SHR Main Page | Opera Propria | Gifts from the Moon Introduction
The Rosegarten story is described in detail in Sanctuary of Ice, and is slightly less than three pages long in the Wolff version, so retelling it isn't necessary. A few additional points may be of interest.
Three barriers prevented enemies from plundering the Rosegarten and Laurin's caverns filled with treasure. The beauty of the realm was, itself, defensive. Enemies who saw it were so enthralled by its beauty that their aggressive urges fled them. Laurin had a magical silken thread looped about his kingdom, and anyone who crossed it would be forced to fight him, which prevented surreptitious thievery. Laurin was also armed with potent magical weapons and assisted by five giants.
The beauty of the Rosegarten did not protect Laurin because one of those assailing his realm, the ferocious warrior Witege, was insensitive to it. Witege presumably had the Fury Virtue. Other characters viewing the Rosegarten seem to have suffered an effect similar to "Blessing of the Childlike Bliss." Witege cut the thread about the kingdom, summoning Laurin and freeing his comrades from the spell of the Garden.
The thread was an alarm. Those who crossed or cut it warned Laurin of their existence and location. Laurin arrived, with ill-described magical weapons and a retinue of giants, and did battle.
Laurin fell in battle with the heroes who came to rescue Princess Similde. One of them was the famous Dietrich of Bern, described in XXXX. They took him to be the buffoon at the court of Bozen, but he escaped, as noted in Sanctuary of Ice, and transformed the Rosegarten to stone, by day or night.
The Rosegarten still exists and remains visible, beckoning Hermetic explorers. Laurin dislikes humans, because he has been humiliated at their hands, and knows what has been done to other faerie courts by priests and magi. He is, however, confident of his power, and is therefore willing to discuss matters of trade with suitably polite visitors.
The Rosegarten may be an excellent site to found a covenant upon. No covenant has ever publicly admitted to conquering the Rosegarten, and in the Alps they are more forthcoming about such things than elsewhere. Founding covenants in the Alps is difficult because magi need to demonstrate that they can supply sufficient vis that the new organization's members will not trouble their sodales. The Rosegarten is one of the few places in the Alps in which a large, untapped vis source is universally-known but difficult to reach.
To settle the Rosegarten, characters will need to subdue Laurin - or his successor - the retinue of warriors that serves him, and his subjects. These are likely to include giants and dwarfs respectively. If they can find a way to cross the warding thread without activating it, the characters might be able to face individual defenders, unprepared for assault, instead of facing Laurin's host in a mass.
Characters may find that the Rosegarten is too small to contain the cropland required for a manorial economy. How they provide food for themselves will be one of the determinants of their covenant's long-term interests. If they can loot the treasure caves of Laurin they will not need to worry about their income for some time, although arranging to pay for simple items, like food, with gold or gemstones involves negotiations with noblemen, which brings its own complications. As a further barrier, dwarfs are known for putting potent curses on their treasures - curses that even the Asgardian Gods, in one well-known story, cannot dispel.
It is possible that some of the variations on Laurin's story are true, and that he has passed away. In that case it is unclear who will control his kingdom, since his daughter seems to have cried herself to death, creating an Alpine lake. In other variants he has at least two living daughters, one of whom may still be insane with grief. Laurin's youngest daughter, untrained in rulership and unsupported by his army, might choose exile over forced marriage to the warrior who commandeers her father's throne.
This provides a pair of story hooks. The Princess of the Rosegarten might seek allies to retake her throne, either from an established covenant or from a band of young magi seeking a place in the world. Alternatively, a character with strong faerie blood might be the grandchild of Laurin, who in this variant may not be a dwarf, and may seek the throne stolen from his or her family.
Characters with connections to dwarfs or giants might, of course, fight on either side of the civil war. The giants in the Alps have, for the most part, friendly relations with House Merinita, and some of their magic-using caste are progressive thinkers who understand the value of interaction with the outside world. Creatures similar to these were the source of the gruagach magic found primarily in Loch Legean, so Bonisagus magi might be drawn in on their side. Were a magic-using giant to take control of the Rosegarten, his magically-trained servants might become involved in Hermetic society. An unusual campaign, where the characters are gruagachan in the service of a gigantic master, is a possibility.
A gigantic victory, under the leadership of one of the more brutal members of this race, could make life very difficult for humans in this region. The Rosegarten is very difficult to get to, if you are human-sized, and raiding parties of giants could retreat there to recuperate after foraging in surrounding villages.
Text copyright © Timothy Ferguson 2004.