Trial of Possession:Personal Duel

[AlphaMirage]

I am currently writing a story for one of my AUs and came upon something I don't think I remember from any fiction or sourcebook. 

A Trial of Possession is called for a single person of high importance/honor (A Focht, Steiner-Davion, Kurita, etc...), if they are worthy of a possession trial they are worthy of a batchall.  Can the target answer with a call for personal combat not in a mech, aka a knife/sword fight, against the caller? 

I ask because a clanner shouldn't turn down a chance at single combat, after all that is the lowest bid that can be offered.  At the same time though it only leaves them one way to win (beat the possession target without killing them or dying).

[snewsom2997]

I am currently writing a story for one of my AUs and came upon something I don't think I remember from any fiction or sourcebook. 

A Trial of Possession is called for a single person of high importance/honor (A Focht, Steiner-Davion, Kurita, etc...), if they are worthy of a possession trial they are worthy of a batchall.  Can the target answer with a call for personal combat not in a mech, aka a knife/sword fight, against the caller? 

I ask because a clanner shouldn't turn down a chance at single combat, after all that is the lowest bid that can be offered.  At the same time though it only leaves them one way to win (beat the possession target without killing them or dying).

I think it is just a simple circle of equals. A bondsman is generally the property of the warrior who captured them, in rare instances like Phelan Kell, the Khan can claim them, in which case you would get circle of equalled to death as the khan sends endless streams of challengers against you. Otherwise it is just mano y mano.

I am not sure how how you bid up from hand to hand, to vehicles. I am not sure that is something the Clans would want to encourage, as it would be wasteful in both men and materials, men can be decanted, materials not so much. Outside of something sanctioned in the Clan Council, Refusals, Blood Name Trials etc, I assume everything else is hand to hand inside a clan. 

[Tai Dai Cultist]

If you want Person A and declare a ToP for him/her:  If person A is in a command position (a Khan, a House Lord, a unit CO) I don't see any reason why Person A can't declare defense potentially with up to everything under his command (an entire Clan, an entire Succession State, the entire Cluster).   However, if person A is not in a command position but is still someone you want to ToP for, can Person A's commander reply with forces under his command in defense of Person A? I'd presume so, under an argument that ToPs are answered by garrison commanders.  If Star Colonel Bob defends the world/enclave, you don't get to ignore him and ask Warrior Joe what forces he intends to defend with if you're trialing for something conventional like the output of a factory run on that world/enclave.  Why would it be different if the objective is Warrior Joe himself?

[Rtifs]

Clan trials are a bit technical.  But let’s walk through it.  First an overview of the trial process. 
1.   The aggressor announces himself and the objective of the attack (territory, genetics, tech info, etc.).  This begins the Batchal.
2.   The commander responsible for defending the resource in question states what forces he will use to defend, and where the battlefield will be.  They might even discuss victory conditions such as Focht and Ulric did for Tukayyid. 
3.   The direct subordinates of the attacking commander will bid for the attack.  The commander might join the bidding as well, depending on circumstances.
4.   The battle takes place.  The winner takes/keeps possession of the resource in question. Prisoners taken become bondsmen. 

Now it should be noted that the purpose of the trial system is to minimize collateral damage and damage to the prize.  For instance, it wouldn’t be good if the only way to get new genetic material is to make a commando raid on a genetic storage facility.  There would be a high probability of damaging this valuable resource in the fighting, including the destruction of the targeted materiel.  The trial system allows the fight to happen in a way that the prize is unharmed and any other genetic material that wasn’t targeted is left intact as well.

So here’s what you could do.  You could have the target character declared as the sole defending force, unaugmented, or with a sword or other weapon of choice.  The bidding assures that the attacker will use a similar force – they won’t bring a mech to take out a single man.  But, you can complicate the issue by having someone else fight for the target.  This allows real, lethal combat to take with no risk to the individual (i.e., the prize). 

If you go with the former, bear in mind that a clan warrior is disposable so may choose to fight to the death – which spoils the outcome.  If he loses and surrenders, he’s technically a bondsman.  This is why I prefer the target to sit-out the fight and have a champion do it.  If he loses, the targeted individual is not a bondsman but the immediate property of the victor (new clan, unit, whatever). 

[Jellico]

2.   The commander responsible for defending the resource in question states what forces he will use to defend, and where the battlefield will be.  They might even discuss victory conditions such as Focht and Ulric did for Tukayyid. 

The defender also has the option to tell the attacker to get stuffed.
E.g. the attacker is unworthy or a serial pest, or the target is too valuable to risk to a local Trial (Lum Snow Raven Yards).

[skiltao]

5. If the attacker begins to lose, they can call down some reinforcements (from their previous bid? the other bidders' previous bid?) with only a small loss of face, or a lot of reinforcements (up to their opening bid? the first bidder's opening bid?) with a larger (but usually not as bad as losing) loss of face.

So even if the combat starts out as a personal duel, it might not stay that way, depending on how the bidding opened and ended.

The defender also has the option to tell the attacker to get stuffed.
E.g. the attacker is unworthy or a serial pest, or the target is too valuable to risk to a local Trial (Lum Snow Raven Yards).

Which, to be clear, doesn't stop the attack.