Balcus Fou Bartfort
Aliases: Balcus · Baron Bartfort
Description
Balcus Fou Bartfort is the head of the Bartfort line and Leon's father: a backwater frontier baron whose entire life has been work, more work, and managing the people his political wife has spent his money on. He is plain-faced, perpetually tired, and bears the matriarchal kingdom's contempt for husbands of practical houses with quiet grim humour.
His marriage to Leon's stepmother, Zola, is a disaster he is mostly powerless to fix. The patient man does what he can for his children, in particular the younger ones whom Zola dislikes, while keeping the family's small territory running on willpower and very little budget.
When Leon begins quietly funnelling Old Humanity wealth into the Bartfort domain, Balcus's first reaction is suspicion, his second is gratitude, and his third is an exhausted decision to ask as few questions as possible.