Martial Arts in SARP

I have a random question, what kind of martial arts are common in the star army of yamatai? I ask because my character 'practices martial arts...' which i didn't define what style at the time. I would love to define the style of martial art that my character practices but don't want to choose a style that doesn't exist in RP. Or is the concept of martial arts in SARP supposed to be generic? Any input would be great.

Well...the concept of martial arts is an interesting one as far as the SAoY is concerned. Most modern militaries don't bother too much with serious martial arts training because they don't have the time (too busy learning how to shoot things, etc) but the SAoY has a big advantage in that area:

Not only are its soldiers in peak physical condition at all times but they can have skills hardwired to their brain (cutting out a vast portion of the necessary training time). Because of this, there won't necessarly be a vast multitude of different styles because it would be simple enough to learn the best of them all (a hybrid "super-style" so to speak - perhaps not unlike a very advanced Jeet Kune Do).

So logically, any martial art the SAoY uses would be quite complex and very technical with a lot of very, by today's standard, difficult moves. Naturally, it would also take into account z-gravity combat, etc. Now, for neko themselves I've heard mention of a style that incorporates their gravity manipulation but nothing's been written up OOCly for it as far as I know.

On this note, I'd love to see some Gun-Fu but that's another beast entirely <.<

Yes, Nekos have their own martial arts style, which takes advantage of the fact that they have serious gravity manipulation capabilities: float in midair, change directions mid-jump, rush you at 70 mph (probably need a running start for that one), etc.

I think they called it "blade dancing"? Something "dancing", at least. Nekos love their katanas (and other swords), and incorporate it into their martial arts. You can probably judge a Neko Samurai's rank by how many sharp edges she had concealed on her body.

Sora-Mai is a style Fred came up with -- it involves two swords and other martial arts. It's a style that revolves around finesse and patience for the right strike.

I had, myself, been meaning to get around to writing up a style of Neko swordsmanship in which the artist downloads hundreds of thousands of short forms or kata directly into her brain, such that she can have the perfect response to any situation. Experienced artists are exceptionally quick and graceful, but tend to fall into predictable patterns, while younger fencers alternate shuddering starts and stops in between moments of wonderful elegance.

Perhaps a page at the wiki could be put together to compile all the weird and wonderful martial applications to which we can put Neko and cyborg physiology?

I have something like that here, but it's not exactly the same Matrixeqsue plug-and-play idea you have going on there.

I'm not sure that you can ever learn that from knowledge, which is why you hardly ever hear of blackbelts being self-taught from textbooks -- heck, most martial arts classes don't even use books in teaching.

No, such finesse and precision doesn't come from knowledge but from fine-tuning your own spatial-temporal reasoning ability. For example, learning exactly where your sword will land if you unconsciously contract your arm muscles by X amount to swing your sword. Knowing your own reaction time and physical limits, as well as those of your opponents so you can perform split-second mental projections on if attacking now will succeed or get you skewered. Or deciding whether you can move fast enough to dodge an attack, or if it would be safer to retreat a few steps. You can't really "learn" that from any program or book.

Ah! Perhaps I should elaborate a little, 'cause looking back on that I did leave out a bit - the bulk of the actual training lies in refining the ways the different snippets work together, and how the artist may flow between them gracefully and effectively. It isn't entirely plug-and-play, though it does rely on programmed movement - it just skips the time it takes to program the movement in.

Nepleslian Martial Arts (the ones in the default skill list) were interpreted by me to be along the lines of Israeli Military Krav Maga. No holds barred, beat the crap out of your opponent however possible and get out of there type of style.

Strangelove: If nekos still have Tactical OS's and partitioned brains (like the NH-7 did), then their TOS would automatically know where their body was at all times. I understood it to mean that, while the neko could consciously direct it, the TOS took care of most hand-to-hand combat and defensive reflexes since it works faster than conscious thought (sort of like instinct in humans). So, for nekos anyway, it really _would_ be "plug-and-play" for martial arts programming. I can't speak for other species (particularly Yamatians, since I don't know if they have the same mental make-up as early Nekos). Robots and sometimes cyborgs have a mental advantage over biological beings because they can program their physical dimensions into a computer that controls their body and it will always take those dimensions and abilities into account when executing a move.

However, an organic being would have the advantage of unexpected moves, but they require much more training to get their physical sense of space and range into their brains to train their reflexes appropriately.

Aye, MissingNo and Uso more or less nailed what I was talking about. It's a given fact for the SAoY that they can programme combat skills into thier soldiers (PA operation, gun usage, etc) so hand-to-hand combat is possible - and the idea of very short patterns (each with a specific purpose) that you can string together as the situation demands is probably one of the best descriptions of how you'd actually go about doing it.

Now I have heard that the nekos have a style that utilyzes their gravity manipulation. I was wondering if yamataians can learn the style as well. After all they too can manipulate gravity, granted they only have about half of the ability of neko where that is concerned.

They could, but it wouldn't be as good as a neko's ability of course. You'd be better off creating a hybrid style with it. Like Utilizing the anti-grav as evasion instead of offense.

From the Fred, who apparently is still roving enough to correct me on my mistakes (*grins*):

Teh Fred said:

Sora-Mai is pretty much "Sky Dancing" in japanese (yamataian), I believe. It is not a style I invented, but rather a style that I referred to after referencing to past plots and discovering that both Yui and Tsuya used it.

When people refer to the xyz-axis nekovalkyrja flying combat style, they refer to Sora-Mai as well. Pretty much all the nekovalkyrja whom try to refine their combat skills end up pushing their 'proficiency' with Sora-Mai since it heavily involves their intrinsic anti-gravity manipulation. Seeing that Sora-Mai is much less about strength than it is about exploiting manipulating gravity, it is considered less brute and has more finesse to it.

However, Sky Dancing is a method of using anti-gravity and knowing how to move with it. Swordfighting has little to do with Sora-Mai, though someone wielding a sword surely can benefit from it.

So, to sum it up, Sora-Mai is not a flying two-weapon fighting style... but more the nekovalkyrja version of flying Karate and that being their most common martial art technique. It's just not every nekovalkyrja whom bothers to become extremely skilled in it.

Finally, many lessons of Sora-Mai apply to spacy power armor combat for obvious reasons.

Click to expand...

While I don't doubt that the Star Army teaches its soldiers, via flash memory or whatever, the best style available. I wonder if there are other types in the civilian sectors. For example, pretending the us military teaches judo, that doesn't mean civilians entering the military or outside of the military do not know other martial arts styles. So my, probably, final question is: are there other styles around, if so what are they(or is it as numerous as modern martial arts)?

If anything you could find some good references in Battle Angel Alita for an understanding to how martial arts can 'evolve' over millenia. In the latest story Final Order there are references to martial arts being practiced that have their roots in ancient lines. Now its not gonna give you a guideline but its at least a way to see how technology and zero g forces people to adapt traditional ways of fighting. Especially when you're dealing with cyborgs and beings that exceed human ability and form.

Besides being a good example, Battle Angel Alita (and Last Order) are awesome in general - and well worth the read.

But yes, while the SAoY is no doubt fairly standard in what it teaches (probably Sora-Mai) the Civilian sector is a different beast entirely. No doubt people being what they are, there would be tons of different styles out there that each focused an aspect of something - be it spiritual perfection or a school that teaches street fighting as an art form.

Nyton brings up a good point about the evolution of martial arts due to the possible non-human nature of your opponent. For example, I could see styles that rely purely on striking vital/pressure points as very rare or far more complex than they are today simply because not everyone you fight will have said vital/pressure points.

Also, those who take their martial arts very seriously (as a combat discipline) in some ways are very likely to look to upgrading their body - be it through cybernetic, genetic or chemical augmentation - because it's very likely that you'll face someone who's just that much more dangerous than you are if you make a habit of fighting.

To be honest, just go for whatever style you want; make one up if you feel like it. The future probably has more martial arts than we do today - or at least there'll be a greater spread of arts that focus on very different approaches to combat.

I know one other martial arts style mentioned in the SARP, but as far as I know, only one person used it.

Passive Reaction Offense/Defense (P.R.O/D) was used by Araiah when he sparred Wazu and against Sergei, but he never had any opportunity to teach it. Nelew might be able to teach it when someone asks her about her style.

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From what I remember, a few asian styles evolved when villagers developed fighting techniques to use on wild animals. Completely new styles may have been created just to stay alive in slums on Nepleslia, and they would be able to spread when someone notices that a person was particularly effective at fighting and asks to be taught, and then more people ask and so on. So...basically, almost anyone can create a fighting style, as long as you're consistent about it.

Hm. Does this mean we should create a wiki section on martial arts as used in the SARP?

That'd be cool and useful.

Please do. It would be useful.

What category would it go under? Under "Setting" we have "Technology", "People", "Places", "History", and "Language". Fighting styles don't seem to fit into any of those categories. Maybe it should be its own?

Styles can also go under sub-categories:

Martial arts -- The various Asian arts, Battle Angel Alita's "Panzer Kunst" cyborg fighting style, and the Sora Mai are prime examples. These have highly defined moves (kata, forms, whatever they may be called) that the user can string together to devastating effect. Normal mastery takes decades of practice, but the SARP setting allows possibility for some shortcuts to be taken for cyborgs and artificial life forms.

Brawling -- The more free-form styles. These teach you how to fight fights in ways that demand that you outlast your opponent, but also focusing on max damage and placing it where it'll most quickly take out your target. CQC (Close-Quarters Combat), Krav Maga, Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing), and American boxing would go here, as would most hybrid styles of martial arts. PRO/D is an SARP example of a brawler fighting style, albeit a rather strange one.

Self-defense -- the sort useful for delaying an attacker while help arrives or to allow the attacked to get away, possibly referred to as "Martial Arts Lite". Basically take the lethal aspects of the martial arts away and give the person only enough to survive. They will be far from highly-trained professionals, but it will give them an edge to give users a better chance against brawlers. Also popular as exercise routines. Tai Bo and Tai Chi are good examples (though Tai Chi is possibly practical for actual fighting, given enough practice).

Armed Fighting -- these styles are tempting to mix in with the others, but if a certain style relies on weapons completely (such as the Gun Kata techniques from the film "Equilibrium"), then that should be in this sub-category. Jutsu, Wushu, and Sora Mai cover weapons training in addition to the hand-to-hand portion of their styles, so they would remain in the main Martial arts sub-category and NOT be in this one.

PA Combat, starship tactics, and urban warfare primers also might be a good idea to include. Perhaps under a "Misc. Combat Techniques & Tactics" sub-category?
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Does all of this sound reasonable? So it would go "Setting">"Fighting Styles"> (the sub-categories mentioned) and players would create pages under those sub-categories for their styles.

The main problem I would see with this create-your-own-style thing is descriptions and approval. Some styles can be very, very powerful, but we would need to keep in mind that one in millions or billions would be true masters of their style and less than that would become masters of multiple styles (excepting possible cybernetic/artificial enhancements). So anyone fighting would never be able to use a style 100% effectively, since these fights are usually quick and mistakes can be made on the fly. So a style portrayed as "perfect" will never (should never) be played as such. It may be perfect in theory, while in practice it will never be.

Also, for characters using a Martial Arts style (not Brawling), they would be required to keep their practice up (mention it every few days ICly or something, nothing too difficult) or suffer loss of effectiveness over time. Brawlers would need a similar requirement, except theirs would be in strength and reflex training and conditioning, not kata practice. I suppose it would be the difference between playing a rogue and a warrior: One relies on speed and agility, the other on strength and stamina.

Sorry for the long post...I just got rolling when I started typing, but I hope this all turns out useful. If half of what I wrote is usable, then I count it a success : D