#wla

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.

HD WLA Bobber

Mestric: a catch-all term for all orientations, attractions, partnerships or similar involving non-binarity (e.g. nblnb, nblw, wlnb, mlnb, nblm, wla).

Lesbian: queer attraction to women (QLW/WLQ); a label for being gay for women; umbrella term for nonmen loving non-men (NMLNM/faunic/daunic); or homo sapphic/WLW (women who like women).