Courtois Sauveterre

⚶ Background ⚶

Rather than being conceived and born normally, the man who would become known as “Courtois Sauveterre” was actually created in a laboratory in the ancient Allagan Empire. His parents, unable to conceive or birth children normally, decided to combine their own DNA in an artificial womb and grow the child to term there. Unfortunately, the end of the Allagan Empire would come before the child could be removed from the artificial womb, and the laboratory he was created in was buried.

An excavation by the Students of Baldesion uncovered the facility, and the baby was first given to Sharlayan scholars, artificial womb and all. It was eventually decided that trying to free the trapped infant was best, since his containment pod had a slow leak, and it was feared that he would die if not freed. A small group of scholars were assigned to study and take care of him. They saw to his needs, but many didn’t want to form an attachment to him, for fear that he would suffer some horrible “meltdown”—either literally or mentally. He was given no name, only a serial number.

When he reached the age of eight, one of these researchers—who had grown tired of the cold behavior the young child had been treated with up until that point—protested. This was a child, he argued, not merely another piece of Allagan technology to dissect and study. His protestations were ignored, his recommended changes in treatment veto’d. He kept up trying to improve the child’s treatment, but eventually the Forum became tired of his constant complaints, and sought to remove him from the project. Before that could happen though, the researcher bundled Courtois up and fled from the research facility.

For three years the two stayed on the run, until a distant cousin of the researcher in Ishgard agreed to take the pair in. It was a noble of a minor house in Ishgard, so Courtois was made a ward. From then on, Courtois was raised in Ishgard, on the teachings of the Holy See. But he soon realized that he had gone from a place of pure logic and reason, to a place where logic and reason went to die. He questioned everything, from the trials at Witchdrop, to the right of trial by combat, to the very foundations of the faith in the Holy See—how blindly the people followed and never questioned.

This didn’t exactly make him the most popular teenager growing up. But it also made him understand that if he was to depend on anyone for his protection, it would be himself. So he began learning the ways of the machinist no sooner than he could hold a weapon—casting himself as even less of a devout, since a “true” devotee of Halone would never use the ways of the machinist, but would instead seek the training of the Temple Knights.

And it was almost no sooner than he was declared a man than he was also declared a heretic, and ordered to stand trial in the very ritual he stood the strongest against—that at Witchdrop. Courtois knew the only thing he could do to save himself and the family that had taken him in was leave Ishgard entirely.

He packed what things he thought he would need, and penned a single letter, which he left behind. The letter stated three things: firstly that he had made this decision on his own, and that no one else had been told that he was leaving, or where he was going; secondly, that Ishgard could consider his departure a form of penance—whether dead or merely no longer in Ishgard, a “heretic” was no longer in their midst; thirdly, that he felt the Ishgardians and Dravanians were equally foolish, killing each other willy-nilly and letting their nation be taken over so easily by infighting and witch hunts that set brother against brother when they could have solved their problems in a fraction of the time had they tried to understand each other.

Eventually Courtois made his way to Gridania and joined the adventurers’ guild there. He remains a member of Gridania’s guild, though he maintains no fixed residence in the Black Shroud, or anywhere else. He takes jobs that he is confident he can complete, his only aim to bring in enough money to survive.

Heavensward Spoilers (Click to Expand/Collapse) ▼

Camp Dragonhead had been a welcoming stop to many adventurers—not just the Warrior of Light—and Haurchefant Greystone’s enthusiasm, openness, and honesty were a breath of fresh air. Courtois grew to trust the man, despite Haurchefant’s Ishgardian origin. But he never disclosed his own troubles, not wanting to place any undue burdens on the other man. However, after the death of Haurchefant, Cortois began avoiding Camp Dragonhead, because the place was cold as a Coerthan winter without him. Courtois only heard of the end of the Dragonsong War by word of mouth, had no hand in ending it, and did not return to Ishgard once it had ended. However many “heretics” had been pardoned, the whole of Ishgard wasn’t going to change its mind in the space of a day...

Stormblood Spoilers (Click to Expand/Collapse) ▼

Courtois’s involvement with the freeing of Doma and Ala Mhigo was minimal; he was not a member of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, and he was certainly not the Warrior of Light. He helped where he could, but Garlean lockdown on these locations made it difficult for him to get where he could assist the most. It really wasn’t until these areas were freed that he was able to get to them and start helping. He spent most of his time in the Doman Enclave, figuring the smaller locale would be better for keeping his cover. Ishgard was surely too embroiled in its own internal conflicts to send inquisitors that far afield. He busied himself with assisting in the repair and rebuilding of the enclave.

Shadowbringers Spoilers (Click to Expand/Collapse) ▼

The events of Shadowbringers mainly took place in the First Reflection, so there was little in the way of participation from Courtois. The Garleans began raiding more in preparation for the release of “Black Rose” and the creation of the Weapons, and there were occasions when he was called to battle here. But aside from that, Courtois had no interaction with the events of Shadowbringers.

Endwalker Spoilers (Click to Expand/Collapse) ▼

When the blasphemies began to appear and people began to turn into monsters, Courtois fought against the creatures as best as he could. He was injured a handful of times, as one tends to be when wave after wave after wave of monsters are thrown at one... and some of one’s own fallen allies become monsters instead of dying. It was easier for him to fight those who transformed, since he maintained few connections with people in general, and had very little emotional attachment to them. Besides that, his cold logic dictated that these people were no longer the people they were, so he had less issues fighting them. But he was only one man. Still, he did what he could to forestall the end of the world on the surface of the star while the Warrior of Light and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn fought at the Edge of the Universe.

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