SexyFighters.com

[BloodRaven]

Before I get flamed,I'm doing this as a favor for DesertWolf.Any comments,questions,or concerns posted will be addressed.



Name: Gabriel Ferreira
Batizado Apelido: Tubarão
Species: leguar(leopard/jaguar mix)
Fur:
Hair: black and braided(corn rowed)
Eyes: dark brown
Age: 25
HT: 6’2
WT: 185
Occupation: former slave, bodyguard/enforcer,Aluno Formado de Capoeira

personalidade: Generally calm and serious most of the time. Whenever he sets his mind on a goal, he’ll devote whatever skills he has into achieving the goal.
História: Gabriel was born to an African slave and a Ticuna native on a sugar cane plantation near the city of Recife. Life was harsh for Gabriel who began working with his parents along with the other slaves in the cultivation of sugar cane plants.

Clothing:

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_________________
The way of the Ninja is the way of enduring, surviving, and prevailing over all that would destroy one. More than merely delivering strikes and slashes, and deeper in significance than the simple out-witting of an enemy; Ninjutsu is the way off attaining that which we need while making the world a better place.

- Toshitsugu Takamatsu

[Rikardo]

Nice charecter, espesially when he's a Bodyguard!
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Furaffinity: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/rikarda/



http://theelzeronchronicles.webcomic.ws/comics/1/

[BloodRaven]

The bodyguard occupation comes from a couple of sources.

1)DesertWolf spent many years as a Personal Security Specialist or a bodyguard in layman terms.

2)After getting freedom many Capoeiristas became bodyguards/enforcers to local politicians.
_________________
The way of the Ninja is the way of enduring, surviving, and prevailing over all that would destroy one. More than merely delivering strikes and slashes, and deeper in significance than the simple out-witting of an enemy; Ninjutsu is the way off attaining that which we need while making the world a better place.

- Toshitsugu Takamatsu

[Rikardo]

[BloodRaven]

DesertWolf tends to combine his life experiences from his jobs along with his knowledge and history of his martial arts training to develop a character.
_________________
The way of the Ninja is the way of enduring, surviving, and prevailing over all that would destroy one. More than merely delivering strikes and slashes, and deeper in significance than the simple out-witting of an enemy; Ninjutsu is the way off attaining that which we need while making the world a better place.

- Toshitsugu Takamatsu

[Rikardo]

[BloodRaven]

From D.Wolf:"Cultural Stuff will be mini threads breaking down the translations as well as historical and societal issues surrounding the character."


Translations:

Name:

Ferreira is from a river in Portugal contrary to its close association to the Spanish word for a "smith".

Batizado Apelido:Lit. "Baptized nickname" is the name given to a Capoeirista or practitioner of Capoeira.

Tubarão:Lit. shark

Aluno Formado de Capoeira:Lit."Formed Student of Capoeira"Its closet rank would be around a black belt.

personalidade/História:Lit. "personality/history"
_________________
The way of the Ninja is the way of enduring, surviving, and prevailing over all that would destroy one. More than merely delivering strikes and slashes, and deeper in significance than the simple out-witting of an enemy; Ninjutsu is the way off attaining that which we need while making the world a better place.

- Toshitsugu Takamatsu

[BloodRaven]

Cultural Stuff:

Batizado Apelido:After a period of training(anywhere from a few months to a year)a Capoeirista or practitioner of Capoeira goes through a ceremony in which he/she demonstrates their knowledge in front of the mestre(master) and other students.If the capoeirista demonstrates sufficient skill,they are given a Batizado Apelido or Baptized nickname.It often represents characteristics that the practitioner exudes(such as Gabriel's name of shark).
_________________
The way of the Ninja is the way of enduring, surviving, and prevailing over all that would destroy one. More than merely delivering strikes and slashes, and deeper in significance than the simple out-witting of an enemy; Ninjutsu is the way off attaining that which we need while making the world a better place.

- Toshitsugu Takamatsu

[BloodRaven]

Cultural Stuff:

Former Slave:Brazil was the last country to officially ban slavery when Princess Isabel made The Lei Áurea(lit. "Golden Law")on May 13th 1888.The law had only 2 articles:

1)As of this date,slavery in Brazil is abolished.

2)All dispositions to the contrary are revoked.
_________________
The way of the Ninja is the way of enduring, surviving, and prevailing over all that would destroy one. More than merely delivering strikes and slashes, and deeper in significance than the simple out-witting of an enemy; Ninjutsu is the way off attaining that which we need while making the world a better place.

- Toshitsugu Takamatsu

[BloodRaven]

Cultural Stuff:

Capoeira:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H0D8VaIli0


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJKR4cOt2Dc


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FtmM4iTALE
_________________
The way of the Ninja is the way of enduring, surviving, and prevailing over all that would destroy one. More than merely delivering strikes and slashes, and deeper in significance than the simple out-witting of an enemy; Ninjutsu is the way off attaining that which we need while making the world a better place.

- Toshitsugu Takamatsu

[DesertWolf]

I need to update this soon.
_________________
“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.”

– Bruce Lee

[DesertWolf]

Leguar

A leguar, or lepjag, is the hybrid of a male leopard and a female jaguar. The terms jagulep and lepjag are often used interchangeably regardless of which animal was the sire. Numerous lepjags have been bred as animal actors as they are more tractable than jaguars.

The Field No 2887, April 25, 1908, Henry Scherren: "In a paper on the breeding of the larger Felidae in captivity (P.Z.S [Proceedings of the Zoological Society]., 1861, p. 140), A.D. Bartlett stated : "I have more than once met with instances of the male jaguar (F. onca) breeding with a female leopard (F. leopardus). These hybrids were also reared recently in Wombell's well known travelling collection. I have seen some animals of this kind bred between a male black jaguar and a female Indian leopard:-the young partook strongly of the male being almost black.

In Barnabos menagerie (in Spain) a jaguar threw two cubs by a black lion, one resembled the dam, but was somewhat darker, the other was black with the rosettes of the dam showing. (Zoolog. Gart., 1861, 7)" (Since melanism in the panther (leopard) is recessive, the jaguar would either have been black or be a jaguar-black leopard hybrid itself, carrying the recessive gene.) Scherren continued "The same cross, but with the sexes reversed, was noted, by Professor Sacc (F) of Barcelona Zoo (Zool Gart, 1863,8 "The cub a female was grey: she is said to have produced two cubs to her sire; one like a jaguar, the other like the dam. Herr Rorig expressed his regret that the account of the last two cases mentioned lacked fullness and precision."


Just in case nobody would believe if the hybrid existed.Also it's from Wiki.And finally the emoticon should be an 8 but for some reason I can't change it.
_________________
“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.”

– Bruce Lee

[DesertWolf]

Capoeira:

Components of Capoeira

The history of Capoeira does have its begin somewhere in the second half of the 16th century. The Portuguese, having an urge for cheap and reliable work-force, start importing African slaves to their South American colonies. They tried to use indigenous people first, but those were either running away, hiding deep in the jungles of the Amazonas, or were dying away like flies, because they were not resistant against “Old World” diseases. Africans were immune to them, and ripped away from their homes several thousand miles across the ocean, they seemed to be more feasible work-force.

In less than 300 years, 3 million Africans were “imported” to Brazil. This being the number which survived the long and inhuman trip. The number of Africans which died during the trip is not known. These people were of different descent, you had Ashanti, Yoruba, Igbo among other tribes. Bantus and Sudanese tribes. Tribes with different development, different rituals, languages and cultures. But with these all the components of Capoeira were brought together. Different African martial arts, mating rituals like the N’Golo (the Zebra dance, one of the believed direct ancestors of Capoeira), rhythms and music. Even musical instruments, or at least their concepts, came together with the slaves. It is unavoidable that some kind of creole culture started to develop, in different places, some ritual dances more dangerous than others. But none of them was Capoeira, yet.

Quilombos and Resistance

Slavery and Oppression will always lead to resistance. And slaves did try to resist. First they just fled. One by one or in small groups slaves tried to run into the woods and survive in an unknown environment. Some did, and started settlements. And once having settlements, they started to grow. With growth comes strength and at a certain time former slaves started acting with self-confidence, fighting and trading with slave-owners. Those settlements were called Quilombos, the most prominent and biggest example being the Quilombo of Palmares, existing for about 100 years until it was destroyed by Portuguese troops in 1694. The people living in the quilombos established guerrilla tactics to deceive and defend themselves against those who did want to extinguish them. Quilombos did exist till the 20th century and there are still some cities which have been Quilombos originally. But the important times were the times of the Quilombo dos Palmares. Traditional Capoeiristas see themselves as true heirs of the legendary heroes Ganga Zumba and Zumbi (the leaders of the Quilombo dos Palmares), although nobody does know if they did do something similar to Capoeira. But their will to resist against a seemingly too powerful enemy and their will to live their way – those elements are still remaining in today´s Capoeira.

The birth of Capoeira

When did they mention Capoeira the first time? The problem here is that a lot of official documents were burnt after the abolition of slavery in 1888. First mentions date back to the 18th century. There is a famous work by Rugendas ‘Capoeira-or the Dance of War’ showing two opponents being watched by several people. It was made 1825. The opponents on this picture are in a kind of fighting position. The presence of drums tells us that this is not only a very interesting fight, but part of a ritual, involving music, fight and more.




Though it is not clear what people meant with Capoeiras. Nobody really bothered to distinguish between all the different expressions of African culture in Brazil. So Capoeira eventually became a word with a rather broad meaning, including everything which is African, does have dance-like properties or include some rituals. Later Capoeira became synonymous with ‘criminals’ . But at some time Capoeira did become rather close to today´s forms.

After the abolition 1888 the status of the former slaves did not change much. A lot gained official freedom, but if they wanted work they had the choice to submit themselves into slave-like work, be unemployed and starve to death or find a way for themselves. A lot of former slaves went into the cities where they found work at the docks. In there past-time they did practice Capoeira. But those days Capoeira was much more diverse than today´s, and much more violent. This and the fact that people did not like poor Blacks to become competent fighter led to Capoeira being outlawed by Constitution in 1890. Even before people did not like their slaves to practice a martial art. After 1890 police did heavily cut down on Capoeiristas. Especially the more violent forms of Capoeira in Rio de Janeiro and Recife were heavily persecuted. Even those practicing a more dance-like form of Capoeira in Bahia did have problems with the police. But they had, seemingly, the least problems with the police, because by 1930 there were not many Capoeiristas left, and those that were were mostly in Salvador, Bahia.

The Legalization of Capoeira

In those years, a Capoeira Master named Mestre Bimba, did have several concerns about his Capoeira. He did not like the efficiency of the heavily dance-influenced Capoeira. On the other side, violent forms of Capoeira were openly disliked by the government. In giving Capoeira a ‘regulation’, getting it off the streets into his school, Bimba did save Capoeira. The new sport he named “Luta Regional da Bahia”, now known as Capoeira Regional. Only this form made it possible to have Capoeira accepted officially. Only with Bimbas idea Capoeira was legalized in 1937, when a heavily impressed president Vargas did see a ‘truly Brazilian sport’ in Capoeira. Vargas was heavily influenced by fascist ideas, so one might ask if it is really a good idea to get his blessings for this. But MEstre Bimba had no choice. First of all, he was personally taken by the police to the president and they wanted him to perform his ‘ Luta Regional’ and second, Mestre Bimba was most possibly fed up with the shadow existence a Capoeirista has. He did introduce Capoeira into those parts of the population, which were not poor or/and Black. The white people, the richer middle- and higher class boys.

The marginalization of Capoeira and Mestre Pastinha

After this Capoeira Regional did gain huge popularity in Brazil (though even today there is still some prejudice against Capoeira as being something for A) guys B) rough boys C) Blacks D) poor people). Schools popped up everywhere and in the 1960′s a group of young teachers founded the Senzala group. Capoeira in these times did gain a regular and standardized training system, a cord system and a lot of students. But it lost a lot by this. It lost a lot in terms of its rituals, its playfulness, its mucic, its malicia, its Africanity in general. It became a more and more European sport. As there were more Mestres other than Mestre Bimba, Mestres who did know the old Capoeira, a inner-Capoeira resistance movement did start. Mestre Pastinha is something like the head figure of this movement. He was not the oldest of the traditional Mestres, he may also not have been the best, but he had the right combination of knowledge, skill, intelligence and charisma to gather and teach some of the best Capoeiristas. And he did, in comparison to his colleague Bimba´s Capoeira Regional, call this Capoeira Angola ‘because it comes from Angola’. Till the 1980s and until the death of Mestre Pastinha this traditional Capoeira was a shadow of Capoeira Regional, gaining most of its strength from its contradiction to Capoeira Regional, being teased by Regionalistas as the slow, old men’s capoeira.
_________________
“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.”

– Bruce Lee