Roland Harka

**Minister Roland Harka** was the militaristic Prime Minister of the United Northern Alliance (UNA) and a major antagonist in the Forsaken Trilogy and arguably the main antagonist of The Forsaken. He ruled the UNA with an iron fist for many years, until his own staff overthrew him and sent him to The Wheel, an abandoned prison colony island for political prisoners. For years, he struggled to survive on the island and in desperation, he posed as a supernatural being, and became known as The Monk and formed the Drones with promises of salvation by escaping the Wheel.

## Biography

### Early life

Roland Harka was once a decorated four-star general who lived years before the founding of the UNA. Unfortunately, Harka lived during a time of global economic turmoil where resources and food were scarce. In response, the governments of the United States, Canada, and Mexico formed the United Northern Alliance, despite the chagrin of the masses. As political unrest began to surface, Harka forcefully gained control of the developing UNA with the support from his comrades in the military, declaring himself Prime Minister of the country.

### Minister Harka's reign

When the former general rose to power, Harka ruled with absolute authority, and made many sweeping changes. He unified the military and bribed his supporters with positions of political power, while he jailed those who spoke out against him. As the dictator of the UNA, Harka stripped many of the freedoms the populations of North America had previously and dissidents who broke his laws were severely punished. All forms of communication were banned under Harka's rule, including cell phones, personal computers, and access to the Internet. Soon enough, Harka signed laws that outlawed travel and anything that he saw subverted the government's authority, including peaceful and violent protests and unrest. Well aware of attempts to assassinate him, Harka had the five members of his all military personnel staff act as lookalikes for security purposes. Harka was a cruel leader and instigated several wars with other governments such as the European Coalition to plunder their resources and closed off the UNA's borders as a means to "unite the entire country in isolation to achieve safety and prosperity". The UNA's science division were required by Harka and his staff to focus all their knowledge on developing technology in the government's favor. Harka was idolized by many loyal UNA citizens and many monuments were dedicated to him.

### Mutiny and Exile

However, after years of ruling the UNA, Harka's five man inner circle grew more and more power hungry than even Harka himself had surmised, which culminated in the dictator being ousted from power by his own staff, believing he had become "too soft". Harka's staff then proceeded to take power over the UNA themselves and altered their appearances to match that of Harka to give off the illusion that Harka was still in control. Harka was then banished to the prison island called "The Wheel', where many of his political opponents were exiled years ago. Upon arriving at the Wheel, Harka's opponents brutally tortured him and scalded him before ultimately fleeing, leaving behind many scars on his body. However, two prisoners, Thomas and Leah Shawcross, who were sent to the island for speaking out against the UNA, tended to his wounds before they ultimately escaped the island, but most of Harka's wounds were unable to be healed. Eventually, teenagers began arriving heavily affected by the chemical residue left by chemical weapons used to bomb the island by the UNA a few years earlier and turned to the former dictator in desperation, believing him to be a supernatural being who would guide them to salvation by escaping the Wheel. Harka, also driven by a desire to escape the island, played along with what the teenagers believed, becoming "The Monk" and the teens who followed and worshipped him became the Drones, with the scarred ex dictator as their leader.

### Life on the Wheel

Despite the Drone's unwavering loyalty to the Monk, there were many teenagers who established a society on the Wheel called Villagers, who sought to live independently of the Drones until they found a way to escape. Seeing the Villagers as a threat to his plans, Harka instigated a war against the Villagers. The Drones killed many Villagers and took over the island sector by sector until the Villagers controlled only the Blue Sector of the Wheel. The Monk was so feared amongst the Villagers that they referred to him as the "Cannibal Monk".

## Personality

Harka was a ruthless military man who held an iron grip over the UNA during his long tenure as its ruler.