1v1 trial

[Nightgaun7]

I'm writing a short piece in which a Wolf Empire mechwarrior fights a trial against a Clan Protectorate mechwarrior. The Clan Protectorate warrior is supposed to win big. What scale of item would typically be fought over by two warriors, and what could a particularly impressive win get you?

[Bren]

Well, entire planets have come down to duels before ...

[Tai Dai Cultist]

It's easy to imagine a Clan mechwarrior duelling a RAF (or Protectorate) Clanner over an issue regarding the two of them being in contention for the same Bloodright.  Remember, post Jihad the Clans are cross-pollinating their genetics much more often than in earlier eras before the mass reavings.

[Nightgaun7]

It's easy to imagine a Clan mechwarrior duelling a RAF (or Protectorate) Clanner over an issue regarding the two of them being in contention for the same Bloodright.  Remember, post Jihad the Clans are cross-pollinating their genetics much more often than in earlier eras before the mass reavings.

I like this idea in general but I don't know my way around the intricacies of bloodline rules.

1) The Spirit Cats are outcasts from an abjured Clan. It seems the Wolves are willing to fight trials against them but I don't know how their status affects their Bloodname rights, etc. as far as the Wolves would be concerned.
2) What would they be fighting over? There are a bunch of trials that seem to apply to Bloodnames in one way or another.
3) IIRC the defender can claim a prize of equal value if they win. What would be perceived of equal value? For example, if one declares a Trial of Possession for a Bloodname, could the defender say "Fine but if I win I get your dropship"?

[Tai Dai Cultist]

I like this idea in general but I don't know my way around the intricacies of bloodline rules.

Sarna has a decent primer on the topic.   The important concept is for every Bloodname (like Kerensky or Ward) there is a Bloodhouse made up of a limited number of Bloodrights... they all originated with 25 Bloodrights meaning the Bloodhouse could have 25 Bloodnamed warriors at any given time.  As Bloodrights were reaved for one reason or another over the centuries, this maximum size to a Bloodhouse inexorably shrunk.  By the time you get to the Jihad and reavings took off like never before, there simply had to be more cross-Clan cooperation to maintain what Bloodhouses and Bloodrights remained.  A major plot point of the fallout of this era is many previously exclusive Bloodnames had to be opened up to new Clans to get the genetic material to keep them going.

1) The Spirit Cats are outcasts from an abjured Clan. It seems the Wolves are willing to fight trials against them but I don't know how their status affects their Bloodname rights, etc. as far as the Wolves would be concerned.
2) What would they be fighting over? There are a bunch of trials that seem to apply to Bloodnames in one way or another.
3) IIRC the defender can claim a prize of equal value if they win. What would be perceived of equal value? For example, if one declares a Trial of Possession for a Bloodname, could the defender say "Fine but if I win I get your dropship"?

My thoughts on your points:

1) If you want the Protectorate MechWarrior to be a Spirit Cat specifically, that's your call.  But it needn't be... there's more Sea Foxes than Spirit Cats.  Plus there's "Clanners" born of the Creches and Sibkos located inside the Republic rather than any Clan's OZ, presumably plenty of them ended up in the Protectorate as well.  However, if you do specifically want to use a Spirit Cat, their inherited abjured status from Nova Cat parentage can be a plot point rather than a problem... the Spirit Cat mechwarrior can be a former Bondsman become "full" Spirit Cat... he could even have been a former Wolf!  I can envision a compelling story about two Mechwarriors from the same Sibko, but one is now a Spirit Cat, fighting over the prize they both seek.

2) The natural thing for them to fight over is who has a claim to a Bloodright.  Things are awful fuzzy now in the Dark Age; tradition's hold is weaker due to the recent and major changeups to the breeding protocols.  What better way for Warriors to settle the knots of legality about who has a better claim than to fight over it?

3) I'm imagining that the winner gets the scientist castes of the Inner Sphere Clans to recognize his genetic material as having the claim to Bloodright and the loser gets shunted into the "experimental side bloodline" category without any hope of achieving that Bloodname.

[Nightgaun7]

I read the Sarna article before coming here, but it seems like it leaves a lot of the nitty-gritty out.

It doesn't have to be a Spirit Cat specifically, could very well be a Fox or some other Clanner.

So just as an example, say a Wolf warrior who has the Hawker Bloodname challenges a Fox warrior who also has the Hawker Bloodname. I presume he couldn't challenge just the one guy for possession of the whole lineage, so what exactly would he be doing? Trial of Possession for that specific Bloodcount space? 

[Tai Dai Cultist]

I read the Sarna article before coming here, but it seems like it leaves a lot of the nitty-gritty out.

It doesn't have to be a Spirit Cat specifically, could very well be a Fox or some other Clanner.

So just as an example, say a Wolf warrior who has the Hawker Bloodname challenges a Fox warrior who also has the Hawker Bloodname. I presume he couldn't challenge just the one guy for possession of the whole lineage, so what exactly would he be doing? Trial of Possession for that specific Bloodcount space?

Well, if they're both already claiming the Bloodname, perhaps they're claiming the same Bloodright.  That could be what they're fighting over.  Winner = "true" Bloodname/Bloodright, and the loser is proven to be the pretender holding the false Bloodright.

It'd be nigh impossible to explain how that circumstance of two different Warriors having been awarded the same Bloodright during most of the Clans' history... but post-Jihad it's not very hard at all.  The Clan "civilization" just isn't unified anymore, and genetic scientists in one Clan might conceivably do what ever they want (or whatever their Warriors demand of them) without regard to making sure paperwork is filed across all Clans' databases.   In your example, perhaps Clan Sea Fox held a Trial of Bloodright without inviting the Wolf Warrior, and Clan Wolf held a Trial of Bloodright for the same Bloodright without inviting the Sea Fox Warrior.  Of course the two winners of the respective Trials hear about the other, and can't abide by someone else using "their" Bloodright title...

[Nightgaun7]

So just to be 100% clear, that would be them fighting over which one gets to be Bloodcount #17 out of 25?

[Archangel]

The Wolf Empire can't afford to anger the Sea Foxes and the merchantile Sea Foxes would see no purpose to angering one of their better customers.  Besides the Bloodhouse Leader plays a key role in the Bloodright and each Bloodhouse only has one leader.  Even if the false claimant won such a trial, he, or she, still wouldn't be recognized by the House Leader as Bloodnamed regardless of whether the rightful holder of the Bloodname was killed or not.  If the rightful holder was killed, the Bloodhouse Leader would likely simply start a new Bloodright (unless the previous holder died in great shame) after their Clan avenged the insult of course.

Alternatively, it may not be the value of the prize they are fighting over that grants the victor the greatest glory but rather who they defeat in the process (ex. a low-ranking warrior defeating a rival Clans' Khan).  And maybe even claim as bondsman?

[Nightgaun7]

The Wolf Empire can't afford to anger the Sea Foxes and the merchantile Sea Foxes would see no purpose to angering one of their better customers.[snip]
Alternatively, it may not be the value of the prize they are fighting over that grants the victor the greatest glory but rather who they defeat in the process (ex. a low-ranking warrior defeating a rival Clans' Khan).  And maybe even claim as bondsman?

But an individual Clan Wolf warrior could challenge an individual Sea Fox warrior, or vice versa? To what extent do superiors have to approve that sort of thing?

I don't particularly care what the Trial is about, as long as it makes sense.

In terms of the glory, my understanding is that it depends on what you're fighting over, who you beat and what their bid was, how you beat them and what your bid was, and how closely you adhere to Zell.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

But an individual Clan Wolf warrior could challenge an individual Sea Fox warrior, or vice versa? To what extent do superiors have to approve that sort of thing?

I don't particularly care what the Trial is about, as long as it makes sense.

In terms of the glory, my understanding is that it depends on what you're fighting over, who you beat and what their bid was, how you beat them and what your bid was, and how closely you adhere to Zell.

Well, stepping back from what the trial is about then...

I see two basic rationales for a 1v1 duel:  A- a Trial prosecuted between Clans that simply got cut down to 1 point per side, and each side shows up with a single mech & mechwarrior.  B- A grievance of some sort between two individuals.     I'm going to presume you're angling for more of a B scenario.

So, two mechwarriors having a disagreement and settling it from their respective cockpits can be done with or without sanction by their respective superiors.  It could even be sanctioned for one mechwarrior but not the other, for that matter. 

Ideas for why a 1v1 duel might happen with or without sanction:
Cultural Importance (the entire Bloodright example I discussed upthread)
The warrior in question is an officer trusted to command forces necessary to launch raids (borderline/blurring with case A rather than being a case B)
Perhaps no interstellar travel is necessary; there could be infinite reasons why an enclave exists or a delegation is present on the same world with the rival Clan's garrison.  Proximity allows for the possibility of two pilots getting into a disagreement about any old thing and running to their respective hangars to come back and settle it "like warriors".
Perhaps the forces are on the same world together as part of a larger Trial of Possession/raid.  Perhaps the conduct of one mechwarrior was called out as "dezgra" by the other, and their respective commanders permit the two to conduct an immediate Trial of Grievance over the matter after the ToP is concluded but before the invading force returns home.

et cetera.  Lots of possibilities.

[Sharkapult]

How about a warrior trialing for a specific Giftake or a warrior's breeding protocols?

Maybe a Galaxy Commander or someone else big and important (the mentor to the protagonist perhaps?) lost a trial and died shortly after becoming bondsman. The warrior takes it upon himself to reclaim his clan's claim on his mentor's future lineage/breeding rights. That could catapult a warrior into ristar status.

[Archangel]

But an individual Clan Wolf warrior could challenge an individual Sea Fox warrior, or vice versa? To what extent do superiors have to approve that sort of thing?

Unless they happen to be on the same planet, individual warriors need their superiors approval to leave the unit for an extended period but also be able to acquire the transportation needed to travel to wherever the other unit is.  Additionally, if the commanding officer objects to the warrior's agenda then the warrior may face additional repercussions after the fight.

In terms of the glory, my understanding is that it depends on what you're fighting over, who you beat and what their bid was, how you beat them and what your bid was, and how closely you adhere to Zell.

That pretty much sums it up.