Champions’ Arena
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The Champions’ Arena is the largest stadium in the Queendom of East Mercia, where the annual Championship and regular Gladiator Tournaments are held. Straddling both Nottingham’s Inner and Outer Circles, the arena is built into the Wall and located just south of the Eye. The Arena’s grounds include Champion’s Square, which is situated in front of the stadium’s main entrance and is divided by the wall, placing the square in both the Inner and Outer Circle.
Architecture and history
The Arena is constructed in a neoclassical style, modelled closely on the Colosseum in Rome. Besides a series of renovations performed in YE 771, it has largely stayed true to its original architecture.
The site on which it stands was designated by Queen Alviva II in YE 516 after she relocated the Championships from their original site, now occupied by the University of Clifton. Queen Alviva’s arena was relatively basic, consisting of a sandpit and surrounding stands, but the shock of her murder in YE 531 led her brother and successor, King John I, to commission a grand Arena in her honour. Construction was finally finished during the reign of John’s son, King Richard I, in YE 583.
During the construction of the Wall in YE 877, the Champion’s Arena was left intact and served to bisect the Wall, providing access to both the city’s Inner and Outer Circles.
Champions’ Square
Since YE 810, Champions have been rewarded by having their statue erected on Champions’ Square, in front of the Arena’s main entrance. There are now thirty statues on Champions’ Square, with two rows of fifteen forming a walkway that leads to the main entrance, dubbed the “Champions’ Entrance” in urban vernacular. The Wall splits Champions’ square, leaving one row of statues on the Inner Circle side and the other fifteen on the Outer Circle side. With every new Champion, an old statue is removed and either offered to the Champion’s estate, gifted to a museum or destroyed.
Present Day
Championships
The Championships continue to take place each year, following the original structure as it was in the 3rd CenturyYE. There are five title categories open to competitors: Marksman (archery), Fleetfoot (obstacle courses), Swordsman (armed combat), Gunner (ballistic weapons) and Warrior (strategy). The competitor with the most points scored across all five disciplines is named Champion.
The record for most titles held by an individual Champion belongs to Robyn Loxley, who has won the Championship seven times and was known as The People’s Champion. After Robyn was reported to have fallen during the Promised Land Campaign, the people of East Mercia laid flowers at her statues to commemorate their most successful Champion.
Citizens of Nottingham celebrate the Championship each year with a week-long festival celebrating healthy living and sporting prowess.
Gladiator Pits
Gladiator fights have taken place at the Arena since its construction in YE 533 as both a form of entertainment to unite the then tumultuous city, and a convenient means of keeping criminality low. The fights ceased in YE 828 after public calls for them to be abolished due to their archaic and barbaric nature.
The fights were reintroduced to the Arena in YE 878 by King John II and his government, as a response to the growing unrest across the state and in particular to the terrorist attacks on Nottingham Castle that took the life of Queen Isobel. In the gladiator fights, convicted criminals battle for their freedom; the longer the sentence, the more rounds a convicted felon must face. During these fights, criminals battle professional gladiators who are often soldiers commissioned by the government. On very rare occasions, criminals will battle each other in the Arena.
