Earth Nation

The Earth Nation (aka the Stone Pillar) is ruled by Stone Mages and populated by Stone Mages, Metal Mages, Sand Mages, Crystal Mages and Wood Mages. 
The Earth Nation is known as the art capital of the world and renowned for the skilled artisans who come from the nation. Their biggest commodities are pottery, jewellery, glassware, masonry, and carpentry. The richest nation they are known for their opulence. 
There is a large gap between the social classes with the upper and middle class living very ostentatiously and comfortably in large underground cities in the mountains while the lower class is overrun by poverty and live in small farming villages or in slums on the outskirts of the cities. 
The military mostly consists of the lower class citizens who are drafted for a minimum of 3 years service while the middle class are only required a single years service which they can avoid if a member of the family is involved in government or if they themselves are a known artesian. The upper class is not required for military service but if a member of the upper-class does decide to join up they are automatically given a position of rank. 
In the lower class, there is not much divide between the sexes and both men and women are expected to do equal amounts of work and manual labour as well as being able to fight for their nation and look after their families and raise the children. There is also minimal divide of the sexes in the middle class both boys and girls being encouraged to find a trade to learn and excel at in order to avoid the draft. It is only in the upper class that there is a real divide in equality between men and women with men being encouraged to learn politics and military strategy in order to be involved in governing the nation or joining and running the army. Women in the upper class, however, are taught to be good trophy wives and look pretty while obeying their husbands and forbidden from learning a trade or how to fight or joining the military. 
It is common within the earth nation for a man to have multiple wives especially in the upper classes and most families consist of large numbers of children with the average number of children per household being 5. In the upper class, children are raised by nannies/nursemaids from the lower classes and parents have little to do with their children until they come of age at which point boys are taken under their father's wing to be taught the family business and girls are married off in arranged political marriages. Middle-class children are mostly looked after by their grandparents and taught by their parents. In the lower class, parenting is a joint effort between mother and father and children are taught from a young age to help out around the farm and defend themselves. 
There is no one predominant religion within the Earth Nation most within the upper and middle class not following any religion. It is only really within the lower class that people worship any of the spirits and which spirit varies from place to place with most villages having their own regional spirit which they pray to. There is only one major festival which is celebrated throughout the Earth Nation giving thanks to the spirits and that is the Moving Earth festival which is celebrated annually during the third month of the year.

Type

Geopolitical, Country

Alternative Names

The Sone Pillar