A respected scholar from the Sumeru Academia who worked as a Librarian, and was an expert at translating ancient documents and images. Although he loved his role in the Academia, he eventually left to become an adventure, and then managed an inn.

When most people meet Tarek the first thing that they’re struck by is his confidence. He doesn’t bother hiding what he’s feeling, even though he’s smart enough to know when he should, and knows exactly what he likes. He goes for what he wants without a blush, and is perfectly happy to give his opinion on everything. Tarek just doesn’t see the point in downplaying his own abilities or what he likes. At this point in his life he’s unashamed of who he is, and is much more comfortable in his skin than he has been before. His confidence, plus his love of flashy jewelry and clothing makes people think that he’s more than a bit vain or shallow. Vain he would admit to, while saying that he had earned it, but shallow would be a very surface level reading of him. Because while he makes light of most things, Tarek does take his duties in the library very seriously and is quick to show that he did earn the title he holds in the Academia. He’s incredibly intelligent and loves to learn, quickly picking up on new concept and not being afraid to ask questions.

He’s occasionally tasked with teaching about ancient manuscripts and iconography, and he puts a full effort into doing that even though it’s not his favorite thing to do. He wants his students to succeed, because he genuinely does like learning. He likes researching, and finding out new things. He just does not like dealing with the politicking and back-biting that could be had among the scholars at the Academia. In his view, some of them don’t really want to learn, they just want to know more than everyone else so they can rub it in the faces of the others.

Tarek does have a healthy dose of ego and pride to go along with his own confidence, and he isn’t immune from being smug about being right about something. He likes saying ‘I told you so’ . But at the same time that sense of pride is what drives him to work as hard as he does, and take that work seriously. He might be flippant or grumble on the surface, but he will get it done, and make sure he gets it done right.

That said, his pride means he doesn’t like people to see when he’s unsettled, or unsure of himself. He doesn’t like others to see him when he’s feeling weak, and will get angry or annoyed at people who try to push themselves into helping when it’s unwanted. The people that he’ll let his guard down enough to let them see his real emotions when he’s unsettled can be counted on one hand.

Tarek was born into a family that owned a small general goods store in a small town in Sumeru. He had an older sister, who seemed to dote on him and he got along well with his parents…for the most part. He always felt out of place, not like the dutiful daughter everyone seemed to expect. It only intensified as he got older.

He was incredibly precocious and intelligent even as a child, and soon had read through all the books the family owned. He would beg neighbors to let him read whatever books they hadn’t seen before. . His teacher in that small town quickly realized that he might have what it took to make it into the Academia, but acceptance was hard. Still, Tarek was encouraged to try. He an Aunt, his mother’s younger sister who was already at the Academia. When she heard that he was thinking about coming, she sent him letters. They were short, but they all seemed to say that she believed he could do it.

At the age of 14, Tarek did make it into the Academia, and headed over to stay with his Aunt while he studied. Once he reached the Academia, he realized that no one knew him there. They would only know what he told them. So he decided to become who he wanted to be. This was when he officially started using Tarek as his name.

His Aunt, he discovered, would only make sure that he was doing well in classes and was vaguely looked after. The rest of the time she was busy with her own research and didn’t really spend much time with him. Yet if he slacked on in classes even once she seemed to know about it right away. It actually made him feel a little lonely, even though he was trying to do his best with his classes. Everything was just a bit of a struggle as he tried to get used to the Academia, tried to get used to his classes, and also tried to figure out who Tarek really was at the same time. Because no matter how much he wanted to learn, it was hard to make progress with all that hanging over him. It almost became too much at some points, and he did think about going back home. His pride refused to let him fail though, and he ended up staying.

At first, he tried to be a very serious, model scholar. He held his tongue, dressed like some of the older scholars he knew and thought that would make it easier for him to blend in. Even though his own sense of style leaned far more towards flash and glitter, the other scholars didn’t seem to think it would suit what he wanted to become. However, as he started to make more friends - including Layla, another student like he was - he started to realize that copying what the other scholars were doing really wasn’t helping him any. He made a decision to start doing more of what he wanted and immediately felt like he was more himself. He started to get more confident and outspoken, much to the shock of some of the other scholars.

Eventually he did his thesis on translating ancient manuscripts and iconography, something that he was very proud of since he liked looking into the past of Sumeru and figuring out how history fit into their current lives. He soon became well respected, and ended up working in the Sumeru Academia Library. Although he was proud of his appointment, he soon developed a reputation for being outspoken, but at the same time staying out of the way in the Academia. It wasn’t because he was intimidated, as some of the other scholars claimed or that he was lazy. He had simply grown tired and jaded of the internal politicking and competition among the scholars. It always seemed like someone was trying to show someone else up for no reason, and he chose to step away from it. Layla hadn’t, and she kept him informed of what was going on. The rest of this time he spent looking after the collections he was responsible for and doing some teaching when it was asked of him.

When news of a student called Bran who had just shown up one day started circulating, it caught Tarek’s interest. He was much, much older than the usual students. Tarek even heard that he was older than him! Several people wonder why he had even bothered to enroll at all, and more than a few were surprised he was accepted. Yet, he had been because of the strength of his previous works. Remembering the name, Tarek checked his archives and found the name ‘Bran’ there on several well known books on Natlan wildlife. Granted they were several decades old, but they were there. It intrigued him. He made sure to go meet Bran the next time he could and was startled to find a tall adventurer instead of the more studious person he had expected. It actually make him more intrigued.

He ended up spending more time with Bran, and eventually found himself actively seeking out his company. Bran himself was working hard at his studies, almost as if to prove to those that were doubting him that he was more than capable of getting through the Academy workload. Yet, at the same time he never seemed to be ruffled by hearing those doubts from other people. It was a quiet sort of confidence that Tarek couldn’t help but admire, even if it was so different from his own. He decided that he was going to help Bran succeed, both because he wanted him to and because it would be the chance to rub it in the face of the doubting scholars, even when the should know better.

He didn’t understand Bran’s insistence on using whopperflowers and their affect on nearby environments as his thesis, but he helped with the research. Even encouraged Bran to bring a live one back for observation once, because they both found the shrieks some of the scholars made about that idea amusing. And if Bran started flirting with him while they were working that was just a nice little bonus. Because Bran was attractive, and nice, and surprisingly sweet and it was fun to flirt with him back. He hadn’t been looking for a lover, but well, good things showed up when you weren’t expecting them, right?

Bran did earn his degree eventually, and even though Tarek had been sure he would, he was still immensely proud of him. They stayed in the Academia for a few more years, but the atmosphere was going increasingly stifling to Tarek, and he could tell that Bran was getting annoyed too. His lover mentioned more than once that he felt that he was being treated more as a pet adventurer than a colleague by most of the other scholars, and he was as annoyed with the politicking for rank and knowledge as Tarek was. Eventually one day Bran just came home, and told Tarek he was just going to go back to be an Adventurer. And asked if he would like to join him.

Despite what some people thought, it was a decision that Tarek took his time with. All his life he had wanted to be a scholar. He had enjoyed his work. Leaving it all behind, changing his entire course, that was not an easy thing to do. But eventually he decided that freedom away from having to deal with everything that Academia was worth leaving so much behind. He said his goodbyes, promised to visit, and left.

Life as an adventurer did not come easily to Tarek. Although he had his cryo vision and was skilled with it, it was one thing to know how to use it and another thing to use it in combat. The routine and duties of an adventurer were also much different than his pervious life. Getting used to constant travel and being out in all weather was something that wearing for him . It lead to more than a few fights with Bran, and he would occasionally thinking longingly of going back to the Academia at first, but over time he got used to his new life and even grew to enjoy it.

He and Bran continued to write books as they traveled. Although the Academia stubbornly refused to grant any legitimacy to their work, saying they were not working as scholars, it didn’t stop them from treating their texts as such. They just published their work as ‘adventure travelogues’. They became surprisingly popular during their time.

When they got a little older, they two of them ended up taking over the running of an inn an old friend of theirs gave to them. It was another change, but Tarek found that he enjoyed it, much to his surprise. He and Bran ended up having a family - two daughters that they adored.

-Tarek and Bran were actually married shortly after they became Adventurers. It was a small ceremony at Tarek’s home with only his family and a few of their close friends. -Tarek love flashy clothes and jewelry. The jewelry doesn’t have to be valuable as long as it looks good.
-There has always been a part of Tarek that loves adventure stories, even before he left the Academia. He actually collected them, and finding a place to store his collection of books was one of the hardest part of leaving.