Faris Scherwiz

Player: Bryo
Age: Over seven-and-twenty
Contact: compassinks
Current Characters: N/A

Character: Faris Scherwiz
Canon: Final Fantasy V, postgame
Age: 21

Background Information: Faris Scherwiz @ the Final Fantasy wiki

Personality:

1) Tell us about who your character is and what someone’s first impression would be upon meeting them.

It may sound simplistic, but the first impression one gets on meeting Faris genuinely is "pirate." His garb, tanned skin, demeanor, and habit of swaying from foot-to-foot to 'balance' regardless of whether he's on dry land or a ship's deck all speak to that. More generally, Faris looks like a short man (5'7") with wiry muscles, with long purple hair that he keeps held back from his face and vivid green eyes. Faris' demeanor also marks out his profession. He isn't a man to be gainsaid. Oppose him, and he'll be ready to take you on, no matter your size or how important you think you are. If you're on his crew and balk at an order, he'll tear you a strip in front of all and sundry. That he's used to command is apparent from his decisive habits--once he decides to do something, he will simply start doing it, and he's not shy about dragging others into his wake. And he clearly has a very high bar for what is or is not "too dangerous" to attempt, because he's not afraid to throw the first punch or leap over a 10-foot chasm. But in spite of all this, it's apparent there is more to Faris than just being a selfish, self-willed buccaneer. He enjoys the company of fellow pirates, seafarers, and other voyagers, and he's noticeably more relaxed on the deck of a ship than he is on land. He'll show a friendlier aspect to people who impress him through bravery, stubbornness (if it isn't aimed at him), or curiosity. And once he has taken an interest in someone, he'll do his best to look out for them--in a way that is easy for others to see. Faris' adventures as a Light Warrior have also left a permanent mark on his character. He'll go out of his way now to help strangers who need a hand, always telling himself that it's because of his sister, or Bartz, or the old man and his granddaughter getting in his head. Being questioned about it will have him deny any claims to selflessness or nobility; he just happened to be there, or he was livening up a dull day, and don't expect him to stick his neck out the next time you get yourself in trouble, matey... but after the first two or three times he says it, it's clear that he can't actually let someone suffer or die if he can prevent it.

2) What is a driving force your character has? What goals do they have, what motivates them, etc?

In Final Fantasy V, Faris embodies the element of Fire, and the virtue of Fire is Courage. That means that Faris is willing to face down just about any physical danger he encounters (but less so with emotional danger). It also means that once Faris commits to something, he'll see it through to the bitter end. When he decides to help Lenna and find the truth of his own past, he leaves behind his crew and surrogate family of 15 years to venture into the wilderness with three strangers. Although his initial motivation is solely to find out where he came from, when he is chosen by the Crystal, Faris slowly begins to feel a devotion to a more heroic cause. She might not admit it out loud, but there is a part of her that wants to protect others from the kind of losses that she suffered during her journey--her parents, her dragon companion, and a dear comrade. By the time the party is getting ready for their final showdown with Exdeath, Faris' motivation has changed from a purely selfish desire to rediscover his past to an effort to save the world and, in her own words, prevent any more sacrifices from being made. Faris is also torn between knowing that she was born as Princess Sarisa (into, frankly, one of the most absurdly altruistic families in the world) and being raised as Captain Faris the unrepentant pirate. Although she eventually accepts Lenna as her sister and King Tycoon as her father, Faris' efforts to become a princess have given her more difficulty--both times she's tried, she quickly returned to piracy. At the end of FFV, Faris is an active pirate once more.

3) What are their flaws as a character? What is something they've messed up, or have done that they regret?

Faris was raised to be a man by a bunch of pirates. As a result, he's 500% comfortable with swashbuckling and other acts of derring-do, and -5000% comfortable with expressing any feelings that aren't directly related to being a pirate (so, most feelings). She has a bad habit of dealing with truths she doesn't like by attempting to deny their existence. Any time she's about to lose someone important to her during FFV (and it happens more than once), her instinctive reaction is to say something like "this isn't happening." Faris took up the quest to save the crystals primarily to find out about her past, and when her long-lost sister spelled out what that past was, Faris laughed at her like an asshole and ran off, as though she was trying to physically flee from her own emotions. Her initial reaction to Lenna is one of the things Faris regrets most--not only because it hurt her sister deeply, but because Faris had reached the selfsame conclusion too and there was no other way to explain her refusal to acknowledge it other than fear.

4) Optional: What is something unique and interesting about them, or what is a fun little tidbit that sets them apart from the crowd?

Faris isn't from a place and time that has a nuanced understanding of different gender identities. As a result, the way most people (including Faris) see her story is as "woman raised as a man," but a more accurate way to describe her would be genderfluid. Having been raised as a man since the age of five, Faris feels male most of the time. Sometimes (usually when experiencing the aforementioned non-pirate feelings) she does feel female. It's complicated. She doesn't have very good vocabulary for it. Give her a hard time about it and she'll keel-haul you.


Abilities & Inventory:
Inventory:
Pirate gear (aka clothes)
A pendant from the royal house of Tycoon
Assassin Dagger: One of the Twelve Legendary Weapons. It has a 25% chance to instantly kill its target (for RP purposes, that can either be "chance to uncannily get to an enemy's weak point" or just nerfed.)
A regular sword

Abilities:
Faris is from a Final Fantasy where you derive ultimate prowess through the almighty power of dress-up--specifically by absorbing the job abilities of ancient warrior spirits bound to crystal shards. After spending a certain amount of time equipped to a particular job class, the Light Warriors "master" each ability and can use them without having that shard equipped. Because the crystal shards leave the party's possession at the end of the game, I'm going to stick with a list of abilities that Faris could reasonably have "mastered" before the final battle. Faris will remain a Freelancer the whole time, but can use abilities from these three mastered classes.

Independently of that, Faris is also adept with swords and knives. (He can use other medieval-y weapons, but those are his personal preference.)

Thief: Most abilities are heist-related. Faris can spot any hidden passage, can't be snuck up on, can pickpocket or combine theft with an attack, and overall is very agile.

Dragoon: The main ability of this job is the ability to jump very high, hang in the air, and then land for massive damage. Dragoons can also use the Lance ability, where they call the ethereal head of a dragon to steal health and magic from an enemy. Also an adept lance-wielder.

Cannoneer: A sword-wielder that can combine various kinds of gunpowder to inflict various effects. Can also summon a cannon from hammerspace to shoot off special ammo. (Nerf this one if you must I just wanted to mention that it exists. I'd be fine to reduce this to a miniature cannon or a blunderbuss.)

Corsair. Faris might not have been born a pirate, but he was raised to be an excellent one--supplementary materials describe him as the youngest pirate captain known in FFV's world. Even though Faris tried to be a proper princess--twice--he couldn't feel comfortable in it, and both times left the castle to rejoin his old crew. Despite having developed a sense of responsibility and some extent of altruism over the course of FFV's story, that doesn't mean Faris has given up his old ways. He's much more comfortable living the unmannerly and free-roaming life of a buccaneer. Faris is decisive and brave and really enjoys doing dangerous things and/or things that you're generally not supposed to do. Everything he does is done on his own terms. I would also like to explore more about how Faris thinks about being a pirate now that she has developed that sense of responsibility, and how she squares that circle.

Test Drive Sample: TDM toplevel with multiple threads.
2025 app: TDM toplevel

Questions: Any questions you might have.