Rowan’s Backstory

After I joined World of Potter, a roleplaying website for the Harry Potter universe, other sites began to pop up with the same format but different themes. I haven’t been on World of Potter for a little while now, but I know there are tons of sites out there for roleplaying. Some of the existing sites include but are not limited to Game of Thrones, Eragon, Vampire Diaries, and Star Wars. One of the only other sites I joined during my time there was the one dedicated to the Walking Dead. It’s called World of Walkers.

The site was started by a user on World of Potter, and this person asked me to come be a Chief Editor on the site while it was starting to gain traction. I obliged and created a quick character. I was having fun roleplaying as the character, but since I’ve been gone from the site, I’ve lost sight of the character.

In recent weeks, I’ve been working on putting together a fantasy world for a book (information of which I’ll be periodically posting on my blog in the coming weeks/months). I was working on some character development for a few of the book’s characters when I remembered some of the information I wrote for Rowan. His ideas and developments fit nicely into my story, although quite a few changes will be necessary to adapt to a fantasy world.

I wanted to share his original backstory with all of you today. It’s rough around the edges and was poorly edited, but here it is!

Rowan

Birth – High School

Rowan was a simple man. As a child, he enjoyed playing all kinds of sports, but as time went on, he started to stray away from everything physical into the intellectual world. When he was about twelve years old, Rowan began reading book after book until he found that no amount of reading could keep him satiated. Every time he read something, he realized he wanted more. He was always top of his class in school, but that didn’t stop him from also pursuing the physical side of things. Even though he had given up baseball and martial arts, he still decided he wanted to remain in top physical shape at all costs. 

Even though there weren’t any crazy events between Rowan’s childhood and his high school years, he notably became more and more conceited as time went along. He was always the best in every sport in which he competed. On his baseball team, Rowan was starting varsity as a freshman, and had broken almost every state record in New York. He was a national competitor in wrestling and football and even had several college offers for full scholarships for just about every sport.

Unfortunately, Rowan decided that he didn’t want to pursue any of those physical realms and focused entirely on his mind and the intellectual world. His mind became enveloped in his studies, his search for insatiable knowledge never seeming to shut off, even for a few minutes. He wanted to know everything, and he wouldn’t settle for less than worldly knowledge. Although he knew it wasn’t logical to know everything and anything, Rowan continued searching and learning to the highest degree. 

Since giving up sports in his senior year, Rowan began studying all aspects of the intellectual world. With focus in human relations, Rowan started studying all facets of human beings. The scientific and mathematic sides of life were relevant, but Rowan found no interest in those topics at all. Everything that made humans…well, human, was the real interest in the back of Rowan’s mind. He began studying Psychology, Philosophy, and Rhetoric. His mind knew no limits, and Rowan knew this, and it filled him with hubris. Basically, Rowan’s life was a cliche and typical mix of the “smart kid wants more” and “a know-it-all asshole.” 

College Years

Shortly after high school, Rowan met a man that claimed to be a teacher and guiding force for Buddhism. Rowan began following the man’s words as he searched for an inner peace that balanced between body and mind. He learned of the peaceful force of intellect while sharpening his body at the same time. It was a perfect blend of the world he once inhabited and the one he now followed. The Buddhist taught him that serenity was garnered from within one’s mind and not provided by any kind of outside source. Finding any form of inner peace did not require anybody passing on that type of knowledge. Instead, a person could only find tranquility from within by accepting and embracing the fact that he or she deserved it. All transgressions, regrets, past futilities, anger, resentment; this all had to be accepted, embraced, and released. 

Rowan spent the first year of his college studies in class and meditation. As soon as he left class, he would meditate in a quiet place, then attend a new class, and rinse and repeat the process. On his days off, he chose to pursue further Buddhist rituals and studies at a nearby temple. This temple also played occupancy to the same man that Rowan met at the beginning of his spiritual journey, and Rowan spent every waking hour learning and adapting to that way of life. All of the “struggles”, if they could be called that, simply melted away from Rowan’s life and became non-existent. His meditated studies paid off in the long run, and Rowan finally found himself at peace during that first year of college. 

Throughout his college years, he continued to follow and pursue further knowledge of Buddhism and tranquility. He learned of certain principles about human life, the sacredness of preserving life in all forms, and the beauty of the world around him. His second year of college was uneventful in every way, but his third year presented an interesting dilemma. 

Rowan was in love. Irony aplenty filled Rowan’s life, because when he took his vow of serenity through Buddhism, he also took a vow of abstinence from love. Unfortunately, when Theresa walked through the doors of his Anthropology class, Rowan instantly threw out two years of intense studying and meditating. If it was possible for a cartoon to come to life, Rowan’s jaw hit the ground, his eyes were replaced with hearts, his tongue flopped out, and a giant heart shaped object thumped its way out of his chest. 

Disregarding everything he ever learned or believed through his studies, Rowan went straight for Theresa’s hand. With his charming good looks, unbelievable wit (or so he’d like to think), and brilliant mind, Theresa didn’t take much to win over. Even though she was a nice enough girl, she was the very definition of shallow, and Rowan became blinded by his love for her. She was not very kind to him, nor was she loving or caring in any particular way. Rowan wasn’t able to see any of that, as he was so in love that he asked for her hand in marriage.

Theresa, only seeing a good looking man, regardless of his brains, said yes. Her plan was to let Rowan finish school and provide for her, while she could live a “lavish” lifestyle at home. When Rowan’s fourth year rolled around, Theresa met another man by the name of Roger, a man that had already graduated and had his own law firm. When Theresa saw the type of car that Roger drove, her eyes filled with blazing greed, and she immediately left Rowan to be with Roger.

Now, this type of event is something that happens to people all the time, and people have definitely been through worse happenstances of love. Rowan, however, had abandoned his own principles to be with Theresa, and now his entire world had been torn apart at the very seams. His principles, beliefs, and tranquilities crashed around him, the very purpose he had once lived for was no longer a driving force. The only thing that seemed to matter at that point in his life was searching for an answer as to why those things had happened.

At first, Rowan found himself lost in the bottom of bottles. Different alcohols consumed his life, and he spent several months after his final year of college living in alleys and boxes. Eventually, Rowan found his way out of the funk due to sheer mental capacity and flowed his way into illegal activities. After spending a year in prison for those activities, he finally decided to clean up his act, pursue a normal life, and try to find that purpose he once had.

After College

While reading a book at home one night, he heard a major commotion outside. Upon opening the front door, a walker immediately stumbled onto him. Even though Rowan had not spent much time in martial arts or self-defense outside of his childhood years, he was in excellent shape. With his brute strength, Rowan overpowered the walker. Rowan had read many books on zombies, the undead, and supernatural beings. Using his knowledge from the books, Rowan decided to grab the nearest blunt object and smash the walker’s head repeatedly. He knew that cutting off the brain meant cutting off bodily function. He was right, and the walker lay dead on his front porch.

The world was forever changed, and Rowan wasn’t sure what part he would play in the years to come.