I posted a while ago, but due to money haven’t realistically been able to come until recently. Me and one other person were thinking of going as a pair (possibly siblings) where I’m more of a duelist and they’re more social, though obviously we do neither exclusively. My question is more for me specifically:
How closely linked are dueling and politics in the league?
(Also, in this instance, I’m using politics to mean more ‘influence over others’ than ‘will I become senator’, though obviously they tie into each other.)
Clearly it’s not a thing in the senate or any other kind of overt political institution, but in general are high up League players/guilds likely to use duels against their rivals? Would they if they could? How common are duels that aren’t just for show or money? In the wiki it says duels are ways of ‘settling disputes’; are these disputes always personal in nature, or will guilds and other organizations sometimes use them?
On a separate but related note, are there any tournaments that go on where I might be able to ‘prove my worth’ so to speak? I’ve heard about a glory square in Dawn, but anything more Leaguish? Somewhere I could fight while my sibling maybe tries to interact with/sell me to (not literally) wealthy people and guilds? Ideally not specific to free companies as I would really rather engage less with combat for combat sake and more combat as a political tool.
Likely this wouldn’t be an end goal, more of a stepping stone to give us maybe an excuse to speak with some powerful people, or at the very least an IC reason for me to try and cultivate a reputation as a good duelist. Idk I’ve just not been able to find much on the place of dueling in the power and politics of the League so I thought I’d ask. It’s possible that this concept would work better in a different nation and I’m being stupid but hey what can you do
Sorry for the long post, any replies would be massively appreciated thank you!
…are you looking to play a Fencer-at-Law?
(not an Empire concept, as far as I know…)
Settle your disputes by hiring CelticSoldier to fight your duel for you! Available now for very reasonable prices!
I’m afraid I know approximately nothing of the league internal machinations, but I can tell you that formal duelling grounds are pretty rare at Anvil. You’ve noted the Glory Square (where to be honest, if you wanted to settle a dispute there with a duel, I doubt Dawn would object), but the only other formal one I can think of is the Imperial Orcs fighting pit… which is less Leaguish than the Glory Square.
That said, there’s usually enough room for a showy duel or two along main walkways, on the hill alongside the woods, on the roads… If you’re careful of others passing by.
If you just want to build a reputation as a skilled blade for hire, stomping into a national area and issuing an open challenge will get you some fights, and increase your visibility…
I do play in the League, and duelling is semi-common, but generally informal. And there isn’t a single system for why, when or how it is done.
Some people duel for fun, and occasionally there are organised contests, which mostly involve opportunities to show off your skills in public. Personally I’ve only been involved in a handful of what you might call ‘duels of honour’ over the years, and those have tended to follow a consistent format, despite a very varied set of opponents from different groups. For these, it is really important that you read and understand the League tradition of Dead Reckoning.
With those duels, it has always been because of a perceived insult or similar that needs redress. In one case, someone had insulted my group leader, so I fought them, having received some instruction from the group about the manner in which they wanted me to fight. In another, a long term friend/rival and I found that our guilds were going to make an alliance by marriage, so we agreed to fight a duel to clean the slate. The essential agreement was that we would fight, and whatever the outcome we would both consider all items of Dead Reckoning between us - good and bad - to be wiped clean. Who won didn’t really matter as such, but the fact of having the fight did. Other than those, there have been a handful of minor duels, usually over some minor insult or other, where the point is simply to beat someone to make good the Reckoning.
The “bridge duelling” and other contests, and the sparring-matches for fun… I wouldn’t really count those as duels, because the characters are taking care not to hurt one another.
Real duels are more like historical ones: they’re over some dispute or quarrel (albeit possibly feigned or contrived or for show), and someone’s going to get hurt.
The terms of the duel are set by mutual agreement by the participants, but usually both parties will use matching weapons and fight until one party submits or is too wounded to continue.
So, depending on the terms agreed, the duellists might be armoured or not, and might use heroic skills or cast spells, and/or use magical weapons etc…
Absolutely.
Quoting that same wiki page:
It is accepted practice for powerful and wealthy individuals to employ professional duellists to fight in their stead.
