Map Thread XIX
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GERMANY: THE TARGET
(aka "Turn the fash into nuclear ash")
When Germany Repudiated Versaille, Remilitarized and annexed Austria, we gave in;
When Germany Dismembered Czechoslovakia and Reshaped Central Europe, we gave in;
When Germany Invaded Poland, we gave in, not daring to attack;
And When our troops were defeated in Northern France, we gave in to the Nazis, leaving them a free hand to conquer the East.
One by one cities fell to the Germans: Kiev, Leningrad, Moscow. The Soviet people fought fervently but they couldn't win decisive battle against the Wehrmacht and eventually, they split without a leader. Then, we started to hear rumors, hearsays from the occupied territories, too terrible to be believe. Until what happened became clear, Death and Slavery on an industrial scale, Engineered famines that depopulated countries, the systematic destruction of the culture and memory of entire peoples. And it was too late to intervene, the Germans were fortifying the Atlantic Wall after shifting their ressources west and the awakened American Giant was focused on the final confrontation of the Great Pacific War.
Germany and Britain hunkered down on their positions, putting pressure on each other while the Free World led by America was working together to counter the Nazi Empire but despite the nuclear superiority an invasion was still deemed too costly. Instead, we sat on our hundreds of airfield and bases, focusing on merely containing Fascism, more and more confident it would eventually burn itself out if it couldn't spread.
And Indeed, the supposedly Thousand-Year long Reich collapsed, an extremely militarised state centered on the cult of personality of its leader who could only keep the cutthroat branches of the fanatical state from killing each other. It only needed his death, and a bomb in Germania. Everybody was expecting it, yet nobody was prepared for the Chaos.
As germany became a battleground the oppressed people of Europe rose up, from Brest to Moscow every desesperate groups decided to strike at the same time despite the lack of coordination, some misjudged the local forces and were crushed others carved out their freedom from the Nazi Empire, everybody took the opportunity, everybody except us.
Why the Free world didn't directly intervene is still a mystery a few years later, some say it was a conflict of interest between the various free countries, other advocated patience and measure to eventualy deal with the last Fascist contender standing, many were afraid of the German missiles. But it doesn't matter, the freedom fighters of Europe looked up to us and we failed to helpd, despite a decade of preparation we did not dare to do more than timid strikes at the periphery and giving indirect support to the most prominent revolutionaries. At the most crucial moment, we gave in once more.
The inevitable then happened: After months and months of fighting, one of the Nazi contender seized Germany proper, a wasteland for sure, but that faction, more fanatical than ever, still controlled the most productive wasteland across a devastated Europe. Slowly but surely they have been retaking freed cities, Prague, Bratislava, Kracow, determined to retake their conquest and destroy all who betrayed them, and with every passing months their nuclear stockpile, initially insignificant and terribly late compared to ours, grows larger and larger and as we have seen from Warsaw, they are clearly not reluctant to use them.
Across Europe, In France, in former Russia, in Poland, resistant groups are still strong, but there is no doubt that alone they cannot withstand this fanatical onslaught. We are at the crossroads, either we act decisively and destroy the Nazi Empire at its very center, or we would have yielded one final time, like cowards who let a Continent be destroyed.
Against a nuclear armed Germany resolute to destroy what is left of Europe one final time there is only one option: the immediate strategic atomic destruction of Germany. Yes, this would sign the death warrant of millions of Germans, and put at risk millions of Britons and other freed or oppressed European but for every week we wait untold victims are dying, the massacre can only end with the instant decapitation of the Nazi Empire, whatever the cost.
Future pundits will wonder if it would have been worth it, why bring more death to a country which has already undergone a civil war? Would the destruction of some of our cities have been worth it? But they will have the benefit of hindsight and they will be removed from the ongoing massacre, a massacre that surpasses what anyone has done in History, surpassing even what the Nazis did to Russia last decade. It is a moral obligation to strike now and put down Fascism forever.
We need a joint strike to preserve what is left of Europe.
A Genocide of a dozen millions to save a hundred.
---
Well this was rather fun to make, I started this map more than a year ago and only restarted working on it with the lockdown, this is supposed to be in a divergent scenario of a TWR mod timeline, really any where one of the civil war factions wins early after a short civil war, I purposely made the writeup vague, showing a poster advocating for the destruction of Germany
(aka "Turn the fash into nuclear ash")
When Germany Repudiated Versaille, Remilitarized and annexed Austria, we gave in;
When Germany Dismembered Czechoslovakia and Reshaped Central Europe, we gave in;
When Germany Invaded Poland, we gave in, not daring to attack;
And When our troops were defeated in Northern France, we gave in to the Nazis, leaving them a free hand to conquer the East.
One by one cities fell to the Germans: Kiev, Leningrad, Moscow. The Soviet people fought fervently but they couldn't win decisive battle against the Wehrmacht and eventually, they split without a leader. Then, we started to hear rumors, hearsays from the occupied territories, too terrible to be believe. Until what happened became clear, Death and Slavery on an industrial scale, Engineered famines that depopulated countries, the systematic destruction of the culture and memory of entire peoples. And it was too late to intervene, the Germans were fortifying the Atlantic Wall after shifting their ressources west and the awakened American Giant was focused on the final confrontation of the Great Pacific War.
Germany and Britain hunkered down on their positions, putting pressure on each other while the Free World led by America was working together to counter the Nazi Empire but despite the nuclear superiority an invasion was still deemed too costly. Instead, we sat on our hundreds of airfield and bases, focusing on merely containing Fascism, more and more confident it would eventually burn itself out if it couldn't spread.
And Indeed, the supposedly Thousand-Year long Reich collapsed, an extremely militarised state centered on the cult of personality of its leader who could only keep the cutthroat branches of the fanatical state from killing each other. It only needed his death, and a bomb in Germania. Everybody was expecting it, yet nobody was prepared for the Chaos.
As germany became a battleground the oppressed people of Europe rose up, from Brest to Moscow every desesperate groups decided to strike at the same time despite the lack of coordination, some misjudged the local forces and were crushed others carved out their freedom from the Nazi Empire, everybody took the opportunity, everybody except us.
Why the Free world didn't directly intervene is still a mystery a few years later, some say it was a conflict of interest between the various free countries, other advocated patience and measure to eventualy deal with the last Fascist contender standing, many were afraid of the German missiles. But it doesn't matter, the freedom fighters of Europe looked up to us and we failed to helpd, despite a decade of preparation we did not dare to do more than timid strikes at the periphery and giving indirect support to the most prominent revolutionaries. At the most crucial moment, we gave in once more.
The inevitable then happened: After months and months of fighting, one of the Nazi contender seized Germany proper, a wasteland for sure, but that faction, more fanatical than ever, still controlled the most productive wasteland across a devastated Europe. Slowly but surely they have been retaking freed cities, Prague, Bratislava, Kracow, determined to retake their conquest and destroy all who betrayed them, and with every passing months their nuclear stockpile, initially insignificant and terribly late compared to ours, grows larger and larger and as we have seen from Warsaw, they are clearly not reluctant to use them.
Across Europe, In France, in former Russia, in Poland, resistant groups are still strong, but there is no doubt that alone they cannot withstand this fanatical onslaught. We are at the crossroads, either we act decisively and destroy the Nazi Empire at its very center, or we would have yielded one final time, like cowards who let a Continent be destroyed.
Against a nuclear armed Germany resolute to destroy what is left of Europe one final time there is only one option: the immediate strategic atomic destruction of Germany. Yes, this would sign the death warrant of millions of Germans, and put at risk millions of Britons and other freed or oppressed European but for every week we wait untold victims are dying, the massacre can only end with the instant decapitation of the Nazi Empire, whatever the cost.
Future pundits will wonder if it would have been worth it, why bring more death to a country which has already undergone a civil war? Would the destruction of some of our cities have been worth it? But they will have the benefit of hindsight and they will be removed from the ongoing massacre, a massacre that surpasses what anyone has done in History, surpassing even what the Nazis did to Russia last decade. It is a moral obligation to strike now and put down Fascism forever.
We need a joint strike to preserve what is left of Europe.
A Genocide of a dozen millions to save a hundred.
---
Well this was rather fun to make, I started this map more than a year ago and only restarted working on it with the lockdown, this is supposed to be in a divergent scenario of a TWR mod timeline, really any where one of the civil war factions wins early after a short civil war, I purposely made the writeup vague, showing a poster advocating for the destruction of Germany
Here is something from the world of my MistFall RPG although the game take place in a isolated town in Colorado I got bored one night and decided to come up with a map of the world around a year or so after the bombs fell so many areas are left blank due their being no real governments outside local warlords or small town governments.
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small nitpick: Why would Germany take Bornholm from Denmark without taking the rest of the country considering their only lives danes on that island and it have been in danish hands for over 800 years and counting?
I'm 99% sure that map was made using a program called Campaign Cartographer.
This is the Second Taralban Republic, a fictional Eastern European nation located in what most would know as Southern Bessarabia or the Budjak. In this history, it is known as Taralba and has higher hills in the Bessarabian Foothills to the north, creating minor alterations to immigration patterns. Throughout its history, Greeks, Romans, Bulgarians, Moldovans, and later Pechenegs conquered the area, but it was the Wallachians, later Romanians, who came to inhabit most of it. Many found the lands between the Danube River in the south and the Prut River in the north were peaceful, the great Mongols and Golden Horde only making the region a tribute state in the past due to its isolation. Now they felt protection in the deep bays of the Black Sea and the wooded hills of the north, and the great coastal plain that was suitable for farming and herding.
However, in 1486, the Ottoman Empire came to the region. Turks started to settle, and within a few years, the area finally became known as "Taralba" or as "Blue Country" in a heavily bastardized Wallachian (Romanian) language. The Romanians and Turks fought over control of the land for over a century until 1623, when peace was struck between the two groups. They created a new city called Concordia to honor the peace agreement, and the Turks agreed to stay south of Concordia and close to the Danube, while the Romanians would get everything else. During this time the Greeks also came to settle some of the coastal areas of Taralba, most moving on the opposite side of Concordia Bay as the Turks and on the coastal islands. History was quiet here for the most part, the Turks building roads and bridges across some of the vital rivers. Most of the modern highways of Taralba are based on these ancient roads. Turkish rule, while generally peaceful due to the region's isolation, came to an end in 1807 when the Russian Empire conquered the area.
For decades before 1807, Russian peasants and minor nobles started to settle the area around the Prut River. Once the Russian Empire finally formalized Taralba's ownership under Tsar Alexander I, Russian settlers came in the thousands to settle the areas north of the Lyvets River that started at present-day Severovsky. This area, once Turkish and Romanian, saw most of its old population fleeing southward. This migration would become the nexus of political issues that still impact the country in 2020. The Russians built Sarnova at the entrance of the Prut River, which in time became the second-largest city in the country after Concordia. Although the 1800s were still a peaceful time for the country, more Russians continued to pour into the north, while Germans, attracted by the unique position Taralba was in, started settling in Concordia and later built Halden in the 1840s. Finally, history began to speed up for the Taralbans. In the 1840s a nationalist movement began in Taralba, demanding autonomy and later independence. This quickly began to gain influence in 1893 when Dragos Mircea, a famous Taralban author, published his magnum opus. Throughout that summer he dedicated himself to creating a mythology for the Taralban country. According to the book, he was hiking around the Vreodata, the only peak that truly constituted a mountain in the county, when he stumbled upon a great tomb with letters inscribed on the walls. When he looked closer to read, it told the whole history of King Andrew the Great, who beat back the Mongols (or Huns) and led Taralba in its mythical Golden Age. When Mircea attempted to go into the cave, from which he could see the Golden King himself, it closed. He heard a voice tell him that the Golden King will only return in Taralba's darkest hour.
Only days before the book went into print, Dragos Mircea, then regarded as a popular historian, suddenly died. When the book went into print people thought it was a real story and not fantasy as Mircea intended. In the end, however, the story of King Andrew the Great, as fake as he was, united this country. The different ethnic groups even came up with their own versions of the tale. The Romanians believed he was a brave Christian who defended Constantinople from hordes of invaders. The Turks believe he was an intrepid explorer and was a Muslim. The Russians believed that he tricked the local Mongols and Huns (The time period the story takes place in is undefined) into giving him the land for a refugee people from a far off land. The Greeks had their own story that he was a simple fisherman and Christ's Apostle Andrew, a take that most of the ethnic groups added to their own. This turbocharged the nationalist movement. When World War I started many Taralban men joined the Russian Army, and the region itself mostly avoided the fighting. However, on April 9, 1918, Bessarabia and Taralba was declared to be a part of Romania. Many Taralbans did not mind at first, assuming they would be granted some degree of autonomy. However, when it became clear that this was not going to happen, a revolt started in November 1918 and continued into August 1919, sparked by Taralbans returning home from the war. On August 12, 1919, the First Taralban Republic was proclaimed. It was a liberal democratic country, and for six more months the Romanians fought this war of independence. Their armies north of the Danube faltered, and in January 1920, the Romanians withdrew, and the Treaty of Vestica was signed, recognizing Taralban independence. Fighting continued on Taralba's frontier with Ukraine, mostly along the Prut River, until September 1921.
Taralba's new economy was not good at the start. Although it produced cereals while marble, forestry and later mining proved to be vital during this time period. The government was also generally stable, alternating between the two major political parties. True power was invested in the Premier, while a President served in a mostly ceremonial position. Eventually, the economy stabilized and began to grow by the mid-1920s, with vineyards starting to develop along the coast, as well as silver and coal mines in the hills. Manufacturing exploded in Sarnova and Concordia, while new public works projects also took place. However, the Great Depression ruined much of this progress, and very quicky political movements reflecting fascism and communism formed. The fascists wanted to join with Romania and to serve as a bulwark against Bolshevism, while communists wanted to join the Soviet Union. In 1940, the situation escalated when on June 26 the Red Army poured into the entirety of Bessarabia, including Taralba, and annexed it. Taralba took nearly two weeks to pacify, and the local government in Taralba was overthrown, the President fleeing to London and the Prime Minister being defenestrated. A government friendly to the Soviets was installed, with plans for it to serve as a buffer with Romania. Less than a year later, on June 22, 1941, Operation Barbarossa was launched. The Soviet Union was overwhelmed, but Taralba managed to hold out for several weeks due to the marshy lands surrounding the Danube Delta. It was not until July 22 that Concordia fell, and August 13 that Sarnova fell, both besieged for lengthy periods of time. The Romanians annexed Taralba, splitting it into three counties, although the Germans annexed Concordia due to its naval base and German population. The SS for three years deported some 70% of Taralba's Jewish population, of which nine out of ten would not survive. Taralba was eventually freed by the Red Army in August 1944, Concordia not being freed until September 7, 1944. This time, Taralba was to remain under Soviet control and was quickly made a part of the Ukrainian SSR. On May 1, 1946, however, Soviet leader Josef Stalin granted Taralba autonomy. The Taralban ASSR was formed that same day, while the Soviet Navy took control over the naval ports in Sarnova and Concordia.
Soviet rule over Taralba was lengthy. From May 1946 to December 1991, the country was ruled by a changing set of communist leaders who were mostly different degrees of corrupt or incompetent. The occasional good leader was overthrown, falling out of favor with Moscow. All were Taralbans, and for most that was enough to remain loyal. That same day autonomy was granted, the Taralban Workers Party was formed out of the pre-war socialist and communist parties, and while loyal to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, this unique degree of autonomy was rare. Very few incidents would define Taralba during this period, although a mine collapse on top of a planned village in the mountains in 1983 caused a significant scandal. In December 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine became independent, the Taralban ASSR remained in place, the government retaining the Soviet-era titles and political system. Romania hoped to bring Taralba back into the fold, but on August 12, 1992, the Second Taralban Republic was forged. Due to its twenty-two years as an independent nation from 1919 to 1941, it was immediately recognized by most nations in the world. A democratic system of government was created, much of it reminiscent of the pre-war government. However, it was a clean slate for Taralba. The Constitution was different, as were other laws. The economy was also much stronger, manufacturing and mining still key industries, although farming and vineyards created necessary income for the country. One of the biggest political issues facing the country in 2020 is the position of the areas north of the Lyvets River, derisively called Russian Taralba. A growing portion of the population wants to join with Russia, especially the rural areas along the Black Sea. Sarnova and the areas north of it, however, want to join Transnistria. The opposite is true in the west, where a small and shrinking minority of Romanians want to join with Romania. Due to this conflict, Taralba is merely an observer of both NATO and the European Union. Some want to make Taralba a Russian republic simply to avoid conflict and to keep the nation together.
Taralba despite its long and unique history has become a free and independent nation of nearly 2.3 million people. Its history is long, complicated, and will continue to remain that way in the future. Although it continues to sit in the middle of several larger nations and on various lists marking education, economic success, and other markers of a nation, it simply remains average and has managed to survive a complex century of independence.
NOTE: This is obviously a new project for me. Much of this history will still be fleshed out, but this is what I have so far.
Thuringia shouldn't be part of Hesse (or even the West Bloc at all). Either make it an independent state or give it to Saxony. Also Bavaria being a Republic while Baden-Württemberg is a Kingdom is weird. Actually Baden-Württemberg being a monarchy not so much but ignoring Baden is. Bavaria also had more monarchist support than most other states AFAIK. Also does Brandenburg really fit when it includes Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern? Also not sure about Republic of Hanover. Since North Germany wouldn't work in this scenario I would go with Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen). Or maybe just Saxony (we can have two Saxonies one socialist and one capitalist that way).
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I would call this plausible. The Soviets would not want to call the nation "Prussia" or "Germany" after all. And beyond an entirely new name, Brandenburg would indeed fit quite well.
Maybe something like Hanseatic Republic/Union?
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A map that I took some two months to do, redo and re-redo about an alternate world of Avatar the Last Airbender (used one of @Selvetrica's maps as a basis for some of the political borders together with one I found in Imgur that also was the basis for many of the names, while the basemap is from @1.36)
The World of Avatar in 98 After the Genocide
The Fire Nation and her Eternal Empire
Undoubtedly the most powerful nation in the world, being the richest and most developed amongst its peers, having discovered the steam engine some two centuries ago and using it and other technological achievements to both strengthen and unify herself into a powerhouse, who under Sozin opened the Long War by enacting a genocide against the Air Nomads (although some say he started it with his marriage to the Ruby Queen of Kangfao) during the last coming of “his” comet. An expansionist empire who controls in some manner almost half of the world, for all its flaws and infamy, the Fire Nation was, until recently, remarkable for trying to integrate subjugated peoples instead of going for total assimilation or enslavement (although that doesn’t mean those of Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation descent are held as equals in most places), with the nation’s modus operanti having drastically changed ever since Firelord Azulon’s death at age 93 (although he didn’t extend said “gentleness” to the Southern Water Tribe, who he considered savages and whose main focus was to permanently cripple), with his grandson (and adopted son), Ozai, being a staunch defender of the ideology of “Fire Supremacy” and pushing its agenda ever since ascending to the Flaming Throne, with younger colonies and military territories now having some semblance of caste systems while cases of ethnical or “bending” cleansing becoming more common, besides the rise in war crimes and military brutality under the new Firelord (who is so mind-bogglingly evil that he personally disfigured his own son before banning him for speaking out of turn)
Her many territories, divided between the Homeland and the Colonies
Although the most centralized amongst the world power's under the rule of an semi-despotic monarchy headed by the Firelord on the Caldera, the Fire Nation’s territories are still too vast and variant that if all would be ruled directly government would be slowed down to a crawl due to the vast bureaucracy needed, and so the nation is subdivided into three areas, who are themselves divided in some manner
The Homeland, the directly-ruled core of the Fire Nation, comprising the territories that were mostly already under the rule of the Firelord before Sozin created the first colonies in the surrounding seas (nowadays integrated into it), it is a completely insular domain made of an uncountable number of mostly mountainous (and mostly tropical) islands ruled by the Caldera for centuries, being within the empire its most developed lands, with trains and factories crossing and dotting the landscape. Protected by a constant blockade established by Firelord Azulon when he was in his early 30s (during the Earth Kingdom’s counterattacks, who for a moment threatened even the Caldera), those exiled in the Fire Nation are prohibited, with an exception, from crossing it under pain of death or imprisonment
The Imperial Prefectures, established in the 70s by the Minister of State Hakaraki Satoshi as a way to end the old Province System, they constitute most of the Homeland, being ruled by semi-elected officials who send representatives to the Diet, a body of government that serves mostly to create legislation in the name of the Firelord but is in the end still subservient to him in all manners, and administrate the prefectures by the orders of the government
The Domains, the remnants of the Fire Nation’s feudal past, they are those territories who, when Firelord Kuzon of the White Fire (great-grandfather of Sozin) restored the Imperial Court’s power, supported him on his endeavor, gaining through that the right to remain semi-autonomous as the domains of their old daimyo clans, although even them are slowly being dragged into the fold (in past times they made up most of the east of the Homeland)
The Outer Prefectures, the exception within the blockade and the Homeland in general, they are the islands who Sozin conquered and made colonies of in early times, and while ruled directly by the Firelord, they are still somewhat of outcasts, with exiles being capable of living in and the government mostly letting them to their own devices – Not seen in the map are those lands on the Great Sea who were also colonized by the Fire Nation, and are part of the Homeland mostly because adding them to the Colonies would only complicate administration
The Colonies, the large parts of territory around the northwestern Earth Kingdom and the Silver Sea who the nation acquired (through marriage or conquest) through the reigns of Sozin, Azulon and Ozai, being administrated through a mix of both local and colonial rulers under the overlordship of the Firelord and being for a good chunk of the first two’s reigns one of the main contributors to the Fire Nation’s Army, with the Homeland serving to provide the Navy, a result of the century and a half of interaction and cooperation between the Fire Nation colonists and the Earth Kingdom locals, creating a region where those cultures (and on the south a bit of the Water Tribe) have mixed into a single one (although newer territories and some isolated outskirts still hold to either cultural divide or singularity). Growing richer now that the front lines are not actively across their territory (reason why the Great Marshal and Crown Prince Iroh was and still is loved by their populace)
The Provinces¸ in the past small provinces and states within the Earth Kingdom that were annexed by the Fire Nation during the reigns of Azulon and Sozin (or expanded under Ozai), being administrated in a manner similar to the Homeland (with each province being subdivided into prefectures) and because of that also being the first to be affected by any decision made in the Caldera on matters of administration; they are known for having some sort of internal hierarchy between them, with the oldest ones and the closest to the Homeland being held in a level of nigh equality with the Homeland while the younger and more distant ones are held as being barely above the level of military territories. They have a variating level of social inequality between those of local and colonial descent, it all depends on the age and how they were established
The Kingdom of Kangfao, originally the main Earth Kingdom state on the Mo Ce Sea region, being closely connected to the Fire Nation through trade and diplomacy (with the royal family and a part of the nobility being in fact firebenders by the time of the war), it was, in fact, annexed by the Fire Nation not through war but through marriage, as its last independent ruler, Meiniang, married Sozin when she was 29 (and he 79) as an way of securing her own power over her realm, and through that almost doubled his territory. More autonomous within the empire, being ruled by a Viceroy of royal blood, the kingdom has been a land determinately fought on the war, with much of the northern and eastern territories being in the past a war fronts (and still remain heavily fortified to this day), and has been one of the main backers of the war effort through it all, in part due to its people not having a close connection to the Earth Kingdom even before the marriage, having been for centuries influenced by Fire Nation culture and people
The Kingdom of Garsai, de facto a part of the provinces, as while nominally autonomous it de facto does nothing more than bow and obey at any order coming from the Caldera, it was originally the second of the kingdoms of the Mo Ce Sea and alike Kangfao (but not on its level) was already in a process of blending Fire and Earth due to connections to the Fire Nation, but unlike it, actively fought against the Fire Nation, who under the leadership of the then Crown Prince Azulon conquered its capital at the age of 17 and waged war for years against its remnants, marrying a young prince he captured to his younger sister and putting him as a loyal puppet king. Nominally independent (Azulon struck a deal with Garsai’s royal remnant 7 years into his reign, exchanging surrender for it), the kingdom is ruled by its current king, Xian, the Sixteenth King of Garsai and a great-grandson of Firelord Sozin
The Protectorates, insular petty kingdoms who while independent are subservient to the Fire Nation in all foreign matters, they are mostly left to their own devices and are barely worth mention
The Military Territories, the territories of the Fire Nation conquered through war who have not yet either been made or annexed into colonies, they are instead administrated by local officials of either the Army or the Navy, who divide them into so-called “Military Districts”; in a variety of states, some parts are colonies in all but name, while others are so devastated by the war they can be barely called a territory, besides the factor of the changing ideals of morality and actions amongst the forces, with cruelties amongst locals being common in many areas, together with freedom-fighters and pockets of resistance that are fought with either great incompetence or great brutality
The Earth Kingdom
The largest (although that status is always changing, with the position being now extremely questionable) but also the most disunited of the Four Nations, having a long history of being in strife with constant wars, rebellions and anarchy due to the large span of its territory and the large variety of cultures within it, in the past the Earth Kingdom was a single powerful empire, spanning over half of the globe under the rule of the Earth Kings from Ba Sing Se (technically emperors), but ever since Lu Xie became the first Earth King by establishing the Crystal Dynasty over eight thousand years ago the kingdom has passed through a long dynastic cycle made of rise, stagnation, decline and finally, civil war, with the Earth Kings passing through ages of being despots, figureheads and nigh sacrosanct figures. Nowadays ruled by the Hou-Ting Dynasty (also known as the Emerald Dynasty), who has ruled for nearly a thousand years with fifty-two recognized monarchs, the kingdom is in a bad shape, having entered a long period of decline after the reign of the 44th king and now being beaten by the Fire Nation, who once was even capable of breaching the outer walls of the unconquerable city, while the Earth King is a powerless figurehead who has never left his palace since he became a ruler at the age of four, with all the power residing on the hands of the Grand Secretariat Long Feng and his Dai Li (although even he can’t deal with the titanic, slow and convoluted royal bureaucracy)
The components of the Earth Kingdom, all “subject” to the emperor in Ba Sing Se
The Provinces of the Earth Kingdom, the territories that are in theory directly administrated by the Earth King through the nation’s bureaucracy, spanning most of the kingdom’s northern and central territory and ruled by governors and vice-kings selected by the Badgermole Throne in Ba Sing Se, they are, objectively speaking, most of the Earth Kingdom’s lands affected by the war, as the Fire Nation’s expansion through them, defeating time and again the forces under the Council of Five, has caused massive devastation and a refugee crisis that has occurred more or less for the past century, with the City seeing a overpopulation on its lower rings. Technically all territories of the kingdom are provinces, but the decay of royal power, the fragmented nature of the Earth Kingdom and the difficulties over crossing the Si Wong mean that while all states within them are called that on some governmental records, they are recognized as autonomous entities who pay respect and tribute
The Kingdom of Omashu, the most powerful of the states of the Earth Kingdom, ruled by a centenarian earthbending master and with capital on a city that is said to be both one of the oldest and one of the most secure in the world, in the past the kingdom was calm on its protection by the distance from the fronts of the war (who was happening mostly on the northern regions), the deep rivers on its north and its fortified coast, but since two years ago it is in a situation of open war against the Fire Nation, after General Bujing sacrificed an entire division of the Army to make a successful landing on the Zhutai Peninsula
The Kingdom of Liandu, the state of the Earth Kingdom most affected by the war, in the past a powerful nation who controlled the trade with the Northern Water Tribe and was rich due to its rich lands and rivers, nowadays it is a country much damaged by battle whose king, the elderly Jongwoo II, rules over only the island city of Hwangnyongsa and the surrounding bay and islands, while the rest of the kingdom is under the control of the Fire Nation, having been a front of the war for over half a century and suffering a large depopulation due to it, with millions dying or becoming refugees either going to Ba Sing Se or in the remaining royal territories
The Republic of Gaoling, the premier power on the Southern Earth Kingdom, commanding most of the region’s trade due to its fleets and its hold on the Nanlu River’s estuary, although an oligarchy controlled by some 80 families, the main players in the republic are the Beifong Clan, an ancient noble family with ties to Earth Kings and Avatars of the past who not only hold the title of “Dukes of Gaoling”, but alos are one of the Earth Kingdom’s richest families and the unofficial rulers of Gaoling ever since Lu Beifong, a cunning politician who teached Avatar Kuruk’s earthbending master, founded the country after being made Provincial Governor of Gaoling (although the noble and merchant council was a staple of the province for over seven hundred years. Unlike the other nations under the aegis of the Earth King, the republic has a personal sphere of influence, controlling the various principalities, kingdoms and republics of the Nanlu River Basin
The Lysung Dynasty, Gaoling’s main adversary in the South and a powerful and old nation, whose foundation is dated to the reigns of the Nine Sage Kings two millennia ago, the dynasty is a nation made of river valleys and forests know for the great number of temples and pagodas dotting its landscape, with few large cities outside of the coast and the plans between the coastal and internal mountain ranges. Its ruling family, who has reigned for over 70 generations as a mix of both monarchs and priests, is one known for their constant bickering and secret warring, a result of their unique succession in which all young members have to show their capability in government for one of them to be chosen as heir (and be married to the ruler’s closest kin of the opposite gender if they are not their children)
The Kingdom of Murin¸ the fourth most powerful of the states of the Earth Kingdom, being known for the ancient origins of its throne, which dates to the children of the last ruler of the Lu Dynasty of Ba Sing Sea, some seventy-three centuries in the past, although large and fertile, the country is not a prosperous one, as the more fertile north suffers with constant raids by the nomadic peoples of the northern grasslands while the mountainous and rich south is strife with feudal fragmentation and feuding between noble clans
The Zheizhou Confederacy, comprising the fiefdoms of dozens of separate and many times bickering clans that for centuries divided the Province of Zheizhou, the confederacy was born when the Fifth Nation raided its coast on the early 3rd century AG, taking thousands as slaves, and the local clans, so enraged they were by that event, united formally as allies, fighting together with others against the pirates and afterwards remaining as a measure of self-defense. Nominally ruled by the Provincial Governor, the confederacy is in fact ruled by the many times incompetent council made of the heads of its many members, and is deeply in Gaoling’s sphere of influence due to military support and economic interests
The Nanbu Union, the southernmost of the main nations within the Earth Kingdom, comprising of a group of kingdoms on the mountainous islands of Douhao and Chengwan that were united around the 3rd century AG to fend off attacks from the pirates of the Fifth Nation (having allied with Gaoling and the recently-discovered Avatar Kyoshi to destroy them) and after it remained united as a way of cooperation (since pirates were and are still a problem to the southern seas), being known for its cold climate and mountainous landscape, which causes the union’s population to be small in comparison to its large territory
The Khaganate of Xing, a state founded when the first Hou Ting Earth King made a deal with a local warlord in exchange for a greater autonomy, the khaganate is a nation known for two things: that its ruler every generation takes a wife from each of the fifty clans that make his subjects and lets his children by them (one each) duck the succession out between them, and that the current khagan (24 daughters and 19 sons) is near his deathbed and is seeking immortality at any cost. It also has a bad-to-terrible relationship with all its neighbors, most of whom the khagan managed to somehow offend or that he feels they slighted him
The Kingdom of Nanlu, made of the lands of the headwaters of the Nanlu river (which gives the country its name) and a chunk of the southern Si Wong (together with parts of the two main mountain ranges of the southern earth kingdom), the kingdom is an isolated and rather weak country, marked by having a deep divide in wealth between the large dry north and smaller but fertile south, with the first being de facto a part of the protectorates while the second is ruled over by the country’s rather decadent court
The Kingdom of Mihay, the poorest and weakest of the main countries within the Earth Kingdom, having fertile (if rather mountainous) lands located on the middle of the land routes of the west, in the past it was rather rich and even powerful, extending its influence on the nearby states and even the protectorates, but a terrible epidemic of the red death mixed with the grey plague some 15 years ago killed three in every four people within the kingdom and depopulated it to such a level that entire cities are now deserted (or full of "statues"), and the kingdom’s economy has plummeted into nothingness
The Si Wong Desert Protectorates¸ the amalgam of kingdoms, city states, tribes and confederations that live across the world’s largest desert and the lands surrounding it, being independent but expected to pay homage and tribute to the Badgermole Throne (and permit military encampments on their territory), they comprise dozens of cultures and customs united as a civilization marked by having their own pantheon of main spirits and their own unique form of bending, sandbending
States under the Earth King, the many other smaller nations under the aegis of the Earth King, existing in a manner similar to the Si Wong Protectorates, they are mostly left to their own desires, but are also expected to pay annual tributes to the Badgermole Throne. Some, in the north, are directly involved in the War
The Water Tribes
Originated from the Waterbending people who lived on the shores of the now dry Si Wong Sea, who migrated in a diaspora across the surrounding forests and divided into two main groups, one who settled in in a swamp, other on islands, later branching twice, although still sharing some similarities even after the thousands of years of separation between them, they have long become civilizations of their own, separated not only through history but also by geography, to a point that of the Four Nations, they are in par with the Earth Kingdom on being the most divided
The four tribes, one friend, one foe, some neutral
The Northern Water Tribe, born from those who settled the coast of the northernmost continent around five thousand years ago and objectively the most powerful amongst the water tribes due to its location and neutrality, the North is a federation leaded by the Great Chief Arnook that although made mostly of frozen wasteland, has had the extreme advantage of staying out of the war for the past 75 years, meaning that her economy, population and infrastructure have remained intact while the rest of the world is in chaos. Unlike the other tribes, the North is staunchly against women warriors, and all female waterbenders are prohibited from learning anything but healing due to the belief it will disrupt their chi
The Lands of the Great Chief, originally the many cities and forts unified by the Great Priests of Tui and La, who leaded the foundation of the tribe’s capital and ruled the tribe in some manner until some seven centuries ago, when the first Great Chief deposed them and took over, most of their population is located on the peninsula and the permanent ice shelf covering its bay
The Northern Wasteland, containing over two thirds of the tribe’s territory, it is a frozen and barren land that while not entirely held by the tribe, still has various forts (mostly on the travel paths to the Pole) and settlements dotting its landscape, creating some pockets of civilization amongst this desolate land of ice, rock and snow, where wild spirits are said to still live
The Continental Vassals, the clans and tribes that descend from those who settled originally in the frozen continent, holding themselves in higher status due to that, they live mostly from hunting and harvesting from the sea, and are mostly disunited since the peace of the past 75 years has slowly degraded the tribe’s central power
The Insular Vassals, the clans and tribes who later settled on the islands of the Northern Sea, being held in a lower regard for that and for their bigger ethnic connection to those from other nations, caused mostly by trade and migrations, they live not only of fishing the bountiful waters of the ocean but also from agriculture, as the mostly volcanic islands they live in have soil rich in nutrients and perfect for growing hardy crops like potatoes
The Southern Water Tribe, born from a mix of political separatists from the time of the first Great Chief and later settlements due to the North’s population boom in the five to two hundreds AG, the South was once a great nation, made of the coalition between over 100 smaller tribes dotting the continent they hold claim over leaded by a Council of Chiefs and Elders, the raids during the reign of Firelord Azulon (which nearly destroyed the Waterbending traditions of the tribe) together with the more recent events in the polar cap have crippled the tribe, with the tribe’s de facto Great Chief, Hakoda (also the chief of the Aleqi tribe), now leading an war fleet against the Fire Nation, commanding what remains of the tribe’s forces and most of its male adult population. Although culturally similar to the North, the South lost both the knowledge on water healing due to the extreme diminishing of its waterbenders and the prohibition of female waterbenders learning how to fight, mostly due to the fact that when they came their numbers were small, and so all hands were needed to defend their first settlements (although gender roles are still a thing, even if the lack of much men has made women do works related to males, like hunting, fishing and smiting)
The Foggy Swamp Tribe, the oldest of the tribes and the most isolated, born from those who settled the Great Swamp (the greatest in the world, made of a single most ancient banyan-grove tree) thousands of years in the past and unlike their relatives north, south and west don’t follow the spirits of the Sea and Moon, instead holding the swamp itself, a deep spiritual place, as the center of their beliefs and protection; an weird bunch that is in fact unknown to most of the world, the tribe has a small population that is spread through the swamp, living in small separate settlements that are united only in a cultural level and who meet rarely outside of hunting and marriages, with their main points of union being beliefs, bending techniques and clothing materials, as all of them use leaves, wood and vines for it
The Lotus Islands Tribe, the second oldest of the tribes and the one who is actively allied to the Fire Nation, as its members trace their history to thousands of years ago when their home islands were settled by both people from the Water Tribes and from what is now the Fire Nation, the islands are known for being similar to both groups through which they are connected, having the traditional beliefs on the Sea and Moon (although the Sun is held in close regard) together with a sea-based lifestyle but also having a bending style famous for being resourceful, with benders famously being capable of pulling water from living bodies, the air and the soil. Ruled by a confederacy of clans and tribes that dates some five or six centuries to the past, the islands are quite close to their ally and “friend”, the Fire Nation, and while neutral in the war, many serve as mercenaries on the Navy and Army, in special those of binational origins, with most of the tribe’s population having looks more similar to those of the Fire Nation's Homeland than to the other water tribes
The Air Nomads (although some think about changing to “Clans”)
The absolutely weakest amongst the Four Nations after the Genocide a hundred years ago reduced their already not that big population by between seventy and eighty percent (depopulating almost entirely the Southern and Western temples and decimating the Eastern and Northern) the Air Nomads are a people greatly changed by the events of the past centuries, as the disaster that struck them and the following diaspora and reassembling on the last remaining temple (protected by the difficulty to reach it, since the Fire Nation had to cross Earth Kingdom territory and ended up being spotted by the monks, but even then the temple was incredibly damaged, and most of its inhabitants died in the attack) destroyed the old temple system and the ruling conclaves, resulting in an Air Nation that has greatly changed from what it was before the War. Due to the devastation of the genocide, and the deep isolationism they now live in, most of the world believes the Air Nomads to be extinct, with few knowing the truth about their continued existence
The Northern Temple, what remains of the Air Nomads, beign populated by the descendants of the survivors of the genocide who fled to the only safe temple (and who caused a grief-stricken baby boom as gender segregation was the first to go) and now populate both the temple (their capital) and some 107 smaller temples and settlements. The air nation nowadays is run much differently than it was before, with the old conclaves being substituted by what is basically a council of clan heads, as over time some 18 powerful lineages of airbending masters took command of the nation, each holding control of the main temples of the region; besides that, they also rule over a sizeable group of (mostly non-bender) Earth Kingdom refugees, who agreed to basically serve as a workforce to the airbenders, with an inventor whose son is paraplegic being especially useful, since he serves as the refugees’ leader and his creations are used by the council to placate the Fire Nation, who constantly threatens to end what they started almost a century ago
The Lost Lands, in the past the domains of the Western, Eastern and Southern Temples, who controlled much more territory than the North before the War, nowadays they are mountainous depopulated lands, some with sparse settlements of survivors or new settlers from the other nations. They are ghost-filled lands where the winds howl with the grief of those who lived there across the mountain valleys, while their temples are silent, as if grieving for those who lived within their halls and now no longer are
Other States
The Remnant of the Sun Warriors
What remains of the once great civilization of the Sun Warriors, who are recorded as the first people to use firebending after learning its ways through the dragons (as beforehand firebending, like all kinds of bending on the early times, was much more ham-fisted and more of a tool than an art), who are revered in their culture to this day together with the first flame; although in fact a confederacy of some fifteen small tribes, leaded by one who inhabits the ruins of their old capital, the Sun Warriors are a secluded and secretive people who are believed to be extinct (with only some chosen few knowing of it), but instead remain neutral in the affairs of the world, protecting one of the last groups of dragons, leaded by the ancient Ran and Sho
The State of Chin
The only state of the Earth Kingdom with an earthbending ruling dynasty which is allied to the Fire Nation, being that way ever since the late Emperor Taocheng (the eleventh to rule on the Jade Throne) married Firelord Azulon’s grandniece, Princess Su of Garsai, bringing the nation (which already had an antagonistic relationship with the rest Earth Kingdom, seeing itself as independent while Ba Sing Se still claims to rule over it) into the War in exchange for the introduction of the steam engine and other technological advancements. The nation, known for its excessively harsh punishments for crimes and the hatred that its ruling class and parts of its population have for the Avatar, is nowadays mostly a source of commodities to the Fire Nation, with its borders being quite peaceful, and is de facto ruled by the constantly warring parties of the Dowager Empress and the Imperial Eunuchs, while the Emperor himself, Fusu, prefers to party and live a luxurious life with his long-time paramour, the Noble Lord Hengjou
The Empire of Kyoshi
One of the few countries in the world who can claim to have been founded by an Avatar, as while Kyoshi was simply its governor, she and her family ruled the islands (whom she created in the final and destructive battle against Chin the Great) as de facto independent monarchs for over a century before her great-great-granddaughter declared complete secession from the ranks of the Earth Kingdom; the empire, which is one of the world’s few matriarchies, is a nation marked by being neutral on a high ground, retaining its position as outside of the conflicts of the world through its incredible war and merchant fleet and through its military, as the order of warriors founded by Kyoshi are said to be one of the best in the world (and the empress herself is one of the world’s most powerful earthbenders to boot)
The Clans of the Blossom Isles
A group of various small clans that has been born through the past centuries by the intermingling between the firebending natives (which have the darker skin commonly associated with the people of the Great Sea), Earth Kingdom settlers and Air Nomad and Water Tribe refugees that created through a mix of forced integration and cooperation an unique culture marked by having traits from three of the nations (being sometimes compared to the long defunct Fifth Nation pirates); inhabited by the descendants of many refugees fleeing it, the clans are reasonably afraid of becoming involved in the War, and while nowadays some of them are giving docking rights to Chief Hakoda’s war fleet, many others want nothing more than to stay the hell away from him, his ships and the danger that they may bring the Fire Nation’s attention to them
The World of Avatar in 98 After the Genocide
The Fire Nation and her Eternal Empire
Undoubtedly the most powerful nation in the world, being the richest and most developed amongst its peers, having discovered the steam engine some two centuries ago and using it and other technological achievements to both strengthen and unify herself into a powerhouse, who under Sozin opened the Long War by enacting a genocide against the Air Nomads (although some say he started it with his marriage to the Ruby Queen of Kangfao) during the last coming of “his” comet. An expansionist empire who controls in some manner almost half of the world, for all its flaws and infamy, the Fire Nation was, until recently, remarkable for trying to integrate subjugated peoples instead of going for total assimilation or enslavement (although that doesn’t mean those of Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation descent are held as equals in most places), with the nation’s modus operanti having drastically changed ever since Firelord Azulon’s death at age 93 (although he didn’t extend said “gentleness” to the Southern Water Tribe, who he considered savages and whose main focus was to permanently cripple), with his grandson (and adopted son), Ozai, being a staunch defender of the ideology of “Fire Supremacy” and pushing its agenda ever since ascending to the Flaming Throne, with younger colonies and military territories now having some semblance of caste systems while cases of ethnical or “bending” cleansing becoming more common, besides the rise in war crimes and military brutality under the new Firelord (who is so mind-bogglingly evil that he personally disfigured his own son before banning him for speaking out of turn)
Her many territories, divided between the Homeland and the Colonies
Although the most centralized amongst the world power's under the rule of an semi-despotic monarchy headed by the Firelord on the Caldera, the Fire Nation’s territories are still too vast and variant that if all would be ruled directly government would be slowed down to a crawl due to the vast bureaucracy needed, and so the nation is subdivided into three areas, who are themselves divided in some manner
The Homeland, the directly-ruled core of the Fire Nation, comprising the territories that were mostly already under the rule of the Firelord before Sozin created the first colonies in the surrounding seas (nowadays integrated into it), it is a completely insular domain made of an uncountable number of mostly mountainous (and mostly tropical) islands ruled by the Caldera for centuries, being within the empire its most developed lands, with trains and factories crossing and dotting the landscape. Protected by a constant blockade established by Firelord Azulon when he was in his early 30s (during the Earth Kingdom’s counterattacks, who for a moment threatened even the Caldera), those exiled in the Fire Nation are prohibited, with an exception, from crossing it under pain of death or imprisonment
The Imperial Prefectures, established in the 70s by the Minister of State Hakaraki Satoshi as a way to end the old Province System, they constitute most of the Homeland, being ruled by semi-elected officials who send representatives to the Diet, a body of government that serves mostly to create legislation in the name of the Firelord but is in the end still subservient to him in all manners, and administrate the prefectures by the orders of the government
The Domains, the remnants of the Fire Nation’s feudal past, they are those territories who, when Firelord Kuzon of the White Fire (great-grandfather of Sozin) restored the Imperial Court’s power, supported him on his endeavor, gaining through that the right to remain semi-autonomous as the domains of their old daimyo clans, although even them are slowly being dragged into the fold (in past times they made up most of the east of the Homeland)
The Outer Prefectures, the exception within the blockade and the Homeland in general, they are the islands who Sozin conquered and made colonies of in early times, and while ruled directly by the Firelord, they are still somewhat of outcasts, with exiles being capable of living in and the government mostly letting them to their own devices – Not seen in the map are those lands on the Great Sea who were also colonized by the Fire Nation, and are part of the Homeland mostly because adding them to the Colonies would only complicate administration
The Colonies, the large parts of territory around the northwestern Earth Kingdom and the Silver Sea who the nation acquired (through marriage or conquest) through the reigns of Sozin, Azulon and Ozai, being administrated through a mix of both local and colonial rulers under the overlordship of the Firelord and being for a good chunk of the first two’s reigns one of the main contributors to the Fire Nation’s Army, with the Homeland serving to provide the Navy, a result of the century and a half of interaction and cooperation between the Fire Nation colonists and the Earth Kingdom locals, creating a region where those cultures (and on the south a bit of the Water Tribe) have mixed into a single one (although newer territories and some isolated outskirts still hold to either cultural divide or singularity). Growing richer now that the front lines are not actively across their territory (reason why the Great Marshal and Crown Prince Iroh was and still is loved by their populace)
The Provinces¸ in the past small provinces and states within the Earth Kingdom that were annexed by the Fire Nation during the reigns of Azulon and Sozin (or expanded under Ozai), being administrated in a manner similar to the Homeland (with each province being subdivided into prefectures) and because of that also being the first to be affected by any decision made in the Caldera on matters of administration; they are known for having some sort of internal hierarchy between them, with the oldest ones and the closest to the Homeland being held in a level of nigh equality with the Homeland while the younger and more distant ones are held as being barely above the level of military territories. They have a variating level of social inequality between those of local and colonial descent, it all depends on the age and how they were established
The Kingdom of Kangfao, originally the main Earth Kingdom state on the Mo Ce Sea region, being closely connected to the Fire Nation through trade and diplomacy (with the royal family and a part of the nobility being in fact firebenders by the time of the war), it was, in fact, annexed by the Fire Nation not through war but through marriage, as its last independent ruler, Meiniang, married Sozin when she was 29 (and he 79) as an way of securing her own power over her realm, and through that almost doubled his territory. More autonomous within the empire, being ruled by a Viceroy of royal blood, the kingdom has been a land determinately fought on the war, with much of the northern and eastern territories being in the past a war fronts (and still remain heavily fortified to this day), and has been one of the main backers of the war effort through it all, in part due to its people not having a close connection to the Earth Kingdom even before the marriage, having been for centuries influenced by Fire Nation culture and people
The Kingdom of Garsai, de facto a part of the provinces, as while nominally autonomous it de facto does nothing more than bow and obey at any order coming from the Caldera, it was originally the second of the kingdoms of the Mo Ce Sea and alike Kangfao (but not on its level) was already in a process of blending Fire and Earth due to connections to the Fire Nation, but unlike it, actively fought against the Fire Nation, who under the leadership of the then Crown Prince Azulon conquered its capital at the age of 17 and waged war for years against its remnants, marrying a young prince he captured to his younger sister and putting him as a loyal puppet king. Nominally independent (Azulon struck a deal with Garsai’s royal remnant 7 years into his reign, exchanging surrender for it), the kingdom is ruled by its current king, Xian, the Sixteenth King of Garsai and a great-grandson of Firelord Sozin
The Protectorates, insular petty kingdoms who while independent are subservient to the Fire Nation in all foreign matters, they are mostly left to their own devices and are barely worth mention
The Military Territories, the territories of the Fire Nation conquered through war who have not yet either been made or annexed into colonies, they are instead administrated by local officials of either the Army or the Navy, who divide them into so-called “Military Districts”; in a variety of states, some parts are colonies in all but name, while others are so devastated by the war they can be barely called a territory, besides the factor of the changing ideals of morality and actions amongst the forces, with cruelties amongst locals being common in many areas, together with freedom-fighters and pockets of resistance that are fought with either great incompetence or great brutality
The Earth Kingdom
The largest (although that status is always changing, with the position being now extremely questionable) but also the most disunited of the Four Nations, having a long history of being in strife with constant wars, rebellions and anarchy due to the large span of its territory and the large variety of cultures within it, in the past the Earth Kingdom was a single powerful empire, spanning over half of the globe under the rule of the Earth Kings from Ba Sing Se (technically emperors), but ever since Lu Xie became the first Earth King by establishing the Crystal Dynasty over eight thousand years ago the kingdom has passed through a long dynastic cycle made of rise, stagnation, decline and finally, civil war, with the Earth Kings passing through ages of being despots, figureheads and nigh sacrosanct figures. Nowadays ruled by the Hou-Ting Dynasty (also known as the Emerald Dynasty), who has ruled for nearly a thousand years with fifty-two recognized monarchs, the kingdom is in a bad shape, having entered a long period of decline after the reign of the 44th king and now being beaten by the Fire Nation, who once was even capable of breaching the outer walls of the unconquerable city, while the Earth King is a powerless figurehead who has never left his palace since he became a ruler at the age of four, with all the power residing on the hands of the Grand Secretariat Long Feng and his Dai Li (although even he can’t deal with the titanic, slow and convoluted royal bureaucracy)
The components of the Earth Kingdom, all “subject” to the emperor in Ba Sing Se
The Provinces of the Earth Kingdom, the territories that are in theory directly administrated by the Earth King through the nation’s bureaucracy, spanning most of the kingdom’s northern and central territory and ruled by governors and vice-kings selected by the Badgermole Throne in Ba Sing Se, they are, objectively speaking, most of the Earth Kingdom’s lands affected by the war, as the Fire Nation’s expansion through them, defeating time and again the forces under the Council of Five, has caused massive devastation and a refugee crisis that has occurred more or less for the past century, with the City seeing a overpopulation on its lower rings. Technically all territories of the kingdom are provinces, but the decay of royal power, the fragmented nature of the Earth Kingdom and the difficulties over crossing the Si Wong mean that while all states within them are called that on some governmental records, they are recognized as autonomous entities who pay respect and tribute
The Kingdom of Omashu, the most powerful of the states of the Earth Kingdom, ruled by a centenarian earthbending master and with capital on a city that is said to be both one of the oldest and one of the most secure in the world, in the past the kingdom was calm on its protection by the distance from the fronts of the war (who was happening mostly on the northern regions), the deep rivers on its north and its fortified coast, but since two years ago it is in a situation of open war against the Fire Nation, after General Bujing sacrificed an entire division of the Army to make a successful landing on the Zhutai Peninsula
The Kingdom of Liandu, the state of the Earth Kingdom most affected by the war, in the past a powerful nation who controlled the trade with the Northern Water Tribe and was rich due to its rich lands and rivers, nowadays it is a country much damaged by battle whose king, the elderly Jongwoo II, rules over only the island city of Hwangnyongsa and the surrounding bay and islands, while the rest of the kingdom is under the control of the Fire Nation, having been a front of the war for over half a century and suffering a large depopulation due to it, with millions dying or becoming refugees either going to Ba Sing Se or in the remaining royal territories
The Republic of Gaoling, the premier power on the Southern Earth Kingdom, commanding most of the region’s trade due to its fleets and its hold on the Nanlu River’s estuary, although an oligarchy controlled by some 80 families, the main players in the republic are the Beifong Clan, an ancient noble family with ties to Earth Kings and Avatars of the past who not only hold the title of “Dukes of Gaoling”, but alos are one of the Earth Kingdom’s richest families and the unofficial rulers of Gaoling ever since Lu Beifong, a cunning politician who teached Avatar Kuruk’s earthbending master, founded the country after being made Provincial Governor of Gaoling (although the noble and merchant council was a staple of the province for over seven hundred years. Unlike the other nations under the aegis of the Earth King, the republic has a personal sphere of influence, controlling the various principalities, kingdoms and republics of the Nanlu River Basin
The Lysung Dynasty, Gaoling’s main adversary in the South and a powerful and old nation, whose foundation is dated to the reigns of the Nine Sage Kings two millennia ago, the dynasty is a nation made of river valleys and forests know for the great number of temples and pagodas dotting its landscape, with few large cities outside of the coast and the plans between the coastal and internal mountain ranges. Its ruling family, who has reigned for over 70 generations as a mix of both monarchs and priests, is one known for their constant bickering and secret warring, a result of their unique succession in which all young members have to show their capability in government for one of them to be chosen as heir (and be married to the ruler’s closest kin of the opposite gender if they are not their children)
The Kingdom of Murin¸ the fourth most powerful of the states of the Earth Kingdom, being known for the ancient origins of its throne, which dates to the children of the last ruler of the Lu Dynasty of Ba Sing Sea, some seventy-three centuries in the past, although large and fertile, the country is not a prosperous one, as the more fertile north suffers with constant raids by the nomadic peoples of the northern grasslands while the mountainous and rich south is strife with feudal fragmentation and feuding between noble clans
The Zheizhou Confederacy, comprising the fiefdoms of dozens of separate and many times bickering clans that for centuries divided the Province of Zheizhou, the confederacy was born when the Fifth Nation raided its coast on the early 3rd century AG, taking thousands as slaves, and the local clans, so enraged they were by that event, united formally as allies, fighting together with others against the pirates and afterwards remaining as a measure of self-defense. Nominally ruled by the Provincial Governor, the confederacy is in fact ruled by the many times incompetent council made of the heads of its many members, and is deeply in Gaoling’s sphere of influence due to military support and economic interests
The Nanbu Union, the southernmost of the main nations within the Earth Kingdom, comprising of a group of kingdoms on the mountainous islands of Douhao and Chengwan that were united around the 3rd century AG to fend off attacks from the pirates of the Fifth Nation (having allied with Gaoling and the recently-discovered Avatar Kyoshi to destroy them) and after it remained united as a way of cooperation (since pirates were and are still a problem to the southern seas), being known for its cold climate and mountainous landscape, which causes the union’s population to be small in comparison to its large territory
The Khaganate of Xing, a state founded when the first Hou Ting Earth King made a deal with a local warlord in exchange for a greater autonomy, the khaganate is a nation known for two things: that its ruler every generation takes a wife from each of the fifty clans that make his subjects and lets his children by them (one each) duck the succession out between them, and that the current khagan (24 daughters and 19 sons) is near his deathbed and is seeking immortality at any cost. It also has a bad-to-terrible relationship with all its neighbors, most of whom the khagan managed to somehow offend or that he feels they slighted him
The Kingdom of Nanlu, made of the lands of the headwaters of the Nanlu river (which gives the country its name) and a chunk of the southern Si Wong (together with parts of the two main mountain ranges of the southern earth kingdom), the kingdom is an isolated and rather weak country, marked by having a deep divide in wealth between the large dry north and smaller but fertile south, with the first being de facto a part of the protectorates while the second is ruled over by the country’s rather decadent court
The Kingdom of Mihay, the poorest and weakest of the main countries within the Earth Kingdom, having fertile (if rather mountainous) lands located on the middle of the land routes of the west, in the past it was rather rich and even powerful, extending its influence on the nearby states and even the protectorates, but a terrible epidemic of the red death mixed with the grey plague some 15 years ago killed three in every four people within the kingdom and depopulated it to such a level that entire cities are now deserted (or full of "statues"), and the kingdom’s economy has plummeted into nothingness
The Si Wong Desert Protectorates¸ the amalgam of kingdoms, city states, tribes and confederations that live across the world’s largest desert and the lands surrounding it, being independent but expected to pay homage and tribute to the Badgermole Throne (and permit military encampments on their territory), they comprise dozens of cultures and customs united as a civilization marked by having their own pantheon of main spirits and their own unique form of bending, sandbending
States under the Earth King, the many other smaller nations under the aegis of the Earth King, existing in a manner similar to the Si Wong Protectorates, they are mostly left to their own desires, but are also expected to pay annual tributes to the Badgermole Throne. Some, in the north, are directly involved in the War
The Water Tribes
Originated from the Waterbending people who lived on the shores of the now dry Si Wong Sea, who migrated in a diaspora across the surrounding forests and divided into two main groups, one who settled in in a swamp, other on islands, later branching twice, although still sharing some similarities even after the thousands of years of separation between them, they have long become civilizations of their own, separated not only through history but also by geography, to a point that of the Four Nations, they are in par with the Earth Kingdom on being the most divided
The four tribes, one friend, one foe, some neutral
The Northern Water Tribe, born from those who settled the coast of the northernmost continent around five thousand years ago and objectively the most powerful amongst the water tribes due to its location and neutrality, the North is a federation leaded by the Great Chief Arnook that although made mostly of frozen wasteland, has had the extreme advantage of staying out of the war for the past 75 years, meaning that her economy, population and infrastructure have remained intact while the rest of the world is in chaos. Unlike the other tribes, the North is staunchly against women warriors, and all female waterbenders are prohibited from learning anything but healing due to the belief it will disrupt their chi
The Lands of the Great Chief, originally the many cities and forts unified by the Great Priests of Tui and La, who leaded the foundation of the tribe’s capital and ruled the tribe in some manner until some seven centuries ago, when the first Great Chief deposed them and took over, most of their population is located on the peninsula and the permanent ice shelf covering its bay
The Northern Wasteland, containing over two thirds of the tribe’s territory, it is a frozen and barren land that while not entirely held by the tribe, still has various forts (mostly on the travel paths to the Pole) and settlements dotting its landscape, creating some pockets of civilization amongst this desolate land of ice, rock and snow, where wild spirits are said to still live
The Continental Vassals, the clans and tribes that descend from those who settled originally in the frozen continent, holding themselves in higher status due to that, they live mostly from hunting and harvesting from the sea, and are mostly disunited since the peace of the past 75 years has slowly degraded the tribe’s central power
The Insular Vassals, the clans and tribes who later settled on the islands of the Northern Sea, being held in a lower regard for that and for their bigger ethnic connection to those from other nations, caused mostly by trade and migrations, they live not only of fishing the bountiful waters of the ocean but also from agriculture, as the mostly volcanic islands they live in have soil rich in nutrients and perfect for growing hardy crops like potatoes
The Southern Water Tribe, born from a mix of political separatists from the time of the first Great Chief and later settlements due to the North’s population boom in the five to two hundreds AG, the South was once a great nation, made of the coalition between over 100 smaller tribes dotting the continent they hold claim over leaded by a Council of Chiefs and Elders, the raids during the reign of Firelord Azulon (which nearly destroyed the Waterbending traditions of the tribe) together with the more recent events in the polar cap have crippled the tribe, with the tribe’s de facto Great Chief, Hakoda (also the chief of the Aleqi tribe), now leading an war fleet against the Fire Nation, commanding what remains of the tribe’s forces and most of its male adult population. Although culturally similar to the North, the South lost both the knowledge on water healing due to the extreme diminishing of its waterbenders and the prohibition of female waterbenders learning how to fight, mostly due to the fact that when they came their numbers were small, and so all hands were needed to defend their first settlements (although gender roles are still a thing, even if the lack of much men has made women do works related to males, like hunting, fishing and smiting)
The Foggy Swamp Tribe, the oldest of the tribes and the most isolated, born from those who settled the Great Swamp (the greatest in the world, made of a single most ancient banyan-grove tree) thousands of years in the past and unlike their relatives north, south and west don’t follow the spirits of the Sea and Moon, instead holding the swamp itself, a deep spiritual place, as the center of their beliefs and protection; an weird bunch that is in fact unknown to most of the world, the tribe has a small population that is spread through the swamp, living in small separate settlements that are united only in a cultural level and who meet rarely outside of hunting and marriages, with their main points of union being beliefs, bending techniques and clothing materials, as all of them use leaves, wood and vines for it
The Lotus Islands Tribe, the second oldest of the tribes and the one who is actively allied to the Fire Nation, as its members trace their history to thousands of years ago when their home islands were settled by both people from the Water Tribes and from what is now the Fire Nation, the islands are known for being similar to both groups through which they are connected, having the traditional beliefs on the Sea and Moon (although the Sun is held in close regard) together with a sea-based lifestyle but also having a bending style famous for being resourceful, with benders famously being capable of pulling water from living bodies, the air and the soil. Ruled by a confederacy of clans and tribes that dates some five or six centuries to the past, the islands are quite close to their ally and “friend”, the Fire Nation, and while neutral in the war, many serve as mercenaries on the Navy and Army, in special those of binational origins, with most of the tribe’s population having looks more similar to those of the Fire Nation's Homeland than to the other water tribes
The Air Nomads (although some think about changing to “Clans”)
The absolutely weakest amongst the Four Nations after the Genocide a hundred years ago reduced their already not that big population by between seventy and eighty percent (depopulating almost entirely the Southern and Western temples and decimating the Eastern and Northern) the Air Nomads are a people greatly changed by the events of the past centuries, as the disaster that struck them and the following diaspora and reassembling on the last remaining temple (protected by the difficulty to reach it, since the Fire Nation had to cross Earth Kingdom territory and ended up being spotted by the monks, but even then the temple was incredibly damaged, and most of its inhabitants died in the attack) destroyed the old temple system and the ruling conclaves, resulting in an Air Nation that has greatly changed from what it was before the War. Due to the devastation of the genocide, and the deep isolationism they now live in, most of the world believes the Air Nomads to be extinct, with few knowing the truth about their continued existence
The Northern Temple, what remains of the Air Nomads, beign populated by the descendants of the survivors of the genocide who fled to the only safe temple (and who caused a grief-stricken baby boom as gender segregation was the first to go) and now populate both the temple (their capital) and some 107 smaller temples and settlements. The air nation nowadays is run much differently than it was before, with the old conclaves being substituted by what is basically a council of clan heads, as over time some 18 powerful lineages of airbending masters took command of the nation, each holding control of the main temples of the region; besides that, they also rule over a sizeable group of (mostly non-bender) Earth Kingdom refugees, who agreed to basically serve as a workforce to the airbenders, with an inventor whose son is paraplegic being especially useful, since he serves as the refugees’ leader and his creations are used by the council to placate the Fire Nation, who constantly threatens to end what they started almost a century ago
The Lost Lands, in the past the domains of the Western, Eastern and Southern Temples, who controlled much more territory than the North before the War, nowadays they are mountainous depopulated lands, some with sparse settlements of survivors or new settlers from the other nations. They are ghost-filled lands where the winds howl with the grief of those who lived there across the mountain valleys, while their temples are silent, as if grieving for those who lived within their halls and now no longer are
Other States
The Remnant of the Sun Warriors
What remains of the once great civilization of the Sun Warriors, who are recorded as the first people to use firebending after learning its ways through the dragons (as beforehand firebending, like all kinds of bending on the early times, was much more ham-fisted and more of a tool than an art), who are revered in their culture to this day together with the first flame; although in fact a confederacy of some fifteen small tribes, leaded by one who inhabits the ruins of their old capital, the Sun Warriors are a secluded and secretive people who are believed to be extinct (with only some chosen few knowing of it), but instead remain neutral in the affairs of the world, protecting one of the last groups of dragons, leaded by the ancient Ran and Sho
The State of Chin
The only state of the Earth Kingdom with an earthbending ruling dynasty which is allied to the Fire Nation, being that way ever since the late Emperor Taocheng (the eleventh to rule on the Jade Throne) married Firelord Azulon’s grandniece, Princess Su of Garsai, bringing the nation (which already had an antagonistic relationship with the rest Earth Kingdom, seeing itself as independent while Ba Sing Se still claims to rule over it) into the War in exchange for the introduction of the steam engine and other technological advancements. The nation, known for its excessively harsh punishments for crimes and the hatred that its ruling class and parts of its population have for the Avatar, is nowadays mostly a source of commodities to the Fire Nation, with its borders being quite peaceful, and is de facto ruled by the constantly warring parties of the Dowager Empress and the Imperial Eunuchs, while the Emperor himself, Fusu, prefers to party and live a luxurious life with his long-time paramour, the Noble Lord Hengjou
The Empire of Kyoshi
One of the few countries in the world who can claim to have been founded by an Avatar, as while Kyoshi was simply its governor, she and her family ruled the islands (whom she created in the final and destructive battle against Chin the Great) as de facto independent monarchs for over a century before her great-great-granddaughter declared complete secession from the ranks of the Earth Kingdom; the empire, which is one of the world’s few matriarchies, is a nation marked by being neutral on a high ground, retaining its position as outside of the conflicts of the world through its incredible war and merchant fleet and through its military, as the order of warriors founded by Kyoshi are said to be one of the best in the world (and the empress herself is one of the world’s most powerful earthbenders to boot)
The Clans of the Blossom Isles
A group of various small clans that has been born through the past centuries by the intermingling between the firebending natives (which have the darker skin commonly associated with the people of the Great Sea), Earth Kingdom settlers and Air Nomad and Water Tribe refugees that created through a mix of forced integration and cooperation an unique culture marked by having traits from three of the nations (being sometimes compared to the long defunct Fifth Nation pirates); inhabited by the descendants of many refugees fleeing it, the clans are reasonably afraid of becoming involved in the War, and while nowadays some of them are giving docking rights to Chief Hakoda’s war fleet, many others want nothing more than to stay the hell away from him, his ships and the danger that they may bring the Fire Nation’s attention to them
1. The north pole, a rather weird and mystical place where spirits are said to still live as they did before the portals to their world were closed thousands of years ago, the energy of said closed portal is an always-present factor, warming the land and creating a lost world hidden from the howling snowstorms
2. The Xuelu Bay, which exists eternally frozen over due to the peninsula that creates it and blocks any warmer current from reaching it, it's over the large ice layer (at least 500 meters deep) that most of the North’s population (seventy percent) lives in, being covered by dozens of cities built from the ice with Waterbending, connect by a system of canals centered on the tribe’s capital
3. The island of Nanbei, a land ruled by a tribe of the same name and known for its many hot springs, the island is, unlike most tribal domains, not centered in a single city, and instead is made of various villages, with the chief being more of a glorified innkeeper that mostly rules over his settlement
4. The domains of the Moufukku (something on the lines of “Grandiose Seal-Otter”) tribe, they are, like most of the continent, made mostly of tundra and the polar cap, with the entirety of its population being centered on the only true city besides the capital in the Northern Water Tribe, with a population of around 30.000 people
5. The islands are comparable to the Great Sea’s Coral Rif in the matter of variety of animals and plants on their waters, that are brimming with life seen only here and in nowhere-else, like the sea-cows, the wooly-whales and the water pine
6. The archipelagos of Taisheng and Ohou, though technically a part of the military district of Liandu, have been for some good 35 years administrated as de facto colonies by the Fire Nation, with most of the population being loyal to the Firelord while being of almost entirely Earth Kingdom natives and the islands serving as the docks of the Northern Fleet
7a. The kingdoms of Yi, Lue and Kou, unimportant outside of exporting fire anemones, a culinary trend amongst the Fire Nation’s high classes
7b. The Principality of Baolan, a relatively wealthy kingdom, although mostly due to mining good metal ores for the Fire Nation Navy to use, its name comes from the deep blue of its water, not due to any sapphire reserves within its borders (although there’s a great deal of amber and jade). The prince prefers to live in the Caldera, while his daughter serves as a commander in the Northern Fleet
7c. The Kingdom of Kina, it has a single island and a single city and its people are talented sea-farers, as the nation was founded around a thousand years ago by settlers from the islands of the Great Sea who ended being ruled by a member of Fire Nation Royalty
8. Sanghlan Island, in the past the main territory of the Western Air Temple, nowadays it, together with Lengyao and Plum, is a nominal military district of the Fire Nation, but the position is basically a place to send unruly children or undesired officers, since no-one cares about them and settlements are zero outside of a single port, as besides being absurdly mountainous, many believe that the vengeful spirits of the nuns who died in the genocide still roam the islands
9a. The island of Lichen, the past a nominal territory of the Western Air Temple, it has nowadays started to be colonized by the Fire Nation, with the south and east having some coastal settlements and farmlands, but most of the territory still remains uninhabited due to the terrain and the small population of colonists
9b. In the past the northernmost territory of the Western Air Temple, being known for having an isolated sect of nuns on a temple made of one hundred and eight pagodas stacked on the top of an active volcano, said temple was burned shortly after the genocide (although most of its nuns managed to flee), and nowadays the islands are a prison colony of sorts
10. The Taohe Islands, the first territory of the Western Air Temple to be settled and annexed by the Fire Nation, it was in one of their many abandoned temples that the Avatar Yangchen was born, and were her relics are said to be hidden
11. Somewhere around here is located the Boiling Rock, the most infamous prison in the Fire Nation
12. The Tai islands, the homeland of the infamous Ty Clan, who have been for the past 65 generations mastered the art of Chi Blocking, serving many times as assassins, spies and guardians to Firelords, Sages and Shoguns
13a. The Inenoji Domain, ruled by the Inasaku Clan and known for being a great exporter of rice and for the wealth of its ruling dynasty, being the greatest of the remaining domains of the Fire Nation, the wife of Firelord Azulon, Illah, was from the clan’s main branch, with the current daimyo being her grandnephew
13b. The Iwami Domain, ruled by the Ōgetsu Clan and for centuries in a deep rivalry with Inenoji, Prince Iroh’s late wife, Princess Ukemochi, was of a cadet branch of the clan and a lover of culinary (but died of “food poisoning”)
13c. The smaller northwester domains, known for their charming landscape and freefalling economy, it is expected they’ll soon become prefectures since they can’t actually sustain themselves (plans are being drawn to have their local daimyos remain as nominal rulers)
14. The modern capital of Saikyō (“Western Capital”), which is colloquially called “Caldera” due to being located inside and around a dead volcano, it was originally the center of power of the last shoguns to rule the Fire Nation (having ruled the Fire Nation for over two thousand years in a succession of shogunates, the first being the Pho Zhel Shogunate, the last the Ozomiya) until the Firelord Kuzon managed to retake the supremacy over the country and moved the capital west
15. The region of Kanso, originally a sparsely populated mountainous area inhabited by peoples similar to the rest of the Fire Nation but not of the same ethnocultural group, it has had a boom in population mostly due to the mining business, since the soil produces annually half of the coal in the nation
16. The Inner Sea (“Utsumi”), known for being a center of trade and for having many active volcanos (the old capital of Kankyo, being located on the island of the largest of them), it was land some five millennia ago, a fertile depression protected from the sea by a natural dam, but when an earthquake broke it, the once fertile and populated region was engulfed by the floodwaters in a single night, with only the highest lands remaining above
17. The Strait of Flames, which receives its name from having a volcano on each of its shores and another in the middle, with flames commonly going up from their tops and sides, as the three are incredibly active even millennia after their birth created the Inner Sea, in 45 AG Firelord Azulon built on it the “Great Gates of National Security”, colloquially known as the “Gates of Azulon”, which defend the core of the Fire Nation from any naval attack
18. Ember Island, it has been the Fire Nation’s most prestigious holiday destination for over 70 years, having risen to said position after Firelord Azulon visited the island with his wife Illah, who liked it to such a level that she declared every Spring she would come there, with her husband even building a palace for them (even if it is mostly abandoned now, guarded by a group of servants who haven’t seen their masters in over 5 years)
19a. The domains of Hyakukan, they are over a hundred domains big and small ruled by constantly fighting clans known for having their own unique styles of bending and social customs and traditions, the main reason why they remained independent after the fall of the Shogunate was a simple one: there has been no reason to subjugate them, as while unique and tending for isolationism, they are also some of the most fiercely loyal to the Firelord
19b. The Baihe Domain, ruled by the Azuma Clan, it is responsible for controlling the main sea lane between the Mo Ce and Silver Seas, reason why the Firelord is now in a dispute with the local daimyo to either take control of the route or permanently cripple the staunchly independent domain
20. The four southern domains, although some of the largest and most fertile amongst their peers, the domains are known for being chronically poor, in equal parts because of the heavy taxing imposed on their agriculture, the lack of interest of their ruling daimyos (of whom only one doesn’t live on the Caldera nigh permanently) and the recent drought and flooding which afflicted their lands
21a. The Sakuyume Islands, which make much of the outer prefectures, they are populated by a variety of native firebending tribes and petty kingdoms which are de jure ruled over by the capital, but that, outside of serving as stopping points to the navy, are in reality mostly self-ruling
21b. The Mayamaki Islands, originally a small island chain under the nominal rule of the Southern Air Temple, it was entirely uninhabited outside of a myriad of penguin-seals until the Fire nation came, heavily settling them with people from the Homeland
21c. The Hepi Islands, two small outer prefectures that were originally nominal holdings of the Southern Air Temple, they were uninhabited at the time of the genocide and remain mostly so, having only some fishing villages inhabited by secret water tribesmen who fled the south through the last century
22. The three domains of the Clan Ushiromiya, which the largest is the Izu Domain, ruled by the main branch, the islands make an archipelago known for some three things: its dreadfully rainy weather, the great number of birds that live in their heavily forested lands, and the immense wealth of its ruling dynasty, who have made one of the Fire Nation’s greatest fortunes through gold mines and textile factories
23. The Hamai Prefecture, one of the two islands that make its territory is a barren and abandoned place for over a hundred years, having been in the past the hereditary fief and residence of an entire noble clan (whose last head married the Avatar Roku) until its three volcanos erupted catastrophically, engulfing the island and the avatar in flames and ash and causing the clan to disband through the Fire Nation
24a. The outer islands of the Fire Nation (sometimes called “the Dragon’s Tail”), they are known for being both poorer and more conservative than the core of the homeland, with the islands even having the case of a city where dancing is prohibited outside of a permitted set
24b. The Crescent Island, it is a devastated volcanic island were the main temple dedicated to Avatar Roku resides
24c. A group of small island prefectures, they are known for having a small minority of water tribesmen (of the Lotus Islands) and an ancient sect of firebending masters known for creating the powerful art of combustion-bending, manipulated through their tattoo of a third eye
25. The Irimaiyoko Island Domains, a group of thinly populated islands (as most of their population lives in capital cities) that are the point on the Homeland the closest to the Earth Kingdom or the Colonies, they are known for their various fruit exports (many delicacies endemic to the islands), the many tales of dragons living in secret on mountains and coves (which attracts those wanting to gain the title of Dragon, as no-one has had it since Prince Iroh), and the unique culture and appearance of their people, who possess different belief, writing and naming systems (the islands where originally independent kingdoms of muddy origins, which accepted being annexed into the Fire Nation in exchange for autonomy as domains), and have a unique apperance, with light-colored hair being the most common together with purple or purple-ish eyes
26. The island and city of Ikebukuro, often times called the “City of Vice” or “the Wretched Place”, it was, up until some 150 years ago, an uninhabited island on the middle of the Silver Sea, known for nothing but the fact that in the past it had been an outpost of the Fire Nation before its decay millennia ago, but it slowly (no-one knows for sure how) started to become a meeting point between the underbelly of society (similar to Roanapur and Xi Tian in the Eastern Earth Kingdom) and started to expand as more and more criminals, from the highest to the lowest classes, started to accumulate. After so much, it now has become both a developed metropolis and the most vicious place in the world, ruled by crime bosses and thriving with all sorts of things, from large black markets, to gambling, to prostitution and much more, all permitted due to the unwritten agreement that the Fire Nation it’s the one ruling the place, with the nobility and aristocracy considering it the best place when you are looking for a casino or some “fun”
27. The outer prefectures of the Silver Sea, they mostly matter on providing repairs or as stop points to the Navy
28. The Southern Colonies of Kujira (or Whaletail) and Tuzi, both the youngest and most distant amongst the colonies, having been established not even 15 years ago, they are still very much in the mentality of a military district and have the aggravation of possessing a colonist population made of both hardline Fire Supremacists (newer colonists) and normal colonists, which causes social tensions not only between natives (of a mix of Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe stock) and colonials but also between the colonials themselves. It has a caste system, with the new colonists being first-class citizens, other colonists being second-class and natives being either third-class or de facto slaves (some say cattle in Tuzi, but let’s not put much thought into that)
29. The Teji Sea, technically a part of the larger Silver Sea, it is deeply disputed between Chin, Omashu and the smaller kingdom of Kou, with skirmishes being a constant not only for those on the military but even amongst fishermen and the like; at the moment Omashu has the upper hand
30a. The capital province of Xangwoji, it is Chin’s only region to have a technological development similar to the Fire Nation, even having a small Fire Nation minority descending from those engineers sent to help the country after the marriage to Su of Garsai; it is a place of intrigue, scheming and whispered conversations, as Court and Inner Palace see their factions grow in size and enmity
30b. The Easter Province, the nation’s largest subdivision, it has been technically a war zone ever since Chin became an ally of the Fire Nation, but since the country serves more as a source of commodities and resources and the east has always been a second though to the Imperial Court, the region is mostly peaceful, with it being common for people to cross borders almost daily to visit relatives
30c. The Strait of Kyoshi, its creation almost 269 years ago by the final battle of Chin the Conqueror and Avatar Kyoshi is used in the nations they created as their founding date and the basis of their calendars
31. The past lands of the Southern Air Temple, they were mostly uninhabited outside of the great temple and were the believed home to the Avatar (how anyone guessed it, is unknown), factors that united caused the South to be the most heavily attacked by the Fire Nation, with only some twenty boys and a single monk surviving due to not being on the temple the day of the attack, while the entire rest was massacred, but not without extremely heavy costs (of the temples, the south was the one with the highest number of Fire Nation causalities)
32. The Southern Sea, it is a frigid and most sinister land, where nothing can be seen for over half a month and where icebergs are more common that a ship, while in the waters live both many wonders of marine life, and many dangers, unknown to mankind for thousands of years
33a. The Bay of Hufeng, in the past the center of the Southern Water Tribe, but after the many raids by the Fire Nation it is made of some few remaining settlements and many ruins, including what was once the tribe’s capital, now a ruin of ice and snow
33b. The Linhao Peninsula, it houses most of the tribe’s population nowadays, since its mountainous terrain and the treacherous currents around it meant that by the time the Fire Nation came raiding, the tribesmen could simply flee to the mountains for a period and return after they left
33c. The eastern coast, made of some small settlements (none with more than 400 inhabitants) that are mostly let to their own devices by the rest of the tribe due to them not being that liked, as they still practice slavery (and prefer to marry closely, meaning that inbreeding is a common problem)
33d. The Bay of Hufan, mostly isolated from the rest of the tribe due to being frozen 11 months of the year
33e. In the past one of the regions with the largest population in the Southern Water Tribe, as the year-round unfrozen waters meant that fishing and trading were easier to its inhabitants, the Bone Coast nowadays is a desolate and haunted place, as the settlements there weren’t only raided, they were annihilated
33f. The fjords, the region with the warmest climate in the continent and even being capable of doing some agriculture and growing of livestock, the Fire Nation raids did some good damage on the major settlements of the region, and now most live in the river valleys
33g. The village of the Amarok Tribe, it is a small settlement of at most a hundred inhabitants, hidden away within the ice cap, the last of the inland settlements of the Southern Water Tribe
34. The Great Vastness, the frozen wasteland that makes over three quarters of the continent, in the past there were many small settlements across it, in a similar vein to the North, but something has changed since then, and villages that existed for thousands of years disappeared as if on thin air or were found completely uninhabited, with half-crazed survivors telling tales of dark spirits and of air so cold people frozen on the spot
35a. The Hu Xin Provinces, who are located between Garsai and the Sea, they were originally a group of merchant provinces of the Earth Kingdom, ruled by noble oligarchies and with rich coal reserves which attracted the Fire Nation, Firelord Azulon conquered them in 25 AG, invading from their borders with Garsai, where he also fought a war against the kingdom’s remnants
35b. The island of Hu Bao and the twin islands of Donmei, they were military fiefdoms of the Earth Kingdom before Firelord Azulon conquered them when he was still only a 15-year-old Crown Prince
36. The capital city of Garsai, also known as “Garsai of the White Stone”, it was conquered in a surprise attack by the later Firelord Azulon, who took most of the royal family (the House of Cho, a mix of fire and earth benders) at the times as hostages (with them and their descen-dants living in isolation on a villa on the west of the kingdom) and used the somewhat damaged city as his center of command during his war against the Remnant
37. The northwestern part of the Mo Ce Sea, it is a region rather placid in climate, but with a large number of various kinds of aquatic predators (like the giant squid-shark or the sea-wolves) that have from time to time caused problems (like attacking fishermen, or sinking minor ships)
38. The Bay of Crabs, known both for its large fishing community and it’s past as a major naval warzone
39. The basin of the Hadai River, the river valleys are known for being a populational center (now that they have stopped being a front in the war) and something of an industrial region, while the mountains, rich in coal and many kinds of minerals (iron ore in special), are dotted with mining enterprises, to feed both the industries nearby and even as far as Garsai and the Fire Nation
40. The Province of Yang, it was in the past a barely settled and poor subsidiary kingdom, who Firelord Sozin, for the lack of better terms, bought from its king in exchange for an allowance and a royal marriage in the Fire Nation, with him establishing the first ever colony, the city of Yu Dao, known for its traditional role as a populational center and important port in the Mo Ce Sea
41a. The Provinces of Dohan and Wenshonggu, they were in the past possessions of the Kingdom of Liandu, after their conquest by the Fire Nation, the local aristocracy remained in power, simply marrying to Fire Nation nobles as a way of closing their ties, and to this day most of the elites in them are earthbenders
41b. The island and province of Zhengfu, in the past it was a completely uninhabited territory of the Earth Kingdom conquered by Firelord Sozin through him basically laying claim to it and starting to settle the old abandoned cities that existed on the coast, even nowadays, the island is still rather underpopulated (and underdeveloped)
41c. A group of volcanic islands that are known for being nigh uninhabitable to humans without gasmasks outside of buildings, as their volcanos have the tendency to liberate toxic gases with an alarming frequency
41d. The Republic of Balmar, two small islands ruled by an oligarchic assembly that were subjugated by Firelord Sozin rather early in his reign, no-one is really sure why he mantained its independence after basically plummeting their navy and ground forces in a single month
42. The capital city of Kangfao (it doesn’t have any official name, and most just call it “capital”), a rapidly growing city which at the moment is located on the tip of the main peninsula in the Bay of the Cranefishes (due to their lar ge population on the area), which is known for being surrounded by tall snowy mountains. For a capital (and for a place said to have been the world’s largest metropolis some four thousand years ago), the city is rather small, as for most of their history the Ruby Kings of Kangfao preferred to rule from horseback or in military tents and forts than on their ancient seat
43. The northern provinces of Kangfao, they have a rather mountainous landscape (like much of the northwestern Earth Kingdom, for that matter) and are known for being littered by ruined towns, castles and temples, destroyed or abandoned during the times they were an active war front
44. The Province of Lingnang, in the past it was centered around the city of Taku, known for being built around a mountain pass and serving as a center of commerce and defense for centuries (due to being one of the “gates” of Kangfao), it entered a rapid decline after being taken for five years by the Earth Kingdom Western Army some 60 years ago, and was laid waste after being the center of a rebellion fifteen years after that. Nowadays, it is a nearly abandoned ruin, while the province’s center is now in the city of Ponhuai, located around the eponymous stronghold
45. The estuary of the large Su Oku River basin, although a center of agriculture in the colonies (producing nearly all of their annual productions of corn and wheat), it is rather lacking in population, as most fled during the times when the region as a front on the war, and only started to return after the stronghold was built some 20 years ago
46. The Qingyang Wetlands (sometimes called “swamp”), known for their large production of rice and for the nice scenery (marked by vast flooded plains and forests with mountains on the horizon), besides being a good place for fugitives to disappear into new lives. They have an incredible ecosystem, with a variety of plants and aquatic or amphibious animals, of which the turtle-koi is the most majestic
47a. The Province of Ryokuchi (in the past the Kingdom of Lu’di), it was conquered in the span of a year by then Crown Prince Iroh on his first time leading on the Army of the Fire Nation, he showed himself to be quite brutal during it, massacring most of the royal family and aristocracy
47b. Originally the eastern half of the Province of Beipu, the Province of Hokkaju is one of the more recent of the colonies, marked by the fact that while the coast is mostly inhabited by Fire Nation colonists (which came even before the military district became a colony), the countryside is inhabited by Earth Kingdom natives, which are divided into dozens of squabbling clans and tribes and are many times prohibited from entering coastal cities without the permission of a Fire Nation citizen
47c. The Province of Fuzhan, the smallest of the colonies of the Fire Nation, it was established some 15 years ago when Firelord Azulon separated it from the larger Hokkaju, establishing a new colony with an absolute majority of the population made of Fire Nation colonies to control the gates to the main river network of the Earth Kingdom
47d. The easternmost border of the Colonies, covered by a large expanse of forests, it is technically pacified (as the war has officially moved to the east) and now serve as one of the possible routes to the front in Huashi, but unofficially the region is suffering from attacks from outlaws growing amidst the leaves, leaded by a mysterious figure by the name of “Jet”
48. The southern lands of the Kingdom of Liandu, heavily mountainous and sparsely populated, their inhabitants, while of Earth Kingdom culture and stock, have been clamoring to enter the Fire Nation as a new set of colonial provinces, in part because they are rather tired of being a military district (after some decades in that state) and in part because they see advantages in it, having always been more connected to Dohan and Wenshonggu then to Liandu at large (with their nobility and peasantry still intermarrying constantly)
49. The Military Kingdom of Liandu, controlled by the General Minamori Akira, a complicated region within the Fire Nation’s military territories, there are regions that have been pacified (although remaining in a bad shape in almost all possible levels) and others that are still being suppressed, while the commanding general has reached some kind of truce with the remnants of Liandu
50. The remnant of the Kingdom of Liandu, governed from the fortress-city of Hwangnyongsa (which has been the center of royal power ever since the old capital of Baekje, seat of the Mang Dynasty for over 900 years, was lost 35 years ago), they have nowadays entered a state of uneasy calm with the truce, as tensions remain high below the surface, as its last continental lands are defended by a wall of mountains made in a desperate attempt to halt the advance of the Fire Nation (they succeeded, but most of the thousands of benders died in the process) while the city herself is so bloated that people have started building upwards as an way to create more space, while the king runs against the time to send as many people as possible to Ba Sing Se before they are put under a blockade
51a. The Military District of Kongwu, commanded by the harsh but coldly efficient General Niemoka Shoju, it has been mostly pacified nowadays, as the war and the harsh punishments (entire cities razed to the ground, with the entire population put to the sword) have broken the will of the locals, who live harsh and unforgiving lives
51b. The Xiyan River, one of the two entrances to the Western Lake (and through it the even larger river network of the central Earth Kingdom), it is almost entirely under the control of the Fire Nation, with the Earth Kingdom having a single stronghold remaining on its shores, if they lose it, the northwestern Earth Kingdom will be under complete control fo the Fire Nation
51c. The Military District of Huashi (at the moment the largest of them, although that is planned to change), it is here that the fighting between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom is the fiercest and most violent, with both side knowing that if the Western Lake is taken and the region secured, Ba Sing Se can be attacked (as the Dragon of the West did once), and so they fight in an almost obsessed way, uncaring to the sheer scale of destruction and human suffering caused by both sides
51d. The Military District of Beipu, named after the province it almost completely controls, it is first and foremost a battleground known for the fact that the frontlines are constantly changing due to the entrenched resistances in the region, which the commanding General Hufong Mugen has done much to destroy (she is also known for having a flower shop she runs when not in the front, and has recently ma-naged to snatch the position of future “Governor of Omashu” to her brother-in-law, the Minister Ukano)
51e. The Great Divider, the largest canyon of the world and an important crossing point for refugees seeking refuge in Ba Sing Se, with the war coming closer and closer, it may become a giant trench
52a. The Kingdom of Yi, one of the minor states within the Earth Kingdom, it is a mountainous land covered by tropical and monsoon forests and rich in mineral resources, which until recently had been ruled by the incredibly incompetent and elderly Lushan III, who stayed in his palace of pleasures while his kingdom was conquered and when the Fire Nation reached his capital he surrendered without a doubt, now, with his death at age 79 (of “natural causes”), his thirty-fifth son, Gon, aged seven, has become a puppet king under the general Joro Izumi
52b. The southern coast of Yi, sometimes called the “Trail of Storms”, it is one of the worst regions in the world for sailing, being known for the treacherous and rocky land on the shallow coastline, the coral reefs here and there and the constant storms, with the Fire Nation taking so long to take the kingdom simply because it was impossible to reach its capital without going through Yi’s main river, whose estuary is in the region
52c. The last independent lands of Yi, managing to do so due to their nigh-unreachable location (on a mountainous rainforest, to be exact), they are ruled by the old king’s twentieth son, Hokai the Duke of Gonsu, who has already declared he plans to expel the Fire Nation and become his brother’s regent (quite possible, since he may be his real father, as the king’s mother was his long-time lover before his father lusted over her and took her for himself)
53a. The great city of Omashu, believed to be the oldest city in the world to still be inhabited, it is an inexpugnable fortress as much as a center of government for its kingdom, with no ruler (not even Chin the Conqueror) managing to actually take the city through battle (he did through a rare case of diplomacy)
53b. The eastern marches of the kingdom, they are a mix of mountain and desert inhabited by hundreds of petty tribes that migrated from the Si Wong Desert some centuries in the past, staunchly isolated outside of the Royal Sandbender Battalion of King Bumi
53c. The Youbu River and its large estuary/bay, serving as a center of trade, agriculture and administration to not only the northern half of the kingdom but to the entirety of the domains of Omashu (as most of the population depends on the food imported from the North), the fight for the region is fierce, for it the Youbu falls, then the rest of the kingdom shall fall as well
53d. The Southward Campaign into the Youbu River (through one of its main branches), it is an utter bloodbath that has lasted for over a year and a half and take over a hundred thousand lives on both sides
53e. The Military District of Omashu, it was established just two years ago after General Bujing used his highly controversial tactic of sacrificing an entire division to land on the region (made of raw recruits, only a percentage of the division survived, most crippled or heavily injured, and although they have received “military honors”, many still hold a deep hatred for the old general, who has suffered thirty-seven different attempts against his live in the time since, the last one was a blind attacker who managed to stab him in the shoulder and gut his aide) and is known already for being truly a horrific front, as the lands held by the Fire Nation are many times devastated and the war just gets bloodier with the succession of General Sakauchi as the commander of the district, after all, there is a reason why his nickname is “The Butcher”
54. The Kingdom of Qialai, at the moment the only one amongst the northern kingdoms that still retains most of its territory in the fight against the Fire Nation, this status isn’t due to the mountainous nature of the northern territories (since that didn’t help its neighbors), but instead is because the Queen Mother has been ruling the nation ever since her husband got himself killed in battle while their son is a child, and she is, luckily, the eldest and most favored grandchild of General Dai, known for both his capability in commanding and his tendency to dote on his descendants
55a. The Kingdom of Tsang, who is both the most mountainous and possibly the most unique of the subsidiary kingdoms (it is also home to the tallest peak in the world, the Lonely Mountain), it was for millennia an extremely divided region, claimed by the Earth Monarch but divided into hundreds of clans, tribes and petty kingdoms who developed their own cultures as they were divided by the mountains, only to be finally united by its first king around 300 years ago, Gyatso I. Heavily influenced by the nearby Northern Air Temple and the Air Nomads (Gyatso I himself was a child of mixed origins, having an monk for father and the chieftainess of a tribe for mother), the kingdom has in many ways a closer connection to them than to the Earth Kingdom, with even its local earthbending style being remarkably quick paced and moving at all times, this distance, however, has tragically shown itself in the recent invasion of the kingdom by the Fire Nation (leaded by the cunning General Ookawa), as the poor kingdom didn’t receive any aid in fighting them and has been almost completely overrun in the past three years, with only a part of the southwest remaining fighting, while even the king, Gyatso the Fourteenth, has been taken captive after his defeat in the siege of Potala, the capital city
55b. The Kingdom of Keiting, the most complicated of the northern kingdoms on its status nowadays, it was until some 5 years ago a relatively poor and sparsely populated kingdom, who managed to remain unscathed from Fire Nation attacks simply by paying tribute every month, until Firelord Ozai assumed the throne and decided that that wasn’t enough and ordered the official invasion of the entire territory (nowadays even his generals criticize him on this, as they are pragmatic enough to see how bad a decision it was). Now, the kingdom is in an utter state of chaos, as the attack on its capital killed most of the Royal Family and sent the population, mostly living in the coastal plains, into chaos, with fights both between locals and the Fire Nation and against themselves, while its nominal king (Crown Prince until the attack), is a de facto prisoner on Ba Sing Se
55c. The Military District of Sangaku, the most desolate of all the territories of the military and known for being used as a go-to place when you want to punish your subordinates, here de war is a sluggish and bitter thing that seems to never come closer to an end, as the entire region is part of the world’s largest mountainous region and the locals are fierce in their fighting. The current commander of the district, Colonel Ki Honmaru, is the youngest of all the commanders of the army and was demoted and sent here after being found in bed with Crown Princess Azula in the beginning of the year
55d. The Province of Hubang, one of the most mountainous (if not the most mountainous) territories of the Earth Kingdom, it is a sparsely populated land with a local population that has a style of earthbending similar that of the Kingdom of Tsang, marked by quick movements and by the use of the earth as a support on the unstable ground they most of the time live in
55e. Principality of Gaoxi, a small insular state that is rather insignificant on most things, has been mostly conquered by the Fire Nation, which uses three of its four main islands as launching points for their invasions on the rest of the northern Earth Kingdom
55f. The island-fortress of Tiebao, in the past the point through which the Earth Kingdom controlled the navigation of the Northern Sea, being called many times “inexpugnable” by both enemies and allies, it is at the moment in a two-years-long siege
56a. The Shonru River Campaign, one of the many fronts seeking to control the Western Lake, it has been brutal and fast, and the Fire Nation has seen few capable resistance as it goes, only finding poorly-trained and poorly-equipped conscripts to confront
56b. The Jan Campaign, which is in the process of conquering the western half of the eponym province, it was a difficult endeavor at its start, with three failed landings being repelled by the local militia before the fourth succeeded past summer, but with the making of a large foothold on the area, the Fire Nation considers everything to be “according to plan” (as would the commanding General, Ikari Genzo, say)
56c. The Chuang Campaign, that together with Shonru and Jan has the objective of taking the Western Lake, like the latter, it almost failed in the landing, and even now it is in a rather bad shape
57. The Chuang Province, a most depopulated and somewhat dry region that houses the secret ports at Full Moon Bay, which every day take more and more refugees to Ba Sing Se, the immigration laws are extremely convoluted and harsh, and both criminality and shanty towns have risen in number with every people that is barred from taking the travel
58. The Serpent’s Pass, a narrow isthmus that separates the Western and Eastern Lakes (it did, but the central point in the isthmus fell due to erosion some 70 year ago and no-one has noticed it), many fear the idea of traveling through the isthmus (there is even an entrance with the writing “Abandon Hope”), who is said to house sea monsters and be haunted (some legends say the pass was in the past the tip of a mountain chain, which was sunk in a legendary battle in the Age Before the Avatar)
59. The Chalang Basing, one of the larger of the Earth Kingdom (and a sub-basin of the larger one made by the La kes), it served in the past as one of the centers of population in the nation, being in the past made of dozens of king doms subjugated by the might of the Crystal Kings of Ba Sing Se, but nowadays it has seen a fast drop in population (especially on coastal areas) due to fears over the looming threat of the Fire Nation, with entire cities having already been entirely evacuated
60. The Province of Kim, the northernmost province of the continental Earth Kingdom, it is divided between moun-tainous boreal forests, sparsely inhabited by towns, and large grasslands inhabited by semi-nomadic horsemen
61a. The City of Ba Sing Se, without a doubt the largest metropolis in the entire world and the center of power of the Earth Kingdom for thousands of years (with the city herself being at least ten thousand years old), it is a city of walls and secrets, divided into rings and districts and ruled by Grand Secretariat Long Feng and his Dai Li
61b. Lake Laogai: vacation spot, water reservoir and perfect location for a secret underground facility
61c. The Agrarian Zone of Ba Sing Se, located between the Inner and Outer Walls of the “City”, it is Ba Sing Se’s largest internal division, having a variety of climates and even an entire mountain range across, and its thousands of farms and noble fiefdoms serve to feed the entire city, succeeding in doing so even with the rise in population
61d. The Harbor of Ba Sing Se, technically a fortified district of the Halan Province, it serves as the only permitted entrance to the unconquerable city and has a small town around it made of refugees waiting to have entrance to Ba Sing Se proper through the network of underground monorails that connect it and the Harbor
61e. The Province of Ba Sing Se (which is so commonly confused with the City that its territory has been many times used as an outline to the Outer Wall, although, admittedly, it does have a wall around it, if not as tall as the one of the Agrarian Zone), one of the oldest territories of the Earth Kingdom and being under the rule of the City even before the first Earth Monarch was crowned; it is made of a patchwork of noble fiefdoms and personal lands of the Earth Monarch, being dotted with the ancestral holdings of some of the nation’s oldest families
62. The kingdoms of the Wolui Islands, they are a series of small states that are left almost entirely to their own devices by the Earth Monarchy, although they do have to send conscripts every year, seeing as their capacity to navigate the islands’ treacherous waters (marked by whirlpools) makes them incredibly valuable to the navy
63a. The archipelago of the islands of Galao and Dekkao, sparsely populated mountainous islands covered by dark and packed forests, their hidden coves and natural ports serve as a good hiding spot to pirates
63b/63c. The provinces of Teyen and Hon, mostly known for the contrast between their rivers and coasts with the hinterlands, as the latter are made of cold grasslands while the former is made of some of the largest swamps and marshes in the world
63d. The Province of Kolang, inhabited by dozens of tribes of nomadic horselords that thrive on the grasslands making most of its territory, in the past the region served as the core territory to the many horselord empires of the past, who ruled unopposed the steppes of the Northern Earth Kingdom until some eight centuries in the past
64a. The Province of Jamir, an arid, rocky and mountainous land that in the past was an independen kingdom ruling most of what is now the Northern Si Wong, it is inhabited by almost a single ethnic group (who makes around nine tenths of the population), marked by a pale skin tone and a variety of golden hair and eyes
64b. The Province of Halan, in the past an arid but populous land (due to the olive and wine farms along its coast and the various underground reservoirs under it), nowadays it has lost around a third of its population to both the fear of the looming war, a harsh drought and the recent yellowpox outbreaks, with most of the population now living on the eastern and wetter parts of the province
64c. The western Province of Lingyi, made mostly of steppes in the north and monsoon forests in the south (along the “Great River”), it is suffering from some sort of famine due to a mix of a disease afflicting the cattle in the north and a drought in the south
65. The regions around the Copper Lake and the last segments of the Great River (nominally the Ghandi) and its estuary (Chameleon Bay), a land marked by a monsoon-like climate known for causing floods and droughts in the flip of the coin, they are the homeland of the large Ghandi ethnocultural group (a patchwork of over a hundred smaller cultures and subcultures), although now those who live here have long intermingled with the people of the northern Earth Kingdom, due both to past invasions and failed projects of ethnic cleansing by past Earth Kings, they are known for bright and colorful clothing and jewelry, a variety of revered spirits and festivals, vegetarianism and a “successful” caste system, who has been in place for thousands years
66. The Eastern Sea, the only body of water where the Earth Kingdom Navy still rules over unopposed
67a. The capital dominion of Murin, it is known for being incredibly divided between its north and south by the Jungo River, with the former being a victim of the farthest raids from the nomadic horsemen from the grasslands while the latter is defended both by the river and the mountain range in the east of the nation
67b. The northern dominions of Dayuan, they are the least populated regions of Murim, as the traditional enmity between it and the peoples of the grasslands means that every year they are attacked by raiding parties, with it occurring for so long that the local calendars are started by the first raid of the year
67c. The dominion of Qingqao, a mountainous land known for its elaborate temples and holy places
67d. The dominion of Hanseju, ruled for over 300 years by the Kim family of Pyongdulang, it is the richest territory of Murin, both due to its relative safety from any military attack and the simple fact that it controls the strait between the Eastern and the Great Seas, some theorize that the only reason why the family hasn’t tried anything to take over the throne (as others have done before) is because of their staunch loyalty
67e. The Island of Wugui, while its center is mostly made of hilly forests, its coast is made almost completely of muddy mangrove forests, known for their variety of sea animals, who represent the main food source of the people who live on them
67f. The far-away island of Thuja, a volcanic formation whose local inhabitants live isolated and secretive lives, being said by some to intermingle with ox-seals and sea-lions and having webbed fingers and gills on their bodies
68. The Southeastern Provinces, known for being de facto made of hundreds of petty kingdoms and having the tendency for infighting and rebellion, as even though they are technically under the overlordship of the Earth Monarch (whose government is known for putting absurdly high taxes on them), the kingdoms remain with their ancient enmities and rivalries, exacerbated by the region’s recent harvest failures and the unequal helping given by the government on the famine that ensued
69a. The Tarim Protectorate, locally known as the “Tarim Confederacy”, it is possibly the most powerful (and definitively the most populous) of the protectorates, as its location on the basin of the Tarim River (which is famous for flooding every year and fertilizing the soil around with rich silt) means that the region is the breadbasket of the Si Wong Desert, growing many crops and having a large population
69b. The central protectorates, broken into thousands of cities and tribes squabbling over the region’s few resources, the only amongst them of importance is the protectorate of Xi Tian, where exists both the biggest city in all of Si Wong, the ancient capital of the Snake Emperors with its tall black-stone walls who house over half a million souls within (even on its now diminished and half-abandoned state), and the holiest place in the entire desert, the Rock, a lone mighty rock on the center of the desert that has been for millennia a place of pilgrimage and fear, said to have been dropped from the heaves by the desert’s gods as a signal of their anger with an unfaithful mankind
69c. The Sinai Protectorate, a no-man’s land for decades controlled by outlaws and fighting tribes, legends say that hidden in the dunes of the protectorate lies Wan Shi Tong’s library, said to house all the world’s knowledge as well as secrets that only the spirits are awa-re of
69d The Ishvali Protectorate, one of the largest protectorates of the Si Wong Desert but also one of the most isolated all-around, it is the homeland of the Ishvali People, an ethnoreligious group known for two main things, their unique looks (red eyes, white hair and dark skin), and the fact that they are one of the few “monotheist” peoples in the world, as they believe that while other spirits exist, only their patron, Ishvala, may be revered
69e. The northern protectorates, wetter than the rest of the desert due to rainfall from the Eastern Lake, their position amongst the trade routes to Ba Sing Se make the region rich, and their merchants are marked by their quite unusual ways of travel, giant beetles
69f. The Kawa Protectorate, it is known for being closely tied to the Kingdom of Omashu, who controls the mouth of the Youbu River and through that the protectorate’s lifeblood, with the Fire Nation’s invasion of the kingdom Kawa has started to send military aid to Omashu’s defence
69g. The Sheng Protectorate, the largest of all the protectorates, for all its size, the protectorate is still made of some few oasis towns connected by nomadic tribes from the sand, nominally under the rule of a council of elders in the protectorate’s capital
70. The kingdoms of the Jianyin Plateau, a group of eight states of sizes big and small located on the mix of forests, mountains and a variety of grasslands that make the plateau and its surrounding region, originally they were mostly a waypoint between the Si Wong Protectorates and the states to the south, being wealthy but not overly so, but after the Kingdom of Mihay’s catastrophes the kingdoms have seen a rise in prosperity unheard of, as they are the ones controlling the trading route (since the neighbor to the south is too weak for that) and export most of the food consumed in the southwestern Si Wong
71. The kingdom of Kou, a contrasting land squished between the Foggy Swamp to the north, mountains to the ea st and Chin to the south, it was until less than a century ago a rather poor province of the Earth Kingdom, whose first king received his title from the elderly 49th Earth King after decades serving as a peasant-born bureaucrat of some renown; nowadays, the kingdom is rather wealthy (mostly due to the goldmines, as it’s landscape is covered by large swaths of dense rainforest), even if a tad legalist (almost like Chin in that matter), and is mostly known for the fact that its population has the quirk of having natural red hair, with its ruling clan using their own unique shade to identify their members
72. Gaoling, the capital of the eponymous republic and the biggest city in the southern Earth Kingdom (having a population well over five million people), it is a metropolis made of high buildings and canals (as the city was built directly over the small and muddy delta of the Nanlu River, with buildings needing to be small in ground area to actually be sustained by their foundations) One of the city’s greatest past-times are the earthbending fights, that occur in an unofficial manner through the year and in an official one in the annual Earth Rumble
72a. The Kingdom of Qi, a mostly agrarian state said to have ruled over all the south of the Earth Kingdom in the past, its most notable achievement nowadays is the fact that it produces high quality paper, exporting it to most of the nation at its price in silver
72b. The states of the Upper Nanlu River, they are a variety of kingdoms and republics that have been for generations under the thumb of Gaoling, who knows them less as states on their own and more as sources of some kind, with their colloquial names being the main products they export preceded by “the land of…”
72c. The Province of Yangy’e, technically a province under the Earth Monarchy, but de facto a colony of Gaoling ever since the 47th Earth King leased it to the patricians of the republic, who have gigantic personal fiefs and villas on the region and has all but officially annexed it into their republic
72d. The Principality of Yushu, a sparsely inhabited state based mostly on fishing, trade and the growing of local fruits like apples and a variety of berries, it is known for being in fact ruled by a branch of the Beifong Family, having been founded by Hong Bei Fong (the old writing of the name) conquered a fort dressed as a monk some fifteen centuries ago; because of its ties to the republic, it is also the most independent of all its vassals
72e. The Principality of Roanapur, which basically comprises the city of the same name and the lands around, it is, together with Ikebukuro, one of the world’s “Cities of Vice”, being known for the fact that crime syndicates run the nation as much as its prince or the “councilor” from Gaoling, while its economy runs on the casinos, opium houses, prostitution and black markets, with there being specific taxes even for things like assassinations, slaves (which are officially illegal, but very much still used on Gaoling’s sphere of influence), and even more absurd things like body parts and children for adoption
73a. The Kingdom of Jaohu, the largest and most powerful of the states in the Southern Seas (controlling the eponym island and having influence over those around) even though its mountainous terrain proves to be a deterrent to successful agriculture (something that has been changed with the introduction of terraces to farm on), its present king is known both for his brutality against internal threats (the kingdom is rather divided) and for his relationship with his past body-double
73b. The kingdoms of Huwan, a group of various squabbling states located on the western half of Chengwan Island that have been in this state for generations, with wars being a common occurrence and intrigue so common is considered almost a cultural trait
73c. The sister kingdoms of Lu and Li, they are a small and rocky island chain mostly known for the fact that their populations are so small literally all their inhabitants hold some title of nobility, and are all related to their ruling monarchs (and to each other)
73d. The Hudayao Kingdom, a small kingdom on the western Jiao She, it’s crown princess is said to see the future
73e. The Gako Kingdom, the southernmost part of the Earth Kingdom, it, like Linghao, mostly lives from the sea, using blubber to heat houses, skin or hides to insulate them and meat to eat
73f. The Linlhao Kingdom, a small rocky archipelago, known for living mostly of seals and whales
73g. The Kudao Kingdom, in the past a part of Jaohu that broke apart during the reign of the 49th Earth King, it is relatively sparse on its population but its native deer-goats and their many breeds are considered a delicacy in the ranks of the Earth Kingdom’s nobility
73h. The Xuexia Confederacy, a small mountainous state located on the island of the same name, its lands lack in much areas of natural resources or arable land, but shine when the matter is rare minerals, as they are filled with diamonds, emeralds and rubies
74. The Jiao She Sea, separating the south of the Earth Kingdom between the continent and the large Southern Islands, it, like most seas under the nominal control of Ba Sing Se, suffers heavily from piracy and slavery, which is common even after some good 500 years of illegality
75a. The Murong River Valley, the Lysung Dynasty’s oldest domain and core territory, the region is known for being dotted with palaces, forts and temples as old as the nation itself, with many of them being in ruins while others have remained in use ever since the Nine Sage Kings and their ancestors ruled
75b. The Ai Chin region, it is known for being a geological anomaly, as its mountainous landscape is quite out of place on the mostly flat southeast of the Lysung Dynasty, legend says the region became this way millennia ago when an Avatar battled a powerful spirit of some kind, and their battle was so catastrophic it forevermore changed the landscape
75c. The headwaters of the Murong River, inhabited by a variety of mountain tribes that while nominal vassals of the Lysung Kings, they are known for having for centuries raided the lands down the river or in the plain, and only recently the monarchs have managed to struck a truce with them
76a. The main member of the Nanbu Union, the Kingdom of Kesh is a nation known for two things, its inhabitants’ cultural obsession with being overly polite and their tendency to jump into berserk-like madness over the smallest offense, and the fact that its rulers consider themselves to be the avatars of their main worshiped spirit, Kesh
76b. The Ningwey Dukedom, an arid and mountainous state ruled by a dynasty made of powerful waterbenders, who have over the generations mastered the art of dragging moisture from the sea to create rain (or from more sentient sources, but that’s for executions only)
76c. The Kingdom of Fajong, an extremely mountainous kingdom with is known for its architecture, marked by using stones so precisely cut and matched together that they can resist earthquakes (while the gap between them is so thin you can’t put a blade between them)
76d. The Empire of Jing, a matriarchal tetrarchy known for its obsession with gems and crystals
76e. The many kingdoms of Chenyao, unlike their neighbors to the west, they have been mostly peaceful
76f. The seven states of the Yucheng Islands, a group of small nations located in single volcanic islands that are known for being extremely wealthy due to its surrounding waters, where pearls are hunted and harvest abundantly together with the byssus of the noble pen shells, which are the basic material to produce the extremely valuable seal silk, with an ounce of it being sold for a pound of gold in most markets
77a. The Eastern Air Temple, although the temple that is in the most ruined state (having been extremely damaged in the genocide and later struck by two different earthquakes), it was also the one who had the most survivors, as although centered on the great temple, the island of Qingwa had a population more widespread, and around a third of their total population managed to survive, either living in hidden settlements (a scant few) or fleeing to either the Northern Temple, the Blossom Islands or some other remote location
77b. The marshes of Qingwa Island, they are home to an incredible variety of birds, of which the long-lived ostrich-flamingo and eagle-crane are the most known, as their meat is considered a fine delicacy on both Earth and Fire, the only reason why they haven’t still been hunted to extinction or been forced to flee has been the few Air Nomads that still live in the island, and believe those birds to be the reincarnations of the death, and as holy as the ruins
77c. The south of the Qingwa Island, the region is so absurdly mountainous that even its shores are simply continuations of the mountains, and the entire fauna and flora of the region has evolved in ways to survive it, like a variety of trees with roots so strong they break the rock and grow on them
78. The Min-O Confederacy, a small state located on the island chain just off the coast of the old holdings of the Eastern Air Temple, it is a petty, weak and isolated matriarchy known for housing many ruins of gigantic palace complexes (with its capital city being in fact the inhabited parts of a complex spanning an entire island)
79. The island of Yuyake, it is the westernmost domain of the Fire Nation, being a military territory centered on a single titanic fortress through which it launches its influence on the Far East, recently it was raided by Chief Hakoda’s War Fleet, which managed to massacre half of the local fleet sneaking in the night
80. Technically a part of the larger Yucheng Islands but considered as separate due to not being part of the Nanbu Union, they have an economy similar to that of their neighbors, and although their rulers are said to be secret airbenders, they do constant business with the Fire Nation
2. The Xuelu Bay, which exists eternally frozen over due to the peninsula that creates it and blocks any warmer current from reaching it, it's over the large ice layer (at least 500 meters deep) that most of the North’s population (seventy percent) lives in, being covered by dozens of cities built from the ice with Waterbending, connect by a system of canals centered on the tribe’s capital
3. The island of Nanbei, a land ruled by a tribe of the same name and known for its many hot springs, the island is, unlike most tribal domains, not centered in a single city, and instead is made of various villages, with the chief being more of a glorified innkeeper that mostly rules over his settlement
4. The domains of the Moufukku (something on the lines of “Grandiose Seal-Otter”) tribe, they are, like most of the continent, made mostly of tundra and the polar cap, with the entirety of its population being centered on the only true city besides the capital in the Northern Water Tribe, with a population of around 30.000 people
5. The islands are comparable to the Great Sea’s Coral Rif in the matter of variety of animals and plants on their waters, that are brimming with life seen only here and in nowhere-else, like the sea-cows, the wooly-whales and the water pine
6. The archipelagos of Taisheng and Ohou, though technically a part of the military district of Liandu, have been for some good 35 years administrated as de facto colonies by the Fire Nation, with most of the population being loyal to the Firelord while being of almost entirely Earth Kingdom natives and the islands serving as the docks of the Northern Fleet
7a. The kingdoms of Yi, Lue and Kou, unimportant outside of exporting fire anemones, a culinary trend amongst the Fire Nation’s high classes
7b. The Principality of Baolan, a relatively wealthy kingdom, although mostly due to mining good metal ores for the Fire Nation Navy to use, its name comes from the deep blue of its water, not due to any sapphire reserves within its borders (although there’s a great deal of amber and jade). The prince prefers to live in the Caldera, while his daughter serves as a commander in the Northern Fleet
7c. The Kingdom of Kina, it has a single island and a single city and its people are talented sea-farers, as the nation was founded around a thousand years ago by settlers from the islands of the Great Sea who ended being ruled by a member of Fire Nation Royalty
8. Sanghlan Island, in the past the main territory of the Western Air Temple, nowadays it, together with Lengyao and Plum, is a nominal military district of the Fire Nation, but the position is basically a place to send unruly children or undesired officers, since no-one cares about them and settlements are zero outside of a single port, as besides being absurdly mountainous, many believe that the vengeful spirits of the nuns who died in the genocide still roam the islands
9a. The island of Lichen, the past a nominal territory of the Western Air Temple, it has nowadays started to be colonized by the Fire Nation, with the south and east having some coastal settlements and farmlands, but most of the territory still remains uninhabited due to the terrain and the small population of colonists
9b. In the past the northernmost territory of the Western Air Temple, being known for having an isolated sect of nuns on a temple made of one hundred and eight pagodas stacked on the top of an active volcano, said temple was burned shortly after the genocide (although most of its nuns managed to flee), and nowadays the islands are a prison colony of sorts
10. The Taohe Islands, the first territory of the Western Air Temple to be settled and annexed by the Fire Nation, it was in one of their many abandoned temples that the Avatar Yangchen was born, and were her relics are said to be hidden
11. Somewhere around here is located the Boiling Rock, the most infamous prison in the Fire Nation
12. The Tai islands, the homeland of the infamous Ty Clan, who have been for the past 65 generations mastered the art of Chi Blocking, serving many times as assassins, spies and guardians to Firelords, Sages and Shoguns
13a. The Inenoji Domain, ruled by the Inasaku Clan and known for being a great exporter of rice and for the wealth of its ruling dynasty, being the greatest of the remaining domains of the Fire Nation, the wife of Firelord Azulon, Illah, was from the clan’s main branch, with the current daimyo being her grandnephew
13b. The Iwami Domain, ruled by the Ōgetsu Clan and for centuries in a deep rivalry with Inenoji, Prince Iroh’s late wife, Princess Ukemochi, was of a cadet branch of the clan and a lover of culinary (but died of “food poisoning”)
13c. The smaller northwester domains, known for their charming landscape and freefalling economy, it is expected they’ll soon become prefectures since they can’t actually sustain themselves (plans are being drawn to have their local daimyos remain as nominal rulers)
14. The modern capital of Saikyō (“Western Capital”), which is colloquially called “Caldera” due to being located inside and around a dead volcano, it was originally the center of power of the last shoguns to rule the Fire Nation (having ruled the Fire Nation for over two thousand years in a succession of shogunates, the first being the Pho Zhel Shogunate, the last the Ozomiya) until the Firelord Kuzon managed to retake the supremacy over the country and moved the capital west
15. The region of Kanso, originally a sparsely populated mountainous area inhabited by peoples similar to the rest of the Fire Nation but not of the same ethnocultural group, it has had a boom in population mostly due to the mining business, since the soil produces annually half of the coal in the nation
16. The Inner Sea (“Utsumi”), known for being a center of trade and for having many active volcanos (the old capital of Kankyo, being located on the island of the largest of them), it was land some five millennia ago, a fertile depression protected from the sea by a natural dam, but when an earthquake broke it, the once fertile and populated region was engulfed by the floodwaters in a single night, with only the highest lands remaining above
17. The Strait of Flames, which receives its name from having a volcano on each of its shores and another in the middle, with flames commonly going up from their tops and sides, as the three are incredibly active even millennia after their birth created the Inner Sea, in 45 AG Firelord Azulon built on it the “Great Gates of National Security”, colloquially known as the “Gates of Azulon”, which defend the core of the Fire Nation from any naval attack
18. Ember Island, it has been the Fire Nation’s most prestigious holiday destination for over 70 years, having risen to said position after Firelord Azulon visited the island with his wife Illah, who liked it to such a level that she declared every Spring she would come there, with her husband even building a palace for them (even if it is mostly abandoned now, guarded by a group of servants who haven’t seen their masters in over 5 years)
19a. The domains of Hyakukan, they are over a hundred domains big and small ruled by constantly fighting clans known for having their own unique styles of bending and social customs and traditions, the main reason why they remained independent after the fall of the Shogunate was a simple one: there has been no reason to subjugate them, as while unique and tending for isolationism, they are also some of the most fiercely loyal to the Firelord
19b. The Baihe Domain, ruled by the Azuma Clan, it is responsible for controlling the main sea lane between the Mo Ce and Silver Seas, reason why the Firelord is now in a dispute with the local daimyo to either take control of the route or permanently cripple the staunchly independent domain
20. The four southern domains, although some of the largest and most fertile amongst their peers, the domains are known for being chronically poor, in equal parts because of the heavy taxing imposed on their agriculture, the lack of interest of their ruling daimyos (of whom only one doesn’t live on the Caldera nigh permanently) and the recent drought and flooding which afflicted their lands
21a. The Sakuyume Islands, which make much of the outer prefectures, they are populated by a variety of native firebending tribes and petty kingdoms which are de jure ruled over by the capital, but that, outside of serving as stopping points to the navy, are in reality mostly self-ruling
21b. The Mayamaki Islands, originally a small island chain under the nominal rule of the Southern Air Temple, it was entirely uninhabited outside of a myriad of penguin-seals until the Fire nation came, heavily settling them with people from the Homeland
21c. The Hepi Islands, two small outer prefectures that were originally nominal holdings of the Southern Air Temple, they were uninhabited at the time of the genocide and remain mostly so, having only some fishing villages inhabited by secret water tribesmen who fled the south through the last century
22. The three domains of the Clan Ushiromiya, which the largest is the Izu Domain, ruled by the main branch, the islands make an archipelago known for some three things: its dreadfully rainy weather, the great number of birds that live in their heavily forested lands, and the immense wealth of its ruling dynasty, who have made one of the Fire Nation’s greatest fortunes through gold mines and textile factories
23. The Hamai Prefecture, one of the two islands that make its territory is a barren and abandoned place for over a hundred years, having been in the past the hereditary fief and residence of an entire noble clan (whose last head married the Avatar Roku) until its three volcanos erupted catastrophically, engulfing the island and the avatar in flames and ash and causing the clan to disband through the Fire Nation
24a. The outer islands of the Fire Nation (sometimes called “the Dragon’s Tail”), they are known for being both poorer and more conservative than the core of the homeland, with the islands even having the case of a city where dancing is prohibited outside of a permitted set
24b. The Crescent Island, it is a devastated volcanic island were the main temple dedicated to Avatar Roku resides
24c. A group of small island prefectures, they are known for having a small minority of water tribesmen (of the Lotus Islands) and an ancient sect of firebending masters known for creating the powerful art of combustion-bending, manipulated through their tattoo of a third eye
25. The Irimaiyoko Island Domains, a group of thinly populated islands (as most of their population lives in capital cities) that are the point on the Homeland the closest to the Earth Kingdom or the Colonies, they are known for their various fruit exports (many delicacies endemic to the islands), the many tales of dragons living in secret on mountains and coves (which attracts those wanting to gain the title of Dragon, as no-one has had it since Prince Iroh), and the unique culture and appearance of their people, who possess different belief, writing and naming systems (the islands where originally independent kingdoms of muddy origins, which accepted being annexed into the Fire Nation in exchange for autonomy as domains), and have a unique apperance, with light-colored hair being the most common together with purple or purple-ish eyes
26. The island and city of Ikebukuro, often times called the “City of Vice” or “the Wretched Place”, it was, up until some 150 years ago, an uninhabited island on the middle of the Silver Sea, known for nothing but the fact that in the past it had been an outpost of the Fire Nation before its decay millennia ago, but it slowly (no-one knows for sure how) started to become a meeting point between the underbelly of society (similar to Roanapur and Xi Tian in the Eastern Earth Kingdom) and started to expand as more and more criminals, from the highest to the lowest classes, started to accumulate. After so much, it now has become both a developed metropolis and the most vicious place in the world, ruled by crime bosses and thriving with all sorts of things, from large black markets, to gambling, to prostitution and much more, all permitted due to the unwritten agreement that the Fire Nation it’s the one ruling the place, with the nobility and aristocracy considering it the best place when you are looking for a casino or some “fun”
27. The outer prefectures of the Silver Sea, they mostly matter on providing repairs or as stop points to the Navy
28. The Southern Colonies of Kujira (or Whaletail) and Tuzi, both the youngest and most distant amongst the colonies, having been established not even 15 years ago, they are still very much in the mentality of a military district and have the aggravation of possessing a colonist population made of both hardline Fire Supremacists (newer colonists) and normal colonists, which causes social tensions not only between natives (of a mix of Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe stock) and colonials but also between the colonials themselves. It has a caste system, with the new colonists being first-class citizens, other colonists being second-class and natives being either third-class or de facto slaves (some say cattle in Tuzi, but let’s not put much thought into that)
29. The Teji Sea, technically a part of the larger Silver Sea, it is deeply disputed between Chin, Omashu and the smaller kingdom of Kou, with skirmishes being a constant not only for those on the military but even amongst fishermen and the like; at the moment Omashu has the upper hand
30a. The capital province of Xangwoji, it is Chin’s only region to have a technological development similar to the Fire Nation, even having a small Fire Nation minority descending from those engineers sent to help the country after the marriage to Su of Garsai; it is a place of intrigue, scheming and whispered conversations, as Court and Inner Palace see their factions grow in size and enmity
30b. The Easter Province, the nation’s largest subdivision, it has been technically a war zone ever since Chin became an ally of the Fire Nation, but since the country serves more as a source of commodities and resources and the east has always been a second though to the Imperial Court, the region is mostly peaceful, with it being common for people to cross borders almost daily to visit relatives
30c. The Strait of Kyoshi, its creation almost 269 years ago by the final battle of Chin the Conqueror and Avatar Kyoshi is used in the nations they created as their founding date and the basis of their calendars
31. The past lands of the Southern Air Temple, they were mostly uninhabited outside of the great temple and were the believed home to the Avatar (how anyone guessed it, is unknown), factors that united caused the South to be the most heavily attacked by the Fire Nation, with only some twenty boys and a single monk surviving due to not being on the temple the day of the attack, while the entire rest was massacred, but not without extremely heavy costs (of the temples, the south was the one with the highest number of Fire Nation causalities)
32. The Southern Sea, it is a frigid and most sinister land, where nothing can be seen for over half a month and where icebergs are more common that a ship, while in the waters live both many wonders of marine life, and many dangers, unknown to mankind for thousands of years
33a. The Bay of Hufeng, in the past the center of the Southern Water Tribe, but after the many raids by the Fire Nation it is made of some few remaining settlements and many ruins, including what was once the tribe’s capital, now a ruin of ice and snow
33b. The Linhao Peninsula, it houses most of the tribe’s population nowadays, since its mountainous terrain and the treacherous currents around it meant that by the time the Fire Nation came raiding, the tribesmen could simply flee to the mountains for a period and return after they left
33c. The eastern coast, made of some small settlements (none with more than 400 inhabitants) that are mostly let to their own devices by the rest of the tribe due to them not being that liked, as they still practice slavery (and prefer to marry closely, meaning that inbreeding is a common problem)
33d. The Bay of Hufan, mostly isolated from the rest of the tribe due to being frozen 11 months of the year
33e. In the past one of the regions with the largest population in the Southern Water Tribe, as the year-round unfrozen waters meant that fishing and trading were easier to its inhabitants, the Bone Coast nowadays is a desolate and haunted place, as the settlements there weren’t only raided, they were annihilated
33f. The fjords, the region with the warmest climate in the continent and even being capable of doing some agriculture and growing of livestock, the Fire Nation raids did some good damage on the major settlements of the region, and now most live in the river valleys
33g. The village of the Amarok Tribe, it is a small settlement of at most a hundred inhabitants, hidden away within the ice cap, the last of the inland settlements of the Southern Water Tribe
34. The Great Vastness, the frozen wasteland that makes over three quarters of the continent, in the past there were many small settlements across it, in a similar vein to the North, but something has changed since then, and villages that existed for thousands of years disappeared as if on thin air or were found completely uninhabited, with half-crazed survivors telling tales of dark spirits and of air so cold people frozen on the spot
35a. The Hu Xin Provinces, who are located between Garsai and the Sea, they were originally a group of merchant provinces of the Earth Kingdom, ruled by noble oligarchies and with rich coal reserves which attracted the Fire Nation, Firelord Azulon conquered them in 25 AG, invading from their borders with Garsai, where he also fought a war against the kingdom’s remnants
35b. The island of Hu Bao and the twin islands of Donmei, they were military fiefdoms of the Earth Kingdom before Firelord Azulon conquered them when he was still only a 15-year-old Crown Prince
36. The capital city of Garsai, also known as “Garsai of the White Stone”, it was conquered in a surprise attack by the later Firelord Azulon, who took most of the royal family (the House of Cho, a mix of fire and earth benders) at the times as hostages (with them and their descen-dants living in isolation on a villa on the west of the kingdom) and used the somewhat damaged city as his center of command during his war against the Remnant
37. The northwestern part of the Mo Ce Sea, it is a region rather placid in climate, but with a large number of various kinds of aquatic predators (like the giant squid-shark or the sea-wolves) that have from time to time caused problems (like attacking fishermen, or sinking minor ships)
38. The Bay of Crabs, known both for its large fishing community and it’s past as a major naval warzone
39. The basin of the Hadai River, the river valleys are known for being a populational center (now that they have stopped being a front in the war) and something of an industrial region, while the mountains, rich in coal and many kinds of minerals (iron ore in special), are dotted with mining enterprises, to feed both the industries nearby and even as far as Garsai and the Fire Nation
40. The Province of Yang, it was in the past a barely settled and poor subsidiary kingdom, who Firelord Sozin, for the lack of better terms, bought from its king in exchange for an allowance and a royal marriage in the Fire Nation, with him establishing the first ever colony, the city of Yu Dao, known for its traditional role as a populational center and important port in the Mo Ce Sea
41a. The Provinces of Dohan and Wenshonggu, they were in the past possessions of the Kingdom of Liandu, after their conquest by the Fire Nation, the local aristocracy remained in power, simply marrying to Fire Nation nobles as a way of closing their ties, and to this day most of the elites in them are earthbenders
41b. The island and province of Zhengfu, in the past it was a completely uninhabited territory of the Earth Kingdom conquered by Firelord Sozin through him basically laying claim to it and starting to settle the old abandoned cities that existed on the coast, even nowadays, the island is still rather underpopulated (and underdeveloped)
41c. A group of volcanic islands that are known for being nigh uninhabitable to humans without gasmasks outside of buildings, as their volcanos have the tendency to liberate toxic gases with an alarming frequency
41d. The Republic of Balmar, two small islands ruled by an oligarchic assembly that were subjugated by Firelord Sozin rather early in his reign, no-one is really sure why he mantained its independence after basically plummeting their navy and ground forces in a single month
42. The capital city of Kangfao (it doesn’t have any official name, and most just call it “capital”), a rapidly growing city which at the moment is located on the tip of the main peninsula in the Bay of the Cranefishes (due to their lar ge population on the area), which is known for being surrounded by tall snowy mountains. For a capital (and for a place said to have been the world’s largest metropolis some four thousand years ago), the city is rather small, as for most of their history the Ruby Kings of Kangfao preferred to rule from horseback or in military tents and forts than on their ancient seat
43. The northern provinces of Kangfao, they have a rather mountainous landscape (like much of the northwestern Earth Kingdom, for that matter) and are known for being littered by ruined towns, castles and temples, destroyed or abandoned during the times they were an active war front
44. The Province of Lingnang, in the past it was centered around the city of Taku, known for being built around a mountain pass and serving as a center of commerce and defense for centuries (due to being one of the “gates” of Kangfao), it entered a rapid decline after being taken for five years by the Earth Kingdom Western Army some 60 years ago, and was laid waste after being the center of a rebellion fifteen years after that. Nowadays, it is a nearly abandoned ruin, while the province’s center is now in the city of Ponhuai, located around the eponymous stronghold
45. The estuary of the large Su Oku River basin, although a center of agriculture in the colonies (producing nearly all of their annual productions of corn and wheat), it is rather lacking in population, as most fled during the times when the region as a front on the war, and only started to return after the stronghold was built some 20 years ago
46. The Qingyang Wetlands (sometimes called “swamp”), known for their large production of rice and for the nice scenery (marked by vast flooded plains and forests with mountains on the horizon), besides being a good place for fugitives to disappear into new lives. They have an incredible ecosystem, with a variety of plants and aquatic or amphibious animals, of which the turtle-koi is the most majestic
47a. The Province of Ryokuchi (in the past the Kingdom of Lu’di), it was conquered in the span of a year by then Crown Prince Iroh on his first time leading on the Army of the Fire Nation, he showed himself to be quite brutal during it, massacring most of the royal family and aristocracy
47b. Originally the eastern half of the Province of Beipu, the Province of Hokkaju is one of the more recent of the colonies, marked by the fact that while the coast is mostly inhabited by Fire Nation colonists (which came even before the military district became a colony), the countryside is inhabited by Earth Kingdom natives, which are divided into dozens of squabbling clans and tribes and are many times prohibited from entering coastal cities without the permission of a Fire Nation citizen
47c. The Province of Fuzhan, the smallest of the colonies of the Fire Nation, it was established some 15 years ago when Firelord Azulon separated it from the larger Hokkaju, establishing a new colony with an absolute majority of the population made of Fire Nation colonies to control the gates to the main river network of the Earth Kingdom
47d. The easternmost border of the Colonies, covered by a large expanse of forests, it is technically pacified (as the war has officially moved to the east) and now serve as one of the possible routes to the front in Huashi, but unofficially the region is suffering from attacks from outlaws growing amidst the leaves, leaded by a mysterious figure by the name of “Jet”
48. The southern lands of the Kingdom of Liandu, heavily mountainous and sparsely populated, their inhabitants, while of Earth Kingdom culture and stock, have been clamoring to enter the Fire Nation as a new set of colonial provinces, in part because they are rather tired of being a military district (after some decades in that state) and in part because they see advantages in it, having always been more connected to Dohan and Wenshonggu then to Liandu at large (with their nobility and peasantry still intermarrying constantly)
49. The Military Kingdom of Liandu, controlled by the General Minamori Akira, a complicated region within the Fire Nation’s military territories, there are regions that have been pacified (although remaining in a bad shape in almost all possible levels) and others that are still being suppressed, while the commanding general has reached some kind of truce with the remnants of Liandu
50. The remnant of the Kingdom of Liandu, governed from the fortress-city of Hwangnyongsa (which has been the center of royal power ever since the old capital of Baekje, seat of the Mang Dynasty for over 900 years, was lost 35 years ago), they have nowadays entered a state of uneasy calm with the truce, as tensions remain high below the surface, as its last continental lands are defended by a wall of mountains made in a desperate attempt to halt the advance of the Fire Nation (they succeeded, but most of the thousands of benders died in the process) while the city herself is so bloated that people have started building upwards as an way to create more space, while the king runs against the time to send as many people as possible to Ba Sing Se before they are put under a blockade
51a. The Military District of Kongwu, commanded by the harsh but coldly efficient General Niemoka Shoju, it has been mostly pacified nowadays, as the war and the harsh punishments (entire cities razed to the ground, with the entire population put to the sword) have broken the will of the locals, who live harsh and unforgiving lives
51b. The Xiyan River, one of the two entrances to the Western Lake (and through it the even larger river network of the central Earth Kingdom), it is almost entirely under the control of the Fire Nation, with the Earth Kingdom having a single stronghold remaining on its shores, if they lose it, the northwestern Earth Kingdom will be under complete control fo the Fire Nation
51c. The Military District of Huashi (at the moment the largest of them, although that is planned to change), it is here that the fighting between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom is the fiercest and most violent, with both side knowing that if the Western Lake is taken and the region secured, Ba Sing Se can be attacked (as the Dragon of the West did once), and so they fight in an almost obsessed way, uncaring to the sheer scale of destruction and human suffering caused by both sides
51d. The Military District of Beipu, named after the province it almost completely controls, it is first and foremost a battleground known for the fact that the frontlines are constantly changing due to the entrenched resistances in the region, which the commanding General Hufong Mugen has done much to destroy (she is also known for having a flower shop she runs when not in the front, and has recently ma-naged to snatch the position of future “Governor of Omashu” to her brother-in-law, the Minister Ukano)
51e. The Great Divider, the largest canyon of the world and an important crossing point for refugees seeking refuge in Ba Sing Se, with the war coming closer and closer, it may become a giant trench
52a. The Kingdom of Yi, one of the minor states within the Earth Kingdom, it is a mountainous land covered by tropical and monsoon forests and rich in mineral resources, which until recently had been ruled by the incredibly incompetent and elderly Lushan III, who stayed in his palace of pleasures while his kingdom was conquered and when the Fire Nation reached his capital he surrendered without a doubt, now, with his death at age 79 (of “natural causes”), his thirty-fifth son, Gon, aged seven, has become a puppet king under the general Joro Izumi
52b. The southern coast of Yi, sometimes called the “Trail of Storms”, it is one of the worst regions in the world for sailing, being known for the treacherous and rocky land on the shallow coastline, the coral reefs here and there and the constant storms, with the Fire Nation taking so long to take the kingdom simply because it was impossible to reach its capital without going through Yi’s main river, whose estuary is in the region
52c. The last independent lands of Yi, managing to do so due to their nigh-unreachable location (on a mountainous rainforest, to be exact), they are ruled by the old king’s twentieth son, Hokai the Duke of Gonsu, who has already declared he plans to expel the Fire Nation and become his brother’s regent (quite possible, since he may be his real father, as the king’s mother was his long-time lover before his father lusted over her and took her for himself)
53a. The great city of Omashu, believed to be the oldest city in the world to still be inhabited, it is an inexpugnable fortress as much as a center of government for its kingdom, with no ruler (not even Chin the Conqueror) managing to actually take the city through battle (he did through a rare case of diplomacy)
53b. The eastern marches of the kingdom, they are a mix of mountain and desert inhabited by hundreds of petty tribes that migrated from the Si Wong Desert some centuries in the past, staunchly isolated outside of the Royal Sandbender Battalion of King Bumi
53c. The Youbu River and its large estuary/bay, serving as a center of trade, agriculture and administration to not only the northern half of the kingdom but to the entirety of the domains of Omashu (as most of the population depends on the food imported from the North), the fight for the region is fierce, for it the Youbu falls, then the rest of the kingdom shall fall as well
53d. The Southward Campaign into the Youbu River (through one of its main branches), it is an utter bloodbath that has lasted for over a year and a half and take over a hundred thousand lives on both sides
53e. The Military District of Omashu, it was established just two years ago after General Bujing used his highly controversial tactic of sacrificing an entire division to land on the region (made of raw recruits, only a percentage of the division survived, most crippled or heavily injured, and although they have received “military honors”, many still hold a deep hatred for the old general, who has suffered thirty-seven different attempts against his live in the time since, the last one was a blind attacker who managed to stab him in the shoulder and gut his aide) and is known already for being truly a horrific front, as the lands held by the Fire Nation are many times devastated and the war just gets bloodier with the succession of General Sakauchi as the commander of the district, after all, there is a reason why his nickname is “The Butcher”
54. The Kingdom of Qialai, at the moment the only one amongst the northern kingdoms that still retains most of its territory in the fight against the Fire Nation, this status isn’t due to the mountainous nature of the northern territories (since that didn’t help its neighbors), but instead is because the Queen Mother has been ruling the nation ever since her husband got himself killed in battle while their son is a child, and she is, luckily, the eldest and most favored grandchild of General Dai, known for both his capability in commanding and his tendency to dote on his descendants
55a. The Kingdom of Tsang, who is both the most mountainous and possibly the most unique of the subsidiary kingdoms (it is also home to the tallest peak in the world, the Lonely Mountain), it was for millennia an extremely divided region, claimed by the Earth Monarch but divided into hundreds of clans, tribes and petty kingdoms who developed their own cultures as they were divided by the mountains, only to be finally united by its first king around 300 years ago, Gyatso I. Heavily influenced by the nearby Northern Air Temple and the Air Nomads (Gyatso I himself was a child of mixed origins, having an monk for father and the chieftainess of a tribe for mother), the kingdom has in many ways a closer connection to them than to the Earth Kingdom, with even its local earthbending style being remarkably quick paced and moving at all times, this distance, however, has tragically shown itself in the recent invasion of the kingdom by the Fire Nation (leaded by the cunning General Ookawa), as the poor kingdom didn’t receive any aid in fighting them and has been almost completely overrun in the past three years, with only a part of the southwest remaining fighting, while even the king, Gyatso the Fourteenth, has been taken captive after his defeat in the siege of Potala, the capital city
55b. The Kingdom of Keiting, the most complicated of the northern kingdoms on its status nowadays, it was until some 5 years ago a relatively poor and sparsely populated kingdom, who managed to remain unscathed from Fire Nation attacks simply by paying tribute every month, until Firelord Ozai assumed the throne and decided that that wasn’t enough and ordered the official invasion of the entire territory (nowadays even his generals criticize him on this, as they are pragmatic enough to see how bad a decision it was). Now, the kingdom is in an utter state of chaos, as the attack on its capital killed most of the Royal Family and sent the population, mostly living in the coastal plains, into chaos, with fights both between locals and the Fire Nation and against themselves, while its nominal king (Crown Prince until the attack), is a de facto prisoner on Ba Sing Se
55c. The Military District of Sangaku, the most desolate of all the territories of the military and known for being used as a go-to place when you want to punish your subordinates, here de war is a sluggish and bitter thing that seems to never come closer to an end, as the entire region is part of the world’s largest mountainous region and the locals are fierce in their fighting. The current commander of the district, Colonel Ki Honmaru, is the youngest of all the commanders of the army and was demoted and sent here after being found in bed with Crown Princess Azula in the beginning of the year
55d. The Province of Hubang, one of the most mountainous (if not the most mountainous) territories of the Earth Kingdom, it is a sparsely populated land with a local population that has a style of earthbending similar that of the Kingdom of Tsang, marked by quick movements and by the use of the earth as a support on the unstable ground they most of the time live in
55e. Principality of Gaoxi, a small insular state that is rather insignificant on most things, has been mostly conquered by the Fire Nation, which uses three of its four main islands as launching points for their invasions on the rest of the northern Earth Kingdom
55f. The island-fortress of Tiebao, in the past the point through which the Earth Kingdom controlled the navigation of the Northern Sea, being called many times “inexpugnable” by both enemies and allies, it is at the moment in a two-years-long siege
56a. The Shonru River Campaign, one of the many fronts seeking to control the Western Lake, it has been brutal and fast, and the Fire Nation has seen few capable resistance as it goes, only finding poorly-trained and poorly-equipped conscripts to confront
56b. The Jan Campaign, which is in the process of conquering the western half of the eponym province, it was a difficult endeavor at its start, with three failed landings being repelled by the local militia before the fourth succeeded past summer, but with the making of a large foothold on the area, the Fire Nation considers everything to be “according to plan” (as would the commanding General, Ikari Genzo, say)
56c. The Chuang Campaign, that together with Shonru and Jan has the objective of taking the Western Lake, like the latter, it almost failed in the landing, and even now it is in a rather bad shape
57. The Chuang Province, a most depopulated and somewhat dry region that houses the secret ports at Full Moon Bay, which every day take more and more refugees to Ba Sing Se, the immigration laws are extremely convoluted and harsh, and both criminality and shanty towns have risen in number with every people that is barred from taking the travel
58. The Serpent’s Pass, a narrow isthmus that separates the Western and Eastern Lakes (it did, but the central point in the isthmus fell due to erosion some 70 year ago and no-one has noticed it), many fear the idea of traveling through the isthmus (there is even an entrance with the writing “Abandon Hope”), who is said to house sea monsters and be haunted (some legends say the pass was in the past the tip of a mountain chain, which was sunk in a legendary battle in the Age Before the Avatar)
59. The Chalang Basing, one of the larger of the Earth Kingdom (and a sub-basin of the larger one made by the La kes), it served in the past as one of the centers of population in the nation, being in the past made of dozens of king doms subjugated by the might of the Crystal Kings of Ba Sing Se, but nowadays it has seen a fast drop in population (especially on coastal areas) due to fears over the looming threat of the Fire Nation, with entire cities having already been entirely evacuated
60. The Province of Kim, the northernmost province of the continental Earth Kingdom, it is divided between moun-tainous boreal forests, sparsely inhabited by towns, and large grasslands inhabited by semi-nomadic horsemen
61a. The City of Ba Sing Se, without a doubt the largest metropolis in the entire world and the center of power of the Earth Kingdom for thousands of years (with the city herself being at least ten thousand years old), it is a city of walls and secrets, divided into rings and districts and ruled by Grand Secretariat Long Feng and his Dai Li
61b. Lake Laogai: vacation spot, water reservoir and perfect location for a secret underground facility
61c. The Agrarian Zone of Ba Sing Se, located between the Inner and Outer Walls of the “City”, it is Ba Sing Se’s largest internal division, having a variety of climates and even an entire mountain range across, and its thousands of farms and noble fiefdoms serve to feed the entire city, succeeding in doing so even with the rise in population
61d. The Harbor of Ba Sing Se, technically a fortified district of the Halan Province, it serves as the only permitted entrance to the unconquerable city and has a small town around it made of refugees waiting to have entrance to Ba Sing Se proper through the network of underground monorails that connect it and the Harbor
61e. The Province of Ba Sing Se (which is so commonly confused with the City that its territory has been many times used as an outline to the Outer Wall, although, admittedly, it does have a wall around it, if not as tall as the one of the Agrarian Zone), one of the oldest territories of the Earth Kingdom and being under the rule of the City even before the first Earth Monarch was crowned; it is made of a patchwork of noble fiefdoms and personal lands of the Earth Monarch, being dotted with the ancestral holdings of some of the nation’s oldest families
62. The kingdoms of the Wolui Islands, they are a series of small states that are left almost entirely to their own devices by the Earth Monarchy, although they do have to send conscripts every year, seeing as their capacity to navigate the islands’ treacherous waters (marked by whirlpools) makes them incredibly valuable to the navy
63a. The archipelago of the islands of Galao and Dekkao, sparsely populated mountainous islands covered by dark and packed forests, their hidden coves and natural ports serve as a good hiding spot to pirates
63b/63c. The provinces of Teyen and Hon, mostly known for the contrast between their rivers and coasts with the hinterlands, as the latter are made of cold grasslands while the former is made of some of the largest swamps and marshes in the world
63d. The Province of Kolang, inhabited by dozens of tribes of nomadic horselords that thrive on the grasslands making most of its territory, in the past the region served as the core territory to the many horselord empires of the past, who ruled unopposed the steppes of the Northern Earth Kingdom until some eight centuries in the past
64a. The Province of Jamir, an arid, rocky and mountainous land that in the past was an independen kingdom ruling most of what is now the Northern Si Wong, it is inhabited by almost a single ethnic group (who makes around nine tenths of the population), marked by a pale skin tone and a variety of golden hair and eyes
64b. The Province of Halan, in the past an arid but populous land (due to the olive and wine farms along its coast and the various underground reservoirs under it), nowadays it has lost around a third of its population to both the fear of the looming war, a harsh drought and the recent yellowpox outbreaks, with most of the population now living on the eastern and wetter parts of the province
64c. The western Province of Lingyi, made mostly of steppes in the north and monsoon forests in the south (along the “Great River”), it is suffering from some sort of famine due to a mix of a disease afflicting the cattle in the north and a drought in the south
65. The regions around the Copper Lake and the last segments of the Great River (nominally the Ghandi) and its estuary (Chameleon Bay), a land marked by a monsoon-like climate known for causing floods and droughts in the flip of the coin, they are the homeland of the large Ghandi ethnocultural group (a patchwork of over a hundred smaller cultures and subcultures), although now those who live here have long intermingled with the people of the northern Earth Kingdom, due both to past invasions and failed projects of ethnic cleansing by past Earth Kings, they are known for bright and colorful clothing and jewelry, a variety of revered spirits and festivals, vegetarianism and a “successful” caste system, who has been in place for thousands years
66. The Eastern Sea, the only body of water where the Earth Kingdom Navy still rules over unopposed
67a. The capital dominion of Murin, it is known for being incredibly divided between its north and south by the Jungo River, with the former being a victim of the farthest raids from the nomadic horsemen from the grasslands while the latter is defended both by the river and the mountain range in the east of the nation
67b. The northern dominions of Dayuan, they are the least populated regions of Murim, as the traditional enmity between it and the peoples of the grasslands means that every year they are attacked by raiding parties, with it occurring for so long that the local calendars are started by the first raid of the year
67c. The dominion of Qingqao, a mountainous land known for its elaborate temples and holy places
67d. The dominion of Hanseju, ruled for over 300 years by the Kim family of Pyongdulang, it is the richest territory of Murin, both due to its relative safety from any military attack and the simple fact that it controls the strait between the Eastern and the Great Seas, some theorize that the only reason why the family hasn’t tried anything to take over the throne (as others have done before) is because of their staunch loyalty
67e. The Island of Wugui, while its center is mostly made of hilly forests, its coast is made almost completely of muddy mangrove forests, known for their variety of sea animals, who represent the main food source of the people who live on them
67f. The far-away island of Thuja, a volcanic formation whose local inhabitants live isolated and secretive lives, being said by some to intermingle with ox-seals and sea-lions and having webbed fingers and gills on their bodies
68. The Southeastern Provinces, known for being de facto made of hundreds of petty kingdoms and having the tendency for infighting and rebellion, as even though they are technically under the overlordship of the Earth Monarch (whose government is known for putting absurdly high taxes on them), the kingdoms remain with their ancient enmities and rivalries, exacerbated by the region’s recent harvest failures and the unequal helping given by the government on the famine that ensued
69a. The Tarim Protectorate, locally known as the “Tarim Confederacy”, it is possibly the most powerful (and definitively the most populous) of the protectorates, as its location on the basin of the Tarim River (which is famous for flooding every year and fertilizing the soil around with rich silt) means that the region is the breadbasket of the Si Wong Desert, growing many crops and having a large population
69b. The central protectorates, broken into thousands of cities and tribes squabbling over the region’s few resources, the only amongst them of importance is the protectorate of Xi Tian, where exists both the biggest city in all of Si Wong, the ancient capital of the Snake Emperors with its tall black-stone walls who house over half a million souls within (even on its now diminished and half-abandoned state), and the holiest place in the entire desert, the Rock, a lone mighty rock on the center of the desert that has been for millennia a place of pilgrimage and fear, said to have been dropped from the heaves by the desert’s gods as a signal of their anger with an unfaithful mankind
69c. The Sinai Protectorate, a no-man’s land for decades controlled by outlaws and fighting tribes, legends say that hidden in the dunes of the protectorate lies Wan Shi Tong’s library, said to house all the world’s knowledge as well as secrets that only the spirits are awa-re of
69d The Ishvali Protectorate, one of the largest protectorates of the Si Wong Desert but also one of the most isolated all-around, it is the homeland of the Ishvali People, an ethnoreligious group known for two main things, their unique looks (red eyes, white hair and dark skin), and the fact that they are one of the few “monotheist” peoples in the world, as they believe that while other spirits exist, only their patron, Ishvala, may be revered
69e. The northern protectorates, wetter than the rest of the desert due to rainfall from the Eastern Lake, their position amongst the trade routes to Ba Sing Se make the region rich, and their merchants are marked by their quite unusual ways of travel, giant beetles
69f. The Kawa Protectorate, it is known for being closely tied to the Kingdom of Omashu, who controls the mouth of the Youbu River and through that the protectorate’s lifeblood, with the Fire Nation’s invasion of the kingdom Kawa has started to send military aid to Omashu’s defence
69g. The Sheng Protectorate, the largest of all the protectorates, for all its size, the protectorate is still made of some few oasis towns connected by nomadic tribes from the sand, nominally under the rule of a council of elders in the protectorate’s capital
70. The kingdoms of the Jianyin Plateau, a group of eight states of sizes big and small located on the mix of forests, mountains and a variety of grasslands that make the plateau and its surrounding region, originally they were mostly a waypoint between the Si Wong Protectorates and the states to the south, being wealthy but not overly so, but after the Kingdom of Mihay’s catastrophes the kingdoms have seen a rise in prosperity unheard of, as they are the ones controlling the trading route (since the neighbor to the south is too weak for that) and export most of the food consumed in the southwestern Si Wong
71. The kingdom of Kou, a contrasting land squished between the Foggy Swamp to the north, mountains to the ea st and Chin to the south, it was until less than a century ago a rather poor province of the Earth Kingdom, whose first king received his title from the elderly 49th Earth King after decades serving as a peasant-born bureaucrat of some renown; nowadays, the kingdom is rather wealthy (mostly due to the goldmines, as it’s landscape is covered by large swaths of dense rainforest), even if a tad legalist (almost like Chin in that matter), and is mostly known for the fact that its population has the quirk of having natural red hair, with its ruling clan using their own unique shade to identify their members
72. Gaoling, the capital of the eponymous republic and the biggest city in the southern Earth Kingdom (having a population well over five million people), it is a metropolis made of high buildings and canals (as the city was built directly over the small and muddy delta of the Nanlu River, with buildings needing to be small in ground area to actually be sustained by their foundations) One of the city’s greatest past-times are the earthbending fights, that occur in an unofficial manner through the year and in an official one in the annual Earth Rumble
72a. The Kingdom of Qi, a mostly agrarian state said to have ruled over all the south of the Earth Kingdom in the past, its most notable achievement nowadays is the fact that it produces high quality paper, exporting it to most of the nation at its price in silver
72b. The states of the Upper Nanlu River, they are a variety of kingdoms and republics that have been for generations under the thumb of Gaoling, who knows them less as states on their own and more as sources of some kind, with their colloquial names being the main products they export preceded by “the land of…”
72c. The Province of Yangy’e, technically a province under the Earth Monarchy, but de facto a colony of Gaoling ever since the 47th Earth King leased it to the patricians of the republic, who have gigantic personal fiefs and villas on the region and has all but officially annexed it into their republic
72d. The Principality of Yushu, a sparsely inhabited state based mostly on fishing, trade and the growing of local fruits like apples and a variety of berries, it is known for being in fact ruled by a branch of the Beifong Family, having been founded by Hong Bei Fong (the old writing of the name) conquered a fort dressed as a monk some fifteen centuries ago; because of its ties to the republic, it is also the most independent of all its vassals
72e. The Principality of Roanapur, which basically comprises the city of the same name and the lands around, it is, together with Ikebukuro, one of the world’s “Cities of Vice”, being known for the fact that crime syndicates run the nation as much as its prince or the “councilor” from Gaoling, while its economy runs on the casinos, opium houses, prostitution and black markets, with there being specific taxes even for things like assassinations, slaves (which are officially illegal, but very much still used on Gaoling’s sphere of influence), and even more absurd things like body parts and children for adoption
73a. The Kingdom of Jaohu, the largest and most powerful of the states in the Southern Seas (controlling the eponym island and having influence over those around) even though its mountainous terrain proves to be a deterrent to successful agriculture (something that has been changed with the introduction of terraces to farm on), its present king is known both for his brutality against internal threats (the kingdom is rather divided) and for his relationship with his past body-double
73b. The kingdoms of Huwan, a group of various squabbling states located on the western half of Chengwan Island that have been in this state for generations, with wars being a common occurrence and intrigue so common is considered almost a cultural trait
73c. The sister kingdoms of Lu and Li, they are a small and rocky island chain mostly known for the fact that their populations are so small literally all their inhabitants hold some title of nobility, and are all related to their ruling monarchs (and to each other)
73d. The Hudayao Kingdom, a small kingdom on the western Jiao She, it’s crown princess is said to see the future
73e. The Gako Kingdom, the southernmost part of the Earth Kingdom, it, like Linghao, mostly lives from the sea, using blubber to heat houses, skin or hides to insulate them and meat to eat
73f. The Linlhao Kingdom, a small rocky archipelago, known for living mostly of seals and whales
73g. The Kudao Kingdom, in the past a part of Jaohu that broke apart during the reign of the 49th Earth King, it is relatively sparse on its population but its native deer-goats and their many breeds are considered a delicacy in the ranks of the Earth Kingdom’s nobility
73h. The Xuexia Confederacy, a small mountainous state located on the island of the same name, its lands lack in much areas of natural resources or arable land, but shine when the matter is rare minerals, as they are filled with diamonds, emeralds and rubies
74. The Jiao She Sea, separating the south of the Earth Kingdom between the continent and the large Southern Islands, it, like most seas under the nominal control of Ba Sing Se, suffers heavily from piracy and slavery, which is common even after some good 500 years of illegality
75a. The Murong River Valley, the Lysung Dynasty’s oldest domain and core territory, the region is known for being dotted with palaces, forts and temples as old as the nation itself, with many of them being in ruins while others have remained in use ever since the Nine Sage Kings and their ancestors ruled
75b. The Ai Chin region, it is known for being a geological anomaly, as its mountainous landscape is quite out of place on the mostly flat southeast of the Lysung Dynasty, legend says the region became this way millennia ago when an Avatar battled a powerful spirit of some kind, and their battle was so catastrophic it forevermore changed the landscape
75c. The headwaters of the Murong River, inhabited by a variety of mountain tribes that while nominal vassals of the Lysung Kings, they are known for having for centuries raided the lands down the river or in the plain, and only recently the monarchs have managed to struck a truce with them
76a. The main member of the Nanbu Union, the Kingdom of Kesh is a nation known for two things, its inhabitants’ cultural obsession with being overly polite and their tendency to jump into berserk-like madness over the smallest offense, and the fact that its rulers consider themselves to be the avatars of their main worshiped spirit, Kesh
76b. The Ningwey Dukedom, an arid and mountainous state ruled by a dynasty made of powerful waterbenders, who have over the generations mastered the art of dragging moisture from the sea to create rain (or from more sentient sources, but that’s for executions only)
76c. The Kingdom of Fajong, an extremely mountainous kingdom with is known for its architecture, marked by using stones so precisely cut and matched together that they can resist earthquakes (while the gap between them is so thin you can’t put a blade between them)
76d. The Empire of Jing, a matriarchal tetrarchy known for its obsession with gems and crystals
76e. The many kingdoms of Chenyao, unlike their neighbors to the west, they have been mostly peaceful
76f. The seven states of the Yucheng Islands, a group of small nations located in single volcanic islands that are known for being extremely wealthy due to its surrounding waters, where pearls are hunted and harvest abundantly together with the byssus of the noble pen shells, which are the basic material to produce the extremely valuable seal silk, with an ounce of it being sold for a pound of gold in most markets
77a. The Eastern Air Temple, although the temple that is in the most ruined state (having been extremely damaged in the genocide and later struck by two different earthquakes), it was also the one who had the most survivors, as although centered on the great temple, the island of Qingwa had a population more widespread, and around a third of their total population managed to survive, either living in hidden settlements (a scant few) or fleeing to either the Northern Temple, the Blossom Islands or some other remote location
77b. The marshes of Qingwa Island, they are home to an incredible variety of birds, of which the long-lived ostrich-flamingo and eagle-crane are the most known, as their meat is considered a fine delicacy on both Earth and Fire, the only reason why they haven’t still been hunted to extinction or been forced to flee has been the few Air Nomads that still live in the island, and believe those birds to be the reincarnations of the death, and as holy as the ruins
77c. The south of the Qingwa Island, the region is so absurdly mountainous that even its shores are simply continuations of the mountains, and the entire fauna and flora of the region has evolved in ways to survive it, like a variety of trees with roots so strong they break the rock and grow on them
78. The Min-O Confederacy, a small state located on the island chain just off the coast of the old holdings of the Eastern Air Temple, it is a petty, weak and isolated matriarchy known for housing many ruins of gigantic palace complexes (with its capital city being in fact the inhabited parts of a complex spanning an entire island)
79. The island of Yuyake, it is the westernmost domain of the Fire Nation, being a military territory centered on a single titanic fortress through which it launches its influence on the Far East, recently it was raided by Chief Hakoda’s War Fleet, which managed to massacre half of the local fleet sneaking in the night
80. Technically a part of the larger Yucheng Islands but considered as separate due to not being part of the Nanbu Union, they have an economy similar to that of their neighbors, and although their rulers are said to be secret airbenders, they do constant business with the Fire Nation
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1. Yes, that is intact the reason why I finished my sentence with a question mark and not a period. It does work but I wanted to raise the question.
2. Possible, I suppose.
Not bad, this has been an on-off project (the two month's are a rough estimate of the total of time I took on it but I started doing this map in early 2019), the quaratine pushed me into finishing it (since I'm locked in home withouth anythign else to do besides doing maps/lore, reading, cleaning and trying to learn how to mend clothes)
Bro honestly this is too good. I love the Earth Kingdom components. Reminds me of the Holy Roman Empire.
This is simply too amazing for this world. You taken the Avatar world, and truly transform into something new, and alive. There is simply too much for me to even start, but I really love everything about it, from the Fire Nation and it great empire and the fusion of Fire and Earth cultures, or at least acceptance (Pay no mind to Ozai.) and it being won by politics as much as it was by war, to the Earth Kingdom, and it mess of various states, kingdoms, Protectorates, Provinces, city-states, and more in part of the rot and collapse of central royal rule and in part of the 100 Years War, to stuff like Kyoshi and Chin States, the countless families and noble lines, to the fact some Air Nomands still live, to various mentions and references to past events and current events, (Both original and those from the shows, like infamous Ty Clan...spies, assassins and more...), and Avatars, and various oddities....
So year, truly amazing stuff.
The only next best thing is an Korra era base world. ( The capital city of Kangfao is really the future Republic City. Even match up on the map.)
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So, I made a map of Jugdral, a continent from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.
View attachment 542063
I love it
Thanks! Worldbuilding and putting so much lore you feel like you're drowning in it is basically my modus operanti when doing a map (reason why I have the tendency to not actually finish them, that and perfectionism)
I actually think about doing a map abou the world in Korra’s era, although with a different Republic City and URA due to the Colonies having a more monarchical nature to their governance (the Council and Chairman being more like the Privy Council and its Lord President. Amon’s revolution being fascism mixed with the Bolsheviks. President Raiko being a Prime Minister, Izumi not being Zuko's seemingly only child...)
And you got it on the capital of Kangfao is what in canon is Cranefish Town, the antecessor to Republic City (I even tried to hint at it by saying the capital's bay is named Bay of the Cranefishes)
Thanks! It does resemble the late Holy Roman Empire when you look to the south (or the Late Zhou Dynasty)
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I would assume in this timeline, merely speaking German would be considered a hanging offense.GERMANY: THE TARGET
(aka "Turn the fash into nuclear ash")
When Germany Repudiated Versaille, Remilitarized and annexed Austria, we gave in;
When Germany Dismembered Czechoslovakia and Reshaped Central Europe, we gave in;
When Germany Invaded Poland, we gave in, not daring to attack;
And When our troops were defeated in Northern France, we gave in to the Nazis, leaving them a free hand to conquer the East.
One by one cities fell to the Germans: Kiev, Leningrad, Moscow. The Soviet people fought fervently but they couldn't win decisive battle against the Wehrmacht and eventually, they split without a leader. Then, we started to hear rumors, hearsays from the occupied territories, too terrible to be believe. Until what happened became clear, Death and Slavery on an industrial scale, Engineered famines that depopulated countries, the systematic destruction of the culture and memory of entire peoples. And it was too late to intervene, the Germans were fortifying the Atlantic Wall after shifting their ressources west and the awakened American Giant was focused on the final confrontation of the Great Pacific War.
Germany and Britain hunkered down on their positions, putting pressure on each other while the Free World led by America was working together to counter the Nazi Empire but despite the nuclear superiority an invasion was still deemed too costly. Instead, we sat on our hundreds of airfield and bases, focusing on merely containing Fascism, more and more confident it would eventually burn itself out if it couldn't spread.
And Indeed, the supposedly Thousand-Year long Reich collapsed, an extremely militarised state centered on the cult of personality of its leader who could only keep the cutthroat branches of the fanatical state from killing each other. It only needed his death, and a bomb in Germania. Everybody was expecting it, yet nobody was prepared for the Chaos.
As germany became a battleground the oppressed people of Europe rose up, from Brest to Moscow every desesperate groups decided to strike at the same time despite the lack of coordination, some misjudged the local forces and were crushed others carved out their freedom from the Nazi Empire, everybody took the opportunity, everybody except us.
Why the Free world didn't directly intervene is still a mystery a few years later, some say it was a conflict of interest between the various free countries, other advocated patience and measure to eventualy deal with the last Fascist contender standing, many were afraid of the German missiles. But it doesn't matter, the freedom fighters of Europe looked up to us and we failed to helpd, despite a decade of preparation we did not dare to do more than timid strikes at the periphery and giving indirect support to the most prominent revolutionaries. At the most crucial moment, we gave in once more.
The inevitable then happened: After months and months of fighting, one of the Nazi contender seized Germany proper, a wasteland for sure, but that faction, more fanatical than ever, still controlled the most productive wasteland across a devastated Europe. Slowly but surely they have been retaking freed cities, Prague, Bratislava, Kracow, determined to retake their conquest and destroy all who betrayed them, and with every passing months their nuclear stockpile, initially insignificant and terribly late compared to ours, grows larger and larger and as we have seen from Warsaw, they are clearly not reluctant to use them.
Across Europe, In France, in former Russia, in Poland, resistant groups are still strong, but there is no doubt that alone they cannot withstand this fanatical onslaught. We are at the crossroads, either we act decisively and destroy the Nazi Empire at its very center, or we would have yielded one final time, like cowards who let a Continent be destroyed.
Against a nuclear armed Germany resolute to destroy what is left of Europe one final time there is only one option: the immediate strategic atomic destruction of Germany. Yes, this would sign the death warrant of millions of Germans, and put at risk millions of Britons and other freed or oppressed European but for every week we wait untold victims are dying, the massacre can only end with the instant decapitation of the Nazi Empire, whatever the cost.
Future pundits will wonder if it would have been worth it, why bring more death to a country which has already undergone a civil war? Would the destruction of some of our cities have been worth it? But they will have the benefit of hindsight and they will be removed from the ongoing massacre, a massacre that surpasses what anyone has done in History, surpassing even what the Nazis did to Russia last decade. It is a moral obligation to strike now and put down Fascism forever.
We need a joint strike to preserve what is left of Europe.
A Genocide of a dozen millions to save a hundred.
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Well this was rather fun to make, I started this map more than a year ago and only restarted working on it with the lockdown, this is supposed to be in a divergent scenario of a TWR mod timeline, really any where one of the civil war factions wins early after a short civil war, I purposely made the writeup vague, showing a poster advocating for the destruction of Germany
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