Water Tribe: Bending and Culture

[Saijin]

/Apperance\

Ethnically homogeneous, members of both tribes typically have light or deep brown hair, blue eyes and light brown/tan skintone. Water Tribe clothing is typically a set of blue anorak and trousers trimmed with white fur, and worn with mittens and mukluks. Men may wear their hair long and half-up or in short ponytails, referred to by Sokka as "a warrior's wolf tail." Women plait and braid their hair in various styles, sometimes with accent beads, and many sport "hair loopies" in various styles. In the Northern Water Tribe, males appear to wear a darker blue than those of the Southern Water Tribe.

/Culture\

The Southern Water Tribe
The Southern Water Tribe is currently in dire straits, teetering on the brink of extinction due to raids from the Fire Nation years ago. Its bending population was decimated to leaving only Katara as its sole Waterbender, due to multiple waterbenders, such as Hama, either dying in battle or captured by the Fire Nation, in the first Fire Nation raid. Its remaining population is currently defenseless, as its warriors left for the Earth Kingdom to aid in the century-long war against the Fire Nation two years ago, leaving the sparse and scattered tribe virtually cultureless. However, in the aftermath of the Fire Nation's siege of the North Pole, a select group benders and healers from the Northern Tribe left for the South Pole in an effort to rebuild their ravaged and cultureless sister tribe.

Before the war, while they were separated, the Northern and Southern Water Tribes kept in contact with one another and often came together during the first new moon of winter.

The Northern Water Tribe
The Northern Water Tribe has survived the century of war, largely due to the harsh terrain surrounding the North Pole, and thus, so did its culture as did its versatile array of waterbenders of all skills and sexes. When honored guests arrive at the North Pole, the Northern Tribe holds a feast in their honor, as well as a cultured waterbending performance accompanied by Water Tribe drums, that take the appearance of a modern-day timpani.

In the north, they are much harsher and more strict when it comes to gender roles, operating in the more traditional ways. It is forbidden for women to take part in battle or other male-dominated fields, forcing female Waterbenders to only learn the Waterbending art of healing. It is unclear whether male Waterbenders are forced to learn how to fight and heal using Waterbending or just fight. Further more, arranged marriages of all classes take place; the more powerful or wealthier your family is, the more serious is the arranged marriage. While the young man apparently has a say in the matter, the young woman does not.

However since Katara has shown though they have been less strict about their about the gender roles however they enforce them as much as they could, however no longer forbid it entirly like before.

Foggy Swamp Tribe
The Foggy Swamp Tribe occupies a swamp in the Earth Kingdom, while most of its members are highly skilled benders who have discovered the unique waterbending talent of bending the water within plants to control plant life. The people of the Foggy Swamp Water Tribe dress very differently than their northern and southern counterparts. They use loincloths, armbands, hats and other materials fashioned out of plants to cover themselves. Instead of worshipping the Moon and Ocean Spirits, they worship the Swamp itself, and the giant tree in the center of it, believing that the Swamp is what gives them life and power.

Members of the Foggy Swamp Water Tribe are fashioned after people who lived reclusively within the Mississippi river delta. The Foggy Swamp Tribe's ancestry lies in the Southern Water Tribe. Thousands of years ago, a group migrated from the Southern Tribe and found the Swamp. Feeling comfortable because of the large amount of water, they decided to remain. This information, however, has been lost to both tribes' history, resulting in neither of the two knowing the other exists.

/Government\

The Northern Water Tribe is a patriarchal chiefdom also containing the aspects of a tribal group's leader as the chief of state. The Northern Water Tribe is ruled by a former warrior, Arnook, and his counsel of chieftains, composed of Waterbending masters, warriors, healers, noblemen, and his daughter, Princess Yue.

Scattered all across the South Pole in groups due to the war separating and dwindling their people, the Southern Water Tribe has a patriarchal tribalist system of government, as each village has a designated leader. While initially all the leaders are male, due to the war, each of the villages leaders can be both male and female, accidentally becoming both a patriarchal and a matriarchal tribal system. Prior to leaving to fight in the war, the southernmost tribal village was led by the warrior Hakoda. It is currently populated by the elderly, women and small children.

/Natural Resources and Food\

Inhabiting frozen poles and ice caps near seas and oceans, the Water Tribes inherently are dependent on the oceans for a majority of their natural resources as well as the bounty of the frozen tundra. Sea prunes are a favorite, while giant sea crabs are considered a delicious delicacy to those in the Northern Sea. Squid and seaweed can be used to make a wide variety of dishes, including soup, seasoning, and even bread and cookies.

Skins from seals are used to create decorative tents, while pelts from polar bears and other furry animals are used as clothing and to cover barren surfaces. Naturally, hunters and fishermen of the Water Tribes are some of the best in the world in their field.

For the people of the Foggy Swamp Tribe, they depend on the swamp itself and its odd assortment of animals, such as cat gators for companions and hunting and squirrel fish, possum chicken and other assortments of weird creatures for food. While use plant leaves, roots, and bark to provide their natural resources, they depend heavily on their waterbending and swampbending for hunting and cooking meals.

/Military\

As a result of the strong customary theme expressed by the two major sects, the Water Tribes militia is considerably less sophisticated than that of the more modern Earth Kingdom or the industrialized Fire Nation. Nevertheless, the tribes also exhibit deep pride and willpower akin to that of a warrior race.

Warriors
All adult male tribe members are fully-trained warriors. Their weaponry includes clubs, bladed boomerangs, spears made of bone (also used in spearfishing), scimitars, and machetes laced with whale teeth on the dull side of the blade. Water Tribe warriors typically wear black and white warpaint on their full face before going into battle. In severe combat, Southern Water Tribe warriors don protective battle gear, denoted as lunar wolf armor.

Wearing dark blue body armor, black and blue grey plated arm and leg guards along with a silver helmet shaped into wolf's head, and a fierce moon symbol unique to each warrior is designed to intimidate the enemy, as when warriors charge, they resemble a pack of wild wolves. As shown by Sokka's father in the Fire Nation invasion, high ranking or those who lead wear a black colored wolf helmet instead of a silver one to show authority.

For the Northern Water Tribe, the normal warriors follow the same traditions but the Waterbending warriors of the Northern Tribe are all masters of their element and wear dark hooded suits and with blue face masks that cover their mouths to give the enemy an air of mystery and danger. They also work together in units rather fight alone. In the "Siege of the North" episodes it shows how no one of the warriors is alone but always have at least one other Waterbender with them. The defense of the Northern Water Tribe is almost entirely benders, and when the lunar eclipse occurs they were left virtually defenseless due to them relying almost totally on Waterbending.

The Foggy Swamp Water Tribe doesn't have a conventional military and when dealing with hostile outsiders, the Foggy Swamp Tribe relies on the swamp itself, its wildlife and fauna, and then Hu, the waterbender who can bend swamp vines and roots and the rest of the tribe's waterbenders, such as Due and Tho.

Navy
The ships of the Southern Tribe seem to be cutter sailing ships, containing wooden hulls and utilizing the wind for propulsion. The boats are shown to be operated by at least two people, one to maintain the main sail and one to control the jib, a smaller sail at the rear. The ships appear to be designed more for use as a transport vessel than combat.

The Northern Water Tribe's most common ship is a double-hulled vessel powered by waterbending. Though its small, compact size enables it to be used for a variety of applications, including transporting civilians across the canals within the city, its main purpose is to be used for short, open ocean trips. Even though its not necessarily designed for long voyages, it is capable of being used to travel over a thousand miles and withstanding the harshest ocean conditions. Warriors use this ship to patrol and protect the waters just outside the Northern Water Tribe.

Conceptualized by Sokka and constructed by the Earth Kingdom inventor the Mechanist, waterbending-powered submarines were actively used by members of the Water Tribe during the early stages of the Fire Nation invasion. Resembling a smiling whale-dolphin, these large underwater vehicles possess a hull composed of waterproof wood and metal equipped with watertight glass windows that allows them to traverse deep beneath the ocean surface. The watercrafts function by propelling through the ocean with flexible fins on each side and the rear while sinking or floating by means of the Waterbenders riding inside. The submarines are also equipped with firepower in the form of torpedoes encased in ice. Crafted by pouring blasting jelly into a hollowed out section of a torpedo and freezing it along with the lit fuse, the projectile is launched via waterbending and designed to explode upon making contact with its target. There was only one real flaw that the vessels retained, that being their limited air supply, which makes it necessary to resurface periodically for air. While this is largely Waterbender-orientated, for the time being, it seems to be universal for the remaining Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom freedom fighters.

>>Info. Thanks to those of Wikipedia<<

[Saijin]

/Waterbending\

Waterbenders originally learned waterbending from the moon. The ancestors of the Water Tribe noticed the push and pull effect the Moon has on the tides of the ocean. Eventually, these first waterbenders learned how to manipulate water themselves. Waterbending is the only bending art without a spiritual animal teacher, as the waterbenders learned the art of pushing and pulling water from the gravitational push and pull of the moon.

Waterbending is based on Tai Chi, a Chinese martial art that features slow movements and elegant forms that evoke the feel of flowing water. Waterbending's strongest asset lies within its defensive capabilities. Unlike some other bending disciplines, waterbending focuses on turning an opponent's own strength against themselves, rather than direct strikes. Since water can exist in different physical states, waterbenders can freeze, melt, evaporate, sublimate or condense water at will. The ability to alter the physical state of water gives Waterbenders an array of defensive, evasive and offensive techniques in battle such as encasing an opponent in ice, hiding behind a wall of mist, surfing on bodies of water on a platform of ice, and battering enemies with lashing whips and waves. Waterbenders can also manipulate the molecular cohesion of water for cutting and grabbing objects. While a bender's victory in battle is usually based on skill and technique, a Waterbender gains a notable advantage or disadvantage over other bending arts depending on the amount of water in their vicinity.

Waterbenders are more powerful at night than during the day due to their spiritual connection with the moon. Waterbenders are at their most powerful during the full moon, and are powerless during a lunar eclipse or when the Moon Spirit, Tui, is in danger.

/Fighting Style\

Water Manipulation
Almost all forms of waterbending involve moving and shaping a body of water to the user's desire. By simply levitating a large mass of water, a waterbender can move water anywhere they wish, even parting it under the surface of a lake or sea, allowing them to walk along the bottom of a basin without the need to swim. These large bodies can also be used as weapons, either by shaping them into gigantic whips, swung repeatedly at a target as a snake-like body, or simply dropped onto an opponent to smother them or put out a fire. On the sea or ocean, waterbending can be used to create giant maelstroms.

Snow manipulation
A move that pushes and levitates snow for attack, shielding and defense.

Streaming the Water
Named by Katara, it is a move that draws water from a source that a waterbender moves around their body. A more advanced version demonstrated by Aang apparently involves "sinking and floating".

Water Whips
The most frequently seen move, involves creating a lashing tendril of water to swipe at an opponent. The shape, size and length are all determined by a waterbender's control. More powerful benders can create larger whips or ones of greater finesse. Due to water being incompressible, a whip can be sharpened into a blade that can even slice through metal with relative ease

Water Jets
High pressure jets can be used to force opponents back or even blast clean through a target if focused enough

Waves
By moving a large mass of water without separating it from its original source, water benders can create waves of nearly any size. This can be used to sweep opponents away or even as a form of transport, with the bender surfing on the crest of the wave. This same process can be used to propel water borne crafts

Water Drill
A high pressure rotating column of water. Capable of exerting a significant amount of pressure upon a solid surface, that allows the action of a drill.

Water Walls/Water Shields
Water can be molded into any shape and can by used to deflect an attack, trap opponents in a viscous body, reshaped and propelled at an attacker before they can recover, or solidified into a shield of ice. This diversity and ability to swiftly change to suit the situation is what makes the waterbender's defense so adaptable.

Water Thermokineses
Waterbenders also possess thermokinetic abilities regarding their element, meaning that they can alter the physical state of the water they manipulate (between liquid, solid and gas) at will. Changing the phase of water allows for multiple techniques in the course of a battle, from encasing an opponent in ice to hiding behind a wall of mist. Ice and steam/fog can also be molded in a diverse range of shapes. Ice provides a degree of hard lethality since it can be molded into spikes or blades to pin down or impale opponents. Steam or mist can obscure a battlefield and mask movement.

Water Pressure Manipulation
Waterbenders are also able to manipulate water pressure, allowing their techniques to grasp other objects or cutting through without simply parting around them. Since water is incompressible, it can be used as a semi-solid while being able to move and flow like a liquid.

Ice Spikes
A waterbender can shoot small shards of ice at their opponent, or cause a giant spike to protrude from a body of water. The Northern Water Tribe employs these as a primary defense at their homeland when enemy ships are sighted.

Bubble
When in need to cross large bodies of water, a capable waterbenders are able to create a bubble around themselves, keeping an air supply for them and for others.

Ice Creeper
A waterbender can send a ray of ice on the ground, speeding at an opponent to freeze them.

Ice Shield
A Waterbender can freeze an amount of water in front of them, creating a shield of ice.

Ice Discs
A waterbender can create a cylindrical column of water and proceed to slice razor-sharp sections of it off and send them at an opponent.

Frosty Breath
A waterbender can use their breath to rapidly freeze objects, such as metallic chains, or an opponent.

Water Knife
Ability to compress water, allowing for the sharp edge of a knife. It enables a waterbender to effortlessly cut through metal, wood and stone.

/Waterbending Master Level\

The mark of a master waterbender is the ability to swiftly change from one state of water to another and rapidly switch techniques during combat, keeping the opponent off guard while constantly adapting to the enemy.

Water Spout
This high level technique involves controlling a whirlpool-like pillar of water as a weapon, rotating it and directing its movements at the same time. Another form exists, which is nicknamed the "Water Snake", in accordance to the waterspout's constantly shifting and coiling movements.

Octopus form
A body of water formed around the user into 8 or so whip-like limbs which can be used to grasp or strike an opponent or to intercept and seize incoming attacks. It is assumed that this requires a great deal of concentration.

Ice Prison
Covers an opponent in a prison made of ice. By finely controlling the position of the person within, this technique can restrict the motions of a waterbender's hands, thus rendering them powerless.

Maelstrom
In a large body of water, a waterbender can create a gigantic whirlpool.

Mass Freeze
A waterbender can freeze multiple targets at once.

Monsoon
A waterbender can cause rain to fall from clouds in the sky and cause a monsoon of frozen rain or unfrozen rain.

/Specialized Waterbending techniques\

Sweat Manipulation
Resourceful Waterbenders can bend their own sweat to use as a makeshift weapon in the case of being separated from a source of water.

Condensation
Not only can skilled Waterbenders condense clouds into a usable source of water, but they also can condense invisible water vapor right out of the air

Healing
Certain Waterbenders are born with the ability to heal wounds and relieve sickness by redirecting chi paths throughout the body, using water as a catalyst. In the Northern Water Tribe, due to the traditionally patriarchal culture of the tribe, healing is the only aspect of Waterbending taught to female waterbenders, with classes assigned for young girls held in huts towards the development of the ability. For full explaination =http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Healing>click here<

Plantbending
A member of the Foggy Swamp Tribe, Huu, has illustrated that talented Waterbenders can manipulate plant life--from the highly water-saturated vines and roots found within the swamp lands and seaweed from the ocean floor--they can even rapidly regenerate the plant mass of the plants they bend (since the cell tissues of a plant is more versatile than the cell tissues of an animal--and why Bloodbending can only be achieved on the nights of the full moon; see below), all by bending the ample amount of water within them just as they can with watery mud. Going further, a skilled Waterbender is able to separate and completely extract the water from plants for more effective utilization just as they are able to separate the water from mud, sand, and even polluted river systems etc--albeit in the case of plant life, this process will then leave behind the dried out, withered, dead remains of all the affected former plant life.

Bloodbending
Bloodbending is the ultimate Waterbending technique that allows Waterbenders to bend the water within living creatures, giving a Waterbender complete control over their entire bodies. The technique appears to be only possible under the power of a full moon and is considered highly taboo. Notice: Avaible to master benders only.

Water Run
This is a technique in which waterbenders would use all four limbs to run on water at very high speeds, in addition to riding on foreign objects with the same purpose.

/Weaknesses\

External Water Source
A waterbender's weakness is his or her need for an external source of water. As a result, traveling waterbenders often carry a water skin with them at all times.

Binding
A second vulnerability lies within the use of one's arms as a primary means of Waterbending. This leaves the Waterbender vulnerable when he or she is bound at the hands or has had the flow of chi blocked in the arms.

Emotional State
A Waterbender's power comes from the internal life energy chi. Due to this, a waterbender's power is connected to his or her present emotional state. If an inexperienced waterbender were to lose his or her temper, their Waterbending force is intensified, but in turn, control is lost. Although this has the potential to be quite dangerous, it also serves as a boon to a bender with proper training and experience, as well as balance over their emotions.

Lunar Eclipse
Another Waterbending weakness is its dependence on the moon (see below). Although waterbenders gain power from the moon (with waterbending at its zenith during full moons), the moon's absence during an eclipse results in a complete loss of Waterbending ability

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