@Zardoric Thank you for the input! The setting of the boarding school with the inclusion of a town everyone could build and explore was what I was leaning towards for the setting. The whole gang wars thing was just an idea being tossed around, and while I did say that the zodiacs could form "gangs" based on their rotation and/or fixed element, I use the term loosely. It would be interesting to see if all the winter zodiacs got along well together, or say, all the yin fire elements, but it certainly wouldn't turn into an all out gang-war scenario.
I think the idea of our characters not knowing eachother beforehand and joining a club is also nice (an astrology club, perhaps?). I wanted to add in the Cat because of the lore with the Cat/Rat feud, and while I don't want the cat to be left out, I don't want to add in too many animals and have it get so busy and out of control. Although at the same time, having a lot of people would mean a lot of interaction, and as long as people behaved and made sure to make it clear who they interacted with, I see no issues.
Whilst the idea of creating the missing martial arts is interesting and gives a lot of room for creativity, I'm afraid I don't know enough about it myself to comment (I only know taekwondo, I'm a sucker for astrology but not for sport). Perhaps someone with more knowledge could weigh in on this a little better.
@Buddha It could be! A very plausible idea indeed.
Since a lot of ideas are getting tossed around, once a few more people show interest I'll ask what everyone would prefer and see if we can incorporate the ideas and come up with someone everyone will enjoy. I myself am quite enjoying the idea development ;u;.