Roland

Roland was an evil sorcerer who murdered people to harvest their souls. He was the father of Amy Mercer, and orchestrated the kidnapping of Ivers royal family member Damian Greenspear. He died atop the Whitefrost Mountains while closing a portal opened by the black dragon Taevaarth.

Origin

Roland originally lived in the small town of Beetleton, south of Lake Ivarice. There, he discovered a small tear in the plane deep in the nearby woods. Entering the portal, he discovered the fading remains of an unknown deity, who told him of the true origins of his world and of the plans of the black dragon Taevarth, who meant to open a great tear to his home plane and bring dragons to the new world. Roland witnessed the death of this deity, and escaped back to Shorefire as death washed over the now deceased deity's plane. Roland swore to prevent the death his world would surely face should Taevarth succeed.

Any Means Necessary

Knowing the power he would require to stop Taeverth's plans, Roland began working to create a spell which could generate what he needed. Failing to gather what he needed from nature, he turned to creatures - trying to obtain their life essence. Progress was frustrating slow and consumed his time and attention. He barely noticed as his wife passed away from an incurable disease, but found something in her death. His spells captured her soul, which proved to be the greatest source of power Roland had ever seen. Now fully consumed by his need for power, he burned the outskirts of Beetleton to the ground, and harvested many souls before fleeing into the wilds. Roland would spend the next thirteen years harvesting souls from travelers and the unfortunate wayward guard.

The Curse

Eventually, Roland realized he would run out of time before collecting enough power, so he created a curse which would build up power in a soul over time, then cause the cursed person to explode, releasing the energy into his control. He arranged to kidnap Damian Greenspear, nephew of the king of Ivers, and use him as a vessel to spread the curse throughout the city. A kink in his plan was discovered however, when the curse was triggered prematurely by the Wiggles, who had been contracted by then Captain Mercer to rescue Damian. Instead of the Ivers royal family, the Wiggles themselves became cursed, and set out to find a way to remove it. This eventually led them back to Roland, who was unaware he had cursed his own daughter.

Death

When the Wiggles finally found Roland, he was nearly ready to set his plan into motion. His daughter Amy came to him alone in good faith that he might be convinced to stop his killing. He told her of his motivations, and she told him that in their quest to stop him, they had resurrected Taevarth. Realizing his quest to stop the dragon had enabled it, he went with the Wiggles to Ivers, where the Ivers army marched upon the Whitefrost Mountains. In the end, Roland died casting a spell to close the portal Taevarth had opened, but not before his orb of power detonated, temporarily opening the rift, and allowing hundreds of dragons to enter the world.