Trial by Combat

From: Stephen Tempest <gd_at_stempest.demon.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2005 19:56:57 +0000

Paul Andrew King <paul_at_morat.demon.co.uk> writes:

>Which is why it's up for grabs. As I said originally "pull" counts=20
>to determine who wins the case. And a chief can simply choose a=20
>Weaponthane as his Champion and go for the Combat Option.

Just a random thought here...

In the real world, a Trial by Combat between a professional full-time warrior and an ordinary Joe would, barring freak accidents, always result in a guilty verdict against the ordinary person.

In the idealised mediaeval concept of Divine Justice, if the ordinary person was innocent then God would intervene by a miracle and allow him to win the combat... perhaps he would be inspired to fight far beyond his normal capabilities while the professional warrior was plagued by self-doubt and despair, or perhaps there would be a more direct intervention - the warrior's sword shatters, or whatever.

So how does this work in Glorantha? Do Heortlings believe that Orlanth, or Humakt, or whoever will actually intervene in a trial by combat to augment the innocent party or curse the guilty? Are there any extant myths about this happening? Game rules?=20

Or is the trial not about guilt and innocence at all, but nothing more than a way to establish which party to the dispute has the best warriors? 'Might makes right' not as an unfortunate consequence of the way the world works, but an actual moral principle in its own right?

Stephen

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