Unarmed Combat (Ustrina)
Contents
Overview
In development by Defiance mage and unarmed combat practitioner Balthazar Black, this martial art form focuses around quick, offensive strikes with very few defensive maneuvers. The actual moves within the form vary from long sweeping kicks to quick punches with a heavy focus on the energy of your hit extending past your limb. There are very few defensive maneuvers in the style because it is one based around relentless unarmed offensive pressure both using both your physical body and flames.
For those without a spark this fighting style is best utilized in close range where speed and strength can overcome an opponent's defenses. Practitioners utilize speed over strength up close. The intention is that the speed and combined might of the Ustrina practitioner's attacks will overcome whatever counteroffensive their opponent can produce.
The physical side of this fighting style relies on an assortment of jabs, roundhouse kicks, spinning kicks, chambered punches, and some momentum directing. When facing anyone who is armed a student of Ustrina turns their opponents weapons against them or removes the weapon altogether. For long and medium ranged weapons, students of Ustrina get in close and maintain a constant assault at a close distance to keep the weapon ineffective. For close range weapons like daggers, students of Ustrina often strike the wrists and hands of their opponents to weaken their grip before attempting to disarm them.
Once an opponent is disarmed a student of Ustrina focuses on wearing their opponent down by attacking their extremities. Practitioners utilize circular motions with their feet and hands to maintain and build momentum for their attacks. Once a practitioner is confident that their opponent had been worn down enough they may begin utilizing more powerful punches and kicks to bring the fight to a close.
For mages initiated in Defiance this martial art allows them to channel fire through the medium of their body. The skill with which they do so depends on their level of training. Skills such as acrobatics compliment this fighting style well because they aid in the more complex kicks. At each level of skill the ability to blend defiance and the unarmed combat becomes easier.
Related Unarmed Combat Styles:
Skill Ranks
Novice (0-25)
This represents the point where the character has begun exploring the martial art. They have discovered, to their dismay, that this fighting style is not as easy as it appears at first glance. Despite this, the character has continued practicing to achieve a level of skill just above those who would casually attempt a move from this fighting style. Their form is not perfect but it is present and it is becoming more refined. It is not uncommon for beginners in this martial art to trip themselves up with unnecessarily complex legwork. At this stage, Defiance mages (of appropriate skill) have the ability to propel small bursts of flame from the ends of their extremities as an extension of their attack.
Competent (26-75)
At this level of skill, an individual has become skilled in combat to the extent that they are able to keep multiple opponents (3) adequately occupied with their strikes, provided they are not of superior proficiency in some martial school of their own.
The Ustrina practitioner's strikes begin to land more frequently and more powerfully. At this level of skill Defiance mages are forced to choose between diverting the focus of their study towards improving their bond with fire through this martial art or diverting the focus of their study to incorporating other elements into the fighting style. Those who choose to improve their bond with fire develop the ability to produce continuous streams of flame with their strikes. Those who choose to improve their bond with the other elements develop the ability to incorporate small amounts of air, water, or earth into their strikes.
Expert (76-150)
At this level of skill an individual has become a formidable unarmed force. There is little left for the uninitiated to learn from this fighting style, beyond new acrobatic moves to add new unexpected directions from which to make their strikes or parries. However, there is always room to perfect what has already been learned, and to those initiated in Defiance this level is one of the most tedious to surpass.
Those who reach this level have few places left to go physically and may feel that the addition of new acrobatic moves is secondary to packing a greater Defiance "punch" into the moves they DO know. Therefore most advancement from this point forward is done through study and experimentation on and of the forms they already know. It is usually through encounters with opponents possessing equal levels of training in other martial art that they may come to feel differently. Through study and practice, those with a Defiance spark (of adequate skill) learn to more fluidly utilize fire-related Refinement. The most common Refinement performed combines air and fire into lightning.
Master (151-250)
A master of this fighting style finds themselves nigh untouchable on the battlefield. Their offense often overpowers the offense and defense of their lesser opponents. Those initiated in the Defiance domain master this art in a different way. To them fire becomes but an extension of their limbs and their limbs strike too quickly for most to keep up with. Those who previously chose to focus on increasing the power of their flames will find themselves capable of producing massive streams (though it still draws on their ether) of flame with ease while those who focused on incorporating other elements will find it much easier to dance with multiple elements at once.
Development Credit: Nine