Hoop Dance Technique

The Hoop Dance Technique is a method of combat in 'Merganser,' based on the traditional Hoop Dance (which obviously exists in the real world as well).

number of hoops
According to the Lakota people who explain the Hoop Dance Technique, there are four classifications for the amount of hoops:


 * 1) Single Hoop - This may seem like a disadvantage to the other hoop amounts, but the single hoop in use can be heavily bonded to its user, allowing for a significant amount of control over its movement and the magic coursing through it. This technique shares much in common with weapon-based medicine.
 * 2) Joint-Hanging Hoops - The amount of hoops implies by "joint-hanging hoops" ranges from two to eight, ranging from just the elbows to the elbows, wrists, knees and ankles.
 * 3) Quiver of Hoops - The amount of hoops implied by a 'quiver of hoops' is roughly 9-20.
 * 4) Many Hoops - The amount of hoops implied by 'many hoops' is anywhere from 21 to several dozen, as seen with one Caddo practitioner. Puebloans do not figure prominently in the story of 'Merganser,' but the originator of the school that uses a large amount of hoops is said to have been inspired by a warrior that he met in the southwestern plains.

size of hoops
The size of the hoops can range from small enough to swing between fingers to large enough to just barely avoiding grazing the ground when the bearer's arms are held at shoulder height.

mixed-size hoops
Some practitioners even vary the size of their hoops. Normally, this manifests with a half-dozen standard-sized hoops and four "ring-sized" hoops. This style has its own school.

weight of hoops
In the real world, the weight of hoops was supposedly a limiting factor until someone made some hoops from reeds in Vietnam. Different kinds of wood are useful for different kinds of secondary magic, but no matter what magic is done to an implement, its original physical characteristics can still offer an advantage. Hoop Dance warriors who focus on long-range attacks are likely to use light wood, which is still sturdy and can handle wind resistance. The lightest wood is used by mid-long range practitioners, rather than purely long- or medium-range practitioners. If a practitioner is willing to modify his magic so that the hoops themselves magically avoid wind resistance, he may use a heavier hoop for long-distance combat, but this will affect his ability to use his own magic.

modification to hoops
This school utilizes hoops which can split into pieces

notes on manufacture
Degáihdöhwa’së’shahsí’da’gé:gwa:h, the Iroquois steam shaman known for his excellent lacrosse sticks and wooden furniture, is approached by a hoop practitioner from the Plains to make a hoop especially for them.

real world
The Hoop Dance was supposedly originated by the Ojibwe people, but it has spread into much of the Great Plains as an art form and religious ceremony. Sioux peoples especially view the hoop as a sacred metaphor for the order of the universe; it seems to have a more fundamental meaning for the people of the northern plains than it does for the Ojibwe. It is likely that the original creators of the Hoop Dance will never be known; it's entirely possible that the Ojibwe have been credited because they were the largest and most prominent group in the "Old Northwest" in Canadian and American history.

In the real world, the hoop dance was transformed into its modern incarnation by Tony White Cloud from the Jemez Pueblo; he was ethnically Towa (Jemez). He was the first to stylize a form of the dance using multiple hoops. Puebloans do not figure prominently in the story of 'Merganser,' but the originator of the school that uses a large amount of hoops is said to have been inspired by a warrior that he met in the southern plains.

other series
Later on in 'Cedar Smoke: Gisli,' Allan Laithwaite begins to use a technique that resembles