Character from The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Sinegard's Strategy Master — the academic mind behind the academy's war-planning curriculum, who teaches students that battles are won on maps before they're won on fields.
Irjah teaches the theoretical framework of warfare at Sinegard — logistics, strategy, campaign planning, historical analysis. He's the counterbalance to Jima's physical combat training: where she teaches students to survive a fight, Irjah teaches them to avoid the wrong fights entirely. Kitay is his star pupil. He represents the institutional knowledge of the Nikara military — the accumulated wisdom of centuries of campaigns, reduced to principles that students can study and apply. His limitation is that his framework has no category for shamanic power, divine intervention, or the kind of war that Rin will eventually wage.
Scholarly and precise — the kind of person who looks more comfortable with ink than blood. Thin, measured in movement, with the careful diction of someone who has spent a career making words do exactly what he wants. His classroom is full of maps, campaign histories, and the tools of strategic analysis.
Also known as: Irjah, Master Irjah