Form II: Makashi

Form II, also known as Makashi, The Way of the Ysalamiri, or The Contention Form, was the second of the seven classic forms of lightsaber combat. Developed for the purpose of lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat, to address the failings of Form I, Makashi was the most dueling-centric of the seven classical forms. Relying on precision and efficiency over Shii-Cho's wild, sweeping motions, Form II allowed an initiate to defend themselves against an opponent with minimal effort, while placing a heavy focus on avoiding disarmament.

Makashi was described as elegant and focused, and was based on balance and footwork to outmaneuver opponents. Fluidity, precision, and economy of motion were relied on, rather than strength, with Form II bladework heavily utilizing jabs and light cuts rather than hack and slash movements. Overall, the form was at its fore when engaged in combat against a single enemy duelist. However, after the Hundred-Year Darkness saw the destruction of most of the galaxy's Dark Jedi, the chances of a Jedi encountering a lightsaber-wielding opponent began to decrease drastically. In the intervening years, the Great Hyperspace War and the Old Sith Wars began and ended in fits and starts, which caused the appearance of Dark Jedi and Sith to take on a sporadic pattern. This, combined with the increasing availability of blaster technology, resulted in Jedi encountering ever-increasing numbers of blaster wielding opponents, but only rarely encountering enemy duelists. As Makashi had been designed strictly for blade-to-blade combat, it lacked an effective means of combating enemies with projectile weapons. Due to this oversight, Makashi lost a great deal of its practical applicability, and over time it faded into relative obsolescence. It would eventually be supplanted by Form III, which was both the most defensive of the seven forms and designed specifically for blast-deflection. However, the style would see a return to prominence during the New Sith Wars, a thousand years of off and on warfare which saw the rise and fall of numerous Sith organizations. After the Battle of Ruusan concluded these wars, the style once again faded from popular use and never regained any widespread practice amongst the Jedi.

## Description

Of the seven forms, Makashi was the most akin to blade weapon dueling, developed during an era wher engagements with darksiders and rogue became an almost routine activity. Form II's primary purpose was to serve as a counter to the first form, Shii-Cho, by relying on precision swordplay to counter Form I's sweeping movements, with a heavy focus on preventing disarmament, the primary goal of Form I. The early levels of Makashi were devised to provide a defense against an opponent's blade, allowing an initiate in the style to defend himself with minimal effort, but needing to be paired with a more offensive style to score a winning blow.

The higher levels of the form proved considerably more effective. Form II bladework encouraged precision and efficiency over power, using jabs, parries and light cuts rather than slashes, blocks, and chops. The blade manipulation required for this form was very calculated, requiring intense focus and expert timing. It was described as elegant, powerful and precise, relying on feints to confuse and trap opponents. These refinements allowed a user of the form to attack and defend with minimal energy expenditure. Makashi also placed a great deal of emphasis on footwork in both attack and defense. The footwork of Form II practitioners commonly followed a single line, front and back, shifting the feet to keep in perfect balance as the practitioner advanced and retreated. Makashi was a style based on balance, on back-and-forth charges, thrusts, and sudden retreats. Makashi practitioners were also uncommonly adept at defending themselves from Force-based attacks. These elements combined to create a form that was extraordinarily effective for lightsaber combat against a single opponent.

Form II emphasized fluid movement and anticipation of a weapon being swung at its target, and so required very smooth motion of both the blade and the body, and practitioners often wielded the blade one-handed for a greater range of movement. With a skilled practitioner, the results were deadly. In fact, masters of the form often seemed so relaxed when employing it that they appeared to be dancing. Makashi duelists also trained themselves to avoid enslavement to form, as such devotion opened the practitioner to be defeated by unpredictable tactics

However, for all its effectiveness, Form II was not without its weaknesses. As it was designed to combat enemy duelists rather than enemy gunmen, it provided poor blast-deflection training. While this was ultimately the reason for the style's decline and eventual obsolescence, it could be overcome through skill and practice. Also, Makashi was most potent when used against a single opponent, and was reduced in effectiveness when fighting groups of adversaries. However, skilled practitioners could still fare very well against multiple foes; Dooku could engage up to three opponents with little difficulty, relying on his footwork to outmaneuver them and take them one at a time.

However, the greatest flaw of the Makashi system of combat was its inability to generate kinetic energy in its application; the focus on precision and blade control hampered an adherent's ability to generate momentum in both offensive and defensive maneuvers. This meant that a duelist who possessed a sufficient level of physical strength could potentially overwhelm a Makashi practitioner, shunting aside strikes from the form's precision offense and simply bashing through its evasive, footwork-oriented defense. This lack of physical force left Makashi practitioners vulnerable to duelists utilizing more contemporary forms, which emphasized power and brute strength. This weakness was especially pronounced against practitioners of the Djem So variant of Form V, as the style was based almost entirely around fast, strength-oriented swordplay. However, this weakness could, to varying degrees, be compensated for with rigorous strength training or cybernetic augmentation. Additionally, as demonstrated by Dooku's numerous victories against power duelists during the Clone Wars, simply utilizing a strength-oriented style against a Makashi practitioner was no guarantee of victory.

## Examples Moves and Maneuvers

Being a style geared towards efficiency, Makashi adherents relied on balance and economy of movement, preferring to refrain from the leaps and acrobatics common to Form IV. The Form II opening stance was a single handed low guard. The saber would be held in the strong hand of the user, and held at his side, the blade pointed down, and the feet would be shoulder width apart. Some faced their opponent side on, so the blade was pointed in their direction. The lightsaber hilt would be held with the thumb pointing down the length of the blade to allow for smaller, tighter, more accurate movements of the saber. The rest of the fingers wrap around the hilt holding it tightly, but not so tight as to limit the fluidity of the movements. The typical Makashi flourish consisted of rapidly moving the tip of the blade in an X shaped pattern through the air, often following the Makashi salute. The salute was not an attack or maneuver but a challenge to an opponent. The saber was held in one hand, brought up vertical directly in front of the practitioner's face, then swung down in a Makashi flourish.

Makashi duelists were typically skilled in the application of two Marks of Contact; the Sun djem and the Shiak. In a marked difference from the Shii-Cho "disarming slash" maneuver, which was a power attack designed to rip an opponents weapon from his grasp, the typical Form II applications of the sun djem were precise attacks directed at the weapon itself, often destroying it or even burning through an opponents fingers to disarm them. Applications of the shiak were a natural result of Form II footwork and swordplay, all of which followed a single back and forth line, and was seen as an indication of skill and control. Two Makashi maneuvers were the "contentious opportunity" and the "Makashi riposte". The "contentious opportunity" was based around recognizing and exploiting an opening in the opponent's defense before swiftly moving to strike the exposed enemy. The "Makashi riposte" was similarly designed to slightly alter the angle of an opponent's attack before quickly retaliating with a counter strike.

## Makashi Weapon Specifications

Due to Form II's emphasis on blade manipulation, and its many fluid one-handed moves, Makashi practitioners often wielded lightsabers that were specialized for such use. The most prominent weapon for this purpose was the curved-hilt lightsaber. These weapons were used because the curved hilt fit better into the palm, granting better blade control and allowing for greater precision and strength. In addition to this, wielders often created highly decorated weapons, and occasionally included blade-guards.

## Strength and Weakness of Makashi

This Form preferred to play the fight smartly and gave less attention to what could go wrong, which can be a strength or a weakness. The swordwork, in particular, was used to deepen around an opponent, rather than go through all at once. Makashi was weak to style Combat IV style Ataru, Combat style V shien, and Combat VII vaapad style, which are kinetic energy based forms (many speed adjustments) such as a form of form five: shien, also Ataru and vaapad have those kinetic energy because Makashi is based on the principles of fencing, stabbing and using not much power to waste so therefore Makashi is less against kinetic energy because Makashi causes the opponent to fatigue, but kinetic energy thus causes Makashi gets tired.