Martial arts for and against Neanderthals

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Figleaf23

For whatever reason, I sometimes have difficulty discerning when you are providing and opinion or conjecture vs when you're making an assertion about GURPS.

There isn't anything in print that says "Martial Arts are a TL1 invention" as far as I know, no. However, there is the general rule that an invention's TL is the TL at which it can be shown through historical or archeological data that it was a mature technology as opposed to a toy, demonstration, or prototype.

However it occurs to me that I may be wrong. I had forgotten about Mesoamerican warrior societies (particularly those of the Aztec Empire) which were clearly systematically trained in formal styles at TL0. Although maybe it's better to consider the Mesoamerican civilizations to be Advanced in Political Organization or whatever as well as in Mathematics and so on. Low-Tech Companion 1 suggests the State is a TL1 invention as well.

Note that the rules say 'systematically taught'. It seems like your interpretation requires something more elaborate.

I don't think so. Style Familiarity means that not only are you trained in a coherent system of fighting, but that somebody who has never met you can possibly identify that style by observing you fight and use that knowledge to predict your actions. It is possible for two different people, trained by different masters, to have the same Style Familiarity. For societies organized as Bands or Tribes, with a purely oral tradition of teaching, and no formal dedicated warriors or soldiers it seems very unlikely that this kind of systemic training to be common enough to be considered a mature technology.