🤺 Duels -

Duels can take place any region that the challenged party chooses on the map. To initiate a duel, the offended player must challenge the offending party in front of witnesses (and at least one Control Team member). The fight takes place at Dawn in the following round.

If the duel is denied, the challenged must either offer apology and accept a penalty defined by the challenger, or flee in ignominy, potentially losing face with their House and alliance. If the duel is accepted, both players must select a second, that is another Player to support them and, if needed, fight the duel if they are unable. Then the challenged party chooses a location on the map at which to meet at the beginning of the following turn. The duel takes place at the battlefield table.

A duel can either be resolved by ‘blade’ or ‘shot’ and the fight can be to the capture, or death. If the challenged selects ‘shot,’ then both Players conduct a best of five round of scissors, paper, rock to determine the outcome. If they select ‘blade’ the Players will let the cards decide. Each Player will be dealt a five card hand from a prepared ‘blade deck’ and play a full round of the ‘Way of the Blade’ trick taking card game; See the section “Way of the Blade.”

In either case, the victor may choose what the result of their victory leads to. If they fought for capture, nothing stops the victor from killing instead, except their word of honour of course. In the same way, in a fight to the death they may choose to spare the losing Player, taking them hostage instead, or allowing them to leave. Any Player who is involved in a duel may not commit banners to a conflict or submit travel papers that round. This is because their character is considered busy or distracted. Players may, on the other hand, submit Gambits if they can find the time before High Noon. Duellists must bring their Table Banners to the battlefield table with them when they face off. Any additional banners that they control can be commanded by another player in conflict that turn. Seconds are free to play the game as normal other than submitting Travel Papers that round, as they also must attend the duel.

Locations and Cowards -

It is important to note that while at the duel location, all four of the Player characters, inclusive of the duellist’s seconds, are considered as having travelled to the region selected for the duel. The Players are considered to have travelled to the duel’s selected region for the rest of the round. If Dawn arrives and the challenged (or challenger) does not, then their chosen second must step into the duel as their replacement and the duel must be carried out with ‘shot,’ not ‘blade’ as their chosen weapon. If neither the Duelist or their second arrives, then the duel is called off and the absent duelists may be considered cowards.

Players who do not attend their duel may submit travel papers and fight conflicts as normal. The duelist who does show up in this case (as well as their second) have the same restrictions as if they had fought the duel with the exception that they may fight conflicts, just not in person. There is no mechanical penalty for not attending a duel, but there will likely be very real fallout in the other areas of the game.