Ba Sing Se

Ba Sing Se was the capital of the Earth Kingdom as well as the Earth Monarch's seat of power. It had an upper ring, reserved for its high society members such as nobility or high ranking officials.
== Society and Culture ==
=== Military ===
=== Culture ===
From the enforced culture of Ba Sing Se, to the initially isolationist inhabitants of Kyoshi Island, and the Si Wong tribes who share few customs with other Earth Kingdom people, the culture of the Earth Kingdom is far less defined than those of the other nations, a result of its immense size and diversity. Per Earth Kingdom culture, several kings and queens rule them. The absolute monarch is the Earth Monarch, as such with King Kuei, his daughter Hou-Ting and great-grandson, Prince Wu. They all had absolute power, with their seat being the located in Ba Sing Se's Upper Ring. Additionally, nobles lived lives of wealth and luxury. However, the Beifong family lived in Gaoling. Most residents of Ba Sing Se's upper ring descended from the ancient noble families had forgotten what "honest work" meant. 
Education also existed in Ba Sing Se, but only could be attended by middle class and high-class citizens. 
However, most of the the Empire's population was lower class citizens who lived in rural areas, and small towns.  In Ba Sing Se, lower class citizens lived in poverty in the Lower Ring and they mainly lived in poverty and destruction.
=== Sexuality ===
Whenever it came to same-sex relationships, the Earth Kingdom was slow to accept people, as evident by some prejudice that Kyoshi endured for being a bisexual woman.
=== Government ===
The Royal Earthbender Guards traditionally have served as personal protectors and enforcers for the Earth Kings and Queens. By the time of Avatar Kyoshi, the Earth Sages were also crucial for the daily governance of the country.
By the time of The Hundred Year War, the Earth King was merely a figure head and ruled by a Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se, when the Secretariat was supposed to be the one helping him. Long Feng began to corrupt his own power, by pretending that Ba Sing Se was a peaceful utopia. To do this, he would use the Dai Li to suppress dissent amongst dissent and talk of the Hundred Year War, turning Ba Sing Se into a police state. To promote the idea of Ba Sing Se as a peaceful utopia, forcible elimination of opposition through methods such as brainwashing were used. The government of Ba Sing Se was incredibly bureaucratic since it took at least six to eight weeks to process a request to meet with the king. However, the system was reformed after the Hundred Year War.
As anarchy and chaos poisoned Ba Sing Se, Kuvira appointed herself as Interim President to reunite the country. By 174 AG, she had amassed ninety percent of the Earth Kingdom's support and population. She declared that, during the coronation of Earth King Wu, the Earth Kingdom was no more and the Earth Empire was rising. However, after her defeat at the hands of Avatar Korra, the power was restored to King Wu. However, Korra wondered if Wu was on his way to become the monarch he was destined to become. As of The Legend of Korra, Price Wu announced that he planned to end the Earth Kingdom and transit it into a democracy. Instead, he turned to favor the idea of ruling independent states with democratically elected leaders.