Thion af-Erling

Thion af-Erling is the personal thrall of Erling-himself, who has also appointed them the steward of Erling House and thus the person who channels Erling's decisions while Erling-himself is overseas. A personal thrall serving in a household role is very unusual, and would be frowned upon if it weren't Erling doing it. This puts Thion in the unusual and precarious position of a thrall who can tell Maveren what to do. Erling Maveren resent this to various degrees, but none of them care to challenge Erling-himself about it.
Thion is part-human, part sea-elf, like most Maveren. Their personal background is unknown in Malfa, but they are widely rumoured to be the bastard of a Maver—possibly Erling-himself—unacknowledged and never adopted into a House. (This is one traditional source of upper thralls in Maveren Houses.) They were sent to Malfa by Erling-himself about thirty years ago, and has been steward for the last fifteen or twenty years, since the retirement of the previous, much more popular steward. Thion is a very capable administrator, but not very well liked amongst Erlings.
By necessity, Thion is an adept politician. He has a practiced trick of seeming like a noncommittal observer while telling the members of Erling House, not what they should do, but what Erling House is going to do as policy. The individual Maveren of Erling House are then left to "decide" how to be a part of Erling House's actions. After many years of this, tensions in Erling House are high, but no one has ever questioned Thion's loyalty to Erling-himself. This is partly enabled by the tacit support of Erling Majra, the seniormost Erling in Malfa, who has never been seen to question Erling-himself's authority or Thion's right to enact it. Majra is well-respected in Malfa, and also rumoured to be Erling-himself's child by blood.
If Thion has their own opinion about their job, Erling-himself, or other Maveren, they don't show it.
Thion is shortish and of slight build, but running to fat. They are non-binary, and have been for as long as anyone has known them (elves and part-elves often have a rather fluid opinion of gender; see On Elves). They give the cultivated impression of being autocratic enough to run a House, but mild-mannered enough not to irritate Maveren quite too much to bear. No one has ever seen them lose their cool.