Diversity can arise where value is countered by value without ambiguity being collected in the same turn. The work examines the representation of competitive cultures within the late medieval German comic tales (Mare), in which the pluralization of social and cultural orders is narrated. Combat, strife and rivalry are, at first glance, simple social forms in which actors of at least two different positions compete against each other. But even simple-structured forms of competition can quickly become more complex if they oscillate outwards; alternating sequences can be stabilized in repeaters or run into asymmetrical outcomes of victory and defeat.