Munir Faiz

Affiliation: Iraqi Government

Position: Senior Member of the Classical Liberal Party

Background

You live in a country, a region, a world obsessed with religion, and you're tired of it. All world religions are overblown. You should know: you're married to a goddess. She is wonderful beyond your dreams, but all the hours and hours of praying and wars over little details of religion are not for you. You just want to serve your wonderful wife, bring your country out of this dark age of religious obsession, and make quite a bit of money in the mean time.

You grew up in a pretty normal Iraqi family. Your father was a minor official under Saddam Hussein, and made quite a bit of money off of "fees" to supplement his measly salary. Both he and your mother observed the religious requirements more out of obligation than out of any depth of feeling, but you suppose they believed. You lived in Jihad, in the Rasheed district of Baghdad, an upper-middle-class, fairly Westernized neighborhood. When you were old enough, you too found a position in Saddam's government, pushing papers, taking fees, and getting by.

Then, the Americans invaded, and everything changed. Your city became a war-zone. Your father, always a man able to watch the times, pledged his allegiance to the Americans immediately, and you followed suit. Luckily, you, like your friends growing up, had passed the time watching American movies, reading American magazines (especially the dirty ones, of course) and, in high-school, exploring the internet with some of your wealthier friends. You didn't speak perfect English, but your English was good enough to make you valuable to the Americans, and it has gotten much better. At first, it seemed like the Americans really were going to make everything better.

Then, the religious fanatics in your own country came through and tore the early successes apart. Sunni insurgents tore through your calm, middle-class neighborhood, killing anyone they could get their hands on, especially those who worked for the Americans. You were lucky enough to be out of town on business, but your father was shot and dragged through the streets. Your mother has never told you what happened to her, but you still hear her crying. Your little brother spent three weeks unwilling to leave the house. It didn't matter that your family were Sunni. They worked for the Americans, that was enough.

Then you knew that something had to be done. These insurgents didn't care about their own people, or anything but their twisted ideals and religious fanaticism. If Allah could let his followers do things like this, what good was he? You had never been very religious, but then you stopped observing even the formalities. You haven't prayed to Allah since that day.

You threw yourself into your work, and started to gain power through the Americans. They began to rely on you more and more to connect them with the other middle-class people who were being alienated by the fanatics. You worked and socialized with diplomats and officers highly placed in the military or the military contractors. It was at a formal dinner with several diplomats that you met Emel. You were drawn to her immediately. At that point all you knew was that she was the most beautiful and fascinating woman you had ever met. It wasn't until much later that you learned why.

You courted her for nearly a year before she agreed to marry you. By that time, you were putty in her hands. You planned a large and glorious wedding, and while you were planning, she told you what she really was. She had to wait to tell you, because early on you never would have believed it, or worse, you might have fled from her. She was right to wait. You hate to think how empty your life would have been without her.

You always knew she wasn't like other women, but she was from Turkey, and everyone knew that Turkey was a very strange place. It turns out that she was from somewhere much, much stranger. Emel is a Shoggoth, a type of minor goddess. Apparently there are many gods and goddesses out there, most of them terrible and dangerous things. Your dear wife is wonderful, and wants only your allegiance, a few other worshipers, and a little human blood now and then. You could never begrudge her anything; she is the world to you. You have managed to gather a small group of worshipers for her, that help her, and provide for her. You do not know everything that they do, but you get her blessing, and her company, and that is more than enough for you.

Meanwhile, with her help, you have come into some power in the new government that the Americans have set up. It's a perfect arrangement that makes everyone happy. The Americans keep you well-supplied with money and provide protection for you, and, in return, you sit in parliament, and help to guide your country to be more Western and cooperative. Since the alternative is allowing your country to be taken over by religious fanatics, you are all too happy to do this. You work to make the country safe for American businesses, and safe from Sunni and Shiite religious wars and Islamist dictators. In the meantime, you do quite well for yourself. Which is good, because your wife has very expensive tastes.

Right now, your wife has set her eye on a little holy site in Kirkuk. Unfortunately, that site also has oil, though very few people know it. Your wife says that this oil is the blood of dead gods, so you do not want anyone drilling there. Emel has found another unexploited oil site in Dahuk that is not sacred. You can offer information and access to Dahuk in return for the control over the holy site that she wants.

In the meantime, you want to get your wife pretty baubles. She's always had a taste for things ancient, so what better to get her than some ancient artifacts. The upcoming talks will be held on top of an unusual archaeological site -- the supposed remains of the Tower of Babel. Surely, you can find some ancient artifacts that make your wife happy.

Contacts

Joseph Prince: The head of Blackwater. Prince may be a Christian loony, but that doesn't really matter to you. All the religious fanatics are dangerous and deluded, whether they're Muslim, Christian, Jewish or anything else.

Field Marshall, The Right Honorable Lord Lockwood KG: The head of Blackwater. You have heard that they have thrown their weight behind the Sunni Party. Lockwood seems to be very pragmatic and sensible. If you can convince him that you will better support his interests, you might get him to pledge his support to you, instead, especially if Wafi Nagi is getting overthrown by his insurgent group.

Sabriyya Nejem: The leader of the Sunni insurgent group that got Wafi Nagi into power. There have been rumors that the insurgent group is unsatisfied with Wafi Nagi's performance, and Nejem's presence here certainly supports that. This disagreement could be useful.

Nathan Kennedy: Nathan Kennedy is here in disguise as a bodyguard. However, he is your CIA contact. The CIA has been feeding you money and helping you pull strings in Iraq. You should check in with him to find out what his goals are and whether you can squeeze more money from him for helping.

Basit Ibn Karim: The hard-line religious Prime Minister. You would love to see this man out of his job, and, preferably, out of the country. You would love his job, of course, but that's not realistic. Mostly, you want to see someone who is less hard-line in the job.

Wafi Nagi: A leader in the major Sunni Party. Wafi Nagi got in on a deal with his insurgent group. However, since getting in, he has mostly worked very hard not to stir up any trouble and to get as much money in bribes as possible. You don't particularly have any issues with his behavior, but the insurgents are not impressed.

Emel Faiz: Your beloved wife. Emel is a Shoggoth, a type of minor Goddess. You love her completely and would do nearly anything to keep her happy. Right now, she wants Kirkuk, which could be difficult, but she's worth every thing you could spend on this and more.

Abilities and Resources

Stats

• Combat: 2
• Hitpoints: 4
• Sanity: 3

Devotion

Munir Faiz receives a +1 to his combat score when defending Emel Faiz. In a group combat where Emel Faiz is the leader, Munir Faiz adds +2 support instead of +1. Also, immune to any sanity damage caused by Emel Faiz.

Goals

• Get your wife anything she wants. Right now she has her eyes set on a little holy site in Kirkuk. Bribe, buy, or bully whatever you have to in order to get this for her. Also, try to find some pretty baubles for her.
• Get money to pay for your wife's expensive tastes. Running a cult is expensive, and she just bought some new artifact. You really need at least $10 million extra to cover her expenses this year.
• Bring more of the country under Western influence (preferably yours).
• Put down any religious uprising and decrease the influence of major religious groups.
• If you cannot minimize the influence of all religious groups, at least make sure that no one religious group is clearly in charge.
• Maintain the stability of the lawful government.
• Help the Americans and American companies.