#sso rosalinda

[askefrueee3]

VII. The Lovers- (Young) Mr Sands and Rosalinda

Seventh card of the Jorvik inspired tarot deck. Today, The Lovers represented by Rosalinda and Mr Sands.

This card can mean many things, reflecting themes like beauty, love, relationships, choice and impact of the partners, hearts being tempted, trials being overcome (or failed), as well as sacrifices, especially in context of sacrificing a part of your life (like a bride sacrifices her life before marriage to a new status of wife).

Considering the story of Sands and Rosalinda, all those themes can be seen. Their meeting and love is actually one of the most impactful turning points in the history of the figth of Garnok and Aideen, despite being such a minute, human thing. After all, it puts Sands into the trajectory of becoming Garnok's Champion, seeking revenge after being drowned by his own grief. Both of the lovers also faces their own trials and sacrifices. With Rosalinda the theme of trial is actually really... direct. Depending on whether we consider book or game lore, she was tried as a witch, either by trial of water, or burned at the stake, for Sands, his trial was the depth of his grief and anger, which became the second trial lost for them. As far as sacrifices go, Sands consider the day of Rosalinda's death like his own death- at least spiritually/ emotionally. Later, the temptation of Garnok will come.

There is a lot of beauty and tragedy in their stories, and I really wish we'd get to hear more of it in the game or media around the game sometime- it brings depth to Mr Sands, it showcases the history of Jorvegian culture, could show us more about the witches and magic of the island. What do you think? Is this pair the one you would expect for The Lovers?

[natduskfall]

Today is the second time I read online that Rosalinda, Mr Sand's love, died by being burned at the stake.

I think they changed her cause of death in the second edition of The Legend Awakens.

Source:

Now there are two causes of death for her i guess.

[sso-maev]

She may have never been in the actual game but I love her regardless. Please tell me your headcanons for her in the tags I need more info about her

[pandoricpies]

An Old Sin

“You should really stop bringing me these.” “And why is that?” “You could get in trouble, John. Conspiring with a witch is a sin of the highest degree.” “Well I suppose I’ll be damned to hell then.”

The young man gazed upon his beloved admiringly, her eyes flittering across the page of a book he had brought her.  “Fa- fas- te-,” she mumbled, her brunette eyebrows scrunching in confusion and concentration. “Let me see Rosa,” John placed his hand behind her and scooted his sitting position on the grass closer to her side. Her cheeks flushed as he placed a hand on her opposite shoulder to lean her closer to him. “That one, it’s spelled funny,” the woman placed her finger on the troublesome word.

“Oh yes, fastened,” the man spoke with ease. Rosalinda closed the book, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. “Oh I’m sorry I’m not a man, my insignificant feminine brain could never understand such readings.” “Well of course, I understand that. Although ‘insignificant’ is quite a big word for a woman,” he smirked, meeting her stubborn gaze. “You cheeky bastard.” Rosalinda placed her hands on his chest, pushing him back onto the ground as she pulled herself on top of him. “Now Rosalinda Jane Silverglade, that’s not very ladylike of you,” said John as he shuffled underneath her, placing his hands on her waist. “Neither is this,” she finished as she lowered her head until their lips touched. Passionately, the two lovers kissed, heat and desire flooding their veins. There was no where in the world either of them would have rather been.  The woman sighed contently, moving herself to the side and gently settling onto the grass. She gazed up, admiring the rare crystal blue cloudless sky amongst the usual gray Jorvegian rainy season. “It’s beautiful out today,” she spoke quietly, relaxing into the crook of her lover’s arm as he wrapped it around her shoulders. “It is indeed,” he responded, but he wasn’t looking at the sky.

The two stayed like that for awhile, embraced on the soft green. The sound of a horse’s whinny or clopping hooves painted the calming silence. Rosalinda’s breath stilled as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep. John could feel every breath, the quiet, steady thumping of her heart against his side. He loved this woman more than anything else in the entire world. He hadn’t thought it possible to love anything to the extent that he loved her. Loved, admired for her tenacious bravery in a world that was never designed for such an intelligent woman as she. But now he was part of the local council, now he could fight to change that. Run out the religious hypocrisy and cries for damnation of any woman who dared to read, write, engage in any other activity besides homemaking and childbearing. Deemed ‘witches’ - he didn’t believe in magic or any higher power for that matter, and thought it absurd that anyone would. The crime of witchcraft was simply a cover for the extermination of a woman who dared to challenge a man. Some time had passed, and the thunderous clouds began to rear their ugly head against the once clear blue. “Rosa, darling-” John spoke quietly, planting a soft kiss on the top of her head. “Hmm..” she mumbled, awakening and sitting up to stretch. “We should be going now, the rain is coming in and your mother will be expecting us for dinner,” he sat up alongside her, brushing off his trousers. “I suppose. We need to do this more often. Just you and me,” she smiled sleepily, looking over at him. “I am getting busier now with the council meetings, but you know I’ll always make time for you.” “I expect nothing less,” Rosalinda stood up, walking over to collect her satchel and the book she was brought. The two began down the dirt path, hand-in-hand. The noise of the village grew louder as they neared. “We really should find a spot not on the other side of the fields away from my home,” Rosalinda grumbled in annoyance, fanning herself with her free hand. The air was hot and humid as the rain clouds gathered. “Hold this for me,” she reached up to take off her shoulder shawl, handing it to him. The sound of heavy, fast hooves sounded on the now cobbled path behind them as the entered the village. A stout man on a large, draft breed looked down at the couple as he passed, nearly knocking Rosalinda over in the process. He quickly snatched his right rein, turning in front of the pair. “Do you think it is proper to walk around this village dressed like a whore?” The man bellowed rather loudly, gathering nearby attention. She could feel John’s hand tense in her own. “No- no sir I do not. I was simply very hot you see, the summer’s here are quite brutal-” “Enough with you. Cover up your bosom,” he turned to John,��“you should teach this girl to have more respect for you.” “Fu-” “John,” she whispered harshly under her breath, gathering her shawl back from him and wrapping it back around her shoulders. “Good day,” John spoke gruffly, grabbing Rosalinda’s hand to walk around the large mount. “I’d be careful consorting with her, son. You know there is talk.” Rosalinda shuddered. “I’ll decide who my company is,” John returned, not looking back. “Don’t let him bother you, de-” “They treat you with no more value than the dirt beneath our feet. You can’t expect it not to bother me.” “I don’t,” she sighed, squeezing his hand in her own. The two continued through the village and off on a side road up the hill to the higher part of town, where the larger estates were planted. They hated her because she had money, because she was intelligent. The Silverglade family had, for decades, infamously refused to bow to religion. They publicly shunned the practice of ‘witch’ torcher. They believed an educated woman was a useful woman.  “Never leave your family’s company without me, please.” “I won’t.”

[centeris2]

getting through drafts is nice but occasionally I come across a post I had said something on, and I'm sad that I'm 7 months late to reblog it

ah well. I'll save my Rosalinda ideas for another time

[askefrueee3]

Secret Second (and a little bit late, I had very little free time today sadly) prompt for @kelly-dreamway-sso 's SSO Promptoween. Today, I decided to create a sketch of my AU's take on Rosalinda. Here, she is one of the Vala witches, few that took Sive's lead and decided not to adapt to humans, but to remain hostile and keep their own customs. Despite that, her curiosity about people remained- and for many years she observed them, using illusions to appear human, in her last character picking the name of Rosalinda, and the story of affluent merchant's daughter, recently coming to Jorvik, allowing her to mingle with the island's most important. There she gets to meet young Sands, then only a protege of the headmaster to the academy of Jorvik and the lord of Pine Hill mansion, picked for this position thanks to innovative ideas for mining on Jorvik. The pair quickly grows fond of each other, exchanging knowledge and questions. Yet, their story is cut short, as Rosalinda is noticed in her true form by one of the men of Jarlaheim. Soon, Sive becomes the last remaining Vala.

[askefrueee3]

SSO Playlists- pt.1 Dark Riders (and Sands)

Here are some playlists I made for the characters, picked to fit their themes, stories, overall temperament and personality. Of course, this might be slightly distorted by my musical taste (although, usually I'm that one friend that listens to every genre). I often use them when painting or writing, so I hope these will provide inspiration for you too <3

Sabine:

Jay:

Katja:

Erissa:

Mr Sands:

a little bonus, Rosalinda: (as I incorporate her much more in my AU and her themes are just too cool and emotional not to make a playlist :D)

[sso-maev]

SSO timeline (REWORKED)

Consider the old timeline outdated! I’ve found new timestamps and made a few guesses based on character ages and relations to each other.

We have a few things to go off of: It’s been 20 years since Catherine died, and it’s been 45 years since the baroness left Mr Sands and Thomas was born. The old sisterhood, canonically all being born in 1977-1978, should be in their mid 40s. While I used to say Elizabeth’s age was a good jumping off-point, I think 47 is a bit too old considering the other people in her generation (like Sigry and Avalon). It would also make the gap between the failed sisterhood and Catherine’s death a bit too large.

So new theory! Sigry is 44 in the journals and probably born in 1977, and that is our reference point for the timestamps going forward. The journal ages are unreliable, but I’ll consider them canon unless contradicted by the games or books. In case of contradictions between different sso media, my canon hierarchy goes: Newer quests (Post-2018) > Books > Older quests > Journal ages > SSL.

I’ll put the source of my timeline claims in brackets. Confirmed, unmovable timestamps will be marked in green. Unclear time estimates will be marked with a ~. Let’s get into it!

1218

Jon Jarl arrives on Jorvik. [Starstable Online]

~1773

John Sandman and Rosalinda are born, ~25 years before Rosalinda’s death

1798

Rosalinda dies. She and John Sandman are engaged to be married, so they’re probably in their mid-20s. [The Legend Awakens]

1871

Mr Sanders fishes up a deep-sea creature, likely connected to Garnok. [Starshine Legacy]

1890

Owen D Sands establishes Deep Core Drilling Company on Jorvik. [Starshine Legacy]

~1890-1900

At some point during this time period, Mississippi Jones looks for the horn of Araxia. He is pursued by the presumed dead John Sandman. [Starstable Online]

1903

A cave-in/gas incident kills 211 workers and 14 civilians during a Deep Core drilling. (Sounds very similar to what happened in Old Hillcrest…theories…) [Starshine Legacy]

1904

Deep Core is forced to shut down. [Starshine Legacy]

1921

Beatrice, a soul rider of a former sisterhood, is born. She turns 100 years old in present day. [Ghost Stories from Jorvik]

1933

A former reincarnation of Starshine saves four girls who went missing on a school trip to a grave field north of Jorvik City. (Maybe this would be Beatrice’s eventual sisterhood?) [Starshine legacy]

1936

Annabelle Silverglade is born. [Starstable Online]

~1937-1940

Beatrice’s sisterhood is active.

~1949

Pi is born, most likely right inbetween Beatrice and Elizabeth.

1953

Esmeralda Holdsworth is born. [Starstable Online]

1954

Jasper Holbrook is born. [Starstable Online]

1959

John Sandman is on the Firgrove council. Herman Wetton is presumably born around this time, as he claims to have grown up in the 60s. [Starstable Online and Darkness Falling]

1964

Annabelle Silverglade marries John Sandman. [Starstable Online]

1965

Elsa Einstein is born. [Starstable ad]

~1965-1969

Pi is part of a soul rider sisterhood. [Aideen’s gift]

1970

Evergray is born. [Starstable Online]

1976

Annabelle Silverglade divorces John Sandman 45 years before present day. Thomas Moorland is born. [Starstable Online]

1977

Sigry Varanger and Caroline Westfall are born. [The Prisoner of Pandoria]

1978

Catherine Holbrook is born. [Starstable Online]

1979

Avalon is born. [Starstable Online]

1985

Dr Eiren Doyle is born. [Starstable Online]

1987

Ms. Drake is born. [Starstable Online]

1988

Rhiannon is born. [Starstable Online]

1989

Darko is born. [Starstable ad]

1995

Elizabeth arrives on Jorvik. She, Eva, Sigry and Caroline form a soul rider sisterhood. [Shadows Over Jorvik]

~1996

Catherine joins the sisterhood, but grows distant after a failed light ride. [Starstable Online]

~1997

Caroline goes missing and is never seen again. [Starstable Online]

~1999

Catherine’s horse dies after being part of a dangerous ritual. Evergray is presumably banished shortly thereafter. [Starstable Online]

~2000

Catherine and Thomas get married. Josh B’gosh is born. [Starstable Online, Starstable ad]

2001

Catherine dies. Justin is born. [Starstable Online]

2002

Rania Varanger is born. [Starstable Online]

2003

Linda Chanda, Alex Cloudmill, Lisa Peterson and Anne von Blyssen are born in the same year. Derek, Maya, Tan and Loretta are also born this year. [Starstable Online, Jorvik Calling, Starstable ad]

2010

Madison Hightower is born. [Starstable Online]

2011

Rhiannon arrives on Jorvik, ten years before the beginning of SSO. [Starstable Online]

2019

Lisa Peterson arrives on Jorvik, two years before the beginning of SSO. [Starstable Online]

2021-2022

Main story of Starstable Online.

[sso-maev]

227 years later

[sso-maev]

COMPLETE SSO TIMELINE

This is somewhat of a mix between in-game canon, book lore, deleted content and my own theories. There are a bunch of sources to pull from here and a lot of them are contradictory, so I’ll do my best to cite where the info comes from. I’m not including everything that ever happened, but most things that are relevant to the main story should be here!

I’ve mentioned it before, but my theory is that the main story takes place in 2025. Elizabeth has been stated to be 47 in previous quests. If she’s the same age as Catherine, then that would make her 19 in 1997, and thus 47 in 2025. This will be my reference for the “present day”, but obviously this could all be retconned by sso.

Spoiler warning before you proceed! I’m referencing the entire game and the sso books, including the ones not available in english. If you don’t want any spoilers for those, don’t read this post.

Creation of Jorvik: We don’t know when the whole “Aideen brings life to Jorvik” myth takes place, but there are cave drawings mentioned by Linda that dates it back to 23 000 BC.

The first known humans on Jorvik: The kallters supposedly come to Jorvik around 6 000 BC.

Jon Jarl colonises Jorvik: The 10 year anniversary-quizzes state that Jon Jarl arrived 1218 AD.

Rosalinda dies due to suspected witchcraft and Mr Sands gets recruited by Garnok: Mr Sands diary in The Legend Awakens confirms that this took place in 1798.

Miscellaneous soul rider antics: We know almost nothing about older sisterhoods, but we know that there was one in ~1940, with one member named Beatrice. She is mentioned as an old lady in Ghost Stories From Jorvik. In Aideens Gift Pi is also revealed to have once been a soul rider before she became a witch, although she is most likely from a more recent sisterhood, seeing as both she and her husband are still alive.

Mr Sands and the baroness get married and have Thomas: Older quests mention them getting married in 1964. The baroness says she hasn’t seen Mr. Sands in 45 years, meaning they likely got divorced ~1980.

The old sisterhood with Elizabeth, Eva, Caroline, Sigry and Catherine is created and falls apart: Catherine mentions graduating in 1997 in her journal, so the sisterhood could exist around 1993 – 1998. Caroline disappears shortly after Catherine leaves the soul riders, and the sisterhood completely breaks apart not long after.

Catherine dies after Justins birth: Justin is 20 in present day, which would make this take place in 2005.

Alex, Linda, Lisa and Anne discover their powers for the first time when Lisa moves to Jorvik, aka the first book trilogy: This is two years before the main story, in 2023.

Present day: 2025.

If you have any other confirmed years for Jorvik history, please share and I’ll add them!

[pandoricpies]

SSO Horrors

A post diving into how dark this franchise’s storyline gets and ideas for a horror game that will never actually be created. SPOILERS for the SL books and SSO storyline.

This idea originally came to me after reading the second book of the SL trilogy, The Legend Awakens. Props to Helena Dahlgren for the Pine Hill Manor scenes in that book; I was completely left on the edge of my seat the entire time. Linda’s whole experience was definitely an unexpected thriller for the children’s genre; cutting her leg on a broken window, exploring an old creepy mansion owned by the centuries-old psychopath that was targeting her, her friends, and their horses, being chased down halls and having to barricade herself in rooms to be protected from the apparent non-human dark riders (not to mention the way Dahlgren describes the animal sounds and scratching that they made, chills), and, to top it all off, nearly dying from sepsis due to her cut becoming infected.... if that’s not horror game material, I don’t know what is.

If you can’t already tell from the title of this post, I am a huge fan of the horror genre. The suspense-packed and often deep moral stories are always a fun watch/read. I personally am currently making my way through some classic Stephen King books that I haven’t read yet which was sort of what inspired this post.

Taking a look at SSO’s storyline on the surface level, we see a classic dark vs. light story, with horses and female heroines as the main points. However, there are quite a few darker elements hidden among the story quests, most of which would only be noticeable to the eye of the older audience of the game. The potential for this plot to be upped to a more mature level as far as darker themes go is definitely there. Regardless, the already existing underlying themes have some heavy themes...

- Teenagers, around the ages of 15-19, have been tasked with saving the world from a demonic entity. They have been granted special powers to do this with. These powers however can be extremely dangerous, as we see with both Alex and Catherine with their Lightning Circle incidents, in which they almost killed living beings. These factors combined would no doubt take some sort of psychological toll on the Soul Riders, as they are so named.

- Brainwashing and cult-mindset was a huge theme brought up with Justin’s kidnapping. He was abruptly cut off from the outside world, had his memories removed, and his mind artificially filled with thoughts of Garnok and world domination. It’s clear when he is rescued and goes back to his home that he’s depressed; his Midsummer dialogue a year back was “My dad thought it would be good for me to get out. I don’t do that much anymore” (not exact but close enough). When he talks to his mother during the memories quests the first thing he jumps to seeing her pregnant with him is “I wonder if she’d would be so excited if she knew all the terrible things I did”. To add to that, upon getting Justin back home, Thomas tells our character “If he keeps having these dark thoughts, I’ll have to turn to the druids.” That in itself was pretty unsettling. All this dialogue was put there to draw attention to the mental affects of literally having your brain tampered with.

- Elizabeth’s story was probably one of the saddest in my opinion. She had to stand by while her friend group fell apart, one going on to die, one going missing, and the other two continuing to split away from her. She then felt it was her responsibility to make up for her sisterhood’s failures, staying with the druids and eventually helping recruit new Soul Riders. Seriously though, imagine that. She saw what pain the magical war brought to her and her friends; knowing that she was pushing four more kids into a situation like that would’ve been devastating (here comes the morals vs. duty idea). Our character must have been a whole other level of that feeling. She saw what Catherine went through with her magic - the fear, the near madness. Then of course she goes on to imprison her close friend’s son (it appeared from the quests that she was closest to Catherine so that just adds to the pain). And to end it all, she sacrifices herself to save a girl who she considered a daughter.... jeez. - Catherine is another issue here for obvious reasons. A teenage girl is entrusted with goddess-level powers, then nearly goes psycho from the inability to control them. You can clearly tell from her last few diary entries how exhausting that was and how happy she was to finally have a somewhat normal life with her husband and son.

- And finally of course we have the DC gang. Mr. Sands is a basket case all on his own, a man who has used mind control (arguably in my opinion one of the creepiest forms of dark magic out there) on numerous victims including his own grandson, a man who legitimately worships a demon, and not to mention has it out for a bunch of teenagers. His whole backstory with Rosalinda made me feel some sort of sympathy for his character (he watched her nearly be drowned to death), and I’m actually quite curious as to where they’re going to take that. Also, The Nightmare Institute? That could be a horror game within itself. All we know so far about that place is that humans and animals are tested on with dangerous materials (ex. Mr. Anwir). Let’s not forget to mention the dark riders who apparently have animal qualities now? (as it was described in the SL books) Ok so we can clearly see that SSO’s storyline gets a bit dark. But just imagine; a Pine Hill Mansion first-person POV game, where you’re in a situation similar to Linda’s, or even one in DC or the Nightmare Institute. Honestly this entire storyline could be turned into some Resident Evil plot lol.

But that being said, as much as it’s fun to speculate these types of things, I enjoy SSO’s storyline just the way it is. It’s enjoyable for me as an older player, but it’s also filled with great moral stories and motivation for young children, especially girls. I love the atmosphere of female empowerment, and it’s especially unique to SSO because around the time of it’s initial release, that wasn’t seen much in video games.

Might start during these ‘chat’ or ‘random things that come to my mind’ posts more often.

[pandoricpies]

I wanted to address this comment because I am partially a theory page. (Spoilers for book 2 of the Soul Riders series ahead!!!)

Comment on my young John Sands moodboard by @teabooksandsweets:

The funny thing is—in the original games and comics, Sands DOES like horses! But he was never in human form pre-Garnok. Anyway, Sands does not dislike horses. The Soulsteeds are just his enemies, that's all.

Reply:

This is what really confuses me about the current SSO game! I have watched play-throughs of the SSL games, in which Mr. Sands is portrayed as being otherworldly and shown in a light of being one in the same with Garnok. However, in SSO as well as in the soul rider books by Helena Dahlgren, his presence is more human. In SSO, it is revealed that he does have a family, albeit estranged. This gives him more ties to a physical world. According to book 2 of the Soul Riders series, Linda actually finds Sands’s journal at Pine Hill Manor, describing the events of his young life in the late 1700s. He fell in love with a girl named Rosalinda, planning to marry her. However, she was accused of practicing witchcraft and tried, which entailed her being partially drowned in freezing cold water. She becomes sick and dies because of this treatment. Sands, attending her funeral, hears a voice that is later explained to be Garnok, telling him that he can get revenge on those who hurt her- and the whole human race in general. Of course, this is different from what we see in the SSL games. I suppose it’s a matter of what you see as canon, but they need to clear this stuff up in the actual game through story quests lol.

[natduskfall]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Thank you!!

I have a vaque feeling that I remember something like that while playing the game, and it confused me a little, but then I forgot it. XD

Today is the second time I read online that Rosalinda, Mr Sand's love, died by being burned at the stake.

I think they changed her cause of death in the second edition of The Legend Awakens.

Source:

Now there are two causes of death for her i guess.

[centeris2]

like I said this was too long to put in the replies

"Shades of Grey" quest, part of the Light Ride update. You inspect Linda's room and find something referencing Pinehill Manor, which prompts her to talk about not believing in monsters.

Linda: "What I mean to say is, I don't believe the world is black and white. No one is truly evil. Not even Mr. Sands. When I was in Pinehill Manor I learned about the man behind the monster. Long before he founded Dark Core, well over a hundred years before, John Sands was a young man madly in love with the girl of his dreams. Her name was Rosalinda. He thought the world of her. She loved books, asked lots of questions. I would have loved to have met her... Unfortunately for Rosalinda, her contemporaries didn't have the same enthusiasm for brainy girls looking for the answers to life's mysteries. Rosalinda was burned as a witch by a group known as the Sixth Hammer. Mr. Sands was heartbroken. And the void left by her death gave Garnok an opening.

I did not remember her being in to books and asking too many questions, or that the people who killed her had a name.

Today is the second time I read online that Rosalinda, Mr Sand's love, died by being burned at the stake.

I think they changed her cause of death in the second edition of The Legend Awakens.

Source:

Now there are two causes of death for her i guess.