I've decided to try and add fighting styles to my world as kind of a way of making each country more unique. This post is going to be about that sort of thing.
In Vyanthnem, we have the talon blade duelist style of combat. This style combines the deadly striking power of the Vyanth talon blade with lightly armored agility and a buckler defense. The lightly armored nature of the fighting style allows the buckler to be used more effectively and allows the warrior to move and respond more quickly than a more heavily armored warrior. Almost all Vyanth warriors are practitioners of this style of combat, and it is taught to many slave warriors in the gladiatorial pits and fighting arenas, though the natural agility of the Vyanth make them the most deadly practitioners of the style.
In the streets and barracks of Meroteth a style of combat known as Kon'zaub'ner is practiced, which focuses on wielding a weapon in one hand while preparing spells with the other in the midst of a swirling melee. This style takes advantage of the close quarters fighting in Meroteth's streets and the sorcerous bent of its citizens and is primarily practiced by the soldiers and sorcerers defending and policing the city. It is believed that Sorcerer Magistrate Nakmander himself designed this style of combat and decreed that it be used by his soldiers.
In Volungshemle, the Children of Volung favor a style of battle that requires immense strength and endurance. Most often, they wield a bastard, or hand and a half, sword in a two-handed grip, with a durable buckler of steel or wolf-iron strapped to their forearm.There is no name for this style, though it is sometimes referred to as the fighting style of the father, because Volung himself wages war with a massive sword and buckler. The core concept of this style is brutal overhand blows that rend armor and flesh, backed up by the unstoppable strength of the Children using a strong buckler to batter incoming blows aside. The style is crude, but effective, and very much akin to the butcher's work that the Children of Volung are accustomed to.
Beyond the mountains of Gate Town, in the Old Empire, a style of unarmed combat is practiced by the ancient fighting schools there. The warriors of these orders have adapted the most notable talent of the Eldumans and melded it with their unique physiology in a fashion that augments their considerable combat skill. The crystalline bones of the Eldumans are capable of being reinforced with psionic energy, some Eldumans have been able to make their bones nearly unbreakable with this power. Others use this ability to alter their physiology by making the bones of the striking portions of their body denser, turning strong, debilitating strikes into bonecrushing blows that can send enemies to the ground or reeling back. This practice has a simple name: Deathblow.
In the deserts of Serethnem, the agile Sereth people use a blade known to other races as the Sereth sickle blade. The Sereth call it the quelerel, and also name the style that focuses on the use of the blade that same name. Quelerel, like the talon blade duelists of Vyanthnem, utilizes the innate agility of the Sereth over brute strength. The style focuses on lightning quick strikes with the blade and taking advantage of the weapon's deadly curve to quite literally slash the legs out from beneath an enemy.
If I come up with any other fighting style that might be appropriately unique for the various nations, maybe I'll post a second set, but those are the first ones that come to mind. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with some reasonably balanced feats to make them more than just a blog post.
Spears!! sPeaRs!!!!
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