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• Northern Water Tribe

The Northern Water Tribes are culture inhabiting the Northern Polar Continent. It is the larger and more populous of the three constituent tribes of the ethnic Water Nation. The Northern Tribal Confederation is one of the two polities comprising the political Water Nation, the other being the Southern Water Tribes.

The language of the Water Tribes marks a distinction between plurals and singulars, but the common language of diplomacy and international trade generally does not. In that language, the term "Northern Water Tribe" (北方水族) is used to refer to the overall culture. Internally, though, the Northern Water Tribes consider themselves a confederation of tribes, with seventeen major tribes, and forty-one minor tribes. They do sometimes use "Northern Water Tribe" with "Tribe" in the singular form when presenting themselves as a united front to outsiders or when rhetorically building pan-tribal sentiment e.g. in political speeches about Confederation matters. Among themselves, though, they often introduce themselves by their particular tribe.

The carrying capacity of the land is limited, as tundra vegetation grows slowly and the environment can sustain only limited numbers of animals and edible plants. The population is concentrated on the coasts and rivers, where fishing and the gathering of sea vegetables is available, and in the area of warmer, wetter boreal forest in the southwest. Before the advent of trade and urbanization, and especially before the Tribes developed tools to hunt the mighty leviathan whelk and elephant-whale, the population was extremely concentrated in the boreal forest biome.

The capital of the Confederation is Agna Qel'a, a large city. There are a few other cities and large settlements, but most of the population lives as nomads in camps, or in small villages. Agriculture is limited by the very short growing season, but is practiced some in the far southwestern corner of the Confederation's territory.

The Confederation was founded in 1821 BG and was complete around 1414 BG. It was established mostly peacefully, but many water tribes remained skeptical for centuries before finally joining in, and some were hostile. Around 1640 BG, some tribes left to become the Southern Water Tribes, which remained more loosely organized.

Tribe is inherited from the father. Unacknowledged illegitimate children or those of unknown fathers are all considered to belong to the mother's tribe, though they are ineligible for some ceremonial roles with their tribe and are generally in a poor social position unless formally adopted by e.g. their mother's subsequent spouse. Outsider men marrying into a water tribe are generally adopted by their spouse's tribe as a prerequisite for such a union.

The Igigkaraat, Qengartaraak, Negcik, and Ayarua were the founders of the tribal confederation.

The Siqupsiqqat and Uuyurat originated from Water Tribe stock, but had long sojourns in the far north of the Earth Kingdom, where they had cultural contact with the boreal peoples of Earth Nation ethnicity and mixed with them. They eventually decided to join the Confederation when it became clear that it was going to be a successful undertaking. Today, they are still prominent in the Water Tribe's contribution to North Sea trade. They are called in the Earth Kingdom, and sometimes in international trading contexts, by the names Maozu and Banzu, respectively, which are loose translations of their endonyms.

Architecture

For most of the year, most of the lands of the Northern Water Tribe are at or near freezing temperatures. Therefore, ice has often been used as a building material there, especially for humble or temporary dwellings during the Winter. However, it is a misconception that all Water Tribe architecture is based on ice. Firstly, in all but the harshest interior regions - where no one lives year-round - daytime temperatures exceed freezing for some of the year. Indeed, in the boreal forests of the Southwest of the North polar continent, a short growing season with temperatures averaging around 10C exists. Ice buildings can be maintained by waterbenders under such conditions, but doing so requires a considerable investment in waterbending resources and is generally only done as a temporary measure in the case of a heat wave, or, in the case of some monumental buildings, for ostentation. (I.e. to demonstrate that one can command sufficient waterbenders to maintain a large ice building during the summer.)

In areas without thick ice sheet, stone is sometimes used as a building material, often painted to resemble ice (and blend in with it during the winter.) Snow is often deliberately piled against the stone walls for additional insulation during the winter.

In the boreal forest regions, wood, often painted white or blue, is also used. There and elsewhere, wooden frames are commonly used to enhance the structural characteristics of ice walls. Sawdust, a byproduct of boatmaking, furniture and structural uses of wood, is mixed with water for insulating ice structures intended to be permanent. This composite requires less frequent maintenance; in many places it can endure the brief northern summer with minimal attention. Bones are sometimes used as a structural reenforcement. Because waterbenders can promptly liquify ice, the use of wooden, bone, and stone structural elements is important to defensive structures.

In warmer months, the Water Tribes often use tents made from skin, with bone, wooden, or other composite frames; this is especially true of nomadic tribes.