Professor Erik van Rijn

Erik van Rijn is a former member of the Fraternity of Shadows whose spectacular falling-out with the Fraternity hierarchy is the event precipitating the Fraternity's in-game series of Gazetteers, as they search the Land of Mists for their former colleague. Frustrated by his inability to achieve the highest levels of the Fraternity, due to his being a transmuter rather than an illusionist, he betrayed the Fraternity to the Unholy Order of the Grave in exchange for the secret of lichdom. He is now engaged in building a copy of the Doomsday Device invented by Azalin at the behest of Death, although he may have his own plans for the Device...

Erik Van Rijn is not from Ravenloft, rather he is an outlander originally from Gothic Earth (Amsterdam in specific. There he studied the arts of the occult and alchemy. He committed many evils in his quest to develop the Philosopher's Stone and gain immortality. These ranged from embezzlement and grave robbing all the way up to murder and consorting with dark forces.

Eventually Erik's depredations ensured his capture by the Mists. Delivered to Richemulot, Erik joined up with the University of Richemulot and later the Fraternity of Shadows before even later still betraying them. While at the University, van Rijn became a professor of Anthropology and Modern Languages]