Mihran Barassa ibn Anshar (733-785, r. as bey 766-785) was the younger half-brother of the current caliph, Imran Shadaad al-Hanif, being the son of the previous caliph and another one of his wives. Only a few years apart in age, the two brothers were always close, and Mihran had been a key player in supporting Imran's accession as the next caliph. Even before this event, Mihran was rewarded for his loyalty with his appointment as bey of Raziya in 766, when the previous bey (Fiyaz) was removed and executed for treason after apparently having conspired with another of Imran's half-brothers to murder Imran and assume the caliphal seat himself.
Although Mihran had always been fond of luxury, he was also known as a patron of the arts and a supporter of public works, and had a generally positive reputation as clever, cultured, and a good organizer (this last trait in particular having been useful in supporting his brother). Consequently few were surprised to see him appointed the bey of Raziya after Fiyaz, and expectations for him were tolerably if not extravagantly high.
Mihran was fortunate to preside over a rather peaceful period in the history of Omrazir and Raziya, and in the caliphate as a whole. He was unfortunate in proving himself rather less able to handle prosperity than adversity. His first few years as bey were productive, as he did a great deal to reorganize the provincial government and its finances, and cut back on the rather bloated military that had been Fiyaz's pride. With this done, revenue was freed up to introduce numerous public improvements (for one, Mihran had the irrigation works around the Tamrasset retrenched and expanded) and educational programs, as well as to restore the court to its former place at the center of Raziyan cultural life. Then, freed from any notable threats, supported by able advisors on all sides, and overseeing a government rendered much more efficient by his own efforts, Mihran settled in to enjoy his rule over a domain of renewed prosperity.
Which, as everyone knows, he did rather excessively well. While still funding a number of useful projects, Raziya's increased revenues were also used to support an ever-expanding amount of ostentation, luxurious living, and favors for supporters and sycophants. The extravagant banquets and entertainments for which Mihran became particularly renowned did provide employment and patronage for a great many poets, singers, musicians, and ornamentally lovely women and men from across Raziya and beyond, and their leavings furnished a literal taste of luxury for the masses. Corruption and bribery flowed as freely as proscribed wine, and increased taxes and duties ensured that money flowed just as plentifully towards the coffers of the court in order to pay for it.
During this time there were few disturbances great enough to detract from the pursuit of pleasure, at least until the late years of Mihran's governership, when rumblings from the Idiri interior about the Augur of Endings began to reach the province, and the Quicksand Debacle (782-784) soured relations between the Kalentoi Empire and the caliphate. In the case of the latter incident, although Raziya had no direct involvement in the Debacle, subsequent changes in Cadenzan trade policy served to divert the grand duchy's commerce away from the merchant ships of the freshly-despised Sirdabi -- which, naturally, negatively impacted many Raziyan merchants who had been accustomed to trade with their near-neighbor for generations. The Debacle did, on the other hand, greatly increase the role of Volusian (and especially Marpagnan) shipping between Cadenza and the Caliphate, which largely replaced Sirdabi shipping interests after this period. Luckily (or not) for Mihran Bey, the untimely end of his governorship meant that he avoided the local unrest that came with the general reallocation of business and wealth away from many of the old Sirdabi trading dynasties, and towards "upstart" Sirdabi merchant families and Volusians instead, whose communities have grown in size and prosperity since that time.
When in 795 Mihran, at the relatively young age of 52, died of what was officially recorded as acute dyspepsia, this came to the surprise of virtually nobody. There were of course the usual pernicious rumors of poison, but they bey's dissipated lifestyle and notorious health problems ensured that these were fairly readily dismissed. At the time there was in fact a prevailing sense of relief, since the extravagances of the bey had grown to exert a rather oppressive weight upon the province through the heavy taxation used to fund them. As at least some segments of society have felt their own discontent with Fuad Bey grow over the fifteen years of his own tenure, the rumors of poison have occasionally been whispered around anew -- Fuad and his uncle, unsurprisingly, were said to not get along terribly well -- but even so they have still failed to gain wide currency.
The families that tended most strongly to support Mihran were those with the closest ties to the provincial court, as he made himself popular among them by doling out favors and patronage with a very lavish hand. A great many people in the lower echelons of society also were devoted to him on account of the money and gifts that would be handed out in the streets in celebration of one festive occasion after another. Their devotion was also a product of the fact that Mihran throughout his tenure continued to support education for the masses, not only funding and establishing schools in rural areas, but also working with the Poets' Guild to send scouts across the city and province -- and even beyond -- in search of new talent (although, unlike in Fuad's court, "talent" was just as often taken to mean personal beauty and a gift for flattering the bey and his court). The people who most intensely disliked Mihran were those belonging to the middle strata of society: the small and middling merchants, artisans, various scholars, qadis, and other intellectuals, and others who bore the brunt of the taxes while receiving few of the benefits. Orthodox Azadi also frowned on Mihran for the immorality and greed of his court and those most closely associated with him.
In the time of Fuad extravagant gifts to both courtiers and the poor have become fewer (one probably very conscious exception has recently been seen in the case of the recent marriage of the hajib's niece), and though the rural schools remain funded the salaries for instructors have been reduced from the (once again rather extravagant) levels of Mihran's time. This has made it difficult for many of these schools to find and keep teachers, since the most qualified individuals typically prefer not to be stationed out in remote areas across Raziya. The reduction of the soldiery has also gradually led to a resurgence of banditry in the remote parts of the province (and also an increase in the traditional petty border disputes with Amunat), contributing to the sense of many residents of these areas that they have been abandoned since Mihran's death. Grand public works have also been fewer, and there is certainly less pomp and ceremony around Omrazir itself. Such deficiencies have fostered a nostalgia among certain segments of the population for "the golden days" of Mihran Bey, but a great many other people look back on that time with a pronounced sense of Good Riddance!
