The Colosseum

Solis crafted his Colosseum from the sandstone walls forming the Elatus Canyon, a playground for the warriors who follow him. Each cut was careful, deliberate, carving a grand building directly from the walls of rock, molding the sand to hold the shape he willed it to. The result was impressive: a beautiful fortress raised higher than the ravine sides themselves, large and imposing and nearly blending in with its natural defenses. Solis smiled when he saw his finished creation, throwing open its doors wide to welcome any who wished to test their mettle inside.  

The Colosseum is very large, but rough; age has worn its looks down over time, although its integrity still stands. It is made of solid but aged wood, rough stone, and old heavy chains; pieces of the Colosseum walls have crumbled or worn down so the intricate carvings are near indistinguishable, but the beauty of the natural wonder is unmistakable even after all this time. The center of the Colosseum is open to the sky; most often, fights are held at noon, when the sun is at its highest point in the sky and shines directly down onto the arena. The locals claim it is this way so that Solis might witness the fights; the winners are said to be blessed by the sun god himself.

The arena floor was dug roughly 20 feet down from the surrounding land, so that is is sunk into the ground and well below the auditorium seating. The only pathway that leads into the arena area from outside of the Colosseum is a long tunnel, sloping up the incline from the arena and leading to a heavily gated and guarded door on the outside of the Colosseum that faces into the Elatus Canyon. Without knowing what it is you are looking for, it can be hard to find, hidden amongst the many nooks and crannies of the sandstone ravine.

The gladiator cages lie just outside of the arena and they, too, were dug into the ground so as to be level with the arena floor. They were used to contain ancient fighting slaves and ferocious beasts for them to battle; although several have rusted, all they need is a little TLC to make them fully functional once more.

Amongst these holding cages is a single 'medical room' - a phrase used very loosely amongst Solterrans. It is a room that is kept relatively clean, and has a low-laying stone slab in the center. Basic medical necessities can be found nearby: bone needles and sinew thread for rough stitch jobs; textile gauze; heavy plant-based numbing agents; a few small-blade bone scalpels for rough surgery meant to pry things out of open wounds. The list is minimal, and allows for the 'doctors' to quickly patch up fighters and either send them back into the ring, or send them off elsewhere to be healed outside of the Colosseum. Often, supplies run low, and doctors have to make due with what they can scrap. 

---

There are total of three tiers (not including the lowest arena level). Upon entering the Colosseum, the spectator will find him or herself within an entrance hallway with a high ceiling not meant for seating and having no visibility into the arena. Here, merchants can peddle their wares if so allowed by the Regime - most times, the Regime strictly forbids weaponry from being peddled inside the Colosseum itself, or may even go as far as to not allow weapons in at all. Blacksmiths and forgers can instead peddle their goods outside the walls, and the most common wares found within the first tier itself are food and jewelry merchants. In this hallway, there are no windows to see out into the arena, and many staircases can be found a stone's throw from one another - these lead up onto the first seating floor. If someone wishes to spectate a fight, they must head up these staircases.

The seating arrangements are fairly simple. The tiers are mostly open and devoid of actual seats, but have a short stone wall at the front-most edge to prevent spectators from falling down into the arena. They allow for enough room for spectators to file in and stand to watch the battle below. Staircases leading up to the higher tiers are peppered every 50 meters from one another. The higher the tier, the farther back it sits from the arena's edge - no tiers are stacked directly on top of the other, although each tier has a stone 'base' that sits it 5 meters above the tier below it.

There are two royalty boxes - one on the north, and one on the south. The royalty boxes are on the second tier, and have thick stone walls on all sides of them with heavily padlocked doors. No one sitting on the same tier as the royalty box can see into it if they are sitting beside it. The royalty boxes themselves can host no more than 5 equines max; it is important for the Sovereigns to pick carefully who they wish to represent them in the box. The thick stone walls directly behind the royalty boxes form pathways which lead all the way to the back wall of the colosseum. Said stone walls guard the staircase that leads up to the royalty box from the first floor.

While the Colosseum is rough in construction, it is not devoid of decoration. Plant-fiber and hide-based textiles allow for a personal touch, and can be personalized depending on the regime's tastes.

Training Supplies
In the tunnels below the stands, surrounding the sunken arena, are a series of rooms containing leather and rough stone armor, and a collection of crudely made wooden and bronze weapons. Often they're guarded by one of the Colosseum's d'Ori; they are in charge of the cleaning, monitoring, and checking out of supplies to the fighters and recruits.


Medic Room
A single room, longer than it is wide to host two rows of beds for recuperating patients. At the back is two doors, leading to two rooms: one holds all of the supplies necessary to treat combat wounds, limited though it may be. Sinew thread, bone needles, gauze, bandages, pain relievers, sterilized water; all of these are in high demand.
The other room is kept as clean as a room in a sandy desert can be, and it holds a single stone slab in its center that functions as an exam table--and sometimes, an operating table.


The d'Oru
When crafting his playground, Solis also created a species entirely unique to the Elatus: a large lemur-esque mammal with golden fur marked with white-rimmed eyes and and white tail. They boast opposable thumbs and a sophisticated intellect; most often they can be seen aiding the medics or carrying around armor and weapons for the warriors--but they also enjoy sunbathing and napping on spectator's backs. It's rumored these creatures are relatives to the lemur-like creatures in Dusk's Hospital--perhaps Vespera shared her creations with her brother?


Judged Battles
You'll notice that this board has two special thread prefixes, in addition to the sitewide prefixes used: Spar and Battle. Both of these prefixes should be used anytime your character comes to the Colosseum to fight. A Spar can encompass practice, friendly  fights, unstructured and unjudged battles, and more!

The Battle prefix is used to post official, judged battles! Please follow all guidelines laid out in the Fight Information thread; whether judged battles are posted in the Bellum Steppe or here in the Colosseum, they must follow the same format! This does not apply to Spar threads.