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| | Brown hair, blue eyes, glasses. White T-shirt, black pants, blue longcoat with lots of pockets down the front. | | Brown hair, blue eyes, glasses. White T-shirt, black pants, blue longcoat with lots of pockets down the front. |
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| − | ===Aesthetic=== | + | ==Background== |
| − | "Cyber Dragon" is Henry's self-invented style, featuring metal shapes in futuristic designs. Anything not silvery steel is likely to be blue and glowing. His weapons often feature blades of some kind, even when they wouldn't technically be useful (i.e. forward-pointing bayonets on a long-range cannon). Automata built by him tend towards animal-inspired designs.
| + | ''There was a manic smile on his face as he walked down the sidewalk, a heavy backpack slung over one shoulder. You could practically see the electricity in his eyes. Those who took notice tended to give him a wide berth.'' |
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| | + | ''It didn't matter to him. None of it. Here was a man on a mission.'' |
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| | + | Once upon a time, Henry Blueriver was a man without a purpose. He made a living through odd jobs, paid his bills, saved up towards some nebulous future dream. He didn't expect his life would be changed forever through a simple act of chivalry. |
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| − | ==Background==
| + | "Excuse me, I think you dropped this..." |
| − | Henry Blueriver knew there was something unusual about the girl he kept running into. He had no idea just how unusual she was, however, until the day that curiosity got the better of him and he followed her home. There, he met the girl's "father": Gerald Waterford, a retired genius who once went by the name of "Dr. Cogwheel". He opened Henry's eyes to the world of wonders: the girl, Cherie, was an Automata creation of his, brought to life by Inspiration and Mania. The revelation was too much for Henry and he resisted his breakthrough, running from the house instead.
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| | + | The girl was brown-haired and green-eyed, wearing a peach-colored sleeveless top and jean shorts. Normally Henry wouldn't have given the encounter a second thought; his thoughts never strayed into the romantic. But their eyes met, and Henry found himself enraptured by something he couldn't describe. |
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| | + | "Er...thanks?" |
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| | + | The girl took the proffered can and returned to checking out. Henry had still more things he needed to pick up, so he didn't follow her in line. He imagined it would be the first and last time he'd ever see her. |
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| − | Months later, Cherie came to him with news: her father was dying. On his deathbed, Gerald told Henry to "take care of his legacy": Henry tried his best to, although truth be told, it was more as if Cherie was taking care of him. She tried to teach him the basics of mad science: he stubbornly refused his breakthrough, but the resulting Mania kept the old man's wonders from falling into disrepair.
| + | He was wrong. |
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| − | A year and a half later, Gerald's old life came back to haunt Henry and Cherie. Three Geniuses arrived, demanding to know where Gerald had hidden a Larva they had created together: a soul bound to clockwork. It came to light that Cherie was made using that Larva, and a fight ensued: two of the Geniuses were defeated through luck and chance, but when the leader of the gang fired his clockwork cannon at Henry, Cherie jumped into the line of fire and was blown to pieces.
| + | It was a bookstore the next time: Henry was surprised to find the girl looking for the same book he was. Then there was the electronics store: he went there to look for a new game release and found her browsing the titles. Their encounters grew more and more frequent, though never more than a casual acknowledgment. Still, there was a feeling there that Henry couldn't shake. |
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| − | It was this that finally triggered Henry's breakthrough. Consumed with grief and rage, he created a makeshift weapon and killed the leader of the group with it. The emotional trauma of the incident led Henry to devote his newfound powers to the twin causes of repairing Cherie and fighting those who would abuse their Inspiration.
| + | One day he spotted her not far from his apartment building, a bag of groceries in hand. Curiosity overtook his common sense, and he followed her. She saw him just as she reached the door to her house; he made to run, but her smile caught him off-guard. "Hi there," she said. "I'd been wondering when you'd come." |
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| − | For some time afterward he tinkered alone, largely unaware and untrusting of the world of Geniuses. It was by chance that he was discovered by a member of a collaborative, a band of Geniuses working under the leadership of a Neid Director named Lars Bennett. Realizing that his self-taught approach would take years to bring him even close to fixing Cherie, he decided that perhaps he could study under the tutelage of a more experienced Genius. So Henry joined the collaborative, unaware of what Lars Bennett's goals were.
| + | The girl invited Henry inside. Against his better judgment, he accepted. The house was well-kept, if somewhat spartan. The girl led Henry towards a room in the back. |
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| − | Henry was a fast learner, improving upon his haphazard principles at a surprising rate. Recognizing the prodigy for what he was, Lars decided to indoctrinate him fully into the collaborative.
| + | "I'd like you to meet my father." |
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| − | He was horrified by what he discovered. Lars was no better than the three thugs who had murdered Cherie. Henry had heard of the works possible through the axiom of Epikrato before, but he had never imagined the uses they could be put to. Lars' goal was total domination through Epikrato: his magnum opus, still in the planning stages, was a monstrous wonder that could control the minds of an entire city. Henry was aware that a direct confrontation with Lars and his insane goals would have been suicidal - only a mad burst of Mania had made his first victory possible - so he resorted to a more indirect approach, secretly stealing the funds that Lars had amassed through his Epikrato abuse and fleeing in the night. As far as he knows, his plan succeeded, though this means he now has an insane Epikrato master bent on revenge after him.
| + | Henry was surprised to see the old man seated in his wheelchair; he could easily have passed for the girl's grandfather. The room itself was strange and antiquarian: shelves lined the walls, filled with old photos and strange trinkets, some of them elaborate gadgets that seemed to glow with a strange light. |
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| − | Henry Blueriver knows he's far from his goals, but he's learned much about the strange world of the Peerage and how to live in it. Rather than sink into depression, as would be expected of a Klagen, he's snapped back violently in the opposite direction, adopting a reckless, manic approach that made him perfect for the Navigators.
| + | " |
