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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chimera" data-source="post: 2108818" data-attributes="member: 2002">Let me go a bit in-depth here about History and the Martial Arts.Many (but not all) of the Eastern Martial Arts were developed in secret, or in closed groups, in societies where the average Joe was not allowed to own weapons.There were Western Martial Arts (Greek, Egyptian, etc), but these aren't widely known in modern circles and didn't seem to have much of an impact on our history.So why didn't the Eastern Martial Arts spread to the west?  Perhaps the same reason why their philosopy, religion and arts did not.Commerce wise, a lot of materials past from east to west.  Silks and spices being tops on the list.  These were almost entirely carried by middle men (Turks and Arabs) via the Indian Ocean and the Silk Road.  They passed from one middle man to the next along the way until they reached the markets in the west, where they were traded for gold and silver.  NOT for Western goods, which were of no basic value in the east.  Hence, East and West were isolated from each other by distance and a host of middle men who had no interest in allowing either end to cut them out of the deal.  (Which brings us to the Portugese and so forth, but we'll leave that out of the equation.)In the East, there were more developed and larger scale Empires and nations with more restrictive governements.  The average peasant could not own weapons.  Hence the Martial Arts were more valuable.European travelers did come (read Marco Polo - there were many other Euros there when he arrived), but due to the nature of the governments and cultures, they were seldom granted permission to return home.  Or they were killed outright due to xenophobia (modern day racism) on the part of the locals.  And even if they tried to return West, it was a long way through dangerous territory in an era when a simple infection could kill you.  In the West, basically anybody who could come up with the money could own weapons.  In some nations and cultures, you had to.  Every adult male was part of the army and could be conscripted at any time.  Hence, unarmed Martial Arts had no real value.  Why learn to fight without weapons when the King/Chief expects you to practice with your bow on a regular basis?Ok, so now we come to a D&D world.How did the Martial Arts develop in your setting?  If there were no insular, restrictive societies where one could not own a weapon, how did they develop?  Was it a tough, warrior society where learning to fight even without a weapon was a highly valued skill?  Was it an oppresive regime where only a certain class could train as warriors?  Was it a sexist society where women (or men) were not allowed to be warriors?  Was it a poor land where no one could afford weapons or where iron was exceedingly rare?  That's something you have to consider for your own setting.And then consider how they would spread.  My next post here will deal with the hows and whys of that in a D&D world.</blockquote>

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