Swords and Sandals II: Emperor's Reign
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This is a game based on the Roman gladiators. You take part in lots of tournaments and duels, your goal is to become the champion of the arena from being a weak prisoner to defeating the powerful and evil Emperor Antares. It's available on Steam, on iTunes and Google Play.


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Under the rule of the enigmatic Emperor Antares, the island of Doomtrek’s popularity and notoriety exploded. Antares had six new arenas built, each grander than the last. Gladiatoral combat took place day and night, drawing thousands to the island in search of glory on the arena sands. Even more were brought to the island as slaves, shedding blood and sweat building the mighty colosseums. These slaves were kept in terrible conditions in a catacomb of tunnels under the Imperial Colosseum.

With so many of Brandor’s greatest fighters dying on the sands so fast and so often, Emperor Antares pressed slaves into gladiatorial service with vague promises of their freedom. Each gladiator received some gold and a basic dagger, but most would die within days of their release.

One such slave, a recent capture known in popular folklore as The Nameless, won his freedom when he showed potential as a fighter. A stoic gladiator with a quiet disposition and great gift for battle, he advanced quickly through the ranks and won fame by defeating local meat merchant John the Butcher in combat in his first day in the Arena.

Not so The Nameless,he would quickly rise, winning renown by defeating Arena Champion after Arena Champion. Early on, he befriended a local candlemaker who told him tales of Doomtrek citizens being pressed into slavery, forced to dig tunnels under the arena. Investigating further, The Nameless discovered a vast subterranean labyrinth of crypts, stone pits and dark altars – though he could not guess as to their true purpose. When Antares’ thugs killed the candlemaker and burnt down his shop, The Nameless realised he was being watched.

Soon after, the noble young knight Sir Belgrave of the Templar Church arrived in Doomtrek. Seeking audience with The Nameless, he explained the Church’s suspicions of Antares. They had been tracking him since his mysterious arrival from Eldor Hath several years before. Antares had come alone, but within weeks, had amassed a larger and larger following of armour clad warriors and moving north through Brandor. Belgrave theorised that Antares had come to Doomtrek in order to use the Arena and its inexhaustible source of gladiators for nefarious purposes. Through his powers of necromancy, Antares had raised these poor souls from the dead and kept them imprisoned in great chambers deep under the ground.

Fighting in the arenas by day and exploring the tunnels by night, Belgrave and The Nameless made their way deeper underground until they discovered vast halls of skeletal warriors – at least eighty thousand or more. Belgrave, sensing the worst, implored The Nameless to somehow gain audience with Antares and bring his evil schemes to light. The knight then travelled to Brandor’s capital Phaetor to warn good King Lionel to prepare for war.

Through his many arena victories, The Nameless would rise in power and skill. After defeating one of Antares’ more powerful lieutenant’s, the demon prince Zeerzabahl, he would come to the attention of the Emperor himself. When confronted about his plans, Antares gloated. His army would soon be complete and unleashed upon Brandor. Antares sought not just to conquer the realm, but to make his way to the Constellation Mirror itself and use it as a gateway to unleash his terror on other unsuspecting worlds.

Sensing potential in The Nameless, he offered him a position in his newly formed Death Imperium. When The Nameless refused, Antares merely laughed – for he knew as soon as Nameless fell in battle, necromancy would press him into service – a choice every Arena Champion before him had faced. Antares dismissed Nameless, warning him the time to choose would soon run out.

At this same time, the sorcerer Bargle appeared in the Arena. Using powerful magic, he convinced everyone he was indeed an Arena Champion and organised a battle with Nameless. Though Bargle was infinitely more powerful, he would throw the fight and upon defeat, hand The Nameless a message in a scroll before disappearing. This would not be the last time Bargle would meddle in the affairs of the realm, though his purposes always remained a mystery.

Inside the scroll was a declaration of aid from the great sorcerer. Bargle had devised a plan to negate and contain the skeletal army, but the sorcerer also knew Antares could negate his magic if confronted directly. If somehow the Emperor could be distracted by combat with a worthy foe, he could indeed be vulnerable. All The Nameless needed to do was to engage Antares in battle – Bargle would do the rest.

With a choice to make, The Nameless wrestled with a decision. He had secretly craved power himself – for before he was a slave at Doomtrek, he had been a lawless buccaneer on the high seas of Tritonia’s oceans. By his own admission, The Nameless’ life had been less than heroic. Emperor Antares offered the chance to bring the world to heel, the muscle to enforce his will upon any who stood in his way.

On the other hand, Bargle’s choice involved sacrifice and an almost assured death. Victory here would end his days as an Arena Champion and thrust him into an uncertain world. The Nameless was on the verge of accepting Antares’ offer when the Archangel Sandalphon, a powerful envoy of the god Suul the One, appeared before him. Sandalphon warned him his actions would end in a world forever changed and inhospitable to life as he knew it. The Nameless fought Sandalphon to a standstill on the Arena sands before the Archangel, in frustration, returned to the Heavenly Plane.

With the Archangel vanquished, the Nameless was invited to the Emperor’s Royal Palace to do battle against the greatest gladiators in all the realm as Antares himself looked on. In secret, the sorcerer Bargle made his way to the palace and saw for himself the inner struggle The Nameless faced. Through a powerful spell, he created an evil mirror image version of The Nameless which represented all that was flawed in the heroic champion. When The Nameless overcame his evil self, he saw the error of his ways and resolved to defeat Antares once and for all.

Finally, that hour came. Emperor Antares invited The Nameless to a private audience and demanded his loyalty. When The Nameless once and for all refused, a great battle took place. With Bargle’s aid, he was able to defeat the mighty Emperor in one of the greatest gladiatorial duels the world has ever known. As Antares fell, his essence disappeared into a terrible black cloud and a darkness fell over Doomtrek, before disappearing into the ether.

Bargle and The Nameless raced to the catacombs beneath the arena, where the sorcerer saw the vast undead army begin to stir from their eternal slumber. Using all of his magical powers, Bargle cast a Void Gate spell on the army, entombing them in a shimmering opaque prison, shielded from Antares’ mind control. For indeed, Bargle had discovered one of the secrets to Antares’ power. The more souls under his thrall, the greater his own essence grew. With the army cut off from their master, Antares grew too weak to maintain a corporeal form. The army would be held here, not indefinitely, but long enough to give the leaders of Brandor time to raise their own armies and do battle against this terrible new threat.

Both heroes knew in their heart Antares was not defeated, for both of them had seen his essence disappear, both had heard his mocking laughter in their ears. Bargle returned to his tower in the Cragenbach mountains to study. Word was sent to King Lionel of the Kingdom of Phaetor L