Military of the Earth Empire


 * This article is about the military of the Earth Empire. For other similar uses, see Military (disambiguation).

The military of the Earth Empire is the unified armed force of the Earth Empire, consisting of an army of infantry, tanks, mecha tanks, and an air force of airships. Originally assembled in 171 AG as a unity movement by ex-Zaofu captain and interim leader of the Earth Kingdom, Kuvira, the military has a diverse membership ranging from nationalist volunteers to forcibly conscripted ex-bandits.

With the 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. By 174 AG, the army had united all of the Earth Kingdom. 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. They also employ agents and spies lurking outside the borders of the Empire.

History
After the anarchy in the Earth Kingdom following the assassination of the queen at the hands of Zaheer in 171 AG, Kuvira traveled to Ba Sing Se with Baatar Jr., Varrick, and a selection of Zaofu's security team and few wealthy elites, they stabilized the situation there. This action earned Kuvira the trust of the world leaders and she was appointed as the internationally recognized interim president of the nation and further amassed an army with which she embarked on a campaign to end the chaos in the Earth Kingdom. In the process, she recruited Bolin 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. Although she initially brought wealth and stability to the states that accepted her protection, her mercy eventually wore off and the citizens were forced into slave labor to acquire resources to maintain her armies, while those that resisted, as well of people not of Earth Kingdom ethnicity, were sent to reeducation facilities. 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.

Annexation of the State of Yi


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.

Fall of Zaofu


The army set course toward Zaofu, as it was the last state to be annexed under Kuvira's rule in order to truly have the entire Earth Kingdom under control. Only a few soldiers were left behind to guard the borders of the Earth Empire. Two of these guards encountered and captured Ikki, believing her to be a spy. When they discovered that she was Tenzin's daughter, traveling with her siblings, Jinora and Meelo, the two planned to capture them all, believing Kuvira would reward them with a promotion if they did so. However, the two soldiers bonded with Ikki instead, resulting in them helping her to discover where Korra could possibly be hiding out. As they planned on releasing the young airbender, they were ambushed by Jinora and Meelo, who knocked them unconscious with their bending against a wall.

Arriving at the home of the Metal Clan, the army made camp at its gates, where they would give the city twenty-four hours to surrender. During this time, Bolin's loyalty to Kuvira wavered and he deserted together with Varrick and Zhu Li in three mecha tanks. Their escape had not gone unnoticed, however, and Baatar Jr, together with two soldiers, gave chase. After a fierce battle, he managed to force the deserters to surrender and brought them to face Kuvira. The military leader sent Bolin off to a rehabilitation camp and forced Varrick to continue his experiments with the spirit vines under military supervision, while she pardoned Zhu Li, after the assistant had pledged her loyalty to her.



At night, the army set up a trap, as Kuvira predicted Suyin Beifong would attempt a sneak attack, and as such, they managed to arrest the Zaofu matriarch and her twin sons, who had infiltrated the camp. At dawn, the army assumed battle formations in order to invade the city if the remaining leaders would not surrender. However, when Korra declared she would intervene, Kuvira and the Avatar faced off in a one-on-one battle to decide the fate of Zaofu, which the army commander eventually managed to win due to Korra still suffering from hallucinations. As Kuvira moved in to finish her off, she was blown back by Jinora and Opal. Considering their intervention broke the peace agreement, Kuvira ordered her troops to attack, though they were held at bay by a powerful whirlwind created by the two airbenders. When the mecha tanks started to make their way through the storm, Korra and the two airbenders were evacuated on Pepper by Meelo and Ikki, leaving Kuvira to announce that Zaofu was theirs, causing the soldiers to burst out in cheers.

Meanwhile, Baatar Jr. and a few other soldiers accompanied Bolin and Varrick on their journey away from the city. After being tricked by the inventor, however, who had turned the spirit vine project into a bomb as opposed to continue working on it, Baatar Jr. and the soldiers were forced to abandon that wagon, lest they would die in the unstoppable explosion. Though Baatar Jr. doubted Varrick and Bolin survived, Kuvira took no chances and issued wanted posters of them. Despite the loss of Varrick's research, Baatar Jr. was convinced that he could restart the project with Zhu Li's help. To that end, Kuvira, Baatar Jr., and a battalion of mecha tanks made their way toward the banyan-grove tree to procure new samples of spirit vine. They met some resistance from the spirit vines that attacked them, though with their chainsaws and metal cables, the Earth Empire mecha tanks managed to overpower the vegetation and procure the samples they needed.

Defending the border


With the Earth Empire completely united, the army fortified and patrolled its borders. One of these checkpoints encountered Varrick and Bolin, who had forged an alliance with a group of reeducation camp fugitives. Although the guard post soldier initially refused to let them pass, unwilling to open the gate without Bolin being able to produce the necessary transport orders, he relented when Varrick threatened to relay his unwillingness to cooperate to Kuvira. As the group passed through the gate, however, one of the soldiers recognized them as wanted fugitives and the guards sprung to action, quickly surrounding them. Although they met some resistance from the benders, the four mecha tanks pressed the fugitives hard and managed to corner them. As they were on the verge of winning the battle, Varrick fabricated an electromagnetic pulse device and defeated the suits. Despite this loss, the border guards refused to give up and kept pressing the group of fugitives back, though they too were defeated when Bolin intervened and forced them to retreat with his lavabending.

Infantry
Kuvira's infantry consists of enlisted soldiers, guards who defected from Zaofu, and conscripted ex-bandits, including earthbenders as well as nonbenders. However, according to Suyin, for many their loyalty was either bought or coerced.

Uniform


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 while Baatar Jr. wears a unique and modified sergeant insignia as her second-in-command.

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.

Equipment and weaponry


Kuvira's army utilizes a wide variety of heavy vehicles and technology more advanced than what Zaofu has ever seen to help them achieve their goals.


 * Airships - Her army also possesses several airships, similar to the ones used in Zaofu.
 * High-speed maglev train - Designed by Varrick to serve as Kuvira's personal transport that travels at high speeds on a rail. It houses many of her soldiers and their equipment.
 * Mecha tanks - Thanks to the modifications made by Varrick, Kuvira's army has hundreds of mecha tanks equipped with a wide array of weapons and abilities.
 * Tanks - The army also has several tanks, reminiscent of the Fire Nation's tundra tanks, at its disposal.

List of known Inner Circle members

 * Kuvira (leader)
 * Baatar Jr. (Second-in-command)
 * Varrick (Corporal; deserted)
 * Bolin (Corporal; deserted)

List of known officers

 * Guard post officer (Corporal)
 * Guard post soldier (Corporal)

List of known privates

 * Zhu Li (mole; deserted)
 * Two outpost soldiers

List of agents

 * Bathroom attendant (captured)

Trivia

 * The metalbending soldiers serving the Earth Empire were designed to resemble the Stormtroopers in the Star Wars franchise.
 * In addition, the privates' uniforms heavily resemble those of the armies of World War-era Germany, which is most evident in the design of the helmets, which resemble the German Stahlhelm, and the nearly knee-high boots.
 * Also, the tanks deployed by Kuvira's forces bear resemblance to British heavy tanks of the First World War, as they share rhomboid form, sponsons on the hull's sides and wide, and uncovered continuous tracks. However, their high protruding turrets are more similar to early tanks of the Second World War.
 * Furthermore, the spirit-vine cannon bears resemblance to the Nazi German Uranprojekt, in its nature as the development of a superweapon by a fascistoid militaristic state, and the (also Nazi German) Schwerer Gustav railway guns, since they both feature the design of a superheavy railway artillery meant for a war-deciding use early on, destroying the Maginot Line and directly attacking Republic City, respectively.
 * Kuvira's supporters are people who follow the ideology of the army, don military uniforms and haircuts, though are not officially a part of the army. They distribute the "Great Uniter" propaganda, viewing Kuvira as a more adequate leader for the Earth Kingdom than the legitimate Prince Wu.
 * The heavily fortified border and the task of the soldiers guarding it resembles the Iron Curtain, and the Berlin Wall in particular, in design – a constantly patrolled wall directly on the border crowned with barbed wire, and checkpoints equipped with heavy weaponry allowing its crossing – and purpose – to contain the citizens in their own state and to prevent an invasion, also since the latter was dubbed the "Antifascist Defensive Wall" by the German Democratic Republic.
 * Kuvira's purge of non-ethnic Earth Kingdom citizens is similar to Adolf Hitler's ethnic cleansing of what he believed to be a pure Germany.