Abu al-Khilafa Abbas as-Saifullah ibn Saul ibn Mahmud Al Fars
Abu al-Khilafa was the first Caliph since the Shattering, claiming the restoration of the Caliphate following his conquests after the return of the Express in the 44th millennium.
Born in the year 4274, Abu al-Khalifa's birth was a fortuitous one. Many signs were pointing towards him having a bright and consequential life. How many of these stories are tales spun many years after the fact is unknown, as his popularity and influence surged to such heights that he seemed as if destined for greatness.
After the return of the Express at the very beginning of the 44th century, Abu al-Khilafa was among the first to know. His innate connection to the World of Souls gave him foreknowledge of its reopening. Using this knowledge, Abu al-Khilafa gathered to him his followers and what resources they had and set out onto the Express in secret. Straying to far away, long weakened systems and to the "rural" comet civilizations, he gradually grew his forces into a wave which could overwhelm those cast-off planets.
To planets which had not seen interstellar warfare in centuries or millennia, or which had only seen the limited sort which one could expect over such long timeframes as were necessary without the express, a fleet the size of Abu al-Khilafa's would have seemed surreal to those on the ground. Many populations submitted at the sight of the warlord's posse, although his alleged silver-tongue would smooth out many negotiations with hesitant planets and resistant comet-kin. The dismantling of planetary defenses and the establishment of friendly stations in orbit would assure loyalty in most cases.
Planets which would not submit were bombarded, and alliances were made with sympathetic factions planetside in order to subdue resistance. With the advanced weaponry from the Sol system and a divided status of multiple aligned states on the planet, the station above with the spared ships at its disposal was typically enough to satisfy. The tendency to allow the local factions to largely govern themselves and conduct their own interstate politics, provided they forfeit tribute, helped to maintain security. The loose authority of the orbital station would, over time, lead to planetary requests for arbitration- thereby cementing its lawful power and integrating the planet into the empire.
Planetary factions which opposed Abu al-Khilafa would be subdued, brutally if necessary, and their population enslaved. Usually only a small portion of those involved in active resistance or young men in general, on extreme occasions, often after very long or very bloody planetary conflict, the entire populations of whole countries and nations were sold into slavery. The shock of such actions, followed by the extreme power and population vacuums caused by them, would leave the planet volatile and more concerned with terrestrial matters than with the orbital station above them. Usually many of those enslave would remain on the planet, often as rewards for those who helped the Caliphate. However these slaves could also prove useful as negotiation tools with new contacts elsewhere- prove of the boons of empire. Additionally, many slaves would find themselves applied to work on the ships of the Caliph's fleet, thereby empowering his forward momentum. More than a few of these slaves would find an avenue for advancement on these ships, a notable example being Abd Rabbuh.
Most of this rapid expansion by Abu al-Khilafa would take place over the course of 35 years, after which he would spend most of his time touring his new empire and tying it together. Never did he set his sights onto Sol, for even with the fleet which he gathered, the circumstances which developed would not have permitted him to be victorious. Abu al-Khilafa's foreknowledge of the reopening of the Express was one of his greatest strengths. Thus, it was also one of his greatest secrets. Abu al-Khilafa, as often as he could, would attack with overwhelming force and as one, and so he tried to disallow his captains from raiding by themselves into new systems- thereby alerting planets and giving them time to prepare. The arrival of these ships would also alert them to the reopening of the Express, thus starting a cascading chain of knowledge which Abu al-Khilafa has sought to prevent. Whether by this chain or from their own, independent, realizations, Sol began its own journey back onto the Express. Aside from beginning to rebuild an empire once again centered upon themselves, their rivals would probably unite with them in order to fight off a bigger threat if news reached them of Abu al-Khilafa's advance. That aside, Sol and the rest of Humanity's core was strikingly different from the fringes out of which the Caliphate had been formed. They were much more advanced, both scientifically and politically. Such a campaign might have done nothing more than to break the teeth of the Caliphate and thereby throw its political order into disarray, killing it while still in its cradle.
The legacy of Abu al-Khilafa is a mixed one. Within the Caliphate he is near universally revered. Meanwhile elsewhere there is at least a modicum respect held for him. Yet his reputation as a great warlord and prolific slaver. Truly he did displace countless individuals and uproot entire nations, yet not all was sob awful. Many of the planets which he visited were seriously deteriorated from their past days when Humanity was whole. More than a few were largely barbaric, some reduced to wastelands wherein the inhabitants were left to fight over the few and sparse resources. For these planets, the Caliphate provided an uplifting, truly unique, experience- especially seeing that slavery was often commonplace on such planets anyhow.
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