Ragla Ermont

"Stop trying to say things that don't exist, the way it is...is the way it is."

- Ragla, commenting on Saf's beliefs on fate



Ragla Ermont is the third member of Team SYRA. She is melee-only with her twin flamethrower swords, and serves as the scout and front-line fighter for the team. Ragla originally lived in Atlas but has traveled to various regions. In order to qualify for Beacon Academy, she had to pass exams from Sanctum in Mistral, making her one of the self-taught, non-traditional students that were accepted into Beacon.

Appearance
Many have described Ragla as to having a tomboyish figure; her copper-red hair is much shorter than other girls’, and her expressions alternation between calm and fierce. The pale teenager bears pale blue eyes and has noticeable blushes. Compared to the other members of her team, she is the tallest and heaviest (though not by much) as well as the most athletic.

Ragla’s battle attire is said to be somewhat regal yet conservative at the same time: there are various orange-red gemstones across her outfit, the most recognizable are the ones on her bronze shoulder plate, earrings, and collar. She wears a leather-like top with a black shirt underneath that has a red collar; her pants are also made of the same leather-like fabric, with a matching pattern. The sleeves, which form puffs (like a juliet sleeve) at the arm, are then coiled at the elbow with red ribbons. Ragla also wears additional copper cuffs at her wrists, which can be used enhance close combat or to sharpen her blades, that latter being a function she rarely uses.

At the waist, several straps can be seen, two pairs of orange straps that connect and hold a satchel with fire dust cartridges at the back, and a leather strap that connects to a sheathe, which has slits on the side that can hold Ragla’s paired weapons. The brown belt has a gold buckle and an umber sash on the left side that shows her emblem. (She is the only member of her team who doesn’t show the emblem from the back.)

The copper-plated boots Ragla wears has plating on the toes, heels, and lower leg. The right leg has a gold band tied around it, perhaps because the plating is no longer secure on its own. The shoulder plate, which has one smooth layer and one ruffled one beneath, also secures a small red cape to her shoulder.

Ragla has a clear but reserved voice; her laughs are the most quiet on the team.

Personality


Ragla is best known for her sense of reason and relies on logic and deduction to make her choices, making her a conservative and collective individual. Out of all the members of Team SYRA, she is the most introverted in the word and only chooses to speak when she finds it necessary-- her words usually come off as criticism because of her brute honesty in many situations. She may appear lonely and may act like a shadow when in a group, but actually has some close friends from her travels, albeit a few.

Despite this isolation others may sense, Ragla enjoys literature and artwork (but would prefer non-fictional themes over pure fiction), and is rather delighted at opportunities to share her finds and creations. Though she appears tomboyish, she has a healthy imagination, but rarely goes deep into it due to her sheer honesty and adherence to the facts. She is also against using too many cliches, swears, and sentimentality; she would leave any conversation, book, or movie that is…”sappy” or “extremely foolish.” On rare occasions friends were capable of seeing a childish reaction from her.

Despite her appreciation for creativity, she remains resolute on her affinity for scientific books and data, specifically chemistry and physics, despite her lack of implementation of this knowledge in her career as a Huntress.

In non-causal conditions, such as battle, Ragla has been known to take matters into her own hands without much of a word, and would prefer to fight alone (for specified reasons). She does not take horseplay lightly, especially when the safety of others are threatened, and will not partake in many risky ideas. If angered, Ragla usually chooses between two options: first is to leave and ignore the source, and second is to stand her ground and persist in argument with the sound reasoning she believes will triumph.

Ragla is perhaps the least fitted for social events in comparison to the rest of her team: she finds relationships pointless and rarely goes out of her way to make friends. She is tolerant of children, but always liked conversing with wise adults. Overalll, she likes her silence and would prefer to keep it as it is.

In terms of being a Huntress, Ragla sees it as fateful duty and accepts the hardships willingly. She is stubborn to this idea and refuses to complain about it. Her dedication, she claims, is based on her eagerness to travel and come to the aid of others, which isn't entirely true.

Weapons
Ragla’s weapon was named “Gemini’s Blaze” by a friend from her travels due to its duality and flamethrower capacities. It is described as TRCK (Twin Rocket Combustible Katanas). The copper-orange blades act as hobby knifes, as the yellow crosses on the sheaths stop it from retracting or extending. The flamethrower components have a trigger besides each of the black-taped handles; the black cartridges with Ragla’s emblem contain fire dust pieces and will automatically discharge from the weapon when empty. Spares can be kept on her belt if she anticipates a lone battle.

Besides its dormant and active modes (where the blades can be extended to any length), Ragla also has the option of joining the ends of the two weapons at the gold stubs on the back of the hilts, One stub is a positive and the other is a negative end, in terms of shape. The blades may be lined up or faced diagonally from each other-- Ragla usually prefers the latter for hordes, since the curves of this form is more aerodynamic for circular motions.

The trigger on the fire-torches are extremely sensitive and can have the length of a lighter’s flame to the maximum length of the sword. To conserve the amount of dust used, Ragla often lights up her sword and then deactivates the igniter, as the material in the center of the swords can catch on fire and sustain it (albeit, for a limited amount of time, which is why a speedy battle is crucial). To extinguish the flames on the blades, all there needs to be done is to retract the blades completely-- the yellow crosses will smother the fire. Ragla can create a torch by retracting most of the sword, and allowing the tips to carry a flame.

Gemini’s Blaze is by no means a ranged weapon, as all of its functions have a very limited range, forcing the user to be a front-lines fighter. If worse comes to worst, Ragla can choose to remove the dust crystals from the cartridges, and hurl them at an opponent after lighting them. There are also no defensive mechanisms, besides the fact that Ragla may spin the combined weapons to produce a temporary shield to deflect projectiles. Spinning with flames present can help deter other kinds of projectiles, such as ice-based ones.

Abilities and Stats
Ragla’s semblance of noninflamability, mistakenly titled as “Ignition” by witnesses, is crucial to her ability to use such a dangerous fire weapon. The semblance allows the user to withstand heat and avoid catching on fire (those in close enough proximity, such as clothes, will also remain unharmed). Despite the fact that Ragla is impervious to fire itself, she can still be damaged by the following: explosive objects will still damage and throw her back, and strong bursts of flames (perhaps from magic) will act as gales to her.

Even if she is immune to blazes, individuals watching her still claim that she appears to have caught on fire, or that a brighter flame has enveloped her and warded off the outer fires. Moreover, there is debate whether or not this semblance is actually her aura at work.

The heat of the blaze and the duration she stays in it will determine how much energy she has to sacrifice to withhold this ability. Overall, the drain from the use of the semblance is minimal, as Ragla moves often and would prefer to stay out of actual flames to face her enemy--- she rarely has to stand in her own flames as well.

Although Ragla holds rather high morals and ethics when in a fight, her style in battle is based on the standard blocking and evasion of enemy attacks. Out of all the members of her team, she is best suited for fights against crowds and is considered the “tank” of her team-- even if she acts more like a scout.

Backstory
Ragla was born in a small town on the edges of Atlas; she was an only child to an extended family, which had 2 grandparents in addition to her parents, both fishermen. Their nearby neighbors in the rural area were Fuchsia, a Faunus librarian that was said to be a former Huntress, and the family of Saffron, another Faunus and a childhood friend of Ragla’s. The two families and the widowed ex-Huntress were close friends, and often visited one another.

Several times a week Ragla met Saffron and Fuchsia on a nearby hill where a famous wisteria tree stood; she found interest in Fuchsia’s attempts to teach Saffron self-defense and began taking part. The tips and tricks eventually became full-out lessons, and Saffron, who felt more at peace painting and writing, proved to be the weaker of the two. On their off-time, the two young girls sometimes hid away in the small library that Fuchsia ran to read books together--- back then, Ragla enjoyed the fantasy collection that was there, and was eager to read Saffron’s stories.

When the two girls were around 13, Fuchsia planned for an overseas trip, and extended an invitation for Saffron and Ragla. Their parents agreed to send their daughters, simply because they couldn’t afford such a luxury. However, a larger Grimm in the ocean attacked the ship, forcing Ragla, Saffron and Fuchsia onto an escape raft to a town on the other side of Atlas. Upon arrival, the news of the sea creature (which was described to be a Hydra) attacking their hometown prevented them from a speedy return, as rumors of the monster’s presence canceled any schedule ships headed there.

The trio decided to travel by foot--the long way back home; they relied on Fuchsia’s experiences and local contacts to get by. The widow also started teaching the two girls how to use a sword, which was her specialty originally. However, a decision to seek refuge in a cafe during a downpour resulted in an encounter with a Deathstalker; on the escape, Saffron perished from an injury from the scorpion's tail. Her last words warned Ragla to not be like her: someone too weak and too hopeful. Taking the advice seriously, Ragla grew determined to follow Fuchsia’s footsteps as a Huntress, which was a request that the widow granted. They reunited with the Ermont family in a more urban town for a short time, which was when they heard news that Saffron’s parents had been killed back during the attack. The revelation Ragla had only strengthened, and pushed her to travel elsewhere. Along the way, Fuchsia asked a forger to create a weapon for her student-- this was the time Ragla received one sword of her current pair.

When she turned 17, Fuchsia recommended her apprentice to Beacon Academy; being in Mistral at that time, Ragla was non-traditionally put through the final exams at Sanctum, which she passed. Fuchsia then arranged for Ragla’s rides to Vale, one of which was a train driven by an old friend, who later gave Ragla a matching sword (the second katana that she now owns) and a letter from Fuchsia: The farewell note explained that the duplicate sword was an updated version of her old weapon, which she wanted to pass down to her committed student. She also admitted to being a member of the White Fang, which her husband still is part of-- but she had recently decided to leave, and would now go into hiding, meaning that she will not see Ragla again.

Upon the train’s arrival to Vale (Ragla's Trailer), which was almost compromised by an internal problem in the engine and an ambush by a horde of Grimm, Glynda Goodwitch was present to escort Ragla to Beacon.

Relationships

 * Teammates
 * She holds Sapphyre in high regard, not because of the team leader status, but because of her interest in what Ragla does or says. Saf is aloof to most, and Ragla senses it-- however rather than question Saf’s happy facade, she chooses to overlook it. For this reason, the two feel a mutual distance from each other. Ragla’s honesty sometimes hurts Saf’s attempts to brighten things; plus their different battle strategies cause them to be out of sync in battle.
 * Yulon’s strict discipline towards professionalism often discourages Ragla from initiating conversation with her. At the same time, Ragla sees her as the only other individual capable of holding the same level of maturity as she does--even though Yulon’s irrational pursuit of perfection often skews their friendship. They cooperate well in battle and have ease talking to each other, as the heiress is typically interested in what her teammate has to say.
 * It is unexpected that Ragla is able to tolerate Amy so well. It is also shocking that the wild teenager is able to make her laugh as frequently as she does, although during battle Ragla often times argues with the daredevil’s tactics. Amy is fond of Ragla’s reserved nature, but loves it more when she is able to get the warrior to partake in the jokes with her (even if “Rae Rae’s” puns are surprisingly more effective than her own).
 * Townsfolk
 * Ragla somehow manages to withhold a balanced friendship with each of the girls-- though her “best” friend and former teacher, Fuchsia, who accompanied her during her travels, is not present at Beacon. Oddly enough, Ragla rarely mentions Fuchsia, and much is unknown about this companion's current whereabouts.
 * Dinero, a conman that the teenager has encountered several times in her journeys, constantly tries to impress the young art enthusiast with his latest paintings. However Ragla's ease in pointing out his fraudulent pieces intimidates Dinero, who finds it strange how she often appears out of nowhere and ruins his attempts to scam other customers.

Trivia

 * Ragla's name had been derived from the name of the mineral Realgar; removing "mont" from her surname and flipping the rest of the letters in the name would then spell the mineral.
 * The name is pronounced "Ray-glah Ur-mont."
 * The first name is an Old Norse derivative of the name Ragnhildr, which has components meaning "advise/decision" and "battle/fight." The surname is similar to "Vermont" the state, which means "green mountain."
 * She has the only first name on the team which doesn't clearly elude to a obvious color. Her nickname of "Rae/Ray" does, however, elude to the color of sunset orange.Symmetry.png
 * This character was based on one of the four friends of BloodyRosalia; this friend received Blake's slap-band, which was one of the four won from Rooster Teeth's Movie Poster Contest.
 * Ragla is the only character without a proper mountain basis. There is "xiong huangshan, 雄黄山“ in China which is literally "Realgar mountain," but means "heroic/masculine yellow mountain." Realgar in Chinese means the same first two characters.
 * However, for the sake of variation, the name Realgar has been matched with Montreal.
 * Ragla's emblem represents Symmetry, but looks akin to a sakura blossom. The symbol might alude to her symmetrical movements in battle.
 * The figure that Ragla alludes to is unclear. One ideas is a female saint named Reineldis, who was famous for her pilgrimages and held a sword as a symbol of being a martyr killed by decapitation.
 * The name Ragla is a derivative of the Germanic names Raganhildis and Reinhold. Reineldis is in this family of names.
 * The character is a wayfarer and sword user, as well as a "good Samaritan" in terms of her actions.
 * Ragla uses katana blades and has themes from Japan. For a Kaishakunin, the individual who uses a katana to behead a person who recently commited seppuku, he is doing an honorable act by ending the other person's pain from the ritual.
 * Fuchsia and Dinero both allude to colors, the former being a bright purple-red color from a flower, the latter being the word "money" in Spanish, alluding to green color of currency. Saffron is a spice and also a flower, and depicts a gold-yellow color.

Fanfiction and Other Links

 * Trailer Fanfiction
 * Team SYRA Fanfiction
 * Original Page on DeviantArt