"After the fugitive Zaheer asassinated the Earth Queen, the capitol city was in chaos. No one was willing or prepared to help the people of the Earth Kingdom. I was Captain of the Guard of the independent city-state of Zaofu then, led by Suyin Beifong. Against her wishes, I took any of the guard that would follow me and stabilized the capitol city.
"I was appointed interim leader of the Earth Kingdom until Prince Wu was ready to take his place as heir to the throne. But Prince Wu was incompetent and I was the one doing the work of reuniting the kingdom. I named myself Commander of the new Earth Empire. The last pieces of the Earth Kingdom that had illegally broken away were the independent cities of Zaofu and Republic City. I managed to take back Zaofu but lost Republic City and surrendered after losing to the Avatar."
It was a very mild version of events.
"I became unbalanced in my quest to reunite the Earth Kingdom. I accept that now."