Liner Notes for New Names
Liner Notes For New Names The original idea for this story had been a new gladiator arriving, getting to see what a training day was like, then tack on a confrontation. When I sat down to write it I realised that the place for describing a gladiator school and training would be in the liner notes, a future Neil problem. Oh well. My model is Ancient Rome, modified by cool ideas I come across. The gladiator school is a compound, with high walls, in part to stop escapes but equally to stop people coming in without permission. The effectiveness of this can vary (see A Fixed Fight ). On the inside of these surrounding walls are the buildings, the cells or rooms, the storehouses, kitchen, latrine, bathhouse and treatment rooms and the offices. Also here living quarters for staff, both servile (slaves – we’ll come back to that) and free. Including the manager, the lanista. Who may or may not be the owner. As an organisation it’s self-contained, or at least that’s the theory. In the co...