Tarsem

Tarsem te Kumon Arun'itan is a Na'vi and the current Olo'eyktan of the Omatikaya clan whom Jake Sully surrenders leadership of the clan to after he and his family leave for their own safety. Tarsem symbolically "kills" Jake by scratching him with a knife in order to transfer leadership.

In 2170, Tarsem was part of Jake's squad to attack a Mag-Lev. He was shown handing over the RDA weapons, and was the one who gave Lo'ak a gun. Later, when Jake feared he and his family's presence would put the Omatikaya at risk, he convinced Neytiri to flee from the forest to Awa'atlu, a village of the Metkayina clan. Jake transferred leadership to Tarsem, describing him as "wise beyond his years". The ceremony took place at the Tree of Souls; Mo'at placed the garb worn by Jake and previously Eytukan onto Tarsem, who then symbolically cut Jake on the chest to "kill" the previous leader. When a wounded Neytiri arrives at High Camp, Tarsem is amongst those who rush to her aid. Tarsem sits at Neytiri's bedside as Mo'at prays over her. Upon learning that Neytiri's children are missing, Tarsem joins the rescue party that finds them.

Tarsem is later present when Jake returns, having taken up the mantle of Toruk Makto once again. Tarsem bows before Jake and joins the other ikran riders in spreading Jake's call for the clans to come to battle. Tarsem and the Resistance later took part in the Battle at the Cove of the Ancestors.

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.

High Camp is the new home of the Omatikaya clan during the Second Pandoran War, located in the Hallelujah Mountains. Inside the highly defensible Mons Veritatis cave system in the Hallelujah Mountain range, High Camp is a last refuge for Jake Sully and his people. A stronghold originally designed as a place for the Omatikaya and their allies to retreat from RDA forces, it has developed into a guerrilla base camp for the Resistance.

Reached by flying an ikran vertically through a large crevasse in the floor, the camp is equipped with a science shack and link units to support human, avatar and Na’vi alike. The Na'vi and humans living in close quarters has helped the two groups grow closer and bond in communal living.

When the RDA returned to Pandora, Jake Sully encouraged the Omatikaya clan to move away from the forest and into the Hallelujah Mountains as Eywa's immune response would take care of any intruders, with ikran attacking flying automobiles.

After Spider was abducted by the RDA and the children's lives were in danger due to the return of Miles Quaritch and his squadron of Recombinants, Jake Sully and Neytiri make the tough decision to leave the Omatikaya due to the knowledge that Quaritch is nearby and close to High Camp, as well as Spider possibly giving away their location. Jake argues that if the RDA finds out the clan is harboring the Sully family, the RDA would have an excuse to kill everyone at High Camp. Additionally, Jake didn't want his children in the middle of a war zone and hopes the Resistance can win the Second Pandoran War by the time they return.

While Spider was living with the Metkayina Clan after the Skirmish at the Three Brothers, Jake decided to send him back to High Camp, stating that constantly living on an exopack was no life.

After the Mangkwan Clan attack on the Tlalim Clan, Sa'ata carried an injured Neytiri to High Camp where she received treatment and her friends helped launch a rescue mission for the rest of the missing Sullys. After the successful rescue, Norm and Max ran tests on Spider to determine the source of his new ability to breathe Pandoran air. After learning the truth about her birth, Kiri visited her mother's avatar at High Camp before the Sullys returned to the Metkayina.

The Biolab is a portable module that was transported from Hell's Gate to High Camp as a result of humans returning to Pandora in 2168. Inside, is a smaller Link Unit area, as well as a larger circular area comprised of a singular Amnio Tank that houses Grace Augustine's dormant avatar body. Also in this larger area are a few workstations.