Bane Jor

Bane Jor is the ruler of the kingdom of Hammerfell. A red dragon so old that he has had the chance to stray from both chaos and evil, Bane Jor stays aloof from the Saltborn world.Template:Character Infobox

## Description

Even Bane Jor couldn't escape the toll of innumerable years. Although dragons don't become weaker over time- quite the opposite, in fact- the years have left him weathered. The occasional chipped scale from the odd kaiju powerful enough to play at enforcing its territory when he encroaches is all that shows weakness in him, but his claws have become gnarled, and his horns by themselves are twice as tall as most humans. He radiates power and intelligence, and although his dusty red scales lack the inherent sheen of metallic dragons, he keeps them polished enough.

## History

A long, long, long time ago, Bane Jor faced a problem. That problem being adventurers, breaking into his home, trying to take his shit, and thinking he wouldn't notice. He wasn't always as powerful as he is now, and a scrape in which be barely escaped with his life drove him to seek a solution. What would keep them from ransacking his home?

A few thousand people depending on him might. Those pesky swordsmen tended towards good, or at least a veneer of it, and when they thought monologuing in front of a being that could breathe fire almost at will was a good idea, they preached about justice and conquering evil. Tch.

Savages.

And so Hammerfell began. Instead of founding a city and waiting for them to come to him, Bane Jor spent a month away from his hoard (an unthinkable amount of time, but it was worth it) to, ah, *adopt,* a humanoid city named, ah, what was it. No matter. It's now Hammerfell.

In this exercise, Bane Jor learned two things.

First off, he was not suited to rule over humanoids. They were weak and cowered whenever they saw him, and they never *once* told him that he was taking too much food from them. It was annoying, really, listening to them all slowly starve, and in the end he let them keep as much food as they wanted as long as they stopped whining.

Second off, the world is incredibly dangerous. Not that he didn't know that already. Everyone was constantly after his gold, so oftentimes *he* was the danger, but no. He saw a kaiju lay waste to his town when he was out hunting. He saw barbarians slaughter the few survivors after he settled back in for a nap on a local peak (Oh well, plan failed. No use crying over spilled blood.) Then, before he drifted off to sleep, he saw an opportunity.

And so Hammerfell began anew! The barbarian tribe was a bunch of orcs calling themselves- who cares what they were called. They were tough and feared him just enough to get them to do what he wants without cowering at the sight of him. He was their leader and they were his citizens/soldiers/slaves, and they were quite tasty when supplies were thin.

With their help, Bane Jor easily united many of the barbarian tribes of his continent, then he set about starting the actual nation, which wasn't so easy. He had to let go of quite a lot of treasure to fund- gah, public works. He had to give up quite a bit of power to military commanders and elected officials, because, again, he was absolute ass at running a city, and frankly he didn't have time to do that *and* find more gold.

Eventually, Bane Jor sent orcs out from his original city to find and capture more land. And more. He became powerful, despite his original reservations. He was becoming richer than he was before. He was becoming *soft for the godsdamned fucking orcs*.

He didn't want his people to die for a reason other than self interest. It was satisfying to watch them grow over lifetimes, to know that he is responsible. To see his domain grow with barely a lift of his claw.

Bane Jor is not and never was good, but he was no longer evil, either. He will never be bureaucratic, but he also knows that he has responsibilities to uphold, and can't do whatever he wants.What started as the answer to the age old question of "How do I best jealously guard my treasure from marauding gnats?" became a truely great nation of orcs and dragons, with Bane Jor at the center.

## Personality

Enigmatic and far from the action, Bane Jor prefers not to interact with the Saltborn world unless he sees an opportunity to further his influence. He's a pragmatic leader, and he has a few major rules. Humans are banned from necromancy. Dragons should not govern humanoids directly- they are absolutely ass at it. Not much else is known.

## Friends

Not much is known about Bane Jor's inner circle. It's been said that he has children, and presumably he's taken a mate, but other than that, things remain a mystery

## Enemies

Bane Jor has allied with the Saltborn against the Scarecrow in the past, and he likely will do so again. His armies were present at the Battle of Caeth Shaeras, and of course he will battle any who attempt to usurp him.