My name is Gunay Tuna, and I am a young man from Ecbatana, and I live in the Seljuk Sultanate. When I turned 15 I became a merchant like my father and grand-father, who traveled the several month trip from Babylon to Ecbatana, trading at various posts and towns between the two large cities, which are major trade hubs. Every day that I travel, I get to see a small bit of mysterious and far away lands when I trade silk from the Song in the Huang He, spices and ivory from the Indian kingdoms and jewels, gold, and porcelain from Europe. But now since I am 23 and had 8 years of experience as a merchant, I am now allowed to take the next step in my life and career, and make the Royal Road stretch of the silk road, going from my hometown, Ecbatana, to Babylon, on to Damascus, and finally to the Holy City of Jerusalem.