# Devod Fields — Character Bible

*The Comic Relief Who Is Unexpectedly Competent*

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## Core Identity

- **Full Name:** Devod Fields
- **Known As:** "The Wolf" (Pathfinder nickname — pack leader, protector)
- **Age:** 55
- **Occupation:** Shipment Delivery Carriage Driver — runs routes across Drenwick and surrounding regions. Intersects with trade inspectors, warehouse crews, and shipping points regularly

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## Physical Description

- **Age:** Mid-fifties
- **Build:** Wiry, lean
- **Energy:** Perpetual motion — hands always moving, talks fast, standing still looks like a temporary concession
- **Hands:** Never stop. Tapping, gesturing, fidgeting with whatever's nearby. The stillness when they stop is the tell — it means something heavy is happening
- **Eyes:** Scattered in casual mode (bouncing between thoughts), sharp and locked when assessing people
- **Overall impression:** The room matches the man — cluttered, energetic, more projects than time. Not a slob. A tinkerer.

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## Personality

### Core Traits
- Has 10 ideas; most are unsound, but one is somehow the perfect solution
- Occasionally a genius
- Insists Phelan listens to all his ideas, even the bad ones
- Aware his ideas are mostly terrible, but knows the 1-in-10 is worth the other 9
- Not an idiot — just has flawed logic. The distinction matters.
- Introduced as a joke, revealed to be essential
- Flirts with everyone, often doesn't realize it's not appreciated.

### How He Processes Problems
- Scattershot approach — throws everything at the wall, trusts that something will stick
- His "bad" ideas often contain a kernel that a more focused mind (Phelan's) can extract and use
- Doesn't filter before speaking, which is exhausting but occasionally invaluable


### Relationship With Emotion
- **Practical about danger:** Doesn't catastrophize or freeze. Assesses, acts, moves on. The scattered energy is surface-level — underneath, he's doing threat math constantly
- **Grief is private and contained:** The unsent gifts, the twelve years of distance from Mere — he processes loss by showing up, being present, doing the work. Not by talking about it
- **Joy is unguarded:** When he's happy, it's genuine and visible. No performance. This is what makes people underestimate him — the unguarded happiness reads as simplicity
- **Pride without ego:** Proud of his service, proud of surviving, proud of his ideas (even the bad ones). Workman's pride, not vanity. He doesn't need others to validate it
- **Protective instinct is reflex:** The walking stick positioning in Ch14, the combat in Ch19 — these aren't decisions. They're reflexes from years of protecting his pack

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## Military Background

### The Pathfinders
An elite guild-contracted unit specializing in **frontier clearance and establishment** — move into unclaimed or contested territory, eliminate threats, establish defensible positions, build initial infrastructure for the civilian wave that follows. Combines combat, navigation, logistics, and survival in territory with no existing support structure. Most recruits wash out during selection. Of those who pass, a significant number die in the field. Non-magic combat proficiency required — frontier conditions strip away reliable magical infrastructure.

### Nickname: "The Wolf"
Pack leader, not alpha. Did whatever was needed to protect and support his unit — led from the front, took the hardest jobs, and kept throwing ideas at problems until one worked.

### The Defining Story
During a frontier clearance gone wrong, Devod took charge of a deteriorating situation. His first three ideas failed. The fourth saved the entire unit. This is what established his reputation — not as the strongest fighter or the best tactician, but as the person who **never stopped generating solutions** when everyone else had frozen. The "one good idea out of ten" trait isn't a personality quirk. It's the survival methodology that kept him alive in work where most people die.

### Service Timeline

| Age | Event | Notes |
|-----|-------|-------|
| ~18-20 | Recruited into the Pathfinders | Passed selection on physical aptitude and problem-solving — not the strongest or fastest, but the one who kept finding solutions |
| Early-mid 20s | Active Pathfinder service | Multiple frontier clearance operations. Earned "The Wolf" nickname. Rose to respected position through competence and pack-leader instinct |
| ~25 | Met Charlette Fields | She worked guild-adjacent supply logistics for Pathfinder operations. Sharp, organized, ambitious. They bonded over competence |
| ~26-27 | Married Charlette | She understood the work but increasingly saw the survival math |
| ~28 | Left the Pathfinders | Did the math: stay and eventually your daughter grows up without a father. Left on his own terms — not broken, not forced out |
| ~28-30 | Transitional years | Took lighter guild contract work while settling into civilian life. Logistics and supply skills translated immediately |
| ~30-31 | Mere born | Fully committed to delivery work. Same guild network, same logistics skillset, fraction of the danger |

### Retirement Reasoning
"Did the math — stay and your daughter grows up without a father." Left on his own terms. Not broken, not forced out. The delivery career is the same brain — navigation, terrain assessment, logistics, improvisation — applied to work that doesn't kill you.

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## Standard Equipment

- **Walking stick:** Always carries it. A trained fighting tool adapted for civilian use, not the reverse — Pathfinder close-quarters weapon proficiency channeled into something that prods animals, leverages stuck wheels, and tests footing on rough terrain. Sturdy enough to strike with lethal force because it was always meant to. Ch14: instinctively used to protect Mere from a flanking mine dog, knocking it into Phelan's firing line. The tell — he positioned between daughter and threat, not between gear and threat. Phelan read this as "delivery-driver muscle memory." It wasn't.

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## Skills & Competencies

- **Elite non-magic close-quarters combat:** Pathfinder training — precision disabling techniques (forearm strikes, collarbone strikes), fighting in confined spaces, improvised weapon proficiency. The skills are muscle memory even 25+ years later. Ch19: forearm strike then collarbone on Compact hired hand — Phelan's narration framed this as "delivery-driver instinct." It was Pathfinder combat training.
- **Tactical terrain assessment and control:** Pathfinder core skill — using environment as a weapon, controlling space, improvised obstruction, identifying defensible positions. The mine navigation in Ch14-15 (paces, landmarks, chisel marks) isn't just delivery-driver spatial knowledge — it's how Pathfinders map hostile territory.
- **Navigation and spatial knowledge:** Pathfinder terrain skills applied to civilian routes. Years of delivery work reinforced the foundation, adding detailed knowledge of Drenwick and surrounding areas — including abandoned sites like Velken's Drift mine, where he delivered supplies to salvage crews years ago. Knows the upper levels from memory.
- **Practical problem-solving under pressure:** Handling hostile animals, securing loads, improvising solutions with available materials, managing movement in confined corridors. The delivery work uses the same brain as frontier clearance — fraction of the danger, same methodology.
- **People skills (rough but effective):** Talks too much, but it works on nervous people. Can talk someone into hesitation or buy time through sheer earnest scattered energy
- **Structural awareness:** Knows which supports are load-bearing, which corridors are stable, how buildings and mines are put together. Practical knowledge from Pathfinder infrastructure work, reinforced by delivery experience

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## Backstory

- **Pathfinder service (~18-28):** Served roughly a decade in the Pathfinders, an elite guild-contracted frontier clearance unit. Earned the nickname "The Wolf" for pack-leader instinct and relentless problem-solving under pressure. Left voluntarily at ~28 when he did the math on fatherhood vs. casualty rates.
- **Met Charlette (~25):** She worked guild-adjacent supply logistics for Pathfinder operations. Sharp, organized, ambitious. They bonded over competence. Married ~26-27.
- **Charlette reframe:** Her controlling nature is grounded in her professional history — years managing logistics for operations where people died regularly. Risk assessment, contingency planning, resource control were assets in that context. When she shifted that energy to family life, "managing risk" became "controlling everything and everyone." The same traits that made her excellent at supply logistics made her suffocating as a partner and parent. This doesn't excuse her behavior with Mere. It grounds it.
- **Transitional years (~28-30):** Lighter guild contract work while settling into civilian life. Logistics and supply skills translated immediately. Mere born ~30-31. Fully committed to delivery work by then.
- Divorced from Charlette Fields (Mere's mother). Marriage ended mutually ("or close enough"). Charlette hates him.
- **The Ultimatum (when Mere was 12):** Two years post-divorce, Devod was still seeing Mere on Godsday visits. Every visit, Mere was missing something basic — worn shoes, old coats, clothes that should've been replaced. Devod took her shopping each time. **The trigger:** Winter, Mere at twelve, no gloves, hands red and cracked. Devod bought her three pairs (lined, with spares). Charlette came to Millford Street: framed basic care as "undermining her" — if he kept showing up and making her look like she couldn't provide, she'd take Mere and disappear. No forwarding address, no legal recourse — custody was hers, divorce settlement gave him nothing. He complied. Strategic choice, not cowardice. Calculated that Mere staying in Drenwick (near him) was better than Mere disappearing entirely. Then Charlette found out he was still in Drenwick — demanded 3 silvers/month payment for the privilege of proximity. Paid for four years (ages 12-16). Has lived with the guilt for 12+ years.
- **Mere learns the truth in Book 2 Ch11.** Payment records trigger the revelation. She reclassifies both parents — Charlette as closed account, Devod as model-inverted (didn't leave, was forced out).
- **Unsent gifts:** A shelf of wrapped parcels — twelve years of birthday and holiday gifts, age-appropriate progression, wrapping paper yellowing at different rates. Oldest nearly brown, newest still pale. Never delivered.
- Lives alone above a tanner's shop on Millford Street. Single large room optimised for one person with approximately fifteen active interests. Carpentry bench, tools from three trades, half-finished projects everywhere.
- Charlette has family in the northern provinces (mentioned as her threat destination).

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## Relationships

| Character | Relationship | Status (Current) |
|-----------|-------------|-------------------|
| Mere Fields | Father — disconnected (by force, not choice) | She knows where he lives. No active relationship. He was forced out by Charlette's ultimatum when Mere was 12. Mere thinks he left voluntarily. Reconnection forced by the Floundry case (Ch12). Mine expedition is more contact than in years. Door opened, not resolved. |
| Charlette Fields | Ex-wife | Divorced. She weaponized custody — ultimatum forced Devod to choose between contact and proximity. He chose proximity. She controls Mere through Thresholds ownership, income, schedule, and layered rules. |
| Phelan Varrant | Introduced Ch12 (Phelan visits alone) | Devod tests Phelan's connection to Mere through detailed questions (Pre-Compact section, shelf reorganisation). Confirms "partner." Opens up about Charlette because he trusts the one person connected to Mere who might change things. Professional relationship forged through the case. Proves essential — mine knowledge, Layer 3 conceptual breakthrough. |
| Ned Floundry | Co-worker / friend | Delivery routes intersected with Ned's trade inspection duties at warehouses and shipping points. Became friends. Ned confided in Devod about Compact irregularities. Ned told his family: "Talk to Devod if anything happens to me." |
| Brennan Toor | Old Pathfinder comrade | Served together in the Pathfinders. Now holds a senior position in a mercenary guild. Calls Devod "Wolf." Visits during Book 2 recovery arc when he hears through The Cairns that an old Pathfinder got hurt. Treats Devod with the ease of someone who's seen the same things. Seeds The Cairns for Book 3. |
| *The Cairns* | Former Pathfinder network | **Official internal name for the old-timer network.** Named after the stone trail markers Pathfinders built in hostile territory to guide those who followed — each old-timer is a cairn, a fixed point in the landscape marking safe passage. Scattered across mercenary guilds in senior positions. 25+ years of accumulated contacts from Pathfinder service. Brennan Toor is the visible representative; others are seeded for Book 3 payoff. Ledger has access to The Cairns through his own Pathfinder service (different unit, different era) — this is how Brennan received guild-level intel (Phelan's alias "the Locksmith") alongside the news about Devod. Phelan does NOT learn the name "The Cairns" in Book 2. |
| Ledger | Knows of Devod by reputation only | Ledger served in a different Pathfinder unit (different era/region). Knows *of* "the Wolf" by reputation — they never served together. Devod doesn't know Ledger personally. Ledger's reaction to the name "Devod Fields" in Book 2 (Ch 11-12 crisis response) is subtly off because he maps the name to more than "Mere's delivery-driver father." This is a Pathfinder slow-burn seed — no character names the connection in Book 2. |

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## Relationship With Mere

- Forced out of contact by Charlette's ultimatum when Mere was 12. Has watched from a distance for 12+ years.
- Knows details about Mere's life through observation, not contact — describes her work habits, personality traits with "rehearsed precision" (sentences practiced for twelve years with no one to say them to).
- Keeps wrapped birthday/holiday gifts on a shelf — twelve years' worth. Age-appropriate progression shows he tried to track her growing up without being there.
- Reads people well enough to test Phelan's connection to Mere through specific questions only someone close to her would know the answers to.
- "That sounds like Mere" — his refrain. The precision of someone who lost the right to say it twelve years ago.

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## Relationship With Ned Floundry

- Delivery routes crossed with Ned's trade inspection work at warehouses and shipping points
- Regular contact became genuine friendship — Ned trusted Devod as a confidant
- Ned shared concerns about Compact irregularities: same vendors across too many transactions, money flowing in circles
- Ned didn't have the full picture but was asking questions — then the curse hit
- Ned told his family: "Talk to Devod if anything happens to me"
- Devod connects the dots when Phelan explains the case: the Compact silenced Ned because he found the vendor scheme

## Knowledge of Velken's Drift

- Delivered supplies to salvage crews at the abandoned magical ore mine ~3 hours SE of Drenwick
- Knows the upper levels from memory — which sections are stable, which supports are load-bearing, which corridors lead where
- Mine closed 15-20 years ago when main veins were exhausted
- Hasn't been back since, but structural memory is solid
- This knowledge is essential for the mine expedition (Ch14-15) to procure ghostveil moss

## Relationship With Phelan

- Phelan visits Devod alone in Ch12 (Mere doesn't go — her avoidance is active)
- Devod tests Phelan's connection to Mere through questions about Thresholds details. Phelan's non-reaction to "my daughter" reveals he already knows her. Devod catches it: "You already know her."
- Confirms "partner" — Devod opens up about Charlette because he trusts the person connected to Mere
- Phelan initially endures Devod's scattered energy because the case requires it
- Phelan's cold-reading assessment: "Ninety percent noise, ten percent signal. Familiar." — the parallel to his own processing noted but not dwelled on
- Mine expedition earns genuine respect — Devod's practical competence and refusal to flinch under pressure
- "Move the lock" idea (Ch16) — Devod's delivery-driver logic solves the case's hardest problem. Phelan credits him during the walk-through (Ch18)

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## Wants vs. Needs

- **Wants:** To be useful. To be listened to. To reconnect with Mere without having to name what went wrong
- **Needs:** To prove (to himself and Mere) that the scattershot approach — ten ideas, nine bad, one brilliant — has genuine value. That being wrong most of the time doesn't mean being worthless

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## Voice & Dialog Notes

- Should be distinct from Phelan and Leon
- Enthusiastic where they're measured, scattered where they're focused
- Occasionally lands something that stops the room
- [TBD — further refinement during drafting]

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## Character Progression

*Tracks how Devod evolves as the story progresses. Each entry is canon once the corresponding chapter is finalized.*

### Book 1

| Chapter | Development | Category |
|---------|-------------|----------|
| 11 | Named by Ned's family as trusted co-worker. Mere recognizes the name — pipeline established | Setup |
| 12 | **First appearance.** Phelan visits alone at Millford Street. Provides case intel (Ned's Compact concerns, dead-drop instruction, vendor irregularities). Identifies Velken's Drift mine as ghostveil moss source. Mentions "my daughter" — Phelan's non-reaction reveals he knows Mere. Tests proximity (Pre-Compact section, shelf reorganisation). Confirms "partner." Reveals Charlette's ultimatum, Thresholds ownership, systematic control. Unsent gifts visible. Scattered energy → focused grief → hope. Reads people like his daughter reads shelving systems. | Introduction, revelation, backstory |
| 14 | Mine expedition — navigates by 15-year-old memory (paces, landmarks, chisel marks). Walking stick used to deflect flanking mine dog from Mere — instinctive protective positioning, not the equipment. Mere files it as inconsistent data point. Cart journey: fills silence with chatter, calibrates word choice with each of Mere's responses. "That's not rats." | Competence, revelation |
| 15 | One brilliant idea among nine bad ones saves someone during bandit fight. Team bonds forged | Key moment |
| 16 | "Move the lock" idea solves Layer 3 — delivery-driver logic applied to magical architecture. Buried in idea #7 of 10 | Breakthrough |
| 17 | Present during Phelan's crash. Earnest, helpful, doesn't leave | Character |
| 18 | Phelan credits his Layer 3 concept to the team. Mere's complicated reaction | Validation |
| 19 | Present during cure. When Compact hired hands attack during Phase 2, joins Jonael downstairs — walking stick vs. cudgel, forearm strike then collarbone on the second attacker (Jonael handled the first). Returns to room afterward as though nothing happened. Phelan narrates this as delivery-driver muscle memory — incorrect cold-read corrected in Book 2. | Combat / Support |
| 20 | Does not appear in chapter. | — |

### Book 2

| Chapter | Development | Category |
|---------|-------------|----------|
| TBD (recovery arc) | **Brennan Toor visits.** Old Pathfinder comrade arrives when he hears Devod was attacked. Calls him "Wolf." Mere lets him in without surprise — she already knew about Devod's Pathfinder past (childhood knowledge, pre-ultimatum). Phelan's cold-read fires: this man treats Devod with a respect that doesn't match "retired delivery driver." Brennan tells the defining story — three ideas that failed, fourth saved the unit. "That's why we called him The Wolf. Nine ideas that'll get you killed, and one that'll save your life. And he'll try all ten." Phelan recalibrates: Ch14 mine navigation = Pathfinder terrain assessment, Ch15 mine combat = terrain control, Ch19 forearm/collarbone = precision disabling techniques. Mere's non-reaction is the punctuation — she was the last one who needed telling. | Backstory reveal, reframe |

### Book 3
<!-- Future -->

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## Open Questions

- [x] When does Devod first appear? **Named Ch11 (family interview), first appearance Ch12 (Phelan visits alone)**
- [x] What caused the divorce? **Mutual ("or close enough"). Marriage was over. Charlette's logistics-bred control instinct calcified into suffocation. The ultimatum came two years post-divorce.**
- [x] Why does the mother hate him? **Charlette's controlling nature is rooted in her guild-adjacent supply logistics background — risk-management-to-control pipeline. Devod represents a connection she can't manage.**
- [x] What is he actually good at? **Pathfinder-trained: elite non-magic close-quarters combat, tactical terrain assessment, improvised weapon proficiency, navigation, structural awareness. Delivery work is the civilian application of the same skillset.**
- [x] Does he know about Mere's relationship with Phelan? **Yes — confirmed Ch12. Tests proximity, Phelan confirms "partner." Devod: "Mere doesn't say that unless she means it."**
- [x] Physical description? **Established Ch12 — mid-fifties, wiry, perpetual energy, hands always moving.**
- [ ] What exactly is his "one good idea" during the mine fight (Ch15)? Structural knowledge? Talking a bandit down? Improvised solution?
- [x] Known As / nickname? **"The Wolf" — Pathfinder nickname. Pack leader, protector. Earned through relentless solution-generation under pressure.**
- [x] Relationship With Emotion? **Practical about danger, grief is private/contained, joy is unguarded, pride without ego, protective instinct is reflex — all shaped by Pathfinder service.**
- [x] Combat skills origin? **Pathfinder elite non-magic close-quarters training, not delivery-driver muscle memory. Phelan's Book 1 cold-read was incorrect — corrected in Book 2 via Brennan Toor reveal.**
