Damas Underflame

Role

Damas Underflame is Guildmaster of the Promissory. The Promissory manages contracts, tariffs, and goods. They issue permits, record debts, and enforce deals. They also shape the city’s black market by setting terms and taking a cut. Officially, they keep trade lawful. Unofficially, they keep it profitable. Damas approves high-risk expeditions, grants restricted access, and signs or refuses contracts that shape markets.

Origins

Damas was born in the Spindle and raised without protection. He learned ledgers while running messages between stalls. A collapsed raid killed his parents and left him without a sponsor. He stayed in the Spindle and built a network through small favors. At seventeen he brokered peace between two smuggling crews by creating a common route and staggered pickup windows. He used timing and trust, not force. The deal held and gave him standing.

Rise to Guildmaster

He advanced from scribe to auditor to negotiator. He exposed false manifests, shut down a counterfeit map ring, and stabilized prices in the Bentroot Exchange after a season of bad routes. He paid on time, punished theft in quiet ways, and built confidence with delvers and merchants. When the prior Guildmaster retired, votes in the ledger hall favored Damas. He rose with little pushback because he was already doing the work.

Methods

Damas keeps a personal ledger of favors, debts, and promises. He records who owes what, what was delivered, and when the account closes. He avoids lies. He uses partial truth and timing to steer people toward outcomes he wants. He prefers leverage to violence. If someone breaks a deal, he closes their credit, alerts stall owners, and files notice with the Cudgel to search their cargo at the gate. If a crew is in good standing, he lowers fees, extends credit, and provides introductions in the Sprigs. He rarely meets in private with people he cannot influence in public.

Public Face

He presents as polite and efficient. He moves through the Spindle with minimal escort. He checks the Bentroot Exchange during heavy seasons and meets captains at the Gate of Tines for short reports: route state, casualties, gear failures, and stall prices. He compares these with Promissory records, sends auditors when numbers clash, and adjusts fees when they match.

Relations with the Guilds

• Barleys: He pays for stable output and clear counts. He does not push for risky changes to breeding lines. He funds storage and transport that prevent waste.

• Ashcoats: He preorders tools that cut repairs and failures. He supports recalls and moves replacements fast to keep crews working.

• Cudgel: He follows their rules, pays hazard fees, and accepts inspections. He also hires licensed guards for markets during tense weeks.

• Promissory: He demands clean ledgers, fast audits, and simple contracts. He rewards clerks who find fraud and removes those who take bribes.

Council and Elections

The Guild Council elects the Regent every ten years. Each Guildmaster has one vote. Damas plans early and keeps his plans quiet. He funds public work in the Barrows that reduces injuries and shortages. He cuts fees in the Spindle during lean weeks. He invites Sprigs patrons to open auctions instead of private rooms. These steps build support for policies he wants without naming a candidate. He holds endorsements back until the end, trading terms that protect market stability and tunnel safety.

Operations and Assets

He runs permit counters at the Bentroot Exchange, the Gate of Tines, and small posts in the Barrows. Trusted clerks handle payments and stamps. A sealed records room holds high-risk contracts and restricted stock permits. He pays informants to flag fake maps, false seals, and hazardous goods. He keeps distance from gray crews and cuts them off if they draw heat. He prefers short, clean chains of custody and fast audits.

Attitude toward the Tunnels

Damas does not order delves. He pays for them. He prefers routes with steady returns over deep strikes with unstable gains. He funds small crews with good survival records and clear logs. He expects route notes to be filed with the Threadspire within a day of return. Crews who lie lose access. Crews who deliver useful data gain fees and choice contracts.

Conflict and Enforcement

When challenged, he does not argue in the street. He schedules a hearing, brings records, and proves breach when possible. If a hearing fails, he moves to isolate the target. He raises their fees, cuts access to stall space, and calls in promissory notes from their allies. If they escalate to violence, he yields jurisdiction to the Cudgel. He avoids public feuds that damage market confidence.

Reputation

Merchants see Damas as fair when treated fairly. Delvers see him as strict but reliable. Smugglers fear him because he tracks schedules and margins. Sprigs patrons see him as a useful broker. Barrows workers think he is rich and distant but less cruel than past masters. Ashcoats and Barleys view him as a customer who pays on time. The Cudgel respects his paperwork and his habit of informing them before problems become crises. Many people think he can be bought. He says he can be negotiated with.

Goals

Damas wants stable trade, fewer deaths in the tunnels, and a city budget that does not swing on one season. He wants the Spindle busy but orderly. He wants steady work and food in the Barrows. He wants Ashcoat and Barley output to match route capacity. He wants the Cudgel paid and supplied so they do not need side deals. These goals keep the Promissory strong and the city functioning.

Secrets and Risks

He keeps a private ledger that tracks personal debts of powerful people. If exposed, this would harm him. He funds a small team that drafts contract language designed to survive Council challenges. This angers rivals. He sometimes approves expeditions into restricted sections when data shows high value and low public risk. If one fails, he will face claims that he sponsored illegal work. He accepts these risks to keep leverage and to prevent larger shocks to the market.

Ties to Named Figures

He treats Orin Vellak with respect and does not try to control him. He meets in the Hilt, reviews casualty numbers, and sets fees after. He keeps formal distance from Regent Myra Thorneveil but sends weekly trade summaries to her office. He does not press her to break Council ties. He speaks often with Sprigs patrons and refuses gifts that bind him. He funds small Barrows clinics through third parties so aid is not tied to votes.

Outlook

Damas will continue to shape trade by planning early, paying on time, and holding people to their word. He will back a Regent who values stability and clear rules. He will test limits when it benefits the city and the Promissory. If challenged, he will apply contracts, numbers, and patient pressure. If he falls, the Spindle will feel it within days.