Basically what they were, but they started officially honoring the culture. In ATLA comics Aang met some of these, at the time still unofficial acolytes, and he got understandably mad that they took it upon themselves to tattoo their heads with arrows without being airbending masters. They started out as an overzealous fanclub.
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u/ZeinDarkuzss Mar 19 '25
To be fair at that time his "whole nation and culture" were him and his children so it's a bit redundant to bring it up.