Please note This is a flavour write-up for a martial arts style. Any style techniques etc can be used by any practitioner at the appropriate level. There are no skill pre-requesites or co-requisites for any martial arts style and it should be clearly noted that these styles do not infer any superiority in martial skill from another pc of the same level of skill.

Overview

In Common: Little Sword Art

While the Tunawa people are, by and large, a peaceful and good natured bunch, even the most peaceful creature when pushed into a corner will have little choice but to defend itself. With the penchant for slavers to capture tunawa and make raids on their communities and tribes, a need arose to figure out a way to deter these encroachments.

Many rely on their skill at deception and ability to blend into their environment, as well as their outstanding accord with the creatures of the forest. But even these measures have proven not enough to save all tunawa.

This gave rise to a need, a need that was filled with a special fighting art, unique to the Tunawa.

Whether wielding ojobgon weapons or weapons cultivated from Toṣeọrun Trees, the tunawa who practice these deadly arts are combatants to be feared and respected. Through these arts, they have found ways to play to their unique strengths as a race in combat, while bypassing their weaknesses.

Variants

Hìno Dopin

Complimentary Skills: Acrobatics, Mount, Tactics, Deception

Known in the Common Tongue as Leaf on the Wind, this is the more acrobatic style, preferred by those who charge into the attack head on, albeit with a healthy amount of deceptive movements and distracting tactics. The tunawa who prefer to use this style are often medium sized, around a foot to a bit taller.

This variant is the most mobile style, putting an emphasis on the use of a mount and acrobatic leaps in order to faciiltate fast movements, and closing ground with potential opponents attacking, and evading.

Chieit Dubä

Complimentary Skills: Stealth, Deception, Medicine, Acrobatics

Known in common as Shadow under Branch, this variant of Toṣeọruni places great emphasis on the tunawa's ability to go unseen, and often enables them to incapacitate or poison their foe before they even know they've encroached on a tunawa's settlement.

Whether it's shifting their eyes to where they shouldn't go, by throwing their voice in a bird call, or hiding in plain sight, disguised as a house plant, the masters of this style are able to end a fight befoe it begins through the use of poison, deception, and stealth.

There are whispers that some among the masters of this variant wield Toṣeọrun blades that can hold a poison indefinitely on its edge.

Shäurï'ìlä

Complimentary Skills: Tactics, Discipline, Intimidation, Meditation

Known in Common as Stump and Stand, this style is ideal for the more stalwart and large of stature among the Tunawa. Rarely practiced by a tunawa that stands under 18", these frontline warriors will serve as a distraction to any potential invaders, standing in the open, challenging, and even taunting them to get their attention focused on them.

Shäurï'ìlä masters are able to command the flow of battle to such a degree, that few will be able to resist their challenge. Often they will take measures to make themselves as innocuous-looking as possible, sometimes shoving their Toṣeọrun in the earth to hide them, until it's too late for their challenger.

This style is only for the bravest tunawa, who is willing to put their own life on the line to distract raiders of their settlements.

Specialized Equipment

Toṣeọrun blades

A blade built and cultivated from the nut of a Toṣeọrun Tree. These nuts can be shaped, lengthened and sharpened by one who has at least a passing knowledge of gardening, and an ample supply of fresh water.

The water is usually treated with tunawa sap, to fast-track the shaping of the blade, and make it much easier to mold. Once it is taken out of this solution, and left to harden, it becomes as tough as iron, as sharp as steel and every bit as flexible.

The blades often enough come in three different types, one type being a broad, leaf-like blade that is most useful for slashing and some thrusting. A second being the thin, narrow, tapering lance or estoc that is meant for thrusting. Lastly, a crooked hook that is meant to be used as a sort of pick.

Skill Ranks

The skill ranks for this martial art are merely provided for flavor purposes. For referencing how effective your character should be at Unarmed Combat, please refer to the Combat Primer.

Novice (0-25)

The tunawa will have, at this stage, only begun to learn one of the three primary forms of Toṣeọruni Az'vi. They will have chosen a specific type of weapon with which to specialize and incorporate its use into the form they've chosen. Most often they will have need to buddy up with another tunawa or four in order to take down a full sized human of the same skill level. Depending on their luck, the success of an individual tunawa over one human hasn't been unheard of, although normally this tunawa will be skilled in one or more of the complimentary skills of their chosen form.

At the height of novice, they will have begun to hold their own against a singular human-sized opponent, even if most times they are defeated. However, tunawa are nothing if not resilient, and will try try again.

Competent (26-75)

The divide at Competent for these tunawa fighters, is between specialists and generalists. Often a tunawa will want to improve their existing Toṣeọruni Az'vi form, and become better at implementing it. While others may pick up a second form, thereby becoming more versatile and well rounded. Either way, these fighters will have little trouble besting a human-sized opponent of novice one on one. They might even be able to take on multiple opponents that are unskilled in their weapons.

At the latter stages of competence, they will have nearly mastered their original form regardless, and become well practiced at a secondary form. They'll also have a good sense of how to sculpt and garden their own self-made Toṣeọrun blades, which can serve them in combat.

Expert (76-150)

At this stage, an expert of Toṣeọruni Az'vi will be a match for any other combatant of equal skill. Size is much less of a factor, as they have long discovered tricks such as hopping onto parts of their opponent's body, to coax them to attacking themselves. Their size transforms from a liability to an advantage, as they become fast enough in both jumping, running, and riding to evade even the swiftest attacks. They will have achieved full proficiency in two styles, and even begun to mold their own personal fighting ethos that is unique to them.

Expert Toṣeọruni Az'vi fighters at the latter stages of proficiency will find little trouble in taking on more than one opponent, sowing confusion between them with their ability to confound and evade attacks from many different directions.

Master (151-250)

A Master of Toṣeọruni Az'vi will have conquered many different sizes and shapes of opponent, and just as many ways of dealing with each type. They are as hard to hit as they are small, and as swift to make acrobatic leaps about the battlefield as they are light. They become a tiny bundle of thorny death, and few combative challenges are beyond them at this point. They will have mastered all the various forms of Toṣeọruni Az'vi. To the point where they can plant their own Toṣeọrun Tree, around which schools are typically built to teach the tunawa their Toṣeọruni Az'vi fighting styles.

Development Credit: Kisaik