Carran Mathers

"Do you know what it is to be truly alone? I do. I do and I will never go back there again."

- Carran, to teammate Merril

Carran Mathers
Carran Mathers is a student at Beacon Academy in Vale and is the leader of Team CMBL (pronounced 'cymbal'). He is a rabbit Faunus who employs an opportunistic combat style, preferring to help his team wherever they are struggling the most while giving them a chance to use their own skills. His reasons for coming to Beacon are a mystery to everyone but him, but he has been otherwise forthcoming with the circumstances of his life in private with his comrades.

Early Life
Carran Mathers was born on an uncertain date to unknown parents. His earliest memories are of Rusty, a canine Faunus who rescued him from an abandoned transport in the deserts of Vacuo and became his adoptive father when he was just an infant. Rusty was the leader of a group of nomadic Faunus who called themselves the Sandtails and lived by hunting in the deserts while scavenging useful scraps from the often lost or abandoned vehicles in order to trade for food and medicine in Vacuo's major towns. Not only was Carran given a name by his saviors and welcomed into their group, but he was raised alongside Rusty's own son, Jay, as his brother. Growing up as one of the Sandtails taught him much about the unforgiving wilds, and his adoptive father's care and concern for his group instilled in him a strong respect for the concepts of loyalty and family.

As he grew, he was taught by some of the younger members, including Jay, how to go scrap hunting safely in dangerous wreckage. Of course, the desert was also home to the creatures of Grimm, so as he began to grow stronger and more adjusted to life in the desert he learned how to defend himself against them as part of a team. He even began taking time while in camp to tinker with many of the broken weapons that the group would pick up, gradually learning how to disassemble and reassemble basic Dust-powered rifles, sharpen metal and combine various components into simple moving parts. Rusty and Jay encouraged his efforts and praised him for his successes, his brother even admitting a little bit of jealousy. "That's why I fight so hard, see," he told Carran once, "cause I could never do what you do. That's why I gotta fight hard, or I wouldn't be better at all." Their rivalry was always friendly, of course, and they each respected the other as an equal.

The Death of Rusty
After 13 years of life as a Sandtail, Carran was witness to the strong hate which still existed against the Faunus. While visiting a village for a routine trade stop with the other Sandtails, a sudden surge of Grimm fell upon the settlement. The human inhabitants were caught off guard, and so the Sandtails stood up to defend them. They lost several of their own to hold back the assault, winning a Pyrrhic victory only to be driven out by the humans who blamed them for bringing the creatures upon them. As the surviving Sandtails left battered and disheartened, they were followed by a particularly enraged group of locals who raided the Faunus encampment just as the sun was setting and fatally wounded Rusty. The other Sandtails managed to drive off the intruders, but there was no chance to save their leader.

Following a brief and bitter burial, the Sandtails deliberated at their camps every night for nearly two weeks on who should take Rusty's place. Eventually it was decided that Jay, his oldest son and the most capable of the Sandtails, would take up the mantle. Though still grieving for his loss, with Carran's encouragement, he agreed. For a time, they all tried to resume their old lives as scrappers, but they found that word had spread of the Grimm attack and soon human settlements has closed their doors to the Sandtails for good. Once more disheartened by their turn of luck, the Sandtails were left alone in the wilds with their chances of survival dwindling quickly. Even the youngest among them were forced to become hunters in order to keep the survivors fed, and Carran found himself taking his weapon-making skills far more seriously in an effort to keep his family safe.

Becoming a Bandit
In light of the sudden cold reception they had received and still in bitter rage over his father's murder, Jay began to change. He turned angry, distant and short-tempered, even toward Carran whom he had always been able to smile and laugh with. One day, he declared to the other Sandtails that he intended to show them the only way left to not only survive, but thrive in the desert. While the others were quick to trust his word, Carran felt hesitant. He had been closest to Jay during this time, and he feared that his brother held ill intentions. Nonetheless, the desperate Faunus all agreed they should at least give their leader the benefit of the doubt until they could see his plan through.

The group made their way to a settlement on the edge of the desert where food and supplies were often brought in by airship from the other kingdoms. They spent a week there at a static encampment, and a few of the Sandtails were instructed to observe the caravans that would leave every night to travel to other villages in the cool of night. After the week was up and the Sandtails were beginning to feel starved and restless, Jay put his plan into action. Using modified traps that Carran had been told to invent for large desert game, the Faunus created an ambush sight such that the next transport that left would be crippled beyond repair. When, sure enough, the next food truck left the village and proceeded along its typical route, it was disabled and suddenly fallen upon by the Sandtails under cover of darkness. After driving away the humans who had been driving the transport, the Faunus were quick to salvage what food and supplies they could.

Jay's success lead to a gradual but drastic change in the Sandtails. While at first he would quell dissent by reminding his fellow Sandtails of what had happened to Rusty at human hands, soon the others simply began to enjoy their good fortune. Never before had they had so much good food and plentiful medicine, and they were taking revenge on the ones who drove them out of their lives and left them for dead. All, that is, except for Carran. Even as their attacks grew more sophisticated and their scrapping operations brought in more high-quality materials for him to invent new weapons and technology with, the boy could not help but feel a sense of betrayal for everything it had meant to be a Sandtail. Nonetheless, they were the only family he had ever knew, and so he kept on aiding in their banditry while holding on to a childish hope that their success would calm Jay's bitter hatred for humanity.

Exiled
After a year and three months of bandit raiding throughout the deserts of Vacuo, the Sandtails had earned a terrible reputation. No caravan was safe from them, and some villages even began replacing all land-based operations with expensive airship transports to keep their supplies safe. Grimm attacks against the group had become more frequent as well, but by then they had become all but a nuisance for them. Even Carran found himself able to take on Deathstalkers without any help. Then one day, Jay announced that they would be attempting their most daring raid yet. After having Carran invent and assemble a new high-powered tow cable launcher so large it needed five people to support it as it fired, he announced they would be using it to ground and raid a Schnee Company airjet set to deliver a shipment of Dust to Vacuo's capital city. When pressured for a reason, Jay told the group that he had heard whispers of a radical Faunus organization known as the White Fang who operated out of Vale, and that he intended to bring the Sandtails to them and join as a family. The Dust would be used as a token of loyalty and a testament to their skills. Some were hesitant at first, none more so than Carran, but when threatened with abandonment they quickly fell back in line.

The raid was carried out in broad daylight and went off well at first, the launcher penetrating the hull of the ship and forcing it into a tailspin that nearly crashed the entire vessel. As they were set to attack and take the Dust, however, the Sandtails were caught off guard by the heavily armored Atlesean Knights that were also on board. Nonetheless, the robots were soundly defeated and the humans who had been on board fled while calling mayday over their radios. The Sandtails, successful once again, scooped up all the crystals and vials they could manage to fit in their packs, as well as some functioning parts from the airship and the Knights, and fled before they would be discovered again.

Carran's disdain for the group had reached its peak. The Sandtails had never been about revenge or malice to him; it had always been about family and protecting each other. The fact that Jay treated everyone, including him, as a follower and not a brother was sickening. As the group continued their trek in the hopes of finding a way to stop a transport without having to cripple it so they could quickly make their way to Vale, Carran toiled in secret on a weapon that would suit him even as the other Sandtails began demanding he improve their own technology with the things they had pulled from the Schnee ship. He even began to expand his experiments with Dust ammunition, favoring electricity as he found it made his inventions capable of wondrous new things.

The Sandtails had been wandering the desert with Dust in hand for six months and were beginning to grow desperate to make their way to Vale before they were caught with such important stolen goods when Carran, having perfected his new weapon, formally challenged his brother for leadership of the Sandtails. Though dismissive and mocking of him at first, Jay accepted the challenge. At first he was taken by surprise when his younger brother had such a complex new weapon the likes of which he had never seen. During the fight, Carran was at one point knocked to the ground with a brutal punch like he had never received from Jay before, not even when he had been truly enraged. He found himself wishing he could just vanish and never have to been seen again and, to his shock, the other Sandtails began to look about for him as if he had been lost. He was quick to catch on and tried to attack his brother while he was off-guard, but the elder boy's sensitive canine ears gave him Carran's position and allowed him to counter, knocking him out of his invisibility and leading to his defeat.

In a fleeting moment of compassion, Jay told his defeated brother that he now had an opportunity to focus all of his efforts toward inventing a Dust-powered trap that could secure them the kind of transport they would need. Carran refused, saying he would rather die than help in their evil schemes anymore. In anger, Jay banished him from the Sandtails and told him to never come looking for them again. Carran watched that night as he was left with only his tent, his pack which he had stuffed with some food and spare Dust vials for his new weapon, and the clothes on his back while his former family moved under cover of darkness away from him forever.

Discovering the Huntsmen
Carran survived alone in the desert for nearly two years, hunting and scavenging all the more effectively thanks to his new understanding of Dust and technology. He even found that some human villages, not recognizing him as a member of the Sandtails, would be safe for him to venture into and barter with the locals. He still aired on the side of caution, however, as he not only felt that he could be in deep trouble if was recognized by anyone but he still could not keep his mind off of the Sandtails and the way things had been when he was younger. He found it difficult to trust anyone at all, knowing that any one of the humans he was interacting with could be biased against him for being a Faunus. Despite being given a warmer welcome than he had seen in years, he was still lonely.

During one of his brief stints in the house of a Dust miner who worked in a recently opened quarry, the miners' housing settlement was attacked by Grimm. Carran set out to battle them alongside the Atlesean Knights that were set to guard the perimeter when he noticed a practical hoard of Deathstalkers approaching from the distance in the dark. He left the perimeter and quickly spread word around the houses, telling the miners to abandon their beds and head down to the quarry as quickly as they could. Unbeknownst to him, however, the miners were also being visited that night by a team of Huntsmen who set out to bolster the perimeter defense forces. Taken by surprise but suddenly inspired, Carran volunteered himself to go as well. He was told he would be better suited helping the miners coordinate their escape, though they thanked and praised him for his quick reaction to the situation. Carran took their kind words as well as their instruction, leading the miners down into the quarry and clearing the way through some stray Grimm that had attempted to flank them and prevent their escape.

In the early morning, when the dust had settled, the houses were in pieces but the Huntsmen and all the miners were alive and well. While the workers set about calling Schnee headquarters for assistance and repairing what damages they could, Carran found the Huntsmen again and began to ask them all the questions he could. He learned much from them, but nothing was more important to him than what it meant to be a Huntsman and the sense of comarodarie that came from being a part of a team. He even learned that many Faunus were accepted into Huntsmen academies themselves. After having a heavy burden and a sense of abandonment in his heart since his exile from the Sandtails, he found himself wondering what it would be like to put his skills toward the goal of protecting all of the people of Remnant. He asked to go with the Huntsmen back to their home, but they declined saying that they could not tell what the next day would bring for them. Not dettered, Carran learned later in the week that the Huntsmen would be flying into Vale for a brief stay in the city before going to their next assignment and snuck aboard their airship using his invisibility.

Acceptance into Beacon
Carran's arrival in Vale came not a moment too soon, as he learned exam time at Beacon Academy was drawing close and there was still much he had to do to fully qualify. He was able to rest, found shelter with a local Faunus shop owner, found time to bathe and make final tweaks to his weapons, and volunteered some time at the docks helping maintain their hauling equipment to better blend in and avoid suspicion. With the help of some locals who were also applying to Beacon, he managed to take all of the steps needed to formally apply to the academy just in time for the first round of entrance exams. Thanks to his experience in desert survival and combat, Carran passed the exams while barely breaking a sweat. He elected to stay in the city, resting on the outskirts where people tended not to congregate and continuing his work at the docks until it was time to go to Beacon as a full-fledged student.

During initiation in the Emerald Forest he elected that he would avoid eye contact using his invisibility until he could see his potential partner's fighting ability firsthand. As he wandered the forest he was called out by Bindy Joel, who managed to look directly at him despite not being able to see him. Shocked but somehow intrigued, Carran exited his stealthed state only to be greeted with Bindy removing her sunglasses and making eye contact with him with a soft grin. The two worked their way forward until they found their path blocked by Ursine, a type of Grimm which the Faunus had never encountered before. Carran volunteered to go forward stealthed to scout a way around them but, to the dismay of both him and his new partner, the Grimm spotted him even with his invisibility supposedly shielding him. As he ducked and weaved, being snagged and cut by the bushes and trees in his way, he left stealth, blindly charging the Ursa directly in front of him in a confused panic. He was almost too shocked to notice the other two Ursa coming his way, but fortunately he was saved by his partner as well as the duo of Merril Jackson and Lenny Antebellum who just happened to be wandering in the same direction.

Deciding it would be better for all of them to travel together, the four made their way to the temple without further incident. As they chose their relics and left, however, Bindy and Lenny both heard approaching Beowulves coming at them from all sides. The four stood back to back, nobody wanting to charge blindly in and get slaughtered without knowing how many there were. Carran took charge, using what he had briefly seen of each of them to decipher their strengths and point out the opportune moments for each of them to strike. Soon the four cleared enough of a path that they could safely flee to the cliffs, Carran and Merril laying down suppressing fire to keep the Beowulves from pursuing. That night at the ceremony recognizing new teams, Carran learned that the four of them would now be a team and he would become their leader. The Faunus took to the news with deep gratitude, feeling that this would be his chance to not only redeem himself for his time in the Sandtails but to also have a family again.

Appearance
Carran stands at 5'8" with a well-toned and trim build for his age. His skin has become a medium brown due to his long years in the desert, and he has a large scar across his face from a scrapping mishap at age 13. His hair is dark black and kept long though usually tied into a ponytail. He has green eyes which will quickly flash indigo when he activates and deactivates his Semblance. In addition, he has a short round tail covered in white fur which resembles that of a rabbit.

When not in his student uniform, Carran tends toward loose and usually ragged clothing. His usual outfit consists of a grey hoodie with the sleeves crudely torn off, a pair of tattered black cargo shorts and a pair of worn, stained black steel-toed boots. The pockets of the hoodie have been modified as an emergency reload device for Carran's weapon, capable of holding two spare vials of electricity Dust (one for each chamber). He is always seen wearing a necklace made entirely out of tin which is made up of three small circles connected by a crude and relatively rigid band. Carran claims it is a "vocal manipulator" which he refuses to remove under most circumstances.

Personality
Carran is typically an introvert, preferring solitude to most any kind of attention. He has been known to be very dismissive, sometimes even untrusting, of others and does not usually go out of his way to be among his peers. He especially hates to be interrupted when he is focused on a task outside of combat. He speaks in a very low, quiet tone and avoids eye contact when meeting new people and makes only brief conversation. Any attempt to touch himself or his possessions without his spoken permission tend to result in quick withdrawal, then anger if it continues.

However, he is not cold or selfish and will stand up for those who are in need (especially his team and other Faunus). Once someone has earned his trust and respect, he is fiercely loyal and will dedicate himself to those individuals completely. He is also capable of very quick decision-making under pressure, often analyzing unfavorable situations with great speed and doing what is needed to overcome the problems he and his compatriots face.

Weapons & Abilities
In combat, Carran prefers to study his opponents carefully while dodging and parrying attacks or peppering his opponents with his weapon's ranged mode. He has some CQC experience and, being a rabbit Faunus, is possessed of tremendous leg strength which allows him to deliver powerful kicks and jump abnormally high. Though he usually uses these tactics only as a means of keeping his distance, he will close the gap and attack in melee if he finds the situation favorable or if his ranged fire proves inefficient. His handling of his weapons shows that he has never been formally trained; his swings are often wild and reactionary, causing him to exert excessive energy.

Aside from his fighting techniques, Carran is actually an accomplished scavenger and a prodigal inventor. Both his "vocal manipulator" necklace and his weapon were made completely by himself with no prior knowledge of any of the materials and no formal science or technological education. He is also a hardy survivalist, with a vast knowledge of wild food and water sources and hunting techniques. As such, he often explores deep wilderness with little fear, even when he is in a biome which is unfamiliar to him. His lack of a formal education, however, has lead to difficulties in reading and writing, though he is being taught by his partner Bindy.

Percussive Striker
Carran's weapon, as well as his pride and joy, is a pair of steel bracers powered by large electricity Dust vials called 'Percussive Striker'. The bracers themselves appear to be clunky and oversized but unusually well-kept compared to Carran's attire. However, with precise and deliberate wrist movements, they switch between inactive and three different weapon modes: Snare, Splash and Crash. In 'Snare' mode, a long whip-like length emerges from the outer edge of each bracer as it they would run the length of Carran's arms. They can be wrapped around small enough targets and charged with electricity. In 'Splash' mode, a small barrel protrudes from the top of the bracers which acts as a conduit for Dust charges when Carran makes punching motions. Depending on how long he holds his pose after throwing a punch, Carran can fire either small ball-like bursts or use sustained bolts of energy. In 'Crash' mode, a katar suddenly shoots out from a small inlet in the top of the bracers. Carran rarely utilizes this mode, preferring to keep his opponents at as much of a distance as possible.

Lose Yourself
Carran's Semblance is a form of invisibility. When activated, Carran and any nonliving object which maintains direct contact with his skin cannot be seen by any living being (though he can still be heard) except for all but the youngest of Grimm creatures. Why this Semblance does not extend to Grimm is something he does not understand, though he continues to look for an answer. He is capable of moving freely and performing any task he otherwise would be able to while using his Semblance. If he uses his Semblance for too long at one time, however, he begins to feel delirious and will eventually refuse to leave stealth and instead meander aimlessly until jolted back to his senses or once he becomes completely exhausted from loss of Aura. This can take anywhere from two hours to as little as 5 minutes depending on the amount of mental and physical stress he is under.

Trivia

 * Carran's name roughly translates to "little black one".
 * Carran is loosely inspired by the musician Eminem
 * In addition to sharing the artist's real last name, his name was originally going to be a play on the persona of "Slim Shady"
 * He is a rabbit Faunus; Eminem plays a rapper whose stage name is "B. Rabbit" in the film 8 Mile
 * His Semblance is named for an Eminem song from the aformentioned film
 * Percussive Striker derives its three modes from various parts of a standard drum kit: snare drum, splash cymbal and crash cymbal