Rolan Salvane

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Rolan Salvane
Rolan Salvane
Created by Carl
Information
Gender Male
Occupation Drin
Affiliation The Grey Tower
Nationality Tairen

Rolan Salvane is a Tairen Drin of the Grey Tower.

Description

Tall and stocky, with broad shoulders, and a powerful chest, Rolan’s body is well muscled and athletic. His skin is a vibrant golden tan, which sets of the twinkling honey brown of his eyes, and the ruddy brown of his long, curly hair. He wears a beard, which accentuates his full, square jaw and high cheekbones. His full dark pink lips can often be found in a broad smile, and his laugh, given extra weight by his deep, resonant voice, booms loud enough to fill the room no matter what settings he finds himself in. He has a scar on his left brow, just far enough over to have missed his eye, but continuing just a tiny bit into his cheekbone.

Rolan’s normal style of dress is a mishmash of different cultures from his time traveling with his father, who was a Tairen merchant. He favors less formal attire, not one for coats, and flashiness, preferring instead a simple silk shirt with a wide-open collar leaving his throat unconstructed, and the top of his hairy chest exposed. He tends towards earthy colors, such as browns, tans, and honey gold, as they set off his complexion the best, and he is quite vain about his appearance.

At first meeting Rolan many would likely get the impression that he is a very casual person, who takes life as one big joke, and just rolls with the punches. While, for the most part, this is true, it hides a steely reserve, and a sense of honor and duty that drives him to be the best he can possibly be at every venture he undertakes. Having been a member of his father’s guard since he was fifteen, and strong enough to reliably swing a sword, he understands that when given responsibility one must honor it steadfastly. Still, Rolan makes friends easily, and is generally a very good judge of character.

Biography

Rolan was born in Tear, in a large home, filled with many beautiful things his father had collected over his years as a traveling merchant. His mother, an artist who was popular from Ebou Dar to Cairrhien and all the way from Tear to the borderlands due to his father’s extensive network of traders, doted on him as her only son and spoiled him from an early age, ensuring he never wanted for anything, and routinely reminded him of how beautiful he was. His father, wanting to ensure he grew up to be a man, instead of the girl his mother so obviously wanted, took it in turns to give him a proper education in the harsher realities in life. It was a strange mixture, but it gave him a very well-balanced view of the world and instilled in him several rather interesting abilities. He knew how to fight before he was ten, and at the same time had learned to produce beautiful pottery pieces as well. He knew how to dress himself to best accentuate his finer features, and he knew how to haggle with the best of the market shop-keeps. He knew how to woo with his charms, and how to outsmart and defeat a rival with the most minimal of effort. All of these are things he carries with him to this day and can still use to his advantage. His path to the Grey Tower likely would strike many as odd, as he’s Tairen, and they would be correct, it is an odd thing. It is not however a coincidence. Like many Tairen Rolan grew up with a healthy dislike and suspicion of any who would use the One Power, even if it was for a good cause. He felt very strongly that those who wielded this power were going to destroy the world one day, and because of the propaganda so rampant about this topic in Tear he felt it was going to happen sooner, rather than later. That all changed when he was nineteen.

While on a merchant run with his father, traveling up to the Borderlands to acquire goods to bring back down to Tear for those who enjoyed more exotic wares, they were set upon by a group of bandits, and his father was very badly injured before the guards could fight off their attackers. No one knew at the time that one of the bandits had purchased his dagger from a Dark Friend who routinely traveled to Thakan’dar to wet the blades he forged in the river there, giving them a strong corrupting effect similar to that of a Myrddraal’s blade. The wound began to fester immediately, and by the time they arrived at the next town his life was fading away before their eyes.

A Healer was sent for, but her ability to heal was far from able to combat the taint that was creeping through his father’s body. She had been gone but an hour when there was a knock on the door of the room they’d taken at the inn. When Rolan opened it, he was shocked to see the ageless face of an Aes Sedai dressed in a flowing yellow dress. The Great Serpent ring brazenly displayed on her finger made him shudder. He made to slam the door in her face, but she held up a hand to forestall him, and explained that she had been sent, despite knowing the likelihood of a generous acceptance, because she had experience in healing wounds such as the one his father had taken in the attack. She begged him to allow her to assist, and the obvious pain in her face at seeing his father, even from across the room, and the sincerity of her assurance that she would do everything she could to Heal him were enough to soften his resolve.

Over the next three days she worked feverishly, joined from time to time by her Warder, a stalwart fellow, with an angular face, and a near permanent lack of personality, who would run errands for her and ensure she was eating. Finally, on the third night she collapsed beside the bed, her breathing shallow, and her eyes glazed with exhaustion. Rolan helped her to her feet, and to the chair where she sat back, clasping her hand to her forehead. He was shocked to see tears running down her face, and her hand was clamped in a rictus of obvious agony. As he crouched in front of her, she looked up, her sorrow filled eyes meeting his worried ones, and she shook her head, finally admitting defeat. She composed herself quickly, and then explained that the corruption had spread too far before she’d arrived, and that even with the tools at her disposal, including an angreal that she carried specifically for such healings, she had no way to stop it from killing him, all she could do was soothe him a bit so that he didn’t suffer as much through the night.

In the morning his father was gone, and so was his prejudice against the Aes Sedai, and other channelers. Having watched her work and seeing the care and devotion to her craft that she had possessed he realized that everything he’d been taught since childhood had been wrong. He disbanded the guards, paying them well, and rode for home that day to tell his mother what had happened. When she learned that he’d allowed a Hama Valon witch to touch his father, and to use the One Power to try to heal him she had him thrown out of the house and disowned him. He was given the clothes on his back, his horse, and a sack of coin and told never to return.

Finding himself homeless, and without a family to turn to Rolan stayed in the city for a few days, trying to figure out what his next step should be, and wondering if his only option was going to be working as a merchant guard, though he knew after news of what he’d done spread from his mother’s lips he’d never find work in Tear. Finally, nearly a week after the devastating blow of his mother’s reaction, he made his decision and set out for the Grey Tower. If there was anything he could do to repay the Aes Sedai who had tried to save his father, it was to show the lot of them that not all Tairens hated them and put his skills to good use at the same time by becoming a Warder.

Career History

  • Drin (16 August 2022)