DR. HANSEN

• Full name: Dr. Richard Hansen (but prefers just to be called Dr. Hansen as an adult. Was also - referred to just as 'Hansen' by his peers from his late teens onwards.)
• Species: Human
• Sex: ♂
• Age: 28
• Height: 5ft 10in
• Weight: 157lbs
• Siblings: None
• Native setting: Fallout, post-apocalyptic

Dr. Hansen is an original character for the Fallout fandom. He grew up with just his mum and dad, and had no siblings. His mother was a merchant and his father a doctor. The three of them travelled in a nomadic trade caravan. This meant that his family unit was particularly isolated from any other family or friends.

Judgemental Side

The following details about Richard's lifestyle with his parents only applies until he reached the age of 6 or 7. At this point they succumbed to severe radiation poisoning and became unable to care for him, essentially becoming ghouls or zombies. While they still had time they sent him away to live with a long-time family friend who they knew would reflect their values in raising him.

The family friend, a middle-aged man in his early 50's named Dr. Carter Grayson and who had no children of his own and was unmarried, took him in and raised him for the remainder of his childhood as best he could. However, he passed away when Richard (who by then preferred to be called Dr. Hansen or just 'Hansen' was a young adult.

Nurturing

Despite the harshness of the environment Richard grew up in, his parents did their best to raise him well. For them, this meant being fair, providing for him, and giving him the time to play and learn.

Whenever Richard hurt himself, his mother was emotionally supportive of him and reassure him that he would be all right. She would leave Richard's actual physical treatment to his father. However, his father had a good bedside manner and also offered his son reassurances, along with gentle warnings to be more careful next time.

It may be that his mother felt rather redundant in these situations, however she contained this reasonably well so this did not impact too significantly on Richard himself.

Critical

The world he grew up in is a harsh wasteland. This had implications for the limits within which Richard grew up. His parents had little to give him beyond what he needed in order to survive, and given the wasteland they travelled through and the family's nomadic lifestyle, he had little choice but to stay close to them (and since he was effectively bound to them like this, he couldn't consider flouting their rules).

They weren't harsh towards him themselves but did not pretend that the world was a safer place to be than it truly was, as the world beyond truly was harsh. This set the emotional landscape in which Richard grew up.

His parents made the following rules for him:

• no running out of the line of sight or earshot
• do not take anything from strangers
• do not talk to strangers

His parents had similar opinions and values, and cooperated well when it came to teaching Richard who was safe and who was unsafe in their world. They taught him that “unruly types with rusted armour and bad attitudes” were to be avoided. They explained to him that these people did “terrible things” for fun, money, or as part of a trade for goods.

They also taught him that the dangerous people could disguise themselves as harmless types. They specified that “bad” guys didn't necessarily wear black, like the old radio show villains did.

His parents differed in their opinion of the handling of raiders. His mother had a more violent outlook, namely that raiders should be shot and left to die, while his father believed that they should be put to trial to at least allow for fairness. However, a court-based approach was unlikely given the very fractured population of their country. Law enforcement was often left to the individual, which meant that Richard's mother's attitude towards justice was more practical (whether or not it was fair is another matter).

Richard's parents tended to label people according to the outside groups they appeared to belong to, based on their clothing, the company they kept, and context. Those labels included:

• Traders
• Raiders
• Scavengers (otherwise known as Scavers)
• Merchants

There were others, but these were the most important to his parents.

If Richard got angry then his parents would give him time to cool off and then approach him later to find out what had upset him.

However, when Richard was naughty his mother would be harsher in her treatment of him than his father. His mother would discipline him by making him wash his mouth with soap if he said a bad word, or time out to calm himself down. His father was more lenient, however he usually left her to take care of discipline.

His parents were far more similar when it came to Richard feeling sad. Both were good at talking to him and helping him understand why he was feeling sad, and comforting him.

They also made a good team whenever Richard got scared, and were keen not only to help him feel better but also to conquer the fear. For example, if Richard was afraid of an animal, then his mother would bring the animal over to show him that it wasn't to be feared.

Objective Side

Rational

Richard's world was a dangerous one, even while he was growing up. His parents protected him as well as they could, but were unable to shield him from the grim reality of the world beyond. This made sense as they needed him to have the mental skills to be able to protect himself.

With this in mind they encouraged him to be rational, to conquer his fears of things that didn't need to be feared, to have a sensible fear of things that did need to be feared, etc. so as to be able to accurately assess any situation in which he found himself.

Childlike Side

Free

Richard had no siblings to play with and it was often dangerous for him to play outside, lest he get carried away and stray out of sight of his parents. However they knew him to be curious, imaginative and creative.

As a three year old, he loved exploring the world around him. His parents made a point of salvaging any stuffed animals or other toys they could for him to play with at home, and played with him using these.

As a seven year old, Richard was handed over by his parents to Dr. Grayson. He preferred to play with action figures, and made up scenarios for them. He also enjoyed exploring the outside world. For Richard, this was an escape from the horror of losing his parents.

This happened on two fronts. Their condition had been worsening for some time so he was aware that something was slowly reducing their cognitive abilities, and by the time they transferred him to their friend they were both in pretty bad shape, his mother more so than his father, especially as she was looking less human by this point. Between them, his parents had tried to avoid Richard from seeing too much by keeping his mother wrapped up in heavy clothes and keeping the pair of them apart. His father didn't have the heart to tell Richard what was happening, so Richard went to Dr. Grayson only aware that something had happened, but not exactly what.

By the time he had turned thirteen year old, Richard's thoughtful side had come much more to the fore, and he enjoyed tinkering with electronics, and reading for pleasure.

As an eighteen year old he still enjoyed working with electronics, but had also salvaged a wrist-mounted computer on which he played video games. This, like the action figures he had largely discarded by this point, offered him a sense of escapism from the overall situation in his life, along with alleviating his boredom.

Dr. Grayson's lab was set up in a large, sprawling, underground research bunker. It was equipped entirely with salvaged and preserved gear from a time generally referred to as the “pre-war” days. The available equipment was very advanced compared to most equipment available outside of the lab in the current day.

The lab also had modern conveniences such as electricity, clean water, high-grade food, and crucially, safety from outside threats. The list of benefits to living in the lab went on and on.

Richard took a little while to adjust to the lab, as it was completely new to him to have access to these conveniences and to be within clean, confined halls and chambers. However, he found it unsatisfying as he had always preferred being outside. He also didn't like having his own room at first and disliked being alone. However, as he grew older he became more familiar with this and came to appreciate it. In time, he even came to prefer staying indoors to being outside.

Compliant

Richard felt that the rules his parents and later, his guardian gave him to follow were reasonable so he had no problem obeying them.

As an adult, Dr. Hansen never had children.

Defiant

Because Richard felt that the rules he followed were reasonable, he didn't feel any need to defy them.