Gunda Lock-Measure

Gunda Lock-Measure is a High Seat lock-line auditor who boards with the contract already read twice and the dangerous parts marked in grease pencil. weathered dwarf woman with tawny skin, one steel prosthetic hand, and close red hair braided with calibrated gauge beads — female dwarf canon: no facial beard; lineage lives in the beads. She treats an escort as a working relationship, not permission to be shoved behind the tallest body in the room. Ask what matters and she answers cleanly. Waste time on swagger and the stare gets colder.

On the lane to Tramlock Hold, Gunda keeps one hand near the documents, instruments, or seals that make the job real. plain-spoken, mechanically brilliant, and more frightened by compromised plate than by hired guns. The little habits matter: checking a closure time before eating, listening to a machine finish its cycle, repeating a house mark or bead-chain exactly when somebody tries to hurry the transfer. This is a professional under pressure, not freight with dialogue attached.

The crew earns trust by preserving choice and attention. Gunda can identify the bad paper, altered hardware, false voice, or hidden clock when given room to work. The threat wants that room taken away — through noise, separation, delay, or a plausible order that turns the escort against the person being protected. Keep her present and able to speak, and the contract remains winnable.