CM-F
CM-F is the contactless movement, and the first step into the Extended Library.
One Saberist answers every attack with footwork and body movement instead of a blade. The other carries the saber and delivers the attacks, so the movement drills evasion on one side and controlled, safe swings on the other. The object is a continuous series of dodges.
For performance it reads two ways. It can show a character who controls the fight by demonstrating that they do not need a saber to engage — or a weaponless character avoiding strikes in order to escape, reach a weapon, or reach whatever else the scene requires.
CM-F was contributed by Santiago Martinez.
Notation
CM-F is written in two tables: the opening, and the run that follows it.
Wide tables
Both tables below are wide. On a phone, turn the device landscape; either table can also be scrolled sideways.
The opening
| Player | s1 | s2 | s3 | s4 | s5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saberist A | Blend-4 Crouched F-Duck | Turn 180 Right | Blend 3 Left | Blend 3 Left | Blend-4 Crouched F-Duck |
| Saberist B | Charge 2© | Pass/turn 180 Right | 12, turn 90 Left | 12, turn 90 Left | Turn Left with 2© |
The run — performed throughout while stepping backwards.
| Player | s1 | s2 | s3 | s4 | s5 | s6 | s7 | s8 | s9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saberist A | Blend 1 Left | Turn to Face | Blend 1 Right | Duck | Blend 1 Left | Jump Back | Blend 3 Right | Blend 1 Left | Disarm |
| Saberist B | 12 | Turn to Face | 12 | Spin L>R | 10© | 0 | 9© | 12 | 0 |
Read down each column as usual, but notice what is missing: there is not a single P anywhere in the notation.
- Only Saberist B's row carries target numbers. Every cell in Saberist A's row is a movement — a blend, a duck, a jump, a turn.
©is a complete, the same symbol taught in CM-C. The swing carries through rather than stopping, which is what gives Saberist A an arc to move around.0is a thrust, as in CM-D.Bl-is a blend in the Notation Legend; this movement writes it out in full, with the line it works on and the direction it travels —Blend 1 Left.- Step 2 of each table is shared. Both Saberists turn at the same moment —
Turn 180 RightagainstPass/turn 180 Rightin the opening, andTurn to Facein both rows of the run.
Telegraph
Saberist A version: two arms held out to the side, parallel. Saberist B version: put the saber away and taunt.
Either version calls CM-F. Agree which one you are using before the exchange begins.
The telegraph is the silent signal that calls CM-F before an exchange begins. See LUMINA Games for how telegraphs are used in play.
Blending and disarms
Everything in the Core Library answers an attack by meeting it. A 1 is answered by a 1P; the blades make contact and stop each other. CM-F removes that option and asks what is left.
What is left is the blend. A blend takes the line of the incoming attack and moves the body off it rather than putting steel in its way, so the attack passes through the space the defender has already left. It is written Bl- in the Notation Legend, and here it carries both the line and the direction: Blend 1 Left blends the 1 line, travelling left.
Two things follow from that, and they are the reason this movement exists.
The first is that the defending Saberist has to read the attack earlier. A parry can be late and still work. A blend cannot — the body has to be moving before the blade arrives, which means the defender is reading the swing rather than reacting to it.
The second is that the attacking Saberist becomes responsible for the movement. There is no blade to stop a swing that goes wrong, so every attack in Saberist B's row is delivered at a distance and a speed that Saberist A can leave in time. This is why CM-F is as much a control drill for the armed Saberist as an evasion drill for the unarmed one.
The run also travels. The entire second table is performed stepping backwards, so the pair covers ground continuously while the sequence plays out — the defender giving way, the attacker following.
The last column is where it resolves. Saberist B thrusts (0) and Saberist A answers with a Disarm. Everything before it is avoidance; the disarm is the point at which avoidance turns into an answer, and it is what makes CM-F a scene rather than a run of dodges.
Purpose
CM-F is designed to teach:
- answering an attack without blade contact
- blends, noted
Bl-, and the line and direction each one carries - footwork and body movement as a complete defence
- reading an attack early enough to leave its line
- swing control and safe distance for the attacking Saberist
- continuous movement backwards through a sequence
- closing a movement with a disarm
The disarm
The disarm is CM-F's special move — the milestone the movement builds to, in the sense CM-E introduces. It is the one moment in CM-F where the unarmed Saberist stops avoiding and acts, and it is what the whole run of blends is arranged to earn.
Practice it on its own, statically, before it goes anywhere near the run. Set the thrust and the disarm as a pair, slowly and by agreement, and repeat it until the hand-off is the same every time. Only add it to the sequence once it is.
Teaching note
CM-F should be taught as a language drill, not as a fight.
Two hazards belong to this movement specifically. The unarmed Saberist has nothing to stop a swing with, so the safety of the whole movement sits with the Saberist holding the saber — every attack is a controlled arc at a measured distance, and speed is added only when both sides are clean. And the run travels backwards across the floor, so the space behind Saberist A is checked before every repetition, not once at the start.
CM-F is also the first movement where a Saberist performs a full sequence with no weapon in hand. That is worth naming to students: the notation is a language for choreographed movement, not for swordplay alone, and a row without a single target number in it is still notation.
When CM-F is clean, continue to CM-G, which takes the exchange into saber locking, or return to the Extended Library.