Gwyrdant Raude

Gregory Ender, more commonly referred to as Greg, is a first year student at Beacon Academy and is a member of Team AGTE.

Backstory
Greg was raised by his mother and father on a small farm just outside the kingdom of Mistral. He worked on the farm since the age of three, often performing monotonous but tiring tasks, such as manually ploughing the field and herding animals. He helped his father with many of these jobs because they were too poor to afford any machinery to help them, barely breaking even by selling their produce while still having enough for themselves.

In an attempt to earn more money for his family, Greg would take up part time work at a local weapons store. Greg grew fairly close to the shopkeeper, who often let him try weapons out for himself. The meteor hammer appealed to Greg, and he was allowed to keep one as payment.

Greg trained with the weapon on his farm, but progress was slow a he had no formal tutelage to rely on. The shopkeeper Greg worked with eventually decided to teach Greg some meteor hammer basics and later suggested that he enrol at Signal Academy. After receiving permission from his parents, Greg travelled to the island of Patch, just off the coast of Vale, in order to join Signal. During his time there, Greg crafted the Penthwyl and later graduated, shortly thereafter enrolling to Beacon Academy. During his time at Beacon, Greg met his partner, Austin Ricburn.

Personality
Often described as the typical 'gentle giant' by some, Greg is a kind and caring person. He is known to care deeply for those he trusts, going out of his way in order to help them. Despite this, he can sometimes be overzealous when trying to help his friends. This sometimes leads to Greg putting himself in harm's way, even when the danger is not particularly severe. Receiving criticism from his team about his recklessness, Greg makes a more conscious effort to properly assess a situation before acting accordingly.

Greg's kind-hearted nature does not extend to those he dislikes. Whilst never expressing it verbally, he dislikes people who are intentionally ignorant of others' beliefs and/or feelings, seeing their ignorance as manifestation of some sort of superiority complex. Although a well-spoken individual&mdash;contrary to his upbringing on a farm&mdash;Greg rarely voices his opinions and only does so during matters of importance, such as contributing to a team plan.

Greg has a mild hydrophobia which is caused by an accident during his childhood in which he fell into a lake. Coupled with this is a dislike of being in the air for too long and preference on being grounded, which developed from the Beacon initiation after being launched into the air. While not very forthcoming with his opinions, Greg will do almost anything to avoid water-based or aerial activities, often citing his past experiences to justify his preference to remain grounded.

Greg thrives when coordinating with others. His easy going attitude and capacity to listen to others allow him to effectively work in tandem with other people in combat scenarios, though this also extends to more social occasions. As such, Austin has described Greg as "the ultimate wingman".

Greg has a strong work ethic and enjoys spending time training or studying. As a result, Greg achieves high grades in most of his classes. Despite willing to share most things, Greg is reluctant to share his work with others as he believes that it is something that should be earned.

Appearance
At 6 foot 2 inches and 220 pounds, Greg is a tall and muscular person. He dresses very casually, usually sporting a dark green, sleeveless pullover hoodie with padded shoulders and a large pocket at the front. Underneath his hoddie, Greg wears a grey shirt and often has his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The hoodie also has a padded back, sides, and front to improve its defensive capabilities.

Greg wears jeans with padded knee caps, and has a pair of steel-capped walking boots. He usually carries a blue wristband that was given to him by his father before he left for Beacon.

Greg finds the casual clothes he wears to be very practical as they are comfortable and don't restrict his movement, which serves to augment his relatively fluid fighting style.

Powers and abilities
Greg's great strength was developed from an early age through his work on the farm and training with the Penthwyl. As a result of his strength, Greg is able to lift heavy objects, but most notably wield his weapon, which requires a great deal of strength to use effectively. Another trait stemming from Greg's training is his high level of stamina, which allows him to maintain a seemingly continuous level of energy throughout a fight.

Greg is known for his high pain tolerance and endurance, which make him a difficult opponent to take down. Despite being able to push through pain, this often leads Greg into trouble as he may unwillingly worsen an injury that he has sustained. Another detriment to this is that he has become somewhat numb to smaller pains, meaning that he may remain oblivious to any injuries that present themselves with dull pain.

Although surprisingly swift for his size, Greg is by no means fast. As a result he is often outmanoeuvred by many opponents. This also means that Greg is not very agile, which is demonstrated by his preference to remain as grounded as possible while in combat. To compensate for this, Greg has impeccable timing, a skill developed upon discovering the nature of his semblance. Paired with this timing is his ability to think on his feet and adapt to altering situations. Despite this, multiple opponents or exceptionally fast opponents can confused Greg and disorient him, especially if they can operate at a variety of ranges.

Greg has displayed an aptitude for learning on many occasions throughout his time at Beacon, with many of his fellow students regarding him as intelligent. However, Greg disagrees and says that his academic performance mainly relies on hard work and good memory.

Greg has good control over his aura, which is often used in a defensive manner that greatly aids in his resilience. It is known to have a cerulean colour.

Semblance
Greg's semblance is called Wisp Walker. It allows him to become completely intangible for half second bursts. The cooldown for the semblance is also half a second, allowing Greg to become intangible many times in quick succession. However, Greg would only be able to sustain such a bursts for 15 seconds before becoming fatigued, a real display of how much energy the semblance requires.

The semblance would force Greg out of walls, blades, etc. should he become tangible over them, preventing him from become stuck or impaled, though this would prevent him from using the ability for an extended period of time and would leave him exhausted.

Weapons
Greg wields the Penthwyl, Meteor Hammer Helmet Headphones (MHHH). When inactive, they are a pair of headphones that allow him to listen to music, and look like a pair of minimalistic headphones with circular earpiece. The headphones are metallic green in colour and have his emblem printed on each earpiece. Greg often wears these on his neck when he is not wielding the Penthwyl as a weapon. Though quite heavy, Greg is able to easily support the headphones on his head and neck due to his natural strength.

When activated, the Penthwyl closes itself by rotating the headband around the earpieces, forming a metallic ball, which is fairly dense despite being hollow. The cable looks like a thin steel cable, and is capable of withstanding the immense strain caused by the continuous swinging of the metal ball. The cable itself is 2.5m in length, but is capable of stretching by up to 5%, giving it minor elastic properties. The weapon is similar in function to that of the Shaolin meteor hammer, but has a larger head.

The Penthwyl is able to turn into a helmet by only partially closing, leaving Greg with free hands for more close ranged combat. In its helmet form, the Penthwyl is still able to play music. However, Greg usually deactivates the music player when in combat in order to focus.

Though he rarely carries dust with him, the head of the Penthwl's meteor hammer form can be coated with dust to augment his strikes. For example, red dust would produce a small, fiery explosion upon contact.

Fighting style
When wielding the Penthwyl, Greg's fighting style is very fluid and dependent on momentum. It involves him rapidly spinning the head of the hammer by his side, often parallel to his stance. This allows him to launch attacks at any moment in any direction, with Greg utilising his limbs to propel and change the direction of the Penthwyl's head. This style is ideal for putting some distance between Greg and his opponents, even allowing him to hold off multiple opponents at bay on some occasions. Due to this, Greg tends to thrive when working with others. Despite the Penthwyl's offensive capabilities, it does not offer Greg much in the way of defence against elongated weapons (longswords, staffs, etc.), which may disrupt the head's spin if the opponent is strong enough to hold their weapon in position as the Penthwyl moves.

Due to the head's density and cables minor elastic properties, Greg can bludgeon opponents and smash through walls while still being able to retain the weapon's momentum, sometimes allowing him to use the head's weight to pull him in other directions. Despite being an energy intensive weapon to use, Greg is able to use the style effectively for extended periods of time, a testament to his level of stamina.

If disarmed or if the Penthwyl is in its helmet form, Greg relies on his proficient skill in martial arts. Though easily bested by expert martial artists, Greg is able to hold his own against most opponents by utilising a very grounded style which is based on a mixture of Hung Ga and Zi quan (more commonly known as drunken kung fu), with elements of Taekwondo. This involves continuous movement and low stances, relying on erratic movements and momentum to dodge and strike.

Despite proficient skill in martial arts, Greg has little combat experience outside of his training at institutes like Signal and Beacon.

Trivia

 * Greg's name is a play on the word 'green'
 * The name 'Penthwyl' is a portmanteau of the Welsh words 'pen' and 'morthwyl', meaning 'head' and 'hammer', respectively
 * Greg's mild hydrophobia is based on his creator's own mild hydrophobia