Biography:
Wooden Heart: Cillian’s branch grew to absorb the trauma of Patrick killing a neoninja who was trying to assassinate Tara. The branch grows black and twisted; Ailann’s impulse is to cut it off. He is horrified at Patrick’s action, but also afraid of what will happen if humanity realizes that the Cu’enashti are capable of killing.
Cillian first emanates when it becomes clear there is no negotiating with the Microbials – they want to infect humanity and use the bodies as their vehicles. Cillian lures the Microbial fleet into a trap by attacking only their smallest ships and then retreating. He pulls them in past the power grid – and transforms into the mothman. Ash serves as a target for the Microbials while the real attack mounts – the energy pumped through the power grid changed to a standard decontamination frequency.
Cillian is brutal, offensive and a bit of a sadistic dom. Tara likes all this about him. She also sees right through him, noting that “He makes a show of strength because he’s so vulnerable.” He is also well-versed in literature and fancies himself a literary critic.
During the coup, the usurper Christolea provokes trouble with Tasea – this is encouraged by CenGov. The situation continues to build after the restoration until Cillian determines that a quick and catastrophic strike on military and industrial targets would ultimately result in the least lives lost. The Two Day War is fought right before Patrick’s disclosure and Tara’s marriage to Ash. Political opponents accuse Ash of using the marriage to distract people from the war, but in fact, he is trying to use the war to distract people from the marriage. Cillian remarks that he’s giving the Tasean system to Tara as a wedding gift. His callous attitude is remembered by the Taseans, and is specifically cited by the terrorist Nikolai Farlow.
Over the next several years, resentment by the Taseans is fomented by Terran instigators. The incidence of terrorist attacks increase – enough to undermine confidence in the Archon. Cillian is disturbed by the fact that the terrorists don’t seem to react like normal fanatics – they have flat affect and show little concern for their cause. Cuinn is able to locate the terrorist base – it is on the third moon of Rimbaud, and is definitely being supported by CenGov. When Cillian attacks, he discovers that the terrorists are quasi-Cu’enashti spawned from trees grown from branch cuttings. He also finds that Owen’s branch – believed destroyed in a bombing attack against Atlas – has been preserved as an experimental subject. Owen is on the verge of madness and begs for death – but knowing that Tara won’t allow it, Cillian rescues him. It is one of the few times that Cillian’s tough veneer crumbles.
Tasean hostility culminates with an attack on Eirelantra – a move which is a distraction from the real problem, CenGov’s release of a synthetic singularity in the Domha’vei system. Cillian is summoned, but is quick to determine that the singularity is better handled by Ailann, Cuinn and Wynne.
Eden Blues: Cillian emanates to deal with CenGov’s takeover of Dalgherdia. However, there is a catch – if he moves too close to Eden, Goliath will take control of the emanation. Cillian develops a strategy – use Mickey to plan an attack on Dalgherdia (since he knows the station best), then have Ari lead a squad of K’ntasari to retake the asteroid. During a report from Cara on Tasea, they discover that General Panic is still alive – in a sense. Her personality has been transferred to an android.
Ari manages to liberate Dalgherdia, but war continues. Cillian doesn’t end up dealing with it, however – his brother Constantine emanates. Constantine reveals that Cillian was the one who developed the method of using the power grid to travel and using the nearby crystals as a supply source for nul-energy. Constantine faces General Panic on Dumati – but Cillian has correctly anticipated many of her moves and has a counter-attack strategy prepared.
During Sloane’s testimony to the Floatfish, we see Cillian in action as literary critic. He can’t stand Sloane’s over-sentimentalized romantic retcon, so he comes up with his own version where Tara is much tougher and more realistic. Cillian’s own testimony to the SongLuminants is straightforward – he details a strategy to destroy their homeworld and gives a rationale why Ash won’t do so – one that is completely practical and unsentimental. When Ari questions why he would give that information away, Cillian says it’s because the SongLuminants had already thought of it, and he wanted them to know both that Ash has thought it through, and also that Ash realizes that the SongLuminants aren’t stupid. Cillian gains points for his practical and insightful reasoning.
Cillian also realizes that Clive has figured out basically the same thing – with the SongLuminants gone, the other Advanced Sentients might run wild with no check in power. Because of that, Clive is prioritizing the SongLuminants. When BJ reveals this, Claris dumps her ice cream over Clive’s head.
The Poison Garden: Cillian remains in the background of the novel until it is realized that his sapling has emanated. He is disappointed – he was hoping that she would choose Cara the Arrow. This is met with derision – Cillian is obviously a controlling parent. When he discovers that her Chosen is Esau St. John and that she is behind the vampire cult, he advocates uprooting her before she can harm Tara. The others refuse, saying that he is overreacting to compensate for his emotional attachment. However, when Cillian finds out that Esau is projecting Lilith’s dreams back at her, he turns his wrath on the Terran.
In “The Prophecy of Ash,” Marius says that although Cillian has the power to kill, he has never personally killed a human. Patrick realizes during “The Prophecy of Ripening” that Cillian and Callum have had a covert dom/sub relationship for years. “The Lost and Found” vision reveals that Cillian rummages in Tara’s underwear drawer.
Between books, there is apparently an incident with Floatfish at the second attempt at re-opening Tom O’ Bedlam’s for which Cillian must emanate to handle.
The Perpetual Rose: Cillian is emanated to formulate a plan to fight the Denolin Turym. He designs the Tucana station – which Tara later names Nightside – and enlists the SongLuminants to provide a source of nul-energy for another tree, Yggdrasil. He gives Lorcan a rough time after the incident with the Denolin – he still doesn’t trust Lorcan’s reformation, especially in light of his behavior. After the assassination attempt, Cillian organizes a strategy session inside of the pleroma.
At the Combine Gala, Wynne remarks to Clive that Cillian has renounced war, saying it is obsolete. Cillian helps Valentin with a strategy to bargain with the Floatfish for the teleportation device. When Rand finally joins the pleroma, Cillian is in a meeting of the literary circle. He has the last word in the novel, emanating to finally lay the incident with the Tasean girl, Phara Maddock, to rest. He ends by explaining his rationale why his role as warrior will eventually have to end.
The Portable Grove: Tara mentions that in the time between novels, Cillian and Balin have spent several months on Shambhala helping her to set up the new colony.
When Constantine is marked by all the emanations, Cillian tattoos a wolf on his left buttocks. During his participation in experiment three, Suibhne steals a pair of Tara’s panties at Cillian’s request. In the eighth experiment, Cillian contributes to the discussion in the Gold Lounge about the nature of falling in love. When Rand and Tara get lost in the tunnel, Cillian locates them, complaining about the lack of light. He is worried about the need to evacuate – which baffles Tara, as they are inside of Ash’s mental space. (Although as we discover in Chevalier’s Arbor, his concerns aren’t quite so far-fetched!) In experiment ten, Tarlach reveals that Cillian and Callum have been pollen-partners for years, but they have kept it quiet.
Cillian and Callum participate in experiment thirteen where they are the judges of the test of strength. Cillian believes that Aran should’ve won because he is the strongest – as judged by his ability to endure harsh circumstances. Callum disagrees – he believes Ailann should win because Tara loves Ailann best, and because Ailann needs to win. He argues that Aran should lose because Aran becomes stronger by losing. The point is rendered moot when Tara declares Ailann the victor. It is then revealed that the real test of strength was to see whether Cillian was stronger than Callum, but Tara’s actions voided the contest.
During the sixth stress test, Tommy guides Ari into experiencing one of Cillian’s memories. Ari is shocked by Cillian’s violence towards Tara, but Tommy explains that Tara occasionally enjoys rough sex, and Cillian’s predilections allow the other emanations to experience it without having to be a sadistic dom themselves. Cillian is a participant in the eighth stress test, a contest of domination with Marius. Cillian has trouble dominating Thomas, who really isn’t into it but wants to please Tara, and Callum, who makes it clear that despite his relationship to Cillian, Tara is his real master. Tara laughingly declares that Cillian is the perfect dom, but his slaves are in revolt, and awards the contest to Marius.
Correspondence Chart Entries from The Portable Grove
| Denotation | Cillian Whelan (Gaelic: from ceallach, war, or ceall, monastery; Anglicized form of Gaelic Faoláin: little wolf). |
| Numeration | 11th Emanation of Ashtara; 11th branch of Atlas; 46 in the correspondence chart. |
| Age | 32 |
| Hotness | 8/10 |
| Vital Statistics | 1.829 meters tall, cock size 20.82 cm when erect. |
| Description | Roughly handsome, with medium brown hair in a crew cut. Compact and muscular. Always moving a bit too far into someone else’s space. Almost always wears a military uniform with shadehuds. |
| Skills | Military strategist, tactician, able warrior, literary critic. |
| Sexual Prowess and Kinks | Hard core bdsm. |
| Average Duration of Play | 34 minutes, 15 seconds. |
| Totem Tree | Crataegus crus-galli, the cockspur hawthorn. |
| Fixed Star | Mothallah, the head of the triangle (α Tri), also known as UR.BAR.RA, the wolf and seeder of the plough. |
| Color |  |
| Esoteric Symbol | The Etruscan letter (L) |
| Function | Analytic insight. |
| Official Title | Admiral Cillian Whelan, Commander of the Unified Skarsian Fleet. |
| His Prophecy | An armored knight. |
| Dessert | Stuffed nau’gsh, baked in Irish whiskey and dusted with freshly ground mace. |
Persistence of Weeds Addendum
| Branch Growth Characteristics | Overhanging branch grew spurred by the trauma of Patrick killing an assassin. Used as a template for his half -brothers on Goliath, Constantine and Marius. |
| Nul-history | Bonded to Ailann at the beginning of the Cu’enashti entity which would become Ashtara. |
| Proto-conscious Root Concept | Indomitability, designated Strong. |
| Prime Number of Energy Resonance | 199 |
| From Self-Portraits Not-of-Me II: Baby Pictures by Driscoll Garrett |  |