Hey DT,
Here is the background for my character.
Rovan the Mage
Roland Van der Vess was a young noble from the well know Van der Vess family. Roland grew up in the luxury and indulgence that being a noble brings. Good breeding and a love of exercise lead Roland to being very fit and healthy, he never got sick. He grew up learning all the things a good noble does, how to ride, how to behave in proper society, which fork to use and so on. But he was smart and took to his lessons well and studied maps and old stories. He wasn’t as strong as his older brother, Tristan who was a squire and then a knight. But young Roland was bright and was sent off to the famed Overlord's School of Ancient Knowledge to learn to be a magic user. Rovan proved to be fairly adept at magic and learned well.
In his off time he liked to wander the city, spending freely on drinks and women. That was how he met Lola. She was one of the most beautiful women Roland had ever met and was quickly smitten with her. He didn’t care that she worked at the Naughty Nannie. She was beautiful and he desired her. Like man nobles in the city, he was used to getting what he wanted. He came to see her quite often, but was always unlucky enough to not get there early enough before she was claimed. When he finally got his chance with her he treated her so well, with kindness and tenderness that it confused Lola and made her heart a little less hard.
So it was that the saw each other as they could, their relationship and feelings for each other growing slowly, until one night Roland came looking for Lola and heard screams coming from behind her door. He opened it to find another young noble viciously beating Lola. Roland snapped and cast a spell which struck the noble. Enraged, the other noble threw Lola to the side, drew his sword and raised it to strike Roland. A most curious look crossed his face however before he fell to the floor, a dagger sticking from his back, and Lola staring at him from where the noble fell. That mutual act of defense, Roland saving Lola from a severe beating that may have killed her, and Lola stabbing the noble to save Roland showed the other the depth of their feelings for each other.
The screams drew a crowd though and Roland quickly drew out Lola’s dagger and replaced it with one of his own, in the noble’s chest. There was a brief investigation during which the local magistrate was bribed and the killing ruled self-defense. The young man though was Chalan Hofran, and his family swore vengeance on Roland for his death, ruling or no ruling. Partly to save face and protect themselves polictically and partly to punish Roland for defending a whore, his family disowned him, casting him out onto the street.
Bereft of family, Roland changed his name since he could no longer use his family name. He took part of his last name and first name and combined them to make Rovan. Rovan the Mage. His skills as a magician were modest, but sufficient that his old masters at Overlord’s were willing to employ him for various tasks. Helping in the laboratories, classrooms and running errands. His friends, all nobles of course, turned their backs on him when he plummeted from social status and wealth. He sought out Lola, he could no longer afford her services but found that his act of saving her, of protecting her so moved her that she didn’t care that he had lost his title and money. Here was a person who was not shallow and cared about him. Who loved him for who he was. Roland convinced Lola to leave the Naughty Nanny and join him. For Roland was still a noble by birth and he enjoyed the wealth and power he had had.
He had a plan. To survive the streets, to gain wealth and power anyway they could and to rise up and reclaim his place. But not among his family. In spite of his family. He would create his own title, his own power. He just needed a few friends to help him along the way.