Found a ludus for 500 gold or join one. You enter as Tiro and become Gladiator after three days or 500 gold donated; Doctor (officer) and Lanista (leader) manage buildings, wars and the map. Guild actions never block your gladiator: your ludus fights as a school.
Provinces give passive bonuses that apply to your fights and income; province buildings are Walls (defence), Market (treasury income) and Barracks (faster training). Station a gladiator in a province for 12 hours for passive experience and gold and extra war defence.
From the in-game handbookLudus
Your gladiator school, the heart of the endgame. Found one for 500g or join an existing one.
Ranks: join as Tiro, auto-promote to Gladiator after 3 days or 500g donated. Doctore (officer) and Lanista (leader) manage buildings, wars and the map.
⚔ The Map - conquer the world: every province is held by Rome's legions. Click a province:
🦅 Roman-held (neutral) → Assault: fight legions any day; 24 won fights claims any province. Harder provinces (easy→legendary) field far stronger legions. Medium needs level 10, hard 20, legendary 30.
🔔 Garrison alarm: every assault fight you take (won or lost) alerts that province's garrison: each next legion fights +12% stronger against you until midnight, and after 12 assaults on a province your warriors are spent there for the day. Spread the siege across your ludus: fresh fighters face calm garrisons.
🏰 Garrison recovery: a day without a single win on a siege costs your ludus 4 siege points. Keep the pressure up.
🎉 Events: every 3 days the arena celebrates a new global event: extra gold, luckier forges, faster energy, distracted garrisons and more. Watch the banner on your Dashboard and time your moves.
🛡 Your land under raid → Defend: beat the raiding legions before the timer or the province bonus is disabled 4h. Raid legions are weaker, a scourge for inactive ludi, easy to repel if you show up.
⚔ Enemy ludus province → Declare war. Full rules of Ludus Wars below.
⚔ Ludus Wars, step by step:
1. Declaration. The Lanista or Doctore declares war on any day of the week. The price starts at 2000 gold and grows by 50% for every province your ludus already holds. Before you pay, read the scouting report on the map: it shows the defender's walls, barracks, garrison and exactly how many duel wins you will need.
2. The battles. The war is settled in 4 scheduled battles on the weekend: Saturday and Sunday, at 12:00 and 20:00 server time. Each battle is 3 duels, one champion against one champion, paired by strength: your best faces their best.
3. Sign-ups. Enrollment opens 2 hours before each battle, up to 3 champions per ludus. If a ludus skips sign-ups, random members get drafted, ready or not. A champion committed to one war cannot fight on any other front that weekend.
4. The fight. Nobody needs to be online. On the hour the arena resolves every duel with your full character: equipment, skills, traits, set bonuses, beast and guild perks. Attackers charge with aggressive tactics, defenders hold their ground with whatever defence tactic you set on the Arena screen.
5. Defense of the realm. The defender fights at home and it shows. Province barracks feed the garrison: every barracks level adds 2% to defender stats in war duels. The defending Lanista or Doctore can also field up to 2 garrison veterans per battle, clones of the ludus champion at 35% strength plus 5% per barracks level. Invading armies get no such help; attackers must be human.
6. Settlement. After the last battle all 12 duel points are added up. The attacker needs a clear lead: every tie keeps the province. Walls, the guild wall and the stationed garrison multiply the defender's points, so a well built fortress may demand 9 or even 10 duel wins out of 12.
7. The Curse of Empires. Every province beyond your first weakens ALL defensive bonuses by 15%: the settlement multiplier, the supplies and the veterans. Legions stretched across many lands defend each of them poorly. Quality of your champions beats quantity of your roster.
Limit: a ludus captures at most 2 provinces per 7 days, the map is won steadily. Each capture frees its own slot exactly 7 days later, so there is no shared weekly reset.
Provinces give passive bonuses that truly apply to your fights and income. Buildings: Walls (defense), Market (treasury income), Barracks (faster training).
Garrison: station a gladiator 12h in a province for passive exp/gold and +10% guild-war defense (first 5 garrisoned count). Walls and garrisons are your night watch. They defend while you sleep.
Grandeur
Grandeur is the sum of every building level in the school. It carries a name, and some systems check the rank rather than the number.
| Rank | Grandeur from |
|---|---|
| Sand Pit | 0 |
| Timber Ludus | 10 |
| Stone Ludus | 25 |
| Marble Ludus | 45 |
| Gilded Ludus | 65 |
| Imperial Ludus | 85 |
| Eternal Ludus | 103 |
Buildings 11
Built with gold from the ludus treasury. Every level is permanent and every member feels it.
Training Hall max 10
The training hall increases the experience gained by all guild members from every source.
Per level +2% EXP per levelLevel 1 500 goldLevel 10 480,000 goldGuild Forge max 10 bonus caps at 5
The guild forge lowers blacksmith upgrade costs for all members.
Per level -5% blacksmith upgrade cost per level (bonus caps at level 5)Level 1 800 goldLevel 10 640,000 goldBarracks max 10 bonus caps at 5
More bunks, more brothers. A new ludus holds 10; each level of the barracks adds 2 more, up to 20 at full upgrade.
Per level +2 max members per level up to level 5 (10 base, 20 seats). Levels 6-10 are pure ludus prestigeLevel 1 1,000 goldLevel 10 416,000 goldDefensive Wall max 10 bonus caps at 5
The defensive wall grants a territory defense bonus during wars. A defender with a wall is harder to beat.
Per level +2% territory defense per level (bonus caps at level 5)Level 1 600 goldLevel 10 576,000 goldVault max 3
The vault hides part of the treasury when your ludus loses a war: each level cuts the gold the winner can take by 25%, down to a quarter of the usual loot at level 3.
Per level Protects treasury in lost wars (-25% stolen per level)Level 1 1,200 goldLevel 3 8,000 goldInfirmary max 10
The infirmary keeps your fighters patched up: every member gains max HP in all fights - arena, dungeons, expeditions and wars alike.
Per level +1% max HP in every fight per levelLevel 1 400 goldLevel 10 448,000 goldArmoury max 10
Sharper blades and tighter straps. Every member deals more damage in all fights.
Per level +1% damage in every fight per levelLevel 1 900 goldLevel 10 768,000 goldShrine of Nemesis max 10 bonus caps at 5
A shrine to Nemesis, goddess of the arena. Members earn more Glory from arena duels and expeditions.
Per level +3% Glory from arena and expeditions per level (bonus caps at level 5)Level 1 700 goldLevel 10 608,000 goldEmporium max 10 bonus caps at 5
Ludus traders take a smaller cut. Every member earns more gold from every source.
Per level +3% gold from every source per level (bonus caps at level 5)Level 1 600 goldLevel 10 544,000 goldScriptorium max 10
Scribes catalogue every blade the ludus has seen. Loot rolls shift toward the rarer tiers for all members.
Per level +2% chance of rarer loot per levelLevel 1 1,000 goldLevel 10 800,000 goldStables max 10 bonus caps at 5
Fresh horses and better carts. Expeditions come home with heavier purses.
Per level +4% expedition gold per level (bonus caps at level 5)Level 1 550 goldLevel 10 512,000 goldBuilding every ludus upgrade to its cap costs 11,584,650 gold in total.
Member prestige
Inside the school each member holds a rank, earned by contribution. The rank pays a daily cut.
| Rank | Contribution | Glory | Gold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tiro | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gladiator | 600 | 2 | 0 |
| Veteranus | 2,000 | 3 | 3 |
| Primus Palus | 5,000 | 5 | 5 |
Heraldry
A ludus picks an emblem and a colour and wears them on every ranking screen. 22 emblems, 12 colours, 25,000 gold to change.
Provinces 16
Every province starts in the hands of Rome's legions. A ludus takes it by winning 24 assault fights, then holds it against rebels and other schools. You can only attack a province that borders one you already hold (Britannia, Africa and Aegyptus connect by sea lanes), so the map is a campaign rather than a lobby. A ludus captures at most two provinces a week.
| Province | Borders |
|---|---|
 Roma | Noricum, Campania, Sicilia, Illyricum |
 Noricum | Roma, Sardinia, Gallia Cisalpina, Gallia Transalpina |
| Campania | Roma, Sicilia, Graecia |
 Sicilia | Roma, Campania, Sardinia, Africa |
 Sardinia | Noricum, Sicilia, Gallia Transalpina |
| Gallia Cisalpina | Noricum, Gallia Transalpina, Germania, Illyricum |
| Gallia Transalpina | Noricum, Sardinia, Gallia Cisalpina, Hispania, Britannia |
| Hispania | Gallia Transalpina, Africa |
| Britannia | Gallia Transalpina, Germania |
| Germania | Gallia Cisalpina, Britannia |
| Illyricum | Roma, Gallia Cisalpina, Graecia |
| Graecia | Campania, Illyricum, Asia Minor |
| Asia Minor | Graecia, Syria |
 Syria | Asia Minor, Aegyptus |
| Aegyptus | Syria, Africa |
| Africa | Sicilia, Hispania, Aegyptus |
Province buildings
| Building | Effect | Max level |
|---|---|---|
| Walls | +30% defender war points per level | 5 |
| Market | +25 gold/h to guild treasury per level | 5 |
| Barracks | -4% training time per level (best province counts) · war: +2% defender stats per level & garrison veterans | 5 |
Build cost by level: 500 / 1,500 / 4,000 / 10,000 / 25,000 gold. Build time: 1 / 4 / 8 / 16 / 24 hours.
War and rebels
A war is declared by the Lanista or Doctor and settled in four scheduled battles on the weekend (Saturday and Sunday, 12:00 and 20:00 server time), three duels each, champion against champion, paired by strength. Nobody needs to be online: the arena resolves each duel with the full character. The attacker needs a clear lead of the twelve duel points; walls, the guild wall and the stationed garrison multiply the defender's points. Every province beyond the first weakens all defensive bonuses by 15%.
Defence tactics
Aggressive
Trade defence for output. Wins fast or loses fast.
Cunning
Plays the matchups. Rewards knowing who is coming.
Defensive
Bleeds the attacker out. The wall does the work.
Rebel raids and assaults
Rebels hit a province you hold. Beat them off and the province stays; lose and its bonus is disabled for a while. Assaulting a Roman-held province alerts its garrison: each further legion fights harder until midnight, and after twelve assaults your fighters are spent there for the day.
| Difficulty | Min level | Strength | Capture chance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 1 | ×0.65 | 24 |
| Medium | 10 | ×1 | 24 |
| Hard | 20 | ×1.1 | 24 |
| Legendary | 30 | ×1.3333333333333333 | 24 |
A garrison holds for 12 hours, up to 10 defenders.
Ludus raids
A raid is not a world boss. It lives for several days and regenerates faster than any one person can chew through it, which is the whole design: below a real headcount your progress is negative no matter how many attempts you spend. Attempts refill on a timer and the loot goes to everyone who did meaningful damage.
The Doctore in Shadow
Every drill he ever taught, he now uses. He knows how your school fights because your school learned it from him.
Nobody in the ludus remembers hiring him and nobody remembers him leaving. What survives is the training: the guard you raise without thinking, the half step back before a counter, the way your hands find the grip. He beat all of it into three generations of this school with a wooden sword and a great deal of patience.
The rudis in his hand is the one they give a gladiator on the day he is freed. He was given his. He stayed anyway, and kept teaching, and at some point the men he was teaching stopped being able to see his face.
He does not fight like a monster. He fights like a teacher who has run out of reasons to hold back.
Why he answers: He answers because he built your school and wants to see what it became without him.