Post by lion on Feb 6, 2016 0:37:38 GMT -5
(Alderaanian kickboxer Maro Linh employing a Jaga Kari combination.)
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Introduction and Basic History:
Jaga Kari, the martial art indigenous to Dosha, is one of the longest-maintained traditions among the Trandoshan people, spanning as far back as pre-Chalon Iron age advances all the way to the current day. Originally considered a tool for the warrior and hunter castes to harden their bodies and minds to conflict, as well as a close connection to the Scorekeeper, Jaga Kari has since modernised; becoming a popular Trandoshani sport and even an exotic choice for professional, non-trandoshan fighters.
Classified among the galaxy's myriad forms as a 'destructive' art, Jaga Kari is an all-encompassing style combining both grappling and striking, both from the feet and from the ground, into its repertoire, with focus being placed on being offensively viable from all positions. Even defensive actions, such as blocking or dodging, follow this trait; Jaga Kari has absolutely no passive defence techniques, with even the simplest back-step being considered the beginning of an attack opportunity. As such, Jaga Kari fighters can appear exceptionally aggressive, always seeking to find a means to attack and gain advantage over their adversary, adding to the image of 'hostility' given to the Trandoshan people among Galactic society.
Jaga Kari's main identifying trait, aside from its aggression, is its careful use of distance and motion to set up opportunities, either by leading an opponent into a favourable position, or simply by cutting off their options. Jaga Kari fighters are extremely competent at ranging their opponents, either by using the off-hand jab or a series of low kicks as probing shots, and will use these strikes not only to keep track of distance for power blows, but force an opponent to move in such a way that they expose themselves to a more solid offensive. In this, a competent Jaga Kari fighter can not only decimate opponents on level footing, but even engage opponents to whom they would otherwise be disadvantaged, and is seen as the first weapon that allowed Trandoshans to defeat their larger Wookiee prey.
Traditional Jaga Kari, aside from an all encompassing hand-to-hand form, also incorporates the use of the Trandoshan Sword; techniques using the sword are chained into the drilled combinations and techniques. Like its unarmed counterpart, Jaga Kari swordsmanship is explosive and violently aggressive, though given its practice almost exclusively for hunters, it needs to be. The advent of the slugthrower, and later blaster technology, has thrown this into dispute; traditionalist hunters will still adhere to fencing practices, whereas some modern-minded hunters will forego practice of Jaga Kari entirely.
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'Sport' Jaga Kari:
As a sport, Jaga Kari is considered the best tool for Trandoshan children as young as even five years old to develop themselves, as the traits the form demands are considered extremely positive for adult life. Aside of the physical fitness and strength required, a sense of confidence in competition, wear-with-all toughness under pressure, planning and strategic thought and studying motion of an opponent are all cornerstones to Jaga Kari, with those unable to keep up finding themselves likely to be overwhelmed.
Fought in a twenty-by-twenty foot ring, closed with tensioned ropes, Jaga Kari matches can be held in as simple a venue as local sporting halls or as high-profile as capital stadiums, with both Trandoshans and offworlders welcome to view. Fight cards often feature both youth and adult fights, with the former opening the evening and the latter closing in the later night, with both title fights or exhibition matches employed to entertain the crowd. Whilst off-worlders attending has been a subject of debate in the past, in the modern day is it actively encouraged for those interested in Trandoshan culture to attend these events; showing interest is the first step in endearing one's self to the reptilian people, and can often involve the more curious Trandoshans taking it upon themselves to seek out off-worlders in venues and insist their company as a matter of pride.
While competitive confidence is a core tenet of the style, there is no room for arrogance, with rules being put into place in contests to divide the practitioner base into two groups; youths and adults. Youths, from the ages of five-through-twelve, are placed into bouts that strictly regulated and supervised to ensure a measure of safety against the more severe injuries, allowing the younger generation to practice and hone their craft against each other. Bouts among youths often still result in injuries, such as broken fingers, dislocated joints or even the occasional arm, and whilst treated and re-set, they are considered important life lessons for the young hatch-ling to carry.
Among the adult class, however, competition is far more violent, with restrictions being for most intents and purposes lifted. Fights among the adults can be as simple as friendly practice matches, professionally-ranked contests, or as savage as settling blood-feuds among rival hunting, with little variance in rules between the three.
Unlike the youth divisions, where care is taken as to who fights who, there is no distinction made for age, size, skill or weight-class between adult-bracket fighters; a teenage fighter is considered just as much a man as his father, and even likewise with senior citizens, and all are treated as such. To Trandoshans, this adversity and mis-matched pairing system mirrors the struggles of real life and the challenges inherent to hunting, where there is no guarantee that challenges are 'fair' or measured to one's ability, and thus is seen as vitally important.
Common to both classes, thanks to recent modernisation, are the concepts of rounds, referred to as stages; set periods of legal engagement time between which are allotted break times for fighters to recover and review strategies. Whilst the concept has been appropriated from off-world styles, the Trandoshans have put their own spin on it, changing the specified time allotments to better suit their tastes. Rather than the common 'standard' of evenly-timed rounds, Jaga Kari features a ten minute opening round, followed by four five-minute rounds, with breaks of a minute between each.
Justification from the Trandoshans is simple; the longer opening round allows the fighters to test the waters, whilst still retaining enough time in the opening to fight properly, however offworld viewers may reason the change is simply to 'lengthen' fights, ensuring more spectacular finishes. There is some ground in this claim; few Jaga Kari fights ever exceed the allotted time limit, and whilst fights are judged through their duration (again diverting from standard round-by-round judging, Trandoshans judge the bout as a whole), few fights ever require decision.
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Ways to Win:
Contest Jaga Kari features several paths to victory for the keen fighter to pursue, with many resembling the paths needed to capture and kill live prey on the hunt. Following in line with galactic standards with surprisingly little adaptation needing to be made to fit into the mould. However, whilst this is a fortunate coincidence, there are some darker methods for victory in Jaga Kari that, even after modernisation, linger as 'acceptable'.
Knockout: Quite simply put, rendering one's opponent completely unconscious is considered a legal means of victory, and one of the most popular and common methods for professional bouts to end. Strikes are the preferred tool, but alternatives do exist; blood-choke holds resulting in loss of consciousness are also deemed potential knock-outs, however it is up to the official to determine. Passing out and waking up again is, surprisingly, allowed in Jaga Kari bouts, and fighters who can continue under their own power after suffering this are allowed to continue.
Debilitation/Injury: Another common method of victory is that of debilitation, that is to say, removing the ability from the opponent to continue fighting. Debilitation comes in many forms, but the most common is 'injury deemed crippling to the effort', such as a broken leg or torn muscle. Whilst many Jaga Kari fighters are tough enough to endure such painful injuries, with many known cases of fighters suffering breaks and fractures to other parts of the body, those to the legs and knees are far more dangerous; even the toughest fighters cannot move without their legs.
Judges' Decision: Victories via decision (running out of time, thus requiring the declaration of a winner) are uncommon but not unheard of, with the Trandoshan system differing from galactic standards as to not only how fights are scored, but how points are tallied. Aggression, attempts to end the fight, control of space and of the opponent are paramount, with passivity and inactivity incurring penalties, and whilst galactic standard officiation judges round by round, Trandoshans judge the fight as a whole. For example, a fighter winning four rounds out of five but horribly losing the fifth would be victorious by galactic standard, but if that fighter appears in peril before the fight is concluded, he may lose in the eyes of Trandoshan judges.
Stoppage/Ill Conduct: A rare method of ending fights is that of stoppage or ill conduct; the interjection of medical staff declaring a fighter unfit to continue. Whilst a trait introduced by modernisation, Jaga Kari's open rules allow few instances where this can occur, with only two circumstances being commonly seen through fight records; severe blood loss, or 'ill conduct'. Severe blood loss, or Ashkrik (Lit. "Bleed the enemy dry") is declared when a fighter risks potentially fatal blood loss during a fight, and is seen as a shameless loss to endure, even a mark of pride for a fighter to carry on through. Ill conduct, however, is roughly disqualification; breaking the few rules Jaga Kari possesses without adhering to warnings is often the fastest grounds to a shameful loss.
Submission/Yielding: An extremely rare method of victory, submission victories are few and far between in Jaga Kari bouts not for lack of trying but the social structure of Trandoshans in general. Where a knock-out or broken bone could end a fight, there is little shame seen in these to suffer; biology is hard to argue with. For a submission, however, this requires a conscious effort from the victim to assess their level of pain and actively choose to stop fighting; this is the only method of loss among Jaga Kari that could result in the loss of one's Jagannath Points, as it is seen as both capture and surrender to a stronger opponent, in a public venue. As such, it's very common to see Trandoshans suffer debilitation or death losses than submit, trying to escape holds and bear through it, rather than signal defeat themselves. Whilst incredibly rare, it's not uncommon for dire blood feud fights to be settled via submission, or start because of one, with the loser seeking revenge.
Death: A rare but nevertheless apparent reality of Jaga Kari that some offworlders simply cannot comprehend is that it is not entirely uncommon for some bouts to end with loss of life. Whilst modernisation has done much to curb some of these, many Jaga Kari fights have ended with one opponent being outright killed; even in modern day bouts, it's not unheard of. Be it severe trauma, a refusal to yield to dangerous chokes or simple murderous intent of their opponent, many Jaga Kari fighters have met their end in competition. These are seen as both positive and negative on the unfortunate fighter suffering such a loss; a proud display of fighting prowess and dying as a result are grieved and honoured, and among traditionalists, seen as one of the purest expressions of the sport.
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Fight Rules:
Despite the no-holds-barred appearance Jaga Kari has to those unfamiliar with it, the sport does indeed have a list of rules required to be legitimate, with breakages to these seen as grievous for any professional fighter to attempt. Thanks to modernisation, sports Jaga Kari has seen some additions to its list of legal and illegal practices, with opinions on these changes dividing the practising community broadly.
Youth Rules
As stated above, the youth division (up to twelve years old) features far more officiation and scrutiny in a fight than its older variant, with referees appointed to monitor not just rule breaks but fighter safety at all times. Emphasis on development of technique is highly important in these youth fights, and whilst they draw a far lesser crowd, they serve to allow younger fighters to cut their teeth. Normally shameful losses such as submissions are seen as forgiveable for younger fighters, and whilst discouraged to endure a loss such as this, these serve as lifelong lessons.
Youth fights are officiated as follows:
One ten minute round, one five minute round, with 2 minute break between.
Fight judged on the 'Full Fight' system; points deducted for inactivity/passivity.
Padded striking gloves must be worn.
Fighters must be one or two years apart in age.
No more than a 10kg weight difference between fighters.
No purposeful strikes to the groin (Referee discretion).
No purposeful strikes to the back of the head (Referee discretion).
No purposeful strikes to the eyes (Referee discretion).
No purposeful strikes to the throat (Referee discretion).
No small-joint manipulation (Finger/toe holds).
Kicks/Stomps to the head of a grounded opponent disallowed.
Throws landing upon the head/neck disallowed.
Adult Rules
Converse to the youth division, the adult category of Jaga Kari (13+) features far less officiation, and is thus seen as the more accurate version of the art, having taken on less offworld influence and modernisation. Whilst fights can resemble no-holds-barred brawls, the adult divisions are still officiated, with rule breakages carrying extreme penalties.
Adult fights are officiated as follows:
One ten minute round, four five minute rounds, with 1 minute breaks inbetween.
Fight judged on the 'Full Fight' system; points deducted for inactivity/passivity.
Padded gloves are optional.
Footwear (grappling shoes) are legal, optional.
No weight-category restrictions.
No age category restrictions.
Fighters must be 13 years old minimum.
Strikes to the back of the head are legal.
Strikes to the throat are legal.
Strikes to the groin are legal.
Small joint manipulation is legal.
Kicks/stomps to the head of grounded opponents are legal.
Throwing/slamming opponents head-first is allowed.
No purposeful strikes to the eyes (referee discretion).
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