Storm Fang

WORK IN PROGRESS

Storm Fang is an fictional hybrid martial art created by KyranKandosa2 for his Silver Moon Chronicles story.

Origin:
The origin of Storm Fang started when Fenris Silvermane became a Huntsman, setting his descendants along the same path. Over time, the Silvermanes, and the Moonfangs after their founding, developed Storm Fang from basic hand-to-hand skills and techniques into a true martial art, which was also taught to the inhabitants of their ancestral home on Vale's northeastern frontier, the village of Bastion. Mostly cobbled together from simple experimentation and refinement, one of the most pivotal moments in Storm Fang's genesis came from an Clansman witnessing an drunk martial artist participate in an barroom brawl. Inspired by the drunk's confusing, erratic movements, they developed the highly distracting and evasive style that forms the basis of Storm Fang's fighting tactics. The name of this martial art is taken from the names of the Silver Moon Clan's most important sets of ancestral weapons, StormDIrge and Moonfang.

Fighting style:
The basic fighting style of Storm Fang practitioners use to open a fight resembles a mixture of Aikido and Drunken Fist. The combination of blending into and redirecting an opponent's movements, and deceptive imitation of a drunkard's movements resulting in an highly unconventional method of movement. This allows the practitioner to rely on evasion for defense, conserving valuable Aura, as well as tiring and frustrating their opponent while they try to set up an opportunity for an counterattack. This is because through imitating an drunkard's relaxed body and movements, they improve their flexibility, make it harder to be knocked off-balance, and allow themselves to strike, dodge, and recoil from almost any angle. These complex, erratic movements distract the opponent, and fool them into thinking the practitioner is clumsy and off-balance. When an practitioner switches to offense, they use tactics similar to Krav Maga, targeting the most vulnerable areas of the body and maintaining situational awareness to watch for more opponents and spot ways to exploit the environment to their advantage. Actual attacks use explosive movements reminiscent of Jeet Kune Do to deliver strikes with the hands, feet, elbows, knees, and forehead in a manner similar to Muay Thai. Due to their Aikido-like use of blending into and redirecting an opponent's movements, their grappling centers around throws and controlling body levers. Ground-fighting and otherwise wrestling with an opponent are something most practitioners actively try to avoid.

Training techniques:
Plum Flower Poles: Essentially two rows of poles with platformed tops and tiers of advancing height, plum flower poles are designed to be increasingly unstable the higher the trainer climbs. This is meant to train balance and coordination. Particularly daring trainers will exercise on top of them, or use them to construct an sparring arena.

Monkey Poles: An circular arrangement of poles at random heights, the monkey poles serve as a more stable stepping stone to the plum flower poles, challenging the trainer's footwork. Trainers frequently perform exercises and spar on top of them.

Hanging Stones: An series of stones hung from an scaffold using strings of different heights, the stones must be kept moving while also not touching or tangling with each other or the trainer, who moves between them throughout the exercise. The trainer must rely on subtle cues such as feeling the air currents and hearing the creaking of the strings created by the swinging stones in order to predict their movements. Eventually, the trainer gains an instinctive grasp of their motions, which they can apply to predict an opponent's movements. Trainers who master the hanging stones often increase the challenge through blindfolds and positioning the scaffold over monkey or plum flower poles.