But the path to enlightenment
Cannot be found through spirit alone:
The body must be strong, it must be attuned,
It must be ready.
Cannot be found through spirit alone:
The body must be strong, it must be attuned,
It must be ready.
The Order forged its refuge on the eastern strand of the Isle de Gambino; a long, abandoned stretch of beach somehow untouched by Gambino greed for the time being. Perhaps it was meant as a respite for tourists. In any case, a discerning combatant knew at a glance that a single beach does not provide the commodities for training a hundred soldiers...
The Town of Gambino is walled on both sides by a dense, if thin, strip of tropical jungle. It is beyond the Western portion of forest - about an hour's walk from the Temple - that the Combat specialists find their home.
"Home", here, is used in the general sense of a gathering point. By decree of the Captain, all Combat specialists sleep outside in tents that pop up from the ground like many green barnacles. A lucky few have positioned on the span of rock which the Clurch calls its foundation - the unlucky majority must sleep on the sand; a fine, white sand that seems to get everywhere and doesn't provide much support for tent poles. Therefore it is not unusual for curses to ring out sporadically through the night as a unlucky soldier finds his bedroom collapsed upon him.
The break of dawn can mean a fresh start, but for the Combat specialists of the Order it means the beginning of another nightmare. Upon waking, troops must make the hour-long march to the training grounds for morning exercises - then march back again before 8 for morning prayers. After this point, Combatants are generally free to do as they please, but the more devoted of the members will march all the way back to begin their real training for the day. Some may retreat solely further up the beach from the Temple in order to spar; these Combatants tend to garner a bad name for themselves - slackers. The Captain doesn't tend to look kindly on many people, but if you're caught training outside of the Grounds due to laziness you will most assuredly never find yourself out of his bad books.
The Training Grounds themselves are a rough area set up in a grassy field just beyond the jungle. Ruined walls stand around, decrepit and worn; the perfect places on which to prop targets. A large ring of sand for martial practise has been laid - though as we all know, sand tends to travel, and so it must get topped up regularly. Chests of weapons - all types, shapes, sizes and styles - are scattered around the martial ring. A dozen or so beaten practise dummies stand off to the sides, with rather forlorn, sewn-on faces. While it may look rather disorganised - and it is - the Captain's excellent record means his methods for training are never in doubt.
