Chapter 13 final, chapter 14 primed

characters/phelan-varrant.md

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 ## Core Identity
 
 - **Full Name:** Phelan Varrant
-- **Known As:** "The Pirate Shade" (clients, underworld contacts), "Phelan" (close associates), "Varrant" (guild formality)
+- **Known As:** "The Shade" (clients, underworld contacts), "Phelan" (close associates), "Varrant" (guild formality)
 - **Age:** Early-to-mid 30s (exact age flexible — keep consistent once established)
 - **Occupation:** Herbal supply store clerk (day job, Book 1 opening) → Guild of Necessary Services member
 - **Home:** Rented shack on the dockside of Drenwick — dreams of buying land and building a real house
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 
 ### Core Traits
 - **Cold reader** — processes people as systems (motivations, pressure points, likely behaviors). Rarely wrong. Finds this useful and slightly boring.
-- **Personal code** — has rules he doesn't break. Won't explain them. They cost him money sometimes; he pays without complaint.
+- **Personal code** — has rules he doesn't break. Won't explain them. They cost him money sometimes; he pays without complaint. (Ch13: refused twenty-five gold Compact bribe — guild code and autonomy over financial gain.)
 - **Perpetually broke** — not from incompetence, from the gap between his ambitions (the house, the farm, the workshop) and what work actually pays. Source of dark comedy and genuine frustration.
 - **Socially reluctant** — prefers to work alone. The job keeps requiring people. Central irony of his life.
 - **ADD brain** — thoughts move fast, jump tracks, hyperfocus without warning. Surfaces brilliance at inconvenient moments.
@@ -75,6 +75,9 @@
 - **Current state:** Dormant skill resurfacing out of necessity. The skill and muscle memory are there, but stamina isn't what it was. Burns energy faster than he should because he's out of practice
 - **Not his identity:** Combat magic is a real capability he's been sitting on, not his defining trait. Flaw Sight remains his primary tool
 
+### Combat Equipment
+- **Focusing ring:** Worn on right index finger. Used to channel and stabilize combat magic. Part of his re-emerging combat kit.
+
 ### Other Skills
 - Cold reading / behavioral prediction
 - Guild-level problem solving and investigation
@@ -99,6 +102,7 @@
 | Jonael Carterson | Partner / straight man | Drawn into Phelan's orbit by necessity, stays by choice. Accepts his oddness. |
 | Leon D'Nardis | Morally gray friend | Transactional trust. They share ADD, riff off each other's thoughts. |
 | Devod Fields | [Not yet connected] | Mere's estranged father. No direct relationship with Phelan yet. |
+| Cassius Rykhard | Professional antagonist | Compact liaison. Mutual recognition of cold-reading technique. Offered bribe (Ch13) — Phelan refused. |
 | Guild Master | Professional | Known internally, anonymous publicly. Communication indirect. |
 | Shop Owner (name TBD) | Employer (Book 1 opening) | Functional, not warm. Phelan does his job well but doesn't pretend to love it. |