Thread:Saris Khan/@comment-24384232-20141211031559/@comment-2089817-20141212145621

In a similar vein to what Njalm stated about Zanjutsu, when discussing about Hakuda, think about soft-type styles like Jujutsu; the entire art revolves around the compromising of an opponent's center of gravity to throw them to the ground. The center of gravity is the physical core of a physical being and it is where their body is centered; this is why it is so heavily brought up in many martial arts. In spiritual terms, using the same argument as Njalm about the "spiritual core", just as a Zanjutsu can slash at it and sever the connection, a Hakuda (Grand)Master could compromise the integrity of the "spiritual core" with Jujutsu in the same way one physically compromises the center of gravity; leading to the spiritual core's instability for a good amount of time, as Njalm said, in "RPG terms". Even more dangerous yet, this can also be done through Empty Fist, forgoing the need for actual physical contact, but it hinges on whether or not their strike can reach a Kidou (Grand)Master. Even with Empty Fist, you have Masters like Hiroya with various degrees of magical protection, making this feat all the more harder, if not impossible. And then there's contingency spells, and whatnot.

The main thing Void (and Njalm as a result) are trying to make clear is that the only way to truly capture the Hakuda and Zanjutsu disciplines in the greatest way is to view them as concepts rather than styles. I tend to view different martial arts as "behaviors" to which how the body should act. You need to look past just the physical aspects and not rely too heavily upon them, but at the same time, you can't just focus entirely on them either; otherwise, how would one distinguish Hakuda and Kidou? A proper balance is needed.