RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes

V'aleera · **07-06-2015, 05:47 PM**

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of a fabulous lancer character who always keeps a pouch of cherry blossom petals to throw into the air in sync with a powerful thrust.

Caspar · **07-07-2015, 04:25 AM**

I went a little crazy here. Suffice to say, I went off the beaten path, even if some shared elements like Shoulder Tackle and Steel Peak are definitely here.

Virara was inculcated from a young age via training at pain of death in a lethal barehanded martial art, Seven Stars Labyrinth Fist. Aesthetically and thematically, I drew from existing martial arts styles like Bajiquan and Xinyiquan.

Supposedly, it is a style from Othard that incorporated aspects of many different martial arts, particularly spear and staff fighting, but eventually evolved to such a degree as to forgo weapons entirely, using only hora, knuckle dusters, iron rings or gauntlets to protect the hands from damage. There are rumors that it evolved from a common ancestor with the Fist of Rhalgr, as both styles insinuate at the existence of mystical chakra, but only the Fist actively sought to unlock them through training. This may account for the style's obscurity, as well as its singular inheritance structure.

Little is known about the style. Compared to the Fists' unending sandstorm of punches and kicks, Seven Stars Labyrinth Fist outwardly appears to center around the almost farcically basic concept of closing to point blank range and ending the fight in one hit. Obviously doing this is no easy feat in practice, especially with the bare hands, so it could be said from the start the idea of Seven Stars should be nonsensical when the safer alternative of using weapons is readily available. Seven Stars emphasizes power and stability, speed in a single hit rather than continuous strikes, and economy of movement. Compared to the Fist, it is a very workmanlike, ugly style with little flash. This makes sense, as it is not meant to intimidate, or even to duel, but to kill a helpless or unaware individual in one hit, instantly. It would be unwise, however, to assume this means the practitioner cannot use it in a face to face confrontation.Â

It is notable in that the practitioner uses every extremity to strike, favoring the elbow, shoulder and knee, and relishes obtaining point blank distance where its full power can be applied nearly instantly. Every hit uses almost the entire body's weight without losing balance. Like the real world Bajiquan, the compression of the spinal column and ground pressure lend force to the strikes, carrying over its distinctive stomping motions. But since the style is mundane, it should not be able to achieve much more power than the vaunted Ala Mhigan Fists, who trained rigorously and had a greater grasp of Chakra manipulation, even to the point of being able to project energy offensively or heal their wounds with it, which Seven Stars lacks. The simplicity of its movements and the explosive force behind its spinal-whip driven strikes do not match up.

Virara uses a much weaker, more improvisational version of the style, yet still in her case, she was able to shatter a cobalt breastplate in one hit with little injury to herself, and punch an ingot of the metal straight through the floor of her house. Her Master achieved such a primacy of the fist that she slew, it is said, thousands of people in the shadows of the Doman rebellion as an assassin, though much of that is speculative. That does not even begin to compare with the horrific track record of her own Master, who possibly was alive even as far back as the Garlean conquest of Othard, though his existence is disputed to begin with. Both can be considered 'monsters' rather than martial artists, and it is likely most of their victims died without a chance to fight back, rather than in fair duels.

The style's name and sedate, unnervingly placid stance evokes nauseating dread amongst veterans of the rebellion, and hushed whispers, as if it is an art that should not and cannot exist. Outlandish horror stories abound of hands that fold upon themselves thousands of times and echo outward like an unfurling lotus, eyes that can freeze a heart solid with fear and stop the lungs without even moving a single finger, and blows that should go straight but hit at an impossible angle with enough force to remove the head entirely. And that's from its users' allies. Given the style's simple nature, such rumors are laughable absurdities. However, there must be some strange trick to the otherwise extremely direct and straightforward style, otherwise the "labyrinth" in its name would be merely a straight corridor.

Seemingly innocuous, the style also generates an odd, a priori sickening tension in those who look upon it, as if the viewer unconsciously knows it is "wrong" or abnormal. Virara has been able to demonstrate odd abilities that may or may not be derived from the style, but anything further is indeterminate. The attitudes, postures, and strikes of the style appear plain, but gradual observation provokes an inexplicable creeping terror, and it gradually becomes clear why some of the Doman ninja and warriors from Othard who know of this style consider it "heresy."

Aduu Avagnar · **07-07-2015, 04:40 AM**

Nako has had sword training for an hour a day since he was about 15, so 22 years on, I would say he's quite well versed in its use. (he increased that amount when he had his aether restricted.

He tends more to the wear them down method of fighting. Use the shield and sword to deflect and create an opening, take a couple of hits on the armour and strike at them. He is a bit too wary. He does however line his sword with a form of pitch, so that he can set it on fire. Cause firesword.

His aether is reasonably restricted when he's in armour, due to not having a focus, so it tends to be relegated to short distance or touch magic, such as setting his sword on fire, or using the burning pitch that sticks to his opponent to litterally burn through their defences or turn them into a walking conflagration.

Outside of armour it tends to be a little more free roam. Given his status as an aetheric scholar, I tend not to use specific ability names, and have made up several little spells that work well in the grey area of the lore (Astral Projection for one, Void chains for the another, summoning a gribbly cthonic monster for a third.) but typically it's stuff like using air to push people back or immobilise them off the ground, using earth to form rock spikes piercing their feet, that kinda stuff. Or making a pulse of pure aether flow through someone in such a way that it liquidises their insides.

he has a small ammount of unarmed training, but it's your typical army/police self defence. Closer to Krav Maga than Wushu.

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RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes