Mace, medieval martial artist

A while ago with the growing popularity of Asian pop culture and martial arts, several medieval franchises tried to incorporate some of that appeal, the Dungeons and dragon and Diablo franchises to name two of them, without realizing in the least that unarmed martial arts were fully developed and in use in medieval Europe. Now the monk is a common enough fantasy element in many medieval fantasy settings.

I generally dislike this, I consider myself a bit of a purest when it comes to medieval, I love the traditional and the accurate. So I leave the monk out in my medieval fantasy setting with only some extreme exceptions.

Well the concept for this image came from several thoughts on how true medieval martial arts could be incorporated into a fantasy setting.

Unarmed martial arts did exist in medieval Europe (and this was not just boxing or wrestling) in many fully developed systems, just not in monastic orders.

What would a real medieval martial artist look like in a fantasy setting?

Well this image was the result. Having to contend with swords and other weapons he would defiantly need some form of metal protection. Also the regular metal gauntlets and greaves would pack a massive punch when employed by someone who knew how to throw one effectively. The nine points of attack in martial arts (fists elbows kicks knees and head) are covered by using said armour pieces.

I gave him a strong tan because he doesn’t wear a shirt. I love his muscle structure; I wanted it to be a strong European type of build.

I also drew this image to fit a character I’ve wanted to develop for a while which is based on a very close friend of mine. He’s a main character in the book I’m writing but doesn’t appear until later in the story.

He’s a gentle giant who can pack a heck of a punch when needed. He has a low self esteem about himself and does not see how much quality he possesses and how much of a good person he really is. I like the name mace because in combat that’s technically what he is, a massive powerful living mace. His full name is Christopher Mace.