Taken from the Duels page.
The duel was based on a code of honour. Duels were fought not so much to kill the opponent as to gain "satisfaction", that is, to restore one's honour by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it, and as such the tradition of duelling was reserved for the male members of nobility,
This is what most players don't do (except Heros in battle), Is to risk their life. Especially when their honour has been insulted. Yet, if you read the articles, the nobles did fight to restore their honour. Most likely they did not die from the direct duel, possibly form infection, but not from the duel itself. Only in the 18th century and the availability of firearms do we get serious deaths from duelling.
Which Is why there need to be some way to enforce Duels especially on SMA worlds. Having it social and RP is fine, but then there needs to be some sort of record of what duels were refused and why. A history of refusing to participate in a duel (where there are valid reasons) should be known to all. If there was a duel between King Richard and Prince John in the middle ages, then the entire country would know about it. What ever happened would become public knowledge as soon as the news could travel.
If Prince John had refused to duel his brother (as John had tried to take the throne) the Prince John would lose respect of his fellow nobles and that of the peasants.
This is just a made up example, but it has relevance to battlemaster. Do you think John could have gone about his daily business if he had of refused?
