Bare Hand was an elite unit in the Geban Empire's military structure, formally established during the Era of Late Conquest by Imperator Kenez'Feraaz of Thazvaar. The unit was created for deep infiltration and sabotage. Its operatives entered enemy territories undetected and their presence was confirmed only in hindsight, after the damage was already done.

Unlike the traditional Yuvaari martial schools, Bare Hand abolished the ceremonial restriction against external weapons. Its operatives trained to kill with any object or none at all. Improvisation defined their method. Their Yuvaari roots remained only in motion, not in restraint. The Empire never invaded Yuvaar. Instead, Bare Hand studied native forms and stripped them of their limiters, creating the most dangerous unarmed combat discipline in the imperial doctrine. Their strikes were surgical. Entire factions collapsed before realizing infiltration had begun.

Bare Hand dissolved after the Fracture. Remnants reoriented their skills toward covert stabilization and during the Shadow Rule evolved into the first generation of Shadow Operatives, agents who pursued global balance over imperial loyalty. In the Warlord Eras they resurfaced across factional lines, eliminating tyrants, preempting bombs, and softening theaters ahead of recursive escalation. Their work went unclaimed and their alignment remained buried. No formal branch known as Bare Hand remains in the modern era. Its methods endure in every Shadow Operative who trains in stripped Yuvaari form fused with imperial pragmatism.