# Earthbending

The art of stability. Practitioners manipulate earth, stone, and rock through
rooted stances and deliberate strikes, embodying patience and endurance.

## Philosophy

Earth is the element of stability. The practice is grounded in "neutral jing" -
a philosophy of waiting and listening for the right moment, then striking with
decisive force. Not passive, not aggressive: patient. Endurance and strategic
timing over immediate action.

The key insight is that strength comes from the ground up. An earthbender's
power flows from their connection to the earth beneath them. Stance matters
more than motion.

## Fighting Style

Emphasizes strength and defense. Distinct balance between offensive and
defensive capability. Practitioners use rigid, grounded stances - feet planted,
weight low. When they strike, it's with the full force of the earth behind them.

Derives from Hung Gar kung fu, known for its deep stances, strong blocks,
and powerful hand strikes. Some practitioners use Praying Mantis style for a
more individualized approach.

Earthbending is the most physically demanding of the four arts - it requires
genuine physical strength to move stone, not just spiritual or technical skill.

## Core Techniques

**Offensive**

- Stone projection: levitating and launching rock masses of varying sizes
- Earth block: compressed rectangular stone as projectile
- Earth column: raising pillars from the ground (attack or obstacle)
- Rock slide: large-scale earth displacement
- Earth gauntlet: stone encasing hands for enhanced melee strikes
- Stone dagger: hand-held close combat weapon

**Defensive**

- Earth wall: raising barriers from the ground
- Earth armor: encasing the body in stone (heavy but protective)
- Earth shelter: dome or bunker from surrounding terrain
- Tremor: destabilizing opponents' footing

**Utility**

- Earth tunnel: burrowing underground
- Earth elevation: creating platforms, raising terrain
- Earth etching: precision carving without physical contact
- Earth compression: compacting rock into denser forms (advanced)

## Specialized Techniques

### Seismic Sense

Using vibrations through the earth as sonar. Practitioners detect objects,
people, and movement through ground contact with precision comparable to or
exceeding vision. Works through walls, underground, in total darkness.

**Capabilities**:

- Environmental awareness through solid surfaces
- Lie detection via physiological response (elevated heart rate)
- Foundation for discovering metalbending (sensing impurities)

**Limitations**:

- Requires direct contact with earthen surface
- Fails on ice, wood, water, or while airborne
- Sand creates fuzzy, imprecise sensing
- Cannot perceive visual details (faces, text)
- Lie detection fails against emotionally controlled individuals

### Metalbending

Manipulating processed metal by targeting trace earth impurities still present
in the alloy. Metal is "merely earth that has been purified and refined."

**How it works**: seismic sense detects unpurified earth fragments within
metal. The bender targets those fragments, and the surrounding metal structure
moves with them.

**Can bend**: standard metals, plating, cables, liquid metal (mercury),
meteorite material.

**Cannot bend**: highly refined/pure metals with minimal earth content
(platinum is the canonical example).

### Lavabending

Phase-changing earth into molten rock and back. Extraordinarily rare - only
a handful of practitioners across centuries. Requires minimal earth to
generate usable lava quantities (three pebbles can become a projectile).

**Applications**: molten projectiles (discs, shuriken), lava moats for area
denial, melting armor, structural destruction. Combines earthbending's
solidity with fire-like destructive potential.

### Sandbending

Manipulating loose earth particles. A regional specialization developed
by desert-dwelling practitioners. The loose, shifting nature of sand
requires a different touch than solid stone - lighter, more fluid, almost
waterbending-like in its finesse.

## Strengths

- Excellent balance of offense and defense
- Strong in any terrain with ground contact
- Metalbending provides huge tactical advantage in built environments
- Seismic sense gives unmatched environmental awareness
- Most physically imposing - can reshape the battlefield itself
- Lavabending is devastating area denial

## Weaknesses

- **Ground dependency**: must be in contact with earth/stone. Airborne,
  on water, or on non-earth surfaces = powerless
- **Mobility**: the most stationary art. Grounded stances mean less evasion
- **Speed**: typically slower than other arts. Favors power over quickness
- **Physical demand**: requires real strength, not just skill
- Sand and loose earth are harder to control precisely than solid stone

## Origin

Learned from badgermoles - massive blind creatures that tunnel through earth
using earthbending as their primary sense and means of locomotion. The
connection between blindness and seismic sense is not coincidental: the
original earthbenders never used their eyes.
