Samuel Furyhold impaling another gladiator.
Gladiators were skilled enslaved fighters, forced to oppose fellow gladiators in public arenas, either for pure entertainment for the population or to earn currency, freedom or even honor for some. While gladiators were known for teasing and greatly entertain the spectators, few contesters joined the fights out of free will and those that did often had a hard time gaining permission to leave again.
While arenas were only build in Pratum, Foedus and a few towns, it was one of the most preffered and popular "sports", which also proved to give quite a lot of money to the slavers, that risked the lives of their inferiors for the purpose of sport. Due to the fact that slavery was publically illegal, most contesters in the games were criminals, offered the choice to fight in the arena, rather than getting their heads cut off in the middle of town.
Honor among captives[]
Like many boardgames, the gladiator games were organized and separated in different leagues and tournaments, determaning the importance and gain/loss of victories and losses. While many smaller games took place in Pratum, the larger ones, as well as the annual tournament, were held in Foedus, yearly deciding who the ultimate warrior was. Every year the last year winner would have to participate, even if gaining his freedom after the end of the first ones. For many contesters, no matter if enslaved or volunteering, strived to win, as it would not only guarantee freedom, but also staggering amounts of coin.
A statue of Samuel L. Furyhold, a winner of the annual tournament.
This also helped to please the nonhumans spectators, as both halfhumans and northmen were guaranteed the same reward, which was not usually the case, when dealing with slaves.
The games therefore aided in more, than just pure entertainment. It gave many criminals and slaves a purpose, while having a positive effect on the economy, both globally and locally. It did not take long after the ending of the pact war, before people started to think otherwise though. Aware of the need of workers, rather than entertainers, Cortus naturally started to socially hate on those that encouraged the games and the arenas ultimately closed, when last year's winner, Samuel L. Furyhold, freed all present slaves upon his final return to the arena. This later led to the conflict between slaves and the leading factions, eventually securing Samuel his place as monarch of Cortus.