The World of Sanguine Rose
The Recent History of Greater Hirane and the Amarinthian Empire
The world that Sanguine Rose takes place in is currently locked in war. To the East, the recently reformed Amarinthian Empire wages war against its neighbour to the West: Greater Hirane. Only a generation ago the conflict between these two nations came to a halt when The Gardens - the main food source of Amarinthia - was burned by Greater Hirane. The resulting food crisis was only prevented by House Sanguine Rose, a minor noble house within The Gardens that survived the burning. They cooperated with Greater Hirane to save the people of Amarinthia from starvation, and for almost two decades Amarinthia was governed by Greater Hirane.During this unsteady peace, House Sanguine Rose gathered power and soldiers, under the guise of working on behalf of the Hiranian government. So respected was the Lord of House Sanguine Rose that he was made a member of the council which governed Amarinthian affairs on behalf of Greater Hirane. Slowly, soldiers raised amidst his militia became the bodyguards of all nobles and officials on the council. Then, one day, the Lord did not attend the council meeting. These meetings were held, ceremoniously, in the former seat of power: Amarinth. The throne would stand empty while the country's affairs were decided. This day would be different. The Lord's daughter, Anastasia of House Sanguine Rose, arrived in place of her Father. As the Hiranian nobles looked on in horror, she sat the throne of Amarinthia and declared herself queen.
As the ruling agents of Greater Hirane moved to arrest her, they found their own bodyguards turned upon them. The battle was quick and one-sided, and as news spread across Amarinthia, more and more Sanguine Rose raised soldiers rebelled against their new foreign masters and cut them down. In the space of a week, The Sanguine Rose rebellion had recaptured most of the Amarinthian Empire. Within a month, they laid their sights on Greater Hirane. Presently, most of East Skagen has been captured. Greater Hirane has withdrawn their troops behind the mountain range which divides their country. Everyone is preparing for a great and bloody war. In the midst of this conflict, Carmen Valentine, the High General of the Sanguine Rose army and close personal friend of Queen Anastasia, disappears in the dead of night.
The Southern Isles
While the Northern territories are warm and bountiful, the Southern territories are cold and harsh. None are more so than the Southern Isles themselves. The Southern Isles are a frozen waste where most men could not survive, in fact, men do not live there at all. It is the native home of the orcs. Their thick skin, brutish nature, and physical strength make them ideal to survive such climates. When sailors first arrived there centuries ago, they were almost always killed on sight. However, the orcs proved to be clever as well as strong. They seized ships and even built their own, and became a pirating menace to the Southern coast of Greater Hirane and Amarinthia. Luckily, the anti-social nature of Pure-blooded orcs led to them being entirely ineffective at managing larger crews, which led to their swift defeat when faced with an actual army.
Over the following centuries, many half-orcs were born. Sometimes through women stolen by Orc pirates and forced to carry their children, and sometimes through Orc women captured by Human soldiers and forced to carry their children. And, in some rare cases, genuine affection felt across the two races. These half-orcs proved to be more effective coordinators and negotiators and integrated rather effectively into both sides of the sea. Within the mainland, they often operated mercenaries and soldiers, while in the Southern Isles they built settlements and towns and pushed their pure blooded brethren further south. Nowadays it is very rare to encounter full blooded orcs, but far from impossible.
The most interesting thing to come from all these affairs was the nature of half-orcs themselves. Perhaps due to the nature of their births, or some interesting quirk of biology, most mixed-bloods tend to be extremely sexually proactive. This, combined with their natural difficulty with having offspring, has led to a large sex trade on both sides of the sea involving half-orcs. It's difficult to gauge the morality of such an industry when the majority of the workers seem perfectly pleased with the arrangement.
