Post by legios on Apr 13, 2011 21:46:08 GMT
Whirling Cog Metalikato:
“Strike everywhere, and you will be victorious anywhere”
- inscribed over the doorway of Tarnian Training Hall.
Whirling Cog was a style of Metalikato developed in the City-states of the Turbindium Plains. An offensively focused (“hard”) style its adherents favoured a rapid flurry of attacks designed to confound and overwhelm an enemies defences. Although the style did teach defensive techniques Whirling Cog masters taught that the best defence lay in seizing the initiative and forcing the opponent to defend. Whirling Cog practitioners therefore favoured rapid combinations of hand and foot strikes, forcing the opponent into a full body defence intended to limit his offensive options in return. Whirling Cog also taught the importance of committing fully and completely to attacks-
“If you will not invest yourself in your blow then it will not succeed. Place your whole energy behind your action and you cannot be defeated.”
This led to the development of a number of spectacular leaping and spinning kicks which were often seen in the repertoires of State Games competitors. The visual appeal of this high-impact style may explain why Whirling Cog became, by the mid pre-war era, one of the most prevalent forms of Metalikato with training halls in the majority of city states. The extent of the style's spread inevitably led to the development of a wide variety of sub-styles as local teachers hybridised the principles of Whirling Cog with other, more local, combat styles. The sheer variety of weapons that came to be associated with Whirling Cog stand as testimony to this. It was only in the late pre-war era that, with the unstoppable rise of interest in the State Games, an attempt was made to systematise Whirling Cog style. Spearheaded by the Iaconian Whirling Cog Metalikato Association the various disciplines and splinter styles were systematised and streamlined, reformulated around a core set of techniques and weapons. By this point the style had become so widespread that when the lay bot spoke about “Metalikato” it was almost certain that they were speaking of Whirling Cog. The majority of Metalikato practitioners to compete in the games were adepts of Whirling Cog, indeed it was often said that the reason that the only banned techniques and forms were drawn from Whirling Cog Metalikato was that no-one ever bothered to learn any other styles.
Whirling Cog and Weapon Techniques:
The widespread popularity of Whirling Cog, and the tendency of its practitioners to assimilate elements of other styles, led to it developing perhaps the broadest range of armed styles seen in Cybertronian martial arts. Over time these were systemised to a few broad schools:-
I)Sword, used singly and generally single handed. Most commonly a two-edged short single blade, but more rarely a single-edged curved blade was used.
II)Chain Dart – a piercing weapon similar to a spearhead, mounted on the end of a chain. The chain could be used to recover the thrown dart, or as a weapon in its own right. More commonly used in display than in serious Games competition.
III)Parrying Rods – long metal rods fashioned with handles and generally wielded in pairs. Generally used defensively to parry swords without exposing their wielders own armour to hazard but they could also be used as bludgeoning weapons to deliver impressive kinetic impact strikes.
IV)Armblades – commonly retractable metal blades but occasionally focused energy or plasma melee weapons. These blades, mounted parallel with the forearms, were generally worn paired but more rarely mounted internal to the exostructure of the arm. Many types were developed, specialised for slashing or stabbing attacks depending on the design, and they were designed to take blend the styles of Whirling Cog's unarmed strikes with the deadliness of a weapon that could shear through armour and internal structure alike. (An Iaconian development of these utilised a hooked blade and was designed to be used alongside a mobile combat style which included elements derived from Archaic Precessive Mugen and optimised for battling multiple opponents).
Whirling Cog in the Media:
In many ways the history of Whirling Cog Metalikato in the Cybertronian action thriller is synonymous with the history of the medium itself. The prevalence of the style meant that it was a rare Action-vid in which no-one displayed any facility with the style. Indeed, critics were divided over whether it was a bold step when Grader's epic “Seven Guns against Kaon” rooted its epic, balletic, slowmotion-filled action sequences entirely in gunplay rather than hand-to-hand combat. (The fact that the film, and Grader's subsequent “Unswerving Eye” spawned enough imitators to create the entire “Gun Hero” sub-genre may retroactively answer the critical debate). The stand-off between two Whirling Cog masters – often armed with opposing weapon styles, Sword-against-bludgeons, Parrying Rods-against-cable-dart or unarmed-against-armblades was a staple of the Cybertronian Vid-industry for centuries.
Category: Cybertronian Martial Arts
“Strike everywhere, and you will be victorious anywhere”
- inscribed over the doorway of Tarnian Training Hall.
Whirling Cog was a style of Metalikato developed in the City-states of the Turbindium Plains. An offensively focused (“hard”) style its adherents favoured a rapid flurry of attacks designed to confound and overwhelm an enemies defences. Although the style did teach defensive techniques Whirling Cog masters taught that the best defence lay in seizing the initiative and forcing the opponent to defend. Whirling Cog practitioners therefore favoured rapid combinations of hand and foot strikes, forcing the opponent into a full body defence intended to limit his offensive options in return. Whirling Cog also taught the importance of committing fully and completely to attacks-
“If you will not invest yourself in your blow then it will not succeed. Place your whole energy behind your action and you cannot be defeated.”
This led to the development of a number of spectacular leaping and spinning kicks which were often seen in the repertoires of State Games competitors. The visual appeal of this high-impact style may explain why Whirling Cog became, by the mid pre-war era, one of the most prevalent forms of Metalikato with training halls in the majority of city states. The extent of the style's spread inevitably led to the development of a wide variety of sub-styles as local teachers hybridised the principles of Whirling Cog with other, more local, combat styles. The sheer variety of weapons that came to be associated with Whirling Cog stand as testimony to this. It was only in the late pre-war era that, with the unstoppable rise of interest in the State Games, an attempt was made to systematise Whirling Cog style. Spearheaded by the Iaconian Whirling Cog Metalikato Association the various disciplines and splinter styles were systematised and streamlined, reformulated around a core set of techniques and weapons. By this point the style had become so widespread that when the lay bot spoke about “Metalikato” it was almost certain that they were speaking of Whirling Cog. The majority of Metalikato practitioners to compete in the games were adepts of Whirling Cog, indeed it was often said that the reason that the only banned techniques and forms were drawn from Whirling Cog Metalikato was that no-one ever bothered to learn any other styles.
Whirling Cog and Weapon Techniques:
The widespread popularity of Whirling Cog, and the tendency of its practitioners to assimilate elements of other styles, led to it developing perhaps the broadest range of armed styles seen in Cybertronian martial arts. Over time these were systemised to a few broad schools:-
I)Sword, used singly and generally single handed. Most commonly a two-edged short single blade, but more rarely a single-edged curved blade was used.
II)Chain Dart – a piercing weapon similar to a spearhead, mounted on the end of a chain. The chain could be used to recover the thrown dart, or as a weapon in its own right. More commonly used in display than in serious Games competition.
III)Parrying Rods – long metal rods fashioned with handles and generally wielded in pairs. Generally used defensively to parry swords without exposing their wielders own armour to hazard but they could also be used as bludgeoning weapons to deliver impressive kinetic impact strikes.
IV)Armblades – commonly retractable metal blades but occasionally focused energy or plasma melee weapons. These blades, mounted parallel with the forearms, were generally worn paired but more rarely mounted internal to the exostructure of the arm. Many types were developed, specialised for slashing or stabbing attacks depending on the design, and they were designed to take blend the styles of Whirling Cog's unarmed strikes with the deadliness of a weapon that could shear through armour and internal structure alike. (An Iaconian development of these utilised a hooked blade and was designed to be used alongside a mobile combat style which included elements derived from Archaic Precessive Mugen and optimised for battling multiple opponents).
Whirling Cog in the Media:
In many ways the history of Whirling Cog Metalikato in the Cybertronian action thriller is synonymous with the history of the medium itself. The prevalence of the style meant that it was a rare Action-vid in which no-one displayed any facility with the style. Indeed, critics were divided over whether it was a bold step when Grader's epic “Seven Guns against Kaon” rooted its epic, balletic, slowmotion-filled action sequences entirely in gunplay rather than hand-to-hand combat. (The fact that the film, and Grader's subsequent “Unswerving Eye” spawned enough imitators to create the entire “Gun Hero” sub-genre may retroactively answer the critical debate). The stand-off between two Whirling Cog masters – often armed with opposing weapon styles, Sword-against-bludgeons, Parrying Rods-against-cable-dart or unarmed-against-armblades was a staple of the Cybertronian Vid-industry for centuries.
Category: Cybertronian Martial Arts