Hablur Clan

Hablur gems are forever.

The Hablur Clan (Malay fo Crystal) is a clan of nomads that is the direct descendant from an ancient civilization's royal bloodline whose empire fell in the wake of a massive earthquake millennia ago. They are the keepers of knowledge of Silat Earthbending and the specialized bending sub technique Metamorphism. The Hablur are known far and wide as a clan of jewelers and traders who sell gems, fossils and many other curios across the lands of the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes and Fire Nation.

Overview
The Hablur clan sells many luxurious and expensive items, their name having become synonymous over the ages with luxury and wealth. The clan's reputation was gained by their mastery of earthbending's applications and their monopoly on the production of Century Stones. As a nomadic clan they travel across the fire nation and earth kingdom to sell and deliver orders for specially made jewelry and other products.

History
The clan is the direct descendants of the people of an ancient civilization which dates at least 8 thousands years in the past. This civilization was situated in the archipelago located in the sea of Chameleon Bay. Once said to be the wealthiest civilization in the world, with houses supposedly made entirely of precious metals and gems, it fell in the wake of a great earthquake and tsunami that destroyed their whole way of life in a single day.

While the material wealth of their civilization was either lost or pillaged by the earth kingdom civilizations around them, their special gem based earthbending styles survived by being passed down by the Hablur's Clan oral history.

Clan Structure
The clan is fundamentally divided into two inner clan castes, those that are blessed and able perform Earthbending's substyle of Metamorphism, and those that simply cannot. Hablur children who have this innate talent for Metamorphism tend to be white haired and are considered sacred or spiritually gifted. Everyone aside from this small group is considered to be in a secondary caste and are not innately well respected in the clan due to having less marketable skills and no concrete cultural importance.

Due to family customs only those blessed with the talent for the specific substyle are ever allowed to pass down or learn the sub-bending technique of Metamorphism (even if secretly any earthbender theoretically could), as a trade off it is their duty to use this skill to bring prosperity to everyone in the clan and failure to do so risks the clan's entire livelihood. The other members of the clan thus specialize in other skills and trades to assist the upper caste in their "sacred" duty.

People of the clan are encouraged to marry only with Benders to encourage the birth of more white-haired children, and any white-haired child born out of wedlock or far away from the clan is expected to be adopted by the current clan's leader, forming a sort of hereditary system where white haired members end up becoming clan leaders.

Century Stones
Century Stones also known as Heaven Tears are artificial diamonds created by the Hablur Clan, and the most expensive gemstones in the world. The creation of one is understood to be the ultimate application of Metamorphism and the greatest achievement anyone in the Hablur Clan can achieve.

Century Stones can be of any shape and design and can have very intricate detailing, though they typically are pearl shaped. They can be designed with any color, gradient, or pattern that one can imagine and some truly ancient ones have been known to even glow as well. Essentially they are the ultimate customizable jewel, and they are meant to last forever.

It is customary for the Clan Leader to gift a Century Stone to newborn children of their clan, this is done as a spiritual offering of good luck to and as a heirloom that can be sold to get that member of the clan back on their feet should the child find themselves in poverty in the future.

Upper Caste

 * Jauh Hablur (Clan Leader)
 * Kuarza Hablur

Lower Caste

 * Wip...

Servants

 * Yingyu - Personal Assistant and Maid to Kuarza.

Trivia

 * The members of this clan tend to be represented by characters from magi.