Faust was my player character in a group playing the Thronebreaker storyline as a TTRPG game. We were playing it for two and a half years until it was cancelled by the DM. I've since continued working on Faust's story myself; there's a version following the game closely and a version that separates from the main storyline and entwines with my other characters in the same universe. There is no canon.
Faust is a fan-character in the Witcher-universe. He's an elven mage, coming from a peasant background, but also a bearer of the Elder Blood-gene. Currently he serves the Queen of Lyria and Rivia as her magical advisor and bodyguard, and helping her in the quest of getting her throne back from the Nilfgaardian invaders.
His elven heritage granted him his seemingly eternal youth, which is only amplified by his attunement to Chaos. He's still young for an elf, and even younger for an elven mage. He's often insecure about it.
Faust possesses the classic human trait of stubborness but he's also a typical elf when it comes to arrogancy, which truly started to manifest after his magical prowess increased. He may seem cold and uncaring at first, but once he warms up to people he can show his kind side as well.
He's is usually quiet and prefers to observe from a distance. He's wary of new people and doesn't like attention in general, but cannot resist being occasionally a bit of a show-off.
Faust is a wimp when it comes to life-threatening confrontations. He is a strong runner and believes the war spares the coward, not the brave.
He has some serious trust issues.
"I grew up a peasant. My family was poor and my dad left when I was nearing adulthood. Only then the definition of 'poor' started to unfold. It was miserable, yes, but life is life. We endured.
One day I got my badly-needed miracle; a mage saw a potential in me and took me as his apprentice. I worked hard and with great dedication. That way I was able to give my mother some extra money to improve her own life too.
As nothing lasts forever, the mage died and I was on my own once again. I inherited his belongings, continued my studies alone, as well as I was able to, and the rest is history."
That is how he would tell his story to a stranger.
Faust was born in Montecalvo, Redania. The year was 1187, and the weather was rather lovely for a summer evening. His parents were Serenthir and Gwen'delin, elven peasants who had chosen to attempt integrating in human society instead of being driven to the mountains. He lived his youth in among other peasants, non-humans and humans alike. There came the time though when the human children started started playing games the older kids had taught them. Maybe they didn't know what the games were about, or maybe they did, but nonetheless it made him stray away from them.
Somewhere around that time Faust experienced his first magical outburst. Of course his father was to blame for that, for he was the one to carry magic in his bloodline. Multiple times he would ask him about magic but every attempt was met with anger. Over the years Faust learned to suppress the magic but it inevitably left its marks on him.
Faust's father visited the nearby forests and mountains for almost a decade, before finally embracing his calling as a druid, changing his name to Gwyncáelm and leaving south to pursue it. That left Faust and his mother alone. But ultimately it wasn't Faust's poorly controlled magic that put them in danger when he was only 17 summers old; it was pure bad luck.
In a middle of night Faust and Gwen'delin woke up to strange noises from outside. Lights flickered through the window panes, people ran past the buildings. Someone screamed. The noise was cut short.
There was no time to take any belongings. They ran behind houses, evading the people they once might have known, but whose eyes were now filled with hatred. What had started this violence was a mystery, but fortunately they both managed to escape into the night, but when they returned the home they had was just a pile of smoldering rubble.
They had no choice but to leave. Gwen'delin had some connections to the Scoia'tael, which now came handly. The guerrilas gladly helped her and Faust, perhaps hoping they would join the fight. The leader of the group they traveled with was young Eldain, who was already respected among his troops.
Over the span of five months the group helped them to Lyria, where they settled in a small village of Brill that had been recently established next to a small river. It wasn't exactly the best place to live either, but at least they were tolerated.
The life stabilised. Faust found work from a tavern as a server, but the pay was atrocious. Only the tales and stories he overheard from travelers made it worth it. Together with his mother they managed to continue living on and have a roof to sleep under. Over the years multiple women, even some men, tried their luck with him and vice versa. The ending was always the same: a heartbreak.
Years turned into decades in Brill. The village grew and the people got older, but Faust mostly stayed the same.
For a while a griffin had been terrorising the countryside, and the bounty was too much for the village. Eventually a witcher came across and took the job. An old witcher he was, grey hair and a mustache, but he felled the griffin like requested. Against Faust's expectations the witcher was quite generous with his tips. The village tried to get away from paying for the job well done, but the witcher settled on the Law of Surprise.
Thirteen years later the witcher came back and invoked the law. The people were enraged but the village elder honoured the deal, though reluctantly. Three boys left with the witcher. The people still remember that day. The disdain against non-humans grew.
Around the time when the first Northern war broke out in 1262 came the night when everything went wrong and he experienced an outburst of Chaos not like anything before. The life he had built for himself collapsed in that split second when in a full tavern it cost the lives around him.
The world had turned upside down when Faust woke up in a middle of rubble with no memory how he ended up there, but everything around him was on fire. He ran, for he knew he would've been slaughtered if anyone found him alive but alone. It didn't matter who started the fire, the people needed anyone guilty enough. The people still found him and he was carried to be judged and condemned by the villagers. The tale was ending.
A 'local lord' saved him from his fate and took Faust with him. He gave Faust shelter, healed his wounds and offered work with much better pay than what the tavern had given him. His mother was also notified of what had occurred and was mostly relieved that her son was safe.
Faust was more than happy to take the work offer, unaware the lord's facade and the true intentions behind it.
One beautiful Tuesday morning he woke up to the sun shining right into his eye, which shouldn’t have been possible because the angle never reached that corner of the house. The light was reflected from a glass bottle that was sitting on a table from the last night. He still woke up refreshed, maybe a bit annoyed because of the sun and the fact that there was this itch in his left thigh. Without sacrificing much thought to it he relieved the itch in passing and next he was greeted by a hairy eight-legged friend climbing his hand.
Luckily his mother had already left somewhere but the neighbours might’ve heard the short blood curdling scream followed by a loud sound of skin hitting skin with something in between.
This man turned out to be a powerful mage, Vilgefortz of Roggeveen himself, the Tower Mage, but he was nothing like what Faust would've thought a real sorcerer to be.
"Does one bad drop spoil the entire ocean?" The sorcerer had asked.
After only a few months, he had proven his statement false and Faust felt uncomfortable about living in the tower. He had thoughts about leaving but all those disappeared when he conveniently witnessed a fellow servant from the tower quitting by themselves. The lad, Vendrick didn't get far. The image of flesh melting by his master's magic is still haunting Faust's nightmares.
A similar case was later in the time he spent in the tower. An arrogant girl called Ophelia appeared to try her luck as Vilgefortz's apprentice, but she didn't last for long. Before that he got basic magic training from her and has since been able to keep the Chaos within him well under control.
Even after everything that had happened so far Faust was able to keep his hopes up that he could one day leave and never look back. The final pieces of that hope were crushed when he woke up in excruciating pain. It was like his arms were on fire. He didn't find himself from his bed, but from the sorcerer's alchemy laboratory. He lost his consciousness again and woke up the next day like nothing had happened at all.
For a year he stayed in the mage's tower, until one day the miracle happened: Faust was walking past the room where the sorcerer kept his megascope. Vilgefortz currently was contacting a nilfgaardian, though with Faust's limited language knowledge he couldn't understand what they were talking about. There were mentions of someone called Ciri and 'elder blood' before Faust saw his master's usually stoic expression turn into an ecstatic one. Vilgefortz sprinted past Faust without noticing him, hastily got his travel supplies and disappeared outside.
After a few days Faust was sure his master had left for a longer period.
It took a while, but Faust's salvation arrived in Lyrian colours; a messenger in gold and blue was sent to the mysterious Tower Mage to ask for his services to become the sorcerer of the royal court. As his master wasn't there and no one seemed to know who really resided in the tower, Faust decided to take his biggest gamble to that day.
He took the position that was meant for his master, traveled to the capital, and pretended to be ane expert of the arcane arts. Honestly, it was a surprise no one actually needed mages there as he still barely knew the basics. Somehow he survived for over two years without anyone questioning his abilities or why he couldn't read a fancy grimoire he had or why he didn't know how to use something as simple as a megascope. Both, of course, stolen right before leaving.
And that is how he became the Queen of Lyria and Rivia's personal sorcerer and a bodyguard. They asked for his master, and instead of him they got Faust, though it probably was better this way.
But now there's no coming back from this lie and treachery might even be the least of his worries.
A few years later he finally pieced together the puzzle and realised why his former master was so keen on keeping him. But it had been over two years since he has heard anything from that front so he didn't get too worried.
Not until he was forcefully brought to visit a stranger with a cane and an interest for him. His master still remembers.
For a long time Faust followed the rule of keeping business and pleasure perfectly separated, but eventually he made the classic mistake of getting involved with someone from the workplace. He had moments of hesitation, but Una didn't show signs of doubt or regret, so he kept going.
"Dark times often make people seek light from anywhere they can."
But as people often do, Faust also had his own agenda in this relationship. Love and comfort was only an enjoyable side-benefit. The opportunity of having any kind of power over a monarch was too great to pass. His primary goal was to gain security for himself and his family because nothing should be better than the protection from the Queen herself. Faust's other goal was also wanted to influence Una's opinions enough to accelerate the process of equality among humans and elves, but it seemed like they were on the same page already.
Still, only the time would tell if Faust gets tired of this power dynamic they have in their relationship. He usually preferred it to go the other way or at least being on the same level, but he had been humouring Una for now. Though, he had never been fond of highborns and of their privileged mindsets...
But who knows, maybe people can change.
Faust used to be wary of this man, as he was a court alchemist known for supporting the religion that in the past drove him from his home, and actively denounces the lives of non-humans and magic-users. It changed when he learned Belagorn wasn't as zealous as he had previously thought.
They found mutual interest from science and experimentation, but some time later Belagorn was separated from the group. Luckily they have a way to communicate over long distances and Belagorn can still help the main group with his alchemy knowledge.
Faust was very glad of the help the group received from Belagorn. It proved invaluable at times and his wagon oftentimes was a place of safety.
That being said, Faust was also confused by this man. He was strange, but Faust couldn't put a finger on the part that was bothering him. Maybe it was his lack of... something? Humanity?
Once Belagorn had his experience with Aen Elle, Faust got more curious of him. Maybe he was a key to solve the mysteries of ancient elves?
Melovié appeared from nowhere, a runaway from a Nilfgaardian encampment. Faust lacked trust in her, because she has been associated with a mage, and that said mage was killed by her hands. But after she made a vow to the Queen, he had relaxed a bit around Melovié, but there's something about her that was unsettling him.
And for a good reason; she had a hym feeding on her guilt.
Melovié being interested in protection by dimeritium, which was quite understandable because of her uncommon condition of having a demon inside. Melovié had lost control over it once already, almost killing Queen Una. If she were wearing more dimeritium, she wouldn't have been stopped so easily.
But it was her desire for dimeritium weaponry that worried Faust. A Toussaintian knight might be something of a monster hunter but the monsters aren't vulnerable to the metal. And she had a grudge against mages anyway...
A chancellor, a man, a doppler, a liar, a spy, a traitor... These two people once shared a weird state of understanding with each other. Somehow Faust wasn't able to keep himself being angry towards this man, even when he had brushed the limits of his tolerance for annoyances, though right before his disappearance he had been pushing his luck and quite heavily.
His last supposed location was a nilfgaardian embassy, and Edon being an ex-nilfgaardian spy, this didn't help with rebuilding trust.
Faust never liked dopplers anyway. Changelings don't have the greatest reputation among the common folk and Faust has seen himself being so easily replaced by one at least twice already. Edon threatened him with it before and then did it anyway. The second time was by an unknown doppler.
This new doppler that had replaced Faust while he himself was imprisoned by nilfgaardians was the breaking point in their relationship. Edon told Faust he didn't want to harm the doppler, but Faust had already made his own decision. He wasn't going to let an enemy pretender walk alive after what had happened. Edon considered that the end of any remnants of friendship they had. Though the chancellor always was the one to think they had a much better relationship than what they actually had.
Now, unless he has the best explanation in the world for his actions, Edon can only wish they won't meet again because roasting one traitorous doppler is no longer enough for Faust.
// The Player left the campaign, the character disappeared for good and they never met again. But Faust swore he wouldn't trust a doppler ever again.
After the first meeting in the Lyrian palace this young human mage from Zerrikania gained Faust's cautious respect. He didn't know what this woman is capable of with her foreign magic and for a long time he tiptoed around her. She appeared and disappeared a couple of times, but never really gained any of Faust's trust.
Since then he had been able to see more clearly what kind of a person Ling really was and how... good she was with her magic. Faust had a chance of becoming her mentor of sorts.
Ever since she joined the group, Faust grew more and more suspicious of her. It wasn't a question of her loyalties or even the general safety, but the security of his own position as the Queen's official advisor and a mage. The mystery Ling's shrouded in scared him.
Faust still had to keep up the illusion of being a fully competent mage and Ling made that increasingly more difficult, and by making him try to keep up with her.
He might've saved Faust before from a certain death but that doesn't mean he wants anything to do with the sorcerer any more. After Faust "quit" his job and found a new one from the Lyrian court, he thought he had seen last of Vilgefortz and that he could forget about his old master. It ended up being merely an end of a chapter, not the entire book.
The new page was turned when Faust accidentally triggered a magical mechanism in a stolen grimoire and he slowly found out he was anything but forgotten.
Faust was deeply afraid of this man. After he had left, he never uttered the name "Vilgefortz" out aloud. An old superstition: speak of the devil and he shall appear. Thus he was given the nicknames the sorcerer, the mage, and the bastard.
Because he was so proficient in pyromancy, Faust strived to achieve the same. If drawing from fire was the strongest weapon out there, he decided to fight fire with fire if it ever came to that.
// It is still unknown how the tale ended.
All the songs are ordered by plot points in his backstory and the current timeline of the campaign we're playing. Technically an unofficial timeline as some songs are hidden in favour of keeping secrets. The titles and the lyrics play a big part in this list, although the important part can often be just a single line.
The genres go from progressive metal to orchestral.
"These songs remind me of the character"-style playlist. It is based on the character alone, and is not restricted by the things that have happened or will happen to him.
The genres go from progressive metal to rock. The aim was to have the songs flow smoothly throughout the list.