The Mook Society
The "Dirty South"
Far "to the South" lays a land unknown to most cartographers. If you go far enough, you will eventually reach an unofficial, unnamed kingdom of martial artists, bodyguards, kneecappers, bullies, toughs, interrogators, torturers, assassins, and mercenaries.
Victory rules absolutely, and the Laws of Steel reign supreme.
The Mook Society exists for one thing and one thing only: to push the boundaries of the fighting arts. Violence is a daily occurence, and there are strict regiments to follow in regards to those fights.
The ideals of weakness and strength are eschewed in favor for "To The Victorious, Truth," an ideal that is spread throughout their society. Bound by agreed upon suggestions than full blown laws, their society has existed for thousands of years, hidden in the shadows of a great mountain range.
Race means nothing to them. Age means nothing to them. Gender, politics, religion, good and evil.
Only success and one's individual merit and growth matter to such a people.
Multiple Styles
Though each family (and individual, even) has a particular fighting style that has been passed down from one to another, the Mooks regard one's fighting style as a very personal subject. Fighting style are always passed down from Master to Student absolutely, and either Master or Student will travel the entire world to find each other.
If a Mook finds a Master or Student from outside their society, they will do their best to encourage that person to come to the Society kingdom itself.
As such, the Mook Fighting System can be broken down to several key factors: Hard Style, Soft Style, Cross Style, and Free Style.
Hard Style is best used for strikes, Soft Style is best used for grappling, Cross Style attempts to fuse the two styles at their best, and Free Style is a combination of everything and anything, a truly universal and generalist style of fighting.
There are three more factors to consider - Unarmed, Armed, and Quiet styles.
For all intents and purposes, fighting with full plate armor of any sort is considered "Armed" due to the strange philosophy behind those types.
Basic Dailies
Hobbies and jobs are encouraged rather than enforced, though slackers and freeloaders are either truly exiled or killed. Laziness isn't a thing amongst the Mooks, and most of the adults and journeymen level warriors are out on jobs anyway.
A Mook can face off against another Mook should they be employed by clashing forces, and rivalry is encouraged in their kingdom as their children grow.
Being a somewhat affluent kingdom (their neighbors are kind of afraid of them and will vigorously employ them as guardsmen), the Mook Society freely trades with just about anyone, and they have their own foodstuffs and mineral excavation. You do NOT want to face off against a miner - their Body Rock style of fighting makes them incredibly hard to take down, even without armor.
Hygiene is a major thing amongst the Mooks, and they will ostracize or kill even guests who forgo daily cleanliness on purpose.
The Five Hands
They used to be called "The Council of Five" until they unanimously decided that it didn't sound very cool.
The five greatest, most violent of their society, these Mooks are engaged in only the highest of graded missions and can sometimes be out for years at a time. There's usually one around, and whenever leadership is needed they're the ones the rest of the Society turns to.
>Mandate - "Free Will" Mandate, an aged (rumored to be immortal, or at least well preserved) Ratling who is the most capricious of the Five, his greatest strength lays in his abnormal physicality and expressive demeanor. No one knows his true age, but it's suggested that Alistor knew him before either became a Hand.
It's suggested that he knows the whereabouts of the not-so-secret Sixth Hand.
A generalist practitioner of martial arts, it's said that he knows every style in the Society and then some, and will go out of his way to steal new and interesting techniques he's never experienced.
He is the only Free Style practitioner amongst the Hands, but openly practices a variation of drunken fist martial arts.
A lecher and drunk with a heart of gold.
His greatest secret?
He's never even touched a drop of alcohol. It's all water or spiced drinks.
>Brunhilda/Bunbun - "Armored Faith" Brunhilda, the youngest of the Five and a child prodigy, this little girl is exceptionally gifted in fighting in full plate armor. Very few people know that Bunbun is Brunhilda, and the ones who do have no idea how a little, tiny girl is able to wield full plate armor fitted for a half-giant.
Is exceptional in Armed and Cross styles. Outside the armor, she is a very quiet but warm girl.
In the armor she can get very VERY hot-blooded.
>Alistor - "Eldritch Hero" Alistor. Rumored to be the last member of an extinct race of dragons (Panzerdrachen), Alistor is one of the few founding members of the Society itself and looked up to and even deferred to by the other Hands.
Excelling in an ancient style of Unarmed and Hard styles, it's rumored that Alistor can punch a mountain into submission with a single blow.
Though he normally can be found in his semi-cute human-ish form (a young, almost feminine man with glasses - he can't change his ears and tail for some reason), he usually retires to his nest within the nearby range to assume his full form when it's time to rest.
Unlike other races, he lives on a strange 48-hour sleep schedule (awake for 48 hours, sleeps for 12). This is a secret that's jealously guarded by the entire Society on pain of death, though he doesn't know that.
>Bangor - "Fucking" Bangor. One of the most hotheaded of the Hands, Bangor's style revolves around using explosives and blowing things up. Using magic, psionics, and even alchemy, Bangor excels at blowing things up. What makes it even weirder is that he's dwarven.
Once, someone tried to point out to him that using grenades and dynamite wasn't martial arts.
He blew them up.
While he is a practitioner of Soft Style as well as unarmed and armed, Bangor always relies on his favorite technique: fire, lightning, and explosion. Namely items that do these things.
Once blew his own head off just to prove that he could regrow it.
Is quite possibly absolutely insane.
>Dilllmun - "Balanced Power" Dilllmun. A roguish tiefling who excels in a secret Quiet style taught only to his students. Poisons, daggers, assassination techniques, disguise, forgery and silence - Dilllmun is one of the most sought-after masters amongst the Hand, but he only takes the students that he feels are best aligned with him. Despite that, he will freely share knowledge with others when it comes to his alchemy, herbalism, poisons and gardening.
A known florist and part-time farmer, Dilllmun is also a very well-read scholar. When it comes time for combat, though, he's as hot-blooded as any other Hand and will eagerly, almost greedily, kill any challenger who crosses his path.
His abilities are strange even amongst the Hand, and it's suggested that he's both a magus as well as ki-energy user. His Obtenebration Style has only ever been taught to one other person, and he had to utterly destroy that student when they went astray.
Unlike the other Hands, Dilllmun has a small fleet of students who man the Administration Board of the Society, accepting jobs and posting them as well as taking care of the paperwork and general administrative duties. That they all look alike is something most in the Society overlook.
Because of Dilllmun's shadowy nature, rumors abound but most people trust him. He has never let Alistor (his old mentor) down, and he's never proven himself false to the society.
Despite that, whenever internal strife occurs he's the first to disappear - only once has anyone ever pointed a finger at him for leading a coup, and he's ensured no one will ever do that again by simply disappearing the fuck outta there the moment something bad (internally) happens.
Yes his name has three L's in it. He thinks it's cool. Once killed someone who told him it wasn't.
Is known as "Bill" by those closest to him.
Personal Life
Mooks will freely marry or date outside the Society, and many will come and go from the kingdom as they please. Most find their beloved within the kingdom itself, though, and usually raise their family amongst the Society.
All Mooks have a "true name" that only their closest friends and family know. Otherwise, they are known simply as "Mook" or "The Mook," in honor of the first bouncer/mercenary/tough who helped found the Society.
All Mooks either do or do not follow a religion. For the most part, the concepts of good and evil are pretty foreign to them, though they can sometimes be led to understand the laws of other nations. Despite that, the Law of Steel is considered a universal concept, and to an individual they haven't a clue why others don't know about it.
Exile
The children of the Mook Society are encouraged by the parents to seek out a Master. If they're lucky, they'll be compatible with someone within their family. Even if the Master is found from outside their family, it is the duty of the Master to recognize, then teach and train the Student. The code (part of the Laws of Steel) are very rigid in how a Master treats their student, and in fulfilling their duty to the Society's goals by teaching the student everything they have to teach.
While it is the Master's place to feed, house, teach and train the Student it is the Family's place to see to the provisioning and payment to the Master. As such, there is a strong relationship between Master and Student, and few Masters have the time to devote to more than a few students at a time, being engaged in their own search for perfection.
Greed isn't a thing known to the Mooks - one of the maxims of the Laws of Steel is "Do the job. Get paid. Repeat."
After awhile, the student has learned everything the Master has to teach. Once the student has reached of age and has graduated from the Master's teachings, they are officially "exiled" from the Society, the techniques locked away with a combination of hypnosis and brainwashing.
During this time of exile, the Student is something of a "journeyman" and must travel the world, experiencing life. Upon earning enough experience, they can reclaim their techniques and abilities until they've finally achieved the point to their Exile.
When they've experienced enough of the world, they will know when it's time to return to the Society as a full-fledged Master of their own, ready to take on higher-grade jobs and students of their own.
The Sixth Hand/The First Mook
Very few documents speak of the First Mook, the man who defeated Alistor as well as Mandate, raised the Band of the Red Hand, established the Laws of Steel as well as the Society itself.
He then retired from the world at large - not for any aesthetic reason but because his power had become too dangerous. Bearer of the "Juggernaut Syndrome," the Mook suffered from nigh-invulnerability that defied both gods and reality. Recognizing his own disruptive nature, the Mook disappeared from the world entirely, his whereabouts known only to his greatest student and friend - the First Hand, "Free Will" Mandate.
Since then the Five Hands have always had an empty seat, paying homage and respect to the original Mook and the unofficial "Sixth Hand."
Notable Neighbors
The Hermit Witch - children speak of a dangerous witch that lives in between the society and a few towns that dot the border. One of the First Trials given to exceptionally small children, she works for the Five Hands and is powerful enough of a Master to stand on her own, utilizing a combination of Quiet style, armed style, Cross Style and magic. A powerful enchantress and sorceress, the title of "Hermit Witch" has been passed down from generation to generation, every 50 years or so.
The race changes, the gender changes, but they all share a few common tropes: they're almost always nude, have an affinity for Nature-based magics, and are the ipso-facto first line of defense and security for the Society, usually alerting them to any invading hostiles...
Not that there's a lot. Very few nations have walked away unscathed after attempting to tackle the Mooks.
The Laws of Steel
>Be excellent to one another
>The Master will provide, house, and train the Student.
>The Student will defend, learn from, and follow their Master. This relationship is holy and hallowed.
-Subclause: I'm not saying that they shouldn't sleep with one another, but at least wait 'til they hit Exile dude.
>The Family of the Student pays and provides to the Master. Don't be a jackass and take advantage of this or you'll get merked.
>Do the job. Get paid. Repeat.
>Tithes suck. Taxes suck. Mooks shouldn't have government programs beyond the Administration anyway.
>Administration Families pay towards Administration.
>Bill is the only exception to the whole student thing. Someone's gotta administer the Administration anyway.
>If you take the contract, you finish the contract.
>When the Student has learned everything, they are to be exiled from the Society. Their powers and abilities will be suppressed and will only be released as they experience everything the world has to throw at them. They will return only after they've experienced life. They will know when it's time.
>Show no mercy. Unless you want to, then show mercy.
>Don't half-ass anything.
>Above all, in the name of violence shall you improve.
>No one can stop your growth but yourself.
>Don't forget to have a hobby or do something else that ain't fighting. No one likes a boring person.
>Kick ass.
Thunderstone Style/Mook Style
Taught by Mandate, it is rumored that the Thunderstone Style is the foundation of all martial arts and fighting styles practiced within the Mook Society. From this Style, users can go on to master any style within the Society itself, though the user gets no extra bonuses from any cross-style techniques (unlike, say, the Hound Fighting style).
Mandate has only taken on one known student, a little-known Mook who just entered into his Exile phase.
Special Arts - 5 hp per use
Right Overhead Straight - allows the user to launch a swift, hard-hitting punch. Unarmed Strike+1, deals unarmed damage+5, hits over any shield or defense except for tower shields.
Headbutt - allows the user to stun opponent for 1 round. Deals 1d6 damage to user. (for Ogre's game, this is 5 hp per use)
The Regulator - allows the user to throw 1d10 normal punches in a single attack.
Side Kick - allows the user to slam a winding kick to the abdomen, dealing unarmed damage and granting Shaken status for 1d4 rounds.
Low Kick - allows the user to slam a low kick to the legs, dealing unarmed damage and Tripping the opponent.
Left Hook - allows the user to step into an opponent's guard, hitting them with a quick, compact hook. Unarmed Strike+1, deals unarmed damage, negates dexterity bonuses to AC and causes the target to be flat-footed for this hit.
Southpaw Style - allows the user to fight from a left-handed stance. Opponent's attack roll -2 unless they have fought a Southpaw before. Opponent can "get used to it" upon the next rounding by passing a Will check (DC 10+user's combined level).
Super CQC - creates a special zone where both target and user can occupy the same space. Only close quarters weapons (light and natural) and attacks can be used, and creates a special battle round where each of the user's attacks must be answered by the target. Target gives up an attack with each response for this round (outside the special battle round).
Uppercut - deals Unarmed Strike+5, adds "+Dex modx2" to damage output.
Ghost Rider - allows the user's attacks to affect the ethereal. Must have Weapon Focus (Favored Weapon) as a feat.
Super Arts - 10 hp per use
The Headbutt - allows the user to stun opponent for 1d4 rounds, dealing Unarmed Damage x2. Deals 2d10 damage to user. (for Ogre's game, this is 10 hp per use)
Sex Machineguns - upgrades the Regulator to 1d20 normal punches as a free action.
Dempsey Roll - takes up a full round action, puts user in Full Defense Mode for one round and marks a target. AC is doubled during this round. At the end of the round, user delivers 10d20 attacks (doing unarmed damage each) to one marked target.
Crossfire - Must Know both Right Overhead Straight and Left Hook. Allows the user to deliver the Left Hook and Right Overhead Straight as a single attack, dealing an extra xStr Mod damage.
Shiver Hit - gives up the attack round to deal 1d10 hooks to a single target, dealing unarmed damage with each hit as well as stun, shaken, and nausea.
Quad Angle Training - allows the user to throw their attacks no matter how they're grabbed, pinned, or situated. Allows the user to throw attacks from "strange" or strained positions. So long as they have a single arm free, they can attack as if completely freed at full power.
Ultimate Arts - 20 hp per use
Primal Fear - the ultimate technique within the Mook Style, causes a warp in reality that creates a specialized battlefield where all forms of energy (magic, psionics, ki, faith, and supernatural abilities) are completely negated. The stats of a single captured target and the Mook are completely equalized. Lasts until either the Mook or the target is knocked out.
Desperation Arts - once a day, available as an option at level 1
Is Just What A Bitch - once the user falls to 30% HP, they can substitute the grapple score with "Unarmed Strike"
(NOTE: the following acquisition rules are for Ogre's game:
1 special attack selection per lvl till lvl 10
lvls 11-19 let you choose supers and specials
Ultimate move is unlocked at level 20)