Grundeir Steelfist

Personal details:

 * Full name: Grundeir Thoralfson Steelfist.
 * Date of birth: January the 7th, in the year -154 according to the new calendar. This makes him 181 years old today, in the year 27.
 * Place of birth: Ironforge.
 * Current residence: Dun Garok, Hillsbrad Foothills.
 * Current occupation: Mountaineer 1st class of the Third Brigade of Mountaineers.

Youth

 * Grundeir Steelfist was born over a hundred and fifty years before the First War, in a time where the Dwarven race was only just recovering from the War of the Three Hammers and de Bronzebeard dynasty was only just starting. The world was still free of the Burning Legion and the Scourge and the Dwarven race was hopeful to relive the days of prosperity they had known before the war. Grundeir was from the house of Gamel, an old house of soldiers and guardsmen. The family was very proud of its legacy and Thoralf Steelfist, father to Grundeir, would often push his sons into becoming warriors. In his eyes the path of the warrior, even though it took no more skill or dedication than that of a craftsman and was no more honorable, took more self-sacrifice and was therefore to be chosen if one was truly dedicated to serving his king.




 * Thoralf, a veteran of the War of the Hammers himself, had suffered great disappointment when he found out his eldest son Skjöld was more interested in blacksmithing than in fighting. For him, Grundeir was his last hope of seeing a son of his on the field of battle. For years he pushed Grundeir with his tales of battle, of valor and of honor. He forced his son to train with all kinds of weapons, made him run miles while wearing heavy armor in order to train his muscles. Grundeir did want to make his father proud, but he couldn’t stand the heavy physical training and the frown of disappointment of his fathers’ face when he used the occasional day off for things other than training. Eventually, this pushed him further away from Thoralf. Whenever he had time to spare, Grundeir would go out into the wilds where he spent hours studying the behavior of different animals. This was when Thoralf started to realize his second son was no soldier either. Broken, the old dwarf gave his son more and more time off and, eventually, refused to train him at all. Not long after, Grundeir became a hunter, to great dismay of his father, in whose eyes the lowly job of a local hunter was beneath even that of Skjöld, who was by then on his way of becoming a fairly successful blacksmith. The tension between father and son grew high and they hardly spoke to each other anymore.


 * Despite his actions, Grundeir had great respect for his elders, and suffered, possibly more than his father did. Nothing would please him more than to get his father’s blessing, but Thoralf was adamant in his disapproval. Finally, after having spent years as a hunter in nearby Loch Modan, his desire to bring honor to the name Steelfist drove him to compromise. He signed up with the Explorer’s League and was hired as part of an armed escort for a group of prospectors heading north. This was at the relatively young age of sixty-two.