Clearly separating them from humans, native Na’vi has only four digits on each hand and foot, including a thumb and the opposite thumb.

The skin of the Na’vi is soft and iridescent, and appears within the blue spectrum, ranging from the greenish cyan and turquoise found in the oceanic clans to the deeper blues seen in the Na’vi that live in the jungle, such as the Omatikaya. The color is due to the presence of the cyanine pigment, which can “tan” to a darker purple color after prolonged exposure to UV rays. The skin is marked with darker color marks, usually stripes, although this can vary widely. Bioluminescent marks, which resemble freckles, splash the skin and seem to follow the circulatory or nervous system. These points can change color to indicate mood and emotion, although it is unknown if the Na’vi have conscious control over this ability. These marks help Na’vi identify with each other, especially at night. Most Na’vi have dark brown or black hair on their heads. They don’t seem to have any other body hair, except for the eyelashes that appear occasionally, and some have a small lock of hair at the tip of the tail. The hair on the head can vary in texture, from straight to very curly. The hair on the back of the head is divided and braided around the tail to protect itself. The tail is a long appendix that ends in pink tendrils that look like hair, but are actually extensions of the Na’vi nervous system. This organ plays many key functions in Na’vi culture, allowing them to link with animals, access the memories of their ancestors through Eywa or link to each other to see the memories of others.

The Na’vi (English: The People) are a kind of intelligent humanoids that inhabit the lush moon of Pandora. Although the Na’vi are hunter-gatherers with a technology equivalent to that of the Paleolithic era of the Earth, along with a society that is essentially Neolithic, with very intelligent. The Na’vi and the Tulkun are the only known extraterrestrial species that have been discovered to have a level of wisdom equivalent to that of humans. The Na’vi should not be confused with similar-looking avatars either. The lifestyles of the Na’vi clans are very varied, they have their own traditions and beliefs and have developed sophisticated cultures. Despite this, they all share a deep spiritual connection with other forms of life on their moon, among themselves and with a “goddess” who embraces them and whom they call Eywa. The Na’vi are involved in a violent war with the Resource Development Administration composed of humans from planet Earth. The war began after the organization tried to collect a rare mineral known as unobtanium and failed to negotiate a peaceful solution. The conflicts intensified and led the RDA to destroy the Tree of Voices and, later, the native tree of the Omatikaya clan. In the end, the Na’vi defeated the RDA and expelled them from Pandora back to Earth, winning the War of Pandora. However, the RDA returned fourteen years later to colonize Pandora completely due to the worsening conditions on Earth, which started the Second Pandoran War. Some clans have allied themselves with like-minded humans to form The Resistance and fight against colonization efforts.

The Na’vi wear little clothes and don’t seem to worry about showing a lot of skin. They cover their genital region and women do cover their breasts and nipples, but often only a little. It is common for men and children to be almost completely shirtless. Clothing also seems to show the growth and progress one makes in one’s clan, with clan leaders and other high-ranking individuals using a greater number of pieces that are often brighter and more intricate than the average or younger members of the clan. This tends to emphasize the Na’vi as unique individuals while maintaining their identity within the style of their clan. Accessories are added to a Na’vi’s outfit as they make their life journeys and milestones. For example, Jake Sully, as an apprentice member of the clan, only wore an undecorated loind hand; however, as he learned more about Na’vi culture, he wore bracelets and necklaces to show off his role. After completing Uniltaron, he got a girdle. It is known that some Na’vi adorn themselves with tattoos and body paint, and are proud of their clothing as a form of artistic self-expression. That is why it is common for the Na’vi to learn to make their own clothes or receive them as a gift from their loved ones. As a result, clothing usually symbolizes aspects such as celebration, family love, friendship and life’s achievements.

An avatar (Na’vi name: uniltìrantokx, meaning “dream walker”) is a genetically designed human/Na’vi hybrid body, designed to serve as a remote-controlled container for a human mind.

The human candidates selected from the Avatar Program funded by the RDA, known as drivers, can connect psionically with their avatar bodies, which use their human DNA as part of the genetic templates and look a lot like the facial features of the drivers themselves. Avatars are used to explore Pandora without the need for exopacks to breathe air that would be poisonous for humans and to interact more easily with Na’vi natives.

The fully developed avatar has an appearance much closer to the Na’vi with long limbs than to a human. The typical size of an adult varies from nine to ten feet (2.75m to 3m) in height with blue skin, bioluminescent marks and large eyes with golden irises. The mobile ears, a tail and the Na’vi tail, a unique set of nerve endings normally braided in a hair-like configuration that protrudes from the base of the skull and called Kuru, reproduce faithfully to be almost identical to those of the Na’vi. Breathing, musculoskeletal structure, function and arrangement of internal organs are comparable to those of the Na’vi, allowing sustained precision operation in Pandora’s hostile atmosphere and jungle environment.

A Recombinant, or Recom, is a completely conscious human/na’vi hybrid soldier, which has the recorded memories and personality traits of an individual human incorporated, and therefore does not need to be controlled remotely from a link unit as an avatar. The 1st Recom Unit is the main “muscle” of the RDA’s Sec-Ops and the group of special operations forces, which receives orders directly from the highest ranks of the RDA and assists in any extraordinary circumstances. Miles Quaritch acted as squad leader along with Wainfleet as second in command. The organization commissioned them to hunt down and eliminate Jake Sully, the leader of the Resistance.

The recombinants are approximately identical to normal avatars, and have physical traits of both Na’vi and humans. The key difference is that Recom are not psionically driven by a human, but have backup memories and identities of human candidates loaded directly into their consciousness through the use of a special link device known as Soul Drive. This makes them completely autonomous beings and essentially genetically modified clones of their former human beings, inheriting the memories (up to the time of backing), the abilities and personalities developed during the previous life of that human. Recom soldiers are known as “recombinant warriors” or simply “Recom warriors.” Thanks to their Na’vi physiology, Recom warriors can move through Pandora to a large extent without being detected as an alien threat to Eywa, and they can avoid triggering their “immune response” in which Eywa sends his wildlife after them. They also have tails, which allows them to access the moon’s neuroanl network and even domesticate Pandoran animals (such as banshees and direhourses) through tsaheylu, thus eliminating the need for vehicular deployment and turning them into even better infiltrators.

Like the Na’vi and the Avatars, the Recom can operate within facilities with human air; however, due to the lower levels of carbon dioxide compared to those in Pandora’s atmosphere, the Recom must take “sips” of supplemental carbon dioxide every minute or two of the AAS-RO2 Atmospheric Adaptation System.

The Resistance refers to a group of people, including Na'vi and some humans, who are opposing the RDA since the organization's return to Pandora in 2168. The group was involved in the Second Pandoran War and was part of the Skirmish at the Three Brothers and the Colonization of the Western Frontier.

Opposing Frances Ardmore and her mission to make Pandora the new home for those on Earth, their mission is to protect Pandora from the RDA's colonization and environmentally harmful practices. While the Resistance view themselves as the peacekeepers of Pandora, the RDA brands them as eco-terrorists according to Solar Unity Law. The RDA intends to kill Jake Sully due to him being a major war leader of the Resistance, which would greatly destroy Resistance morale and interrupt their plans.

The origins of the Resistance date back to 2154 due to the events of the Pandoran War. Relations between the Na'vi and the RDA were originally peaceful but tensions formed due to the latter's more destructive practices such as bulldozing the Tree of Voices in the forests of Pandora.

Conflicts between the RDA and the Na'vi ignited when attempts for a diplomatic agreement between the two resulted in failure, and violence escalated on both sides. The Na'vi began attacking RDA machinery and killing their members. Meanwhile, the RDA had given up on diplomacy in response to this and shifted to using forceful methods. This resulted in several humans turning away from the organization and forming a resistance with the Na'vi to aid them in driving away the RDA.

The growing resistance was noticed by the organization who attempted to silence them and the Na'vi by launching a preemptive attack to destroy the Tree of Souls. The resistance led Jake Sully and Neytiri worked together to rally approximately 2000 Na'vi from 15 clans alongside like-minded humans to defend from this attack. The RDA lost the subsequent battle and a majority of them were expelled from Pandora, sent back to Earth. Those that remained were largely loyal and/or sympathetic to the Na'vi, taking up residence the RDA base Hell's Gate and eventually making a home for themselves there.

However, the RDA returned 14 years later due to the fact that Earth was left in ever worsening condition with numerous lives trapped there. The organization came in ten heavily armed spaceships with their arrival having been detected by those on Pandora. The new head administrator Charles Stringer along with general Frances Ardmore broadcasted a transmission and threatened the occupants of Hell's Gate to surrender and be given amnesty, or die. After the RDA made their video broadcast, Jake urged everyone at Hell's Gate to stick with their plan to fight them. Despite this, most humans decided to surrender; a group vote had been cast and more than half of them decided to do so, though some decided to fight with the Na'vi.

The group piloted a spaceship directly to the RDA's fleet and on the Interstellar Vehicle Venture Star. Once there, they were checked for weapons or any other contraband, and were brought to meet General Ardmore and Charles Stringer. Jake threatened to destroy the unobtanium left behind from the war and the various structures as leverage to get the organization to surrender peacefully. He told Frances Ardmore that if the RDA were to step foot on Pandora, every living thing would be united to drive them away. Talks for a diplomatic agreement briefly started which Stringer supported, but once again ended in failure; Jake claimed the organization would simply never hold their end of a treaty and Ardmore made it clear the RDA no longer had interest in any sort of diplomatic solution.

This soon led to a violent conflict on the spaceship when Jake ordered one of the structures on Pandora to be destroyed. However, what Jake and his team did not expect was that a human in their group had been secretly working to sabotage the plan. The explosives were soon disarmed and several of their allies on the moon were neutralized. With this, the RDA began to set foot on Pandora en masse, reclaiming Hell's Gate while Jake and his allies were forced to retreat.

The RDA eventually disembarked into the atmosphere and rather than staying in orbit. They used the powerful engines of the spaceship which created firestorms that burned the forest down and killed many of the animals residing there. After the forest burned down, the organization sent down their Landing Modules into the glowing rubble of the burned forest which contained numerous RDA soldiers and machines including AMP drivers and the bulldozers. They proceeded to clear away the remains of the forest and started the construction on Pandora, soon setting up Bridgehead.

The Resistance wages a guerrilla war against the RDA, cutting off supply lines and attacking outposts. Due to the strong coordination of their units and well planning, the Resistance are often successful in their exploits, dealing at least some damage to the operations of the RDA. Even so, the organization still possesses formidable capabilities which more often than not makes the efforts of the Resistance a major challenge. The RDA has also managed to deal damage to the Resistance as well, attacking their bases and neutralizing important assets along with various members.

At one point, Ardmore employed Recom special forces led by Miles Quaritch with the mission to eliminate Jake Sully which would disrupt the Resistance. This group continuously tracked him and his family, finding and almost capturing them once. Although the the Recoms were unable to capture Jake, this still forced him to seek refuge with his family in the Reef Clans, temporarily abandoning the Resistance. In the end, however, the Recom squad was defeated with most of its members having been killed and Quaritch being forced to retreat.

Jake Sully left Alma Cortez, one of the former teachers of The Ambassador Program, in charge of Resistance efforts for the Western Frontier region. In the Western Frontier, the Resistance's headquarters lie in the heart of the Kinglor Forest where some former Hell's Gate members are involved with as well. One Resistance member, Alexander Tremayne, invented a tool known as the Systems Interrogation Device (SID) for visualizing and manipulating embedded electronics. Designed with Na'vi scale in mind, it's made up of bespoke Resistance technology, combining RDA and TAP elements. The handheld device was designed to allow avatars and Na'vi in the Resistance to interact with human scale technology. Due to its unique components, it can be used to hack into RDA technology.

Thanks to the efforts of a surviving member of the Sarentu Clan who had been harmed by the RDA, the Resistance was able to unite Aranahe Clan, Zeswa Clan and Kame'tire Clan, and with their help, they were able to destroy a major RDA facility and defeat John Mercer. Thanks to this, the Resistance gained the respect of the Na'vi, and they even invited the Sky People to participate in the Great Games in the Heart of the Plains, although the festival ended up turning into a confrontation with the RDA.

The Sarentu clan was a nomadic clan of Na'vi founded by Entu, the first Toruk Makto.

The clan was nearly entirely wiped out by John Mercer and his mercenaries. This incident was then covered up, leaving Resources Development Administration unaware of what happened and making the Na'vi believe the clan had mysteriously disappeared.

Meanwhile, a handful of children from the clan were taken after this event to be used in The Ambassador Program which was created by Mercer. Following the Pandoran War and RDA's expulsion, these Na'vi were placed into cryostasis to save them after Mercer ordered their execution.

They were then awoken about 15 years later in the midst of the second war where they joined the Resistance in their efforts against the RDA and their colonization of the Western Frontier spearheaded by Mercer. In the end, the Mercer's operations were thwarted and the Sarentu clan was reborn in the Na'vi he had initially taken.

The Sarentu Clan was a highly respected clan, famous for its outstanding storytellers, singers and stories. They were known for being diplomats who could resolve conflicts and bring peace, both within and between clans. They were excellent rhetoricians who could move the hearts of the Na'vi also from other clans, whom they visited frequently. Reluctant to fight, even against the RDA, they were also known for their peaceful attitude towards life. Comprised of storytellers, the clan would travel around Pandora to spread the tales of various Na'vi. They lived among other clans as if they were one of them, and would give them advice from an outsider's perspective. Frequent travel made them skilled ikran riders. One of the main elements of the clan's culture was The People's Cry, which allowed the few survivors to retain their identity and gave them the strength and faith to continue their legacy. The Tarsyu plant is also an important element, it allows only members of the Sarentu to connect with Eywa.

Once a year, the Sarentu left the clan they lived with to attend the Sarentu moot; this annual gathering let the Sarentu exchange stories and even petition the elders to let them stay in their current clan or go somewhere new. The known location where the council was held was the Circle of Songs in the Clouded Forest. The Sarentu's unique bond with the Tarsyu plant determined their place of appearance, the Tarsyu grow where the clan stayed or wandered, and can learn about the historical places where they camped, called the Sarentu lands.

Additionally, there are Sarentu totems throughout the Western Frontier, large structures crafted by the Na'vi that carry symbols, meant to convey messages to future generations. They also built Memory Paintings at scenic overlooks throughout the Western Frontier.

The Sarentu Mark is called Zeyrel Sarentuä in Na'vi, literally 'special [or distinct] image of the Sarentu,' or Zeyrel for short.

It is located on the left cheek under the eye and is drawn on by the tsahik's fingers and thumb in a special ceremony at each Sarentu moot. It is the same shape for all Sarentu, inspired by the glowing arc formed by the torch of Entu, the first Sarentu and Toruk Makto, swung at the start of each story he told.

The Zeyrel is given to children during a special ceremony at each annual Sarentu moot. The Zeyrel ceremony celebrates the child's first year of life and the application of the Mark. Any child who has reached their first year since the last moot is presented to the tsahik at the next moot. The Sarentu tsahik gathers fallen tarsyu petals as they are shed throughout the year, and mixes them with other pigments to create a paste.

When applied, this paste binds to the proteins in the skin. The skin painlessly reacts to the mixture as it binds to it, creating new fibrous tissue. This results in a permanent, raised Mark on the surface of the skin.

Children of the clan were marked at birth with a small family mark on their cheek, representing the symbol of their clan, making it impossible to hide who they were and drawing attention from Na'vi seeking a sympathetic ear wherever they went.

In the year 2138, the Sarentu were attacked by a group of Sec-Ops mercenaries during their annual moot at the Circle of Songs. The attack was led by John Mercer alongside Angela Harding and Alma Cortez in order to gather a group of children to be used in The Ambassador Program. Before this, the Kame'tire Clan had been targeted for the program but one of its members known as Mokasa secretly managed to dissuade Mercer by revealing the location of the Sarentu moot to him.

Unfortunately, neither Mokasa nor Alma were aware that Mercer's machinations would lead to the decimation of the Sarentu Clan. Ultimately, the clan was executed and a handful of children were abducted for TAP.

At the same time, another member of the Sarentu managed to survive the massacre and went into hiding and self-imposed exile following this tragedy.

To cover up this misdeed, reports to the RDA were falsified and barrels of corrosive acid were used to hide the remains of the clan, though this ended up creating a toxic mist called the yavä' in the Clouded Forest.

One Kame'tire and friend of the Sarentu: Anufi, came to believe she was to blame for their disappearance by giving them faulty potions which supposedly killed them. This lie was also exacerbated by Mokasa who feared connecting to Eywa since it could reveal the truth and his role in the event. From this, the Kame'tire Clan was cast into shame for many years.

The children abducted for TAP were placed in a residential school and lied to by Mercer, claiming their clan abandoned them. During their time there, they were pressured lose their Na'vi identities, customs, and belongings. They were further subjected to various forms of abuse at the hands of Mercer and Harding.

After the RDA were expelled from Pandora, John Mercer ordered TAP be shut down and all of the Sarentu children killed. Alma saved them, however, and placed them all in cryostasis.

Fifteen years later, Alma and the Resistance learned that the children were still alive in cryosleep and returned to the TAP facility to awaken them. Following this, the children began to reconnect with their lost culture by connecting with the Tarsyu and uncovering abandoned Sarentu totems and memory paintings.

Eventually, the Na'vi clans of the Western Frontier, aided by The Resistance, successfully defeat John Mercer and end the colonization of the continent. Though the future of the clan remains uncertain, Ri'nela is preparing to become the new tsahìk.

When the RDA was operating in the Spires Region, the player travels there to help a breakaway Kamitire stop them, which is successful. However, they're injured during the battle, and in the process, rescued by a Na'vi named Rasi, who is revealed to be a Sarentu that managed to escape the massacre of the clan in 2138. Unfortunately, she is living in self-imposed exile due to her guilt of abandonment and refuses to rejoin the clan.