Rynmere University Sports Clubs
Even though Rynmere University prides itself on academia and the expanding of the kingdom's minds through education, the need for both physical exercise and defensive training is well-recognized. Idalos is a dangerous place and anyone who wishes to protect themselves against what threats lay outside the relative safety of city walls best have a place to learn.
The Rynmere University Sports Clubs are university-affiliated martial education clubs that meet two- to three-times every ten-trial and offer both students and Andaris residents access to both individual and group training in a variety of martial options (see below).
Rynmere University students can pay a seasonal fee of 10gn to become a member of a single division of the Sports Clubs, and they can join up to two additional divisions for a further discounted price of 5gn a season each. However, fitting three different Club training sessions into a student's schedule is rather difficult. An Andaris resident who wishes to join a Sports Club for training purposes can join one Club division per season for 20gn, and they do not receive a discount on joining any additional Club divisions. Non-students are not limited in the number of Club divisions they join, but PCs are encouraged to consider the time that must be invested in participating in multiple Clubs.
Each Club meets a certain number of times per ten-trial (see below for a rough schedule) for group classes. These classes consist of 5-10 students and a single instructor. In order to reflect the training received in these classes, a participant may write up to 2 threads per season representing their activities in the Club and the knowledges gained during that class. Individual one-on-one sessions with an instructor may also be requested once per season for 50gn a session, regardless of whether the player is a student or an Andaris resident. A one-on-one session does not count toward the 2 thread per season cap.
Once a year, each Club has a tournament to determine ranking within each Club division and participants can progress up a scale based on their competency level in the combat-related skill they have been in a class for. Once a participant reaches Expert level in the skill or skills for that particular Club division, they may apply to become an Instructor within that Club in a Division of their focus. Becoming a Rynmere University Sports Club instructor counts as one of a PC's two jobs and allows them to receive wages as per a teacher based on their skills, job thread written that season, and seasons' worked just like any other form of in-game employment.
Grappling/Unarmed
The most basic and often necessary of all combat skills begins with Unarmed Combat. This basic fighting style teaches students a combination of brawling and grappling skills but there is no specific martial art style taught within this Club Division. Instead, participants are taught self-discipline, strength, endurance, and how to use timing and distance to their advantage in Unarmed Combat. Nearly all students interested in joining any other Sports Clubs are encouraged to begin with a class in Grappling, as all other Clubs build off of the fundamentals taught in this Club.
Techniques, maneuvers, and counters applied to an opponent in order to gain physical advantage in hand-to-hand combat are the basic tenants of what is taught in Grappling Club. Learning to improve one's position, to escape, to injure one's opponent in important areas, and evasion techniques are taught as a precursor to weapon training. Offensive unarmed combat is not taught in any systematic form such as a martial arts discipline would teach in any Novice class, but instead participants are taught how to use their bodies defensively against an opponent in order to gain a strategic advantage in a combat situation. Advanced Technique classes offer more offensive unarmed training in the form of Brawling, Boxing, and Mixed Idalos Martial Arts styles.
Grappling Club has a bit of a rowdy reputation as being a gateway into the Fighting Pits for many a participant, but such a statement is dismissed as rumors by both the University and Club staff. That said, should one have a way with words, finding additional Unarmed Training outside of what the Clubs offer is knowledge one could discover from the instructors.
Grappling Club Divisions meet three times per ten-trial.
Dagger
As a somewhat universal weapon that anyone of any age can learn to use, Dagger Club teaches participants how to use the utility tool as a side arm. There are two levels to dagger training: the first level teaches basic footwork, evasion, and re-direction maneuvers while the second level teaches actual combat offensive and defensive attacks with both a single dagger and eventually a pair. All dagger combat is taught from an unarmored perspective.
Dagger Club Divisions are often regarded as a build-on to Grappling Clubs as many of the techniques are based on Unarmed Combat foundations.
Dagger Club Divisions meet twice per ten-trial.
Blades
Blades Club Divisions are based on the type of blade to be studied, with the three main Divisions being Longsword, Rapier, Short Sword and Sabre. Additional bladed weapons Divisions do exist within the Sports Club, but these four blades are perhaps the most common of weapons used throughout Idalos. Each blade type has a single instructor and a single class devoted to it, with some classes allowing crossover training days so that students can spar with other blade types and gain skills in countering and defending against different opponents.
Most Sports Clubs members are participants in a Blades Division and many of them take their Division very seriously. These are the most competitive and proud groups within the Sports Clubs and intramural rivalry is encouraged throughout the Rynmere University campus—students often have favorites among the Club members and will take up their names in the form of posters, pennants, and chants of encouragement during the once an arc Tournaments in Ymiden for ranking within the Clubs. Names and faces of these favorites are well known throughout Andaris and sometimes even the rest of Rynmere.
Blades Club Divisions meet three times per ten-trial.
Shields
Shield Club Divisions are perhaps the smallest Division within the Sports Clubs, often overlooked in favor of the flashier Blades options or perhaps just never reached by those with passing interest. Shielded Combat techniques are taught on several levels through several classes, beginning with the Buckler. At this time, there are no instructors to teach Tower Shield techniques, but a variety of smaller shielded combat technique instructors are available.,
All Shield Club Divisions require a student to have had at least one season of training in Blades because shields such as the buckler and round shield are used as companion weapons in hand-to-hand combat. Defensive techniques such as protection from melee combat and ranged combat are taught in Shield Club, but the shield itself is also used offensively and taught accordingly in advanced Club classes.
Shield Club Divisions meet twice per ten-trial.
Archery
Archery Club Divisions are another very popular part of the Rynmere University Sports Clubs, rivaling only Blades Clubs. Both Long and Short bow techniques as well as Crossbows can be learned in Archery classes, though the focus is mostly on bows because of ease of use for more participants. Archery Club fees include an additional 5gn/season due to the costs of arrows and bolts as additional equipment.
The Archery Club Tournaments are just as fierce and even more popular than the Blade Club tournaments. They are generally held in Vhalar and are the highlight of that arc for those who enjoy archery in Andaris. Much like Blade Club, names of popular participants are well-known, gossiped about, spread on posters and made into chants. The betting pool for Archery Club Tournaments is big business among the student population, and tuition fortunes can be won and lost in Vhalar over University favorites in archery.
Archery Club Divisions meet three times per ten-trial.
Moderator's Note: Players are free to control NPCs in this location without moderation.
Unarmed Combat Instructors Armed Combat Instructors Archery Instructors
The Rynmere University Sports Clubs are university-affiliated martial education clubs that meet two- to three-times every ten-trial and offer both students and Andaris residents access to both individual and group training in a variety of martial options (see below).
Joining the Sports Clubs
Rynmere University students can pay a seasonal fee of 10gn to become a member of a single division of the Sports Clubs, and they can join up to two additional divisions for a further discounted price of 5gn a season each. However, fitting three different Club training sessions into a student's schedule is rather difficult. An Andaris resident who wishes to join a Sports Club for training purposes can join one Club division per season for 20gn, and they do not receive a discount on joining any additional Club divisions. Non-students are not limited in the number of Club divisions they join, but PCs are encouraged to consider the time that must be invested in participating in multiple Clubs.
Each Club meets a certain number of times per ten-trial (see below for a rough schedule) for group classes. These classes consist of 5-10 students and a single instructor. In order to reflect the training received in these classes, a participant may write up to 2 threads per season representing their activities in the Club and the knowledges gained during that class. Individual one-on-one sessions with an instructor may also be requested once per season for 50gn a session, regardless of whether the player is a student or an Andaris resident. A one-on-one session does not count toward the 2 thread per season cap.
Once a year, each Club has a tournament to determine ranking within each Club division and participants can progress up a scale based on their competency level in the combat-related skill they have been in a class for. Once a participant reaches Expert level in the skill or skills for that particular Club division, they may apply to become an Instructor within that Club in a Division of their focus. Becoming a Rynmere University Sports Club instructor counts as one of a PC's two jobs and allows them to receive wages as per a teacher based on their skills, job thread written that season, and seasons' worked just like any other form of in-game employment.
Sports Club Divisions
Grappling/Unarmed
The most basic and often necessary of all combat skills begins with Unarmed Combat. This basic fighting style teaches students a combination of brawling and grappling skills but there is no specific martial art style taught within this Club Division. Instead, participants are taught self-discipline, strength, endurance, and how to use timing and distance to their advantage in Unarmed Combat. Nearly all students interested in joining any other Sports Clubs are encouraged to begin with a class in Grappling, as all other Clubs build off of the fundamentals taught in this Club.
Techniques, maneuvers, and counters applied to an opponent in order to gain physical advantage in hand-to-hand combat are the basic tenants of what is taught in Grappling Club. Learning to improve one's position, to escape, to injure one's opponent in important areas, and evasion techniques are taught as a precursor to weapon training. Offensive unarmed combat is not taught in any systematic form such as a martial arts discipline would teach in any Novice class, but instead participants are taught how to use their bodies defensively against an opponent in order to gain a strategic advantage in a combat situation. Advanced Technique classes offer more offensive unarmed training in the form of Brawling, Boxing, and Mixed Idalos Martial Arts styles.
Grappling Club has a bit of a rowdy reputation as being a gateway into the Fighting Pits for many a participant, but such a statement is dismissed as rumors by both the University and Club staff. That said, should one have a way with words, finding additional Unarmed Training outside of what the Clubs offer is knowledge one could discover from the instructors.
Grappling Club Divisions meet three times per ten-trial.
Dagger
As a somewhat universal weapon that anyone of any age can learn to use, Dagger Club teaches participants how to use the utility tool as a side arm. There are two levels to dagger training: the first level teaches basic footwork, evasion, and re-direction maneuvers while the second level teaches actual combat offensive and defensive attacks with both a single dagger and eventually a pair. All dagger combat is taught from an unarmored perspective.
Dagger Club Divisions are often regarded as a build-on to Grappling Clubs as many of the techniques are based on Unarmed Combat foundations.
Dagger Club Divisions meet twice per ten-trial.
Blades
Blades Club Divisions are based on the type of blade to be studied, with the three main Divisions being Longsword, Rapier, Short Sword and Sabre. Additional bladed weapons Divisions do exist within the Sports Club, but these four blades are perhaps the most common of weapons used throughout Idalos. Each blade type has a single instructor and a single class devoted to it, with some classes allowing crossover training days so that students can spar with other blade types and gain skills in countering and defending against different opponents.
Most Sports Clubs members are participants in a Blades Division and many of them take their Division very seriously. These are the most competitive and proud groups within the Sports Clubs and intramural rivalry is encouraged throughout the Rynmere University campus—students often have favorites among the Club members and will take up their names in the form of posters, pennants, and chants of encouragement during the once an arc Tournaments in Ymiden for ranking within the Clubs. Names and faces of these favorites are well known throughout Andaris and sometimes even the rest of Rynmere.
Blades Club Divisions meet three times per ten-trial.
Shields
Shield Club Divisions are perhaps the smallest Division within the Sports Clubs, often overlooked in favor of the flashier Blades options or perhaps just never reached by those with passing interest. Shielded Combat techniques are taught on several levels through several classes, beginning with the Buckler. At this time, there are no instructors to teach Tower Shield techniques, but a variety of smaller shielded combat technique instructors are available.,
All Shield Club Divisions require a student to have had at least one season of training in Blades because shields such as the buckler and round shield are used as companion weapons in hand-to-hand combat. Defensive techniques such as protection from melee combat and ranged combat are taught in Shield Club, but the shield itself is also used offensively and taught accordingly in advanced Club classes.
Shield Club Divisions meet twice per ten-trial.
Archery
Archery Club Divisions are another very popular part of the Rynmere University Sports Clubs, rivaling only Blades Clubs. Both Long and Short bow techniques as well as Crossbows can be learned in Archery classes, though the focus is mostly on bows because of ease of use for more participants. Archery Club fees include an additional 5gn/season due to the costs of arrows and bolts as additional equipment.
The Archery Club Tournaments are just as fierce and even more popular than the Blade Club tournaments. They are generally held in Vhalar and are the highlight of that arc for those who enjoy archery in Andaris. Much like Blade Club, names of popular participants are well-known, gossiped about, spread on posters and made into chants. The betting pool for Archery Club Tournaments is big business among the student population, and tuition fortunes can be won and lost in Vhalar over University favorites in archery.
Archery Club Divisions meet three times per ten-trial.
Location NPCs
Moderator's Note: Players are free to control NPCs in this location without moderation.
Unarmed Combat Instructors Armed Combat Instructors Archery Instructors
Services and Employment
Credit: Caius Gawyne