In her youth Vivianna ran away from home, as was the traditional custom of the more ambitious youth of her society. She washed ashore and made her way to the Imperial Capital. After getting abducted by that nasty corrupt senator, Vivianna and her friends were sent to the arena as gladiatorial slaves. As an inexperienced gladiatorial novitiate, the trainer sneered at her ability to entertain the crowd with her fighting ability. However he also shrewdly surmised the crowd would boo if a pretty young girl was slaughtered easily by a more powerful gladiator. Therefore he thrust a flashy but scanty outfit on her and instructed her to wear that. She was given a flamboyant-looking but clunky, unwieldy broadsword and sent out into the center of the arena as "Vivi the Beguiler," a maiden of the Empire's nemesis, there to face Martigan the Savage, a gladiator who towered head and shoulders above her. His own darkly exotic blade entranced her gaze, causing her to momentarily lose her senses and shockingly turn her back to the sponsor's box, a severe breech of etiquette. This raised a jeer from the crowd, but the man himself rather admired the view.