Architecture and layout
Overlooking the city from a hilltop, Colosseum is probably the largest and oldest functioning building in whole Kildar. It's located on the very border of the Elvish district, half-immersed in the Arland forest. Covered with moss and ivy, with wild orchids blooming in the cracks and tree branches stretching inside through many open windows and entrances, Colosseum could be mistaken for an ancient ruin if not for the roar of the crowd and battle cries of gladiators.
In the very center of the arena towers a huge maple tree, taller than Colosseum itself. It is believed that this tree is as old as Colosseum and feeds on the blood of the fallen in the arena. Because of this unusual diet, its leaves are coloured bright crimson regardless of a season, earning the tree a name of the Blood Maple. The lower branches of the Blood Maple are around the same height as the higher levels of the amphitheater, partially obstructing the view. These high seats are significantly cheaper, yet in winter the view through the naked branches is actually pretty clear. Another advantage of winter is that snow creates a beautiful contrast to the blood of gladiators, especially during the Wood Elves' fights. Thus, winter is considered a high season for fights to death. The High Elves prefer summer though, since their fights are significantly less bloody and benefit esthetically from the scarlet foliage in its full glory.
The best viewing point in the amphitheater is taken by the royal box. While it hasn't seen anyone of royal blood in ages, the box is frequented by the Governor, the Stewards of the Colosseum and their families. The Governor and the Stewards have a right to invite a guest to watch a performance from the royal box, but it is considered a great honour and is bestowed rarely.
A special sector in Colosseum is reserved for the cadets of the Bran Chevron Military College. Although narrow, no more than 20 seats in the widest part, it stretches from the very first row to the highest levels of Colosseum. The several first rows are used to observe the exact movements of fighters, while the higher seats provide an overview on tactics, especially in group battles. This sector also has an exclusive entrance leading directly to the Military College's premises. The instructors are commenting on the performance, directing the cadets' attention to cool tricks or glaring mistakes of the gladiators. Students of other military academies and members of the Mercenaries' Guild can request a permission to join the Bran Chevron cadets for these educational visits.
Performances
High Elves and Wood Elves alternate in organizing the Colosseum performances based on the moon phase. During the growing moon, the High Elves stage their batlles, often reconstructing historical or mythical events. Their performances are well-rehearsed and have lore-accurate costumes, intricate backdrops and complicated machinery for special effects. Because of the amount of preparation required, most of the performances are repeated several times in a season. Colosseum seasons correspond to the natural ones, with the change of season marked by solstices and equinoxes. They feature 5-7 performances, depending on the number of external events in this season that will eat up some days. Popular new performances can be added to a permanent repertoire that consists of exactly 136 plays (the average number of moon cycles in one solar cycle), substituting one of the older plays. Half of the season's performances are usually drawn from the permanent repertoire. All the performance scripts that were ever played are kept in the Choreomartial Library with a detailed log of when it was played, spectators' reaction, estimated costs of the stage set, etc. A lot of the "new" performances are actually interpretations of the old scripts from Choreomartial Library.
During the waning moon, the Wood Elves turn Colosseum into a significantly less lofty and refined place. Their bloody performances range from honourable duels between famous gladiators to mass battles between gladiators, wild animals and beasts alike. Wood Elves put litlle effort into planning the battle, they rather prepare the set and watch the events unfold naturally. However, their performances are mostly far from a simple mindless slaughter. Wood Elves build sophisticated, though always naturalistic designs and invent different sets of rules. For example, one of the crowd favourites is the Wild Hunt, routinely with the condemned criminals as Prey. The arena is turned into a custom landscape with plenty of places to hide and some weapon stashes, and Prey's goal is to either kill all the Hunters or just survive until the end of the performance. Hunters are drawn from resident gladiators in ratio of 7 Hunters per Prey (a single Wild Hunt can have multiple Preys). Wild Hunts are the only Wild Elves' performances that have a more or less predetermined ending.
The most elaborate High Elves' production is usually reserved for the full moon and the largest-scale Wood Elves' battle - for the new moon. They are also the most expensive to watch. However, they also requires the most rehearsals, so one can visit a practice for a low price. They usually happen in the mornings, before the actual performances take place. Both High and Wood Elves keep practicing regardless of the moon phase, but during the "wrong" phase the rehearsals are minimalistic and do not involve any equipment other than training swords and gladiators themselves (including beastial ones). This way, the arena remains largely unperturbed for the other fraction's performances.
Stewardship
Colosseum is tended to by two ancient families of Stewards, one from the High Elves and one from the Wood Elves. The Stewards are responsible for literally everything: maintainence of the building itself, organisation of performances, prices, scheduling external events, you name it. They also approve the plan of performances for the season, but mostly for financial reasons. The creative part falls on the hired teams of best art directors and set designers in agreement with supporting facilities such as terraforming, animal handling or armor design units. Stewards have to get creative on different occasions though. Sometimes an owlbear gets sick right before its appearance, so a Wood Elves's steward has to find a druid unhinged enough to substitute. Sometimes High Elves have an ingenious idea to stage a sea battle with boats and live sharks right in the Colosseum, and their steward is to convince the City Council that mass shark catching (or, again, druid hires) and building reverse-flow channels from the sea to the Colosseum is a safe, sane and profitable plan.
One may think that steward's title is inherited within the families, but it's not entirely true. A new steward is elected from the renown gladiators whose time for rest has come. Essentially, this is the most honourable pension. Stewardship is limited to 100 years on a post but usually they stay in the family and assist the next steward in their duties afterwards. In order to take up the post, a gladiator is first adopted into family, accepting their surname and - on paper - their race. This stems from a contradiction between two ancient royal decrees, one stating that Colosseum is to be overseen by two particular Elven families, and another one stating that all races have equal rights in Colosseum, and assignments to any official positions are to be based exclusively on merit. The official race swithc elegantly solves this discrepancy. Some travellers still get surprised though, when a portrait of the High Elf Steward Cyrano de Bertherac most definitely features a face of a very well-groomed old orc, or the scruffy dwarf grandma in the street is respectfully called Sonya Redleaf, the Wood Elf Steward.
Gladiator Unions
Gladiators do not have their own Guild in a classical sense but they form unions. The Gladiator Unions are negotiating working conditions, salaries, sick leaves, and funeral compensations for their members. They also organise trainings, including workshops from external coaches, carry out regular audits of all the facilities and inventory, and provide support to the families of the fallen. Gladiator Unions have councils formed predominantly from the pensioned due to age or wounds gladiators (not everyone becomes a steward!). They are working full-time and are paid from the Union membership fees. All the gladiators automatically join the corresponding Wood or High Elves Union when they get a position in their first performance. Even criminals that will soon end up as an owlbear's training dummy or a Prey in a WIld Hunt are protected from excessive violence or inhumane confinement conditions by the Wood Elves' Union. They do not care for the amount of violence on the arena though.