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.