Ulrh'adak Martial Arts: The Introduction

[Omnis]

Nox watched as Zoroc got up, controlling his emotions and taking on a demeanor of calm. He was impressed, glad that the young Zabrac had not proven to be brash. He could deal with arrogant, but the flippancy with which many Sith acted was beyond his understanding. The Noghri instantly respected Zoroc that much more for it, hoping he would always prove to be so level headed. It was not realistic to expect that, but it was something he could hope for nonetheless.

"What I am teaching," Nox said to Sin'ryk, addressing the second question first. "Is both the entire strain of Noghri clan martial arts and the Ulrh'adak style. There is only one Ulrh'adak style, as we are such a small clan and we are unified. The Ulrh'adak style takes more old Sith influence and focuses on disabling more than Noghri clan MA generally does."

To demonstrate the answer to Sin'ryk's first question, he calmly walked to the Pureblood and started moving the man's arms and legs. Sin was spread out, and Nox started moving his hands to make mock strikes at vital locations.

"The carotid artery is a prime target. With sufficient force or a deep enough laceration, one can kill an opponent in any time between instantly or a minute and a half. Blood loss will make an opponent lose consciousness within thirty seconds, however, meaning the threat will be eliminated before their expiration is complete.

The pressure point beneath where the jaw meets the skull, just under the ear, can form an air bubble in the blood stream that causes the enemy to die quickly. A supported thumb or finger knuckle jabbed into the pressure point hard and fast enough will create the air bubble easily.

The vertebrae above the most prominent and topmost spinal vertebrae is the most susceptible to blunt trauma. Alternatively, the very base of the skull is a soft area where the spinal cord is also accessible in the neck. A knife hand chop of sufficient hammer fist blow will break the enemy's neck here or here.

If you are going to break a person's neck, support their head against your chest or anything. Push on the chin with your other hand. Make sure your fingers are oriented in the direction you are pushing. This is extremely important to a quick, strong break. With your fingers pointed in the right direction, you will both increase your range of motion and your leverage. This keeps your foe from fighting the snap and also ensures your rotation is as far as possible. Do not actually make a snapping motion, as counter intuitive as that sounds. Instead, use a smooth, constant motion. The break will be better.

A talon strike to the front of the throat, with two curved fingers, a single knuckle strike, or a frontal knife hand strike can close an opponent's windpipe and end their consciousness or life very quickly. Use it if your opponent fails to guard their throat properly. It takes only somewhere between five and eight pounds of pressure to crush the windpipe and/or close the trachea, so it is a convenient strike if available.

One can also dig the fingers into the opponent's eye sockets. I'm sure no one is new to that.

If you dig the side of your hand, the reverse of the knifehand strike where your thumb and index finger meet, up and towards the back of the opponent's skull with it positioned beneath a prominent enough nose protrusion, such as where a formation of cartilage supports it, you can drive up shards of cartilage into the brain. This only works on humanoids with sufficient biology for such a strike. However, sufficient blunt force trauma to flat nosed humanoids may cause floating cartilage fragments to also float up into the brain and cause damage. This is very dependent on their biology, but the Ulrh'adak are ever aware of their options.

I spoke of lacerations earlier. The Noghri make good use of their claws. If you have them, or anything sharp enough, another option is to cut under the arm pit or the center of the bicep. Arteries here will cause the victim to bleed out rapidly.

Lastly, the femoral artery bleeds out nearly as fast as the carotid. If you can damage it, even with blunt force, do so. It is on the inside of the upper portion of the leg."

Each strike and move was demonstrated fully, without force, on Sin'ryk. At the end, Nox stepped back and surveyed his students.

"Have I moved too fast? Or should we begin some practical grappling, throws, and counter blocking?"

 

[Pureblood-Sin]

After Nox had finished his gentle demonstrations, Sin'ryk gazed down on his hands as he realised the potential of what he could with them; he had used his claws in a few fights, but that was for either maintaining a grip or an off putting strike at the face, but what the Noghri had shown him proved he could do far more. The Assassin then spoke.

Have I moved too fast? Or should we begin some practical grappling, throws, and counter blocking?"

The Red Sith need not hesitate for a moment.

"I think that would be a good idea, they sound as if they can be applied to saber locks as well as adding further potential to disguise one's true allegiance in combat."

 

[Omnis]

"Good," Nox said, taking one student's word for the rest of them. It pleased him that someone had expressed being able to follow everything so far, so it never occurred to him that someone else might not be in agreeance.

"The Ulrh'adak employ many grapples, throws, and counter blocks during close combat. Many of them are with weapons in hand, many are without. Ulrh'adak martial arts were designed to be as adaptible as possible."

Nox rotated volunteers for being demonstration dummies, taking it much easier on them for that part of the lesson. Pain was incidental to the class, not necessary. Not required. He showed that through his actions, if not his words. He had little empathy to express for those that did not prepare for pain during training.

The cross-hand grapple and block were both useful for controlling an opponent's weapon hand, disarming them, and maneuvering their body into a more pliable position for a throw or close-body grapple. The practitioner would put one wrist over the other, both arms facing out towards the opponent so that the undersides were showing to them, and have their hands out in an X position. Some, more whimsical, students might have seen it as a shadow puppet butterfly. The block would have the hands go rigid, the top hand angling so the back of the hand would make contact first, and then the top hand would turn to grab at the opponent's wrist. Alternatively, in the grapple technique, the practitioner would simply grasp the opponent's weapon arm with both hands and control them that way.

Nox took the time to go over basic leverage, torque, and weight distribution principles during each demonstration, as well.

The counter block was a simple technique, more principle than technical form. Nox showed them the most effective way to keep control during the counter block, keeping their arm as close to their opponent's as possible until the counter strike was delivered. That way, they had easier control over the opponent's arm and could sense any struggle attempts more quickly. His counter strikes were almost exclusively to vital points, usually pivoting outwards after to cover himself once again and defend as necessary. However, Nox also showed them certain points that were disabling if a vital strike was impossible. His favorite spot was on the inside of the bicep, right between where the bicep muscle and tricep muscle met. There, a sufficiently piercing strike could separate both muscles from the bone and render the arm useless.

The radial nerve in the forearm was shown to be an excellent place for a blunt force blow, particularly from a knife hand or a hammer fist.

The close grapples were many. Nox showed them each one only a few times, usually ending each in a subsequent throw that just plainly made sense after the positions each person was left in. Each of them put his torso or his hip as close as possible to an enemy's joint. From there, he could apply leverage as effectively and easily as possible. For example, it was easiest to throw an opponent off of the hip using their own. Throwing someone bodily from the side was best done from under the armpit. If the practitioner's torso was close to the opponent's, the easiest way to effect them and grapple them was to manipulate their body from the joints. Knees, elbows, shoulders, neck. Those were four key areas to attack/control during grappling.

After their demonstrations and exercises amongst one another were done, Nox let out a long breath and put his knuckles together.

"Does anyone feel as though they are ready for another round of sparring with me? Or shall I answer questions first?"

 

[Pyromaniac]

Zoroc stepped forward, slightly bruised and sweaty from the training, but returning with newfound fire in his eyes.

"I would like to spar once again with you, and test myself."

The Zabrak did not lower his head like a lesser, but he did nod to the Assassin in respect. While not the best by far, Zoroc was learning, and the best way to learn is to use it...

He had failed before, and now it was time to see if he could prove to himself that he had grown.

 

[Table]

Once their physical exercises had been stopped, she moved towards internal reflection while awaiting answers from the other two. The Zabrac was not surprising in his request, and she suspected that the Pureblood would also eventually make a similar request, although, since he seemed familiar with Nox, that request may not have come during this particular class session.

As usual, Aioru's mind began to shift towards the edges of knowledge even before she fully grasped everything within these edges. That, of course, would take time, and even any information that she could gather about the limitations of what she was being taught would not be fully grasped until she had a fuller understanding of the Ulrh'adak form. For her, however, being able to contextualize the more specific knowledge within a more general field would be helpful in her own relationship with the training.

"Before you two begin, I would like to ask a question. Are there any particular limitations to this form that we should be aware of? Or more specifically, is there anything in particular that we should expect an opponent skilled in some other form of combat to attempt to exploit when they see us using this one?"

 

[Omnis]

"Because of the maintained secrecy and unfortunate scarcity of Ulrh'adak clan members, there are few enemies that have had the chance to develop countermeasures to the style. That said, there are those that have the intuition and ability to adapt to be a challenge for practitioners. Usually, brute strength is applied as a counter to some of the less overbearing techniques of the style. However, masterful practitioners of the style have not found anything to be unconquerable."

Nox began to show Aioru what he meant, imitating techniques in the air.

"Some will try to pin your extremities. There is always a way out of that. Others will try to interrupt your moves by striking directly your bones rather than your vital points. That requires brute strength and typically sacrifices any defensible position. It, too, can be overcome with Ulrh'adak martial principle." Adapt.

The silver mask turned to Zoroc.

"Very well, Zoroc. I appreciate your eagerness. Begin."

No sooner had the last syllable of the word left his mouth than the blue skinned Noghri was suddenly charging through the intervening space between them. The Ulrh'adak master led off with a series of knife hand strikes to Zoroc's neck area, two aimed at the soft spot just above the collar bone and two more at the soft spots between the frontal facing tendons in the neck. He kept his hands open so that he could block and redirect any counter attacks, following up with an open palm to Zoroc's face, aimed at the nose to crush it and make it gush blood.

Distractions were valuable in a fight. He wouldn't kill Zoroc by driving the nose upward, but the constant sensation of blood hitting the back of his throat and the overwhelming scent of iron might be enough to keep the Zabrac's mind occupied. Or, if nothing else, it might cause the young man to grow agitated. The state of the mind was as important during a fight as the state of the body, especially for the enemy.

 

[Pyromaniac]

Zoroc was hit in the collar bone, stunning him for a moment. When the neck strikes came, Zoroc reacted by backing up just enough to where the strikes did not reach. Nox's hand came up, straight for Zoroc's nose, and he saw this coming. The Zabrak reached up and blocked the strike, the way Nox had shown them, and when the strike made contact with his wrists, Zoroc reached out with one hand and made a grab for Nox's wrist.

If it was successful, Zoroc's iron grip would hold on and pull the Naghri towards him, enough to where he could bring his knee up into Nox's diaphragm, to knock the wind out of him. If it did not connect and grab hold, Zoroc would retreat and back up a few steps to avoid the next attack, and to buy a little time to prepare a counter attack.

 

[Omnis]

Nox had the frozen moment of having to decide between two paths. On the one, he could use his superior knowledge to counter Zoroc and teach the Acolyte a harsher lesson about the martial arts. On the other, he could let Zoroc have his small victory and be rewarded, and thus reinforced, for doing exactly what he was supposed to do. For a first attempt at a real sparring match in Ulrh'adak martial arts, it was far from bad. It was actually very good.

So, Nox let the Zabrac boy grab his wrist and yank him into a savage knee to the diaphragm. Subtly, Nox let out a breath as the knee hit him and kept the air from being knocked out of his lungs. It would not do to lose his breath during the fight.

Zoroc took some steps back, ready to defend himself against any potential counter attacks. Nox let the young man believe he was safe, then charged forward. When he was close, Nox punched straight forward at Zoroc's solar plexus. He left himself open, hoping that the young Acolyte would make a predictable strike for the head since it was open. He ducked suddenly, bringing his body lower, and twisted hard at the hip. One hand sped from next to his hip and aimed to crack harshly on the side of Zoroc's knee.

Displacement, debilitation, immobilization. Important goals of Ulrh'adak fighting.