This page introduces Blood Red Roses' game world.

The Duchy of Algandy is part of the League, a collection of city-states and petty Princedom ruled by a council. The League was formed initially for military strength but now lies bound together by economic dependence.

The number of states in the League has fluctuated over time between 9 and 27. The official start date of the League was the year 0 LT, the current year is 1270 LT.

The catalyst for the formation of the League was the collapse of the Golden Empire under a wave of barbarian invaders from the eastern steppes. With central authority gone following the assassination of the last Solar Emperor the provinces were forced to look to their own defences. The luckiest ones were those near the frontier which had permanent legion garrisons. They held together in a hastily formed alliance and have managed to keep the light of civilisation burning until the current day.

The League at present stretches from the northern Wilds, where winter lasts for half a year to the burning great desert of the south inhabited by fierce nomadic barbarian descendants of the destroyers of the Golden Empire. In the west the great uncharted Western Ocean forms the boundary of the League, in the east there is no natural feature acting as a barrier. Beyond Algandy the forests and swamps extend into a featureless plain known as the steppes. Civilisation stops at the eastern border of the Duchy of Algandy, (although if you spoke to a Chaubetian or a Veermarker they would claim civilisation stopped at their own border). Beyond lies the land of the heathen and the barbarian.

The neighbouring League states to the Duchy are the Barony of Chaubrette, known for its iron mines, the Princedom of Veermark, known for its fine but smelly cheeses, and the City of Losse, famed for its vineyards and its University. All of these are to the west of the Duchy as it is the most eastern of all the League states.

The Archduke of Algandy is the descendent of one of the barbarian tribes that sacked the Golden Empire. The Algundians were once a fierce tribe of herdsmen who were driven westwards into the empire by the migrations of other barbarians. Having conquered the part of the frontier that would become the Duchy, the Algundians settled back to a life of rasing cattle and sheep, fighting only to defend the frontiers of their land from the Empire and later from other barbarians. Within a few hundred years the Duchy had been converted to the Faith by missionaries from the League, the Duke converted and declared that it would become the religion of his people replacing the shamans who interceded with the spirits of nature on behalf of the tribe. The old ways were outlawed; overnight the shamans either converted becoming priests of the new faith or fled deep into the woods to continue their worship. Perhaps it is the continuation of their traditions that spawn the many lycanthrope stories told of the eerie Algundian woodlands, where drums can be heard sometimes at dusk and where beast and man blur into one.

From embracing the Faith it was a simple step to joining with the League as a buffer state against less settled and still pagan barbarians. With the end of the great barbarian migrations Algandy found itself a full member of the League, its rulers educated in the League heartland, its people grown accustomed to the luxuries of the other League states.

Economically Algandy is an importer of luxury goods such as fine cloth, wine and spirits, tobacco and glassware. Many of these items are then traded onto the barbarian tribes bordering the Duchy in exchange for furs, slaves, amber, gold, exotic resins and dyes. Two items traded across the border are illegal under Duchy and League law, gunpowder and a type of narcotic fungus called Far-dreamer by the barbarians. Gunpowder, as the most recent military development, may not be traded with any enemies of the League. Any attempt to do so would be considered treason and punished as such. Unfortunately the possession of a thunder stick has become a status symbol amongst barbarian nobles, and something they are willing to pay phenomenal sums for, sums capable of tempting the greedy despite the risk of punishment. Far-dreamer is a type of toadstool that is prized by barbarian shamans for its vision giving properties. In the League it is valued by the rich and the decadent as the narcotic of choice and for its feeling that the mind floats free of the body, able to travel vast distances in an instant. The fresh toadstool is more potent, but most often traded to the empire are dried and are consumed as a tea or in alcohol.

Now read more about the system's society.