Name: Mauve Vinho
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Nationality: Vacuo

Appearance: If there was one word to describe Mauve's appearance, it would have to be 'striking'. She has tanned skin from the amount of time she spends outdoors, and her hair, which is medium length and held in a messy ponytail with a red ribbon, is a dark golden blonde. Her eyes are dark blue, and her face is definitely beautiful in an intimidating 'I could kill you in five seconds' sort of way. Nice to look at, but most people tend to admire it from afar, since she doesn't look very approachable. When she's relaxed, that tends to go away a little, mostly because she stops glaring.

She wears gladiator-style light armour that covers her right shoulder and arm as well as her chest diagonally with a couple of pouches attached to them in order to hold supplies. The armour itself is made from silver metal, with golden vine-like patterns around the edges of each individual plate. In the centre of the largest shoulder plate, her emblem, an ouroboros made from a pair of snakes, is etched in a reddish-purple. The straps of the armour are the same colour as the patterns, while the buckles are silver.

The armour also includes a segmented skirt around her waist, which is quite short in order to allow her freedom of movement - . The armour consists of four main plates, with one at the front and back, and one at each side. Under the plates, she wears a slightly longer normal skirt, again the reddish-purple colour seen elsewhere on her outfit. The plate at the front is engraved with an intricate design, and each of the plates is edged with gold.

On her feet, she wears simple, flat-footed sandals, designed to be light and stay out of the way. In general, the armour is slightly scuffed and scratched in various places due to the damage it has taken throughout her training and the time she's spent as a full huntress. She tends to keep her gladius in a sheath at her waist, while she keeps the dagger in a smaller one strapped to her leg.

Personality: Mauve is a person who struggles with herself. On the surface, she is calculating and ruthless, stone-hearted towards the weak and helping them only because it is her job. Nothing more, nothing less. She doesn't seem to consider others to be her friends, pushing them away and refusing to let out her emotions, bottling them up. Her manner is matter-of-fact, and deadly serious - she carries herself through each and every day as though it is a battle.

In reality, that impression is a persona of sorts, which she's crafted in order to try and keep people away. The primary reason for this is that she deals with a fair amount of self-loathing and doubt around her own actions. She doesn't view herself as a good person, which makes her feel like others are better than her, and she doesn't want to make them deal with someone like her. Rather than have to explain this every time, she'd rather just push people away in the first place.

While she will confront idealists, claiming that their worldview is unrealistic, it's at least partly based off of jealousy that they can stay that way, and that they're strong enough to keep that mindset. Despite herself, she tends to try and protect those sorts of people, even at her own risk.

Despite her intimidating facade, Mauve is actually surprisingly protective of others, and will give almost anything to stop the ones she cares about from getting hurt. She's steadfast, brave, and a pillar of support for others when they're suffering, accepting them for their flaws. After all, she isn't in a place to judge. She's determined and refuses to give up on her friends, even when they've given up on themselves - though she has a tendency towards tough love.

Above all else, Mauve just tries to live, in her own fashion. Her strength and unfaltering nature serve to make her a skilled huntress, who can be counted on no matter what. She's loyal to the people she cares about, but ultimately serves her own cause, and doesn't take kindly to the idea of being a piece in someone else's game. If she has to make sacrifices, or do bad things, then she will, not wanting anyone else to be forced to take on that burden. As long as she can do it on her own terms.

Aspiration: She wants to make sure that the people of Remnant are protected from whatever may try to harm them. Essentially, she's taken on the burden of being a huntress in the hope that no-one else has to.

Fears: Crossing the line and becoming as bad as the people she fights.
Being trapped or locked up.
Hurting someone that she cares about.

Ethics: Mauve places the ultimate victory above almost everything else. Her morality centres around the idea of the final outcome, and she is willing to do a lot of things in order to make sure that outcome is good. If it were necessary she'd be perfectly willing to let an innocent person die if she knew it would let her save more. She despises people who manipulate and treat people like pawns without taking part in their own game, and believes in sacrifice but only when it is for a clear, foreseeable goal. Vague notions of the 'greater good' are lost on her, and she dismisses them as naive and unrealistic.

She's all too aware that the world is a cruel place, and gets incredibly annoyed by people who try to pretend that it isn't. Despite firmly believing that she's trying to do the right thing, Mauve doesn't exactly view herself as a 'good' person or a hero, and discussions of morality tend to bring this to the forefront of her thoughts. When this comes to mind, she focuses on the fact that sometimes the right thing isn't the easy choice, and that she's trying to make sure that it gets done. By whatever means necessary.

History: Mauve was born in a small desert village in Vacuo. The place was vibrant and full of life, everyone seeming to live every single day to the fullest. Perhaps because of how remote the place was, the kids spent a lot of time outside, and formed close bonds with each other, making up stories of what they were going to do, or who they were going to be once they got older. Some wanted to be doctors, some wanted to be chefs and artists and singers, but Mauve always gave the same answer. "I want to be a huntress!" she'd laugh, dreaming of being a hero just like the ones you always heard about.

She was gifted her gladius at a fairly young age, although it was a few sizes to big for her back then. Her mother encouraged her dreams, wanting to make sure that she made something of herself and, to a certain extent, living vicariously through her daughter. Her father, a famous retired huntsman by the name of Rouge Vinho, trained her, but reluctantly. As she got older and he started to insist that she not become a huntress, their relationship became tense, and he refused to train her further.

Perhaps unfortunately, she was already at a high enough level that she could effectively train by herself, meaning that once she was old enough, she sent away an application to Beacon. She joined the school as a somewhat overenthusiastic and childish girl, with a romantic, glamorised idea of what being a huntress was. She wasn't a team leader, but was able to maintain her cheerful views of what being a huntress would be until her last year.

Her team, MMYD, got assigned a mission that was out of their league, to put it simply. The area hadn't been scouted out properly, and they were sent out to quell a Beowulf infestation near a small village. Thinking it would be an easy mission, the team split into their partner pairs to finish it faster.

Once they caught sight of the area, Mauve's partner, a reckless boy by the name of Dusk, charged in to the area without thinking once he saw a Grimm pass by, expecting to easily behead a weak, low-level grimm. Instead, he found his axe sinking into the leg of a Goliath. Needless to say, it didn't work out as planned.

To her credit, she managed to rescue Dusk alive, but his Aura had been broken earlier in the fight, and he had been tossed into the corner of a building, breaking his back. It was all that she could do to bring him back, bruised and battered with barely enough aura left to keep herself conscious. She was obviously in shock, unable to absorb what had happened - the reality of being a huntress hitting her square in the face.

Despite having been obviously outmatched, Mauve at least partly blamed herself for not getting him out of there. She started to lash out, developing a grudge against Ozpin. If he hadn't spent his time playing with them like it was nothing and actually did his job, they would never have been sent there. As far as she was concerned, he'd sacrificed her partner's chances for the sake of some sort of game.

Once she'd properly recovered, Mauve's worldview had been drastically altered. Gone was the girl who'd idolised the job of a huntress, and who'd always believed that things would go her way. Some sparks still remained of her kind heart and open nature, but she always struggled to get closer to people at the Academy after that. After all, they would just be taken away, unless she made sure they were protected.

Her boundless enthusiasm was replaced with steely resolve, her open affection and kindness morphed into a quiet and fearsome protective instinct. It took a lot of convincing on her teammates' part to convince her to remain at Beacon, and while she did so she certainly didn't make an effort to disguise her hatred of Ozpin and his lackeys, openly refusing to have any part of any of their plans. She wasn't going to let them sacrifice her for nothing the way that they did her partner.

She graduated as a very different person than the one she came in as, but she'd found a new goal. For the sake of her partner, and for everyone else who'd been hurt by the Grimm, she decided that she would take on the task of being a huntress and make sure that Remnant's people were protected. Both from the monsters that battered at their doors, and from the people that would use them as pawns. She was determined to be the one standing against that, no matter what it took. Whatever was necessary, to make sure that the people were protected. That was the promise she made to herself as she graduated from Beacon Academy, and the one she's stuck to since.

Semblance: Mauve's semblance allows her to emit light from her hands. On the face of it, this doesn't sound too powerful - after all, compared to some semblances, being able to make things a little brighter doesn't seem all that impressive. People who think that, however, underestimate exactly how bright it can get. Instead of just lighting things up, Mauve's semblance can be the equivalent of a flash grenade if she chooses, blinding her opponents with sudden, intense light.

Combat Style: Mauve's fighting style is all about distraction. Movement is the primary focus of the way that she fights, and she aims to make sure that her opponent can never tell what's going on. Her light flashes mean that her opponents can't watch everything that's happening, and she capitalises on this by moving around the battlefield at a high speed, or, against human and faunus opponents, unbalancing them and moving them around until they can't tell which way is up, or just tearing them apart with quick, slashing strikes. This makes her incredibly difficult to deal with in close-combat, especially for fighters with more precise styles, who can't stay focused on her because of the light.

Against smaller opponents, she normally uses her dagger's pistol form in conjunction with her gladius, and rarely uses the latter's hook to do much more than move herself around when necessary. The main things that she has trouble with are opponents whose fighting style is based off of larger and less precise attacks, because her semblance is much less effective in stopping them from hitting her. Against long-range combatants, she tends to focus on closing the space as quickly as she possibly can, but her parkour and grappling hook mean that she's normally able to do this in a short amount of time.

Weapon: A roman Gladius sword in her right hand with a dagger/pistol held in her left hand. The sword's blade has wind dust forged into it, meaning that she can use it to launch 'blades' of air when she slashes. The downside to this is that the weapon itself can't transform. The dagger is able to transform into a pistol with a built-in grappling hook, which is capable of supporting her weight. When she fires a hook from the crossbow, it can be retracted, allowing her to essentially launch herself at anything it hits.

The handle of the gladius is made from dark, richly coloured wood, with a golden pommel which is carved into the shape of a beowulf's snarling head. The blade's metal is tinted slightly green from the wind dust that was forged into it. Its sheath is made from plain brown leather, and kept at Mauve's waist. The dagger is made entirely of metal, with a maroon handle and silver blade, while its pistol form maintains the same colour scheme. The grappling hook is on the top of the pistol, in the space where a bayonet could be placed in most weapons. It is surprisingly small for the amount of weight it can handle.

Non-Combat skills: Skilled at parkour and climbing, is a talented tracker, and is good at finding out information, although she can sometimes use less than savoury methods.

Deficiencies: Bad at comforting people and dealing with children, is a terrible negotiator due to her stubbornness and attitude problems, and can't do first-aid or any kind of medical help to save her life. She also sucks with computers.

Miscellaneous: Really, really doesn't like Ozpin and his people. If she's asked to have anything to do with them, then she will react with slight hostility at best, and cold fury at worst. She basically thinks he just plays with people's lives, and despises him for it.

Appearance:

People say Mina is a looker, in a before-her-time kind of way. Long neck and red lips to match that red hair that falls around her ears in whatever way it damn well chooses. Her skin looks like it has never seen the sun, regardless of how long she spends in it, and her eyes are... probably brown. Without a bright light, they may as well be black holes.

She doesn't wear armour, per say, as she doesn't intend on getting hit. Her day to day is a short gold dress which clinches at the waist and falls in folds at the bottom, the sleeves come over her shoulder like a shawl. This area, and over her breast bone, is lined with a thin mesh to protect from piercing attacks. Ultimately, it is meant to keep her light on her feet. And, just for style the dress has an absurd feather collar. She loves it. She also wears long black boots which go above the knee and a black leather jacket to set the look off. This too adds a decent layer of protection.

Her Faunus feature, like the rest of her family, is a big, red fox tail.

Personality:

Ethics: A realist but not a pessimist.

Mina knows there is dark in the world but it is diminished by those sparks of pure, bright light. She understands that not everyone has a "good" side, but she knows most have a pain and a life and a mind like her own- it makes them easier to understand and easier to forgive. Even those who have feared her kind. However, she cannot tolerate those who look past the "lesser" or "weaker", human and faunus alike.

Mina's world view is not black and white. Every situation is different, determined by many factors. She is ready to be challenged on her views which can make her loyalties falter at times. Other's opinions can often cast doubt on her own. She considers this a good thing, personal growth. She can, and has, done unsavory things to achieve what she needs to, including lie ("tactical flattery, honey"). But ultimately, she does consider herself to be "good". Whatever that means.

History:

Mina was born into a big family, the second eldest of six. Mistral, her home, has a bad rep. Swamps full of low lives and thugs, they say. Mina thinks this is an unfair assessment. Sure enough, it was a rough place to grow up. Her father worked incredibly hard to keep their family fed after her mother's death some years earlier and the swamp town she grew up in had its share of unsavory characters, not to mention no real infrastructure to speak of. But, she was happy. She would learn to fight with her brothers, dance with her sisters and play a mean hand of cards with the men in town (where she first learnt to lie). She often took care of her four younger siblings when her father was working.

Her village was almost entirely populated by Faunus so her family was rarely exposed to the discrimination so common to other areas of Remnant. But the peace wasn't to last. Slowly, as the area became more populated with humans, the level of mistrust and hatred directed towards her and her family. When they travelled to bigger cities, Mina would notice the signs, "No Faunus" and "Humans only". They weren't new, they had always been there but her father had protected his children from it. She was old enough to see it now. One summer, a band of Faunus calling themselves the White Fang traveled through her populated villages of Mistral. They told tales of the injustice done to her kind, the rising discrimination and even violence. It moved her, of course it did, but it moved someone else in her family more.

Her eldest brother, Garnet, had always had the dream of becoming a Hunter. The opportunities at Haven, Mistral's own academy, were fewer for those of their kind so instead he sought a place at Beacon. Mina remembers watching him train, day and night, to gain acceptance into the prestigious academy. Often she would train with him, to keep him motivated. However, after the White Fang's arrival, Garnet no longer seemed interested in Beacon, in becoming a Hunter or protecting the realm. Instead he was inspired to hatred and justice against humans. He left for the White Fang, shortly after receiving an acceptance letter from Beacon.

Mina's father, a kind hearted man, could not condone Garnet's joining what was clearly a terrorist group and disowned his son. His weapon, which was meant to be passed to Garnet, instead was given to her. It made her think; the Faunus in her village, almost a city now, had fallen on tough times. If she could become a Huntress she could provide for her family. Well, good thing there was still an Amaranth enrolled at Beacon.

Mina attended in her brother's place. Through clever words, and half truths, it took Ozpin... days to notice that she was not the brother who had been accepted to Beacon. However, he didn't send her away. Seeing potential, Ozpin allowed Mina to continue at Beacon, with an extra foundation year to catch up with her peers.

She hasn't heard from her brother since starting at Beacon.

Initially, Mina struggled at Beacon. Not with the academic or training- she, like many students, excelled as a fighter- but with the personal. The story that she had stolen her brother's place, lied her way into Beacon, quickly spread through the students. And although Ozpin had no tolerance for discrimination against Faunus, even other Faunus were wary of her sub-species. Sly, they said, that fox. . Mina supposed the rumours were not unfounded, she was a liar, sometimes, but it was never cruel and never to hurt anyone. Still, she was often avoided, especially when it became known that her brother had joined the White Fang.

At the end of her first year, the Vytal Festival came to Beacon. The campus became vibrant and buzzing with students from the four corners of Remnant. It was one student hailing from Shade that caught her eye. He cut quite the imposing figure, standing a good foot above her and with two mighty tusks protruding from his face. Mina expected a brute but what she got when she approached him... a kind soul. He wasn't taking part in the combat at the festival, in fact, he avoided combat where it wasn't necessary. Here is someone, Mina thought, who she would never have to lie to because they would always accept or forgive.

The two became fast friends and stayed in contact once the festival concluded. The following year, Daedalus returned to Beacon as part of an exchange program with Shade and their friendship grew. He complimented Mina both in battle, where they often stood defensively together, and as a friend, where he would often soften her and she would strengthen him. The odd pair are close friends to this day.

Miscellaneous: Garnet Amaranth is, at this point, quite a high ranking member of the White Fang.

Semblance: Second Face

Mina can make a copy of herself which does not have it's own free will aside from being able to move where Mina mentally directs it. The copy cannot speak but Mina can see through it's eyes and hear what it hears if she is concentrating on that alone. In battle, it will mirror her attacks. The copy itself has Mina's shape and look but is just slightly... darker. A shadow, almost.

Name: Meral Dandee
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Race: Her Mother was Faunus and her Father was a human, but so far Meral hasn't displayed any Faunus features.
Nationality: Meral was born outside of the major civilizations, but her family has since been relocated to Vacuo.

Additional Appearance:

Meral has a pretty unassuming and child-like appearance. She is rather short, standing at a proud 5'1, and has a small frame to match. But just by looking at her you can tell she's a friendly person. She is never seen without a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes.

In combat Meral wears no body armor, which is strange for a Huntress who likes to charge into combat. The only protective measure Meral wears is a miners helmet, with a functional light. The helmet, however, has also been upgraded for a modern age of fighting and is incredibly durable and shock resistant. Meral can be seen blocking enemy attacks with her head because of this.

Meral's attire and weapon are a sort of nod to where she came from, and what she endured. She likes to take pride in her humble roots, as a sort of mockery to any who thought she would not get to where she is now.

Personality: Extroverted is an easy way to describe Meral. She is permanently friendly and outgoing. She forgives others easily and doesn't take threats or insults very seriously, Meral considers everyone she meets, and even people she hasn't met, her friend. Her charisma and confidence has not been limited by the difficult life situation she found herself in. Meral is one of those people with a complete "can do" attitude. She tries her hardest in everything she does and tries her hardest to keep her friends positive too.

She is rather impulsive, jumping to conclusions or being the first one to run down a dangerous path. This is likely due to her high energy, which seems to be unending. Her rather fun-loving nature makes her pleasant to be around. She will be the first one to suggest the team takes the day off to go out to eat or enjoy the beach. Meral can be a bit lazy, as shown by her desire to have fun instead of train, but it's never gotten past just wanting to sleep in in the morning. She is extremely loyal to whoever leads her, often carrying out tasks without second thought.

And yet sometimes the goofy and happy exterior is just that, an exterior. Hiding her insecurities. Meral struggles to make her issues known to others, due to most people just thinking of her as the happy-go-lucky kid. Meral worries that if she tells people how she really feels that they will treat her different, or start to question her when she really feels happy. She also finds it difficult to voice her opinions, especially when they go against the opinions of higher ups or authority figures. And since she finds herself unable to go against a direct order, she is often roped into plans or ideas that she doesn't agree with.

Despite this, Meral is still a nice person to be around and an even better person to be friends with. She is always there to lend a hand or provide a shoulder to cry on. While she comes off as 'slow' she is actually quite insightful, understanding people more then she lets on.

Aspiration: Meral wants to end injustice in the world. She understands how vital Dust is, but she doesn't want others to suffer for it. Being a Huntress means that she would be able to travel the world and see many people who need help.

She also wants her father to be able to retire and never have to touch a speck of dust ever again.

Fears:

• Confinement or Tight Spaces
• Loud crashing noises (i.e. Tunnel walls collapsing)
• Being the center of attention
• Aggressive authority figures

Ethics: Meral believes in freedom for all, Faunus or Human. And that the only way to keep the world from falling to despair is to stay kind to each other. Faunus should have fair workers rights, and those in difficult life situations should be given help.

Meral's standpoint on fairness and kindness, however, does not extend to those already at the top. Meral hates the Schnee Dust company, and other powerful companies like it, that take advantage of the poor and those with no other options. She would gladly see the Schnee Dust Company fall into disrepair and all their rich associates live in squalor. A taste of their own medicine.

History: Meral is an only child, born to Canary and Liam Dandee. The three of them were miners of the Schnee Dust Company, working underground to harvest Dust. Schnee Dust Company was always known for its shady workers rights, unfairly employing everyone from Faunus to Children. As long as Meral could remember she worked the mines, crawling in the tunnels too small for the adults. And all in the name of Dust.

Meral's mother and father loved each other very much. Meral's mother had the uncanny ability to detect where cave-ins were about to happen, thus keeping the miners safe. Meral's father affectionally referred to her as his "Canary in a Mine Shaft" Most of the cave ins and dangers were due to the unsafe conditions of the mines, and even when mentioned to the Schnee Dust Company higher ups, their pleas for safer measures were ignored.

When Meral was ten her mother detected a cave in, fast approaching. And while she was able to alert and save many of the miners she lost her own life. Once she had ensured the safety of her family she returned to the mine to tell more people. Moments later the tunnel collapsed.

The remaining members of the miners boycotted Schnee, refusing to mine until compensation was received for the families of those who lost loved ones, and better safety measures were implemented. Meral and her father were at the front of the protests. Under the threat of violence the miners were forced to leave the company, and more desperate Faunus took their places.

And so Meral and her father were forced to relocate. Meral and her father walked for days, with nothing but what they could carry on their backs, to the nearest nation. Vacou. Meral and her father had to completely rebuild their lives from scratch, and this time they had to do it without Meral's mother.

The two found home in a very poor neighborhood in Vacou. It was full of Faunus and people with nothing. Meral's father got a job at a local Dust Shop, rather begrudgingly. They valued his knowledge and experience with Dust, but Meral's father despised the stuff.

But the move to Vacou left Meral confused about what to do next. Her entire life had been mining Dust, and that was what she thought the rest of her life would be too. She never thought about hobbies or dreams of her own.

But one day she met a Huntress.

They were a team of hunters and huntresses from Beacon, on some sort of assigned mission. The mission wasn't anything too dangerous or vital, just helping with some repairs around the small Vacuo neighborhood.

The hunters and huntresses has just finished refurbishing a park for the children to play in, when they were stopped by a group of excited children, Meral included. The adults were happy to answer questions for the kids, even showing off their weapons and stories of battles big and small.

Meral wanted to know what the best part was. Was it the beating up monsters? Was it the fame and fortune? The answer Meral got surprised her. It wasn't the fame or fortune or the fighting. It was getting to see kids just like her getting to have safe and happy lives. Knowing that they were making a positive difference in the world. Meral was amazed by these powerful people coming to help, no matter how small the job was they just wanted to help others.

She made up her mind then and there that she wanted to become a huntress. She was enrolled in a local Hunting School and eventually, through her intense motivation and determination, was moved to Beacon Academy.

Semblance: Meral seems to have inherited her mothers uncanny ability to sense danger. Meral affectionately refers to it as Precognition. Meral occasionally is alerted to incoming danger by her semblance. This danger could be as simple as stubbing her toe or an incoming enemy ambush. She has little control over these foretellings, unless she really concentrates on the world around her.

Combat Style: Meral's combat style is all about running in, hitting once where is hurts, and then rushing out. Her weapon is very heavy and slow, it requires her to lean back with it to really charge up the hit. So the further back she swings it the stronger the attack will be. But the long wait time leaves Meral exposed to danger.

Her weapon can also function as a rifle, but her aim is nothing to write home about. She only resorts to distance fighting if there is a swarm incoming or a very large target that she doesn't have to worry about really aiming for.

Weapon: Upon Meral's sudden desire to go to Hunting School Meral and her father began to build her weapon. An energy propelled Pickaxe. Primarily melee based, Meral loves bashing enemies with it, the handle of the Pickaxe also holds a simple rifle.

Non-Combat skills: Some would consider her contagious optimism a skill. She has the ability to brighten even the darkest days with reassuring words or even a smile.

Meral also has a fantastic eye for detail. She remembers patterns and can discern when something seems "off" about a wall. This can be as life saving as discovering a hidden crawl space or as mundane as being able to see the bathroom graffiti a poor janitor tired to paint over.

Deficiencies: Can not lead to save her life. She has grown comfortable in always taking and carrying out orders, to be put in a position of power gives Meral extreme anxiety. Even if the situation is dire and she is the only one who could lead Meral would lock up and panic.

Miscellaneous: Meral's childhood of mining has left her physically ill. Years of breathing in fumes and dust has left her with a weaker lung capacity and a wheeze. She was worried that they would prevent her from becoming a Huntress, but she's been able to work around them.

Name: Nura Volkov
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Nationality: Vacuuan with Atlesian father.
Appearance:
With a height slightly taller than the norm, most of Nura’s physical features are a gift from her father. The light skin and blue eyes, point towards her Atlesian background more than her Vacuuan mother. If she was a betting woman, Nura might propose that this biological reason for why she hates the heat. However a bet like that would be highly illogical.

Beneath her clothing lies the toned, lean muscles of a natural borne combatant. It is the physique one will often see on a runner for, unlike many of her peers, Nura is rarely reliant on gifts of her aura or weapons. She has put a large amount of time into training her physical body. This trained body is complemented by long flowing blonde hair that appears to fall around face in an almost haphazard manner. Generally she keeps the hair tied up in a neat ponytail, letting it fall straight down only on rare occasions.

Occasions she will no doubt complain about.

However Nura’s most striking feature is no doubt the perpetual scowl that lines her face. In contrast to the spectrum of apathy to amiability that adorns the rest of her team, Nura always looks perpetually displeased with the events occurring around her. In terms of her clothing, Nura favours the simplistic approach, wearing the black outfit provided by Al-Zalzalah, and only rarely adding in simple additions like a brown jacket. Practicality, simplicity and ease of movement are the determining qualities for whatever clothes Nura wears. Putting time and effort into her clothing is obviously not something that logically deserves her attention.

Oh and that skull hair clip? She’s just wearing it because her sister told her to. It’s not like she likes it or anything.



Personality and Ethics:

Guarded is perhaps the best word to describe Nura. It is by far her defining trait, a tendency to never let anyone get close. For this reason she typically comes off as extremely aloof, even when compared to the tundras on her team. As a result she tends to work alone, silently accomplishing whatever task has been put in front of her. That’s not to say she’s averse to working with the rest of her team, on the contrary she knows quite well how capable her teammates are. However despite all this, Nura still tends to only engage in team based exercises when she finds it to be the most logical approach. Of course this does create a flipsite where any illogical actions are quick to acquire her ire.

And Nura’s wrath will cause even the hardiest of warriors to shake in their boots.

Thus it’s a good thing that Nura abides so closely to logic, for while she may snap out at people, it’s rather difficult to acquire the full force of her anger. Instead it tends to come out in small bursts and biting remarks at people that commit logical fallacies or are just idiots in general. Being a moron after all is just asking to endanger one’s comrades.

Not that she necessarily cares about everyone else’s well being. She’s just annoyed that you could be so selfish is all.

Ahem.

Regardless of Nura’s tendency towards harsh comments at others for their mistakes, she’s probably harshest towards herself. A competitive streak and drive to excel tends to make Nura push herself to great extremes. Thus whenever she does fail or even falter in the smallest mistake, she tends to mentally berate herself for quite a while. That said she also tends to channel this frustration at her own failings in productive exercises of training. Suffice to say, that’s not necessarily the smartest exercise for her mental well being.

This tendency for self beration even applies to her social failings, but only because she doesn’t want to create misunderstandings that could aversely affect the performance of others.

Underneath this cold and harsh exterior, Nura likely does care deeply for others. A fact her annoying, nagging older sister delights in pointing out and a fact Nura vehemently rejects. Indeed, despite her exterior, compliments and praise can often make Nura flustered.

Or end with a gun pointed in your face.

It’s 50-50 with her.

Point is, Nura doesn’t like praise. She much prefers to silently take care of the job with minimal interference from outside parties. Not to mention she has a very difficult time showing concern or worry for anyone. She’s often a lone wolf precisely because she finds dealing with people and their illogical emotions to drive her up a wall and commit logical fallacies herself. People are a confusing, illogical bunch prone to spreading their fallacies to others after all.

Not that she’ll ever admit anything like that. After all, what does she care what morons do, as long as no one else is hurt by their selfishness.

Idiots.

Aspiration:

• Beating her sister
• Finding a way to be left alone
• Excelling
• Leaving Brennan in a ditch

Fears:

• Losing to her sister (Note: She’s never won)
• Being illogical (Note: Happens more often than she cares to admit)
• Umeko being tortured by her boy toy (Note: Too late)

History:
As the daughter of an Atlesian emigrant and a Vacuuan native, Nura was always bound to have a unique life. Her father was an Atlesian citizen involved with a less than noble brotherhood. But family is family, and her father deeply cared for his family, regardless of all the misgivings they caused. Her mother on the other hand was a Vacuuan huntress sent to weaken said family. To say they were a match made in heaven would be to utter a great fallacy. Still, somehow life had a way of happening.

In term of the details of the events that transpired, Nura is unaware, her father keeps mumbling something about how she’ll know when she’s older. This is of course made more frustrating by the fact that her older sister does know but refuses to tell her. A rather illogical stream of reasoning, but Nura is forced to put it up with.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that Nura’s father eventually moved to Vacuo and married Nura’s mother. They have remained in Vacuo since, and that was where Nura and her sister were born. Nura’s early childhood passed rather uneventfully, a simple life of chores, schooling and a hatred for the heat. The last one was particularly unfortunate for someone living in the desert, it appeared she took a bit too much from her East Atlesian father.

Every now and then though, her mother or father relented and taught Nura and her sister how to fight. While neither parent wished for their children to enter such a life of violence, the huntress blood flowing through their veins drew the two eager youths to their mother’s work. Thus her parents reasoned that if the two children were going to throw themselves headfirst anyway, it would be wise to provide them with the proper training to succeed.

For Nura becoming a huntress was the logical route from the beginning. Thanks to her unique background, she possessed a multitude of resources in the form of her parents that few others had. As far as Nura was concerned pursuing any other potential career was simply a waste of the abundance she had been granted. Coincidently, Nura’s sister had also decided to become a huntress and often set standards Nura sought to excel.

She definitely wasn’t competing with her or anything.

Upon graduation from combat school, Nura’s parents gave her gifts in the form of her new weapons. Weapons Nura put to good use at Shade Academy, just ask any of her teammates or unfortunate sparring partners. That said, while she’ll never admit it, she did find a decent group of people in team Tsunami.

Well at the very least they were competent.

Alongside her Tsunami teammates, Teàrlag Cirsium, Silver Never, and Umeko Kawaguchi, Nura found herself at the Vytal festival. Despite the contradictory and often explosive personalities of her team, they were able to proceed to the finals of the tournament. Unfortunately Nura wasn’t able to watch Umeko defeat Brennan at the festival due to being in the hospital as a result of the doubles round. Still, despite the official record, Nura has enough faith in her teammate to be absolutely certain she triumphed over the idiot from Atlas.

Afterwards Nura’s education continued as normal, often traveling with her teammates to the other school’s for exchange programs and other unique Hunter opportunities. Still, nothing else was quite as invigorating as the festival, even as the team had the opportunity to face stronger and fiercer Grimm. So it was that upon graduation, Nura was left with a few options of where she should pursue her new career. Vacuo was off the table due to her sister’s nagging presence, while Atlas was filled with far too many of her father’s former “associates.” With Mistral being far too humid for the young girl, Vale was left as the only real option.

Unfortunately for her, both Umeko and her boy toy (and his tagalong stray) felt Vale was the perfect place to begin their careers.

Thus Nura was stuck as both a chaperone and a Huntress.

Semblance:

Limit Over - Nura’s semblance allows her to excite dust and dust infused items through physical contact. Simply put a few seconds after intentional contact the dust will destabilize and enter state of overexcitation before fizzling out. In a sense Nura is accelerating the natural clock of the dust causing it to exhaust all of its available energy in a single brief moment. For instance, using her semblance on fire dust will cause it to rapidly combust out of control in a brief inferno. Ice dust on the other hand will completely freeze over, while earth dust will explode in shards of rock. When dealing with something like dust infused weapons, while the weapon itself is not destroyed, it will be rather difficult to control for the five seconds or so the dust is over excited and then left deprived of any special abilities derived from the dust.

Combat Style:

Nura can diligently serve a role as any team’s close quarters specialist. She is very much an up close, “in your face” kind of fighter. Whether with her knives or just simply her fists, Nura likes to deliver quick and powerful blows, something made even easier thanks to Al-Zalzalah. Her semblance and weaponry also makes her quite adept at disrupting the enemy. Simply put at close range Nura employs a style that can quickly become overwhelming for any single enemy. While this effect is lessened with multiple targets, Nura’s speed and agility means that she can still keep them busy as she allows others to finish them off. If no one else is around, she can probably still take out a large group of opponents, it’ll just take a little more time. Longer ranges do limit Nura mostly to using her pistols for suppressing fire or finding more creative ways of attacking. However one way she’s found to supplement this deficiency is by carrying vials of dust she can ignite with her semblance.

Weapons:

Al-Zalzalah - Nura’s primary weapon is rather unique. Rather than the typical armament of Hunter guns and swords, Nura’s weapon takes the form of the very clothing she wears. Normal existing as loose fitting pants, her black tank top and her gloves, with a simple voice command it enter its battle mode as a black body suit that covers everything but her head. Her gloves however remain fingerless to allow for greater dexterity and proper use of her semblance. The clothing is dust infused and boosts her speed by a slight but noticeable amount. She won’t be darting around with superspeed by any means, but she’ll definitely be able to keep up or outspeed just about anyone without such superpowers. Dust infusion is achieved based on whatever dust element the clothes last came in contact with. Obviously Nura can trigger this herself, but the suit is also capable of absorbing dust attacks launched at it. However while it is able to absorb the elements, the physical attacks will still hurt her. For instance while she might absorb the fire of a fire dust infused bullet, she will still experience the pain and effects of being hit by a bullet.

However the true power of Al-Zalzalah comes in its ability to emit seismic waves infused with the properties of whatever dust has been infused into the suit. These waves are triggered by physical contact and will emit from the point of contact. For instance launching a punch at an opponent can trigger waves of flame to emit from the contact point, or stomping on the ground to send a shockwave of ice. Nura can control whether or not these waves are emitted. Obviously these waves cause quite a bit of vibration on the target, capable of easily shattering things like ice and glass. Stronger strikes are even capable of shattering stones. The strength of the waves is proportional to the strength of contact.

Glazdrakona and Rozhdeniye - Nura’s secondary weapons are nowhere near as elaborate as her primary. Instead they are a pair of simple dust powered pistols, hailing from her father’s days in the East Atlesian Bratva. Design wise they look akin to the MP-443 Grach Yarygin Pistol, with a black color scheme and a Bratva symbol etched into the hilt. In addition these pistols are capable of transforming into simple combat knives. Other than that there isn’t much special about these pistols.

Non-Combat skills:

• Surprisingly, Nura is a decent chef.
• Unsurprisingly, Nura is an excellent runner and climber.
• She’s a monster.

Deficiencies:
Let’s just say she isn’t much of a people person. In fact, Nura is remarkable for her odd misunderstandings of the world. Things others may find to be obvious facts might strike Nura as an odd and peculiar tidbit. Abiding so closely to logic, and being so focused on her training, has left Nura a little naive to the workings of the real world. Society is the one thing that Nura truly fails to understand at times.

Miscellaneous:

• Nura carries multiple vials of dust with her for combat purposes.
• Training has left her ambidextrous.
• She’ll never admit it, but her sister is by far the better fighter.
• Rumours exist that she has soft side around her family, said rumours have never been corroborated.

Name: Braonán Ailill Griese ("Brennan")

Age: 24

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Nationality: Atlesian

Appearance:

With none of his taller or broader former teammates around to dwarf him in comparison, Brennan’s proportions make him a somewhat intimidating public figure. A few inches above six feet and athletically broad, Brennan himself is very handsome, with a strong jaw, bright red-gold eyes, and a perpetual hysterical laugh never far from his lips. Ever professional, he tends to wear black pants or jeans with white dress shirt, sleeves rolled up. He will always either wear suspenders or a slim-fitting black vest. His coal-black hair is long, but not unruly – half the time it tends to be pomaded backwards lustrously, and half the time he lets it hang free over his eyes.

Surprisingly, given his brash demeanor and lavish wealth, he’s not one for much gaudy ornamentation. The only concession to jewelry he wears is a slender silver chain on his neck, from which hangs a single Claddagh ring barely visible through an unbuttoned collar.

Personality and Ethics: The Ubermensch, in his boundless and cruel wisdom, sees lesser man as naught but a plaything to be guided along by the hypnotic cadence of his voice and the crack of his hellish whip.

“Brennan, if you don’t tell them the truth, I will. And you don’t like my truth very much.”

Though a prodigious fighter in his own right, most of Brennan's talent comes from being a natural showman and psychological warrior. Loud-mouthed and utterly without fear, he has a forceful personality to command other forceful personalities. Brennan honed his commanding presence through years of asserting himself over other privileged Atlesian youth, delegating them tasks and expecting them to be performed with the utmost precision. Resistance to his orders is combated by irreverent disdain instead of loud tirades, but usually he will be the first to remind you that "he told you so" in the event that going against him didn't work out well.

On the other side of that coin is an always-running silver tongue, capable of joking and charming to the point where Brennan has even made hardened tsunderesnamis capable of rolling their eyes and smiling against their will. Through most of his school years, there is very little that he took seriously besides competition with his teammates and those he considered his rivals, which he often communicated through an endless stream of banter with anyone who would listen. Put simply, Brennan Griese is a hyper-competitive jock, a savvy tactician, and a keen business mogul rolled all into one, fiercely proud of his pedigree outside of battle and utterly dismissive of it inside it.

His period of captivity in Vacuo, however, has sharpened his edges somewhat, leaving him callous and even ruthless when on bounty or retrieval missions. Brennan cares little for the well-being of targets that prove themselves anything less than strictly honorable over the course of a mission, and his long-held sense of chivalry on the battlefield has grown shaky after his kidnapping challenged his rich kid's naivety. Though this sense of pragmatism is something to be sought after in a leader, it can be a marked change to those who only recognize the charismatic Atlesian hero from his psychotically-cheerful Vytal Festival days. His disdain towards charity can also be seen as a bit cruel by some people, though this grievance is only skin deep; in reality Brennan is an open-handed and generous person, though he takes care to cover his tracks with all charitable contributions and will often "blame" the donations on others.

Aspirations:
>Be the first man in space
>Cut award-winning documentary - “Four Years of Making BANK”
>Name a wing of Bastion Academy after himself
>Pave Vacuo in solar panels
>Kill 9,999 Grimm before Umeko
>Build Umeko a mobile suit

Fears:
>Kawaguchi’s recent stomach bump (!!!)
>Noel's awful puns
>Clowns
>World war
>World peace
>Losing Kawaguchi or Noel

History: Brennan’s father was only one generation removed from their fortune, but it was clear he had forgotten where it came from. Brennan’s grandfather had initially gone into business as a founding partner of the Schnee Dust Company, but foresaw a coming monopoly on the Dust market and the coming problems with the use of Faunus labor. Therefore, he sold every last share at top dollar and came out with enough money to float him through the rest of his life; a series of sensible investments in property and budding tech firms with interests in Aura and Dust only compounded the fortune, until it was clear no Griese would ever have to worry about money again.

As you can imagine, this had made Brennan’s father complacent, a trait not shared by his rowdy, implacable only son. A talented little scrapper (to his father’s chagrin) from an early age, Brennan seemed to have determined his path even before he quite knew what the Huntsman path was, and went away to Sanctum Academy in Mistral for combat training at the age of 12. When he returned to Atlas after four years, though, he took a couple drop years to begin taking a hands on role in some investments of his own. Finally, at the age of 19, he enrolled in Atlas Academy to seek out a career as a Huntsman and engage himself in higher study.

Pleasantly, he found himself on a team with three other members of the Atlesian business elite - Albert Morgan, the king of Atlesian banking, Noel du Acier, head of one of Atlas' top weapon forges, and Kek Tarik, whose railway empire was responsible for much of Remnant's transit. Though at first their squabbles over leadership and their natural competitive edges had led them to all eschew each other, once the question of leadership was truly decided and began to work as a unit, BANK (as they had been first colloquially, then officially known) became an inseparable juggernaut, often able to discern strategies and fight alongside or independent of each other with mere near-telekinetic glances. At the head of this specialized team was Brennan Griese himself - and Griese, through the course of his chaotic first year as an Atlesian student, led his team on a hellish blitzkrieg through the ranks of the Vytal Festival tournament that year in Vale. Along the way, he finally found himself a worthy rival in the form of “The Nip,” Umeko Kawaguchi, who Brennan ravenously cheered on in the hopes of crushing her himself before the eyes of the world. The two eventually met in the final match of the tournament, which finally ended in an unprecedented double knockout Brennan remembers little of. Apparently it was ratings gold, though. His mug was beaming at RSPN viewers all the way into his second year of Atlas after that.

But while TSUN had a comparatively tame education in Vacuo, Brennan’s life only became wilder and more fraught with danger as the next four years rolled on. Not only were the missions Atlas assigned more severe and dangerous for their trainees (many of whom had undergone training at the elite combat school Bastion Academy, which demanded seven years of excellence before graduation to Atlas as opposed to four), the four members of BANK each came from prestigious families that had made their own enemies throughout Remnant. It was a few weeks after the start of his junior year, while on a nighttime Fury Road reenactment through the wastes of Vacuo, that Brennan was ambushed and held ransom for months by a splinter group of ex-Faunus slaves and Dust miners.

Though kidnappings of board members and rich children were usually buoyed by begging and the promise of hefty ransoms, Brennan Griese proved a colossal disappointment to the desperate Faunus who had ambushed him. Though subjected to endless physical beatings and protracted ransom videos (usually cut short by improvised limericks and animal control puns) Brennan stuck to his Atlesian training and only gave up the most basic of information about himself - “Brennan Griese, 21, Team BANK, I was on TV” - when the camera was off him. Finally, the most charismatic student Atlas had churned out in three generations baited one of the Faunus into releasing his restraints in an attempt to resist his latest beating. Perhaps the terrorist assumed that months of starvation, dehydration, and lack of training had reduced the Atlesian mogul to a deflated windbag. Perhaps he assumed it would be an excuse to kill the hostage - who had not brought in, nor would he likely ever bring in, money from his aloof father - and free up space to try again with some Atlesian who was less of a black sheep amongst their family. Whatever the case, he released Brennan and challenged the young man to put his fists up.

Not smart of him.

A train managed by one of his teammates, Kek Tarik, found Brennan on a Vacuuan railroad track four days later. He was covered in blows, his famous Trustbuster gloves were tattered on his hands, and he was visibly malnourished, but the Atlesian hometown hero had only one complaint:

“Here I thought Tarik kept the fookin’ trains roonin’ on time. He and me are gonna hafta have some words.”

And then one more, upon his return at Atlas:

“Shut up, Noel.”

Though Brennan’s flippant demeanor showed no change, and though the kidnapping was largely covered up - to this day, Brennan has ensured with surprising ruthlessness that no word of the kidnapping ever reaches Vacuo or the student he holds dear there - those who were close to him before his kidnapping can easily recognize a change in the one-time plucky young playboy. To replace his destroyed gloves, he cajoled Umeko Kawaguchi into surrendering one of her precious five RX-78 prototypes and modified it, replacing weapons that were once meant for playful sparring with weapons specced for destructive power. Once returned to Atlas, he threw himself twice as hard into his training, and graduated with top honors alongside his team the following year. Brennan, unlike his teammates, had no pressing business interests to immediately return to, but eschewed the role of Atlesian Specialist anyway, mostly due to his family name and his inability to be objective after his kidnapping.

Though he strongly considered returning to Vacuo and ripping up every little cell of Faunus that couldn’t fit in a litter box working alongside Kawaguchi, he was nonetheless convinced by his old team that perhaps a change of scenery would be best. Thus, Brennan has returned to Vale, the place where he drew the eyes of the whole world five years previously, with his best friend and teammate Noel du Acier in tow.

Semblance: Brennan has been able to effectively manipulate and control friction since his early days as a Vytal Festival prizefighter, and years of training at Atlas has only heightened his prodigal skill with his Semblance. Brennan Griese is capable of propelling himself forward along any solid surface without pause, as well as freeze anything in its tracks. This can make him downright terrifying when wearing Trustbuster II, as he can speed directly in a room and leave an entire squad rooted to the floor, while he himself zips around and clears them out with sheer volleys of firepower.

Combat Style: Brennan is at his best when he's allowed to be punishingly quick and strike punishingly hard. Between the sheer amount of firepower produced by Trustbuster II and how effectively he can use Veblen Good to rip an enemy apart, he is most effectively used whenever he's put on point man duty - or, in the event that a threat is more long-range, he will be of much more use hanging back and coordinating his fellow Huntsmen's movements and actions.

Weapons: Veblen Good - Brennan’s trademark monofilament whip has remained in his care ever since the day he designed it at Sanctum Academy. The weapon that brought him all the way into the final round of the Vytal Festival as a first-year remains largely unmodified, aside from some retrofits to make it compatible with his Trustbuster upgrade. Its monofilament design allows it to open up stinging cuts on any surface or person that isn’t protected by Aura or some form of force field, but remains just as capable of grabbing onto an object as it is of ripping one apart. Veblen Good is also capable of being energized with several varieties of Dust or being converted into a targe-like shape, which, when imbued with Dust, creates a powerful shield capable of tanking most physical or projectile attacks on its energized surface.

Remnant Expansion (Prototype) #78 Unit 5 Grimm-Use Non-Demanding Armament Machine ver. Trustbuster II - Trustbuster II is a spiritual sequel to its predecessor - a pair of Dust-woven gloves worn by Brennan for close combat - in the loosest sense of the term, in that the weapon is Dust-powered and dual-wielded. Other than that, Trustbuster II is a far cry from any sort of fashion statement like the first Trustbusters.

Heavily modified from the fifth and final prototype of the Remnant Expansion series of weaponry, Trustbuster II consists of two fully automatic shotguns, each capable of emptying 666 rounds from twenty-five shell cylinders in sixty seconds. Both weapons are also capable of discharging all twenty-five rounds at once in beam form for several seconds when powered by Dust, generating a massive concussive shock of whatever Dust type is currently used to power Trustbuster II.

The prototype's original accompanying shield repurposed as a slim energy-powered ammunition backpack, fitting snugly on Brennan's back and using Veblen Good as a wired-beam connection to both shotguns. The weapon is still capable of performing its intended function and guarding Brennan's back from enemy fire, though his Semblance leaves him agile enough to be able to turn around at the slightest hint of enemies at his rear; thus, the shield's ammunition and energy storage features account for most of its usage.

The Trustbuster II's main drawback is its sheer bulk, which often weighs Brennan's arms down and leaves him incapable of hand-to-hand fighting, a specialty and favored means of combat for the young Atlesian. For this reason the Trustbuster II does have a second transformation: two large weapon lockers, similar to those used by Beacon Academy students, which can be summoned from Brennan's Scroll and dropped to his location inside of sixty seconds. The door of the locker will split off and convert into the ammo backpack/shield, while the thrusters and spare parts convert themselves into the weapon's firearm apparatus and connectors for Veblen Good.

Non-Combat skills: “Noel, what’re my skills again, lass?”

"Your charming personality and dashing good looks! Sir!"

Brennan has a surprisingly deep skill set for someone who only had to start taking care of himself at the age of nineteen. Though not as good a cook as Noel, he can order a pizza or whip the tsundere up a plate of breakfast as well as any lad worth his salt, and he's even got himself an eye for decorating and design. This knack for Feng Shui has even spread to fashion; Brennan has modeled for two of the past three Atlesian Accessories fall/winter collections, a part-time gig that was borne purely out of gatecrashing Kawaguchi's photoshoot during winter break in their second year.

Apparently the photographer recognized their chemistry. And they even cleaned up most of his bruises in Photoshop.

Brennan has also run the public speaking circuit once or twice, and wouldn't mind going into politics if only he got to actually maul his opponents on the debate stage. A return to the private sector is similarly unlikely, so an entire wealth of business knowledge and salesman's acumen goes untapped inside the mad Atlesian's brain.

Deficiencies: There is only one Brennan Griese to save mankind at the moment. Junior year kidnapping has added a somewhat aggressive edge to what was once simply a charming, if coarse, hypercompetitive streak. Occasional nightmares. Currently being supported by supporting a person sized anchor named Noel du Acier, a woman with no psychology degree and no willingness to acknowledge the fact. In combat, almost entirely useless at long ranges - Trustbuster II is a weapon designed to obliterate at mid-range and Veblen Good is capable of shearing apart most Grimm and hammering on Aura at close range, but neither is particularly effective against, say, a sniper.

Miscellaneous: Griese rules, Kawaguchi drools. Brennan is still an intense sports guru and, secretly, will mentor Atlesian kids during the summers who want to make it into a combat school - even setting up a fund to spay their expenses abroad in case they don’t want to devote a decade of their lives to Bastion and Atlas. Hates being publicly acknowledged as charitable - that’s Noel’s gig. Really loves milk. Based on the life of American robber baron John D. Rockefeller.

Name: Xander Steele
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Nationality: Vale
Appearance: Xander is an unassuming lad, standing at a tall six foot, four inches tall with swept steel blue hair. He keeps it long enough that he can have the bangs swept to one side. He has a lithe, yet muscular build, toned from years of combat training in both Signal and Beacon Academies.

He typically wears a pair of light blue jeans, custom made steel blue colored combat boots, blue t-shirt, and a darker blue jean half jacket, the bottom only reaching to just below his ribs. When he knows he’s going out into a fight, he dons a suit of leather armor with light plating along the shoulders, arms, and legs, with a couple pieces of plating on his chest. The focus of this armor is to allow him maximum mobility while allowing some measure of protection.

Personality: Xander is quiet, observant, and horribly awkward in a social environment. When approached by or approaching another person, he finds himself unable to speak in the form of stumbling over his sentences and being unable to get a full sentence out of his mouth.

However, if he does manage to break through his awkwardness, he usually can’t stop talking and will generally call you his friend so long as you don’t do something to warrant his distrust. Speaking of trust, if he calls you friend, he is loyal to a fault and will step up for you despite his social awkwardness. However, you can imagine any attempt at defending a friend is rarely considered serious unless he is angry.

Aspiration: Xander strives to see a world where people don’t laugh at each other for their insecurities or scorn each other for their differences. Growing up in Vale and attending both Signal and Beacon, he saw a lot of both, with the latter being directed at the Faunas. Having been taught that no one should be mistreated, he doesn’t want to see anymore of this.

Fears:

• Rejection-if he’s made a personal break through with someone, the worst thing they could do is brush him off.
• Being alone-The poor guy is already awkward enough, why would he want to be lonely?
• Heights-Being high terrifies Xander, but he does his best to cope with it, often times singing a song to himself to stay calm.

Ethics: Xander believes firmly that all people should be treated kindly and with respect, no matter what their race or personal problems. To see people who would do otherwise makes him nothing more than angry. However, he’s also a realist and accepted that not everyone will share his views and as a result does what he can where and when he can, whether it be helping the odd Faunas with their work or getting a crying little girl a new dolly to replace a lost one.

History: Xander was born to parents Grey and Gale Steele. His father, Grey, was a well known known Hunter who turned down a position at Beacon more than once in order to continue making a difference in the field while his mother, Gale, was the owner of a quaint little restaurant on a street corner in Vale

Xander grew up spending most of his time with his mother since his father was often away on missions to protect the kingdom. However, to say that he didn’t love his father, or even resented him, as when he was home they did a lot of family activities together and Grey even helped out at the restaurant. It was from his father, however, that Xander got the urge to become a Hunter. You see, growing up for the young man wasn’t easy, what with his inability to be able to have a social life limiting the number of friends he had severely. And he was mercilessly mocked and tortured for it by kids both his age and those a few years older.

However, his mother had taught him that no matter how they treated him, to be kind and treat them with respect. And so he did. No matter how much he got pushed around, picked on, or called names, he didn’t retaliate. Of course, that isn’t to say he liked what he saw, especially when watching how people treated the Faunus. His father had never understood it nor had his mother and so as a result, Xander came to want to help make the prejudice go away. And the best way to do that was to become a Hunter and help work towards ending the discrimination the faunus faced by being kind to them where others would see because as a Hunter, he knew he would be looked to as an example.

He spent extensive time talking it over with his mother and father, the latter of which spent much time trying to persuade, if subtly, his son from becoming a Hunter. He knew all too well the risks of dedicating his life to killing Grimm and protecting the Four Kingdoms, but Xander couldn’t be dissuaded. By the end of his twelfth year, he was already in attendance at Beacon Academy, where he designed his twin bladed revolvers Nightingale Eclipse. Many of the other members of his class designed weapons like transforming axes and swords, but he like the Eclipse. He named it the way he did because the Nightingale was his favorite bird and it reminded him of hope despite the darkness.

Finishing his training at Signal, he moved on to Beacon with the rest of his class, where he first met the Scorpion Faunus Cyra. They talked a little and over the course of the airship flight, began to become friends, though he did not initially know that she was a scorpion faunus when he met her. That was revealed in their third year. While it caught him off guard, it by no means changed Xander’s perception of her and in fact strengthened his friendship with her, as it was clear revealing that about herself was a difficult thing for her to do.

After the Beacon Academy initiation test, he, Cyra, and two others ended up on the same team and the four came to trust each other immensely over the time they spent at Beacon. However, Xander took it upon himself to remind Cyra that sometimes she needed to care for herself as well, as she had a habit of putting others too far ahead of herself.

Over the course of their time together, everyone found a niche that they did well in. Xander became the team’s hit-and-run specialist, being in and out of groups of enemies before they could really register he was there while causing massive damage in the relatively short amount of time he was in their midst. He found he enjoyed it and that it allowed him to do the most for his team.

His time with his team has helped him to begin to finally outgrow his social awkwardness, but he has accepted that he may never outgrow his inability to really get to know new people despite his best efforts.

Semblance: Quick Switch-Quick Switch allows Xander to manifest a steel blue copy of himself in a ten foot radius of himself that he can swap places with in order to quickly reach hot spots and allies around him. It should be noted that the double disappears immediately upon the swap and requires a brief “recharge” time of about thirty seconds.

Combat Style: Xander’s fighting style revolves heavily on rapid attacks preceded by, involving and followed up by rapid fire suppression shots. His reloading style allows him to effectively fire shots between thrusts and slashes and continue to keep a weapon ready while exchanging cartridges.

When closing with a group of enemies, he will flip through the air and spin, firing all his shots into them to kill or injure as many as possible and then following up with sweeping shots while keeping minimum distance for effective sweeps, preferring to avoid a situation where he gets surrounded. He will often use Quick Switch as frequently as possible when faced with a group of opponents as opposed to a single opponent, as it helps him to maintain his distance.

Against a single opponent, he’ll use his semblance to change the direction a key strike will come from when they least expect it, using the time in between switches to unleash rapid barrages of attacks to keep his opponent on the defensive.

Weapon: Nightingale Eclipse is a pair of large caliber revolvers with blades attached to the barrels that allow for a close-to-mid range attacks with the revolvers and deadly hand-to-hand combat maneuvers with the blades.

Non-Combat skills: Xander has spent an extensive amount of time on both his parkour and acrobatic skills, making his reflexes sharp. And somehow it translates into a really good cooking ability as well. The man is well known for his Cherry Jubilee.

Deficiencies: Despite his high mobility and reloading skill, he struggles with long range engagements and some short range engagements, especially against unusual weapons like scythes. He also, to reinstate, is socially awkward, so he doesn’t like to lead.

Miscellaneous: Emblem

NOTE: Imagine the blade in the picture for the Nightingale Eclipse as larger.

Name: Sterling Lucien
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Race: Faunus
Nationality: Vale
Appearance: Average in height, Sterling stands at 5’5 with light skin, a product of both genetics and her habits of wearing hoods and clothing which basically covers everything except for her face. Her hair is a shade of dark silver, with black roots. It barely reaches her shoulders, usually kept relatively short, sometimes tied back. Her eyes are a light blue, though her left eye has a slight shade of amber around the edge of the iris. Her faunus trait is the lynx ears on the top of her head. She is somewhat considered cute in a way, though she doesn’t find that a defining characteristic.

“Keep my hair short for the hood, it’s easier."

She’s of a smaller build which helps in her maneuvering, considering she’s not a brawler or one to get close, this doesn’t matter. Her clothing and armor follow up when it comes to the lighter theme, despite somewhat generic. She wears a dark blue sweatshirt with light padding, outlined in black and silver. It’s all designed to keep her capable of full movement and give some protection. She wears jeans with similar padding by the shins and knees, and combat boots slipped under the cuff.

“It’s a bit light, and I know some people don’t even use armor, but my aura is mediocre at best.”

Equipment wise, she’s got a small bag she also carries with her, usually containing some simple supplies. A small medkit for various emergencies, especially if someone’s aura ends up depleted out in the field. Canned food and water. On the right side of her belt, she has a pouch for individual dust rounds, usually for utility. Her various magazines are kept on her lower back and the left side of her belt.

“Utility is important. You usually only need two, three days to get from the Grimm hunts to the nearest town or city.”

Decorative wise, she doesn’t wear too much. She has a watch inside her left sleeve, fingerless gloves with a bit of padding by the palm, a bit more rigid by the knuckles. She has a silver Sun pendant she keeps under her jacket.

“I’ve had it ever since I had my first sparring match with my dad.”

Personality:
First on the outside, Sterling is a bit shy and more reserved, although she comes off as cold a lot of the time. She’s more of a follower than a leader, kinda off to the side and avoiding too much confrontation. She’s not all too good with people, usually being a bit too professional when it comes to others, and not meshing all too well when it comes to social interactions. Though she tries to understand them a lot, sometimes she misunderstands intent. She does step in occasionally when it comes to discussions on faunus rights, or if she needs to for combat, planning, etc. But she usually stays quiet when it comes to people she doesn’t know.

“It’s easier to keep things simple.”

When you first meet her, she’s probably giving you a colder attitude of quiet, defensiveness, or over-professional intent. That’s somewhat normal, that’s her way of trying to figure out what type of person she’s meeting. She tends to warm up after some time although keeps her professional attitude under most circumstances, usually needing to be told to lighten up, and she sometimes does.

“Newer people can be sometimes confusing. I find it’s easier this way then actively asking questions. Prove yourself.”

The more professional side to her attitude is mostly due to her views on Humans vs. Faunus, where the Faunus are somewhat in a moral obligation to prove themselves to be equal or superior to humans in order to gain their equality. Somewhat contradictory, maybe, but that’s what she thinks will get everyone to believe that faunus are elegant, sophisticated, etc. All good characteristics to prove their equality.

“I don’t believe that Faunus are better than humans, though we have to act like it to prove ourselves.”

There’s another part of her drive, it’s protecting the peace. She strives for keeping that up, as it’s part of her job, and it seems the Grimm and many random people seem to dislike that for whatever reason. The Grimm are constantly trying to ruin humanity, and it’s part of her job to fight that. There also seem to be criminals actively breaking the peace, and Sterling absolutely hates them. She can get pretty dark when it comes to those people, adding onto the cold aspect of her personality.

“What’s more to say? People who try to ruin people’s lives shouldn’t receive that much mercy.”

Then there’s the internal side of her, warmer and nicer than her colder side. She does like to find some friends, however she has issues trusting some people, sometimes humans. Somewhat due to her past experiences with several people. She does work to make good impressions, and make some sort of mental image of someone who conducts herself in an outstanding manner, and yet is loyal to her friends. When you get her to open up, she starts to relax a bit, and starts to actually show that she’s a nice person.

“Not that I’m mean in general, it’s mostly that it’s hard to trust people.”

Aspiration:
“I dream of a world where hate isn’t the loudest voice for Faunus rights. I want help the people I watch over. I want to fight the people who actively go against peace.”

Her dreams of equality are more than a driving factor for her, which is relatively common for most common. Being able to protect those she works with or those who can’t protect themselves? That’s another thing. She always wants to go out of her way and protect people who can’t. Sometimes night patrols keep her Lightning Gaze watching over the walls or rooftops in order to keep the Grimm away. As for the last part, she absolutely hates those who try and ruin the peace and is willing to fight for it.

On a side note, she wants to try and get some wicked shots for shooting as a sport.

Fears:
Betrayal -
“There’s a lot of reasons I have not to trust people. If I get stabbed in the back…”

Grimm Invasions -
“It worries me too often that innocent people might get hurt because we can’t protect them.”

Enemy Snipers -
“While not all too bone chilling, it’s sometimes a terrifying sight to see someone else with my skillset. Having them find me is scarier.”

Ethics:
“I’m somewhat cynical when it comes to most people, I know. But there’s a reason. A lot of people don’t seem to be trustworthy, and there are just some things that we just can’t change about people. Yes, I’m a bit cold but there are a lot worse. Granted, people can earn trust, they can earn their spot in history, though still. Traitors, liars, murderers, all those bad people? I might be cruel for saying this but no mercy. Honestly. It’s not right to forgive people who actively go off to hurt others.”

History: Sterling grew up in Vale to a simple family, both parents being Huntsmen. Her mother taught her morals for the most part, all about Faunus equality and the like. Her mother is where she learned about conducting herself with dignity, in order to stray away from the stereotypes of Faunus being somehow lower than Humans. Her father taught her to defend herself if her mother's teachings weren't enough. The two of them associated themselves with The White Fang, although with recent events have branched away, seeing the group beginning a different moral transition.

Her youth was pretty full of generic fun, being a lot more cheerful than she appears now. Signal to Beacon, she kept up her role as a sniper for support. Faunus innate night vision along with her semblance kept that one up, and she was quickly able to adapt to using her own custom sniper rifle. As per her father's recommendation, the second version the two created included the shift to a closer range weapon.

Her younger years dealt with a bit of harassment for her heritage, with some people turning their backs on her after dealing with it for quite a bit of time, not wanting to get dragged into it. It was only the first bit of her issues, though she did put up with it and still kept up that friendly attitude she used to have.That seemed to alleviate after a bit, when she started at Signal, which was a simpler experience.

Skip towards Beacon, her experience was mostly generic. Her team never excelled at the tournaments, but they still got well into it. However, Team FWKS (Fawkes) disbanded a bit before their time was over. Sterling was actually the only one able to finish Beacon relatively properly. Flare bailed from Beacon after an emergency in his hometown, never coming back. That left Wisteria and Key both in Beacon with Sterling. The last interactions between Sterling and her two teammates is a story that she never likes to tell, although explains some of her attitude.

The remaining two caused the team to split. The both of them actually ended up abandoning Sterling off in the middle of one of their missions out in the field. Key was just a racist who only put up with Sterling due to Flare, though after he left, things went south. Key stopped dealing with Sterling with words and got physical with it, catching her off guard. Wisteria was just easily manipulated and believed that Sterling had actually bailed on the both of them.

Somewhat obviously, Key got heavily reprimanded and ejected from Beacon, and Wisteria quit that week, thinking that she left Sterling for dead. Sterling actually made it back to a nearby town where she could get reception for her scroll, calling in that she was alive, thought a few days later. Sterling never actually was able to talk to the two of them afterwards, only working off of the paranoia and hints dropped by Key, which drove her trust issues to start up.

After that week, Sterling developed quite some issues with trust and dealing with people, slowly becoming a lone-wolf type who avoided other people. The two people she trusted the most just left her out in the middle of nowhere, and those days were pretty hellish. She's slowly been trying to fix that up, though she has issues opening up for that sole reason that her team broke down after some time. Sterling felt as if her own efforts to protect her teammates were dropped for some unknown reasons, and felt that the people she protected absolutely didn't care.

In the current day, Sterling takes up some work in defense or hunting Grimm. She finished her training (albeit improperly), and has made the distinction in terms of other people's morals. She still has that attitude of protecting those who can't protect themselves, but her own loyalties are relatively questionable. She still keeps up many of the morals she was taught, although her trust issues and cynical beliefs have strayed away from what she used to be. She seems to linger on the past a lot, however, in a poor attempt to look to the future.

Semblance: Lightning Gaze - “It’s not foresight. It’s prediction.”
Her vision is highly enhanced, seeing distance wise, particularly with her left eye. The primary ability causes her left eye to glow amber, where she has predictive sight on the movement of her targets. It requires a bit of mental calculations, though it’s not much that she can’t handle.

Combat Style: Being a sniper, Sterling usually takes the route of staying back and taking shots at the more powerful targets from trees, rooftops, or simply the backlines. That’s not to say that she doesn’t do too well in melee, although since her only physical attacks are punches, or hitting her opponents with her gun, it’s not too effective. She’s not all too quick with the fist, though her semblance does help in close quarters. Primarily, she chooses to distance herself and fire her lighter dust bolts, being able to transition quickly. That being said, her aura isn't too strong and she prefers to not get hit.

Weapon: Argent Lux - A black and navy blue weapon case with silver accents in standby form, with a strap to be slung over her shoulder, Argent Lux shifts to a sniper rifle with a somewhat longer than expected barrel. This form has a scope on the top with a beam of light design on the side. This form fires three different forms of ammo, the first being high power dust ‘bolts’ with various properties, usually explosive on impact. Each shot requires Sterling to pull back the bolt on the gun and let the chamber and dust magazine to air cool for a second or two. (It’s actually more reminiscent of a battery pack to an extent) Time increases the more she fires the full power bolts. 18 shots per magazine. Second is a lighter bolt, not nearly as powerful but can be used in rapid succession, and can also be used in secondary form, can be fired a lot faster, either single shot or with a 3 round burst. The former is for longer range, the latter for shorter range. 36 shots per magazine. The final is an actual solid/explosive cartridge for taking down larger Grimm, some modified for various dust applications. 12 rounds per magazine. The weapon shifts to a bullpup rifle with the firing mechanism and the magazine shift behind the grip and into the stock, and the barrel length cutting in half and folding into itself. Sterling uses this for close combat, accompanied by her lower power dust cartridge.

Non-Combat skills: She’s good with cooking, chess, strategy. She's also really good at climbing and free running, to almost an assassin's creed level

Deficiencies: Sterling isn’t all too good with understanding people socially, although she tries to deconstruct morals and other things. She’s a bit uptight when it comes to her own appearances and other people, but that’s somewhat to be expected. She tends to shut people out sometimes, with a cold shoulder, and is sometimes seen as merciless to criminals and the like.

Miscellaneous: N/A