Roland Hartbane - Backstory

Roland Hartbane

Half-Elf Paladin — Knight of the Light — Son of the White Stag

Player	Nathan
Class	Paladin, Oath of the Ancients
Race	Half-Elf
Background	Knight
Alignment	Good
Origin	Cottage on the outskirts of the Verdant Realm, Greno

“The dying knight looked at me, a beaten child covered in mud and blood, and called me the White Stag. I didn’t know what it meant then. I’m still not sure I do.”

Background

Roland was born of a wood elf mother and a human father. His parents met when humans joined an alliance with elves to fight off an orc invasion. The war was won, but legend says all the humans were killed in the battle. Roland was conceived during the war. His father, whose name he doesn’t know, was known as “the White Stag” — one of the 13 Verdant Lords, the 13 leaders and protectors of the Verdant-Realm, and reportedly the strongest among them. He kept to himself, very enigmatic. Whether he survived the war is intentionally left ambiguous.

Threatened with exile for bearing a half-human child, his mother sent Roland away. It may have been to protect her own status in the elven community, or it may have been to protect him. She was likely of wood elf heritage, fitting Roland’s later connection to forests and nature.

Roland was left with a drunken, abusive misanthrope hermit in a cottage on the edge of the Black-Forest. The hermit overworked him, beat him, and starved him. Roland grew up alone, unwanted, and unloved.

The Black Forest

One day, after a particularly bad beating at age twelve, Roland ran. He fled deep into the Black-Forest and tripped over a dying knight with an orc spear through his gut. The knight looked at him, seemed to recognize something, and said “the White Stag lives.” Then he died.

Orcs attempted to desecrate the knight’s body. Roland, a beaten child covered in mud and blood, stood over the body and defended it until the battle was over and the surviving knights found him. He was barely twelve years old.

The knights saw what he did. They took him in as a squire.

Who was the dying knight?

He recognized Roland. He knew the White Stag sigil, or the man who wore it, well enough to see it in a child’s face. Was he one of the knights who fought alongside Roland’s father in the orc war? A member of the same order? Someone who made a promise to look after the boy? Brandon’s call.

The Knights

Roland was raised by the order. His mentor and the knight who eventually dubbed him was Llewyn Fellwater, a knight errant. The knights roam the world protecting all that is light, adventuring and fighting where the darkness gathers. This is not a court order or a political institution. These are wanderers who swore to preserve what’s good and to be the shield between it and what would snuff it out.

Roland swore the Oath of the Ancients because it was the oath sworn by every knight who took him in. The oath of the order. It wasn’t a theological choice. It was a family tradition, the only real family he’s ever had.

Roland was knighted at age eighteen and pledged to find out whether his father, the White Stag, yet lives. He has searched for fifteen years without word.

Now in his mid-twenties, Roland is a knight errant — not serving any lord, roaming to find adventure. He came to Freewood following rumors that the White Stag was seen near Weber-Hollows.

Why Orcish

After being abandoned by his elven mother, Roland decided that what elves despise can’t be that bad. He learned Orcish to understand orc culture and judge them for himself, after being told orcs killed his father.

He came away with mixed feelings. He doesn’t necessarily like orcs but recognizes his bias may be rooted in trauma rather than truth. He’s prejudiced against orcs, tieflings, and drow — working on it, but it’s there.

Faith

Roland follows the Herd of Amareses — goddess of harvest, crops, rebirth, renewal, and nature. The Oath of the Ancients aligns naturally with Amareses. He believes gods are real but isn’t super mystical about it. He connects his faith to the idea of “protecting the light” in a darkened world. He dislikes city knights who only protect the wealthy.

Amareses may take the form of a deer — possibly white — which ties directly into the White Stag mystery. Whether his father, the goddess, or something else entirely is the White Stag remains open.

At the Table

A knight with real training and real scars, not from battle but from the years before he was found. He’s charismatic (CHA 17), can talk or intimidate his way through most situations, and carries himself with the weight of someone who was given a second chance and is determined to deserve it.

His quest is personal: find the White Stag. Find out who his father was. Find out if he’s alive. And figure out what it means that a dying stranger recognized his face.

Retainers

Three Knight-background retainers, named in session 2026-05-01:

• Carrot — squire. Sleeps under the wagon. “That’s where the squire always sleeps.”
• Analese — spy. Often away from camp on assignment; cannot be deployed for combat.
• Alaric — loremaster. Sleeps in Roland’s tent. Snores notoriously. Distinct from Aldrich-the-Lore-Master of Weber-Hollows — a separate person despite the table’s repeated name confusion.

Per ruling at the table: retainers cannot do active combat tasks or anything requiring real risk. Camp work, intel, message-running, shopping, and scribe duties are fair game.

Prepared spells

4 prepared slots plus Ensnaring Strike and Speak with Animals (always). Nothing is written down yet. Good starters: Bless, Cure Wounds, Shield of Faith, Command, Wrathful Smite.

Personality

• Traits: A knight forged from an abused child. Carries himself with earned dignity. Protective of the vulnerable because he was one.
• Ideals: Protect the light. Be the shield. The oath is everything because the people who gave it to him are the first people who ever cared.
• Bonds: The White Stag, his unknown father. Llewyn Fellwater, the knight who raised him. The order that gave him a name and a purpose.
• Flaws: Prejudiced against orcs, tieflings, and drow. Working on it, but it’s rooted in trauma from the orc war that killed (or didn’t kill) his father. Dislikes “city knights” who protect wealth instead of the vulnerable.

Smite Flavor

• Searing Smite — Roland stabs his sword into the ground, pulls it out wreathed in flame.
• Divine Smite — a white stag apparition manifests and gores the enemy alongside the sword strike.

Session Canon

2026-04-25 — Weber Hollows Arrival

• Arrived at Weber-Hollows in the company tracked by Forge-Doomhammer’s prophecy — “the knight and the weak, frail, young Tiefling boy.”
• Met Flinter-Barrows and the founding history of Weber Hollows.

2026-05-01 — Crypt of the Brothers

• Tent canonized: parade-style canvas, flags, four corner posts, one central pole, sleeps ~4. Carrot under the wagon, Alaric in the tent, Analese away on spy duties.
• During the fog, went to higher ground and confirmed the fog sits only on the lower levels of Weber Hollows. Spotted glowing red eyes in the distance; failed perception (4 then 3 with -1), shape unidentifiable.
• Felt Weber Hollows itself descend and re-ascend through the night — the lifting-mechanism reveal.
• Heard the child-voice in the fog (“Braun” / “Brandon”) alongside Dorian and Azalea.
• Swapped shield for a two-handed longsword in the crypt fight (AC 17 unshielded, 19 with shield). Used Searing Smite (ineffective on stone) then Divine Smite. Took 10 damage from a stone blade swing.
• Hellish Rebuke attempt was flagged as not on the current sheet; DM allowed a half-damage version.
• The crypt’s Lore Master Aldrich shouted: “Sir Roland! Good job. Praise be to Amareses! In the name of the White Stag!” — tied the encounter explicitly to his quest.
• Brought an owl bear egg (~1000 gp delicacy) from town; cooked and ate it with Azalea for breakfast.

Currently

• Back in Weber-Hollows for the night with Dorian, K’roaa’ka, Azalea, G.L.U., and Echo. Retainers had already broken camp and returned to town earlier. Holding Dorian’s coin for safekeeping.