Name: Zarid Kamali

Occupation: Noble, merchant, Master of Waters

Actual Age/Apparent Age: 55/25

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Heterosexual, at least publicly

Race/Species: Human, enhanced/enchanted

Appearance:

Zarid appears as though he was crafted for his role, as indeed he was through application of mysterious arts. The man that emerged from his sojourn deep into the wastes was still recognizably the young man that entered but was taller, larger-framed and endowed with even greater power. He stands three inches above six feet with a toned body befitting an athlete, dark eyes, with hair and beard that have remained so dark over the decades that one would think them dyed were it not for the still-young features that accompanied them.

His attire is rich befitting his wealth and station, loose for comfort and accessorized with various baubles he generally pays little attention to, of no more import than an individual stitch in one of his garments. Zarid moves as though he belongs wherever he steps and speaks in a clear deep voice as one who is used to being obeyed within his domains.



Personality:

Zarid believes in power, in its acquisition and preservation. He positions for it through wealth and influence, each pillar building upon the other. There is no known end-goal for this accumulation beyond the power itself for himself and his House, and fulfilling whatever desires come to mind.

In most interactions he comes across as personable, even kind and generous, rarely cruel...though stories exist of particularly irksome family enemies vanishing or being delivered along with a bucket of jewels to the Sisters and remade in body as well as mind, returned upon completion to serve the Kamali estate.

He can be vain and flattered, taking it as a sign of his due and graciously accepted, sometimes leading to more favorable terms allowing him to demonstrate his great wealth, but woe to those who might seek too great advantage from his good graces.

Abilities/Skills:

As a noble head of his house and member of the City Council, Zarid is an adept politician. No firebrand, just quietly joining this coalition or that to accomplish things, giving and banking favors, working for the greater good - and his own position as indispensable to achieving it. He is willing to agree to proposals that may cause his own direct interests short term harm, using that as a lever for greater later successes.

Inheriting an already wealthy trading house, Zarid would not have had to do much to remain rich. Rather than simply stockpile his wealth, he continually reinvests and over the decades has further expanded the house business empire, trading and owning establishments in numerous places across the world, though centered in Al-Jalasa. He takes chances knowing not all will pan out but the profits from one can cover multiple failures.

Both business and politics have fostered his interest in and skill at reading others, finding people endlessly fascinating in their simultaneous capacity for greatness and deep foibles.

The Arcane:

Zarid Kamili, like his forefathers, is very publicly a wizard, a skill set vital to the maintenance of the protections in the fountains and water supplies of the city in his role as Master of Waters. While his knowledge is broad, he is most adept at wards, bindings, and the undoing of the same. He also has some skill in alchemical concoctions.

In addition to his sorcery, he himself was transformed and imbued with power in his time in the wastelands. There are rumors of pacts and conflicts with various djinn, but he does not discuss the matter. He is as he is and that is what matters, not how the feat was accomplished.

There are several aspects that are publicly known. First, his obvious physical changes, the transformation of a reasonably fit young man into a chiseled veritable titan. Second, the stability of that new form, the muscles that remain even in a largely soft life, the body and face that age perhaps one year in ten.

Third is especially well known in Al-Jalasa and across the deserts from when he expanded several routes himself. Zarid can sense water, sussing it out better than any dowser or beast of burden. Further he can sense poison and impurities, an ability of further aid in his role in city administration and one that makes him a popular dinner guest.

History:

As the only acknowledged son of his father, Zarid was always slated to take his place as head of the family, a role he was groomed for since birth, trained in skills mundane and mystical, proving an adept student in both realms. He was given more and more responsibility as he got older, learning different aspects of the house businesses and traveling to various locales.

In his early twenties on a return trip to Al-Jalasa, he sent the rest of the caravan along its way home and set out alone into the great wastes. He returned to the city nine moons later, transformed. He continued to serve as his father's second for another decade before his father passed and Zarid took up the mantle of Lord Kamali. Since then he has grown in the role and in power drop by drop.

Other information:

As head of House Kamili and a prosperous merchant to boot, Zarid has a place on Al-Jalasa's City Council, as well as a role in the administration as Master of Waters, overseeing the construction and maintenance of the city’s various public wells, fountains and cisterns as well as the city owned and operated bath houses.

House Kamili also operates more upscale private bath houses along with other businesses and property and trade in almost all things imaginable and some potentially unfathomable. The far flung operations are frequently overseen by various relations, though some unrelated competent individuals run others. Of course, as in many family businesses, even those enterprises nominally run by a family member are really kept afloat by skilled assistants and managers working beneath them.

In his personal life Zarid is not shy with his wealth, believing you generally get what you pay for, and visible expressions of his wealth add to the image. He seeks to hire the best and expects things done well. His renovated estate is well constructed, staffed by the best servants he can hire, the best slaves he can purchase. They are all expressions of his wealth and power and he values them as such.

He often travels about the city during the day, inspecting wells and fountains, casually seeding more coins in his passing. A careful observer might note that rather than dropping in a few more ostentatious gold or silver coins, Zarid spreads more numerous copper, knowing both that such is more easily spread among the many orphans and that more coins seen is more encouragement for others to add to. Many of the workers under the Master of Waters are of course Grown, helping to keep the cycle going.