Inspired by a vicious scissor-toothed shark indigenous to old-world Matar, the Hel is widely viewed as a sign of a Republic out for blood. Since the beginning of its development it has remained a project cloaked in secrecy, with precious few people aware of its progress and its capabilities, and its formal unveiling has come as a defiant slap in the face to many who formerly believed the Matari incapable of working at this scale of starship design.