As part of the release of our upcoming Old Acquaintances DLC, The Freelancers’ Guild – or Collegium Mercennaris – will be added to the game, extending hireling options for aspiring vagri. Known across the Riven Realms for their neutrality, the Guild operates under a strict Imperial mandate, which allows them to lease out mercenaries to private persons. Collegia Mercennaris also prides itself on a diverse offering; ex-gladiators, legion veterans, and even Kal’rish warriors number among their ranks, as do licensed Necromancers who do not serve the Church for one reason or another.

Veles are agile, tough gladiators that move and bounce around with ease thanks to their light gear and excessive training. In their idle animation we made use of a wide stance with a raised shield, ideal for spear fighting.

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Veles gladiators are mobile, evasive fighters who are best at supporting the sturdy Murmillos in the arena, although they can dish out punishment surprisingly suddenly if the tide turns in their favor. Although they are not the most stalwart front line fighters, their high Block and Evade stats make them actually hard to defeat. That, coupled with their good Armor and their amazing Initiative, gives them enough opportunities to control the flow of battle. Their Skills are not amazing, but dependable, with the kick being able to upset enemy lines and create opportunities for lethal attacks:

The Veles Gladiator enemy is an arena combatant in traditional Imperial gladiatorial arms in the Veles tradition, which was modeled after lightly-armored, mobile spear-wielding warriors from the ancient times of the Third Age. This mirrors how a peculiar kind of ancient Roman gladiator was also following a precursor military unit's doctrine - although in this real-world parallel, the arena fighter in question was quite different from our Veles. Still, our design was based on historical sources, albeit tweaked to fit the dark fantasy setting of the Riven Realms better. The enemy itself is a quick, evasive warrior that can work well in concert with heavier frontline fighters like the Murmillo.

We have hinted at the rehauling of several Combat Skills recently, and we are happy to announce that these improvements made their way into the next build of Vagrus. Moreover, we ended up with many more skills that now work much better or are completely new than we had initially thought. Here are a few of these with some commentary:

The murmillo is a heavily armored gladiator with a large scutum (shield) and a gladius (short sword). Modeled after the ancient Roman arena fighters of the same name, these enemies are among the strongest specialized encounters.

Sturdy and resilient with a high Block value, these guys can tough it out in the front lines for long unless you find a way to break their defenses. They are also great at defending their fellow fighters standing next to them due to their Defender combat trait (which provides armor to these allies). The Murmillo combat Skills are as follows:

Another enemy joins the animation showcase this week! Standing firm with his mighty scutum, the Murmillo gladiator is ready for battle.

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Murmillo is a gladiator type from ancient Rome, one of the most iconic in fact, so when it came to designing gladiators for the world of Vagrus, there was no question about including one that looks and feels exactly like the real world warrior of the same name. We wanted to change it around a bit to make it compatible with the pseudo-Roman fantasy world, but these changes are subtle at best, like the absence of fish imagery, bronze used for the metal parts due to the rarity of harder metals, as well as a different loincloth and belt.

Next up in our series of posts about character poses and skills is the mighty warrior and gladiator Gor'Goro.

Gor'Goro is not only a heavy-hitting melee character but very tanky as well; someone that any vagrus would gladly employ as muscle for the crew. Although he has no ranged skill, he is far from useless when he gets in the back line, however.

The Empire in the Riven Realms is based on the Roman Empire of our history, so it's no surprise that the gladiators of these cultures are also very similar.

This character artwork is that of the gladiator enemy that you can come across in arena battles. These arena or pit fights will feature in larger settlements, as the Empire of the Riven Realms is very fond of such bloody games.