Water Tribe

The Water Tribe is a country located in the western half of the known world. Its capital is the city of Polaris.

History

The Water Tribe was founded by Chieftain Svetroid in December 2020. It is one of the oldest states in the world and was the first to define a national boundary, therefore arguably qualifying as the first ever state in the true sense of the word.

In its early days, the majority of the Water Tribe was not explored. The most inland settlement was Abode of Cass, established as a suburban property by Cass at a time when waterbenders were so scarce that even plantbenders would live in the frozen tundra. Of the 7 NPC villages in the Water Tribe today (Polaris; Svetingrad; Columnstown; Paia's Brook; Lasthold; Urist's Rift; Agna Qel'a), only Polaris and Svetingrad were given much attention. Until recently, these two were likely the only spots with any attention, as reflected by their elevated development compared to the practically untouched interior.

Water Tribe presence on the southern sea helped to encourage the spread of other states to the area, such as the Free Territory and Earth Kingdom, with others appearing more as happy accidents, such as Cassland. Due to icebenders being able to freeze ships and the obviously powerful strength of Waterbending in open water, early Water Tribe naval policy was to not compete in the arms race and instead use the resources for additional development. Rather than siding or competing with the Earth Kingdom and Free Territory's naval arms race, the Water Tribe instead sought ties with Cassland as their waterbender allies and construction projects.

The climate of the Water Tribe has been a pressing concern since its inception. The adoption of an NPC village as the capital was not simply an easy resource grab, but a practical necessity - much of the Water Tribe is completely inhospitable. This was a major reason for Cass leaving, as crops could not easily be grown without freezing over. This was yet another reason to cling to the coastal settlements of Svetingrad and Polaris, rather than explore the interior. Much of the early resources were committed solely to the effort of rendering Polaris into a thriving economy - large-scale docks were built to facilitate trade and imports, and a large farm with many torches was built to shift the local diet away from berries.

This climate played a significant role in developing the socialist model of the Water Tribe - unlike more abundant economies where class differences may be permitted in order to facilitate a more organised distribution of resources, everyday life can be a struggle to survive. Svetroid cemented this in the construction of the RRSP, or Resource Reallocation Social Program. A uniquely advanced distribution model seen nowhere else in the world, the Water Tribe grants the right to request resources via the RRSP to its citizens or allies - currently these are the Earth Kingdom and Cassland.

Svetroid launched the interior explanation in order to properly define the boundaries of the Water Tribe and establish formal claims to each of the settlements within it - this proved to be much larger an undertaking than anticipated, as another 5 villages joined the fold and borders larger than any state in the world were defined.

While the Water Tribe has always had a highly communitarian spirit, it has also rejected those it perceives as foreign. NPCs hold a lower status as in most states, but the Water Tribe was also keen to suppress its earthbender minority as represented by Evangelos in the South Earth Protectoratea devolved region for earthbenders south of Polaris. Chieftain Svetroid cooled the magma column at the protectorate in order to force closer obedience by earthbenders to waterbending norms. This was to prove a controversial act with Citizen Urist planning to launch legal proceedings, hosted by the Fire Nation, to advocate on behalf of non-native elements, before Svetroid's untimely demise. Urist inherited the chiefdom and immediately abolished this practise.

While the Water Tribe has primarily been a Southern Sea state since its inception, it always held a Western Sea coastline. At first, this was mostly neglected due to the lack of known resources on the Western Sea and no other trading partners being available. With the founding of the AAPC and the Opening of the Western Canal, this changed. While Svetroid ordered the founding of what is now Borealis, Chieftain Urist has been the one to see this effort realised. She also saw to the construction of the new armed ship, Tui's Revenge, to safeguard the new port.

Geography

The Water Tribe is one of the largest states in the world and probably the largest contiguous landmass under one banner. Its terrain is entirely frozen over, and consists of frozen rivers, tundra, forests, and mountains. The capital of Polaris is notably temperate due to its land reclamation projects near the coast, which has allowed it to build docks that do not freeze over. Most of the land is entirely empty, but the sheer size of the country means that it has more NPC villages than any other state. These settlements do not see many visitors and are generally sleepy villages with highly local identities.

The coastline of the state is of high concern, as there is only one state with a direct overland border to the Water Tribe, which is Fryslân. Accordingly, the Water Tribe has arranged many negotiations for pacifying the islands near its coastline. The Peace Islands are one such example. These are two islands that lie between the Water Tribe and Cassland which could be easily used to blockade the straits east of the nation in wartime, in particular the northern island. These are jointly administered by the two states and demilitarised. Another example of this island policy can be seen to the north of the nation where the Amity Islands have been agreed to be totally unoccupied and demilitarised by the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe who are co-sovereign. A request was made during the Frisian Civil War for a temporary port to be erected on East Amity which was to be used by the Earth Navy, but this request was not granted.

The Water Tribe's coastline is primarily divided into four areas: the northern coast (facing the Earth Kingdom and Khanate), the west coast (facing the AAPC and Ratzores), the north-east coast (hosting Polaris and facing the Free Territory and Port Cass) and the south-east coast (facing Willowham and Atlas). The east coast can be treated as two effectively separate entities, due to the strait at North Peace. Due to the high reliance upon the coastline, few roads exist leading to the Water Tribe, which has several effects.

• The internal road network is rather lacking. A road from Svetingrad to Polaris exists, and a road from Borealis to Columnstown also exists. These roads do not connect to each other, and all other villages in the nation have no road networks beyond local grids.

• The importance of shipping to establish foreign connections is paramount, due to this lack of roads. This elevates the status of Borealis and in particular Polaris, as the two main coastal settlements. Polaris in particular has very large docks, which it has been able to use to negotiate a high degree of local autonomy from the wider tribe.

• Isolationism. The Water Tribe is a very old state but has only recently began to enter formal alliances, and has spent much of its history playing a passive role in foreign affairs. The natural protection offered to a state of icebenders where they are surrounded by ocean and most of the land is snow is obvious, which has led to a very small Water Tribe fleet and a non-existent airforce.

Government and politics

TODO

Economy

TODO

Demographics

TODO

Culture

TODO

See also

• Polaris
• List of states
• Waterbending