Note that when I specified samurai, I did not mention ninjas. For all that the skillset is definitely more similar to the pop culture idea of ninjas, actual ninjas were not extensively trained or educated specialists—they were small-time assassins picked from the general peasant population and used as personal hit squads for warlords after getting the bare minimum of training. Sure, they got to use some cool weapons and have interesting legends based around them, but they were ultimately much less dangerous than a samurai, who would have recieved a lifetime of training and education to become a lethal warrior and strategist, in additipn to being better fed and having better-quality equipment.
The Chaste combine a wandering warrior monk ideal (which is originally Chinese) with the pop-culture ninja, the bare-bones of samurai training and a lot of Spartan methodology. Only samurai+lords could carry and wield katanas, and they also had training+education from childhood onwards. Spartans and samurai alike trained kids starting at six-ish, though the Spartans were more brutal about it, and moved them through hand-to-hand to weaponry to non-fatal single combat up to killing and open combat. The heavy stuff started around thirteen to fifteen, generally they wouldn't become killers until their mid to late teens, and training completed upon reaching adulthood (late teens to early twenties depending on varied factors.
Matt did not complete his training, but he did train with Stick from 10-12, which may not be that long but is still long enough to plant the seeds and lay a framework. If he started training younger like Elektra did, he would have been more receptive to Stick's training. The older young are the harder it is to properly condition you into the frame of mind needed for a child raised to combat, and while Stick didn't enturely miss the window—if he stayed he probably could have turned Matt to his way of thinking through persuasion and exposure—he fucked up and left. In real life children raised to combat are usually encouraged to feel respect and some level of devotion for the teachers in the students in order to more easily manipulate them and cement their loyalty, ie honey vs vinegar/carrit and stick—reward compliance to encourage obedience. However, Stick is a dick and they emphasized the non-attatchment zen buddhist monk attitude instead, so Matt (who is way too emotional and had too many abandonmemt issues to not get attatched) got cut loose as a failure rather than getting lured in and slowly talked around.
Re: Gen, Public Finds Out Daredevil was a Child Soldier
The Chaste combine a wandering warrior monk ideal (which is originally Chinese) with the pop-culture ninja, the bare-bones of samurai training and a lot of Spartan methodology. Only samurai+lords could carry and wield katanas, and they also had training+education from childhood onwards. Spartans and samurai alike trained kids starting at six-ish, though the Spartans were more brutal about it, and moved them through hand-to-hand to weaponry to non-fatal single combat up to killing and open combat. The heavy stuff started around thirteen to fifteen, generally they wouldn't become killers until their mid to late teens, and training completed upon reaching adulthood (late teens to early twenties depending on varied factors.
Matt did not complete his training, but he did train with Stick from 10-12, which may not be that long but is still long enough to plant the seeds and lay a framework. If he started training younger like Elektra did, he would have been more receptive to Stick's training. The older young are the harder it is to properly condition you into the frame of mind needed for a child raised to combat, and while Stick didn't enturely miss the window—if he stayed he probably could have turned Matt to his way of thinking through persuasion and exposure—he fucked up and left. In real life children raised to combat are usually encouraged to feel respect and some level of devotion for the teachers in the students in order to more easily manipulate them and cement their loyalty, ie honey vs vinegar/carrit and stick—reward compliance to encourage obedience. However, Stick is a dick and they emphasized the non-attatchment zen buddhist monk attitude instead, so Matt (who is way too emotional and had too many abandonmemt issues to not get attatched) got cut loose as a failure rather than getting lured in and slowly talked around.