Martial Hero

[GhostDancer]

From Chinese novels, Wu Tang Style!

 

 

Note: Although the skills listed here are entirely fictional, some are based on actual martial arts.

 

• Foundation skills:
  • Shiduanjin 
  • Thirty-two Styles of Long Fist (三十二勢長拳)
  • Wudang Long Fist (武當長拳)
  • Wudang Heart Sutra (武當長拳)
  • Eight Trigrams Soaring Dragon Palm (八卦遊龍掌)

• Armed combat styles:
  • Divine Gate Thirteen Swords (神門十三劍)
  • Heaven Relying Dragon Slaying Skill (神門十三劍)
  • Mystical Saber Style (玄虛刀法)
  • Heaven and Earth as One (天地同壽)
  • Soft Snow Swordplay (柔雲劍法)
  • Turning Finger Soft Swordplay (繞指柔劍)
  • Taiji Swordplay (太極劍)

• Unarmed combat styles:
  • Wuji Mystical Skill Fist (無極玄功拳)
  • Dianxue Hand (點穴手)
  • Heaven Shaking Iron Palm (震天鐵掌)
  • Taiji Fist (太極拳)
  • Returning Wind Palm (迴風掌)
  • Great Tablet Smashing Hand (大摔碑手)
  • Silky Palm (綿掌)
  • Tiger Claw Ending Hand (虎爪絕戶手)
  • Tiger Claw Hand (虎爪手)
  • Stained Clothes Eighteen Falls (沾衣十八跌)

[GhostDancer]

 

Samurai Notes

 

...in the past, the samurai did not regard surrender to an enemy, or even changing sides, as an unforgivable deed.  If samurai lost a battle they would flee from the field and prepare for the next.  A close reading of the historical sources proves that for samurai to choose to fight to the death was a rather unusual event; they may have aspired to the unbending code of bushido, but in reality they often failed to live up to it.  

 

[A samurai] wears a cape, to entangle arrows from behind him; this later evolved into the horo or balloon-shaped back-flag.

 

In war, every ruse was considered fair as long as it brought victory.

 

 

-Samurai, An Illustrated History by Mitsuo Kure

[GhostDancer]

Shinmei-ryū style uses ki to increase the strength of attacks and produce different effects. They are generally elemental attacks (lightning, wind, and earth are common elements) or normal empowered physical feats. Definitions:
Ougi 奥義 - (lit. "Inner Meaning") Secret Technique
Hiken 秘剣 - Hidden Sword Technique
Kessen Ougi 決戦奥義 - Decisive Battle Secret Technique, most probably denotes a powerful area-effect technique 

Ken 剣 - Sword Techniques
Zanganken (斬岩剣, "Stone-Cutting Sword")  Ougi, infuses ki into the sword to cut a boulder in half. First used by Motoko Aoyama (Love Hina; Chapter 6) and replicated by Keitaro Urashima (Love Hina; Chapter 113), also used by Setsuna Sakurazaki (Negima; Chapter 29) and by Tsukuyomi (Negima; Chapter 32).  
Zanganken Ni-no-Tachi (斬岩剣・弐の太刀, "Stone-Cutting Sword, Second Strike")  Ougi, cuts an object behind a person without injuring the person. First used by Motoko Aoyama (Love Hina; Chapter 40 onwards).  
Zanmaken (斬魔剣, "Evil-Cutting Sword")  Ougi, disperses demonic spirits. Used by Setsuna Sakurazaki (Negima; Chapter 74).  
Zanmaken Ni-no-Tachi (斬魔剣・弐の太刀, "Evil-Cutting Sword, Second Strike")  Ougi, cuts a demonic spirit behind a person without injuring the person. Used by Motoko Aoyama (Love Hina; Chapter 53 onwards) and by Tsuruko Aoyama (Love Hina; Chapter 72). Also used by Kurt Godel (Negima; Chapter 254) to injure Negi in his lighting form and by Rakan (Negima; Chapter 256). Setsuna said this technique is of the main branch and only taught to members, or their spouses. Although, Jack Rakan can imitate from just watching, then teach it to  Setsuna. 
 
Raimeiken (雷鳴剣, "Thunderclap Sword")  Ougi, a slashing attack with lightning energy infused onto the sword. Used by Motoko Aoyama (Love Hina; Chapter 74), also used by Setsuna Sakurazaki and once by Tōko Kuzunoha (Negima; Chapter 140).  
Raimeiken Ni-no-Tachi (雷鳴剣・弐の太刀, "Thunderclap Sword, Second Strike")  Ougi, a lighting-slash attack that cuts possessive demon without injuring the person it possessed.  
Kyokudai Raimeiken (極大雷鳴剣, "Maximum Thunderclap Sword", Del Rey "Giant-Sized Thunderclap Blade")  Ougi, a more powerful and larger-scale version of the Raimeiken. Used by Setsuna Sakurazaki during her illusory battle with Evangeline (Negima; Chapter 108).  
Shin Raikōken (真・雷光剣, "True Lightning Sword")  Kessen Ougi, infuses lightning energy into the sword and causes an explosion that destroys an area. Used by Motoko Aoyama against Keitaro Urashima (Love Hina; Chapter 106)  
Aoyama Motoko-ryū Kokuhakuken (青山素子流「告白剣」, "Aoyama Motoko-Style 'Confession Sword'")  Not necessarily a real Shinmei-ryū ougi; performed by Motoko Aoyama when she battled Tsuruko Aoyama while confessing to Keitaro Urashima, [[Love Hina; Chapter 108).  

Zan 斬 - Slashing Techniques
Ryūhazan (竜破斬, "Dragon-Breaking Slash")  Unknown, seems to work well against reptiles, one of the techniques used by Motoko Aoyama when she went berserk against multiple turtles, (Love Hina; Chapter 65).  
Samidarekiri (五月雨斬り, "May Rain Cutter")  Hiken, instantly cuts into a falling object.  
Goutatsu Amakiri  Unknown, Motoko Aoyama uses it to cut vegetables in mid-air for soup, (Love Hina; Chapter 49).  
Hien Battō Kasumi-kiri (飛燕抜刀霞斬り, "Flying Sparrow Sword-Draw Mist Cutter")  Hiken, instantly cuts multiple objects with two swords. Motoko Aoyama uses it to chop wood (with hatchets) (Love Hina; Chapter 73).  
Hyakuretsu Ōkazan (百烈桜華斬, "Hundred-Strike Cherry Blossom Slash")  Ougi, draws a circle with the sword, and cuts multiple enemies at once. Used by Setsuna Sakurazaki (Negima; Chapter 30 onwards).  

Sen 閃 - Flash Techniques
Zankūsen (斬空閃, "Air-Cutting Flash")  Hiken, releases ki in a circular fashion to cut the enemy. First used by Motoko Aoyama (Love Hina; Chapter 26), also used by Setsuna Sakurazaki (Negima; Chapter 31) and Kurt Godel (Negima; Chapter 254).  
Zankūsen Kai (斬空閃・改, "Air-Cutting Flash, Revised")  Hiken, unknown, a stronger version of Zankūsen, one of the techniques used by Motoko Aoyama when she went berserk against a mob of turtles, (Love Hina; Chapter 65).  
Zankūsen Ni-no-Tachi (斬空閃・弐の太刀, "Air-Cutting Flash, Second Strike")  Cuts an enemy behind a person without injuring the person.  
Jakuzankūsen (弱斬空閃, "Lesser Air-Cutting Flash")  Hiken, used to blow an object far away. Used by Motoko Aoyama to send Keitaro Urashima flying in (Love Hina; Chapter 84).  
Zantetsusen (斬鉄閃, "Iron-Cutting Flash")  Releases ki in a spiral fashion to attack the enemy. First used by Motoko Aoyama (Love Hina; Chapter 9) and Setsuna Sakurazaki (Negima; Chapter 274).  
Zankōsen (斬光閃, "Light-Cutting Flash")  Unknown, seems like a ki release technique.  
Kakusan Zankōsen (拡散斬光閃, "Scattering Light-Cutting Flash")  Releases ki in all directions.  
Messatsu Zankū Zanmasen (滅殺斬空斬魔閃, "Annihilation Air and Evil-Cutting Flash")  Ougi, releases a giant blast of ki from sword to destroy the enemy, Motoko Aoyama's strongest technique.  
Zanmaken Ni-no-Tachi Issen (斬魔剣・弐の太刀・一閃, "Evil-Cutting Sword, Second Strike Flash")  Concentrates the ki from Zanmaken Ni-no-Tachi and releases it. Used by Motoko Aoyama (Love Hina; Epilogue 1) it can also be performed bare-handed.  
Hyakka Ryōran (百花繚乱, "Many Flowers Blooming in Profusion", Del Rey "Chaos of a Hundred Flowers")  Hiken, fires off ki and petals in a straight line to strike down an enemy.

[steriaca]

Re: Video Game Martial Arts - looks like they are legal for the past few editions.

Well, the v/5 needs to be replaced by v/6 or v/10.

[Kesedrith]

Looking at this thread, and suddenly I'm thinking of a Bleach-style campaign.  Possibly because I'm reading the manga currently.  How to keep everyone from wanting to be damn lieutenants or captains with their shikai and bankai though?  Hmmm.

[bubba smith]

mow about an MMA template ?

[Ninja-Bear]

Sterrica I would be interested in seeing the VIPER combat arts

[steriaca]

Sterrica I would be interested in seeing the VIPER combat arts

Then see it you shall.

 

VIPER Combat Art.

 

This style of combat is based on ideals similar to both Commando Training and Dirty Infighting. Except that the gole is NOT to remove the target from the fight, but to make them suffer. There are no style disavantage for this style.

 

The combat style is, like everything I did and reposted in this thread, for 5th edition, and may have to be modified for use in 6th edition and Champions Complete.

 

Maneuver/ Phases /Points/OCV/DCV/Damage and Effect

 

Adder Fang/ 1/2 /4/+1/+1/2d6 NND(1)

 

Andaconda Wrap/ 1/2 /3/-1/-1/Grab Two Limbs, +10 STR for Holding On

 

Black Racer's Fang/ 1/2 /5/+1/+0/STR+v/5, FMove

 

Cobra Fang/ 1/2 /5/-1/-2/Grab One Limb, HKA 1/2, Disable

 

Grass Snake Escape/ var. /4/+0/+0/+15 STR vs Grabs

 

Python Block/ 1/2 /4/+2/+2/Block, Abort

 

Python Crush/ 1/2 /3/-2/+0/HKA 1/2 d6, Must Follow Grab

 

Spitting Cobra Strike/ 1/2 /4/-1/-1/Sight Group Flash 4d6

 

Skills:

Acrobatics

Breakfall

Contortion

Fast Draw

KS:VIPER (required)

WF: Blades

WF: Small Arms

 

Elements

+1 Use Art With Blades

+1 Use Art With Clubs

[Ninja-Bear]

My VIPER ninjas might have to use the style.

[steriaca]

My VIPER ninjas might have to use the style.

The style is basically incomplete. I wanted to add a choke hold to it, but decided against it because Dirty Infighting has it (and Commando Training also), and I couldn't improve it. I expect VIPER agents to have Dirty Infighting and/or Commando Training already before adding VIPER Combat Art to the mix.

[Ninja-Bear]

Personally I'll add style disadvantage just because I add on all styles even the ones the book says otherwise.

[GhostDancer]

Top o' the morning to you.

[bubba smith]

that is a good question

[NuSoardGraphite]

Some excellent stuff in here. I've written up quite a few martial arts on these boards over the years. Most notably the Fighting Arts of the Spartans (based on the action scenes in 300) and the Halfling Wardance, the martial art of the little folk.

[GhostDancer]

Viking Martial Arts http://spangenhelm.com/glima-martial-arts-system-vikings/

[GhostDancer]

The Sword of Goujian- The Ancient Chinese double-edged straight sword untarnished after 2700 years  _{https://m.thevintagenews.com/2016/07/26/goujian-ancient-chinese-sword-defied-time-2/}

[Cancer]

I keep misreading this thread title as "Marital Hero" and think it's sinking into a miasma of a regurgitated Jane Austen story.

[Nolgroth]

Some excellent stuff in here. I've written up quite a few martial arts on these boards over the years. Most notably the Fighting Arts of the Spartans (based on the action scenes in 300) and the Halfling Wardance, the martial art of the little folk.

Don't forget your Blademaster forms from Wheel of Time. Good stuff there.

[Amorkca]

Don't forget your Blademaster forms from Wheel of Time. Good stuff there.

 

Is there a link to these?

[GhostDancer]

^{Mandarin 武俠 ‎(wǔxiá, “martial hero”).  A genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists.}

 

^{The world of the wuxia is different from that of society.  The wuxia operates in a realm under the surface of society and the rule of law, called jianghu - a world made up of individuals and their relationships, rather than the collective and the government.  -Ang Lee, 2001}

 

^{The jianghu (literal meaning: lakes and rivers) is the milieu, environment, or sub-community, often fictional, in which many Chinese wuxia stories are set.}

 

^{In modern Chinese culture, jianghu is commonly accepted as an alternative universe coexisting with the actual historical one in which the context of the wuxia genre was set.} 

^{Even during periods of stability, neither the Imperial Court in the capital nor local governments could be relied on to protect the interests of the commoners. Travelling performers, itinerant traders and wandering craftsmen who spend most of their time "on the road" came to see their world as separate from those governed by legal authorities.}

^{For those "on the road", the powers that matter most were petty strongmen who controlled local patches of turfs. Some of the strongmen were landed gentries or temples whose powers were derived from legal ownership of farmlands and villages. Others were bandits who claimed control over stretches of wilderness, mountain roads or riverways - any legal authorities present, if any, were too weak to contest the controls.}

^{Integral to jianghu is the smaller circle of martial arts practitioners usually including the protagonists called wulin.}

^Wulin

^{Wulin (武林) is a term referring to the smaller microcosm within jianghu. Inhabitants of wulin are clearly differentiated from those within jianghu, in that they all know some form of wushu or martial arts. And the way to differentiate the good from the bad within wulin is the code of xia, those who adhere to it are good, those who do not are bad.}

^{The standard of morality within wulin is less vigorous than that in jianghu or in the historical setting. It is common to split wulin into black and white "ways", denoting the criminous and virtuous. Killers, murderers and those less scrupulous belong to the "black way" would live in wulin with a bad reputation, until someone would right their wrongs.} 

 

 

[Nolgroth]

Is there a link to these?

 

Sorry I did not see this earlier. Sadly, I once had much of that saved to disk. That was about four hard drives ago (at least) and I doubt that I backed it up to CD or DVD. I'll check through my archives so see if I can find it. We had a very lively discussion about the Wheel of Time setting and magic system. It was pretty over the top, but the blademaster forms were very grounded.

 

I'll see what I can find, if anything.

[GhostDancer]

HK Martial Arts Cinema
by David Bordwell

The "wuxia pian," or film of martial chivalry, is rooted in a mythical China, but it has always reinvented itself for each age. Like the American Western, the genre has been reworked to keep in touch with audiences' changing tastes and to take advantage of new filmmaking technology. Yet at the center it retains common themes and visceral appeals.
 

In Japan, only members of the samurai class could carry a sword, but in ancient China both aristocrats and commoners could become professional swordsmen. Since the land was ruled by rival warlords, an unattached fighter could become a killer for hire. This sordid reality became glamorized in the wuxia tales which became popular after the ninth century AD. Like the Arthurian legends of Europe, the wuxia promoted a conception of knightly virtue. The roaming hero was not only strong and skillful; he or she also had an obligation to right wrongs, especially when the situation seemed dire. The hero fought for yi, or righteousness - not for rights in the abstract, or for society as a whole, but for fairness in a particular situation - usually, seeking retribution for a past wrong. Here political history becomes crucial. China has had an unhappy history of corrupt and tyrannical regimes, dislodged only by court intrigue and assassination. Since civil society could not guarantee the rule of law, the wuxia knight-errant became the central hero of popular imagination. He or she was an outlaw who could deliver vengeance in a society where law held no sway. The revenge motive took on moral resonance through the Confucian scale of obligations: the child owes a duty to the father, the pupil to the teacher. The wuxia plot often presents a struggle between social loyalty and personal desires, as when in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" Li Mu-bai's final mission to avenge the death of his teacher prevents him from simply retiring from the Giang Hu world to live with Shu-lien.

Wuxia characters and plots entered Peking Opera in the nineteenth century, where dazzling acrobatics added to their impact. Wuxia novels, often serialized in newspapers and running to hundreds of pages, became mass literature in Shanghai shortly thereafter. As Chinese filmmaking emerged in the 1920s, screenwriters drew stories from martial arts plays and novels, building scripts around both male and female adventurers. (Most Westerners are surprised to find how central women warriors are the wuxia tradition.) The epic Shanghai film "Burning of the Red Lotus Monastery" (1928), released in eighteen parts, became a progenitor of the fantasy film. Using flying daggers and wirework, it employed over 300 martial artists. The genre grew during the interwar years, both on the mainland and among the emigré companies of Hong Kong. When Mao's 1949 revolution dictated new cinema policies, Hong Kong and Taiwan held a monopoly on wuxia filmmaking.

To serve Hong Kong's large Asian market, films were made in both Cantonese (the local Chinese dialect) and Mandarin (the more widely spoken dialect). Cantonese wuxia pian of the 1950s and early 1960s emphasized magic and fantasy. Warriors soared endlessly, swords and daggers turned to fire, and fighters' hands could emit jagged bolts of lightning to stun their opponents ("palm power"). The plots were sketchy and the special effects were crude (sometimes scratched directly on the film negative), but the supernatural films established some permanent techniques of the genre. Reverse-motion shooting created impossible stunts, like leaping onto a roof. Hidden trampolines launched fighters into the air, and strong wires kept them aloft. On the soundtrack, thunderous whooshes underscored leaps and blows.

In reaction to the Cantonese fantasy films there emerged the "new wuxia pian," a school of more realistic swordplay films influenced by Japanese movies and a younger generation of martial arts novelists. Filmed in Mandarin and produced by big studios like Shaw Brothers, these tales didn't shy away from giving their warriors astonishing abilities, but the supernatural aura vanished. Now feats were presented as things which could be executed by a very disciplined fighter. In "The Jade Bow" (1966), the hero and heroine pursue ninja-like assassins over rooftops with a fluidity that seems only a slight exaggeration of natural human grace. Women warriors remained central to the tradition, but now they were given opportunities to contrast their styles with men's. Cheng Pei-pei became famous and known as the "Queen of wuxia pian" for her roles in "Come Drink with Me" (1966) and "Golden Swallow" (1968). In "Fourteen Amazons "(1972), when an army's generals are massacred, their widows take up arms to avenge them in spectacular combat sequences.

The Mandarin wuxia pian also intensified realism by focusing not on aristocrats but on commoners, tormented heroes and heroines driven by ambition or revenge or devotion to justice and undergoing extreme physical suffering. Zhang Che quickly built a reputation for his sadomasochistic swordplay dramas, emblematized in his "One-Armed Swordsman" (1967) and "New One-Armed Swordsman" (1971). In contrast were the delicate, lyrical masterworks of King Hu. Hu brought the energy and finesse of classical Chinese theater and painting to the new swordplay movie. His films lingered on breathtaking landscapes, treated swordfights as airborne ballets, and created a gallery of reserved, preternaturally calm warriors who fought not for prestige or vengeance but to preserve humane values. Perhaps the most famous scene in all the new wuxia pian comes midway through Hu's "A Touch of Zen" (1971), where a combat unfolds in a quiet bamboo grove. Although fighters clash in midair, hurling themselves from spindly branches high above the ground or dive-bombing one another in a flurry of fast cuts, the overall impression is of poise - the sheer serenity of perfectly judged physical movement.

Swordplay films fell out of favor in the mid-1970s as kung-fu swept the world and gave the Hong Kong film industry a cheaper genre to exploit. Still, there were efforts to revive the wuxia pian. Patrick Tam's brooding "The Sword" (1980) reflected Japanese influence. Action choreographer Ching Siu-tung turned to directing, and created a supple, modern flying swordplay style in "Duel to the Death" (1982). At a less spectacular level, the great Shaws kung-fu director Lau Kar-leung turned to wuxia swordplay in his comedy "Shaolin vs. Ninja" (1978) and especially in "Legendary Weapons of China" (1982), a virtual anthology of wuxia devices, both magical (a magician controls a fighter from a distance by manipulating a doll) and historical (the final fight scene displays over a dozen weapons and fighting techniques).

Above all, it was producer-director Tsui Hark who spearheaded the revival of all manner of wuxia. Tsui's first film, "The Butterfly Murders" (1979), enhanced swordplay with futuristic weaponry, and he went on to revive fantasy swordplay in his dazzling, flamboyant "Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain" (1983), for which he imported Hollywood special-effects experts. He went on to team with Ching siu-tung for the trailblazing "Chinese Ghost Story" (1987), which melded supernatural swordplay, horror, comedy, and romance. With its bisexual ghost and animated skeletons, "A Chinese Ghost Story" triggered a fashion for flamboyant, almost campy swordplay fantasies. Tsui knew a good thing when he saw it. His productions "The Swordsman I" (1990) and "Swordsman II: The East Is Red" (1992), "Green Snake" (1993), and other hits relied on gender-bending transformations, outrageous aerobatics, thundering music, and stunning set designs. They also showcased Brigitte Lin, Jet Li, Joey Wang, Maggie Cheung, and other popular stars of the period.
 

                                 

Like all Hong Kong cycles, the updated fantasy wuxia wound down, and a new trend surfaced. Under Tsui's auspices Yuen Wo-ping, one of the great kung-fu choreographers and directors, made "Iron Monkey" (1993), a mixture of kung-fu and swordplay that was also grounded in the reality of traditional techniques. Daniel Lee's fascinating "What Price Survival?" (1994) featured classic wuxia performers in an enigmatic tale pitting Japanese and Chinese swordsmen against one another. Tsui himself revisited the 1960s grittier wuxia pian tradition in "The Blade" (1995), a savage and tumultuous tale in which a one-armed swordsman avenges his wounding and his father's death. Most important was Wong Kar-wai's "Ashes of Time" (1994), told in laconic dialogues over wine, splintered flashbacks, and strobe-pulsed fight scenes, all awash in a melancholic score. Ashes offers a poetic meditation on the wuxia tradition itself, as old fighters brood over their wasted lives, mourning the youth and loves they have lost.

ABOUT WUXIA PIAN
A "xia" is a knight-errant, who might come from any class, and wuxia involves knightly chivalry. The Chinese concept of the knight-errant originates the fourth century BC, but chivalric stories as we know them today go back to the T'ang dynasty, around the ninth century AD. Some were literary efforts composed by men of learning, others were oral tales and ballads in colloquial prose or simple verse. By the seventeenth century, these forms had become a flourishing fictional genre concentrating on vagabond warriors who display outstanding courage, honor, and fighting skills. Magical elements had also entered the mix, so knights were often given superhuman powers  - flying, hurling balls of fire, becoming invisible. Many stories played on the boundary between pure fantasy and what might be barely possible for a supremely trained and gifted warrior -  not really flying but the "weightless leap"; not being invulnerable but being able, through control of breathing, to make one's body as hard as iron. To enjoy the wuxia tale we must grant that supreme skill in martial arts could give a fighter extraordinary powers.

ABOUT THE WEAPONRY
The Chinese martial tradition, a bit like Chinese cuisine, presents astonishing variety. The country is so vast, and its local fighting traditions so diverse, that a well-stocked armory indicates a frightening range of ways to inflict damage on other humans.

Central to the wuxia mythology is the sword. Chinese distinguish between double-bladed ones, calling them swords proper, and single-bladed ones, which regardless of size and design are usually called knives. There are broadswords like the Green Destiny Sword in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and lighter sabre-like swords, as well as heavy cutlass-like blades (often pierced with rings to snag the opponent's weapon and to distract the opponent with their clanging). Shorter swords are often used in pairs, such as the so-called "butterfly swords," and the emei, or blades with arrow-like points at each end.

Western fans often assume that the exotic weaponry on display in wuxia films is an invention of moviemakers, but very often it comes from tradition. The simple staff, which may be as long as seven feet, can also have one or two joints (making it useful for delivering a hard, swinging blow or for enclosing an opponent's arm). Bruce Lee popularized the short jointed staff, best known by its Japanese name, nunchaku. Whips may be sectional as well. Spears come in a dazzling variety of shapes, including the jagged-edged "snakehead" spear and the hook-spear. Spears often have colorful tassels or feathers which distract the opponent from the blade's maneuvers. There are hand axes, hammers with heavy spherical heads, and heavy cudgels with bulbous, gourd-shaped heads. For throwing there are darts and arrows, razor-edged stars and boomerang-style blades, and the infamous "flying guillotine," a rattan basket with an opening lined with knives. During the 1960s and 1970s, many wuxia pian built their plots around the sheer variety of Chinese arms. Zhang Che's "New One-Armed Swordsman," for instance, gave the villain a two-jointed staff, the secondary protagonist a pair of heavy butterfly swords, and the main protagonist a single light broadsword, so the combat was not only among fighters but among weapons and techniques.

DAVID BORDWELL is a Jacques Ledoux Professor of Film Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and his many books include On the History of Film Style and the recently published, Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment.

 

     

Ang Lee: The Wuxia is a particularly Chinese type of hero (or heroine). Wu means martial, and a rough equivalent for xia in Western culture would be knight-errant. Unlike the knight-errant, however, the Wuxia is a free spirit, not belonging to any class. In the world of the Wuxia, the most important values are honor, loyalty and individual justice.

These qualities became ideals, and the Wuxia became a mythical, larger than life hero in the Chinese imagination. By the Ching Dynasty, in the 18th and the 19th centuries. Wuxia fiction was very popular. The story of the Wuxia became a fantasy of power, romance and moral duty ­ embodied by Li Mu Bai and Shu Lien in "Crouching Tiger."

As the genre developed, the Wuxia character became a more independent figure, often serving the basic principles of honor and justice themselves, rather than a particular master. In this respect, the Wuxia is not unlike the familiar Western hero ­ the lone cowboy riding into town to exact justice and right wrongs. The world of the Wuxia is different from that of society. The Wuxia  operates in a realm under the surface of society and the rule of law, called Giang Hu. A world made up of individuals and their relationships, rather than the collective and the government. These relationships can exist entirely outside of the law. For example, the Wuxia can be a member of an underground, Mafia-type organization, but loyalty and honor are still the main values. In serving a master, the Wuxia keeps his or her word, even to the point of death. (Today, the term Giang Hu has a broader meaning, referring to the entanglements of life and relationships in a society).

[Balabanto]

What this means is that if you're not following my Imperial Throne Process Thread, you should be. 

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/90666-imperial-throne-process-thread/

[GhostDancer]

Virtuoso music performance Ambush from Ten Sides https://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=eP589a780w0

[GhostDancer]

Old photo of warrior monk!