Country of Origin: Avalon
Salon: None
Founded: 1631

Description: In 1631, an Avalon man named Lester Peecke gave a demonstration of his skills with the quarterstaff at the royal court of Montaigne. He fought alone, defending himself simultaneously against three Swordsmen armed with rapiers and daggers. Peecke stunned the court by winning this match easily, but had to beat a hasty retreat home for having bested the sons of three very important noblemen. By the time he landed, the story of his feat had already reached Avalon’s shores, and Peecke found himself besieged with requests to teach his new method; however, he resisted these demands for personal reasons. He died in 1642, without ever having taken on a student and with no known relatives.

Mysteriously, in 1656 (coinciding exactly with the return of Glamour), a tall, strong man appeared in Avalon, calling himself Jasper Peecke and claiming to be the grandson of Lester Peecke. Whether this is true or not, according to the stories of those who had seen the elder Peecke, he fought with the same style. After ten years of teaching, Jasper Peecke simply disappeared, leaving it up to his students to carry on the tradition.

The Peecke style uses a quarterstaff and teaches balance as its central tenet. The practitioner attacks from left or right with equal frequency, and combines swings and thrusts to keep opponents off balance. The style’s weakness is that the length of the staff makes it easy for an opponent to trap or otherwise move the weapon out of position.

Basic Curriculum: Athlete, Staff
Knacks: Beat (Staff), Corps-á-Corps, Disarm (Staff), Exploit Weakness (Peecke), Feint (Staff)

Apprentice: The Peecke fighting style employs a wide, double-handed grip that attacks and defends with equal ease to the right and the left. To most opponents this is akin to fighting someone who is left-handed, but worse. The Apprentice gains the benefit of the Left-Handed Advantage, but only while using this fighting style. In addition, any Active Defenses made against the Apprentice’s Attacks have their Target Numbers increased by three times his Mastery Level.

Apprentices of Peecke receive a free Rank in one of their Swordsman Knacks in lieu of Membership in the Swordsman’s Guild.

Journeyman: Journeymen have learned the value of a strong defense. At the beginning of each Round, he may choose to discard one of his Action Dice to increase his TN to be Hit by the Phase showing on that die for the rest of the Round.

Master: At this level of mastery, a student of Peecke has perfected the art of the unbalancing attack. He receives a free Rank in the Trip (Staff) Knack. This may increase the Knack to a six. If it doesn’t, the Master may increase his Rank in the Knack from a five to a six later by spending twenty-five experience points.

In addition, whenever the Master successfully executes a Trip against an opponent, if the Action Die affected by the Trip is lost (i.e., if the value is increased to above ten), he may immediately make a Corps-á-Corps attack against that opponent without spending an Action Die.