Personality
When it comes to strangers, Roland comes as a discreet and laid back individual. He doesn't want to draw attention to him, hence he have gone for the intelligence department when he joined the TSAB.
But once he got in, he worked just enough to get to the ranks allowing him to carry his device but was severely underperforming when it comes to climb the higher ladder of the intelligence. department.
His superiors has tagged him with a slacker or "good potential but too much 'laissez aller' for any progress to ranks with a lot of responsibility" kind of label, excepted when it comes to the study of ancient relics or lost logia.
One thing was sure about him, he is a materialist, he doesn't believe much in the ideals that brought the TSAB in existence. Therefore, he was deeply involved in what seems to be harmless deals to got a little more than his usual income.
However, he is fiercely loyal to his comrades and will go to any lenght to help them.
Personal History
Roland's grandfather was a famous TSAB enforcer. His dedication to justice and great sense of honor earned the "Lion of the TSAB" nickname. Unfortunately, he fell from grace when one of his many enemies set a conspiracy in motion, leading Roland's grandfather to be framed then stripped of his enforcer rank. The grandfather was then forced to retire.
While the young Roland was an ambitious person at heart, the dishonor of his grandfather have drawn him to the conclusion that the secret of happiness is to not draw unwanted attention. Hence he never fought back when he was bullied at school. Instead, he worked harder as an apprentice mage under the relunctant teaching of his grandfather, but also as a fighter.
In school, he always ranked in fourth or fifth place, teachers has then noted about him that he was performing way under his true abilities.
The fact that he joined TSAB, in despite of the infamy left on his name, was a weird combination of luck, work and "behind the curtains" influence from the few people who believed that his grandfather could have been framed.
Upon joining the TSAB, he proved he could be a valuable trump thanks to his magic based on the manipulation of shadows as a mean to spy on people, conceal things or plain annoyance.
As for the period between before and after StrikerS:
Roland's general fighting and magic style
Roland tries to avoid direct confrontations as much as possible. In close quarter combat, he uses his fencing and savate training to avoid getting hit, occasionally using his shadow magic to pull him out of troubles called Starlight Breaker. His shadow magic was also used to paralyze opponents in the same fashion as binding spells.
Roland's shadow magic is pretty weak when used in daylight, but strong when it is nighttime or when Roland is in a very dark place.
Roland never developed a bombardement-type spell.
Roland's Armed Device
Roland's weapon with a customized Armed Device that speak French instead of German. Outisde of that, there are not any notable features about it. And that's what Roland wished.
Roland's Barrier Jacket
He never considered to design one.
Roland's view on canon characters
Nanoha A truly terrifying character. I am glad I am not under her command.
Fate I think she is too sweet for her current assignation.
Hayate Her weird antics kinda scares me.
Chrono He is okay I guess.
Yuuno A helpful lad. That's what I got from the times I met him in the Library when I needed some informations.
Lindy I admit it, age-defying mothers turns me on.
Signum Someone you dont want to fight on the battlefield.
Vita They are turning the TSAB into a kindergarten or what?
Shamal Good as a nurse, that's about it.
Zafira Hayate has the perfect bodyguard. Who can expect a dog to turn into a very capable fighter?
Reinforce Zwei What's that weird little thing?
Roland doesn't have any opinion on the other canon characters.
Design notes and inspiration
My first try at an OC in nanohaverse or any animeverse ever. I could have gone for the fierce hired killer found in many spy movie but I did not. He is loosely based on the slacker template with a "Dont want to draw unwanted attention" twist a la Kira Yoshikage from JoJo Part 4.
The pic is shamelessly ripped from a pic from Ragnarok Online.
The shadow idea is from Zato-1-One from Guilty Gear without the elements of abomination that made Zato the overpowered monster he has become.
Roland is a fairly common french name while Rafale is taken from the french aircraft.
Flamberge was the name of the sword of the french knight Renaud de Montauban.