I’ve been working on Wintergris over the bachelor weekend while my wife and daughter are away, and in some of the downtime, I scribbled this together. It seems like it might be a fun thing to run as a one-on-one campaign using Pathfinder or maybe something more painterly. I liked that it mixes intrigue and “go fight stuff.” In fact, I see the player in the role of the Queen’s Envoy as sort of like Walsingham from Elizabeth. It’s also fun to revel in the influences here. You can see obvious inflections of Gene Wolfe, Glen Cook, and a heapin’ helpin’ of Victoriana. Or perhaps just a less-deft Gormenghast.
Since time out of mind, the Queen has rules the City of Roses, which spans beyond the horizon in all directions. Truly, none knows what, if anything, lies beyond Roses; no once call recall ever meeting anyone from outside its walls or even how to leave its environs. So it is with the Queen, as well — it seems she has always ruled, and likely always will.
The Queen and Court
Hidden behind a curtain-veil that surrounds her throne, the Queen rules the City of Roses as its unquestioned monarch. Beneath her, her court schemes in secret after making a show of bowing to her absolute power.
The court is very much an extension of the Queen’s will. She grants and rescinds titles with motive known only to her, and her poisonous ire one day might turn to fawning favor the next.
At present, the courtly fashion accessories in vogue are fanciful masks, giving the impression that the whole of the aristocracy is involved in an elaborate charade. While the nobles conspire behind their stylish accouterments, the politics of the realm take shape. One is left with the impression that the ceremony is as much for protection as it is for amusement — but exactly who’s playing the joke on whom often remains unclear.
The City of Roses
The city itself is a sprawling mystery, a vast urban dystopia, and a clash of haves and have-nots. Unseen forces plot inscrutable agendas while the Queen’s court conducts its own perilous game of power and intrigue. Things man was not meant to know prowl the City of Roses at night, while it also issues forth wonders that might be considered little less than miracles.
In the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods, towers soar skyward, pushed toward the heavens by gossamer architecture and traversed by bridges that seem to fly from structure to structure, while stained-glass windows glitter like gems when the sun strikes them.
Not all is so beautiful or vibrant in the City of Roses, however. Much of the city is poor, filthy, underdeveloped, or industrial. The city’s mines churn out coarse ores from beneath the surface of the earth. Smithies and refineries spew impenetrable smoke. Rookeries and tenements flourish in the shadows of the wealthy districts.
Much of the city — perhaps a third or more by the reckoning of some sages — is a cyclopean ruin, a still-standing testament to forgotten times. Today these ruins house the desperate and strange, and are even whispered to be the domains of monsters and other unspeakable things.
Matters of Faith
Officially, the religion of the City of Roses is Theosophy, a pursuit of virtues that lead men toward “the Absolute.” The Queen’s Theosophy is a civic faith, intended to promote critical thought, science, artistic expression, commerce, and a more vaguely defined “good deeds.” Understanding of universal mysteries and a study of the arcane arts are also relevant, as Theosophy maintains that the cosmos and all its attendant powers are both conscious entities and interrelated in some capacity.
An official religion does nothing to stem the tide of the various other faiths, cults, and outright heresies that thrive in the city. Everything from veneration of obscure pantheons to nature worship to a bizarre sect claiming that the Queen herself is a god finds adherents in the City of Roses. Ancestor worship, deification of abstract concepts, the Temple of the Rat-Curse God: All of these and more find their place from the home shrines to the subterranean altars of the city.
Very intriguing. What sort of magic/technological development has Roses achieved? Are there sprawling universities to visit? Look forward to reading more about it all.
Great question! I hadn’t even considered the state of eduction in the Queen’s domain. It’s certainly something that deserves some attention, as it can help reinforce that haves-versus-have-nots element. Good call!
What’s the economy like? Is it state run or primarily hands off? As for education, I’d think that given the semi-industrial aspect to the city, most people would belong to guilds where they would learn a trade, though there could be a permanent underclass that ends up in dead-end factory jobs. I’d figure that the kids of the nobles would go to high-end schools (I’d guess state-run) of some kind, depending on how the Queen runs the economy and what kind of influence she wants to actively maintain over the noble families.
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