Deathless "Infighting"

Deathless “Infighting” happens when contracting parties come to The Deathless to have two units fight each other in order to determine who is in the right.

## Negotiating and pricing

When two or more (sometimes even only one, there is a case of a noble who wanted the mercenaries to fight each other for its romantic tones) contractors come to the Deathless for a proxy war between themselves the mercenaries try to offer alternatives. Mostly they offer up some Partners who aren’t full employees and thus, expendable assets. If the clients insist on having the professionals do the work then the Deathless give a quote. These contracts are definitely the most expensive per head that the mercenary offer, as they are guaranteed to suffer losses, after all. Everything is paid upfront and is non-refundable.

## Legal bearing

### Freemen

If it is a quarrel between two individuals that are without noble birth but have considerable wealth, the deal is signed between the two parties. As such there is no legal backing to an Infighting contract beyond the disagreeing parties’ word. This does not concern the Deathless whatsoever, as they are paid upfront and once the victor is determined, their involvement is over. Not respecting these contracts for private individuals may result in lawsuits at worst.

### Nobles

Now it is law that all noble quarrels that cannot be solved through compromise be solved through regulated duels, and The Deathless wouldn’t want to break the law of course. As such they have made a special agreement with House Reticulum in order to make sure conflicts that happen within such a contract are perfectly legal. This arrangement is better explained through an example:

Lord Strabinius and Lady Mernova are truly angry at each other, they both arrived at the New Year’s gala held at the Eridanus Embassy wearing a similar Trilliant dress! Both parties cannot be reconciled and demand reparation! As is law they fill out the appropriate FIGHT forms, a Reticulum witness is called upon to ensure everything is done within regulations.

The terms of this bout are determined together. Now both Lord Strabinius and Lady Mernova agree that a normal duel, although impressive, wouldn’t truly represent their disagreement. So they agree that the duel should be fought, not between two duelists, but between two armies. At this moment the Reticulum officiant calls the nearest Deathless Outreach Office to arrange for a meeting.

The terms put the two nobles as the dueling parties, and as “commanders” of the armies, thus satisfying the “Right of Nobility” clause. The Reticulum witness serves as a referee of sorts for the ensuing battle, assisted with Deathless observers, they set out the objectives and makes the final call on who wins. After the “duel”, Lord Strabinius’ “army” is defeated, and he owes repayment and an apology to Lady Mernova, he is also required to destroy his Trilliant dress, by law. As it is required that noble blood be shed in some way for the duel to be legitimate, Lord Strabinius is required to suffer a small cut, as to “shed blood”, truly a terrible sacrifice.

## Rules of Engagement

In order to minimize losses, contracts where Deathless have to fight one another are subject to a very clear set of terms that have to be respected. First of all the numbers and equipment is the same on both sides, as such only skill can truly determine a victor on the Battlefield. Secondly an area of operations is determined and objectives are laid out for each commander. Objectives vary depending on the match itself, for a match it can be a rush to seize and hold different strategic points, for others it’s a “capture enemy outposts”, while in others it’s a classic “offense vs defense” matchup. Each match is surveyed by a cadre of Deathless observers to ensure that the rules are respected and to compile action reports in real time, those observers are usually in orbit, quite far away from any real danger.

### Victory

Victory is determined in two ways: Definitive Victory or Points Decision: Definitive Victory happens either when one of the forces present surrenders or a match is stopped by the panel of judges (such cases include total obliteration/an army is in total rout and victory is certain). An appeal to continue can be made to the judges to continue the battle when they stop a match, but the final authority is theirs.

Points decision happens when the determined time limit is reached without a Decisive Victory being declared. Each battle has a different time limit, the longer ones going up to two weeks. Once the limit is reached, all weapons present on the battlefield cease to function and an announcement is made. A score is then calculated to determine the winner as the opposing armies gather their casualties and evacuate the AO. Compilation of this score considers:

* Casualties sustained
* Objectives taken/time it was held
* Tactical Skill
* Ammunition used
* Accuracy
* etc.

Once these factors are evaluated by the panel of judges, these declare a victor and congratulate the party that paid for them for a well fought victory. Sometimes this decision can take a week, as a lot of care is taken to properly judge a battle’s results.

## The Punished

Now one may wonder how the Deathless provide troops for these contracts, after all they are known for their strong sense of loyalty to one another and isn’t such a deal against their principle of Undying Loyalty™? In order to offer these services a set of special units were created during the early days of the mercenary company, known as Punished Units or simply, The Punished.

These units are composed of whatever the Deathless consider as “criminals” within their ranks. An employee who is found guilty of serious enough offences, like insubordination, murder, or the worst of the worst, breaking a contract, is given a choice: EIther they can serve time in DCF-1, the Deathless’ private prison and become potential test subjects for anything the Deathless Tech department pleases, or they can join the Punished and serve their time in there, fighting one another.

Punished units aren’t only made up of “criminals” however, a platoon, company, battalion or even Division that shows severe underperformance or widespread insubordination can be Punished. Their unit patches are stripped from their uniforms and they lose their unit number and name, effectively removing any shred of honor or identity that they could have. It is possible for a unit to earn it back however, same as for the prisoners. Casualties are replaced with the Deathless’ criminals, who effectively join the unit to fight with them. Should a punished unit make it out, they regain their status as full employees as well as their names, their reputation is restored and they know not to fail again.

In some cases Deathless employees who have committed no infractions or aren’t underperforming volunteer to join The Punished. The incentive for those is very simple: volunteers get double their regular pay, with a high increase the longer time they spend within the outfit. Everyone has their reasons for voluntary service in the Punished, and the Deathless don’t ask for them.

### Earning your freedom

Individuals can reduce their sentence by performing well during combat, this is determined by a point system set when they are transferred to a punished unit. In order to be completely free they need to earn a certain amount of points, the more serious your “crime” the more time you have to serve or points you have to earn. The system itself is designed to keep you in as long as possible, while still allowing for an exit, should you be skilled enough. Some infractions are so terrible however that they warrant a sentence to perpetuity, and no amount of skill can get you out of those. The same system applies for units who are declared punished, they however don’t have time to serve, only points to earn, as such entire units have been in the system for decades and are still considered as “Punished” even if most of the original unit has died at this point.

Points are earned through an individual’s performance. Number of kills, injuries sustained, number of operations survived, ammunition used etc. After each battle an after-action report is given to each individual with a number of points attributed to the soldier. Points can be docked if the soldier proves to be insubordinate, trouble in camp, or for any reason the wardens may deem necessary.

On a unit level points are determined through performance in battle as well, and a unit leaderboard is even in place. Of course Decisive Victories give the most points to a unit, while defeats bring a unit’s score down. Other factors, like the ones determined in the Points Decision, also come in when a unit’s score is tallied by the end of a battle.

## Perception within The Deathless

There’s of course a slew of opinion within the Deathless themselves from one end to another, but their killing of fellow Deathless and the often criminal nature of participants has caused many Deathless to view these soldiers as pariahs within the organization. These particular contracts are a great source of tension within the company, and it is possible to see the differing ideologies within the Deathless itself through their perception of these contracts. First are the business-minded: they look upon the Punished as a profitable venture, downplay the criticisms of it and reward particularly promising fighters with bonuses if their position allows it. Then there are the chest-thumpers: who look upon the whole concept of Deathless fighting against Deathless as a betrayal of the mercenary group’s values and constantly criticize both the venture and those who willingly and even unwillingly participate. And finally there are the punitives: these mercenaries fall in middle and look upon those contracts as being permissible as a disciplinary measure for employees and acknowledge the financial benefits of the venture.

## Inner Hell

Located on Thorg, this continent has been cleared of any human life for the Deathless’ purposes. On it is located Camp Asmodeus, where all of the Punished are housed, from orbit it looks like any other Deathless base that are widespread over Thorg. There are no real guards watching over the soldiers within the camp, as the planet itself makes for a good enough warden, and all weaponry can be made inefficient at the push of a button located within the DCS *This Ain’t No Place For No Hero*.

Inner Hell also serves as the battleground for these units, it’s massive landmass allows for a wide array of environments to have operations within it. Ruined cities, former industrial areas, mountain ranges, deserts and widespread forest make for a varied battlefield, as to keep the battles different from one another. Access to and from Inner Hell is highly restricted, as one wouldn’t want to walk their unit right into a controlled warzone with live ammunition being fired.

## DCS *This Ain’t No Place For No Hero*

A Rus-Tsarevich class battleship positioned in geosynchronous orbit above Camp Asmodeus, the No Hero serves as the command center for all operations concerning the Punished and Inner Hell.  The ship is outfitted with luxury cabins, designed by the Trilliant Ring, to accommodate the visiting noble patrons who wish to see the fighting “live”. The ship is equipped with a battery of Iron Rain Arrays pointed at Camp Asmodeus at all times, in case the Punished get any funny ideas.