Unarmed Combat (Vy'Ufnaji)

Overview

This is a Biqaj martial art inspired by the form of struggle that they observe largely in marine life, and given fertile ground to develop in the rough and tumble play of childhood. It's a style focused mainly on escaping holds, grapples, snares and sweeps, with an emphasis on striking vulnerable areas of the body that are susceptible to pain.

There are several variants, with differing emphasis when it comes to conditioning, execution, and training. The complimentary skills are noted in parenthesis after the title of these sub-styles.

Substyles

Gwardj

Complimentary Skills: Acrobatics, Torture (Tickling), Discipline, Swimming

Translated from Rakahi to Common as Balance Bearer. This is the form for which the style is most known and most reviled. Those who master this form are masters of escaping holds and grapples. Through observation of how fish can slip out of the hands and netting, these seasoned fighters have developed a form that allows them to slip out of holds with apparent ease.

A master of this form can weave through bodily limbs and grapples and holds with an ease that defies explanation. They are, for lack of a better phrase, slippery as a fish. They will often use external tools to facilitate this form, such as oily balms on certain body parts before fighting, to jewelry with jagged edges such as shark's teeth necklaces and bracelets.

Qe'Ouj

Complimentary Skills: Deception, Leadership, Tactics, Meditation

This variant of the style is focused on group combat, and often those practicing this form will do so in small to large groups or in vast melees or bar room brawling. In this form, the mantra is strength in numbers. A manager of situations, those practicing this style will work on their ability to operate in the middle of a large fight or melee, often slipping in and out of danger through guile and a sense of timing.

A master of this style will be able to manage a disorganized mob into something far more deadly and useful. Often turning enemies against each other through a variety of deceptive moves and manipulations. Those practicing this style are able to sow confusion as easily as a tailor needles a thread.

Ki'Oriaq

Complimentary Skills: Endurance, Resistance, Strength, Negotiation

Translated from Rakahi to Common as Trader of Blows. This style is focused on trading blows and grapples one for one, with proportional exchange of damage for each hurt received. It's a defensive style, which accepts the trade and exchange of attacks, thus emphasizing durability on part of the practitioner.

Often those learning this style will ingest all manner of brews and alcohol to numb their pain responses to various attacks. It is one of the more advanced among these styles, as it requires a great deal of balance to fight while inebriated. This is a form for the true master of the styles.

Tools of the Trade

Angler's Claw

This weapon is essentially some fishing gear that's been patched together to form a makeshift weapon. Often consisting of a bracer constructed of a stiff material, with twine wrapped around it and attached at the other end to a large, shark hook. The hook is held in the hand, with the point angled upward or downward depending on how it is held.

Between each finger or knuckle, a string of either shark's teeth or smaller fishing hooks are placed.

This weapon is often used to wicked effect in gripping an opponent with the first. With any one or all of the hooks the combatant might hook into an opponent, and maintain the distance to them with the twine. This weapon is an adaptation to combating other practitioners of the art of Vy'ufnaji, who often grease up before fighting to make themselves harder to grapple with. It's every bit as effective and intimidating to those who aren't Vy'ufnaji practitioners.

Bottles and Jars of Grease Unguents

These are self explanatory, often made from whatever materials a Vy'ufnaji fighter can cobble together, most often fish grease or treated whale oils. More well to do fighters might mix in aromatics to make it smell better and offset the fish smell.

Various

Nautical equipment and other weapons: Knives, anything from hangers to seaxes, boarding axes, cutlasses, are useful to the practitioner, and often this skill can easily be paired with skill in a weapon. Most often weapons with shorter reach are preferred, for close up fighting that this style is geared toward. Also because fighting on a ship calls for closer quarters. The weapon with the most reach that would find regular use might be the boarding axe or a pike, but these aren't typically part of the Vy'ufnaji tradition.

Skill Ranks

Novice (0-25)

Unlike many disciplines, there's rarely a formalized choosing of a single variant of Vy'ufnaji for a new practitioner. Learners are generally encouraged to experience every style and form of water weaving with regard to techniques and styles of combat. The fundamentals of equipment and specialized unguents are taught, learners are given the habit of greasing up their joints, and learning to cobble together various improvised weapons that make it easier to escape holds.

It isn't until they approach competence that they begin to focus on one particular style. Up until then, it's mostly disorganized brawling/squirming out of holds.

Competent (26-75)

With a grounding in all the basic forms of the substyles, it's inevitable that the practitioner will have found one that speaks to him, more than the others. Often this will be a style that speaks more to his skill set and attributes. Once the choice is made, however, they become quite formidable at managing combat situations. And that is the cornerstone of Vy'ufnaji, managing in combat. It's more about survival than outright destruction of one's foe. Better to live and fight another day than risk one's neck against a superior opponent. There's no shame in escape.

With Competence training, more strikes and use of weapons are put into practice, these are often geared toward the art of escape, however, and rarely meant to permanently damage someone, although one should take that opportunity when it avails itself. It's not the end in and of itself.

Expert (76-150)

Often an expert will have a striking familiarity with all of the regional and practical styles of Vy'ufnaji. They can escape most any hold put upon them if prepared for a fight, and will often make holding them extremely painful for the other fighter.

Here they begin to fill in the gaps of their learning, using the line of the angler's claw to garrote their unsuspecting foes, and putting on holds, learning how to defeat other Vy'ufnaji practitioners is the first step toward mastery and understanding of how to truly excel at the martial art of escape.

Master (151-250)

There's almost no hold that can tie down a Master of the art of Vy'ufnaji. Anyone who tries to hold them will find them slippery as a mackerel, and prickly as a blowfish. They'll have all manner of torturous strikes meant to inflict pain on other fighters, and excel at stunning their opponents with unexpected blows coming from unpredictable directions.

A true master of contortion and escape, they might even have developed double-jointed techniques, which doubles their potential as a Vy'ufnaji practitioner.

Just as there are few holds that can keep a master down, he's received such a great breadth of knowledge about various holds and submission grapples, that there are few holds that they aren't fully capable of putting on one that they take the offensive against.

A Master of Vy'Ufnaji is one fighter that nobody wants to get under their guard.

Development Credit: Rorom