Fialta Sword Schools

There are more fighting styles among the cultures of the Fialta than can be be easily recorded, especially since the explosion of innovations that came with both the Fialta-Shantine War and the First Coalition War. However, a number of styles - often taught in "**Fialta Sword Schools**" by master practitioners of the art. The academies of the Imperium often contain practitioners and instructors of many of these schools.

The nature of the Fialta sword school is that of intense martial art. Personal combat has always been a cultural as well as practical art of the Fialta - the almost scholarly nature of the sword school is a testament to that. The sword schools are dedicated to the improvement of Fialta combat practice - though some are more ritualistic than others. Some combat schools are very pragmatic and dedicated to the improvement of battlefield art, while others are focused on personal combat, duelling, sport, or even entertainment.

## Ancient Schools

### The Sword of the Stranger

One of the oldest traditions in the Fialta canon, heavily armored warriors bearing cruel two-handed swords using their might and cunning to fell opponents in one crushing blow. Warriors of this school train to put their opponents off guard and then put all of their strength into a decisive blow that will fell their opponent while they are flat footed.

Legends say that this sword style was brought to Dres'Fialt himself by a dark skinned warrior who enchanted his court with a dancing blade that crackled with aetheric energy and seemed almost to disappear as he fought. The similarity of longstanding styles in celestial space, particularly among the mirror elves, would seem to indicate that this warrior was quite prolific in his teaching.

### Viper Sword School

A school based on exploiting the weaknesses of their opponents while reducing their own. Students of this school seek to avoid the worst of the fighting and strike hard, fast, and deep blows to their opponents. Vipers go for critical hits, blowing way their opponents like leaves and then shrink back to minimize the risks to themselves.

The Viper School is not limited to the sword (despite the name) - in the modern period, heavily armored soldiers have adopted many of its tenants to roll better with the punches, taking advantage of their armor to shrug off glancing and ordinary blows, while snipers look to its practice in finding the weaknesses of their opponents to land devastating shots.

### Polearm Sweep of Great Justice

A style of fighting based on the use of reach weapons to cleave through as many enemies as possible in long arcing motions. The school has several branches, some focused on the more defensive denial of entry by opportunistically impaling opponents as they enter the reach of their weapons, others by cleaving through many opponents at a swing. All of them place great stock in their ability to get in the first strike.

### Paired Dancing Blades

A brutally effective school for the lightly armored and nimble, this school focuses on the use of twin rapiers to cover their opponents in piercing jabs, getting into their critical vulnerabilities before they can land a blow. Users employ their dexterity and expertise with their weapons to land many devastating hits.

This school is far rarer among the physically adept Fialta than, say, the more dextrous hands of the wild elves or even the sneaky halfling agents trained by the Combat Arts School, but its devotees among the Fialta are no less deadly.

### Silent Death

The classic school of Fialta assassins and scouts, focused on stealth, camouflage, and assassination. Practice with ranged weapons, rapid aiming, and hiding with various implements are the favored modes. Classic iterations of the school focus on enhanced versions of older weapons like the bow and crossbow, while the modern school favors hydrogen weapons and even aetherics.

Modern iterations of this school are also influenced heavily by an infusion of Irish expertise, which has expanded the versatility of the school with explosives techniques and a greater focus on disguise and the tradecraft of working within a populace.

### Flowing Aether

In the days of the ancient fialta, much attention was paid to the ability to use the technology of the Mage Imperium - particularly the very powerful aetheric weapons often used by the soldiers and sailors of the Imperial Navy. Much time and effort was put into using the tech of the imperium against it, and to great effect in the days of the first Fialta Imperium.

Though the school fell into legend, the ancient texts of the Flowing Aether form the basis for the modern employ of Aetheric weapons, particularly in ship-to-ship combat.

## Modern Schools

### Shock School

1. ↑ Note that "Sword School" now encompasses a much broader list of fighting schools - as noted, there are many schools of gun combat, use of crewed weapons, and even the revival of a long dead school of aetheric weaponry. Which is to say, schools for the use of every manner of weapon.