>So she does sometimes spar with the others of the IDS?

Occasionally. Usually, though, she sits off to the side at meetings and watches, or reads.

>Please don't take offense, but it sounds like the IDS is truly the
>sham organization (I'm at a loss for a better word) it was originally
>created to be (as it came into being solely to provide Utena an excuse
>to carry live steel in public). For all you've described the group
>members doing, well, they certainly don't need to belong to the IDS or
>any other organization to do that.

No, they don't, particularly. The Duelists' Society isn't a sports team - they have no one to play against but each other. They aren't like the Fencing Club, which competes in tournaments; there are no inter-school dueling tournaments (yet). There isn't a league or a hard set of rules. Dueling isn't a sport.

As such, one supposes the individual students involved could simply fight duels amongst themselves without belonging to an organization dedicated to that activity, although in the process of doing so, they would be violating the school rules against interpersonal violence and committing assault according to the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

> They may have created "a venue for
>weapons artists of all different styles and traditions to test
>themselves against one another, to face diverse opponents in a
>freestyle contest", but it seems to me that that's just on paper.

Well, keep in mind that the Duelists' Society format is based loosely on the Rose Tournament which Utena fought in back at Ohtori Academy. They didn't fight each other every day; in fact, the duels were spaced out across the span of days, often weeks. They certainly didn't train together as a group. Juri and Miki were both fencers, and Saionji and Touga both kendoka, but that was about the extent of it.

It's the duels themselves that are the point of a duelists' tournament, not the preparation for them. That's what makes it a freeform contest instead of an organized sport like fencing. What their version of the tournament lacks, so far, is a goal. There has to be something to fight for to make dueling meaningful; it doesn't have to be a tremendously significant reward, like the Rose Bride and all she brings with her, but there ought to be something. The Institute Duelists haven't quite worked that part out yet, and so they're somewhat lacking in direction so far.

Sto, at the end of the day, you're more or less right about the WPI Society, so far anyway. The internal tournament hasn't really started to take on a structure yet; the group is still sorting itself out; and not all of them are taking it particularly seriously. And neither Utena nor Kaitlyn would deny that it was originally conceived of for a less-than-lofty reason - it's a counterclique to Liza Broadbank's Fencing Club.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean it exists solely for that reason now. It's already growing, changing, acquiring new members who haven't joined because of that, but because of what the Society's potential is. Its officers and some members know it has the potential to grow to be something more, and encompass the ideals that are put down in its charter, but it will need time - I mean, keep in mind that it's only existed for a single school term, less than two months, at the present in-story time. And those months have been slightly hectic. And I never got round to showing an actual Society meeting, or indicate what it is that they do.

The Society will show its true worth before the end of the 2404-2405 school year; but it may not come in a manner that any of its founders or members anticipated.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/