Rosaline Vaas
| Name | Rosaline Vaas |
| Race | Human |
| Type | Dragon Hunter |
| Faction | The Night Stalkers, BDA |
| Premiere | Desideratum: Blood Bonds |
| Relative(s) | N/A |
Contents
Rosaline Vaas
"I’m the mother hen here and if you fuck with my chicks, I’ll see you dead."
Biography
Pre-Desideratum: Blood Bonds
Born on a Polynesian island of Tutuila in American Samoa, the tough woman Rosaline Vaas had a relatively normal life on the island, until her husband’s scorched remains were found. There was a swath of charred earth in a line, a strip, and even the lush jungle foliage of the island had been burned to ash. There were volcanic islands nearby, but no eruptions or explanation for this. Rosaline consoled her children, but, true to her nature, she determined to find the cause of his death. Only a day after his funeral, Rosaline was there at the scene of her husband’s demise. The perfect burn pattern was as if a massive laser had been aimed and ran over the men, incinerating everything. This conjured images of a UFO firing at them from the sky, until, as the sun set, its light showed massive footprints on the slope of the mountain.
She managed to hike to them before losing all light, and could see that something massive landed right where she stood, snapping the trees and forcing the rocks into the ground the way a person might if they stood on a layer of gravel over mud. When she turned and looked down, she could see the valley below. A monster had stood here and fired something below, and now images of fire-breathing dragons entered her mind. Rosaline made her way back down and to home, keeping this to herself. She spent the next two days preparing for a big hike up the mountain. They had no real weapons, but she took a sledgehammer and a machete, and kissed her kids goodbye. She knew that no one on the island would believe her, so she made her way up the mountain alone. There, in a massive volcanic chamber, she found a dragon’s lair. She knew that it would be huge and that she’d likely die, but Rosaline Vaas was known for one thing- her undeniable conviction.
She followed the way, scarcely requiring her flashlight as the magma someone below illuminated the caverns, and then, as it opened into a vast volcanic chamber, she found a nest of eggs. These eggs were as tall as she is. She took the sledgehammer and smashed each one in anger and vengeance for her husband’s murder. Only after working the frustration from her soul did she realize that the mother dragon could return at any moment, so feeling avenged, she quickly made her way out and back down the mountain. Once home she lay in bed unable to sleep. Her mind kept dwelling on the dragon, and she cried there, in the dark, over her husband, grieving until anger again rose in her heart. By sunrise, she was again determined to see the dragon killed. The next day she kissed her kids goodbye again, promising to see them soon, before returning to the chamber, but she found it empty. The broken eggs lay rotting in the old nest. She waited for hours, but the dragon did not return.
As she made her way back home, she saw a bright blaze in the distance and could hear screams and sirens. Running, she found her home engulfed in flames, and no matter how much water the firefighters put on it, the fire still raged. It took four large men to hold Rosaline back as she tried to rush inside and save her children. The fire burned so hot and with such intensity that it took less than an hour for there to be only black ash. Literally, not a single object remained. The baffled firefighters eventually left, and Rosaline’s family took her to their home. She had nothing now, and understood that the dragon had done this. It was a direct retaliation for her smashing the eggs. If Rosaline had been thinking straight, she might have noticed that the dragon could have killed everyone on the island, leaving nothing but char behind. But, she had lost everything and inside her mind, that dragon and all others would suffer.
Rosaline had always shunned the concepts that society said about girls. Even as far back as first grade, she wanted to play sports with the boys. She did not like cooking and cleaning as much as working on cars or welding. Now, without her children and husband, she dove into that. She knew what equipment would help protect against fire. She welded a shield and bits of armor. Covered in a hundred pounds of gear, she became a spectacle on the island as she marched up and down the roads. People let her be thinking that this was some way to deal with her grief. Eventually, her marching became hiking and she would make her way through the brush and up and down hills. At night her family would watch her in the backyard, swinging a mace that she had forged and lifting a massive shield, while wearing that armor set. She was never much for talking and her family left her alone. After three months of this training, she was ready. She made her way up the mountain in her gear, entered the chamber, and fought the dragon. When she came back into town, she had severe burns, half of her armor was gone, and she had a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder. She refused to tell the hospital staff what happened, but Rosaline had slain her first dragon.
She had an unending hatred for dragons at this point, and gathered the money from the insurance on her family, using it to get off the island and travel. She went around the world seeking dragons in their lairs. Not fearing death, the brave and brash woman would fling herself at monsters that should have been easily capable of ending her, but she refused to break. She managed to gather treasures and artifacts from some caves, and sold them or used them to aid her against other dragons. She also found information on a man named Johann Conrad Dippel. Soon, she was using his steam powered concepts, weapons meant to fight the undead, to slay dragons. When she arrived in Portland, Oregon, she was there to hunt the sea, mountain, and forest dragons in the area. She was the first Night Stalker to set up shop in the abandoned building that would become known as Sanctuary. As she hunted the mountains for dragons, she found Jacques Lombar. In the forest, she found Sani Lightfoot. It was at night, while stealing a boat, that she met Kendra Tallulah. Slowly, as other monster hunters found others out in the field, they brought them there, and Rosaline began to see these people as family- as her new children.
Desideratum: Blood Bonds
In Desideratum: Blood Bonds, Rosaline is a powerful woman met at the Sanctuary. When Absinthe Van Gothen first appeared, Rosaline heard Katerina sound the alarm and she grabbed her weapons and fought. Soundly defeated by Abby, Rosaline could not fathom the girl’s strength and power, and she did not trust her. She had studied the work of Dippel and many of his notes talked about Calis Van Gothen. Thus, the name that Absinthe gave was familiar to her, but Rosaline had learned to be very wary. However, she saw that Abby was indeed helping the other hunters, even saving their lives. Not much for words, she shows her feelings through actions, and as Absinthe continued to help those that Rosa saw as her “baby chicks” she found great respect for Abby. In time, she even went out to hunt a dragon, specifically looking for certain treasure. Rosaline gained the golden disks that supposedly held the memory of a “mechano-man” built by Dippel.
Seeing this first as a gift, a way to help Absinthe connect with her past, she redesigned the steam bot’s chassis. She even added weaponry, sensors, and several other components to make the robot useful as a monster hunter. Along the way, Rosaline had determined that Absinthe was the real deal and she knew it was only a matter of time before the Night Stalkers would assault the Nightbred of the Shanghai Tunnels. When they did, they’d have even more firepower on their side. The ultimate gift she could assemble to show her gratitude for what Abby had accomplished. However, the machine turned out to be little more than a glorified forklift. Absinthe, however, had an idea. After talking to Selena Santana and Grimey Geargrinder, the gremlin agreed to use his possession ability on the machine. He was able to control it, effectively making him incredibly powerful. This would come in handy and prove invaluable when the Nightbred attacked Sanctuary on the night of Nuit’s summoning.
Ivor ordered an attack on the Night Stalkers and their Sanctuary, and Rosaline faced off against them in melee combat. Massive mace in hand, the strong woman set about killing Nightbred wounded by the ranged hunters like Roy and Molly McCoy. She used her weapon to crush their skulls. After Absinthe and Evelyn Addams left the fight to stop the conjuration of the goddess, agents from the Bureau of Demonic Analysis arrived and aided the hunters in their defense. Afterwards, Rosaline and the other Night Stalkers were placed inside the building’s foundry and given a choice to aid the government or be considered a terrorist group and face prison. Rosaline initially resisted, and it took four agents to subdue her. She continued to struggle until threatened that all the Night Stalkers would suffer for her behavior. When Absinthe and Brone arrived victorious, Rosaline grudgingly agreed that to aid the BDA was better than the alternative.
Appearance
Rosaline is a strong, muscled middle-aged woman. She wears her hair in a front bob, and often covered in a bandana.
Abilities
- Strong Physical Attacks
- Expert Melee Fighter
- Expert Dragon Hunter
Notes and Trivia
In several Sanctuary Bad Ends, Rosaline can be converted and transformed. This includes themes of: Bimboization, Shadowed Transformation, Blood Suit Transformation, amongst others.
