Two in one I’m on a roll! Anyhow, I thought I’d jump into Emeline’s side of the family before moving back to Aisha and Isran – I want to tie the two together but I really need to introduce these two and elaborate on their relationship with one another and Rosie before I do that! They haven’t gotten enough attention when they’re both incredibly important members of Rosie’s family – after all, this is where our Rosie got her name!
A warning for death and violence however! If you’re sensitive to those themes please keep them in mind before reading!
More Info underneath!
To avoid confusion, I’ll be referring to our Rosie as just Rosie and her grandmother as Rosalie!
Continuing from that, I’d like to introduce a new face: Rosalie Julienus-Asarmeson (The first of her namesake – though she took the title of Rosalie Sr. with Rosie’s birth). To be blunt, Rosalie has had a rough and difficult upbringing that led to the short-tempered, and brash woman that Tulius would eventually meet. She grew up an orphan in Bruma, abandoned at a young age and left to fend for herself in the cold mountains. Occasionally a pitying member of the Fighter’s Guild or the Great Chapel would offer her help only for Rosalie to promptly stick out her tongue and declare she didn’t need any help. She was considered a bit of a nuisance and continually sought after by guards who she’d smugly give the slip.
However, years of further and further alienation built Rosalie into a distant, frustrated soul. Her few good deeds would go unnoticed upon a mounting pile of small ones and the citizens of Bruma never quite understood how to connect with a child whose very first memories of the city were coated in loss. Attempts were made on both ends but never at the same time, or at the very least, not enough to make Bruma her home. At fifteen, she left and made her way to the Imperial City, desperate to find a sense of worth. Rosalie found the closest semblance in the Arena.
It was when Rosalie won the title of Champion that she was recruited by the Imperial Army, years later. She’s noted for her incredibly strength and resilience – even fighting bare handed and by whatever means in order to win. Her potential is finally recognized and though Rosalie would never admit it, it’s the possibility of finding that support system she’d always lacked that convinced her.
However, she almost immediately comes to regret this when she’s put under the command of Tulius, a newly promoted captain given the task of keeping Rosalie out a trouble for a minute training Rosalie. The two are almost always at each other’s throats, bickering, arguing, and fighting until it almost reaches a breaking point. Almost. Things thankfully, begin to change when Tulius (definitely not after being given a stern talking to from his command) stops trying to make Rosalie do things his way, and instead attempts to appeal to her. He observes her habits, mannerisms, and actions and attempts to implement that into her training. Rosalie of course, notices this and moves to the offensive – changing her movements and throwing him off at every turn. It’s confusing and frustrating and ultimately culminates into the very thing they should’ve done from the beginning: talk.
It begins as a furious argument – Rosalie upset over Tulius constantly trying to get in her head and Tulius then enraged that he wouldn’t have to do any of this if Rosalie tried to work with him! Rosalie then admits that she doesn’t know how to work with others, she’s always been on her own, why would she immediately bend over backwards to appeal to some stuck-up captain? This opens up a dialogue, and the two have a deep and meaningful conversation that points them in the direction of friends. Both take steps to be more thoughtful and patient with the other and soon enough, Rosalie becomes Tulius’s closest friends and advisor. Through years of surviving and fighting on her own Rosalie had become an excellent strategist, and Tulius had roused the strength and loyalty in his soldiers to carry out these plans. They became an inseparable duo and along the years, those feelings of friendship became more.
As a couple, one could often find the two sneaking off plenty of times to spend time with each other – people figured out soon enough, they didn’t have to say there was an ‘impromptu meeting’ but the lovestruck doofuses did anyways. Their relationship was always full of understanding and kindness, and even when the famed and feared General Tulis was at his most vexed, he could always be calmed down by equally feared Legate Rosalie just holding his hand.
Rosalie and Tulius had a single daughter, Emeline, who they adored with all their hearts and souls. It wasn’t rare to see a baby Emeline in a sling on Tulius’s back as he tried to have a meeting or Rosalie doting on her toddler in the middle of a training. Rosalie wanted to be there for her child in all the ways her parents never had been. She truly loved her daughter and eventually Rosalie more than words could ever describe. Tulius too, was a notorious sap, who could be in an absolute rage only to melt at the sight of either his daughter or his granddaughter. (His famed ‘sweet voice’ was a well-known joke among the soldiers)
Rosalie was one of the most highly valued and respected members of the Imperial army, commended by Emperor TItus Mede II and even offered a place among the Blades. She could’ve easily been alongside Tulius as General had she not had that fateful meeting with her own former soldier, Ulfric, who initially idolized Rosalie. She was this intelligent, and masterful Nord leader among the Imperial forces and in his eyes, exemplified everything he himself wanted to be. Rosalie herself, kept him at a distance. He was a gifted young man who’d trained among the Greybeards but he always teetered along an edge. He struggled connecting with others from his training among the Greybeards and blindly loyal to the traditional, fracticous ways of Skyrim that Rosalie never understood.
She did her best to steer Ulfric towards growth and act as the supportive figure she never had in her youth when Ulfric was kidnapped in the midst of the Great War. This would eventually culminate in the dangerous, hateful figure seen in the Civil War who eventually kills Rosalie when the two meet again, with Imperial Legions investigating early Stormcloak sightings. (Not shortly after Civil War is declared but many hadn’t considered it with the scale and ferocity seen with Rosie’s time. Many thought it’d be a lengthy but ultimately useless endeavor. I’d say 188? Making Rosie 13) Rosalie’s death is considered a catalyst for the size and intensity the Civil War is seen with in Rosie’s day. Rosalie’s death was considered a tragedy all throughout Cyrodil, and Tulius himself was despondent and guilt-ridden for not being with her for months afterwards. Inadvertently, Tulius distanced himself from much of his family, even Emeline, and Rosie’s visits to Cyrodil lessened more and more. Their relationship is only rekindled when the two reunite again in Helgen and Tulius is fueled by revenge and frustration. Rosie joins her grandfather to seek vengeance against the man who destroyed not just their lives and families but those of so many others.
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My apologies, I know that’s quite a bit! But Rosalie’s character is so extremely important to the motivations of Rosie that I couldn’t ignore her! Tulius too is also someone who’s relationship with Rosie has a lot of depth and change throughout her story that I really, really wanted to at least touch on it! That being said, here’s a few more lighthearted facts!
Extra!
- Rosalie almost sobbed for hours when Emeline told her that she was naming her daughter after her biggest hero, her mother. Rosalie spent all her years as Rosie’s grandmother striving to be the best example possible and even was the one to introduce Rosie to the two-handed weaponry she adores so much.
- Tulius calls his granddaughter, ‘Rosebud’ and spoiled her to no end. He and Ehsan would write letters exchanging gift ideas when birthdays or holidays came around.
- Emeline as a child used to steal her father’s cloak so he wouldn’t leave her for his ‘boring meetings.’ She was glued to her father’s hip all throughout her childhood and was without a doubt her father’s daughter.
- Rosie and Rosalie will eventually meet again in Sovngarde when Rosie goes to vanquish Alduin. It’s a heartfelt and teary reunion and Rosalie leaves many messages for Rosie to send back for the family she misses so dearly. It brings back a bit of light that Tulius had long thought was gone when Rosie relays the message to ‘wait just a bit longer’ for them to reunite.
- As a child, Rosalie’s only source of comfort and idolization came from the Hero of Kvatch. She adored hearing stories of his rise to heroics and courage that never faltered even during the most difficult of times. (He was a little bit more of a shy doofus but most people don’t entirely remember that) It was his stories that made the harsh, cold nights a little easier to weather.
Anyhow, I hope you all enjoyed this important look into Rosie’s family and even more so hope that you have a marvelous day! If you have an questions feel free to send them my way!
"It's an emergency." She. General Rikke from Skyrim
15. “It’s an emergency.”
You weren’t entirely sure how you ended up in this situation, but there you were, standing next to General Tulius in the Imperial Legion war camp outside of Windhelm. The distant sound of projectiles crashing onto stone and into the river that acted as a moat could be heard, loud and deafening, and the general went over the plans again quickly, making sure you knew everything.
You nodded, not used to the new armour you found yourself in. You had wanted to stay in your steel armour, like you had every other siege, but as it was Windhelm you were taking over, you had to be in you Legate armour, and that meant no steel. According to General Tulius, the armour was stronger than your usual one.
You called bullshit. You killed Alduin in that armour. If it could survive that it could survive anything.
The flap of the tent opened up, and both you and the general looked up from the map of Windhelm in front of you to see Legate Rikke, your equal and your lover, walk in.
“General Tulius, sir, I’d like to speak to Legate (Y/N) in private. I won’t take up too much of her time.”
General Tulius hummed in annoyance. “Is this really the ti-“
“It’s an emergency.”
He huffed again but, knowing the relationship between his two Legates, nodded. “I want the two of you back in here in a minute. We’ll head to Windhelm gates when you do.”
Rikke nodded, and you follow her out of the tent.
In one of the back corners of the camp, where there was a tree hiding you from the rest of the soldiers, Rikke pulled you towards her, and your lips crashed together.
When the two of you separated, she looked at you hard. “Don’t die our there. Promise me you won’t.”
You smirk. “If the World-Eater couldn’t kill me, nothing will.”
“Don’t joke about this, (Y/N). I love you, and I don’t know what I’d do if you’d die.”
Your breath got caught in your throat—this was the first time she had said that, and in your heart, you knew you loved her too.
“I don’t think Skyrim would know what to do if I died.” you choked out. “I love you, too.”
She pulled you into another kiss.
You pulled away and smirked. “Lets go finish this war.”
