Shared Traditions

Every one of the 12 House Munera, or Funerary Orders, as all members are sworn to die in service to their order, has its own traditions and functions. All orders share the following:

-A. All members, from the fresh orphan Trainee in far Oceana to the Bishop of the Great House of the Order in London, are slaves, owned by The House.

-B. SPQR is branded on the right shoulder above the house brand.

-C. The back from shoulder to shoulder is branded with the imprint, “Sworn to Die for Christ.”

-D. All habits consist of sleeveless linen tunics, trousers and soft un-heeled boots. All over garments must be of cotton, canvas and or wool, all sleeveless, from vest, to cloak, no part to be made of leather or animal hides, satin or silks.

-E. No gladiator may ride a horse, not even the Knights Equis.

-F. All gladiators wear the manica as their basic civic, military and religious equipment. The manica is a fingerless glove made of Saracen or heathen skin over which are layered overlapping brass [lorica segmentata] plates extending to the elbow, which is capped in a brass boss. These are laced with heathen or Saracen sinew. These my only be removed within a warded habitation blessed by a bishop, priest, chaplain, deacon or presbyr.

-G. The traditional weapons with which all gladiators train as Tiros are the manica [a wool and tin version used in school], the rod, a stick of 3 feet in length and an inch in thickness, the gladius, or Spanish sword, a straight double edged cut and thrust blade 2 feet from pummel to point, the pugio, or dager, and the shield or buckler.

-H. The traditional arms of each house are those used in antiquity, which are only employed for religious duties and arena combats.

-I. Arena combats between houses are fought to disarm or submission, unless chaplains of both contending houses have declared a Holy trial by combat. Survivors of Holy trials are branded on the right arm with a sword and nimbus. Death matches in the arena [the sands] are typically barred between Christians and reserved for Carnival events pitting captive Saracens, heathens and heretics against Christian champions.

-J. All arenas are consecrated ampitheaters built around a 32 foot circle of sand, at the center of which is a 16 foot iron crucifix wound with barbed steel wire to prevent its defensive use. Each House has an arena. The Public House of every censor of a Roman town or city is also built around an arena.

-K. All arena combats are attended by three figures, two flail bearing lanistas, each assigned to punish one of the combatants and a Saracen, Negro or Chinese eunuch who keeps time with a brazen maul and gong.

-L. Formal and mob naming conventions coexist in the identity of a Gladiator. Famous gladiators, such as Max and Rex Born have fame that exceeds their muneral identity. Before such fame was earned, Max was formally addressed in clergy, muneral and government context as Max [Name] Thrax [House]. However plebes and mobsters might address him as Max Scott, The Thracian or Highlander Max. His brother Rex was formerly Rex Equis and popularly Rex Knight while his detractors named him The Sarmation, as he was the physical wonder of his kind. For the purpose of clarification we will suppose that Joe the Plebe is imagining himself as a gladiator, and will end the description of each house with his formal address and then popular and even mob address.

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House: Secutor or Chaser

Rank: 7th

Sacral Month: Mary, Mother of God

Patron Archangel: Michael Defender of the Faith

Guiding Apostle: Thomas, Witness to India

Bloodline: Gaelic, Irish preferred

Colors: Green

Brand: Celtic Cross

Religious Duty: Defend and Avenge Lay Clergy [Deacons and Presbyrs]

Military Duty: Coast Guard, Boarder Patrol, Scouting

Civic Duty: Recover Runaways

Traditional Arms: Large Shield, Half Sword, helmet

Military Arms: Half Sword, 3 pistols, “slade” or steel hat

Civic Arms: same as military

History: In 1531, instituted to ward the coasts from Norse and Saracen raiders.

Glory: The entire order save a lone tiro orphan named Patrick, perished in 1602 taking Iceland from the Danes.

Joe Secutor, or Joe Chaser, the name of one’s house essentially one’s sir name.

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House: Dimacherius or Welshman or Knifeman

Rank: 8th

Sacral Month: Nativity

Patron Archangel: Michael Defender of the Faith

Guiding Apostle: Simon the Cananean

Bloodline: Gaelic, Welsh preferred

Colors: forest green

Brand: Mountain within a halo

Religious Duty: slay and or capture heretics and Saracens for inquisition

Military Duty: scout, raid and skirmish

Civic Duty: spying

Traditional Arms: two long knives

Military Arms: carbine and long knives

Civic Arms: knives and hooded cloak

History: Welsh orphans and criminals were formed into a house in 1603 in order to defend Iceland and infiltrate Greenland.

Glory: The order distinguished itsself by taking the isle of Gomera from the Saracen Moors in 1671.

Joe Dimacherius [1] or Joe Welsh or Knifeman Joe or even Welshy Joe

-1. ancient term meaning “double cleaver fighter”

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House: Sagisarius or Archer or Cupidius

Rank: 9th

Sacral Month: Conception

Patron Archangel: Uriel and the Lesser Angels or Cheribum

Guiding Apostle: Judas Iscariot

Bloodline: Pannonian Christians, Native Tribesmen of the New World

Colors: Red with Black trim

Brand: Crucifix with Dream Catcher as a Nimbus

Religious Duty: Bring Heathen sorcerers to Church Officials for conversion or Arena trial

Military Duty: scouting and recovering deserters

Civic Duty: hunting and recovering runaways

Traditional Arms: Bow and arrows, tomahawk and knife, red head scarf with a feather for every kill [bows are not used in arena combats]

Military Arms: same as military

Civic Arms: same traditionally employed in rural settings, not cities and towns, where secutors fill runaway and deserter recover rolls

History: Beginning in 1675, Praying Indians were raised in New England to battle their demonic cousins of the woods and are feared world wide for their tenacity as manhunters.

Glory: Seventy Mohawks of the House Sagisarius, in the year 1804, landed near Fez in Morocco to recover six nuns held in the Atlas Mountains by a Muslim Iman. In 1807, three of their number appeared in South Africa at a Zulu Kraal allied with Rome, with one of the nuns rescued, virginity in tact.

Joe Sagisarius or Joe Archer or Cupid Joe, with plebes and patricians tending to put Joe first and mobsters, sailors and soldiers tending to place the function before the person in Cupid Joe.

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House: Bestiarius or Huntsman or Hunter or Ranger, usually one of the latter in Pannonia

Rank: 10th

Sacral Month: Decline

Patron Archangel: Raphael

Guiding Apostle: Thaddeus

Bloodline: Breton, Gaelic or any Christian convert from among the heathen tribes or the Germanic or Nordic races

Colors: brown

Brand: long rifle

Religious Duty: providing meat for Carnival

Military Duty: scouting, sniping runaway recovery

Civic Duty: hunting, law enforcement in wilderness and frontier territories as agents of the territorial Lictor, beast hunts with pistol and knife in urban arenas, generally the mob favorite.

Traditional Arms: half inch bore flint lock rifle, pistol, knife, slouch hat

Military Arms: same as traditional

Civic Arms: same as traditional

History: First instituted as rangers in New England by senatorial colonists in the 1600s, and organized into a formal house in 1754 after the Wyandot War.

Glory: In 1922, 12 rangers of the Mussel Shell House, held off the last large scale raid by heathen tribesmen against great odds, effecting the conversion and recruitment of Northern Plains warriors into the Sagisarius Houses of Oceana, so important for the conquest and conversion of those many isles and the Empire of Japan.

Joe Bestiarius or Joe Huntsman [patrician/military officers] Joe Hunter [plebean] or Ranger Joe [mobsters, soldiers and sailors]

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House: Pugilarius or Boxer or Fistic

Rank: 11th

Sacral Month: Advent

Patron Archangel: Raphael

Guiding Apostle: James Alphaeus

Bloodline: any race accepted

Colors: blue streaked with red

Brand: fist and gauntlet crossed within a halo

Religious Duty: bodyguards to bishops, cardinals

Military Duty: physical trainers, medics and entertainers

Civic Duty: entertainers, body guards to senators, censors and tribunes

Traditional Arms: cestus, being a heavier gauntlet than the military manica, some times spiked or barbed for death matches

Military Arms: heavyweights use heavy shields for protecting commanding officers while lighter fighters work as medics, treating and retrieving wounded soldiers and sailors

Civic Arms: standard manica

History: In 1899, Father O’Neal of the South Pannonian fleet instituted gloved boxing as a physical fitness regimen, causing Augustus Britannicus, called “Arthur Twelve” to institute the House Pugilarius in 1902.

Glory: Lightweight Champion of New York, Brett “The Dart” Swanson, recovered 32 wounded sailors at the battle of Oki Island in 1941.

Joe Pugilarius or Joe Boxer or Fistic Joe

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House: Rudiarius or Rodman or Stickman

Rank: 12th

Sacral Month: Fall

Patron Archangel: Gabriel Messenger of God

Guiding Apostle: Mathew the Tax Collector

Bloodline: any

Colors: two ivory rods

Brand: crossed sticks

Religious Duty: defend Cathedrals, churches, nunneries and other church centers at the command of the Bishop, who has direct command over the local chaplain and in London, the Bishop of Rods.

Military Duty: military police

Civic Duty: train the Lictors

Traditional Arms: two ivory [usually whale bone] rods, open faced helmet

Military Arms: one rod and fetters, helmet

Civic Arms: one rod and fetters, helmet

History: Instituted by the admiral of the Oceannic Fleet in 1932 and ordained under the Pope and Augustus in 1940, Rodmen are the least liked by the plebes, hated by the mob and slaves and resented by soldiers and sailors. Their arena bouts are typically with unrepentant criminals. They are natural allies of the Lictors and themselves resent the Praetorians, who often involve themselves in civil disorder.

Glory: Arn Rodman, a Nordic convert to the order, once defeated the champion of the Augusta Praetorians in a trial by combat over mob dispersal jurisdiction, in which he disarmed the armed swordsman with his whalebone rods.

Joe Rudiarius or Joe Rodman or Stickman Joe