The Five Nations Discussion

Welcome to the land of Tokugawa. It is a kingdom in which both tradition and honor are valued greatly. It is a kingdom in which its inhabitants are gifted with inherent magical abilities. It in a kingdom in which the very land is alive - rivers, lakes, mountains, trees, oceans, rocks, fire, shadow, wind - all of these and more possess spirits which can take a tangible form and affect the world near it. A tree spirit may not be able to travel too far from its tree, but an air spirit may be able to travel from one side of a kingdom to another.

The Spirits:

Spoiler:  

These spirits are unpredictable, both in power and intention. One may walk through a forest and not encounter a single one. You might encounter a spirit that leads you to a hidden treasure. You might stumble upon these spirits fighting each other, or even ganging up on you! Others may simply wish to hold a conversation with you.

Because of their unpredictable nature people tend to be wary of them. Thankfully the spirits usually aren't tricksters and so their intentions are clear from the moment you're in contact with them. In fact, in some of the villages and settlements throughout the land might have some spirits that regularly mingle with people. These spirits can take almost any form they wish: you may encounter a shadow spirit who takes the shape of a human. A fire spirit may take the form of a small imp. A mountain spirit might take the form of a bi-pedal bear.

Spirits have been recorded as showing more expertise in bending than any human ever has. This is widely believed to be because the spirits are the elements themselves - literally living elements.

Each person in Tokugawa is born with the ability to manipulate one of the elements: Air, Water, Earth, Fire, and Shadow. Everyone can bend something, and everyone can only bend one element. There has never been an exception to either of these rules. The only way to tell physically is in the person's palms - there is a very slight discoloration that is hardly noticeable unless you take a close look. This discoloration is either white, blue, brown, red, or purple.

The parents raise their children until age 8. At that point they are sent to train at the appropriate city for ten years to learn both regular skills and to hone their bending. Since the powers appear at random its not uncommon for two water parents to give birth to a shadow daughter, or an air father and earth mother to give birth to a fire son. Note that it isn't required to send the child off, but it's heavily encouraged. Compare it to kids going to public high school as opposed to being homeschooled. It isn't as common of a practice.

Each of the five nation's capitals are primarily populated by the benders of the city. For example, Shadou, the Shadow Nation is composed roughly of 91% Shadow benders and the other 9% is a mixture of the other four.

Hashama is the capital of the entire kingdom and is the most populated of the kingdom. Hashama has roughly an even amount of each type of bender, which is ~20% of each.

Throughout the kingdom are smaller towns and villages, denoted by an orange box. The majority of the population tends to be whatever the nearest capital is. So the cities in the islands typically have water benders, whereas the one in the mountains would have earth benders. The three villages of the southwest are mixing pots.

Somewhere in the forests of the northwest is The Elder City. Very few people have gone there, and even fewer people have claimed to come from it and are telling the truth. There are many stories told of the city: it's populated by the spirits of the trees, there are benders there who never age, there are benders who can manipulate the vegetation. No one knows what is true and what is myth.

History & Capital Descriptions

Spoiler:  

Hundreds of years ago all the people of the land lived on Hashama, and there were only a few other settlements near the city itself. However as the population grew, tensions rose amongst the people. The fire and earth benders were upset because they didn't have much room to practice, whereas the other three could simply go to the sea or wait until nightfall. In addition the king (at the time it was a water bender) worried of a revolution taking place. To ensure this didn't happen, to appease the people, and to address the issue of overpopulation, he charged the most powerful benders of each element to set out and establish five nations (large cities). They agreed and took many men and women with them.

Shadou went to the south and they found a gigantic tunnel over a mile wide that went into the mountain. They followed it, and the tunnel continued into the mountain and traveled down as well. After two days they came to a gigantic cavern inside. The roof went further than their eyes could see, despite the shadow benders' ability to see in the darkness. Strange glowing rocks provided enough lighting that vegetation grew. There were many pools of fresh water, supplied by openings in the walls that flowed with water. He established his capital here.

There is a smaller path that heads to the east and opens up to a plot of land. This has been dubbed Little Shadou and is a port city.

Nejiro took her people northwest, and they came upon a deserted citadel. In addition to the town, there was a humongous, two mile high tower. It's 4000ft by 4000ft. There are multiple floors with many rooms. The citadel has large open windows all around it which allow for wind to travel through it. The air benders are able to fly with ease to the floors, but other benders must use stairs, or ask air benders for help.

Surrounding the city is deep chasm that's been there for as long as anyone can remember. The only way to get to the capital by foot is by an extremely sturdy stone bridge.

Yakedo took her group to the north, and after traveling through a forest they came to a short, dormant volcano. However, the benders pulled the magma up onto the surface and created a large lava moat around the volcano and the surrounding land. The lava is kept heated by benders and the spirit of the volcano.

Yochi went to the northeast and came upon a mountain range. He founded a city ontop of the largest plateau in the mountains.

Mizu traveled east and came to the ocean. Barely seen on the horizon was an island. After putting together some ships they set sail and came upon five islands. On the largest one she established her the capital.


Once each capital was established, the king declared that the children would be sent to the proper city at age eight and for ten years they would be schooled. They would learn survival tactics, how to fight, and hone their bending abilities. The system worked and for the next hundred years, all was well. However, as time went on, relations between the nations grew. Each one wished to control the kingdom and instill one of their own on the throne. Ever since then they have negotiated, blackmailed, assassinated, and even launched massive battles to claim the throne. The last massive battle was twenty-five years ago between the Earth Nation and the Fire Nation. It ended in a stalemate, but both sides suffered casualties and are the least populated cities as of present day.

The bending ability is pretty straightforward. Someone who is untrained can't do much. A fire bender might only be able to move a small flame from a candle to his palm. A earth bender might only be able to lift small pebbles. As one practices he gets better. An earth bender who's practiced for years may be able to life heavy rocks with ease or surround his fists with rock. An air bender might be able to cause a strong enough wind to blow someone down, or give himself the ability to hover or fly. However you will not be diverting rivers, creating massive whirlpools, moving a mountain, or blowing an entire village away with a tornado.

While bending does exist, as according to tradition it is dishonorable to use it in combat. Exceptions would be in mass-scale battles, or if you are attacked. However, tournaments generally disqualify anyone who uses it, and in duels and such it is expected that you use mundane means of fighting. This is something that everyone from the poorest farmer to the people on the king's court believes and expects out of their fellow citizens. News spreads quickly of those who use their powers to gain the upperhand in combat.

The only exception to this is in the case of creating melee weapons to fight with. All the elements can be twisted and solidified to the point of being a viable weapon. These are acceptable and some competitions within a tournament will only allow this kind of swordplay.





Social Status and Whatnot

Spoiler:  

*Emperor - The supreme ruler of Tokugawa. In writing he is supposed to be the absolute ruler and all other nobility is beneath him. However, the rulers of the Nations have as much power in their respective cities.

**Fire Lord - Ruler of Yakedo, the Fire Nation.
**Earth King - Ruler of Yochi, the Earth Nation.
**Water Chieftain - Ruler of Mizu, the Water Nation.
** Council of Elders - Rulers of Nejiro, the Air Nation (2 females and 2 males).
** Shadow Mikado - Ruler of Shadou, the Shadow Nation.

***Shutaru - Mayor of a town or village.

****Samurai - A member of the military who has trained and proven themselves worthy of the title of Samurai.

***** Ashigaru - Those in the military.

****** From this point further status is determined by wealth. The wealthiest people are at the top while the poorest ones are on the bottom.

As of now we're just in the discussion phase. I'll have a character rubric up later today or tomorrow. If there are any questions then ask 'em.

Black are roads. Blue is water. Purple is the island/kingdom capital. Yellow are the Nation capitals. The white ring is the chasm. Light green is plains, grasslands, and hills, while dark green are forests.


Character Rubric:




Name:

Age:

Gender:

Appearance:

Element:

Training Received: (Did you go to your city? Taught by village elders? Parents? Yourself? etc. Give us an idea of how powerful your character is)

Skills: (things like fishing, mountaineering, hunting, education, etc.)

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Equipment: (Armor, weapons, clothing, misc.)

Personality:

History:

The parents raise their children until age 8. At that point they are sent to train at the appropriate city for ten years to learn both regular skills and to hone their bending. Since the powers appear at random its not uncommon for two water parents to give birth to a shadow daughter, or an air father and earth mother to give birth to a fire son. Note that it isn't required to send the child off, but it's heavily encouraged. Compare it to kids going to public high school as opposed to being homeschooled. It isn't as common of a practice.

I assume this is only for the elite members of society, no? I can't imagine peasants an lower classes having this type of treatment in a feudal society.

Assuming this is a feudal society, of course. Considering the opening paragraph and the name, I'd assume this land was based on Feudal Japan, and I think the culture should be derivative of it (i.e: feudalism).

Hundreds of years ago all the people of the land lived on Hashama, and there were only a few other settlements near the city itself. However as the population grew, tensions rose amongst the people. The fire and earth benders were upset because they didn't have much room to practice, whereas the other three could simply go to the sea or wait until nightfall. In addition the king (at the time it was a water bender) worried of a revolution taking place. To ensure this didn't happen, to appease the people, and to address the issue of overpopulation, he charged the most powerful benders of each element to set out and establish five nations (large cities). They agreed and took many men and women with them.

This is kind of a minor detail, but how are the earth benders unable to practice as much as water or shadow? Also, whenever we refer to the ruler of the land, in interest of keeping with the theme, we should call him Emperor or Shogun rather than king. Similarly, we should use Shogunate or Empire as opposed to kingdom. I don't mind which one we use (as long as it isn't kingdom) but Shogun/Shogunate sounds way cooler.


Also, a word on the bender abilities: It seems unfitting for earth benders to be able to lift rocks out of the air. That's telekenisis, not bending earth. I think that earth bending should be restricted to morphing the shape of earth rather than controlling it completely (same goes for water, fire and air bending).

Also, a final note; if a large part of society is built around bending, why is it dishonorable to use it in combat? Since this is society we're talking about, I'd accept "that's just the way it is" as a reason, but in my opinion this doesn't make much sense (but then again not many social quirks do)

I love Feudal Japan and I am thoroughly excited for this RP.

Sailboat, have you ever watched the Avatar series? Chris seems to have based the "bending" abilities on that, in which people can manipulate their element with telekenesis. You'll often see rocks being thrown about. If you didn't then an earthbender's arsenal would be pretty limited to using defensive walls and ground attacks, which would be predictable and/or overpowered, depending how you used them.

Considering this is not a direct Avatar RP, I don't think those rules need to apply. I'd rather go with logic and say a bender can only change the shape of what they bend.

And earth bending wouldn't be limited to just throwing up walls. You could also use mini-earthquakes to trip your enemies, putting them in a very vulnerable position.

Originally Posted by Sailboat

I assume this is only for the elite members of society, no? I can't imagine peasants an lower classes having this type of treatment in a feudal society.

Assuming this is a feudal society, of course. Considering the opening paragraph and the name, I'd assume this land was based on Feudal Japan, and I think the culture should be derivative of it (i.e: feudalism).

I saw it more as every child is sent to the city in the same sense that every child is sent to school in our world. Though, this does make sense. Perhaps only the families with wealth are able to do this, while peasants and poor are only able to teach within their village as they cannot afford it?

This is kind of a minor detail, but how are the earth benders unable to practice as much as water or shadow?

Well Hashama is essentially all city save for beaches and parks. Since it was becoming overcrowded they couldn't just rip out pieces of earth to practice bending, whereas water benders were free to go to the beaches or pools to practice, shadow benders needed only to wait for nightfall, and air benders could also go to the beaches. Fire benders couldn't start fires, obviously.

Also, whenever we refer to the ruler of the land, in interest of keeping with the theme, we should call him Emperor or Shogun rather than king. Similarly, we should use Shogunate or Empire as opposed to kingdom. I don't mind which one we use (as long as it isn't kingdom) but Shogun/Shogunate sounds way cooler.

Agree 100%.

Also, a word on the bender abilities: It seems unfitting for earth benders to be able to lift rocks out of the air. That's telekenisis, not bending earth. I think that earth bending should be restricted to morphing the shape of earth rather than controlling it completely (same goes for water, fire and air bending).

Keith is right, I took the bending ability from Avatar and tried to scale it down a bit so it wasn't as powerful. I did envision that earth benders would be able to levitate rocks, fire benders could manipulate fire, water benders could make balls of water, etc. They couldn't just make ♥♥♥♥ appear out of think air.

Also, a final note; if a large part of society is built around bending, why is it dishonorable to use it in combat? Since this is society we're talking about, I'd accept "that's just the way it is" as a reason, but in my opinion this doesn't make much sense (but then again not many social quirks do)

Because a truly great warrior needs only his hands and weapon to defeat his opponent.

Like how it's seen as cheap and dishonorable to strike an unarmed opponent, or someone who is prone, this society sees it as dishonorable to use their bending ability in official combat.

But also like I said, it's accepted that in times of war that one must use their bending. In addition if you are attacked and need to defend yourself then it is acceptable.

It's more like if you agree to duel someone on one one, be it in a tournament or out on the road somewhere, it would be dishonorable to suddenly call forth a gust of wind to blind your opponent, or try to use a nearby flame to burn them.

Or using Toph-esque nutcracker techniques. The way Avatar earthbenders kick up rocks would still work. Bending will always require telekinesis either way, that's kind of what it is.

hmmmm.

Just to throw this out there, I would most likely choose an earth-bender if I was to do this. I want to do it in the caves but I'm unsure if the whole darkness thing would be too close to Toph's blindness with the badger moles stuff.

Originally Posted by Gamzee

I saw it more as every child is sent to the city in the same sense that every child is sent to school in our world. Though, this does make sense. Perhaps only the families with wealth are able to do this, while peasants and poor are only able to teach within their village as they cannot afford it?

I like this idea much better. The poor would be able to learn a few techniques in their little village schools, but not nearly as much as the rich kids that live in cities with government-owned schools.

Keith is right, I took the bending ability from Avatar and tried to scale it down a bit so it wasn't as powerful. I did envision that earth benders would be able to levitate rocks, fire benders could manipulate fire, water benders could make balls of water, etc. They couldn't just make ♥♥♥♥ appear out of think air.

Yeah, I get that, but why are earth benders able to use telekinesis while other benders cannot. Water benders can change the shape of water and freeze it, fire benders can change the shape of fire (while its physical properties allow them to lift it if they want to), air benders change the shape/motion of air, and earth benders can change the shape of earth AND lift it off the ground. That just doesn't makes sense to me. Earth benders are the only type that can move their element telekinetically.

and I have no idea what shadow benders can do haha

besides see in the dark.

Because a truly great warrior needs only his hands and weapon to defeat his opponent.

Like how it's seen as cheap and dishonorable to strike an unarmed opponent, or someone who is prone, this society sees it as dishonorable to use their bending ability in official combat.

But also like I said, it's accepted that in times of war that one must use their bending. In addition if you are attacked and need to defend yourself then it is acceptable.

It's more like if you agree to duel someone on one one, be it in a tournament or out on the road somewhere, it would be dishonorable to suddenly call forth a gust of wind to blind your opponent, or try to use a nearby flame to burn them.

works for me

Well I imagined that water benders WOULD be able to lift water in the same way.

Shadow benders would be able to create weapons just like the other ones. They see in the dark and can sort of use shadow in the same sense a water bender uses water, if that makes sense. A shadow bender can make shadows and darkness twist and morph in the same fashion.


p.s. I am likely going to create either an earth or shadow bender who doesn't wear armor or use normal weapons, but in exchange is quick.

p.p.s I'm going to post a character rubric once I eat dinner, but I think the only thing that'll be different for this particular RP is a section for which element you bend.

Well I imagined that water benders WOULD be able to lift water in the same way.

oh.

ok then.

Originally Posted by Sailboat

Yeah, I get that, but why are earth benders able to use telekinesis while other benders cannot. Water benders can change the shape of water and freeze it, fire benders can change the shape of fire (while its physical properties allow them to lift it if they want to), air benders change the shape/motion of air, and earth benders can change the shape of earth AND lift it off the ground. That just doesn't makes sense to me. Earth benders are the only type that can move their element telekinetically.

Water benders can use telekinesis to control their element. It's generally more straining and it's easier to cause tides, but it's by no means impossible and you can usually throw water around like weapons, and many water bending techniques require concentration for using skills like the Octopus Form.

Fire Benders can't really use telekinesis to control their element the way others do. However that's because fire is alive and moving constantly, it'd be impossible to contain. You can simply guide it.

Shadow Benders... euhh what Chris said.

Air benders create gusts of wind, but are mostly known for things like air gliding. Their biggest advantage is their speed, because they have powerfully overblown athletic skill, very light on their feet. They can't really use telekinesis, but that's completely irrelevant to controlling their element.


I think you're overcomplicating Earth Bender's telekinesis. They only really use it to levitate rocks to their height and then shoot them off in a direction, they can't use it much more than that. And it's not incredibly strong, the rocks are usually no more than an average size head.


...I may have gotten caught up in that.

I should also point out that this is general Avatar mythos, and not this RP. There probably will be differences, so I guess that's up to Gamzee to pull apart.

Does it have to be a carbon copy of Avatar: The Last Airbender though?




Regarding the map, I think there should be an area of barren land around Yakedo, since I imagine it's supposed to be a shield volcano. (link for those who can't into geology)

(also image:
)

the ♥♥♥♥ is octopus form.

there's also no source for this. you mentioned something about fire benders getting their power from the sun on skype. Doesn't work like that.

Anyway what keith said was fairly correct aside from fire benders. they can control it just like anyone else.

octopus form is this useless fighting style from avatar:


like seriously what can that do against a guy with a sword?

no, but I don't see why we need to stray too far

Originally Posted by Sailboat

octopus form is this fighting style from avatar that, from the looks of it, gives the user absolutely no advantage in combat:


like seriously what can that do against a guy with a sword?

well in that case, the water is condensed and due to the style of a waterbender, it would be used like fencing to knock a foes' balance, or to be blunt and grab their leg.

yeah sailboat that's what I was thinking. I'll edit the map sometime to include it.

also I put the character rubric in the second post. As usual with my RP's, please PM or VM me first before posting.

Originally Posted by A Keith to the Past

no, but I don't see why we need to stray too far.

Because this is an original work, not Avatar. Anyway, I was just trying to make sense of why earth benders would be able to levitate their stuff but other benders cannot. I know now that every bender can levitate their element. So it's all good.


Also, is there any limitation to bending? Or is it like The Force where the only limitation is the user's focus?

Fire benders draw strength from their own body heat...