Roselanders

The Roselanders are the people who live along the coasts of the Crystal Mother's Forest, the temperate rainforest along the northeastern coast of the Shimmering Sea. Though they are descendants of the Old Iron Empire, and thus related to the Imperials, their culture has diverged rapidly from that of the Empress's Iron Empire. They were one of the first province of the Old Empire to break away during the late Imperial Era and early during the Age of Storms. Living so close to the demon forest and so close to the Mistlands, the imperial leaders of the province had often been sorcerers by necessity, though over time, the Roselanders have gained a reputation for having the blood of demons in their veins. The Iron Empire had always been of two minds with regards to the Roselanders. On the one hand, it has always been a difficult province to hold, for it is nigh impossible to patrol the Crystal Mother's Forest, just as it would be to patrol the Jungles of Kar'ack. The resources that would be needed to take Rose, Lamentations, and Sisterwall would be immense and likely would become a breeding ground for the Broken Crown (the Roselanders, despite having ties to the old Imperial aristocracy, have largely remained uninvolved in the struggles within the Empire). Yet on the other hand, the Roselanders peddle in dangerous demon artifacts and sorcery breeds far more true in the region than elsewhere. For now, the Empress lets them be while her attentions are elsewhere.

Naming Traditions

Other names

The Roselanders are inspired by Balkan/Romanian names.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

The language of the Roselanders is called Rosean, which is related to Irontongue, but has become distinct enough to be its own language.

Culture and cultural heritage

The Roselanders were one of the last provinces to fall to the Old Iron Empire and thus one of the first to break away. Though they still have much of Imperial culture that was brought to the region, there is much that is their own. Their culture is structured around fiefdoms, with the Kings of Rose, Lamentation, and Sisterwall owning all the land around them and entrusting it to nobles and family members to run in their stead. Because of this, should any one lord gain too much power, it is a threat to the King (or Queen). The common folk of these lands just continue living their lives, hoping to avoid the attention of the nobility lest they be made to suffer for the whim of their lord.

The Roselander aristocracy are, for the most part, all sorcerers, many with Ancient Pacts that date back to the Fall of Night. They court and bargain with demons more freely and openly than most other cultures and many have the more animalistic demons under their sway. However, a noble family that falls into servitude to a demon rather than the other way around is considered a threat and the offending parties will be stripped of their land and, if there is someone suitable in the line, a successor placed at the head of the house or the land will be taken away and gifted to another instead.
The peasantry care little for who rules them, outside of hoping for a lord that is fair rather than cruel. One of the easiest ways for a person of poor blood to rise is to learn sorcery or lotusmastery, though without a pact from a bound demon, they are not considered to be "true" sorcerers.

Shared customary codes and values

The Roselanders are, as a people, believe very strongly that there are those who have the right to rule. For them, the right to rule is because the blood is stronger. This is, in a way, similar to the People of Sun and River, though the criteria that the two use is quite far apart. The Roselanders who rule claim that right because they increased the strength of their bloodlines through coupling with certain demons, many of whom have pacts with them that exist to this day.

Common Dress code

The peasantry dresses in what they can afford. Lavish and elegant is the style among the aristocracy, much as it is with their distant cousins in the Gold Coast. Though they like silk as much as any Imperial culture does, they are far from the Southlands and it is often pricier. Instead, the aristocracy will use Rosean Spider-silk in its place. This is from the Rosean Spider, a giant spider that wraps its prey in fine thin strands of silk that can be woven into clothes. The Lotusmasters of the Roselands have even learned how to 'lace' a food with certain concoctions to grant the spider silk the magical properties they want, though this is very expensive. Normally, the Roselanders will use something big to offer these mostly wild spiders to ensure that when the spider is through with the meal, there is enough silk remaining to make the effort worth it. This can be anything from a cow to a sheep or in the darkest of stories, it is said some of the aristocracy would even offer a servant that had angered them or outlived their usefulness to the Rose Spider as a meal.
The Knights of Steel and Sigil dress in plate armor when they go to battle, but most of the Roseans will rely on boiled leather with perhaps a breastplate or some greaves. The plate armor of the Knights of Steel and Sigil is made from Ensorcelled Steel, which is made when the Demon Metal (the Imperials and Firelanders call this 'arsenic') is added to the forging process to make the steel more rigid. They will also cast particular Sigilite invocations during the smelting process, which are thought to imbue it with magical powers.

Art & Architecture

The Roselanders continued with the styles of the Old Iron Empire, using a mixture of stone and wood. The three large cities of Rose, Lamentation, and Sisterwall all have old stone buildings that were built by the Iron Empire, and they still use it for building their churches and places of gathering, but otherwise rely on the wood from the Crystal Mother's Forest. 
The Roselanders have a love of glass and crystals in art. They often will create windows filled with panes of stained glass, giving their buildings a colorful feeling as the light is colored to match the glass. Like the people of the Jeweled Cities, they also will use sculpture to decorate, though they often incorporate the statues as support and adornment into their buildings rather than as free standing art pieces.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

The Roselanders prefer lighter, fairer skin to the darker shades. For hair colors, they prefer those that stand out, such as red, or white, or a dark jet black. Their ideal eye shape are oval-shaped. For body shape, their ideals seem to be, for men, strong enough to wear armor and carry a sword, with bigger frames. The ideal woman is often slender, with much narrower shoulders and frames. Unlike their Imperial cousins, they care little for contrast, instead finding beauty more akin to the citizens of the Gold Coast (likely a remnant of the standards of the Old Iron Empire), where the mark of a true master of beauty is to make it seem as though you are doing little to make yourself appear beautiful. However, the Roselanders are not afraid to use sorcery and charms to make themselves appear as they please. Thus, for the Roselanders, beauty is tied to sorcery.

Gender Ideals

Because of their focus on bloodlines (for the purposes of their aristocracy and sorcery), the ideal for both genders is to be a sorcerer. The nobility of the Roselanders, regardless of their city or village, are all sorcerers of some degree or another, with those unfortunate enough to not have been able to learn the gift shuffled off to be used to feed minor lines and houses in the hope that they may pass on their prodigious bloodline to someone with better prospects. 
As the gift does not favor men or women, it is almost immaterial in the Roselander culture. However, because it is easier to track the bloodline through the women, they have a matriarchal society, and it is expected that all noblewomen have the gift. Family lines are tracked by matrilineal descent and often the power of a house will transfer to the eldest daughter, with the other children receiving what remains. The eldest son will almost never inherit, except in rare circumstances where two houses are to be joined together into one.

Courtship Ideals

For the nobility and for those who can afford it, arranged marriages are expected, just as they are in the Gold Coast. After all, if you can match powerful noble lines together, then their children will have the potential to be even stronger. The idea of marrying for love is foreign in the Roselands. If you wish to have bastards, have them, so long as you produce official heirs. In this, the wives do have a bit of disadvantage, for they should not waste themselves on unworthy sires, but there are many ways for a sorceress to protect herself from such an outcome, and many will retain Lotusmasters in their households.

Relationship Ideals

A wife is the ruler of her house, for it is her bloodline that will pass on. She is expected to manage the finances for her family and house and to teach her children the art of sorcery, if she herself is one. The husband must abide by her decision in matters of court and business, but there is little expectation that the two will be in each others company very often. Among the peasantry, children will grow up learning their parents' trade, but for the nobility, they will often pass of child rearing to servants until they are of age to learn how to read.

Major organizations

Knights of Steel and Sigil

The Knights of Steel and Sigil is an order of sorcerous knights that patrol the Crystal Mother's Forests. This is often the fate of younger children of the nobility, especially those whose families cannot afford to divide their estates much at all. The Knights of Steel and Sigil keep watch for signs of the Crystal Mother stirring in the earth and to stop any Followers of the Dreamers from communing with They Who Dream Between Stars, following traditions they have kept since the Days of Blood and Shadow. Each Knight is clad in ensorcelled steel, which is harder than normal steel. Those with the gift of sorcery find that with a bit of their power, they can break the weapons of those who strike them, be they monstrous claws or human forged steel. Those with sufficient will and determination are said to be able to perform this feat as well, though the cost of the magic grows stronger the more it is used in a single fight...

The Immortal Vigil

The Immortal Vigil is a small order of demon and monster hunters who operate out of the Roseland cities and villages, but are met with a mixture of gratitude and suspicion. Each of these demon hunters operates with the stated goal of protecting the people of the Roselands from the horrors that dwell within the Crystal Mother's Forest. However, unlike the Knights of Steel and Sigil, there are very few sorcerers among the Immortal Vigil, for unlike most of the Roselands, they consider demons to be as much a threat to humans as other monsters. They see little difference between the demons and the Mistwalkers, despite the assurances of the Roseland aristocracy that the demons are their servants and the sorcerers are the ones in control. As such, very few of the aristocracy actually support the Immortal Vigil. They rely on the support of the peasantry in the village. Many of their members use Lotusmastery to enhance their ability to combat the supernatural or they channel a power from within through their dedication and self-discipline.

Parent ethnicities

• Imperials

Related Organizations

• Knights of Steel and Sigil
• The Dreamers of the Crystal Mother

Related Locations

• Crystal Mother's Forest