Rialta Asherah

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why."

Rialta is an original character based in the RWBY-verse and created by WeissSchnee. She is a member of the White Fang and based on the Greek goddess Thalassa.

Appearance
Rialta is a thin young woman with pale skin and dark blue eyes. Her hair is dark blue and hangs down past her waist, and Rialta wears it in a high ponytail. As a shark Faunus, Rialta has a set of shark teeth instead of regular teeth.

Her attire consists of a dark blue ruffle bottom jacket, grey tights, a black belt with a silver shark buckle that has two black holster pouches attached to it, blue boots and a dark blue scarf.

Personality
Shy and soft spoken, Rialta struggles when meeting new people and will often avoid large crowds. She tries her best to fade into the background and not be the center of attention in social situations.

However, the few people who've managed to get close to Rialta couldn't hope for a better friend. Rialta is loyal and won't hesitate to defend her friends no matter the risk to herself.

Rialta's detachment and shyness is often mistaken by others as coldness and being aloof, and because she's so shy, Rialta never corrects them or defends herself against their slurs.

When Rialta isn't training or on a mission, she likes to read. She doesn't read fiction however. She prefers to read non fiction, books about history and war. This has lead to Rialta developing a keen understanding of tactics and a mind for strategy.

History
Rialta was born and raised in Amida, a small village located in the swamps in the west of Mistral. Her father, a Huntsman, was often gone on missions for a long period of time in an effort to earn money for his family. So, for the early years of her life, Rialta was more so raised by her mother. Her mother, too, was a former Huntress who had been hired by the village as it's permanent protection.

Both of Rialta's parents taught their daughter how to fight, wanting her to be able to protect herself should she choose not to follow in their footsteps and become a Huntress. Her father trained her on the rare occassions he was home and her mother trained her when he was away. With her mother's help, Rialta combined the physical offence of her father's combat style with the speed and range of her mother's defense into a style she became very adept at.

Despite her skills, Rialta preferred to stay in Amida, the young girl rather shy around people she didn't know. She also knew from traders and other travelers how Faunus were looked down upon and even attacked in the wider world, and she feared her shark teeth would make her a target.

Knowing of her daughters anxiety about her teeth, Rialta's mother bought her daughter a long blue scarf and taught her how to wear it so no-one would be any the wiser that she was a Faunus. With the scarf bringing her a new sense of safety, Rialta decided to travel to Vale with her father on his next mission.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as well as she'd hoped. While her father was working, Rialta decided to explore the town. Being unaccustomed to being in a large city, Rialta got lost and ended up in the shady side of town. It was here she encountered a group of thugs who attempted to steal her money. During the struggle, Rialta's scarf came off. The men, now aware their victim was a Faunus, proceeded to beat her. Rialta put up a fight, but lacking any real combat experience with anyone besides her parents and being terrified, she was soon overwhelmed. Rialta was in tears when out of nowhere, another Faunus girl with deer ears intervened. The red head made short work of the thugs, beating them up and scaring them off before turning her attention to Rialta.

The red head introduced herself as Claret and helped Rialta to her feet, offering her a tissue and then helping her with a scarf. The two walked back into the better side of town, Rialta was surprised to find out that Claret was a member of the White Fang, a group portrayed through out Remnant as terrorists. Claret laughed when Rialta told her this and explained that while the White Fang might do questionable things, they do them for the right reasons. They did them for Faunus all around Remnant so that one day, no-one would be cruel to them again.

Rialta was immediately taken with the idea of joining the White Fang, but knew that her parents would very likely disapprove and forbid her from doing it. She told this to Claret, who said with a slight smile that she understood and it wasn't the first time she'd heard that, but then she scribbled an address on a piece of paper and handed it to Rialta. She told her it was the address of a nightclub and that the owner was a friend. Claret told her that if she ever changed her mind to go there and the owner would help her out.

Rialta and Claret said goodbye outside the hotel Rialta and her father were staying in, and a few days later she returned to Mistral. The idea of joining the White Fang didn't go away, however, and the want to do it only increased the more Rialta thought about it. In the end, when Rialta turned fourteen, she knew in herself that it was what she wanted to do, so she went to her parents and told them what she was going to do. Her parents weren't happy, telling her that the White Fang were what the news made them out to be, terrorists. Rialta replied that the only reason humanity believed that was because the action the White Fang took wasn't to their benefit and because they refused to be leashed like animals. Eventually, after an hour of arguing, Rialta and her parents realised they were at an impass, and that neither side was going to change their mind. So, Rialta's parents finally told their daughter that while they didn't support her choice, they could see how strongly she felt so they weren't going to stop her.

After packing a bag and saying goodbye to her parents for the final time, Rialta used some of her savings to secure passage with a merchant who was heading to the city, and from there she used the money she had left to buy a ticket for an airship heading to Vale. The journey was long, but she eventually arrived in Vale and the moment she disembarked the airship, she headed for Duplicity Nightclub, the place Claret had given her the address for. Upon meeting the owner, who seemed to recognize her and told her he was glad she changed her mind, she was given another piece of paper. It had a time and date along with an address written on it, and on the other side was three lines. Rialta went to the place specified later that night, and was surprised to find it bustling with not just White Fang members but other Faunus too.

Claret found her not long after she'd arrived, the two sharing a hug before Claret told Rialta to follow her. Rialta was surprised and a little confused as to why she didn't have to be processed with everyone else. Claret laughed and said she'd vouched for her to her step father, so she already a member. Rialta, unused to having anyone do something so important for her, was slightly embarrassed but also thankful. Upon entering a small backroom, Claret introduced Rialta to Lux and Tynan, her two best friends, and explained that the three of them were a team and that she hoped Rialta would consider joining them.

Rialat felt a little overwhelmed, not only because Claret had had enough faith in her to vouch for her, but because she had faith in what she could do and trusted her enough to want her as a friend and team mate. So, Rialta agreed and was immediately hugged by her three friends, remaining a loyal member for a good length of time.

Rialta and the rest of her team were in Mistral on White Fang business when the Fall of Beacon occurred, unaware of the role their organisation had played in the tragedy. After returning home and when Claret learned the truth and shared it with them, Rialta and the others defected from the White Fang before fleeing back to Mistral.

Combat
On the battlefield, Rialta acts as a sort of scout for her team, identifying threats and enemies and relaying the information to her team mates, as well as pointing out choke points and positions of interest and advantage.

She uses her speed, agility and flexibility to run and gun enemies, never staying in one spot for more than a few seconds. She is also proficient in martial arts after being taught by her father. When having to resort to physical attacks to either create and opening to escape or expose an opponents weak spot, Rialta uses a range of kicks, fist and elbow strikes coupled with fluid footwork.

Her weapon is a pair of High Calibur Pistol Launchers (HCPL) called Tiamtu. The default form of the weapon is a dual muzzle pistol that fires Dust infused .45 rounds. Each gun can fire 8 bullets before needing to reload. The second form of the weapon has the two barrels to separate and raise, revealing a third barrel that shoots a single 30mm Dust grenade.

Aura and Semblance
Rialta's Aura is a shade of dark blue.

Rialta's Semblance is called 'Born of the Sea'. When she activates her Semblance, her skin begins to glow. Rialta's Semblance allows her to form a water like Aura around herself that substantially increases her strength and endurance. Born of the Sea is very taxing, however, and leaves Rialta visabley exhausted afterwards. As a result, Rialta uses her Semblance sparingly in short bursts instead of long, sustained periods. She most often uses it in a 20 to 30 second burst, but has previously been capable of maintaining it for two minutes. This prolonged period of use, however, left her almost too exhausted to walk.

Trivia
- The name Rialta is Italian for 'deep brook'. Brook makes you think of water, which in turn makes you think of the colour blue. That is how her name follows the colour naming rule of Remnant.

Image Galleries
