Qhuritaz

Wealth is power, that is one of the most common beliefs in Jamboloydia. Qhuritaz was of another opinion. He strongly believed that knowledge was the key to everything. He did not care for money or success, he only cared for obtaining knowledge.

Qhuritaz was born from a poor farmer’s wife. He was deformed and pale and far from pretty. He was born with four eyes, a huge head and long and pointy limps. The mother was in shock when she saw the monstrosity she gave birth to, but being her first and only child, she took care of him for some time. It quickly became clear that Qhuritaz would never become normal. He did not develop like other children and he could not even comprehend simple things. He never cried, laughed or slept. His four eyes were constantly searching for something to stare at, but most interestingly it seemed that the four eyes seemingly focused on four different things at once.

At the age of four, his family gave up. They tried to to help him the best they could, but they were in need of a child who could grow up to assist with the chores around the farm. They already had two healthy children since Qhuritaz, so they decided to let fate decide what was to become of Qhuritaz. They placed him in a small bed made of branches and leaves and pushed him down river. He floated down river for days until he finally got stuck on a branch on the river bank. Here he was found by a young woman. This woman was a very religious woman, and she believed his arrival was a sign, a sign from the gods. She took him in and gave him the required nutrition to survive. She loved him with all her heart and dedicated her life to him, becoming his new mother. With all of his love and affection, Qhuritaz started to develop. Something clicked, and suddenly he could absorb knowledge like a normal child. Not being able to walk, his mother carried or drove Qhuritaz around in nature and the nearby villages. Qhuritaz learned quickly and was hungry for more. He developed the ability to appreciate things, but he still could not express himself in any way. No smiles, no laughter, no nothing. He was just sitting there, but his mother knew. She knew that something had happened to him. She was shown by the gods that she was on the right track.

In a dream she was told to introduce Qhuritaz to books. Next morning she gave him a book. Qhuritaz read the book within minutes and seemed to understand it. He craved more, immediately. When his mother did not give him books, he would start to get angry. He demanded more books or writings. At some point, the mother placed four books in front of Qhuritaz at the same time. He read all four books simultaneously. From reading the books, he developed the ability to speak and show other emotions.

Years passed like this, and he had eventually read every single piece of document within miles of his home. He was constantly busy with obtaining knowledge. Night and day he would study and come up with his own theories and ideas. He never slept a second in his life, he simply did not have time for it when there was new knowledge to obtain.

On his 20th birthday, his mother took him to the great library of Arithril. She made arrangements for Qhuritaz to live in the library until he had read every single piece of writing available. It took him just a few months before he had read it all, and he also had a deep understanding of it as well. To test him, they invited scholars from all the land to test him in the knowledge he just obtained. Not only did he answer every single question correctly, he also had his own thoughts and theories on certain topics. People were astounded and his story quickly spread from city to city. Within a few years, all scholars and educated men knew about him. Rumors spoke of a weird looking creature with an insane intellect. They wanted to meet him and learn from him. His home was made into a sacred place where intellectuals would come and learn from him or challenge him to a duel of knowledge and wits. He charged a few coins for these duels, but all gladly paid the cost. It became prestigeous to have even visited him, and to think that you could beat him in a duel would make you famous all over Jamboloydia. His starting price was low, but later in his life he charged obscene prices per duel, and people still paid. He never lost a duel, nor did he fail to teach even the sharpest minds something new.

The story of his adoptive mother persists as a mystery. Nobody knew who she was, where she came from or why she did what he did. Rumors speak of her being sent by the gods to take care of Qhuritaz until his eventual ascension. Maybe that she was a god whose only purpose was to create the most knowledgeable creature ever. She suddenly disappeared and nobody knew what happened to her. Qhuritaz probably knew, but he never talked about her. He outlived all other humans, without the use of magic, but through pure determination and thirst for knowledge. He was not only the wisest of all, but also the oldest human ever. After he died, his grave became a place of interest, mainly for scholars. Many people visited his tomb and prayed to him. A big mausoleum was built around his grave. It was decorated with some of his drawings and had the writings from some of his most famous writings. Rumors quickly spread that by praying to him, you would gain increased intelligence, the ability to speed read, the ability to invent incredible things, the ability to remember better and much more. This resulted in normal people visiting his grave, praying for guidance.

Today he is still the most knowledgeable person ever to have lived in Jamboloydia. His story is known to most and his name adorns several universities around Jamboloydia. The most famous is the University of Qhuritaz in Thamos. The biggest and most prestigious university in Jamboloydia.

Legends speak of him ascending to the kingdom of the gods after his death. Here he is still studying to increase his knowledge. It is also said that he will reward the most persevering students of the world with more knowledge through their dreams. Some scholars talk about meeting him in their dreams, and how he changed their life by merely speaking to them in a dream.