Elemental Balance

A thematic representation of the Elemental Balance

## Next

First Great Illumination

The Elemental Balance is a strange and anomolous phenomenon that was seemingly brought about by nature itself, even without any input from Chima's creators, the Dragons. As a result, the phenomenon is shrouded in mystery, and still not fully understood by any of the planet's inhabitants. The Elemental Balance dictates that the northern half of the continent of Chima has eternally cold weather that transcends seasons, the opposite being the case for the southern half and its warm weather. The exceptions to the rule are the warm Northern Outland Mountains in the north and the seasonally snow-capped Iron Mountains in the south, implying the Balance has a sort of "Yin-Yang" dynamic, with a pocket of cold amidst the heat and vice-versa.

Ever since the Elemental Balance came into effect, any being with inherent fire powers (or wielding fire chi) venturing into the Arctic upsets the Balance, causing earthquakes and other natural disasters all across the continent that start small, but gradually increase in magnitude the longer fire-powered beings remain in the north, until eventually, the continent will presumably be torn apart completely. At the time of the RP, it was discovered that the opposite has the same effect, through the advent of the Ice Hunters' powers and their invasion of the south (though it ironically may have been the Elemental Balance itself that granted the Ice Hunters their powers).

With it being impossible to confine the Ice Tribes to the Arctic again, Leodus and others have speculated that a Great Illumination could be used to restore the Elemental Balance by outright removing fire and ice powers from Chima, whereas Malgus II believes that wiping out the Phoenix would be a more assured way to solve the problem, since the Phoenix' presence is what "caused" the Balance to come into existence in the first place, and since Malgus II fully distrusts an Illumination due to learning its true intended purpose.

## History

The Elemental Balance appeared to have first come into existence at the same time the Dragons created the then-primitive Phoenix in the south, over a millennia before the events of the Roleplay. The Balance seemed to be a sort of response by nature to the Phoenix' creation, though it may have existed in Chima's dimension beforehand, and simply began to "apply" to this world due to the elemental species' presence. However, it wasn't discovered by any of Chima's tribes (even the Fire Tribes) until the year 824 BR, as that was the first time Phoenix ventured into the north in large numbers.

### Discovery

(Excerpt from the Complete Timeline page)

In late 824 BR, there began to be earthquakes rising in magnitude, and the Leopards made the correlation that the earthquakes began after Faerin and her Phoenix moved to the Arctic. In a valley on the north-south border, leopard philosophers, historians, and scientists converged and analyzed the phenomenon, becoming the first tribe to learn about the Elemental Balance. The Leopard King ventured to The Purple City to urge Faerin to leave the north, explaining that the presence of Phoenix there would eventually destroy the continent. Faerin refused to leave without tangible evidence, and drove the Leopards away; the Leopards related this information to Chima's other tribes, and the tribes that believed their claim, the Lions, Foxes, and Mammoths, allied with them, forming the Mammalian Confederation. The Elemental Balance was restored in 819 BR when the Leopards bombed and destroyed the Purple City, eliminating the presence of Phoenix in the north (see the Avian Triumvirate—Mammalian Confederation War page).

### Maintaining the Balance

The Leopards devoted themselves primarily to maintaining the Elemental Balance following this, and eventually migrated to the Valley of Balance in 779 BR to do so. When the Sabertooth Tigers, Mammoths, Vultures, and Icebears were exiled to the Arctic and "cursed" (the former two tribes by the Second Great Illumination in 163 BR, and the latter two by Leodus in 122 BR), it may have been the Elemental Balance that gave them, and already present frozen beings such as Galvanor, their ice powers in order from them to adapt to the new climate. The Elemental Balance was broken again at the time of the RP, when the Ice Hunters invaded the south after Maulryene, Malgus, and Sabradia broke the curse confining their tribes' to the Arctic. The presence of four ice-powered species in the south massively disrupted the Balance, beginning a series of natural disasters that have been slowly but surely rising in magnitude. Late into the Crawler—Ice Hunter War, the Leopards and Brotherhood of Vultures formed the Empire of Balance; a faction devoted entirely to restoring and maintaining the Elemental Balance, usually being politically and even morally neutral towards other matters as a result. However, despite the best efforts of the Empire of Balance, the Fire Tribes, and the southern tribes, the Sabertooths, Mammoths and Icebears have not been detered from their vengeful invasion, and the situation becomes more dire with each passing day...