The Friction Encasement Sphere

For my #TMOAang entry, I’m going to walk you through the signature technique of my Air Bender OC, Karan, the Friction Encasement Sphere.

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 𝔽𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝔼𝕟𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕊𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖?

A Friction Encasement Sphere is essentially a hollow air ball, rotated at a higher than normal speed. The sphere is always formed around another object, and includes 3 components.

𝟙. The air current, being spun in a continuous circular motion

𝟚. A small amount of debris picked up within the air current at the time it was formed (usually some form of dust or pebble)

𝟛. The object or elemental attack that is being trapped inside.

An Encasement Sphere is initially formed through the same basic hand gesture of swirling the ’s hands together that an air ball would use. However, where an air ball would keep the ’s hands close to the chest, the movement to form an encasement sphere starts with the arms outstretched before the movement in. You can see the movement illustrated here with stick figures.

I would consider this an advanced airbending technique. Although most air benders know how to form an air ball, it would require a good amount of calculation to determine what the proper ratio of debris to air to contents are that a novice Airbender wouldn’t likely have the instincts for.

The key difference between an air ball and an encasement sphere that while the compressed ball of air is supposed to be mostly air, with an occasional small object inside to lift it up, the encasement sphere has less density of air inside in order to fit the debris.

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝔻𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕟 𝔼𝕟𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕊𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝔻𝕠?

The Friction Encasement Sphere’s purpose is to trap an object—often an opponents attack—and change the composition of the object inside of it through the rapid application of kinetic friction. By rotating the sphere with rapid speed, the debris in the air current is able to rub against the object trapped inside of the sphere with such intensity and frequency that it alters the state of the element or object trapped inside.

An encasement sphere can be controlled in the same way as an air ball can. It can be released mid-spin, releasing the newly-transomed substance inside in a sort of spray across a large field, or it can be projected directly at someone in a manner similar to an air bomb. It could also be gently released, so that the transformed substance would simply float down without causing harm.

As is the case in our world, every type of substance has a different reaction to frictional force being applied. Because of this, the technique’s impact varies drastically by what kind of element or substance was trapped in the encasement sphere. Some combinations are purely defensive, while others can turn into potentially devastating attacks... so let’s dive into how each element reacts!

Yes, I did scientific research for this. If kinetic friction shows up on your science exam, I guess you’re welcome?

𝔼𝕟𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕊𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕧𝕤. 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙

If an object or attack that was predominantly earth based was enclosed in a sphere, the elemental composition of that specific type of earth would cause one of two reactions to occur over time. The first would be that the earth would dry up and disintegrate into a more sand-like substance. The second possibility is that the earth or rock would melt into lava. In both cases, this transformation would turn the substance into something only a very limited number of earth benders would be able to continue bending.

Releasing a sphere full of sand would likely have at least a temporary blinding effect on a field of battle, making for a smooth escape or at least a good distraction. Releasing a sphere of lava would be, well, basically hitting someone with a bomb full of lava. It won’t spray across as wide a distance, but where it does hit... it’s going to burn.

𝔼𝕟𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕊𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕧𝕤. 𝕄𝕖𝕥𝕒𝕝

Although this is an Earth sub-bending, it’s common enough in of what Karan does with it that I gave this its own section. Metal is highly reactive inside an encasement sphere, and it would be able to be melted down into a liquid state. However, metal benders are capable of bending liquid metal, so it is more likely to become a tug-of-war between the will of the metal bender if they try to call the metal back to them, and that of the airbender forming the sphere to trap it.

Both the air and the metal bender would still be impacted by the temperature of heated, liquified metal. If at any point either of them came into physical with the heated metal… no one’s going to be happy about that. The most likely use scenario by the person who made this technique up is that they would deliberately let the metal bender call the metal most of the way back to them while keeping it encased in the sphere, and then levitate it slightly higher at the last second to hit the metal bender with the contents in a location where they can’t react in time to keep it from burning them.

𝔼𝕟𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕊𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕧𝕤. 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕖

Against fire, the encasement sphere becomes a defensive technique. The dust and debris that is carried in the air currents of the sphere would have a dousing effect on any fire trapped inside, either extinguishing it entirely, or at least reducing its size. The smoke that would result from this extinguishing would gather in the center of the ball, creating a smoke screen that the could release by stopping the spin of the sphere.

𝔼𝕟𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕊𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕧𝕤. 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕥𝕪

This is the element that is not impacted at all by an encasement sphere, and it’s weak point because of this. Electricity is capable of ing through the air, so, unless the picked up a different object in the encasement sphere /first/ and used that to attract the electrical charge, there would be no way to trap electricity in air.

𝔼𝕟𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕊𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕧𝕤. 𝕎𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕣

Water has a less obvious reaction than the other elements. Liquids have a different response to friction than solid matter. Heating water with resistance through an encasement sphere would only slightly increase the temperature of the water. This is why boats moving through the ocean really quickly don’t bring the ocean to a boil.

While the of the encasement sphere can use this technique to encase a water based attack and move it away from themselves, the water would undergo very little transformation. Any minor evaporation that took place due to what heat was generated could be pretty quickly corrected by a water-bender by extracting that humidity from the air and adding it right back to their attack, again.

There are, however, applications to the encasement sphere with this element combination that can be helpful in a more mundane sense. By picking up water and heating it in the sphere at a faster speed than one would use for the other elements, one can warm water enough that you could take a very comfortable bath with it. Iroh would also find a use for this, as heating water without a danger of hitting the boiling point in this way could make for an excellent cup of Jasmine tea.

𝔼𝕟𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕊𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕆𝕦𝕥𝕤𝕚𝕕𝕖 𝕠𝕗 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕓𝕒𝕥

There are other uses for being able to alter the state of an element or other surrounding objects. For example, if a log were picked up by the sphere, the friction would be able to start a fire, which could be very helpful for a camper or anyone looking to send an SOS in a survival situation. The sphere could also be a decent stand in for a microwave by hoisting your dinner high and spinning it until the food warmed up... assuming the food isn’t in a form where it’ll splatter the second you slow it down, and you don’t mind the possibility a little dirt might have stuck to it. I wouldn’t recommend using it on oatmeal for that reason.

ℂ𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔽𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝔼𝕟𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕊𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖

𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐤𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐚

The Friction Encasement Sphere is one of multiple techniques created by an Airbender from Gaoling, Karan.

Karan was ten years old when he gained his air bending during Harmonic Convergence. His parents chose to hide his abilities during Tenzin and the Earth Queen’s recruitment periods. Because of this, every technique that Karan developed for his air bending was developed and taught to himself, by himself, outside of tradition or other influences. The basis of his techniques wasn’t tradition, but science.

For his first few years of life, Karan didn’t do much air bending. It wasn’t until the fall of the Earth Queen and the quick devolvement of Earth Kingdom society into one of frequent crime and combat that Karan started to take an active role in developing his skills. He needed to be able to defend himself and his adoptive grandmother from rogue earth benders. That need to counter earth with the resources he had on hand lead to the creation of his own air-bending styles.

As Karan was never raised in a temple, the pacifistic nature that most air benders are taught was never ingrained in him. That shows in the applications he has for all of his air-bending, including his most frequent uses of the encasement sphere, which are, to put it lightly, ‘unusually aggressive.’

The first time that the encasement sphere was witnessed by Earth Empire soldiers, Karan was briefly assumed to be a metal-bender because the field of air used by the sphere was so thin, the control he applied around the metal could make it appear that any attack he waged with it was from the element inside, not the one around it. This made him a helpful rebel during his early teen years, as he could often trick his opponent into thinking he was an entirely different kind of bender until it was too late to adapt.

I’ve never considered if Karan would eventually grow out of his more unusual belief system to become an official air bending master and earn tattoos. His character design was made so that the tattoo would fit nicely with his aesthetic, and in of bending skill, I wouldn’t hesitate to call him a prodigy... but I’ve only ever written Karan as the type of radical that Tenzin would be at immediate odds with, so I’m not convinced Karan would be officially recognized by the air nomads regardless of his skill as a bender.

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔸𝕣𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝔼𝕟𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥

As soon as I saw the prompt for this month, I knew I’d want to draw Karan using the Encasement Sphere for my entry. In this case, the object in the center of the sphere is molten metal. His clothing has a slightly different look to it than the last time I’d illustrated him, as well. He’s wearing an Earth Empire private’s uniform under his vest. I assume he must have stolen it.

The line art took about two and a half hours to complete, and the coloring process took about seven to do the physical coloring, and 15 minutes to make the final adjustments for digital. The materials used were my typical illustration pen for inking the line art, and copic sketch markers to color.

The material inside the sphere is meant to be molten metal. It’s a similar color scheme to fire, but the form of it is more amorphous and there is a more intense yellow in the center than I’d normally use to color a flame.

Thanks for reading!