Afir

Afir ibn-Rashdun (6th of Miruz 4021 - 9th of Aram 4058) was the third Caliph of the Mombadid caliphate and assumed the throne ten days after his father's death on the 18th of Aslam 4045. While he could not assume the commanding presence of his father and expand the Caliphate's influence as aggressively as he, Afir is regarded as the first spiritual leader of the realm after his grandfather Mombadin. Often invoked posthumously as "the second prophet" Afir's reign is noted for the formation of a central and separate spiritual body that operated - and continues to operate - as a partner and orbital entity to the court of the Caliph.
His reign saw a boom in the construction of temples across the Hisuuani Caliphate also earning him the recognition of an energetic architect. His design and vision on how a temple should be constructed is a standard adhered to today.
Militarily, Afir's victories were attributed more to the Rashid clan of the Turuq tribe than to the man himself.
== Early Life ==
Afir was the first Caliph born in the encampment that was the early Palace of Haison to Rashdun's first wife. Born frail and sickly there was general fear that the young boy would die within his first five years of life. Fearing as well that the air of the heavily populated region would be unhealthy for the infant, Rashdun ordered he and his mother to live in the desert with Afir's mother's family. The Hamalfite - believing the desert air pure and healthy - often practiced this as custom for weak children.
Afir spent the first ten years of his life in the desert. But his sickly disposition in laugh made him notably frail and weak for his age. He was slow to learn to walk and often carried a weak wobble in his gait. As such he could not run as fast or long as the other boys, nor could he wrestle. While he developed as an adept falconer living with his mother's parents he never truly grew up like the other young boys.
He returned to the capital at the age of thirteen where he was educated by his father and the court of the first Caliph in a wide number of fields. While he took well to military strategy his poor figure and weak physique meant that he could not hold a commanding presence, once more even advancing well into adulthood he regularly came down with annual sickness the mortician Magis could not deduce. His real area of expertise came to be mathematics and astronomy.
=== Political Career ===
When Afir turned eighteen he entered court political life as a scribe to his father, writing down the daily events and managing the court archives. He at the same time employed himself to the side as the quartermaster to the warriors tracking the informal army's supplies and equipment and performing the general secretary work of the burgeoning government, managing the taxes, income, and expenditure of the realm. He came to be his own father's right-hand adviser in the affairs of numbers and court maintenance earning him the title of Steward of the Court of the Divine Caliph.
Afir assumed rule of the Caliphate at the age of 24 when Rashdun passed away in his sleep. After a brief mourning period where he did as his father had done for his grandfather to march with the Magi to ritually carve his body for the birds, he ascended the throne as the second Caliph, and third monarch of the realm.
Of Afir's immediate concerns was the final pacification of the cornered and nearly defeated Shalim who his father had wished to see crushed before he died. But because of the new Caliph's disposition he sent in his stead an envoy, his younger brother dressed in his father's army to lead the war. His brother - Yazi - would be slain when an arrow pierced his head through the eye. But ultimately in the battle the tribe was crushed and the entire Hamalfite homelands were drawn into the rule of the Caliphate.
It wouldn't be this victory that sealed Afir's greatness so much as his dealings with the Magi. In particular the elder priests who came together with him to form the seat of the Ayayba'dhja in the Ayba'dhja Asiaha'wabha. The formation and ratification of such an institution of such a organization demanded housing and Afir drew up formal plans for a royal house of the religion's own, culminating in the construction of a temple that became the technical basis for all Temples to come.
==== The technical aspects of Afir's Temple ====
Afir decreed that a temple must be to the size to hold all the individuals within it's district, city, or local area. The main room for prayer must by the first-most room one enters. Above the exact center of this room should be a sky-light, often now capped with a glass dome; the purpose of this to let in the light of the sun and moon and to allow the worshippers to see C'lestia and L'wna as much as much as they may see them. The door of the temple must face the sunset horizon and the pulpit and niche set aside for the spirit of his grandfather set to face the rising sun, as the faithful of bidden to do.
Attached to the structure must be a Tower of Mourning, or a Tower of Silence. It is here the temple's mortician works to prepare the body for cremation at the tower's top or ritual carving to be laid out for the birds to consume. This tower should not be lower than the closest roofs so the smoke from cremation does not complicate life in the town and so the ash and smoke may drift unhindered to the sky to release the individual's spirit and Barakih.
And there should be within the rooms of worship no cases of idols, whether drawn portraits of the prophet Mombadin or of the goddesses. While this practice was not banned, the presence of such work is forbidden in an area of worship whether at home, in travel, or in the temple.
== Death ==
Afir died from a long fight with dust-related pneumonia on the 9th of Aram 4058. His son Talid ascended the throne after.
Category:New Voldranians Category:Characters Category:Hamalfite Category:Politicians Category:Leaders Category:Deceased