Rosereach

Rosereach
also known as Rosereach County
Kind	County and port city
Region / realm	Velfald
Ruler	Count Aric Rosemen (House Rosemen)
Power in play	Magnus Arcanum (Arcanum Tower) · Legion · Roseguard
Status	Destroyed by a modified Cloudkill ritual; the site is now Deadreach
GM canon
first cited: [last-winter#862]

Rosereach was a port city and county on the coast of the Velfald Regency, ruled by House Rosemen and known for its rose gardens. ^{[last-winter#300 · last-winter#862]} It was destroyed during the Winter War, when Naevys Duskbloom cast a modified Cloudkill ritual over it; the site has been called Deadreach ever since. ^{[heralds-a#47 · heralds-a#48 · heralds-a#51]}

This page covers the city as it stood before the catastrophe. What stands on the site today is covered at Deadreach. ^{[owner-form-2026-09-17]}

Overview

Rosereach was a county, not a duchy. ^{[last-winter#862]} No Cardinal resided there, and the imperial presence amounted to a Legion Barracks and a Seer. ^{[last-winter#862]} The barony of Snakecross lay inside the county, and the land was known for its rose gardens. ^{[last-winter#300]} A barony called Snakepass is also placed administratively under the county. ^{[heralds-b#53]} The city itself stood on a peninsula. ^{[last-winter#751]}

Rosereach was the only major port in what later became the invaded region. ^{[last-winter#663]} It sat on the main trade road to the northern and eastern fronts and on the supply line feeding the Spring Elves' armies. ^{[last-winter#663]}

Rule and institutions

The county was held by House Rosemen at count rank, and Count Aric Rosemen governed from the city. ^{[last-winter#323 · last-winter#375]} The city had its own mage tower affiliated with the Magnus Arcanum, led by its own archmage. ^{[heralds-b#43]} Rosereach Castle and the elven Palewood Mansion both stood in the city, alongside the Legion Division of Rosereach. ^{[last-winter#717 · last-winter#721 · last-winter#725]} The War Council of Rosereach met here and directed the city's defence. ^{[last-winter#753 · last-winter#755]}

The city was built over a temple of the Flower Goddess. ^{[heralds-a#125]}

Defence in the Winter War

Rosereach was defended by the Velfald Regency, whose supply and reinforcement routes ran through it; the regency's war council met in the city. ^{[heralds-b#5 · heralds-b#6]} Walls were built and the city prepared for a possible siege. ^{[last-winter#663]} South of the city, the Winter Elf-controlled western front began a landing near a village that belonged to the county but lay outside the city's own bounds; the county's knights and the duchy's soldiers moved to stop it. ^{[last-winter#663]}

The coasts and cliffs were held by Moonward soldiers and the Legion against Winter Elf attempts to land. ^{[last-winter#764 · last-winter#779]} In those assaults the Winter Forces used no siege engines, monsters, magic or allied warbands — only arrows and soldiers who climbed the cliffs on ropes. ^{[last-winter#779]} When they used ships at all, it was to land on the shores rather than to strike the cliffs directly. ^{[last-winter#779]} The Legion was stationed in the city and commanded from here by Legion Lieutenant Cassius Dravenhall. ^{[last-winter#800]}

The Heralds of the Cycle defended the city. ^{[heralds-b#27]} The enemy did not strike it directly and the war continued around it, leaving the defenders feeling they were not engaged at the front; an assassin team infiltrated through the sewers instead. ^{[heralds-b#27]} An army once tried to force its way past the city while Elnaril watched; had the city fallen, more than Rosereach alone would have been lost. ^{[heralds-a#121]}

The ship and the catastrophe

A ship carrying unknown cargo arrived at Rosereach's harbour, and rats infested with that cargo came ashore with it; Naevys Duskbloom was running a protective project in the city when the arcane catastrophe struck. ^{[heralds-a#17]}

During the war, the Count was drawn away by a staged assassination attempt, followed by an evacuation and a massacre of the palace's household staff on suspicion that they were changelings; both the Count and the city's battle-archmage went missing. ^{[heralds-b#43 · heralds-b#46 · heralds-b#49]}

As the Winter Elves and Bella Worthmore's forces threatened the region, Naevys cast a modified Cloudkill ritual to stop their combined advance — in her own words, "I sacrificed a city to save a region." ^{[heralds-a#117 · heralds-a#119]} That ritual is the origin of both the Modified Cloudkill Spell and the Rose Rot that followed it. ^{[heralds-a#117 · heralds-a#119]} The ritual tore bodies apart; thousands died, and many victims did not remain whole. ^{[heralds-a#74 · heralds-a#76]}

Players, stop here. What is hidden behind this point is game-master material. The full detail is on GM:Rosereach.

What happened next

Rosereach became a dead but moving city. ^{[heralds-a#48 · heralds-a#51]} The Winter Elves, having lost their army there, withdrew from the plains around it and no longer enter it. ^{[heralds-a#51]} The ruin has been known as Deadreach ever since. ^{[heralds-a#47]} What remains of the city, its dead and its tower is covered at Deadreach. ^{[owner-form-2026-09-17]}

Unresolved questions

Needs a decision: Whether the barony of Snakepass is a second barony of the county or another spelling of Snakecross was never settled.^{[heralds-b#53 · last-winter#312]}

Needs a decision: Whether "Inkveil," named alongside the war council in Rosereach, is a separate place or another name for part of the city was never settled.^{[last-winter#841]}

Related pages

• Deadreach — what the city became after the ritual
• House Rosemen — the house that held the county at count rank
• Aric Rosemen — the Count who governed from the city and went missing during the war
• Roseguard — the guard order that protected the city
• Velfald — the regency that defended the county and whose war council met here
• Snakecross — the barony inside the county
• Magnus Arcanum — the order whose tower stood in the city
• Naevys Duskbloom — the archmage whose ritual destroyed the city
• Legion Division of Rosereach — the Legion formation stationed in the city
• Flower Goddess — the goddess whose temple lay beneath the city

Unconfirmed ideas

The source conversations contain proposals for Rosereach that the campaign owner never confirmed. They are collected on Idea:Rosereach so they cannot be mistaken for canon.