Frat Fighting
One on One Fratricidal Combat
Fratricidal fighting, or frat, is an unscripted, full contact combat sport fought with padded weapons and real armor. Frat is the most popular activity in Markland and many frat wars are held every year.
Frat fighting requires a steel helmet with face protection, neck protector (gorget), kidney protection (such as a weight belt), knee pads, elbow pads, lacrosse style gloves, groin protection, and a padded garment to cover the upper body (gambeson). Those are the minimum requirements, many fighters chose to wear greater protection, such as leather or steel plate. Frat weapons are made of inch thick rattan sticks wrapped in foam padding and duct tape. Swords, spears, axes, hammers, flails, clubs, and glaives are some of the weapons that are used in frat fighting. Frat shields are made of ½ inch thick plywood. There are also archers in frat combat.
Frat wars usually last from Friday nights to Sunday mornings with most of the fighting taking place on Saturday afternoon. Attendance at frat wars can vary from twenty to a hundred fighters. Wars generally are made up of multiple battles with different scenarios such as limited resurrection battles, timed unlimited resurrection battles, last man standing battles, and battles that have some objective such as kill the king or hold the temple. One of our sites even has a wooden castle to battle over and in.
Armies clash in front of the Markland Castle at Fall War
Some Basic Frat Rules:
Fighters struck with a killing blow (to the head or torso) are dead and must stop fighting.
Fighters struck in the arm or leg may continue to fight, but will not be able to use that limb.
Fighters are not allowed to aim blows at the groin or below the knees.
Plate armor makes a fighter immune to most blows to the armored part of their body.
Fighters are not allowed to strike archers due to their less strict armor requirements. The archer must die when a fighter comes within striking distance of the archer.
All fighters, including archers, may be hit with arrows.
More detailed rules for frat combat, including armor and weapons construction, archery, and officiating can be found here.
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