Laban Gold

"Death is dark and cold. It's a sweet kiss we shall all taste one day. Death is god. God is Grimm. Grimm shall save us all."

Laban Gold is the main antagonist against team [Penstemon#Team|PERL]. He wields Salt N' Pepper, black and white nail-guns that unfold into elbow blades.

Appearance
Laban Gold is a very tall, thin man of unknown age (rumored to be in his forties) in a white and black suit with a yellow tie, round, golden shades and black leather gloves and shoes. His jacket's tale extends to the back of his knees when at rest and has only one button at the front.

Laban's head is entirely bald and egged shaped. He has had several of his teeth sharpened which he uses to bite people in the middle of a fight. His arms and legs are long and lanky. Laban's neck is so long his head is hardly ever straight, but will rather tend to lean from side to side.

Background
Next to nothing is known about where Laban Gold came from or what events lead him to declare war on Humans and Faunus. It is widely believed that Laban was trained at one of the academies when he was a teenager, under his real name and looked entirely different in his youth.

15 years prior to the events in RWBY, Laban Gold began hunting and killing Hunters, earning him the title 'The Mad Huntsman'. After months of mayhem, Laban became one of the most wanted criminals in Remnant, a sort of serial killer legend, his atrocities being warped and exaggerated. He would wander from place to place, taking great care not to be seen by eye witnesses whenever possible, ambushing his victims when they were alone.

Demise
Eventually Laban attacked a Huntress who managed to escape and Laban's description became known. All Hunters were alerted and Laban Gold was eventually cornered by 3 Hunters after a day long chase. Laban ran to an old propane tank storage facility where the final battle was held, resulting in the propane gas being ignited, followed by a series massive explosions. Laban's skeletal remains were seemingly found and he was presumed dead.

Return
15 years later, one hunter was shot in the back during a battle at a construction site of an electric dam in which the perimeter wall was blown to rubble, allowing for the Grimm to invade. The Huntsman's wounds were caused by 6 inch nails similar to what Laban used in his nail-guns. Some months later a team of Beacon students were found dead in the city of Vale the day following the events of the episode "Breach". Laban's return began to be suspected, that he had faked his death years earlier.

Hired Assassin
During recent events, Laban has been given job offers to kill for others, which he sees no reason to refuse. He was once hired to kill Boris Nasuta which he failed to carry out.

Weapon
Salt N' Pepper - Two modified nail-guns that shoot 6 inch nails. Being heavier than bullets, they can pierce armor with more ease. For more close quarter combat, Salt N' Pepper's clip holders can fold outward and become razor sharp, turning into elbow blades. Laban has a variety of dust covered nails he uses which are custom made. As the names imply, Salt is white, Pepper is black. The nails are red. These are the primary colors of the Grimm.

Semblance
Weight of Despair - Laban Gold can manipulate his own body weight by increasing or decreasing his density a as whole or certain specific areas on his body, such as his hands and feet. He can triple his weight, lessening knock back and adding more weight into his attacks, or lighten himself enough to be able to stand on a pumpkin without crushing it, allowing him to run, move, climb and fight faster. This does mean, however, that when heavy he is slower and when being lighter he can't defend against blows effectively. That said, decades of experience as taught him how to balance the use of his semblance to its full potential.

Abilities
Laban is a fully trained, experienced and lethal fighter. Above average of many adult Huntsmen and Huntresses, Laban is entirely capable of taking on a team of academy students by using his cunning and his ability to spot weaknesses in his enemies. Using his semblance to lighten himself, Laban can fight for extended periods of time without fatigue, and favors misdirection and intimidation to get into the minds of his enemies.

With his long legs and arms, Laban has good reach and uses that to his advantage, able to move very unpredictably during a fight.

Laban has been known to bite his opponents, particularly on the face, his sharpened teeth able to cut to the bone.

Another advantage Laban has is his killer instinct. Laban wants to kill people and this means he never shows any hesitation when fighting, always going in for the kill, not holding back.

Highly intelligent, Laban is very careful who he attacks and when. He is very much aware of those with superior prowess and will either avoid them entirely or carefully plan his attack to have the best chance of winning. He likes to wear down his victims psychologically, getting inside their heads to make them believe they can't win.

Enemies
A series of events leads team PERL to get Laban's attention. He decides to toy with them before putting them out of their misery, but they end up more of a handful then he originally predicted.

Gallery
Coming soon...

Trivia

 * Laban means white in Hebrew.
 * Laban's white and yellow color scheme is based on the egg.
 * The design for Laban was inspired from the fairy tale Humpty Dumpty and Professor Hojo from Final Fantasy VII.
 * Jack The Ripper was used as a template for Laban Gold's backstory.
 * The name Salt N' Pepper is a joke referencing Laban's egg design.