Duel

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A Duel or Single Combat is a fight which happens between two people over a specific outlined issue in accordance with a predetermined set of rules. Duels can be to the Death, or they can be until some other criteria are met (first blood, one side is knocked over, a guy yields) or one party yields.

In many cultures Duelling used to be a fairly common way to settle disputes, especially among the upper classes. If the alternative is three generations of free-for-all blood feud between their families this can be seen as the lesser of two evils especially for a loose feudal government. On the other hand, it still means that people (in particular young men with a lot of potential but also a lot of bravado) get themselves maimed or killed pointlessly. For this reason during the 18th and 19th century duelling gradually was banned in Europe.

The Forms (Must Be Obeyed)

The basic forms of a duel are the same regardless of how the duel is fought.

1. Offense is given. Somehow.
2. The aggrieved party shall make it very clearly known that offense was given, giving the offending party the opportunity to make the offense right. Somehow.
3. The offending party does not do so.
4. The aggrieved party issues challenge.
5. The challenged party may make right the offense, or accept the challenge.
6. Both parties secure seconds.
7. The challenger selects details (time, place, equipment, and win condition), and dispatches their second to communicate this to the challenged party. The challenged party may accept or propose alternatives, using their second.
8. Once the details are agreed upon, the duel can occur.
9. The duelists and their seconds assemble at the agreed place and time.
10. The seconds present each party's weapons to the other party for inspection.
11. If both parties are in agreement that all is in order, combat may commence.

In areas and eras where dueling was tolerated by the law, these forms were treated as absolutes that had to be obeyed for the authorities to look the other way.

Duels with Swords

Most melee duels came down to one of two rules. Either fighting until someone lands a blow / draws blood, or fighting until one party is incapacitated or dead.

Duels with Firearms

Historically, dueling firearms were single shot, muzzle loaded pistols manufactured as matched pairs. A critical consideration in a gun duel is whether or not the combatants will use one or two pistols, the latter case being rare but not unheard of.

Gun dueling had some interesting meta. In many pistol duels, the combatants would simply shoot their pistols into the dirt (or the air, or otherwise off target) to preserve honor, and then call the whole thing settled for simply showing up. This cannot always be relied upon, and a key study of this is the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aron Burr.

One interesting nuance was that both sides had to shoot before the duel was settled, which could turn very grim if one party carelessly shoots quickly (and probably misses) but the other party holds their fire and then carefully aims. Doing this but then deliberately missing when you absolutely could have killed was the maximum in honor victory points, showing oneself not only supremely brave (for holding your fire when the other side didn't) but then also more honorable and charitable (for not using the advantage).

Quickdraw Gunfighting

The bastardized, quick & dirty version of dueling. Instead of relying on forms of etiquette, in a quickdraw duel the participants would simply face each other empty-handed at first, and then draw their weapons and open fire as fast as they could. The survivor would then be able to argue that they only drew and shot in self-defense, since they waited for their opponent to go for his weapon first. Unlike duel gunfighting, quickdraw duels were basically always fought with intent to kill. Also, while they're a stock scene in cinema, unlike more formal duels quick-draws were actually pretty rare.