Faramarz

Faramarz was a historical figure in the Great Red Sand, Sumeru, who lived sometime after the death of King Deshret.

He was the son of the King Badanah and the prince of several city-states which existed in the Great Red Sand. He conspired with his lover Makhaira, who was also his father's concubine, to assassinate the obese king. Although they succeeded, the ensuing political turmoil eventually led Faramarz to assassinate Makhaira himself, while he was exiled to Dharma Forest and met an unknown fate.

He was the creator and wielder of Light of Foliar Incision.

Story

Faramarz was born to King Badanah, who united several city-states in the Great Red Sand including Tulaytullah and Saleh,^[4] and was first in line to inherit the kingdom.^[3] indulged in food, wine, hunting, and conquest, and gathered a harem of concubines which included the sword dancer Makhaira.^[5][6]

Both Faramarz and Makhaira foresaw that Badanah's rule would lead the kingdom to its destruction. The two met each other during nighttime to plot Badanah's assassination, and during that time became lovers.^[5] They drew up a plan to use the Badanah's love for hunting to lure him into a trap; based on various accounts related to Badanah's death, they used his falcon to lead him into a structurally unstable tower, which then collapsed under the obese king's weight and sent him plummeting to his doom.^[5][6] Following Badanah's death, the tower was destroyed and the hunting falcons were killed to be buried with the king.^[3]

Ascension and Troubled Reign

With his father dead, Faramarz ascended the throne as the new king. However, his reign was a tumultuous one.^[6]

Due to his relatively young age, Makhaira became the queen-regent and took a more active role of meeting with their retainers to discuss the affairs of state. For unknown reasons, Faramarz abdicated for a first time in favor of his uncle Balash, the master of Tulaytullah, and moved to the Emerald Palace. Another of his uncles, Goraz, then raised an army against Balash to reinstate Faramarz. While Goraz was successful and Balash was implied to have died in the conflict, Faramarz was moved back to the Emerald Palace while Goraz and Makhaira ruled as co-regents. This eventually led to Goraz usurping Faramarz entirely, taking the throne for himself with Makhaira as his queen and exiling Faramarz.^[3]

Balash's earlier deposition did not sit well with the nobles of Tulaytullah, who rose up in revolt in response. Goraz was slain and Makhaira offered the rebels his head to appease them. Faramarz was reinstated for a second time, only for the people of Saleh to rise up themselves in hopes of gaining independence and reestablishing their original Khaganate. Once again, Makhaira appeased them.^[3]

Another twelve of Faramarz's uncles proceeded to each vie for the throne, leading to a protracted war. Although Faramarz eventually emerged victorious and took the throne for a fourth time, he grew wary of Makhaira's penchant for aligning with whoever best served her interest towards the throne and assassinated her with a viper's venom.^[3][6] Sometime afterwards, a conspiracy forced Faramarz into exile one last time, and he departed for Dharma Forest.

Exile to the Forest

With the little wealth he had remaining, Faramarz departed for Dharma Forest, hoping to conquer it. However, he often encountered a huntress wielding a white bow — likely Hunter's Path, a relic of the woods^[7] — and was repelled time and time again. She issued him a warning, which he chose to ignore: "You belong to neither the forest nor death, so stay far from the king's palace." After several years of this routine, he encountered the "teachings of death" and came to understand the huntress' warning, but decided to embrace his fate and died in the woods, metaphorically described as being "accepted by the beneficient dream."^[6][8]

Trivia

• Based on the description of his manner of death, it is likely that Faramarz succumbed to The Withering or another Abyss-related force.
• Faramarz's story seems to be mainly based on the Sasanian king Kavad I, who was the nephew of the king Balash.
  • Goraz is named after Shahran-Guraz, one of the two characters in the Shahnameh named after and based on Shahrbaraz; Goraz usurping the throne from Faramarz is likely referencing Shahrbaraz's usurpation of the Sasanian throne from Ardashir III.
    • Goraz's character is also inspired by Sukhra, a Sasanian nobleman and another uncle of Kavad I who was the main orchestrator of Balash's disposal.
• Faramarz may be partially based on the Parthian king Phraates IV who, like Faramarz killing his father Badanah, Phraates IV had also killed his father Orodes II. He was usurped by Tiridates II of Parthia, possibly relating to Goraz or one of the many other unnamed uncles of Faramarz that participated in the war for the throne.
  • A few parts of the Old Blind Poet's story mirrors that of the Parthian nobleman Monaeses, who fled from the Parthian court after Phraates IV had killed his father, similarly to the Old Blind Poet fleeing from the court of Tulaytullah after Faramarz's assassination of his father.
  • The Old Blind Poet's role of general under Badanah could possibly have been based on Suren, a Parthian spahbed famously known for having defeated the Romans at the Battle of Carrhae under the rulership of Orodes II.
• Faramarz's relationship with Makhaira while still in a youthful age,^[9] might be about Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator and Ptolemy XIV Philopator, two young co-rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, who ruled alongside their elder sister Cleopatra (whom Makhaira is based on.)

Etymology

• Like several other historical figures mentioned in the Vaguely-Readable Inscriptions, the name Faramarz is derived from a character in the Shahnameh, an epic about Persian mythological history. In the Shahnameh, Faramarz is the son of the hero Rostam who is killed by Kay Bahman.

Other Languages

Language	Official Name
English	Faramarz
Chinese (Simplified)	法拉玛兹 Fǎlāmǎzī
Chinese (Traditional)	法拉瑪茲 Fǎlāmǎzī
Japanese	ファラマーツ Faramaatsu
Korean	파라마즈 Paramajeu
Spanish	Faramarz
French	Faramarz
Russian	Фарамарз Faramarz
Thai	Faramarz
Vietnamese	Faramarz
German	Faramarz
Indonesian	Faramarz
Portuguese	Faramarz
Turkish	Faramarz
Italian	Faramarz

Change History

References