Verraz Law - Challenge
During the time when Verraz wasn't a nation but scattered towns, forts, and factions, the one problem that many of the faction leaders faced was having heirs to carry on their work, some heirs would do well, while others failed miserably. Eventually one of them came up with the Challenge rule, where a leader could be challenge for their right to lead the faction and it was always a fight to the death. This ensured that only strong people would lead, and soon they'd start conquering each of their neighbors, bringing in each of the factions' people into their own, and all the way to the founding of Verraz as a Nation, the Challenge rule has kept them strong.
It later became a mandatory law that every single Verrazian must follow:
If a person challenges you, you can either accept or deny. It is not considered murder either. But it can be murder if no challenge is given, plus there has to be witnesses to prove the victor, otherwise it could be speculated murder.
In Noble families if one wanted to become head of the family, they would have to either wait til they die of old age or challenge them to become the head of the family.
Military men and women could challenge their superiors for a higher position as well, but they had to go up in rank order, they couldn't skip over their direct superior, like a Rookie can't challenge a General, they'd have to challenge a Private. Of course, everyone can refuse but its rare cause its treated as cowardly to deny someone.
The Challenger has to kill the Challenged in order for them to be considered victorious, however the Challenged doesn't have to kill the Challenger, and if they choose to spare their life, they are sent to the Pits as a way of redeeming themselves - Win 10 battles, and they're redeemed, then can choose to leave the Pits or stay in the Pits.
However unlike everyone else, The Warlord can still be claimed via the Challenge law, and the Warlord cannot deny any challenge from anyone, unless the challenger is not a born Verrazian citizen (which case, they can't challenge the Warlord ever). If the Warlord does refuse, it is grounds for removal as Warlord and being found guilty of cowardice, if enough witnesses are gathered to prove it.
If they are removed, then the Warlord is publicly decapitated, their name is removed from the Warlords' Memorial, and a statue will never built to remember them.
So to avoid that disgraceful fate, if the Challenger is a born Verrazian citizen, then the Warlord has to accept and battle each other to the death. If the Challenger wins, they become the new Warlord of Verraz.
For leadership there is a small law that is more common sense than a law, but basically a minimum age of 16 to challenge the Warlord, otherwise they can deny them without grounds for removal. This law has kept Verraz a strong military based nation for hundreds of years, new ideas tend to come with each new Warlord, better soldiers replace the old to further strengthen the military, and it keeps the noble families from becoming weak.
This is a law that all Verrazians believe will never change as it is part of the core of their country as strong conquerors.
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A law decided by challenge is indeed interesting. But what happens if someone denies a challenge?
Would that be equal to a forfeit? Are there rules or social stigmas who you can or cannot challenge?
Imagine the Disliked Brute challenging the likeable and wise leader who was a bit frail due to sickness. Can someone perhaps defend the challenged?
Are the variants where the challenge need not be to the death?
On a side note you have so much posibilities to expand on this! Try to use placeholder-links so you can easily create new articles!
Denying a challenge is usually frowned up, but to the challenger it is considered insulting like saying "You're not good enough to challenge me!" or "Pfft, don't make me laugh". No, it would not be equal to forfeiting. If under the age of 16, you cannot challenge anyone and the only rule for requiring you to be a Verraz born citizen is if you're trying to challenge The Warlord as the country will never accept a foreign born to become the Warlord of the country. No one can defend the challenged, even guards for the Warlord cannot protect him/her if the challenge is issued. If the person however tries to attack without issuing a challenge or tries to fight the person despite being denied, then it is considered murder/assassination. As said in the article "The Challenger has to kill the Challenged in order for them to be considered victorious, however the Challenged doesn't have to kill the Challenger, and if they choose to spare their life, they are sent to the Pits as a way of redeeming themselves" the Challenger has to kill the Challenged in order to claim their position, rank, title, whatever, but the Challenged does not have to kill the Challenger - it is meant as a form of disgrace, hence the Pits for redeeming themselves. And I'll need examples of placeholder-links cause I dunno what those are & how they are properly used. Thanks for the comment :)