Martial Arts

Euraxian 'fighting'.

This Martial Art has all the trappings of a formalized fighting style, including named stances, even thought it has no name except 'fighting'.

Euraxian Armored Fighting focus on using warhammers and polearms to perform take downs of other armored foes, and using two handed swords to fighting lighter armored foes. Euraxian armored fighting also puts a lot of emphasis on CQC, grabbing, grapple and ground fighting in armor. it's expected that, if not overwhelmed, if fighting 1v1, even a knight on the floor on his back should be able to defeat a standing foe with a dagger. Many peasants in levies have died because they saw a fallen knight, thought them an easy prey and went in to finish them with a dagger, only to have them wrestled away from them and stabbed with their own weapon. Of course, there's no miracles and if the knight is injured or if the attackers are many, there isn't much a knight can do to prevent himself from being stabbed to death.

Celestial Empire has a lot of martial arts. The real ones that actually can be used in combat are taught in the Celestial Fighting Academies, since soldiers come from a warrior caste and Celestials have a standing army, every soldier goes through a fighting academy. They teach mostly marching drills, how to read flag signals from the commanding officers, and very basic survival stuff like navigation and so, to allow scattered troops to find their way back. But aside from that, the 2 year training also includes usages of the long spear and the straight sword, the Celestial infantrymen main weapon. Those from rich families in the warrior caste learn horseback riding and fighting with the sword and the spear as well as how to use the celestial naginata.

Temples dedicated to the patron god of the warriors teach fancier fighting techniques which are good for duelling but not super effective in pitched battles. These warrior monks are still often skilled fighters though.

The Crane School teaches how to fighting with naginata

The Boar school teaches how to fight with the celestial square axe

The Tiger school teaches how to fight with the sword

The hawk school teaches how to fight with the butterfly knives

And the Wasp School is for archers. Teaches firing the bow but also techniques to 'survive' in melee and try to get out.

Way of spirit

First fighting style that menaged to extend human fighter abilities beyond his limits. Compared to later fighting styles its quite crude, but because of its primitivity as some snobish masters would say, most schools teach it first, as a basis for specialized training

Way of flame/stone

Focused mainly on offence/deffence, they are considered most pure fighting styles by people of Qu-Fi. Stone tries to use battlestances to its fullest potential, always trying to stand firmly, and put enemy out of balance. Flame tries to put enemy at disadvantage by attacking at the same time from multiple directions, utilizing whole body

Way of sun/moon

Both introduce weapons to flame style. Way of sun focuses on honor as a way to victory, and teaches how to use sword and shield, and how to utilize both to fullest offensive ability. Way of sun shields have reinforced, sharp edges. Way of moon hoever was created by hobgoblins as means to fight more numerous oponents. It favours cunning and secrecy, teaching stealth and how to use weapons of assasins.

Way of Iron

Created by ogres to fight their opressors, it adapts powerstancing known from way of stone, while focusing on endurance, and strength training, and focusing on not defeating, but killing the enemy.

way of the steel fist

Created after Qu-fi humans were pushed from country second time in history, it was created to protect shortlived human-ogre kingdom. It disregarded more barbaric ways of iron, while still building on top of them. Steel fist style is still lethal, because of usage of metal gloves at all times. During turnaments and duels that are not suposed to be lethal, they are changed from steel, to copper or bronze ones.

Way of Harmony

Created by ogre converts, way of harmony goes back in many ways to way of spirit. It encurages extensive preparation to each fights, and demands from its adherents total harmony with surroundings, from things like heat, to more metaphisical like animalisitc belief that everything has spirit. Because of this its borderline heretical, but allowed, mainly because way of harmony allows fighter to use spiritual energy to its fullest potential.

Way of flaming fist

Created by Grave Guard members and Drachne converts during into one of punitive raids against nexroswampers. Called this because during hight against undead users of this style put oil drenched cloth around their fists, and set it ablaze. Combined with extensive knowlege of undead atanomy of many kinds, and powerstancing from earlier schools teached to its members, it allows to fight undead in more effective ways than ever before.

Even joining this way is hard, and because of this elitism its adherents are rare, but each of them is powerfull asset against undead.

Path of Mud and Clay

This fighting style focused on really close combat, grapples and chokes, and dodging. Often called "Flexible style", it prioritize getting as close to your adversary as you can, barely leaving it any space to move and react at all, while you can strike without harm. Masters of this style can be mere millimiters from their targets and attack with a swift flurry of blows. It also has an emphasis to adapt your movements and positioning to the opponent.

It was created basing of fire style by traveling band of Belarian mercenaries and headhunters. They were disbanded long ago, but schools of this style can still be found around the westrasi.

The Storm islands natives fight Bari-bari. Bari bari is a mixture between greco-roman wrestling and sumo. It's all about shoving your mass against someone and pushing them out of a circle.

Uraka has its own martial art called Saidan. Saidan is has a focus in fighting with a short staff (often a javelin) on hand to hand, and wrestling, which involves disarming, grappling and putting the enemy on a lock or pinning. This is mostly done because Internal wars between Urakese tribes tend to be very non-lethal, focused on injuring and capturing prisoners which are released after peace is negotiated. This is due to Sylbari low birth rate. In some cases 'wars' are fought just for practice, or more accurate what a foreigner thinks it's a war its more a ritualized 'war traning/tourney' between cities.

Saidan isn't very useful for lethal or armored combat, though knowing how to fight is never bad, but bounty hunters and justicars sometimes learn Saidan for a Urakese Saidan-Mistress or someone who learned from them, as Saidan has a few 'fighting a armed foe when you are unarmed or just have a stick' moves.

Janedi Combat Dancer: a uniquely Janedi military unit, in which each of its members are trained in the titular Janedi Combat Dance martial arts. This kind of martial arts heavily use angular momentum, used with such grace and dexterity that enemies would not see their crushing blows and twisting grips until it's far too late. It is said that an army column of Combat Dancers would move like a snake across the battlefield, dodging and deflecting blows until it is time to strike.