Konrad Hess

Admiral Konrad Hess commands the Imperial Navy with the patience of a siege master and the certainty of a zealot. In the Bay of Kravos, he did not chase Rhyker Voss across open water. He sealed the ports, strangled the pirate supply lines and denied every safe harbour until hunger and suspicion turned the pirate fleets against one another. By the time Varian warships entered the bay, Hess had forced his enemies to destroy themselves.

He then spent four years conquering the nations of Yashamiro and Qianhai, reducing distant shores to another measured extension of Einheart’s authority. Hess treats resistance as proof of inferiority and mercy as a failure of discipline. He does not merely serve Varia; he believes its supremacy is the natural order of the world.

That faith makes him openly hostile to the Sangraals. Hess regards their masks, runes and whispered counsel as an insult to Varian strength. The Empire, in his eyes, requires no hidden order and no foreign power—only Varian blood, Varian steel and commanders willing to use both without hesitation.

“Varia requires no saviours.”