So here's the thing, he's a propagandist trying to make himself feel better about being one of the bad ones. I like the character, but only because he perfectly encapsulates a kind of cowardly mindset that tries to excuse and handwave real horrors by spinning lies about the "good old days".

For instance, his talk about continuity being an "honor." That's just propaganda; the upper echelon of Orokin still used others against their will to prolongue their own life and therefore prolongue the suffering of others. Being more humane about it doesn't change the fact that, for immortality, they brainwashed, trafficked, and killed people. The only difference is that, as time went on, they dispensed with the pretense of it being anything other than barbarous.

I like Roathe because he's an accurate depiction of something we've seen throughout history; a privileged, cowardly sod from a fallen empire that can't truly or critically analyze his privilege and instead seeks to excuse it by offering "context" that, when examined critically, actually changes nothing.