#lord above this got loooooooooooong

[littlesmartart]

Pls pls share your Spartacus au!

most of this au is based off the starz tv show Spartacus and whilst hopefully people who’ve watched it will have an idea who each of the characters have been inspired by (if people are interested I can list them specifically), it’s not a direct translation so there aren’t really any spoilers here :) I have a few bits of art and a few scene ideas to post later but for now, here’s the basic breakdown of the characters and early plot - 

So they all live in a ludus - gladiator training villa - in capua, owned by a rich lanista (uh… Louis Phillipe? I guess??)

Enjolras is a high-up house slave who has been educated and is trusted to manage the finances and business deals. although he is considered by the other slaves to be in a very favourable role, he knows that he was only chosen for his position as a child because the lanista took a liking to his pretty face - and that he could lose it if he ever lost his looks - and it kindles a silent rage inside of him at the idea of any human being having power like that over another. he starts planning a revolution, planning to ally with the gladiators and overthrow their masters with the ultimate goal of amassing an army of freed slaves and sacking Rome.

He works primarily with Courfeyrac, one of the house’s star gladiators who is famous for being pretty and putting on a good show. although he seems, superficially, a cheerful man who enjoys his role, the Romans slaughtered his whole family and tore him from them when he was a teenager, so under his pleasant facade he’s silently burning for vengeance. this makes him somewhat hot-tempered. he fights in the murmillo style.

Enjolras also works closely with Combeferre, who helped patch up Bahorel when the ludus doctor passed unexpectedly, and showed a great aptitude for medicine. he still trains with his brothers but is now rarely sent into the arena, considered too valuable in his skills to be risked. Combeferre is actually pleased about this because although he’s good at it, he hates taking lives - he too was stolen from his village and was forced to watch them be killed, but does not seek vengeance, just a world where everyone has the opportunity to live in peace. when he fought, he fought in the dimachaerus style.

Grantaire is the house’s other star gladiator, who always fights drunk and doesn’t appear to give a shit about anything. this is mostly to hide the fact that he does, actually, really really care about many things, but when you’re a gladiator it’s all too easy to lose what you love, so he keeps everyone at a distance and affects apathy. Joly and Bossuet are the only two close enough with him to know how he came to be at the ludus, everyone else only knows that he’s been there the longest. he is also a dimachaerus fighter.

Jehan is a house slave from another ludus who stole a stylus to practice writing the language of his people, trying to preserve it in his memory, and got caught, so was sent to fight (and die) in the arena. incredibly, he actually managed to hold his own and survive when all the other slaves fell. Louis-Phillipe was so impressed he bought Jehan from his master and sent him to be trained as a gladiator. he fights with a spear.

Marius is a house slave who falls in love with Cosette, house slave of a rival ludus (a ward of the domina, specifically protected and kept chaste), and Eponine is a slave from that ludus who helps him keep in contact with her because she’s in love with him and it’s the only way she gets to see him. Valjean and Cosette are actually Romans, but when Valjean stole some bread to feed his daughter he was caught and sentenced to death - a lanista took “pity” on them and instead of killing Valjean claimed them both as house slaves.

Bahorel is another highly-respected gladiator, he fights with a huge hammer. Feuilly forges their weapons and armour. Bossuet is a house slave (he would be a terrible house slave BUT HE WOULD BE A WORSE GLADIATOR), Joly is a house slave who is being trained to take Combeferre’s place so he can go back to the arena, Musichetta is a house slave.

Courfeyrac and Bahorel agree that if they want any kind of chance defeating the lanista’s guards and the doctore Javert (ex-gladiator gladiator trainer) they’ll need Grantaire’s help, but every time they try and speak to him about the idea, he shuts them down straight away. so after a big win in the arena, Enjolras gets himself assigned as R’s reward so he’ll have a chance to talk to him with no one eavesdropping. It… doesn’t go well, to say the least (a story for another post), but now they’re stuck in the charade and the lanista sends Enjolras to Grantaire whenever he does well.

Grantaire isn’t interested in the revolution, because one slave rebelling against their master sentences the whole ludus to death, what the fuck, but on the off chance that they do pull it off he doesn’t want to see Enjolras die, so he offers to teach him to fight rather than them both just sitting around arguing every night. OBVIOUSLY THEY (eventually) FALL IN LOVE.

Courfeyrac is assigned to mentor Jehan when he arrives - they butt heads a lot initially because Jehan is devastated at losing his access to learning and hates being babied when he feels he’s proved his skills already in the arena, and Courf is used to being irresistible and resents having to train some newbie (even if the newbie is hot), but they eventually form a Fighting Bond (and after a few months, fall in love).

The day of revolution arrives when Louis Phillipe throws a huge party and gets the gladiators to fight each other for sport. Tactically it’s a good shout, as they’ll all already have weapons, all the guests will be drunk, high, and distracted, and no one outside will think anything of a bit of yelling and screaming. Joly, Bossuet and Musichetta put poison into the guards’ food, Feuilly sneaks them all extra weapons, and when the time is right BOOM they slaughter the whole house and go on the run to glory and, historically, certain death.

(original post here)