Desert Wind

Desert Wind is a style that employs two different types of weapons, the short sword and the voulge, to protect against opponents and is practiced largely among Sund Wakir of the Iromakuanhe.

This Iromakuanhe martial art utilizes bladed weaponry to better decimate and destroy opponents that attack the practitioner. It is steeped in religion and ancestry and has a long history of being tied to the Sund Wakir of The Nuocr Expanse on Maekardan.

Practitioners will normally wear a long pair of flowing pants that end below the ankle tied with a thin belt and wear on their tops a shirt that wraps around from one shoulder to the opposite hip and is tied with strings connected to the shirt, fully enclosing the torso. The sleeves of this shirt are long and reach the wrists of the practitioner.

The Makuori had been living on Maekardan for a great time with their bioweapons and martial arts, before a tear in space/ time brought the Saalii to them. Stemming from the Makuori's influence on the Saalii people that entered the Iruotl system, Desert Wind became a staple of the desert-dwellers there.

A Makuori names Alla Updool pushed for the warriors of the Saalii to learn the Desert Wind style before it had even acquired its monicker. From there, practitioners cropped up that taught the Desert Wind style, even after the great Saalii sacrifice. It is most popular among Sund Wakirs that make their monasteries in the Nuocr Expanse to this day.

Weapons are the mainstay of Desert Wind style martial art and there are two main types.

• Short Sword: Usually a single-edged blade that pitches forward more towards the tip. The blade towards the hilt is concave and more convex towards the hilt. It features an additional strengthening and almost decorational metal on the unused side of the blade and a pommel that has a slight curve and indent to it.
• Voulge: The polearm that is known as the voulge is a shaft of wood that has an attached blade that has the lower two thirds of the blade bound to the pole.

Pre-arranged meta-movements practiced in single sets, forms are choreographed structured steps that include the techniques and stances of Desert Wind wherein the practitioner is pitted against multiple imagined opponents or one singular opponent and must both fend off and fight. Often these forms are practiced with the aid of another practitioner that acts as the opponent.

The Voulge kata are climatic and tense, following the rigid structure of blocking, hacking, and cleaving that is important to the Desert Wind style.

• Aki: The first form of the voulge weapon's kata, it is a short and succinct one, focusing on blocking and defensive maneuvers rather than cleaving and hacking.
• Lokto: The second form of the voulge weapon in Desert Wind, this one is full of the rudimentary aspects of the coulge, including hacking and cleaving techniques.

The short sword kata are started with both sword tips raised to one another, then they back away from one another to gain distance, and then the practitioners begin the series of meta-movements. The different forms are listed below:

• Reshith: The first form and one devoted to the basic strikes, it is one that is slow-paced and understandable to even the beginner.
• Lacham: This second form is more fast-paced than the first and features sweeping motions of the hands and a launch of assaults upon the opponent that are both hard to decipher for the opponent and sometimes the beginning practitioner.
• Meod: Meod is a form based on arm-grabs and blocks, as well as lengthy leg work.
• Edra: The last form that brings together what the other forms were teaching, Edra is the accumulation of the teachings of the short sword in Desert Wind.

There are more than a few strikes in the Desert Wind style for both the voulge and short sword.

The voulge strikes are centered around hacking and cleaving. They are enumerated upon below.

• Cleave: Usually done in one swift motion, the cleave strike is done by bringing the voulge either above the head and striking down or to the side of the practitioner and brought to the side of the opponent. It is a precise motion and one that is meant to decimate the opponent in one strike.
• Hack: A hack strike is one that involves many movements, pushing forward into the opponent often and nearly without cessation. It is a less precise motion, made to end an opponent's attacks after multiple strikes.

There are a few different strikes for the short sword employed by the Desert Wind style, as highlighted below.

• Head Strike: With the sword raised above the practitioner's head, it is brought in front of and down towards the opponent's head.
• Lower Strike: After the sword is raised, it is brought down to the hip level to strike down an opponent.
• Angled Strike: The sword is brought from head-height to the side, then down, at an angle to the hip level of an opponent.
• Angled Lunge Strike: From a position with the sword above the head, the practitioner will begin by moving at an angle while lunging forward. The short sword is then brought to below the hip level of the opponent.
• Thrust: With the sword in the center of the body, it it jabbed forward and pushed in front of the practitioner, towards the opponent.

Sparring is done by two or more practitioners wearing helmets and padding and the rules are quite strict. There is to be no follow-through of actions, meaning the voulge or short sword may tap or lightly hit the opponent, but not strike through and potentially injure them. The opponents must stop their attack upon dropping of a weapon by one of the practitioners.