The Coliseum of Zrukal-az Bashzith

Though gladiatorial combat is a staple source of entertainment throughout the hobgoblin empire, the largest and most extravagant arena is easily the Coliseum in the empire’s capital. Construction began five years after the ancient city was conquered by the hobgoblins, and even with slaves working on construction nonstop it still took six years to complete.

History

The history of gladiatorial combat amongst hobgoblins goes back before recorded history. Tribes would often send slaves into pits to fight. The winner got to eat better food for a week. Thus it is no surprise that when the tribes became an empire, this sport continued. At first it continued as it had before, combatants in a ring made from observing hobgoblins. Then the hobgoblins managed to capture the oldest city in the northern Green Coast: Aethrion, the former capital of the fallen Aetherion Kingdom.

     During the first few years after the conquest of Aethrion, the Emperor devoted most of his efforts in the city to consolidating power and achieving stability. When that had reached an acceptable level, he set his eyes on a symbol to show that the city was theirs beyond the name change. The ruins of the castle at the center of the city were torn down and to take its place was an arena dedicated to Zrukal, and hosting gladiatorial matches unlike any seen in history.

     Despite the use of magic and slave labor, construction was still slow. The foundations alone took a full year to complete. Still, construction continued and six years after construction began the Coliseum was finished. The name came from an old gnome myth of a training ground where the children of gods trained. Though gnome in origin, the Emperor liked the sound of the name and the myth enough that its origin was overlooked.

     Nearly twenty years ago, a former gladiator named Ghoran Karzin Zorthak (roughly translates to Ghoran the Deadly Blade) was given the position of Announcer and Officiator. His position requires that he describe all that occurs on the arena floor and keep an eye out for any sort of cheating. Once a year, Ghoran also fights solo against some sort of monster with the months leading up to the fight building up to the fight asking if the fifty-six year old hobgoblin “still has it?” The last such fight pitted Ghoran against a juvenile silver dragon. Ghoran managed to kill the dragon without the beast landing a single hit.

Matches

The Coliseum features several matches a week, non-military matches are held on the last day of the week. Once a month a historical reenactment is held, typically a major battle or significant victory for the empire. During such reenactments, mages utilize magic to replicate the weather that was present during the original event. Such mages are also on hand during other matches to use their magic to alter the arena floor between (or even during) matches to make them more interesting.

     At least once every few months, a surprise monster is unleashed during the middle of a standard match. The surprise monsters range from ogres to trolls to creatures created by the empire’s alchemists and mages. These creatures are brought in through the labyrinthine tunnels, sewers, and catacombs that were discovered under the city during the construction of the Coliseum. These passageways are for the most part still unexplored, despite decades spent mapping and exploring them. Some aware of them believe that the passageways never end, and descend deeper and deeper into the rock until they come out in a different plane on the River of Dreams.

     Outside of the matches viewed by the public, the Coliseum is also used to test proof of concepts of both new weapon designs and military tactics. High ranking officers can petition to have use of the Coliseum for a day to test out a new strategy or tactic on a small scale before using it in the field. In addition, hobgoblin officers deemed worthy by their superiors may have the chance to train in battlefield command with gladiator slaves.

Slaves in the Arena

The overwhelming majority of gladiators are slaves purchased from quarries, logging mills, or mines. The slaves are brought to the Coliseum and trained in teams to fight in such a way to maximize cuts without killing each other. After-all the point of the matches that they fight in is to entertain the crowd not to kill slaves.

     Compared to their previous lives, most gladiators have a much higher standard of living. They are given greater rations, more comfortable living quarters, and a portion of the bets on matches that they win. If they earn enough then they are permitted to, in effect, buy their freedom. Technically, they are buying themselves and are still slaves legally. This is a rare occurrence, as the portion that slaves earn when they win a fight is very small. Thus far in the roughly thirty year history of the Coliseum this has happened five times. The first one to do so left the city, and was never seen again, but the other four stayed and continued fighting in the Coliseum. Today they form an undefeated team.

     Of the slaves in the Coliseum that attempted to flee the empire, the single greatest is a half-orc dubbed Ethu the Bonedancer. While in his first match he was given the standard broken sword, from then on out he was given lightly enchanted weapons and armor all made from bone. His shield is the shell of a young dragon-turtle and most of the time the weapon he is given is a pseudo-sword fashioned from a sharpened dragon lower jawbone.

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