character survey of doom

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Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
He’s not the tallest (about 182 cm). He is, however, rather square and sturdy in built and people generally find that pushing him around is out of the question.

2. How old is he?
Born in 1975. So for NaNo purposes, he’s 40 years old.

3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
There’s a tiny bit of a slouch, though around his colleagues, it tends to disappear almost completely.

4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
He’s in pretty good health, overall. He does suffer from some arthritis in his right shoulder and upper-arm due to the assassination attempt back in 2012 which very nearly cost him his arm. He also smokes too much and drinks too much coffee, so even though he’s physically fit, he runs out of breath very easily when he exercises. He prefers swimming to running.

5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
He’s... balanced. He doesn’t often stumble or drop things but his movements aren’t graceful as such. He’s focused – things get done and done efficiently. When he’s angry, his movements get much sharper and quicker.

6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
Objectively, he’s more than averagely good-looking. It’s not something that matters to him personally, but it makes everything just a bit easier and he’s very much aware of the advantages you get from being attractive. He takes very, very good care of his looks.

7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
Jean Louis has a southern-European look to him, complexion-wise. He’s much darker than Mireille and his colleagues in general. He doesn’t have any visible scars, except for the healed-up gunshot wounds in his shoulder which look more or less like patchwork.

8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
Colour is dark-brown. It’s decently thick and, when wet, long enough to reach his chin. It’s cut in a fashion that makes it absolutely imperative that he styles it every single day – as such, Jean Louis doesn’t come with bad hair days. If he leaves it hanging with no gel whatsoever, it much resembles an old-fashioned, long-haired version of a bowl cut. It’s not pretty.

He also has a light stripe of white hair on the left side of his head, from when he was graced by a bullet (superficially, but with enough force to completely take away the migraines he’d had since he was little – you win some, you lose some!). He colours it, however, because he thinks it makes him look old.

9. What color are his eyes?
Brown.

10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
He has a rather distinctive nose. His lips are also prominent.

11. What are his chief tension centers?
Probably his back.

12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
Jean Louis dresses almost entirely in a combination of Emporio Armani and Armani Exchange. He doesn’t mind colours or a tiny amount of glitter; he considers himself man enough to wear whatever catches his fancy. For work, he’s normally very casual, sticking to blacks and grays with the occasional glimmer of colour. He also wears sunglasses more or less all year.

13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
They fit him perfectly and he feels very comfortable in them.

14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
No. Jean Louis is a lot more casual in his free time. His t-shirts are often somewhat flashy and he loves Armani’s knitted sweater tops. He has an affinity for knitted socks.

15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Boxers.

Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
Deep.

2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
Jean Louis talks fast. He never hesitates and is always more likely to speak his mind than to keep silent. When he’s angry, he doesn’t just raise his voice – he yells. Throws things around. Overall, in terms of communications, he’s loud.

3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
There’s a (rather large) hint of Benelux dialect to his English and his French.

4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
Luxembourgish and German, fluently. In French, he’s less fluent in writing than in speech. In English, he’s fluent all over. He also speaks some Italian and about ten words of Russian.

5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
Yes. Around both Mireille and Marcel, Jean Louis speaks Luxembourgish while he switches between French, German and English in business situations, depending on who he’s talking to. Since Mireille is multilingual too, he sometimes switches between German, French and Luxembourgish with her when they talk. In general, though, Jean Louis speaks Luxembourgish and that’s what he prefers.

6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
He has to think about his words because, as far as politicians go, he isn’t the most proficient. He gets ahead by blackmail and dirty tricks, not talent. He’s a good speaker, however. He’s also very adept at knowing what people want to hear.

7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
He’s very eloquent. Even when he’s angry, his speech is sharp and fluent. He rarely gets angry enough to lose his composure entirely but when he does, he also loses the ability to argue intelligently which leads to doors slamming, things getting thrown or worse. Mireille, in particular, tends to bring out this side of him which nearly always ends in violence on his part.

Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
He’s street-smart. He processes information very quickly but has no patience for books unless the topic catches his attention sufficiently. He can, however, read whatever he wants to read and understand it. His upbringing probably left him a little slower than he would have been if he’d had a more intellectually stimulating environment.

2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
He thinks on his feet a lot of the time, but in all honesty he probably shouldn’t. He’s the type who needs to plan things out carefully, lest he acts rashly and makes unfortunate decisions. However, he still hasn’t fully realised how many mistakes he makes; his methods and lack of morality allow him to always fix whatever chaos he creates so the consequences never really have an impact on him.

3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
He’s logical and practical.

4. What kind of education has the character had?
General secondary school. The rest is self-taught because university did not appeal to him in the slightest as a teenager.

5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
Political economy and finance. He’s as well-read on this subject as your average academic.

6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
Extrovert. He doesn’t actually like most people, though. He reaches out to others instinctively because he wants to use them – as such, he’s a very social type of person. Being all by himself makes him feel antsy.

7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
He has epic mood swings, mostly because it doesn’t take much to make him angry. He’s very rarely genuinely happy and never content – instead, his status quo is a sort of determined and goal-driven severity.

8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
He’s equal parts suspicious and dominant; he approaches new people with the expectation that they’ll attempt to deceive or kill him at some point if they take any interest in what he has to offer. He’s perfectly alright with this reality and will always attempt to take control of any new situation or interaction to keep himself as safe as possible.

9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
To act.

10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
Fight. He will run away only if he knows for certain that he can’t win. He has no qualms whatsoever about running away, however. If the alternative is getting injured then why would he hang around like an idiot?

11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
He has a lousy sense of humour. He thinks Marcel is the funniest person in the world and is frequently amused by his horrible jokes, be they dirty or just plain horrific and graphic. He makes jokes himself, too, though usually at the expense of those around him. He doesn’t appreciate people making fun of HIM, however, and will take it very badly when they do. He completely lacks the ability to laugh at himself.

12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
He’d probably qualify for an antisocial personality disorder. He deals with it the way most antisocial people do; it doesn’t bother him and he never notices that he has any issues worth speaking of. When things go wrong around him (and because of his issues, they very often do), he’s incapable of looking for flaws in his own approach to the world and instead blames the people around him. At the same time, his willingness to do what it takes, no matter who he hurts and what he damages, is also the character trait that drives him forward and makes people believe in his ability to produce results.

13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
Objectively, his upbringing made him very unlikely to trust people and his father’s violent tendencies probably impacted his approach to conflicts and problem solving. But Jean Louis was born with a dysfunctional approach to human relations – and this, more than any outside interference, has shaped his life significantly. He doesn’t usually connect with people properly and whenever he puts effort into doing so, it’s only on his own terms and for his own sake.

14. What does he fear?
Getting killed or losing his power.

15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
Jean Louis basically wants to rule the world.

16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
See number 12 and 15.


Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents. :
Biological parents: Jean Louis feels no connection to his biological parents, Eric and Fleur, perhaps save an exhausted sense of disdain. Eric can’t stand the sight of him (the feeling is entirely mutual) and has only contacted him once in the more recent years, asking for money. Fleur actually loved Jean Louis to begin with; but his constant rejections made her bitter and withdrawn and she generally pretends that he doesn’t exist.

Foster family: While his foster parents were very sensible and down to earth, they never really managed to change his approach to the world, perhaps because they quickly realized that it couldn’t be done. Apart from his foster father’s business contacts, Jean Louis has no use for his foster parents and tends to more or less ignore them unless they’re directly asking for his attention. His foster mother adores him, though she knows that he doesn’t return it. His foster father considers him an awesome business connection. He knows that Jean Louis doesn’t always do things entirely within the rules of the law, but his results are always impressive and in this particular family, everything else is secondary. All in all, he’s proud of him.

2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
Jean Louis has three biological siblings: Regate, Antoinette and Bernadotte. As opposed to Jean Louis who, at least consciously, has no qualms about his upbringing, both Regate and Antoinette are marked for life by their childhoods. Regate, being 2 years younger than Jean Louis, grew up as the invisible child – no one cared about where she was or what she was doing, perhaps apart from Jean Louis who wouldn’t tolerate gossip about his family. Not out of sentimentality, of course. He just didn’t like the idea of people having that kind of power over his family life (and him, by extension). So he regularly made sure that she didn’t go to school without her shoes or without having showered for days in a row. She, in turn, loves him unconditionally and even as an adult, she firmly believes he loves her in return. After she finally realises that all he cares about is his reputation, she spends years coming to terms with her childhood. When she discovers that he hits Mireille, she cuts all contact with him.

Jean Louis barely remembers the name of Antoinette. She’s four years younger than him and has the distinction of being the only child their mother could connect with. Antoinette was her mother’s doll for years and years – and as a result, rarely came in contact with her siblings. Jean Louis meets her at a library as an adult and fails to recognise her; there’s absolutely no relation there worth speaking of.

Bernadotte is about 12 years younger than him and went into foster care as a baby. Jean Louis has never had any contact with her and probably doesn’t know that she exists.

From his foster family, Jean Louis also has Benjamin as a foster sibling. He’s 3 years younger than Jean Louis and looks up to him quite a lot. Benjamin has always been a massive disappointment to his father, showing no interest in his business whatsoever. He’s of a gentle temper like his mother and prefers ballet to football or tennis. Jean Louis never (outwardly) judges Benjamin for being a softer, more sensitive kind of man since he poses absolutely no competition worth speaking of and as an adult, Benjamin frequently contacts Jean Louis for assistance (primarily financial) as opposed to his father. They have a decent relationship – Jean Louis doesn’t really care and Benjamin is happy to be a non-threat, living out his life in peace.

3. Are there any other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
Not really. He probably would have liked Eric’s mother if he’d ever gotten to meet her more than once.

4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
Jean Louis considers Marcel his brother. He trusts him to act the way he expects him to act – which is the closest Jean Louis gets to trusting people at all. He’s convinced that as long as he pays Marcel enough, the man won’t betray him. He probably also harbours some more sentimental feelings towards him, but he isn’t aware of them.

Mireille is the love of his life. He owns her body and soul, and will only give her up if she betrays him by walking away or turning him over to the police. He loves her as much as he can love anyone, which is a confusing, emotional mix of ownership and dominance, combined with, perhaps, a tint of actual love. His feelings are always selfish, however, and what little, honest attachment he has to her is completely subconscious.

5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
Marcel, hands down. They met on the streets when they were both 10, Jean Louis having left his family after his father finally landed him in hospital. Having stolen some morphine from the hospital on his way out for personal use, he ended up getting attacked by a group of older boys, wanting to steal what he had and sell it. Completely coincidentally, Marcel came by at the same time and beat all three boys to the ground with a wooden bat, full of rusty nails. Both Marcel and Jean Louis were completely unaffected by the situation (both showing very little regard for the health of other people) and Marcel ended up offering him room for the night in return for his morphine.

And thus, a terrible friendship was born.

6. Does he have other close friends?
He ends up liking Vincent Fortesque well enough, but it’s never quite a friendship. Vincent thinks he’s a great employer and an awful human being; Jean Louis in turn thinks Vincent’s homosexual lifestyle is disgusting. Jean Louis considers Ezio Salvoca, the head of the Italian mafia a very close associate. Ezio loves him like a son and basically thinks he can do no wrong. He is happy, however, that Jean Louis never married his daughter, Lucretia. He probably would not have permitted it if they’d tried.

Anisette Roberts is another close associate. Jean Louis has known her since he entered politics and career-wise, they’ve followed each other pretty closely throughout the years. They’ve always been equal-parts allies and rivals – on the political scene, Anisette thinks that Jean Louis is too harsh and rigid and while she admires him and respects him as her superior, she also thinks that his approach is very far away from what Barrault would have truly wanted. Jean Louis drifts closer to Anisette during 2016 when his marriage to Mireille is falling apart. Anisette humours him out of pity. She’s one of the few people who’s realised that he may actually be more than a little crazy.

7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
He… doesn’t necessarily have trouble getting along with people, so long as they act the way he wants them to. But he definitely doesn’t make friends easily, probably because he doesn’t want any. Instead, he makes allies.

8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
Family.

9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
He’s married to Mireille and she’s his first and only wife.

10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
No.

11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
His first and only crush is also Mireille.

12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
... um. He doesn’t look for anything, actively. Mireille just happened to have the entire package: good looks, a brilliant mind and a very dependant, submissive personality.

13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
No. And he doesn’t want any, either.

14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
... :D Lots and lots! The most important can be sorted by continent:

Europe:

Ray. Because canon. Jean Louis doesn’t know very much about Ray but he knows enough to hate his existence. Ray tends to search for incriminating information about the men in power – and in recent years, he’s been trying to stick his nose into Jean Louis’ African weapon’s trade. The problem with Ray, however, is that he’s completely impossible to catch, even for Marcel. This makes him both very dangerous and very obnoxious and Jean Louis pretty much wants him dead.

Potos. His main competitor in politics, Potos is the head of the LSP. Jean Louis thinks he’s a smug and insufferable buffoon – Potos thinks Jean Louis is young and incompetent. They clash regularly, with Jean Louis doing his best to make Potos look stupid. Sadly for Potos, this is not a difficult task.

De Groot. Their contact in the Dutch underground, De Groot is a dangerous ally who often walks the line between useful cooperation and back-stabbing. Jean Louis deals with him because he’s got tons upon tons of useful contacts. He’s also completely ruthless. Once, Jean Louis and Marcel pissed him off and De Groot’s henchman very nearly took off Jean Louis’ head with a machine pistol. Things are very up-and-down between them and Jean Louis regularly considers just getting him killed and replacing him with someone less annoying.

Florian. Is Mireille’s lover – Jean Louis is completely convinced that they’ve had sex more than once and he does his best not to care. Florian is a lot like Jean Louis without all the dysfunction and while Jean Louis doesn’t reflect enough upon his relations to realise it, Florian makes him feel both old and… weird. He’s harmless, however, so Jean Louis lets him live. He doesn’t necessarily consider Florian a rival – to be honest, he tries not to consider him much at all.

Africa:

While the African rebels who attempted to assassinate him were all killed later on, Jean Louis has a lot of enemies amongst his customers in Western Africa. His crimes against them are numerous and completely inhuman, including human trafficking and mass-murder. But Jean Louis is too far up the crime hierarchy for anyone to connect him with any of it (with the notable exception of Ray) and so far, he’s gotten away with all of it.

Asia:
In 2015, Jean Louis and Marcel attempt to expand to Asia, attempting to negotiate and trade with the Japanese mafia. Their contact to clan leader Haruhiko-sama, however, doesn’t work out as planned and in the end, their Japanese adventure probably earns them more enemies than any of their other criminal activities.

America:
When Jean Louis exiles Marcel to the US later on, their relation never quite recovers and while they aren’t enemies as such, Jean Louis doesn’t visit the US very often, knowing that the criminal subgroups are loyal to Marcel only.

15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
While he’s completely straight in his choice of bed partners, he gets off to snuff films just fine, whether or not the victim in the movie is male or female.

16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
He likes sex. It doesn’t mean anything to him, apart from the fact that he’d feel very uncomfortable a lot of the time if he couldn’t have it. He doesn’t want intimacy in bed and feels smothered very quickly if his partner gets snuggly with him.

17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
Turn-offs: dominant or even active bed partners. Really. Lie down and take it, woman.
Turn-ons: So long as he gets to drive, he’s completely vanilla.
Weird bedroom habits: Under very particular circumstances, he will watch one of Marcel’s snuff tapes while having sex. He will only do so with prostitutes and when he knows for a fact that the girl won’t have to walk out alive.

Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
Capricorn. He fits the type pretty well.

2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
Neither. Religion means absolutely nothing in his life.

3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
He does. He believes that leaving yourself to be used by others is the worst, personal sacrifice you can consciously make. He believes that free will is all you need to get by in the world and to avoid messing things up. He also believes that ideals are worth nothing without action and that action must always be goal-directed and with the intent to gain more. There’s probably nothing that can compromise any of this.

He's developed his 'moral code' over the years, as a consequence of the way he views the world and perhaps more importantly, the way his approach to others differ from the norm.

4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
Intolerant. If you don’t agree with his beliefs, you’re a loser and completely disposable. And if you do agree with them, you’re probably dangerous and likely to betray him.

5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
He doesn’t like ‘weak’ people – those who have limited power, be it because of physical problems or psychological problems. He’s blatantly homophobic but doesn’t actually care about gay people that much at all. It’s just that repressing minorities is a cheap way to gain extra power and an effective way to keep control of the population at large. He doesn’t have any good reason to dislike people, either, though he’d probably blame his distrust of people on Eric if anyone asked.


Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
Filthy rich.

2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
It’s definitely changed over time. He started out as middle-class (biological family), went to live with Marcel and his father for a few years (three steps away from the gutter, basically), then married Mireille and became head of state.

3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
His home is a castle. Well, almost. On the surface, at least, it’s an old, well-kept mansion. Inside, it’s top modern and minimalistic, with lots of grays and whites and glass. It’s kept to perfection. He lives with Mireille.

4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
Armani, basically. Unless we’re counting that as a basic necessity. >] He also spends a lot of money on Mireille whenever they’ve had an argument and he needs to buy her forgiveness. He’ll frequently buy her excessive gifts, too. Other things he buys: expensive cars, expensive motor bikes and expensive weapons, the latter mostly for re-selling.

5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
He’s a politician and a weapon’s dealer. He loves both quite a bit. There’s nothing else he’d rather be doing – if so, he’d be doing that instead. He's decently good at what he does; he is, at least, good at covering up his mistakes.

6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
He doesn’t have any hobbies. What little free time he has, he spends with Mireille.

7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
Jean Louis isn’t a picky eater by any means. He actually prefers simple food (like Luxembourgish cuisine) to fancy, French gourmet dinners but will eat whatever’s served. He rarely skips meals, even when he’s busy; he can’t work as hard as he wants to, after all, if he’s starving. He likes to eat out with Mireille (fancy restaurants) and Marcel (McDonalds. Basically).


Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:

1. Color? Bordeaux.
2. Smell? Armani Code.
3. Time of day? Evening.
4. Season? Winter.
5. Book? The Wealth of Nations.
6. Music? He prefers silence.
7. Place? Seoul.
8. Substance? Espresso.
9. Plant? He doesn’t have a favourite but as a person, I’d associate him with a stinging nettle.
10. Animal? I’d associate him with a swan. A chronically angry swan.