An early convert to Targhandism, Buan of Uzda may have been the most influential single person in the spread of the new religion throughout what was left of the Uzdumalian empire.  He was born in Uzda during the reign of Devon-Lars IV, possibly to a family connected with the priesthood of the ancient temple that was the last vestige of Uzda's former glory as the capital of the empire.  Some sources claim, however, that he was the son of a simple goatherd who drove his animals through the unpaved streets of the crumbling city every morning at dawn.  In all likelihood both these stories are later romanticizations by different Targhandist sects, and Buan's background ultimately remains obscure.

The first firm evidence for Buan in the historical record comes from the tax list compiled by Lagador II upon his ascension to the throne, which lists him as a jeweler living in the Fishnet District of Uzda and gives his age as 28.  Although the list does not specify the size of his household, we can assume from later accounts that at this point he was already married to his wife Haracti and that at least 2 of their eventual 6 children had been born.  The Fishnet District was at this point one of the more prosperous areas of the impoverished city, and a jeweler would have made a good living catering to the imperial elites visiting the temple (located in the nearby Scholars' District), so we can be rather certain that Buan was among the more well-to-do citizens of Uzda.

The first Targhandist missionaries arrived in Uzda in the fourth year of Lagador's reign.  They immediately met with significant success among the desperately poor inhabitants, and quickly became a threat to the temple and the small elite that derived its living from it.  Although Buan is not mentioned by name in any contemporary sources as being among the initial opponents of the new faith, the Targhandist tradition holds that he was one of their leaders.  Be that as it may, it is quite likely that the prosperous jeweler whose business depended on pilgrimage to the temple would have sided with the defenders of the traditional order.  A confrontation between the missionaries and their opponents in the weed-choked square in front of the temple quickly escalated into violence, and the missionaries' leader, Pernitos, was killed in the scuffle, along with several of the newly converted Uzdans.  This was a major setback for Targhandist proselytizing in the heartland of the empire, and the missionaries quickly withdrew from the area, taking with them many of their new converts.  These converts, mostly destitute beggers and prostitutes with little keeping them in Uzda, underwent extensive religious instruction in the more heavily Targhandized eastern provinces and formed the core of the second wave of missionary activity in the core Uzdumalian areas.  They are referred to in Targhandist sources as the Knights of St. Pernitos (who had been canonized after his martyrdom), though their adversaries called them the Knights of the Gutter.

The second wave of proselytizing didn't hit Uzda until Lagador's eighth year, and it was then that Buan stepped fully into the spotlight of history.  When the Knights gathered in the temple square to preach, the city elites, who thought they had extinguished the Targhandist threat forever in the previous encounter, were outraged and sent Buan to deal with them.  When he reached the square, however, he recognized one of the leading missionaries as Ghizni, an Uzdan woman he had known in his youth.  How exactly he knew her is left curiously unmentioned in the sources, but given the backgrounds of most of the missionary women it is not too difficult to hazard a guess.  When Buan saw Ghizni, he is said to have "exclaimed with joy and immediately accepted the Word of Targhand as the sole source of light in the life of the world" according to the Chronicle of the Life of Targhand and the Spread of His Glorious Word, one of the earliest and most reliable Targhandist histories.  Later Targhandist sources expand this episode into a lengthy and highly implausible story in which Buan's (much longer and more dogmatic) exclamation is miraculously heard by all the citizens of Uzda, who are immediately convinced to convert to Targhandism and turn the old temple into a Targhandist shrine.  As satisfying as this story is for the orthodox account of the spread of Targhandism, however, it is much more likely that Buan's conversion, formalized by his initiation by Ghizni in the tent that the Knights had set up on the square for that purpose, was only the first and most important step in the longer process of turning Uzda from the most important city of the old religion to one of the main centers of the new one.  It is quite possible, however, that the story of Buan and Haracti being the last people to be initiated in the tent contains a grain of truth, as archaeological evidence shows that the transformation of the temple into a shrine capable of hosting initiations was quite rapid, and after gaining such an important new convert the Knights may have wanted to capitalize immediately on his influence with the temple elites.

The conversion of Uzda, however long it took, was certainly complete by Lagador's death in his tenth regnal year and the accession of his incompetent son Lagador III, for one of Lagador III's first acts in office was to issue a proclamation decrying the "abandonment of our sacred traditions by those charged with preserving them" and calling for a revival of the old religion focused on the temple of the capital, which had previously been a distant second to that of Uzda in wealth and prestige.  He also ordered the Third Army to march on Uzda to reinforce imperial control, which had been slipping precariously as Targhandist inroads were quickly accompanied by strong political influence by the now de facto independent eastern provinces, which he (rightly) saw as a major threat to his political position.  In what was rapidly becoming a common problem, however, the soldiers mutinied and refused to go to Uzda, and when an infuriated Lagador rushed out personally to berate them he was subject to such alarming hostility that he quickly retreated to the safety of his palace.  When General Ulitos, commander of the Third Army, finally got the mutiny under control (largely by waiting for the most serious troublemakers to desert), he ordered half of his rapidly dwindling force back into the capital and the other half to guard the Air-Palace of Leontalos.  These were considerably safer assignments than a march on Uzda, at least for the time being, and even the most disgruntled of the remaining soldiers acquiesced.  Although Lagador was outraged at first at the failure of his plan, Ulitos was able to convince him that this was the safest way to deal with the troubles in the army.

What Lagador didn't know, however, was that Ulitos was sympathetic to the Targhandists in Uzda and had been in contact with Buan, by now the effective ruler of the city, throughout this incident.  The general was well-aware that his actions could only lead sooner or later to the fall of the capital, and thus the entire empire, to Targhandist forces from the east.  As it turned out, this didn't happen for quite some time, owing largely to the death of Targhand and the collapse in the price of sugar that devastated the economies of the eastern provinces and left them unable to undertake any major military action for quite some time.

Buan remained the leader of Uzda for the rest of his life, and presided over its transition from Uzdumalian holy city to Targhandist center of learning.  His role in international politics gradually decreased, however, and by the end of his life he was totally engrossed in petty local concerns.  He died at the age of sixty-seven of a severe heart attack, and was succeeded by his eldest son Harbu.

See also:

Air-Palace of Leontalos

Harbu of Uzda

Sugar