The Arena

The Racedis Arena. Racedis Towers is the jewel of the realm, and the Arena is the glow at its heart.

Arena fights are the staple entertainment of the vast majority of Racedis Towers. Fighters exert their might, cunning, and charisma to win glory, honor, and a famed career. It is the largest building in Racedis Towers, supported by dozens of mighty towers to accommodate the tens of thousands of spectators that fill its seats many times a day.

The Arena is staffed by a legion of mages - able to work small, specific works of magic - who admit spectators, enhance the spectacle with lights and effects, and prod the magic of the Arena to conjure the varied battlefields as canvasses for the artistry of the combatants.

The lives and deaths of fighters play out in scenes of great drama for the city to see. They take on roles, rivalries, and sometimes real importance in the hearts of their fans.

The Veil
"The Veil" encompasses the grand gates admitting excited cityfolk; the tiered rings of seats holding gasping spectators; and the namesake of The Veil - the enormous sails, called "velarium", stretched over the eager crowd. The velarium, rigged by as many as a thousand Arena mages (many with backgrounds as sailors) keep the elements from interrupting the action below.

No matter what form the sands take for the battle, it never impedes the view from the Veil.

The Face
"The Face" of the Arena: the stretch of ever-changing sand encircled by The Veil. The battlefield. This stretch of sand has seen thousands of skirmishes and challenges, making and breaking careers, and fostering both bitter rivalries and lifelong alliances.

The sands of the Arena's Face stir with some of the most powerful latent enchantments of anything touched by the ancient magic lost in Racedis's history. It will often transform - becoming grassy rolling hills, stormtossed waves, even mountaintops crested by blizzards - to dramatically stage the struggles of the Champions. The transformed sand is indistinguishable from that which it imitates. Fighters walking the hills may cut the grass as they skirmish; anyone trapped beneath the simulated waves may soon drown; prolonged exposure to the conjured blizzard will leave a Champion with frostbite.

The only time the sands of the Arena drop the facade is upon the death of a combatant. The sand will briefly reappear beneath the body of the fallen fighter to draw them back beneath the Face. Anyone dispatched in such a manner will emerge, at sundown, into the Guts of the Arena - weak, pained, but alive.

The Guts
"The Guts" are the twisting catacombs underneath the Arena. Steeped in magic, they are challenging to navigate and impossible to plot.

Endless, forgotten tunnels contain store rooms, training chambers, lockers, and armories. They also contain ascension points, where fighters step into showers of falling sand that will draw them up into the Arena face. While seasoned Champions may become accustomed to the environment, it is every aspiring fighter's deepest wish to lay eyes on the infamous Guts of the Arena.