Felarya Martial Arts

Malahite wrote:

I believe high level druids don't need to eat anymore. In the very least, they can always create new food and water for themselves. And Acid Protection Scrolls / Amulets aren't that hard to find in some of the Realms.

Very high level monks have similiar abilities (at least in D&D terms). In fact, they're just as "immortal" or even moreso than druids, since they can make it so that it's impossible to alter their body, mind, or soul via external causes. They basically gain complete physical and spiritual mastery over their own being, so a grandmaster monk who got swallowed would just sit around being very bored and undigested for a long, long, looooooong time. ^^

....And before anyone says anything; no, they don't need to breathe, eat, or drink.

I have to admit, I haven't read the entire thread yet. But when I saw the title, the first thought that came to my mind, born from a lifetime of watching Wuxia and HK Kung-fu flicks and reinforced by statements like this...

GREGOLE wrote:

Hmm... dridder-fu... It'd either be a really boring string of poison jabs and leg stabbing, or else a really fun mass of tangled legs and poison bitch-slaps...

... was the Five Deadly Venoms, Felarya-style.

Sean Okotami wrote:

Well, we got mutliple dimensions and multiple planets connecting to Felarya. Among them, what kind of martial arts each world use? Surely Earth is not the only planet with people trained in the graceful art of punches in the face and kicks in the ass.

All the giant gals in Felarya are very well trained in the art of "Nom-nom-nom"!

Warrior3000 wrote:

as for mermaids im unsure of the ethics of under water combat...

Many Cetaceans are fairly capable underwater combatants. Due to the natural resistance of water vs. air, underwater combat in the natural world tends to take one of two forms:

1) Either you rely mostly on inertial forces and speed (ramming, high-speed strikes with harpoon-like structures or snake-like strikes); or
2) You close the distance as quickly as possible and grapple with your opponent.

All underwater combat in the natural kingdom takes the form of one of those two, or a mixture of both. Moray Eels quickly strike like snakes out of their holes, Dolphins and Porpoises build up speed and ram sharks until they die or flee (severely injured), Cephalopods grapple prey with their tentacles, Jellyfish and other Cnidarians basically use the "harpoon-like structures" on a microscopic scale, Barracudas do high-speed hit and run attacks, etc.

Mermaids would probably take the same approach to combat, with different variations depending on their species, the individual, and the magical capabilities of the parties involved.

I wouldn't be surprised if a naga learned martial arts from humans. That would be pretty rare seeing a naga uses his tail for kicks almost the same way humans does it.

Problem is few would come across Martial Artist humans, let alone leave one alive long enough to study off them or be trained by them.

Malahite wrote:

Problem is few would come across Martial Artist humans, let alone leave one alive long enough to study off them or be trained by them.

This.

In addition, Nagas wouldn't really be able to "kick" in any fashion similar to a human; the structure of their tail is nothing at all like a human leg and the points of balance below the waist are completely different.

A naga "kick" would consist of lashing out with its tail like a whip; straight kicks would be impossible, except by doubling part of the tail over itself and undulating outwards like performers do when performing precision whip tricks. They just don't have the elongated rigid bones, musculature, and joint structure to be able to perform a true kick; their tails are too flexible and consist of many joints closely spaced together with muscles between them.

What if they coiled their tailed, and uncoiled it to kick, kind of like a spring, but not twisted?

Sean Okotami wrote:

What if they coiled their tailed, and uncoiled it to kick, kind of like a spring, but not twisted?

Okay, what if they do..? They can attack that way, but it's not a "kick". A kick involves using the mechanical advantage of your legs (or part of your legs) to strike; a creature that doesn't have legs just can't kick in the same way that a creature without arms can't throw a punch. It's just not possible, because they don't have the required physiology.

What you just described falls under the category of "whip-like" motions I mentioned before. A Naga will never be able to kick, simply because they don't have limbs that work that way; however, they can try to approximate a similiar movement using their tails and/or the rest of their bodies. It's still not going to be the same thing, because a 1:1 translation just isn't possible without similiar physical structures, but they might be able to get close enough to matter.

For instance, the animal forms of various martial arts are based on observation and imitation of the behavior of animals. It's not possible to perfectly imitate a snake striking, because we don't have the bone structure and musculature neccessary. We can perform an action that is similiar in some ways, but it's not the same thing. A Naga would be able to imitate a human performing certain kicks to a degree, but it won't be the same thing because Nagas don't have legs.

Quote :

Problem is few would come across Martial Artist humans, let alone leave one alive long enough to study off them or be trained by them.

Who says they have to learn it from humans?

You forget, most sapient Felaryan predators ARE humans with extra bits tacked on. They would more than likely practice their own variations among their own cultures.

GREGOLE wrote:

Who says they have to learn it from humans?

They don't have to learn it from humans, but Malahite's post was in response to this:

Sean Okotami wrote:

I wouldn't be surprised if a naga learned martial arts from humans.

GREGOLE wrote:

You forget, most sapient Felaryan predators ARE humans with extra bits tacked on. They would more than likely practice their own variations among their own cultures.

This is also true, but I believe the discussion was specifically regarding martial arts styles practiced by human cultures, and predators learning them. Not martial arts originating among predator cultures.

The latter is likely to be far more effective than the former, since they were created with the physiology and capabilities of the predator's species in mind, and not merely mimicking a style developed with completely different physiology in mind.

What if the prdator based his martial arts on human teachings, but altered it to fit its physiology?

Sean Okotami wrote:

What if the prdator based his martial arts on human teachings, but altered it to fit its physiology?

Then he or she is effectively creating a new martial art style. You can only alter something so much before it stops being one thing, and starts being something completely different. Humans don't have tails; there is no martial art style based on using your tail in combat. A Naga can try to adapt certain techniques to make them work with his or her physiology, which will work good in some ways, and poorly in others.

There are certain things a human can do with their legs that a Naga can just NOT do at all, because no matter how they use it, a tail does not have the same bone and muscle structure as a leg. Thus, there will always be certain techniques in any martial art that are impossible for a Naga to pull off, or even closely mimick. They can adapt certain principles and create something new, but they can't do everything a human can do, simply because they don't have the same body shape a human has.

TheQuantumMechanic wrote:

There are certain things a human can do with their legs that a Naga can just NOT do at all, because no matter how they use it, a tail does not have the same bone and muscle structure as a leg. Thus, there will always be certain techniques in any martial art that are impossible for a Naga to pull off, or even closely mimick. They can adapt certain principles and create something new, but they can't do everything a human can do, simply because they don't have the same body shape a human has.

And of course there are some things that a naga can do that humans simply cannot do. In particular, I think nagas would be able to use their tail to much more effectively restrain a person than a human could use their legs to restrain a person.

I think they can do a kind of box and some throws . But I doubt they will have the move many boxer did with their legs to dodge.
They will be able to do technique involving their human's torso as humans do but not the skill involving human's legs.
By example they will do a german souplex but not a scisor knee, they need to create their own skill involving their snake tail.

They can learn some basic from the human and start to developp their own martial arts.

But the giant elves, the giantess and nekos won't have any problem to learn the martials arts of the humans

What if the Naga combined humans martial arts, at least the techniques they can reproduce, with their own style which takes advantages of their tail?

Then it would be deadly and purty.

Sean Okotami wrote:

What if the Naga combined humans martial arts, at least the techniques they can reproduce, with their own style which takes advantages of their tail?

TheQuantumMechanic wrote:

Then he or she is effectively creating a new martial art style. You can only alter something so much before it stops being one thing, and starts being something completely different.

The answer is still the same.

But, why they would need martial arts? Because, unless they start to attack each other, ... they don't need martial arts to "hunt" humans.

Atlas wrote:

But, why they would need martial arts? Because, unless they start to attack each other, ... they don't need martial arts to "hunt" humans.

They do attack each other, though. Or at least, certain races seem to have grudges against other races that are at a similar size.