K'thri

K'thri originated from the Zabrak

Iridonia is a harsh land. Home to the Zabrak, this desert planet grew the Zabrak into a strong warrior culture. While many don't recognize their culture as distinctively martial, it is because it is ingrained fully into their culture. Almost all feast days end in a elaborate circle dance, with very athletic and acrobatic movements. This is called by the Iridonian Zabrak as the K'thri.

K'thri is far more than a dance style, however. It is a very dynamic and artful form of expression, including expression of anger. Those who face the K'thri stylist will often not understand why their opponent is dancing...until they find themselves kicked from an unlikely angle, or their face bleeding from a vicious horned headbutt.

Valued as art off-world, high-level practitioners of K'thri can often find themselves jobs as entertainers. But the Iridonians keep in mind the true purpose of K'thri, constantly practicing against their comrades, to ensure that their art is honed.

K'thri is an insular martial art, one that is often xenophobic and racist in whom they will allow to learn the art. Treated as a part of the Iridonian experience and culture, outlanders are often looked down upon for trying to 'steal' the good parts of their culture without trying to understand the whole of their society. As such, the rare outlander who is permitted to learn this art is often made to study the various non-martial aspects of Iridonian society.

Due to lack of widespread availability and the xenophobic nature of its masters, K'thri is regarded as exotic, and less than serious in martial competitions. This has caused some friction to the pride of the Iridonians in recent years, and recent competitions have seen specially trained K'thri stylists joining up to reclaim honor for their own art as champions. They have met with some success, but future competitions will be more telling as to the efficacy of the art.

Details

Movement

The K'thri adherent is almost a blur of motion, their movements fluid and artistic. Many have called the style more of a dance than a combat style. Those people have also found themselves knocked out shortly after saying so. The grace and acrobatic ability of K'thri has garnered quite a bit of attention at competitive martial meets, many people seeking to learn a bit after watching how smooth the motions are.

Striking

K'thri primarily attacks with kicks, sweeps, and head strikes. Some schools teach punches and hand strikes, but they are not as common. Scholars disagree as to why K'thri relies more on foot strikes than hand ones, but the general understanding is that it is tied into the Iridonian belief that hands are for creation and feet were for destruction. K'thri also uses acrobatic and athletic movements to maneuver around the opponent. Feints are also important and the use of "traps" or illusory movements are typical to a K'thri stylist.

Defense

Defenses consists of evasive moves and rolls more than static blocks. Using more evasion than standard defenses, K'thri is rather acrobatic, the stylist constantly in motion, making him or her a far more difficult target. As the stylist grows in skill, a lot more feints and fakes are incorporated, the purpose to cause their opponent into moving in a way that they might not otherwise, leaving themselves open for attack.

Training

K'thri is taught in small classes, called circles. One or two members of each circle are designated to hammer out a rhythm on small drums while the others use the beat to work in their strikes, acrobatics, and other movements. Typically, masters work in tandem, two or three masters to a class.

Weapons

K'thri is typically an unarmed art, although non-Zabrak stylists will occasionally wear a special crown of metal horns to emulate the Iridonian enhanced headbutt.

Summary

Level: Advanced

Prerequisites: Broken Gate 3, Dulon 3, INT 18

Style: Soft

Weapons: Empty Hand, Projectile Weapons, Knives

• Lateral Shift, Twisting Handstand
•• Flipping, Spinning Snap Kicks
••• Pushing Kicks, Spinning and Striking
•••• Head Strikes, Sweeps, Speed of the K’thri, Rhythm of Rain
••••• Rolling Strikes, Handstand Striking, Grappling, Bleeding Brow

Brotherhood Practitioners