/=====================\\
| An Introduction to the Martial Arts |
\\=====================/

+---------+
| Preface |
+---------+

In the pages of this tome we will cover the basics of kat as well as many other
possible questions you may have. Things will be broken down into the simplest
examples and answers we can find to ensure a firm understanding of what it all
means. The early pages assume you are new to kata and monks in general. For
those who are used to the material you can skip to "Goals of a Form" section
depending on your personal level of experience with the subject matter.

At the end of each section we will quickly summarize the main ideas of that topic
as well as key points to ensure comprehension and keep us on the same page. The
goal of this is to give a crash course in the theory of kata and its associated
practices and principles. Be warned, this is only a beginners introduction
and does not get into guild specifics. For further reading it is recommended one
delve into their guilds tomes.

Quick notes!
* This is only a basic introduction.
* Notes and ket points will follow material.
* Those familiar with it can skip to "Goals of a Form".

+---------------+
| What is Kata? |
+---------------+

Kata is the basic form of martial arts, primarily using the hands and feet. If you
delve further into the kata arts you will learn two separate types of study,
actions and modifiers. Though they are learned at the same time they tend to focus on different aspects of training. Actions are generally how to use ones body while modifiers are often how to exploit weaknesses in the target.

Actions are maneuvers you can perform against another person. Punches and kicks fit into this category, but we can also find various grapples and throws. Throws are exactly what they sound like, different ways to bring a person back to the ground, whether with intent to harm, such as basic throwing, or to forcibly move someone, such as toss. Actions reflect study of the ways to move and use ones own body.

Modifiers are adjustments one can make to their actions to exploit anatomy. This
is what separates a mage kicking you from a true master of kata doing so. As part
of kata training a martial artist learns the weaknesses of the body, and with it ways to exploit it for greater gains. For instance using the break modifier the practitioner is able to cause broken bones using their bare hands.

Quick Notes!
* Kata is a basic form of martial arts.
* Actions are maneuvers you perform against another person.
* Modifiers are ways to alter your actions.

+-----------------+
| What is a form? |
+-----------------+

A kata form is a sequence of actions done nearly simultaneously. Involved in
such a form is up to three actions, which could include a kick and an attack
with each arm, and any number of modifiers. Attacking with h as could be a
weapon strike, an unarmed strike such as a punch, or a two handed action such as a grapple or a grapple ender.

Now we can move into the meat of what makes a form. Every kata form needs to
have four basic pieces of information: name, actions, modifiers, and ka cost.
Let us look at these a bit more in depth before actually creating a form, as we
will in the next section.

1) Name - This is very important as it is how you will have to remember the form
to use and develop in the future. We do not suggest names that say nothing about
the form, such as irock231. Try to name a form based on what it does, lockrleg or
razemo3 makes alot more sense and will help you recall what they do.

2) Actions - What you will be doing in the form, without these there is no form.
What actions a form uses tends to be based on what it aims to accomplish, the goal. Keep in mind that forms with the same goal may use different actions to achieve them.

3) Modifiers - The modifiers of a form are aimed to make a form more efficient,
effective, or in some instances, to make it work. Many times a modifier is what
causes the affliction the form is meant to deal. Modifiers are the most varied
part of a form besides the name.

4) Momentum/Ka - Based on your momentum level you will have a specific amount of ka, which determines how much you can do in a form. Many monks create multiple versions of a form based on different momentum levels. Tailoring to each level of momentum improves how efficient a form is. The most straight forward example of this is adding the speed modifier when one goes from momentum two to three. Following the quick notes we will have a chart of the ka at each level.

Quick Notes!
* A form is up to three actions using, at most, a leg and each arm once.
* Most forms are created based on their goal and its afflictions.
* Your ka will vary based on your momentum.

Mo Ka
0 250
1 250
2 350
3 450
4 750
5 1000
6 1500 (requires boost

+-------------------+
| Lay it out for me |
+-------------------+

Now that we know a bit about what makes a kata form we are going to create one! First we have to figure out what it will do, for this example we will use only
the basic kata actions and modifiers but we want to hinder our target. Broken legs
will hinder and is available using just kata.

So now we need to fill in name, actions, modifiers, and we will see what that puts our ka level at. For a name we will go with breakLegs, it is simple and we will be able to remember what it does later. For kata to cause a broken limb we have to use the break modifier, we make note of this first because that modifier only works on unarmed actions such as kicks and punches, so we have to be using those.

WARNING! Kata modifiers like break, concussion, pinchnerve, and stun are based on the wounds of the target area. Do not assume a form using those will give the listed afflictions 100% of the time.

Kata form example.
Name: BreakLegs
Action 1: punch lleg left
Action 2: punch rleg right
Action 3: kick rleg right
Modifiers: break
Ka: 250

Wait we did not cover "punch lleg left", what is that? When you use an action you have to include where it is hitting, in this case the left and right legs, or lleg
and rleg. The "left" and "right" following those is listing which arm or leg is doing
the attack. This is important, if you try to use the same arm twice the form will still
work, but the second time you try to use the arm it will fail.

It is important to note that if it does break a limb the break modifier causes -1
momentum each time it works, even if that limb is already broken. This form uses 250 ka because of what it contains, 50 for each punch, 100 for kick, and 50 for break. Even though three hits use the break modifier you only "pay" for it once.

Simple enough right? Things will get more complicated when you start adding guild teachings to your form design. Most guild actions cause an affliction without need of a modifier. Guild modifiers are likely to cause afflictions as well, some will work on top of the actions normal effects. Lastly, weapon attacks allow the use of poisons, which can make or break some forms entirely.

Quick Notes!
* An action generally requires targeting an area of the body.
* You must include which arm or leg is doing the action.
* Kata modifiers occur on a chance which is based on wounds.

+-----------------+
| Goals of a form |
+-----------------+

Forms are generally designed after figuring out what you want it to do.
This is considered the fastest and most productive way to design as you
focus on the result instead of what you could do. Sometimes you will make
a form based on an action, for example a mangled limb. A mangled leg is a
very powerful effect but can often require considerably more effort, maybe
it requires two forms to do. The affliction is worth it but there are likely
more efficient ways to meet the goal of hindering someone.

Remember that this is only an introduction to moderate experience piece
and was written as an overview. We will not cover the guild specific goals
as those are outside out scope, if you seek information on these speak to the
respective guild.

+ Herb stacking:

Herb stacking makes use of the time it takes to regain herb balance to
build afflictions up. Hindering the ability to cure herb afflictions tends
to revolve around trying to keep an affliction on the target, we call this
"making it stick". As a general rule the affliction you want to stick is
either intended to be lethal or put your target in a chosen state.

The following have had successful results when made to "stick":

*Lacerations: The longer lacerations are maintained the higher the bleeding
they will cause. Lacerations generate about 90 bleeding every three seconds.

*Blindness: This is a purely defensive condition but tends to give you more
time without being hindered to build wounds, momentum, and other similar
things. This will not kill anyone, it is purely to buy time.

*Haemophilia: The only thing worse than recurring bleeding is bleeding that
will not cure. Haemophilia stops a target from clotting, meaning any bleeding
tends to stay with them longer, like lacerations this is part of "bleeding" as
a goal in many cases.

+ Salve stacking:

Salve stacking is similar to herb stacking in that it tries to outpace the
ability to cure. The advantage salves can have is that you also gain access
to regeneration cures, which are delayed cures that often create another
affliction on cure. A mangled limb becomes broken when cured, an amputated
limb cures into mangled, collapsed lung becomes punctured. This means you are
more readily able to cause two afflictions for the price of one and assure that
the affliction lasts long enough to get a form in before the cure. Most salve
stacks are defensive, or are used for greenlocks later on.

+ Cure hindering:

While stacking cures can be considered cure hindering they are not the same
goal. Cure hindering often aims to stop or greatly decrease the speed of all
curing, not just a specific kind. There are two kinds of locks, softlocks and
hardlocks. A softlock means you can use a cleanse enchant or soap to cure it.
A hardlock, also called a greenlock, requires the highmagic skill of gedulah or
the lowmagic skill of green to cure out of. To make a softlock into a hardlock
generally requires proning the target and afflicting them with something that
will stop them from standing, such as a broken leg. Most locks use either the
afflictions of slitthroat with slickness or a crushed windpipe with slickness and
asthma.

+ Damage:

Perhaps the most simplistic but the hardest to narrow down because of the many
factors involved in it. Damage is simply causing more injury than the opponent can handle before their body gives out. To cover this we will break it into some of
its factors, and isolate their effects.

*Wounds: Damage is increased by an amount based on the wounds of the area hit. This effect is calculated for each hit. On an area with critical wounds you
deal about 263% of the normal damage. Getting to such high levels is very
difficult, although it has been recorded in long fights. The more damage you do
the easier it also is to build wounds as you cannot apply health and sip it at
the same time.

*Sensitivity: As an affliction this is not the easiest to maintain. The first
attempt to give sensitivity will strips truehearing if present, so they have
a defense to being afflicted with it unless you land it twice in quick succession.
Sensitivity causes the target to take 33% more damage than normal. Sadly, herb
stacks do not work well with this because it also has a salve cure.

*Prones: This can be a very confusing term because it is often used when one means sprawled. We can use any state of prone to increase our damage which includes paralysis, sprawled, entangled, and stunned. A target in these states will take an additional 25% damage from our attacks.

*Modifiers: Every guild has at least the strength modifier in kata which allows
using the "hard" or "soft" modifier. At the expense of reducing wounds you can
increase the amount of damage done. Every guild also has other modifiers to
cause additional pain. These effects can be stacked and will work with the
other options listed above. Yes, Monk damage is complicated.

+ Bleeding:

Bleeding is often clumped together with damage as a kill method, as they are
both based on the targets body no longer being able to support them. Damage is a more practiced method of slaying someone as the injury caused is higher. Bleeding is sometimes considered a form of death by attrition. Bleeding tends to build slow than normal damage but it also tends to cause "mana damage" from the target attempting to clot it off. As a result you force them to begin trying to cure mana or risk their bleeding exceeding their ability to cure it.

+ Hindering offense:

Not all forms are intended to kill someone, sometimes you just want them unable to attack or run. Hindering offense usually means you are trying to stall or buy time. The means of this tend to involve either broken limbs, blindness, paralysis, or any of the other numerous afflictions that can stop attackers. Be aware not all of these will effect all attackers. For example a mage can use psionics while paralyzed.

+ Hindering defense:

Hindering defense means you are trying to stop them from defending, or leave them open to attack. This is not the same thing as hindering curing, this goal tends to involve keeping them from escaping, shielding, or otherwise giving them time to try to recover. This tends to be similar to hindering offense but has slightly different afflictions it can use. Things like paralysis and broken legs can still work but broken arms and blindness do not actually stop escape. Just keep in mind what can stop attacks and what can stop running when designing either kind of form.

Quick Note!
* Stacking means using multiple afflictions with the same cure.
* Making an affliction stick means it is not cured quickly, if at all.
* Monk damage is complicated and has alot of factors.

+----------------+
| Fleshing forms |
+----------------+

Fleshing forms is the art of evaluating forms to improve their efficiency
and effectiveness. Fleshing usually has two different levels that people go
through, short term and long term. We will cover each one independently to
ensure we are thorough as fleshing is often one of the hardest parts of kata
and personal combat development.

+ Short Term

Short term fleshing revolves around finding errors, bad choices, and finding
where you may have redundancies. At this point you are often looking to free
up ka for other options or improve the form based on the goal you have for it.
Here are some things you do for short term fleshing.

* Action check: Always check at least twice that your actions are hitting the
correct targets. Nothing kills a form like causing the wrong affliction, or
worse, using the same arm twice. It is suggested you try a form on someone as
some actions will not have you pick an arm or in some rare cases, which leg you
use.

* Modifier checks: Are you using break, concussion, or other unarmed mods? If
so, ensure that you have an unarmed attack. This goes both ways, as unarmed
actions cannot use guild modifiers either. Always check that your modifiers
work with the actions you are using. Grapple end modifiers only work if you are
ending a grapple.

* Redundant or unneeded afflictions: If you are causing unconscious then you do
not need worry about stun. If you are causing a broken limb then you do not
need a break mod at the same time. This is one of the most frequent errors that
can waste your valuable ka and sometimes can get you killed. Also ensure that
you are not using a -momentum ability if you can do the same without losing
precious momentum.

* Kata mods: One of the most frequent modifiers is strength, or hard and soft.
Often you will need wounds to cause the effect you want so you will want to use
soft. This is not always true, a late form may use hard on the assumption that
the target will have high wounds already. Speed is the single most used
modifier, if you have ka available make sure you have this modifier. Keep in
mind that hard and soft can theoretically be used at the same time but they
nullify each others effect.

+ Long Term

You often will do a second look at a form after having it for awhile. Long
term fleshing often looks at a few key areas. Long term fleshing is often
called a form review because it is less about specifics and more about overall
consideration of the form. Here is what long term fleshing will often entail.

* Removable: If a form is not doing as intended, not doing as well as intended,
or does the job worse than another form it can be removed. Do not take it hard
if you decide you can remove a form, everyone makes mistakes.

* Revamping or remaking: Sometimes a form does its job but a second look will
show that it could be slightly more productive, such as removing hard and adding
the speed modifier. Other times you will remake a piece of the form, or even
simply changing the order that actions are done. Sometimes for example you
may move the kick to the first action so there are more wounds on the limb
another action is hitting if that other action uses a wounds based modifier.

* Downgrading: Once in awhile you will look at a form and realize that while it
does the job you intended you want to be using it earlier. At this point you try
you might remove modifiers it does not need or change a nonessential action to
lower the cost. This is called downgrading a form when you make it usable at a
lower momentum, but does not imply the form is worse. Many times you will want
an herb stacking form to usable early because you plan to try for a lock at high
for instance.

Quick Notes!
*Fleshing is evaluating forms.
*Short term fleshing tries to catch mistakes or bad choices in forms.
*Long term fleshing, or form reviews, are done after some time having the form.

I hope this work has proven helpful and answered any questions one may have. For further reading a trip to your local library could prove very educational. For questions to the author please get in touch via message, letter, or tell with Malarious.