Intergalactic Summit

I am curious, the martial arts have existed in one form or another for millenia, passed down and changing throughout that time.

How many of the capsuleers in IGS practice one form or another, and which ones do you regularly and actviely practice?

Now granted, many of us have had military hand to hand combat training, which is often, such as the one taught to me in the Federal Marines, a mixture of martial techniques designed to end a hand to hand fight quickly and efficiently, whether with hands alone or putting a blade in your opponant, or forcing them into a position where you can open the distance long enough to put a sidearm or longarm shot through them.

Beyond that, what I was taught as a child, and still practice is now called 'Mano Mano' it has evolved down through the centuries and was once part of a family of arts, eventually coming under the name it has in present. At times in the distant past it called 'Arnis' or 'Kali' It has incorporated much of its one time family into itself, or so I was taught. Weapons are learned first, knives, hardened sticks or bastones, other blades such as swords, and so on, the unarmed techniques such as strikes, throws, and joint manipulations come later, as the hand itself is just another weapon.

The other one i regularly practice is more of an exercise technique from the Jin Mei, mostly for exercise, relaxation, and meditation.

Traditional Amarrian fencing is taught to all clergy, as I suppose we aren't issued swords for ceremonies that we haven't been taught to actually use. However, my family has been served by a Brutor line that recently married into our own family. As such, from the time I was about ten, I've been trained in a rather nasty piece of hand-to-hand combat called Muraga Va. It's helped me quite a bit since I started ministering in Matari space, since it's not always helpful to carry a pistol into a sermon but it's sometimes necessary to kick someone's knee into the wrong direction.

I highly recommend finding yourself a tutor and learning it. It's extremely efficient but hard to learn, as many of the moves are meant to quickly disable and cripple opponents.

Whilst I do agree that it's not a core skill for our class, self-defence training is a great way to keep fit and can work better for those who think doing weights or running is boring.

As well as my submission hold training from the P&OU I also have a grounding in military martial arts and a couple of other forms from other teachers. It's a great way to ensure that muscle you put on working out isn't just useless weight.

I can't remember whats it's called, but you do movements in slowmotion. The old Krusual man that taught me said that sped up those movements would be lethal, but i prefere the slow motion, it focuses the mind and relives stress.

Traditional Jin-Mei martial art of Dimac.

The Iron Hand, the Poison Touch, the Lightning Finger, and much more.

Some say cybernetic enhancements have reduced the discipline necessary for the way of the Iron Hand, others disagree.

I am no expert, though.

Legendary Dimac masters are said to have achieved such things as beating multiple ruffian assailants with the ruffians own appendages.

Extreme.

All Vherokior children are taught how to fight at an early age. Growing up on Matar during the time I did meant hiding from and fighting Ammarian slavers and soldiers to stay alive. There is no name for how the Seyrvind clan fights, just know that there's a lot of grappling, dodging and knife work. It's quite effective against a variety of opponents, even children were able to take down Kameira soldiers. When my father took me from my tribe to fight in the onset of the Gallente-Caldari War, I was trained by the SDII in various forms of combat. I would list the hand to hand styles, but there are quite a few and many of them are classified.

I kickbox on a regular basis, though I doubt I would stand even a remote chance against a professional ground soldier. The amount of situations that can occur that I would need to defend myself but do not have a weapon seem rather slim.

Indeed, thank you.

Perhaps I needed to clarify, that like many of the others have said, I do not foresee a situation in which I would actively use my training in a combat or self defense situation...I do employ combat-trained security forces as part of my operations. The last time I did have to engage in hand to hand combat was back in the service of the Fed Marines, and, when it comes down that, everything else has already hit the fan.

However, what learned as a boy has been part of my life- for all of my life, a daily regimen for exercise and clarity of mind and spirit. Its something that, like all of us, I have an eternity (more or less) to perfect, and learn new skills and forms. I still stay sharp with the training that was gained in the marines, and have passed that down to my security instructors to train the sec forces in, both for physical training, and just in case it is ever needed.

Sometimes I even go train and instruct with active duty marines. DUST troops are another, and fascinating, matter, as muscle memories are engineering into them from what I understand, and their armor and physical augmentations make them physically perform at whole new level.

But, thank you all for what has been shared, it gives inspiration to learn more and observe some of these in use, and who knows? Perhaps learn some more, myself.

I'm not sure if this counts as a Martial Art, but I consider myself extraordinarily well versed in Gauron Pistol Dueling. Being of Gauron descent (reluctantly) I had to practice this for hours upon hours. Half the time is spent on posture. Straight back, non-weapon arm behind the back, maintain a perfect side profile to your target, weapon arm fully extended, feet in a "T" shape, slight lean on front foot, all that stuff. It actually sounds fairly easy at first, though considering how both participants of a duel must be back to back, achieving this proper stance in a split second is the difference between life and death, honor and disgrace.

Martial refers to the military, so Martial Arts are Military Arts. Pistol Dueling got it's start back in Gallente antiquity where rival generals and officers would often settle disputes with a pistol duel. Because the Gauron families had many sons and daughters in military service, this quickly became common practice for us. In time, it would become competitive, with non-lethal dueling pistols being used for sport.

As weapon technology evolved, it became difficult to determine what would be an acceptable dueling pistol, both lethal and non-lethal. Soon it was accepted that a dueling pistol can use any type of ammunition provided it can only fire one shot before requiring a reload. When quick reload pistols were invented to negate this rule, it was decided that a pistol must take at least 5 standard seconds for a trained user to reload to be considered legal. Using any form of semi-automatic or fully automatic pistol in both real and sport duels is considered highly dishonorable and/or illegal, even if you only fire one shot every 5 seconds. Augmentations are considered legal, though in sport, users with augmentations must remove them before competing with non-augmented participants or enter in a separate class for augmentations.

By far the best part of sport dueling is the traditional outfits. Brightly colored and ornate woolen coats, and powdered wigs. What more could you want?

Each Gauron family typically has their own dueling pistol, which is usually passed down from a parent to their offspring. If there are multiple offspring, then they have a (hopefully) non-lethal duel for this piece of inheritance, winner gets the pistol. A sibling can challenge the winner once every five years to a duel. The winner must accept the challenge or forfeit the pistol. There can only be one family pistol for each family line, so if a second one shows up through marriage, adoption, or inheritance, then it isn't given the same status as the current family pistol.

I currently hold my family's pistol and keep it on me at all times. It's a 300 year old, muzzle loaded, Blaster Pistol. As the name would suggest, it's essentially a tiny blaster. The pistol is fairly ornate though certainly not as spectacular looking as some dueling pistols are. The lethal setting is programmed so that only the current owner (me) can shoot to kill.

I think Pistol Dueling is as much a martial art as any. The training, finesse, physical and mental strength required to make a complete 180 degree turn, fire, and hit your target before they hit you is quite demanding. In today's age of cybernetic augmentations, some duels are finished in the time it takes for you to blink. So while I may not be well versed in hand to hand combat, I don't need to be. An aggressor that attempts that with me is going to blink, and suddenly find a rather deadly hole in his chest or forehead.

My father's honour demanded that I be proficient in traditional Intaki quarterstaff combat, and despite him I still actively practice it.