The following story takes place in the Equestria at War universe. It contains major spoilers for the Dread League.
Rosa Maledicta. The name once struck fear into all who heard it, but now there was no one left to hear it.
Her Black Crusade against the living has just ended. She had done it. Everyone, everywhere, was dead. The world was empty. Now the self-proclaimed Queen of Bones stands atop her tower in Magehold, reflecting upon her experiences in life and unlife. It had taken a lot of work to get here, after all.
Yet...
Despite harboring an intense hatred for the living, she couldn't help but wonder...
Was it really worth it?
(Trigger warning: Death via falling from a great height as well as via blunt trauma)
Chapters (2)
Nice to see another Rosa fan
. It is interesting, I always envisioned Rosa getting her cutie mark in a similar fashion as you wrote here (but instead trying to resurrect a pet or something). You made her being forced to leave very believable. I also think that is what makes Rosa such an interesting character because her environment plays just as much of a role in her joining the Dread League as she does herself. Like if just one creature decided to look past their own preconceptions of "dark magic" and tried to help Rosa instead of condemning her, than she would not have become so evil.
I would say that this chapter on it's own could already be a complete story so I am very curious to see what happens next.
The world has been been cleansed from the living.
**Deep Sea Marine life and crabs raving in the background**
This was really good, and I look forward to the next chapter
Always love to see a story about one of my favorite characters.
Sucks I can never make much progress in game with her tho lol
This is fantastic. I've always loved Rosa and as a big fan of Arcturia I always choose to spare her and make sure good boy William has his Undead Queen by his side.
Yes. Yes. YES!
This is the kind of story I hope to see more out of this universe and I am so glad someone else is finally delving into Rosa!
I am of two minds of this whole revelation of regret after mortality was returned to Rosa. Looking back on it in hindsight after the end of the world seems inconsequential. But I think your next chapter has something to add on to that, I hope.
I am looking forward to your work
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Thank you all for your kind words. I was greatly disheartened when I found out that the Equestria at War team didn't like or plan on updating the Dread League, so it's my hope that this fanfiction can help tell the story we really wanted to hear.
This story is very good so far, and it's always nice to see Rosa get the spotlight she deserves.
I play the Dread League pretty much every single time. Haven't won as them yet, and I'm not sure how you even can without getting cheaty (web searches have been less than helpful), but I still love them.
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Wait, they seriously aren't doing any more work on the Dread League? But there's so much more story to tell! What's the history of Magehold? The other nations pretty much all have special history tabs for numerous cities, but Magehold (and Tarpian Rock, for that matter) have nothing!
The Windigoes never make a comback, even when the denizens of the world (and their food source) are about to be killed off. The fact that literally everybody dies (in a way they can't come back from) and Rosa kills herself is never properly explained, and frankly I think the very premise is half-baked nonsense from a writer with no imagination.
The horribly implemented math patch makes all of the much-needed research bonuses completely worthless, and a nation that starts of with nothing and goes to war with literally everyone needs more than three damn research slots. All of that isn't even touching on the crippling penalties to construction and production that take years to get rid of and make it impossible to field an army, airforce, and navy large enough to take on the OP major powers on the Griffonian continent who almost always start expanding towards you before you're even ready for the Black Crusade.
I love the Dread League, but I don't love many of the decisions that went into its development. Mad props to you for expanding on the storyline and doing a potential-saturated character (and the whole nation, frankly) justice.
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I always thought it was slated for much later like griffonstone (post zebrica and post Equus update)
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Picking through the code of the game, it appears that at some point Rosa becomes aware the Windigoes are controlling her, even her thoughts. She eventually meets with Queen Spectre and then decides to purge the entire world of life out of spite. At the end of the game when you've won, she muses about how there is now eternal peace because there are no creatures around to commit war. Queen Spectre returns to bitch about it because her people are going to die in a few decades because of Rosa. Then she kills herself to complete the eradication of the world.
You know, if you don't count Zebrica.
She doesn't die because she's a lich, lul.
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Story-wise, I've gotten up to the point where Rosa meets with the Windigo Queen. The text doesn't say that Rosa decides to destroy everything because of the Windigoes, she just says that she wanted to do this anyway, and carries on as normal. Keep in mind that Rosa doesn't meet up with the Windigo Queen until well after the Black Crusade started.
This is more speculation on my part, as I haven't read through the files, but according to the accounts of others, the windigoes don't return at all, even once you've finished the game.
I'm interested to see what will happen with Zebrica. The Dread League focus tree includes focuses involving voodoo priests, so it'd be neat to see that expanded upon.
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"She doesn't die because she's a lich, lul."
With all due respect, did you even read this story? She destroyed her phylactery. You know, the thing that prevents liches from dying?
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Well that argument indeed doesn't work.
But at the same time to be frank i will say thay i found your take on it weird. Destroying the phylactery would normally either just destroy her or simply make it so she cannot come back once more if her body gets destroyed. Not ¨Make her mortal again¨ like in the story.
Even if her soul returned to her after the phylactery's destruction she would normally still be undead.
In any cases. it is a nice story.
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My take on the phylactery is this: As long as it exists, the Lich it belongs to cannot die. If it were damaged or otherwise destroyed, then the Lich becomes like anyone else (albeit still undead), and can be permanently killed by most normal means.
"Was it worth it?"
That is a question I wish would be asked more often. Power, peace, revenge, immortality, that question is almost never asked much less answered. It might not be necessary, especially when other people are paying the price instead of the person who sought things like these, but I believe this question deserves an answer when someone in that series can achieve the same things without insane sacrifices like Vergil/ Urizen/ V made for power with the Qliphoth Tree in DMC5 when it took next to nothing for Dante and Nero to obtain comparable/ equal power as the most recent I can think of.
I'll be reading this when I get back from work.
So how dead is the world when she was done? Did it resemble the Ashlands from Season 5?
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Nothing at all like the Ashlands. Imagine if most, if not all cities or establishments across the entire world were overrun by the undead.
The particular area that this story takes place in is Magehold, which is the the end of the Dread Peninsula, at the northernmost area on the continent of Griffonia. See the nation called "Dread League" on this map? (Northern tip of the eastern continent!) That's where Rosa is in this story. steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1039715991484462355/D6296CCFF824CD1DB6B38BFDEB38862895026315/
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Were the animals also killed off?
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Presumably yes. I didn't go into it, and the game didn't go into it either, but I would assume that when Rosa declares her Black Crusade against the living, that would also include animals.
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What about the plants, that's alive. Can't let anything evolve again
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I don't know, and frankly I don't care to explain either. I'm not here to debate the specifics, my friend.
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Didn't you create art of Rosa resurrecting a pet?
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Yeah a while back a made a very short comic about my interpretation about Rosa's backstory.
An excellent chapter featuring an excellent couple.
Wow, that was awesome, I really loved this chapter. I wish you the best of luck in your future stories
I don't play Dread League (or the Arcturian Order) often nor do I remember the details well, but the story is well written but... poorly researched. Rosa attending Canterlot University makes no sense at all since that would mean she is either alicorn-old and/or crossed an entire continent to attend Canterlot University or to flee to Magehold.
That said, to those asking why the Dread League doesn't get updates, tldr; The Dread League creator left the dev team so its superlow priority compared to everything else.
Edit: You respond too fast. I was editing my comment.
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I'm curious, as I tried to do as much research as I could. What was "poorly researched" in your opinion?
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Rosa did cross an entire continent. The official backstory for Rosa is that she was born and raised in Equestria, but was, and I quote, "shunned by the other ponies for her dark talents". She fled Equestria and ended up in Magehold.
In fact, if you look at her leader picture at the start of the game, she's clearly at least middle-aged. There's no discrepency with Rosa not only being born, raised, and attending higher education in Equestria, then fleeing halfway across the world and eventually becoming leader of the Dread League.
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And the Arcturian Order dates back 1000 years and keeps the Dread League isolated by turning away anyone who isn't coming to join the order. Either she predates/roughly equals the Arcturian Order which makes her alicorn aged or she solo crossed/bypassed the continent including a country explicitly created, armed and mobilized to keep people out of Magehold.
In an isolated bubble, yes. Her backstory is fine. But in the greater context of EAW, no. Its bullshit. If we applied Rosa's logic to EAW, there should be a "Dark Magic Party" in every nation that undermines everything in preparation for the Dread League's arrival 'because vampires and liches'
Oh I love this and can't wait for a sequel. And I'm glad I'm not the only one who envisioned them having a hippogriff daughter.
Funny thing is out of all the times I've ever played Arcturian Order not once did Rosa willingly surrender it's always been a collection of powers supporting me or Me holding the wall until the hundred knights could arrive and use the shield of hope on her
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They are talking nonsense
Loading a save and trying to get a interesting couple it seems
Sad you can only give one like...
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There is an event in the Firtree Magocracy where the leader sneaks past the Order and into the Dread League so that she can learn necromancy.
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I think there's a misunderstanding here. When I said "official backstory", I meant the official backstory as told in the EAW mod itself. Additionally, when you play as the Dread League, you'll notice numerous references to a "Dread Calling", which is some unexplained magical force that attracts necromancers to Magehold. All of this paints a Dread League which is very welcoming to newcomers, so long as they're there for the right reasons. The "Detached Country" modifier you'll see on them in the game isn't meant to be taken that literally.
I really love this story definitely one of my favourites. I was really intrigued in how you would follow up the first chapter and you did not disappoint. I also like how you didn't make Rosa do a complete 180 on her beliefs but instead make her insecure about her choice, it makes it much more believable in my opinion. Discord being responsible for saving Rosa was very unexpected and funnily enough if you had told me Discord would make an appearance that I would think that it would ruin the story, but you implemented him very successfully.
Hey, Discord, just change the game pre-sets to one I've entitled "Discord's Wet Dream", it's pretty fucking wacky.
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Thanks for your thoughts, but I don't think I'll be making a sequel to this anytime soon, if at all. The story is wrapped up pretty nicely, I'd say. It would be interesting though, seeing the Dread Queen of Bones try to adjust to a life she's unfamiliar with.
My next story will probably be about Barrad, specifically the Pentarchy.
This was a good story; but could someone direct me to any other about her to learn more? I'm seeing references, but don't know where to look. Thanks in advance
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https://equestria-at-war.fandom.com/wiki/Dread_League?mobile-app=false
Well, do excuse the earlier shitposting. This is some pretty good stuff you've been writing. Thought the Discord twist was fun, though we do meme that Discord is in fact; the player.
...As I said on the EaW discord, I was hoping for a response that would let me reply with "no, this is patrick". But alas, that fell flat.
Mhmm, I liked it.
As someone who only watches (and not plays) EaW, both chapters were interesting.
I hope that when she finally got her "happy ever after", that she totally regrets that she literally caused Omnicide of the entire Equis in her past life!!!!!
You can't just "easily" ignore it, or much, much less forgive that.
This was pretty dang good!
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Glad you liked it. Since I wrote this, a few aspects of this story (such as how Rosa wanted to be a doctor) are going to be utilized in the upcoming Dread League rework.