Faustin
I have been resisting writing this post, as has my companion. But Voldraq and the others say it needs to be done and they are demanding that we write it since we have the most experience with him.
Let’s get this over with then.
Our first encounter with the Enforcer happened in Oryndoll before we defected to the surface. In fact, it was Nana that first crossed paths with this creature. I’ll let her take the reigns for this one:
Faustin and several other Enforcers were slated to eat the champions of the Oryndillain Arena. He had come in last minute and I was picked out for him, little did he know I had already been claimed at the gate and was as good as paid for. He was forced to eat someone else. He seemed none too happy about it, but there was little he could do. To eat me would be considered theft and he wasn’t even supposed to be at the crowning in the first place.
He struck me as unhinged. However, the only frames of reference I had at the time where Razlaould and The Gamemaster. I mentioned as much to Raz once I arrived in his home and was assured no such words would get back to the Enforcer.
I suppose now is the time to explain what an Enforcer is. In simple terms: they are the Thought Police. Though, their job is a bit more complicated. Enforcers work for the Elder Concord, but are not advertised as such. Formally, they are considered a group of highly skilled interrogators, negotiators, and retrieval specialists should an illithid defect from a city with the intent of spreading our people’s secrets. They are only meant to work on high-risk cases, such as myself or Sonnenclair who have been deemed “mentally unfit.” Standard or even non-standard citizens and slaves that do not pose such a risk, and are willing to wear brain-mates, are not Enforcer targets unless they make themselves targets.
Back to the tale.
Yes, over the next five years we saw very little of Faustin until my diagnosis of “mental impairment through trauma” became public in the Tamer circles. [It was released so others would know better than to employ me. Though I did not sign off on such a thing and this was part of my reason for leaving the way I did.] Then, I saw more and more of him. He recognized Nana and began to single me out as a target. The last year was the worst, eventually he showed up on my doorstep threatening me, and that was when I had enough. I reported to my superior officer, stole a focus crystal and several items of value, and left the city with Nana.
Of course, they sent Faustin after me.
Since those days things have grown stranger. He’s become an illithid obsessed and even on the one occasion he did capture and interrogate me, that wasn’t enough.
To be frank, I don’t think any of us know what Faustin’s “enough” is anymore. I don’t think he even knows. He just wants chaos and suffering.
A short while after Sonnenclair’s escape, Faustin set up shop on the surface and gathered a contingency of slaves. At some point, none of us know when, he and those slaves performed the ritual necessary to make him a soul eater. [We refer to him as a soul drinker, since he went through the ritual himself instead of having the status thrust upon him.] Now he feeds on fear, suffering, brain matter and souls. He’s so charming, it’s a wonder he hasn’t started a cult- OH WAIT.
Enough of that. It is true that Faustin founded the cult, but he is by no means the sole driving force behind it. Many other Enforcers threw in with Faustin, before they found out about his change of eating habits, and used his established surface slave network to create a chain of spies topside. It would have been a remarkably efficient idea if Faustin weren’t so bloody insane.
And I don’t even think he’s ill, just evil. More evil than normal, that is. I hear whispers coming up through my old commanding officer that the Elder Concord is beginning to worry about his actions. Most likely they will not do anything to him since he is not an immediate threat. And many Arisers and Darkeners want to see if his “cult” plan actually bears enough fruit to be a viable course of action in the future.
Raz is seething a little about those creeds. It’s hilarious. He never realized just how much he hated them until they sided with Faustin.
We digress. As of right now we cannot be sure of his current location. Through the Enforcers and contributing Creeds [that apparently still don’t care about his soul drinker status for some reason] he’s managed to set up enough cult bases, some even the size of small towns, all across the region. They worship him like a god, and he uses them and their nightly jaunts as fly-traps for surface-bound illithids.
A warning to all illithids who might see this: If you see a building with red qualith symbols on it, do not approach. If you encounter a lone humanoid with scattered emotional control, or really any non-illithid dressed similarly to our kind, do not let them see you. This is how he reels us in. He doesn’t kill many of the illithids he captures, instead whatever he does to them leaves them near-broken and I’ve heard many that have been returned to their home cities had to be euthenised.
Stay safe. This creature is a force to be reckoned with and should be avoided at all costs.
-- Nana & Raz
P.S. This is all you’re getting from me, Voldraq. I detest talking about this bastard. I worry saying his name enough times might summon him or something.
-- Razlaould
Raz, superstition is unbecoming.
-- Voldraq
