Conrad Firth

"Logic and rational thought can solve almost anything. Too bad emotions keep getting in the way."

Conrad Firth is a first-year student at Beacon Academy and a member of Team BLCA. He wields Eldritch Mire, a Dual Purpose Rifle-Halberd (DPRH).

Appearance
Conrad is taller than average for his age and has a lanky build which sometimes makes him appear clumsy and awkward, though he is in fact very agile in combat. Like his sister Letty, he has a thin face, high cheekbones, pale skin, piercing black eyes and a clear complexion. His hair is naturally dark brown, but when he arrived in Beacon he dyed it black and had it cut in a medium-length gothic style with soft spikes at the back and slanting bangs that cover his right eye.

Conrad dresses in a casual gothic style with some metal influences. His usual outfit consists of a dark grey tank top with a black cross on the front, black belted slim-fit pants, a black leather jacket with studs on the collar, heavy black boots with spiked fastenings and a large number of piercings, including two spikes below his bottom lip, a spike through the bridge of his nose and numerous ear piercings.

He dislikes the Beacon Academy uniform but wears it the normal way, though he leaves the jacket unbuttoned and knots his tie quite loosely. During Team BLCA's mission to Buddy Capello's underground base he wears a plain grey tank top, black pants with a studded belt, plain black boots, a black studded wristband and a black sleeveless jacket with frayed edges and round grey studs on the shoulders, hem, lapel and pockets. At the school dance he wears a black suit with a dark grey shirt, black waistcoat, black tie and black leather shoes.

Personality
In stark contrast to his emotional, bad-tempered sister Letty, Conrad is calm and quiet, rarely showing emotion or becoming openly angry; his facial expression rarely changes and he speaks with a flat, monotonous voice. He dislikes making an exhibition of himself and as a result becomes embarrassed and irritated whenever Letty has an outburst or gets into a fight, which is the main reason behind their initially poor relationship, though he is thankful for the times she defended him from bullies when they were younger. His reserved nature has earned him few friends, but he is naturally introverted and rarely feels lonely or isolated, instead preferring to spend his free time alone. He is also very stoical and has a high tolerance for pain and discomfort, silently carrying on even in the direst of circumstances.

On the occasions when he does converse with his classmates, Conrad has a sarcastic nature and frequently makes snarky comments at his peers' expense, though he usually does so under his breath so he cannot be heard. He has a cynical attitude and a somewhat bleak outlook on life, sometimes demonstrating misanthropic tendencies by complaining to himself about the stupidity of the human race, and he has a more pacifistic attitude towards combat than most of his schoolmates: he dislikes combat classes, describing the concept of fighting one's allies as "primitive", and will not start a fight with a human unless he is attacked first.

In addition to his cynicism, Conrad has a sceptical attitude and always tries to think as rationally as possible: he believes in separating emotion from logic and as a result remains calm and level-headed in battle, often acting as the team's strategist due to his ability to focus and think clearly even in the direst of situations. He becomes frustrated when people allow their emotions to impede their thoughts and often acts as the "voice of reason" for Team BLCA, solving his teammates' problems with a neutral, unbiased opinion and rational mind. However, his sceptical attitude also causes him to be very cautious and reluctant to take risks or do things which he perceives to be dangerous, which sometimes hinder his efforts in combat.

History
Conrad was born five minutes before his sister Letty in the small town of Stolnberg, an economically deprived community whose residents made a living by quarrying Dust and were at the mercy of the Schnee Dust Company. They grew up with nine other siblings, a tough-but-fair father and a gentle mother in a crowded house; their parents could barely afford to take care of all the children and food was scarce, but they had a fairly uneventful childhood and looked forward to steady careers as Dust miners.

Throughout his childhood Conrad always had a thirst for knowledge and read everything he could get his hands on, but books were scarce in Stolnberg and his parents were barely literate, so he was forced to look elsewhere for reading material. During a family trip to Beacon he tried joining a library but was shunned by the librarian because of his dirty hands, forcing him to steal the books he wanted and return them when he had finished. He continued to do this throughout his time in Stolnberg, though he was caught for the first time at the age of twelve and had to change to a different library.

When Conrad was seven years old his younger sister Celia ventured out into unprotected territory and was attacked by a Grimm, but a passing Huntsman saved her and brought her home to her family. This inspired Letty to become a Huntress herself and she tried to convince Conrad to share her ambition; he was reluctant at first but eventually gave in, and the two began to "train" with wooden swords their father had made for them in their spare time. A month later their aunt, Louise "Lou" Firth-Mackenzie, came to stay with their family following an illness and the twins were delighted to find out that she had been a Huntress until an injury forced her into retirement. She agreed to train the eager twins and they planned on entering Signal Academy as soon as they were old enough.

They passed the entrance exam for Signal Academy but were unable to attend the school as the uniform alone would have cost their parents three months' wages, so they were forced to continue training at home. Using their aunt's old textbooks and a children's guide to the creatures of Grimm they had stolen from school, the twins trained incessantly and saved up their money in the hope that they would one day be able to enter Beacon Academy and become warriors. Lou gave them the weapons she and her partner had used during their careers (a giant sword for Letty and a halberd/assault rifle for Conrad) and saw them through their training, teaching them everything she knew about combat. By the time they were nearly seventeen the family had saved up more than enough money to pay the entrance fees, and after taking the entrance exam they were lucky enough to receive a joint scholarship to the Academy (at the insistence of their parents, they spent the spare money on clothes, haircuts, piercings and weapon upgrades), though their results were fairly poor and Professor Ozpin only allowed them to enter on the condition that they studied hard and filled the gaps in their knowledge.

Weapons and Abilities
Conrad's main weapon is a Dual Purpose Rifle-Halberd (DPRH) which, in its halberd form, consists of a long black pole with an axe-style blade and a sharp thrusting point on the end of it: Conrad uses it in a similar manner to Ruby Rose's scythe. Its second form is a high-caliber assault rifle with excellent rapidfire capabilities; the blade sits on the rifle as a large bayonet. He usually stores it in its ranged form as it is more compact and takes up less space in his locker, but he prefers to fight with it in its melee form.

Conrad possesses the Semblance of Auditory Perception, which, as the name suggests, gives him superhuman hearing that allows him to hear a pin drop at ten metres, and it also gives him perfect pitch, meaning that he can remember complex melodies and pick out notes in all kinds of chords, and allows him to use echolocation to detect enemies by whistling.

Though not quite as physically strong as his sister Letty, Conrad is quite fast and agile despite his awkward appearance and can execute complex melee techniques in combat; he also has a high degree of accuracy when using his assault rifle. He is exceptionally intelligent and possesses excellent logical and analytical skills which allow him to act as the strategist for Team BLCA, and his stoical attitude allows him to withstand intense pain even in the heat of battle. In addition, he is a talented singer and enjoys writing songs and poetry in his spare time, and his pitch detection skills give him a considerable advantage when composing and performing.