Lygia Roland

Lygia Roland (née Agravain) was a Zantine noblewoman. By her husband Marcus, she bore a daughter, Marena Roland.

## Biography

Born into the once-great aristocratic Agravain family, Lygia Genevieve Agravain was the eldest of two daughters. Her sister Livia was born three years later. The girls' parents were eager to restore their family's honor and prestige, so they sent the more studious Livia away to boarding school and instructed Lygia to find a respectable husband with wealth and property.

At seventeen, Lygia began courting Marcus, a paladin. His family opposed the possibility of marriage between them, fearing she was only returning his affections out of obedience and loyalty to her greedy family, but Marcus ignored them and continued to pursue her.

Livia returned home from school for the annual Festival of Freedom. Over the course of the seven days of celebration, the relationship between the sisters soured to the point where they were even fighting over each other's clothes. Livia was later charged with apostasy and witchcraft in the middle of the party and banished from Zantium. Lygia didn't oppose her banishment but resented the police for publicly humiliating their family. She would later regret this spiteful treatment of her sister, but their relationship never recovered from this particular slight, which Livia held as a grudge against her for the rest of her life.

Following the incident, Marcus' family resented Lygia more than ever. Against their wishes, Marcus married her. Lygia gave birth to their daughter, Marena, shortly after. Due to the strain of the pregnancy and birth, the couple were warned not to attempt another, as it was too risky. While she loved Marena and Marcus reassured her that he was content, Lygia bore a lifelong sorrow that she couldn't have any more children.

After the fall of Zantium, Lygia and her family were forced to flee, accompanied by Rhys Sioned, Marcus' friend and fellow paladin. After three years on the run, Rhys was killed while defending them during a racially-motivated brawl. Because of this incident, Lygia urged her husband to try staying with her estranged sister in Melekess, a city known for its cosmopolitan population, tolerance, and liberal values.

Melekess proved only a slight improvement over the other places they had been, with animosity and hostility toward the isolated Zantines being almost as common among Melekessns. Lygia began working as a weaver and seamstress as it was the safest job available, not requiring her to leave home and walk the dangerous streets alone.

While they lived at the magic shop with Livia and her young protege Ardath Dastagir for the next ten years, both Lygia and Marcus were in constant conflict with her, finding her methods and practices abhorrent. Like her husband, she was ambivalent about Marena's marriage to Ardath, but was quicker than Marcus to give her blessing, thinking only of her daughter's happiness.

Lygia during a plague outbreak. Her death prompted the grieving and enraged Marcus to use the mystical dagger on Livia, attempting to bring Lygia back from the dead. The exchange was refused by a higher power, and for his crime of murder Marcus was arrested and enslaved.