Foreword
Hi there, so I’m currently working on a wide spread of events and some various headcanon concepts in regards to a trollish celebration of the Loa and to good health. I’ve just finished the first “publishable” draft of one of, and the most importent, event called “Jin’Chuka de Loa”, you can read about the name and where it came from later in this post.
I want to first say that I am in no way claiming that this is some absolute lore and everyone is free to ignore or adopt parts of it as they please, this started after I was deeply inspired by two things namely; The story of Jed’hin as a roleplayer and the real world sport known as Bökh, which is a form of Mongolian folk wrestling. Thirdly I was partially inspired by the Hearthstone expansion Rastakhan’s Rumble, though that is more in jest and simply shares some similarities with concepts involved.
Everyone is free to use as much or as little of what I’m posting if they want to try out Jin’Chuka de Loa, one day after finishing a few more events like these I hope to gather the server together for a fun tournament of sorts and would love to see everyone together and enjoying this game. I will also say that this is in no means written in stone, there will be tweaks to the rules, wording and possibly even the “lore” to try and keep it as in line with Blizzard’s vision of Warcraft. While the “lore” is “correct”, it is also meant to be flawed in some ways to represent the fact that it has been gathered, recorded, and the rules revitalized by a denizen of Azeroth and not an all knowing being.
The Lore
Origin
Many millennia ago on the native troll islands of Zandalar, upon the Terrace of the Chosen in Dazar’alor, there were many priests and champions of Loa gathered in their worship as there were on many days of the year. On this day however a Prelate of Rezan grew frustrated with the priestess of Hireek taking so much time with the greatest of the altars . The Prelate stomped forward, taking hold of the priestess and pulling her away from her ritual saying “I serve the Loa of Kings and I must wait for a wretch like you to finish!”
Of course, many shied away from this conflict, not only feeling themselves to be inferior to this booming warrior, but that their Loa still answered to Rezan. There were two who did not shy away from this disgusting act of pride, a Torcalin Priest who was renowned for the size of his back and heart, and the casteless orphan who did the thankless work of polishing the shrines and collecting refuse in the name of Jani. The Torcalin approached as the Orphan looked to the Priestess to be certain she was not injured, the large witchdoctor exclaiming out “You are not as grand as you think Prelate, even if we are not blessed by the Loa of Kings our devotion is twice that of yours."
The Prelate had never heard such a preposterous thought, that not only was his devotion to Rezan less than all these minor holy men and women, but that he was less than even the other prelates present. He argued with the Torcalin for a long time, soon even the reserved tortollan chronicler of Torga was bearing witness to the fight. At this time King Dazar had come to the Terrace to worship in his own right, but upon seeing his Prelate nearly coming to blows with a holymon of Torcali he grew furious.
The first King physically stepped between the two, his presence alone commanding the attention of all those gathered. He looked to the Tortollan, the only one who was not paralyzed by the sight of the king and simply asked “Who has the right to use this altar?” The Tortollan had no answer, but immediately explained the full situation to the King who nodded, and then led all of those gathered to the foot of the Terrace.
His decree was simple “If you all want to squabble like children, then you will resolve it like children. Everyone gathered will wrestle for the right to use the altar.” The only one who did not agree to these terms was the Tortollan, rather making sure that the matches be held fairly.
This was the Birth of Jin’Chuka di Loa, and though the rules and record of the first match has been lost to all but the Tortollan people, who claim that they may not have the right copy anymore, these facts remain certain; There was no hesitation in man wrestling woman, or adult wrestling child, and that the final winner despite his slight frame was the Orphan of Jani. This match was held many times after this, and as the empire grew older and more mature, the memories of these matches faded as the tournament was no longer as needed. It never truly vanished, becoming mere folk wrestling events without the ritual and history behind it, every tribe having their own version in some regard.
Regarding Jin’Chuka di/de/da Loa
roughly translating to mean “Final Victor for the Loa’. A one day tournament of all who wish to pay ultimate respect to their respective Loa/Patron they are honoring. It is seen as putting full trust into your Loa/Patron to grant you the necessary strength, stamina, and skill to defeat your opponents and be declared the victor. To explain the di/de/da “preposition”, I partly based the name off of the phrase di/de Chuka, which is used by various trolls throughout WoW. When spoken by Zul’jin and Daakara who are Amani they say “…de chuka’’ while when spoken by Rastakhan, Jalak, and Zandalari NPC they say “…di chuka…” I’ve taken this to mean that it may be a dialect matter, with Zandalari using the ‘di’ pronunciation and Forest Trolls using ‘de’. I’ve added ‘da’ to represent Jungle troll dialect.)
The Old Ways
The Zandalari Way:
- Restriction: There were no match restrictions based on a competitors body, men fought women, children their parents, and the wounded versus the unmarred. The oldest traditions viewed that any physical discrepancies would be no matter if one’s Loa blessed them in life.
- Uniform: While it still retained it’s heavy influence from temple holytrolls using these means to settle disputes, there was much more ritual involved even including specific clothing requirements. All competitors would wear treated hide trunks that would go no further than the waist and no shorter than the knee, as well as a linen short jacket that would be cinched with a silken cord. Additionally, combatants would wear their Loa’s mask while waiting their turn to compete and additional ankle and wrist wraps adorned with a symbol of their Loa.
- Rules: The Rules were closest to what has been brought to the modern era, though there were also rules if it were an adult facing a child, that the adult would be bound with a length of rope that would be wrapped around the competitors waist, thighs, and knotted around the back.
The Drakkari Way:
- Restriction: The Drakkari were the first empire to implement the use of differing classes, specifically they separated their matches between males and female due to the difference in size, how ever women were free to challenge men as they saw fit as well as the champion of the female’s tournament being allowed to compete with in the male brackets.
- Uniform: The Drakkari wore the least in terms of uniform of any kind, as oftentimes it wouldn’t be uncommon to see competitors stripped to the barest coverings of hide and fur. During the later tournaments however the use of a representative mark of the Loa was required, perhaps due to pressure from the Zandalari Empire.
- Rules: As to be expected of the most violent breed of trolls, there was very little in terms of rules beyond the most basic outline of a means of loss and victory. Dirty blows, small joint manipulation, eye gouging, biting, tusk grabbing, hair and fur pulling were not only allowed but expected. It is said that the phrase used amongst the Drakkari was “It is not a good match unless the snow melts from my blood.”
The Amani Way:
- Restriction: The forest trolls often changed their opinion on the matter of restricting the kinds of matches that would be allowed. Nearing the last ‘official’ rulesets to be used in a gathering of the empire there were two classes; Adult and Child. Oftentimes a few of the more venerable or withered trolls act as ‘final champions’ for the champion child to face.
- Uniform: The Amani had the most elaborate uniforms, each tribe crafting capes and mantles adorned with trinkets, animal parts, and trophies of previous victories that renowned champions’ outfits may weigh as much as the combatant themselves. The later rule sets prohibited the use of these outfits beyond any form of opening ceremony, and the use of more traditional trunks, woolen jackets, and ankle wraps would be used within matches.
- Rules:The Amani threw away many of the rules that were used for ‘honoring’ one’s opponent, striking or targeting weak points seen more as common sense as well as cheating in many of its forms being less punished.
The Gurubashi Way:
- Restriction: The jungle trolls had the most traditional view of this, letting males, females, and children compete freely, though being widespread there was an additional ruling that only three champions may be present from each tribe of the Gurubashi Empire at the ‘official’ tournaments
- Uniform: The Gurubashi remained in the traditional garb for the longest time, though they did slowly adopt looser fitting clothing before allowing any form of unarmored attire to enter a match. Though all competitors would enter the match carrying the totem of their Loa, setting it to the side before beginning the match.
- Rules: The Gurubashi had the most traditional rules, once again their progression being the slowest, it was the first mention of the grabbing of tails. It is unclear what this was regarding as no records that have been found show any champion having a tail so it is unknown if primals were allowed to compete.
The Rules
- There are no restrictions on opponents, meaning that two combatants of any Race, Age, Gender, Weight, or Size may be forced to face one another.
- There will be no more than three individuals in the designated combat area at any given time: The two combatants and the Zo(Referee)
- Combatants are not to wear any form of armor, may not carry a weapon, or prepare any spells once stepping into the designated combat area. They may choose to wear as much or little garb as they see fit with the understanding that they must remain decent as well as additional cloth may act as a grip point.
- A match begins with the two combatants in separate positions. The Zo will signal the match with the call “E’ko” to represent the two combatants now carrying the ‘life’ of their patron.
- The Match ends when either a combatants is disqualified or a part of the body besides the foot touches the ground. A match has no set time limit, however the Zo may call for a freeze if they feel the match has taken too much time(too many rounds take place) in which the Zo will then dictate a circle around the two combatants, if one is then forced from the circle that is also a loss.
- All grapples, throws, and locks are permitted. However grabbing the hair, tail, soft tissue such as ears, nose, and other such ‘extremities’ is seen as dishonorable conduct to the Patrons and may be means of disqualification if the Zo feels that the offending combatant is intentionally targeting said areas.
- Headbutting, open handed thrusts and strikes, forearm ‘smashes’ and shoves, shoulder charges, and limited use of elbows is permitted as long as the strike is aimed above the attacker’s waistline. Use of kicks, trips, and limited use of knees are allowed as long as the strike is aimed below the waistline.
- Biting, Eye gouging, Use of Natural Weapons such as Tusks/Claws/or Horns, Use of Unnatural Weaponry, and other forms of Illegal Strikes will result in immediate disqualification as the offending party has dishonored their Patron.
- Upon the end of the match, the Zo will declare the Victor, who is expected to offer a respectful motion to both their former opponent as well as the Zo who presided over their match. Both combatants are expected to not dishonor their patron with unnecessary griping/mourning or boasting/celebration within the designated combat area, though both are allowed within reason.
Mechanics
The following regards actually using dice rolling to settle matches. If anyone wishes to try Jin’Chuka de Loa, they are free to alter these rules or use any means of settling matches as they please as these are just guidelines and what I’ve come up with.
- At the beginning both players will be at a neutral state
- The third player acting as the Zo will call the beginning of the match, then both combatants will roll 1d10 (Unless Cheating, see further below.), the Player with the higher roll is said to have taken the Advantage (+Player) and the other now has the Disadvantage(-Player).
- The +Player will emote first, stating in what way they have taken the pace of the match, then the -Player will emote their short form response.
- Continue to roll 1d10 until a player takes Advantage twice in a row, at that point they will emote the means of taking victory.
Additional Rules
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Cheating: A player may choose to state that their character is cheating and instead roll a dice of any size they prefer. However the Zo will then make a roll and if their roll is higher than the cheating roll, the cheating player is immediately named the loser.
If a player cheats multiple times in a match, the Zo has a greater chance of noticing this tactic by adding the additional amount of each cheat to every roll to notice. So if the Cheating player rolls 1d11 one round and is not caught, then 1d15 the second round the Zo will roll 1d11 the first round, then 1d16 the second round. -
Time Limit: If the Zo player feels that a match is taking too long or there has been a set number of rounds to be taken per event that has been met. The Zo will halt the match, emote marking a circle around the players and start the match once more. From this point The Match enters ‘Sudden Death’ in which the first player to roll 2 advantages total from the circle being drawn takes the win
Well, if you’ve made it all the way through I thank you for your diligence, I’ll try to respond to any questions but I’ll be away from my computer for a time. I hope that everyone enjoys what the find here as well as feels free to put forth any ideas regarding this. As mentioned above I want to one day run a tournament for the whole server and would love if everyone felt they could claim even a small part in helping this come together.
Edit: Readability as well as adding the Old Ways section