Glatorian

Glatorian was the title for tribal champions as well as the name of a species. Formerly soldiers on Spherus Magna, they became combatants against each other in arenas as enforcers of the social system. When a dispute would break out, the Glatorian would settle it in the arena. Whichever Glatorian achieved victory won the dispute.

History
The Glatorian were originally soldiers who fought under the Elemental Lords for the control of Energized Protodermis on Spherus Magna, during the Core War over 100,000 years ago. When the planet was split into three worlds, a large majority of them were stranded on the desert fragment, which became known as Bara Magna. To avoid conflicts between the tribes that could lead to a second war, Certavus, Tarix and a few other Glatorian came together to outline a new social system. This new society drafted the soldiers as gladiators to decide the outcome of future disputes. Many of these new "Glatorian" were loyal to a single village and would fight solely for that village. Some Glatorian, however, would fight if hired by a tribe for a reasonable price. The Skrall were at one point drafted into the system, generally going undefeated within the arena. Despite being related by species, the Vorox were not included in this system, due to their devolution into primitive beasts.

When Teridax arrived on Bara Magna, he began fighting Mata Nui. The Glatorian tried to assist him from down below, firing Thornax in an attempt to puncture the armor of the Matoran Universe. Teridax noticed the Glatorian, and released Rahkshi of Heat Vision by the thousands through a door at the base of his foot. The Rahkshi then began attacking the Glatorian. Some Skrall, led by Stronius, aided Teridax's Rahkshi, along with Nektann's whole army of Skakdi. Eventually, the Glatorian were forced to stop attacking the Teridax robot and defend themselves. Gresh aided Tahu and Takanuva in retrieving the Golden Armor, which was then used to defeat the Rahkshi.

Matoran Universe
The Great Beings placed two members of the Glatorian species within the Great Spirit robot's brain mechanics to act as pilots for the giant machine. While they were typically kept in stasis, the two warriors were eventually killed in the Great Cataclysm. Their bodies were later discovered by the Toa Hagah and Miserix when they were tracking Teridax.

Arena Battles
Glatorian would fight in arenas for the rights to have natural resources, tools, and equipment for the tribe that they fought for. They were rewarded for their service with first rights to the resource in addition to their payments.

The arena matches were governed by rules. The rules stated that when a Glatorian won when their opponent was unable to fight back, or surrendered. If a Glatorian was to continue attacking their defeated opponent, or kill them, the offender could suffer serious consequences. The violator can be banished from the arena fights, and even their resident tribe. Malum and Strakk were exiled for breaking this rule. A Skrall once tried to kill Gresh after a match, but Tarix intervened.

The arenas held many kinds of fights. These included one on one, aided battles, and vehicle/mount battles. Aided battles were fought by a Glatorian and Agori fighting together. Two Glatorian with vehicles could also choose battle with them in a vehicle battle.

Powers & Tools
Almost all Glatorian weapons were made of natural materials and creature remains. These were formed into makeshift swords, shields, blades, and usually a Thornax Launcher, and primarily relied upon physical strength and tactics. They rode Sand Stalkers and the Thornatus vehicles as transports across the Bara Magna desert.

Despite being one of the closest beings to Toa (Matoran/Turaga) they can't use mask powers seeing as they don't use kanohi, instead they wear powerless helmets.Up until Mata Nui's arrival, they couldn't use elemental powers. However, five of them eventually were given elemental powers by Mata Nui, using the Ignika.

Jungle Tribe

 * Vastus - The Primary Glatorian of the Jungle Tribe. Also one of the founders of the Glatorian system.
 * Gresh - The Secondary Glatorian of the Jungle Tribe. Also the youngest employed Glatorian on Bara Magna.
 * An unnamed Glatorian - The Secondary Glatorian of the Jungle Tribe until his death. He was then replaced by Gresh.

Fire Tribe

 * Ackar - The Primary Glatorian of the Fire Tribe. Also one of the founders of the Glatorian system and leader of the defense force.
 * Malum - The Second Glatorian of the Fire Tribe, later exiled for trying to kill Strakk after the match was ended.
 * Perditus - A Glatorian of the Fire Tribe, last fought in vehicle matches. Formerly fought as regular Glatorian.
 * Two trainee Glatorian - killed by Bone Hunters.

Water Tribe

 * Tarix - The Prime Glatorian of the Water Tribe. Also one of the founders of the Glatorian system.
 * Kiina - The Second Glatorian of the Water Tribe. Also the most skilled female Glatorian on Bara Magna.

Ice Tribe

 * Strakk - The Prime Glatorian of the Ice Tribe. Later exiled for cheating.
 * Certavus - The Prime Glatorian of the Ice Tribe until his eventual death. He was known for his great fighting skills. Also one of the founders of the Glatorian system. Wrote the Book of Certavus.
 * Gelu - The Second Glatorian of the Ice Tribe. Retired after the Attack on Atero, and instead became a caravan guard.
 * Surel - Not a Glatorian by occupation but by species.

Rock Tribe

 * Warrior Class Skrall - Sometimes fought as Glatorian for the Rock Tribe. Glatorian by occupation only.
 * Branar
 * Elite Class Skrall - Sometimes fought as Glatorian for the Rock Tribe. Glatorian by occupation only.
 * Stronius

Sand Tribe

 * Vorox sometimes fought for different tribes in the arena.

Iron Tribe
Because the Dreaming Plague wiped out most of the Iron Tribe and since the villages rejected the survivors from their social system, there are no members of the Iron tribe working as a Glatorian.
 * Telluris - Not a Glatorian by occupation but by species.

Glatorian

Trivia

 * The Thornax Launcher was the ranged weapon used by all the Glatorian and their vehicles. Despite this, it is only used twice in that year's movie, BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn, when Mata Nui hijacks Skopio's launcher and in the Tesara Village match between Tarix and Vastus. Also most of the figures that have Thornax launchers in set form are missing them completely in the movie- their are either absent or replaced with another melee weapon
 * When used in the moive BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn, Thornax Launchers fire energy balls that forn in the launcher. In the rest of the story, however, the Thornax Launchers fire Thornax fruit, which are mostly spherical but are solid and have spikes. Another key difference between the movie form and the rest of the story is that all of the Thornax fired in the movie explode, whereas the rest of the story states that exploding Thornax are frowned upon in village matches (and as a result are rarely used) (Source: http://web.archive.org/web/20121022001643/http://bionicle.lego.com/en-us/story/weapons/Thornax.aspx).
 * The Thornax Launcher toy is based on and is very similar to the Zamor Launcher. In fact, concept art still visiblein the BIONICLE Action Figure Game's instructionsshow the figures Skrall, Gresh, Tarix, and Fero using Zamor Sphere Launchers to fire Thornax. The Zamor Sphere Launchers are also painted to match their user's colors/element: Grey, Green, Gold, and Grey respectivley. This probably means that the launchers were changed late in development, as the figures themselves barely changes and the images were already in the finished instructions.
 * Raanu came up with the idea of vehicle versus vehicle matches, because these matches could be fought solely by Agori, and only one Glatorian (ironically, from the Fire Tribe) became a known vehicle pilot in matches (whilst Telluris was both a Glatorian and a vehicle pilot, he did not fight in village matches, instead roaming the desert and attacking those who "threatened" him). Raanu did not trust the Glatorian after the war and wanted to have Agori who were skilled in combat in case the Glatorian went corrupt and attacked the villages.