conflict.md

The idea is that, essentially, two entities attempt to deal mortal (or subdual) blows Common ways to die in conflict: Key body part's biomechanical function is arrested by:

1. Introduction of trauma directly to the part
2. Introduction of toxin to arrest function of body part directly
3. Introduction of trauma/toxin to a different body part, preventing nutrient flow to key body part, for example
   1. blood loss
   2. lung puncture
4. Indirect nutrient starvation
   1. starving to death
   2. dehydrating
   3. asphyxiating

Generally, (1) is accomplished by applying kinetic force to the part in question, and is avoided by some combination of diminishing/diverting the force before it reaches the body part, and moving the body part to a different location so that it does not occupy it at the same time as the entity delivering the kinetic force.

(2) is generally accomplished by introducing the toxin to a nutrient delivery system (blood, digestion, respiration), then trusting that system to deliver the toxin appropriately. It is avoided either by hardening the delivery system to neutralize the toxin before it reaches the body part, hardening the body part itself, or avoiding the introduction of the toxin in the first place

(3) is similar to (1) and (2), except the goal of the application of the force/toxin is to damage some other body part directly in order to damage the key body part indirectly. Avoiding death by these means involves either the same methods as (1) and (2), by supplying alternative systems when the damaged systems fail, or by repairing the damaged system before death happens

(4) is the generally very slow version of (3)

This could be imagined to boil down into some key mechanics:

1. "Mortal Blow", an application of kinetic force to an area that causes death
2. "Balance", a measurement of the entity's awareness of a threat and ability to avoid that threat. The higher an entity's balance, the less likely it is to suffer a Mortal Blow. It also represents the ability to achieve the entity's full potential to deliver a Mortal Blow itself (i.e., and entity's ability to deliver a Mortal Blow is limited by its Balance)
3. "Crippling", damaging of a system that causes penalties to actions, depending on the system, with the end goal being to reduce Balance.
4. "Hardening", a measurement of the entity's (or an entity subpart's) abilty to deflect or disperse kinetic energy when it has failed to avoid the blow entirely

"Balance" is contributed to by:

1. "Stamina", the availability to the entity of energy for its actions
2. "Awareness", the ability of the entity to gather information from its surroundings, filter it for threats, and transmit that information to the rest of its body
3. "Power", the ability of the entity to apply its stamina to its actions at a fast rate. This could potentially break down into the ability to apply stamina to particular body parts or actions.
4. "Agility", the ability of the entity to apply its stamina in ways that correspond precisely to the intended application. Like Power, this could potentially contribute to particular body parts or actions.
5. "Momentum", the consequence of previous actions placing the entity in a non-ideal location for applying force

A "Mortal Blow" could then be thought of as an application of force high enough to overcome a key body part's hardening when the entity with that body part did not possess enough Balance to avoid the blow. A corollary to this is that the entity delivering the Mortal Blow possessed enough Balance that its ability to deliver a Mortal Blow was not sufficiently limited.

Some brief scenarios:

1. A and B are evenly matched and aware of each other. The two repeatedly trade blows back and forth, their stamina decreasing at roughly the same rate, until they give up or one manages to get lucky and attack just at the point where the lowered stamina of the other lowers balance below the threshold required for a mortal blow
2. A is much stronger than B, but B is still able to avoid a Mortal Blow. However, before its stamina is sufficiently lowered, B manages to use an unexpected tactic to distract A, lowering its Awareness and hence its Balance, thus sneaking in a Mortal Blow
3. A and B are evenly matched. They both wear down each other's stamina, until A is able to sneak in a blow that does not kill B, but cripples B's leg. The resulting loss of Balance causes B to die of a Mortal Blow when A next attacks.
4. A is much stronger than B. B stays completely unnoticed by A until he can sneak past A and leave it behind as an obstacle.
5. A is much stronger than B. B manages to empty the room of oxygen, forcing A to asphyxiate. A is weakened, but manages to renew the flow of oxygen before death. B, however, manages to come back and take advantage of the asphyxiation-induced crippling to deliver a Mortal Blow to A (alt: manages to take advantage of r reduced awareness to sneak past B)
6. A outmatches B and C individually. However, it must divide its Awareness between the two opponents, making its balance relative to each opponent less than it would be for either if they were one-on-one. A is able to dispatch B, but C is able to take advantage of A's diverted state to cripple/kill A (alt: B is able to cripple A, an opportunity C takes to dispatch the opponent)

An alternative to Crippling is to use a steady application of force to immobilize an opponent (pinning, engulfing, etc). The end result is similar--the victim is prevented Balance by virtue of having its Power and Agility reduced, here by being forcibly opposed--but it does not have the side effect of damaging body parts that would otherwise suffer from being Crippled