Rosaria’s four sons were conscripted for the war and the bodies of all four found their ways home from the war. She had them all buried on the knoll behind the house to rest with their father. Of course Rosaria wasn’t the only to lose children in the war, most of her neighbors did as well. When she was young Rosaria’s father had told her that wars were only good to make the rich richer, that there was never a war fought that was good for the poor. Back then Rosaria hadn’t known if she quite believed her father, but now she wondered.
Like others she had heard that the nobles said the war was necessary, that the neighboring country was going to attack. But some of her neighbors had doubts. Some, like her father, albeit more quietly, said that the poor always die in the nobles’ wars – it’s just the way it is and always has been and always will be, and the best one can do is hope for a short war and quick return for your loved ones.
Rosaria began to hear and see that some of the merchants seemed to be better off than usual, as were some of the nobles. Some were riding around in fancier carriages, they and their wives and children wearing more expensive clothing, some adding on to their homes, others buying up more land, their children riding new ponies all over the countryside gleefully scattering the peasants’ livestock, and of course these merchants and nobles were having not just more parties but more extravagant parties. Rosaria traveled into the neighboring country her’s went to war with and found out that the people there had not wanted war and were surprised her country invaded theirs. Their country was even willing to give up some land to prevent the war.
Rosaria returned to her home country and did more investigating, more listening and watching, especially listening to the loose, liquored-up lips of some of the more unwise gentry and their lackeys, and discovered that a small group of merchants, with the legal and financial backing of some nobles, had gained control over trade for many essential goods some time just before the war began and thus became ridiculously wealthy as the war drove the price for these goods up. The war it seemed had been waged not for defense but for profit.
Rosaria decided that no more people’s children would die so that the rich could get richer. She got a crossbow and some bolts and planned to kill as many of these nobles and merchants, these profiteers, as she could at the summer festival. But Rosaria was no assassin of any kind and so was easily uncovered and arrested. At her trial one of the profiteering nobles, one completely oblivious to the reality of the lives of those beneath his station, made the mistake of asking Rosaria why she, this peasant woman, would take up arms against her betters. Rosaria calmly and with great grace said that no parent should have to lose a child so that those already rich and powerful should have more. The nobles seized upon this. They said who was she, a common-born, to decide how and why wars are waged? The gods made some men noble and some men common and those that were noble had the divine right to decide when to go to war and why. So Rosaria was not only charged with treason, she was also charged with blasphemy. For both crimes, Rosaria was publicly tortured to death in a most gruesome and brutal manner so as to burn out any seeds of insurrection or other like sentiments from the peasants’ minds.
It was about nine years after Rosaria’s execution that the first of the rich that profited off the war suffered an unfortunate turn of events. This noble, an accomplished rider, was thrown from his horse and ended up with a broken neck. Not long after, one of the merchants died of heart attack after enjoying a holiday meal – he must have had too much drink and too much rich food. It happens you know. One by one over the course of the next few years every merchant and noble that had a hand in provoking the country into war and profiting off it (and some of their spoiled wives and brats) died in some unfortunate accident or poor turn of health. No one ever came forward to claim responsibility for the deaths. No written grievances were found or symbols carved into trees or painted on walls. There was never any evidence of foul play or outright murder. Some said that Rosaria’s ghost was killing the profiteers off. There were stories of Rosaria being seen next to the nobles and merchants before they died or soon after. Some said that Rosaria appeared as some terrible, wailing specter that could be seen floating thru the halls of the rich, or waiting for her victims in places they would least expect and then scare them to death or rend their souls from them they way her body had been rent. Other accounts stated Rosaria could be seen, appearing as she looked before her execution, simply walking out of the home of her latest kill, or slowly trailing after some rich profiteer as they blissfully rode thru the streets in their fancy carriage or as they pranced thru the countryside on one of their show ponies. Others said the deaths were caused by Rosaria’s grandchildren that had grown up enough to seek revenge for their grandmother and fathers. Others that Rosaria’s death had inspired a quiet rebellion. Another rumor was that Lady Ire (Lady Isae) came to assist Rosaria somehow and had granted her the powers to seek her revenge as Rosaria had been both brokenhearted and betrayed, as had most of the peasants, but Rosaria was the one that took action. Whatever the case, the remaining nobles and merchants of Rosaria’s country, and the remaining family members of the profiteers, did not again start a war to line their own pockets, lest Red Rosey come visit them.
How to incorporate into your game:
Rosaria is a ghost that wanders and assists the wronged and/or can be called to aid the righteous that have been wronged.
Rosaria goes by many names: Red Rosey, Revenge Roses, the Vengeful Rose, Our Lady Rose, Saint Rose, Saint Rosey, Our Lady of Justice, Our Lady of Justice Saint Rose. To scare some she’s called Red Rosey, to those that seek her aid she’s called Saint Rose.
Rosaria is a demigod of sorts or Patron/Patron saint that can shed some grace/power on those seeking to right some injustice where the powerless – poor and common folk, were harmed by the rich and powerful. Some powers: deception, infiltration, sneak attack, disguise, invisibility, extra speed, increased survival skills, dark vision, knowledge of poisons, increased dexterity, proficiency with all weapons, read thoughts, spider climb, water walk, meld into stone, increased evasion – whatever would help with killing and making it look like the death was natural.
Rosaria and her sons rest in a peaceful afterlife/ heaven in the Divine Plane and may assist if you find her there – mainly with knowledge.
It’s been generations/centuries since Rosaria and the profiteers were killed and those in power there in her homeland are planning war for profit and many poor and innocent will needlessly lose their lives – what to do? Will Rosaria come back? Should she be called back? Was it her grandchildren that killed the profiteers, or was it her grandchildren and /or other peasants? Did she have grandchildren, or was that added into the legend later on and is inaccurate.
Are there any physical remains of Rosaria and her husband and sons that have any importance or can be used to communicate with them and find out what happened and if her family is at peace?
Are their any artifacts of Rosaria’s – something from her home, or some bit of clothing, holy symbol, lock of hair from her execution, etc that has been passed down thru the generations?
Did Rosaria become an agent of some god of justice, or of some compassionate god of Benevolence?
