Fuad bin Imran
| Position | Bey of Raziya, 785-present |
| Heritage | Sirdabi |
| Gender | Male |
| Birthdate | 25 Oniris 753 |
Fuad bin Imran is the present bey of Raziya, having been appointed to the post in 785 ND. He is the eldest son of the caliph, Imran Shadaad al-Hanif, by his senior wife Latani bint Dawla. Like all Raziyan beys, Fuad maintains his provincial court in the capital city of Omrazir.
Personality & Reputation
During his reign, Fuad Bey has earned the not entirely complimentary nickname al-Mutahafiz, "the Discreet," on account of the general feeling that he is overly secretive and taciturn, and that he keeps his own counsel too much rather than working more closely with or through Omrazir's Council of Luminaries. He tends to be deeply serious, but has been known to display a muted and almost reluctant humor when it is coaxed out of him by one of his favorites at court. But these are few, as he is not a man either to trust or to bestow his affections readily. More often he gives the appearance of an almost unbreachable aloofness, stern and remote from those around him.
Appearance
It is felt that Fuad's appearance reflects his temperament. He has a lean figure of just above average height, and carries himself with aloof dignity and a precise economy of movement. His face is long and saturnine, with a refined hooking nose and a jaw whose sharpness is not much softened by the precisely trimmed dark brown beard he wears upon it. He has the large and striking deep bronze eyes inherited from his mother, which tend to hold a distantly thoughtful and rather melancholy expression.
The Court of Fuad bin Imran
Also in keeping with his personality, the court which Fuad Bey presides over is one of genteel austerity, with little in the way of frivolity. Those courtiers who once participated in the grand revels of his predecessor Mihran Bey, or clothed themselves in the most fashionable and dazzling raiment favored by him, have had to adapt themselves to a much different scene. Etiquette and protocol are precisely observed, though without the grandiosity and extravagant ceremony favored by Mihran. Overall Fuad's is a practical and somewhat penny-pinching regime, dutifully carrying out the responsibilities of the provincial government while putting out little additional money for citywide celebrations, processions, or lavish court spectacles.
While there are still many entertainments and social gatherings at court, they are of a much more consistently refined character than in Mihran's day. Poetry is the favored pastime -- in itself small departure from Mihran's court, but with a much stronger emphasis on the quality of the verses and recitals themselves, rather than the romantic word-pictures painted of the court, the flattery showered upon the bey and his favorites, or the prettiness of the performers. This has once again had the effect of displacing many of the older courtiers from their former spheres of influence, but it has proven a great boon for the art of poetry itself, as well as for the advancement of any who can prove their talent for it.
The relative austerity of Fuad Bey's court and the withdrawn way in which the bey handles his affairs has left the hajib, Arif Abdel, with less to do than is customary. The wazir, Manu Altabari, has a somewhat more involved role overseeing the various branches of the provincial government. In contrast to the court of his father the caliph, none of Fuad's four wives are known to exert any great influence on the culture of the court or the governance of the province, and his only son, the teenage Latif, is a simpleton. Reflecting Fuad Bey's great patronage of a new generation of talented poets, his most longstanding favorite and frequent court companion is Midha 'l-Imtiyazi, the renowned female Poet of the Poets' and Calligraphers' Guild.
As it is customary for each bey's court to be given a descriptive appellation, that of Fuad Bey is officially known as the Court of Great Consequence, for its supposed attention to matters of truly serious concern as opposed to distraction by trivia and frivolities. Popularly, however, it is more often alluded to as the Court of Little Joy.