|
|
|
|
|
|
|
YummyBiscuits Vice Captain
|
 Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 4:46 pm
================= [ B]ending [A]rts ● ● ● ●
FireBending
Firebending, one of the four elemental bending arts, is the pyrokinetic ability to create and control fire, practiced by some people of the Fire Nation, as well as the lesser known Sun Warriors.
Fire is the element of power, consisting of overpowering force tempered by the unflinching will to accomplish tasks and desires. However, the recently militaristic Fire Nation twisted this into firebending being fueled by rage, hate, and anger. Firebending draws its power from the sun, and the first human firebenders derived their firebending techniques from the dragons
Firebending is notable for its intensive attacking style and general lack of adequate defense moves, although some notable firebenders utilize creative defensive moves; for example, Jeong Jeong could create walls of fire, and Zuko was able to simultaneously block and shoot down incoming objects.
It has been revealed that firebenders learned firebending from the sacred dragons that had once populated their land. The first people to learn from the dragons were the Sun Warriors. In the remains of their once great civilization, Zuko and Aang discovered that firebending represents energy and life, not rage and anger as the modern Fire Nation would have its citizens believe.
Firebenders draw their power from the sun and other solar objects. A solar eclipse has the potential to completely negate a firebender's power, revealing a direct connection between the sun and firebending. Additionally, after defeating Katara at the rise of the sun, during the Siege of the North, Zuko stated that "she rose with the moon, but he rose with the sun", further emphasizing and demonstrating the sun's importance to firebending. Firebenders are also said to draw power from volcanic energy and lightning, though this has never been seen in the series.
Based on the Chinese text of Jeong Jeong's wanted poster, the word "firebending" is written as 制火朮, roughly translated as "the method of controlling fire".
Firebending moves are based mainly on the Northern Shaolin style of kung fu, but with a few techniques from Northern Seven Star Praying Mantis. These martial arts feature quick, successive attacks that take extreme power momentarily, much like an explosion, called ging lik. It optimizes a strong continuous offense, sacrificing defense for greater power, the principle behind a pre-emptive strike, making firebending the most aggressive of the four bending arts.
Firebenders use their internal body heat as a source of their bending. This facet of firebending is a sharp contrast to the other bending arts, which manipulate already present sources of their element, though firebenders can also control or enhance flames nearby. Unlike other bending disciplines, firebending has few defensive moves aside from blocking and dodging, although master firebenders are able to create walls of fire to absorb incoming attacks or shoot down incoming projectiles.
Firebending uses concentrated barrages of fire to overwhelm opponents before striking a fatal blow. Swift, whirling kicks and punches generate diverse shapes for offensive attacks.
Circular motion also seems to be a crucial element to the skill as it seems to be a precession to "power up" the firebender's flames. When creating lightning, the firebenders often move their arms in slow, circular motions, similar to waterbenders but with more tension. As said before, whirling kicks or punches are used many times in the series to create arcs, or just to power their bending.
According to Iroh, fire is the element of power.
Certain powerful firebenders are able to generate and manipulate lightning by separating the yin and yang energies. Lightning, also known as "the cold-blooded fire", is considered the most powerful firebending technique, and its use was available only to a select few firebending prodigies and masters. However, seventy years later, the art has evolved to a well-known skill and is known by enough people to make lightning generation a decently-paid job at a power plant in Republic City.
Some experienced firebenders are unable to lightning bend because they don't possess inner peace. If a firebender who harbors inner turmoil tries to generate lightning, it would only cause a miniature explosion. For example, Zuko was unable to because of his inner conflict with his father the Fire Lord and his sister Azula.
WaterBending
Waterbending, one of the four elemental bending arts, is the hydrokinetic ability to control water, as well as its many forms. This type of bending is utilized by the people of the Water Tribes, who are divided into the Southern, the Northern, and the lesser known Foggy Swamp Tribe, each with their own bending style.
Water is the element of change. The moon is the source of power in waterbending, and the original waterbenders learned from the moon by observing how the moon pushed and pulled the tides. The Water Tribes are the only people to not learn bending from an animal, though the Moon and Ocean Spirits turned into koi fish.
The fighting style of waterbending is mostly flowing and graceful, acting in concert with the environment. Foggy Swamp style waterbending, however, is more rigid and straight. Waterbenders deal with the flow of energy; they let their defense become their offense, turning their opponents' own forces against them.
The people of the Water Tribe first learned waterbending by observing how the moon pushed and pulled the tides of the ocean. They then learned how to simulate the effect themselves. As such, they have a strong spiritual connection to the Moon (and its counterpart the Ocean), and any adverse effects on these mediums can affect them too. This makes waterbenders the only type of benders who did not learn bending from an animal, although since the Moon and Ocean spirits take the form of animals, they could possibly classify as the animal waterbending originated from.
According to the waterbending scroll, the word 'waterbending' is written in Chinese as 神聖的能力，制止水, which can be translated as "The Divine Ability to Halt Water".
Waterbending is based on a style of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, specifically the Yang style. It is a Chinese martial art that features slow movements and elegant forms that evoke the feel of flowing water. Waterbending's strength is its great versatility. Rather than supporting a separate set of offensive methods, waterbending employs defensive techniques that can be transformed into attacks and counters - defense into offense. Instead of simply deflecting an attack, waterbending's defensive maneuvers focus on control, achieved through turning an opponent's own strength against him, rather than directly harming the opponent.
Cloudbending:
A skilled waterbender or airbender can easily manipulate clouds, which are of air and water, to create various shapes. In one particular instance, cloudshaping was used to provide a message to nearby villagers of an erupting volcano. It was later used as a defense by Aang and his friends to disguise their flights on Appa while moving about the Fire Nation. A waterbender can perform this technique without an airbender, as demonstrated when Team Avatar nearly mistook the approaching invasion force for a storm cloud on the Day of Black Sun.
Sweat manipulation:
Resourceful waterbenders can bend their own sweat to be used as a makeshift weapon or tool in the case of being separated from other sources of water.
Condensation:
Not only can skilled waterbenders condense clouds into a usable source of water when they are within close range of one, but they also can condense invisible water vapor right out of the air. Although, due to the limited quantities of water present in the air, as a mere 1% at most of the earth's atmosphere is water vapor, the amount of water extracted from the air is quite minimal. Favorable environment and climatic conditions increase the amount of water one can remove from the air.
Plantbending:
A member of the Foggy Swamp Tribe, Huu, illustrated that talented waterbenders can manipulate plant life. Plantbending has enabled members of the swamp to control and manipulate every form of plant life from the highly water-saturated vines and roots found within the swamp lands to seaweed from the ocean floor - they can even rapidly regenerate the plant mass of the plants they bend, since the cell tissues of a plant are more versatile than the cell tissues of an animal, also explaining why bloodbending can only be achieved on the nights of the full moon; see below - all by bending the ample amount of water within them just as they can with watery mud.
Going further, a skilled waterbender is able to separate and completely extract the water from plants for more effective utilization just as they are able to separate the water from mud, sand, and even polluted river systems, etc. In the case of plant life, this process will then leave behind the withered remains of all the affected plant life or even making them collapse in the case of large trees. The degree of skill in manipulating plant life depends on the experience of the bender and whether or not a full moon is present. Katara and Hama extract the water from large trees with relatively no difficulty during their battle under the full moon. Simpler and smaller forms of plant life, such as grass, flowers and seaweed, can be bent with relative ease, with or without a full moon.
Bloodbending:
Since the human body is roughly 70% water, bloodbending does not necessarily bend blood, but the fluids in one's body, allowing the user to manipulate a body's muscles to move as they wish or to stop movement completely. This technique is very similar to plantbending, but instead controls animals and humans instead of plants. Potentially, a bloodbender could do a number of other things by bending the water in a person's body, such as stop a victim's heart or crush his/her internal organs; pressurize, boil, or cool the water to kill their opponent; or even completely extract the water from one's body, imitating the technique used with plants, though this technique has not been shown. The technique is so advanced that Hama could only use it under the full moon. It is unclear whether Katara uses bloodbending without a full moon. Later, a moon that appears to be full is shown, and Katara actually uses bloodbending on a later night. It is still possible that it was a full moon night during Katara's use of bloodbending, as the moon shown earlier may have been a near-full waxing gibbous, rather than the true full moon.
Healing:
Waterbenders can sometimes use a unique sub-skill: the ability to heal wounds by redirecting energy paths, or chi, throughout the body, using water as a catalyst. Waterbenders can use their abilities to heal by surrounding a sick or injured person with water, which then glows with a brilliant, silver-colored light. The use of healing waterbending techniques is generally taught only to female waterbenders of the Northern Water Tribe.
EarthBending
Earthbending, one of the four elemental bending arts, is the geokinetic ability to manipulate earth and rock, in all their various forms. It is utilized by people of the Earth Kingdom.
Earth is the element of substance, making earthbenders and their people diverse, strong, persistent, and enduring. The first earthbenders, Oma and Shu, learned the art from badgermoles.
The key to earthbending is utilizing neutral jing, which involves waiting and listening for the right moment to strike and, when that moment comes, acting decisively. In other words, earthbenders generally endure their enemies' attacks until the right opportunity to counterattack reveals itself, then strike with unyielding force.
Humans first learned earthbending by observing and imitating the geokinetic powers of badgermoles that naturally inhabit the mountains in what is now Earth Kingdom territory. According to a legend, known widely as "The Legend of the Two Lovers", two star-crossed lovers named Oma and Shu, who hailed from separate villages that were at war with each other, learned the art from these creatures so that they could meet within the mountain that divided them. To make sure no one could ever find them, they used their new abilities to create a labyrinth of tunnels inside the mountain which only they could navigate. One day, after many meetings in the series of passageways, the man did not come to see his lover, as he had died, a casualty of the villages' quarrel. His lover showcased a devastating assault of her powers and ultimately proclaimed the feud over. Then, the villages collaborated to construct a city, Omashu, in their honor. The pathways they made by earthbending became known as the Cave of Two Lovers.
'Earthbending' is written as 運土術 which in literal terms actually means 'move earth art' in Chinese.
Earthbending is generally based on the Hung Gar style of Kung Fu, which features heavily rooted stances and strong kicks and punches that evoke the mass and power of earth. The martial art is based on the movements of animals, including the tiger, which is utilized when initiating hard blows, and the crane, which is used to land gently back on the Earth. There are exceptions to this rule - Toph, the blind earthbender's style is based on Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu, using its precise stepping to maintain contact with the ground for her to "see". Earthbenders, mostly earthbending soldiers and generals, typically travel barefoot to increase their connection with the earth and their power.
Earthbending is also one of the most diverse of the bending arts fighting styles, ranging from the most commonly used earthbending, the rigid and collectively learned earthbending of the Dai Li and the individually taught styles such as Toph's unique earthbending technique. Earthbenders are generally muscular, tough and direct and like all benders, their technique reflects on their individualized personalities.
Earthbending differs from the other bending arts in that it maintains a distinct balance between offensive and defensive capabilities (though waterbending involves a more refined version by channeling defense into offense). Earthbending uses a balance of strength and defense to overwhelm opponents.
The principle of jing is the essence of battle strategy of all bending arts, with a total of eighty-five possible actions. Positive jing occurs when one chooses to fight, while negative jing is when one chooses to evade. The earthbending discipline stresses neutral jing, which involves listening, waiting and attacking at the right moment. King Bumi stresses this in his tactics against the Fire Nation; he allowed himself to be imprisoned in New Ozai for many months before liberating the city on the Day of Black Sun simply waiting for the right moment to fight and liberate the city.
The concept of neutral jing is also closely related to the philosophy of "sticky hands", a practice common to some southern Chinese martial arts such as Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu and Wing Chun. The purpose of sticky hands is to enable the practitioner to predict their opponent's next move. Similar to Toph detecting the movements of others through her connection with earth, a practitioner learns to detect their opponent's upcoming move by maintaining constant contact between their own arm and their foe's arm, may also be between their hands or wrists. By practicing with a partner in this manner, a practitioner will learn to "read" the slight movements of their opponent's arms to detect their next attack and then move accordingly to either strike before the attack is made or move in the same direction with the attack and effectively neutralize it. Concepts such as listening, reacting, balancing attacks and defense and drawing power from a stable lower body are often referred to in the practice of sticky hands, again, closely relating to many primary concepts in earthbending.
According to Iroh, earth is the element of substance.
Sandbending:
Sandbenders are earthbenders who have adapted to life in the Si Wong Desert. They use earthbending in a specialized style, which emphasizes the manipulation of sand. They move quickly in the desert on specialized wooden sailers that are propelled by bending miniature, localized sandstorms behind their sails. Because sand is sediment which travels in flows, their style resembles air and waterbending more than earthbending. It is implied that most, if not all, earthbenders are capable of easily bending sand, but because of the loose shifty nature of sand it is not an easy transition for the average earthbender. The sandbenders of the desert are especially proficient with it due to their particular habitat. After the events at Si Wong Desert, Toph practiced her sandbending, achieving a mastery over it that allowed her to create an extremely detailed sand version of Ba Sing Se.
Mudbending:
It has been seen that earthbenders can bend earth in mud as well. Katara halted the flow of the slurry on the back of the drill to prevent Ty Lee from following her. Later on with Toph's aid, they were able to push the slurry back into the drill. It was also seen when Katara and Toph end up fighting when they were supposed to be training Aang.
Metalbending:
Metalbending is a ferrokinetic sub-skill of earthbending developed by Toph. Most earthbenders are unable to affect processed metals. Usually, the trace amount of earth still present in metal is so minuscule that it goes undetected even by the best earthbenders, lending to its use in detaining earthbenders. However, due to her ability to "see" earth, Toph is able to locate the small fragments of earth in metal, target them, and utilize them to "bend" the metal portion. In the beginning, she was not able to bend metal with the same power or ease seen in normal earthbending.[Eventually, her skill with metalbending developed to the point where she could effectively defeat comet-enhanced firebenders during the Battle at Wulong Forest with the technique. After the Hundred Year War, Toph taught the skill to others, and the technique eventually became the primary weapon of the metalbender cops in Republic City.
AirBending
Airbending is one of the four elemental bending arts, specifically, the aerokinetic ability to control and manipulate currents of air. The peaceful Air Nomads utilized this type of bending in their everyday lives.
Air is the element of freedom. The Air Nomads detached themselves from worldly problems and concerns; and finding peace and freedom was the key to solve their flaws in life. Airbenders continually sought for spiritual enlightenment, and, as a result, all children born into the Air Nomads were benders. The first airbenders learned their art from the sky bison.
The key to airbending is flexibility and finding and following the path of least resistance. Airbending is notable for being almost entirely defensive, as well as the most dynamic of the four bending arts. Airbenders can overwhelm many opponents at once with large and powerful attacks that could prove fatal; however, due to the pacifist nature of the Air Nomads, such attacks are rarely used.
It is said that airbenders first learned their bending from the sky bison, a sacred creature in the Air Nomad culture. The bison typically use their massive beaver-like tail to create gusts of wind and, as the name suggests, can fly without any visible means of propulsion. It is also said that the airbenders had borrowed the arrow mark from the flying bison for their traditional tattoos. These tattoos symbolize one's mastery of the airbending art, and are given to a practitioner once their training is complete. Unlike other nations, all Air Nomads are born airbenders, due to the high amount of spirituality infused in the culture.
On Aang's wanted poster and Sozin's scroll, the word airbending is written as 截氣神功 (jié qì shén gōng) which translates as "The Divine Ability to Halt Air", while the word airbender is written as 風脅功師 (fēng xié gōng shī) which translates as "Wind-Coercing Master".
Airbenders never seek a fight, and they never seek to strike an opponent directly. Airbending is based on the Ba Gua style of martial arts, also known as "circle walking" or "Eight Trigram Palm", along with a small hint of Hsing Yi, also known as "mind heart boxing". These martial arts feature swift, evasive maneuvers that evoke the intangibility and explosive power of wind; drawing energy from the center of the abdomen.
Ba Gua, which utilizes circle walking of the Eight Trigrams, is known for its constant circular movement, which makes it difficult for opponents to attack directly or land a blow. Maneuvers employ the entire body with smooth coiling and uncoiling movements, utilizing dynamic footwork, open-hand techniques, punches, and throws. A common tactic is to maneuver behind an opponent and mirror their movements, preventing them from turning to face the practitioner.
Unlike other bending disciplines, airbending is almost entirely a defensive art, similar to its practitioners, and is the most dynamic of all other elements.
According to Iroh and Tenzin, air is the element of freedom.
Cloudbending:
During Aang, Katara and Sokka's stay at Makapu Village, it's shown that, because they are made with air and water, a skilled airbender or waterbender can manipulate clouds easily to create various shapes, used in that instance to provide a message to nearby villagers. It was later used as a defense by Aang and his friends to disguise their flights on Appa while moving about the Fire Nation. It has not been revealed if an airbender can perform this technique without a waterbender, though a waterbender does not need the assistance of an airbender to perform it, as waterbenders on their own hid the invasion force under a cloud.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 4:52 pm
================= [ C]haracter [ I]nformation ● ● ● ●Skill Level Apprentice:
The lowest tier of skill. This is reserved for people who are recent to learning their elemental kinesis. In this state of skill, Benders can perform many acts of their element. They are limited by their own inner strength and the understanding up the concepts of their individual powers and elements. If an Apprentice was to try using the extra aspects of their element, such as lightning bending for firebenders, it could prove fatal to them.
Apprentices tend to have weaker fighting skill, and are still incorporating martial arts into their bending skills. This makes them the weakest of the four skill levels.
Expert:
An Expert bender is beginning to understand the deeper aspects and nuances of their born element. As a result, their fighting style is incorporated into the element, but it is not a seamless transition. An Expert has great power with their element, but some of the higher level techniques are still unstable, and imperfect.
Overall, and Expert in the art of bending can begin to learn the extra points of their element, such as lightning bending for firebenders, and things of that sort. They are the medium power.
Master:
The Master has a deeper understanding of the element, and has incorporated their personal style into their bending. At this point, many can go no further with learning their skills.
A Master can perform many feats of the element, with few limitations. their ability with extra aspects of their Element, such as lightning bending for firebenders, is extremely powerful. The way they move encompasses their element, as does their very lives and attitude. Master's are the upper power here, with the strongest being able to take on Adepts, and have a slim chance of victory.
Adept:
The Adept is one born with an innate skill towards their element. In many cases, they are born into families of powerful Benders. Adepts have a close relationship with their born element, and are almost completely in tune with the goings on of said element. Adepts can perform the most powerful of techniques associated with their elements, and are able to incorporate their style of combat seamlessly with their bending skills. An adepts skill with extra aspects of their element, such as lightning bending for a firebender, are so powerful, that they can use multiple types of bending at one time. an example would be using metalbending and Earthbending in conjunction.
There are few masters who could defeat an adept. The strongest of the Adepts have skills that could put an Avatar-leveled fighter on his or her toes.
As a sidenote, Adept's level of power is something they are born with. Very few masters can ever reach adept level, making Adept level combatants the rarest of the four tiers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
YummyBiscuits Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
