The Jakelian Knife-dance

[Kiro]

The Jakelian Knife-dance​

There are many famous martial arts forms within the Galaxy. The Stava of the Noghri. Teräs Käsi. And of course, the most famous of all, the Echani. All of them deadly, and taking a long time to master. But there is one martial arts form which belongs to the most famous of all the warrior cultures within the galaxy, and yet, is amongst the least well known: The Jakelian Knife-dance of the Mandalorian Warriors, better known as Jakelii Kal'redalur in Mando'a. It is rather ironic that this form of martial arts is so unknown, as it was taught to every Clone Trooper of the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars over a thousand years ago.

The Knife-dance was, as one can imagine by the name, invented by the warrior race known as the Jakelians. Within Jakelian culture, the blade and knives have always held a great significance, especially so when the Jakelians joined ranks with the Mandalorians. It is remarkable how similar the pre-Mandalorian culture of the Jakelians was to that of the early Taung whom founded the culture of the Mandalorians. They both believed a sentient became adult at a remarkably early age compared to the rest of the galaxy, namely their early teens, and that one had to undergo a special rite of passage in order to become adult.

For the Taung, and later the Mandalorians, this rite of passage was known as the Verd'goten, or Warrior's Trial in Galactic Basic. For the Jakelians, this was known as the Schooling of Hunters, or Beroyase bajur. A young Jakelian would be sent out into the chaotic wilderness of Jakelia and hunt the many deadly predators which populated the world, befreft of weapons or armour. All the young Jakelian would need to survive should already be known to them, or they will fail and be consumed by their deadly homeworld.

The deadliest of all the predators upon Jakelia is a beast known as the Kal'uliik, or “Knife Beast”. It is this beast a young Jakelian must defeat during their Beroyase bajur, using naught but their minds and juvenile body. The Kal'uliik is a sauroid species, and closely resemble a Ssi-ruu in appearance, but is far larger, and far deadlier, though thankfully not sentient in the slightest. These deadly bipedal sauroid predators are incredibly fast, and are disturbingly ferocious, capable of taking down prey easily three times their size with their razor sharp teeth, and the massive curved claw located upon each of their powerful legs. In addition, the beast itself is covered in thick, abrasive scales, which makes landing a killing blow upon such a creature an even greater challenge.

Knife-dance takes it name from the battle between the young Jakelian and the Kal'uliik. It is a careful balance of distance, timing, and rhythm in order to avoid the enraged beast's massive talons, and being able to strike at the few exposed weak-points on the beast's body. A key component within the Jakelii Kal'redalur is indeed to expose oneself, and appear as if open to attack, and only moving within the last possible minute, and using the openings one opponent themselves make when attacking. This is not to say, however, that the Knife-dance is purely defensive or reactionary. On the contrary, the Kal'redalur contains several different moves and attacks designed for offense, and meant to be carried out by foot, hand, or blade.

A signiature of the Jakelii Kal'redalur when using a knife, is that the weapon is usually held with the point facing down. When fighting with two knives at once (a practice frowned upon by some masters of the art), it is generally held that the second blade should be held with the point facing up, in reverse from the knife in one's main hand. In later years, some enterprising practicioners of the Knife-dance has begun to incorporate ranged weapons into the martial arts, most notably pistols which are held in one's off-hand. Practicioners of this version, which they call “the Mandalorian Firedance” or Mando Tracyn'redalur, claim it adds a level of unpredictability and versatility to the ancient martial art, and more suitable for the battlefield. For seome reason, the Firedance seems more popular with non-Jakelians.​