Majida Battuta

Majida Battuta (マージダ・バットゥータ Mājida Battūta) is a sage and alchemist of legendary renown. She and her followers conduct independent alchemical research on her drifting workshop, a fleet of ships under her command which forever wander the seas.

Late 1400s or early 1500s
According to Dalton Strauss in 2003, he and his alchemy pupils first heard of the wine of immortality from the sage Battuta. Although he initially assumes she is making fun of them, he dedicates himself to achieving immortality once he and his pupils affirm that immortals do exist. As this sage Battuta is likely Majida Battuta, it follows that she is one of the oldest known immortals to date.

1600s–1700s
By the late 17th century, Majida and her drifting workshop have reached near mythical status in the eyes of European alchemists, as she is seldom seen in public and her workshop is constantly on the move.

Prior to 1705, an old alchemist-explorer acquaintance of hers leaves Nile in her care, and her fleet rescues the samurai Denkurō Tōgō and Zank Rowan from unknown circumstances. As members of her drifting workshop, they become fully qualified sailors and study alchemy under her tutelage.

Either in or by the summer of 1705, Majida discovers a certain white powder while at the waterside, and also comes into the possession of a golden hair ornament. Identifying the powder as a hallucinogenic drug and the gold as counterfeit, she ascertains that both likely originated from the Italian port city Lotto Valentino and works with a merchant friend to prevent them from spreading beyond the city's boundaries.

With the reputations of all alchemists on the line should either be released into the world, Majida instructs Denkurō and Zank to investigate the city and inform Dalton of the workshop's desire to work with him in preventing such a disaster. Nile remains on the drifting workshop, as his fury over the drugs and counterfeits is so great as to be a potential risk to the mission.

A delegation from the House of Dormentaire establishes itself in Lotto Valentino five years later, culminating in the Dormentaires seizing control of the city by 1711. The city's alchemists are forced into hiding, and Dalton procures the ship Advena Avis at a debt from the Mars Clan as a means for the alchemists to flee Italy entirely.

Meanwhile, Majida sends Denkurō, Zank, and Nile to Lotto Valentino to aid in their escape; furthermore, she ensures that other workshop members will be available to supply the Advena Avis at the various port stops it makes while traversing the Mediterranean. Escort ships are also prepared in the event of dangerous developments.

Trivia

 * Majida's first name supports the rumors that she is from the "Arab world," as Majida is an Arabic name meaning 'glorious'. Majida's second name, 'Battuta', meanwhile, may be inspired by 14th-century Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta. As the most renowned of the numerous Muslim explorers of the era, Ibn Battuta travelled over 75,000 miles in his lifetime; Majida is implied to be well-traveled herself, due to the nomadic nature of her "drifting workshop."
 * While Denkurō and Zank appear to greatly respect Majida, whom they refer to as 'master' and call "worthy of their very lives," Nile acknowledges that he is in her debt but believes they are exaggerating her character.
 * Majida has only ever been mentioned second-hand, and has yet to make an appearance in the series as of the twenty-second volume.