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cinderswife · 3 months

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so um. did you know rose red ocs are fun to design and come up with lore for??? rose reds are insane i am having so much fun !!! a history of rose red generations and info on these poor bastards in particular under the cut <3

(oh, and the ages are at the end of the war for reference)

there are 5 distinct generations of rose reds created over the 32 years of war (not including briar, generation 0). the first three were separately developed from rose's base, but four and five were iterated from generation three.

also for the record i've decided to take a steven universe quartz soldier take on the way rose reds relate to each other in that they have 0 innate concept of family with each other. most rose reds have like. a co-workerly relationship with some Sisters In Arms although some elect to become Besties or Family or That Really Annoying Guy Who I Hate And Can't Get Rid Of, or in rare occasions, fall in love. this will be relevant to rusty and sparkler

generation 0

[not pictured, born/deployed 1 year after the wedding]

briar is gen 0. although there were years of R&D about clone soldiers prior to the rose reds' existence (cole had this idea in mind for a while), briar was the first actual example of one. she is the only clone to be rose's height; she was meant to be like. a baseline control group for the rest of 'em. she was a bit rushed in the memory department; miscommunications among the scientists meant that they kinda. assumed that porting original flavor rose's memories would suffice since this is a control group. also cole had really strict deadlines for the project for some ungodly reason so even though the timeline between rose's capture and briar's "birth" was a year and she was pretty good, she would've been better off with two or three or more.

generation 1

[rusty and sparkler deployed 2 years after the wedding]

gen 1 was even more of a rushed project; they had half finished notes and a year deadline for deployment. no wonder rusty, the prototype and the next briar, was so janky; they didn't have enough time to sort out all the issues, particularly in the memory department. she's got half of rose's memories and the ability to lie and they screwed up spaying her and there are bits of her body that aren't quite right from scaling up rose from 4'10" to 6'2". however, she passed muster well enough so generation 1 rose reds were made and deployed (with a few tweaks from rusty's base).

the gen 1 rose reds were very prone to nervous and/or violent and/or suicidal breakdowns. later waves of gen 1 were slightly better tweaked, but the methodology + technology used to handle the brain stuff did not take into account uh. rose's severe ptsd. they made the poor bastards with ptsd right out the gate unknowingly. this is the shortest average generation with an average height of about 6'3". gen 1 roses were good enough to tide over while more time was allocated to gen 2 research, but they weren't deployed in the same amounts as they would be in the future. general white's revolution was still in its infancy so it wasn't like. a huge deal. they just had to be super careful

rusty started life very confused but fully capable of Lying to the people who made her and expected her to be a placid soldier. as the prototype, she was often used as the control group for experiments on later prototype models while they worked out what worked and what didn't. while rusty was being like. tested and prodded and stuff, original flavor rose was in suspension so that they could get more samples from her. also og rose was kind of a lava lamp decoration

when rusty wasn't being watched, she was assumed to be still and unmoving. she actually started talking to rose-in-suspension to try and make sense of the half memories in her head and started developing her own conclusions. like what love was and what the wind felt like and extreme opinions about niche comics (for the record my rose + snow are closet nerds - rose has a collection of nichevintage superhero comics and snow is a huge film snob). the story she spun in her head about who rose was was a mess of red string and blurry images. ultimately, she came to the conclusion that she hated holding a gun, actually and that all this sucked but she didn't have enough life experience to have a good idea of how to go about it

rusty's salvation came in the form of another rose red, this time in the form of RR G10072 (later named sparkler). sparkler was one of those being prepared to be deployed on beaumont and was rapidly developing a personality trait, that being a desire for Arson. she wasn't as good of a liar as rusty but in the quiet secret times rusty would school her. they would develop something that was probably love based on half memories and "you and i are going to survive this together." sparkler was terrified of being found out as she'd watched others in her batch be terminated for other things

rusty and sparkler become the first known "rouge reds" though their existence is kept hidden from most. it wouldn't due to have people know that his majesty's new weapons are unstable after all (though what did they expect? rose was not an obedient soldier, she was a weapon you pointed in the direction of the kingdom you wanted gone and ducked for cover). sparkler begins to develop more personality in the form of Autism Flat Affect, a surprising love for both organizing and gambling, and. honestly more arson. someone gets on her case for her collection of fireworks and is like "hey sparkler girl" (rose reds aren't like. A Huge Thing Yet) and she's like. ah. a name.

rusty and sparkler are married and have a kid together named remi (not picture). she's one of the very few offspring from a rose red mostly because most rose reds are sterilized. they fucked it up for rusty cuz she's a janky prototype, something she only discovered when trying out "hm what is this man thing and what is romance with one." turns out she, like 95% of rose reds, is a whole lesbian lol but there were Unexpected Side Effects in the form of A Kid. which. now they had to figure what to do about that and ended up joining with the revolution for protection and also sparkler's arson/rusty's ship repair specialties. it. it sure went for them :) rusty recognized snow and that was Weird and Fucked Up and Bad. luckily she picked up snow's new name of "general mercymourn white" pretty quickly

generation 2

[piper and persephone, deployed 5 years after the wedding]

gen 2 was given decent time for r&d. these rose reds' dna was remade from scratch because generation 1 was so janky. because the production methods were good, they didn't have to waste so much time on those. they spent three years developing a decent prototype, known as prototype 0003. 0003 was not allowed to exist very long; once they ascertaind that she was functional and not janky like rusty they put her down. briar was a whisper myth and rusty was a known quantity. prototypes were too much of a risk.

gen 2 was far more functional. though they weren't nearly as brainwiped as later gens (particularly 4 and 5) they were loyal, obedient soldiers (for the most part). the average height rose to about 6'7" as they were figuring out better ways to improve the size and stature from rose's original Short As Hell. these are the ones that the rebellion first started engaging in combat in earnest, though they were still not a proper supplement to or replacement of the main army just yet. the big con that made them have to be redesigned over the next 8 years (though not one that was initially discovered) is that these poor saps were very malleable. just because they were brainwiped didn't mean they were loyal to the king for any reason other than they were told. if they were isolated it was easy to make them switch loyalties. the rebellion didn't cotton on to this fact until it was too late because general white refused to hear it.

piper got her nickname while still in the army. she was always singing which really, really annoyed her superior officer so they left her for dead after a battle. shockingly, she did not die! instead a pair of conmen overheard her singing herself to sleep (er. death but y'know) and were like "a rose red that sings??? we could make a killing off of this." they patched her up and rehabilitated her (aka. made her loyal to them and do everything they say) and marketed her as a travelling carnival exhibit. they also used her for free protection from the law and also other criminals. however she developed more of a personality and a feeling of "this sucks actually" so when a passing casino owner looking for a new entertainment draw and offered her a job she jumped on the chance

unfortunately, she's still being screwed over. he's the only guy who knows she's a rose red (she gained weight and curves and generally styles herself very femininely which throws most people off the track) so he uses it against her as blackmail. he pays her less than everyone else, witholds vital (if forged) documents from her, and generally makes her life a living hell. she picked up a second job as a bouncer for a nearby divebar which helps cover rent. she's very pretty but perpetually paranoid that someone will find out that she's a rose red and either kills her or turns her in or drives her out. she's slowly losing her mind

persephone is. well. so not her superior officer (jupiter) but her superior officer's coworker (pluto) fell in love with her, specifically. something about how she survived a lightning cannon and just her general personality quirks. she used to be sweet y'know, even despite the horrors. so with jupiter's permission, pluto kidnapped persephone and took her deep, deep underground.

she basically was plutos personal attack dog/trophy wife while they built up an underground criminal empire. it was Bad. she did learn a lot of things about brutal leadership and being in a shit situtation. eventually she snapped and killed pluto, taking their place as the new Big Name Crime Lord on the block. she rules the undercity with an iron fist, although her favorite venture is her collection of illicit speakeasies. she is very proud of being a rose red and sometimes wishes she could go back to that life. however, she's got a really good gig going and she refuses to let it slip through her hands. real queen of hearts energy tbh

her theme song is "our lady of the underground" from hadestown :3

generation 3

[old rosie (canon/not pictured) and rosenrot, deployed 13 years after the wedding]

after the fatal flaw in gen 2 was discovered they had to start from scratch /again/. this time however, they had plenty of time to work it out. they went through prototypes 004 - 011 until they had one that was perfect in every way. they put her down after she was done being useful of course. at this point it was mostly superstition not to keep the prototypes around even though these ones were perfectly loyal. gen 3 is considered the golden generation from the ones designed directly from rose's dna + brain scans : a perfect balance of loyalty and competence.

gen 3 is the longest lasting generation as it lasted for 10 years. they'd tweak the dna over the years as new breakthrough came to light, but they didn't need to remake them. this is the gen where the rose reds got the nickname giants as they now averaged about 7 feet. they're extremely effective soldiers and are very difficult to get to change loyalties due to being Poor Brainwashed Bastards. hardcore programming wouldn't fully show up until the later waves. this is when rose reds got made in their hundreds of thousands. the rebellion was actively a threat now and they needed to defend the empire.

old rosie was from an earlier wave of gen 3 and lasted for a very, very long time compared to all the others. as for rosenrot, well...

rosenrot is a patchwork rose red. she wasn't at first, but she was the best of her batch and kept surviving. every time she lost something, it would be taken from one of her squad and put on her. skin, ears, eyes, hair, even entire limbs. it got to the point where she couldn't tell where she ended and her sisters began. they started referring to themselves in the plural and got what could only be described as "a little touched in the head." that being said, they still fought well so they were kept around. when they were the last rose red in the squad left and were due to be reassigned, they fucked off into the woods never to be seen again

to this day, no one knows what happened to them. there's lots of local urban legends and rumors and whatnot; some claim to see them at the river, others at the full moon, but no concrete evidence. the nice ending is that a lesbian in a cottage found them and took them in. the realistic ending is that they died in the woods. the most likely ending is that they're still out there, surviving in the woods, never able to escape being a patchwork of all her sisters but unwilling to die.

also the name rosenrot came about from a misunderstanding; they were stationed on a germanic planet and all the rose reds were called that because it's a literal translation of rose red. as the only one left, rosenrot kinda assumed that was their name. it's also what the locals call them as a cryptid. just kind of a weirdo

generation 4

[buck, deployed 23 years after the wedding]

considered to be the best generation; they still had plenty of resources to make millions of 'em and were an improvement on generation 3. the best part was that they found a clone who was perfect to iterate off of (unnamed but not old rosie, she was missing a few vital tweaks) so they didn't have to start from scratch again. they went through a couple dozen prototypes in the process of creating them (012-042) but by this time prototyping + putting them down was rote.

gen 4 was involved in the long, drawn out part of the war. they remained at an average of 7 feet tall though they had some proportional tweaks to make them more functional. these rose reds had very little chance at free will, only fighting. only ever fighting. the pop culture image of a rose red post-war is a gen 4 one considering how many were made compared to the first three generations. poor suckers, they never had a chance.

as for buck poor thing got sold to a redbaiting (illegal rose red dogfighting) ring by her superior officers for a bit of cash for booze and gambling. they didn't like her anyways lol she didn't get along with the rest of her squad. turns out they should've asked for way more $$$ because buck's tenacity and nimbleness kept her from losing which basically meant she kept winning. she's been doing this for about 7 years and shows no sign of stopping. all of her scars come from her time in the ring and were inflicted by other rose reds. she has... a very high level of aggression towards other rose reds (slightly innate but also beaten into her)

however, he's the prize champion! this comes with things like an entire showdog style name (QIC Heirloom Bucksin Jacket), he/him pronouns, and some extra special treatment. he's very chill around civilians (if afraid of her handlers) so he's often like. put on display in the top box like a dog. he's very, very dehumanized. he's gonna need hella therapy to be a normal person. what a guy.

generation 5

[farrier. deployed 27 years after the wedding]

this generation is unique as their differences come not from new base dna but from a sudden lack of resources. the rebels finally got the intel on what resources were needed to make rose reds (previously they'd only been destroying factories which made 2 more pop up in its place) and were able to control/destroy it. the crown was forced to make do with less and worse resources and were desparately trying to keep up with how massive the rebellion was as over the past decade or so they'd been relying pretty heavily on rose reds instead of enlisted/drafted forces. rose reds were just. better at being soldiers. they went through a handful of prototypes (043-051) but those were mostly "all right what's the best we can do with the resources on hand."

gen 5 roses are as functional as they can be. they're basically worse versions of gen 4; though equally brainwashed and technically capable, their bodies and minds tend to degrade pretty quickly. this is especially so the more combat they face. they're fast and cheap and hardly the quality they used to be made at. very few gen 5 rose reds survived to see the end of the war because of how badly they were made.

farrier is a gen 5 rose red! she's one of the extremely few who never saw combat because she was a guard model stationed at a super remote outpost so she degraded a lot more slowly. there were a lot of wild horses around so she developed the single trait of "i like horses :)" after the war, she was given the opportunity to be like. a test subject for "can we like. make gen 5 rose reds more stable so we can rehabilitate them?" she said yes because. she'd get to see more horses. she has a very limited view of the world she may have been made for war but what war is there when. Creatures.

she does succeed in having a somewhat more normal lifespan, though still shortened compared to the others. she gets really involved in like. horse things when being rehabilitated. in particular she takes up smithing so she can become a farrier (guy who forges horseshoes). she is just. horse girl rose red extraordinaire the other rose reds Do Not Relate. At All.

she accidentally becomes the gold standard of rose red rehabilitation cuz. honestly she becomes a relatively functioning member of society. but also she only had the trauma of the inherent horror of being made a rose red she's like. vibing??? she has rose's very blase attitude to a lot of things and although she can hold her own in a fight she doesn't seek it out at all. gentle giant. her minders love her so so much

i think she winds up in a weird small rural town somewhere. she's not good with the other rose reds ("damn that sucks" is not an appropriate reaction to the other rose reds talking about the horrors of war and she just. she's not like them. it's not her fault of course she's just. different) and most of the people around her during her rehabilitation period are very politically opinionated and farrier just cannot bring herself to care. however. although its a bit of a weird transition at first she gets along really well with the people of the town she moves into. they needed a farrier anyways and even if it's a bit odd that its her name instead of just her job she's chill. she's vibing. the kids love her. she gets her own horse <3

there's some intense debate in the beginning about whether to accept her because she's a rose red, though this town never... saw the war? like it happened around them but not in their town y'know? but she proves herself when she rescues the mayor's kid from being lost in the woods and almost eaten by a wild animal. she's socially awkward but learning what friendliness is. occasionally she has weird nightmares that are og rose's memories or just. the horrors of being a rose red. but she takes out her frustration with those by swinging a hammer really hard at hot metal. she's got coping mechanisms <3

#the mechanisms #mechs ocs #ouatis #once upon a time in space #planet's doodles #planet's worldbuilding #oc: rusty wrench #oc: sparkler wrench #oc: piper summers #oc: persephone #oc: rosenrot #oc: buck #oc: farrier hoofwise

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