Name: Daud ibn Nathan
Date of Birth: 1106
Date of Death: 1178
Gender: Male
Occupation: Trader, merchant, etc.
Specialist Skills: Polyglot, Silver-tongued, Appraiser
General Skills: Self defense, Literate, Amateur cartographer, Well connected, Learned (Jewish texts, arithmetic)
Misc: Daud's young form is ~5'6'' with a dark complexion born of his Middle Eastern background. He has tight, curly dark brown hair and brown eyes. He is fairly well built, used to lifting cargo, constantly traveling, and practicing his basic swordplay, and wears a beard which is neatly trimmed. He speaks Hebrew, Arabic, Castilian Spanish, a number of Indian dialects, Latin, and a smattering of Chinese and medieval Germanic/French/Frankish languages. In addition, Daud can read and write Hebrew, Arabic, Castilian Spanish, Latin, fewer Indian dialects, and very little Chinese.
Background: Daud ibn Nathan was born in Sura to a rabbinic family. His great grandfather studied in the Academy of the Sura Gaon, one of the two most learned men in the world from whom all Jews sought answers to their legal and religious questions. Daud's father and grandfather followed their family's tradition and entered into lives of study. While they did their best to bring Daud into the family business - teaching him the texts and traditions since he could hear - he was ultimately lured into the glamorous life of the traveling merchant. Really, it was his neighbor Muhammad who dragged Daud on his first trip outside of Sura. Muhammad's father had a trip planned to Pumbedita, where Daud's father needed to get a letter sent, so Daud volunteered to go with the local merchants.
There was no way Daud would spend the rest of his life stuck in one town mulling over thousand-year-old law codes.
After a few trips to local towns with Muhammad's family Daud joined up with a series of traders, completing two circuits of the Mediterranean Sea and a number of treks inland over the next ten years. During these travels Daud picked up a scattering of a few languages beyond his natural tongues of Hebrew and Arabic (plus written Aramaic), mostly Latin (to converse with men of authority who would grant merchants passage into their lands) and a few key phrases which work in any language (to sell to the actual patrons). He also learned a bit of basic unarmed combat and swordplay to help ward off a bandit or two, should his official note of protection not be enough to deter them.
Daud returned to his home of Sura from these apprenticeships at the age of 23 to attend his father's funeral, having missed the death of his grandfather while on his adventures. After burying his father and visiting his grandfather Daud sat for the week of mourning he felt that he had to stay in Sura. He had missed his father and grandfather's passing and, though the community would surely watch over his mother, he couldn't just leave her alone. Daud found work for a few years at a local trading house as an authenticator of goods, assuring that everything was on the up-and-up. Daud married the daughter of one of the local Rabbis and settled down for another three years before he and his wife, Rachel, decided to make a trip to Israel. Daud got a pass from the Islamic government to trade throughout the region, turning their religious trek into an economic venture.
This trip reignited the spark for exploration in Daud and he convinced Rachel to join him in trading throughout the world. The couple sold what they had in Sura, making sure that their parents were set to live, and that the community would watch after them, and left with cash and a cart down the Euphrates. They then took a boat all the way out past the reaches of the Islamic Empire, staying with Jewish communities along the way. Daud and Rachel established themselves as premier spice and silk traders, running a leg of the silk road around the coast of India. They continued to run the rout for eighteen years, before their son and daughters took over for them.
Daud and Rachel retired back to Sura to visit their families' graves and to be buried with them when the time came. Two years later Rachel died at 49. Daud never really recovered from the loss of Rachel, not retaking a job for a number of years, until, at the bris of one of his grandchildren he impressed a man in the service of the king of Castile who gave him a job in the king's palace. Daud left Sura, only to return once more at the age of 71. Daud died at the age of 72. He had met his grandchildren, seen that his children had grown into fine people, his son continuing the trade which Daud had claimed for himself. Daud died in his study, weeping over a portrait of his wife that she could not have lived to see them grow into their own with him.
Inventory: Loose red robes, slippers, a warm shawl, a golden ring, brown pants, signet rings from the housed he served
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