I'm not good with names for the region this character is from, so if I do a bad thing... help me make it not a bad thing.

EDIT: By the way, is sorcery a thing at present date? The page on Maraboutism mentions them being magicians. If it is, I'd like Izem to know some very basic magic of some kind. Perhaps some control over fire, as typical as that is?

[hider=Izem ibn Tarif]
[b]Name:[/b] Izem ibn Tarif

[b]Age and Gender:[/b] 24, male

[b]Appearance:[/b] Izem is a tall young Berber man wearing a simple but well-made robe. He has a full beard, bright brown eyes, and an easygoing look. He's a little plump and definitely eats well, but a quick look at his arms shows he's strong, though not Herculean.

Izem has a leather satchel stuffed with books, a light backpack with a bedroll, various traveling supplies on his belt, and a well-made Suevian falcata dangling from his sash.

[hider=Picture][center][img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/3a/40/ea/3a40ea0ff64d518222ad24cf38550e5c.jpg[/img][/center][/hider]

[hider=Izem's Falcata][center][img]http://www.algonet.se/~enda/images/jt_falcata.jpg[/img][/center][/hider]

[b]Culture and Religion:[/b] Berber, Maraboutism

[b]Backstory:[/b] As the fifteenth son of a virile Mauretanian warlord, Izem had no real hopes of possessing any real authority among his people. His brothers, uncles and cousins were already vying for as much power as they could obtain, whether it be control of the people or control of the warriors, so Izem felt it wisest to separate himself from those squabbles. He wanted to live a long life.

Since Izem was a healthy youth, he was schooled at an early age in swordplay and warfare. He took faster to books than to battle, however, and expressed an interest in becoming a Marabout. He was educated by those storytellers of his people. The stories he learned were a mixture of the old ways and of Islam's teachings, and he became very familiar with both of those worlds, hearing of both distant lands and close lands. He drank from this font of knowledge as much as he could.

When that was done, the young prince approached his father again, expressing a desire to go to one of these places told of in the stories: Hispania. Izem had heard stories of the splendor of their cities, much larger and grander than Marrakech or Sijilmasa, and he knew it was not far from his home. Eventually, after much arguing, his father relented, but warned him not to let himself be changed by the place. Izem was fourteen.

Izem spent the next several years in and around Qurtubah, studying science, history, and really any subject he could. He knew better than to speak of magic, and he studied the tenets of Ilm Islam though he did not embrace it (even if he pretended to do so).

Izem enjoyed a strange feeling in Hispania: it hardly mattered that he was a chief's son whereas it was a matter of much discussion and interest in Mauretania. He felt liberated, like shackles around his feet had been cut away. It was a good feeling.

While Izem returned to Mauretania every year for Ramadan, he came back to stay at twenty-two years of age, having learned Latin, Arabic, complex mathematics and much more while abroad. At home, though, he felt stifled. Even though he was traveling the Dunes once again, he felt like he wasn't going anywhere, like he was only seeing things he had already seen. So, over the next couple years he prepared himself for a journey abroad, careful to keep it a secret from his father, who believed Izem would stay in Mauretania to an adviser to one of his brothers.

About a year after he began his preparations, Izem was back in Hispania. He equipped himself with a sword he bought from a Suevian merchant and set off someplace new and different: Toletum.

Izem is a scholar, priest and prince searching for a means of making a living while on the road. After all, a Marabout should wander rather than remain in one place. He is a capable enough swordsman, highly educated in science and history, and he speaks three languages (the Berber tongues, Latin and Arabic). With such skills at his disposal, he believes he can find easy employment as a mercenary or find a band of adventurers looking for another sword arm. He tries not to reveal his bloodline to strangers, both because he does not want perceptions of him to be skewed and because he feels it could prove disadvantageous to him.

[/hider]