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I may never come back, and I just want someone to know. This article contains text from a former Shadow Academy course. It is no longer in use, and is preserved here for historical purposes only and should not be used/referenced.
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Course Description
This course aims to help you understand the depths of various aspects of the hand-to-hand combat. Remember that this knowledge may turn out to be extremely useful, even if you are an extremely powerful Dark Jedi.
Course Notes
Introduction
Well met, brethren.
In this course, you will be immersed in the many varied styles of personal combat. You will see the differing philosophies and attitudes toward combat, and how they lend themselves to each unique art. You will come to understand much more than the simple strikes and blocks that may make up the motions and you will see how it is not the effectiveness of the Art that makes the fighter strong, but the strength of the fighter that makes the Art effective.
- Note: To fully comprehend the lessons of this course, you will need to have read and understood the Hand-to-Hand Combat Guide. This comprehensive manual has in-depth information relating to the Arts discussed within, information that will have to be digested and understood in order to complete this course. This will not be a simple answer hunt, nor a condensed re-teaching of the guide itself, but rather a supplement.*
- The Hand-to-Hand Combat Guide can be found here.
- A quick study guide and flow chart can be found here.
Basic Forms
Ostensibly, there are some arts that are easier to attain training in than others. One can find a [wiki.darkjedibrotherhood.com/view/Dulon Dulon] Studio in almost any city with a Starport, yet you can spend a lifetime hunting a teacher to instruct you in Verdanaian. While more commonplace, the arts that are easiest to train in are those with the broadest curriculum. Appealing to wide audiences to keep their studios running, many of these arts have reverted to almost ritualized combat, that is to say, 'effective under more controlled circumstances'.
However, there is no reason to discount the strength of will and dedication of one who has spent long years to master even the most commercialized Art. These are forms built on combat effectiveness, and when trained correctly are quite formidable, even if broad in scope. In the terms laid forth in the Hand to Hand Guide, these broad forms are considered 'Basic'.
Dulon's maneuvering, striking, the evasive lessons of Kartranin and the broad curriculum of Hapan are all building blocks for later lessons and more complicated arts.
Advanced Forms
Many martial artists will start their path in one of these arts, learning the basic physics of how their body works best: how to throw a punch, how to avoid a blow, how to escape from a choke. Most will attain some degree of proficiency in the Art and grow stagnant, not needing or seeking perfection. They often develop ego in the belief that their school is the best, and that they need not study other arts. And that close-mindedness can cause people to forego more effective techniques.
This is not the Way.
Those seeking more specific instruction, those who wish to specialize further in the arts of combat will move on with their training, seeking arts that enhance their own personal strengths and minimize their weaknesses. These arts are more difficult to find, often requiring a substantial amount of time or just fantastic luck to even begin training.
Many of these are racial secrets, hidden lessons of privileged castes on far away worlds. The Shyarn'Ado of the Cereans, Iridonian K'thri, Gungan Paonga, Geonosian Petranaki, and Bothan Jeswandi are examples of secrets rarely shared outside of their races. The more militaristic K'tara and Jakelian are still difficult to find, but not nearly as culturally xenophobic.
These arts, sometimes called 'Advanced', are often spoken about in hushed wonder. Exotic combat styles that are used by strangers seem to achieve nearly miraculous results, adding to the legend and mystery of the art. Once beginning training in the arts, many of the mysteries seem to fade away, replaced with the very difficult training. Building on the foundations laid by their years in more common arts, the adherents will grow more and more focused on their skills, more in tune with their own selves and how they can use themselves to best effect, and less vague in their mastery.
Elite Forms
But even these arts do not represent the pinnacle of martial arts. Even after years of study, the enterprising and most aggressive seekers of knowledge will discover arts of a more rarified flavor. Arts that underground action holos mention, arts that even masters may have discussed briefly before dismissing the subject as legend. Many have spent years chasing rumors of a master of these arts, only to find frauds.
These arts, referred to as 'Elite’ in the Hand-to-Hand combat guide, hone the fighter's spirit and skill to a razor edge. Pursued with such fervor that only one who seeks to truly master themselves can muster, these adherents pour their all into their training. No tourists are permitted in the halls of these instructors.
Teras Kasi, Jar'kai, and Echani are relatively popular, considering their popularity in media. But Wrruushi, Verdanaian, and Stava are equally responsive and effective.
Finer Points
Martial arts are further defined in terms of 'hard' or 'soft'. The understanding of these contrasting descriptors is in the practice of the style, even down to the mindset and culture of the art in question. As the attacks of a warrior come from his spirit and body, so too do the forms of an art flow from its beliefs.
Hard arts are so called because of their relative rigidity of motion. Comprised of high-impact, strength originating attacks and harsh angles of defense, the belief systems of these arts is usually aggressive. Less peaceful in nature, hard arts usually come from times of vicious war and outrage. Espousing a more active approach to defense of self and home, hard arts are also more straining on the body, and require strict tolerances in diet and strength training regimen.
For example, Jakelian was developed to aid the cloned troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic, developed with the aid of another famous warrior society, the Mandalorians. Bred for war from warrior stock, and then thrust into first the Clone Wars, then the Jedi Purge and the Galactic Civil War, the art is a soldier's art. Built on the strength and implicit trust of their fellows born on the battlefield, the art is quite proactive in its deployment.
Soft arts on the other hand, are much more flexible. Built on evasive motion and unpredictable kinetic striking, these arts are often taught by survivors and those who seek to use a person's aggression against them rather than meet force with force. A more dynamic and reactionary response to action, even if blindingly fast, is used by these arts to cause their enemies to fail and allow themselves to maintain a clearer conscious. While difficult on those who are not very limber, these arts do require a focus on flexibility that some are incapable of.
Jeswandi was founded based on the experiences of Magh Dar'lya, a survivor of decades of internecine Bothan clan warfare. His experiences in combat left him with distaste for outright aggression, but love for himself and his allies would not permit him to surrender or let his ideals be trampled. The art as a result is quite reactive, the Jeswandi stylist attempting to goad their opponent into attacking a false target, then using the overextension of their foe to defeat them.
Understanding Weapons
There are many arts that do utilize force multipliers, weapons which enhance the potential of the art. In general, this is ancillary to the primary weapon, the body of the user. However, this does not discount the countless hours that are spent in the perfection of weapon technique.
Weapons are often considered extensions of the body in regards to training. However, each style lends itself to specific weapons more than others. Some even focus on a singular weapon, attempting to create a perfect blend of body and weapon rather than a myriad assortment of weapons. Others will still train in an art and prefer to use a specific weapon to the exclusivity of others, despite the curriculum. Some will claim that this is overspecialization, and doing yourself a disservice by ignoring the other tools at your disposal and limiting yourself to one weapon. Others will say that this is the best path to achieving true mastery of the weapon, free of the distraction of learning other weapons. You should find out or yourself which makes more sense to you.
Note: For more information on weapons, see the General Weapons Course (source unavailable).
Diversity and Perfection
Those seeking to master themselves fully will often seek training in many arts for various reasons. A person may train in Broken Gate for the strength in striking, and cross train in Dulon for the more evasive strengths of that form and take up training in Paonga for a strong understanding of ground-fighting.
It's also important to understand the dangers of ego at this point. Many would-be warriors will train nominally in a few arts, never investing the time required to master even one, yet believing themselves masters of their own art. This is quite dangerous, because raw skill and talent cannot surpass what a less innately skilled person could do with solid training. There are many who would say that this is folly, that their own 'self-created art' is superior because it is tailored to their own strengths and weaknesses more closely than any other. What they fail to understand is that with a sound understanding of other arts, a person will learn to tailor those techniques of the arts in ways that compliment their own attributes much more effectively than a person who doesn't bother to learn from the experience of others.
Naturally, mastery of multiple arts requires a substantial investment of time and energy, more so when the arts do not share many of the same tenets. In cases where dissimilar arts are used in tandem, many years must be spent to make the transitions in combat smooth; otherwise the entire system is compromised in the battlefield.
Closing
In closing, it's ultimately up to the student to determine their own course of study and find the arts that compliment their natural abilities and affinities the best, and then focus themselves and train as best they can to master the art and become the best fighter they can be.
Note: The Hand-to-Hand Handbook, linked at the beginning of the course notes, will be needed in order to pass the exam.
Course Trivia