Dana O: Your Mileage May Vary on Character Derailment occuring quite that early. Phule's behavior doesn't seem to change after his promotion; the environment which dictates the results of that behavior changes. The constants are his lack of obedience to any order he can't see the reason for, a tendency to assume authority figures (such as his superiors) are morons until proven otherwise, and willingness to take extremely proactive and unexpected moves without necessarily informing anybody in advance.
It's actually possible to have such a person as a subordinate, in an right environment where people are provided with enough information about the situation to duplicate the reasoning leading to the regulations and orders. This clearly isn't the case in an organization where vital information is deliberately kept from subordinates, such as most militaries. When the organization's current goals are kept secret, initiative becomes unmanageable and is discouraged. If informed that there was no peace conference or prospects of one, given long-term standing orders to do nothing with no justification given for them, and presented with an opportunity to end a war, it's entirely plausible Phule would take it, possibly after contacting his superiors to get the order he wanted (which would have probably left him with the impression said superiors were simply sitting on their rumps).
Since that time, Phule's been kept the biggest fish in his pond. The only plans left available for him to step on are hostile, and even his enemies in the Legion now make sure he has any information necessary to protect those beyond himself and his command. There's no evidence that his character has changed at all - he simply isn't in a position where his earlier mistake is repeatable.
Dana O: Your Mileage May Vary on Character Derailment occuring quite that early. Phule's behavior doesn't seem to change after his promotion; the environment which dictates the results of that behavior changes. The constants are his lack of obedience to any order he can't see the reason for, a tendency to assume authority figures (such as his superiors) are morons until proven otherwise, and willingness to take extremely proactive and unexpected moves without necessarily informing anybody in advance.
It's actually possible to have such a person as a subordinate, in an right environment where people are provided with enough information about the situation to duplicate the reasoning leading to the regulations and orders. This clearly isn't the case in an organization where vital information is deliberately kept from subordinates, such as most militaries. When the organization's current goals are kept secret, initiative becomes unmanageable and is discouraged. If informed that there was no peace conference or prospects of one, given long-term standing orders to do nothing with no justification given for them, and presented with an opportunity to end a war, it's entirely plausible Phule would take it, possibly after contacting his superiors to get the order he wanted (which would have probably left him with the impression said superiors were simply sitting on their rumps).
Since that time, Phule's been kept the biggest fish in his pond. The only plans left available for him to step on are hostile, and even his enemies in the Legion now make sure he has any information necessary to protect those beyond himself and his command. There's no evidence that his character has changed at all - he simply isn't in a position where his earlier mistake is repeatable.