太 Fire

Fire
Fire, one of the four elemental arts, is the pyrokinetic ability to control fire. It is unique among the arts, as it is the only one in which the performer can spontaneously generate the element.

Fire is the element of power, consisting of overpowering force tempered by the unflinching will to accomplish tasks and desires. However, it can also be fuelled by negative feelings such as hate and anger, which ultimately make it more powerful, but at the cost of the bender sinking deeper into negativity. Fire draws its power from the sun and the Stone of Summer.

Firebending is notable for its intense and aggressive attacking style and general lack of adequate defensive moves, although some notable firebenders utilize creative defensive techniques by creating large walls of fire, or shooting down incoming objects with precise attacks.

Origin
After the defeat of Vaasaar, the Southern Lands were given the Stone of Summer, and the Tachibana clan were chosen to guard over it, being a distinguished clan among the nobility. The Stone was brought back and cast an eternal spell of Summer over the land, and it was renamed Toichi No Eien No Taiyou, the Land of Eternal Sun. The people of the land were gifted with the control over fire from then on.

Fighting Style
Fire elementalists use their chi as a source for their forms. This facet of firebending is a sharp contrast to the other elemental arts, which manipulate already present sources of their element, though fire elementalists can also control or enhance flames nearby. Unlike other disciplines, fire has few defensive moves aside from blocking and dodging, although master fire elementalists are able to create walls of fire to absorb incoming attacks or shoot down approaching projectiles.

Fire elementalists use 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 is also a crucial element to the skill as it seems to "power up" and enhance the fire elementalist's flames. When creating lightning, the users often move their arms in slow, circular motions, similar to water elementalists but with more tension. As said before, fire users often use whirling kicks or punches to create arcs, or just to power their skill.

Fire Abilities
Blocking fire: A skilled fire user can defuse and extinguish an oncoming fire blast from another fire elementalist by using a swift kick, jab, or any other defensive move, allowing them to stop attacks.

Fire blade: As a more advanced version of a blazing arc, fire elementalists can create thin blades of fire by narrowing their flame projections, which can subsequently be launched at opponents.

Blazing rings and arcs: Spinning kicks or sweeping arm movements create rings and arcs to slice larger, more widely spaced, or evasive targets.

Fire bomb: Considered a short range attack, a fire user can create a flame at the end of a limb, and thrust the flame down in an explosive burst.

Fire circle: The user creates a circle of fire and suspends it in the air for an extended period of time.

Flame redirection: In a similar fashion to water manipulation, fire elementalists are capable of changing the course of an incoming fire blast and redirecting it back at the attacker using fluid motion. This move exemplifies the use of fire manipulation as an extension of the body and is used infrequently in modern combat in favour of more offensive manoeuvres.

Fire daggers: Blowtorch-like jets which are created from the fist or fingertips to use as close range sword-like attacks. However, they lack the ability to actually block physical objects.

Fire streams: Another basic fire ability, fire users can shoot continuous streams of fire from their fingertips, fists, palms, or legs. These streams can be widened to create flame-thrower like techniques.

Fire whip: An extension of a fire stream, this continuous stream of flame can be utilized as a whip. Can counter water whips.

Fire lashes: An even further extension of the fire whip/stream, fire elementalists can create a long lash of fire, and bring them down on their enemies.

Fireballs or "Fire-jabs": A basic ability, jabs and punches produce miniature fireballs and missiles of flame. These can be charged up (refer to charged attacks) to create larger, slower bursts, or swiftly and repetitively fired to keep opponents off balance.

Heat control: Certain advanced fire users appear to have the ability to control heat. Using this technique, fire elementalists can heat a wide range of liquids, like water or tea, heat metal to scalding temperatures, or melt ice.

Shield of fire: This creates a protective fire shield around the front of, or the whole body of, a fire user that can deflect attacks and explosions. It may be a lesser version of the Wall of Flames.

The Dancing Dragon: This is a simple, yet possibly very powerful fire form, as it also brings advantages for more skilled fire users. It is also one of the few fire techniques with defensive capabilities. There is a circular nature to the technique, which is unusual in fire forms; the only other known techniques to incorporate smooth, circular movements are the fire circle and lightning generation.

Master Level Techniques
Charged attacks: Certain fire users have been shown charging their attacks before releasing them, allowing them to create enormous blasts of fire.

Fire augmentation: Fire elementalists can also control the size and intensity of any nearby flames and can draw them in to manipulate them at will.

Fire comet: An advanced form of the fire stream in which the user pressurizes the fire into a ball, and shoots it toward the enemy.

Fire missiles: A more advanced form of the fire stream, powerful fire users can shoot long streams of fire that follow the target as they move.

Fire pinwheel: A whirling disk of flame, capable of being used at long range.

Intertwined fire stream: An advanced move based on the basic fire stream. The performer directs two powerful fire streams at their opponent, though by intertwining the two streams, a massive comet shaped fire stream is formed that has more power than the single stream.

Jet propulsion: Skilled fire masters are able to conjure huge amounts of flame to propel themselves at high speeds on the ground or through the air. This technique can also be used to briefly run up a vertical surface or alongside a horizontal one.

Pressure control: An advanced form of heat control, the fire user superheats the air around him or her, causing a rise in air pressure in small, enclosed areas which often has explosive implications.

Pressurized fire stream: A more powerful form of the fire stream, achieved by pressurizing the fire before it is released. It covers more area than a regular fire stream.

Wall of flames: One of fire's few defensive techniques, either a situated explosion or controlled inferno, this wall of concentrated flames acts as a barrier to incoming attacks. It may be a more powerful version of a fire shield. It not only protects against attacks, but when used right, can be used to stealthily escape from foes.

Legendary Level Techniques
Lavabending/magmabending: Legendary level fire users are able to bend lava and magma, although not with the same ease by which water elementalists bend water. They can even cause dormant volcanoes to erupt at will. This ability contrasts sharply with other types of fire, as lava and magma are superheated physical substances, rather than a chemical reaction. .

Long-range multiple fire whips: A Legendary level fire user can produce fire whips, the most being five at once. They are capable of reaching across long distances. Each fire whip is also very wide and moves in a similar fashion to squid or octopus tentacles. They have enough destructive power to demolish large rock formations.

Special Techniques
Blue fire: While not to be confused with lightning, blue fire also seems to possess more physical force and produces a combustive effect that is more intense than that of normal fire. Speculation is that blue fire can only be achieved through a complete mastery of Fire as well as a burning inner will, usually involving the lust of more power.

Breath of fire: The breath of fire involves the user manipulating fire out of his or her mouth, mixing air from the lungs with the flame, creating a wider, hotter blast. With its wide, encompassing range, the technique allows for staving off multiple opponents and is also shown to be able to instantaneously warm the body even under frigid conditions.It is also useful for stealth, as it requires no hand motions and can thus be impossible to predict. Suprisingly, tea can also serve as a catalyst for this technique.

Energy reading: In a similar way to healing, fire users are capable of using fire to sense chi paths and interpret spiritual energy.

Heat control: Certain advanced fire users appear to have the ability to control heat. Using this technique, they can heat a wide range of liquids, like water or tea, heat metal to scalding temperatures, or melt ice.

Lightning
Certain powerful fire masters 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 fire technique, and its use is available only to a select few fire user prodigies and masters.

Some experienced fire users are unable to generate lightning because they do not possess inner peace. If a firebender who harbors inner turmoil tries to generate lightning, it would only cause a miniature explosion.

Lightning generation: Lightning generation is the ability to generate and direct lightning. It requires peace of mind and a complete absence of emotion.

Lightning redirection: Lightning can be redirected by absorbing it through one arm, guiding it through the stomach, and out the other arm, though only if the user is trained well.

Weapons
Fire users sometimes incorporate weapons into fire forms, such as swords and other bladed weapons, shaping and channelling the flames down the blades.

Weaknesses
Extreme cold: Cold temperatures reduce a fire elementalist's abilities, to the point where in consistent subzero temperatures even attempting to use fire is useless.

Full moon: With water becoming stronger with it and fire being water's opposite element, the full moon weakens fire users to some degree.

Lack of defence: The major combat weakness behind the applied art of fire is its confrontational nature. Due to its aggressiveness and pursuit of continuous assault, it traditionally lacks basic defensive techniques, which can leave an inexperienced fighter considerably vulnerable to enemy counterattacks, though masters can effectively use fire forms for defence. It also consumes a vast amount of energy leaving the user at a considerable disadvantage in a prolonged battle. A common mark of a fire master is the ability to sustain attacks for long periods.

Lack of drive: In order to manipulate fire properly, one must have "inner fire", his or her drive, without which one's fire skill becomes weak. If one loses a drive they have had for years, their ability may even disappear until they restore their drive or find a new one.

Other circumstances: A fire elementalist's power may decrease in any situation which might extinguish their flames, such as being underwater or caught in the rain, although this could be overcome by melting objects at close proximity.

Poor breath control: True fire power comes not from physical size or strength, but rather from the very control of one's breath. Fire discipline stresses self-restraint and breath control as a means of directing and containing the fire manifested. Poor breath control means dangerously poor control of any fire generated. For this reason, breathing exercises are one of the most critical first steps for beginning fire users.

Poor self-control: Though anger, rage and other intense emotions can amplify the power of fire, it can lead to dangerous explosions or wildfires and can also cause any nearby flames to burn out of control.

Solar eclipse: Fire's connection to the sun results in a lessening of strength during the night and a complete loss of ability during a solar eclipse.

Spirituality and Fire
A fire elementalist's powers seem to increase during the day in the presence of the sun. Because of this solar sympathy, their powers are weakened at night and a solar eclipse can temporarily negate their powers entirely, much like water users' powers are negated during a lunar eclipse. Aside from their main power source, the sun, fire users also draw their energy from other heat sources, including volcanic activity, lightning, and passing comets, if they somehow become a heat source, such as a comet, which ignites when it brushes the atmosphere. A firebender's power is intensified in warmer climates and is at its peak when situated near their native equatorial homelands during the summer.

Fire's distinctiveness is in its uncontrolled nature; fire, if left to itself, will consume everything it can. Fire is thus a matter of controlling an element rather than directing it. Many fire users are intoxicated by their power, while more prudent ones feel cursed or humbled by it. Fire is life and industry, comforting and creative.

Agni Kai
Among fire users, or at least those of the upper-class, disputes of honour are settled by a challenge to an Agni Kai, or "fire duel", a traditional fire duel that is centuries old. Such a duel is conducted in an open-air arena, and it may be witnessed by spectators. The traditional time for an Agni Kai is sunset or sunrise, although it is not a requirement. While not an explicit condition, Agni Kai have become almost exclusively duels to the death. The victor may spare the defeated, but it is generally looked upon as an act of weakness rather than generosity. The duel is traditionally fought bare-chested and the contestants may have one or more "seconds", i.e. people who stand around in that person's corner of the field and may attend to their champion before and after the duel, or bear them away in case they die fighting. The opening pose of an Agni Kai is squatting with back turned to the opponent. During this phase, both contestants traditionally wear a red-and-black shawl over their bare shoulders, which is dropped upon turning to face each other. It is considered dishonorable to attack from behind in an Agni Kai, especially for a defeated opponent who has been spared by the victor.

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