Categories: Lore

Martial Arts

The types of martial arts in this world.

People do martial arts and fight each other on the continent. But considering style and functions, there are five major mainstream styles of martial arts. Each have their unique characteristics and ranking system.

One person can always study and use more than one style, but to master a style takes a lifetime, and unless you have suspiciously too much time on your hands, one can only master one style.

Gold-style

Gold-style martial arts focus on the effective wielding of swords. It originated from the plains of Atlasia, where in modern times there are plenty of blacksmith companies selling swords carefully crafted with century-old techniques. The most famous one, Sworcery, was established during the industrial boom in the newly-independent Atlasia in the 1950s. The secret formula, passed down from the founder's family, has always been a prime target of unsuccessful corporate espionage operations.

Getting a good sword, hard as it is, is only half the battle; and a true Gold-style master could wield any sword with ease. Their biggest weakness is, of course, being disarmed; so Gold-style practitioners usually learn something else alongside this.

Rankings:

• Bronze
• Silver (Nightsun is here, this loser, but to be fair he self-studied most of it and never went back to Atlasia after going out so he can't take the test. Skill-wise he'd still only be at Gold though.)
• Gold
• Platinum
• Uranium-235¹ (Uranium for short)

Ranking certificates given out by Sworcery is also the most widely recognized, which kind of makes them the central authority on Gold-style martial arts.

Wood-style

Wood-style martial arts is quite catch-all, being good for both offense and defense, with a focus on hand-to-hand combat. Out of all five styles, it is the easiest to learn but the hardest to master, and once mastered, the most deadly. It is the most popular style among hobbyists and militaries all over the continent, for basic combat and self-defense training. If someone is studying martial arts, with no further specification, they would usually be learning Wood-style martial arts.

There is no central authority on Wood-style martial arts, and each regional authority has their own rules, exams, and certificates and stuff, though largely similar to each other. But largely agreed upon are the dozen people with the rank of Master, Paperweight's mentor at the Mountain Temple being one. They are among the most respected of the entire martial arts scene.

Rankings: (MSS rankings are influenced by these a bit.)

• Hobbyist
• Noob
• Half-noob (MSS entry threshold)
• Normal (Sparky is here, also it's the Guardian Moose requirement)
• Cool (Paperweight is here)
• Master

The Hobbyist rank was added in the late 20th century due to an influx of hobbyists who want to feel like they're cool and get a certificate.

Water-style

Water-style martial arts emphasize grace and balance. It may seem useless and weak at first, and may even be so in proper competitions, but under extreme conditions is where they shine. On a wobbly bridge, atop a windy mountaintop, where most usual people could not even stand, let alone fight, Water-style practitioners could gracefully throw their opponent into the trenches below. If you can guide your opponent to somewhere dangerous, Water-style practitioners can even defeat Fire-style fighters.

There was a story about Water-style practitioners winning underwater fights, but both sides ended up drowning so it was hard to tell who exactly had been winning before they both drowned.

There is even a branch of Water-style dedicated to mastering walking on water. They had a special section of the Lotus Lake, had not succeeded in centuries, but they hadn't stopped trying, and also they get grants from the government so why stop.

Water-style martial arts is the only style not outlawed in Fanton, because it's usually tame and harmless, and also it originated in Fanton. The authority on Water-style martial arts is the Lotus Lake Temple.

Rankings:

• Violet
• Lavender
• Amethyst
• Purple

Yes it's all just different words to describe purple.

Fire-style

There is only one goal for Fire-style martial arts: to kill by any means possible. It has moves for any makeshift weapon you can imagine, from sticks and stones to spears and daggers, and is the only style that takes into consideration the use of firearms, both for the practitioner and the opponent. It is not below underhanded and dishonorable tactics, making it generally frowned-upon in "proper" professional martial arts, but popular among guerrillas and criminals. It is not something you can normally learn by signing up to classes, and was even outlawed in Moreland, but it's the most deadly, outmatched only by the Wood-style Master-ranked.

Its banning in Moreland is quite ironic, considering how it was developed in the ever-so-militaristic region in the first place, and popularized by the Guardian Moose as they spread terror to the Bauhinian imperial troops, the compromising bourgeoisie republicans, and the would-be Atlasians. Nowadays, the Guardians teach Wood-style to its new recruits.

Fire-style martial arts does not have a ranking system, as there is no authority to rank people anyways. If you got beat, then lock in and git gud².

Nightsun's main style is Gold, but if he gets disarmed, he brings out his Fire-style skills.

Earth-style

Earth-style martial arts focus on the defensive, which is why it's often favored by bodyguards, and was the expected standard in Starcorp Security. Developed with bodyguarding in mind, it does not promote striking first, but doesn't shy away from killing when they pose a threat. Starcorp Security is the central authority on this, administering exams and handing out certificates.

It is developed by the Bauhinian Emperor's personal security force, in ancient times when most technologies we know and love didn't exist; and its techniques, successful enough to keep them safe for centuries, were kept extremely secret. Training was passed down from senior members to new recruits, and trainees who failed to make it onto the team were executed to ensure they didn't spread what they learned to those who shouldn't hear it. None who made it their mission to learn by studying the guards had stayed alive long enough to learn anything.

During the Bauhinian revolution, most of them defended the emperor to the death, save for this one guy who was an undercover Republican. He helped the revolutionaries kill the emperor, and for years he was remembered as the only person on the continent who even knew Earth-style martial arts, seeing as he personally ensured the death of many members of his team. Fearing that this art form would die out forever (and also everyone was yelling at him to do it), he trained many people in Earth-style martial arts, so that it survived and flourished to this day.

Initially Earth-style didn't have a ranking system. More like the only two ranks were "welcome to the team" and "kill yourself or someone else will do it for you." But later people made rankings because we all love hierarchy and feeling like we're better than other people. The ranks are simply from 0 to 8³, with 6 being Starcorp Security's entry threshold, and 8 being the level Dragonfly and Sparky are at.

Pit them against each other!

Yay! Speaking from a sheer strength standpoint, Fire-style is definitely the strongest, followed by Gold-style. Wood-style can't be rated that well but on average its practitioners are as weak as Water-style. Earth-style, being purely defensive, can't be rated alongside the offensive ones.

Taking ranking into account, here's a list from the strongest to the weakest. Earth-style is listed behind the highest it can defend against.

1. Wood-style, rank Master
2. Water-style, Purple (if dangerous place) // Earth-style, 8
3. Fire-style, experienced
4. Water-style, Amethyst (if dangerous place)
5. Wood-style, Cool
6. Gold-style, Uranium-235 // Earth-style, 7
7. Fire-style, usual level
8. Water-style, Purple
9. Gold-style, Platinum // Earth-style, 6
10. Water-style, Amethyst
11. Gold-style, Gold
12. Wood-style, Normal // Earth-style, 5
13. Fire-style, entry level
14. Gold-style, Silver // Earth-style, 4
15. Wood-style, Half-noob
16. Gold-style, Bronze // Earth-style, 3
17. Wood-style, Noob
18. Water-style, Lavender // Earth-style, 2
19. Water-style, Violet // Earth-style, 1
20. Wood-style, Hobbyist // Earth-style, 0

I should draw a graph. No one can understand this shit.