Ludus Gallicus

In Tevinter the Ludus (house of gladiators) is also used to instruct the legions and simultaneously entertain the public in the Arena's.

Those condemned *ad ludum* (to the game) are branded or marked with a tattoo (stigma, plural stigmata) on the face, legs and/or hands. These stigmata are text – fugitive slaves marked thus on the forehead and soldiers were marked on the hand. Mages have a more hidden stigma, on the back of their neck and the sigil is that of the magister which owns them, or on the rare occasion the lanista that owns them.

Gladiators are typically accommodated in cells, arranged in barrack formation around a central practice arena. There is segregation of gladiators according to type and status, indicating rigid hierarchies within the schools: "even the lowest scum of the arena observe this rule; even in prison they're separate". Retiarii (net fighters) were kept away from damnati (beast fighters), and "targeteers" from "armoured heavies". As most ordinarii (regular gladiators) at games were from the same school, this kept potential opponents separate and safe from each other until the lawful munus (spectacle, event, tournament).

Discipline is extreme and even lethal within the ludus. Ludus Gallicus used to keep 15–20 gladiators (though it can accommodate 100) but since 949 is has housed about 70.

## Diet and medical care

Despite the harsh discipline, gladiators represented a substantial investment for their lanista and were otherwise well cared for. Their high-energy, vegetarian diet combined barley, boiled beans, oatmeal, ash (believed to help fortify the body) and dried fruit. Regular massage and mage healers help mitigate an otherwise very severe training regime. Not every ludus can afford a mage healer, but in recent times Gallicus has had more than one "donated". This has helped improve their prospects at the tournaments.

## Legal and social status

In Tevinter most masters require an oath from their slaves, the magisters often using blood magic to bind them to these words. In the ludus these are the common oaths spoken.

[i]"He vows to endure to be burned, to be bound, to be beaten, and to be killed by the sword."[/i]

Gladiators, like mage-slaves, because of their worth are above even some plebeians in Tevinter society. In terms of slaves they are only below the mage-slaves and slaves of the Imperial Archon.

## Description of Ludus

Ludus Gallicus is situated just outside of Vol Dorma, in the barren, hardpan desert land of south western Tevinter. It is arid and dusty and hard to get to, thus it is difficult to escape from. The Ludus itself comprises several courtyards and an outdoor training ground, as well as cells, barracks and rooms for the lanista and his family. The upper levels where the family reside it split from the gladiator's habitation but stairs, but the lanista often goes below since he still trains his slaves personally, alongside the Doctore.

## Positions within the Ludus

* Lanista/Dominus: Quintus Tullius Triarius
* Domina: Lavinia Demetra Triarius
* Magus Doctore: Davo Lincae
* Supreme Doctore: Aetius

All prospective gladiators, whether volunteer or condemned, are bound to service by a sacred oath (sacramentum). Novices (novicii) train under teachers of particular fighting styles, usually retired gladiators, with one supreme Doctore that overseas all the training alongside the lanista.

The slaves can ascend through a hierarchy of grades (singular: palus) in which primus palus was the highest.

## Gladiator types and associated personnel

The following list includes gladiators as typed by fighting style and equipment, general terms for gladiators, fighters associated with gladiatorial spectacles who were not strictly gladiatores, and personnel associated with training or presentation.

* Andabata

The andabata fought blind, as he wears a helmet that deprives him of vision.

* Bestiarius

The bestiarius is a beast-fighter. See also Damnatio ad bestias.

* Bustuarius

The bustuarius is literally a "tomb fighter," from bustum, "tomb". The term points toward the association of gladiatorial combat with funeral games (munera), rather than a particular fighting style.

* Cestus

The cestus is a fist-fighter or boxer who wears the cestus, a brutal forerunner of the boxing glove.

* Dimachaerus

The dimachaerus ("bearing two knives") used two swords, one in each hand.

* Equites

Eques, plural equites, are lightly-armed gladiators who wear scale armour, a medium-sized round cavalry shield (parma equestris), and a brimmed helmet without a crest, but with two decorative feathers. Those of Imperial birth sport a manica on their right arm and sleeveless, belted tunics, in contrast to other gladiators who usually fight bare-chested, and no greaves. They started on horseback, but after they had thrown their lance (hasta), they dismounted and continued to fight on foot with their short sword (gladius). Generally, equites only fought other equites.

* Lanista

The lanista is the owner-trainer of a troop of gladiators. He traded in slave gladiators, and rented those he owned out to someone who was organizing games. The profession was often remunerative, but socially the lanista is on a par with other slavers, traders in human flesh. Those who own the Arena's have more prominance.

* Laquearius

The laquearius is a kind of retiarius who tries to catch his adversaries with a lasso (laqueus) instead of a net. He is equipped also with a dagger for use once he snares his opponent.

* Lorarius

The lorarius is an attendant who whips reluctant combatants or animals into fighting

* Paegniarius

The paegniarius does not engage in serious combat with lethal weapons, but is rather an entertainer who performs "burlesque duels" during breaks. He has neither a helmet nor a shield, but wears protective wrappings on his lower legs and head.

* Patron

The sponsor who financed gladiatorial spectacles was the patron

* Retiarius

The retiarius ("net fighter") carries a trident, a dagger, and a net. The retiarius wears a loincloth held in place by a wide belt and a larger arm guard (manica) extending to the shoulder and left side of the chest. He fights without the protection of a helmet. Occasionally a metal shoulder shield (galerus) is added to protect the neck and lower face but only those from successful ludus equip these.

* Rudiarius

A gladiator who had earned his freedom receives a wooden sword (a rudis) or perhaps a wooden rod (a rudem, which was a "slender stick" used as a practice staff/sword). If he choses to remain a gladiator, he is called a rudiarius. These are very popular with the public as they are experienced. Not all rudiarii continue to fight; there is a hierarchy of rudiarii that include trainers, helpers, referees, and fighters.

* Rudis

An arena referee or his assistants, named after the wooden staff (rudis) used to direct or separate combatants . A senior referee or trainer is known as a summa (high) rudis.

* Velites

The velites ("skirmishers") fight on foot, each holding a spear with an attached thong for throwing.

* Venator

The venator "("hunter") specializes in wild animal hunts instead of fighting them as the bestiarii did. As well as hunting they also perform tricks with animals such as putting an arm in a lion's mouth, riding a camel while leading lions on a leash, and making an elephant walk a tightrope. Technically they are not gladiators.[/list]

## Gladiatorial Training

When a new recruit (novicius) enters one of the gladiators schools to commence gladiator training he is assessed by the lanista, a doctore and the gladiator's trainers. He would be checked by a mage healer for any medical problems and whether he was physically suitable to train as a gladiator and equipped to withstand the rigours of training and combat. The Gladiator's trainers who work in the school are often retired gladiators who specialised in specific combat styles and weapons.

Gladiator Training is not just about acquiring physical combat skills. Trained Gladiators are expected to behave in a certain way. They also have to be taught how to die. Their are specific death rituals in the arenas of the Tevinter Colosseum. Tevinter spectators expect gladiators to die bravely, showing no fear, offering themselves to cold blooded murder by their opponents. Gladiator training therefore includes how to die gracefully and with honour.

Gladiator Training commences with getting the new gladiator to the peak of fitness. Their training does not initially involve using real weapons, as this is dangerous for the trainers and staff of the schools. Wooden training swords called the rudus are used (lusoria arma). When new recruits enter the gladiator schools they are first referred to as novicius and when they have completed their initial training, and are ready to fight in the arena, they are called Tirones gladiatores or Tiro.

In order to prove they have completed their training the ludus holds a tournament and those who are successful graduate to the Arena and those who fail - die.

## History of Ludus Gallicus

The history of Gallicus is a simple one. During the height of the Imperium it was large and successful, as is evident from its vast grounds. It was the most popular ludus for those outside of the Imperial border and was the most profitable in southern Tevinter. All this changed several hundred years ago and the ludus suffered a decline to the point of bankruptcy. Poor decision-making, a lack of Champions, and obscene spending by several of the lanistas were the root of the problem, and the ludus barely made their ends meet. The last lanista was more frugal, and more careful, and managed to build the ludus up into something respectable, if still small. It was Quintus as a gladiator that helped bring in such high regard for the ludus as a Champion. For the wealth and fame that he brought to the ludus he was rewarded with his freedom and, as the lanista had no heir; the ludus itself. Now he runs the ludus; oversees the training of the gladiators and works toward raising the status of Gallicus. An agreement with the slave trader Lycus Phrios that involved the marriage of his daughter Lavinia to Quintus, and Quintus's own special project puts Ludus Gallicus in the best position to return to it's former glory than it has seen in centuries.

## The Secret Training of Mage Gladiators

Quintus is the first Gallicus lanista to engage in the training of mage slaves. The reason for this is until now his ludus has not been able to afford it, but a patron recently agreed to fund much of his ludus in exchange for housing mage gladiators and their Doctore. They will fight in the name of Gallicus and more than one patron has their mages housed and trained here, but Quintus has been ordered to not unveil these mages until the Fall Tournament in Minrathous in 951.

The reason for this secrecy is two-fold. First of all these mages are being trained as an answer to the saarebas, thus they are mostly non Imperial, elven, or Tevinter citizens who are never to be released as slaves sent to the Arena as punishment (by the Circle or magisters). The magisters training these mages see them as chained magic slaves and want them to be primed for battle, against each other and trained solely in battle magic. They also represent part of each magisters private army, thus the magisters want to keep them hidden from enemies within the Imperium.

For Quintus they represent a massive money making and reputation making scheme, for he will enter them at the last minute and no one will know he has been training such magi until it is too late. The odds on his ludus winning will be low and the chances of him winning high with the mages since the mage battles are very profitable indeed. But he cannot risk them losing and dying, since they are expensive investments for his patrons.