-Xie Xie Nyugen
Unarmed combat is most widely acknowledged in the Orient, where the forbiddence of weapons gave birth over time to a variety of popular forms, kept, spread, refined and added to be generations of pugalists, monks, and warriors in many different cultures. Other cultures throughout history have developed their own styles of armed an unarmed combat, delving into the science of fighting to fit their own philisophic ideals or the weapons they chose to wield. As with many arts, the Martial Arts gained a mystique, being practiced by select groups and sects. Inclusion in these groups included education in not only combat, but esoteric philosophies and arcane knowledge. Membership was often restricted, sometimes to bloodlines or worthy initiates only, and rumors of secret arts, especially effective moves, and hidden techniques became a staple of the legend surrounding such orders. Generally speaking, the popularity and reknown of a given art or category of art was based on it's effectiveness. The introduction of firearms, armor, cyberweapons, laser weapons and the like reduce the popularity of previous martial art forms, although they neve go away completely. Magic acts as a counterbalancing agent, improving all forms of martial combat while favoring the unarmed adept, the one being that is their own weapon. The Scroll of Feng teaches that the true warrior masters all weapons, but needs nothing but their own flesh to defend, to attack, to injure, to cripple, and to maim.
-Introduction to the thesis of Xie Xie Nyugen, unpublished
The Scroll of Feng is a legendary (and some claim, apochryphal) text that details the movements, maneuvers and exercises of a lost martial art. Rumors concerning the movements of the scroll down the century are many and obscure, but it is agreed that the author, named Feng by the scribe of Peter, 1st Pope of Rome, travelled widely, from barbarian Japan to enlightened Autoghast, from the primitive foot-fighters of what would be France to the Indus river. 'Feng' recorded his 'ultimate' martial art on a single scroll, fully twenty-five feet long when unspooled. He never taught any student his secrets, and when he died (choking on a fishbone, it is said), the local Toaist magician ordered it buried with him, and the scroll was buried and prayed over as if it were a man.
The Scroll of Feng did not rest easy in it's grave, and through the centuries rumors have held of the scroll being found, torn, destroyed, transcribed, translated, and lost. Whatever the truth of the matter, the Scroll of Feng-or a document that claimed as much-was discovered by a budding adept in Hunan in 2010. A college-educated martial arts enthusiast and historian, the adept deciphered the arcane secrets of the Scroll of Feng, and the teachings of the scroll, combined with the pseudo-hermetic Wu Jen teachings popular at the time, became the focus of his Way.
The adept died in 2063, after completing the training of his pupil, the now-legendary adept and female martial artist Xie Xie Nyugen, known as the Laughing Tiger.
Feng-School Martial Arts
The martial arts described by the Scroll of Feng focus on adaptability and improvisation, including movements and maneuvers from many different schools. Martial artists who follow Feng-School typically learn to use all manner of weapons to some extant. The Laughing Tiger is proficient in any weapon you care to name, though she especially enjoys the quarterstaff and rattan sticks.
Advantages:Instead of choosing a new Feng maneuver, a character with this skill can choose to use a single previously used Feng maneuver when using one of the following: the Clubs skill, the Cyberimplant weaponry skill, Edged Weapons skill, Pole Arms/Staffs skill, or Whips skill.
Disadvantages:To take this skill, the character must read the Scroll of Feng. The scroll may be purchased, borrowed, or stolen, but in any event many martial artists and antique dealers will seek it, giving the character a 2-point Hunted flaw.
Maneuveru: Blind Fighting, Close Combat, Disorient, Evasion, Ground Fighting, Herding, Kick Attack, Sweep, Zoning
Stunts
The Scroll of Feng also describes different stunts, combinations of powers and geasa or maneuvers that are typically used by practitioners of Feng. Any adept who knows Feng martial arts may take these power/geasa combinations, and perform the accompanying stunt (provided they know the correct maneuver).
Double Monkey Bitch-Slap
Cost: .75 power points
A favorite of Xie Xie Nyugen, this stunt is a use of the geased Delay Damage power (only when using Feng martial arts) combined with the Disorient maneuver. The martial artist quickly slaps their opponent multiple times, often using the Ambidexterity edge (not needed, but a nice touch). This embarrassing attack renders an opponent flustered, usually helpless, and completely unharmed from the carefully planned and showy assault.
The Iron Castle
Cost: .75+ power points
This stunt requires the geased Counterstrike and Sidestep powers (only when using Feng martial arts), and characteristic whirling arm gestures combined with the Evasion maneuver. When performing the Iron Castle, the character enters Full Defense, using Evasion, and taunts his opponents into a frontal assault by not moving. When attacked, the character uses their Counterstrike power to turn their oppoent's assualts against them, sometimes with Judo-like movements to redirect the force of their enemy's assault.
Love's Delight
Cost: 5.5 power points
This stunt is a lethal combination of Penetrating Strike (3), Smashing Blow, and Killing Hands (D), which the Feng martial artist is bound by oath to use only together. The adept uses Close Combat and a Called Shot, then uses their power to literally rip the beating heart from their enemy, smashing through the bones of the rib cage to remove the offending organ. Even titanium-laced bones and armor are not sufficient to stop this terrible power.
[ Spoiler ]
Flail of the Elements
Cost: 2.25+ power points
This stunt, inspired by Wu Jen teachings, transforms the adept's Killing Hand into a Flail of the Elements. The character takes five Elemental Strike powers, which are geased so that they may only be used while the adept is barefoot, and must always be used together, never seperately. The Flail of the Elements is delivered with a Kick attack, and possesses the secondary elemental effects of fire, water, metal, sand, and smoke (burning wood).
Gentle Breeze
Cost: .25 power points
This deceptively-named power requires a geased Inertia Strike (only when on the ground), as the adept strikes the target with the Inertia Strike and the Sweep maneuver, then both fall down. Once on the ground, the adept typically use their Ground Fighting maneuver and the Full Offense option to assault their foe.
The Black Curtain
Cost: .5+ power points
Utiliyzing a geased Improved Ability (weapon of choice) and Enthralling Performance powers (may only be used with a weapon that the adept may use the Zoning maneuver of Feng martial arts with), the adept may use their weapon-based Zoning maneuver to give an Enthralling Performance.
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