Gladiatorial Games

He had a promising career in the arena, the way he disemboweled those Verstites was an art-form, amazing to watch! ...it's just a shame that Thesselv got in under his defence and took his arm off. He'll never work again!

— Decius Nullus, patron of the gladiators

Usually held once a month, every Imperial citizen loves the gladiatorial games, they have been a staple part of Imperial life for thousands of years and are actually the tip of a large economic iceberg. Each arena supports a large industry of smiths, medical facilities, taverns, betting houses, brothels and all kinds of other diversions. In fact the Arena is usually the focal part of any settlements entertainment district.
Fighters can volunteer and in fact can earn quite a fair amount of money providing they don't get injured too bad, a decent entertaining fighter can earn a salary that will leave them living a comfortable life for many years. Other than volunteers, for certain crimes you can opt to have your sentence carried over into the arena and fight a set number of fights as your punishment. For example, a crime of theft carries the sentence of up to one year in prison, or ten fights in the arena. Some choose the arena over prison due to the appalling conditions in the prisons, choosing potential death over it.
A typical game will be ten competitors competing in rounds armed with whatever weapons the Arena has to offer, usually some kind of exotic weapons to make things interesting such as: net, trident, wicker shield, spear, crossbow and other interesting items. Occasionally there will be interesting set piece battles where teams of combatants will recreate some famous victory in a microcosm for the entertainment of the crowd.

History

Gladiatorial games have been held in the Imperial Provinces since the formation of the Empire, in fact there is evidence to suggest that games have been going on long before the Empire, hence the popularity even to this day.

Participants

During the fight there are several key roles as detailed below.

• Gladiators - The center of the fight, the Gladiators are the combatants who will fight to the death for honor, money and women.
• The Judge - Usually the settlements governor or a delegate of them, they will judge a fight when a combatant survives and rate the fight with a thumbs up or down.
• Orator - Like a modern day MC, the Orator will introduce the fight and any key details, generally the loudest person in the settlement.

Primary Related Location

Imperial Provinces