Name: Cyra Sylvan, aka Scorpling
Age: 22
Gender: female
Race: Faunus, scorpion sub-species
Nationality: Atlas
Appearance: Cyra stands at 4 feet, 9 inches. She typically wears very thick clothing with dark colours, hoodies, sweatpants, boots and fingerless gloves. She also conceals the lower half of her face with a scarf. Has violet eyes and chin length black hair. Visible skin is a very light brown, with sections of greenish-black carapace spread across her torso and limbs.
Personality: Cyra is as quiet and shy as anyone can get. She dislikes being the center of attention, as it makes her feel extremely flustered and nervous. She has a nurturing strength to her that relaxes people and encourages them to trust her. While not a particularly open character, she can be exceptionally stubborn and determined when she wants to be, especially when it comes to protecting someone else. Cyra works hard to make sure her teammates, and anyone else she is working with are safe, healthy, and happy.
While not as bad as she once was, Cyra still tends to shy away from physical contact that she herself does not initiate, as her body and its appearance is still something of a sensitive point for her. Old habits from when she was hiding her Faunus status (such as changing her clothes while still in bed or alone in a locked room) still persist. This is not to say she doesn't like being touched, quite the opposite in fact; when she's with some she really trusts and is fond of, Cyra can seem over-affectionate. She no longer tries to hide being a Faunus, and is in fact proud of some her inhuman traits (she can actually go longer without food than most people, and she is incredibly durable even when taking aura into account, though not as flexible), but she does not broadcast her status either. It's just a part of who she is, and Cyra sees herself as not being particularly important.
Aspirations: She is the shield who protects others from harm.
Fears: -Failure. Cyra is so driven to protect others that she takes every failed mission, every injury suffered by others, and every loss of life personally, believing that she could have done more, even when she couldn’t.
-Rejection. While she is more confident than she used to be, deep down there is still that scared little scorpling who was bullied for her decidedly inhuman appearance.
Ethics: Cyra is a protector. Everything she does is somehow connected to that primary motivation. She knows better than most that the world can be a very dark place, especially for her own people, as she grew up with that reality and it still affects her deeply. As a result, she sees protecting others and helping them to create better world to be the sole reason for her existence. She does not want to bring harm to others, but if it means protecting a person who cannot protect themselves, then she will do what she has to if she sees no other way.
History: Cyra grew up alone with her mother, her father dying in a Grimm attack before she was born and having no other family to speak of. She also rarely saw her mother, who after moving them to Atlas tended to work long hours at difficult jobs just to be able to support her. School was essentially hell for Cyra; as a young scorpion Faunus in Atlas (a primarily human kingdom, and also one of the primary aggressors in The Faunus Wars), she often faced intense bullying, particularly due to the carapace sections on her skin being difficult to hide.
Her path to becoming a Huntress was one of necessity. While at a playground, Cyra was being repeatedly pushed around by a group of kids, when she finally lost her temper, accidentally activating her Semblance. The resulting shockwave not only knocked the other kids off their feet, but also caused serious damage to the playground. Cyra’s mother made her swear to only use her power to protect others, encouraging her to be better than those who discriminated against her. After that, her path was set, and she was enrolled in combat school to become a Huntress. In doing this, her mother hoped that she would eventually find the strength to stand for herself, whilst avoiding becoming a member of the increasingly militant White Fang.
Transferring to Beacon Academy (as her mother disliked the more strict and martial attitude of Atlas) was a difficult transition for Cyra. Away from everything she had grown up with, she went to extreme lengths to hide her Faunus heritage, burying herself in layers of thick clothing and avoiding physical contact at all costs, deathly afraid of what would happen if her classmates discovered her. This resulted in several habits that appeared strange, especially to her teammates Xander Steele
@Zarkun, (TBA), and (TBA). Fortunately, after a time they passed it off as simply being the way she was.
Despite the difficulties that she faced, Cyra took her mother’s words to heart. She resolved to not only rise above the discrimination's of her human peers, but also to become a shield to protect others from the same abuse she had endured. Her quiet drive to succeed and unrelenting selflessness earned her not only commendations from her teachers, but also the trust and faith of her teammates. Late in her third year, she finally felt confident enough to reveal her status as a Faunus to them. Reactions were mixed, but overall positive and welcoming.
Having now graduated, Cyra has emerged as a stronger person, more confident in her abilities and ready to protect the people of Remnant. She is her team's shield and heavy weapons specialist, allowing them to fight relatively unimpeded while she holds their attention, controlling the flow of the battle.
Emblem: A stylized V with curved tips (resembling herself holding her shields in front of her in Guardian form when viewed from above), surrounded by two concentric spiked circles. This emblem can be found on the face of each shield.
Semblance: Cyra can essentially turn herself into an immovable object, locking herself in place where she stands and transmitting the energy of blows takes either into the ground or allowing it to build up inside herself. This is the primary reason that she is able to wield such heavy caliber weapons, as her Semblance allows her to absorb the recoil. If she allows the energy to build up, she can then instantly discharge it as powerful seismic shockwaves, turning her into the epicenter of an earthquake.
Combat Style: Cyra’s fighting style is an example of contrasts and flexibility. Outside of combat, she is shy, quiet, and tends not to enjoy bringing attention to herself. In combat, she is a tank in every sense of the word; Cyra makes herself the biggest, loudest, and most obvious target there is. She will pick a place that is open and gives her the biggest firing lines, usually between her allies/teammates and whatever they are fighting, then stands her ground and opens up with her heavy machine guns, overwhelming the enemy with sheer firepower. If there isn't such a place, there soon will be. If something is armoured enough that her bullets can’t pierce it, then she uses her shields and Semblance to tank any attack thrown at her before delivering armour-piercing shells at point-blank range with her high-powered rail cannons. She has incredible stamina and durability, both physically and in her aura.
Weapons:Name: Terra and Lithos
Form 1: Guardian Mode. Each shield can extend panels from the side and bottom edges, forming a large wall shield that Cyra can use to protect herself.
Form 2: Assault Mode. A pair of tines extend to cover the machine gun barrels and open the central rail cannon. These weapons require a brief charge period but possess an immense amount of firepower, being able to crack even Boarbatusk or Death Stalker armour at point-blank range. The recoil of these weapons means that only Cyra is able to use them, as anyone else would be violently thrown off their feet and likely cause serious injury to themselves.
Form 3: Suppression Mode. The rail cannon tines merge and retract into the barrel, opening up the machine gun barrels on either side. While nowhere near as powerful as the rail cannon, they have a much greater rate of fire. The recoil of these weapons is not as severe as the rail cannons, but they would still ordinarily be found in vehicle mountings. Anyone other than Cyra who tries to use them will be staggered and/or injured. Even so, extended combat can make her arms feel numb.
Form 4: Fortress Mode. Terra and Lithos in Guardian form can be locked together at the sides to form a large curved barrier, protecting Cyra and anyone behind her from any frontal attack.
Non-combat skills: Seeing herself as the protector of the team, Cyra does everything in her power to make sure they are both happy and healthy. As such, Cyra has learned various skills such as cooking, first aid and weapon/armour maintenance. Her mother taught her her sewing skills, as growing up they were rather poor and had to make do with what they had. She is an excellent listener who goes out of her way to make people feel better. She is a competent machinist, owing to the fact that while she was in primary combat school she designed, built and maintains her shields herself.
Weaknesses: Cyra’s greatest strengths are also her biggest weaknesses. Her desire to protect others is so strong that she rarely, if ever thinks about herself, sometimes to the point of self-neglect. If someone else is injured, she will always look after them first, even if her own injuries are much more serious. If there isn’t enough food to go around, she will gladly give her portion to someone else, regardless of her own hunger. She is the first to volunteer for watch duty and will push herself so that the others can sleep a little longer. Cyra has difficulty saying no to anyone, even when she really should. In combat, she is always the first one in and the last one to leave. If the mission involves protecting people, Cyra will fight to the last, refusing to leave even in the face of overwhelming defeat so that she can save as many people as she can.
In combat, Cyra is many things, but "accurate" is not one of them. Her rail cannons are powerful but difficult to aim, so she tends to save them for very big targets or when she's very close, and her machine guns adopt a very "quantity over quality" stance. Additionally, because her combat style is very immobile, she is vulnerable to attacks from multiple directions and anything that manages to get past her barrages.
Miscellaneous: -Cyra loves sour candies and always has some on her to suck on.
-Terra and Lithos are both very heavy weapons. When stored away in their travel case, most people find it nearly impossible to lift.
-They are also very,
very loud. To give an example,
this is essentially each of her machine guns, and her rail cannons sound like a ground-zero thunderclap.
-Long practice of carrying and wielding her weapons has made Cyra surprisingly strong for her size.
-I actually have a picture of what Cyra’s full body looks like, but it will only be revealed in specific circumstances and only in PM’s, as it’s NSFW.