I’m trying to find some real-world martial art forms, both armed and unarmed, on which I can base the ones used in Dzalacha. Ordinarily, I’d just pick the first few random styles I came across, but Dzalacha has some requirements that make it somewhat more difficult to choose.

There are two races in Dzalacha, humans and nydacha. The nyadacha have a cobha system that requires the magic to travel from them to their target. So, the closer you get, the less time you have to dodge and/or disrupt the spell in some fashion. This makes grapple holds incredibly impractical, because if you grab a nyadacha you’ve completely eliminated any chance you had of avoiding a spell. Now, it is easiest for a nyadacha to release a spell from his hands or feet, so grapple holds might be effective on less skilled opponents.

Grapple holds would also be effective against humans, however, I expect that in most battle situations you wouldn’t have time to assess the race of your opponent (the most obvious difference is the eye color). Also, even if you thought your opponent was human, he might turn out to be half nyadacha.

Metal weapons would be made of bronze, the most important limitation of which is that swords can can only be about three feet long.

A weapon of note is a hollow staff used by the nyadacha. Holes are drilled in the places you put your hands, which connect to the hollow center. This allows a nyadacha to channel a spell through the staff and release it through either end without giving an opponent a chance to disrupt the spell.

Nyadacha are also split into three main groups based on their understanding of their cobha: healers, illusionists, and telekinesis.

Healers would focus on using the weaknesses of their opponent’s body. They’d target strikes at weak points, and attempt to get near enough to use a spell on a more protected point.

Illusionists would attempt to confuse their opponents by creating illusionary attackers, turning invisible, bright flashes of light, etc. It would be awesome if their fighting style could echo this in some fashion.

Telekinesis is the root of all the other groups. All nyadacha have a very basic knowledge of kinesis, however, those from the telekinesis group have a much deeper understanding. They understand the science of motion and how to harness it with the least effort on their part. They understand the chain reactions they can cause by moving one object. They also have the ability to steal motion from an object and channel it into a spell. So, they might jump off of something and channel the motion of their fall into a spell, which would also have the side effect of slowing, or even stopping, the fall.

Human fighting styles are likely to be almost entirely weaponless. Their social status prevents them from having weapons, so they’d either fight unarmed, or with items not necessarily intended to be lethal.

It might help to also know that the fighting in the story isn't likely to be pitched battle. Think guerrilla tactics, and assassin-style sneaking around.

So, if you know of a martial art form that fits, or could be modified to fit, any of the various groups above, please tell me about it!

Ninjutsu is the fighting style made famous by the ninjas, krav maga is used by the Israeli Defense Force, and Filipino Kali was used by Jason Bourne in the movies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninjutsu
Ninjitsu seems to be the closest to what you described, because the shinobi (ninja) were not samurai, and didn't fight in ptiched battles, instead using ambushes, poison, stealth, and other guerrilla tactics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_maga
Krav maga may not be quite as useful, since grappling and wrestling are part of it, but any unarmed fighting style will require being at close range

There are Filipino stick fighting styles you might be interested in researching.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_stick_fighting
Kali is also part of that tradition, and could work with your swords.

Thank you! I will definitely research those and run them past my co-authors!

You're welcome.

Ravenofthewood is a martial arts instructor. You might want to ask her about her thoughts.

*is tickled that Kaitlyn thought to mention her*

The first thing that the staff made me think of was Bartitsu. Unfortunately, upon closer examination, it seems like it relies too much on grappling-type combat. However, a combination of two of the French arts that affected the development of Bartitsu may be effective: canne de combat and savate. This may be especially effective for your telekinesis nyadacha, as their cobha would allow them to launch themselves more into their opponent.

As for your illusionist nyadacha, I gather that you're looking for something perhaps not entirely as practical, but flashy. For that matter, with the distractions they can create, something slightly less impractical could actually still be quite effective. For this kind of thing, I would lean toward Chanquan wushu. I especially love the butterfly kick that this art uses.

For the healing nyadacha, their use of the body's weaknesses made me think of throwing arts, such as judo, especially its throwing and striking techniques. Though judo also includes grappling, that can be easily circumvented. A good striking technique or a sword thrust following a breath-stealing throw would be effective.

As for humans, you could go anywhere you wanted to, since you don't really have to deal with cobha. You may wish to consider how they are viewed in comparison with the nydacha. If they are considered inferior, and if anything that I've mentioned seems workable, you'd want a simpler art to draw that contrast, such as karate or taekwondo. I would lean towards taekwondo myself. Partially because I'm biased, partially because I believe it is more geared toward actual hard-hitting fighting, though that is still dependent on the style. If they are considered superior, I'll have to think about that one some more.

Anyway, I hope my rambling was of some use! Let me know if you need help deciphering some of the terminology in the articles or if you need any other help at all.

I've heard of both Sayoc Stick Grappling (Don't have a site for it, though, sorry) and Eskrima http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskrima - otherwise known as Kali.

Raven of the Wood, I believe you may have hit the nail exactly on the head for every one of those.

The humans are most definitely considered inferior, however there is one particular bloodline that's been in hiding for quite some time. They were a royal family that ruled jointly with the nyadacha royalty. They went into hiding during a war, the results of which weren't extremely favorable to humans, prompting them to remain in hiding. Taking into consideration their royal ancestry, and that they haven't had much contact with the outside world, they very likely use a different style.