Master Telner's School of Swordsmanship

Cool your temper Setward, you don't want to challenge Lastrie. He trained at Telner's and was one of his own students.
— Lord St John Mainr to his angry friend Baron Setword

The Arts of Individual Combat

In Arrhynsia, the ability of certain persons to participate in individual combat is an essential skill. Knights, adventurers, merchants, and government officials all must be prepared to defend their lives, their dependents, and their goods from those who would strip it from them. While military personnel frequently are trained by their commanders, and temples of martial gods typically have training facilities, advanced training for those who desire more must be acquired from outside sources. Of those places which offer such martial arts training, none have the renown of Master Telner's Salon of Swordsmanship.

Origins

Danier Telner was born a free lord, son of Christain Telner, a minor noble in the Human Southern Kingdom 300 years after the The Cataclysm. Inclined to martial arts at a young age, he studied extensively from armsmasters throughout the human kingdom before traveling to the Echovad Forrest to the capital of Fellalond where he joined the Brotherhood of The Green Lady. There he acquired skills in elven swordsmanship and created his own unique and indominable style. When he returned to the Human Kingdom, he was hired into the Royal Guard where his lethal skill with single handed bladed weapons drew attention when he saved the king's brother Duke Ferallon from an assasination attempt. He was pressed into providing self defense training to both the Duke and the Crown Prince, which he did, the Duke and young prince both declaring themselves well satisfied with their training. When Telner left service in the Royal Guard, he established Master Telner's Salon of Swordsmanship in the Human Kingdom's capital city of Ayrnn. Telners is located at the corner of Larkspur and Tower Streets a highly exclusive area. This salon caters to the nobility, wealthy, security professionals, adventurers, military and churchmen (typically paladins or clerics of Guldari, God of War and Honor. Interestingly, students of all walks of life are admitted to the School of Swordsmanship, but those of humble origins are often sponsored by wealthy patrons who hire them into their personal retinues or military units. A few students are accepted on scholarship for which there are auditions with Telners instructors, and decided by Telner himself. Telner exercises a very strict discipline over the school's student body and status in the school is a meritocracy based on demonstrated skill in swordsmanship. In addition to it's primary function as an exclusive educational institution for serious minded swordsmen, Telners offers an exclusive private club membership for those who have graduated and meet stringent admission requirements. Graduation from Telner's school of swordsmanship is a internationally recognized credential of the highest order. Membership in the salon's private club is a mark of distinction and inclusion in the highest ranks of the human kingdom political scene.

Telner's School of Swordsmanship Course of Study

Telner's offers a progressive course of study beginninth basic swordsmanship and progressing into more advanced techniques. Weapons taught include:

Single handed swordsmanship including: Shortsword, Rapier, Saber and Scimitar
Off hand skills including: Sheild, Dagger, and Cape
Two-handed Greatsword
Polearm and Halberd (advanced studies)
Mounted Warfare (by private arrangement only)

Programs are skills based, and progression from one program to the next requires passing multiple weeks of skills and fitness tests. It is possible for students to pass through training in as little as six months particularly at lower skill levels, but it is much more common for students to spend several years at each level. Physical conditioning in addition to fighting skills is a daily requirement for all students and instructors. Training, skills and drill cover:

Guards
Strikes
Tempo
Footwork, and weight shifts
Provocation and feints
Steps, measure and straight line
Passes
Parries, counters and ripostes (true and false edge)
Voids against attacks to the leg
Agency

Telners Salon Membership

Those who complete the course of study and live in Arynn or those who frequent the human court may be offered membership in the private salon for a monthly subscription fee. The salon offers fine cuisine and wines, a smoking and card room, and private rooms. The salon is an exclusive club frequented by the royal family, Crown Prince Southermore being a daily attendee for practice and social interaction with his circle of friends, and as such membership in the salon, and indeed, even attendance at the school is highly sought after as students and members form networks with shakers and movers in the human kingdom. It is believed that the Prince himself controls the membership at Telners Salon.

The Instructors

The instructors at Telners are the finest swordmen on the continent. With a combined experience of over 340 years and 76 life or death conflicts, the instructors at Telners offer their students an unprecedented opportunity to learn and train with the best. Telner's lead instructors are: Cassius Sexton was Telner's friend and companion before his service in the Echovad Forrest when the two friends separated and Sexton joined the calvary. Cassius specializes in unarmed combat and the use of improvised weaponry, dual wielding, and the saber. Sexton commanded the 32nd calvary serving alongside the paladins of Guldari in the Lost War serving under Lord Walter Ralsh. He teaches advanced students mounted combat by special arrangement. Jasper Ozius is a drill master, and instructor in both basic swordsmanship, and for advanced students in two handed great sword. His students are noted for their lightning fast reflexes in parries, feints and ripostes. Welinda Gol is an instructor in polearm and heavy weapons use and combat strategy. She is the principle fitness instructor and drill master for the school. Gol is a half-orc descendant of the notorius General Pyrrhos Gol, the only known full blooded orcish general of a non-orcish army. Zerula Maestri is a member of the Green Brotherhood and adjunct to the Green Lady's Consulate to the Human Kingdom. Commander of the local elven military detachment, she instructs at Telner's in basic swordsmanship, and for advanced students fencing in traditional elven forms.

Master Telner

by Terry Cassis using HEROFORGED

Master Daniel Telner the Salon's founder and resident genius studied under world famous duelists and instructors from every major race in Arrhynsia. He has taken this training and blended it into his own unique style which has proven it's value in duel after duel, and in the cruicible of heated combat. His treatise on dueling styles has fundamentally changed single and duel edged swordsmanship. At the salon, Master Telner teaches classes for advanced students. For those who have "special occasions" looming, private tutoring can also be arranged for an additional fee.

Salon Rules:

Master Telner is addressed as "Master". There are no titles or ranks within the grounds save those granted by Master Telner. Your instructors are addressed as "sir". Listen to what you are told. Do what you are instructed to do. Weapons for instruction and practice are provided, but you may use your own. All edged blades are to be blunted. All piercing weapons are to be buttoned. No attacks against the nether regions are permitted. No duels are permitted within the salon grounds. You may not fight or train when you have drunk any alchohol or other inebriating substances. You may not fight or train when you are angry. Comments on a member's person or manners is inappropriate while on salon grounds. Training and admittance to the salon is by sponsored subscription membership only. That which transpires within the walls of Master Telners Salon is not a topic for conversations outside the grounds. The learning of martial arts is an inherently dangerous occupation. You are participating willingly in these dangerous activities and you and your heirs agree to hold Master Telner, his salon, and his instructors blameless for any incidents or injuries that may occur up to and including death.