SighanaBr'rv, The Hidden Claw
SighanaBr'rv is a form of martial arts with origins in Negenani tradition. Father Rokai, a hiserabi from @The Feral Calling, first used the art while enslaved in the quartz mines of Jhoutai, but claimed the spark which inspired it came while meditating under the Eye of Debuk'kwah.
From the Poems of Rokai (translated)
Martial arts is armor; it does nothing for you if you wear it wrong.
Martial arts is a dance; choose the motion appropriate to your partners.
Martial arts is an answer; when the fist that pins you down is made of stone, destroy its wrist instead.
Origin—Breaker of Chains
Father Rokai of The Feral Calling created SighanaBr'rv while enslaved in the Kajh-Tai quartz mines. He designed it as a counter to AldenShaleg, the fighting style employed by his slavers.
Taskmaster Nakajhgea, a Kajh whose brutal reputation in the local Shalegkua circuit doubled as a job qualification, drew himself to full height. Cable-thick veins marbled a dense hide stretched over a rolling ocean of muscle. His eyes were yellowed with liver damage, and a spiderweb of angry red veins sprawled along the inside of his ears.
Each of his arms weighed almost as much as Rokai.
"I told them they should have killed you. Some people just need breaking."
Rokai bared his fangs and coiled into himself like a snake, claws glistening with the blood of the other guards. "Their mistake."
Nakagua smiled, or perhaps it was a snarl. "I consider it my civic duty to right their wrong."
Style—Vicious and Measured
From the Poems of Rokai (translated)
When your opponant retreats, you drive.
When they drive, you sidestep.
Destroy their knees, shred their arms.
And when their offense is down, tear out their throat.
Allow no quarter, nor rest.
Rokai designed SighanaBr'rv as a fighting style for Hiserabi to use against Kajh, and so it takes advantage of a long arm reach, leveraged strikes, and constant motion. It is an aggressive style, and requires rigorous fitness to maintain bouts beyond just a few minutes.
The fight was without posturing or warmup. Nakajhgea pushed the attack, feet shuffling across the sandstone floor as he opened with an open-faced strike targeting Rokai's shoulder. Rokai sidestepped under the blow and kicked Naka's knee, using it as leverage to bury his claws into Naka's arm and shove his bladed elbow towards Naka's throat.
Naka roared as Rokai's poison-laced claws sank into his bicep. He managed to put his other arm up in time to block the elbow strike, and howled again as the blade cracked against his ulna hard enough for the blade to reverberate. Naka tried to grasp Rokai's arm, the one he had elbowed with, but Rokai had already dismounted and circled around him for the next attack.
Use of Weapons
From the Poems of Rokai (translated)
If you lose your freedoms. Use a gun to get them back.
If you lose your gun, use a blade.
If you lose your blade, use your claws.
But never lose your spirit.
Rokai was not an advocate of honorable combat, he was an avocate of winning, no matter the cost. "If one must lose," he impressed, "they should do enough damage on their way out that their friend will win." As such, he encouraged the use of weapons.
This mentality is considered an outcome of being a member of The Feral Calling, as it aligns with their many mantras. Many Hiserabi of The Calling died for their liberation, each one bloody claws doing as much damage as possible on their way out.
Based on the three main movements of SighanaBr'rv—claw strikes, elbow strikes, and forearm deflections, Rokai encouraged three weapons in particular:
Elbow Blades
The common follow up for a forearm block or deflection was an elbow strike, typically to the throat.
Forearm Cuffs
For more defensive combatants, specifically those who wish to deflect the bladed attacks.
Short Knives
Specifically with serrated blades used for cutting meat. Utilized more by who do not have claws.
There exist dozens of other variant forms based on different weapons.
Shoulders. Waist. Neck. Naka's flesh peeled back in a hatchmark of ribbons as Rokai dodged all attempts grapple him and reciprocated viciously.
The poison, the bloodloss, and the torn muscles overwhelmbed Naka, who crumpled to his knees with a gruesome crack of bone on stone. He sat there, pondering the floor with labored breaths and trembling as though enduring a frigid rain. Fear? Bloodloss?
The Kajh grimaced and looked around with bleary eyes until he found the two points of disembodied eyeshine watching him from the mine's gloom. "Bastard," he spat.
Rokai pounced. Hot blood spurted around his wrist as his claws pushed through the corded muscle of Naka's vast neck and scissored through his arteries. Naka's windpipe crunched under Rokai's palm, and the Kajh slumped to the floor.
Legacy—A Long-Lived Art
From the Poems of Rokai (translated)
The distant hurricane seems peaceful.
The sailor knows better.
Art of a Revolution
After taking his freedom, Rokai returned to Nege and trained other members of The Feral Calling in the style. It became the signature fighting style of their revolution, and their Kajh-Tai oppressors were unable to counter it for the duration of The Rebalancing.
Basis of TigariBr'rvKua
SighanaBr'rv's success inspired Nege-Tai's allies in the the Jhoutigari Revolutionaries of the Aempian prefecture to adapt the style, along with Eiukani martial-arts and Aempian Stilettos. SighanaBr'rv remains a staple lesson in training the Jhoutigari Martial Guard even in modern times.
Lifelong Dedication
For the remainder of his life, Father Rokai trained the worthy at Debuk'kwah's Monastery. His students included upper-rank Aempian and Nege-Tai Military, as well as a cadre of Aspirants after his Transcendence to Monolith.
During various global conflicts and skirmishes, different forces attempted to take the island of the Monastery as a route by which to attack Aempis.
The attempt never succeeded.
Content Warning!
Vivid descriptions of violence.
Cover: A Hiserabi practicioner of SighanaBr'rv practices his stances by sunset at Debuk'kwah monastary. His long arms grant him a reach advantage in combat.
Debuk'kwahAlden, from which the art descends. SighanaBbr'rv is considered the more aggressive complement to its ancestor.
Hung Gar and Wing Chun, depending on the practicioner and skill level.
Elbow Blades • Forearm Cuffs • Short Knives
2-3 Minutes
Melee
Brawl, Offensive
Uncommon
Debuk'kwahAlden
TigariBr'rvKua
Father Rokai
Father Rokai is born.
The Rebalancing begins. The Valuser'ran prefectures and protectorates demand independence after millenia of mistreatment.
The Urvatki Conspirators fund the campaign of the Feral Calling's newest father, Rokai.
Father Rokai is captured by Kajh-Tai and put to work in its deepest mines.
While in slavery, Father Rokai develops the SighanaBr'rv fighting style.
The Feral Calling assassinates the Kajh-Tai heads of warfare. Kajh-Tai surrenders.
Valuser'rh surrenders the war and The Rebalancing ends.
At 100 years of age, Father Rokai becomes a Divinorium Statue at Debuk'kwah's Monastery.
Founder of the Art. His initial implementation was rough, and more brawl-like, but he later honed it and made meditative variants.
While it was not her primary fighting style, she was a master, and notably used it to effect in 2v1 skirmish against Brother Chaos and Brother Mayhem of The Brotherhood of The Dissonant Cascade in the Battle of Nhicoranni during The Rilaem Conflict. The fight ended when she slew Chaos and Mayhem retreated.
Before Chaos and Mayhem fought Sheen, they faced off against Brother Sattyk. They ultimately slew him, but not before he inflicted grevious injury on Chaos that Sheen later leveraged for victory.
Referred to by Rokai as "My most fearsome student," Manul developed a reputation for tearing off his opponent's arms using a mixture of SighanaBr'rv and AldenShaleg.
Learned the basics of the style from meditating before the Divinorium of Rokai, and mastered it to fight Crescendo during The Harrowing. He adapted it to work with Sunmetal forearm rings.
A Monolith who is said to have mastered every form of martial arts. Legend maintains that he was trained by Alephus and the ghosts of all the masters of Debuk'kwah's Monastery.
Comments