Richard Henderson
Richard Henderson is a Nocker Kinain in the Kingdom of Concordia.
Overview
The Chief Executive Officer of Playtime Toys, Inc. is known to his employees as a grumpy old man with a heart of gold. Mr. Henderson started his company by himself and worked to make Playtime one of the largest toy-makers in the United States, heading for being one of the largest in the world. While doing all of this work, he never lost sight of the fact that his company’s product was FUN, a fact he drills into the heads of his employees every day.
Henderson himself is in many ways a child who never grew up. He takes personal interest in the toys that are put out by his company, and is often involved in the design, development, and testing process. He considers his five grandchildren his “best test market,” often bringing them new and different toys that he is developing, and playing with them on the weekends and family holidays.
As can be seen by any Kithain, the white-haired and red-cheeked Henderson is a kinain with a fair amount of nocker blood in him. He has an affinity for making and creating new things, and his gruff exterior masks a man who genuinely cares about his work, his family, and his company.
Ever since he was a child, Henderson knew that he was a bit different. He often listened to his grandmother’s stories about how his family had the Second Sight and Faerie Blood from the Old Country, before they came over to Ellis Island and changed their name. He always applied his agile imagination to whatever task was put in front of him, and it served him well all through school and when he decided to start his own business.
Up until recently, he knew nothing of his heritage beyond the stories that his grandmother told him. That was until one of his granddaughters, Ellie, underwent her Chrysalis and became a childling nocker. Ellie seems to have inherited the full measure of her family’s fae heritage. At first her parents thought that she was simply taking after her grandfather with her temper and her imagination, but Richard has been enchanted by Ellie and learned the truth about who and what she is.
For the time being, Henderson has chosen not to share the truth about Ellie with his son and daughter-in-law because he’s not sure they would understand. He has increasingly become involved in Ellie’s life and that of her siblings and cousins. He is looking out for the possibility that his other grandchildren might be changelings as well, and awaiting signs of any of them undergoing the Chrysalis.
Henderson has been with Ellie to the changeling court of New York City. He has contacted the nocker community in Goblin Town, and is in the habit of taking Ellie there for visits when he can get away. Richard is enchanted by her for those visits so they can go and see the “secret magic world” they both share. Henderson is learning just how true some of the stories his granny told him are, and he is slowly gaining the grudging respect of the nockers and other Kithain in Goblin Town. Playtime’s toys are well-known among many Kithain, and some of the nockers in New York have offered Henderson their own unique design ideas.
Presently, Henderson, with his considerable wealth and business influence, stands to become a powerful ally for the changeling community, but there are elements of Goblin Town and the Shadow Court who do not like the idea of so powerful a mortal as Richard Henderson becoming involved in their affairs. They might well try and eliminate Henderson, or kidnap his granddaughter to apply some leverage to the old man. The question of who the girl will be fostered to before she is Sained has already come up, and it is likely that some Unseelie may try to take advantage of the opportunity.
References
- CTD. The Enchanted, pp. 91-92.