As Elriorith leading Alshain's faith, which is one of the Churches that have the "never flee in the face of danger" type of oath I went about like this:
I would never punish anyone who retreated from overwhelming numbers, or gang squads.
When I discussed with the flock about retreat I always stated that I would never expect them to foolishly throw their lives away trying to stand vs 3 opponents, or an army attacking or so forth. Life is a blessing, as is Rebirth, and those blessings are not to be taken lightly. There is a difference between Courage, and stupidity. Dying when defending a city to give time to others to gather defenses, yes. I agree. Dying to 9 people attacking when none are about to help, or you have 0 chance to make a difference = stupid.
Perform a tactical retreat when you can prepare, gather a defense and actually have a fighting chance, opposed to dying.
Still, fleeing on 1v1 or when defending brethren of the light, or when from your own death others can be saved, was punishable by a blemish. As was recalling or fleeing and leaving others to die.
Having some advantage when going into a no retreat battle would sound nice. I like the general idea though it would need serious tweaking
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