The Steel Hand Warriors of Pindorama

For hundreds of years, the people of the Tropical jungles of Pindorama languished under the tyrannical rule of foreign sorcerer-kings. The Sorcerer-Kings forbade the common folk to be armed, forbade them to practice magic, and held them in a state of poverty with no access to any technology more advanced than tools of stone, while the Sorcerer-Kings themselves wielded bronze and even steel.

As defenseless serfs bound to the land, and often as true slaves, the Aba people of the forested land developed secret ways to defend themselves, even while bound or shackled, learning how to harness their inner power from a series of enlightened teachers who had studied the ways that wild animals fought. They often disguised this training as dance. They combined their observations with studying the humanoid body and how it might be used in similar ways. They taught calm self control, that the oppressed Aba people might fight only at times they could win, and not be baited into a losing conflict.

Many martial arts styles developed from this, collectively called Ita Po, or Steel Hand. Eventually, this martial skill won the Aba their freedom, and the schools became academies in which to learn to fight, and temples where the first teachers and their philosophies were revered. Over time, these philosophies merged with the traditional faith of the Aba people, and now, there is little distinction between worship, philosophy, and martial skill amongst them.

Practioners of the art of Ita Po are called by the name of the animal their school took as inspiration,

examples include:

Jaguar Hand (Yaguarapo)

Tayra Hand (Heirapo)

Sloth hand (Aipo)

Cobra hand (Mboiapo)

Anaconda hand (Sucuripo)

Those who practice all 5 are called Many Animals Hand or Etamenapo.

Author’s note: The styles resemble a combination of Capoeira with animal kung fu styles, and are practiced to music much as Capoeira is. Often they combine the unarmed techniques with armed ones, but they always teach the unarmed because of their history. A teacher of these arts is also somewhat of a priest, philosopher, and medical doctor, and is called a paje’. (The names and mythology are drawn from the Tupi language. The Tupi people are Native to the coast of Brazil, and in the real world they were enslaved and nearly exterminated by the Portugese.)

Gods of the Aba:

Guaraci, the Sun God, creator god

Jurupari , son of the Sun, an immaculate conception due to the eating of a fruit. Ruler god, flutes and masks are sacred

Arasy, the sky and moon goddess

Ceucy, the star goddess

The above animal spirits are also revered, though not worshipped.