Tariq al-Khibaz
Player: Quinton Laughman
Moorish, Venturer, Level-2
Tariq al-Khibaz grew up on the island of Yabisah (Ibiza) in the Balearic Islands during the Almoravid dynasty. Born in 1093, Tariq was a mozarab under Berber Muslim rule. His parents operated a tavern right on the waterfront, so Tariq was raised on tales from Berber pirates and traveling merchants. Tariq’s mother, Yamina, ran the hostelry and bar while his father, Hazim, ran the kitchen. Tariq had a knack for cooking and his father soon gave him the responsibility for making all the baked goods. Tariq’s abidar and bisteya became well-loved among the locals and sailors. His family practiced their Roman Catholicism in private but the local Berber authorities did not actively persecute Christians.
In 1110, King Sigurd I of Norway invaded the islands on his way to the crusades in Jerusalem. During this attack, his family’s tavern, The Crow’s Nest, was destroyed by Greek fire from a Norse ship killing both his parents. With only his father’s cookbook and the clothes on his back, Tariq joined on with merchant ships and the occasional pirate. He traveled all over the Mediterranean learning the mercantile trade and some less lawful skills. After a decade on the sea, Tariq wanted to set up roots somewhere. While trading with some Swedes, he found passage to the New World as their ship’s cook. Landing in Thorsburg, Tariq did what he could to survive and made a decent life for himself. He never truly felt at home with the Scandinavian pagans that surrounded him and decided to venture towards the Christian land of Nessex. Tariq boarded a trading vessel going to Kingston, but a storm blew it off course and it shipwrecked near the mouth of the Great King Godwin River. He traveled the woods of Dublinshire and Jorvikshire following the river north. He got a feel for the land and became a good hunter. He would also buy supplies in one town to sell in another, gaining him a bit of wealth. When he arrived in Jorviksburg he found a man trying unsuccessfully to haggle for grain for his family. Tariq stepped in and helped the man get a deal that would get them through the winter. That man was none other than Handsome Steve, who invited Tariq with him back to Worm’s Ferry.
Tariq took the man up on the offer and lived with a neighboring family in Worm’s Ferry called the Wolfgangs. He baked for them as payment for room and board until he won two hides of land north of town from Brother Riley in a game of checkers. There he setup a frontier with a cottage, barn, and a low stone fence. Tariq boards travelers in the extra rooms of his cottage and runs a bakery out of his kitchen. He has recently started courting the oldest of the Beverly daughters, Isolde.
Soon, his expanded trading post and inn known as the The Dragon's Codpiece and Wayfarer's Rest will be open.