Born with the given name Marah al-Amal, once leaving his family, Marah would forgo his Arabic name in favor of the English equivalent "joy", as it was easier for others to pronounce when he traveled abroad.

Marah was born into a semi-nomadic jackal tribe outside of Cairo. The tribe, having only been Luperci for roughly four generations, had grown to revere the shifting as a gift. It enabled them to keep hoofstock such as sheep, camels, and cattle, and begin to learn the process of dyeing and weaving wool into cloth. Primarily a matriarchal tribe with a polytheistic religion, they worshipped rivers and water, believing that their ancestors and gods were inside them.

Marah's parents were Amal and Haqq, respectable members of the tribe. He was born alongside three littermates, one sister named Adeela and two brothers named Hasan and Nazhan.

Marah's puphood was relatively uneventful and comfortable, but he was always a happy and curious child. Once he received his Gift (his shifting ability) around six months of age, his love for life and wanderlust blossomed immensely. After studying the ways of shepherding and cloth-making and dyeing, he became a merchant for the Tribe once he reached two years old, heading to Cairo to join the main trading hub there. After spending a few months there and occasionally visiting his family, he joined up with a caravan of like-minded merchants and travelled up to the jackal-heavy Jerusalem and settled down briefly. Once he was bored of Jerusalem, he hitched a ride on a trading ship and travelled to Athens. The process repeated, with Joy never staying in one place for more than a few months. Athens is where he picked up bits and pieces of English. From there, he would make his way through the rest of Europe. In his travels, with his friendly nature and positive attitude, he gathered many friends (and some enemies). Joy had a habit of sticking his nose and his "little joy" where it didn't belong, which cost him his eye in a particularly nasty bar scrap while he was situated in Paris. He had gathered a group of friendly canines during his journeys, and the band eventually made their way to Barbados, hoping to see and experience more of the world. Barbados introduced him to more of the English language and some of the Spanish language as well, and as it turned out, Joy was fairly adept at linguistics (probably because he talked incessantly to anyone who would listen).

Joy rather liked Barbados and the folks there. He had a long-time fling with a lady on the island; to Joy it was nothing but harmless fun, but the dog woman fell in love with him and became pregnant with his pups after he left Barbados. Some of his band of merry men stayed behind, but others followed as he travelled up to Savannah, hardly giving that dog woman a second thought.

The woman bore a son named Tiamat, whom Joy has no knowledge of (yet).

After landing in Savannah and exploring some of the mainland more, Joy heard of a place up north called 'Souls, which some folks in Savannah were trading goods with. Always a sucker for a good business deal, Joy made his way up to Chesapeake Bay, then to Portland, and finally to the 'Souls area. He made and lost friends along the way, always dragging along his trusty pack mule Ghada and his sheep Alya.

Joy hasn't been in the 'Souls area for too long, but hopes to make even more friends (and sales) during his time here.