Chapter Two: Postures
Studying my father’s memory stone served to above all prove the disparity between us. In his Walkabout he travelled through the Alik’r, Bankorai pass, Skyrim and finally to Cyrodiil, where he chose to settle after meeting Lucina Capran, my mother. It is also clear that throughout his life he learned magic, which in itself can be very reason as to why he was able to manifest his mental energy into a rank one Shehai. My father never used it as a weapon, for he never could. His was unstable, immaterial, and something he could only call in moments of deep serenity and peace.
The Ansei, even of second rank, did not rely primarily on their spirit swords, as even those who are considered to be the greatest of all the Ansei could only manifest the Shehai as a weapon in times of great danger, as seen in Makela Leki’s memory stone. Hunding is one of the only special cases recorded in history, as he was rumored to have been able to manifest his Shehai at will, in any moment. However, even Hunding stressed the importance of knowing a material blade, as he shows in his Book of Circles, the Forging Maxims. If my interpretation of Hunding is correct, a swordsman should not only know how to wield a blade, but to forge his own as well. If my theory is correct, knowing how to shape the metal will aid me when I attempt to shape my own Shehai.
But I digress, regardless of how powerful a Shehai may be, there was never any records of an Ansei that relied solely on it, and while a Shehai might be able to cleave straight through steel, a regular blade is not. It is important to keep this in mind, and to not be lax on your discipline even if the Spirit Blade is achieved. Keeping this in mind, I shall present the postures of my father, then I shall write down my notes for them, and after that the techniques that I developed during my Walkabout.
The first sequence of postures are quite basic, and alone they are useful, but if one uses them in their simplest, purest form he might not attain his desired results. The Yokudan Longsword is the most versatile weapon I have had the pleasure of using, and even if the warrior only uses what the weapon itself has to offer him, he will have plenty of tools to overcome nearly anything that he might face. As I stated before, a disciplined warrior will strike twice or thrice where a novice would only swing his blade once, one needs to move so fast that his blade becomes a blur to the eyes of others, only then he will be able to stand even a slight chance against a true Ansei.
For the first posture we start with a horizontal swipe, as stated in the Sundas Maxims, when swarmed by flies, favor the flat over the edge. Regarding my interpretation, one should not use his most powerful strike (one that would no doubt destroy one of these weak enemies) against a swarm of weak foes, the edge, but instead he should use something that conserves strength, the flat, but like the flat of the sword, has a wider area, and as such will take care of a group more evenly and effectively. While using this horizontal sweep one has two ways of approaching the cut, my father took a more careless approach, opening himself more widely, but building up his strength more quickly while doing so. I keep my guard up at all times in this situation, and the more enemies my longsword passes through, the better my guard holds.
Moving from the flat, the edge of the blade shall be used when focusing on a single target (I of course mean the edge as a reference to a more powerful, hefty strike. Unlike some might believe, the actual flat and edge are used as metaphors in this text). For a distant foe the high guard is used, the blade is held above the head, and as my charge takes me close my enemy, I can either aim is shoulder and chest as I build momentum from my distance, or I can aim his hamstrings, to impede any attempt of escape. When close, the blade must start hidden behind the body, at an open guard. This is done carefully, and only in the right opportunity, as this open guard can be easily exploited by your enemy. The strike that is done from this stance is powerful, maybe the most powerful, and it aims the skull, splitting it from the jaw upwards.
To finish a wounded opponent one applies the same cut as one would to correctly put an honorable Ra Netu to rest. One must position oneself forward, taking advantage of his weakened state to move more freely. Like all other strikes this one is preceded by a quick strike, which is followed by a powerful downwards cut, aimed at the back of the neck, for a quick, painless end.
The last movement of the first sequence is an exercise of your strength. One must command his own body to work at its limits, and ride his rush of adrenaline to bolster his offense and his defense. A disciplined Ansei knows no other way to fight, and will never do so without being in the absolute peak of his strength.
===========================================================================================
A rather lengthy text detailing the two handed abilities and their uses, an experienced player will no doubt understand which morphs to take based on the descriptions of the text, but I shall go over the choices and their implications before we talk about possible combos with them.
Cleave and Critical Charge are the ones that I describe in two different ways because I personally find both of their morphs extremely useful, though one is used exclusively in dungeons, while the latter is used most frequently in pvp and solo play. Starting with Cleave, you have Brawler, the tanky option, which gives you a damage shield and allows you to survive an onslaught of minor mobs, or Carve, my personal option, as it allows me to end that mob more quickly, by building up my ultimate in an accelerated pace.
In pvp critical charge in invaluable, although depending on your class it can be substituted. Melee characters need a gap closer, and critical charge fits nicely. My personal favorite gap closer is ambush, as it offers more versatility and mobility than crit charge. It deals less damage, but it can gap close vertically and out of snares. Crit charge morphs into Stampede, which can be useful to stop a running foe, or set up a burst, or crit rush, which simply deals more damage and increases based on distance.
I do not mention the other morphs for Uppercut, Reverse Slash or Momentum because I think they’re not worth it. Wrecking Blow, Executioner and Rally are the definitive morphs for those abilities.
===========================================================================================
Chapter Two: Postures
Studying my father’s memory stone served to above all prove the disparity between us. In his Walkabout he travelled through the Alik’r, Bankorai pass, Skyrim and finally to Cyrodiil, where he chose to settle after meeting Lucina Capran, my mother. It is also clear that throughout his life he learned magic, which in itself can be very reason as to why he was able to manifest his mental energy into a rank one Shehai. My father never used it as a weapon, for he never could. His was unstable, immaterial, and something he could only call in moments of deep serenity and peace.
The Ansei, even of second rank, did not rely primarily on their spirit swords, as even those who are considered to be the greatest of all the Ansei could only manifest the Shehai as a weapon in times of great danger, as seen in Makela Leki’s memory stone. Hunding is one of the only special cases recorded in history, as he was rumored to have been able to manifest his Shehai at will, in any moment. However, even Hunding stressed the importance of knowing a material blade, as he shows in his Book of Circles, the Forging Maxims. If my interpretation of Hunding is correct, a swordsman should not only know how to wield a blade, but to forge his own as well. If my theory is correct, knowing how to shape the metal will aid me when I attempt to shape my own Shehai.
But I digress, regardless of how powerful a Shehai may be, there was never any records of an Ansei that relied solely on it, and while a Shehai might be able to cleave straight through steel, a regular blade is not. It is important to keep this in mind, and to not be lax on your discipline even if the Spirit Blade is achieved. Keeping this in mind, I shall present the postures of my father, then I shall write down my notes for them, and after that the techniques that I developed during my Walkabout.
The first sequence of postures are quite basic, and alone they are useful, but if one uses them in their simplest, purest form he might not attain his desired results. The Yokudan Longsword is the most versatile weapon I have had the pleasure of using, and even if the warrior only uses what the weapon itself has to offer him, he will have plenty of tools to overcome nearly anything that he might face. As I stated before, a disciplined warrior will strike twice or thrice where a novice would only swing his blade once, one needs to move so fast that his blade becomes a blur to the eyes of others, only then he will be able to stand even a slight chance against a true Ansei.
For the first posture we start with a horizontal swipe, as stated in the Sundas Maxims, when swarmed by flies, favor the flat over the edge. Regarding my interpretation, one should not use his most powerful strike (one that would no doubt destroy one of these weak enemies) against a swarm of weak foes, the edge, but instead he should use something that conserves strength, the flat, but like the flat of the sword, has a wider area, and as such will take care of a group more evenly and effectively. While using this horizontal sweep one has two ways of approaching the cut, my father took a more careless approach, opening himself more widely, but building up his strength more quickly while doing so. I keep my guard up at all times in this situation, and the more enemies my longsword passes through, the better my guard holds.
Moving from the flat, the edge of the blade shall be used when focusing on a single target (I of course mean the edge as a reference to a more powerful, hefty strike. Unlike some might believe, the actual flat and edge are used as metaphors in this text). For a distant foe the high guard is used, the blade is held above the head, and as my charge takes me close my enemy, I can either aim is shoulder and chest as I build momentum from my distance, or I can aim his hamstrings, to impede any attempt of escape. When close, the blade must start hidden behind the body, at an open guard. This is done carefully, and only in the right opportunity, as this open guard can be easily exploited by your enemy. The strike that is done from this stance is powerful, maybe the most powerful, and it aims the skull, splitting it from the jaw upwards.
To finish a wounded opponent one applies the same cut as one would to correctly put an honorable Ra Netu to rest. One must position oneself forward, taking advantage of his weakened state to move more freely. Like all other strikes this one is preceded by a quick strike, which is followed by a powerful downwards cut, aimed at the back of the neck, for a quick, painless end.
The last movement of the first sequence is an exercise of your strength. One must command his own body to work at its limits, and ride his rush of adrenaline to bolster his offense and his defense. A disciplined Ansei knows no other way to fight, and will never do so without being in the absolute peak of his strength.
===========================================================================================
A rather lengthy text detailing the two handed abilities and their uses, an experienced player will no doubt understand which morphs to take based on the descriptions of the text, but I shall go over the choices and their implications before we talk about possible combos with them.
Cleave and Critical Charge are the ones that I describe in two different ways because I personally find both of their morphs extremely useful, though one is used exclusively in dungeons, while the latter is used most frequently in pvp and solo play. Starting with Cleave, you have Brawler, the tanky option, which gives you a damage shield and allows you to survive an onslaught of minor mobs, or Carve, my personal option, as it allows me to end that mob more quickly, by building up my ultimate in an accelerated pace.
In pvp critical charge in invaluable, although depending on your class it can be substituted. Melee characters need a gap closer, and critical charge fits nicely. My personal favorite gap closer is ambush, as it offers more versatility and mobility than crit charge. It deals less damage, but it can gap close vertically and out of snares. Crit charge morphs into Stampede, which can be useful to stop a running foe, or set up a burst, or crit rush, which simply deals more damage and increases based on distance.
I do not mention the other morphs for Uppercut, Reverse Slash or Momentum because I think they’re not worth it. Wrecking Blow, Executioner and Rally are the definitive morphs for those abilities.
===========================================================================================
