I have an easier idea for my story, using near future martial art protagonists.

[SavageBlade900]

Hi again, so I think this time I might avoid having a warrior nun and flagellant with possessed demons set in the near fantasy/sci fi future cause it might be difficult for me to get the story I want out of it.

Instead I think just martial art warrior experts with possessed demons set in the near future/fantasy/sci fi setting could work just as good for my ideas. What I want to create is some sort of martial art modern day to near future warriors but I'm having trouble getting a good reference from this. Yes I know there are kung fu monks that exist which is pretty much plausible and realistic enough that they would exist in the modern to near future world but that has been done many times in action flicks and stories. I want something different. I want one male and female martial artist that are dealing with a dark past. I won't get religion involved but I think I can still use demons that are apart of them like they descend from demons as half breeds or something and I could still make them antiheroes struggling with the evil within them. what are some martial art styles and references I can use for these characters and have them as sort of dwellers from society due to their inner demon struggles? What places in the world that study martial arts where some fantasy elements could exist without many knowing about it?

Thank you for any feedback, if anyone can help me with this, I would love that.

 

[tinkerdan]

Honestly you could be approaching this from the wrong angle.
I suggest you read this book.
Violence: A Writer's Guide Second Edition
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CWGH46I/?tag=id2100-20

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CWGH46I/?tag=brite-21

From there proceed to karate or kung-fu or whatever. Maybe take a class.
However if you understand some of the deeper things in
Violence: A Writer's Guide Second Edition
You might gain some meat for thought on how your new religion teaches and approaches physical conflict.

 

[SavageBlade900]

Thank you, I will try and find the time to read these books.

 

[Onyx]

Your two threads sound like the plot of comic books - like Marvel characters Electra, Magik or Psylocke. They exist in a contemporary, advanced technology world with magic, demons, etc.

That said, have you ever read a novel with lots of hand-to-hand combat? Was it interesting to read?

 

[Lumens]

For a very general and spotty reference, martial arts these days are divided into Traditional and Modern. Traditional ones are not all from Asia, but those are the most famous ones.

Martial arts as self defence are useful in any society where weapons are outlawed. This was the case in Okinawa, the birthplace of Karate, for example. Ideally, and realistically, you do not want to get into hand to hand combat with someone if you can help it, unless you are a bit of a matcho, or you are looking for trouble.

Brute force is easer to learn than gentleness. The less you want to hurt your opponent, the more skill is involved. Examples of gentle martial arts are Aikido and Tai Chi. Brutal ones are Karate and Krav Maga.

The most popular fighting these days seems to be MMA (mixed martial arts), which is a sport. It has no emphasis on self defence, and has influences from a wide range of fighting styles.

These are some thoughts. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

 

[Onyx]

Martial arts as self defence are useful in any society where weapons are outlawed.

Just for clarity, "martial arts" include the use of weapons - fencing is a 'martial art', as is rifle marksmanship. You're referring to "unarmed martial arts".

 

[SavageBlade900]

Your two threads sound like the plot of comic books - like Marvel characters Electra, Magik or Psylocke. They exist in a contemporary, advanced technology world with magic, demons, etc.

That said, have you ever read a novel with lots of hand-to-hand combat? Was it interesting to read?

Yes it kind of does, is that a bad thing

For a very general and spotty reference, martial arts these days are divided into Traditional and Modern. Traditional ones are not all from Asia, but those are the most famous ones.

Martial arts as self defence are useful in any society where weapons are outlawed. This was the case in Okinawa, the birthplace of Karate, for example. Ideally, and realistically, you do not want to get into hand to hand combat with someone if you can help it, unless you are a bit of a matcho, or you are looking for trouble.

Brute force is easer to learn than gentleness. The less you want to hurt your opponent, the more skill is involved. Examples of gentle martial arts are Aikido and Tai Chi. Brutal ones are Karate and Krav Maga.

The most popular fighting these days seems to be MMA (mixed martial arts), which is a sport. It has no emphasis on self defence, and has influences from a wide range of fighting styles.

These are some thoughts. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Sure! I agree with what you say. The thing is I want my protagonists to be sort of mystical but also have that orderly knight feel to them. Which is why I thought of having the female character maybe an ex nun that was abolished from the secret abbey and the flagellant from the secret church order cause of their demon offspring heritage, so they are no longer part of the religious sector. Meaning they could be now freely training in any combat arts they want. But they would not fit in society due to their demon heritage and their lack of interactions with the real world, which would but the authorities and military, etc as their enemies.

Since they have mystical and demon heritage they could probably picked up on martial arts that suits them like Tai Chi, Aikido, with some Okinawa Karate? I know they mix some traditional weapons that could suit an ex nun and ex flagellant warrior right? Maybe they had to keep traveling from society in order to survive against their religious zealots orders from their abbey that want to hunt them down cause of their demon lineage and from the military, police, authorities who see them as a threat to society and the protagonists came across these different martial arts on their travels which suit their style?

The ex flagellant uses a chain whip so many martial arts could reflect the art of using a whip right? the ex nun would probably use a sword most likely.

In case you're wondering, the flagellant is an antihero who has scars due to his abuse for having the demon genes from his dark past and was led to believe he was doing the right thing his whole life from his masters now he wants to redeem himself and fight them back for what they've one to him and others.

 

[SavageBlade900]

Just for clarity, "martial arts" include the use of weapons - fencing is a 'martial art', as is rifle marksmanship. You're referring to "unarmed martial arts".

Maybe the protagonists practiced with some fencing along their travels? It could suit their styles and it is used in modern times from what I'm guessing.

Or maybe to make this easier I could just have the nun and flagellant trained by their father that happens to know Karate but since they carried some demon offspring from the mother, the father resents them and is abusive to them and they run away from the church order when older becoming ex nun and ex flagellant while also being sibling enemies. So they're basically a disfunctonal demon offspring family. Is this idea good? Please let me know. I have to know if any of this would be offensive

 

[Lumens]

Since they have mystical and demon heritage they could probably picked up on martial arts that suits them like Tai Chi, Aikido, with some Okinawa Karate? I know they mix some traditional weapons that could suit an ex nun and ex flagellant warrior right?

Sure. Just make sure that you do some research on these styles to at least understand where they come from.

Aikido uses a short staff, called Jo. Okinawan Karate makes use of a multitude of weapons, including short and long staffs, nunchuks, sai and tonfa. They were able to conceal these because they were part of daily life. They have all been used in fiction before. Elektra, which was mentioned above, uses Sai, for example.

And yes, @Onyx is right, Martial Arts involve the use of weapons, of course.

 

[SavageBlade900]

Sure. Just make sure that you do some research on these styles to at least understand where they come from.

Aikido uses a short staff, called Jo. Okinawan Karate makes use of a multitude of weapons, including short and long staffs, nunchuks, sai and tonfa. They were able to conceal these because they were part of daily life. They have all been used in fiction before. Elektra, which was mentioned above, uses Sai, for example.

And yes, @Onyx is right, Martial Arts involve the use of weapons, of course.

I sure will.

Ok so how's this for an idea. Since I would rather avoid having to offend anyone and since religion is a touchy subject and to personal to get involved with the protagonists, here's a new idea. What if I have the story about a rich and powerful man let's say, and he happens to be a master in Okinawan Karate, Tai Chi, Fencing and Aikido. I don't think he has to be Japanese, especially if this is modern to near future times. He trains his son and daughter in these martial arts since they were young but starts to resent them and act abusive towards them, realizing they carry this super power demon heritage in them (more likely from the mothers side). So he sends them to a religious order school in maybe a way for them to cleanse their sins or just to get rid of them (maybe making the daughter into a nun and the son a flagellant, when they get there or not, maybe they could just be students there and not religious figures at all) but that makes matters worse and they are abused their as well and it gets harder for them to control their demon sides causing them to use their super powers when abused, bullied or whatever so they escape/leave/are abandoned or whatever and head their own separate ways and are kind of on the run from society that doesn't accept them due to their offspring and outlandish nature about them. The authorities, military, even the priest and sisterhoods (or just make up my own religion of classes and maybe some sort of cultist group?) of the religious order are all after the siblings, even the father is a villain to them that wants to take them out. Yes this is pretty dramatic and not your typical antihero story or super hero that's loved by everyone and saves the day.

What's your opinions on this idea?

 

[Onyx]

I said your idea was like modern comics so you'd know that your idea wasn't that weird. Religion in books is fine. You can have whatever martial arts you want, armed or unarmed. Just decide what it is you want to write and if it would make a good written story.

 

[Lumens]

What's your opinions on this idea?

I like it.

 

[SavageBlade900]

I said your idea was like modern comics so you'd know that your idea wasn't that weird. Religion in books is fine. You can have whatever martial arts you want, armed or unarmed. Just decide what it is you want to write and if it would make a good written story.

Thanks, I'll give this a try.

I like it.

Thank you! I'm just having trouble figuring out their nationality/heritage, would Italian/European sound more suiting? Or something like half Polynesian/Italian?

 

[Joshua Jones]

Thank you! I'm just having trouble figuring out their nationality/heritage, would Italian/European sound more suiting? Or something like half Polynesian/Italian?

You honestly could pick any culture on the face of the earth and make it work. Personally, I would start with whatever you are closest to and play around from there.

It sounds like what you are really going for is a super powered martial arts story with socially/religiously outcast protagonist pair. I think you may be trying to put the cart before the horse, though, in worrying about which martial art and so forth at this moment. You really need to define what their powers are first, and then you can figure out how they fight. I mean, if the nun is half succubus, the story will go a completely different direction than if she is part fire demon, or part shape shifter, or part... you get the idea.

So, if I were in your shoes, I would:

1. Define your universe so you know what is possible.
2. Define your protagonists so you know what is possible for them.
3. Define their enemies so you know what the protagonists are up against.
4. Then, define their fighting styles, so you know how they are likely to respond to 3.

Otherwise, you run the danger of creating enemies perfectly suited to be weak against them, creating Mary Sue characters, or creating powers of the hours which pop up specifically to counter their enemies.

 

[Lumens]

Also it would help to know how old these characters are. Are they supernaturally old, like hundreds of years? That would explain knowing the original Okinawan style fighting, which is very different to modern Karate. Just saying...

 

[Joshua Jones]

Also it would help to know how old these characters are. Are they supernaturally old, like hundreds of years? That would explain knowing the original Okinawan style fighting, which is very different to modern Karate. Just saying...

Truth be told, it really depends on if you learning a traditional style and/or if you are studying from a traditional dojo. I studied, among other styles, Isshinryu karate, which is a merger of Shorin-ryu and Gojo-ryu, both of which are traditional styles. And, my dojo was pretty traditional; we didn't learn flashy moves for showing off, and as a result, we cleaned up at tournament sparing competitions.

Now, the OP could pull a Samurai Champloo and have one character use traditional techniques, and one use more modern techniques...

 

[SavageBlade900]

You honestly could pick any culture on the face of the earth and make it work. Personally, I would start with whatever you are closest to and play around from there.

It sounds like what you are really going for is a super powered martial arts story with socially/religiously outcast protagonist pair. I think you may be trying to put the cart before the horse, though, in worrying about which martial art and so forth at this moment. You really need to define what their powers are first, and then you can figure out how they fight. I mean, if the nun is half succubus, the story will go a completely different direction than if she is part fire demon, or part shape shifter, or part... you get the idea.

So, if I were in your shoes, I would:

1. Define your universe so you know what is possible.
2. Define your protagonists so you know what is possible for them.
3. Define their enemies so you know what the protagonists are up against.
4. Then, define their fighting styles, so you know how they are likely to respond to 3.

Otherwise, you run the danger of creating enemies perfectly suited to be weak against them, creating Mary Sue characters, or creating powers of the hours which pop up specifically to counter their enemies.

I agree, I'll have to think up their powers first. They wouldn't be associated with fire demons and the nun wouldn't be associated with succubus demons. Could I combine a few and create my own demon hybrid for both characters? (I.e the nun a mix of succubus, fire and shape shifter and the flagellant a mix of incubus, fire and shape shifter demon)
Where can I research different demon types?
Basically the nun has two sides she can manifest into her more angelic warrior side which is her more normal and then her ultimate form which is very demonic which is similar to the Devil trigger like Dante from DMC. The antihero flagellant is more in battle with his demon side, not as much control as the nun so when his manifests it's almost like an entire separate entity.

I would up the power and ability of the demon enemies, as the nun and flagellant are half human breeds, where these demons are full blooded demons, I mean some of them of course would be weaker than both protagonists but many of the demon enemies would be stronger and have the upper hand from their own world as the two half breeds are not experienced enough there and their human sides on Earth take over more cause they need to get used to using and controlling their abilities which they have yet to master.

I could just make them Caucasians and just have it they were raised some where in the USA. The father is human and studied martial arts, aikido, karate, fencing, maybe some tai chi and some krav maga or whatever. The mother has demon descent which the siblings carry.

 

[SavageBlade900]

Also it would help to know how old these characters are. Are they supernaturally old, like hundreds of years? That would explain knowing the original Okinawan style fighting, which is very different to modern Karate. Just saying...

Well they would be born sometime in the modern to near future era. The mother might be the immortal one and the father human

Truth be told, it really depends on if you learning a traditional style and/or if you are studying from a traditional dojo. I studied, among other styles, Isshinryu karate, which is a merger of Shorin-ryu and Gojo-ryu, both of which are traditional styles. And, my dojo was pretty traditional; we didn't learn flashy moves for showing off, and as a result, we cleaned up at tournament sparing competitions.

Now, the OP could pull a Samurai Champloo and have one character use traditional techniques, and one use more modern techniques...

Interesting take I could have is since the father was a martial artist from all those different styles, even though he is bad and was abusive, the siblings could of picked up on certain styles on their own, example is the nun using more modern techniques like with the fencing, picks up the zwiehander from the religious order and the flagellant using more traditional techniques from the Okinawan chain sickle and picks up the whip chain from the religious order. And it makes sense since that's the type of weapon he was very much abused by his father and religious order for his half breed birth.

How do these ideas sound? Is any of this offensive?

 

[Lumens]

How do these ideas sound? Is any of this offensive?

Sounds good to me. Remember that it's all in the execution. Starting with good ideas that you like is great, but the real story is in the telling.

 

[SavageBlade900]

Sounds good to me. Remember that it's all in the execution. Starting with good ideas that you like is great, but the real story is in the telling.

Thanks! That is true.

Now what about the idea of the male character being a flagellant? I did some research on modern or futuristic flagellants and I was able to come across modern understandings of one and it seems very controversial, so controversial that it's officially illegal in many countries, including the US. It does happen in a few places like in small communities in the Philippines and many residents are outraged about it.

I'm concern that basing my male protagonist on such a character idea like this might cause a riot and it's won't be able to finish my story and can't make him a flagellant warrior chain whip user