Norrester Graunt the Red Butcher
Norrester Graunt
Second son and fourth child of Pater Graunt and Bellanwy Haust.
Named for the Red Wolf of Graunt, young Norrester had a head of red hair upon his birth, which would fade to brown before his second year. Despite this, he idolized his namesake, to the point of practicing violence upon his brothers and even sisters in order to prove his might and wildness. Young Norrester was often disciplined, but never to any effect. This behavior was no doubt compounded by the death of his father, Lord Pater, when Norrester was but four years old.
At ten years of age, Norrester ran off to fight in the Fourth Brothers Rebellion, nearly getting himself killed more than once. His eldest brother Northos, who was squiring for the celebrated Sir Cayl Odon, was forced to abandon his post and return Norrester home, where their uncle Poinak shielded them both from any punishment.
Upon entering majority, Norrester would take up hunting for werewolves in the Fiirwood, the very habit that slew his father. Attempts to dissuade him only invited greater violence. It is whispered Norrester freely abused the servants, breaking bones, and that a washerwoman supposedly fell down a flight of stairs and dashed her head in whilst fleeing from him. Lord Northos sent his brother to Swining to be properly trained and knighted, but in less than a year he was escorted back to Saolmoth under heavy guard. Northos supposedly had his brother held in the dungeons more than once, but nothing could calm his rages.
These furies would culminate in his twenty-sixth year, when Norrester drew a hatchet upon Northos' eldest daughter, Megan. Most rumors claim Lord Northos himself slew his brother, though others will say their youngest brother Pluutos did the terrible deed. Other, rarer stories claim a lowly servant intervened and paid with his life, struck down even as he dealt Norrester the fatal blow. Unsurprisingly, the family is very tightlipped on the matter.
