Rodrik was born the second child of three and quickly became the classic “grey hair baby.” It was almost as if someone had designed him in a lab for the sole purpose of bringing stress to his parents. If there was a tree to fall out of, a knife to fall on, or a hole to fall into, he would find it and proceed to do so. With the help of his elder brother, he slowly learned how to explore his curiosity in a slightly safer way so that his parents wouldn’t worry near as much, which made the two grow close over the years. He was a teenager the first time his depression hit, concerning his family who had no idea at all why he was suddenly sickly. As time passed, he pulled himself out of it, but it continued to persist time and time again throughout his life. But when his brother moved on to go to the Americas, he stayed behind, feeling that there was more for him to explore at home. He developed an interest in theater and went on to meet William Shakespeare. His interest in the arts only increased around the other man and he quickly began acting and writing himself. But it was hardly more than a few decades before Rod joined his brother overseas. He found his way back to his brother once again. It was when it had first began around 1750 that Rod discovered Broadway and he quickly found a place with it, though he had over the years adopted an interest in people and their social and interpersonal reactions. This only grew during his career acting, prompting him to begin to study scripts and songs and how they related to people. When the prohibition struck in the early 1900s, Rod was among those who opened a speakeasy, where his interest in people continued to grow. Mostly, it was the rise in recent technology that caused Rod to wrap up his Broadway career and focus on psychology, knowing that it would only be a matter of time before his stunted aging would be noticed. Due to his already strong interest in psychology, it wasn’t a hard switch and he continued to do community theater wherever he happened to be at the time.
His life, however, shifted again when his brother became involved with a werewolf woman and was left with a baby girl. Rod quickly fell into the role of uncle, staying close to them both. It was when his niece got sick that he moved in with his brother, living with him for the first time in many years. They went to the Bay Area for her treatment and though the family had their fair share of sleepless nights, they all managed to survive the trying years together. He worked odd jobs to help support them, though he wasn’t afraid to dip into his savings if they needed it. He also completed his PHD in psychology, with a specialization in child psychology. He knew that his own depression had started young and that it was a common occurrence that could be helped early or nipped in the bud, depending on what the problem was. Once his niece had recovered, Rod shared stories that he had heard over the years of a town for the supernatural, a safe place where the girl could grow up and explore her abilities as they came; whether she was a fae, werewolf, or hybrid, they would find out together, as a family. He first arrived to the town in June 2020 and spent some time there to be sure before sending his brother word that this would, indeed, be a good place for her to grow up. He secured them a ranch, where he got some horses and opened a day camp for children in need of hippotherapy.
Along with hippotherapy, Rod also began working on a child-version of community theater, teaching them to express their emotions via plays. He also encouraged them to write and wanted to help them put on their own plays as well, believing that it will help them in ways nothing else quite can--being a part of every process of the play would make the child integrated and teach them as much as possible about this career or hobby, he thought. When Adam Mallory had resurfaced as a Riverborn, Rod found himself intrigued by it, though he kept his distance. The way he saw it, the town was still safe for his young niece and that was the only thing that he felt of any true importance. However, as he had always been one to adapt and fit in easily, he quickly bonded to the town and its people. To Rod, Lethe was the best thing that could have happened to them, a community that even he in all of his years had yet to experience. It was a place that his niece in particular would be able to grow up safely and that alone made him determined to protect it.
