Arcturus Silvermoon

WORK IN PROGRESS

Arcturus Moonfang is an original character by Kyran Kandosa for his Silver Moon Chronicles fanon. He is the partner of Rowan Forest, and leader of Team MARS.

Appearance:
Arcturus has rugged features, instead of the more handsome, chiseled ones of his brother. His eyes are blue, and glow gold like his Aura when his Semblance is active. Like most of his family, his hair is silver in color. He wears his hair at shoulder length, with an pair of front locks braided and tied together at the back of his head to keep the rest out of the way. His body is stockily built, with well-sculpted muscles that are larger than average, but not excessively so. He also has an pair of silver wolf ears with pink insides.

Arcturus, like most of his Clan's generation, has modeled his attire based on that of his parents and Uncle Gregory. As such, he wears an brown pants with an black belt and longsleeve shirt, with knee-high armored boots. For combat, he adds an shortsleeve tactical ballistics jacket, helmet, and limb armor. The jacket is dark brown. His helmet covers all of his head except for his mouth, as his eyes are shielded by an polarizable visor, and is modeled after an wolf totem. The armor he wears on his legs includes the previously mentioned boots, and an set of cuisses for his thighs. The armor he wears on his arms is his weaponized family gauntlets for his lower arms and hands. The armor and helmet are silver with brown details. For sleepwear, Arcturus sleeps in black gym shorts and a silver tank top. His personal symbol is an heater shield emblazoned with the Silver Moon Clan's insignia, an melding of the SIlvermane and Moonfang family symbols. The Clan insiginia is a full moon with an silhoutted wolf's head positioned on the left, solid half. The right half is covered in cracks, and the dividing line is overlaid by a fang. It is placed on the sides of his helmet, and on the center of his shirt's chest. His only accessory is his Clan compass locket, which he usually keeps under his shirt.

Weapons:
Arcturus has two weapons, Moonfang and Threnody.

Moonfang: Threnody:
 * Weapon: Variable Dust Claw Gauntlets
 * Type: Dust, Ranged, Melee
 * Weapon Derivation: Claw gauntlets
 * Description: Moonfang was originally an set of basket-hilted katars built by Lucian Moonfang, and became the ancestral weapons and namesake of his descendants, the Moonfang family. They have been rebuilt many times over the generations, but the current configuration consists of an pair of gauntlets with an rotary Dust mechanism around the wrist and four claws that retract to the back of the hand. An six-chambered belt of Dust cartridges is loaded into the rotary mechanism. Moonfang has two modes. Gauntlet mode keeps the claws retracted, allowing the wearer to use their hand. The next form, Claw Mode, the segmented claws slide forward on tracks mounted on the tops of the fingers to cover them. The Dust belt is reloaded by the wrist cover sliding back on the forearm, removing the spent belt, and wrapping a new one into the rotary mechanism. When activated, the Dust belt will feed Dust from the currently selected chamber into Dust lines in the hands, and from there, into the claws if they are deployed, enhancing the power of the user's melee strikes. The gauntlets can release short- to mid-range Dust attacks in either mode.
 * Weapon: Variable Ordinance Assault Shotgun
 * Type: Ranged
 * Weapon Derivation: Kel-Tec KSG
 * Description: An side by side double-barrelled, automatic shotgun with an bullpup configuration, Threnody uses two tube magazines with 10 12-gauge shells each, for an 20+2 ammunition capacity. Arcturus can choose to fire one or both barrels at the same time, and carries several types of slugs and shot shells in color coded ammunition pouches, which contain 25 rounds each.

Notable Equipment:
Short-sleeved tactical ballistics jacket: An shirt of scale armor encased in ballistics cloth, the TBJ has impact-absorbing padding on the inside and tactical webbing on the outside. The webbing covers the front, sides, and back of the torso, as well as the outer sleeves. Shoulder straps are also present. Arcturus typically attaches a six-shell ammunition strip on his right sleeve and chest, with an pouch on his left sleeve and chest. Four ammunition pouches are placed on the front of his lower torso, with an additional canteen pouch on either side. His ammunition pouches carry 25 shells each, and are typically color coded based on the type of Dust loaded into the rounds stored inside. The back is typically occupied by his backpack.

Backpack: Arcturus carries an full-size backpack. The left side has pockets, while the right has an magnetic holster for his shotgun, Threnody. It can be quickly attached and detached by clips on the lower sides and shoulders. The contents of the inside are packed based on whatever Arcturus expects during each mission, but usually includes basic survival gear and extra ammunition for himself and his team.

Thigh pouches: Arcturus typically uses the pouches strapped over his chuisses to carry Moonfang's Dust cartridge belts.

Semblance:
Arcturus' Semblance, called "Pulsar", summons 6-foot glyphs that Arcturus will use as platforms to push off with in mid-air, allowing him to change direction quickly. He can also cause them to generate pulses of energy, helping to launch him when he pushes off the glyphs. Arcturus's glyphs have a maximum range of thirty feet and are normally summoned one at a time, with minimal to moderate drain on his Aura depending on the number summoned and whether or not Arcturus chooses to create energy pulses, which, being spread out across the entire glyph, are only strong enough to propell his jumps. Hence, he can't use them for more than increasing his mobility unless he infuses the glyphs with Dust.

Battle Style:
Arcturus is an rapid assault specialist, striking hard and fast. He uses his boosters and glyphs to quickly overcome obstacles to close with and outmanuveur his opponents. Arcturus typically opens a fight with Threnody, firing shotgun rounds and retreating to reload as needed. Once he is in close, Arcturus will uses his Dust claws to engage in a mix of melee and short-range attacks. He sometimes unbalances his opponents with swift changes in his attacks' direction aided by his Semblance, or more directly by summoning glyphs adjacent to the enemy and discharging energy pulses. When fighting with his team, Arcturus often leaves the strategy to Albus, and engages the foe head-on, holding them back and opening holes in the enemy line, or else occupying stronger enemies so that his allies can concentrate on eliminating any weaker opposition first. His fighting style is also ideal for protecting wounded allies and bringing them out of the fight to be treated. As a result of his specialization, Arcturus finds it difficult to engage opponents when kept at a distance, though his gauntlets do permit him to engage in mid-range combat with Dust attacks when he runs out of slugs for Threnody. Tight spaces also limit his effectiveness. The difficulty in performing this fighting style, let alone using it in protracted engagements, is part of why Arcturus trains so hard. Arcturus typically uses Fire Dust rounds in Threnody, but will switch to other ammunition types as the situation demands.

Abilities:

 * Faunus Night Vision
 * Agility: With his skills in freerunning and Pulsar Semblance, Arcturus has no problem getting around in most situations.
 * Martial Arts: Though it uses elements of the Silver Moon Clan's basic melee training, Arcturus's fighting style more closely resembles that of Muay Thai, using liberal amounts of kicks, knee strikes, hooks, elbow strikes, and upper cuts. He also favors palm and spear-hand strikes. His training has led him to be one of the Clan's stronger melee fighters, but he freely admits that his uncle outclasses him in terms of skill and power, being both Moonfang's previous wielder and a more experienced Huntsman.
 * Gardening: Although not a particularly talented gardener, Arcturus is able to plant and grow medicinal and food crops with reasonable skill.
 * Liberal Arts: Like the rest of the Silver Moon Clan, Arcturus practices art and music for practical and aesthetic reasons. His favorite instruments are the ocarina and guitar.
 * Swimming: Arcturus likes to swim as one of his favorite conditioning activities, as it works all of the muscles in the body at once.
 * Leadership: With an intuitive charisma and air of command, Arcturus is sometimes teased as being an natural-born alpha wolf. His innate leadership tendencies have prompted his grandfather, Crassus Silvermane, to prepare Arcturus to be the Clan's patriarch once he and Gregory Moonfang, the next in line, have both passed on.
 * Aura Control: Due to his fighting style and training with Aura from age six, Arcturus is skilled for his age in terms of Aura control.
 * Massage: Like much of his Clan, Arcturus is proficient in giving massage, and is his sister Bailey's favorite masseur.
 * Board games: Arcturus' favorite game is Weiqi, which has simpler rules but more complex and variable strategy than chess.

Personality:
Arcturus has many traits in common with his family. His upbringing has made him responsible, disciplined, hardworking, and modest, while also placing high value on family, duty, and integrity. Hence, he tends to be seen as quite mature for his age, if not overly so. Arcturus moves and holds himself with effortless grace, confidence, and power, due to years of training to learn, accept, and master himself and his capabilities, even as he tries to push them further. Thus, he is supremely comfortable in his own skin, a trait that many young people and even adults lack. His wandering eyes present an haunting mixture of melancholy and piercing evaluation, completing the sense he often projects of being a veteran warrior with many times his actual experience. Though these qualities give him the presence of an alpha male, Arcturus's usual persona is distant, albeit helpful, rarely interacting with people outside his circle unless giving encouragement, advice, and other aid as he sees the need. Many who know him have compared his manner, even with those outside his family, to that of an big brother. This natural charisma is precisely why his Clan consider his teasing nickname of being an "alpha wolf" to be accurate, especially when paired with the more wolf-like attributes he exhibits as a result of his Faunus heritage. The most prominent among these is his strong protectiveness towards family and friends. He is especially provoked by the mistreatment of children, for whom he has a particular soft spot. Besides when he is with children, truly letting his guard down in public or otherwise away from his Clan and friends is a rare thing for Arcturus. His enjoyment of being outdoors, hunting, chasing, and play-fights is also very wolfish. His preference for grooming and being groomed by his Clan, as well as sharing his bed and food, are also wolf traits he exhibits. However, the trauma of his past still shows, in that he has difficulty maintaining composure when speaking about his parents' murder, and the infrequent nightmares that are often brought on by his talking about the subject. In the wake of these nightmares, he displays a level of emotional vulnerability that few would ever expect of him. While he prioritizes academics, his usual routine consists of training and practicing his skills, to the point of being borderline obsessive-compulsive, in an need to be strong enough to protect those he cares about. As a consequence, his social life is very limited. This need for activity has made him a very kinetic learner, and Arcturus frequently gets nervous and grumpy when unable to train or otherwise occupy himself, which, beyong simple upbringing, is part of  the reason for his willingness to help others. Training is also his most common form of stress relief, as is having someone to hold and be held by. Arcturus rarely tolerates bullies and racists for long, human or Faunus, for reasons both personal and professional. While Arcturus is also plenty willing to stand up to bullies in a more assertive manner, he frequently uses his sarcastic wit to frustrate and humilate them, redirecting their attention to him instead of their more vulnerable intended victims in the process. Besides being a wisecracker, his humor is also known to be a little odd, even twisted at  times, something common among warriors and their associates.

Backstory:
Arcturus Moonfang was originally born with the name Arcturus Silvermane III, to Bernard and Columbiana Silvermane, along with his fraternal twin brother Albus. They lived in a fortified village on Vale's southern border. Three years later, Arcturus' sister, Bailey Silvermane, was born. He also met two of his oldest and best friends, Balina Savannah and Bjorn Stark, shortly after this, once they and their widowed mother, Ursula Stark, were taken in by his uncle, Gregory Moonfang. An year later, at age four, Arcturus, Albus, and their new stepcousins began their training as members of the Silver Moon Clan. When he was age seven, Arcturus underwent the most defining moment of his life -witnessing an sniper murder his parents in front of the rest of their family, apparently in revenge for severely damaging the organization of a major crime boss. Watching his sister covered in blood, crying over and shaking their parents, begging them to wake up, as well as helping drag her from the bodies, was an experience that has haunted him ever since. After this, he and his siblings moved in with his grandparents, Crassus and Flora Silvermane, along with the Moonfang family. It was during this time that Arcturus' "alpha wolf" tendencies first showed themselves, in acting as the elder sibling for all of the Clan's other children, even those who were closest to him in age. He was also very protective of Bailey, whose resulting need for him as an emotional crutch was only broken when he left for combat school. When it came time for him to choose and forge his weapons, he chose to forgo inheriting StormDirge to change his name and wield his Uncle Gregory's old weapons, the Moonfang family gauntlets. He constructed Thernody himself, however, as an compromise between his preference for close combat and the practicality of using an longer-range weapon. Though he didn't attend any preperatory schools such as Signal, his life on the Vale frontier and training with the veteran Huntsmen and Huntresses of his family allowed him to qualify to attend Beacon.

Trivia:

 * Arcturus' last name, Moonfang, references white and yellow, the typical colors used in depicting the moon and teeth.
 * Arcturus' first name, meaning "bear guard", references his nature as a protector, as well as brown, the color most associated with bears.
 * The name of Arcturus' shotgun, Threnody, is an type of funeral song.