Tabid Al-Nubi

"No enemy is untouchable, no matter how powerful they appear."

―Tabid to Basim Ibn Ishaq, after recounting Iltani's assassination of Alexander the Great, 860s.^[src]^-[m]

Tabid Al-Nubi (Arabic: تبيض النبي) was a Hidden One from the Alamut Brotherhood who served as Rafiq of the bureau in Baghdad's Abbasiyah district during the 9th century.

Biography[edit | edit source]

Early life[edit | edit source]

"I come from Nubia, a dry land south of Egypt. My father sent me to Cairo to study Islam. There, I learned a fiery sense of right from wrong. And the corruption in Cairo was very, very wrong. We revolted. Our revolt failed and I fled to Baghdad. The Hidden Ones took me in and... here I am."

―Tabid telling Basim about his early life, 860s.^[src]^-[m]

Tabid Al-Nubi was born in the region of Nubia south of Egypt. As a youth, he was sent to Fustat by his father to study Islam. At the time, the city was abundant in corruption which led Tabid to join in revolting against the city rulers.^[1]

The revolt ultimately failed and Tabid was left with chronic injuries which kept him from active duty.^[2] Fleeing to Baghdad, he eventually came across the Hidden Ones, who recruited him into the brotherhood.^[1]

Activities in Alamut[edit | edit source]

"Have you heard about Iltani? One of the first of our founders. She assassinated Alexander the Great with an ingenious poison. I have attempted to recreate it from historical records..."

―Tabid telling Basim about his attempts to recreate Iltani's poison, 860s.^[src]^-[m]

At the Hidden Ones' base of Alamut, Tabid aided the brotherhood's members with his vast knowledge, especially about toxins. At one point, he attempted to recreate the poison which Iltani, a legendary precursor to the Hidden Ones, had used to kill Alexander the Great based on historical records.^[3]

In 862, Tabid became acquainted with a new Hidden One recruit, Basim Ibn Ishaq,^[4] who had inadvertently killed the caliph Al-Mutawakkil, a puppet of the Order of the Ancients, in Anbar.^[5] Tabid was frustrated that, despite the caliph's death, the Order's influence in Baghdad had only grown stronger, but Basim advised him to trust Mentor Rayhan's judgement on the matter.^[4]

After Basim completed his training, Tabid was present for his initiation ceremony into the brotherhood. Shortly after Basim's initiation, the Hidden One Nur, who had been sent to Baghdad to investigate the Order's presence, returned to Alamut wounded upon being discovered and attacked by the Order. Rayhan subsequently decided to send Basim, Roshan and Fuladh Al Haami to Baghdad to continue Nur's investigation, with Tabid and other Hidden Ones set to follow suit shortly.^[3]

Rafiq in Baghdad[edit | edit source]

Tabid: "What have you learned?"

Basim: "Rot runs deep through the House of Wisdom. They are using some ancient book, hoping to build a wicked device."

Tabid: "I have heard rumors of this blasphemous contraption. They call it their "Great Work.""

—Tabid and Basim discussing the Order's presence in Abbasiyah, 860s.^[src]^-[m]

Following his arrival in Baghdad, Tabid helped Fuladh to set up a bureau in Abbasiyah before becoming its Rafiq to investigate the Order's activites in the district.^[6] He also sent Ahmad ibn Musa, who maintained a workshop at the House of Wisdom, a letter requesting his aid at the bureau, but received no response for over a week.^[1]

When Basim arrived at the Abbasiyah bureau, he found Tabid reading some of the court poet's, Arib Al-Ma'muniyya, work, which he was so consumed by that he failed to notice Basim's presence until he spoke. After joking about Tabid's alertness, Basim remarked that he too was familiar with Arib's poetry thanks to his visits to the House of Wisdom in his childhood. To this, Tabid stated that the House of Wisdom was not what it had once been, and revealed that Ahmad had gone missing, prompting Basim to go investigate the inventor's disappearance.^[1]

During his investigation, Basim found Ahmad and convinced him to return to the Abbasiyah bureau. However, he also learned of an Order member, "Al-Rabisu", who was using a device known as the Alruh to experiment on test subjects, driving them insane in the process.^[7] Reporting to Tabid at the bureau, Basim suspected Al-Rabisu's identity to be the scholar Fazil Fahim al-Kemsa. Tabid then informed him of a Great Symposium taking place at the House of Wisdom that night, which would likely be attended by his target.^[8]

After Basim infiltrated the symposium and assassinated Fazil, he returned to the Abbasiyah bureau and presented a feather dipped in Fazil's blood as proof of his death. Tabid congratulated him and asked Basim if he had found any evidence of Arib, who also attended the symposium, being involved with the Order's schemes. Basim claimed that he did not know for certain before both Hidden Ones returned to work.^[9]

Personality and traits[edit | edit source]

Basim: "Tell me more about yourself, Tabid."

Tabid: "Me? Oh, not much to say. I love poetry, is that enough?"

Basim: "Come now, do not be so modest."

—Basim asking Tabid to tell him about himself, 860s.^[src]^-[m]

From a young age, Tabid possessed a strong desire to fight for justice, as he chose to partake in Fustat's revolt against the city's corrupt leaders rather than focus on his studies. Even after the revolt failed and left Tabid severly injured, he remained undeterred in his goal, which eventually led him to join the Hidden Ones. Despite his injuries preventing him from performing any field work, he still sought to aid the brotherhood in the best way he could, with his vast knowledge and information gathering skills.^[2]

Among his fellow Hidden Ones, Tabid was regarded as an affable and larger-than-life Rafiq,^[2] though he could also be quite shy and modest as he did not enjoy talking about himself.^[1] He also notably possessed a major love of poetry, especially the works of the court poet Arib Al-Ma'muniyya, which he did not hesitate to recommend to others, like Ahmad ibn Musa^[3] and Basim.^[1]