Dueling

Over the course of my time in Illy I have been challenged to "duel" on at least a couple of occasions.   These are my thought on dueling in general, and dueling in Illy in particular.

First, dueling is illegal in most civilized societies.  Why is that? Because it tends to be used to satisfy the "honor" or a person who has been bested (fairly or not) in an argument.  In other words, it's usually an escalation of a verbal altercation and therefore not thought of an an acceptable means of answering the question around which the debate was centered.  Most civilized societies have a sharp distinction between verbal exchanges and physical violence.

Second, dueling has always been rare even when it was legal.  This is because there developed a set of steps necessary for a gentleman to actually engage in the duel.  The steps were, roughly, a follows.

1) Perceived offense to the honor of the gentleman.
2) Confrontation of the offender and announcement of the point of contention
3) Opportunity of the "offender" to give "satisfaction."
4) Issue of the formal challenge.
5) Selection of the "seconds" (the persons who from this point forward would be expected to assist in the negotiations and details of the duel, should it actually take place)
6) First Negotiations (to determine if the altercation can be resolved peacefully)
7) Formal acceptance of the duel
8) Selection of means of dueling (the weapons and the place).
9) Second Negotiations (to come to agreement re the weapons and the place and to try again for a peaceful resolution).
10) Formal agreement of the terms
11) Arrival at the dueling location
12) Inspection of the weapons by the seconds and/or (sometimes) a neutral party selected by the seconds.
13) Final request for satisfaction (Final attempt to negotiate a settlement)
14) Final denial
15) The duel

As you can see, it was a long and very formal procedure, which is why it almost never occurred.  Some key points to consider though, are that there was every effort to avoid the actual duel, and that the challenger did not have the right to select the weapon or the place.  The one challenged would select the weapons and location.  The challenger could reject the weapons, but once the weapons were selected the challenger was expected upon his honor as a gentleman to accept the weapons and place if they were at all deemed reasonable.

Now for some thoughts on dueling in Illy.  The steps here appear to be:

1) Decide you don't like what the other person is saying, whether it's dishonorable to you personally or not, and challenge them to a duel, usually in GC.
2) Keep needling until they respond.
3) Bluff if you don't really want to duel but are just doing it for the sake of appearances.
4) If you really want to duel and if they don't accept attack anyway.

It does seem to me that "dueling" in Illy is hardly honorable.  But, perhaps, more to the point are these observations:

1) If you are challenged to a duel the challenger is hot blooded and/or has planned in advance to do so.
2) If he or she has planned to do so in advance then he or she is prepared while you are not.
3) If they are just hot headed and haven't prepared it's quite likely they have been in many more wars than you (lack of verbal discipline does have that advantage) and thus are much more experienced.
4) If they are a warrior, even if they didn't prepare, they usually have larger standing armies than non-warrior types, hence are better prepared.

So in the end, if one is challenged to a duel you are probably at a great disadvantage from the start.  You haven't chosen or prepared to duel,  You won't have time to prepare.  The challenger is not only probably more prepared but, if he's also cunning, has support already lined up (if he's in a large alliance or at  least one much larger than your own he most certainly will have more resources upon which to draw).

And then there are the practical matter of confirmation.  Should you negotiate a set of limits about your duel you may find it difficult to say who thieved you, who sent saboteurs, or from where the support your opponent is receiving is coming, etc, etc.  So even if you are an honorable duelist, in a protracted conflict if you get the upper hand it may be that your little war may not stay in the boundaries negotiated at the start.   As I noted above, the person challenging you has little compunction to avoid escalating things.  You know he or she did so since they chose to escalate a verbal exchange into a duel.  From being beaten verbally, they go to a duel.  From a duel, should they also lose the military exchange, to a war.

Now you know why I refuse to duel in Illy and probably always will.

AJ