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VESSELBORN — King Hies

King Hies

Alias: Erased King of the Gulf
Era: Imperial Conquest ~3,500–3,000 Years Before Modern Geba
Affiliation: Thazvaari Dominion

King Hies was a ruthless Thazvaari ruler descended from the pirate warlords of Kharan’s Gulf. He secured power by eliminating all rival contenders for Queen Nethelys Zahmira VIII’s hand until only he remained acceptable by class. During the final imperial campaign, he presided over the decades-long siege centered on Kharan’s Gulf.

His last words were aimed at Emperor Venar’Tolarg, the fallen sovereign whose body was never recovered in Northern Thazvaar and whose death elevated the young Venar’Tal to the throne. Hies said: “I hope the flying beasts of the desert tore his body to pieces and the sands erased his filthy imperial blood. If I had lived then, I would have brought his head and set it on display for all to see—an example of what happens to trash.” He then spat blood in the emperor’s face and laughed.

Emperor Venar’Tal vowed that no record would preserve his name. Hies was transported to northern Berinu and publicly executed, ending the siege and clearing the way for the Empire’s consolidation of the Gulf. By imperial decree, his history was erased from the archives. What remains of his story survives only through oral accounts.

About Vesselborn

Vesselborn is the story of Geba, a world that has carried an empire for six thousand years.

It begins with Vaer'karesh, who unites five nations into the first empire and fixes a common language and law. Across the ages, the empire fights and finally breaks Thazvaar, welcomes Jeyrha through engineering and diplomacy, and liberates Berinu by choice. In Ngorrhal, the greatest warriors of the mountain passes become the Frost Sentinels, whose strength helps secure imperial rule. The Haavu cannon systems cement that dominance.

At its height, the empire spans continents and raises relay towers that bind cities, coasts, and passes into one network. The last emperor is assassinated and the throne shatters. Civil wars consume the planet. But the answer is not collapse. The Shadow Rule forms from what the empire left behind, ends the warlord broadcasts, and holds the world together without a crown. They are the empire made quiet: continuity without ceremony.

Today, the Shadow Rulers still govern from the background while the Energy Wars decide who controls grids, relays, vehicles, and culture. Nine faiths compete for how the world understands itself. Tour racing draws audiences as large as the Yuvaar Hunting Games. Relaymen carry broadcast rigs into corridors and criminal networks to capture what the governed world is never meant to see. Contractors move through contested territory for manufactory interests. Syndicates operate trafficking networks through grey zones the empire tolerates rather than confronts. The Engineered, once created as instruments of war, now live as citizens, athletes, engineers, and parents.

Stories range from relay field defenses and inland recoveries to city governance and frontier resettlement; from airship crews racing through volcanic caverns to truth seekers embedding in syndicate operations; from arena fighters practicing an ancient faith through combat to families choosing the safety of hub clearings or the risk beyond the grid.

This is Geba.
It began in silence.
It has not yet ended.