Avab I (1599 - 1659), sometimes known as Avab the Restorer, was King of Vicus from 1635 after being elected by the Tanistry of 1635 until his death in 1659. The first king of House Nalkhate, his reign end the Time of Troubles and initiated an era of imperial peace known as the Pax Vicusia, an era where Vicus was relatively stable and also a great power. His absolutist and autocratic style of ruling became the norm in the kings that succeeded him, lasting until the 1819 Vicusian Revolution.
He was born into a modest Zascaic noble crusader family in Nalkhate as a great-grandson of King Yavon I through his mother Nasila O-Selolmi. He inherited his late father’s title as Lord of Nalkhate at the age of 14; and gained fame as a younger military leader. When Yavon Tobit invaded Vicus in 1624 during the Time of Troubles, he, Sagismar the Younger, and Gaton O-Kulaviri led the Loyalists in the Vicusian Civil War against Tobit; however, their alliance tore apart while Avab was campaigning in Kzak. He alone delivered the final Loyalist victory against Tobit in the Battle of Sagisbura in 1634. He marched on Mogharbura the following year with the support of the remaining Lords, and was elected King.
As the undisputed ruler of Vicus, he co-ruled with his first legal wife, Queen Abamulan I, as an unprecedented absolutist. He restored the recently-weakened authority of the Zascaic Temple in Mogharbura, and positioned Vicus as the last vestige of Zascaic power. To do this, he launched mass persecutions of Vicusian Possessionists. Backed by the temple, his reign dramatically expanded the power of the Vicusian crown, weakening the tanistry, aggressively seizing noble lands, and determining succession himself by weakening claimants to his throne.
Avab was considered a military genius for his time, leaving his queen to rule while he fought wars in Ranjev, Chinau, and Koltara. While he lost the former, he greatly expanded Vicusian power in Chinau and in colonies in Sanctorium, and secured his succession by killing ex-Tobitians during his Koltaran invasion. He died in 1659 at age 60 from mysterious circumstances, possibly poisoned by his wife and queen Abamulan. His stepson Toivan I succeeded him, and one of his actual sons Yavon IV became king almost twenty years later.
Early life and education
Background
Avab-Moghar o-Geshtolin was born within his family’s manor in Nalkhate in 1599. His family of birth, the O-Geshtolin were a Zascaic crusader family. In 1540, Avab’s paternal great-grandfather and o-Geshtolin patriarch Genlamar Geshtolin was granted lordship over Nalkhate as a reward from King Yavon I for capturing the city from the Shazis during the Shazi Wars, holding down the title until his death in 1570. His son, Avab’s grandfather, only ruled as Lord Nalkhate for three years, dying two months before his son’s birth. His son, Avab’s father, was Yobali o-Geshtolin who became Lord Nalkhate immediately from his birth in 1574. Yobali’s uncle Mogali o-Geshtolin stepped in as steward. Avab’s mother, Nasila o-Selolmi, was the granddaughter of King Yavon I through his youngest daughter Princess Tagilda’s marriage to a Yessian-born mercenary contractor Adalo o-Selolmi. The marriage between Avab’s parents was arranged by his great-uncle Mogali possibly based on manorial allegations of Nasila’s homosexuality, in the hopes that they will not produce an heir, thus asserting control over Nalkhate.
Nasila’s homosexuality turned out to remain solely allegation rather than reality, as the couple had six surviving children. Avab was the third child and second son. As per custom in medieval Vicus, his oldest brother and his father’s eldest son Eskander was given over to the Zascaic Temple, so the second son (in this case Avab) was made heir to the Nalkhate Lordship. Avab-Moghar was named directly after the Avabist prophets Avab and Moghar. Much of his early life was characterized by conflict between his father and his great-uncle over control; eventually, around 1600, his great-uncle Mogali and his son Zascamar o-Geshtolin formed a rival house in Nalkhate with the support of local temple officials, moving from the manor to a templar house on the outskirts of the settlement. It was possibly this arrangement why Yogali opted to give his son and heir Avab-Moghar a military-focused education.
In the official royal account from Avab’s youth, during the Kzakid Treaty War of 1610-1611 that ultimately led to the Fall of Eskandergret and end of the Shazi Wars, King Eskander I and his troops stopped in Nalkhate on the way to Eskandergret. Lord Yogali and Mogali used the opportunity to seek the King’s counsel on their dispute. King Eskander I, seemingly impressed by Avab, ruled in favor of Lord Yogali. The local temple authorities, who sided with Mogali, as a result refused to bless the war effort as per tradition. According to the account, Eskander I in response proclaimed Avab to be kingly.