Author Topic: Phelan Wolf  (Read 1995 times)

Archer_Wirth

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Phelan Wolf
« on: 08 December 2019, 10:59:02 »
Hi all,

I'm interested in reading more about Phelan after the Blood of Kerensky trilogy that I so enjoyed. I'm also interested to read about what led to the decision to annihilate Clan Smoke Jaguar. Can anyone point me to the novels that cover this, please?
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haesslich

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #1 on: 08 December 2019, 14:28:24 »
We don't get much of him afterwards, not in a starring role.

He has a major part in Natural Selection by Stackpole where he's visiting his folks as the Wolf Khan (pre-split), but I can't think of much other than that. He also has a bit part in Operation Audacity by Blaine Lee Pardoe.

Crimson Dawn

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #2 on: 08 December 2019, 14:41:06 »
You can pick up the novel "Grave Covenant" by Stackpole.  It has the political maneuvering that led to the destruction of Smoke Jaguar and has some parts with Phelan in it to boot.

Greatclub

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #3 on: 08 December 2019, 14:48:26 »
Bred for War and Malicious Intent have some Phelan in it.

A lot of fans rabidly dislike him for being a traitor, in my experience. Probably why he was kept to a supporting role after his introduction in the trilogy.

Brakiel

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #4 on: 08 December 2019, 17:40:43 »
Bred for War and Malicious Intent have some Phelan in it.

A lot of fans rabidly dislike him for being a traitor, in my experience. Probably why he was kept to a supporting role after his introduction in the trilogy.

I'll be honest, I never really understood the complaint. He's a mercenary - the concept of loyalty is rather nebulous for him already. He never engages in fighting against the the Kell Hounds nor the FedCom, to whom he owes his primary loyalty. I occasionally see arguments that he "betrayed the Inner Sphere", but that seems pretty weak to me. It's like saying someone betrayed Earth's northern hemisphere. It's not a dividing line people usually care about.

Archer_Wirth

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #5 on: 08 December 2019, 20:54:11 »
Thank you for the replies guys. I have a lot of reading to do. The Twilight of the clans seems like a very good read, albeit long!
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Charistoph

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #6 on: 08 December 2019, 22:12:36 »
Phelan Wolf did not exist for very long.  He was Phelan Ward by Tukayyid, and then became Phelan Kell again by the end of the War of Refusal as he and a small group journeyed to what would become the Arc-Royal Defense Cordon.  He also gave some advice on Covenant through the Prince of Rasalhague, but I can't remember the name of the book, off hand.
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SteelRaven

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #7 on: 08 December 2019, 22:25:35 »
Twilight of the Clans is the office end to the Invasion Era so it's a good way to come full circle after Natural Selection, Breed for War and Malicious Intent. Clan Wolf is almost seems to get shelved between Malicious Intent and the TotC as Fasa started focusing on the IS power struggle again (and as mentioned by Greatclub, the fanbase tends to be divided pre and post Clan, not unlike the IS)

I was introduced to Battle when MW:2 hit the shelves so these stories hold allot of nostalgia for myself.
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Greatclub

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #8 on: 08 December 2019, 22:36:46 »
I'll be honest, I never really understood the complaint. He's a mercenary - the concept of loyalty is rather nebulous for him already. He never engages in fighting against the the Kell Hounds nor the FedCom, to whom he owes his primary loyalty. I occasionally see arguments that he "betrayed the Inner Sphere", but that seems pretty weak to me. It's like saying someone betrayed Earth's northern hemisphere. It's not a dividing line people usually care about.

His dad was a Lyran duke, and he attended a military academy as a cadet, which probably meant he swore an oath. He was, in fact and in law, a lyran/fedcom citizen, even if he was other things. 

Not saying he wasn't justified (Ulric used him to deliver not just a ton of goodies to the fedcom, but two occupation zones served on a silver platter) but it meets every definition of treason I'm aware of. It wasn't the Falcons that took Tamar and a few other fedcom worlds.

« Last Edit: 08 December 2019, 22:41:58 by Greatclub »

SteelRaven

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #9 on: 08 December 2019, 22:51:03 »
Haters gonna hate. ;)
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Arkansas Warrior

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #10 on: 09 December 2019, 08:32:13 »
His dad was a Lyran duke, and he attended a military academy as a cadet, which probably meant he swore an oath. He was, in fact and in law, a lyran/fedcom citizen, even if he was other things. 

Not saying he wasn't justified (Ulric used him to deliver not just a ton of goodies to the fedcom, but two occupation zones served on a silver platter) but it meets every definition of treason I'm aware of. It wasn't the Falcons that took Tamar and a few other fedcom worlds.
We don’t really know enough about Lyran/FedCom law to say that.  Mercenaries attending House academies is a thing that happens in canon, it could be there’s old Successor State precedent for that being understood not to imply any loyalty to the state.  Also, Morgan is a bit of a special case in Lyran law.  He can pretty much get whatever he wants.  It’s also entirely possible that mercenaries regularly renounce citizenship to the nation of their birth to avoid legal issues if they take a contract opposing that nation.  We don’t know.  I kind of doubt they formally renounce it, but I do suspect there’s an understanding that citizenship doesn’t necessarily carry an obligation of loyalty, given that we do see mercs fighting against the nation of their birth from time to time.  Maybe just an exception written into the law especially for Mercs.
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phoenixalpha

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #11 on: 09 December 2019, 08:37:15 »
Also very closely related to the Lyran (and therefor) FedCom thones.
His father and uncle were cousins to Katrina Steiner (the original one).

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #12 on: 09 December 2019, 08:42:44 »
As its been mentioned above.

Phelan went through number of surname changes. He won bloodname (Ward) by the time Blood of Kerensky trilogy was done.  When his Clan basically split apart, he was granted unique Bloodname, (Kell) by time he was Khan of what better known as the Wolves in Exile on his father's home world, Arc Royal.  He wasn't a featured character in his own book since the Trilogy, with his most notable appears in novel End Game when he was part of the Peter Steiner's coalition of forces confronting his sister's proxy on Tharkad and his Clan's battle on with the Lyran loyalist forces.

He has not appeared again, having past away but his story was not fleshed out.  Who knows, maybe will get it someday.
« Last Edit: 09 December 2019, 08:50:55 by Wrangler »
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Cubby

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #13 on: 09 December 2019, 08:43:27 »
Bred for War and Malicious Intent have some Phelan in it.

A lot of fans rabidly dislike him for being a traitor, in my experience. Probably why he was kept to a supporting role after his introduction in the trilogy.

He's a creation of Mike Stackpole, and my sense is that there's a strong element of "hands off other people's merchandise" when it came to using him in other books. Which is why you get him in Natural Selection, Malicious Intent, and Grave Covenant--all Stackpole novels--but little elsewhere.

I'm pretty sure those novels were work-for-hire / contracted, so legally the character is part of the IP owned by Topps and licensed to CGL, not property of the author. But I'm also pretty sure that if I pitched a story to "Shrapnel" where I put a bullet in Phelan's head, it would...not be approved. It's an informal, respect thing for Mike and his creation.

On the sourcebook side, you might be interested in "The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky," which is written in-universe by Phelan as a primer on Clan culture, and contains a few interesting asides and back-and-forths between Phelan and his father, Morgan. But even in sourcebooks, you don't hear much of him after Operation SCOUR and nothing in the Dark Age. He's almost certainly dead (unless he's 121 by the time of SF, but let's not go there), but it's unlikely anyone but Mike gets to write the final Phelan story.

(Though I'd certainly like to read that story--it's time to move on to new characters, and better to have an endpoint for one I like a lot, rather than leave him languishing.)
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Colt Ward

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #14 on: 09 December 2019, 16:20:45 »
Phelan does get a brief mention in the first book in the MWDA fiction but its a mental note by the POV character who thinks Victor saw echoes of Phelan in the Ghost  Knight.  Its never confirmed or even hinted about how the POV char reminded Victor of Phelan, the tenses to me made it clear he was dead.  AFAIK we do not get a timeframe for the death of Phelan but Ranna Kerensky's passing is noted . . . and who her Blood Heritage passes to in the future.

IMO the best post-Blood of Kerensky appearance is Natural Selection, he gets a LOT of page time there both as a warrior and a individual.

Fan theory is Phelan is the gene-father of a major Dark Age character based on a few fluff cites.

Honestly, I have mentally filed Phelan away as dying in the 3080s or 90s in the middle of killing a bunch of Falcons, makes him in his 50s or 60s while the first of his & Ranna's sibkos have become warriors.
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Charistoph

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #15 on: 09 December 2019, 18:03:09 »
Honestly, I have mentally filed Phelan away as dying in the 3080s or 90s in the middle of killing a bunch of Falcons, makes him in his 50s or 60s while the first of his & Ranna's sibkos have become warriors.

Who knows?  Sarna doesn't seem to.  They mention an allusion to 3130, but no source is provided.  Last thing they mention is being on Tharkad in 3067 and him holding off his legacy until Ranna earned her Bloodname.
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Cubby

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Re: Phelan Wolf
« Reply #16 on: 09 December 2019, 21:24:28 »
Phelan does get a brief mention in the first book in the MWDA fiction but its a mental note by the POV character who thinks Victor saw echoes of Phelan in the Ghost  Knight.

That first MW:DA book, "Ghost War," is also by Michael Stackpole.

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Its never confirmed or even hinted about how the POV char reminded Victor of Phelan, the tenses to me made it clear he was dead.

That's the gist I took from that brief mention, too.

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Honestly, I have mentally filed Phelan away as dying in the 3080s or 90s in the middle of killing a bunch of Falcons, makes him in his 50s or 60s while the first of his & Ranna's sibkos have become warriors.

That's more or less my headcanon as well. Some reasonably heroic action, through which he maybe lays to rest some discontent in the ARDC about the Exiled Wolves' presence, finally cements a safe home for them, etc. He doesn't need to live to be 100-something--especially as a Clan warrior, adopted or not.

Who knows?  Sarna doesn't seem to.  They mention an allusion to 3130, but no source is provided.  Last thing they mention is being on Tharkad in 3067 and him holding off his legacy until Ranna earned her Bloodname.

JHS: Terra p. 36 has him commanding Group IV on the Fed Suns front during Operation SCOUR. The mention of an "allusion" to his death is almost certainly the same passage in "Ghost War" mentioned above.
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