Matthew Levi Faucher
This is the cliff notes version of he backstory. For the full version, please check the Server. Matthew is born in a fairly large milling town called Morgan's Run, to Leah and Ethan Faucher- the daughter of a general store owner and a mill worker, respectively. The family he's born into is large, and he has four older siblings and two younger siblings. He also has at least six blooded aunts and uncles, only one of whom is without a spouse or child- Lucas Faucher, his father's brother. At the age of ten Matthew goes on a camping trip with his eldest brother, Aaron, who is 21 at the time, after pestering him relentlessly to bring him along for about a week. They are meant to only be gone for four days about a month before winter should start, taking a two day hike out to his brothers' favorite spot. They get there successfully, but on the return trip are accosted by a bear, which mauls and presumably kills Aaron while Matthew hides in a cabin they spent the first and third night of the hike in. He is there for several days, surviving off of nuts and fruits his brother taught him about during the hike and too frightened to leave beyond the cabin's clearing. He is eventually found by his father and several other people who were looking for him, and taken back to town, at which point he barely speaks for several months as he processes his trauma.
Aaron's body is never recovered. The family is eventually able to move on. When Matthew is 13, a plague starts moving through numerous Dakota communities, eventually making it's way to Morgan's Run. Matthew's family started dropping like flies- he lost his father, both of his elder sisters, and his sibling he was closest to, his younger sister Priscilla. The only people in his immediate family who lived were his mother, elder brother Isaac, and youngest sister Edna. After the plague passed and he was fourteen almost fifteen, his mother decided they were going to leave Morgan's Run. Matthew's uncle Lucas came into town with a carriage for all their things, and took the family East to his home in Philadelphia. It was Matthew, his mother Leah, his brother Isaac, his sister Edna, and his grandmother on his mother's side who came with. They all ended up moving into Lucas' home on what was meant to be a temporary basis, living in the several story home he owned with his housemate/good friend Roman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Through Roman, Matthew met his future mentor, Cornelius Kikkert.
Cornelius [Dr. Kicks to his friends] was a former head Pharmaceutical Researcher for Smith & Robards, and he and Matthew hit it off pretty well- particularly when Matthew expressed a desire to be a doctor. Based on the far off look in his eye, they may have shared similar disease-based trauma. He decided to take Matthew under his wing, starting to teach him the basics of science and medicine. Along with recommendations from Roman, Cornelius got Matthew accepted into the University of Pennsylvania's medical program, where Matthew spent the next three years learning how to be a doctor- as is standard for medical schools at the time. After finishing there, he started working under Cornelius and learning the basics of Ghost Rock and using it as an accelerant or amplifier in various medicines. He began doing his own research and traveling away from Pennsylvania further west, hoping to study diseases and treat people who needed it and didn't have regular access to quality medical care. At some point during these travels out west, he developed what was essentially a Miracle Cure, a concoction of ghost rock and various ingredients that, when properly combined and treated, seemed to cure almost any illness. It cured a man's tuberculosis, a woman's syphilis, and a whole host of other things in the very brief time he was able to make use of it.
A member of a bandit gang was administered the serum whilst in a town Matthew was in, and word of the serum got back to his boss. They decided to kidnap Matthew in the middle of town, so they could steal the serum and his formula for it, as to get rich of the selling of it themselves. And also to cure the bosses chlamidia. Once they were done getting all the information they needed from Matthew, in order to prevent him from making a competing product, they decided to hang him from a tree. Matthew was not killed instantly, as he was very light and his neck didn't snap, but was left to asphyxiate on the rope while the rough material tore the flesh of his neck, the wound of which would leave his neck scar. Matthew was quickly rescued by a wandering gunslinger- profession unknown- who had heard about what happened from the townsfolk. In the ensuing firefight [literally, molotovs were thrown] Matthew's notes and the remaining vials of his serum were destroyed, and many members of the bandit gang were killed. A few were killed by Matthew, a revolver forced into his hands and a bloody rope still hanging around his neck. He spent a few weeks recovering in town from his injuries [and his sadness over losing his research] before continuing on. Regardless of his own troubles, there were still people who needed helping.
Family Cheat Sheet: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/343834464155205633/906259160277069874/Screen_Shot_2021-11-04_at_6.43.26_PM.png
