Questions
People
Who is your character's confidante? Who does he talk to when he's scared? Who does he tell when he's in trouble?
Usually, Theodor is his confidante; Henrik goes to him when the world has ceased to conform to rules that he understands, in order to create new rules or to make his old rules more flexible. Sometimes, he'll go to Scarlet or Narciso--but only after he's gone to Theodor. It's telling that Henrik feels few compunctions about sharing with the world that he's afraid or in trouble--but that things have ceased to make sense, he shares only with a select few. (It's for this reason that Henrik tried to conceal his suicide from Merriwether--because it was an irrational, illogical, despairing response to a world that no longer worked in a way that he could comprehend, and once he had returned to life, the recursive illogic of the business made it doubly unspeakable.)
Who would bail him out if he were arrested?
Theodor would break him out; Scarlet would bail him out; Narciso would convince the constables that they'd been mistaken to take him up in the first place.
Is he married? Does your character have a husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, fiancee, 'significant other,' lover, or several of the above?
Henrik is married, for a given value of marriage, to Theodor. They have a compact asserting their duties and expectations, and they have undergone a public ceremony meant to unite them; this serves, perhaps, for a marriage. He is also deeply in love with Narciso and cohabiting with him, and has a complicated, quasi-fraternal relationship with Scarlet.
Is he protecting someone? A child, relative, friend? Why does he see himself as their protector?
To an extent, Henrik feels obligated to protect everyone--in part because he will never forgive himself for failing to protect his sister (Annelise) or his brother (Jakob). Annelise entertained herself and her acquaintances by acting as a medium, reading cards and tea-leaves and channeling spirits; when Henrik's and Theodor's best friend (Christer) died, she agreed to help them speak to him from beyond the grave. The story from this point onward is unclear; Henrik and Theodor know that Christer attempted to hollow out her mind in order to inhabit it, and Jakob insists that they drove her to a psychotic break by dragging her into their ghost nonsense. This much both Henrik and Jakob agree on, though: it was all Henrik's fault that their sister went mad.
Right now, he feels most inclined to protect Gabriel Flynn and Gabriel Coppercrow. They are engaged in learning to conduct love-affairs openheartedly, and he believes--rightly or wrongly--that he drove Gabriel Morgan mad and then drove him away under very similar circumstances. The scenario too closely echoed what happened to Annelise, and thus he is attempting to rectify his misconduct retroactively by protecting these two, new Gabriels from his own mistakes.
Who does he live with? Does he still live with his family? What about housemates or roommates? Are these people his friends? Do they hate each other? Do they avoid each other?
He lives with Theodor and Narciso, and on occasion Gabriel Coppercrow rents a room on the second storey. They are generally comfortable housemates, although Theodor and Narciso have carved out rooms that are particularly their own for when they have obsessions or company to attend to.
Who was his first love? Did it work out? Why or why not? Do they still know each other?
Christer was his first love, although he didn't recognize it until after Christer had attempted to colonise Annelise's mind. He still feels that Christer is close and present, and still loves him with a half-helpless fondness; part of what's best about loving Theodor is being able to share that nostalgic love.
Who does he work with? Is he friends with his co-workers? Bitter rivals? Does he hate his lazy boss or have a crush on his handsome secretary?
He works, in a sense, with Narciso and Theodor; they also employ a tomb-colonist named Harold who keeps to himself and doesn't shed decomposing flesh on the books. It's a cordial working relationship.
Who is his worst enemy? Why?
Trite as it is? Himself. No one else acts against his interests and contrary to his happiness as consistently as he does. No one else is as entirely without sympathy for him or his problems, and no one else is as regularly disappointed in his efforts at change.
Who did he give birthday presents to last year? What did he give them?
Henrik has got really excellent timing, apparently. He's been on bad terms with the people to whom he might conceivably have given gifts, during periods suspiciously coincident with their birthdays. (Or dead. This has happened, too.)
Is he a disappointment to anyone, or is someone proud of him for his accomplishments? Why?
Jakob died without ever having forgiven Henrik, and Henrik will probably go to his grave without ever having forgiven himself.
Friends
What sort of people does your character tend to make friends with? Other people his own age? Co-workers? Neighbors? People he went to college with?
Henrik has a peculiar knack for making friends with vulnerable, miserable people--it might even appear suspicious, on the metanarrative level, as though he seeks them out. This is a perfectly valid reading, and to it we only need add Henrik's sense of obligation; it's less that he looks for vulnerable people, than that the vulnerable people he encounters immediately inspire a feeling of obligation in him. Thus, he tends to forge too-deep relationships too-fast with people he longs to 'make better.' He also goes for ardent intellectuals and wordplay virtuosos.
Where does your character go/what does he do with his friends? Does he go out drinking with them? Who does he have coffee with?
Usually? He goes to research or to have tea. Or to snuggle. Henrik is a great fan of the platonic snugglefest.
How deep are the friendships he tends to form? Does he prefer to have a lot of surface-level friendships or a few deep ones?
Henrik makes friends deeply and quickly; he has a sort of habitual reserve that makes people like Eris say that he sounds like a textbook, but to judge by the speed with which he raises the stakes in his relationships, that reserve is fragile and easily broken. These too-deep, too-fast relationships have a distressing tendency to end just as quickly and scar just as deeply.
How close is he to his friends? How well do they know him? Do they know his hopes and fears? Will they notice if he disappears or comes home with bruises?
Henrik cannot keep secrets to save his life. It's less that he's close to people than that he's as sneaky as an elephant on roller skates.
Who is his best friend? Why? What secrets have they shared? What have they gone through together?
This is a difficult question; he would probably, instinctively reply, 'Christer,' even though Christer is dead. Christer had a kind of alarming openness to his manner, and he absorbed stories and fears and secrets the way he absorbed maths or poems; he retained details better than generalities, trivial points better than salient ones. He could recite Henrik's uncles off by heart and then forget Henrik's surname. But if Henrik were asked who was his best living friend, he would answer, 'Theodor,' never thinking that Scarlet is perhaps the closest thing he has to a best friend in the Neath. Theodor is his husband, his teacher; there is something formal and contractual to that relationship that cannot compare to the slapdash egalitarianism of his relationship with Scarlet.
Family
Does he get along with his family? Why or why not?
Most of his family is now mad or dead. Jakob never reconciled with him; Annelise still adores him, but he doesn't know how to respond to it usefully--and she's on the surface, where he can never go again. Aunt Dorthe, on the other hand, is constantly coming around to visit, shaking her collection box meaningfully. She has taken to the Anglican church with worrying ease.
What does his family know about him? What secrets does he keep?
He never keeps secrets; the closest thing he ever had to a secret from them was that he felt attraction for men, and what boy ever tells his family about his attractions? He only made clear that he never intended to marry, no matter how refined or unexceptionable were the young women to whom his father introduced him.
What does he know about his family? What secrets have they kept?
This much, he knows: His father was a social climber, a man of letters who worked his way up to a minor ministry post by the time he was in his late forties. He married a much younger woman, an heiress of great wealth and beauty; despite his father's aspirations, the two appeared to have married for love. Annelise was a wild girl, tall and too-plump and too-strong, who liked to climb trees and get herself into all manner of scrapes that her brothers had to conceal. She grew into a too-tall, too-plump woman who concealed her Tarot cards and books of spells from her father, because he always harangued her for a heathen when he found her out. Jakob was everything his father could have asked, a well-educated doctor with a respectable practice and a way of charming important guests--and then he ran off to Helsingør to marry a governess and introduced her at a society dinner, where his father could say nothing against her without inviting scandal.
How big is his family?
Greatly reduced. He has a few aunts and uncles on his father's side, but only three cousins, and his paternal grandparents are long since deceased; on his mother's side, he has only his grandparents.
Is it a close family, or spread out and distant?
Geographically close; the family is centered in København, with only one uncle living in Helsingør. Emotionally, though, the extended family is genial and unattached, as though they are interacting with pleasant strangers.
Who are his favorite and least favorite relatives? Why?
Annelise is his favorite; he is also very fond of Jakob's widow, Grethe, who now cares for Annelise in her husband's absence.
Fears and Dreams
What did your character want to be when he grew up? Did he realize that dream? If not, why not? Does he regret that he never made it, or regret that he did? Does he still have a chance to get there if he didn't?
He wanted to be a politician, like his father; in time, he realized that he greatly preferred to study history rather than to make it. He wishes dearly that he were still no more than a historian.
What nightmares does he have? When he wakes up screaming in the middle of the night, what does he see?
He sees his father's will burning; he sees Jakob with bees crawling from his eyes; he sees Theodor holding court at a table well-laid with meat.
What makes him cry? Is it a perfect flower? A song that reminds him of something? The memory of his dead grandmother? Is it a happy, nostalgic thing or a deep, abiding grief? Does he cry a lot, or almost never?
Music circumvents the violent rationalizing impulse that makes him order the world, and thus he cries most at music that triggers the memory of something he's lost--a perfect waltz, a handmade music box.
What makes him laugh? How often does he laugh? Does he have laugh lines? Does he have a good sense of humor? Does he hide it or let it shine?
Before his family fell apart, he seldom laughed because he seldom felt anything in particular. Now, he laughs in surprise, laughs in glee at having survived after hazarding his life; he laughs low and fond when Theodor has said something particularly witty.
What does he wish he could do that he can't? Is there a talent he wishes he had? Is it something he doesn't have the money for? Is it something his species isn't capable of? How badly does he want it and what would he do to get it?
He wishes he were intelligent. He is learned, and he is scholarly, but this is the product of diligent labour; in growing up with virtuosos like Theodor and Christer, he learnt to think of intelligence as a sharp and shining thing that he would never possess. He wishes he could go to the surface again to see Annelise, and to get it, he would risk immortality.
What is his secret dream? What one goal, ambition, or desire does he keep hidden from everyone? Is it small or large? Personal or global? Realistic or unrealistic? Is he actually trying to accomplish it (and how?), or does he consider it untenable?
He must never, ever return to the depths of the Unterzee--and it terrifies him that he wants to.
What is his worst fear? What terrifies him? What does he dread? Is it something terribly personal, or a generic phobia? How did he acquire this fear? Is he ashamed of it?
It is not only possible but likely that he is right to fear this: he fears that people are worse rather than better for knowing him.
Personal Touches
What's your character's sexuality? How certain is he of it?
He still identifies as an Urning, even though that's not entirely accurate to his identity any longer--because he has no terminology for attraction to more than one sex, and in any case he is only slightly attracted to women. That slight attraction, though, is a constant source of discomfort because it makes categorizing himself difficult and thus makes the world less orderly than he would like. Trying to identify on the sexual/asexual scale is also vexing; before he came to Fallen London, he never felt specifically sexual desire, although he felt attraction of a nonspecific type. If he were left to his own devices, he would probably gravitate toward a sensual-hyposexual mode with a great deal of nonsexual touch and cuddling. The problem with sexuality, though, is that one is very seldom left to one's own devices, and other people can provoke sexual response in him quite easily. (He is also a confirmed submissive, but if he doesn't have words for the other components of his desire, he certainly doesn't have a word for this one.)
Does he have a pet or companion animal? A fierce guard dog? A tiny kitten? Goldfish? Rabbits or birds? A boa constrictor? Mice? A large spider? A monster? A horse?
At any given time, he keeps between one and seven weasels and an ill-tempered monkey that he'll insist is Theodor's.
What does he like to eat? Gourmet or takeout? Home-cooked food or instant microwaveable dinners? Does he eat more when he's upset? Is he vegetarian or vegan? Does he have odd dietary restrictions? What foods does he hate?
Although Henrik enjoys hearty, meaty meals, living with Theodor has made him more or less a vegetarian in practice. He enjoys good, coarse bread and firm cheese and mushrooms well-seasoned, and soon it will be the season for parnips and carrots and turnips again!
Where does he vacation, and how often? Does he go skiing every winter in Vermont? Does he go to quiet yoga retreats twice a year in Massachusetts? What about beaches?
Theodor put it best--by vacation, you must mean research! Henrik travels to learn, and this sometimes means haring off to Wittenberg to get a look at legal records and sometimes means slipping into the Mirror Marches to record the markings on trees there. When he was young, he and his family used to travel Europe extensively--particularly after his mother's death--but he lost the habit of it when he began to live on his own.
What does he wear? What styles and colors is he partial to? What's his favorite piece of clothing, and why?
He tends toward practical clothing, most of the time--a battered overcoat, a pair of hard-wearing hobnailed boots. He looks rather striking in blue, but he usually wears blacks and greys. (Only recently has he begun to experiment with women's clothes; he's not sure yet if they please him, and of course this means he's got to conduct research!)
What is his favorite color and why?
He has no strong attachment to any colour, but his slight-and-indifferent preference for green has taken a knocking in the Mirror Marches.
What does he do for Christmas or other relevant holiday? What presents did he get or give last year? How does he feel about the holiday season?
Last year, he missed Christmas; he was dead on the day of it, and rose three days after. His future Christmases will be coloured by his memory of that unaccountable resurrection.
Is he religious or spiritual? Why or why not? What religion?
He is a staunch Lutheran, and he still attends church every Sunday morning. The Anglican church is in no way sufficient, but he needs to devote a few hours of his week to affirming his relationship with God.
What does he like to do for his birthday? Does he usually get to do it or not?
Birthday? ... oh, right, he has one of those, doesn't he.
Does he save money up or spend it like water? What is he saving toward and why? Is he anywhere close to being able to buy it?
He is saving toward Hesperidean Cider, but he's nowhere close to being able to afford it. He sometimes wonders whether he'll want it when he has the money--but until then, this is a lesson in parsimony.
What's his favorite weather? Hot sunny days? Blizzards? A warm rain? What's his favorite climate, or time of day?
Those grey, brisk days so common in autumn, when the grass seems a deeper green and the air tastes faintly of rain and decay.
Moods and Reactions
What does he do to relax? Does he watch a movie, read a book, go jogging, surf the web, juggle?
He fights to relax, or has himself beaten--it's not a penitential mortification of the flesh, but rather, an exercise in rendering himself vulnerable and surviving. It is martyrological rather than monastic; when he wants a bit of quiet monasticism, he will read over coffee.
What is your character like when he's drunk? Mellow? Melancholy? Friendly and fun? Laughs too much? Hits on everyone?
Loose, is the best way of describing it--especially earnest, especially desirous of others' good regard, but also very candid about his own disappointment in himself. Rather than shattering his habitual reserve, as he always seems so eager to do, he draws it off like a vest ... and he would willingly remove a great deal more, to please his companions.
What is he like when he's grieving or mourning? Is he private with his grief? Quiet and stony? Crying loudly? In need of friends?
At first, stony, formal, as though braced against a blow--then, once he has gotten past the initial shock, utterly unconcerned with what other people think or see. He has a tendency toward suicidal melancholy, in these moments, as though he simply cannot process what he is experiencing and must therefore shut down.
What is he like when he's moody or despondent? Is he self-pitying, irritable, sad?
Pathetically self-critical, and absolutely unwilling to forgive himself or to admit that he's deserving of pity.
What is he like when he's celebrating? Does he have a quiet celebration at home, or does he gather his friends together for a big bash?
He tends to attend others' celebrations rather than holding his own, and in those circumstances he lets the hosts set the tone.
Does he have a mental illness or mood disorder? Is he prone to depression, bouts of mania, anxiety, or other such problems?
This is another difficult question to answer; another player once said that he thought Henrik had borderline personality disorder, and while this may be a valid diagnosis, it certainly wasn't the intention. This is not to say, though, that Henrik does not have a disordered personality. He has responded to the trauma of his father's and best friend's death, his sister's madness, and his own expulsion from the family by placing the blame squarely on his own shoulders--for (so his logic goes) allowing himself to feel such grief that he sacrificed his sister to it. He has developed an unhealthy relationship to feeling ever since, and where once he didn't need to suppress his feelings because they were never particularly vivid, in the years after Christer's death, he alternated between strict repression of all sentiment and ungoverned outbursts of feeling. Only recently has he begun to treat feeling as a natural and even useful component of his life, and his first impulse is still to distrust and to invalidate his feelings whenever he finds them at odds with another's well-being. Superadded to this, he has great difficulty with recognizing which social actions are governed by rules, courtesies, or idiosyncrasies, and in which contexts particular rules ought to be given precedence. He has coped with this difficulty in the past by being very malleable, attempting to mirror the conventions of speech and behaviour that he witnesses around him (and this is part of why it is so easy to convince him to undertake a project or to fall in love with a person; one has only to suggest that it is his obligation in this particular context). However, Henrik is never entirely free of anxiety about whether he has correctly apprehended the 'rules.'