Gladiatorial Combat

There are four main sects of combat in the arena: Prisoners, free people, show fights, and beast fights.

The largest sect is made out of thieves, criminals, and, enemies, that are caught are sent to jail where they are then given over to a Lictor (gladitoral instructor). The instructor can choose how many people he/she wishes to train. Lictoror will extend an offer to as many able bodied people as they believe they need. The prisoner has the choice to agree or disagree. If they choose not to enter the combat, they will stay in prison, where, many will die from starvation, and exposure, due to lack of sufficient resources.

If they choose to accept the offer, the prisoners are moved into a gladiatorial school where they learn physical combat, magic, and, other techniques for show fighting, such as dancing, gymnastics, and even acting. These skills are expected to be used in combat as much as the physical fighting, because the better the performer, the better the show, the more people attend the matches.

There are several instructors, and the one that picked the gladiator will become his/her personal mentor. These mentors are far from kind and will often resort to physical punishment for little to no reason  to keep the prisoners scared, still fights are not uncommon. After several weeks of training, gladiators are expected to fight in matches.

When no fighting in the actual arenas, the gladiators are kept in the training school. They can receive visitors, but are not allowed to leave the compound. Inside they are taught to fight with various weapons, hand to hand combat, dancing, and acting.

Entertaining fights are valued more highly than swift, effeiant matches. Defeated gladiators that are flashy/entertaining to watch/do well with the crowd are more likely to be spared, rather than being dealt a death blow. As the population has grown, these mercies have been less and less frequent.

Gladiators that fight well enough, can and do earn their freedom. A council member will officially sign over the appropriate documents that will make the gladiator completely free. They are presented with a small metal charm in the shape of a sword with vines grown over the blade. This is an uncommon occurrence, and most prisoners die in the arena.

The second largest sect is made from people who willingly enter the arena, whether that be for the rewards given to the victors, or their own, more personal reasons. These individuals, sign up for a fight and are expected to show up at the proper times. Several hours beforehand, guards are sent to collect the individuals, keeping them isolated from the rest of the population to cut down on assassination or other unfair play.

These gladiators are not taught by anyone, and have little to no interaction with the prisoners, however many of them had used to be prisoners at one point, finding themselves unable to leave the life of the arena behind them.

Show fights are uncommon, and are the only fights that have a guarantee that no one will die. Prisoners can not take part in these fights. The only people allowed to compete in these kinds of fights are the celebrities that have such a following, risking killing them would have serious consequences for the arena. Ordinary gladiators who gain enough of a following, can cross over to show fights only, but once crossing over, crossing back is impossible. A gladiator can apply to the Lictors but this is considered bad manners and extremely presumptuous. The Lictors will decide who they believe is enough of an asset to extend the offer to, which the gladiator in question can accept or refuse.The rewards for participating in show fights are minimal in comparison to other, more dangerous matches, causing many gladiators to turn down the offer, choosing to risk their lives instead.

A style of fighting that has fallen out of fashion in recent years is beast fighting. This is due to the fact that so few bests exist anymore on Carminite, however beast fighting used be the favored type of entertainment. These gladiators are called bestiarii, and trained completely differently from the rest, rather they get little to no training and are simply thrown in the arena.This style of combat is reserved for though guilty of more serious crimes. A bestiarii is not able to opt out of their sentence. If picked by the Lictors, they must fight. This is technically not a death sentence, although most bestiarii are torn apart by the wild animals. This style of fighting is considered extremely entertaining, and draws a large crowd.