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[Failbird105]

Fox Style, Unarmed [Wood] (0):
Dance of Hungry Sands, Unarmed [Earth] (1): Tricmagic
Gravedigger Style [Earth] (0):
Dance of Desert's Heat, Unarmed [Fire] (0):
Fulcrum Touch Style [Metal] (6): Powder Miner, Frostgiant, Happerry, DGR, Glass, Failbird

[TricMagic]

Fox Style, Unarmed [Wood] (0):
Dance of Hungry Sands, Unarmed [Earth] (0):
Gravedigger Style [Earth] (0):
Dance of Desert's Heat, Unarmed [Fire] (0):
Fulcrum Touch Style [Metal] (7): Powder Miner, Frostgiant, Happerry, DGR, Glass, Failbird, Tricmagic

[Man of Paper]

Proposal: Fulcrum Touch Style and the Fulcrum Valley
Difficulty: Easy
Result: (6+6)+1=13, Unexpected Boon

The Fulcrum Valley is a lush, vibrant landscape of meadows and the occasional copse of trees cutting through a vicious range of mountains. A massive river sliced through the mountains and meandered along and across the valley. Fertile soil was abundant, and the air always had just the slightest chill to it, no more, no less. The mountains themselves were shorn through by a glacier in a time before man, exposing to the surface a large number of mineral and metal deposits, and the riverbanks were rich with deposits that had run off from the mountains.

The Fulcrum Valley was a veritable Eden for the two peoples who'd come to live on either side of the large pass. The nomads sought the lands for foraging, grazing their herds, and setting up camp, while the river offered crisp, clean water and another food source in the form of fish. The settled peoples sought the deeper values of the land - in a literal sense, as nature had left exposed a vast store of wealth. Although initially cautious, settlers from both groups rarely saw conflict. Their goals from the outset saw them keep a fair distance between each other's larger settlements, and as time went on and communication started between them, the settlers began to trade.

The people were peaceful and happy, able to live amongst one another and mingle without issue. This was not meant to last, of course, as the years started piling on and homelands became dissatisfied with the balance achieved in the valley.

Legends tell of how a farmer of the settled peoples and a farrier of the nomadic peoples, distraught upon learning their homelands were looking to press war out of greed, walked into the mountains to seek guidance from the spirits. They followed the river that gave both their peoples so much, crossing endless chasms and scaling treacherous cliffs, enduring frigid winds and thin air, until they reached the spring from which the river flowed from. They entered the waters and submerged themselves, where they stayed for three days and nights. In their meditations they were visited by the spirits of the mountains who witnessed their plight. The mountains around Fulcrum Valley feared their destruction at the hands of the settled peoples, but had fears of being left neglected and alone. The peoples of the valley had brought balance to the needs of the mountains and wished for them to continue to do so. Knowing the threats the people faced, the spirits bestowed upon those two the knowledge of Fulcrum Touch Style. When they descended from the mountains they spread that knowledge to those who would rather preserve the delicate balance of Fulcrum Valley than see it overcome by any one side.

--

Fulcrum Touch Style is a Metal Elemental style that utilizes a combination of grapples, throws, and strikes with the legs to quickly move in and take down opponents. Practitioners of the style take influence from the mountains by utilizing a wide, sturdy base with one trailing leg. It is not the most agile of fighting styles during stand-offs or for closing from a distance, but every movement while using the Fulcrum Touch Style is intended to be immediately able to change into a grapple or strike on the fly. As a result, these slow, deliberate movements turn into violent bursts of speed and sudden assaults. A monk of the Fulcrum Touch Style is equally comfortable on offense and defense, but is at their best when they're dictating the momentum of the fight.

Fulcrum Touch Style emphasizes control, and this is reflected in the style's use of Metal. The Touch of the Valley is the technique practitioners aspire to master when they set off on their path. It allows a monk to transmute a material in their grasp into iron, with a small area around their hand affected. The material remains changed for a few moments after the Fulcrum Touch monk releases their grasp, where the material returns to normal as the metal vanishes as if washed away by a river. This is often used during grappling and throws, turning clothing around the joints to metal and making it that much harder to move and break out of the monk's grip. It can also be used while striking, turning a shirt being kneed into someone's stomach into a temporary bludgeon, for example. The Touch of the Valley also provides monks with the opposite ability, in a sense - "natural" metal (that is, metal not created Elementally - for example, the other effect of The Touch of the Valley) becomes as soft and malleable as cloth under the monk's touch. While this can be used to, for example, get strikes through armor, materials altered by The Touch of the Valley will return to the state they were in prior to the impact and be restored to normal, so permanent armor warping is not achievable. A Fulcrum Touch Style Warrior-Monk should be able to hold their own against someone who's armed anyway, getting within their reach and going to town, but should not be expected to use The Touch of the Valley to negate attacks with metal weapons as a blade will cut the hand trying to stop it before the metal weakens. The style is easy to grasp, but by no means does that mean it's simple to master or not worth dedication. Fulcrum Style Warrior-Monks are Common among the Bei Bu.

--

The Fulcrum Style Warrior-Monks were able to train and hone their skills as they refused to fight one another. Both their homelands had to take time to muster forces, affording the first monks of Bei Bu the opportunity to build a monastery in the mountains near the spirit pool and another in a meadow near the winding river. By the time the nomadic horsemen arrived, a great number of Fulcrum Style Warrior-Monks were trained and ready to meet them. The defensive aspects of their style allowed the monks to weather the nomad's constant offensives until an opportunity presented itself to deseat one of the offending horsemen and take them to the ground. The nomads were beaten back, and the Bei Bu monks recovered. They were ready for the settled peoples when they came, the slow moving armies adorned in metal armor made them easy to anticipate. Here is where the offensive aspects of Fulcrum Touch Style proved themselves, giving the monks the ability to move in on their slower opponents and batter them as though they were wearing rags. While neither fight was easy, both were clearly won, and the Fulcrum Style Warrior-Monks ultimately set the foundation for Bei Bu as a people and a faith.

--

GM Pregame Insight: Hey, here's some special insight during these three question phases from yours truly! This proposal was Easy because the style is simple enough at it's base, the Elemental aspect is a relatively simple touch "spell", and there was no Qi (obviously, since I forced that).

--

Question 2

As your people expanded outward they required larger armies to face their growing number of enemies. What type of lands laid adjacent to yours did you desire enough to take by force? Describe two distinct biomes. What Basic Armed Style was developed to accomplish this? A Basic Armed Style proposal should include the weapon being developed as well as the overall combat doctrines drilled by Warrior Monks using the Style, in addition to the same subjects of mindset, and special strikes and techniques as an Unarmed proposal.

You also get one "Design" to determine what your monks wear. It is important for someone representing the Bei Bu to be identifiable as one of the Warrior Monks. For all intents and purposes, consider this a "uniform" design but with, you know, martial arts flavor. It is meant to be Common, so if you try to do much extra with it then it's going to suffer regardless.

You can also rename the Units you get. Just make sure it's voted on the phase after you get them.

Spoiler: Bei Bu Unarmed Styles (click to show/hide)

Metal:
Fulcrum Touch Style: A fighting style about control and balance. Uses leg strikes, grapples, and throws. Metal aspect is utilized via The Touch of the Valley, which can turn grasped nonliving materials into iron or make nonElemental metals take on properties of cloth while contacted. Balanced for offensive and defensive fighting, but does their best work when in control of the change between the two.

Spoiler: Units (click to show/hide)

Fulcrum Style Warrior-Monks: Monks utilizing the Fulcrum Touch Style. The low bar of entry means a good number of aspiring Warrior-Monks can fall into the lifestyle, but that does not mean they are bad fighters in the slightest. They seamlessly flow from offensive to defensive and relish acting as the tipping point. In their daily lives they often seek to bring balance or equilibrium to the world around them. Fulcrum Style monks come from all backgrounds and train at the monasteries in Fulcrum Valley by the river and at the Spirit Pool in the mountains. (COMMON)

Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

[frostgiant]

Ma tui Bang (Horse leg club)

The Ma tui Bang of the Fulcrum valley was a weapon that saw use because of the unique variety of enemies they typically fought. On one end of their home sat an empire who clad its troops in heavy metal armour, and on the other sat a culture of step riders, using mounted almost exclusively on horses.
The Horse Leg club or Ma Tui Bang was a large club that served as an easily made and simple weapon that could fight both. The length of the club allowed the people of the fulcrum valley to strike down riders fro horseback and shatter the horses they rode from a safer distance, While the blunt force of the Massive club allowed it to shatter the shield, The arm behind it and the heavily armoured soldier even further behind that.

In modern Days, The Style of the Ma tui bang has been more refined, During combat, the approach is methodical Using its incredibly powerful blows and long reach to punish enemies should they act with either too little aggression or too much. During large scale battles, The Matui bang will typically take the role of line breakers, Shattering enemy defensive lines using their powerful war clubs in order to open the way for fulcrum users to dive into a disarrayed enemy.

In opposition of what one might expect from a warrior who uses such a large and devesting, Even oversized weapon, The Ma Tui are not very boastful, Instead are often very patience, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and then apply overwhelming power to the chink in the armour.

When the Ma tui and their brethren of the fulcrum touch left the peacefulness of the valley, They ventured deep into the vast desert that the nomads had called home, Using their horses to cross the vast sea of sand in search for resources. When the forces of the Bei bu Valley ventured into it, Hunting for the source of the Nomads who had harassed their peaceful home for so long they find a home that had long faded into myth for the nomads of the valley.

Sandstorms were constant in the so-called Black desert, so named for the nature of its sun obscured dunes. Most of the time, These contents sandstorms would not touch the ground, flying thousands of feet above the surface of the dunes, Rendering the land a dim blur. These sand storms would whip against the mountains of fulcrum and fall to the ground where it would disappear into the quicksand pits that lined the base of the mountains.
Many scholars of the valley claimed that the desert is strong in the earth element, and such a phenomenon is a result of some form of elemental energy.

During the trek across the sands, The Clubs of the Ma tui would crush almost as many strange and unnatural beasts Strong in earth elements, as they would the horse bound raiders that they met along the way.

The host was harassed along the sands, many raiders falling beneath the fist of the fulcrum style or turned to a mushy paste under the Horse leg club. Many of the oases of the desert were settled, as the only source of water and fertile soil in order to grow fodder to feed their beast of burden. Rather than risk Muddying the Holy waters of the oasis with blood, Many tribes settled on these shores would surrender in the face of the Valley Host.

On the opposite side of the valley, The lands of the settled were approach in a similar fashion, The sun beat down, the land rocky and food difficult to come by as fresh soil was a minimum due to the harsh soil and plentiful gravel that covered it in its entirity. AS the host battled the armies of the settled, and ranged ever farther, Thy found it hard to beleive that as many culd survive on the plane as the settled through at them.

The hosts focused there effort along the banks of a raging river. ANy attempt to cross was a falilure as the powerful body of water would swiftly crush and sweep away anything that entered it banks. Sometimes the Host would watch as the banks swelled, Breifly becoming many times it size and sweeping away anything to close to the banks.

Following this city led them towards a city, Built on the edge of a cliff and gazing out unto the most malicious body of water the People of the valley had ever seen. The ocean seemed to seethe with rage, even as massive clashed against the Grand purple cliff walls. The city itself sat many leagues back, Protected by the cliff and built around the deathly river and filled with crops in the muddy banks that commonly flooded.

Due to the reliance on the river that cut their city and a half and the sheer strength of it, No walls had been built, allowing the martially superior people of Bei bu to push the enemy of the settled unto the streets of the city itself before their "king" surrendered to the fists and clubs of fulcrum.

[m1895]

Bull Style, Armed [Basic]
While our people had managed to push out the Nomads to the North and the Imperial troops to the south, the simple fact is we couldn't push them out completely, and over time humiliating defeat becomes more of a reason to strike back than a reason to stay away. Unfortunately for us, they did not come blindly. The nomads when they attacked had begun fighting bare-chested so no fulcrum touch user could dismount them. The Imperial troops had incorporated long pike block to keep touch of the valley users at a distance.
They lost of course, but it was very nearly a pyrrhic victory for us. Obviously, the people of the valley weren't going to lie down and wait for the third attack. The elders set up a series of trials to see who would be worthy of leading a new style, with the caveat being said style must be a basic armed style, so that enough warriors could be trained to be of worth in the coming conflict. Many attempted the trial, but they all failed in one way or another. Eventually a strange man with a familiar weapon and an unfamiliar weapon showed up. He said he was a mercenary from a land far west of the Imperial Domain. In their service he came to be a master of the Zhanmadao, a weapon that had seen service since the early conflicts between nomadic and settled peoples in the valley. At his side he carried a katar. Obviously this needed no demonstration of how he expected to use it against horsemen, it is the horse-chopping blade after all, but the elders were confused how he expected to do anything against a wall of pikes. The Stranger, being something of a braggart told them to array 12 pikemen against him and he would defeat them all with a single stroke. Legend says as those 12 pikemen marched towards him, he cut off all their heads with a single stroke!
N-no, the pike heads. Uh anyway he asked them to bring 11 more groups of various polearm wielders, and each group he disarmed in one stroke. Then the elders set him against 12 archers, and he deflected all their arrows.
Afterwards he made another crude boast about his prowess, though his exact words were never recorded. The elders were willing to ignore it for the most part given his obvious skill, but one old master of the Fulcrum Touch challenged him to a duel. The Stranger mocked him, and history did record these words: "I have defeated 12 men 12 times with a single stroke, and deflected countless arrows. I will not sully my blade with the blood of some unarmed old man." The Old Master's reply was simply "see how the Mighty Bull cowers before the wizened mouse!" This angered the Stranger greatly, and he slashed at the Old Master, but the slash was reckless and the Master was quick, he put his hand to the flat of the blade and turned it to cloth, then he yanked the cloth and caused The Stranger to stumble forward, the lesson learned was certain. The throat punch was a insurance. The Stranger was humbled, and apologized for his arrogance. The Old Master accepted, and helped him reflect on some flaws in his style caused by his arrogant recklessness, but as a reminder, from that day forward The Stranger was known as The Bull. The style that came after this instruction is said to flow like the rive through the valley [uphill], every strike flowing directly into next, without leaving any reckless openings. Furthermore, influence from the Fulcrum Touch lead to the inclusion of leg strikes and trips into Bull Style, with the most notable usage (and flashiest) being a trip followed by a decapitation strike as the opponent falls, a variant of which is one of the few katar techniques: if an enemy is too close to strike with the zhanmadao properly then the katar is drawn for a quick slash at the throat, and then the blood is flicked off before sheathing the blade. Admittedly, the main purpose of the trips and leg strikesis to punish an opponent for trying to close inside the zhanmadao and force them back. Many have noted the drought of techniques involving the Katar, The Bull admitted on his deathbed that he mostly kept it because no one would let him take the Zhanmadao into their teahouse or shop. Those who choose to follow The Bull must be humble or be humbled, other small quirks include the belief that the number 12 is auspicious and that one should never go disarmed.
Warrior-monks of the Bull Style proved their worth in The Invasions of the North and South, slicing through horse and rider in the hilly steppe to the north and disarming pike blocks in mountain passes and tunnels for Fulcrum Touch practitioners to deal with, ultimately securing the only safe mountain passes west, thus blocking off future incursions by the Imperial forces. That is not to say either side was completely static in their tactics. The settled people tried using shorter more maneuverable polearms within their pike blocks, to strike at the Bull monks. This mostly resulted in the shorter polearms having their heads chopped off as well. Then they embedded swordsmen with a jian or dao and small metal shield amongst the pike blocks. This mostly resulted in the swordsmen losing their heads, though the final innovation used at the last outposts, having a metal-studded club wielder (or even another Zhanmadao) do a heavy strike to force an opening for the swordsmen to exploit, did prove effective. Fortunately this occurred late enough to not effect the war as a whole. The troops in the eastern foothills quickly capitulated or fled into the unknown once they heard the mountain pass had been taken.
The Nomads, on the other hand, did not have such a unified response. One entire tribe attempted to shower our host of warriors with arrows, but when they had emptied their quivers, the arid steppe covered in arrows thick as grass, and not single one of ours had fallen, the entire tribe capitulated at once. In another instance a clan decided to refurbish some war trophies from the old days of fighting Imperials, and fought as mounted infantry, using horses only to maneuver into position and fighting dismounted. This went about as well as could be expected, given they fell into some of the same traps the Imperial forces already had, but at least they did better than the archers. The most successful (from a certain point of view) were a small band of warriors we believe were also monks. They would strike out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly. While Bull Style rarely left openings for them to exploit, the band still gave as good as they got, ultimately only faltering under raw attrition. Another point of view would say those who defected immediately, spurred on by bitter rivalries and blood feuds with the current ruling tribes were truly the most successful, as they got everything they wanted while having as little of their own blood spilled as possible: Khan loyalists forced out west to the Great Wastes, and east towards the unknown, and their land now in the possession of these chosen tribes.

[Powder Miner]

Two Fifths Style

The first conquests of the Bei Bu were actually an extremely messy affair - something that the Bei Bu stumbled into, to a degree. Originally a peaceful people, it was only after repeated invasions that sufficient desire began to build among the people of the Fulcrum Valley to go out and conquer - out of a desire to wreak some revenge for some, and for others a desire to put to rest the conflicts that had been pushing the Fulcrum Valley to the edge. But what proceeded was not some sort of heroic charge outwards that enveloped the lands under the sash of the Bei Bu. No, far from that - the desire for conquest of the Bei Bu was still a fractious thing, and besides that the monks of the Fulcrum Valley weren't exactly conquerors, being more defenders and brutal counterattackers than anything else. The initial conquest was actually a stumbling disaster and would have resulted in very little indeed if not for the complication that this was an affair of ethnic kin.

The nomads of the north had wide-open space beyond belief, and yet they had attacked seeking land with which to graze their cattle. This contradiction is explained by the actual land of the nomads. Only the land closest to the Valley is actually prairie - the rest is harsh and bare, land too poor for settled living in all but its richest spots, land that forced a nomadic life. The land of the nomads is a combination of semi-desert land (a thin layer of reddish sands and soil with tufts of grass and occasional oases just able to maintain a herd, providing the much safer parts of the nomad lands), and the much more dangerous takir deserts. Takirs are crusts of clay baked dry through seasonal rain and evaporation enough to create a truly distinctive appearance of a massive field of cracks, spiderwebbing into the distance. Though firm in most areas, the danger here lies in that moisture can escape under a takir, creating incredible quagmires of mud that can drown horses or men, should they be forcibly plunged through the clay. Though hot in the summers, the more extreme temperatures of this desert are actually its mostly snowless colds of its winters and its nights - perhaps a greater killer, if one that can be adjusted to more easily. The nomads of the north had long learned to live here, but the lands of Bei Bu had always been incredibly tempting - ironically, the new Bei Bu desire for conquest led to opportunity, as a nomad joining them could hope to perhaps graze at their lands. The leadership of the nomad Khan had grown harsher than his predecessors, as manpower (his greatest resource!) had been drained by the wars, and so many nomads ended up defecting to join the people of the Fulcrum Valley, preferring to join their kin and taste some hope rather than see it crushed under other kin.

This desert today is known as the Desert of Our Fathers, barely changed from its nomad-rule name (Land of Our Fathers) - it is still the land of the forefathers of half of the Fulcrum Valley, after all.

The settled empire of the south was a land of mountains and mountains, yet attacked the Bei Bu seeking their ores. This contradiction is explained in part by the issue of accessibility. Although the mountains of the empire are less vicious than those of the valley, becoming more round and brown as one enters the former imperial heartland, that doesn't mean than the ore in those mountains is any easier to access - actually, without the glacier cutting through them, it's harder (even if the Empire has a couple of famous major rivers of its own which provide some help - and the basis of its agriculture). A dynasty long past dealt with this by making use of the Carvers, a caste who had both done back-breaking labor and received many privileges (some speculate they may have been monks), carving the grand, wide staircase highways that stretch all up and down the mountains even today and connect the walled stone cities of the empire, and made many mines. The dynasty in the warring days of Bei Bu, however, did not have those carvers, instead having made its mark through its military organization - and as its ancient mines had begun to play out, it had sought both new resources and way to avoid having lost the favor of Heaven (and thus ending up a casualty in the dynastic cycle). Failing to find this thanks to Bei Bu defense, the Empire had begun to descend into civil violence - and the Empire's response was desperate violence. More understanding of the defensive (if still sometimes brutal, by nature of their style) violence of their Valley kin than the orgy of cruelty many of their former superiors and neighbors in the Empire were descending to, many soldiers and lords defected to Bei Bu.

These mountains are called the Mountains of Ascension, a combination of the Empires' belief that they were literally close to Heaven, and a self-aware joke about... well.

The defectors from the nomads of the Desert of Our Fathers and the Empire of the Mountains of Ascension ended up joining together much as the original settlers of the Valley had done - or, well, perhaps not much as they had done. After some initial hesitation (the Khanate and the Empire had, having expanded, clashed over recent decades), these defectors forged a strong bond due to their common experiences - being peoples of armed martial skill who had lived their lives fighting, who had lived their lives through harsh conditions and left cruel leaders to join kin - but kin who had formerly left them with bitter defeat. Seeing the stumbling tactical situations of the Bei Bu as well, and how these stumbling tactical situations created a strategic roadblock the Bei Bu struggled to overcome, these defectors joined together to create the Two Fifths style.

Although some people nowadays try to claim the name comes from the fact that the style comes from two of the five lands that the Bei Bu conquered, this isn't true at all, and is probably an attempt to save face. For, as the settled peoples of the early Valley saw some dominance in the prestige aspects of the Fulcrum Touch style despite the importance of nomad wrestling to the style, with the Empire having a longer history of unarmed monks and the pursuit of Elemental Magic (with unknown success), elite nomad warriors were pivotal and prestigious figures in the creation of this art. Elite warriors of the nomads were famous for their usage of five different weapons, which were considered THE five weapons that ALL elite nomad warriors used - bow, spear, sword, axe, mace. These elite warriors, now off their horses, were taught how to fight on foot by the defectors from the Empire, and the weapons that they used were accordingly paired down to a fundamental two: the aibalta axe of the nomads, and a jian sword. They taught, in turn, the creation and wielding of their unique axe, and the philosophies behind its use, and thus the armed monks that were born used Two Fifths of a nomad warrior's quintessential weaponry (even if the jian was a different sort of sword).


The Two Fifths Style is a style that its inventors used in order to provide more of a capacity for hardcore offense to the Bei Bu. But it is no mindless berserker style. Instead, the style holds to the following philosophy: To defend, attack. To attack, also attack. The latter role is usually performed by the two foot jian straight sword the monk carries. The former role is typically parceled out to the larger and more unique of the two weapons of the style: the aibalta axe. The aibalta battle-axe is a one-handed battle-axe, but a very odd one indeed. Notably longer than is normal for a one-handed axe (having been originally used on horseback, if being amply usable on foot as well, as the length isn't enough to actually make it unwieldy for a skilled user), this length is counterbalanced by the head of the axe being relatively small for an axe this length - the aibalta is not just some axe-and-a-half. But that isn't at all the point - the point is in adjusting the length of the axe by holding it at different points along the latter half of the axe, and in the unique "beard" of the axe (the nomads themselves don't actually have a particular name for it). This beard is a thinner piece of metal across the top 40% or so of the haft, with notches to catch blades and force them between it and the against the bottom of the axehead as the axe swings, and a bladed edge of its own to deal nasty tearing cuts to anything grabbing or being hooked against it.

The "neutral" stance of the style, designed for intense clashing offensive after the approach, consists of holding the aibalta in the main hand at two-third haft and using disarming attacks, tearing hooks, or warding haft bashes. This is a double-meaning way of approaching "to defend, attack". Not only is it less deflecting (though very basic deflections do exist) and more continuously violently assaulting the enemy's ability to attack and their position to do so, but these techniques themselves are also attacks that can't be ignored. The motion that disarms is not a pull, but instead a swinging lock that traps the weapon against the axe and then twists upward to force the enemy to choose between losing the weapon or their hand - and if the enemy tries to dodge their weapon away, it's still the swing of a god damn axe. The hook is taking a jagged blade and taking it to the enemy's flesh. The haft bash, though the most defensive core axe technique, is still a blunt force slam. Of course, the axe is still an axe and can be used for purely offensive purposes as well - if the jian is proving ineffective for finishing or if the opponent is backing out of range, a full-haft axe-strike is a potential alternate finishing move.

All the while, the jian held in the off hand of the monk is being used to satisfy the "to attack, attack" tenet of the style in about the way you'd expect it to - the monk is always looking to get a death blow with the sword, trying to plunge it with a brutal stab into the opponent's gut or a chink in their armor if it exists, and making lighter stabs or slashes at weak points to distract, wound, and weaken their opponent if they can't get that death blow until they can, the axe working in tandem with the sword to thwart attacks, harm the opponent, and create openings to sword-murder them with.

Despite the many techniques of the Two Fifths Style that make use of offense to wound and weaken if a fight does drag on, its ideal engagement is actually a very short one indeed - the monk closes in on their opponent, disarms them with a swing of the axe, and then proceeds to plunge the jian directly into a lethal part of their body for a deathblow. For this reason, the approach is extremely important, and the Two Fifths Style primarily makes use of halfhafting and fullhafting of the aibalta to train for maximizing its success. When approaching an Armed opponent, the monk will range his haft from between two-thirds haft to full-haft depending on the size of the opponent's weapon, and make a disarming swing. When approaching an Unarmed opponent (or an opponent with something like a katar), the monk will range his haft to two-thirds haft and making a hook attack with the beard of the axe, followed by closing to half-haft, attempting to keep the Unarmed opponent JUST out of fist range but in sword range. The monk almost always has his jian out to follow up on this advantage - the only exception are the weapons that see full-hafting. Spears and polearms actually do not see full-hafting, but instead two-thirds-hafting, as they can be easily swung upwards against, but instead it is two-handed weapons like zhanmadaos that need a full-hafted aibalta to reasonably attempt to disarm. A monk fighting an opponent like this does not start out with his jian, but uses both hands on the disarm attempt, followed by a strike with the axe. The jian is only drawn afterwards, here.

[m1895]

Ma Tui Bang ():
Bull Style ():
Two Fifths Style ():

[Powder Miner]

Shanku and Nomad's Winter

The most base pieces of the uniform of the Bei Bu actually take much more inspiration from the martial artist culture of the Empire than from the culture of the nomad peoples. This reflects an initial settled-people dominance in some of the earliest days of the Fulcrum Touch monastery, and how that would come to shape Bei Bu martial arts institutions as a whole - bluntly speaking, while the Empire had a centuries-long tradition of unarmed martial arts schools and monasteries, which the settled people of the Fulcrum Valley sorely needed to draw upon as they formed their monasteries and martial artist nation, the martial traditions among the nomads had taken tangibly different forms, if still impressive ones.

This means, primarily, that the

SAD WIP WIP IS SAD WIPPITY BDOO YEE HAWWWWW

[Glass]

Common Garb of the Monks of Bei Bu

The monks of Fulcrum Valley were, for many years, not the distinct class that they would one day become; anybody who cared to learn the style could and did, rising to the defense of their home. It should come as little surprise, then, that the outfit that would come to be associated with them was, in many ways, derived primarily from the daily outfit of the Valley's inhabitants, which could be traced back to both imperial and nomadic influences.

Within the Empire, many wore the changshan, a shirt - if it could be called that - which reached down to the ankles, and was fastened with the use of knot buttons. While those in the upper classes typically left it unbound, and might wear them even longer than their ankles, those who had to work for a living - of whom most of Fulcrum Valley's imperial-descended settlers hail from - would typically bind them with cloth at the waist, and cut the hems to about knee height, preventing them from getting caught on the ground or otherwise interfering with movement. From those settlers of nomadic descent, however, came the shalbar, pants sewn from the hair and leather of camels. These comfortable pieces of legwear allowed for the comfortable riding of horses, but, more importantly to the farmers, miners, and other laborers from the Empire, they protected the legs without interfering with their motion, and the shift from wearing the shangshan to a shortened version of it - the magua, which reached only to the waist - and shalbar was swift. A hat to keep the sun off would complete the ensemble, though early on, the style would depend on one's descent: those whose family primarily traced to a nomadic heritage typically wore fur caps, with some of the highest-ranking among them wearing ones pointed on top, while those hewing closer to the Empire wore wide-brimmed conical hats, woven from straw. As time progressed and the cultures mixed (really, as people of both descents moved into lands requiring other hats), it would come to be that fur caps were worn in colder regions to retain heat, while the straw hats were worn when the shade they afforded was necessary.

Come the invasions of their peaceful valley, however, and the conception of, first, the Fulcrum Touch style and, later, other martial traditions, many wanted to know who among them were fit and ready for combat; after all, while many learned these arts, many others followed much more civilian professions, and one should know who could be trusted to protect you if an attack came. In response, those who had studied martial arts - back then, only the Fulcrum Touch style, but the practice spread as more styles came into use - began to wear sashes of brightly-colored cloth atop their more plain civilian clothing so that they might be easily recognized, while in a nod to the dual heritages of their techniques, they wore bracelets - one on each wrist - which were woven from camel hair, and bore a small piece of iron ore. They were the sons and daughters of nomads and metalworkers, and they would not forget it.

Finally, primarily out of practicality, these martial artists came to carry handwraps on them, though they were not always worn; they would interfere with one's daily business if left on. No, the sight of handwraps being worn came to be a shorthand for somebody expecting - or looking for - a fight, as that was the only time these articles of combat were donned. Less menacingly, light shoes in the imperial style also came to be worn, offering some protection to the soles without weighing down the wearer's legs or restricting the full range of motion of the ankles and feet; these primarily covered the heel, toes, and sides of the foot, leaving the top exposed.

Spoiler: Quick summary (click to show/hide)

They wear what is essentially a Tang suit, leather pants*, a hat (either Chinese style or Kazakh style*), a colorful sash, those two bracelets, and what Wikipedia calls "kung fu shoes" or "martial arts slippers", and when going into combat, they wear handwraps.
^{* Goes to the wikipedia page for Kazakh clothing, specifically the male section.}

Somehow I decided to lore apparently, so saying that they wear that stuff took a while.

ARMED STYLE
Ma Tui Bang ():
Bull Style ():
Two Fifths Style (1): Glass

UNIFORM
Shanku and Nomad's Winter ():
Common Garb of the Monks of Bei Bu (1): Glass

Also, I'd like to ask that we figure out a less clunky name for our guys than "Fulcrum Style Warrior-Monks" (and then other stuff that's "[Whatever style we pick] Style Warrior-Monks" afterward). I suggest "Levers" for the Fulcrum-users, or at the very least we just call them "Fulcrum Monks".
Let's also include such names in proposals from now on.

Note: made a small edit to the hats portion.

[Powder Miner]

ARMED STYLE
Ma Tui Bang ():
Bull Style ():
Two Fifths Style (2): Glass, Powder Miner

UNIFORM
Common Garb of the Monks of Bei Bu (2): Glass, Powder Miner

[dgr11897]

ARMED STYLE
Ma Tui Bang ():
Bull Style ():
Two Fifths Style (3): Glass, Powder Miner, DGR

UNIFORM
Common Garb of the Monks of Bei Bu (3): Glass, Powder Miner, DGR

[Powder Miner]

ARMED STYLE
Ma Tui Bang ():
Bull Style ():
Two Fifths Style (3): Glass, Powder Miner, DGR

UNIFORM
Common Garb of the Monks of Bei Bu (3): Glass, Powder Miner, DGR

FUCKINNN’ FULCRUM TOUCH WARRIOR-MONK NAME
Levers (0):
Fulcrum Monk (1): Powder Miner

[Glass]

ARMED STYLE
Ma Tui Bang ():
Bull Style ():
Two Fifths Style (3): Glass, Powder Miner, DGR

UNIFORM
Common Garb of the Monks of Bei Bu (3): Glass, Powder Miner, DGR

FUCKINNN’ FULCRUM TOUCH WARRIOR-MONK NAME
Levers (0):
Fulcrum Monk (2): Powder Miner, Glass

[TricMagic]

ARMED STYLE
Ma Tui Bang ():
Bull Style ():
Two Fifths Style (4): Glass, Powder Miner, DGR, TricMagic

UNIFORM
Common Garb of the Monks of Bei Bu (4): Glass, Powder Miner, DGR, TricMagic

FUCKINNN’ FULCRUM TOUCH WARRIOR-MONK NAME
Levers (0):
Fulcrum Monk (3): Powder Miner, Glass, TricMagic

[frostgiant]

These are less of a specific design and more of a writing exrise in creativity I gave myself, Some people in discord expressed interest so I thought I would post them here.

WEapon meteor hammer

Fire:
Burning constrictor style

The burning constrictor style relies on its meteor hammer, Formed from two fist sized metal orbs connected by a long Metal wire that is strong and flexible, allowing the wielding to spin and twirl the weapons around at speed enough to Shatter bones and metal both even as its wired nature allows the wielder to create improbable strikes as the orbs swing around the pont of contact.

The true danger of the Burning constrictor style however, Comes from the wilders ability to rapidly heat the Metal wire, Creating a flaming garrote. By Heating the wire and subsequently wrapping it around the target, The Wilder is capable of then yanking on the Meteor hammer and pulling the Burning wire tight, Burning and slicing through the target like a Knife. This makes a widler of the burning constrictor style incredibly dangerous, as not only the head of the weapon is lethal, but also the wire if it becomes wrapped around its target, a feat that is hard to avoid due to the weapons length and the skill of its wielder.

When in battle, The style typically requires very little movement, using the long reach of the hammer to outrange even the longest spears. Many of the complex maniuvers are accomplished with slight Pulls and twitching, creating the illusion of a calm, Meditating opponent doing Kata even as the Hammer dances through the air cleaving through and smashing enemies.

Water
Ripping currents

The focus of the ripping currents la on the twin heads of the Meteor hammer its user wields, Less like a normal ball of such a weapon and more like a  mace head with a series of specilie channels.

The Style around the ripping currents focuses on striking the foes with the deadly head of the weapon, Using its felxable chain to curve around obstacles and catch limbs in order to ensure a strike.
The head of the weapon during combat is covered in rapidly flowing water, many times the currents flow in both parallel and non-parallel fashion, creating writhing tide-like blades. The merest brush against this writhing head of water can cause multiple lacerations, A blow from the head of the Hammer will Grind and cut at the target, even as the blow shatter bones and armour.

This Deadly warhead leave the Ripping currents style an incredibly aggressive style, with the wielding throwing and swinging the deadly head at the opponents and resetting the blows almost as fast as they come using the chain, even as the second deathly head is coming in on a follow-up course. This creates a veritable tide of deadly blows meant to grind away at the opponent's form as well as their body.

E

arth

Black Lung Style

Born of a hazardous black stone, the Black lung style utilized a modified meteor hammer, Designed to give off a stream of black powder as it impacts with the target and flies through the air. Through channeled Earth energy, The amount of Black powder the Heads of the hammer can exude is vastly more then what could truly fit through it. Combined with Earth energy enhanced blows into the ground throwing up a large amount of dust and grit, and then kept suspened by the swinging motions of the hammer orbiting its wielders body, A monk of the Black lung style will have quickly created a hazardous cloud, Obscuring himself, His weapon and the sight of his foes even as the cloud chokes the life from them.

In order to protect himself, The Monk wears astone mask, Using Earth energies to filter the air through its porous sandstone surface even as the black impurities build up on the outside, Leaving a blank, Black faceless mask.
In order to actually sense their opponents, Many Black lung Monks go barefoot, trusting in the earth energy they wield to protect their feet even as they feel for the vibrations of their enemies movements through the ground.

During combat, a Monk of the black lung style will act patiently, letting the Cloud they have created choke the life out of their enemies even as they use their long weapon to maintain distance from the now blind enemy, striking at them from the black cloud, making the Hard to defend against meteor hammer even more difficult to protect against.

Wood
Spore wood Hammer style

The meteor hammer of the Spore wood monks is a unique weapon. Very one is the work of years of cultivation as the monk blends bark, timber, and a variety of other flora together into a singular long, unbroken wooden cord.  The end result is a meteor hammer made completely of wood. While the hammer ends to retain the ability to break bones, They lack a metal version's capability to shatter armour even as the entirely wooden wire that the monk manipulates bends and mimics metal at every turn.

Instead, the true wrath of these weapons comes in the vast variety of flora that had been worked into every part of it. By careful manipulation of wood elements, The monk is capable of causing incredibly rapid bloom and growth, Releasing countless spores into the air as the weapon arcs. These spores run the gambit of anticoagulants, Paralysis, Breathing inhibitors and powerful poisons, Creating clouds of death around the monk that will rapidly impair and render an unwary foe diseased from a distance.

Metal.

Comet style

From a distance, The wilder of the comet style looks like any other wilder of the meteor hammer, Clad in a pair fo heavy metal boots and wielding the long wired weapons with skill. Upon coser inspection, one would see a strange, but ultimatly plain looking set of wires, bangles and plates covering them head to toe, yet seemingly not even acting like armour.

This notion changes once they watch as the deathly hammer moves at impossible speeds, coiliing around the enemy. This notion changes when the Hammers strike as though the heavens touch the ground.
By using their control over metal, Wielder of thes comet style seek to decrease and increase the sheer weight of their weapon, using fine manipulation to creates startling speeds and striking impacts.
The weights involved would be fully capable of ripping the monks body apart, or at minimum ripping them off their feet. By utilizing the metal boots on their feet, The monks plant themselves sto the ground. The series of wires, bangles and plates around their body acting as scaffolding and anchor even as the Monk uses their control of Metal elemental energy to hold their body together under the disastrous impacts they create.  This makes a Comet style monk a deathly threat to any who enter their range, as without years upon years of practice the monk cannot even assure their own safety, let alone that of others.
During combat, A Monk of comet style becomes less and yet more then human, Becoming a walking disaster in the making as any who enter their weapons range is reduced to red paste, Until finally the monk himself makes a mistake in his fine control and reduces himself to the same red mist as remained of his enemies.