Sorry for the wait, all. Times have been rather... interesting on this end, though I'm hoping things have settled for the most part. I've taken a bit of liberty in regard to the setup for the initiation, which I hope won't go over too poorly. I figure despite the hints I dropped in my post, it's better to be explicit, no?<br/><br/>As stated in my post, I figure there's a bit of psychological stagecraft being used here. All the current gladiators and most of the slaves are put on show in the training yard in two sets of lines facing each other across a central line between the wagons and the main building, letting the lanista's distant figure be among the newbies' first sights as they look down the lines to their sides. The first two gong strikes are the signal that the initiation has begun. The fifth I've reserved for the revelation to the assembled crowd of Valeria, so I'm figuring the other two are probably in order the introduction of their owner and the heralding of the House Champion. LadyDiscord, I'll owe you big if you're up for having the Doctore pull off the badass proclamation, but if you're not, I can throw another secondary character together to serve that role.<br/><br/>Also, unless someone wants to play Manius' right-hand man, I'll set him up in the near future. I'm noticing a distinct trend among the new slaves toward particularly tough fillies to break in, giving me the impression of someone who went for the ol' undervalued pick-up route, assuming the Ludus is better than most at molding the wilder ones into better talent. Gotta hope that thought turns out correct.<br/><br/>A side question, MarcothTalos... I'm hoping the lanista's not the fat man from your profile. The old lion's been some years from the arena, but he's not quite rotund yet. lol