Bloodrose

A RARE FLOWER SAID TO GRANT PROLONGED LIFE

A rare flower that blooms only once every hundred years, the bloodrose is said to grant prolonged (some say eternal) life to one whose finger is pricked by its thorny stem. Small patches of bloodrose bushes have been found about the land, most often in areas that once housed a necromancer’s vault. The thin, brittle petals are a deep sanguine red color and lined with slender worm-like veins. Its dark stem is covered in tiny thorns making handling the rare blossom quite challenging. The superstition of being pricked by the bloodrose awarding near immortal life most likely derives from Belisariot, August King of Wuestenstad. Documents dated a thousand years apart seem to be signed by the same hand, and most etchings of Belisariot depicted him carrying a bloodrose in one hand, his finger pricked on its stem. Skeptical historians claim that a succession of rulers simply took the name Belisariot upon ascending the throne and signed the same for centuries, or that a stamp of the first king’s name was used by a secret cabal to retain power. Whatever the case, the incredibly rare flower often wilts before extensive Scientific experimentation can commence.

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