Sinbad

The character of Sinbad is a curious one, being less a singular story and more a collection of unrelated vignettes about a seemingly immortal individual. Sinbad holds the starring role in dozens of Rabiah's most famous historical tales, but the lovable thief also appears in hundreds of other stories as a secondary or even tertiary character- a fact which has puzzled scholars for generations.   Bane of Study Scholars which study the Tales of Rabiah hold strong opinions on Sinbad the Sailor, viewing him as either a fascinating figure, or one of perplexing frustration, with little in between. While the mention of famous recurring characters between historical stories is not uncommon, Sinbad holds the title of most appearances by far, having shown his face in no fewer than a thousand separate fables and legends. More bothersome is that stories featuring Sinbad don't adhere to a single time period, but are made up of some Rabiah's oldest myths, as well as stories only a century or two in age.     Interplanar Focal Point Sinbad is not the only character who appears across generational lines, but the issue is that he is the only one who does so without explanation. Stories of characters reborn time and again, such as the famous King such as Aladdin, have all been explained in time. But Sinbad continues to deny these explanations, the truth by far stranger than fiction- Sinbad the Sailor is not a collection of people, but a single person who exists across many variations of Rabiah. Multiple copies of Sinbad do exist, but never at the same time in the same place, and each shares the memories and experiences of the previous.   Thief of the Sands Stories involving Sinbad have slowed in the past few decades, but only because the thief himself has been relatively quiet. Wherever he goes, Sinbad does not spurn the attention of the crowd, but actively seeks it out, readily proclaiming himself as the same figure of his ancient stories. Sinbad the Sailor enjoys the attention, and loves both the praise and scorn heaped upon his exploits in equal measure, ready to share further stories of himself at the drop of a hat. The only story Sinbad refuses to share is the one explaining his unique predicament. Thousands of years ago, shortly after the fall of the Empire of Genies, when the world was wild and filled with chaos, Sinbad was an infamous sailor and thief. When hired to sail to the Island of Time, Sinbad made ready to steal the Sands of Time himself, bu as caught by the island's guardian. As punishment, he was flung through time and space, cursed to randomly vanish from one world and time only to appear again in another. When Sinbad is encountered, it is impossible to know at first how long this one has lived, or what experiences they have lived first-hand versus which they have discovered through the stories of himself.