#wla

Did it not occur to the three of them that maybe they should say something like idk THAT HES YOUR TEAMMATE IN THE SUMMER LEAGUE

That’s not even including those who play against him

Oh yeah. Uhhhh.

The first empire spread through the stars like a slime mold. Every star was visited, every planet surveyed, every resource tapped. Through it all flowed starship fuel (which I haven't come up with a fancy name for) produced at a single massive complex on a planet hidden from the rest of the empire.

To govern the disparate systems, noble houses of a sort cropped up. Whether from enterprising imperial citizens, sponsored by the emperor, or breakaways from larger houses. Each one unique, and each one insignificant when compared to the wider imperium. All these houses suckled from the imperial teat. Each one could have invaded and conquered their neighbors, declaring themselves an independent empire, and many did. But to seperate oneself from the empire was a death sentence, as the regular deliveries of starship fuel would cause the young state to wither and die. No interstellar travel could be done without the fuel, and all were reliant upon it.

When the first empire died, it was announced to most houses, not with grand decree, but with a missed delivery. Many houses continued on, for they assumed it was a minor blip in the hundreds of years they had been properly cared for. But the deliveries never came, and still they sent their tithes and exports, still they acted like nothing had changed. When the fuel ran out they were trapped in their star systems. Over a hundred thousand tiny pockets of people does not an empire make.

With communication cut to the speed of light, and the ability to travel between systems waning, each house grew apart from eachother. Some excelled in their new freedom, creating vast wonders out of their rocks. Others fell to their own faults, devolving into cannibalistic or hedonistic tendencies. Still others carried on, doing their level best to continue as they always had, producing and producing, waiting for the empire to come pick up.

For fourteen hundred years the houses were seperate. Many remember the empire as a distant legend, some don't remember at all. But one has relearned the production of starship fuel, and is working to reunite the houses. Our story takes place in Efterant, a system that had a different name before it was forgotten and replaced with the name of its largest habitable planet.

House Efterant has just recently been given the design for a factory capable of producing starship fuel, and begun recieving guests from other systems. At the same time, tensions between the different noble houses in the system of Efterant are at an all time high. The power of controlling starship fuel, and the spark of newcomers in the system for the first time in fourteen hundred years causes the Fourth Efteranti Interplanetary War to break out.

So it is that most nobles will have a Dueling Knight, a Knightlord (or lady or leth) equipped and trained for the sole purpose of fighting and winning duels. Special training is needed see, for petty duels between minor nobles are almost never to the death. To waste a well bred knight over a spilled drink would be just that, a waste, and a drain on everyone's finances. So duels are often a matter of scoring, form, balance, even looks. Sometimes they are to the touch, with the dull of a blade clanging against jack chains signalling an end to the battle. Rarely they are to the breaking of shields, or to the blood, which of course requires the breaking of shields. These are rare fights, as score based and touch duels can be fought in decorative and ceremonial armor, where as shield and blood fights require full equipment.

When duels require full equipment, and the utilization of a proper dueling arena, it's often for a challenge of shield or blood to be met with an answer of death. While the dueling knight can of course rise to this occasion, matters of death are often left to War Knights. While most nobles own at least one dueling knight, only around 70% of Efteranti nobles are in possession of war knights. They are more expensive, less used, and oftentimes more volatile that dueling knights. In times of war it is assumed that war knights will be lent to whatever higher noble their noble has sworn fealty to. The knight, an extention of the noble, is then an extention of the higher noble and will fight and die as they see fit.

While dueling knights predominantly train in ceremonial and decorative armor, lacking full protection and often only having patches of class 1 armor, war knights exclusively train fully equipped. A war knight's armor consists of a full class 6 carapace over a powered exosuit which interfaces with the knight's implants. All movement of the exosuit is endogenous, with signals directly translated from the brain and nervous system into the limbs. With their armor and implants, a war knight is nigh indestructible, faster than the naked eye can track, and can fly for short distances.

While war knights do train with ballistic weaponry, most duels are limited to martial combat. Knights wield weapons designed over decades to get through the ever increasing material science of armor in Efterant. Whether it's an axe that rips through the armor panels or a sword that melts the atoms themselves, there is a constant dare to invent a new weapon to kill a knight, few succeed.

Some duels will allow ballistic weaponry, in which case a standard dueling arena won't be enough and the nobles involved must petition for a section of the lands of Efterant (often mountains) to be set aside for the duel to take place in. This is seen as dishonorable, as it is a tactic used by nobles with weaker knights, as the surprise ballistic weapons afford may even the odds. It is also a gigantic pain for everyone involved, and wastes a lot of everyone's time but that's niether here nor there.

Duels will ballistic weaponry are another story compared to standard duels. Ballistic weaponry may ONLY be used in duels to the death, as there is no way for the knight to guarantee they do not kill their opponent. Instead of melee weapons carefully tinkered with by Efterant's finest scientists, ballistic weaponry is characterized by large shoulder mounted cannons of various types. Cluster munitions, high powered sniper rifles, missile launchers, and laser weapons. It's true that ballistic weaponry is an outdated blanket term for ranged weapons, but no one cares enough to change it and everyone knows what it means.

It should be obvious why sections of mountain range need to be set aside for such things, but if it is not; When it comes to rifles that can put holes through towns, missiles that can make 20 ft craters in bedrock, and lasers that scorch a two mile line in a twitch, none of these should be fired anywhere near someone who doesn't want to be involved.

There has often been animosity noticed by nobles between their dueling knights and war knights. A dueling knight may envy a war knight's equipment and privileges. A war may envy the casual life of a dueler. None have yet come up with a solution that leads to both coming out happy and alive. Well none except those who encourage their knights to fornicate with eachother. Risks are low, with few related injuries. The chance of birth is nonexistent with current contraceptive measures, as well as the often sterile nature of war knights. However it should be noted that legendary Taminodine The Blade was the son daughter of a pair of knights, Tamquid and Oreoat, both of house Oftnir, war and duel knights respectively.

"This is exhausting, do I have to read all of it?" Veerah said, closing the book on its finger.