CHARACTER
Name: Ianthe Galini
Age: 17, Saule 24, 62AC
Species and Gender: Human Female
Symbol:
Occupation: 1st year Beacon Student
Appearance: Standing at a slender 5’5”(165cm) with long limbs and a narrow waist, Ianthe looks physically weaker than one would expect a future huntress to be, especially one who uses a heavier blunt weapon. While it is true she lacks the bulk one would normally expect she is by no means weak. Ianthe possesses dense, compact, musculature that makes it easier to a moderate amount of strength with gaining excessive bulk. Her skin is a light olive tone, more likely to burn than tan under the sun, and unmarred by freckles or moles.
Accenting this disarming appearance is a heart shaped face and large grey eyes framed by long black hair. Her hair is worn waist length in twin pigtails high on her head. A variety of accessories are used to tie her hair back, but is most commonly done with a pair of violet silk ribbons.
Ianthe’s clothes tend towards things that accent her legs and help her seem taller. Her usual outfit is an ash colored baby-doll tee under a black leather half-jacket and a short pleated skirt in a pale purple. Rounding out her outfit is a pair of black high top sneakers.
History: A native daughter of Vale, Ianthe was raised in the capital by her mother after father was killed a few weeks before her birth. He had been a law enforcement officer in a specialized division that sought to bridge the gap between city cop and Hunters. They were the ones called on to track and apprehend criminals would crossed kingdom borders or sought refuge in the provincial states. It was on a mission, tracking an escaped dust smuggler to Vacuo, that his unit was ambushed. While the team successfully fought off their attackers, Ianthe’s father had been gravely wounded. His aura depleted, he succumbed to his wounds a short while later.
Ianthe’s mother, stricken with grief, began to treat Ianthe as a precious treasure that could be lost in a instant. Ianthe was nearly a teen before even the baby proofing was removed. For the entirety of her life leading up to her Beacon enrollment, Ianthe’s world was the City of Vale, and even then it was only the few blocks immediately surrounding her home. She had a few “friends” growing up. More akin to being just the kids who let her play with them than actual friends, but as it was all she knew she still thought of them as her friends. At least until they all went on to Signal or other schools and Ianthe remained at home with her mother.
Ianthe’s childhood was not without training or education, however. Before her husband’s death, and self-imposed isolation, Ianthe’s mother had been a teacher at Signal academy herself and was a moderately competent huntress in her own right. Skills that had atrophied somewhat over the years, but skills she quickly fell back on as she began homeschooling her daughter. While Ianthe would be the first to tell you that her knowledge of the world was not lacking, any Valish Education Board would likely disagree.
The circumstances of her husband’s death had convinced Ianthe’s mother that, contrary to what she previously thought, the world outside Vale was an uncivilized place that would destroy anything that entered it. The logical conclusion to this epiphany was that Vale was the only source of civilization left in the world. A civilization that the others could only envy or attempt to destroy. To that end, Ianthe’s education primarily consisted of praising the benefits of Vale, casting the other kingdoms as little more than the Greyed Empire reincarnate, and ignoring everything else. While this kind of thinking is would be indicative of someone not, quite, completely sane to most of society. For Ianthe, who had nothing to compare it to and no reason to doubt her mother, it became gospel. Vale was the center of the universe and no evidence to the contrary could convince her otherwise.
As Ianthe grew, and her abilities increased, it became apparent that she wanted to become a Huntress. As much to follow in her parent’s example as doing so would also help her “civilize” the ignorant savages of the world. Primarily by introducing their faces to her hammer. Her mother, however, had gotten to use to having Ianthe close to hand and she could not see Ianthe’s desire to enroll at Beacon as anything but all her fears coming to fruition.
There had been a time when Ianthe would listen to her mother without question. Even her rebellious phase had less a rebellion and more a quiet protest. If bedtime was at 8:00, she would be in bed at 8:05, and you can bet her shoes had not been put away neatly. At least until she panicked a few minutes later and fixed them. Now she was a young adult with her own ideas. Chief of which, what was the point in being civilized if the savage masses were too ignorant to truly appreciate Vale’s glory? It was the responsibility, no, the duty of the civilized to educate the masses. Simply ignoring them would accomplish nothing.
For a time Ianthe tried to convince her mother she was right. That she could not live like a caged pet all her life. She almost wished her mother had more strict, more confining. At least that way Ianthe would not know how bad the outside world really was. But she did know, and she knew she had the strength to fix it. Well, she potentially had the strength to fix it. A potential she would never realize if she remained at home. When it became obvious that no amount of debate would convince her mother to allow her to leave, Ianthe stopped trying and took the first real independent steps of her life.
Late at night just before the annual open Beacon exam Ianthe left her home with only a small bag of clothes, Tranquility, and a picture of her mother and father from before her birth. With only a brief note of explanation on her pillow. It was her first time being out that late, and the unfamiliar city would have been difficult to navigate in daylight, but Ianthe eventually found herself waiting for the daily airship to Beacon. Mostly due to luck, as the building she wandered into for directions and warmth just happened to be the airship terminal.
The exam the next morning had been more difficult than she had expected. The knowledge exam was the biggest issue. The parts that actually did cover things she had been taught seemed to lack the Vale-centric view she expected. Luckily the more physical two exams went well for her, but it was still a close thing. It was with that in mind that Ianthe looked at the posted results. She fully expected to have been failed. Doomed to return home and face the retribution of her mother. So it came as quite a shock when she passed, just barely meeting the required mark. She had started the day alone in an unfamiliar city. Now she was alone in an unfamiliar academy. It wasn’t much but maybe, like her test scores, it was enough,
Personality: Ianthe is, essentially, a very naive individual. Because of her background, and cultural isolation, Ianthe is devoted to Vale in a way that toes, and often crosses, the line into racism. Unlike the majority of the discrimination throughout the world of Remnant, her’s is not centered around human-faunus relations, but on those who are not of Vale. As far as Ianthe knows, or is willing to acknowledge, Vale is the epitome of Remnan culture and prosperity. Those of the other kingdoms are, at best, diluted, uneducated, fools who do not understand what they are missing by not casting their lot in with Vale. At worst, they are barbaric savages who look on Vale with envy. Willing to destroy what they cannot understand. Ianthe does not really hate the outsiders. No more than a man hates a flea. They are to be pitied, and if possible, educated so that they too can understand the glory of Vale.
Another consequence of her mother’s flawed teachings, Ianthe has next to no real knowledge regarding sex and reproduction. At least none that a girl her age should have if sexual health is even a remote concern. Because of this Ianthe is uncomfortable when in close proximity to males, or when around unabashed sexual behavior. On the flip side, due to her lack of education, Ianthe can be unintentionally flirtatious at times as she does not realize how things like a shimmy dance in a short skirt can be construed.
Self conscious of her small stature, Ianthe has several quirks that attempt to remedy the situation, but more often than not, serve only to accent the problem. Because she was often told as a young girl that drinking milk, and eating vegetables would help her grow “big and strong” Ianthe is a strict vegetarian with milk making up some 75% of her daily fluid intake. Additionally, her wardrobe contains a large amount of short skirts and tight jeans that help accentuate her proportionally long legs. Both poor choices considering her naivete and prudishness.
Aura and Semblance: Ianthe’s semblance is known as Shifting. It is a near instant teleportation over a short distance. She has never been able to shift more than 5’(152cm) at once. The amount of conscious thought needed is related to the distance Ianthe is shifting. For instance, if she were to throw a punch and her fist was slightly off target, she could shift a few millimeters instinctually, but a “distant” shift would require her to make a conscious decision to move.
Although her shifts to not require much thought, they do significantly drain her aura and stamina as well as strain her body. A shift puts the same strain on her body as a simple jump the distance, 20 times in a row. Because of this, Ianthe is not able to shift more than a half dozen times without considerable rest in between.
Due to nature of her semblance she is unable to augment her shifts with any catalyst foci.
Combat Behavior: Despite her slight size, Ianthe’s main fighting style is one that relies on brute strength to deliver the majority of her damage potential. However, because of this, dust augmentation is required in order to actually achieve that potential. Unless, of course, she switches to Tranquility’s secondary form where she can rely on speed instead of strength. Ianthe herself is moderately agile, but shies away from the more complex acrobatic skills one would expect from someone her size.
Her greatest weakness, aside from her reliance on dust in combat, is a complete lack of ranged attacks. While Tranquility does provide some semblance of ranged combat, Ianthe’s lack of skill with that form means that she must use it less like a true meteor hammer and more like a tethered projectile. Switching to the secondary mid swing, striking her target, and switching back to reel the hammer back in. This additionally makes her susceptible to group attacks, as she is not able to utilize the multi directional attacks a weapon like her would normally be able to do.
This does not mean, however, that she is a poor fighter. She is simply one with a role one would not normally expect. Ianthe’s role is that of a skirmishing flanker. By utilizing both her light weight, and Tranquility’s second form, Ianthe can adhere the weapon’s head to an object or enemy, switch to primary and let the weapon’s retraction to pull her along at considerable speeds. Attacking and shifting a few times, she can then use Tranquility to escape and do it all over again. Thereby harassing the enemy while the stronger weapons prepare.
WEAPON
Name: Tranquility
Primary Form: A two handed melon hammer consisting of a 3ft (91cm) shaft with a 7 lb (3.1kg) steel head. Five emitters, four spaced evenly along the head’s equator and the fifth at the tip, allow for contact based dust attacks loaded through a cartridge system located in the hilt.
Secondary Form: Tranquility’s secondary form is that of a meteor hammer. The shaft extends into a length of thin braided steel measuring 15ft (4.5m). A foot long section (30.5cm) at the hilt end remains intact, retaining Breaker’s dust capabilities.
Dust Functions: Tranquility uses a magazine fed cartridge foci system in the hilt to feed dust reactions through an internal fuel line to the contact emitters in the weapon’s head. The magazine is only large enough to hold 6 rounds and the line is not strong enough to contain the reactions of more than a single focus at one or for more than a few seconds. This forces Ianthe to trigger every reaction moments before impact or risk damaging the foci system. Weapon structural is possible if containment is lost while Tranquility is in the secondary form.
History: Tranquility, then known as Long Arm, belonged to her father before his death. After training with it while homeschooled, she adopted it as her own. Hiring a weapon smith to add the cartridge system and emitters as her slight size greatly limits her damage potential without dust.
Notes:
Color: #E6E6FA