Scriptlighter's Duel

A traditional method of settling disputes and matters of honor between scriptlighters or those honored by scriptlighters. Each begins by taking control of a nearby object, and discarding any pre-prepared engrams or weapons, instead each receiving identical gimyns. If the duelers are of differing resonant capacity, the ability of the lower is matched. The duel begins with fighters equidistant inside a boundary ring, and ends when either all their objects are taken or they are pushed outside the ring by a coupled object. Any bodily contact is strictly forbidden, and all interaction must be done through coupling, combustion, and–if possible–spontaneous engrams.

Due to the limitations of the duel, it often resembles modern boxing. The rock is held close to the chest to defend against coupling challenges, but must be risked in order to attack. The most important skills are thus spacing, controlled combustion, and the ability to maintain multiple couplings.

The game has varying names, and is thought to have originated in south-west Anndalor during the Wanderflame Era and spread through trade routes and legends. It’s called a stone-swing in the Jïumannian Halanian dialect, an orbiton in Jinzu, and a spin-duel in Ayangatalan.

The game itself can have additional rules, such as allowing or encouraging bodily harm, adding orbiters for difficulty, or restricting movement.

For any duel between two scriptlighters, there are a few common principles which govern the flow of the fight.

1. The further your weapon is from yourself, the more difficult it is to control, and the easier an opponent can capture it.
2. If two coupled objects collide at speed, a small-scale combustion will trigger: the less massive weapon will be decoupled, and the other weapon will be proportionately drained and stunned according to the similarity of their energy densities. The intensity of this collision also depends on the impact velocity, with lesser velocities shaking loose less couple.
3. Coupling conserves the momentum of the coupler-coupled system, so moving opposite to heavy weapons ensures efficiency.
4. If a sufficiently high-capacitance weapon is thrown at high speed, there is little time to usurp a coupling, and a hit or non-capture miss is likely. Moreover, a weapon made of ichor is impossible to capture.