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A review by half_bloodreader
The Lost Scrolls: Water by Michael Teitelbaum, Patrick Spaziante
Notes:
The Water Tribes are a peaceful people. They strive to live in harmony with nature and with the other nations of the world.
There are 2 sects: the Northern and the Southern.
The symbol of the Water Tribes is a circle containing Crescent moon and Ocean waves. The insignia represents the Moon spirit and the Ocean Spirit, who give the Water Tribes their life and power and guide their beliefs. They coexist in harmony, the moon's force exerting a pushing and pulling motion on the ocean's water. This pushing and pulling is the foundation for the art of Waterbending. The Water Tribes' belief in peaceful cooperation among all nations stems from the relationship between these two spirits.
Dominant season: winter. More water benders are born this season.
Food: stewed sea prunes, sea squid (soup), seaweed bread, seaweed soup, seaweed sprinkles to top seaweed cookies, giant sea crabs are considered by many to be the most delicious food in the Northern Sea.
Seal skins to build tents, polar bear pelts to cover floors.
Hunters from the Southern Water Tribe and Fishermen of the Northern Water Tribe are some of the best in the world.
Philosophy and style
Waterbending is defensive in nature. Waterbenders get their strength from the spirit of the Moon and their life from the spirit of the ocean. Together, they create and maintain a balance.
Waterbending is influenced by the ancient martial art of Tai Chi, which uses similar techniques to redirect the energy from an attack to use against and opponent. As with Tai Chi, the Waterbender's intent is to control opponents, not harm them. Both disciplines were influenced by ancient healing practices in which healers redirected energy parts in the body to cure ailments. Their strict belief in controlling rather than destroying; healing rather than harming; and using their power for defense, not attack, are at the heart of the humane and noble characteristics of all Waterbenders. Both Waterbending and Tai Chi are less about strength than about body alignment, breath, and visualization. In boat of these arts, softness and breathing prove more powerful than hard aggression.
A waterbender can control water in any of its forms (liquid, solid or gas), including moisture in the air and ground. Most powerful at night, when the moon is full, near their homelands, and during winter.
A Waterbender's power comes from an internal life energy, which is known as chi. Because of this, it is related to their emotional state. Would someone less experience, their Waterbending force increases in intensity, but control is lost.
Weakness: being somewhere without water. Most weak in this regard as they're more likely to find themselves in this situation than an Earthbender, never mind an Airbender.
🔥 Firebenders create their own fire from the heat around them
Waterbenders can you use their abilities to heal by surrounding a sick or injured person with water. They use water to open chi paths in the body and help the healing process
A Southern Water Tribe's hut contains a number of animal pelts that are placed on bamboo floors. At one end of the hut, a sealskin tent is set up which is used as a sleeping chamber. Ceremonial animal headdresses, spears and animal skins are usually displayed on the walls.
In the center of the hut sits a square fire pit, surrounded by a single line of bricks. The fire provides heat for the hut and is also used to prepare food. There are mats for sitting on all four sides of the fire pit. A stew pot, used for cooking, hangs suspended from the ceiling, hovering above the fire.
Ice Dodging: right of passage, birth of a warrior
At the age of 14, boys are taken Ice Dodging by their fathers, a coming-of-age rite. It's the first step in being recognised as a true warrior.
The boy must guide a boat through a narrow body of water filled with icebergs, avoiding them.
Although there is an adult on board, once the ritual begins, the boy is the only person who can make decisions and direct the crew. He may choose 2 friends to assist him, by operating the main sail and the jib (a smaller sail at the rear of the boat), but he alone is in command. His skill and judgment are what make the journey a success or a failure.
If the boy is successful, he and his crew receive marks of the warrior, applied with cuttlefish paint.
The mark of the wise is given for leadership ability and achievement in decision making under pressure. Looks like an 👁️
The mark of the Brave is given for inspirational displays of courage. 🌙
And the mark of the trusted is given to outsiders who prove themselves worthy of other people's trust.
Originally the Southern and Northern tribes lived as one at the North Pole. Following civil unrest, a group of warriors, Waterbenders, and healers left to start a new tribe at the South Pole. From that time on, the two tribes evolved very differently.
Before the Fire Nation War, the Southern Water Tribe lived in a beautiful, bustling city built out of ice by Waterbenders. It was destroyed by the war, and since so many Waterbenders died fighting, the art of Waterbending practically disappeared because there were no trainers left.
The Southern Water Tribe split into smaller groups and scattered across the South Pole, building sealskin tents or igloos made of ice to live in.
The larger Northern Water Tribe lives in one enormous city of ice, built by Waterbenders. Several miles wide, it was built on the shores of the North Sea at the North Pole. Surrounded by Ice Cliffs and a giant Frozen tundra, the city sits in a horseshoe-shaped cove beneath towering white cliffs and is dominated by large temples. It has a huge, multi-level structure built into the landscape.
The larger Northern Water Tribe has a longer cultural history, which comes with a stricter lifestyle and a greater sense of conformity. By the age of 16, girls already have arranged marriages to boys. Both the matching ceremony are set by the parents.
Only boys and men can train to be waterbenders, while girls and women are taught healing only.
On the contrary, in the south life is simpler but the tribe members tend to be more open-minded. They allow girls and women to train as waterbenders and do not force girls to enter into arranged marriages. The latter are free to marry whomever they choose.