Duels on Sharitarn
A brief text about a important element of civilized life on Sharitarn. Civilized in this case includes the Feudal Domains and even some nomadic tribes.
Duel is a institute for free men, neither free women nor slaves of any gender have a place in it. Non human species incorporate human habits, sometimes that is essential for survive in a planet controlled by humanity; and the duels as described here have suffered influence of several humans and non human, humanoid and non humanoid, cultures. However, that's basically the duel as it is done on most human cities of Sharitarn. Described from human point of view for someone recently arrived from Earth at year 2100, give or take some decades.
All free men on Sharitarn are supposed to carry weapons all the time, swords mostly. Except for the mages, those don't carry weapons because they don't have use for them. Even magical weapons are too weak and too clumsy for a mage's level of power, if they choose objects to improve their Xar those are usually jewelry. For the same reason, brute power, mages can't duel on streets. They must do that inside rooms build for the purpose of make mage duels safe for the rest of the city.
All free man are supposed to carry weapons, they mostly choose swords for practicality. On most nations there is no restriction about the kind of weapon a free man can carry on streets (no others than the ones imposed by the Exclusion Law, of course) so in theory everybody could carry two hand axes or long spears all the time, those weapons are just not comfortable enough to have with you all the time. There is one important restriction however, not mentioned in the text: on most civilized Nations few free man can wear armor, or carry shields.
That is a illogical restriction, I will admit. Weapons are to hurt, armors and shields to not be hurt, ergo weapons are evil and armor and shield are good; so to speak. Still, all cultures have their contradictions, and that is one small contradiction that human civilizations on Sharitarn happen to have. In general, for most places, citizens of Warrior Caste can use armors and shields; and they are under legal obligation to do so most the time on many Estate Cities. Sigrax citizens, when they exist, are allowed armor and shield as well; but without the obligation to use them, usually. Nobles, most cities don't have Noble Caste but where this caste exist the noblemen can dress anything they want, they don't usually go around wearing heavy armor but they certainly could. That is about all; any other free man wearing armor or caring a shield on the streets would be committing a crime.
Not always considered a serious crime to be actually punished. Much depends on the circumstances.
Usually combatants do not design their conflicts to be fair. Whether is a battle in a war between nations or a raid to steal women from a neighbour village, each side will look for a way to get as much advantage as possible before the first blow. Practical considerations and honour will force free men to enter a fight where they are in a bad position, and overcome the odds is the Warrior Caste trademark, but one don’t plan a battle to be balanced. As much as we don’t plan a fight to be unbalanced in the favour of our opponent. There is, however, the duels.
Duels are supposed to be fair, that does not mean the sides should be equally strong but there is a limit of decency to keep in mind. The intricacies are countless; there is the matter of who make the challenge, and for what reason, but in general a sigrax will not challenge a Warrior Caste, and much less a common man; a Warrior Caste is not supposed to challenge a common man, or provoke that fellow to force him to make the challenge. Weaker people have more freedom to set challenges, and insist on them, and the defied part has no reason to reject the challenge: Sharitarnes don’t reward stupidity, the fellow being provoked by someone weaker can usually kill the unwise challenger without think twice and face no critic for that.
Still, exceptions apart duels are supposed to be fair, and they are in fact very frequent. All free men carry weapons, swords more often than not all the time (except for mages) and they do solve their differences in combat frequently (mages included) anywhere and any time (mages excluded). Those combats are seldom fatal, and usually both parts leave the fight walking; but when someone dies there is nothing to be said about it: all duels implicitly include that possibility.
When the iis from Earth achieve citizenship they know, because they have been told a hundred times by their caste brothers, that duels exist and are part of normal life on Estate Cities, villages, Feudal Domains, and even some wild tribes. However, this men imagine that they can just step aside and avoid conflict every time. Nothing can convince the normal Earthling man that sometimes you cannot step aside and avoid the conflict. Nothing less than personal experience, I mean.
Sharitarn civilization expects free people to hold their ground. The way men are supposed to do that on streets and social circumstances has little to do whit the way women are supposed to do that, but the disposition to fight for yourself is core element in their concept of freedom.
On Earth, abuse someone who don’t wishes to fight and force conflict for no reason is something people can only do discreetly, mostly and under false pretences. It is an ugly thing to do. On Sharitarn free women only get a free pass on being push overs up to a certain degree, and men don’t get a free pass at all. A man who avoids conflict will attract it, and soon someone who is obviously inferior to him will very systematically make his life miserable. People will compete to help in that social torture, without even notice. No one feels bad about that sort of behaviour.
Hold your ground. You don’t have to be the most brilliant fighter, first sword in the Nation, to be respected by your pairs. When it comes to duels on Sharitarn an honest looser gets more respect than an uncivil champion can hope for. Skill is important, yes, but that is not a sport. Duels are a tool for solve day-to-day conflicts in a clear, fast, and simple fashion. Those who abuse this tool soon find someone skilled enough to set them straight; or to set their bodies strait to the ground and their heads straight to the opposite side of the room, that works too.
Point being, no one has to be an excellent swordfighter just to walk the streets, but every man who are and intend to remain free must be at least decent in armed combat. Don’t expect sympathy for avoid violence.
If you are blind, have lost a leg fighting for your Nation or serving your Caste, is too young or too old, well: circumstances like that can change a lot. Sometimes is a decent, and prescribed, behaviour to enter a fight for someone who can’t fight for himself; usually isn’t , but sometimes it. However, there is no fix rules for that sort of thing. Depends on the particular city where you are, on the caste and reputation of each person involved, even on what part of the city you are. Potters will differ in moral and value a bit from Fishers, and a lot from Scholars.
In addition, as a general rule: you don’t want to be the guy from another caste being mean with the old, blind, one legged Potter, on the middle of Potters Sector.
You should avoid step on people’s toes unnecessarily. Without allow people to step on yours. When in doubt is better to step aside and open passage for those who are clearly more dangerous than you, like Warriors to common men, sigraxes to Warriors, and mages to any other human being. Just don’t stay in doubt for too long, sometimes even a common man can, and should, hold his ground against a mage; or at least against a sigrax. When in doubt ignore the clearly weaker until they insult you in an unmistakable way, but not beyond that point. Less clear contrasts are the complicated issue.
Things solve themselves through. Very few people leave home looking for an excuse to start a fight. Once you have been challenge for a duel, if the person challenging you is not far above you in chances of victory, accept the challenge.
Free men who perform far worse on the fight than they should, given their caste and more personal characteristics, are likely to die in a duel: incompetence is irritating. Those who are about as capable as they are supposed to be have all chances to leave with minor bruises if they loose.
One last thing: if you happen to win a duel and your opponent is still alive, do not kill the man! Unless you know why and is sure that that’s what you want don’t kill, don’t mutilate, don’t make more serious would than you have to make for win the duel. And, for the love of you fucking Global Govern: do not brag about your victory!
CASTOR AND POLLUX
_Hei, Saul, may I ask you a question?
_Well, you arrived from Earth less than two weeks ago and that's a very different Universe. Of course you are suppose to have many questions and, as long as they are HONEST questions I will not be offended by them. If you use questions as a trick to hide insults then I will be offended by your questions.
_I suppose that's fair enough. Well is just that we had this argument on Earth, about adventure video-games: you always said that use two swords is stupid. According to you it would not be practical because the blades would go in the way of each other. Do you remember that? Yeah, so, then you are here now, and for what you explained to me here on Planet Sharitarn all free men carry swords all the time. Or some sort of similar weapon. Duels to death are a matter of everyday life for men living here, and you walk around caring two swords. Trusting your very life in such a stupid, unpractical, tactic. What made you change your feelings about the subject?
_What? Well. That's not a question I would have expected! Yes, I do remember those conversations! What changed my opinion about the subject? Well nothing. You see, I have a reason to carry two swords all the time, but I never use them both at the same time. It is a bit hard to explain to you at this point.
_How about a broad, general, notion?
_Alright. We would have to talk about that sooner or later: they have magic here.
_Fuck you!
_They have fuck here too, of course, but those topics are not related. Necessarily. Yes, magic is a thing here.
_You mean Fire Balls and Dimensional Doors? Then, if that's true, why we cannot magic our way back home with some teleportation spell?
_Because does not work like that, even when there was teleportation spells to be learned. And now they are extinct, for most practical purposes. Best thing you can hope to find is an magical objects with teleportation spells in it. However, teleportation only works in this Universe. Divination spells too, same thing. You cannot get information about what is happening beyond the Vortex by magic. Much less open a door back to Earth.
_You are not joking. Are you?
_I will prove to you soon enough, for now just assume I am being serious. Magic is real. Still want the explanation about the swords?
_You know the answer to that question.
_To use the power inside any magical weapon a person needs two things. First, is necessary Magic Potential. You either is born whit that or not, but they have tests to verify who has it. There is no obvious clue. Because the potential alone does not do a thing. After that you need to learn a number of exercises, practice, and make what they call "First Test".
_Not a very creative denomination.
_Yes, they could have done best in this particular. One thing this test does is "awaken" the magic potential. Once it is done every time a person touches an magical object, like a magical weapon, the magic manifests.
_For how long?
_The rest of life, actually. Once awaken the potential never goes away. There is a vast variety of advantages in have that, and some few disadvantages too. Long story short: I have this.
_You can make Fire Balls.
_No, let's not talk about spells. I can use magical objects as magical objects. That's the reason why I carry two swords, in this fashion that I like to call: Castor and Pollux Style.
_A reference to the twins in Ancient Greek Mythology, one was a immortal god and the other was just a mortal man. Ergo, one of your swords is magical and the other is just a normal sword.
_You got the idea. For serious situations I use Pollux, it can cut through about any non-magic material almost as if it was not there, and can block other magical weapons. Besides, it has a spell in it. In your hand this would be just a nice sword, impossible to brake but not particularly good beyond that. In the hand of anyone with magic potential awaken it is an unfair advantage. When anyone challenges me to a duel, without a strong reason to accuse me of having forced the situation I usually don't have to worry about being fair, I can use Pollux. Even if the guy is just a stupid Peasant Caste with no more notion of magic and/or combat than the average common man.
_Does not sound like fair combat to me.
_I used to feel the same way. They still call that "fair combat" here, however. As long as I am not the one making the challenge. And the guy in clear disadvantage isn't being unfairly pushed in a corner. According to the common sense of civilized Sharitarnes.
_Then why carry Castor?
_Because sometimes I may want to challenge someone. Or perhaps I just don't want to take an unfair advantage. Castor is a very good sword, honest red-iron worked by an master blacksmith. It is still far superior than most swords common people carry. Since most of those swords are made of bronze. Black iron is the next best thing and you mostly find it in the hands of professional fighters of one sort or another. Still, a good swordsman, with decent luck, can win a duel using a bronze sword against Castor. Would take a rare Warrior Caste master to have chance with red iron against Pollux.
_Can I see this magical sword in action?
_Not really.
And by saying it Saul unsheathed one of his swords, and his image faded out the world.
_Illusion magic_ said his voice, coming from several steps behind the other ii_ When I speak my voice is projected a few steps in some aleatory direction, but you cannot hear my steps. A foe with hearing beyond human parameters would not be able to hear my respiration now, nor my heart beating. And no dog can smell me either. I never tested, but I assume the illusion must cover my heat too, lots of intelligent species in this planet can see it.
_So, you are completely invisible.
_Not completely, divination spells will find me, if they are stronger than the spell in Pollux. Depending on the light is possible to see a silhouette sometimes. Rain will not give me up entirely but it also causes a noticeable effect where the drops hit my body.
Each time the voice would came from a different direction. When he reappeared was in the same place where he ad been before.
_And you say a master swordsman, Warrior Caste, could still have a chance against that? A mere human being. Without magic.
_Well, depending on who this person is. Yes. Without magic. They have some scary fellows here, in the Warrior Caste.
_May I ask you another question?
_Sure, suit yourself.
_What's the deal with that Tina? She walks around barely naked, with that choker around her neck, cleaning and serving stuff. She's not REALLY a slave, is she? You would not have women as property, would you? How than can be anything but DEEPLY EVIL?? How would you DARE to do such a thing!??
_Now, you seen THAT is more in line with the questions I was imagining you would want to make.
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments