CHARACTER
Name: Arcano Blar Baldwin
Age: 18
Species and Gender: Peacock Faunus, Male
Symbol: An abstract dream catcher with a black eye in its middle
Occupation: First year Beacon Student
Appearance:
Arcano is a 5'5" tall young man, weighing approximately 143 Ibs. He has Black and curly hair that is kept relatively short and fades into a strong tone of turquoise at the tips. His eyes are held in a similar turquoise-greenish tone and have a rather bright, luminous effect.
Around his neck is a dark blue neckerchief with two short tails that stick out on both sides. He wears a thin black coat that reaches to his waist and has his symbol emblazoned on its back. There are two separate belts fastened around his waist, that have multiple, smaller pouches attached to it. On his hands and arms, he wears turquoise, arm-length gauntlets, which are pulled over the sleeves of the coat. He wears black trousers and black boots with a turquoise pattern. The boots are different in length, the right one reaches almost the knee. His hair, as well as his gauntlets and shoes, are decorated with bluish feathers.
As a Faunus, he also has an animal trait, which in his case is a long peacock tail. Like the ones of a real peacock, the length of the tail is about 4,5" and therefore drags on the ground behind him. His tail unfolds in a fan-like manner in a variety of situations, mainly by a strong presence of emotions like excitement, joy, anger or fear.
History:
Aracao was left on the doorstep of a Faunus couple as a baby, too young to remember. The Faunus couple, living inside the walls of Atlas at that time, and parents of an already two-year-old daughter, thought long about what to do with the baby. Should they just bring him to an orphanage? There weren't any indications where the baby's parents were or why it landed on their doorstep out of all places. The only thing that came with the child was a dark blue box with a weird symbol on it. Inside were a dark blue neckerchief and a note with a name written on it, Arcano Blar. The couple eventually decided to take Arcano and raise him as their own, assuming that it has some deeper meaning that he ended up with them than any other family.
It's no secret that Solitas and Atlas in general, weren't quite tolerant of Faunus, and Arcano had to learn this the hard way. He got insulted again and again as soon as he left the house and he couldn't enter most of the local stores. Arcano didn't know many other Faunus, there weren't really any, where he lived, the only ones were far beyond his age. His only friend was a boy named Jaro. He was one of the few who didn't treat him as a lower kind and accepted him as he was. It was not that everyone bullied or hated him, but most didn't do anything when they saw how badly he was treated. They were too afraid it would hit them as well if they were nice to Arcano or help him.
Time passed and eventually, Arcano's family decided to move to Vale. For years they had been saving money to get out of Atlas and their bad condition, and now it was finally time to do so. Arcano had to leave everything behind, but except for Jaro, there was nothing that kept him in this place. While packing his things he came across a dark blue box with a rather weird symbol on it and his name inside. When he asked his 'parents', they told him how he was abandoned and left on their doorstep, and that they didn't know about his real parents. Disappointed, but by no means angry with his adoptive family, Arcano informed himself about the box and its symbol. He eventually found something. The Symbol belonged to Lunox Blar, a Huntress that worked in the shadows, and who went missing several years ago. Nobody had seen her since.
Arcano had never even thought to ever become a Huntsmen. Fight every day against various monsters and put his life on the line? But after he found out about his origin, something clicked inside him that blended out any other option for his future. There was only one thing he wanted to do now, become a Huntsmen. Over time, more reasons accumulated. Being a hunter was a job that many respected. With a childhood marked by racism, this was the best step towards improvement! After the family moved to Vale, Arcano attended a Combat school and later enrolled at the Huntsman Academy Beacon.
Personality:
Arcano is a rather shy and jumpy person. If you meet him for the first time, you might think that the job of a huntsman is straight up inappropriate for him. However, if you take the time to get to know him you will see that he is a caring and loving person with a burning desire to reach his goals.
He never gets angry. He is very emotional, but this comes to show more in other emotions as in joy or sadness. In stressful situations or situations where his emotional abundance could be turned against him, he tries to the best of his abilities to stay calm and keep a cool head. He will be scared, but he manages to overplay that fear with determination and when he feels like he has reached his end, he asks himself what made him go that far. He has a goal to reach. And he will reach it, no matter the cost. Since Arcano had to endure a lot of unfairness in his life, he has developed a strong sense of justice and will jump, even against his better judgment, into any kind of situation to help straighten things up again. He has little faith in himself, but the more he can stand up for others and encouraging them to fulfill their goals. On the other hand, he also has a strong aversion to fighting. He understands that you can't be a Huntsman without fighting, but he sees the fighting he does mainly as a way to defend. He would never enter a fight if there is another way to resolve the conflict. Well, that goes for everything except Grimm, which he, like most of humanity, sees as beings that must be destroyed at all costs.
Arcano had to struggle a lot with Abandonment issues in the past and has a general fear of humans. Nothing extreme, but he keeps away from them out of instinct. He has some problems with social interaction and it takes a while for him to trust someone. As soon as he befriends someone, he sticks to them and tries desperately to keep the friendship alive, which can often end up in the exact opposite.
Aura and Semblance:
Arcano's aura has a turquoise-green (#40E0D0) color.
His semblance, which he has dubbed "Shadow Dive", allows him to hide in his own shadow and to walk around the area almost invisible.
For that, he needs his own shadow and a generally dark or shady place. How dark it is is irrelevant, as long as there is a hint of darkness, he can use his semblance. He then covers himself with his own shadow, which lets him disappear into the darkness around him. How much of his body is shrouded in shadow is entirely up to him, but everything that is shrouded won't be visible to him either. This is especially a problem for his eyes. With the shadows in front of them, he can't see anything, which is why he always leaves this spot free. This is also the biggest hint to recognize him in this form, as his eyes have a rather striking and bright color. His Semblance doesn't work if the only source of a shadow is himself since then he is shrouded in a shadow, but he can't cast one to match it anymore. His Shadow form also immediately breaks if he steps out of the shadows. He can move freely without worrying about his form, however, the shadow shell may break when Arcano loses focus. He doesn't have to concentrate all the time on the hull to keep it upright, however, he needs a certain focus on it. If this focus is broken by some unexpected event, the shadow falls away immediately. He can use his Semblance 4 times with thirty seconds each. After the thirty seconds are up, Arcano must wait at least a minute before he can use it again.
The form offers Arcano no extra protection against attacks of any kind and also doesn't dampen the noises he makes. In addition to himself, he can wrap other objects in a shadow too, but this only works when said object is in direct contact with him, as soon as this contact ends the shadow will disappear. He unlocked his semblance when he hid away from bullies in a dark alley. His panic gained the upper hand and unknowingly awakened his semblance.
Combat Behavior:
Arcano doesn't like fighting, at least not against humans or Faunus. He will do it, but not without first trying to find a more peaceful way out. In the battles himself, he keeps a cool head and attacks with thought-out and precise attacks. He tries to find possible weaknesses of his opponents and uses those weaknesses against them. Even if it doesn't look like it, Arcano is mainly active in melee combat and has surprising strength for his stature, with which he can hold his own more than enough. He is agile and fast, attacks with many consecutive attacks. This implies that he uses up a lot of stamina, and it also occasionally leaves him inattentive between attacks, as he takes a breath.
Arcano has the most problems in ranged combat. Not only does he have no long-range weapon, but he also has problems fighting enemies that are ranged-specialized. He has a perfect vision in the dark and his senses as Faunus are already a bit better than those of a normal human being, but he otherwise has rather bad eyesight and often recognizes enemies long-ranged attacks too late. On the other hand, Arcano has some problems with his focus while fighting. He can easily concentrate on one or more opponents at a time, but once he has done that, his concentration remains on this exact number of opponents, which keeps him inattentive for any unexpected attacks.
WEAPON
Name: Cobweb
Primary Form:
The gauntlets on his arms are each equipped with two individual blades. Both are normally retracted and hardly recognizable for the naked eye. The first blade is a side blade, which is mainly used to inflict minor cuts when rushing by. The second blade is placed exactly over the back of his hand and is used as a normal dagger for piercing and slitting. Both of the blades are relatively long, but that doesn't change the fact that you have to get very close to the enemy to use them.
Also attached to the gauntlets, slightly further back than the dagger blade, is a spool with wire threads. The threads are very thin and almost invisible, but they are also very robust and, above all, sharp. The spool is connected to small metal caps on his fingers. Arcano can shoot from each of his hands 5 of these threads. The threads are mainly used for building traps during a fight, but they can also be used directly in combat. The threads are very sharp, definitely sharp enough to hurt someone, but not sharp enough to cause great damage or to break any solid objects. However, they can be used to squeeze a person, or grim inside, causing damage. Since the threads are very solid they don't tear by themselves, but they can be cut through easily by a blade. The firing range of the threads doesn't have a long reach, a maximum of 12", but after they attached, they can be extended as long there is wire left in the spool. They stick to an object or person until they are naturally severed. Since the threads are automatically retractable, Arcano can use them for extra movability or can use it to reach higher platforms.
To his two belts are multiple extra spools attached, which can be replaced if necessary.
Dust Functions:
The numerous spools on Arcano's belts have Dust inserted in their foundation. The threads themselves are not modified, tough through a special liquid-like substance, the dust can travel from the spool through the thread without damaging it, at least for a certain period of time. After the Dust is used up, the thread will be useless and cannot be reused again. When and how the dust is activated is up to Arcano.
History: Self-made when he was 16