Combat Arts

[Bainbridge Islands]

OOC: Everyone has an Army of some type, but what does it use for its main martial art for unarmed / melee weapon combat? If anyone needs help, drop me a line, and we can work something up.

 

IC:The traditional martial arts of the Kingdom of the Bainbridge Islands is Lua:

 

Lua is a fighting style native to the Bainbridge Islands. Its name translate as ?hard and soft?, ?dislocation of joints?, ?life and death?, or the number ?2?. It developed from the lomilomi massages given to boat paddlers, with eventually grew into a wrestling style that, in turn, became Lua. By the 16th century, when explorers first arrived at the Bainbridge Islands, it had evolved into twelve schools, each with its own ?specialty? attacks. Some Lua practitioners were inclined to ambush innocent people to test out their joint-breaking and bone-breaking techniques, giving the are a bad reputation as pilau (?savage?).

 

Lua is a diverse style that concentrates on attacks, including punches, hand & elbow strikes, kicks, joint-locks, joint-breaking, and throws. The ancient studies of Lua were students of anatomy, they were particularly skilled at dislocating and breaking joints, and their modern-day counterparts often use the same tactics. Lua also involves the use of internal energy, or mana.

 

Some of the move variations are as follows:

Crab Pinch: involves the grabbing and pinching of soft, vunerable targets, such as the throat or vitals

Dolphin Nerve Strike: uses the back of the hand or wrist to strike nerve clusters

Moray Eel Hand Strike: uses the fingers and open hand to attack

Mountain Pig kick: uses low kicks and stomps, and sometimes a joint-breaking throw

Octopus ?Poke?: includes rapid, interwoven blocks and strikes and an attack which the fingers ?flick or poke? the enemy?s eyes.

Shark Techniques: involves short, powerful jabs with the thumb or knuckles

 

The standard Lua attack pattern is to block an incoming blow, and follow up with one or more appropriate attacks.

 

Common weapons: Staff, Short Staff, Canes, Single-handed blades, Spears

 

Source: Ultimate Martial Artist, Hero games

OOC: This is actually a real martial art, just not well known

[Deltannia]

Deltannian military and police are taught classical Japanese martial arts, as well as a form of Deltannian martial arts (Police need to know less, but are encouraged to complete the main martial arts).

 

Basics (overlapping occurs, which is why these are combined into a main self-defense course)

Karate - The basics of open handed techniques involving strikes and some various locks, grips, restraints, throws, etc.

Jujitsu - Primarily ground fighting with grappling and joint techniques

Aikido - Self-defense, moving fluidly using attacker's energy and applying locks, joint manipulations, and restraints

 

Other courses, such as in sword fighting, are given, but are not required in basics.

 

 

Valorian Arts - Derived from the old group knownas the Valorian Knights, this taught overall self-defense with hands and knowledge of physiology and anatomy. Also taught use of multiple weapons, some which include the:

 

Ray - Specially crafted sword for maximizing power and speed, reducing strain on person.

Arc - Bow/Arrow-type weapon with ends that could be used like a curved sword.

Beam - Your standard staff, made out of highly durable woods.

 

Those who study this art often pride themselves on the use of at least one of these to a level of mastery.

[Damak Var]

Emperor's Kutsilyo Agents- Ninjutsu, Knife Fighting, Cuong Nhu

 

Inquisition- Ninjutsu(elite non-uniformed field agents only), Knife Fighting, Cuong Nhu

 

Regular Armed Forces- Cuong Nhu, Knife Fighting

 

The Bastos Militia- No training, just given clubs and shields

 

 

[Nan Gorgwaith]

Martial Arts?

 

Nan GorGwaith Military are trained in something called fisticuffs.

 

OOC: Sometimes it looks drunken brawling...

[Rennd]

Renndian Soilders fight a guerilla type warfare and are trained in the ancient art of Gu Ra Me which loosely means, hide, strike, run.

 

This ancient technique often involves hiding behind trees or other objects near an unsuspecting victim striking them with a selected move and then legging it.

 

Common Examples of hiding techniques (Gu) :

 

Hai: Camoflage as trees or near trees: Favoured by citizens

Kai: Hiding in trenches: Favoured by soilders

 

There are many more techniques of Gu other than these.

 

Common Striking methods: (Ra)

 

Gol: To slap someone forcefully - favorable by woman, and the elderly.

 

Hait

 

A powerful front kick to the head - favoured by most young men and women

 

Jaiba

 

Used to be a powerful blow with a mace, club or sword to the head, but now it involves taking a gun out and shooting someone, in army, using missles as well if needed. - favoured by killers, the army.

 

And many many more Ra techniques...

 

Common Running Methods: (Me)

 

Lior : Loosely translated means "run of fire" it involves picking up your knees and running. This technique is extremely fast and hard to catch

 

Pan: This involves mocking the person by pulling faces at them and then sprinting off.

 

There are thousands more Me techniques

 

An example of a combination of Gu Ra Me could be:

 

Kai Hait Lior

 

Hai Gol Pan

 

Some call this cowardly, and prefer the technique Ningua which means "fight to death" this involves all of the striking methods in Gu Ra Me but no running or hiding. Fighting doesn't end until one of them is dead.

Edited June 13, 2006 by Rennd (see edit history)

[Tagmatium Rules]

Spartharios (Swordsman) is the Tagmatine army?s combat art, taught to all new recruits during training. However, only the basics are offered, due to the fact it would take a long period of time for the recruits to reach a high level of mastery of the fighting style. Elite units like the Imperial Guard are given higher levels of training, whilst the Imperial Household Guard are rigorously trained, befitting their status as the personal bodyguards of the Holy Emperor. It is also taught to the III, and there are some civilian practitioners and teachers.

 

The fighting style itself favours the use of swords and other bladed weaponry, which suits the Tagmatine army perfectly, as soldiers are still issued with a sword, the 75cm Half-Spatha, a long with a 30cm bayonet. The Cataphract Corps is issued with a 60cm all-metal mace, and the fighting style is adjusted accordingly. The use of swords is fairly archaic in the region?s armies, but Tagmatium usually takes a long time to let go of old ideas, although this one is still very much favoured by soldiers in the Greater Holy Empire.

 

The style itself draws from two sources.

 

The first is a source native to Tagmatium, that of the 14th-16th Century Christian warriors, the ?Hetaeroi of the Spatharii of the Ecclesaia (Brotherhood of the Swords of the Church)?, who developed their own style of sword fighting in order to compensate for their lack of numbers. This style emphasised skill, speed and power over brute force and numerial advantages. It gave them a fearsome reputation of being invincible, especially when their opponents were untrained bandits and tribesmen or the raw soldiers of the resurgent Greater Holy Empire.

 

The second source is the Japanese martial art of Kenjutsu, which was brought to Tagmatium some time in the mid 1900s. This was used in combination with the old style of the Hetaeroi to make the Tagmatine fighting style of ?Spartharios?, which was developed in the 1970s, and so is still a fairly new style, with new ideas still being added to it.

 

The weapons it is taught with is primarily the Half-Spatha, as this is the weapon that Tagmatine soldiers are issued with, but it can also be performed with the Spathion (a double-edged sword with a metre-long blade, not to be confused with the standard-issue assault rifle of the GHET), Paramerion (similar to the Spathion, although it is curved, and again not to be confused with the carbine of the same name) or really any other bladed weapon found in the region.

 

Spartharios subsytles:

Although a recent addition to the world of martial arts, there are several sub-styles of the combat style. These were mainly developed during the Republic, as the whole style was formulated. They are not taught individually to soldiers, as a flexible approach is favoured, drawing on all four sub styles, which is the Spartharios style as a whole. Also, as Tagmatine soldiers function solely as heavy infantry, a soldier in full kit could not really be expected to make the leaping jumps, strokes and running attacks which are involved in some of the sub styles.

Kataphractos Style: emphasizes power and speed, it concentrates on leaping and running attacks. The most famous Kataphractos manoeuvre is the ?leaping lion stroke?, a leaping ground-to-sky attack.

Protospartharios Style: a style of fighting without the sword. A Protospartharios specialist uses a binding attack, a disarming attack, and complex manoeuvres. It is considered an advanced, secret technique used by masters of the art, and is taught to the Imperial Household Guard, to allow them an advantage over any armed assailant on the Holy Emperor?s person.

Statores Style: the two sword style, it is used for multiple attackers. He/she can use his sword in either hand, or fight with swords in each hand. Technique names - "nine step defence", "blade-wind".

Klibanophoros Style: This style is characterized by all-out offence, speed, power, and risk-taking. Notable manoeuvres in suio are: the ?Lighting stroke?, the ?Running Stroke?, and the ?Sacrifice Stroke?. This style has been popularised by the rise of indigenous martial arts films and comics that have begun to spring up in the Greater Holy Empire in the past decade or so. Originally they were used as propaganda films by the old Republic to show how good its soldiers were in this new style of fighting, but they have quickly caught on in many parts of the Greater Holy Empire.

 

OOC: Many thanks to BI, who sent me this information and basically did all of the hard work. All I had to do was add a tiny bit of background and change all the names using my handy copy of a book on the Byzantine military. Again, thanks BI!

Edited December 25, 2007 by Tagmatium Rules (see edit history)

[The Republic of Pine Park]

The National Security Force of Pine Park is a small, but well trained militia, with expert knowledge in Judo, Jujitsu, and advanced firearms training. The Pine Park Special Forces Unit has extensive training in an ancient form of martial art native to Pine Park known as "Garric", which blends the styles of Brazillian ninjitsu and back alley knife fighting (though the original natives used sharpened stones). The bulk of Pine Park's military force, however, comes from independant provincial militias, which uses a fighting style referred to as "drinkin' and shootin'". It's proven effective so far.

[Ide Jima]

Martial arts are an encouraged sport in Ide Jima. The most widely used are the Bando, and Banghuazhang martial arts. That focus on Punches, Chokeholds and sweeping movements and Kicking and Weapons Training Respectively. Another art taught commonly to civilians is Muay Thai, which is a Kickboxing martial art, which encompasses the deadly Rope-fist fights - still fought widely throughout Ide Jima as a sport.

 

The military is taught in KBZ - or Kanzu Banghuazhang - a form of the art that uses the Bayonet in the place of the weapon, as well as Muay Thai and Pradal Serey Kickboxing techniques to a 7th grade standard (Military designation) with the option to continue further.