Zavir Khakestari

Zavir Khakestari
Prime Minister of Shirazam
In office 1888–1912
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Batraz Khan Shazadeh
Personal details
Born	(1830-08-11)11 August 1830
Died	15 March 1912(1912-03-15) (aged 81)
Political party	Front for an Ayar State
Profession	Cleric, Politician, Revolutionary

Zavir Khakestari, born in 1830 and died in 1915, was a Melekist scholar, cleric, revolutionary, and early Shirazamite politician and one of the founders of the Second Republic, the first modern Shirazamite state, and served at its Prime Minister from 1888 to 1912. Beforehand, he was Second-in-Command of the Front for an Ayar State which he co-founded with Batraz Khan Shazadeh in the aftermath of the failed First Republic of Shirazam in 1871. A key figure of the movement, he is credited as the true political philosopher of the FAS while also handling its day-to-day operations even while imprisoned by the Zilungeses, from 1880 to 1888. As Prime Minister, his political saviness and diplomatic skills allowed him to keep the many post-insurgency factions working together, notably Batraz and Roxolan. As a result, his death of natural cause in 1912 would trigger a political crisis which led to the fall of the Second Republic and the creation of the Third.

Early Life

Zavir Khakestari was born in a family of Melekists Magi of Shirkal the 11th of August 1830. His father, Alimbeg Khakestari was already a Magus and, as the man in charge of the Sanctuary to Targitaos, participated in the Reformation of the Melekist faith and its clergy fit the Imperial Cult imposed by the Empire. His mother, Elenashar Khakestari, was the daughter of Mobad Xvarashir the religious leader (Mobad) of Shirkal and its countryside and thus his father' direct superior. Elenashar would serve as Headmaster of the District School, teaching children aged 6 to 11 the basics of literature and mathematics.

Zavir' father and grandfather thus played a major role in the adoption of Zilungese customs by Melekists but, more importantly, in the centralisation of the Melekist Clergy. Their loyalty was proven in their refusal to join Gush Garvan, leader of the rival Ravshanist faith, in his Uprising and in their active participation in the peace negotiation with the nomads who continued to refuse Zilung Chen authority. Xvarashir had always been a Reformist and his collaboration with the country's occupiers was a way for him to accelerate the adoption of many reforms he judged vital for the survival of the Faith, notably the centralisation of its power, the homogeneisation of its doctrine, and the rationalisation of its hierarchy. He was well rewarded by the authorities who appointed him as the second "Mobadan Mobad" or "Chief Cleric" of the faith with nominal control over every other Magi in the Empire.

Alimbeg and Elenashar took great care of their children education. Zavir quickly learned how to read and, even as a child, would be familiar with the Melekists Classics such as the Yasna, the Dadestani Denig and the various Shahnameh. Expected to follow in his father' footsteps, Zavir was sent to the Bordje Moghan (Magi's Tower) to pursue his theological and scholarly studies needed to become a Magus.

Political Activism

The First Republic

In 1856, while still a student at the Magi's Tower, Zavir took part in the pro-parliament protests during the period of struggle between Shirkal' city council and the Imperial Authorities over the question of the Administrative and Taxes Reforms. By the end of the year, the Parliament, as its staunch refusal of the reforms had been ignored by the Empire, proclaimed the First Republic of Shirazam as an ultimate sign of protest. Contrary to the rest of his family, Zavir did not flee Shirkal and stayed with many of the other students in the city. He survived the Repression that followed when Zilungeses troops were ordered to occupy the city and neutralize all people found holding weapons (including knives and sticks) or bearing "Partisans symbols". Zavir was taken prisoner but was freed in 1857 through his family' contacts in the administration.

The Long Hand

Numerisation of a Long Hand' symbol

During his short stay in prison, Zavir met other future nationalists figures and leaders, formally inducting him into their ranks. They formed a new secret society, the Long Hand, meant to better prepare the next Revolution, learning from the failure of the "First Republic". When he got out of prison, Zavir resumed his studies and was finally made Magus. While his role as a grassroot partisan of the First Republic made him unreliable in the eyes of the Authorities, almost his entire generation of future Magi had taken part in the Protests and the Insurgency and his Loyalist family was enough to counterbalance this first sign of rebellion.

Front for an Ayar State

As a Magus, Zavir continued to write poetry and nationalist texts under the pseudonym of Setârehe-Bamdad ("Morningstar"). In 1871, he and another member of the Long Hand, Batraz Khan Shazadeh, founded the Front for an Ayar State. Batraz and Zavir merged their networks of informants and partisans to create a system capable of collecting and processing informations about everything happening in Zilung Chen' elites and their local collaborators.

Second Emprisonment

When the Empire' secret services discovered the true identity of Setârehe-Bamdad in 1880, Zavir was arrested for the second time of his life. Condemned to a decade in jail, his stay in prison seemingly did not disturb the FAS activities all that much as Batraz Khan Shazadeh was still free and active and Zavir could rely on a network of inmates and corrupt guards to communicate with the outside world despite regular changes of facilities. It's while incarcerated that he met Roxolan and inducted him into the FAS with the mission of strenghtening the Front's ties with the Nomads.