Roland “Hero” DeSalle is a storybook knight in shining armor. He’s a man who has somehow made it to his 40s as an idealistic paladin without ever losing a jot of the idealism and naive optimism from his 20s. He believes absolutely in people. He believes absolutely in forgiveness and redemption. He believes absolutely that every story can have a happy ending, that every person has good inside somewhere and that every conflict can be resolved. He believes *so* hard and *so* earnestly that it becomes infectious – regardless of how jaded the audience and how unrealistic the goal. He’s the kind of guy who can walk into the darkest slums, get accosted by teenage thugs, and walk out having bested them, admonished them, taught them better technique, recruited them as squires in training, and sent them wandering sheepishly home in a daze wondering what on earth just happened. He is also, however, 6’4″, even stronger than he looks, and just as dedicated to his combat training as he is to his optimism. You can’t be a storybook hero if you can’t walk the walk. He may embody forgiveness and mercy, but he will end you – quickly and forcefully – if he determines that you are not in fact willing to accept his outstretched hand and turn back from harming people. He is very much of-a-kind with Terry Pratchett’s Captain Carrot.
He comes from a dark-and-gritty sort of world where priests are corrupt, knights are selfish and vicious, and everybody is out for themselves. He’s as much a fish-out-of-water as its possible to be. But in his presence the story changes, and people find themselves fitting into the roles he sees for them in spite of themselves. He believes in *you* so hard that you start believing in yourself as well.
He is passionate about History. Loves to learn about anything and everything, and regardless of how esoteric your hobby he will know enough about it to ask sensible questions and engage you in telling him all about it.
In games Roland is almost exclusively a Paladin or Knight. He’s not a superman in any particular physical characteristic. He’s strong but not the strongest, tough but not the toughest, skilled but not a master. But his will is unmatched and his charisma is legendary.
The challenge in rendering him into a portrait is getting across that “older knight in tarnished armor” look while retaining the essential optimism and compassion of the character. I tried a few ethnicities, but ultimately settled on French as per his name. He’s got visions of Charlemagne in his head.His current queries tend to be variations upon:
“early 40s,noble,strong,french male,paladin,muscular,haggard face,broad chin,dark blonde hair,blue eyes,goatee,wearing rusty chainmail,friendly smile”
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