Welcome friends, welcome to my ARENA. The cream of the crop when it comes to bloodthirst, violence and death, the Arena has been ever-growing as a successful sport stadium for several thousand years, and will continue to do so!

What is the Arena?

The Arena is a giant stadium where demons, witches, warlocks and an assortment of magical creatures - or even humans - fight each other to the death. Demons and warlocks and other evil can sign up to compete, whether they want to go for a friendly match (against some other volunteer) or for the Tournament, which is to enter the championship against my very own prized fighters.

Can I actually die here??

No. Generally, if you lose a fight to the death, naturally you will die. However, if you competed in a friendly match, you will be regenerated into the recovery room, fully healed. The only thing damaged will be your dignity, have you suffered defeat.

What's all this about witches? I hate witches!

All the more reason to sign up! Our witches are hand-picked and selected by our finest hunters, captured, and held prisoner in one of our many Arena compounds. They live only to serve the purpose of fighting for us, and are miserable in general. Don't think that means they don't put up a good fight! Death in the Arena, although short-lived (pardon the pun) is about as painful as it gets, and the thought of that pain always gives them the willingness to fight, so you will always be getting your money's worth. If you sign up, you'll be able to fight these witches and kill a few yourself! That is, unless they kill you...

Oh please. A witch kill me? Don't make me laugh!

I'm serious! Our witches are highly-skilled at what they do! Since the talismans around their necks prevent them from using their power, we equip them with all sorts of weapons - swords, athames, staffs, torches, once on April Fool's Day we even sent a witch in to fight holding a bucket of water - and she won! So don't underestimate our fighters, or you'll be likely to come out the worse for wear.

Am I allowed to use my powers in there?

All's fair in The Arena. You cannot use your powers, unless it is a transport power - say blinking or shimmering. And that is it. We know that some demons have psychic powers and they are hard to tell apart which makes it easier for them to cheat, but if we catch you cheating, you will be disqualified.

Okay, enough about the background - what's the technical side? How does a battle work?

Battles are fought one at a time in The Arena, where it is like any typical thread in ACW. One competitor posts their move and lets the other one react, and for the other one to post their own move. It's pretty straight-forward.

If you are watching a battle, you should post in The Stands thread, where independant posts will be made to announce the beginning and end of the battle, as well as who it's between. Generally, it's easier if you don't comment on specific moves, because the timing could get way off and it might look like you're trying to control other characters. Tut.

A battle is won by submission of your competitor. Say if you stabbed them, and it was a pretty mean blow, they'd need to post something like:

::Character dies.::

And then the battle would be over. The winner would be announced, the loser taken to the recovery room (or, if they'd been blown-up or suchlike, they'd regenerate there by separate post of The Powers) and that's that. Note: if it seems anybody is taking liberties with the amount of damage their characters can receive, an intervention will be made.

What do I win?

If it's a friendly match, not a lot. However, if you enter a Tournament, often new powers and free humans are up for grabs. Also, a boosted social stature.

Hmm. Powers and humans, you say? Where do I sign up? How?

First go to this thread and express your interest, and wait for further instruction.

That's about it! You don't need to pay to come in to watch the fights, though competing is a lot more exciting! If you have any queries about the Arena, feel free to ask me, Nilim, in the "Wanted: Fighters" thread.

Happy battling.