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Family:

• Roland De Lisle (Rollo)
• Morgen De Lisle (Mother)
• Estienne Allaire (Father)

Backstory highlights:

• Morgen was a witch whose ancestors came from Albion
• Estienne was a Bretonnian knight
• Estienne and Morgen maintained a long-term affair
• Estienne jilted Morgen after she became pregnant and took a noble as his wife
• Morgen gave birth to Roland and cursed Estienne with sterility
• Estienne had Morgen burned at the stake
• Rollo fled with a travelling peddlar and ended up in Reikland
• Joined a travelling carnival where he worked as a laborer and brawler under the name ‘Rollo’

Circumstance brought Morgen and Estienne together. Estienne was a young knight errant, eager to prove himself worthy to ascend to true knighthood. Following rumors of a small band of Greenskins that had been raiding villages near Axe Bite Pass, the rash youth pursued, determined to prove his mettle by vanquishing the creatures alone. Bravery, however, was no match for foolishness. Estienne tracked the band and many fell to his sword, but in the end he was left broken and barely clinging to life. His horse killed, his sword broken, his bright breastplate riddled with crooked arrows. He slumped against the trunk of a great old oak and waited to die, surrounded by the corpses of the slain.

Morgen was beautiful, young, dark and gifted. She lived alone in the forests at the feet of the Grey Mountains where she pursued her arts in secret away from prying eyes. Fate had brought her out that day, wandering beneath the trees in the hunt for reagents when she stumbled upon the young knight. He was handsome to her eyes, and so smitten with him that she staunched the blood from his wounds with bandages torn from her skirts. She took him back to her home where she healed his wounds and cared for him until he regained his strength. Estienne too fell for Morgen’s charms, and though he was bound by oath to expose and destroy such a creature he instead chose to bed her. And so, the two entered into a long and secret affair, the knight secreting away into the forest to be with the mysterious and powerful beauty at every opportunity.

Their passions eventually bore fruit and Morgen’s belly began to swell with the promise of new life. When Estienne learned of this he was wracked with fear. Terrified that his fate was now bound to the witch forever through the proof of their offspring, he rejected Morgen despite the many declarations of love and affection he had rendered throughout their tryst. Devastated, Morgen stole away with their unborn child, fearful that Estienne might now expose her and bring her to the stake in order to protect his own reputation and standing - a standing that Morgen had a hand in sculpting; if she had not saved his life that day the knight never would have returned to declare his victory. He never would have lived to seen himself elevated to a Knight of the Realm, nor enjoyed the carnal pleasures she’d afforded him. As she escaped, fear gave way to bitterness, and she would carry a flame of hatred for Estienne forever after his betrayal.

As the months passed Morgen established herself in the west, living much as before in seclusion until she gave birth to a son, who she named Roland. The boy grew to favor his mother in looks, though he would grow tall and strong, even more so than his father in adulthood. Morgen tutored the boy in the ways of her arts, though he never seemed to show an affinity for the gifts she possessed. In truth the boy was more enthralled with the things little boys are wont to enjoy. The young Roland would spend his free moments roaming the green hills surrounding their home, chasing down imaginary foes with a stick that was a sword and rescuing fair damsels. All the same, Morgen gave the boy an education of the arcane, the darker arts of witchcraft and hexes, and the macabre. The boy learned matters of folklore, monstrosities, chaos, and the undead. He was taught to separate superstition from fact, and by his tenth winter he possessed more reason and logic than any adult outside the colleges or scholarly vocations. His mother had taught him not to hate or fear the unknown, but to embrace it and mold it to his own will. But she also taught him of the cowardice, betrayal and depravity of his own father. She tried to impress her own hatred for Estienne within him, and desired whole-heartedly that should he one day have the chance, that he destroy his father’s reputation or take his life in revenge for casting her away.

In time Morgen learned that Estienne was to wed into a noble family, improving his standing considerably. Unable to deny the bitterness that poisoned her heart, she decided to return to Montfort, determined to take revenge on Estienne. Roland, now 13 winters, journeyed with her to her first home where they took shelter, and Morgen began to enact her plot. Her hut was in disrepair, but still contained many of the belongings she had left behind, among them items that had belonged to Estienne as well. Gathering scraps from a book, cloth from his cloak, and a few strands of the knight’s hair that still lay upon Morgen’s bed, she crafted a doll that resembled her estranged lover. Under the light of a full moon she enacted rituals as Roland watched, leveling curse and hex upon the man that had broken her heart.

The next morning she rode to confront her former lover and complete the curse she had woven. She bid Roland to stay and wait for her return, and that if she did not come by dusk to travel west to their home where she would meet him.

It was the day of Estienne’s wedding, and Morgen stole into the castle in disguise. As the marriage vows were rendered Morgen revealed herself and declared the truth of their affair to all. She then cursed Estienne so that he could never bear children since he had cast aside his first son, and finalized the spell by striking him with the doll she had constructed. The doll fell to the floor before all gathered and burst into green flames until it was consumed.

The witch was taken prisoner before she could cast the spell that would allow her to escape. Bound and gagged, they drug her to the courtyard where Estienne commanded the guard to erect a stake and prepare a bonfire; the guard were all too happy to oblige. Though Estienne was now bound through marriage to a new position, the damage of Morgen’s accusations had been done. He ordered men to travel to the witch’s hut to recover the boy and dispose of him, hoping to conceal the proof of their conjugation. But as they carried Morgen to the pyre and bound her to the stake young Roland was in the crowd, watching as the fire was set and his mother burned.

No trace of the boy was found at Morgen’s hut and, despite Estienne’s spin that it was all a madwoman’s ravings, his reputation suffered. He was placed in charge of a remote fiefdom where he would spend his years fending off Greenskins until he could disappear into obscurity with an unhappy bride.

Meanwhile, young Roland traveled east to the Empire, where he joined a travelling carnival and found work doing odd jobs. He took the name Rollo and grew into an exceptionally tall and strong man. Eventually he was taken in by the carnival toughs and learned to brawl for coin, until fate again guided him to new roads and new friends.