I think i see a patern here...
First, Gunnar, being a meanie at the beginning of the game but if we indulge him he gets to slowly like the mc, then he... well spoilers from a few updates ago but he ded...
But then, we have Barrel getting into mc's house at night and, again, if you indulge with him, he basically gets to do what he wants with you (almost) and he likes you more and more.
And now we have Maul, a gorgeous peace of mea--- i mean a big orc meanie !!! But AGAIN if you indulge him to the max well... i won't spoil but you basically get the same result (with a little twist i wasn't expecting but i loved it) as far as this update goes... and lemme tell u it's hot as f**k.
So, the patern i see is mc trying to cope the loss of Gunnar, by finding some people with the same uuhh.... energy i would say. So if it's intended, then it's very well put/hidden into the story (or little mini side stories and smuts), but i kinda feel sad for MC... he misses Gunnar more than he might realise.