[Lore] Martial Arts

With Maya upcoming not too far off, another martial artist in Badon, and Metatron's 5 or 7 ish trust events revealing she is a celestial martial artist (tehe, spoilers, but did you really think she had a Strength growth for no reason?), I think it'd be fun to talk about how martial arts work in the setting.

While I may change the names down the road, there are two main schools; (working names) Terrestrial and Celestial martial arts. Similar to the split between 'normal' and Aether/Nether magic, rather than actually being different power levels, they represent different paths to enlightenment and self-improvement.

Terrestrial martial arts focus on refining the body and polishing the spirit, often delving into natural elements (fire, water, earth, wind) or utilizing animals/beasts for inspiration. Some examples; Mantis focuses heavily on dual kamas/daggers and powerful kicks and is often used by assassins (one of which you'll meet later), while Grass Spider is an unarmed style that shares some similarities with muay thai with the focus on eight points, albeit with a more fantastical bent and much heavier use of the legs (cuz, you know, spooders). There are also more Avatar/Fairy Tail-flavored styles, that focus on magic as a part of martial arts, though most styles have some flavor of ki-enhanced superhuman nature to them.

There are countless variations, though a huge number of them can be traced back directly or indirectly to Sun Lian, the Heavenly Lily. Often considered to be the mother of martial arts, she was a sage who lived thousands of years ago. She who disdained violence even as she perfected it; she who refused disciples and yet drew a great following; she who said "the way is long" rather than "no." A warrior-philosopher who disappeared so long ago it's a miracle history even remembers her, but whose influence cannot be understated.

Celestial martial arts are primarily an angelic invention, hence the name, but technically speaking any esoteric martial art based on Nether/Abyssal/etc energy and spiritual refinement could qualify, it's just angels tend to do a lot better at self-discipline than the average succubus.

Unlike Terrestrial martial arts, Celestial martial arts focus on the soul, sharing some similarities with Chinese xianxia in that they tend to focus around perfecting the soul to a higher level; the fighting aspects are often secondary or at best equal to the philosophical aspects. Unlike xianxia, it doesn't tend to lead to creating or punching universes. Training the body tends to be very important too, but more as a container for the soul rather than the core focus.

Giving too much info on some of these would be major spoilers lmao, but some of the examples that you may run into over the journey are; mastering the soul to such a degree that it can manifest and crystallize outside the body in an enormous, idealized 'avatar' state; cultivating the flow of spirit energy and/or magic within their body to amplify already superhuman strength into blasts of force that can carve a path halfway through a city or create phantom fists that strike after their physical fist does; or directing an immense quantity of energy to a single point and spreading outward to shatter the target from inside.

....Angels are a violent bunch, huh?

Many Celestial styles revolve around various sutras, some born long ago by Sun Lian, others developed from unfinished styles or painstakingly created from scratch over centuries or millennia by an angel seeking apotheosis. While they may be as simple in a fight as 'catch THESE MAGIC HANDS', each style represents a fundamental view of the world or the soul, and understanding those concepts is far more important to learning the style than just being strong enough to punch real good.

There are even more esoteric styles that tend to revolve around a specific concept of Creation, like one that directly attacks the perceptions of the target and can rewire what they see or think, or another that reflects reality and then shatters it. Those you will... probably not see as much of, not only because that level of understanding of reality is inherently BROKENLY overpowered, but also because the kinds of beings that use them tend not to fuck around in creation too much in the first place.

Some of the details will doubtless change and evolve over time, but that's the basic starting point I'm working from. Here's to hoping that down the road I can come up as much cool lore and varied styles as existing martial-arts-heavy settings like Kill Six Billion Demons or Exalted without just ripping them off, lol.

Mechanically speaking, martial arts will vary WILDLY in stat requirements. Many will have dual scaling, like AGI/DEX or STR/MAG or STR/VIT, combo mechanics will be a thing for at least some, and most will require either a specific weapon or no weapon at all. This may tend to make them fairly stat hungry and in many cases more difficult to play, but ideally opens up some interesting builds. Most will be corruption-neutral, but some may require certain paths.