Ba Sing Se

[Hazlenut Tree-breeze]

Once capital of the Earth Kingdom and by far the largest city in any of the Four Nations, Ba Sing Se means “Impenetrable City”; The city is so named for its two world-famous walls, the gates of which have no hinges or other hardware and are opened by use of Earthbending. Behind the Outer Wall lies a large expanse of farmland, Lake Laogai, and several mountains. The Inner Wall encloses the city itself. The last great Earth Kingdom stronghold after the fall of Omashu, the fall of Ba Sing Se left the Earth Kingdom with no great points of commerce, military activity, or military or commercial production. Earlt in its history, Ba Sing Se was once simply a small subterranean city carved out of rocks by Earthbenders. As the benders further excavated, they came across beautiful illuminated crystals and began to mine them. The crystals currently serve as a common light source for Earth Kingdom inhabitants. Eventually, as the metropolis' expansion reached above ground levels, the catacombs were abandoned. In the history of the city, the Outer Wall has only been breached on two occasions: The first was by Fire Nation military forces led by General Iroh, the legendary “Dragon of the West”. This attack, a part of his 600 day long siege of the city, was quickly driven back by the city’s guardian forces after he was weakened by the death of his son, Lu Ten. Years later, the Fire Nation used a great drill to bore through the Outer Wall, but Aang and his friends stopped the machine before the army could take advantage of the hole. By the end of the Season 2 finale, Ba Sing Se had fallen to the hands of the Fire Nation through an internal coup d'état led by Princess Azula.