Doimo Brawling is the fighting style perfected by the nomadic Doimo men found in the Naezshan Zhunith Thirstlands in south-western Nybelmar. It is a very effective fighting style with a long tradition, supposedly a gift from the spirits. It was first practiced by the famous medicine man Anhalli of the Nattrav, who is said to have defeated a demon with his bare hands only. Today Doimo Brawling serves on the one hand as a way to decide major arguments between clans, as a means of self-defense and on furthermore represents a popular sport. Additionally the preparations for the Brawling also provide meditative religious experience, especially among the Nattrav, the spirit clan.

Description. As the Doimo don't value material possessions the way of barehanded fighting seems a little uncivilised to other residents of Caelereth. This is especially interesting as the Doimo are usually a very peaceful people, who rather flee than fight when confronted. But Doimo Brawling is not designed to cause pain, but to keep an opponent at bay. However, among their own people Doimo Brawling has become a sort of ritual as a last resort when differences among clan chieftains cannot be solved in any other ways. For this purpose the best trained brawlers of each clan are chosen to decide the argument through the art of Doimo Brawling. Successful brawlers therefore also stand in high esteem among the Doimo and the male youths of the tribe try their best to stay in shape - perhaps they will once play an important role for their clan when they have to follow the call of the chieftain... Some clans of course stress the importance of the Brawling more than others. The most frequent users of the martial art by the way are the Nattrav, the spirit clan, because of the art's founder being a Nattrav Doimo. - Apart from the spiritual and religous place the art holds in Doimo culture it is also a very popular sport. Added with the use of the staff it is a very respected sport and the atheletes which perform well are given great praise among the rest of tribe.

The peace lovering orientation prevents the Doimo fighters from beating their opponents to a bloody pulp. Instead they use a variety of submissions and throws to disarm their opponents rather then cause them a considerably large amount of pain. Doimo Brawling is certainly not aggressive. The performers prefer to disarm their opponents as quickly as possible in an effective but non lethal way. The fighting style is based mainly around throws and submission holds and ironicly no quick punches or kicks are used. The fighting style doesn't rely on barbaric fighting but to cover your own faults while trying to disarm, not kill, your opponent.

One of the disadvantages of the fighting style is that if the opponent is armed the performer may be severely injured, if not killed, because of their caring for their opponent's well being and not focusing on the threat which they are trying to immoblise. During the popular sport a common mistake by the competitors is to try to combat your opponent, not to cover your own weaknesses.

Techniques and Moves. There are a bunch of Doimo Brawling moves we'd like to summarize here. The name for the move performer is the A'carn and the receiver is called the Sou'carn.

a) Basic Moves. All of these moves can be placed in any particular order to form combos but are as equally effective one their own.

• Open Palm
  The palm is opened, fingers all touching, and the top joint on each finger is bent. The bottom part of the hand, closet to the wrist, is thrust into the nose or in between the eyes. Usually this would at least knock the Sou'carn over.

• Swinging Forearm
  The right fist of the A'carn is clenched, the A'carn's right hand is then brought down to the A'carn's left knee and the right forearm is swung into the cheek of the Sou'carn .

• Head Butt
  The Sou'carn's shoulders are grabbed and the A'carn's forehead is thrown into the Sou'carn's forehead or nose.

• Throat Chop
  The A'carn's hand is put into the position of the open palm without the bending of the fingers. The side of the hand which the little finger is on is thrown into the Sou'carn's throat. This move can theoretically be lethal if enough force is applied (which won't happen in a Doimo fight, though).

• Gut Punch
  The A'carn's fist is clenched, the elbow bent into an L shape and swung like a pendulum into the stomach of the Sou'carn. This can knock over an opponent and will surely make them lose their breath or at least their focus.

b) Submission Holds. These moves rely on appling pressure in different places on the Sou'carn's body. These moves cannot be combined to combos.

• Traditional Strangle
  The A'carn is behind the Sou'carn. The A'carn's arm is placed around the Sou'carn's neck, the elbow joint touching the throat. The A'carn's free hand is placed on the elbow and moved towards the free arm's shoulder to apply more pressure. If this hold is prolonged the receiver will faint and eventually die.

• Barbaric Strangle
  The A'carn's two hands grasp the neck of the Sou'carn. The Sou'carn is thrown to ground, the hands still grasping the neck. One of the A'carn's knees is pushed into the stomach of the Sou'carn to keep them pinned down. This move can also be lethal.

• Cruel Strangle
  The Sou'carn is tackled to the ground and the A'carn's foot is placed on the throat of the Sou'carn. Pressure is applied, this is more effective with bare feet. This move is only used in extreme danger, this move is only used as a lethal move - a move a Doimo would only use in self-defense.

• Shoulder Crush
  The A'carn is standing behind the receiver. The right arm is placed underneath the Sou'carn's right arm and is locked with the left elbow on the Sou'carn's left shoulder. If the hold is too loose or more pressure needs to be applied the A'carn's right hand can grab their left shoulder instead of elbow.

• Ankle Breaker
  The A'carn is again standing behind the Sou'carn. The Sou'carn is elbowed in the head to the ground. The A'carn's left foot is placed on the back of the Sou'carn and pressure is applied to keep them down. The Sou'carn's right leg is lifted up by the ankle and the right foot twisted counter clockwise. Eventually the ankle will break.

• Neck Bender
  The Sou'carn is thrown to the floor and the forearm of the A'carn is placed over the forehead and is pulled back making the neck bend. With too much force this submission hold will break the Sou'carn's neck.

• Arm Bender
  The arm of the Sou'carn is placed behind the Sou'carn's back , the elbow is bent and the arm is moved towards the head. This move may result in the arm falling out its socket.

• Bear Hug
  The A'carn wraps each arm around the back of the Sou'carn and grabs the opposite shoulder, this means the right arm would grab the left shoulder and vice versa. The Sou'carn is then squeezed. The move becomes more effective when the receiver is lifted off the ground.

c) Body Throws. These moves rely on upper body strength as they are plainly just throwing your opponent to the ground repeatedly. They can be used to finish a combo.

• Average Toss
  The A'carn's arms lock around the Sou'carn's waist. The Sou'carn is then spun around. Then the A'carn releases the lock allowing them to fly through the air and ending up with an uncomfortable landing.

• Bear Toss
  The A'carn holds the Sou'carn in the same way as he does at the bear hug. The A'carn turns to the left, lifts the Sou'carn and jumps on top of the Sou'carn before he can stand up.

• Body Slam
  This move can only be performed when the Sou'carn is running towards the A'carn. The left arm of the A'carn is placed in between the legs of the Sou'carn and the left hand grabs the back of the Sou'carn. The right hand grabs the Sou'carn's left shoulder, throws the Sou'carn over their head still holding the Sou'carn and eventually falls on top of the Sou'carn as he hits the ground.

Training. Because of the Doimo's lack of structural knowledge no specific apparatus or equipment is used to help train new performers of the martial art as is common at other tribes. However, techniques and moves are explained to the younger men by the more experienced ones and at various ceremonies training fights are arranged, not primarily to determine a winner, but mainly to show the rest of the clan what the younger ones have learned by now.

Image description. The great medicine man Anhalli of the Nattrav, the clan of Spirit-Dancers. Picture drawn by Bard Judith and Eshóh K'ryvvlen.

Over the year the medicine men, who are masters of the martial art, take the time to spend several weeks with the most advanced Doimo brawlers and teach them extra lessons. The show how to discipline the mind as well as the body with many different mental and physical challenges, as the art doesn't require brute strength but a wise heart and strong mind in order to live up to the Doimo's traditional peace loving tendencies. At such training sessions objects like buckets full of water are used to discipline the body and tasks such as fasting are used to discipline the mind, only the strictest praticers follow such dangerous methods as the fasting though.

Origin/History. There is a very well known medicine man, Anhalli of the Nattrav, who was the first Doimo to ever kill a demon during the "Age of Legends", which in Sarvonia is known as the War of the Chosen. The land dried up at this time, and mountains rose. A lake appeared in the north of the Doimo territories. Armed refugees robbed and killed. At this time the Doimo learned to use the war-club, and Anhalli of the Nattrav also was the first one to use his body as an effective weapon. It is said that he beat the demon he encountered completely unarmed with a hand to hand combat which he believed was given to him by the spirits as they saw his noble intentions. After vanquishing the demon from Caelereth he decided to teach all others who were willing to listen to his teaching of the spirit inspired fighting in order to reduce the casualities from not just demon attacks but all kinds of hostility the Doimo encountered in Nybelmar.

This was the birth of Doimo Brawling. The art soon became common knowledge, especially among the Nattrav because of their higher respect of the spirits and Anhalli coming from their clan, and became a very important part of Doimo culture.