Bael-Grimnir

Bael-Grimnir is Runefather of Vostarg, the lodge against which every other lodge measures itself, and he carries that weight the way Vostarg prefers: loudly, and from the front. His line claims descent from Grimnir through the first-forged lodges of Aqshy, and the runes hammered into his flesh across a long lifetime of contracts have made him a furnace in the shape of a duardin. Even among a people defined by temper, Bael-Grimnir's is spoken of carefully.

He goes to war astride Flamespitter, a monstrous magmadroth whose moods match his own, and the pairing has ended sieges by the simple expedient of arriving. As Runefather he is also the chief merchant of Vostarg's axes, and those who bargain with him learn the paradox of the lodges in a single sitting: he will haggle over one coin for an hour, then honor the sealed contract through fire, ruin, and the deaths of his own sons. Gold is the god, and Bael-Grimnir keeps the faith.

Succession shadows him as it does every Runefather. His runesons ride out on ever-riskier contracts to prove themselves worthy of the latchkey grandaxe — the great axe that is both weapon and key to Vostarg's deepest vaults — while Bael-Grimnir watches, judges, and says nothing. Vostarg tradition is clear on the matter: the lodge's next father will be the son the wars leave standing tallest, and grief is a tax paid gladly on a strong bloodline.