Planets 3: Duel Culture

Note: this is part of a series, worldbuilding some shit apart from the usual D&Dlike stuff.

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Forgotten from each other, separated in distance and time, every planet naturally develops dialects and customs, and uphelds their own traditions. But if there was one thing that could be considered a constant throughout all the disk, enough to form the backbone of a common culture, that would be the practice of the martial arts. And with it you will find universal respect for a fight in which men have challenged each other 1v1

Everybody knows a version of the tale in which the Sun challenged Gravity to a duel and won, scattering the Gravity Shards all across the universe, around which the planets were eventually formed: the bigger planets around the big shards, and the smaller planets around the small ones. The myth has some weight (no pun intended) as digging deep into any planet one can experience the gravity pull increasing gradually the more you approach the core. And this happens more violently in small planets: it´s easy to imagine the merciless shard down there, pulling everything around as if it was ashamed of being naked and wanted to dress itself. At some point, the very pull dismantles all digging attempts, which are extremelly dangerous to people and have costed lives and fortunes to men. 

Dungeons of increased atmospheres are very useful for some: Dojos use them for physical training. It can help processes when the decantation of any mixture is involved; or the pressure can be used to improve certain metal castings. I've heard of subterranean prisons under castles, where the prisoners can barely move; and of terrible monsters that have adapted to their ancestral caves or the depths of oceans, .  

There are some who worship Sun and Gravity as deities, amongst all the others. But real or myth, you can find fighters and fighting schools in almost every round rock of the system. Their styles and attacks are often inspired on the planet's inner or nearby fauna, landscapes, occupations, etc. Some of them use weapons and others refuse them entirelly. Some practice friendly sport amongst peers, while other schools do not contemplate duels that are not to death. Whenever two fighters clash, it's not only their skills who met, but two different worldviews, and there are not universal guidelines or rules for a combat. Those, alongside what do victory and defeat mean on it are to be discovered in a case by case basis.