A World of Steampunk technology where certain peoples can manipulate the element of their homeland, those being the Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. A World where the physical and spiritual are one.
Type: BlossomThe Technology of the world significantly varies from region to region. The Air Nomads for example possess no technology to speak of, prefering a natural environment. Most of the world, however, runs on electricity and industrialism. Metal is commonly found and most nations, most prominently Republic City, have motorized vehicles such as cars and airplanes. Most ships are made of metal and is mostly characterized by a Steampunk setting.
Animals in Avatar: The Saga of Kuma are crossbreeds of current animals. Badgermoles, Pythonacondas, Wolf-Bears, and Tiger Seals are some examples.
The Avatar is the human embodiment of peace, order, and light in the world that began when the First Avatar, Wan, fused his spirit with Raava, the Spirit of those same qualities. The Avatar is born into one of the Four Nations and unlike other individuals, who can only know one element, the Avatar is capable of learning all four, including their sub-bending talents.
If the Avatar is killed, the cycle will continue. If the Previous Avatar was born in the Air Nomads, then the next will be born into the Water Tribe, and the next the Earth Kingdom, and the next the Fire Nation, to return to the Air Nomads. This process of reincarnation is known as the Avatar Cycle.
The Avatar's duty is to learn and master all four elements in order to use their power to keep the balance in the world, as well as serve as a mediator and bridge between mankind and the spiritual plain. As such, the Avatar serves as both diplomat and warrior, teacher and servant, to all.
The Avatar is capable of entering a transformation known as the Avatar State. In the Avatar State, the current Avatar becomes fused with all the knowledge, experience, and power of all previous Avatars simultaneously, granting them immense power as their bending becomes significantly amplified. However, their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness: if the Avatar is struck with a killing blow while in the Avatar State, the cycle will end and the Avatar will cease forever.
Furthermore, Avatars who have embraced the necessity of spiritual mastery have been able to converse with and relive their past lives.
The current Avatar is Avatar Kuma.
People are divided into four nations in the world of Avatar: The Sage of Kuma.
The Fire Nation is located in the western hemisphere and is an absolute monarchy by way of government. The leader of the Fire Nation is known as the Fire Lord. They were the first to discover industrialism and bear the shame of beginning the 100 years war which pitted the Fire Nation against the other nations, which they were largely winning until the intervention of Avatar Aang. As it stands, the Fire Nation still possesses the greatest military might on the planet. Their native bending is firebending, or the manipulation of fire. Its capital is known simply as the Fire Nation Capital. The Fire Nation is wary of the knowledge of the World Tree, but they also see oppurtunity in trade and resource acquisition from other worlds. As such, they have a very steady, positive view of the World Tree and those who may come from its branches.
The Water Tribes are divided into two parts: The Northern Water Tribe and the Southern Water Tribe, located near the North and South poles, respectively. The people of the water tribe tend to be peaceful and spiritual, respecting nature and their environment. Both the Northern and Southern tribes are lead by a Chief, though the Northern Water Tribe is a monarchaic chiefdom, while the south chooses its chief via parliamentary action. The two tribes tend to dislike each other, but have maintained a necessary peace throughout the years. The Water Tribe is the home of waterbending, or the manipulation of water. The Capital of the Northern Tribe is Agna Qel'a, while the Southern Tribe capital is Harbor City. The Water Tribe has publically embraced the existence of the World Tree and have claimed their lands are welcoming to visitors from foreign worlds.
The Earth Kingdom is the largest and most populated of the four nations, spanning an entire continent and resting in a place of equidistance to the other nations as being the center of the world. The people of the Earth Kingdom are proud, stubborn, and relentless when they face a problem and prefer a philosophy of alliances and working together with others. Out of all the nations, the Earth Kingdom has the largest cultural diversity. While the Earth Kingdom is ruled by a King or Queen, the Earth Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy where the ruler is more of a figurehead, choosing to delegate authority to regional leaders due to the vast expanse of the Kingdom. Notoriously, the Earth Kingdom has a secret police known as the Dai Li, who have been historically known to abuse their power despite their unwavering loyalty to the ruler of the Earth Kingdom. The Earth Kingdom is the homeland of the current Avatar and the origin of earthbending, or the manipulation of earth. Its capital is Ba Sing Se. The Earth Kingdom is very wary of outsiders and the other worlds in the World Tree are no exception. They are the most hostile nation to foreigners.
The Air Nomads are located in the Air Temples in the east, north, south, and west respectively and are known to essentially bear a theocratic and ecclesiocratic form of government. The Air Nomads are pacifists by belief and rarely engage in any violent confrontation, leading them to be considered weak by some. A primarily peaceful people, they rarely ever became involved in world affairs and rather spent most of their times in meditation and practicing Airbending, or the manipulation of Air. The Air Nomads were wiped out by the Fire Nation during the 100 years war and only within the past 100 years faced their revival. The Air Nomads have since returned to their temples and the monks have since been left to their isolation. The Air Nomads do not have a capital. With the knowledge of the World Tree, the Air Nomads are the most welcoming to such knowledge and visitors from other worlds, believing it to be providence and a path to greater wisdom.
In order to encourage unity and peace between the Four Nations, Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko founded the United Republic of Nations: a place for all members of all the nations to coexist. Its capital is Republic City, which was formerly lead by a council with a single representative from each nation, but is now currently ruled by an elected President. The residents of Republic City tend to have a variety of opinions regarding the existence of the World Tree and foreign visitors, but each citizen tends to share the public stance of their respective home nations.
To 'bend' means to have the ability to manipulate one of the four elements: Air, Water, Earth, or Fire. The element in question can only originate from the nation of birth. Only the Fire Nation has given home to firebenders, the Earth Kingdom to earthbenders, etc. The only exception to this rule were the Air Nomads, with the Harmonic Convergence sparking airbending in non-benders throughout the four nations.
Furthermore, each of the four elements have an originator who taught the humans. Earthbending were taught by badgermoles, firebending was taught by the dragons, airbending was taught by the sky bisons, and waterbending was taught by the Moon with its ebbs and flows.
Detailed analysis:
Firebending: Used by the people of the Fire Nation, firebending is the most aggressive bending art as it possesses no known defensive maneuvers, but rather offense meant to overwhelm the opponent. Furthermore, firebending is arguably the most destructive of the four elements and the only one who does not require an existing source of fire to be bent, as firebending can occur by the user generating it by harnessing their chi. In addition, Firebending is the element of power, Its season is summer, and its opposing element is water.
Airbending: Used by the Air Nomads, Airbending is the element of freedom. Unlike other elements who have proper blocking maneuvers, Airbenders focus on speed, agility, and evasion when it comes to combat, lacking in offensive finality and lethal blows but is unmatched in defensive capability. Airbending is the most dynamic element as it allows the user to use momentum and the weightlessness of air to their favor. Airbending is the most spiritual element, as it requires one to have peace of mind and spirit to be used effectively. Its season is autumn and its opposing element is earth.
Earthbending: Used by the people of the Earth Kingdom, Earthbending is characterized by strong stances and holding one's ground, taking as much damage as necessary in order to strike back against an opponent. The Earthbenders power through all obstacles sent their way and possess both strong offense and defense, but also a complete lack of spirituality. Earthbending is the element of substance, its opposite element is air, and its season is spring.
Waterbending: Waterbending is the element practiced by the peoples of the Water Tribe. Arguably the most versatile and adaptable element, Waterbending focuses on the flow of combat, a specialty in counterattacking and redirecting enemy attacks against them. The amount of water around the waterbender can provide a serious advantage or disadvantage. Waterbending practicioners often are fluid in battle and in life. Unlike other elements, Waterbending becomes naturally stronger at night with waterbenders being at their strongest in the light of a full moon. Waterbending is the element of change, its season is winter, and its opposing element is fire.
Only the Avatar can learn and manipulate all four elements.
It should also be noted that not everyone in the world is a bender. To be a bender was somewhat common, but also a special circumstance, as non-bending parents can give birth to a bender and bending parents can give birth to a non-bender. Unfortunately, this has lead to tensions between benders and non-benders.
It should be stated that there is more to an element than just its base parts. Those who truly master their element may master one or more of the elements 'sub-bending' talents.
Firebending: Firebending has multiple deeper talents.
- Combustionbending: Characterized by a 'third eye' tattoo in the center of the forehead, combustionbending is the most rare firebending subtalent. Combustionbenders focus their chi through the same part of the body to produce a beam of energy that causes the item it comes into contact with to immediately explode.
- Lightningbending: Perhaps the most popular and known sub-bending talent of firebending. It allows the user to generate and redirect lightning and electricity.
Waterbending: Waterbending has three sub-bending talents.
- Healing: Some Waterbenders are capable of performing the rare talent of using water to heal others. While this skill can be taught, it is rarely used to great effectiveness. Some water that waterbenders may use have special healing properties.
- Bloodbending: The most infamous bending art and the only bending art that is illegal. To Bloodbend is the bend the blood of another individual, allowing them to be controlled to the user's whims. It is a dark art that corrupts.
- Spiritbending: Northern Water Tribe spiritualists and the Avatar are capable of bending the energy of another being, typically a spirit. This is primarily used to purify enraged or corrupted spirits to their previous peaceable demeanors.
Earthbending: Earthbending has three sub-talent bending arts.
- Lavabending: Involves the manipulation of molten rock, or the superheating of existing earth to create molten lava.
- Metalbending: Earthbenders can sense the earth in impure metals such as steel or iron and can manipulate it to their needs, such as tearing it apart or creating armor around themselves. Current metalbenders form the police force of Republic City.
- Seismic Sense: Skilled and Masterful earthbenders are capable of learning a form of hyperawareness called Seismic Sense. When touching their bare feet to the ground, they feel acute vibrations through the ground and are capable of discovering hidden structures or even a specific map of the user's surroundings.
Airbending: Airbending possess two sub-bending talents.
- Flight: Despite being able to manipulate air, few Airbenders are capable of flying. The principle is to become one with the wind.
- Spiritual Projection: Due to the spirituality of the Airbenders, they have the easiest time of learning how to enter the Spirit World, but furthermore, allow an Airbender to remove their corporeal form from their body to project their body elsewhere in the physical world.
It should be stated that while the Avatar is fully capable of learning advanced sub-bending arts, such as lightning bending or spiritbending, very few have ever taken the time to master those as well.