Clan:The Gladiatorz

GLADZ BEGINNINGS

The Gladiatorz Clan was formed in February of 2001 by Joe_Jenninz, Blaze_Mace, and Jerico. Joe was Leader, Jerico was 2nd in Command, and Blaze_Mace was Head Smither. Founding members included: Slayer25, Gimili, SoDevilish, TheGame2000, MJ, Wasssupp....etc. The clan grew lately under the strict management of Joe Jenninz. He ruled with an "iron first." Meetings were held everyday on Server Two at the Varrock Castle-2nd Floor.

The Gladz first war came with The Sabres, led by Ice Sabre. (Who would later become a Gladz member himself) The war was basically a series of ambushes and trash talking. Joe and Ice had "duels" many times, each winning and losing. Blaze Mace, who had been NPK, even turned PK in order to attack Sun Sabre. The war eventually ended in a truce with one final duel between Ice and Joe which was considered a tie. From then on out, the Sabres and Gladz were on good terms and often helped each other.

The clan continued to grow with the addition of several "soon-to-be" strong players in all of Runescape, such as: EricD16, Kristoffs, and Lyssa. Another member was WOLF who was at one point the number one Player Killer in all of Runescape. (According to the Top Charts) The Clan was based all on trust and friendship. Games were played quite often. Mining Trips and Training Trips were taken several times. During Training Trips, the higher members would look out for the lower members and protect them. A Gladiatorz Invitational was established and a game of "Gladiatorz Survivor" was developed. Runescape was supposedly going to be developing Player Owned Houses and the clan took up a House Fund on the character of "House_Mace". After holding around 300k, House Mace was "hacked" by Lyssa and Da Sinner. (Although they still deny it to this day to some people) All the money was lost and a new fund was established under strict password protection. The money is still held for emergencies and in the hope that POH's will become a reality.

The Gladiatorz eventually came into conflict with a clan by the name of DeathCorps, or "DC". The leader DC was Salem, and then eventually OldMansChild, and even later, Daniel Ruels. The rivalry was intense and ambushes were often sent against each other. In the first organized war, the Gladz ambushed an awaiting DC at the Chef's Guild and outnumbered them heavily. DC had been in the midst of stocking up for the war but was running late. The war was supposed to take place at Ice Mountain but when they didn't show on time, Blaze_Mace went searching for them. When he found DC at the Chef's Guild, he called in reinforcements and attacked. In what was truly a memorable "Gladz Moment", Jerico yelled "CHARGE!" in what was to become the most successful ambush and victory ever.

The second war was established on Karamja Island. Wars could last as long as six hours and thats exactly what happened. The 2nd and 3rd wars were long and hard fought but the Gladz argueably come out on top each time. Each war was a group effort; Non-PKs ran Food Mules and were integral parts in each victory. Food was a quickly used resource and the food mules were what determined victory or defeat. Clan activities were coordinated to fill mules made by Blaze_Mace, Joe_Jenninz, and anyone else who wished to make them. The Karamja Wars were a sight to see! This was at the point when Adamantite armour was the best you could get and Joe/Jerico were considered "high level" players. DC and Gladz were evenly matched for levels but Gladz had a "never let up" spirit.

Jerico and Joe Jenninz gradually faded away from Runescape. At one point, they were some of the top players in all of Runescape but slowly faded. They soon only appeared at important events and wars. Blaze was left to step up and lead the clan. And lead he did. Through a much less strict "workplan", Blaze continued the Gladz success. As the sole leader, Blaze Mace could rule without discussion. What he said, went. Lyssa turned on the clan and was a limited friend to the clan. Blaze picked up a hugeload of "free agents" by picking up: Vixen 6, Agassi, Trupimp, and Freak4Sports. With the recent additions of Stickman and Magrathea, the clan had a very solid group of warriors. The Gladiatorz Clan had risen to the top of Runescape. Its leaders were known throughout the game. Agassi, under much controversy, rose to the title of Squad Leader/Leader. His importance can not be under-stated as he fought hard and along with Blaze, led ambush after ambush on enemies. Agassi later turned on the clan because of some of its members didn't appreciate him. He went on to make his own clan, The Tigers, who beat the Gladz in a 'half-hearted' war.

After the first three wars, the Gladiatorz continued their aggression with DC, but also gained enemies in two other clans; The Razor Clan and the BlackDragonKnights Clan. (BDK) To counter these new enemy clans, the Gladiatorz gained alliances with 313 Mafia and the Wanderers. These six clans were the TOP clans in all of Runescape. Bad vs. Good. There were many wars but the Gladz/Mafia/Wanderers combo always come out on top with superior numbers of warriors. The Gladiatorz were also at one point in the Syndicate Alliance, led by Osiris BK. It was an excellent group of clans. Eventually, the amount of allies the Gladz had caught up with them. With the introduction of the Wilderness in Runescape, players could attack a much larger range of fighters there. This spawned "random pking" which led to much controversy because the Gladz would attack too many allies by accident. The inability to attack anyone without them stating they were allies was too much. The Gladiatorz Clan dropped all Alliances and went solo once again.

The Gladz entered a new era under new leadership. Blaze_Mace had grown tired of Runescape and left the clan to be led by SoDevilish until his return. Sode took over and ran the clan smoothly but the beginning of school effected the game because many were no longer active. The clan entered a "rebuilding phase" upon Blaze_Mace's return. Sode continued as Co-Leader and Red1010 was also made a Co-Leader. Blaze had control over both of them but it was never really a problem as he listened to all. The Gladz picked up a new group of top players in: IamPenguin and Nightman Jr. The Gladz came into conflict with the Freedom Clan, led by Wargazme and a war was established. The Gladz won the organized war but the stubborn Wargazme would not admit defeat by using every excuse he could pull out of his ass.

The Gladiatorz gradually began to pick up allies again as Runescape became infested with complete and total jackasses. The earlier "noobs" had grown into some of the elite players and the new mood of "being an asshole" was set. The Gladz joined the Syndicate Alliance once again and are awaited war. The Syndicate was the focal point of many other clans' aggression. Many clans wanted to defeat they Syndicate because they believe it was corrupt and they were looking to be famous. This led to a lot of "noob" wars with clans that didn't know what they were doing. But, before each war could take place, the "noob" clans would back off and no war would take place. One war almost took place, and the Gladz assembled. Their allies, the Golden Helms also showed up. The enemy never came and some random pkers arrived. They hit the Golden Helms and the Gladz wouldn't attack the pkers because they were friends. So, Golden Helms complained to the Syndicate and even more tales of corruption were spread. The Golden Helms attempted to get the Gladz kicked out of the Syndicate but they Syndicate couldn't find any evidence against them.....BECAUSE THERE WASN'T ANY!! At this point, Agassi joined Runescape Dinasty (RSD), a fellow Syndicate Member Clan. The Gladz had been trash talking with Agassi for weeks over the boards, over Runescape, and anywhere else they could talk from. When Agassi joined RSD, Militant (Political Advisor to the Syndicate) attempted to create a truce between Gladz and Agassi. (More specifically, Blaze and Agassi) Blaze refused to truce with Agassi even for wars when they were on the same side and Militant became enraged. Militant withdrew his clan, "The" Clan, from the Syndicate and declared war on the Gladiatorz. RSD did the same. RSD and "The" worked all their "political magic" to get support against the Gladiatorz Clan. The Syndicate was in turmoil but they stuck with Gladz against RSD and "THE". Soon a war date was established. Gladiatorz with help from the Black Knights Clan, The Sabres, and various people from the Syndicate showed up at the war with RSD and "The". RSD was built around strong fighters and brought along their new allies, Freedom Clan. The two clans were just too strong and beat the Gladiatorz. Although it can be said that many of the Gladz top fighters were at the war, a loss was a loss.

But, these events were not all for nothing. Summer arrived and Blaze_Mace "got his head back" and soon had the clan working fine again. A few "free agent" pick ups here and there, along with some returning members set the Gladiatorz on a return to prominence.....only time will tell.........

IN THE WORDS OF JOE JENNINZ (CO-FOUNDER)

Posted 5/6/01

"Well, most must wonder, how did this shit start?! Well, me n Jerico have always been with each other...but the missing link, Blaze was a different story. As a newbie, I was wondering Barbi Village, when I meet someone in Peska's helmet shop. As a newbie, I asked if he had armour or something I could use. Blaze Mace answered me that he could make me armour, but I'd need some cash. So He left I and scurried to make money, to no avail. Out of the kindness of his heart, he gave me the free armour, but I would try to give him cash when I had some. Well, he did this for me numerous times being I died often as a newbie. Well after a while, we talked, fought, walked together. Than Jerico came in, seeing how I got armour and he didn't, he wanted some. I asked Blaze and secretly gave it to jerico...but it was getting annoying. I finally introduced him to Blaze and we all started hanging together. Months and days went by as we hung out and trained together when blaze comes to me offering to make a clan. I agree and me and jerico come up with the name Gladiatorz. And than I was voted leader by our than small clan, and Blaze was placed head smither, Jerico second in command. And that's how it all started...incase u wanted to know."

IN THE WORDS OF SODEVILISH (CO-LEADER)

Posted 5/6/01

"They wanted a strong sounding name so they chose Gladiatorz (around the time the movie Gladiator came out lol). It started out very small with only about 10-20 members. Some of the well known old school members were: WOLF, Lyssa, Kristoffs, EricD16, Jamk911, Blaze Mace, Joe Jenninz, Jerico, Wasssupp, Sodevilish, Great Vegeta, Lyte, MJ, Slayer25, Mitchell, Thegame2000, Magrathea, Stickman, Adam4life, Poope, Da Sinner, sorry if i have left anyone out. Some of them ended up either quiting or being kicked out, or staying for the duration of the clans existence.

The clan wasn't a pking clan, it was more of an all around clan. We did have our share of wars though. At the very beginning, our enemies were sabres and messiahs i believe. Death Corps had come along, and became an enemy very quickly. We had a total of 4 major wars with DC. The first 3 were the funnest though (because they actually showed up! :P ). I had turned pk at lvl 48, just before the 2nd war with DC so i could help out the clan more. I had just gotten my adam square (when they were rare), so i didnt leave the guards tower for 3 days after i went pk due to fear of losing it! LMAO. Anyway, this is where i met sexy razor. We were friends until his hoe ass friend Happy monkey maged me at the 2nd DC war. Sexy didn't see that, and i attacked happy. He thought i started it and that i betrayed him (bullshit) so this is pretty much what started the wars between razors and gladz. The 1 or 2 wars we had with them were fun but they did end up winning those.

I would have to say the funnest thing about this clan back in the day, were the meetings. There were usually about 10 people there, and we would have fun and box each other, or help each other with transferring etc. Eventually though, Sexy razor and his hoes thought it would be fun to ambush us at meetings and made it a pain in the ass.

We had a clan house fund going, when Andrew was still thinking of putting POHs into the game. Most of us donated when we could. But it ended up that the clan fund character was stolen along with the fund. At first we assumed it was our old enemy Red Knight / Mike Pat, but we dropped that and figured out it was lyssa and da sinner. Lyssa later confessed to this and that Gimili had given her the password :9, welp all in all we lost around 340k from the fund i believe, which was a lot back then.

Sometime after jerico quit runescape, we started looking for another leader. Due to much controversy, agassi was chosen for the position. He did a lot for the clan and did help, but later ended up leaving and starting an enemy clan. There were also squads formed. We voted on leaders and Wasssupp, Sodevilish, and Kewldewd ended up leading them. We didn't really put them to much use, other than a few mining trips though. I think that the alterier motive behind the squads was maybe Blaze was looking for someone to eventually lead the gladz when he left. Somewhere in there Joe had quit runescape for a while, leaving blaze to lead the clan alone, but eventually came back again :P

Sometime after the wilderness had come out, we decided to ally with 313 mafia, and a few others. It was nice having a lot of back up in wars but it ended up making it so it was very hard to pk in the wilderness without attacking an allie, so we had decided to drop all allies for a while there.

Anyway currently the gladiatorz are a very well known and old clan. Blaze Mace does not really play anymore, and joe jenninz still plays every now and then. This clan isn't as active as it used to be due to the meetings being boring and the clan getting bigger and the 2 of the main leaders are not active anymore. I (sode) have been left to run most of the clan, which is great, but i am currently looking for someone to co-lead with. I have always been a gladiator, and always will be. I don't see this clan "dying out" anytime in the near future, seeing as, as long as im here, i will try to keep it alive :), anyway this is enough blabbering for now."

IN THE WORDS OF BLAZE MACE (CO-FOUNDER)

Posted 3/15/02

"Back in the old days of Runescape was when the Gladiatorz Clan was founded. Back when you could either be a Non Player Killer or Player Killer. All Player Killers could attack all other Player Killers within four levels of themselves. (No really?) It was also back when doors could be shut with one click, which made trapping people very easy, and it was also back when a Steel Square Shield was the sign of prominence and very rare. Lastly, just to show how far back this was, this was at the time when you had to use the "tell" command to talk to your friends, there was no friends list. All you "noobs" now should feel lucky to have all these snazzy modifications. Back in my day...we walked five miles to get from Lumbridge to Varrock....we didn't have any dang-fangled Teleport Spells. Oh yes! How can I forget, this was also back when you could pile jump! It was the worst thing ever. When you got a kill, the pile would appear below you, you would only be able to click on the items if you were the only one on the pile. People figured out how to pile jump by clicking in a way to land on the pile. In effect, they'd stand on your pile so you could not pick a single thing up.

I met Joe and Jerico basically as they describe it above. We started the clan and basically started it the way most "noob clans" do; by asking everyone they see to join it. Luckily, we didn't pick up a bunch of lazy noobs, we actually got real members; Many of which are still here today. ;)

Our founding members were very cool. Our atmosphere was very friendly and fun-loving. We actually managed to play games of Tag in Runescape! Picture that, people running all over Varrock Castle (Top floor). You were tagged if the person who was it managed to "run his character over you." I, being extremely organized at the time, had meetings everyday. When we were really serious about the clan we would have expeditions to do certain activities. We would have training trips in which the higher levels would protect the lower levels. We'd go on mining trips, back when I was head smither (not really a leader), and I'd get levels. There was a time when I had better smithing then BlueRose herself! (Yes, really) Jerico was always looking for something fun to do and Joe was very serious about being leader. He was often very demanding and thought of things as they should be done for the clan. I was really nothing at the beginning. I just worked with Joe. It took awhile for me to become "Co-Leader" as my title. Immediately when we began, we had some of the players who would go onto be some of the "Runescape Legends". Its amazing to see how members and to see how many of them go onto being members of the Wanderers and such. We had MJ, he was the strongest in our clan at the beginning, he only wanted peace though and when we started to get into fights, he decided to quit and become an ally. WOLF, was one of the best PK'ers EVER in Runescape. He was deadly. EricD16, another soon-to-be Wanderer, was a train-a-holic. He wasn't always as strong as he is now, though. I remember when Lyssa and I went training and he died. Lyssa was always very controversial. Back when we weren't suspecting, she was nice and everything, but deep down she was very rude and demanding. She made us do somethings that we didn't agree with but didn't change because we were "blind to her." She stole our clan fund, when we accused her, she got all pissed and "What? I'm offended that you even think its me!" and we'd back down. Eventually, she quit and began backstabbing us. She even went to help DeathCorp, but thats a later story....

Our first war came with the Sabres. I was still NPK but Joe and Jerico were not. Joe had some problems with Ice Sabre which eventually led to the war with them. They would duel off and on and it was all in fun for us. Once, Joe stood the the center of Varrock Castle behind a wall. Ice and his gang couldn't find him and I was standing there taunting them and leading them astray over and over. Once, they chased Sun Sabre to the Jolly Boar Inn and I followed. We trapped him on the top floor but none of the could attack him because he was too weak. I, in theory, was the perfect level to fight him but I was NPK. So, Joe managed to persuade me to switch to PK. (Each player received two switches from NPK to PK, and back if they wish.) So, I switched to PK and whipped Sun's ass. He ended up logging. Without Sun Sabre, I wouldn't have realized the fun of PKing until a long while after most likely. Our war continued with more encounters until Ice and Joe set up a duel which would decide the winner. It was called a truce although there are many reports that we won. (We called it a truce so they'd be happy, but deep down some of us knew we had won.) >=)

Our next wars came with DeathCorp. The leader of the clan was Salem who quickly became my "worst enemy" at the time. DC was a clan that easily matched up with us. Besides the Wanderers, who were just high levels, the Gladz and DC were probably the top two clans in all of Runescape, although that can be argued. Our first war with DeathCorp was to originally take place at Ice Mountain, but when they didn't show up on time, I went looking for them. I wandered over to the cooking guild and found the whole lot of them. They noticed me and I allowed them to chase me in circles while I screamed over the private message system "COOKING GUILD! NOW! ALL WARRIORS GO! GO GO!" and the like. Jerico led the charge to the cooking guild and we swarmed DC. They were horribly horribly outnumbered and me mutilated them. OldManschild was killed and the rest were chased off over and over. DC didn't take kindly to the ambush so they called for a second war on Karamja Island. Our clan had huge food pile-ups thanks to the cooks and just everyone in general. Our "food mules" were placed on the island with members running them for us and dishing out food. DC was more mobilized for this war but they came an hour early. After waiting for an hour, half of them left and we showed..ON TIME! We beat them there but they firmly believed we hadn't showed at the right time and were chicken. So, our tensions led up to a third war, yet again at Karamja Island. We beat them straight up again.

Our "low point" was just a lay off of runescape. At points in the game of Runescape, the game itself gets EXTREMELY boring. It becomes so repetitive that many quit. But, the game is also very addicting. People make their days and nights of playing the game and I can't say I've not done that at times. Hell, I do it a lot. When you step away from the game, you're fine but if you come back for a moment, you can be sucked in again, which is what basically happened to me. I quit for a bit, left Sodevilish in charge. He did a very nice job of organizing and preparing the clan. I came back after maybe two months of no real Runescape playing and all of a sudden starting leveling like mad. I had gone two months with out leveling my stats and suddenly got three in a day. (Its not really that great a job, but its good for me) So, I came back to the game and we picked up back again.

Overall, I think I may have written a lot here but I've no where written enough to tell the tale of this clan. I left out our wars with the Razor Clan and the many wars against the combined forces of BDK/DC/Razors. Hopefully, someone else can write their take on the clan and include those in it. (Hint, Hint!) Although I have not always been the strongest, nor the weakest, I think I've done my job well. This clan is more a community then just a group of people. People stick up for each other and care for each other. This core group of people can never die and the Gladiatorz will always be around, even if it is I who is left as the only standing member

Oh yes, for the sake of pointing it out. Our clan name has a "z" in it. How ghetto, right? Well, I'd like to show the following clans have since gone on to put "z"s in their names: TigerZ, PimpZ, DeathCorpZ. Coincidence? I think not.... >=)

THE LAST ALLIANCE

by Acid Venom

It has been nearly a year since the war to end all wars took place, and the after effects have yet to fully ware off the land of Runescape. In the origins of BDK, they were actually pretty good guys who were around in the time of the Wanderers and Sabres eras, although their strength wasn't much at the time. The corruption occurred when Robin Hood and Zar Family 2 got a piece of the leading pot along with Azn Purity. Robin hood, infamously known to nearly everyone, wanted to make the almighty clan, to dominate Runescape, and to destroy all other remaining old clans left in the game. At this time, the decline of the once great Gladiatorz had begun. Robin hood noticing this, was not remaining idle while other wars were being waged. He waited until he found the perfect time to attack one of the long lasting clans- When some of the Gladz leaders had become bored with Runescape and/or busy with life, they declared war. To this day I still believe that BDK didn't expect anyone to aid the gladz in the war due to their high level superiority, but boy were they wrong. In this piece, I will now list some of the Key People in this time of war, and talk about some of the clans who rode to war on that fine Saturday afternoon, and ultimately, the war itself.

Once the war had broke out, it seemed to be a shuffle and a mad dash to pick a side to fight for. The very day war was declared, some of the top clans leaders had a massive meeting on AOL messenger to discuss everything. Acid Venom, King Cj70, Mytstical25, and Tarnorth were among the majority of the leaders who helped develop the strategy to win this war. The first plan established from CJ was to have Acid buy as much time as possible and to delay the inevitable in hopes of rallying enough clans to our side. Our only real hope to the sheer level advantage BDK had was strength in numbers. Once Acid finally got BDK to wait almost 2 months for the war to actually happen, the recruiting began. Almost once a week the current clans allied for the war would meet and discuss any news concerning the war.

Now for the Clans. There were probably over 50 different clans representing the Last Alliance, but only the official, main ones I can dig up will be listed and talked about. Even though this war will always be remembered for the famous premature charge, the organization that took place was very very high. In fact from who I have discussed, I don't recall one ally turning on another for their items, the clans united, to fend off BDK before they grew too strong, this is why the alliance was known as the 'Last Alliance'. The original clans in this alliance were simply the Gladiatorz, Blacknights (BK), and 'The' Clan. Most of the credit for gathering allies has to go to CJ for he was friends with nearly everyone. One of the first clans to join up were the Royal Knights of Argasnia, lead by Kithplana and Mordon. After finding out Orbital 2 and the Golden Helms were siding along with BDK, the alliance, growing desperate, had to look for former enemies, unseen allies, and the little guys for any help possible. Some other clans who joined the fight to rally against BDK included a long time enemy in the AoD clan alliance, which contained about 6 small clans under one banner. DOF and the Crusaders, whom I believe was led by Jammy316 at the time, also joined arms with us. The Russians, aka BOS, and their long time allies BOJ, both sent what was left of their decaying armies to help. RSD, which had disbanded and became KOS, remained idle for the most with the exception of a couple members who pledged allegience to the cause, one notable was Numnums. Gods of Chaos, GOC answered the call for help, and even the Sabres who recently had been restored and led by D11 Sabre joined in. BDK did find one ally though, in the Mystic Knights. The Mystic Knights weren't yet enemies of the gladiatorz, nor did really any of the exiles from Gladz except for Indigo participate, but they joined BDK to take over Runescape. Almost every day a rant would go on about the war on tip.it and a small clan would join the cause one side or another. The board was set, all that was left was one fine day to decide the months of preparation.

The plan was simple, swarm BDK and overrun them with strength in arms. This plan was nearly shattered from the start with a premature charge, where nearly half of the people began the assault into the wilderness, while the other half remained idle on ice mountain. One thing the alliance didn't expect was the huge mobilization of BDKs members to show up at the war. One Captain in particular, who slayed many of the allies, was X Shadow X. For hours war waged on, some of BDKs high levels fell, many of the alliances members fell, until finally only a few remained, and the few were outnumbered by BDK. Some of the people recalled who lasted til nearly the end were Agassi, Acid Venom, Mystical 25, Pepsi 24, Gogeta SSj5, Unitpoop, and Aznboi69. Overwelmed, the sound of retreat was finally sounded and the war was lost. Not a total loss though, as BDK realized that they weren't invincable. The pact and brotherhood made between the clans seemed to stick for once after all the backstabbing and new alliances had been made for years, especially between the Gladz, Blacknights, and 'The' Clan, times change, people change, but these 3 clans have remained true to each other ever since.

The Downfall of BDK was the same thing that gave them their success, their high level members. Robin Hood, feeling unstoppable, and doing his usual thing, with a few others turned on AZN Purity at a clan PK trip, which caused BDK to nearly split in half, Robin Hood tried to make a new clan, while Azn tried to restore the once great clan BDK was. Neither of them succeeded. Robin couldn't keep anyone loyal to him, so his hopes of dominating Runescape were once again shattered. Azn and Zar Family got BDK back on their feet, but lost much of what they once had to Kill on Site, KOS, who became the new heavy hitters of Runescape. All in all the war against BDK had the greatest amount of clans joined together under one banner ever, and in the end BDK fell and the Gladiatorz still stood. Maybe one day another Clan and Power hungry leader will emerge threatening the land of Runescape as we know it, But the remaining threads of the Last Alliance will always be there to meet them.....

THE GREAT SETUP/THE MYSTIC KNIGHTS

by Acid Venom

This has infamously been known as the great set up. This also lead to the Empire and the greatest betrayal to date the gladz have ever witnessed. Here is how it goes...

One day a noob challenged us to war, making up a website, a fake members list, and everything needed to suck us right into accepting the war. We even expected a higher level clan to show up instead, but we didnt expect this. The Gladz Who attended Were Joe Jenninz, Acid Venom, The Rocket, Wassupp350, Yamataka, Kweef, Topdogg75, Newbedford 8, and Toming. We ventured out deep into the wilderness and found no one. Joe lead the pack of warriors east towards the demons, when Raimus(Who is also known as Phule, Ghaleon, Frodo, a once important member in gladz) and Indigo Flame showed up. The group had been somewhat scattered and Acid was leading one group who consisted of Yamataka, Newbedford 8, and Toming, while Joe had a group with Rocket, Wassup, Kweef and Topdogg. Joe was the first to run into Indigo, and out of no where, Topdogg turned on joe and Indigo ran west. Raimus stood idle, neither attacking nor helping. I was west when nearly all of this newly found Mystic Knights clan swarmed the 4 of us. This looked like the alamo with 2hers, Newbed and Yama fell quickly, and Toming and Acid fled east, only to run into Joe and Rocket being slaughtered. Wassup had already died, and Toming was low on food, tried to escape but was killed. Acid then tried to protect rocket, but failed as rocket died right in front of him. Joe and Acid were all that was left, Acid tried to fend them off as long as he could but was overrun and died. By this time, Rocket was charging back into the wilderness to save joe, but was teamed beyond belief, and died a second time. Acid was back in the wild now running for Joe but arrived just a minute too late, Joe had fallen. Acid then was forced to retreat south and escape a second death. Thus ending the great set upThat night, Rafi, Rocket, Acid, and Joe all met and discussed, and a couple things were accomplished. The Rank "Fierce Warrior" was created, and Acid found out what exactly happened. He found the Mystic Knights website and found out how Indigo Flame formed a anti-glad clan formed out of hatred against us. Topdogg75, Kweef, Raimus, and Indigo Flame were all exiled from the gladz, even though Raimus claimed not to know anything about it. The hatred between the 2 clans ultimately lead to the war between the Gladz and the Mystic Knights. This was the most emotional, unorthadox war ever. The Mystic Knights had the Gladz outmuscled and outnumbered, but RPKers raided the war, and Raimus ordered MK and Gladz to both pull their men out. At Edgeville, A couple gladz and a handful of Mystic Knights decided to peace for now and to rid the RPKers. Acid was the only glad who ventured far with MK to fight RPKers, and Raimus led everyone to the prayer alter. There, Panzer Pure attacked Acid, and the Mystic Knights shut the doors, barring Acid in and had no one to help him get out. He was killed for the 1st time at a clan war with the Gladz.After months of hating, MK disbanded and re-emerged again with Raimus under a new name-Phule. This time around they warred other clans, particularly KOS, and the Gladz never confronted them. Eventually, they disbanded again. They came back one more time, and Raimus, yet again, on another name Frodo, took over and made MK a strong clan yet again. They allied with the RSMob led by Greywanderer, and Exercitum, and made an alliance Known as the Empire. Acid, still very much into the knowledge of MK, joined MK to spy on them when he was offered a position as leader by Raimus, Acid accepted, and wanted to see how far into this clan he could penetrate. Acid tried to make an alliance between all of the clans, Gladz, BK, 'THE', TDS, RSmob, and MK. This plan failed horribly when TDS and RSMob came across a newfound hatred for one another. Acid pushed the issue for everyone to get along, upsetting some of the allies. He went with MK to a war, and was attacked by allies of the Gladiatorz. He then wrongly used his power he held in both clans and told the allies they were no longer of service to the gladz anymore. Joe, seeing this unfold, stopped it before it could get any worse, demoting Acid and Blaze(who at the time supported Acid) and made sure his allies knew the Gladz were still allied.

After a few months of peace, it finally happened. The Alliance Went Against the Empire in an epic battle to decide who had the ultimate clan alliance in Runescape. After a hard fought war, The Alliance came out victorious, finishing off the already crippled Mystic Knights, and eliminating the RSmob. The Mystic Knights have once again appeared on the scene and are currently allied with TDS, one of The Alliance Clans. The Mystic Knights were born out of hatred from the Gladz, and for many days to come we will always remember the first night they appeared, and showed us what power they are capable of....

THE ALLIANCE

by Foswald

The Unholy Syndicate: The Beginnings

The Alliance was originally founded by King Cj70, Acid Venom, and Mystical25. These three people represented 'The', Gladiatorz, and BlacKnights who were three of the most powerful clans of the time. These clans were the three oldest clans in Runescape still around and had not only been allies in the past but enemies as well. The name thought up by the three leaders for this new alliance was "The Unholy Syndicate". The name was not widely liked and would eventually be changed later. Moving on, the Unholy Syndicate's earliest days were filled with no activity (other than a minor conflict between RsMob and 'The' that resulted in nothing) and few events. The first major event to come along was the admission of TDS to the ranks of the Unholy Syndicate. Their joining effectively ended the name the Unholy Syndicate and brought about a new era for this alliance.

The Alliance: Age of Challenges

A short period of tranquility followed the admission of TDS to The Alliance. That tranquility was broken by Acid Venom. Acid had dreams of an even bigger alliance containing the current members as well as RsMob and the MK (Hated enemies of the Gladiatorz and BlacKnights). Without asking the other clans he went to TDS asking for their support of this idea. TDS felt bullied by Acid and immediately went to the other Alliance leaders asking for their support. They gave it right away and Acid was demoted by his Co-Leader Joe Jenninz. This was an important event in the history of The Alliance as it was the first time that all the leaders had truly come together. The Alliance was now much stronger and much more unified than it had been before. After this event, Acid went to the MK for some time. A short while after Acid's Debacle, an alliance known as "The Empire" declared war on the BlacKnights. This Empire was made up of The Mystic Knights, Exceritum, and RsMob. Their war effort fell apart due to The Alliance's unexpected unity, Their own disunity, and skillful arguing/negotiating on the part of the BlacKnight leadership (Rb0287 and Foswald). Due to disunity, The MK was the only one left to face The Alliance so they quickly dropped the declaration. Soon, once again due to disunity, The Empire fell apart. Not only did the Empire fall apart, its leader clan, the Mystic Knights fell apart sending most of their members to the RsMob making it an extremely powerful clan. The Rsmob, with its new power, quickly began picking fights with The Alliance, especially TDS. Even before the Empire conflict the Rsmob had been bickering with TDS. There was more than one war declaration by the Rsmob on TDS before the Empire Conflict and all were dropped for one reason or another. This time, however, the RsMob would get their war. For weeks arguments and flaming raged between the two sides. They appeared on paper to be an equal match but it would become apparent that they were not. Finally, the final battle was fought and the RsMob was defeated soundly by Alliance forces. A few weeks later, the clan would die out completely. The Alliance: External Peace, Internal Bickering

With the RsMob gone there was no longer any challengers to the Alliance's power for one reason or another. The peaceful time was well spent by the members of The Alliance. As each clan grew they sought ways to test their strength, boost their activity, and have fun in general. The found this in a simple answer: Play Wars. Play wars consist of each clan using cheap armor and cheap weapons in a real war setting. Each clan tested them out with great success. The original one-on-one wars grew to be wars between the whole alliance and even eventually prospective members. These wars could also lead to problems. One major one was the second war between the whole alliance. Due to major communications problems and a location change it was a debacle. TDS felt like they had been ambushed on purpose by 'The' and the Bk because they were not informed very early of the location change or of the fact that their partners the Gladz wouldnt be showing. Their clan speaker, Yamataka, and council members, Ronan XVII and Alilshy, all talked of disbanding The Alliance. Thanks to the willingness of Twistedsis and Princess Rae of TDS to speak with King Cj70, Foswald, Annasweat, and others The Alliance was preserved for the time being. This was the beginning of the end for TDS' membership though. A short time after the war another war was held which confirmed the membership of a new clan in The Alliance, The Jaguars. The Jagz had been helping friends of The Alliance since the days of the Rsmob war and finally their help payed off in an Alliance membership. They were welcomed by all and very respected. Even with the happyness spreading about a new member, a "Cold War" of sorts was brewing between The Alliance leaders and the Clan Speaker of TDS, Yamataka. Ever since the botched play war Yamataka and other leaders had problems. Many of the Alliance Leaders questioned her loyalty among other problems. Eventually the problems would escalate and The Alliance's leaders would write a petition and just as they were getting their final signatures TDS announced their resignation. Arguments with TDS officials on various boards went on for a few days over betrayals, lies, and slandering of people's names but this would cease in time and The Alliance would begin looking for a new member. They had one within a week and that was Lunar. Lunar was an up and coming clan based on democracy. For the most part, it was made of former TDS members that had left due to Yamataka. They fastly became a welcome member of the Alliance and great contributor. That brings us to the current time of peace and power that The Alliance is in. THE ALLIANCE VS MD

by Acid Venom

Tuesday, April 13th, marked the day that The Alliance pulled off perhaps the greatest set up in it's existence. Around 6:00 PM, Joe Jenninz and Acid Venom were invited into a chat with X Dragon X, Chronotruper, Upbrother, and a few other members of various clans. XDX had told joe he wanted a one verse one war between the Gladiatorz and Mystic Dynasty. When Joe told XDX he would take it to the other leaders, XDX flamed him to no extent. Acid Venom returned from being AFK only to see XDX being his usual angry self. Acid, arrogant as usual, started going off back on XDX, in hopes of getting him to shove aside the 1v1 war he had hoped for. With this in mind, Acid challenged all of MD to a war, him vs all of them, to be that night at 8 pm. DXD and Chrono both without question agreed. Acid, knowing his death was near, decided it was time to put XDX in line. He got ahold of Foswald, who is like the alliance socializer, and Foswald started a chat with Him, Acid, RB, Sneaky, Mystical, Joe, Jerico, Anna, Phunk, and Lucca. Acid Foswald and Jerico got ahold of all of the allies to muster quick and be ready for war. With the great dedication of the clan, members flocked to the palace on a separate server heeding the call as Acid marched to his doom. Chronotruper, who is very wise in clan politics, discovered Acid had asked for the Alliance to come and take down MD after his DM. For this, he was growing suspicion quicker and quicker. His 'No Fear' attitude led him to go on with the war. Acid met MD at the bank, and Upbrother(Who had been in the original chat and knew about the war) showed up with 5 or 6 of his best and most loyal men due to the fact he had much hatred for some members in MD. XDX allowed them to come knowing they wouldn't stop his mighty force. Acid lead Upbrothers company to the Greater Demons, and as they arrived, the alliance moved into the wilderness on another server. After a ten minute stand still, MD flooded from the southwest after the small force who was meant to fight them. MD slayed all of Upbrothers Company, including Upbrother himself, and Acid was left alone to fight the horde of enemies. Knowing his death was near, he tried to hold them off as long as he could, and Acid was at no life and no food when he looked to the West and saw a sea of Alliance members, lead by Joe Jenninz, rushing to his aid. Joe himself slayed 4 members of MD, and many men fell. After only a couple minute battle, MD had been cleared from the Demons. Chronotruper fell to Sneaky Diva and XDX survived the confrontation though. Even Acid, thanks to the alliances early arrival, survived the unsurvivable.

With this all said and done, X Dragon X and Chrono, furious at the appearance of the alliance, declared war on the alliance. Only time will tell what will happen next.

THE MYSTIC DYNASTY CONFLICT

by Acid Venom

The Mystic Dynasty, lead by Rico, XDX, Apostile, and a few others, originally was known as ‘The New MK’ because of Rico creating it right after the Mystic Knights disbanded, and because it was the same type of clan- one wanting to conquer the world. The feud between the Mystic Dynasty and the Gladiatorz began with the set up created by Joe Jenninz and Acid Venom in which they drew the Mystic Dynasty into the wild only to be decimated by the alliance. This led to an ongoing feud between ‘The’ Alliance and The Golden Alliance, which ultimately led to the Mystic Dynasty declaring war on the Gladiatorz.

The rules were simple, you could not leave the multi combat area, you can not log, you can not bank, you fight to the last man. This was the first real RS2 war yet, making it a very new battlefield for both sides. Tactics above all else would win this war. This is what led The Rocket to come up with a plan to take down MD. Rocket and joe sent for some of his most trusted and battle ready men to take council with them. They brought Lord Noah, Obiwan623, and Acid Venom to take part in the plan. The plan was to have Acid, Noah, and Obi all rush into the MD forces as they marched towards the Gladiatorz position in the wild. Noah would run into the middle of them, and run back to the Gladz main force, while Acid and Obi would run west, splitting MD in half and forcing the Gladz to only face half of MD at a time. Acid and Obi would be running to their death, but Noah was the key, he had to make it back to the forces in order for the plan to succeed at all.

Everything changed when Acid was approached by Rico from the Mystic Dynasty. They had a long talk about the politics in Runescape. This led Acid and Joe to discuss them. Joe finally came up with the idea of getting Acid on the inside of MD, and giving away their plans and position, thus taking MD down from the inside. Acid and Joe staged a fight, making it appear Acid quit the clan for turning on Titan420 in the wilderness. Acid then applied for MD and was accepted, just not allowed on the boards yet. Yet again the plan took a drastic change the night before the war when Raimus discovered these plans and plotted to have Acid killed before he got the chance to turn on MD. Joe, realizing the whole plan would go down in flames, had Acid pull out of MD and revert back to the original plan.

It was now the day of the war, perhaps the final war between Rico and the Gladiatorz, a war which has been fought for over a year. After some timing conflict, the Gladz marched into the wilderness. Acid and Noah ran ahead only to run into DI and RSD together who came to get some armor. Acid and Noah both ran back to the Gladz and the group of RSD/DI was repelled back to Edgeville. The Gladz then went to the Northeast corner of the wilderness and gathered up, meanwhile, MD logged in and ran into RSD and DI coming back for more and a battle ensued. Finally the Gladz and MD had a war between each other, which lasted a good time, but finally, the yellow capes were driven out of the wilderness. There was an OUTSTANDING turnout from both sides. After MD was driven out, the Alliance all met up for screen shots, and found random groups of MD, Damage Incorporated (DI), and RSD in the wilderness. Upon the gladz returning to the bank, MD was yelling the Gladz were allied with DI and RSD and they cheated and MD won. Typical MD… As this chapter in the ongoing saga comes to an end, The war with Rico has not ended, but only more fuel to the fire has been lit with this victory. Only time will tell what challenge will be brought upon us next... GLADIATORZ VS. EMPIRE OF GUTHIX

by Acid Venom

The feud between the Gladiatorz and the Empire of Guthix started long ago when Joe and Acid declared war on the United Clans of Runescape, which was co-lead by Squall900200. That war was swiftly one by the Gladiatorz. Squall later joined MD and took part in the war with the Gladiatorz. After 2 defeats and numerous flaming, Squall became very angered with the Gladz and Acid Venom in particular. He created a new clan called the Empire of Guthix, and declared war on the Gladz. Many people felt it was a setup because of the sheer numbers the Gladz had, not to mention the massive level difference between the clans.

It was the day of the war, the leaders were preparing, the members were training, and everyone was anticipating the war. The time had come and Sneaky One and Jerico led the Rohirrim out to the battlefield. They set up a wall of warriors protecting the mages by the greater demons, and a wave of EoG came, a very small wave that was defeated in less than a minute. A few minutes later, a plague of monks showed up from the west, and yet again Jerico and Sneaky led the Gladiatorz to a swift victory. The most important kill came from The Rocket, who killed Squall. Two notable people who came to this war were Blaze Mace and Nightman Jr. After the monks were destroyed, the Gladz took a victory march to Edgeville, and then grouped up together at the bar for a brief party before going back to the wilderness to rumble some more. EoG and Gladz both gained each others respect, and this feud had finally ended peacefully. THE GLADIATORZ VS. THE BLACKNIGHTS

by Acid Venom

The Gladiatorz vs. The Blacknights. The war of all wars thus far in the history of both clans. Where should this tale begin? A year ago this war would sound absurd, two years ago this war would sound absurd, three years ago this war would sound absurd. But now this war is inevitable. Let’s start a few years back before the break of the BDK war. The Blacknights at the time were the Gladiatorz only official allies due to the fact the Gladz felt they were strong enough to not have them, but couldn’t drop BK from their friendship. As soon as the BDK war ended, King CJ70 from ‘The’ Clan, Acid Venom from the Gladiatorz, and Mystical25 from the Blacknights met and officially decided to make an alliance then known as the ‘Unholy Syndicate’. This three clan alliance seemed unbreakable, eventually TDS was brought into the alliance, but after Yamataka was influenced by MK, they dropped out and were replaced by the Lunar Wolves. Lunar also eventually would leave on a happier note, but the three original alliance clans stood strong. The Empire came to rise, and at this time the Unholy Syndicate changed it’s name to ‘The’ Alliance. The two massive armies collided and the Empire was defeated. Eventually the Jagz and TMRD would join the alliance too. After a time of peace and nothing to do, BK, now led by Phunk, determined it was time for them to separate from their eternal brothers and leave the alliance. This came as a major shock even though there were signs of it coming, and soon after BK and ZF seemed to become closer, and much flaming ensued. The Gladiatorz Elder members decided they would never declare war on BK, for they were our brothers. But eventually Phunk and some council members would influence BK to declare it on the Gladiatorz in turn. Now for the war preparations and war. The Gladiatorz and BK seemed to both be pretty equal going into the war. Since the Gladz had not been able to recruit in a while do to a previous war, they decided to keep recruitment open til one week prior to the war. This may have shot the Gladiatorz in the foot because a massive wave of people flooded to BK, BK obviously welcomed all the help they could get with open arms. The Gladz would not lay down and die however, Joe Jenninz and Jerico brought back the Gladiatorz War Machine, which basically caused a tremendous hype for members to gain levels. Over 1,000 levels were gained in around a 3 week span. Kaopealii started a program to lend out whips which helped people train, many other things were done by members of the clan to bring a sense of unity.

Finally the day of the war arrived. The Gladiatorz came with a full head of steam ready to take down Phunk and the Blacknights. The strategy for this war was for Acid and Joe to stand further west than the rest of the clan and set up a fake place where the Gladiatorz would make their stand. This would cause BK members to rush at them, wasting energy and prayer and spreading them out as Joe and Acid rushed back to the guild. BK seemed already somewhat spread out and the plan did have success, but did not prove enough. After a good hour of battling, even though there were many speculations of cheating, the Gladiatorz were out numbered and outmuscled. They fought til the last man and the bitter end, but in the end, tasted defeat to their former brothers the Blacknights.

The defeat in this battle was not all in vain however, the Gladiatorz proved they do not have to hide behind The Alliance and that the Blacknights were rocked hard at the war. The Gladiatorz went into a war outnumbered and nearly out leveled but they rode to war regardless. BK use to be our brothers, we bled together, now we made each other bleed, but the Gladiatorz will stand tall to anyone or anything that dares challenge their greatness.

2004

2004 was a landmark year for The Gladiatorz. Runescape Classic was replaced by a newer, improved version which had areas within the wilderness that allowed multiple clan members to attack their opposition at once, bringing in new tactics to wars and completely changing the clan scene forever. This presented a new challenge for The Gladiatorz to master which was accepted with open arms and the new Runescape would soon be put to the test by an intense year of wars against several large clans. With four strong leaders - Jerico, Joe Jenninz, The Rocket and Sneaky One - The Gladiatorz were ready for anything that Jagex's game could throw at them.

At the beginning of the year, Runescape Classic was still the main version used by players where tactics that had been perfected for several years - since the very early days of Runescape - were still in use. The Gladiatorz were set to war Zeonic Force at this time at the Prayer House/Rat Town providing a worthy climax for The Gladiatorz on Runescape Classic, a home to many of our members and ex-members where everything had started three years before in 2001. The war was very intense as both clans pulled very high options and fought against each other (and MI) with no mercy but The Gladiatorz walked out victorious again to finish Runescape Classic on a positive note.

Around this time at the beginning of the year, many changes occurred within The Alliance. After being allied with 'The' Clan, The Darq Syde and BlacKnights for a while, Clan Jaguar finally allied with The Gladiatorz to become a complete member of The Alliance on January 6th, 2004. However, The Darq Syde left The Alliance one month later due to various problems but within one week, Lunar Wolves were brought in as a replacement (February 12th, 2004) and The Alliance grew much stronger. Sadly, this was not to last long either; Lunar Wolves stayed for just over a month and left in the Spring of 2004 (March 22nd, 2004). Their reason for leaving: "it seems to us that the classical 'top-down hierarchy' which is favoured in most clans is not compatible with our way of ruling our clan." Excluding BlacKnights, they were the last clan to leave The Alliance.

The first time the new Runescape warring system would be tested was a war against Mystic Dynasty behind the Greater Demons after Mystic Dynasty declared war on The Gladiatorz in May 2004. The war took place on June 12th, 2004 and as it was specified that no allies could be brought to the fight, Mystic Dynasty merged with several other clans at the last minute in order to avoid this rule and to have a larger turnout. Although The Gladiatorz didn't have brilliant organization, it surpassed that of Mystic Dynasty and The Gladiatorz walked out as clear victors which then led to an infamous topic where Mystic Dynasty were accused of "chesting" in a classic Gladz moment.

Around the Summer of 2004, allegiances were very strong within Runescape with several notable groups such as The Alliance ('The', Gladz, BK, Jagz) and The Golden Alliance (Corruption, Exer, Anarchy, MD). After several crashings and disruptions, The Alliance (and The Mighty Red Dragons) declared on Exercitum, Corruption and any allies that they wished to bring (Damage Incorporated and Legendary Knights attended also). In this fight, The Alliance showed up in vastly superior numbers and The Golden Helms & Allies could not withstand the power which The Alliance brought, thus giving The Alliance a resounding victory over some of our most bitter rivals.

Many other landmark events also occurred within the summer of 2004. The first of these changes, although not the largest, was when Scapeboard moved over to Tip.it, as it was the most used fansite in the clan world at the time. Unsurprisingly, some of the larger changes that occurred were the appointments of Echo69x and Lord Noah as Leader. Their promotions were announced in August 2004 and it was the only time in the history of The Gladiatorz where leaders were chosen by a clanwide vote. Around this time, another advancement was brought into the warring techniques of The Gladiatorz as our first TeamSpeak server was purchased on August 29th, 2004, allowing greater organization in wars and for members to chat to each other while training and build a stronger community.

However, the year was not yet over for The Gladiatorz which was vastly growing in strength, so in October 2004, The Gladiatorz waged war against Zeonic Force, a long-time rival who The Gladiatorz had previously beaten on Runescape Classic earlier that year. This meant that the stakes were high and to ensure victory, The Gladiatorz managed to pull around 120 people to the war which contrasted sharply with a turnout of around 70-80 by Zeonic Force. However, Zeonic Force had many very high levels and put up a very good fight but the numbers and organization of The Gladiatorz prevailed and victory was secured. Despite this loss, Zeonic Force still continued to be a dominant force in the clan world and beat Damage Incorporated in April 2005 before closing in June of that year.

At the end of 2004 The Gladiatorz stood strong admist the year's changes, our will and determination were unrivaled and as a clan we were ready to face any and all challengers. We would need to remain solid because over the next year we would be put to the test by such clans as Dark Slayers and The Dynasty.

2005: FRIENDSHIPS MADE; ALLIANCES BROKEN

2004 was a relatively smooth year in the history of Gladz. However, 2005 was, from the start, destined to be far more rocky with several big rivalries emerging, old friendships being severed and many wars being won and lost. The challenges that faced The Gladiatorz may have been daunting but with The Rocket, Sneaky One, Lord Noah and Echo69x as leaders, they would be faced head on with no backing down from the problems that would arise as the year progressed.

The first major event for The Gladiatorz was set to be a war against Empire of Honor but they were disqualified from the war automatically for mass-recruiting which was against the rules. Empire of Honor had to go into reorganization and even had to change their name to The Empire due to the amount of people joining which, as a consequence, made many of the older members leave causing The Gladiatorz to try and find a new opponent. Damage Incorporated was chosen to fill the role, as they were a top clan at the time. When the designated war time arrived, though, Damage Incorporated did not show up, thus causing The Gladiatorz to declare victory by default in January of 2005.

The Mighty Red Dragons had been friends of The Gladiatorz for many months and by April 2005, seeing as they were allied with all other The Alliance clans (BK, 'The', Jagz), The Gladiatorz accepted an allegiance with The Mighty Red Dragons on April 6th, 2005 and extending the number of clans in The Alliance to five clans. The Mighty Red Dragons were the last clan to be accepted into The Alliance and had already shown that they would stand by The Alliance and help when needed so they were a sound and stable addition. Another event occurred at this time (April 2005) which, although it wasn't seen as all that important at the time, had a resounding impact on Gladz in the years to come. The event was the reopening of Dark Slayers, who would go on to become one of the fiercest rivals Gladz would ever encountered.

Although The Alliance seemed to be gaining strength publicly with the arrival of The Mighty Red Dragons, everything was not as smooth as first thought. BlacKnights, led by Phunk, seemed as if they did not value The Alliance greatly and decided to leave on May 12th, 2005 in an effort to explore their potential as a solo clan. However, at this time, many changes also occurred within the leadership of The Gladiatorz. Sneaky One, Lord Noah and The Rocket all retired from actively leading The Gladiatorz between May and June 2005 and in their footsteps followed Magrathea (leader) and ThirDDegreE (war general). Two founders of the clan who had recently gone inactive also arrived back at a time of need; Jerico and Joe Jenninz. It must be noted that these departures hurt the clan but ThirDDegreE and Magrathea were worthy successors. During this time The Gladiatorz trained and reached a hitpoints average of 87 and it became clear that a war was near at hand.

The first of these wars was The Dynasty. They were a relatively new clan but would provide an excellent fight as they had already soared up the rankings to become a top clan. The war was set for June 11th, 2005 at 11:00 PM GMT but despite all the preparation and training that went in beforehand, The Dynasty walked out victorious. Some speculation regarding the result has occurred over time due to large amounts of Dark Slayers who attended the war and apparently helped The Dynasty by offering food and hiding amidst The Dynasty, making it hard for The Gladiatorz to see their pile and often attacking members of Dark Slayers rather than those of The Dynasty.

Not to be put down by the loss against The Dynasty, The Gladiatorz then organized another official war against Anarchy. It was set for a mere 19 days after the war against The Dynasty on June 30th, 2005 at 9:30 PM GMT. For this war, The Gladiatorz turned up in large amounts and destroyed Anarchy - who were in the middle of losing their power at the time. Anarchy put up a brave fight but couldn't handle being outnumbered by The Gladiatorz.

Both of these wars dimmed in comparison to the war that followed. The BlacKnights had recently left The Alliance after relations began to dip after the retirement of Stoned Pixie as BlacKnights leader. This then lead to the high council of BlacKnights becoming more power hungry and regularly provoking or insulting members of The Alliance which ultimately led to BlacKnights leaving The Alliance. After leaving, with Phunk as leader, the BlacKnights became very friendly with Zeonic Force - an enemy of Gladz. Consequently, the friendship between these two caused the flaming between Gladz and BlacKnights to escalate, culminating in a war declaration from BlacKnights. The war was slotted for August 20th, 2005. Both clans did everything possible to be in top form for this war. Training contests, practices and motivational speeches were commonplace during this time. This war continued to be fueled to even higher heights what with all the bad feelings between the two clan and the recent departure of BlacKnights from The Alliance fresh in everyone's minds. The Gladiatorz were hurt largely by having two official wars so close together, ultimately preventing the recruitment of new members. (It was common practice to close applications upwards of a week before a war to prevent mass recruiting.) BlacKnights did not have similar problems and were thus more prepared in this aspect. They were able to get new blood in their clan via recruitment. On the day of the war both BK and Gladz pulled well over 200 people each. It's believed that this was one of the first - if not the first - war to contain over 400 combatants. The BlacKnights walked out victorious after a long, well-fought battle that pushed both sides to their limits. It is rumored that BK leaders logged onto secondary accounts after their main accounts had died to continue the fight and give them a superior number advantage, even though it was against the war rules. The accusations and counter-arguments raged for a long time until The Gladiatorz leaders took the moral high ground and walked away with heads held high, vowing never to forget. The rivalry between Gladz and BK continues to exist even to this day.

Despite losing the war, Gladz still stood strong but the same could not be said of BlacKnights. They started to lose their power after the war and entered into a slump. The Gladiatorz had other problems though. Echo69x, a leader for more than a year, gave up his leader rank and took the rank of Elder on September 16th, 2005. Following his retirement, The Rocket came back to active leadership a month later and Wkd Tyger was promoted to council.

In the fall of 2005, an event happened which although it didn't directly involve The Gladiatorz, still bears significance with the history of this clan. The Devils, a clan started by 3 ex-Gladiators was a clan on friendly terms with The Gladiatorz - they had, in fact, asked for an alliance in early 2004 but were rejected in their request. Despite not being allied with The Gladiatorz, we refused to fight The Devils because of who had created them. The Devils reached a lofty rank 2 in the clan world at one point during summer 2005 but closed shortly thereafter in the fall of 2005. Although they had become more distant with The Gladiatorz in late 2005, there was an aura of sadness at the closure.

For two years - since 2003 - The Gladiatorz had used an Invisionfree forum but in November 2005, a move was made to a Invision Power Board forum so that more server space would be available, to prevent the boards crashing (which occurred quite regularly) and also so that more customization could take place - which the leaders wished to do. Although the old Invisionfree forums had lasted for a while and had many, many memories stored within their archives, the new forums were a step forward and accepted with open arms by the community.

At the end of the year, The Gladiatorz stood strong. A hitpoints average of 92 had been achieved and all members of the clan were training hard, trying to get motivated. Although the year didn't seem to be entirely successful, unknown at the time, many of our current leaders/ex-leaders joined at this time, proving this to be a very fruitful year. At the end of the year, we look back and see a very turbulent, emotional and active warring year for Gladz. We may not have won all of the wars but we were stronger for experiencing it and would need that strength in the coming year.

2006: A CHANGE OF STATUS

Due to an eventful 2005 which had seen The Gladiatorz reach new heights - and some lows - it was clear that high expectations were set for 2006. It fell to the shoulders of each and every Gladiator to show the power of this great clan. This immense responsibility was accepted and even welcomed with open arms by Gladz. We were ready to face the challenges posed by several other clans as the clan world reached a peak in membership with numerous clans surpassing the 200 member mark.

Several changes were made only a few days after the arrival of the new year. Several members were promoted including Sal Bandini to leader, Wkd Tyger to council advisor, Finaltank and Titan420 to council and Etnie123 to Rider of Rohan. All changes involved loyal members of the clan who, over time, had proven their loyalty and moved the clan forward in a positive way. As many changes were occurring within the clan, it was also time for The Gladiatorz to find their home. World 66 had been the homeworld for a long time but due to the emergence of such things as law rune running, increasing the number of people using the world, it was decided that the clan would move elsewhere. Several homeworlds were tested such as world 99 and world 44 but world 65 was eventually agreed upon for a homeworld. This world has remained Gladz's home since late January 2006.

For some time ThirDDegreE, a legendary member of The Gladiatorz and also war general of the clan, had been controlling wars to keep the clan in check and on an upward curve. However, on February 9th, 2006, he was retired to the rank of retired council after mysteriously disappearing. The disappearance did not prevent Gladz from continuing with warring and pking and even managed a notable win during this time. The success of The Alliance versus Anti-Alliance went on to show that even if a key member of the clan was not present that people were able and willing to step up and fill the shoes of those that were absent.

Oddly enough, ThirDDegreE reappeared just a day after being retired, explaining his reasons for inactivity. A few short days later an official war against Dark Slayers - who were often considered unbeatable - was scheduled. The war was planned for Saturday, March 4th, 2006 at 6:00 PM EST and this would be perhaps the toughest challenge The Gladiatorz had faced in their 5 year history. Dark Slayers had a memberlist comprising over 224 people with a combat average of 118.5. Just looking at the numbers, they could beat The Gladiatorz. Undaunted by mere numbers and being the decided underdog in the fight, Gladz members threw themselves into war prepping 110%. Being the clan predicted to lose worked to Gladz's advantage. With practice events every day leading up to the war, The Gladiatorz massed up with over 220 able-bodied fighters ready to tackle Dark Slayers. Dark Slayers had better organization but simply could not compete with Gladz. Quite simply, they were overwhelmed and The Gladiatorz walked out victorious with 252 options remaining to become the top warring clan in Runescape.

After this war, it was clear that The Gladiatorz were very powerful but instead of trying to dominate the clan world, leaders of the clan wished to reinstate old values and tightened the amount of applicants who would progress into the clan to avoid people joining just to be in the top clan at the time. Despite this positive change within the clan, Finaltank, a council member who had an expertise in warring, retired March 7th, 2006 although later became leader of Silent Assassins which was a sombre moment for the clan. To rectify this, several members were promoted within the clan. Sikikmfg242 and Abomnt claimed ranks as council while Pequ, Danger Boy and Lazerus Shad were promoted to Rider of Rohan in order to keep the clan moving forward after reaching the pinnacle of the clan world.

It was not smooth sailing, though. A period of turbulence took place within the clan as several members left to join more PK'ing orientated clans as Jerico declared that the clan would not conform into a PK'ing clan but would instead be a community clan. This move was shown to be rather unsuccessful, as in a poll later, 90% of members supported being a PK clan with a small amount of skill events which forced a change of opinion within the leadership.

After over a month with very few major events within the clan, Pequ was promoted to council in June which was later followed up by the promotion of Wkd Tyger to leader on June 27th, 2006, who had shown her dedication within the clan for a long time and was a worthy leader. Despite these changes, many more would occur and not all of them would be positive. On July 18th, Jerico, a founder of the clan, stepped away from active duty due to a lack of interest regarding Runescape which led to the promotion of Des Troyer to council advisor, Lazerus Shad to council and Ninexblue and Crazy723 to Rider of Rohan to fill the gaps in the upper leadership.

This was not the end of the changes. ThirDDegreE, who had been missing for five months (since just after the war against Dark Slayers), made a reappearance. On August 11th, 2006, Sal Bandini stepped down as leader of The Gladiatorz, allowing Des Troyer to be promoted to leader and Abomnt to council on August 19th, 2006. During the time between the Dark Slayers war and August, membership within The Gladiatorz had slowly been declining which was reflected by a loss to Lithuanian Forces who won despite the strong training of The Gladiatorz under Operation: Green Snake (a month long training program). During this program, Gladz reached an all-time high of 118 combat average. As mentioned previously, membership within the clan was slowly decreasing yet in an effort to have a memberlist reflecting the activity of the clan, in early September, an inactivity sweep of the clan was undertaken which ended in 25 members losing their active member ranks.

On September 19th, 2006, Echo69x unretired from his elder position and came back as a leader. Around this time, many internal problems had arisen and all these problems would need to smoothed away and sorted out before an official war against the newly formed Violent Resolution that was to take place on September 23rd, 2006 at 5:00 PM EST. Despite a good effort by both clans involved, many different people crashed the war and it was later agreed that the war was a draw despite the efforts of both clans. This was the first war to be hugely affected by a crashing within The Gladiatorz.

Several promotions took place in the month following the war. Roselinor, Erador and Ganja Guru all took places as Riders of Rohan while just under a month later, Erador and Johnnyr received promotions to warlord while ThirDDegree reclaimed his old rank of war general to lead the clan in all aspects of warring once again. The Gladiatorz were on the upward curve after the success of Operation: Green Snake which was also reflected by another increase in combat average up to 119.

However, times can change easily and on November 7th, the clan was informed that a recently retired council member, Abomnt, had to be usered after being denied an elder rank (a rank for for ex-leaders). He had threatened to give his forum account to Dark Slayers or Damage Incorporated which forced the leaders to remove him. Several promotions were also made within November such as Rafi to council advisor, Etnie123 and Ninexblue to council and finally, Suisidexkl, Josh1459, Lord Jeffrex and Nalian to Rider of Rohan. Also, the rank of Rider of Rohan Advisor was created to be a link between the leadership and the Riders of Rohan with Urza285 being the first to fill this position.

Despite all these new people filling positions to help carry on the traditions of the clan, internal issues continued to brew. It was thought that newer members didn't have the enthusiasm or the activity to carry on The Gladiatorz and as many of the older members of the clan had recently left to other clans, it looked like only a few people would be able to continue on the great clan and instill the values of the clan once again to carry on being successful. The flow of new members into the clan slipped and although vast numbers of people attended a fight between The Alliance and Dark Slayers - which Dark Slayers won even though The Alliance pulled some 700 options - the clan was in a downward spiral which was reflected by a loss to Divine Forces on December 10th, 2006 in an official war. The Gladiatorz started with 40 more options than Divine Forces (a larger than expected turnout) but ended with 150 less, showing the supreme organization of the opponent.

Overall, it was clear that 2006 had been a year of extreme highs and lows with many new members in positions that had once been much more stable. The clan had gone from the top warring clan in Runescape to one with a much smaller memberbase but as a core of 'Gladz for life' members remained, the challenge of 2007 would be tough, yet not impossible.

2007: A CLAN REBORN

With much tension still arising within The Gladiatorz, the new year only brought more problems for the clan. Still feeling the after shocks of the DS war and the months following, the leadership took a new approach to start the year off in the right direction. We saw a number of leaders from The Gladiatorz hanging up their green cape for one reason or another. Des Troyer would be one, leaving for one of our allies, TMRD. We removed the Cavalier rank, and replaced Elite Cavalier with Elite Gladiator. The Council and Rider or Rohan ranks were merged into one. Due to the spell of leaders leaving, Gladz knew they would have to appoint new leaders who were responsible and reliable enough to lead the clan to victory after such a set-back. Ninexblue and Lord Jeffrex were promoted to accompany Wkd Tyger in the leadership, determined to bring back the glory Gladz once had.

Soon after, our rivals, The BlacKnights would declare on us. Still in a slump, we declined the war only to accept a mini-war instead. This still brought hope to the members. With a long week of intense prepping and inspirational speeches by our leadership and founders, we showed up with an amazing near-300 options, ready to take on the mighty BK. After a long and fierce battle, BK won by a mere 24 options. That single day, The Gladiatorz showed the clan world they were nowhere near dying, but on the path to regain its once lost glory.

The months after, Gladz stayed quiet for a while - rebuilding the community, having events and just having fun. When it came to wars we weren't all that lucky - as we lost most - but it seemed the great atmosphere and friendly environment was back. As everyone was more relaxed, activity rose. Towards the end of June, Gladz would find themselves facing a war with Genesis Dynasty, a break off clan of Clan Jaguar, one of our long-time allies. The war garnered so much excitement and motivation that Wkd Tyger would bring back the legendary War Machine to get everyone training. As the war day came around, we pulled an impressive 200 options, ready to take on Genesis Dynasty. The war itself lasted about five minutes as The Gladiatorz easily walked out victorious. Despite the easy victory, the members knew we had risen from the worst slump ever in Gladz' history. It seemed the clan everyone predicted would die was back and better than ever.

We soon regained our former leader, Des Troyer, after leaving TMRD to rejoin Gladz, but would leave shortly after to form The Rising (TR). Activity was on the rise and quickly improving after being down to an all time low of 80 members. Knowing how greatly we have improved from the past few months, we decided to test our strength against a respectable and strong clan, The Titans. Both clans pulled nearly the same amount of people. The fight itself showed how much we had accomplished and how much we had grown the past few months. As the fight welled down to 100 options vs. 60 options, with Gladz winning, Reign of Terror decided to make an appearance and crashed the war, making TT walk out, giving us a default win. Despite being given a cheap win, we knew RoT didn't give us the win, but our hard work and dedicated members were the ones that won it for us.

Gladz was back. Our community was better than ever and our members couldn't be more loyal. Gladz was on a roll, winning almost every mini-war we had. The activity was at an all time high for the year and just to spice things up, we would soon find a new rivalry with 3v0lution X. After flaming by both sides, 3v0 would declare on Gladz. Wanting to prove that Gladz doesn't hide behind The Alliance, we accepted our first official war of the year. The Gladiatorz massed an hour before the fight and turnout seemed low. Fortunately, when we death dotted at member's gate we had roughly 210 options. Soon after, 3v0 rushed in with 180 options and managed to disorganize us. Quickly getting back on track, we managed to take out 3v0's warriors with 150 options remaining. We had once again proven to the clan world that we don't hide behind The Alliance, but were in reality a force to be reckoned with and could and would defend ourselves when necessary.

The Gladiatorz only continued to rise the months following the 3v0 war. Not only were we winning mini-wars, we were doing great in PK run-ins. Although not formed as a PK'ing clan, we were having run-ins more than once a week. We were doing great, but we would soon see Wkd Tyger going inactive. Wkd Tyger spent a long time being one of the strongest of Gladiatorz' leaders. All of a sudden she became flooded with real-life issues, which left her inactive. Later, we would lose Lord Jeffrex after a lot of commotion within the leadership where he was asked to step down as a leader. Instead, he retired and gained the Elder rank. He would later leave to join DI. This left Ninexblue running the clan alone. Wkd Tyger would return for a short time and soon after would announce a new chapter in the leadership. Rafi and Bespinman73 would be made the new Leaders in September. Rafi had been a loyal Gladiator for more than seven years and Bespinman73, who wasn't one of the longest serving Gladiators, had done more work within the clan than the majority of members could even think about managing. Eventually Wkd Tyger decided retirement was the best option because of her personal life and therefore obtained the Elder rank. The new leaders brought excitement to the clan and looked forward to see how they would help Gladz progress further along side Ninexblue. However, only a month later, Ninexblue would announce his retirement and shock the entire clan. Ninexblue is without a doubt one of the most important leaders in Gladz' history. He helped lead Gladz out of the greatest slumps in Gladz' history. He would be given Elder and soon after Administrator for all the hard work he had given and continued to give while retired.

Under the leadership of Rafi and Bespinman73, The Gladiatorz continued to strive and soon would look for an official war. After weeks and weeks of declaring on higher ranked clans, in October 2007, for the second time that month, The Gladiatorz declared on Lithuanian Forces in an attempt to take their RAW ranking, to which LF finally accepted. After the rules were finalized, both clans had a period of 11 days for war preparation. The war was scheduled for November 10th, 2007 and in the days leading up to the war the entire clan's morale rose to amazing heights. Not being able to move up on RAW for over a year, we were suddenly given a grand opportunity to make our way up on the ranks and obtain a rank we truly deserved. Training competitions were put in place. Practice events and wars were scheduled. Not only was everyone training hard, the sign-up had reached well over 90 people. As the war day approached, we had the great 'war spam' put up just before we met to go to war. As we massed for the war, the turnout was more than promising. As the war time came closer, The Gladiatorz mobilized into the wild and death wheeled around the eastern tree near the member's gate with 230 options. While waiting for LF, Luna suddenly made an appearance. Not realizing we had a war, they stopped and anti-crashed for us. Soon after, LF would make their way up to member's gate with 200 options. The war got off to a quick start with both sides evenly matched. It was a fierce battle but The Gladiatorz managed to maintain organization with high spam towers and pile transitions leading to a convincing victory over Lithuanian Forces. Gladz walked out with 111 options remaining and claimed rank 9 on RAW.

Although we had moved up on RAW and made a major impact on the clan world, The Alliance PK trip before the war would probably be more remembered. The Alliance hadn't PK'ed together in a while. We were the most dominant alliance out there and we decided it was time for another Alliance PK Trip. After massing over 320 options of TA warriors, we set out in hopes to get a fight. Not only did we get a fight, but a great fight. We started off fighting DF who would soon leave not able to compete being heavily outnumbered. Soon after, Shadow Elves and The Rising would rush in followed by Echo of Silence and Adelais. Despite all this, we refused to give up and fought through with help from The Titans. The Alliance was thought to be dead. We were determined to prove The Alliance was still the most dominant alliance. We fought long and hard and it seemed the other clans were dying down, but suddenly Violent Resolution would decide to make an appearance. We still fought on with the assistance of Corruption that would join in soon after. The Alliance stood strong despite being heavily outnumbered. We had made our mark once again on the clan world that The Alliance is not going anywhere and certainly not dying. We are The Alliance.

Towards the end of the year it seemed everything was going well. The Gladiatorz was doing great and was looking forward to the new year with high expectations. This was all shattered into pieces as Jagex suddenly made an unexpected update, which removed attacking other players in the wilderness in hopes to end real world trading. The clan world went into a state of panic and shock. Many clans closed because they couldn't deal with the changes. The Runescape Official Forums were lit up like switchboards with complaints from angry clans and people alike. Protests were staged and people began declaring December 10th, 2007 "The day that Runescape died". Rolling with the punches is something Gladz has been doing all along, so we kept a positive outlook and tried to embrace the new changes. We began having weekly official Pk trips at Bounty Hunter and regular trips to clan wars. This had a major impact on The Gladiatorz, but we had loyal members that stuck through this difficult time with high hopes. There was fear of many members leaving once again, but instead, we gained members.

The Gladiatorz had overcome the greatest slump in its entire history after five years of dominance in the wild. We regained the glory we deserved and claimed a rank in the top ten once more. With the strong leadership and loyal members we have, the new year looks promising. Adjusting to the new wilderness and mini-games should be nothing after adjusting to everything Jagex had thrown at us over the years. Only time will tell what would happen next for The Gladiatorz.

2008

December 2007 proved to be the worst month in Runescape history. The removal of the wilderness brought great alarm to everyone. Even though Gladz was not a pk clan, our performance in the wilderness was still a major source of our identity. From the Karamja wars, to our 600+ opt turnout against Dark Slayers, to our war for rank nine in November 2007, our history is dotted with some of the most memorable wars in Runescape. No one was sure how the new year would work out, but everyone stood loyal to the clan, ready to overcome any obstacles thrown at them.

Jagex had introduced two new mini-games: Bounty Hunter and Clan Wars. The two games weren't the best substitutions for the wilderness, but like most other clans, we used them. It was much different than what Gladz was used to, but we adjusted to this new environment. To start off the new year, our great Neohot Blaze called an unexpected Muster. Not knowing what was to happen, Gladz mustered its warriors ready for what was about to happen. As it turned out, The Alliance was being called upon once more to fight Collision and The Titans at bounty hunter in a Pk run-in. Mustering up a healthy 230 options to CT's 200 options, we were ready to start the year off with a bang. Both sides did amazingly with KO after KO. Although being out-organized, The Alliance continued to return. After two hours of fighting, it would seem the fight would be a draw, but with some confusion, Collision and Titans had won by a few people. It may have been a loss, but the fight itself showed the public that Gladz and The Alliance were ready for the new year.

Throughout the month, we continued having our f2p and p2p bounty hunter trips as well as our fun events. Gladz was also participating in a Runescape Community tournament, so we had many practice events with our Allies as well. Although it seemed January may have been a dull month because of the removal of the wilderness, we were actually active with run-ins and mini-wars during the month.

February came with some changes to the leadership. Wkd Tyger, who helped lead the clan for a solid year during 2006-07, in addition to holding the council advisor, council, Rider of Rohan, and elite ranks over the preceding years, had taken the elder rank. With this sad news brought forth, we also had Neohot Blaze and Deathstar99 promoted to advisor to help in the leadership. The Runescape Community tournament also was a challenge for Gladz, as we didn't do too well in most of the categories. But with a stunning performance in the p2p 15vs15 section, against some of the top clans such as Corruption and Divine Forces, it seemed we were the favorite in winning.

We weren't at our high point, but we were doing well. Suddenly the entire clan community as well as Gladz would be shocked to hear our Ally, The Mighty Red Dragons, would be stepping away from the warring scene and become a community clan. Tmrd wasn't doing too well, but this sudden changed greatly effected The Alliance as it left Gladz and 'The' Clan as the only warring clans. When it seemed things couldn't get worse, Jagex introduced another update, which would once again upset the clan community. Fearing people would use Bounty Hunter to transfer items, they made it single, which ended Pk run-ins. It was a tough month, but we found some enjoyment celebrating our seventh birthday with the public in a series of events.

Gladz wasn't doing well in mini-wars as it seemed hybriding had became very popular and the key to winning. Determined to improve our binding skills and make Gladz a competitive clan again, Neohot Blaze and the Pk team worked on stressing the importance of binding and held many practices. As the RSC tournament came to its finals we would be facing Chivalry Legion. It was our last chance to win a category and we were ready. The fight proved to be completely controlled by Gladz as we only lost one person and won the p2p 15vs15 category. This showed Gladz had overcome being a strictly f2p clan and moved over to the p2p side.

After many mini-wars and practices, Gladz had begun to win again. We doing very well and our activity had picked up. The Pk team knew it was that time again. Runescape Dinasty had declared on Gladz for our RAW rank. Busy at the moment planning a RAW war of our own, we declined, only to accept a few weeks after being declined by The British Elites. This brought high morales for our members and much excitement. Bespinman73 brought back the great War Machine to get everyone training as well as new promotions. We had numerous practice wars and everyone was training hard, ready to take on RSD. As the war day came, we had our war spam put up and massed to the meeting spot. Ready to take on Rsd with an army of near 280 options, we would be forced to let many of our retireds go to comply with the four retireds only rule. Being left with 234 options, we knew we could still win. RSD entered clan wars with 165 options. As the timer ran out, Gladz death dotted behind a wall, waiting for RSDto charge. The fight was intense as both sides were able to KO each other at exactly the same speed, but as RSD's numbers slowly died down, our members were able to effectively tank, while we were able to still KO them. Gladz managed to successfully defend their RAW rank with 135 options remaining.

After winning our first RAW war of the year and pulling outstanding options, the leadership decided to enter another tournament that was set up by RSC called the Clan Wars Premier League (CWPL). Everyone had high hopes that we could win our bracket, although we were facing many strong clans. Ready to take on the CWPL, the leadership once again announced some changes. Neohot Blaze would be promoted to the respectable War General rank. He would be the thrid person in Gladz' history to ever hold this rank. Knightmare25 would also be promoted to advisor and becoming a part of the upper leadership.

Ours wars in the CWPL didn't seem to help the clan much. Our first fight was with Shadow Elves. We massed up an impressive 249 options to their 213 options. Despite out-numbering them, SE's organization proved to be great as they managed to win. The other fights seemed to go the same way as we lost week after week. As the week we were to fight BK crept nearer, morale shifted. We would be fighting our long time rival, The BlacKnights, after we stated we would never fight them again. We had decided this would be the only exception. Suddenly, activity rose again, as it did for the RSD war. Sign-ups looked promising and even the clan community was looking forward to this fight. As the war day came closer, the CWPL pulled something again that would ruin our war. BK had been dropped to a lower bracket and was forced to cancel the war to fight a clan in their bracket. Once again Gladz was down after building such high morale for that war. The CWPL proved to be a mistake for Gladz as the officials weren't helpful and didn't enforce the rules. We decided to make sure we won our last fight against Collision before leaving the CWPL. The turnout wasn't great, but we managed to outnumber Coll to take the win in the full out and later on win the matched option fight.

Although Gladz didn't perform well in the CWPL, we had our high points in activity. The rest of the summer many have been considered a high point as well. Gladz were doing great in mini-wars as our organization had vastly improved war after war. August was a month to be impressed by as we were on a roll with our wars, losing only two or three mini-wars, while dominating the rest. Summer may not have been where our activity was at its best, but our organization sure was.

During September, Jagex finally released their anticipated clan wars updates. Instead of a single clan wars arena, many new arenas could be chosen with a multitude of new rules with many various combinations that could be chosen. Also, Jagex released two extra free-for-all arenas; one safe, and one dangerous which allowed clans to fight in a PKRI style war allowing tactics such as returning to make an impact on the game once more. These changes were eagerly anticipated by The Gladiatorz and welcomed with open arms as elements of the old Wilderness returned to Jagex's game.

Following these changes to the game, both Hobbitt222 and Atanas were promoted to Rider of Rohan because of their fantastic contributions to the clan. In the midst of the promotions, the clan embarked on a new adventure in the form of an official P2P war. Organized against Fatal Death, a pure P2P clan, the war was set for September 27th, 2008. Since it was our first P2P war, many members would be learning entirely new skills required for P2P action within a week, while Fatal Death's members would have been used to the styles of combat that would be involved for far longer. Unsurprisingly, Gladz were not properly prepared for the fight and were quite simply outclassed by Fatal Death, whose experience shone through. Despite outnumbering FD, our lack of experience allowed Fatal Death to claim a quick and decisive victory in our first official P2P war. Shortly after this war, RAW was reformed but since warring was not the only form of fighting anymore (because of FFA's introduction), there was little desire to re-enter the RAW list and a majority of clans refused to sign up, thus forcing RAW to lose all of its credibility.

Even though clan wars had been drastically changed recently, even more radical changes were made to Runescape in the months that followed. The updates to clan wars were quickly followed by something of a much larger magnitude on October 15th, 2008: the re-release of PvP in the Wilderness. With several worlds dedicated to PvP (even in cities such as Varrock and Falador), the PvP update allowed PK'ing to return and for the Wilderness to return to a moderate degree. With PK'ing available for the clan world once more, the Wilderness burst into life (despite mixed reviews on the drop systems in place) as clans removed the shackles of CWA and entered into a PvP environment not seen since December 2007.

As the game changed dramatically, so did Gladz internally. Although many members may have been in the clan for a long amount of time, it was often troublesome to praise members for their dedication and loyalty, thus leading to the creation of the Venerable Gladiator rank. This rank was given to all members who maintained their activity for a prolonged period of time, and was only available for members of the clan who had stood the test of time through their strong sense of loyalty and determination to succeed. Alongside these promotions, V Essiah was also re-promoted to Rider of Rohan. As a former rider who had previously retired, V Essiah earned his promotion thanks to his stellar leadership skills and thoroughly deserved his second time at the rank.

Despite people moving up the clan's ranks, one of our Leaders, Knightmare25, decided to leave the clan in early November because of mounting real life responsbilities and a desire to try out other areas of the clan world. This, in combination with other components such as a lack of PvP, slowly caused our numbers to drop down from significantly over 120 members, to below 100 active Gladiators and it was vital that the clan found a fresh desire for life if it was going to succeed in the new PvP worlds. This motivation was found, however, through a combination of challenging fights which utilized the core strength of Gladz - a fullout war. As confidence grew with more victories, it looked like the slump that took place was only a minor blip in the clan's plans for the future, which involved victories too numerous to count. With Bleedblack recently promoted to Advisor, thanks to the combination of a strong upper leadership, an indestructible core of members and Gladz preparing for 2009 through methods such as Winter Warrior (a training competition), the sky was the limit for the following year.

2009

As 2009 began, the realization of our slow decline during the final months of 2008 set in, with the scars from months of gradually losing members starting to appear. At one point, there were barely 70 Gladiators still wearing the green cape, and with Neohot Blaze, our mighty War General, retiring, the outlook wasn't particularly bright. However, the Winter Warrior training competition began at the beginning of the year with the goal of improving the quality of all Gladiators, not the quantity, and thus would continue as planned. With a colossal effort from many Gladiators, our combat average climbed and climbed until it reached a peak of around 121.5 F2P combat, which reflected the tremendous efforts provided by all Gladiators. The outlook also brightened after one of our greatest leaders, Ninexblue, returned to the clan as an Elder after several months away from Gladz.

Gladz was still strong, but nothing compared to our strength from years gone by. A goal would be required to unite the mighty members, but even though the leaders believed an official war would be enough, we were declined on numerous occasions by all but the highest ranked clans in the newly reformed RAW. Nonetheless, our options slowly grew and our memberlist, too, thanks to efficient recruiting styles and a few vital victories which grabbed some of the public's attention towards The Gladiatorz once more. We broke through the worst of the storm with a large amount of core members still riding in green, which lead to the reformation of the Cavalier and Elite Cavalier ranks on March 19th, 2009. The ranks, now entirely time-based, were designed to recognize those members who had actively served the clan for an extended period of time, thus causing the removal of the Venerable Gladiator and Elite Gladiator positions in what was the first change during a serious rank overhaul within the clan.

Further updates occurred within the ranks, mostly caused by the changes to Elite Cavalier. To distinguish retired Riders of Rohan, the Retired Rohirrim rank was created and for members who still wished to maintain some activity within Gladz (primarily for wars), the War Veteran rank was created, so that some members would be able to attend the occasional war, even if they had largely left Runescape behind them. The first opportunity for this new rank change was in Jagex's Clan Combat Cup, where we fought Genesis Knights in the first round. With one of the highest turnouts (73) since our last official war against RSD, we quickly eliminated GK's members and finished with 65 members remaining. Sadly, we then lost to Chivalry Legions in round #2 in a late night fight, but the tournament still showed glimpses of our former power, and that the true Gladiator spirit wasn't lost, simply misplaced.

To reward the efforts of several members during those tough times, Hobbitt222 was promoted to Advisor and a month later, Lineskier12, Nakusai and Sir Jake 14 were all rewarded with the Rider of Rohan rank because of their hard work and dedication towards the clan. In the following weeks and months after these promotions, Jagex made several changes to alter PvP'ing for clans. Firstly, quick prayers were introduced which allowed several prayers to be turned on within one click. Secondly, an update to run removed agility's positive effects on energy restoral when in F2P worlds, but a rest option was introduced that allowed energy to be rapidly restored when stationary. However, the most important update was that of Bounty Hunter. Although PvP worlds allowed PK'ing, there were large amounts of criticism regarding the new drop system, which meant that loot was often unpredictable. Bounty Hunter, which only included the Wilderness, had increased drop rates to replicate that of the old Wilderness and bring the game closer back to its former self without giving real life trading an opportunity to take place.