Hog

Hog is an ancient Kievan protector, leader of the faction loyal to the Emperor's Mark, and later Grand Commander under Aengus Degaro. He turns centuries of waiting into practical support for the rightful heir: verifying the mark, negotiating the succession crisis, defending Aengus from covert attacks, and helping expose the conspiracy behind Vansing's reign. After the throne is secured, Hog becomes a senior military administrator and an enthusiastic sponsor of the empire's Heaven-class battleship program. (Chapters 386–411, 413–414, and 434–439)

Biography

Protector of the Kievan succession

Hog leads a hidden faction created to preserve the sacred succession custom after Emperor Dimitri's disappearance. Once he and the ancient elders inspect Aengus's Emperor's Mark, Hog publicly declares the True Emperor's arrival and offers the protectors' lives in service of reclaiming the throne. His loyalty is urgent but not careless: he warns Aengus that the ruling faction will not surrender power easily, presses for a public and credible agreement when Fiona proposes a competition, and keeps his people near the palace against betrayal. This combination of reverence and suspicion gives the heir both political legitimacy and experienced protection while preventing the succession from becoming only a test of Aengus's personal strength. (Chapters 386–393)

Hog's protection becomes active when dark puppets ambush Aengus during a tour. He and Kirin conceal their escort, trap the attackers inside Fire and Earth domains, and destroy them despite shaking the continent in the process. After Aengus exposes Fiona as the disguised Morgana and reveals that Vansing was manipulated, Hog urges the former ruler to cooperate rather than seek solitary revenge, then joins the battle against Morgana's regenerating darkness creatures. The victory dismantles the false court, and Aengus reinstates Hog as Grand Commander of all troops. Hog accepts the administrative burden as part of the same duty that led him to protect the mark, managing the empire while the new ruler enters seclusion. (Chapters 397–409)

Builder of the cosmic war machine

As Grand Commander, Hog identifies unrest near the Blue Moon border and explains that Kievan forces lack both ships and numbers. He possesses two Heaven-class battleship blueprints and brings Aengus into the secret crafting harbor, where his own inability to master the technical designs makes him an organizer and patron rather than the project's engineer. Hog backs the emperor when Baldor dismisses the attempt, places imperial resources behind the construction, and rapidly embraces the result when Aengus's clones complete the ship's Heart. His hopes expand from immediate defense to economic transformation: he imagines Kievan becoming a center of battleship production capable of competing with the great technological empires. (Chapters 409–411)

The completed White Dwarf Star and the arrival of Mythraldor's Primals confirm to Hog that the new reign is operating on a scale beyond the old succession dispute. He initially dismisses the newcomers as weak, then revises his assessment after recognizing their exceptional talents and welcomes the generals who witnessed Aengus's rise. Months later, Hog reports that the empire has recreated five additional Heaven-class ships and gives a sober assessment of the combined Temporal and Dark Ferals threat, including their Divine-class vessel and superior numbers. His development is therefore not simple adulation: wonder at Aengus's achievements is repeatedly followed by the logistical questions and strategic warnings expected of a Grand Commander. (Chapters 413–414 and 434–435)

Appearance and personality

Hog is an aged man with a massive frame, a wrinkled face, and eyes that remain expressive despite his years. His voice can boom across a gathering, while even restrained power marks him as a Nebula Dominator. The contrast between age and physical force is central to his presence: he can look like an exhausted elder over a desk of paperwork, then stand confidently among ancient warriors or confront law enforcers immediately after a battle capable of shaking the Kievan continent. (Chapters 386, 393, 398, 403, and 409)

Resolute loyalty defines Hog, but it does not make him thoughtless. He is hopeful when the mark validates Aengus, grim when court behavior suggests conspiracy, and willing to seek peaceful public terms before accepting violence. Once conflict begins he can be ruthless and authoritarian, dismissing attackers as insects and reminding Baldor that imperial lives and resources answer to the throne. He is also candid about his limitations, abandoning a blueprint he cannot understand and admitting age with embarrassed humor. Success brings out a more expansive ambition: the battleship project makes him imagine resources, industry, and long-term imperial prestige rather than only victory in the next war. (Chapters 388–398 and 409–414)

Skills, laws, and abilities

Hog is a Nebula Dominator whose directly demonstrated supernatural foundation is complete Fire Law comprehension and the domain it enables. His other recurring strengths are political judgment, strategic assessment, and command across enormous forces. The corpus establishes his standing and several representative actions but does not provide a chronological rank history, a percentage-by-percentage Fire Law development, or a catalog of named techniques, so his later mastery should not be expanded beyond what those scenes show. (Chapters 386, 397–404, 409–411, and 434–435)

Fire Law domain

At full Law comprehension, Hog can manifest a Fire Domain that controls fire throughout a bounded range separated from ordinary reality. During the ambush on Aengus, his annihilating flames combine with Kirin's Earth Domain to cage and destroy the dark puppets before they can reach their target. Hog suppresses the outward effect to protect the continent, yet the clash still produces a widespread earthquake, demonstrating both the domain's scale and the difficulty of using Nebula-level force in a populated environment. The technique's exact radius, energy cost, and duration are not given. (Chapters 397–398)

Fire is effective against ordinary dark constructs but not automatically decisive against a stronger law. Inside Morgana's Darkness Domain, Hog vaporizes a shadow creature into black sludge, only for it to reform. He and the other protectors prepare their own domains, but Morgana's advanced mastery continues generating opponents and places them on the defensive until Aengus intervenes with Void power. This contrast establishes a clear limitation: Hog's Fire Law can annihilate a manifested body, yet it cannot by itself prevent regeneration sustained by an opposing domain that exceeds the protectors' understanding. (Chapters 403–406)

Protective combat and perception

Hog treats the Emperor's Mark as both a political credential and an object that the ancient faction can inspect for legitimacy. He also reads threats through experience, anticipating that the court's apparent concessions conceal a plan and maintaining a covert escort after Aengus declines visible protection. In direct combat he reacts before hidden dark entities can complete their attack and applies his domain while attempting to limit collateral damage. The source attributes these successes to vigilance, experience, and Nebula-level senses rather than a named foresight skill; Aengus still detects some concealed presences before Hog does, so Hog's perception is not infallible. (Chapters 386–397 and 398–399)

Grand command and military logistics

After the succession conflict, Hog manages imperial paperwork, monitors borders, evaluates rival rulers and fleets, and briefs Aengus on the empire's numerical and technological disadvantages. He supplies the available Heaven-class blueprints and connects the ruler with the underground harbor, then supports construction by asserting command authority over resources and craftsmen. His expertise is organizational rather than technical—he cannot interpret the blueprint himself—but that distinction lets him convert Aengus's prototype into an ongoing military program. By Chapter 434 he can report five recreated Heaven-class battleships while warning that a Divine-class enemy ship still changes the risk of an all-out war. (Chapters 407–411 and 434–435)

Relationships

• Aengus Degaro: Hog recognizes Aengus through the Emperor's Mark and devotes the ancient faction to placing him on the throne. He protects the heir, supports his alliance against Morgana, accepts appointment as Grand Commander, and becomes one of the officials who turns Aengus's unconventional projects into a functioning military program. (Chapters 386–414 and 434–439)
• Kirin: Kirin is one of Hog's fellow ancient protectors and his partner during the concealed defense of Aengus. Their Fire and Earth domains combine to trap the dark puppets, and both continue serving as senior protectors after the legitimate imperial government is restored. (Chapters 386–398 and 407)
• Vansing: Hog initially opposes Vansing as an unmarked ruler blocking the rightful succession. Once Aengus reveals that Morgana manipulated him, Hog shifts from confrontation to urging cooperation, helping convert a rival claimant into an ally against the deeper conspiracy. (Chapters 390–400)
• Bella Bellfrost: Hog treats Bella as empress alongside Aengus, includes her safety in the protectors' duty, and trusts her to take over palace administration while he accompanies the emperor to the crafting harbor. Their relationship is primarily institutional, grounded in the succession and governance rather than personal intimacy. (Chapters 387–410)

Items

• White Dwarf Star: Hog provides the imperial battleship blueprints, secures the underground harbor's cooperation, and supports Aengus's attempt to create a new Heaven-class vessel. He witnesses the completed ship and helps turn the prototype into a wider construction program, but the ship belongs to the empire rather than to Hog personally. (Chapters 409–414 and 434)