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Vaer’karesh

Alias: Ashan’Vaer Karesh (Adopted Imperial Name), Founder of the Empire, The First Emperor

Era: Early Dominion (~6,000–3,500 Years Before Modern Geba)

Affiliation: Geban Empire (Founder)

Emperor Vaer’karesh stands as the legendary founder of the Geban Empire. During the Era of Early Dominion, he united the five warring nations of the continent into a single, organized imperial state. His rule enforced the Geban language and identity across all conquered peoples, using conquest as the primary tool for unification. Notably, upon establishing the Empire, he adopted the prefix "Ashan" for himself—becoming Ashan’Vaer Karesh—to initiate the imperial bloodline and symbolize a new era of unified legacy, a naming convention that would endure through subsequent emperors like Ashan’Eze Narath and Ashan’Vaer Kel’varenath, marking him as the originator of the "Ashan" line despite his mysterious, non-noble origins.

Notably, Vaer’karesh was not a large man, nor did he descend from any recognized family or bloodline of status. It remains unclear how he first gained the resources or backing needed to unify the continent—his rise is an enduring mystery even to imperial historians.

He survived multiple assassination attempts during the earliest years of his reign, demonstrating an almost ruthless will to survive. Vaer’karesh participated in—and won—every unarmed duel issued against him, some by methods so controversial they would forever alter the social foundations of Geba.

Under his leadership, the first standing armies were formed—shifting the world from chaotic, warlord-led skirmishes to disciplined, centralized military rule. Vaer’karesh’s consolidation brought an end to endemic tribal warfare, creating the groundwork for centuries of imperial stability.

Attempts to explore or establish contact with Thazvaar or map their eastern seas were abandoned under his reign, as those lands proved hyper-defensive and inaccessible to early expeditions.

Vaer’karesh also commissioned the first imperial relay systems beyond the origin continent, with the initial lines established in Ngorrhal. During his rule, the empire intervened in the infamous Ngorrhal mountain civil war, siding with the people of the Western and Northern Passes against the Northeastern line. This led to the full assimilation of the Ngorrhali people, who became the second most populous group in the Geban capital.

Through conquest, language, decisive intervention, and uncompromising will, Vaer’karesh set the imperial standard: absolute rule, enforced assimilation, and the creation of a unified Geban identity that would endure for millennia.

Defining Acts

  • United the five nations of the continent by conquest, creating the first Geban Empire
  • Adopted the prefix "Ashan" to initiate the imperial bloodline, becoming Ashan’Vaer Karesh
  • Enforced a singular Geban language and identity across all conquered peoples
  • Formed the first standing imperial armies and ended warlord-based warfare
  • Survived several assassination attempts and remained undefeated in all unarmed duels, reshaping Geban social order
  • Notably not a large man and not of known noble blood—origins remain mysterious
  • Commissioned early relay systems, establishing the first lines in Ngorrhal
  • Intervened in the Ngorrhal civil war, securing the Western and Northern Passes and assimilating the Ngorrhali as “Frost Sentinels”
  • Ceased all contact with Thazvaar, marking its lands as impenetrable to early Empire reach

Source Notes

  • “Vaer’karesh unites the first empire, enforcing the Geban language and identity through conquest.”
  • “The first standing armies emerge, transitioning from warlord-led skirmishes to organized imperial rule.”
  • “All attempts to establish contact with Thazvaar or map their seas are ceased due to their hyper defensiveness.”
  • “Early relay systems are established in Ngornhal, the first outside of the origin continent.”
  • “The people of Ngorrhal fully assimilate into the empire in exchange for their survival, becoming the second most populous people in the Geban capital.”
  • “He survived more than one attempt on his life, and never lost a duel. Some say the manner of his victories forever changed the meaning of honor.”
  • “He was not of great size, nor known lineage—his rise to power remains the subject of speculation and legend.”
  • "From Emperor Ashan'Vaer Karesh, who forged the empire under three silent stars."

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 people of the mountain passes lose their ancestral name and are permanently renamed 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. Assassinations and civil wars follow — the Fracture — but the answer is not a vacuum. The Shadow Rule forms from imperial networks and manufactures peace, ending the warlord broadcasts and taking the world back from collapse. They are the empire made quiet: continuity without ceremony.

Today, the Shadow Rulers still govern from the background while the Energy Wars — covert struggles over power grids and relays in uncivilized regions — decide who controls energy, transport, and culture.

Stories range from relay-field defenses and inland recoveries to city governance and frontier resettlement; from rail lines and air programs that stitch regions together to festivals and work crews where culture and politics collide; from Frost Sentinel memory 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.