Atamara Dueling Association

The Atamara Dueling Association is a non-political sporting guild devoted to the art and practice of swordfighting.

History

Tournaments have long been a source of entertainment on Atamara, particularly the swordfights -- mano a mano fights, over and over, to see who the finest swordsman at the tournament is. Tournaments, however, are few and far between, and your dedicated swordsman gets restless.

Not long ago, a dueling craze swept the island. Initially, people fought to settle grudges and slights, furtively in rural regions. Eventually, bored nobles began to duel sheerly for the honor of besting an opponent in single combat, and underground dueling clubs began to form all across Atamara, in basements, taverns, and mausoleums.

The ADA was formed when Kepler Dolohov and some fellow Talerium nobles (Thorbjørn Tyreslagter, The Specialist Del Toro, and Autarii Flockhart) pooled their money to renovate the old Dolohov family stables into a diguised training center. Their goal -- to link up the underground dueling clubs all over the island, and rank those duelists to see who really is the best.

Rules

All nobles need to obey the laws of the realm they find themselves in, in order to maintain the Guild's good standing.

Equipment

Each member must own and keep in good repair:

• A dueling sword and dagger pair of correct length and weight
• A neck guard sufficient to prevent wounds to the carotid artery or jugular vein
• A chest guard sufficient to prevent punctures of the heart, lung, and stomach

These items are included in the joining fee.

Membership

Membership is, regrettably, by invitation only. Dueling is still illegal in many realms of Atamara, and so it is necessary to maintain a certain level of secrecy. Only full members of good standing may issue invitations, and must do so formally by announcement to the guild. For example,

"I, Kepler Dolohov, declare that Thorbjørn Tyreslagter is a nobleman, an able swordfighter, and is trustworthy, and I sponsor his membership in this guild."

Do not reveal to a non-member any information about association membership or rankings.

Dueling

Association Duels

Members are expected to regularly duel to first blood to keep up their skills and maintain their ranking. All duels must be reported to the overseers so that ranks can be adjusted. A duel does not count toward official guild ranking if one of the duelists is wounded or killed. (If both participant survive, the duel may be refought for ranking)

Dueling Outside the Association

Members are permitted to duel honorable noblemen outside the guild, both to settle matters of honor, and to sound them out for potential membership. These duels do not count toward ranking, even if the opponent later joins the guild.

Members are not permitted to duel noblemen who are expelled from the guild. If such a "noble" insults the honor of a member, it is better to have him killed than to give him the satisfaction of a fair fight.

Unauthorized duels to the death are explicitly prohibited, and will cause the victor to be expelled from the guild, and the loser's record to be deleted from the guild ranking.

Crimes Against the Guild

We recognise that realms have an interest in protecting their troop leaders from harm and maintaining order. However, the rules of the ADA are sufficient to prevent such harm to a more than reasonable extent. Therefore, any actions against the association by a realm must be considered a crime against the association. This includes:

• punishing noblemen for being members of the ADA
• punishing noblemen for engaging in an ADA-sanctioned duel
• robbing or destroying an ADA guildhouse

All members are called upon to prevent and punish these crimes, in any way they see fit.

Ranking

While the guild is still relatively small, we will be able to simply recalculate guild ranking according to all of the reported duels. As the guild grows, we'd be happy to hear proposals for better/easier ranking methods.