Gladiatorial combat

"These games are more than just a sport. They are a expression of the Cilwellian lifestyle."

- Unknown Cilwelli editor

Gladiatorial combat was a popular sport in the Republic of Cilwelli. The participants were professional fighters who fought against each other, wild animals, and condemned criminals, sometimes to the death, for the entertainment of spectators. These fights took place in arenas in many cities throughout the Republic. Normally the combatants would wield melee weapons, such as lightsabers or vibroswords. Organizers would often pit warriors with differant weapons against each other.

The fights were widely popular in the Cilwellian Republic, largely because they reflected the Cilwelli lifestyle. The Cilwelli believed that suffering was the only way to enter the Afterlife. Therefore the idea of bloodsport was generally praised. However, some Cilwellians, particually upper class females, viewed the games as inhuman and tried to outlaw them. Despite their attempts, the gladiatorial games would remain a part of Cilwelli culture, until the planet's destruction during the Yuuzhan Vong war.

Typically, most gladiators were not natives to the Cilwellian Republic. If the warriors were Cilwellian they were ussally criminals condemned to death. Most gladiators were slaves, captured by game organizers. Humans, Urgals and Hutts were popular, due to the Cilwelli's hatred for these species. Wookiees were also popular, due to their incredibal physical abilities. Sometimes, battle droids were used as gladiators.

The games
The games were carefully and precisely planned by an organizer (editor) on behalf of the Aulsur. The combinations of animals and gladiator types were meticulously planned, such that the show would be most appealing to the audience. After the planning stage was over, editors would first offer seats to government officials, or people of importance. After all the special boxes were filled, tickets would be sold.

The games would usually begin earlly in the morning and end late at night. Meals were often provided. The day began with a religious ceremony. A Vranga would sacrifce a choice slave to the god Graef. The sacrifice was followed by live executions. Condemned criminals were sometimes required to fight battle recreations or in paired gladiatorial combats against each. The winner then fought a new opponent and so on until only one was left alive. Usually this "winner" was then himself put to death. But he could be spared if he showed sufficient bravery. In the later days of the Republic, it became the practice to perform plays adapted from myths in which people died and assigning the role of a character who would die to a condemned man. The audience would then watch the play, and the actual killing of the condemned man in the same manner as the fictional character.

Before the afternoon fights began, a procession was led into the arena. Dancers would preform and the organizers would give speeches. During the fights musicians played accompaniments altering their tempo to match that of the combat. Typical instruments were a long straight trumpet, a large curved instrument or a water-organ. These musicians were often dressed as animals with names such as "flute playing bear" and "horn-blowing chicken", names sometimes found displayed on contemporary mosaics.

During gladiatorial combat, it was preferable for gladiators not to kill each other; technically, they were slaves, but they also often had years of intensive training and therefore were quite valuable. Gladiators were instructed to inflict non-lethal wounds upon each other, and often lived long, rather successful lives able to purchase their freedom after three years. However, accidents did happen at times resulting in death, and gladiators who failed to display bravery in combat could be executed by order of the Aulsur. After fights, the bodies of the gladiators were buried in a manner depending on the status of the fighter.

Spectators liked to support “sides”, which they called the “great shields” and the “little shields”. The “great shields” were lightly armoured defensive fighter types. Whereas the “little shields” were the more aggressive heavily armoured fighter types. Fighting without a shield would have been classed as a “great shield” due to fighting style. “Little shields” always had an advantage early in a match but the longer the match lasted the greater the advantage for the “great shield” as his opponent tired much more quickly due to heavier armour and also as they usually had helmets with more restricted vision. Spectators also had local rivalries.

Recruitment
There were many ways in which gladiators were "recruited." Most were slaves captured Cilwellian slavers. Raiding parties would go out and pirate a world or ship. They would take individauls which they deemed sucable for gladaitorial combat and ship them to Cilwelli. Other slaves were taken from the Cilwellian Republic. Editors would hire bounty hunters to capture people and force them to fight. "Gladiator selling" became a big buisness in some parts of Cilwelli.

Other times, criminals would be forced to fight in the arena. Sometimes they were publicly executed, but most the time they were trained to fight. This became a common punishment in Cilwelli. Lex Merri was known for forcing anyone he did not like to fight, including spectators who annoyed him at the games. This practic was outlawed in 9 ABY, but only after it made its mark on the games. A tradition was started, in which the addiance could elect one of their own to fight in the arena. This person was called Merri's Favorite.

If the gladiators of rare sects, such as females, upper class warriors, or left-handed fighters, they were generally honored above the rest. Because of their valueablness, they were treated well. Often, they were given their own rooms and private trainers. Other gladiators were instructed not to kill the novelities, but only wound them.

Training
There were more 100 Gladiator schools throughout the Republi. The schools had barracks for the gladiators with small cells and a large training ground. The most impressive had seating for spectators to watch the men train and some even had boxes for the Aulsur.

Prospective gladiators upon entering a gladiator school swore an oath giving their lives to the gods of the underworld and vowing to accept, without protest, humiliation by any means. Volunteers also signed a contract with a gladiator manager stating how often they were to perform, which weapons they would use, and how much they would earn. Prospectives also went under a physical examination by a doctor to determine if they were both physically capable of the rigorous training and aesthetically pleasing. Once accepted the novicius usually had his debts forgiven and was given a sign up fee. For as long as he was a gladiator he was well fed and received high quality medical care. Overall, gladiators were united as members of a clan and became second to the prestige of the school. They also joined unions formed to ensure proper burials for fallen members and compensation for their families. As a rule gladiators, slaves and criminals had tattoo's applied as an identifying mark on the face, legs and hands (legionaires were also tattooed but only on their hands). This practice continued until Sincol banned them on the face by decree in 7 ABY.

Training was under teachers, called “Doctores”, and involved the learning of a series of “numbers”, which were broken down into various phases much as a play is a series of acts broken down into scenes. Sometimes fans complained that a gladiator fought too “mechanically” when he followed the “numbers” too closely. Gladiators would even be taught how to die correctly. Each type of gladiator had its own teacher. Although gladiators in times of need helped train Zargi, they were not usually good soldiers themselves as a result of this choreographed style of training. Within a training-school there was a competitive hierarchy of grades through which individuals were promoted. They trained using two meter poles buried in the ground. The levels were named for the training pole and were primus palus, secundus palus, and so on. It was also rare for a novicius to train in more than one gladiatorial style. Once a gladiator had finished training but had not yet fought in an arena he was called a Hydoes.

Cilwellian attitudes toward gladiators
The Cilwelli’s attitude towards the gladiators was ambiguous: on the one hand to be a gadiator was the ultimate social disgrace; but on the other hand, some successful gladiators rose to celebrity status and even those of senatorial families seemed to join up as gladiators. Being a gladiator was a very lucrative business, but it also was viewed as among the lowest professions on the social scale and well below prostitution, although paradoxically if the gladiator had other sources of income he carried no stigma at all. Likewise if the gladiator took no fee for fighting then the legal stigma did not apply and the gladiator legally lost no social status although still remaining publicly disgraced. Some Cilwelli believed gladiator shows to be boring, but also saw the gladiators themselves as privileged athletes and so took extraordinary measures to prevent bloodshed and death. For example, the Senate decreed that swords have a blunt point and banned iron blades. Many people, particularly upper class women, wanted to outlaw the games entirely.

On the other hand, gladiators often developed large followings of certain women, who apparently saw them as sexual objects despite it being socially unacceptable for citizen women to have sexual contact with them. Despite or because of the prohibition many rich women sought intimate contact with gladiators and there are several instances of historians mentioning Senators wives running off to live with gladiators. The ancient celebrity and the festivity before the fights gave the women an opportunity to meet them.

It is thought that only 10 percent of gladiators actually died in combat. Gladiators rarely lived past age 30 unless they were particularly outstanding and accomplished victors but at a time when around 60 percent of Cilwellian citizens died, from all causes, before age 40. This indicates that gladiators in fact tended to almost as long as the general populace, which is attributed to the extra care they received. Reasonable estimates show that they fought on average two to three times yearly, but there are some exceptions such as some men fighting all nine days during one of Feast of Honor shows.

Unconventional gladiators
Most gladiators were poor alien males between fifteen and thirty years of age. However, there were many expections. Female gladiators also existed. Women also often fought as Venetores (wild animal hunting) but these are not considered true Gladiators. Some editors liked to stage torch lit fights between children and women. It appears they fought bare-chested and rarely wore helmets no matter what type of gladiator they fought as. Women apparently fought at night, and this being the time that the games main events were held indicates the possible importance or rarity of female gladiators. Female gladiators were considered a novelty. Most women, even slaves, considered themselves too good to partake in the games. Some women fought in heavy armor. In Cilwellian stories, women were often depicted as provocative in combat.

It is known that some of the vile Aulsur also forced the wives of some Cilwelli senators into amphitheatres, presumably to fight. At least one editor used the games as a way to eliminate his talkative mistresses. Male gladiators saw their female counterparts as weaklings. But some weapon did manage to prosper in the arenas and became legendary.

Not only women, but children fought in a gladiatorial event that were held during the Republic‘s Dark Age. The children were often sent to gladiator schools because their parents could not longer afford to keep them. Other times, tarboes would send disobiedent children to the arenas as a punishment. Most children were not killed.

Some Aulsurs were said to have performed in the arena. It is uncertain if these performances were one-time-only or repeated appearances and there is question regarding the risk as the Aulsurs chose their opponents and no one was likely to injure an Aulsur.

Types of combat
There were many types of gladiatorial games. The most common was the conventional fights in which both warriors were armed with melee weapons and sometimes fought to the death. This category could be specified into two basic groups. The most common of these was irect. These games were often glamorized. The moves used by the gladiators were done more for show than practiciality. Often these fights had pre-determined outcomes. Usually no one was killed, as fighters were instructed to wound their opponents. Sometimes, losing gladiators would actually play dead, in order to create a more dramadic effect. Gladiators that fought in irect games were usually Cilwellians, Wookiees and sometimes Force- sensitive.

The secound type of main combat was known as huze. These fights were customarily more violent than irect games. Often the gladiators that took part in these games were considered disgraced. Humans, Urgals and Hutts made up the majority of huze gladiators. Many fighters were actually criminals or slaves forced to fight in the arena. Unless he showed great bravery during the match, the winner was usual executed right after the match. Another popular style was a fight between two beast, or a gladaitor and a beast. Animals such as kull, rancors, nexu, akk dogs, and reeks were commonly made to fight. When two creatures fought each other bets were usually taken prior to the match. The winner could resieve a fair amount of money. It was not uncommon for gamblers to rig fights. Professional gladiators never fought against beasts. Only condemned criminals and slaves were forced to combat animals. They wore no armor, in fact, they often fought completely naked. The criminals would usually use long pikes. Most of the time, the fights ended with the beast being slaying. However, other time the fighter would be made to fight the creatures without any weapons. Sometimes these "fighters" were even tied to pools.

This style of gladiatoral combat probably orginated in the form of slave hunting. In these games, a dozen slaves were released into a pit of dangerous creatures. Onlookers would cast bets on which slave they thought would last the longest. Sometimes, if a slave did exeptionally well, organizers would kill the beast and spare the victorious slave. Often times, these slaves were made official gladiators. Most slaves that participated in the events were either ill or disobedient, and therefore no longer any use to their masters. Slave owners were usually paid to donate slaves to the arenas.

Tarboe arenas were also quite popular. They were usually smaller arenas that were owned by cantinas or mainstream arenas. They were unique because only children participated. Costumarily they were children who had broken some local law or ordenance. Because the Cilwellian government forbid the courts to punish minors, the Crex would use the tarboe arenas as loopholes to made sure children were sufficently disiplined. Sometimes the youth were simply thrashed by their tarboe. Other times, they were made to fight one another. The youthful gladaitors weren't to kill each other. Rater, they fougth with neuronic whips and wore masks made of a plant called yussu. Yussu masks could not be removed unless they were wet. The idea was that the young fighters would whip each other until one began to cry. After enough tears were shed the yussu mask would come off. The last one to be waring a mask was the winner.

Behind the Scenes

 * This articles was created by Red Head Rider
 * The consept was clearly inspired by the gladiatorial games of Ancient Rome and modren Professional Wrestling matches.