#the roselle

[asha-mage]

One thing I haven't seen to many folks talk about is how the Morality ending takes the parallels between the Roselle and the Jewish people, and makes the game into a full on re telling of Exodus: The Roselle like the Jews are held in bondage and forced into backbreaking labor in service to the riches and glory of rulers who worship a False Goddess. They are freed by Frederica, who like Moses was smuggled to freedom by her mother and raised in luxury divorced from the struggle of the Roselle only to find the truth as an adult and realize the injustice of the entire system on which the Roselle's oppression was built. She returns, liberates her people, and leads them out of the desert and towards their fabled promised land.

I did Morality first, and I really was blown away by the way they handled the whole thing: with a depth and understanding that I don't usually find in video games.

[triangle-strategy-notes]

Marvels of Norzelia, Vol. 14

I happened upon that village by mistake while lost in my travels.

When I saw that everyone’s hair was the color of roses. I realized that I must be in the Rosellan village. I had thought it to be a mere rumor until then.

At first, they were wary of me—no doubt because I was an outsider—but when they learned that I had been wandering the wilderness for days and was moments from collapse, I was immediately welcomed into their midst. They even prepared a bed and hot meal for me.

I stayed in that village for a brief spell and eventually befriended the Roselle therein.

I am not a follower of the Goddess, but I know Her Teachings claim the Roselle tried to seize the realm’s salt as their own. As such, I held a regrettably bad opinion of the Roselle, despite never having met them... But those villagers were kind and proud. They welcomed a complete stranger like myself with open arms. I fell absolutely ashamed of my rash assumptions.

I won’t reveal the location of their village nor the identity of its occupants.

I do not intend to criticize the Goddess or Her followers, but at the same time, I do not believe that the Roselle should be unilaterally condemned as sinners.

I pray that a day comes when the Goddess’s faithful and the Roselle can live together in peace in our fine realm, and Norzelia will be all the better for it.