I always like when KSBD lore brings up some new tidbit of information about the Yellow City. Clearly, Vesh was not a utopia, but its Pankrator Au Vam was a principled ruler who believed in fair government, or at least that treating everyone justly and equally would result in a sense of unity he could exploit for military purposes, which is very different, but not necessarily in a meaningful way. So you have all those things he said about ruling, and his criticisms of other rulers such as Hastet Om. Every time the flavor texts give us anything about his personality or strategies, it either explicitly says "Thus did Au Vam win nearly all of his battles" or "What force could stand up to that?" as the conclusion, or implicitly gives the impression that this was a great mind, a master of strategy who was deeply knowledgable about government, warfare, and the hearts of all people. Going from the things people say about Au-Vam and the Yellow City, he seems an insurmountable powerhouse of military might and political maneuvering. "What force could stand up to that?", indeed.
The Yellow City fell in the Universal War. The Middle Army was taken over, presumably first by Jantris of the Dead Men, then by Murder The Gods And Topple Their Thrones, then by Incubus. All I read of Au Vam is his brilliance, fairness, justice, forethought. All I see of Au Vam is that he was beaten and replaced by people who had no skill nor interest beyond violence.
