Veris'Kal Therak

Veris'Kal Therak was the son of General Veris'Kelus Hael, who served under Emperor Venar'Tolarg and developed new long-range bombardment tactics. Veris'Kelus raised his sons for the same service and most of them entered it. As children, Veris'Kal and Venar'Tal Kareth were close friends, and each was the only companion the other had of comparable standing.

Several of Veris'Kal's brothers marched north with their father in the campaign that killed Emperor Venar'Tolarg. They died there. As with the emperor, none of their bodies were recovered. In the same period the Empire's generals moved the young Venar'Tal into the Sentinel district for imperial training, and the two boys were separated. They did not see each other again for almost thirty years.

Veris'Kal attributed both losses to a single source. The Thazvaari Dominion had killed his brothers and removed the only friend of his own standing, and his hostility toward the Dominion and its people was personal rather than doctrinal from that point forward. It exceeded that of any commander of his era. Where most imperial commanders pursued expansion, Veris'Kal pursued destruction.

He and Venar'Tal reunited as adults, by which point their objectives for the region aligned without disagreement. Following the conquest of the Thazvaari mainland, Venar'Tal appointed him the first Imperator of Thazvaar.

As Imperator he maintained control through total war, forced erasure of Thazvaari culture and the systematic execution of conquered males. These policies integrated Thazvaari rail networks and logistics into the imperial system and established the long-term imperial hold on the region.

His rule produced a partial and uneasy stability. Coastal regions were effectively assimilated and remain so. Inland areas continued to be held by piracy, criminal networks and organized resistance that the Empire never fully eliminated, a condition that outlasted the Empire itself.