Roland Warde

**Roland Warde** was the king of Aedwin from 29 NA until his death in 42 NA. During his reign, he purposefully isolated the kingdom from Lauchette and Hallengard to create a more autonomous state with little outside influence. The most notable deed done under his reign was the annexation of Hallengard, creating a new Haleish Empire.

## Early Life

Roland was born in 12 BD to Elena and Edmund Warde as their only son. He was brought up and educated mainly by Elena and Orville Grant, an Aedwinian nobleman. When he was mature, he often gave advice to his father and hypothesized ways to improve Aedwin; one of his ideas being the court structure still used in Aedwin today. Following his father's peaceful death in 29 NA, Roland was crowned king of Aedwin at 41.

## Reign

Roland believed his uncle's grudge against Hallengard for refusing to avenge the death of his brother would lead to nothing but unwarranted strife for the two kingdoms. So, with the help of Orville as his Usher, he made several moves to isolate Aedwin from Hallengard by not sending noblemen to visit as much, and improving infrastructure within Aedwin so that it could support itself without the help. Sometime during these projects, he met and appointed Stavon Qauberg as Royal Secretary, vastly speeding up the process of ensuring that Aedwin was self-sustainable.

Roland also quelled public perception of Lauchette, noting them as an equally dangerous adversary and ally that should instead remain in neutral terms to avoid total destruction. In his efforts to isolate Aedwin-and by extension himself-from conflict, he implored his court to not reveal his surname due to its origin in Lauchette and the grudge his father held on Hallengard. Though, he failed to extinguish all hatred, as a conspiracy brewed within the Aedwinian ranks against Hallengard. Hallengardian King Jaroslav Glazkö personally visited Roland to ask about the conspiracy, Jaroslav eventually executing the traitorous corporal behind the plan. This was the first of many visits that Jaroslav took to Aedwin.

During one of Jaroslav's visits, Orville was found dead within the dungeon with few clues as to who did it. Suspecting it was one of the many Hallengardians that had come with Jaroslav, Roland began to grow paranoid of the northern kingdom. This eventually culminated in the capture and execution of Jaroslav and planting of Orville's recently arrived son, Mortimer Grant, as king. Many began to call Aedwin an empire due to its acquisition of Hallengard, and Roland's attempts at isolationism had unintentionally set it up for failure.

Roland was growing wearier with old age, and had a silent crisis about his identity with not following through on his father's grudge. During the later months of his reign, he pushed work onto his court, including having Regent Leonardo Ledford be almost ever-present on the throne. Aedwin's infrastructure was ill-equipped to supply Hallengard with soldiers, people, and trade, so the northern half of the Hales became quite desolate. Though, he still made attempts to change Aedwin for the better when he could.

## Death

Roland was visiting Hallengard in order to check in with Mortimer and conceptualize ways to repopulate and support Hallengard after its acquisition. A day of feasting and tournament was decided upon as a way to entice people into Hallengard's walls. During the first feast, Roland began to slip on his words and was shot through the neck with a crossbow bolt. His last words were, "Aedwin still survives." His body was carried halfway to Aedwin until it was stolen by the elusive Droog, leaving the status of his body unknown.

## Legacy

Mystery still surrounds the motive and perpetrator of Roland's assassination, with theories ranging from Hallengardian dissenters to random mercenaries. Thus, the investigation has lead to many fractures and hostilities within Aedwin that Leonardo was left to fix.