Thorgon Fu? Martial Arts in the Terran Empire

[Hermit]

I was thinking of making an alien martial artist for Champions (I know, wrong forum) but that started me thinking... what martial arts would have survived/developed in the TE Setting?

 

The only ones I see mention of is fencing on one Terran world, and Commando Training for certain packages. While I don't want to have my starpirate campaign turn into "Ninja Hero in space" (Not that that couldn't be cool in it's own right), more than one of my players is playing an alien and might want to spend some exp in that area (though frankly, I think dirty infighting variations would be the typical pirate thing).

 

So, any thoughts on which races might have their own styles etc and if so, what they'd be like?

[BobGreenwade]

I think nearly every alien race in the TE setting would have some form of martial arts. There are some obvious exceptions, such as the Az'arc'a, and some with pacifistic cultures, but I don't really see any other exceptions.

 

As for specifics, you can still get some mileage from some real-world (Earth) styles, specifically those meant for a particular purpose. Capoeira, Fencing, Krav Maga, Ninjitsu, and Pankration are among those that come to mind as possibly having counterparts on other worlds -- change a maneuver or two, maybe add a "special ability," and there you go.

 

A few species would have special aspects to their martial arts, or perhaps specific martial arts, to take advantage of certain physical features. Mon'dabi or Kalishari could have maneuvers using the tail; Catavalans could have maneuvers using all four arms; Thrinu could have styles involving flight.

 

For a couple of really unusual cases, the Fex could have developed martial arts predominantly designed to subdue rather than injure; and the Sholarron could have a set of martial arts styles for each type of animal they use as hosts.

 

(On another note, I do wish that there could be some published outlet for alien Martial Arts in the Hero Universe. Alas, that's almost certainly a too-narrow field for even a Hero Plus book.)

[Hermit]

Excellent suggestions... since I was thinking of going deeper into Thorgon culture, I am thinking with their aggresive nature a 'hard' martial art would be more common. Something akin to kick boxing perhaps.

 

Originally posted by BobGreenwade

(On another note, I do wish that there could be some published outlet for alien Martial Arts in the Hero Universe. Alas, that's almost certainly a too-narrow field for even a Hero Plus book.)

 

Maybe if you get to do that Mon'Dabi article/product you can slip "The Dance of the Sacred Fire" in there

[BobGreenwade]

Originally posted by Hermit

Excellent suggestions... since I was thinking of going deeper into Thorgon culture, I am thinking with their aggresive nature a 'hard' martial art would be more common. Something akin to kick boxing perhaps.

That's one possibility. I'd suggest building at least a half-dozen, each with its own characteristics, treating them as the "most common" of a diverse set. Maybe a variation on Pentjak-Silat with a "hit 'em low" philosophy, and an athletic style mixing Capoeira and Kung Fu.

Maybe if you get to do that Mon'Dabi article/product you can slip "The Dance of the Sacred Fire" in there

I do already have notes (though no maneuvers yet) for several, most of which at this time are weapon-based (like the several Japanese weapon-based martial arts in TUMA), so yes, that would be a part of it.

[pinecone]

I'm thinking that any space borne race would develop a "Zero-gee" Fu and include a +1 usable in grav weapon element....probibly be very popular with both space pirates and space marines......I'd build around Aikijutsu and the like and inclue enviro movement as a required skill.....