Rohan Lancaster

Rohan Lancaster, born in the year 399 of the Fifth Age, was the Emperor of Evadrin until the year 475 of the Fifth Age, when he died of old age. He is best known for creating an alliance with Dorothel when Ellorwis attacked both nations in the year 456 of the Fifth Age, although that fact is heavily overshadowed by the fact that he is also one of the most heavily criticized emperors Evadrin has ever had, considered to be a good diplomat but a horrible leader.   During his young years Rohan was popular amongst his people. He could often be found in public talking to the commoners, listening to their ideas and input. While not uncommon for an upcoming Emperor to do so, Rohan did this far more than any of the recent Lancasters.   Rohan married a noblewoman named Lana D’Gauche, and at the age of 31 years he got his one and only child, Rohan. It has always been unusual for a Lancaster to have only 1 child, but Rohan seemed happy with his one and only heir. At the age of 56 years old, in the year 455 of the Fifth Age, Rohan became Emperor.   This period was the middle of negotiations between Evadrin and Lothlorin about Lothlorin independence, although Rohan had been leading the negotiations since the beginning. His father however, the former emperor, wanted to refuse Lothlorin independence entirely and was willing to send the army if necessary. Rohan considered this a bad idea, and instead wanted to come to a compromise, although his father made this nearly impossible. When he become emperor, Rohan was a lot more sympathetic to the Lothlorin cause and negotiations were speeding up (although not the way many in the Empire wanted them to go).   Unfortunately, almost exactly one year after becoming the Emperor, in the year 456 of the Fifth Age Ellorwis launched a massive assault on Evadrin and Dorothel. Rohan was completely unprepared for this, and initially things looked grim, but the new Emperor quickly realised that if they worked together with Dorothel they could form one giant front that easily should be able to push back the Ellorwisian forces. The alliance was formed successfully in the year 457 of the Fifth Age, and that is the achievement Rohan is known best for. Ellorwis was quickly pushed back, although it wouldn’t be until the year 459 of the Fifth Age before there was a truce. This truce is something many within the Empire heavily criticized Rohan for, as they felt he should’ve kept pushing and destroy Ellorwis once and for all with the aid of Dorothel.   A second, and even worse, wave of critique happened in the year 461 of the Fifth Age, when Lothlorin was granted partial independence and became a Principality. Many could not comprehend why this was allowed, although Rohan has always maintained it was the correct thing to do, for both nations. Over the years criticism on all of Rohan’s decisions only grew.   Because of the heavy waves of criticism, Rohan made less and less public appearances. When in the year 469 of the Fifth Age strange reports arrived from the Empire’s northern regions, Rohan had started reclusing himself entirely, spending most of his days alone in his room, unwilling to talk to anyone but his wife. He didn’t act on the reports, fearing that once more he would make a wrong decision. Because of this however, the Empire was caught completely off guard when the bulk of the Dismal Marches’ forces arrived. The Emperor was completely overwhelmed and his son and generals took matters into their own hands and started building a defence. Many questions of the legitimacy of this arised, which slowed down the defence even more. Eventually it proved too late, and almost the entire northern part of the Empire was overrun. Only with the aid of the Legacy Shield was a proper counterattack made possible. Even after the liberation of the northern part of the empire, Rohan refused to make any decision on what to do, and the Empire and its massive armies stayed at the border, while the Legacy Shield and the other nations fought off the remaining spawns of the Dismal March. This of course made Rohan hated by people from both his own Empire and the other nations. It wasn’t until the end of the Dismal March, during the last push lead by the Legacy Shield, that Arryn convinced his father to send the Empire’s armies to join the final battle.   A few months later, Rohan died in his sleep, hated by almost everyone.

Personality

Rohan was considered to be a kind and compassionate person. While this made him very popular and loved as a young man and made him an excellent diplomat, many from within the empire considered it a weakness. Rohan was often criticized of lacking the spine to take the decisions that had to be made (not destroying Ellorwis, granting partial independence to Lothlorin, unwilling to serve as a leader during the Dismal March). Unfortunately, Rohan was apparently never able to learn to live with this criticism, and he spent the last decade of his life locked up in his room, unwilling to take any decision.