Post by Hendrik Vanderdecken on Jun 23, 2011 16:09:29 GMT -5
Name: Hendrik Vanderdecken
Age: About 350 (he came to the Island from the 1940s)
Species: Human
Place of Origin (what movie or story did they come from?): The legend of the Flying Dutchman
Appearance: Hendrik has blond hair which is, at the moment, short and straight. When he chooses to let his hair grow out a little (although it's never more than shoulder-length), it gets quite wavy. His light blue eyes are very expressive, and will often betray him when he's trying to hide his emotions. He is always clean-shaven; if he stopped shaving, this would be a sign of rather dangerous apathy. Unsuprisingly, given his occupation, he has a fairly muscular build.
Personality:
Since he has been a staunch abolitionist all his life, Hendrik is almost certain to get into a fierce debate with anyone who openly supports slavery. There are also a few other issues that will really make his temper flare up. Most of the time, though, Hendrik seems very gentle, which can lead people to forget that he can and will cause great damage when angered, and/or in pursuit of justice. Most of the time, Fortunately, his morals will not allow him to lash out at innocent people. If you do something to get on his bad side, though, he may never forgive you. He is a man who will go out of his way to help others, and really, now that he doesn’t need money, he has made that his life. He’s actually a very competitive man, even with his closest friends, but only over things that will not harm the people who don’t win the competition. It is never worth it to him to risk hurting others, most of whom are much more fragile than he is, over a simple contest.
History:
The youngest of three sons, Hendrik has had to fight hard to achieve his goals from the time he was a baby. His parents were good people and never really neglected him, but he did have two older, stronger, smarter, and louder brothers to contend with. The boy quickly learned to cope with this by becoming extremely persistent; at times annoyingly so. This trait got him beaten up by his oldest brother a few times. But eventually Hendrik learned to deal with that as well – this time, by becoming a fast runner.
When he was a little older, the boy began to show signs of having a very quick temper. He wasn’t a good loser, disliked the times he wasn’t as good at something as other boys his age were, and especially hated seeing people (either himself or others) mistreated. He might have started an argument over any of the three, but this last was a sure way for boys who engaged in this practice to get themselves punched in the nose. And if there was one thing that everyone came to know about young Hendrik, it was that he punched hard. By the time he finished school, perhaps a quarter of his class could tell you that they had, at some point during their school careers, experienced this firsthand. Among the boys who had graduated in previous years, the number would rise to more than a third.
Hendrik’s determination had paid off during his school career; he was smart, and though not the smartest in his class, he had more than made up for this with hard work. His teachers, schoolmates, and family all predicted great things for him – although his mother warned that if he didn’t learn to control his anger, the young man’s quick temper would someday get him into trouble.
He became a sailor with the Dutch East India Company, and again employed his skill and determination, ensuring that he was eventually given command of his own ship: the Flying Dutchman. Some time after that, Hendrik fell in love and eventually married his sweetheart. Within seven years, the couple had four children.
But three of those children died before their second birthdays, and Hendrik was not someone who coped well with that kind of loss. If asked about that, he would probably reply with a question of his own: is anyone? What made it especially hard for him was the fact that he was normally away at sea when they died. He wasn’t there to comfort his wife when she needed him most, and that troubled him.
Over time he developed the idea – almost an obsession – that if he were there for them more often, they would not die. When his oldest son died from smallpox during one of his trips, he became convinced of this and swore to himself and his family that he would find a new profession, no matter what it took, after one last sea voyage.
A month later, Hendrik set out on the trip. He was determined to find a profession that would allow him to spend more time with his wife, and any children they might have in the future; he needed be with them to protect them. But to do that, he had to find complete success on this journey. It was partly this that sparked the rash oath that would doom him to sail until the day the world ended. Rumors claim that the captain was also very drunk at the time, which... might be true, although he wouldn't want to admit that. One thing's for sure; these days, he's not inclined to drink too much.
On this particular night, Vanderdecken’s mother’s prophecy finally came true. He did not stop to think that if one is going to vow to do something “if it takes until Judgement Day,” it should not be in the presence of a mysterious being who has somehow gotten on a ship in the middle of a hurricane. Actually, to be fair, Hendrik was turned in a different direction and had not seen the person who addressed him until after the Captain had already spoken the fatal words; he believed he was talking to a member of his crew. Unfortunately, Hendrik had just made a very foolish promise to the malevolent sea-spirit Adamastor, who cursed him to do exactly that: to keep striving towards his goal until the end of time, but never reach it.
There's one glimmer of hope for the captain: every seven years, he may go ashore -- theoretically, in order to seek a woman willing to share his fate. Hendrik believes this was ultimately meant to add to his torment, because Adamastor didn't actually think such a woman would ever exist. That may or may not be true, but Hendrik would never ask a woman to condemn herself that way, especially not his wife. He loved her far too much for that.
Initially, he used the time to visit her. That was hard on both of them, however, for she grew old while he remained eternally young. She had always been a somewhat possessive woman, and now found his seeming youthfulness a cause for jealousy. She was not truly a bad-tempered woman by nature, but she knew her husband was handsome, and she knew what was said about sailors, and though he understood that he loved her, she had already feared that she was getting too old to keep him from straying. No amount of reassurance on his part could allow her to feel completely secure. But while that did strain the relationship, they remained loyal to each other throughout her life.
After her death, Hendrik didn't really have anything to connect him to the rest of humanity anymore. He would like to marry again, but he could never condemn another woman to suffer as he knew his wife had. Through the years, he has participated in various causes, one of which was working for the destruction of the slave trade.
He gained quite a reputation as the Captain of a mysterious ghost ship which might or might not be real. Most people considered sighting the Dutchman to be a very bad omen, often meaning that someone onboard the ship that spotted her was about to die. Others claimed that this didn't apply unless someone was actually foolish enough to talk to someone on the ghost ship, which was hard on Hendrik's crew, who could only ever get news of what was happening on land from people onboard passing ships. The one thing almost everyone agreed on was that no mortal could set foot on the Flying Dutchman and live.
For all Hendrik knows, that last statement could be true. At any rate, he is not planning to let anyone test that. As for the other claims, there have been many people throughout the Dutchman's history who have seen the ship or even spoken to the crew without anything terrible happening, although naturally, sailors will frequently blame any bad things that happen afterwards on that particular occurance.
Knowing most people they met at sea would refuse to speak with them, Hendrik and his crew began to write letters, at first to loved ones they'd left behind. Later, when they knew that everyone they loved was dead, they wrote letters to the world in general, in the hopes that someone, somewhere, would see them. Of course, it didn't take people long to decide that opening and reading the letters onboard a ship would cause that ship to sink. But this time, fear also lead them to conclude that refusing to carry the letters at all might result in an even worse fate. They'd just have to wait until they got to land to actually open any of the letters.
As time went on, people began to realize that the Dutchman was not necessarily an evil ship. After all, it was prone to showing up to defend small merchant vessels and other crafts whenever pirates chose to attack them. During WWII, Hendrik and his crew joined the fight on the side of the Allies, albeit without the knowledge of any government. There are many reports from that era of the Flying Dutchman sinking U-boats.
Hendrik was, in fact, in the middle of organizing another strike against the Germans when he saw a flash of blinding white light. The next thing he knew, he was somehow falling towards land: the Island, which looked curiously like his hometown. Now that he's beginning to meet people here, the Dutch captain is very conflicted about what to do next. He believes that the right thing to do is to confront their captor and find a way home. On the other hand, he's finally able to rest, here, so he doesn't really want leave.
Strengths/Abilities: Hendrik is an incredibly determined person. Fortunately, this trait is balanced with a high degree of concern for those around him; he has too much empathy for them to be ruthless or cold. He is also extremely loyal to those he loves, and is willing to do almost anything for them. The curse seems to have made him immortal, or close to it; he cannot age, become ill, or get seriously wounded. He also plays the violin quite well, having had over three hundred years to practice.
Weaknesses/Flaws: When he's angry, Hendrik is prone to saying and doing things he will deeply regret later, though he has learned his lesson about making rash oaths. He is also extremely stubborn, and sometimes fails to seek diplomatic solutions to problems, even when this would be to his advantage. He isn’t someone who hides his emotions well, and others can usually read him quite easily.
Likes:
*Being on land
*Stargazing
*Cats (the Dutchman has several at any given time)
*Playing the violin
*Chess
*Reading
* Jazz
Dislikes:
*Nazis
*Slavery
*Pirates (with a few exceptions)
*Bullies
*Ignorance
*Feeling powerless
*Being cursed
*The fact that his crew was cursed along with him; he feels this is extremely unfair as they were not responsible for his actions
Fears:
*Fire (or more specifically, being burned; it can’t kill him but it would still hurt)
*Having to watch someone he cares about die, especially if that person is in pain before that.
*Losing his crew and being forced to sail the ocean completely alone forever. He'd still free the crew from the curse if he could, but the thought of this terrifies him.
RP Sample:
Someone downstairs was blaring Don Giovanni. That was Karl’s first conscious thought in over an hour, and at first he just wondered why his mother had chosen such an obnoxious method of waking him up, especially on a Saturday. Then he remembered. She wasn’t even in the house, and he shouldn’t be there, either.
What had begun as a very mild headache became much worse the moment he sat up, and for a moment Karl wondered if it he should just stay here and hope whoever it was having a loud, boozy party in his house without him would go away eventually. But he had no idea what they were doing, or how long he’d been out of it, or how the hell his alcohol tolerance could be so low drinking about half a beer had made him black out in the first place.
Then he began to wonder why he was in the damn closet. He pushed on the door, but it almost immediately collided with something heavy. Fine. He’d force it open. Karl pulled himself to his feet, then shoved the door much more firmly this time, but it still wouldn’t budge. And with the music as loud as it was, if he tried calling for help, no one would hear him.
His family wasn’t going to be home for days, which was exactly why Karl was supposed to be staying at a friend’s house. But that friend had decided they could throw a party at Karl’s house, and though the boy didn’t like the idea of lying to his mother, he wanted his classmates to think he was cool, and his friend swore there would only be a few people. Six, in fact: all close friends of Karl’s. They were the only ones the boy had actually invited, and he didn’t even know if any of them had come to the party. They’d all said they would, but maybe one of these jerks had sent his real friends away when they showed up. Or perhaps they were all downstairs, probably being uncomfortable. This wasn’t the kind of thing any of them would enjoy – except for the music.
He had to get out of here. Karl threw himself against the door a few times, hoping whatever was blocking it would move out of the way just enough for him to escape. Just what he was going to do once he succeeded, and how he was going to make the people who had invaded his house leave, Karl had no idea.
Age: About 350 (he came to the Island from the 1940s)
Species: Human
Place of Origin (what movie or story did they come from?): The legend of the Flying Dutchman
Appearance: Hendrik has blond hair which is, at the moment, short and straight. When he chooses to let his hair grow out a little (although it's never more than shoulder-length), it gets quite wavy. His light blue eyes are very expressive, and will often betray him when he's trying to hide his emotions. He is always clean-shaven; if he stopped shaving, this would be a sign of rather dangerous apathy. Unsuprisingly, given his occupation, he has a fairly muscular build.
Personality:
Since he has been a staunch abolitionist all his life, Hendrik is almost certain to get into a fierce debate with anyone who openly supports slavery. There are also a few other issues that will really make his temper flare up. Most of the time, though, Hendrik seems very gentle, which can lead people to forget that he can and will cause great damage when angered, and/or in pursuit of justice. Most of the time, Fortunately, his morals will not allow him to lash out at innocent people. If you do something to get on his bad side, though, he may never forgive you. He is a man who will go out of his way to help others, and really, now that he doesn’t need money, he has made that his life. He’s actually a very competitive man, even with his closest friends, but only over things that will not harm the people who don’t win the competition. It is never worth it to him to risk hurting others, most of whom are much more fragile than he is, over a simple contest.
History:
The youngest of three sons, Hendrik has had to fight hard to achieve his goals from the time he was a baby. His parents were good people and never really neglected him, but he did have two older, stronger, smarter, and louder brothers to contend with. The boy quickly learned to cope with this by becoming extremely persistent; at times annoyingly so. This trait got him beaten up by his oldest brother a few times. But eventually Hendrik learned to deal with that as well – this time, by becoming a fast runner.
When he was a little older, the boy began to show signs of having a very quick temper. He wasn’t a good loser, disliked the times he wasn’t as good at something as other boys his age were, and especially hated seeing people (either himself or others) mistreated. He might have started an argument over any of the three, but this last was a sure way for boys who engaged in this practice to get themselves punched in the nose. And if there was one thing that everyone came to know about young Hendrik, it was that he punched hard. By the time he finished school, perhaps a quarter of his class could tell you that they had, at some point during their school careers, experienced this firsthand. Among the boys who had graduated in previous years, the number would rise to more than a third.
Hendrik’s determination had paid off during his school career; he was smart, and though not the smartest in his class, he had more than made up for this with hard work. His teachers, schoolmates, and family all predicted great things for him – although his mother warned that if he didn’t learn to control his anger, the young man’s quick temper would someday get him into trouble.
He became a sailor with the Dutch East India Company, and again employed his skill and determination, ensuring that he was eventually given command of his own ship: the Flying Dutchman. Some time after that, Hendrik fell in love and eventually married his sweetheart. Within seven years, the couple had four children.
But three of those children died before their second birthdays, and Hendrik was not someone who coped well with that kind of loss. If asked about that, he would probably reply with a question of his own: is anyone? What made it especially hard for him was the fact that he was normally away at sea when they died. He wasn’t there to comfort his wife when she needed him most, and that troubled him.
Over time he developed the idea – almost an obsession – that if he were there for them more often, they would not die. When his oldest son died from smallpox during one of his trips, he became convinced of this and swore to himself and his family that he would find a new profession, no matter what it took, after one last sea voyage.
A month later, Hendrik set out on the trip. He was determined to find a profession that would allow him to spend more time with his wife, and any children they might have in the future; he needed be with them to protect them. But to do that, he had to find complete success on this journey. It was partly this that sparked the rash oath that would doom him to sail until the day the world ended. Rumors claim that the captain was also very drunk at the time, which... might be true, although he wouldn't want to admit that. One thing's for sure; these days, he's not inclined to drink too much.
On this particular night, Vanderdecken’s mother’s prophecy finally came true. He did not stop to think that if one is going to vow to do something “if it takes until Judgement Day,” it should not be in the presence of a mysterious being who has somehow gotten on a ship in the middle of a hurricane. Actually, to be fair, Hendrik was turned in a different direction and had not seen the person who addressed him until after the Captain had already spoken the fatal words; he believed he was talking to a member of his crew. Unfortunately, Hendrik had just made a very foolish promise to the malevolent sea-spirit Adamastor, who cursed him to do exactly that: to keep striving towards his goal until the end of time, but never reach it.
There's one glimmer of hope for the captain: every seven years, he may go ashore -- theoretically, in order to seek a woman willing to share his fate. Hendrik believes this was ultimately meant to add to his torment, because Adamastor didn't actually think such a woman would ever exist. That may or may not be true, but Hendrik would never ask a woman to condemn herself that way, especially not his wife. He loved her far too much for that.
Initially, he used the time to visit her. That was hard on both of them, however, for she grew old while he remained eternally young. She had always been a somewhat possessive woman, and now found his seeming youthfulness a cause for jealousy. She was not truly a bad-tempered woman by nature, but she knew her husband was handsome, and she knew what was said about sailors, and though he understood that he loved her, she had already feared that she was getting too old to keep him from straying. No amount of reassurance on his part could allow her to feel completely secure. But while that did strain the relationship, they remained loyal to each other throughout her life.
After her death, Hendrik didn't really have anything to connect him to the rest of humanity anymore. He would like to marry again, but he could never condemn another woman to suffer as he knew his wife had. Through the years, he has participated in various causes, one of which was working for the destruction of the slave trade.
He gained quite a reputation as the Captain of a mysterious ghost ship which might or might not be real. Most people considered sighting the Dutchman to be a very bad omen, often meaning that someone onboard the ship that spotted her was about to die. Others claimed that this didn't apply unless someone was actually foolish enough to talk to someone on the ghost ship, which was hard on Hendrik's crew, who could only ever get news of what was happening on land from people onboard passing ships. The one thing almost everyone agreed on was that no mortal could set foot on the Flying Dutchman and live.
For all Hendrik knows, that last statement could be true. At any rate, he is not planning to let anyone test that. As for the other claims, there have been many people throughout the Dutchman's history who have seen the ship or even spoken to the crew without anything terrible happening, although naturally, sailors will frequently blame any bad things that happen afterwards on that particular occurance.
Knowing most people they met at sea would refuse to speak with them, Hendrik and his crew began to write letters, at first to loved ones they'd left behind. Later, when they knew that everyone they loved was dead, they wrote letters to the world in general, in the hopes that someone, somewhere, would see them. Of course, it didn't take people long to decide that opening and reading the letters onboard a ship would cause that ship to sink. But this time, fear also lead them to conclude that refusing to carry the letters at all might result in an even worse fate. They'd just have to wait until they got to land to actually open any of the letters.
As time went on, people began to realize that the Dutchman was not necessarily an evil ship. After all, it was prone to showing up to defend small merchant vessels and other crafts whenever pirates chose to attack them. During WWII, Hendrik and his crew joined the fight on the side of the Allies, albeit without the knowledge of any government. There are many reports from that era of the Flying Dutchman sinking U-boats.
Hendrik was, in fact, in the middle of organizing another strike against the Germans when he saw a flash of blinding white light. The next thing he knew, he was somehow falling towards land: the Island, which looked curiously like his hometown. Now that he's beginning to meet people here, the Dutch captain is very conflicted about what to do next. He believes that the right thing to do is to confront their captor and find a way home. On the other hand, he's finally able to rest, here, so he doesn't really want leave.
Strengths/Abilities: Hendrik is an incredibly determined person. Fortunately, this trait is balanced with a high degree of concern for those around him; he has too much empathy for them to be ruthless or cold. He is also extremely loyal to those he loves, and is willing to do almost anything for them. The curse seems to have made him immortal, or close to it; he cannot age, become ill, or get seriously wounded. He also plays the violin quite well, having had over three hundred years to practice.
Weaknesses/Flaws: When he's angry, Hendrik is prone to saying and doing things he will deeply regret later, though he has learned his lesson about making rash oaths. He is also extremely stubborn, and sometimes fails to seek diplomatic solutions to problems, even when this would be to his advantage. He isn’t someone who hides his emotions well, and others can usually read him quite easily.
Likes:
*Being on land
*Stargazing
*Cats (the Dutchman has several at any given time)
*Playing the violin
*Chess
*Reading
* Jazz
Dislikes:
*Nazis
*Slavery
*Pirates (with a few exceptions)
*Bullies
*Ignorance
*Feeling powerless
*Being cursed
*The fact that his crew was cursed along with him; he feels this is extremely unfair as they were not responsible for his actions
Fears:
*Fire (or more specifically, being burned; it can’t kill him but it would still hurt)
*Having to watch someone he cares about die, especially if that person is in pain before that.
*Losing his crew and being forced to sail the ocean completely alone forever. He'd still free the crew from the curse if he could, but the thought of this terrifies him.
RP Sample:
Someone downstairs was blaring Don Giovanni. That was Karl’s first conscious thought in over an hour, and at first he just wondered why his mother had chosen such an obnoxious method of waking him up, especially on a Saturday. Then he remembered. She wasn’t even in the house, and he shouldn’t be there, either.
What had begun as a very mild headache became much worse the moment he sat up, and for a moment Karl wondered if it he should just stay here and hope whoever it was having a loud, boozy party in his house without him would go away eventually. But he had no idea what they were doing, or how long he’d been out of it, or how the hell his alcohol tolerance could be so low drinking about half a beer had made him black out in the first place.
Then he began to wonder why he was in the damn closet. He pushed on the door, but it almost immediately collided with something heavy. Fine. He’d force it open. Karl pulled himself to his feet, then shoved the door much more firmly this time, but it still wouldn’t budge. And with the music as loud as it was, if he tried calling for help, no one would hear him.
His family wasn’t going to be home for days, which was exactly why Karl was supposed to be staying at a friend’s house. But that friend had decided they could throw a party at Karl’s house, and though the boy didn’t like the idea of lying to his mother, he wanted his classmates to think he was cool, and his friend swore there would only be a few people. Six, in fact: all close friends of Karl’s. They were the only ones the boy had actually invited, and he didn’t even know if any of them had come to the party. They’d all said they would, but maybe one of these jerks had sent his real friends away when they showed up. Or perhaps they were all downstairs, probably being uncomfortable. This wasn’t the kind of thing any of them would enjoy – except for the music.
He had to get out of here. Karl threw himself against the door a few times, hoping whatever was blocking it would move out of the way just enough for him to escape. Just what he was going to do once he succeeded, and how he was going to make the people who had invaded his house leave, Karl had no idea.
