Roland
From Enlil
[edit] Roland Lothario Warwick Dimrumple
Character is played by Micah J. Briehl
Background
Roland Lothario Warwick Dimrumple is a cleric of Vol Horrok, god of the hidden and keeper of the lost, and has spent his life in Oaerda as part of a monastic order of Vol Horrok's followers. As a baby, he was found on the forest floor by Victor Tudor, a young, human cleric of The Monsatic Order of Bogdan Aemilianus, keepers of the secrets of The Frozen Temple at Sed Kysdi. Victor, seeing the child as a gift from Vol Horrok, raised him in the tradition of the Order. Roland's early years were spent largely in the forests and caves around Sed Kysdi, where many in the Order lived. These environs suited Roland well, and although the cities were off limits to Vol Horrok's clerical and monastic followers, he never felt this to be a great inconvenience. Victor acted as a father to Roland throughout his early life, instilling in him early a sense of the importance of the Order's duties to keep those things which should be hidden out of the wrong hands. As soon as Roland, in Victor's words, had "enough goddamn sense not to get himself killed," Victor resumed his old duties, often disappearing for days or sometimes weeks, leaving Roland in the caves, left to the care of the members of the Order who would happen by. Roland became the housekeeper to the transient clerics during these times, and while he resented having to clean up after them, he became well known and well liked among their ranks.
Despite leading a dangerous life, Victor lived into old age. Shortly after turning 60, he decided to "leave the skulking around in damp, stinking, dragon shit-holes to people who're young and deluded enough to enjoy it," and retired to teach. By this time, Roland had heard a lot of talking about the dragon, "the tome," and vague utterances of ancient darkness, but had never been told exactly what the Order was doing. He'd long ago stopped trying to put it together, instead fabricating for himself stories based loosely on what he'd heard, ranging from the heroic to the comically pointless. Victor settled down to teach a new generation of followers of the order, and asked the young Roland (having recently celebrated his fortieth birthday) what he wanted to do with his life. He'd be free to leave, perhaps starting a life somewhere else, or to become a cleric and be bound by life-long duty to the secrets they kept. Roland, having played den-mother far too long, had some skepticism about the Order, but ultimately decided that whatever the follies of the individuals, these men had--at their core--some greater purpose, and that purpose made the idea of living out his days on a farm somewhere seem rather below him. And so, Roland agreed to begin his training as a cleric of The Monastic Order of Bogdan Aemilianus.
The Story of Bogdan Aemilianus
Bogdan Aemilianus, it was said, was a follower of Vol Horrok from very long ago. It is said that he had a preternatural sense of locating those things which should not be possessed and plucking them right out of history, making them disappear to the ages. His name is not known outside the Order precisely because he was so effective at remaining unnoticed. Still, pure skill is not what makes the man great. In his travel, Bogdan happened upon an item of unimaginable power, held by great evils, and the focus of much bloodshed. This item was said to be a tome in which was written the very words which brought rhyme and reason to the world, in a tongue never meant for mortals to read. It contained maps that showed the very fabric and geometry of the universe, incomprehensible to mortal intelligence. That this tome was in the grasp of such evil did not bode well for the world, and thus Bogdan did that which he was so good at. He made it disappear, out from the hands so tightly gripping it. He forged an alliance with an ancient white wyrm to keep it safe, ensuring even its new owner had no idea of the nature of the item.
Eventually, the demons realized its absence after trying to draw power from the forgery he had left. In fury, they lashed out at everyone and everything they could, and the ancient wyrm lost her life to them. For this, Bogdan smiled, knowing that her brood would take good care of it, without knowing of the deal they struck. And they did, treasuring it, greedily keeping it safe with their other trophies, not knowing of its great power.
With the dragon's ignorance, though, came the need to watch over the tome. As he grew older, Bogdan recruited other followers of Vol Horrok to keep it safe, without the dragons' explicit knowledge. They struck deals, sometimes doing tasks for the dragons, with the incorrect understanding that they were the dragons' servants, providing divine help and being eyes and ears in the surrounding lands. The brood grew comfortable with certain clerics, allowing openings for them to slip in unnoticed. Bogdan explained to his followers that he had created a great ruse, shielding the artifact's true power, but even this minor veil took such great power that it sapped the heat out of its surroundings. The tome remained encased in a great wall of ice, creating a glacier in the middle of the ruins, allowing the dragons to roost. And so, the followers found themselves stewards of the Frozen Temple.
Roland comes of Age
Roland grew older, seeing his adoptive father's death at a ripe old age, and continuing with his studies. With Victor's death, he found himself increasingly frustrated with the speed and ease with which the humans seemed to pick up the cloth, and found himself gravitating towards his more long-lived brothers, the elves and dwarves and other gnomes. Still, Roland persisted, studying and practicing until he was ready to set out in his duties.
After a seemingly interminable course of study, Roland was finally ready to take his place with the other clerics of the Order. His duties ranged all over, finding himself collecting information in the cities (usually under the guise of a merchant from another town or farmer seeking supplies), carrying out menial tasks for the dragon, or occasionally spying on the kobolds who served him. By this time, the lair was overseen by one dragon, Cisqon Shardtongue, who had ousted his siblings after great struggles. Although often finding himself in seemingly benign situations, Roland endeavored always to go above and beyond in his tasks, forced to keep himself interested in otherwise banal duty.
The Cataclysm
One summer day, Roland was returning from a routine information gathering trip to Heloden when he spotted signs of trouble. He saw a plume of smoke emerging from one of the hidden caverns often used as a meeting-place for the Order. When he arrived there, he found the kobolds had set a fire at the entrance. They had a small but formidable force of warriors and shamans there to kill any who might emerge from the oven, and after brief deliberation, he came to the conclusion that it was beyond the point where he could help, and that his life was better spent pursuing the greater goals of the Order. And so, Roland sought to discover why Shardtongue's kobolds had turned on the them. It shortly came to light that Cisqon Shardtongue had fallen mysteriously ill, being first covered with burning pustules, and then seeing his own flesh rotting away as he died. After just a week, the wyrm had succumb to the disease. The kobolds sent their fastest runner to alert another Shardtongue of the new vacancy and offer their service to the family (as without a master, kobolds quickly find themselves dying in great numbers), but before hearing back, Cisqon's corpse awoke, and the skeletal dragon attacked the kobolds, slaughtering them in great numbers. Those that survived decided that the attempts of the Order's clerics to heal Cisqon were part of some plot, and set about taking their vengeance.
They had decimated the Order, and Roland gathered with those that remained. After lengthy discussion, they realized that there was some outside force with access to powerful magic that had reanimated the corpse of Cisqon, and most likely was responsible for his demise. Realizing that the tome was now in great danger, they split up to find some clue as to what was going on, and how to salvage what they could from the situation. Perhaps, they speculated, that it was time for the tome to be found, but if that has to be the case, it is of utmost importance that they decide the terms. And so, the members of the Order split, to discover the source of the problem and to find some solution to it. Roland, being acquainted with Heloden better than the other remaining clerics headed into the city to seek an answer...
