Chibouk

The name Chibouk is from the narrator in my fantasy stories about wizards. Sometimes he actively participates, or is a character himself; other times he has met with the main characters that appear in his tales. As for the name, well... here's a little bio:

Salutations! My name is Alex Alexandros Kidemonas, and I hail from the mountain village of Pomedom (named so as it lies wedged between mounts Pom and Dom on the Atalas Flats. Quite a mouthful, I know, and so it may please you to learn that I also respond to Chibouk.

It is an enduring moniker, one I have come to like quite a bit. It happened upon me shortly after my fiftieth birthday, when my son sent me a most marvellous staff: not only does the thing double as a walking stick, but it also functions as a long, hollow pipe, perfect for imbibing the smoke of Ira Zabira, my favourite leaf, a cross between nightshade and nettle – the latter of which allows for a sharp vapour, which invigorates the mind. Well, this mind, at least. The staff, which my son dubbed Djalanorokok, resembles a Turkish tobacco pipe of old, famous for its long stem – which was called a chibouk. Few people still use such antiquated devices (the shisha would prove more popular in later years), and as such it is rare to see anyone enjoying a puff this way. But I found myself growing fond of the ritual that is preparing the staff as my pipe. It forces me to stop and sit, rest, and introspect. It is also a fitting companion for an Embermage such as myself, and over the course of my many travels with the thing, people have come to define me by it.

As for the Stray? I call myself a wizard afflicted with wanderlust, and so I am a stray, if you will, or a wanderer. Over the years I have been given many more nicknames: the Wandering Wizard, the Magus of Many Tales, That-Man-With-The-Ridiculously-Long-Pipe - and few others I have forgotten. But Chibouk endured, and shall endure still, for as long as there is a tale to tell, I will be there to tell it.