Phelan

Information

Player: Rowgen

Character Full Name: Phelan Briarthorn

Character In-Game Name: Phelan

Nickname(s): Phel

Title(s): Lieutenant Commander

Association(s): The Grand Alliance, the Kingdom of Gilneas, House Briarthorn, the Gilneas Navy, the First Gilneas Expeditionary Rifles

Race: Worgen

Class: Warrior

Age: 29

Sex: Male

Hair: Black

Eyes: Hazel

Weight (Human): 182 lbs

Height (Human): 6’3”

Weight (Worgen): 287 lbs

Height (Worgen): 7’1”

Appearance

Phelan puts little faith in clothing, but a man has to dress as befit his station. While he’d love to wear the relatively plain clothes he wears when alone at home with no one but his wife to see, it’s needed of a nobleman - and an officer - to look proper when out and about. When in the company of respectable people, he alternates between his officer’s dress uniform and other fine garbs, depending on the occasion. At sea he prefers plainer garbs and uniforms, as well as light-weight armor and a half-helm for protection.

Personality

Metaphorically speaking, Phelan is many men, with many responsibilities weighing on their shoulders. He is men of duty. He is a nobleman, an officer, a husband, a brother and a son, with responsibilities to his people, his comrades and his family. His mother’s stern guidance has made formality a second nature to him, though he is not a cold-mannered man. On the contrary, while his careful manners might make him seem a little aloof, he rarely refuses conversation or new acquaintances. He is a kind-hearted individual, but professional. He is very conscious about being presentable and respect. He doesn't take insults or threats lightly, instead provoked to investigate the reasons behind them and act if that is necessary. He is careful with power, having learned that even small actions can tip the balance because despite having had little involvement in politics he knows how the game is played, and how it is lost. He is open about his intentions and ambitions, but only so much.

His father was a great inspiration in his childhood years, which fueled Phelan's ambitions. He holds himself to high, sometimes impossible standards, and his mother's indifference to his achievements encouraged this behavior. His mother taught him a kind of determined patience. He does not rest on his laurels, and he works tirelessly until his success is achieved. Rewards and acknowledgement requires long-term investments and dedication, but once he has reached his goal, he can reap his rewards.

He always had a good relationship to his father, and he was devastated when he learned that his father had gone mad from the Worgen curse. Since then, the curse has troubled him. The heady, euphoric experience of turning to his worgen form is dampened by the underlying guilt, of enjoying what made his father a mindless beast. To mention it is taboo in Phelan's presence, which has strained his relationship with his enthusiastic wife. While he loves her, he rarely permits her to stay in her worgen form for long. He prefers to avoid any reminders of his father's fate.

Despite a turbulent relationship with certain branches of his family in the past, Phelan is dedicated to the House's restoration, and as his generation's heir he is prepared for a lot of responsibility falling to him when his and his cousin's parents are no longer with them. He aspires to raise the House to greatness, and to be remembered for it. He chooses to ignore his House's ignoble roots, seeing an opportunity to rise high in Gilneas' exile. In a way, his ambitions extend to his family, as well. He would see them receive the respect and glory they deserve.

History

Shortly after the First War, the twins Phelan and Rose Briarthorn were born. Unlike his spirited and willful sister, he was easily tamed by their lady mother and taught to behave appropriately early on. While his sister did all manners of mischief, Phelan did his best to prevent his mother noticing. These days Phelan likes to think his role was that of a guardian during those times. In reality, he was more of a scapegoat, as he received the brunt of Cheyanne's chiding.

Proportionally with him growing older, Phelan grew bolder. While nurses had told him stories as a child, a young boy's cravings made themselves apparent. He wanted adventure. Tales of the great sea, of exploration and danger enticed him. These illusions were quickly reduced to nothing, but the fact remained that the lure of the sea had taken hold of him.

Similar dreams of adventure had seized his cousin Theodore, who was of an age with him. The two boys spent much time together, and their dreams became plans. They were going to see the world, when they grew up. They were going to be adventurers, heroes, sailors who'd seen the farthest horizons. They were going away.

When they came of age, the two of them enlisted, though in Theodore’s case it was closer to being conscripted. His father had hoped that Phelan's already budding sense of military discipline would rub off on the boy. Commissions were bought and paid by their parents, and the two became ensigns aboard the same ship, together as they’d dreamed of. Yet, one thing stood between them and the freedom they longed for. A great wall. The Greymane Wall, in fact.

Even aboard a ship, they were as far away as they'd ever been. Gilneas had shut itself off. Ports were closed, ships were denied access and a blockade had been put in place. The Greymane Wall had been raised to shelter the kingdom from the rest of the world, or to cut it off, depending on who you asked. Dissent brewed amongst the people, and when the sparks were ignited, it spread like wildfire. The navy’s duties had been reduced to patrolling the kingdom’s coasts, preventing rebels from escaping in the tumult caused by the rebellion.

They were putting out to sea again after having enjoyed a weekend of rest and resupply portside. Phelan had noticed that Theodore had been acting strangely, but didn’t ask. At the time, the two cousins had suffered a falling out. They didn't talk much, and even though they worked seperate shifts Phelan began to wonder if his cousin was avoiding him. For a while, nothing seemed to happen, and Phelan put it out of his mind.

One morning, as the shifts were changing and the crew was waking up, Theodore quietly locked the sleeping captain in his cabin among all the commotion and started relaying his 'orders' to push out to sea. Phelan was to take over Theodore’s watch, but found him gone. As the ship broke from its position and began piling on the sail to catch the westward wind, the rest of the flotilla threatened to open fire on the rogue element if it did not turn back.

Phelan understood then what Theodore had done, and ordered that he was to be taken to the brig and locked in until the captain wanted to see him. Theodore was arrested and with Captain Langley’s release the ship was soon put to order again. Langley was furious with Theodore, however, and demanded the harshest punishment for his actions. Phelan watched, and said nothing.

Theodore escaped a charge of high treason, though was sentenced to life imprisonment for a host of other charges, including mutiny, attempted theft of one of His Majesty’s vessels and severe dereliction of duty. Phelan received a promotion to lieutenant for his exemplary service. Theodore’s sickly mother did not take the news well, and she died not long after. Phelan’s relationship with that side of the family cooled afterwards.

After the scandal, Phelan found his family’s company less and less to his liking. The sea became his home away from home, though even there men muttered behind his back. Some knew him as a man by the book, though there was a darker undertone to the words. They muttered about a man whose success owed itself to betrayal, willing to sacrifice his own family to sate his ambition.

As much as he'd liked to, he could not marry the sea. Arrangements were made on his behalf, and when he was twenty-eight, a young, freshly promoted lieutenant commander married the daughter of a wealthy factory proprietor. Her name was Vanessa, and she was two years younger than him. Though somewhat naive and shy, she seemed to genuinely love him. Always warm and affectionate, she was not a difficult woman to love.

One day after having been at sea for weeks, Phelan returned and Vanessa was nowhere to be found. He was told she'd gone out for a walk, and had not returned since. Phelan had searches arranged, but it was all in vain. Dark rumors spoke of the Starlight Slasher, and few wanted to go out by night while a killer was on the loose. Daylight hours could only get them so far. One night, Phelan grew impatient and against his better judgement he set out on his own.

He was ambushed by wolfmen in the woods, and with no one to help him he quickly succumbed to the cursed wound. He changed. He grew stronger, faster and warier of the world around him. He ran freely through the woods, without purpose or understanding beyond enjoying his new form. Until he was captured, he roamed the Blackwald fearlessly and aimlessly.

He was brought to Tal'doren. The soothing power of tree kept the beast in check long enough for him to drink of the three moonwells of Fury, Balance and Tranquility. The ceremony forced him to confront his doubts, and to forgive. When it was over, he had mastered the beast. He stayed with the worgen in Tal'doren, and learned from the night elves and his fellow worgen that much had changed while he'd been gone.

Gilneas had been shook by a great earthquake, which had broken the Greymane Wall. A horde of undead conquerors calling themselves the Forsaken had spilled out from the cracks like blood from an open wound, and had apparently allied themselves with the feral worgen. Phelan found himself worrying about where his family were in all this, though he settled with Vanessa being safe, for now.

They couldn’t rest for long, for Gilneas City was still under the Forsaken’s control. Every able-bodied Gilnean were armed and rallied to the king, Phelan amongst them. As he charged the mass of undead warriors, the worgen's natural ferocity gave him courage. Fear protested wildly, while his bestial instincts urged him on. In spite of all logic, by the battle’s end he was still on his two feet. They’d taken back three quarters of the city, but suffered heavy losses.

There were more battles with the Forsaken, but despite winning some victories, the Gilneans soon realized that they couldn't win in the end. Phelan decided that the battles were best saved for the true soldiers, and took refugees under his wing instead, leading them to the relative safety of Keel Harbor. From there ships supplied by the Kaldorei would take them across the Great Sea.

On a distant shore, Phelan found himself looking at an alien horizon, with the survivors of a ruined nation around him. Vanessa was there, but he didn't know what had become of the rest of his family. While he had lost most of his worldly belongings, his home and possibly even his family, he knew that his family had risen to greatness from little before. Among the first things he did, he reported for duty and confirmed that he was still alive. Considering his long service, and heroic efforts in evacuating the people of Gilneas both at land and sea, he was not only reinstated, but also promoted to Lieutenant Commander in the King's navy. This could've made him the commanding officer of his own ships, but due to a lack of vessels after the Cataclysm he was grounded for the time being.