The Arenas
Every fighter is forged into the arena its cycle is running. The arena appears in your fighter's image and adds one sentence to the rubric's Arena-fit axis — nothing else. Same four axes, same weights, everywhere.
Not on a dethronement, not mid-cycle, not by request. You are told the next arena the moment the current one starts, so a fighter can be prepared days ahead — a surprise arena would be a tax on the people paying to enter.
The Gladiator Sands
gladiator-sandscycle 1 · currentStanding on sunbaked stone in an open amphitheatre, ochre dust, hard overhead sun, empty tiers behind.
Fit here means built for open single combat in daylight: clear stance, visible reach, nothing hidden. Concealment and ambush design are neutral at best.
The baseline. Closest to the previous neutral backdrop, so it ships as cycle 1 and anchors calibration for everything after it.
The Drowned Coliseum
drowned-coliseumWaist-deep in the flooded ruin of an arena, green water, shafts of light through a broken roof, wet stone.
Fit here means able to fight where footing is unstable and weight is a liability. Heavy plate and ground-anchored stances read as poorly suited; buoyancy, sealing, and amphibious design read as well suited.
The Canopy
the-canopyIn the vertical green of a vine-choked ruin, dappled light through leaves, branches and rope at multiple heights.
Fit here means verticality and ambush: light frame, grip, reach upward, silence. Siege-scale armour and wheeled or mounted design read as unsuited.
The Squared Circle
squared-circleInside a roped ring under a single hanging spotlight, canvas floor, darkness beyond the ropes, corner stools visible.
Fit here means human-scale and stripped down: hands, posture, conditioning, and presence. Ranged weapons, mounts, and siege equipment are unsuited by definition — this arena rewards what a fighter is, not what it carries.
The most constraining arena in the set, deliberately. It forces designs that cannot lean on equipment, which is the cleanest test of whether the rubric rewards craft over accessorising. Good third or fourth cycle.
The Terminal
the-terminalIn a narrow neon service corridor, wet floor, overhead pipework, hard cyan and magenta light from strip fixtures.
Fit here means close quarters: tight silhouette, short weapons, nothing that needs room to swing. Wide wingspans, long polearms, and bulk read as unsuited.
The Ash Stadium
ash-stadiumCentre field of a vast stadium under floodlights, falling ash, tens of thousands in the dark stands.
Fit here means legibility at distance: a silhouette that reads instantly from the far stands, and presence built to be watched. Fine detail that only works in close-up is not fit here.
The one arena whose criterion is about communication rather than combat, and the best cycle for a sponsored pot — provided §3.1 still holds.
The Frozen Shelf
frozen-shelfOn cracked sea ice under a low white sun, wind-driven snow, pale flat light, black water at the edges.
Fit here means the environment is the second opponent: insulation, traction, and endurance read as design intent. Exposed skin, bare mechanisms, and heat-dependent equipment read as unsuited.
The Orbital Ring
orbital-ringWeightless inside a rotating orbital ring, Earth's limb through the viewport behind, hard unfiltered sunlight, no floor.
Fit here means functioning without ground: tethers, thrust, grip points, and a design that doesn't assume footing. Anything whose stance depends on standing is unsuited.
The arena is inside the judged image, so sponsor influence over it would be influence over a result. Sponsor branding lives on the film and the poster, downstream of settlement, and it is barred here permanently rather than deferred.