Introduction (CGH)

:The Complete Gladiator's Handbook Article
The hot sun beats down upon the dusty arena floor. The shimmering heat begins to rise even at this early hour, before the gates to the auditorium open. Inside the huge stadium, slaves work hard to make it presentable enough for the demanding crowd outside. In less than an hour, the marble tiers are swept clean of debris and sand scattered through the city by last night's storm.
At long last, the half-giant guards haul open the doors to the arena. The crowd pours in like a sandwave over a cliff, rushing to find the best seats before they are snapped up. The nobles and templars enter more sedately, through their special doors. They do not have to scramble for seats; they are guaranteed the best seats in the house by their station.
After the majority of the crowd seats itself, the vendors go into action, selling their wares throughout the stadium. Some offer kank honey, others roast erdlu. And always, always there are the water-bearers. For a ceramic piece, each spectator can be refreshed with a ewer of relatively cool, mostly fresh water. The vendors, however, are not the sight which everyone has come to see. They are not here to see the templars, the nobles and their finery, nor even the sorcerer-king himself. These 1 5,000 spectators have come for the drama to be enacted on the dusty floor of the arena—the sight of people engaged in mortal combat for the enjoyment of the crowd.
Less than half an hour later, the games begin in earnest. They start with the warm-up act of the jaszt, dancing in the deceptively gay motions of mock-combat. The subdued clamor of the crowd begins to increase in intensity, increasing the rhythms of the jaszts' movements. The crowd s roar rises and falls with each strike and parry. When the crowd has gotten well into the spirit of things, the sweating jaszt leave the arena to other gladiators.
All through the long day, scores of these warriors enter the arena to fight for the entertainment and edification of the crowd. Though the sand on the arena floor absorbs most of the blood spilled onto it, the darkened patches begin to run together, and soon outnumber those areas that are free of the blood's stain. Kes'trekels hover high overhead, hoping for some of the flesh scattered by every blow.
The spectators become an extension of the goings-on in the arena, chanting for their favorite gladiators, their blood lust running high. They eagerly watch the feints and parries, their tension rising with each strike and riposte. The crowd screams with every movement of the combatants.
When the final titanic battle has been fought, the crowd files quickly from the stadium. Templars stand ready to enforce discipline on any stragglers or any who look like they show even the slightest inclination toward carrying the violence back into the streets. Towering halfgiant guards hulk menacingly behind them to drive home this point.
Inside the arena, slaves rake the sands clean and throw the bodies into the desert. The carrion birds feast well on dead heroes tonight.
==The Purpose of Gladiators==
In a world with civilizations as harsh as those of Athas, only the most bloodthirsty sports can entertain the crowds enough to keep their attention from their miserable lot in life. The arenas provide such sport with the spilling of blood by mighty gladiators. The killing is a release for the crowd, symbolic of that which the citizens cannot perform themselves.
It is therefore no wonder that the best of the gladiators rise above the crowd, to become the popular heroes of the age. Their exploits are the stuff of legends. Children follow their progress avidly, some even going so far as to paint the walls of the cities with pictures of their favorites in defiance of the templars. Some gladiators achieve such a measure of fame that their reputation spreads far from their city-states, bringing citizens of outlying towns to the arenas to witness these masters at their craft.
Recognizing the value of the games to the people, they often become a political issue, although they are formally held for the entertainment and edification of Athas's populace. The Senators and the other nobility use the games both to bolster their public standing and as a method of communication, fixing the games and slaying the gladiators of their rivals. This lets the offending Senator know that his recent actions, or perhaps his very existence, have offended someone of power, that his course of action could result in the same fate his gladiator suffered. Of course, the nobility play complicated games of subtlety and politics, and one can never be quite sure what or who is responsible for the death of one's prized gladiator. However, the guilty parties tend to understand hints of this sort very quickly. The duller ones among them do not survive for long.
The games are one of the few true uniting factors of any of the cities. Here in the arenas, the rich mingle with the poor (although not too closely) and the lesser templars mix with the ordinary citizens. Nearly all in the city are allowed to come and see the games, including the slaves. The games are popular enough that a revolt could be inspired by limiting the attendance to only the wealthy and powerful. All are united by their love of the suffering of others, of witnessing death, the fate they all eventually share.
The more oppressed the city, the more popular the games. For example, the arena of liberated Tyr now serves as a marketplace, while those of downtrodden cities still thrive on the blood of the gladiator. When the only outlet the people have for their emotions is the carnage of the arena, the ferocity and fervor of the crowd in the stadium is only barely rivalled by that upon the floor of the arena walls. The crowd, in effect, displaces all its unfulfilled rage and pent-up emotion in the persons of the gladiators, seeing the fighters as the embodiments of their unrealized fury. When their gladiator triumphs, their rage is released in a burst of exultation. When their champion loses, their disappointment and frustration mount until the next victorious champion frees it.
With all this in mind, it is little wonder the sorcerer-kings revived the ancient practice of fighting as sport. Although they have the templars to keep law and order, they need a release for the citizens, something that allows their captive populace to vent its unhappiness. In the guise of magnanimously giving sport and entertainment, the tyrants are actually ensuring that their positions will not be usurped by the oppressed people. let sometimes, as was the case with Kalak of Tyr, even the best of offerings cannot save a bad king.
==The Handbook==
Before you read any further, it is absolutely essential that you have the DARK SUN Boxed Set and PHBR5, The Complete Psionics Handbook. These items are necessary for a complete understanding of this book, as they provide the core rules upon which this book is based.
The Complete Gladiator's Handbook has been designed to take your gladiator PCs to a new level of sophistication, to transport your imagination to the hot and dusty sands of the Athasian arenas. It is the gladiator's equivalent to PHBRl, The Complete Fighter's Handbook, and is designed to explore the myriad possibilities of playing an Athasian gladiator.
Included in the book are a number of new kits, rules designed explicitly for the gladiator, expansions of rules presented previously, and an in-depth exploration of all the arenas of Tyr. Also included are suggestions for running a gladiator-based campaign and the information necessary for running this sort of campaign. Each chapter offers insights into the life and times of a gladiator foryour edification and better gaming.
One of the most important things about this work is that, like other supplemental material, it is entirely optional. If something in this book is useful to your campaign, by all means use it. If not, disregard it. The most important thing is the game. And now, on with the show! Or, in the words of the Roman gladiators: Morituri te salu tant ("Those who are about to die salute you )!