Talaq

Talaq was once an Assamite warrior who has been turned into a mortal again through mysterious means. He was, for a long time, the ruler of Petra.

Biography
Talaq was part of the Nabatean people and lived during the Roman conquest under Trajan. In the last battle before the Nabateans yielded to Rome, Talaq distinguished himself by killing a dozen warriors singlehandedly. This impressed a nearby Assamite, who decided to Embrace the human and took him to Alamut for further training.

While Talaq quickly made a name for himself, he was still bitter over the defeat of his people against the Romans. Against the wishes of the Eldest, he turned against the Roman Empire and its eastern successor, the Byzantine Empire, in numerous daring raids. During the Third Crusade, Talaq crossed ways with the Nosferatu Alexius, who managed to defeat him. Enraged, Talaq searched for the Nosferatu and allied himself with its childe, Khalid al-Rashid, who searched for Alexius out of his own interests. While the two had to part ways without success, they remained in subtle contact.

His defeat through Alexius' hands let Talaq reconsider his unlife. He traveled into Jordania, searching for remnants of the Nabateans. He found a single tribe, the Naba, who were comprised mostly from Nabatean stock. After eliminating those racial elements who were not of Nabatean blood, Talaq revealed himself to his people, proclaiming himself a god of their ancestors who had come to lead them back to glory. He then lead the tribe to the city of Petra, which they reclaimed as their headquarter. From that moment on, Talaq led a dangerous triple life. Posing as an Assamite loyal to Alamut, reassembling his people and continuing his vendetta against Rome and the Setites Talaq believed to be guilty of the conquest of his homeland. This led him to back the turkish invasion of Egypt in 1260, where the Mamluks made Egypt their satellite states and the Setites were on the run.

Talaq believed that it was necessary to break the hold of vampirism over him and searched for ways to counter the curse. His search led him to a jewish magician, Maimonides, thanks to his contacts with Khalid. In 1515, the mage and the vampire came to an agreement. Maimonides would lift the curse from Talaq and grant him longevity and Talaq would use his influence to force Suleiman the Magnificent to do two things: erecting a wall around the Old Quarter of Jerusalem and pledging himself to protect the city. While Talaq was suspicious of the deal, since he stood to gain much more than Maimonides, he agreed. Maimonides ritual, however, delivered him not only from vampirism, but allowed him to retain some of its benefits.

Talaq then feigned his death to Alamut, pretending to have been destroyed in battle between the Mamluks and the Ottomans. Continuing to guide his people, Talaq made sure that Petras location remained a secret. In 1812, the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhard, explored the region around Petra and was killed by a Nabatean patrol. This rekindled interest in the location and soon, Talaq was forced to sacrifice 300 of his best warriors to make the ottoman authorities believe that the tribe responsible for Burckhard's murder was wiped out. His former Clan, however, investigated and found that Talaq was not only alive, but had been transformed back into a mortal. This began a long period of conflict between the Assamites and Talaq, which was soon added by the Setites, who had learned of Talaq's existence through the interrogation of a captured Assamite.

Knowing that he had to take drastic measure, Talaq posed as the Hashemite Hussein Ibn Ali, killing the original in 1878. Working to ensure Arabic independence during World War I, Talaq led a rebellion alongside his sons. When Transjordan achieved independence in 1946, Assamites killed its leader, hoping to force Talaq out of hiding so that they could finish him off. Talaq took the place of Talal, one of the sons of the deceased king, and made himself ruler over Jordan. Stepping down after Talal's son was appointed his successor in 1952, Talaq again retreated into obscurity, until he was contacted again by Maimonides, who had withstood the rigors of time through the same spells that had allowed Talaq his long life. Maimonides commanded Talaq to allow Israel take the West Bank of the Jordan, or he would withdraw his spells from him. In order to convince King Hussein to allow an Israeli victory, Talaq revealed himself to his descendant. While Talaq is still contend with the state of things, Jordan has spiralled into poverty and Hussein searches for a way to defeat his seemingly immortal ancestor.

As of late, Talaq was driven from Petra through the efforts of the Taftâni and their djinn servants. He now seeks a way to return, considering alliances with other beings, like the Amenti.

Trivia
On the matter of reversing the curse of vampirism, numerous books cite that it is nigh impossible, even for mortal magic (Blood Treachery states on page 81 that, for making it possible, the character has to roll more successes than God himself and states further "The idea of a mage snapping his fingers and turning a vampire into a normal human being completely undermines the horror of the World of Darkness. From a storytelling perspective, it is a Bad Idea. From a game mechanics perspective, it's more trouble than it's worth."). A numerous list of possible ways to reverse the Embrace is given in The Red Sign, with the epynomous Rite of the Red Sign being the first way to actually break the curse, achieved over the course of the story in a union between Cainite blood mages, Tradition willworkers and Technocratic Technomancers. The only source that gives a viable possibility of breaking Caine's curse is in the Vampire Storytellers Handbook Revised on page 140, which gives it a minimum Sphere rating of Prime 6, Entropy 4, Matter 4 and Life 4 and describes the spell as highly vulgar and Paradox inducing, as well as growing in difficulty for the time the vampire has remained dead. Since Talaq was Embraced around 160 AD (the date of the Roman capture of Petra) and restored to life in 1515 AD (a timeframe that spans over a thousand years), Maimonides has to be a mighty mage indeed to accomplish such a feat.