Fire Nation (canon)

The Fire Nation is one of the world's four nations and five sovereign states. It is an absolute monarchy led by the Fire Lord and home to most firebenders. Geographically, the nation is located along the planet's equator in the western hemisphere and is composed of several islands. Its capital is simply known as the Fire Islands
==Government==
The Fire Nation was initially led by a council of sages. These sages were heavily invested in philosophy and spirituality, much like the monastic Air Nomads. The lead sage was known as the "Fire Lord" due to his deep spiritual affinity with the element, as demonstrated through high-level firebending. Eventually, one Fire Lord broke from his peers and became sole ruler of the Fire Nation, enacting a line of succession and relegating the other sages to spiritual concerns. The sages nonetheless retained some political power, and tensions occasionally flared between the two. The position of High Sage was created to replace that of the former Fire Lord and the position of Great Sage is used to denote the head of a fire temple.
Over time, the Fire Lords amassed more and more power, and increasingly ruled through intimidation. The political dispute between the sages and the Fire Lords finally culminated following Sozin's ascension to the throne. While Avatar Roku was still alive, the sages remained loyal to him, keeping watch over his sanctuary and obeying his commands. However, following the death of the Avatar, the sages were ultimately forced to submit to the Fire Lord's rule and to serve him alone as spiritual advisors.
During the Hundred Year War, the monarchy took on an absolutist character. This was exemplified by Azula's statement that "true power, the divine right to rule, [was] something you [were] born with". This emphasis on martial prowess made it customary for royalty and the aristocracy to demonstrate their strength and capability by engaging in duels. These fights were often held for military or political purposes, such as determining who was most suited to be a government official or regaining lost honor, as the loser would face disgrace.
Throughout the war, the Fire Nation was not above employing genocide to accomplish its goals of total domination. They eliminated the entire nation of Air Nomads, drove the Southern Water Tribe to the brink of extinction, and began the process of colonizing the Earth Kingdom. With the fall of Ba Sing Se, it seemed almost inevitable that Ozai would succeed, and he crowned himself the Phoenix King, ruler of a global empire. His triumph, however, would only last two days.
==Military===
During the Hundred Year War, the Fire Nation military was the strongest of the four nations. Using a fiery comet that greatly enhanced their powers, they succeeded in wiping out the Air Nomads early in the War, and though the Fire Nation fought on two fronts against the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom, they still maintained the upper hand. As the War dragged on, it became clear that the Fire Nation would eventually win if the Avatar did not intervene; the Water Tribe did not have the military might to directly challenge the Fire Nation, and the vast Earth Kingdom had lost its last great military stronghold to the Fire Nation.
===Army===
The Fire Nation Army is comprised of both firebenders and normal foot soldiers, who normally wield spears, swords, and shields. Their cavalry ride komodo rhinos. The Fire Nation also has units of metal tanks. These tanks are heavily armored and equipped with fire ports to allow the crew to fire projectiles, ranging from fireballs produced by firebending to giant grappling hooks.
The act of dressing up prisoners of war as soldiers to provide fodder was a tactic employed by the Fire Nation Army during the Hundred Year War. One of the generals suggested sacrificing a novice division of troops to provide a distraction.
====Yuyan Archers====
The Yuyan Archers are Colonel Shinu's highly skilled unit of archers and are, according to Zhao, capable of "pinning a fly to a tree from one hundred yards away without killing it". They are so skilled that they succeeded in overwhelming and capturing Aang, the Avatar, though he subsequently escaped from custody.
===Navy===
The Fire Nation Navy, also simply referred to as the Fire Navy, consists of several fleets with coal-powered ironclad cruisers as basic units. Commanded by admirals, these fleets act rather autonomous, and even though the position of an overall commander does exist, he just controls the largest fleet and does not order other admirals. In addition to its sturdy properties, the Fire Nation's use of metallurgy to remove impurities from the metal ensures that enemy earthbenders cannot damage their ships with their powers. Besides the cruisers, the navy employs many classes with different purposes, from ferrying and disembarking troops to providing bombardment with their trebuchets to creating blockades. The navy is also highly organized and stratified, with a clear hierarchy and efficient bureaucracy. Despite the enormous troop strength of the navy that employs thousands of soldiers, sailors and engineers, it is also the only known part of the military which hires mercenaries, if a sudden demand for ships will leave vessels a little short-handed on experienced crew members.
During the Hundred Year War, captured earthbenders were forced into labor to work on a mid-ocean shipyard. Knowing that they could not bend the metal of the rig, many of the captured earthbenders lost their will to fight.
The Fire Nation's navy is the largest and most powerful in the world, capable of dispatching over a hundred warships in larger operations, exemplified by Admiral Zhao's siege on the Northern Water Tribe with hundreds of ships.
====Southern Raiders====
The Southern Raiders are comprised of an elite force of vessels and soldiers tasked with launching the numerous raids on the Southern Water Tribe and the Southern Earth Kingdom. Their insignia is a sea raven and their uniforms are slightly different from conventional Fire Nation armor, as they are mostly black and consist of a helmet with bird-like ornaments. Their flagship is fairly advanced, with an unusually large conning tower. The goal of the Southern Raiders was to eliminate all waterbenders from the Southern Water Tribe, as well as stealing supplies for the Fire Nation and devastating the coastlines of the South Sea.
===Air Force===
The Fire Nation is the first country of the world that has established a military air force, before the Earth Kingdom and the United Republic. This air force consists of war balloons and airships. The war balloons are a type of hot air balloon designed by the mechanist, an Earth Kingdom inventor who the Fire Nation had pressed into service designing weapons and technology. They acquired it after losing the battle for the Northern Air Temple against the defected inventor.[69] Under the direction of War Minister Qin, the Fire Nation later constructed many more war balloons which were fueled by firebenders. On the Day of Black Sun, it was revealed that the Fire Nation had also constructed several massive airships. These airships employ multiple propeller sets on the sides of their hulls for propulsion. Armed with bombs that they drop from the hatches on their underbellies, rudimentary cannons, and hundreds of firebending crew members who can fire at enemies from dozens of small platforms, these airships are massive aerial warships. Upon the arrival of Sozin's Comet, Phoenix King Ozai had planned to lead a massive fleet of these airships to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground, however, most of the airships were destroyed during a battle against Team Avatar.
====The Drill====
This siege engine is a massive drill, designed to breach the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se. The drill was originally modeled by the mechanist and took over two years to construct. As large as a village, it houses an entire brigade of Fire Nation engineers, who are needed to make repairs and clean out pipelines. The drill is composed of two moving parts which are connected by a series of braces. It works by tearing chunks of stone from structures and grinding them down, dispensing them into water and channeling them out the rear. The drill was successful in breaching the wall, but was stopped when Aang and Katara teamed up to weaken outer layer of braces. Aang delivered a final blow to the drill from the exterior, causing the structure to fall apart from the inside out.
The drill was also accompanied by a fleet of tanks similar to the tundra tank, only equipped instead with caterpillar treads and catapults, but these were quickly demolished by Ba Sing Se's Terra Team.
==Military Structure==
<tabber widths="400">
|-|Military structure=
===Leaders===
* Fire Lords
** Izumi – 167 AG - present
** Zuko – 100 - 167 AG (Former Prince)
** Ozai – 95 - 100 AG
** Azulon – 20 - 95 AG
** Sozin – 58 BG - 20 AG
** Sozin's father – Unknown - 58 BG
* Princess Azula
===Second-in-command===
* Council of Fire Sages (Formerly)
===Military Leaders===
* Admiral Zhao
* General Iroh
* General Bujing
* General Mak
* General Shinu
* General Shu
* Captain Chey
* Senior Officer Jee
* General Mung
* The warden of the Boiling Rock
* Warden Poon
* Constable Sung
* Admiral Chan
* Admiral Jeong Jeong 
* Admiral Liang
* Captain Li
* Yon Rha
* Fire Navy officer
* Airship Captain
* Southern Raiders Commander
===Champions/Agents/Significant Individuals===
* Ty Lee
* Mai
* Piandao (Former)
* Lo and Li
===Military Units===
====Infantry====
* Yuyan Archers
* Domestic Soldiers
====Special====
*Firebenders
*Rough Rhinos
*Southern Raiders
====Vehicles====
* Tundra Tanks
* The Drill
* Catapults 
====Aircraft/Vessel====
=====Boats=====
*Empire-class battleship
*Fire Nation cruiser
*Kayak
*Prison ferry
*River steamer
*Riverboat
*Royal barge
*Southern Raiders frigate
*Airship
*Balloons
=====Planes=====
*Stormrider
*Devastator Warship
*Planetary Assault Carrier
*Invader Fighter
|-|Weaponry=
===Military weapons===
====Melee weapons====
* Swords
* Spears
* Shields
====Ranged weapons====
* Bow & Arrows
====Explosives====
* Artillery
</tabber>
Category:Nations
Category:Countries
Category:The Last Airbender
Category:Non-fanon