Raz Vostok

"You can run now. I like a good chase. Stretches the ol' legs."

- Raz.

Rasputin "Raz" Vostok is a student attending the Beacon Academy in Vale.

Appearance
Raz is a fairly tall, with light skin and red hair worn in mohawk fashion. His green eyes sit beneath bushy eyebrows. He has a wiry, athletic build. He has a noticeably wild look about him and his mouth is almost always curled up into a grin or a smirk. There are no markings, such as scars or tattoos, on his body.

Raz's attire consists of a black tank top with frayed sleeves, brown fingerless gloves, camouflage pants that are orange, grey, and black in color,  and black combat boots. His shirt has a skull icon on the front. Raz wears a belt that holds ammunition for his weapon, as well as a pair of goggles either on his head or dangling around his neck. His shoes are often spattered with mud. When attending class, Raz wears the typical male's uniform, if slightly unkempt.

Personality
Raz is loud and gruff to the point of being churlish or uncouth. He doesn't shy away from speaking his mind, even at the expense of others. He is somewhat crude, as he demonstrates poor manners such as belching or picking his nose in public. He often comes across as dim-witted and obnoxious to others. He has a fiery temper and short-fuse and is very susceptible to mockery. Brash and hasty, he is very prone to acting without thinking. He takes criticism, even if it has good intentions, personally and reacts with hostility. He puts an emphasis on physical prowess, but is learning to work around this notion.

Despite his flaws, Raz is a loyal friend and works pretty well in groups. He is not a leader, but is capable of working together and cooperating in groups - provided something or someone doesn't tick him off. He goes out of his way to stand up for his friends and teammates, eager to get into scuffles with bullies or other antagonists, as well as providing his own type of tough love. To Raz, honesty is the key to improvement; lying to someone to spare their feelings undermines the whole thing. In spite of this, he can at times be surprisingly tender and caring. This, coupled with his naïvety, makes him seem childlike at times.

Raz has a dry sense of humor, which sometimes becomes cruel and malicious, especially aimed towards people he doesn't like. Due to the nature of his upbringing, Raz is deeply superstituous and equally gullible: he would readily believe a merchant's claim of selling magic beans. His superstition is reflected in a great many of his sayings, which often revolve around "juju" or "mojo", of the good or bad variety. Despite respecting strength, Raz has a great deal of respect and reverence for his elders.

History
Raz was born in the extreme north of the Snowy Forest. His parents were a pair of Hunters, according to his grandmother, but he never knew them. As a child, he was "adopted" by a "woods witch" by the name of Yaga and lived with her in her remote hut located in the forest. Yaga did her best to raise the boy and provide him a basic education: she taught him to read and to write, but was not very good at numbers herself, so Raz's mathematical skills suffered slightly. Yaga told the young boy about his parents, saying that they gave him to her so that she may care for him. She insinuated that Raz's parents were young and couldn't properly care for an infant, but she has also stated that they were possibly killed by Grimm.

Years living with the elderly Yaga in her hut made Raz intensely curious of the outside world. His grandmother taught him about Dust and it's properties. When Raz grew old enough, Yaga gave him a "birthday gift": a strange weapon and sent him away to the Beacon Academy in the hope that he would be accepted. Raz, new weapon in tow, was accepted into Beacon and was set to enter through the Initiation. His hotheadedness and short fuse caused other new students to flee rather than risk being his partner during the Initiation, but he eventually made eye contact with a girl named Nadzia and they wound up being partners. Both survived the Initiation and became members of the team GRNN (green).

Raz is currently a student at Beacon, determined to make his dream of becoming a famous Hunter come true.

Weapon and Abilities
Raz's weapon is a sword-like chainsaw by the name of Kladenets. The weapon has two forms: Aside from his weapon, Raz demonstrates keen reflexes and an advanced athleticism. He is a close-to-mid-range fighter, primarily utilizing his weapon and physique to ravage foes in melee. He lacks any real defense apart from parrying, especially at long range, as his weapon is unable to compensate for a great amount of distance between him and a foe. His Aura is red. Raz's Semblance is called Trollkin and gives him a brief boost in physical strength. This ability works well with Raz's strategy of overwhelming the foe with sheer force and can last only up to a minute with extreme concentration. It's short duration and lack of any defense makes it risky to use.
 * In the default form, also known as the "chainsword form", Kladenets is shaped like a slightly oversized sword, with a track of powered teeth that run along a single edge like a chainsaw. The hilt is rather large and clunky, being a depository for the red Dust that fuels the weapon. The red Dust acts as a sort of fuel, powering and revving the teeth. The fuel is rather limited, so Raz must rely on the nature of the weapon, as well as the high-pitched shriek it emits, to intimdate would-be opponents, or the weapon's ability to hack, bite into, and shred. Once the Dust runs out, the teeth are no longer powered. While still razor sharp, the weapon loses much of it's power.
 * In the alternate form, the "crossbow form", Kladenets takes the shape of a large lever-action crossbow. In this form, the red Dust is used to propel the bolts. The ammunition for this mode is fairly simple, being in the shape of metal spikes. The crossbow form suffers from heavy recoil, lack of accuracy at long ranges, and the need to reload after every shot.

Raz serves as both an initator and distraction for his team: he wades into the fray, enabling his teammates to fight safely from a distance.

Relationship

 * His family: Raz didn't know his parents, so his only real family is his "babuska", "Baba" Yaga. He is fiercely protective of her and puts a great deal of respect into her wisdom and guidance. He says he owes her a great deal.
 * Nadzia Fireflower: Raz's grudging partner during the Initiation and future member of his team. Nadzia is also Raz's first real friend. Their personalities clash sometimes, where Raz is brash, Nadzia is methodical. Despite this, they share many of the same interests, including humor. Their styles of combat complement each other well: Nadzia makes up for Raz's vulnerability at long range, whereas Raz makes up for Nadzia's weakness in melee combat.
 * Nigella Perriwinkle: A member of team GRNN, Raz enjoy's Nigella's carefree, lacksadaisy attitutde and outlook on life. She is often picked on for sometimes outlandish behavior, so Raz frequently stands up for her. She pushes his buttons sometimes, which causes him to lose his temper and call her "weak". Despite this, they get along well and work well together in combat.
 * Gauri Johar: The team leader of team GRNN, Gauri and Raz don't always get along well. Gauri's stern demeanor and insistence on perfection rubs Raz the wrong way. In turn, Raz's short fuse and crass demeanor causes Gauri to look down on him as a brute. Despite their initial disdain for each other, the two reconciled. Gauri's focus and ability to lead is something Raz admires and he now trusts her, both as a team leader and friend.

Trivia

 * Raz's full name is Razputin, which is based off of Grigori Rasputin, a Russian mystic and faith healer. Rasputin has become somewhat infamous and is a popular character in pop culture. An incarnation of Rasputin served as a major antagonist in the comic book series Hellboy.
 * Vostok can be literally translated as "east".
 * Razputin's grandmother, "Baba" Yaga is based off of the mythological being of the same name. Baba Yaga is a supernatural being often likened to a witch, who can be either benevolent or malevolent. She is commonly depicted as riding in a giant mortar and pestle, as well as living in a house supported by chicken legs. The hut that Raz and Yaga lived in was supported by two trees, whose trunks and roots looked vaguely like chicken feet.
 * Sword Kladenets, often shortened to Kladenets, is a mythological Russian sword in old fairy tales. Kladenets has been called "asp the serpent" in some stories, as well as meaning "treasure", or, as some scholars hypothesize, a corruption of Excalibur. The name of the sword could correspond to "slayer", as well as "well", evocative of torrents of blood.
 * Kladenets could easily be called a chainsword.
 * Raz would be an ESTP.
 * His favorite color is red. His favorite food is steak.