華 Earth

Earth
Earth, one of the four elemental arts, is the geokinetic ability to manipulate earth and rock in all their various forms. It is utilized by people of Tochi No Eien No Hana.

Earth is the element of substance, making earth elementalists and their people diverse, strong, persistent, and enduring.

The key to earth forms 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, earth users generally endure their enemies' attacks until the right opportunity to counterattack reveals itself.

Origin
After the defeat of Vaasaar, the Western Lands were given the Stone of Earth. The Stone was put in the care of the Tseng clan, a family of spiritual warrior monks. The land became a state of eternal Spring, and was renamed Tochi No Eien No Hara, the Land of Eternal Flowers. The people soon found the stone had granted them powers over the earth itself, and with this they passed on the skills to future generations.

Fighting Style
Earth differs from the other bending arts in that it maintains a distinct balance between offensive and defensive capabilities (though water involves a more refined version by channelling defence into offense). Earth uses a balance of strength and defence to overwhelm opponents.

The earth discipline stresses neutral jing, which involves listening, waiting and attacking at the right moment.

Earth Abilities
Earth and stone levitation: The most common attack involves levitating nearby pieces of earth and stone of numerous sizes (more powerful users can move larger masses) and propelling them at foes with punching or kicking motions.

Earth block: Earth elementalists can bring up blocks of earth and launch them at their enemies.

Earth column: A more powerful version of rock projectiles, involving forcing columns of rock out of the ground. Using a similar principle, an earth elementalist can shoot a stream of small ruts and protrusions from underground at their opponent. This can also be used to enhance the users' jumps. It is, however, limited to the ground and does not have the same range as a rock projectile.

Earth compression: It is possible for earth elementalists to compress large chunks of rock into smaller, denser chunks, or to compress several smaller chunks into one big piece of rock. It is far more effective with two earth users.

Earth hand/mannequin: An earth bender with a decent grasp of sculpting can craft replicas of human appendages or bodies from any rock source and move them from place to place.

Earth gauntlet: A much less advanced version of earth armour that can be used to throw back opponents with hard solid force. The technique is useful in that it grants some level of the protection of earth armour but allows the rest of the body to remain flexible.

Earth launch: While earth elementalists like being rooted to the ground, they can quickly move rock beneath them and launch them several tens of feet into the air, whether to catch airborne opponents or to travel faster.

Earth line: As an offensive attack, earth elementalists can create a line of twisted columns and propel it forward.

Earth material manipulation: Earth manipulation is not limited to rock or soil alone. An earth elementalist can also manipulate coal, gems, crystals, and other earth-based materials, like meteorites.

Earth shelter: This can be used by earth elementalists to create a shelter or dome which can provide an instant shelter in the wilderness. It can also be used to trap enemies, but this application would not work against an earth using opponent, who would be able to cancel out the technique.

Earth sinking: More advanced earth elementalists can forcibly sink their opponents into the ground, imprisoning them or even suffocating them in earth.

Earth smash: Earth elementalists can easily destroy rocks and boulders with punches and kicks, even if they have a very small amount of muscle mass. This technique is useful when facing other earth elementalists, as it allows the user to destroy any earthen projectiles sent at them and break out of imprisoning techniques. However, it does not seem to affect objects not made of earth.

Earth wall: Earth elementalists can create walls of earth, which can be used for both defence and offense, as well as for practical things, like construction.

Earthquakes/fissures: Striking the ground with feet or fists creates localized earthquakes or fissures to throw opponents off-balance.This same process can be used to sculpt a landmass or to slice large chunks of rock clean off a surface to create avalanches or rockfalls. More advanced earth elementalists can make very narrow fissures for precise attacks.

Quicksand: Earth elementalists turn certain surfaces to quicksand to immobilize an enemy, or to create a soft landing for themselves should they fall from a height. If one were to manipulate sand then they can also do the reverse of this, compacting sand together to create harder projectiles or a firmer grip on the ground.

Rock hanging: If an earth elementalist is attached to, or wearing a piece of rock, he or she can attach to other stone surfaces and remain off the ground for long periods of time.

Rock shield: A levitated slab of rock can also double as a shield when positioned in front of a user. This can also be performed with a slab or sheet of bedrock thrust out of the earth's surface. The shield can be hurled at the opponent for quick retaliation.

Rock slide: If an earth elementalist is near a cliff or mountain, he or she can cause many rocks of a multitude of sizes to rain down on his or her opponent.

Slab shackles: With proper timing, an earth elementalist can bind an opponent's arms with triangle shaped slabs. This technique is generally used if the opponent is in a vulnerable position, for example on their knees.

Master Level Techniques
Dust cloud: By shaking the ground back and forth, earth elementalists can create dust clouds of various size to provide cover,and even manipulate the dust particles.

Earth armour: Earth elementalists can bring rocks, dust, pebbles, or crystals around them and mould them to fit their body and create something similar to armour. They can also hide inside the earth by bending the rock around them as a shell. This earth move is great for defence, especially against fire. It is not as effective for offensive moves, since it limits the practitioner's range of motion.

Earth bomb: By sending a rock toward the ground, earth elementalists can cause massive damage as well as throw their opponents off their feet.

Earth tunneling: Earth elementalists can move through the earth to out-manoeuvre their foes either by opening tunnels or by pulling the earth past them, literally swimming through the ground.Earth wave.

Earth wave: High level earth elementalists can create a wave of earth to ride on and use it as a form of transportation. The downsides of the wave are that it takes a lot of energy to produce, as well as intense concentration; the slightest distraction could cause the user to lose control of the wave. They can also force a wave of earth outwards and use it as an extremely powerful offensive attack.

Magnetization: Skilled earth elementalists are capable of magnetizing their limbs to any type of stone, making wall-scaling simpler in the appropriate circumstances.

Remote earthbending: If an earth elementalist is suspended from the ground, but is aware that there is earth somewhere near, they can focus his or her energies and bend that earth out of his physical reach out of sheer concentration.

Legendary Level Techniques
Compressed rock bullets: Shrapnel-like fragments of earth can be shot out with great speed, in a machine gun-like fashion. Due to the speed and density of these rocks, they did great damage to the landscape.

Greater earth levitation: With their greater power and stronger connection to the earth, the Legendary elementalists can move hill-sized statues at will.

Powered compression: This is a much more powerful version of the earth compression technique. Instead of bending large chunks of earth into a single projectile, they are gathered into boulder-sized rocks and simultaneously compressed each fragment into smaller, denser and harder rocks, essentially keeping the rocks under pressure for more volatile attacks if needed. Lastly, the rocks are directed to orbit until they are put to use.

Tectonics: A Legendary elementalists can manipulate the earth on a scale vast enough to move entire landmasses.

Special Techniques
Water filtering: When working in concert with a water user, an earth elementalist can purify polluted water. The water user suspends the polluted water in the air, while the earth user removes the pollutants and sets them aside.

Compacting sand: Compacted sand is very solid and thick, and by sinking their feet into it, earth elementalists can keep an object from sinking.

Mud manipulation: Earth elementalists can also manipulate mud.

Plant manipulation: Earth elementalists, like water users, can also manipulate plants, but unlike their water counterparts, they nourish or kill plants by manipulating the roots. As the citizens of Tochi No Eien No Hana tend to be much more pacifistic than any of their neighbours, many of them tend to plants and cultivate them, either as a profession or relaxation. Plants such as vines and thorns could also be manipulated for combat purposes.

Rock gloves: Similar to an earth gauntlet, the user covers their hands in small rocks and projects them at a target as small projectiles or compacted fists to bludgeon an opponent. A more refined and favoured method however is to use them as detachable hands, maintaining the hand shape and literally grabbing and restraining the opponent from a distance.

Rock shoes: Shoes can made out of earth to slide to travel faster and to cling to walls and suspend the user on the ceiling. They can also be used like rock gloves to extend the range of kicks.

Seismic sense: Skilled earth elementalists are able to sense vibrations through the ground, "seeing" by sensing their surroundings and making a mental image of it. It allows for a 360 degree field of "vision", outside of normal line-of-sight. To operate, the user needs direct contact with the ground, preferably without something like shoes in between. The technique is not applicable on all surfaces, such as ice. Extensive use of the technique would grant an earth elementalist a seismic sense was so acute that they would be capable of sensing even ants moving about, could identify people by the way they walked,and could almost always tell if someone was lying by sensing his or her physical reactions, such as breathing and heart rate.

Weapons
The citizens of Tochi No Eien No Hana rarely ever use weapons, as their overall culture is of a peaceful nature. But a few have been known to, especially those who stray from society. Blunt weapons such as hammers and maces go well with the elemental ability they possess, but a myriad of weapons would prove no less dangerous.

Weaknesses
Metal and wood: Because earth elementalists cannot bend processed metals, the abilities of an earth user can be negated by securing them within a metallic barrier, separating them from any contact with the earth. Wood cannot be subject to earth manipulation because it is neither a mineral nor mineral-like.

Reliance on the lower body: Earth forms are at their strongest when the feet are in direct contact with the ground, enabling earth elementalists to transfer their kinetic energies into their abilities for fast and powerful moves. Because of earth elementalists reliance on their feet, fire users can take advantage of that by burning them, or disabling them somehow. This weakness is very similar to how disabling a water user's arms prevents them from bending. Since a skilled earth elementalist could overcome this weakness by bringing the other parts of their body into contact with the earth, as stated above, the danger level of this weakness could be debated.

Spirituality and Earth
The people of Tochi No Eien No Hana are renowned for their largely pacifistic and peaceful ways, never usually taking interest in any outside conflicts or disputes. Earth manipulation is still an important part of their culture, and citizens are regularly trained, but for spiritual and connective purposes rather than combat.

Many citizens of the land are builders, artists, sculptors and florists, or at least take an interest in one or more of these things.

The teachings of their culture are never to act in emotion, and maintain clarity at all times, for it is taught that it is acting with strong emotion in your mind that leads to defeat in all things.

The adult males of Tochi No Ein No Hana usually shave their heads, but keep elaborate facial hair, whereas the women will often shave their forehead, or their entire hair.

Although they may be a nation of pacifists, the earth peoples should never be trifled with, for if pushed to do so then they will fight, and can make dangerous opponents.