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DATELINE -- Sava Kharisa, Sharn City Council member for the Lower Central Ward, said the city should rescind laws forbidding gladiator matches within the city limits. "Today a shadowy network sponsoring pit-fights and other gladiator matches is forced to play hide-and-seek with the city guards," she said. "Certainly our guards have more useful things to do than arrest citizens seeking an evening's leisure. As long as the gladiator matches are safe and the participants are willing, we should give the people of Sharn what they clearly want," she insisted.
Gladiator matches are forbidden by a variety of anti-gambling, anti-dueling, and anti-bloodsport statutes. Therefore, participants must change the locations of their matches frequently to avoid the City Watch. Rescinding the statutes, however, would take the agreement of the full City Council, and such consent may not be forthcoming.
Savia Potellas, who represents the Firelight district where the famous Burning Ring matches usually take place, accused Kharisa of meddling in the affairs of other wards. "It's a known fact that the Daask gang runs the Burning Ring and a lot of other pit-fighting spectacles. Lower Menthis has enough problems without the crime that these monster-created bloodsports spawn," she said.
Kharisa countered that Sharn already supports several other rough sports and diversions, including hrazhak and skyblades events. Therefore, bringing the gladiators out into the open ought to reduce crime, not increase it. "Crime thrives in the darkness," she pointed out. "If we make gladiator matches legal, we shine the light on them. The only reason that organized crime has been so prevalent among the gladiators thus far is that we've forced them to operate outside the law."
Other council members, however, questioned Kharisa's motives. "Sava Kharisa wants to make bloodsports legal. Her attitude is hardly surprising, given that her cousin was arrested for attending the Burning Ring just last week," said Thurik Davandi, city council member for Upper Menthis. "I'm just glad he wasn't arrested for robbery, or we'd have to sit through a speech about why purse-snatching should be legal."
About the Author
David Noonan is a designer/developer for Wizards of the Coast. Before coming to Wizards, he was a daily newspaper reporter in Washington state. Apparently the city hall beat is good practice for an Eberron campaign.
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