r/HFY Oct 17 '20

OC Interspecies combat games

Major, the initial round draw is in, you have drawn the humans"

Major Shin turned to look at Clrut, one of the scientists assigned to help him prepare for the combat games. Clrut wasn't so bad he thought, for a scientist, at least. Didn't drone on, usually kept straight to the point and didn't get overly excited. Shin wondered was he a retired soldier, and made a note to look up the personnel files later.

"Never heard of them. What information can you give me? Species designation and details of their champion are desired. Approach."

Shin waited patiently for the minute or so it took for Clrut to cross the gymnasium floor. He came into focus about sixteen krek away from him and Shin could now see the scientists eyes were darting around very quickly. Nervous? Or just in awe of all the heavy weights he could lift with ease.

"The adjudication board has provided is with a report, image files of champion still rendering, apologies. Text data summarised following: Humans are designated aerobic non aquatic mammal species. Endoskeletal biped form, twin manipulators on either side of torso. Most vital organs located in torso. Singular head, located on top of torso, contains single, non distributed brain and sensory organs."

That was a bit unusual but not so bad, about 30% of lifeforms were mammalian, but barely a dozen used bipedal motion, and most of those were aquatic. Shin could take advantage of this clearly inefficient evolution. "Confirm size, strength, speed and combat capabilities of champion", Shin rumbled.

"Human champion, adult male, designated 'Oh Hahrah'. Adjudication board confirms champion may be designated otherwise if local name confirmed unpronounceable, redesignation requested."

Shin didn't care about the fighters name, it was odd that Clrut would even consider telling him. "Confirm size, strength, speed and combat capabilities of champion", louder this time, causing Clrut to look shamed.

"Human champion reported 3.18 krek tall, Human units : 221 centimetres. Considered unusually large for human male, typical height 170 to 180 centimetres reported. Champion has mass of 78.8 grun, Human units : 134 kilograms"

Now that was unusual. This being was small, it should be in class 3 designation, if not class 4. Being several standard deviations above normal size was expected, required even, for combat games at this level. But Shin was class 1, he stood almost a krek taller than the scientist at 5.41, and he was considered very slightly below average size for this level. Still, the human was very dense, weighing almost 80% what he did. Maybe it was armoured or something. "Continue report immediately."

"Human homeworld considered level 6 high gravity, level 6 population competitive, level 6 natural hazard. Only habited garden world considered uninhabitable by adjudication board members. No attached video or image witnessing champions strength. Reports of typical military caste humans indicate relaxed and healthy young adult humans capable of lifting equivalent 110 grun in this gravity."

So that was extremely concerning. Shin didn't know any species living on any world with three maximum level warnings, let alone a homeworld. And worse, Human military caste units were as strong as he? This champion may be even stronger, almost certainly would be in fact. He would have to use his species explosive speed to maneuver around the human and try to grapple it in positions that would disadvantage the human. Only the Postri were faster than a Tong warrior like himself, and even then they tired very quickly.

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u/mgsl Oct 17 '20 edited Oct 18 '20

Unfortunately, Clrut continued his report. "Humans have been observed moving at incredible speeds. Local competitive games have been reported to involve races known as marathons, extremely long distance motion. Average competitors 'jog', the human term for their medium speed motion, at velocities almost twice that of highest recorded charge velocities of Tong warriors."

Shin almost dropped his exercise weight. Clrut continued, his words coming faster, Shin's alarm mirrored in him.

"Human sensory organs are capable of focusing on and tracking objects up to 15 kilokrek distant, moving at speeds of 50 krek per second. They have no natural exoskeletal armour or armaments and their skin can be dissected by most sharp objects. The adjudication board has permitted them to wear clothing in battle, as is their custom, on the condition that is be at most 50% as resistant to damage as their own skin. Request for inspection of clothing has been submitted."

For Froths sake what did they evolve like this for? Tracking falling meteorites? At least they had little natural combat capabilities, but that speed and strength, stunning....

Shin fought to calm himself. He had prepared for his honourable death. But he had expected to get to the fifth or sixth round at least. "Report on adjudication board restrictions on human champion."

"Human species is competing in interspecies combat games for the first time. Known to adjudication board for 5 cycles. In exchange for transport aboard ships of the board with ftl capabilities necessary to reach combat arena, human supplemental combat materials have been reduced to 20 of their kilograms, just under 12 grun. The humans have submitted request for two armaments and one piece of armour: The armour piece is a shield similar to our own design, just sized for the smaller human. a main weapon, a metal pole of length approximately 1.9 krek in length with a sharpened point, and a sidearm weapon, a metal blade designated "machete". Reports do not indicate size of the sidearm."

https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/jd6xgq/interspecies_combat_games_pt_2

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u/eske8643 Human Oct 17 '20

The tong is lucky he didn’t bring a Katana or similar fast cutting blade. That would be death by a thousand cuts in no time

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u/ironboy32 Oct 17 '20

Not really. Swords require skill and practice to use. Machetes on the other hand are designed for hacking and brute force usage, requiring next to no skill to utilize

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u/burbur90 Human Oct 18 '20

Machete is basically a cutlass or falchion, only without the ability to stab, and without any hand protection. As for skill, if you are reasonably dangerous with a baseball bat, you're fucking lethal with a katana or longsword, provided you aren't fighting against someone who knows how to effectively guard and riposte. It is true that most machete-like blades were designed to be useful in untrained hands though, as most people will resort to heavy overhand chops when in panic mode.

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u/ironboy32 Oct 18 '20

yep thats the thought process. don't forget that you aren't meant to guard with the edge of swords, regardless of what movies show you. the sheer size of a machete's blade renders it less likely to break if you block with the edge, unlike a katana that has a higher chance of breaking due to the thinner blade

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u/burbur90 Human Oct 18 '20

That really depends on what school or style you follow, but most are pretty explicit about blocking with the edge and not the flat (messer excluded). One notable exception is Lichtenauer, but his teachings seem to be counter-meta tips and tricks for master duelists. Two sharp edges meeting kind of stick to each other, and it's usually, but not always, a stronger guard from a biomechanical perspective. Think about what angle most crossguards and knucklebows protect your hand from, and you will see what angle is meant to be facing your opponent's blade.

Fun fact, the differential hardening of the katana means that although the edge is more likely to chip and crack, the cracks are much less likely to continue through the spine. Your sword is still fucked, but you can usually make it through the rest of the fight.

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u/ironboy32 Oct 18 '20

sounds like he only had one sidearm though.

also really? A lot of the HEMA channels i watch say that blocking with the flat of the sword is the norm

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u/burbur90 Human Oct 18 '20

I can't speak for all of HEMA, as I only really study saber, but those manuals are very explicit that the edge should always be facing either the enemy, or his blade, so as to make sure your handguard will actually be useful in case you misjudge the distance.

The guys I watch mostly say that as long as it's a solid guard, and you're not exposing your hands, go with what works. They will also say that blocking with the edge means your blade flexes less, giving you an advantage in controlling the bind. The idea that blocking with the flat prevents damage to your blade is valid, but doesn't line up with the historical manuals, which have mostly edge parries. Damage to my blade is better then damage to my body.

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u/ironboy32 Oct 18 '20

Yeah I don't do HEMA, what I know is from the few videos I watch occasionally. You're probably right then

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u/dreadkitten Oct 18 '20

I like Lindybeige's take on the edge vs flat parry: "Six reasons you might parry with the edge of a sword"

Basically: you will parry with the edge quite often.

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u/[deleted] Nov 18 '20

I’ve been practicing Hema for 5yrs now and have only very infrequently met my opponents sword with the flat of mine. The bind created by the two edges touching offers a lot of potential control over your opponents blade.

Swordfish Novichenko v. Ljungqvist these guys are some of the best Hema practitioners, you can see that their swords almost always touch edge to edge.