Stipator [Historical Fantasy Progression]

Endymion shall be thrown into a slaves' melee for the pleasure of nobility, as an entree to the showy performances of noble chevaliers. He'll die, naturally. Had to happen some time. Such resignation is difficult to shake off; each night he spends in the slave cells. The Aether there, weighed heavy by generations of despairing spirits, takes and takes. Memories of his life before, and those formed anew during training, are stolen each night. But Endymion's mind is all he has; impossibly, he must use it to climb out. The higher Endymion rises in Despota Alepedes' brutal arena, the harder it becomes to ignore what he leaves behind in service of his own freedom... or the signs it is no true summit. What to expect? • A real crockpot of a setting: inspired by Hellenistic Greece, early Imperial Rome, and High Middle Ages France. With epee fencing and magic! • 'Grimdark' insofar as content appropriate to a dire situation. The world is not without optimism or humour… But naïveté is not without consequence.• A mildly morose, mildly unreliable narrator, who seems incapable of not asking questions.