​Battlefield Role: Heavy Infantry Fighters
Weapons: Varies a lot. Usually a mace or a flail, plus a sturdy metal shield.
Outfit: Steel helmet and full plate armour over chain mail.
Skill level: Varies a lot too.
Affiliation: They come from everywhere in Arandolia.
Doctrine: Bellona's Way of the Warmaiden
Strengths: Sheer thirst for combat and glory honed their bodies and minds into hardened fighters, both inside and outside of the arenas.
Weaknesses: They like to fight and do things on their own way. Although they will follow orders, they won't be likely to do it to the letter.
Gladiatresses
As gladiatorial arenas and fighting pits are not forbidden by the law in Arandolia, Gladiatresses are not a rare sight to be seen into the amazon society. Just like in ancient Rome, these bold and daring women do fight for real in front of great audiences of paying spectators, being either applauded or jeered by the watching crowd, depending on their performance and charisma.
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On the other hand, completely unlike the romans, the amazon gladiatresses aren't slaves and they do not fight to the death. That's because slavery is strictly forbidden by the amazon divine laws, though prisoners do exist in the amazon jails and they often opt to fight their way to freedom on the arenas instead of doing their time in a cold prison cell.
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Not all gladiatresses are convicts, but according to the amazon ancient laws, each victorious fight reduces one year from a convicted woman's sentence, while each defeat actually adds one year to it instead. The amazons believe that gambling your way to freedom is therefore a fair way of testing the approval of the goddesses through redemption by rightful combat, so a convict gladiatress who wins every single fight might be reintegrated into society much earlier than expected, while a repeated loser shall spend even more time imprisoned.
If a Gladiatress manages to gather the love and support from the crowd, she might even get to be sponsored by agents, receiving armour and small luxuries to make her life more comfortable. However, the amazon citizens tend to only like and applaud the most virtuous and chivalrous fighters, who they deeply believe to truly be in search for redemption and forgiveness for the committed crimes. Sometimes even applauding a little more the most beautiful and charismatic fighters as well.
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Upon earning their freedom and being released back into society, a successfull ex-convict gladiatress normaly finds good opportunities to make a honest living as a free champion of the arenas. Free people can fight and be Gladiatresses just as well, though instead of waging years of imprisonament, they wage money in their fights. The best fighters of each city often get to be rich and famous, respected by many as heroines who earned the forgiveness and the true favour of the Goddesses.
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As such, despite fighting for show is a good way of reintegrating ex-criminals, a good number of gladiatresses didn't ever even commit a single crime in their lives, joining the ranks of the fighters in the arenas out of free will as free citizens searching for sheer fame and glory. Others yet are only fighting to make some quick cash, or even for the thrill of gambling their luck by betting on themselves.
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In times of war, it's not uncommon to see free and ex-convict gladiatresses selling their swords as merceneries either. After all, they are proven fighters who excel in combat, with or without an audience.