So, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not much into deep lore building in my pcs (but to be fair, I’ve only ever taken part in a couple of one shots).  However, one of my friends really wanted to try her hand at DMing a full-length campaign and decided to have us start with Curse of Strahd.  The surface level background for my character is he’s an ex-enslaved pit fighter white-scaled Dragonborn barbarian who now travels around with the daughter of the woman who helped free him as she tries to establish her own fighting franchise (but more as a WWE-like fighting than as a blood sport).  We’ve agreed the starting point for our characters would be on the continent of Faerun and that’s where I’m starting to hit some difficulty.  

 I’m set on him being born in the north-eastern part of the continent since the atmosphere there feels perfect for his tribe, but where I am getting stuck is, after being captured by raiders, where would they go in Faerun to sell him?  I thought about Calimport since, from my few quick searches, that area seems to support a slave trade, but from what I gathered, that city had already abolished slavery. 

 This is where you more knowledgeable people come in.  Can anyone please provide me a few ideas of place on Faerun where it would make sense for my character to be an enslaved pit fighter?  Does not matter if it’s on the up-and-up or an underground situation.

Thanks in advance. :D

Quote from Stroper >>

So, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not much into deep lore building in my pcs (but to be fair, I’ve only ever taken part in a couple of one shots).  However, one of my friends really wanted to try her hand at DMing a full-length campaign and decided to have us start with Curse of Strahd.  The surface level background for my character is he’s an ex-enslaved pit fighter white-scaled Dragonborn barbarian who now travels around with the daughter of the woman who helped free him as she tries to establish her own fighting franchise (but more as a WWE-like fighting than as a blood sport).  We’ve agreed the starting point for our characters would be on the continent of Faerun and that’s where I’m starting to hit some difficulty.  

 I’m set on him being born in the north-eastern part of the continent since the atmosphere there feels perfect for his tribe, but where I am getting stuck is, after being captured by raiders, where would they go in Faerun to sell him?  I thought about Calimport since, from my few quick searches, that area seems to support a slave trade, but from what I gathered, that city had already abolished slavery. 

 This is where you more knowledgeable people come in.  Can anyone please provide me a few ideas of place on Faerun where it would make sense for my character to be an enslaved pit fighter?  Does not matter if it’s on the up-and-up or an underground situation.

Thanks in advance. :D

 As far as i know the Xanathar Guild does a lot of slave trading. So maybe Skullport?

The Thayans are who you're looking for.  They're slavers, in the northeast of Faerun.  They're human supremacists.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Thay

The Underdark is another good one.
Have him be a former pitfighter for Duergar or Drow nobles and he got out of it when his mistress took pity on him/was so impressed by him. 

The Red Wizards of Thay is a slaving nation, but they are wizards. Could have him be enslaved by the Rosznars, and have DM do WDoMM afterwards.

A lot of the old lore on the Red Wizards has been undone.  The Zulkirs have returned to power.  Since the sundering FR is mostly as it was pre-spellplague...whether that really makes any sense or not.