Khalid on Threshold

Not Another Elf....

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Khalid on Threshold

Threshold is a rather unique mud - a lot of experienced players in a strict roleplaying environment. To visit Threshold's home page, click the "Threshold" link at the bottom of the page. That's where you'll find the Threshold MURPE webring, too. If you'd like a Windows 95 help file for Thresh, click here

Still, Khalid has managed to learn a bit and and he continues to grow. In his own words:

Forgive me, those of you who may read this - my facility with your language is still imperfect. Though time is passing since I came to your city, it is not yet enough to render my thoughts with the precision I prefer.

I was born in Ot, a land far to the southeast, some 25 years ago. My parents served the caliph (indeed, who did not?) as librarians, cataloging his ever growing and enormous collection of scrolls, bound volumes, and folios. Among my earliest memories are those of playing midst the piles and stack shelves, and the smell of old parchment sometimes returns me to those innocent days.....but I digress.

In a time and place like this, it is not surprising that a young elf would gravitate to a life of study and scholarship. And so I did. The bookbinders and copyists grew accustomed to the small child crawling though their workrooms, and with (in retrospect) the greatest tolerance encouraged my explorations. The mages, diplomats, clerics, and linguists who researched and cataloged there were no less tolerant, though more reserved. I suppose I became well known, then - the elven child who asked incessant questions, who always looked puzzled.

The court's familiarity with me served my parents well, and they advanced and prospered in the library. No hint of scandal or adventure disturbed their lives, and I suppose they are there still, perhaps more saddened now, perhaps wiser that even the most placid pool may be troubled by a stray stone.

At 12, the diplomat Sharif al-Shaarim took me under his wing, and proposed that I become his clerk. My parents were thrilled, and I thought a diplomatic life would offer me the finest of sensual pleasures to complement the mental challenges and chances for advancement it offered. In this it seemed I was not mistaken my life became more luxurious, and I began to learn the diplomatic skills I longed to master.

By the time I was 23, I had become disenchanted with diplomacy..the endless tedium of negotiation, the boring round of parties, the endless rewriting and drafting of meaningless trade agreements. When I was offered a position on a trade mission to Sable, I accepted with reluctance, but was quietly pleased at a chance to learn more of the world firsthand. The party arrived here some months ago, after a journey that lasted over a year.

I do not know what happened. We were received at the Palace, shown to our rooms, and I fell asleep in the most comfortable bed I had ever occupied. I awoke in an alley..alone, bleeding, and afraid. The Palace refused to admit me...not surprising considering my filthy and disheveled appearance. More frighteningly, they professed no knowledge of the trade mission, or the other members of the party. I have searched for them, fruitlessly, since.

Through providence or the gods I found this guild, and the ability to earn a living copying texts. As I have here, the lure of magick applied slowly brought me to a point of change. My old life is gone - no one knows of Ot, of the date palm groves, the perfumed fountains, the souks and blue tiled temples. My old skills are almost worthless, and so I have embarked on a career in magic. There is a freedom and a terror in this change, but fortunately I have met several people willing to aid a poor foreign mage in his quest for knowledge and skill.

It is my dream, now, to understand the workings of the universe - of the gods, fate and the stars. I seek others of like mind - that we may someday have an association devoted to inquiry, that we may apply our findings as they develop. Good and evil, dark and light - we live within their grasp. Our challenge is to fully comprehend our lives, and then to turn that comprehension to our ends.

I thank you, sirs and ladies, for your time. May the coming years bring you knowledge and wealth....and may you be someday blessed to hear the mockingbird sing with oud, under the southern stars.

Khalid ibn-Saphir

This Threshold Murpe Ring site is owned by Khalid. Want to join the Threshold Murpe Ringe?
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Last modified on Thursday, March 17, 1998. (c) 1997-1998 Greg Burton. All Rights Reserved.