Summary

Full name: Henry Robert Wilkins
Sex & Gender: cis-male(he/him)
Birthyear: 2021
Height: 2.03m (6'8")
Species: Raptor-dragon
Occupation: communications mechanic
Sexual identity: pan-sexual
Character: introvert, curious, cautious, shy, rebellious
Likes: Learning new things, Tinkering, Dancing, Flying, His magic breath, His dragon background
Dislikes: His fleet admiral father, Unquestioned authority, Being in the spotlights, Moulting season, Unearned privileges, Loneliness

Character

Henry (Heinrich) Robert Wilkins was born in Nürnberg, Germany. He wouldn't stay their for long; his father, a 300-year old army colonel Dominik Steiner, and mother, Eleanor Wilkins, were in a very strained relationship, and Eleanor didn't take his controlling behaviour anymore. When he was revealed to be a Raptor-dragon like his native American mother rather than an European dragon like his father, Dominik wanted little to do with him. Eleanor divorced Dominik, and took the child with her back to Rhode Island. It would be many years before he met his father again. To distance themselves from him, Eleanor changed his name, changing Heinrich to Henry, and start using Robert as his first name. In his youth, Eleanor taught Robert the responsibilities that came with being a dragon: they are long-lived, powerful and magical beings and there are not many of their kind in the world. For someone who may have centuries of life in him, Eleanor pressed onto his heart to do good to this world, because he may be one of the few who will live long enough to see the consequences. To Eleanor's relief, he was the kind of soul who took her words to heart. At school, Robert stood up against bullies, even when he was not the victim; this gained him a lot of respect from his peers, but he always said he just had to do the right thing, and that power and privileges need to be earned to be of any value.

Eleanor taught Robert how to control his magical breath, and he learned how to breathe fire, water, ice and stormwind. He also learned how to transform between his anthro form and his large feral draconic form. But most notably, he breathes a green soul flame when his emotions run intense, something only the most powerful of dragons are able to do (and often do uncontrollably). Eleanor thought he would go study magic, and may become one of the members of the Council of Mages, but Robert had other plans: he found tinkering with electronics far more interesting, and was very interested in the sciences, and didn't care about becoming powerful or famous. Eleanor admired his curiosity, and supported him whatever he chose to study. She was happy to see he was making his own path, not to follow in his father's footsteps. She thought they would be free of him forever. This, however, turned out to be very wrong...

On January 21st, 2037, when calamity struck the world, their lives would be changed forever, although they didn't notice it at first. However, his father Dominik, now a general, would be devastated: one by one, he learned that all his sons had died that day. All sons, but one: his estranged son Robert. He was mortified that the son whose mother hated him the most, the one son he wasn't able to shape in his image with his strict style of fatherhood to become a noble warrior, was the only son he had left, the only one who could continue his legacy. He looked him up, trying to seek contact with him. He hoped it was not too late to groom him into shape, now that he was still 16 years old. His return was an unwelcome surprise for Eleanor, for whom his presence ripped open old wounds. Robert was at first very stoked to learn he was related to a war hero, but once the two met and Dominik used his usual strict fathering style on him, insisting on calling him Heinrich (as he didn't find Robert a name fitting to someone with his legacy), that initial enthusiasm quickly disappeared. Robert quickly grew to hate him, and became more rebellious towards him, and blew up in his face he never would become a petty jerk like he was. Dominik left, saying Robert would grow to regret it one day, and his patience was plentiful to wait to see that happen. He thought he would turn around some day, coming back to his side. Robert, however, shortened his preferred name to Bob, a name so plain and simple just to spite his father...

Now freed from his father's clutches again, Bob decided to study at the newly founded Terran Fleet Academy, after being inspired by the first warp-speed flight and the First Contact with extraterrestrial life. He thought this would be a way to get as far away from his father as he could. He was a good student, and was very good with communication equipment and had a talent for learning new languages. His professors claimed he would be destined to be assigned to the flagship with the results he had. When his graduation day came, he went to Bifröst Station with his friends. They were all assigned to go to the flagship of the fleet, the UFS Yorktown, after their ceremony was complete. He had been looking forward to this day for very long, but when they stood in line in the Large Conference Hall on the station, to his horror he saw the one face he didn't want to see again: his father. Not only was he there, he was the fleet admiral of the entire Terran Fleet! When his father spotted him, he wanted to drag him into the spotlight. He wanted to show to the audience there his son was a soldier who would step in his footsteps. Bob, however, refused to co-operate in his father's propaganda in painting an image of a person he wasn't and a loving relationship that didn't exist. It was a humiliating display for Dominik, one he couldn't let go unpunished. When after the ceremony, Bob got his belongings and wanted to get aboard the Yorktown, but was refused entry; he was being told he was no longer enlisted as a member of its crew. He checked the emblem on his arm, and saw it had changed to the Pioneer instead. This had to be his father's work, he knew for sure, one that would separate him from his friends and put him on a ship of strangers. No matter how nice the people were on the Pioneer, he'd never forgive his father for separating him from his friends.

His arrival on the Pioneer made him feel sad. He knew no-one here, and he felt alone arriving in his quarters. But that soon changed when he met fellow ensign Kiara Thandi, who slept in the same quarters as he did, and made his first friend on the ship. She would introduce him to others in the crew, and found this ship was one where he felt that people were doing their best to make each other comfortable. He wasn't judged by his heritage, but just for the person who he was. He felt at home with this crew. But his father's long arm was still trying to get back at him, even if it meant the Pioneer and its crew would be collateral damage. Dominik had always hated the concept of the Pioneer, where the Terran crew would be complemented with aliens under a special status with UFIS privileges, especially since this plan was devised by the admiral Hizana Řykaja, who saw this as a great diplomatic opportunity. The Pioneer's crew always sensed that the Admiralty had a disdain for their ship, especially after the news that they lost their special status, even while they're under the leadership of an alien captain! Dominik had hoped Cobenino would quit, so he could put a Terran captain in his place, but to his dismay, Cobenino didn't give up their position and enlisted themselves in the Terran Fleet instead. Bob knew it was part of his father's petty plot to punish him, but he wouldn't budge to his father's will. One day, he'd prove his father he would've carved a path for himself where he could look back upon with pride, no matter how much his father would try to hinder him. After all, he too had the patience for decades for his plan to unfold...

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So, with what once was a throwaway minor character, Bob Wilkins makes a lot comes together in this story universe. What honestly began as a simple aesthetic change of uniforms because I wanted to make them look more like actual navy uniforms has turned into a family feud where the Pioneer itself is collateral damage. Also he's a case of reverse nepotism: when family abuses their power to hold you back...

And he's a dragon. I tried to lean into the dinosaur aesthetic and gave his quite some velociraptor features, including the characteristic toe claw and feathers. Feathered dinosaurs are cool and don't tell me otherwise!

Drawn in InkScape