This doesn't solve the issue (we're still hunting down what's actually causing this issue) but it does provide a way to prevent the crash. It involves sacrificing your body to the forces of nature, though.

Immediately after drinking an elixir for the first time, go get yourself killed. This will reset your player inventory and potentially prevent further crashes. We've discovered that this works for anyone experiencing the crash over and over. You should have your bending still when you respawn, and should be able to play normally.

Not everyone is experiencing this crash. If you have been, please read the section below titled "We need your feedback!" because we seriously need it.

Admins, we've added special flags that can assign bending to players when they approach it. Check the "Item Spawn IDs" discussion for the commands. Since the crash is related to items and inventories, this is a workaround that works perfectly. Please note that the flag will also assign the player to the tribe that the flag belongs to if they don't belong to the tribe already. If they belong to a different tribe, it will not give them bending. The flag must belong to their tribe for it to work.

Please post ANY information or insights you gain into what could be causing this in this discussion. It will be extremely helpful. We are putting all our effort into solving this issue (hence the flag-bending-giving-workaround and the lack of content coming out).

We sincerely appreciate your patience. This crash issue has been a pain all around, so your support has been very encouraging. Thanks a very muchness!