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.
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.
Contents
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.
Practitioners: Nightsun
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 are like, a total of 10 people on the continent who actually mastered the style, Paperweight's mentor at the Mountain Temple being one. They are among the most respected of the entire martial arts scene.
Practitioners: Paperweight (and yes, he is way above the hobbyists, though nowhere near the biggest masters)
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. Fanton outlaws literally everything. I won't be surprised if they outlaw smiling in public next; who knows.
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 highest wood-style masters.
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.
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.
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.