Character Sketch For The Protagonist

I did a brief character sketch of the story's protagonist, including coming up with his name (that's always nice).

You can read the sketch below.

Character Sketch: Sean Brennan

Age/Gender?
59 years old, male, Irish-born.

What does he do for work?
A space engineer of some sort by trade, for 10 years he managed the mining operations on a particular high-mineral asteroid family in the Asteroid Belt for Atlas Asteroid Mining Company (ATAMINCO). He oversaw the mining operations, the budget, and so forth. He also innovated several techniques and made hardware design improvements that increased both safety and productivity. He was fired because he was outmaneuvered politically, but he won't admit this because he has always held himself "above politics." (Which is why he got outmaneuvered in the first place.) Now he's unemployed, his savings have been stolen by a con-artist, and he's stranded penniless on Earth.

Who are his friends, family, and love interests?
He was well-respected in the Asteroid Belt, not just by the scientists and engineers, but by the miners as well. He is a handsome, husky man, and although he's a very sharp engineer, he doesn't mind getting his hands dirty. He got down in the muck with his miners several times and they respected him for it. But ATAMINCO is run with an iron fist, and not only will our hero have a hard time contacting any of his friends in the company (or maybe he's just too proud to ask for help?), but they will be reluctant to talk to him lest they face discipline or dismissal.

Sean's parents are dead, and he may have a sibling that he hardly ever talks to. No children, no marriages. He's a simple, single, work-oriented man. It's worth noting that Sean's mother was a powerful Earth politician who was framed and brought down by rivals in a very vicious and unfair way. She was disgraced even though she did nothing wrong; the disgrace of her name is partly why Sean keeps a low profile as an adult, and a career in the solitude of a distant mining operation was his way of getting (and staying) away from that shame-filled nightmare. It is also why Sean has such a distaste for "politics", whether in the government or in the workplace. He pretends to be above it, but he has taken it to such an extreme that he fails to fully engage in all kinds of interpersonal relationships, and thus becomes a victim of his own convictions at Atlas. Notice also that he was taken down, though not so dramatically, the way his mother was; history repeats itself. Although he is a strong, focused man, his gut reaction to this situation still is to flee. Yet he harbors a burning Irish anger towards Geelan for fleecing him, and he intends to set that score right.

Sean has no love interests at this time.

What is his living space like?
Sean's living space is simple, clean, and organized. He's not neurotic about it --- you'll find a pair of socks on the floor by the door, or some clutter in the kitchen, but in general it's neat. It helps that there's not a lot there to begin with. Sean is simple and organized, both in his environment and his thinking and problem-solving. He is methodical and thorough, and does not like to unnecessarily clutter or complicate his problems, his life, or his living space.

What are his hobbies?
Sean likes to build detailed and intricate model sea ships, the old riggers and warships of colonial England that are lost to Earth's distant past (approx. 600 years ago in Sean's time). His ideal evening: turn on some soft music, pour a glass of wine, put on his glasses, and tend to the delicate, intricate work of building these ships for himself, all the while imagining what kind of life it was like in that time. He also favors fictional books set in that time; he even saved thousands of dollars for years to purchase an original, first-edition leather-bound copy of Moby Dick, from when it was first published.

What was he doing a year ago? Five years ago?
It was a year ago that Sean was outmaneuvered by a rival and kicked out of the company. He spent the first several months in retreat and solitude, drinking a fair amount, building his model ships, reading, trying to rediscover the famed night life of Earth (but it failed to hold his interest), pacing, fretting and feeling hurt and angry. Finally he realized he really did excel in his profession and resolved to do something more constructive with the rest of his life than moping. It was about that time that Geelan showed up, and they started discussing the riches that could be had mining and creating nano-rimonium, an exotic, synthetic "biometal" that exhibited and could be programmed with unheard-of properties in a building material. Geelan persuaded Sean to give him all his money so that they could purchase the equipment they needed to set up the operation, but Geelan obviously didn't show up where they agreed to meet and left Sean completely broke.

What are his values and politics?
Sean believes everybody should be treated with dignity and respect (unless they prove themselves otherwise). He believes that the system should be as fair as possible to everyone; that people are responsible for themselves and should be held accountable for their actions; that hard work and concentration are the keys to success; and that faithful applications of these principles should be recognized and rewarded.

He's neutral about money: it's a tool for getting things done. Being frugal, he had saved quite a tidy sum, but of course Geelan took most of it.

He doesn't like politics or politicians, or the complications and nuances they like to introduce to debatable issues. He is absolutely intolerable of any kind of "drama" in people's lives or at the workplace. He doesn't know where it came from, but he once heard and often quotes this line: "Save the drama for your mama."