Martial Arts: Kas-pin

3 points

A mystical Finnish martial art. The skills were preserved in the Valkonen family over 30 generations. They claim the name Kas-pin has appeared written from 13th century. The master of this art is Kaarlo Valkonen living at Hankasalmi, Central Finland.

Kaarlo Valkonen describes Kas-pin as an "art of war" and not a self-defence style. The purpose is to eliminate the opponent.

Practicioners learn to fight and defend with puukko, Finnish small knife, and other techniques and weapons commonly used in Finnish brawls. A Kas-pin knife is called sormipuukko (a finger knife) and it has a special sculpted handle (allows Reverse Grip to default to Knife-4). An important technique is to stamp on opponent's foot (identical to Stamp Kick) and then to knock him down.

A crooked walking stick with a hook, called sotilasvanhus (Old Soldier) is used by older masters to trip, hook and grapple opponents. Treat this as Smallsword (Short Staff).

Plenty of other weapons also appear: keihäs, kirves, miekka, sirppi (a sickle type used in Finland to harvest grain), various thrown weapons, karttu, remmi or remeli, and even lapio (shovel).

Training neck deep in water is also used. Masters can sleep while floating on water.

There are "vertical", "horizontal" and "circular" techniques. The four main "themes" of the art are: Hermot (nerves), Hipaisu (brush), Enkelin kosketus (angel's touch), and Näkymätön käsi (invisible hand). The last two cannot allegedly be taught to anyone, they are learned through training over time (up to 50 years!). If this is true, Kas-pin masters might have cinematic, supernatural chi-like powers. If not - they might have a Delusion.

Skills: Wrestling; Knife (puukko, small knife).
Advantages: Improvised Weapons.
Techniques: Arm or Wrist Lock; Disarming; Finger Lock; Reverse Grip (Knife); Stamp Kick (often combined with some knockdown attack or technique); Wrench (Limb).
Cinematic Skills: Mental Strength; Pressure Points; Pressure Secrets; Sensitivity.
Cinematic Techniques: Hand Catch; Pressure-Point Strike; Roll with Blow; Timed Defense.
Perks: Form Mastery; Grip Mastery; Power Grappling.

Optional Traits
Advantages: Trained By A Master; Weapon Master.
Cinematic Advantages: Chi Projection.
Disadvantages: Delusions; Overconfidence.
Skills: Language (Finnish); Push; Smallsword (Short Staff); Swimming.
Cinematic Skills: Blind Fighting (Riihioppi).
Techniques: Armed Grapple (Short Staff); Hook (Short Staff); Retain Weapon (Short Staff); Trip.
Perks: Weapon Bond.

Hogwash?

I do not claim Kas-pin is useless as I have no personal experience in it. I have only seen the videos.

It might be composed of entirely useless techniques, and at best it can make a chicken fall asleep at a distance of two yards in a minute. Impressive, but totally useless in combat.

Still - even training useless Kas-pin is better than not training at all.