Kenez’Feraaz

Kenez’Feraaz was a Thazvaari imperial official appointed over the mountainous region running from coastal and inland Thazvaar down to the northern border of Berinu. His heritage kept him under constant scrutiny, since any misstep would be read through the bias against Thazvaari. Before this appointment he served multiple tours with The Emperor’s Shadow, moving deep inland to map war fortresses, trace ancient relays, and track civilians pushing the imperial relay outward. He identified networks that could not be broken by force and learned from senior operators that inland Thazvaar does not yield to direct approaches over time.

He came to see deep cover and earned trust as the only durable way to dismantle hostile groups, but the timelines this required exceeded what The Emperor’s Shadow allowed. After leaving the field and serving as a director within the service, he built regional alliances, advanced through politics, and was appointed Imperator when the domain expanded and needed a steady hand.

A brief visit to Yuvaar reframed his doctrine. If the Yuvaari could fight with such instinct unarmed, then trained operatives free of the Yuvaari restrictions on weapon use could infiltrate and eliminate while remaining unseen. He formalized The Bare Hand during Late Conquest as an infiltration and sabotage force built on that conclusion. Its members studied in Yuvaar and learned quietly. They took part in local games, studied how He Who Allows represents self-will beyond perceived limits, learned advanced rope techniques, hunted unarmed, and were repeatedly beaten in training by seasoned fighters and hunters. Most never mastered those techniques, but they learned enough to return to the Empire and refine them into the philosophy that became The Bare Hand.

Training emphasized lethality with any object or none, kept Yuvaari movement while removing its ceremonial limiters, and made improvisation a core rule. The unit also specialized in very long deep-cover placements as officials, farmers, pirates, and warlord underlings, on timelines far beyond anything The Emperor’s Shadow would permit. Its operatives dissolved threats from within across Thazvaar and the borderlands, and many became attached to Yuvaar and retired there permanently after service. After the Fracture the unit was dissolved, but its survivors carried the method forward through the Shadow Rule and Warlord Eras, laying the groundwork for the later Shadow Operatives who put global balance ahead of banners.