Yavon VII (Yavon Tyerri Eskander; 1771–1823) was King of Vicus from 1804 until his overthrow during the Vicusian Revolution in 1819. The eldest surviving son of Tyerri II and his fourth consort Caleira II, he was elevated as heir apparent by his mother and the archconservative Gang of Four in 1803 before ascending the throne six months later. He was the final reigning monarch of the senior branch of House Nalkhate.
Like his mother, Yavon aligned to the archconservative faction, an ultra-royalist faction within the Vicusian court and Imperial Congress which opposed the reforms of his father, affirming absolute monarchy, Zascaic dominance over public life, and opposed any concessions towards liberals and laborers.
His reign was overshadowed by the Great War, where his government pushed policies that assisted the war effort. This included economic and industrial nationalization via the Coal and Steel Act of 1809, and mass conscription. His early reign was controlled by his mother and Vicusian chancellor Yavon Preed; however, he sought independence from Preed towards the end of the war after his mother’s sudden death. Following the war, he sought to reunify the Zascaic Temple and create a new Zascaic order by installing his brother Prince Theobe as King of the defeated Moremia and his Selathine ally Shasdoban Thaomar as President of Selath. However, following an unexpected liberal victory in the 1818 legislative elections, Yavon dissolved both the Ectlata and the Imperial Congress, sparking the Vicusian Revolution of 1819.
In the spring of 1819, Yavon and his wife Queen Anonia announced their abdication and fled towards Gorgiria, hoping to be protected by his cousin and recently crowned king Samgar II of Gorgiria. He was replaced by his distant cousin from the House of Corwine, liberal leader in the Imperial Congress, and Duke of Corwine Avab II. Now in exile, Yavon founded a legitimist pretender faction in Gorgiria, intending to cross the Vicusian Gulf and stage a coup. However, when the radical Adobeans led by Toivan Tallabold took power in late 1819, Yavon remained in Gorgiria. Anxious of a potential overthrow, Tallabold’s government attempted and failed to assassinate him thrice between 1820 and 1821. Two years later, a rogue former Redshirt Samgar O-Fasa shot Yavon in the head in 1823.
Yavon VII, the last Nalkhatian king, left behind a complicated legacy in Vicus. He is remembered by conservatives as a stable leader with large aspirations, but he is also remembered as an incompetant despot who attempted to undo the reforms of his father, in doing so igniting something larger.