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[Arnulf Ogunkoya]

Part of my character's background is practice of a martial art. I'd like to put it out there as an idea for people to use themselves if they so wish.

Like a lot of martial arts, this was created for a population with limited power to use in defending themselves against a population that had more of it. Namely slaves in the empire that are not resigned to, or happy with their situation. With that in mind a lot of the practice exercises are made to look like dancing (as you might imagine I am taking a bit of inspiration from Capoeira here). I'm thinking that it might even have been disguised as some sort of traditional Amarrian devotional dance (I'm thinking of the Dervishes here).

This particular art is based around the use of one or two knives (adapted single edged work knives or machetes) with the legs being used for low kicks and sweeps to place an opponent off balance. The primary defense used is dodging. Sometimes blades will be adapted with a blade catcher running alongside the blunt edge of the blade. When knives are not available chops and sword-hand strikes are used instead.

Once a student has mastered the basics of the art (this is what some real life forms represent by the black belt) most sparring is done using live blades. This is to teach respect for the weapons used and to encourage the student to develop very fine control. It is also a trust exercise between the practitioners involved.

Thoughts? Would people be happy using this as an element of their own characters or for people that their characters know?

I've been trying to figure out a name for it. Currently I have two candidates. Ogunoke and Ogunmirei. Thse are taken from a couple of Māori words I found at this site: http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/

oke (verb) (-a) to be eager, struggle, writhe, strive, fight for, battle for.

and

mīreirei (verb) to act in a defiant manner, especially in performing haka, etc.Ka mutu, ka tūtū mai ngā wāhine me ā rātau mahi hoki o te tukutuku i a rātau, o te hīteki haere, o te mīreirei haere, a, ka mau te wehi (Te Kōhure 2004:87). / And then the women stood up and did their thing prancing around and acting defiantly, and it was amazing.

coupled with the first part of my character's name.

In the Yoruba and Haitian traditional belief system, Ogun (or Ogoun, Ogún, Ogou, Ogum , Oggun) is an orisha and loa who presides over iron, hunting, politics and war. He is the patron of smiths, and is usually displayed with a number of attributes: a machete or sabre, rum and tobacco. He is one of the husbands of Erzulie, Oshun and Oya and a friend to Eshu.

I'm using the Māori elements as a nod to that bit of inspiration CCP used for Minmatar culture and the god-name because using the name of an entity from a syncretic faith that hid itself amongst that of the masters of the followers seems apt. Especially as Ogun has the association with iron and blades.

So that gives Ogunoke = Iron Strife or Ogunmirei = Iron Defiance. Of course IC the origins of the words would probably be long forgotten.

[Halete]

Hi,

I had a similar concept with Halete. It's worth reading this; http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Ruhste and the source here; http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Sand_Giants_(Chronicle) .

Knowing what I do about Capoeira, as you've touched on in your post, I figured that Ruhste could easily be adapted to a martial art. The dance was however banned in the Empire during the occupation, but it works for my means. Halete's enslavement occured after the rebellion and under a Holder who was acting illegally. He showed less scrutiny than the Empire and his love for the dance's aesthetics lead him to allow Halete to continue to practice - additionally, I've used some of the same elements as you proposed here in that Halete had adapted it for devotional dance before her Holder's court.

So obviously with my own integration of Ruhste as a weaponised art in Halete's background I feel that there's a place for this type of thing in Minmatar RP, but if you are planning on historically tying in Ogunoke/Ogunmirei with the Amarrian occupation you should be aware that the Amarr were actively trying to route out this type of practice. 

[Nmaro Makari]

I'd had vague ideas, but nothing quite like this, good job Host a class maybe

[Arnulf Ogunkoya]

Thanks Hatere. I'd almost forgotten about that chronicle.

I would assume that Mary would try and suppress this sort of thing. However given real slave populations have been able to create their own schools it doesn't seem too unlikely that the imperial slave populations might have done so. Maybe a version gets used for the Khaimerias?

I'm not entirely sold on the names though. If the rest of the community likes them though. Which one would you prefer?

[lallara zhuul]

Sounds a lot like Eskrima.

[Arnulf Ogunkoya]

Sounds a lot like Eskrima.

It does. Pure coincidence though.

[Tabor Murn]

I like this concept. Also thanks for linking the Maori dictionary. It's much better for my inner language geek than google translate since it has entire phrases and cultural stuff like proverbs.

[Ava Starfire]

SO COOL. Oh wow! Ava would want to learn this...

[Matariki Rain]

Of the two names I'd go for oke over mīrei. I like the different meanings of striving, writhing and eagerness that come with oke, whereas mīrei is to me a smooth, hard rock, and whakamīrei is to act with angry defiance of the sort that gets a bit tiring as a player of Matari.

That said, I imagine there would be plenty of people around ready to embrace an angry martial art, so pick the aspect that you most want to explore and play.

(If you do go with ogunoke I reserve the right to pun on "Ogun's okay". )

[Kentt]

Very cool... I can see Kentt knowing a bit of some sort of martial arts.  And using knives or a small blade can fit him perfectly.  Maybe something along the lines of Silat or Teräs Käsi from SWG.

[Arnulf Ogunkoya]

Of the two names I'd go for oke over mīrei. I like the different meanings of striving, writhing and eagerness that come with oke, whereas mīrei is to me a smooth, hard rock, and whakamīrei is to act with angry defiance of the sort that gets a bit tiring as a player of Matari.

That said, I imagine there would be plenty of people around ready to embrace an angry martial art, so pick the aspect that you most want to explore and play.

(If you do go with ogunoke I reserve the right to pun on "Ogun's okay". )

Nah, I'm happy to go with your recommendation. Ogunoke it is.

I was talking to someone about this last night & they pointed out that sharp edges & arteries are a very unforgiving combination. Therefore I suspect the live blade sparring I mentioned above might be something that is done rarely. Perhaps the way a promising student proves themselves to a teacher? Also it is possible that the blades used might be slightly less than razor sharp. Still dangerous but not likely to fillet someone with a minor error of judgement.

It might be worth expanding the concept to include some other weapon forms as per Eskrima. However I'm going with the idea that knives have something of a special place in this art because a knife is such a fundamental tool, especially for an agricultural worker.

As for its place in the world. I'm figuring that the Ruhste dance form might be related to it, and that it's fairly popular amongst the Minmatar military. Arn's introduction to it is supposed to have been from a Fleet Marines teacher when he was a kid. The idea was to give him something to burn off excess energy safely and help develop his self-discipline. Both these being useful for a stationer brat, which he was at the time.

I leave it to others to decide if the Empire nicked this to use with it's own troops, or if it has any popularity in the Federation or State.

[Ava Starfire]

Id like to point out, Mata's nickname is hilarious.

Also, many Minmatar people (Ava's clan included) carry various ceremonial knives. A martial art such as this would make them carrying said knives make infinitely more sense.

[Adreena Madeveda]

I really like that Minmatar fights hand-to-hand the same way they fight in space. Or the other way 'round : ie, speed tanking.

I'm more perplexed by the two-knives thing : sure it's awesum, but there are many occasions when you're that close to an opponent where a free hand is useful... I wouldn't mind less "cool-looking", more "putting martial back in martial arts".

As for the "real knives training" : I have practiced kenjutsu, where the practitionners use bokens : wood swords. And wear no armor. Wood may not cut, but it sure is efficient breaking bones.
Oh, and of course, you're supposed to deliver real blows. They just have to stop an inch before they'd hurt your opponent (a point I never reached, obviously, a foot is the closer I've been able to manage without having anxiety attacks about what could've gone wrong). Watching 4th/5th dan fighting is awesome : it's fast, it looks violent... yet the opponents are good enough to keep the other safe.

So, real-knife training ? Why not ? Obviously reserved for the best practitionners and/or special occasions. If an accident happen, the blame would surely fall on the teacher, who failed to see that one of the students wasn't ready yet.

[Nicoletta Mithra]

Real knife training happens afaik in some martial arts, traditionally, after some stage is reached. It's supposed to teach students respect of the weapons - and I'm sure that works. I'd think it ensures keeping a steep learning curve.

That said, I like this one.

[Arnulf Ogunkoya]

I really like that Minmatar fights hand-to-hand the same way they fight in space. Or the other way 'round : ie, speed tanking.

Y'know I hadn't considered that aspect at all. But good point.

I'm more perplexed by the two-knives thing : sure it's awesum, but there are many occasions when you're that close to an opponent where a free hand is useful... I wouldn't mind less "cool-looking", more "putting martial back in martial arts".
<snip>

I see what you mean. However as you are a student of Kenjutsu you will recall that at least one very famous practitioner of that art held that one should not die with a weapon undrawn and usually fought with two swords.
 

From what I have been told knife work is about rapid delivery of cuts to disorient and shock an opponent rather than one overwhelming blow. So think of this as the 125mm autocannon of the blade fighting world.

With the blade catchers it also seems like a logical counterpart to Nicoletta's Mary art.