Military of the Earth Empire

Kuvira's army is a unity movement consisting of infantry soldiers, ex-bandits, and mecha tanks assembled by ex-Zaofu captain, Kuvira. With the Earth Kingdom descending into chaos since Earth Queen Hou-Ting's death in 171 AG, Kuvira sought to reunite the war-torn nation and restore order with military force. During Wu's coronation as Earth King, Kuvira claimed the Earth Kingdom to be no more and renamed it the Earth Empire under her rule, which she would forcefully defend with her army.

History
After the anarchy in the Earth Kingdom following the assassination of the queen at the hands of Zaheer in 171 AG, Kuvira was appointed as the internationally recognized interim president of the nation and amassed an army with which she embarked on a campaign to end the chaos in the Earth Kingdom. In the process, she recruited Baatar Jr., Bolin, and Varrick to aid in her cause and gathered many followers who were dissatisfied with the Earth Kingdom Royal Family.

Traversing the Earth Kingdom for years, Kuvira managed to nearly stabilize the nation by 174 AG by having ninety percent of the states under her control. While traveling toward the state of Yi, the army's advance was halted by a bandit-erected blockade. Although troops had been dispersed, Kuvira gave the order to call them back and she took care of the bandits singlehandedly, forcing them to pledge their allegiance to her.



Upon arrival of the army at the capital of Yi, the governor was not pleased to see the military force, even though his state was overrun by bandits. In a private audience, Kuvira offered him the chance to submit to her rule in exchange for the full protection of her army. Dismissing Kuvira's attempt to help as a move to conquer all the states, the governor told the army to leave his state. Before the force retreated to the border, Kuvira gave the governor a day to reconsider her offer and after bandits stole even more supplies from the state despite the efforts of Kai and Opal to help, the governor signed Kuvira's offer and the army returned. Soldiers and mecha tanks swamped the premises and food supplies were handed out to the hungry townspeople. The people cheered for Kuvira and her army while the former declared Yi to be under her protection.

The army train made its way to Republic City the day before Wu's coronation as the new Earth King. With a small delegation of officers, Kuvira traveled to the Republic City Four Elements, where they claimed the presidential suite for their own, even though it had been previously occupied by Wu. The following day, Kuvira and her officers attended Wu's coronation ceremony, where the officers applauded their leader when she denounced the newly crowned king's authority and dissolved the Earth Kingdom in favor of the Earth Empire under her own rule. The world leaders were warned that anyone who tried to oppose them would be met with military counterattacks.

Members
Kuvira's infantry consists of enlisted soldiers and conscripted ex-bandits, including earthbenders as well as nonbenders. It is an experienced and well-equipped fighting force, using the most recent technologies like updated mecha tanks.

Officers

 * Kuvira (leader)
 * Baatar Jr. (Second-in-command - Unique three-bar chevron))
 * Varrick (Corporal - two-bar chevron)
 * Bolin (Corporal)
 * Zhu Li (Private)

Uniforms


The official military colors of Kuvira's army are green, viridian, and metallic gray and the uniforms reflect those. There are small differences depending on the position in the army, but the uniforms are predominantly dark green, with a lighter green front panel on the jacket. A gray belt centers the uniform around the waist. The pants are made from a tight fabric in a shade of olive green and the boots are black and sturdy. Officers don metal shoulder plates and wear their chevrons on the left arm. A sergeant sports two stripes on the cuffs, one at the top, one at the bottom, and an additional trim on the front panel of his jacket while a corporal only sports a single stripe on top of his cuffs. The number of chevrons appearing on the left sleeve of an officer or on the left arm of his mecha tanks also indicates his rank: one for a private, two for a corporal and three for a sergeant. Kuvira does not wear any rank insignia other than her unique uniform and Baatar Jr. wears a unique and modified sergeant insignia.

The infantry also wear helmets and a metalbending soldier additionally wears gloves, a face-covering metal mask with green-glasses goggles, and metal bands around the arms and calves, as well as spools with metal cables on their hips and metal shoulder plates. A regular foot soldier merely wears the helmet with a piece of fabric covering the lower half of the face. Mecha tanks pilots are donned in a jumpsuit that is colored in different shades of green and their tanks are colored depending on the rank of its pilot: gray for privates, green for corporals, and black for sergeants.

Trivia

 * The metalbending soldiers serving the Earth Empire were designed to resemble the Stormtroopers in the Star Wars franchise.
 * Kuvira's supports are people who support the ideology of the army, don military uniforms and haircuts, though are not officially a part of the army. They propagated the Great Uniter propaganda, viewing Kuvira as a more adequate leader for the Earth Kingdom than the legitimate Prince Wu.