In Blood Feud in BA we made feuds something that you declare by 'passing the red collar'. Why?
In societies were extended kinship groups are the norm feuds involve all the kin of perpetrator and victim. The tacit assumption is that you must have known about your cousin/uncle/brother's actions and by the fact that you did not stop them, you are complicit in them. Similarly the obligation to avenge falls on all the kin. Brehon or Icelandic law codes stipulated that responsibility for wergild fines fell on a kin group and there were legal apportionments of compensation to a kin group depending on distance from the victim. As each act in the feud occurs more and more people have claims to compensation or are complicit in an act. Eventually the whole clan is drawn inexorably in.
Because of that the decision on how to react to provocation must involve the ring (the chieftain after all deals with outsiders), as it threatens to pull the whole community in. Remember that there are alternatives to the feud, primarily the payment of compensation. The decision to seek blood vengeance, either because the offer of compensation was inadequate or compensation is not a solution is one that will cost lives within the clan; so it will never be made lightly. Remember: revenge will not necessarily fall on the perpetrator, and will often fall on a more vulnerable kinsman. At the same time the chieftain must be aware of the feelings of the victims; failure to act may mean they take vigilante action and the chieftain must exile them or support them in retrospect. So the act of passing the red collar represents buy-in from the clan for what is to come.
Finally, look at the yearly cycle. At the end of Fire Season, the main raiding period, there is the tribal moot. It's placement there makes it an ideal checkpoint to halt feuds by allowing the king to negotiate a solution that all sides will accept. One of the effects of the tribe and kingship is to act as a limiter on the effects of feuds. Solving the feud there allows everyone to focus on gathering the harvest and preparing for winter. Still the champion's duel may be the only way to reach a settlement at that court. Of course alternatives to the king as conciliator exist and Sartar's heroic deeds were real examples of finding solutions to ongoing feuds and thus holding the community together. The experienced Issaries trader mentioned in this case could well act as an arbitrator, but the arbitrator needs the power to enforce the agreement.
BA is available in PDF on DriveThru, for anyone interested in how to handle this kind of thing.
Ian Cooper
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