On Fri, 26 Oct 2012, Onno Meyer wrote:
Johannes replied to me:
Now Tribunus will want to have a way out.
Find a 'genuine fake Tribunus' and make plans for two switches,
before and after the battle. The gladiator makes the kill, the
slave becomes the fall guy. This could actually make the plot
easier, since the real gladiator doesn't have to deceive the
audience quite as long.
Making an exchange during the fight does not seem practical.
I assumed that there is a social event before, during and after
the fight. The gladiator victim would be presented at the party
before, with a chance for everybody to look him over. Then the
two 'contestants' go into their locker rooms for arms and armor,
come out in gladiator gear (full-face helmet?), fight, and then
they go back for changing. The noble comes out for the rest of
the party, the gladiator is disposed.
Propably i could do that. Though meeting the double can spoil the
authentic arena experience for thoose, who also know the real gladiators
socially.
The
plan could be to put the killer Tribunus in a cell, then have him
exchanged for a different one, who gets blood smears and copies of any
wounds Tribunus might have sustained.
We're talking about a real gladiator vs. a wannabe noble. Is
there a question that the gladiator can win easily if both
get sharps?
The noble will have been groomed and propably had a time as Roman army
officer. He will not have actual combat experience, but training. So
propabilities are stacked highly in favour of Tribunus, but bad luck might
happen.
Upstairs/downstairs. Get the other PCs a job in the kitchen
or the stables, as extra staff for the event.
Given gladiator doubles are common there, there is still some danger, that
the kitchen staff figures, they are runnaway doubles.
How many fights per evening? I thought one or two, not lots.
So it would be known that there is 'a slave who looks like
the gladiator X vs. the son of senator Y' -- another guy
who looks like gladiator Z might be taken for a coincidence,
or maybe a real gladiator called in to coach the slave.
Do the slaves know that they're going to die, or do they
think they have a fair chance? How much effort goes into
that end of the deception? If they KNOW they're going to
be slaughtered, the villa will be a pressure cooker on the
verge of a desperate slave rebellion.
If the conspiracy isn't that dumb, they'll promise the
slaves freedom and a small plot of land in the provinces.
Make sure that merely wounded victims get that, and try
to conceal the fatality rate. Slaves go in, every now and
then one sends messages back to the tune of 'nice house
in Hispania, and a couple of servants to help with the
crippled leg', but they are not seen again.
For a morbid comparison, think of the deception around the
holocaust.
I was thinking of something of 4 to 8 fights per occasion, and have not
yet specified how often such an occasion happens, i assume infrequently.
Roughly double as many doubles are in the villa in total, including thoose
who are healing injuries, or still require some work done, such as having
a diet, to better fit the body shape, or copying of the real gladiators
scars is not yet finished or who still need personality adjustments.
I already have seeded, that someone buys up most gladiator look alikes
through middlemen.
Doubles are kept in cells. Thoose who look well in the fights, get more
medical attention to their wounds, and they are more likely to get
opponents, who are content with a victory, rather then thoose, who want a
kill. If they get good enough at fighting, that there is a danger of them
making their opponents look bad, they might get promoted to guards, and
keep the other doubles in line.
But basically their lot is "play along and have a slightly longer
miserable life, or die now".
The life of the other slaves (guards especially, householdslaves) is much
better, and the management relies on them not showing solidarity in
exchange for perks. A job at the fight villa is a promotion compared to
other holdings of the owner. After all here he wants some secrecy. And the
profile contains a kiss up kick down attitude. So basically we have the
kapo system.
So most doubles will, if they can choose, flee rather then revolt, and the
other slaves will stay loyal to their master.
_______________________________________________
GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]>
http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
