Lanse Nanhai

""I've hurt people. Not because of what I did, but what I didn't do. I was asleep, sleepwalking... I pretended not to see.""

- Lanse, speaking to an unknown person about his childhood

Lanse Nanhai is an original character created by User: Electric Spark. He is a member of Team AVLC and is the third character introduced of the group. His weapons are Dual Hydraulinked Doubarreled Gunblades (DHDG) called "Gjallarthorn". He has yet to make an appearance.

Appearance
Lanse has the appearance of someone who's lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time, but has a long way to go. He still has the vestiges of a pampered life on him. His black hair is messy, but seems to fall into a presentable appearance due to years of professional grooming. His deep blue eyes are slightly hidden behind a set of square rimless glasses, which he wears more often than not. He's by no means short, just barely reaching the six foot mark, but his stockiness makes him appear a bit more compact than others of his height.

Clothing-wise, he wears what appears to be akin to a fighter pilot's jacket, with his emblem emblazoned on the upper arms of both sleeves. Barely visible underneath is a plain white dress shirt and a red tie. His simple, but clean pair of blue jeans is held up by two brown, intertwined belts, crossing at an X angle in the front and holding up a magnet in the back that anchors Gjallarthorn on his waist. A pair of brown boots with white accents completes his normal outfit. After the events of Initiation, he gained a pair of blue goggles, which rest atop his head. During combat, he lowers them over his glasses to protect them.

During class, he wears the normal Beacon Academy uniform, but retains his glasses and goggles.

Personality
As a member of a respectable family, Lanse has spent his entire life embroiled in warfare. Not the kind with bloodshed and violence, but with words and deals. He's extremely outgoing, but not in the annoying, bothersome way or the shallowly interested way of the politician. When speaking to Lanse, one gets the feeling that he's listening and paying attention from the bottom of his heart. However, he has a tendency to get involved with things that don't concern him, and he tries to help others with their problems as much as he can. This can lead to others accusing him of being nosy. However, in contrast, if Lanse has a problem, he tries to keep it to himself and bear the burden alone. It wouldn't be a stretch to say he has a "hero complex".

Another reason Lanse gets involved with others is to avoid talking about himself. After living in his older brother's shadow for most of his life, he developed extremely low self-esteem, especially regarding his own achievements. He won't take positive credit for anything he does, even if it was obviously his doing. On the flip side, he's quick to cast blame on himself, even taking heat for others on most occasions. This has lead to others labeling him as "one of the truly kind people in this world." He treats everyone equally, except for those who would look down upon others for reasons beyond their control. Lanse is even a Faunus rights activist, one of the few members of the human elite who are openly outspoken as such.

Background
Nanhai Technologies, Inc. (more informally known as the Nanhai Corporation) is one of the largest business conglomerates in Mistral. As a zaibatsu, the multikingdom company is led by a "head family", the titular Nanhai family. It has tendrils in many different areas, from household appliances to airship design. However, it started out as a Dust Refining company, although its share in that market plummeted after the rise of the Schnee Dust Company. As such, the company moved to the holographic technologies sector, where its products have become extremely successful. This is the world that Lanse Nanhai was born into.

The company's slogan is also the family's creed. "First, Safety. Next, Diligence. Finally, Success." has been drilled into each generation of Nanhais since Lanse's great-grandfather founded the corporation during the War. And while his father didn't show much interest in his upbringing, his mother was extremely strict on all these principles. For as long as Lanse remembers, he's had these tenets forced on him.

Safety. Lanse was never to do anything in which there was risk. In fact, it was frowned upon for him to leave the family estate for anything other than business trips. He was home-schooled for most of his life, and waited upon by maids and butlers at his whim. There was no sense of independence to be found in the Nanhai household.

Diligence. Hard work was key. If you were going to do something, you had to be fully committed. When Lanse decided at a young age that he wanted to pursue music as a hobby, his mother outfitted a room in the manor with every instrument conceivable. Even after Lanse had gained skill with each of them and grew tired, he was expected to continue down the path he had chosen.

Success. If a Nanhai did something, they would succeed. At all costs. Lanse studied hard and practiced hard. He won many academic and musical awards through his own talents, but if they weren't enough, his family was there with the clout to make sure he did. And if he, by some chance, failed? The consequences were...severe.

Obviously, Lanse rebelled against these imposed "rules". He was the second son of the Nanhais, and he didn't nearly have the managerial aptitude of his extremely successful older brother. He wasn't going to inherit the family business anytime soon, so why waste his time being little more than a figure to complete the image of the perfect family? He started slacking in his studies, and even began sneaking out of the estate for time among the locals.

It was around this time that Lanse became friends with a young Faunus girl of the same age as himself. She was a subject of discrimination and abuse at the city's local academy, but she entertained dreams of becoming a huntress. Lanse was spellbound by the stories she told of heroes who protected those who couldn't protect themselves. He admired her courage in face of all her hardships. But their friendship wouldn't last forever.

As a Faunus, she was an active supporter of the White Fang. She believed in standing up for herself, even if the rest of the world looked down upon her. Lanse was leery to share his views, especially because of the Nanhai Corporation's neutral view on Faunus rights. The company didn't personally utilize unethical Faunus labor, but several of its associates did. The Nanhais simply turned a blind eye to that fact. Eventually, the leadership in the White Fang changed. It was subtle at first, but eventually their activities exploded. And one of their first events directly involved Lanse.

The Nanhai Family was visiting one of its associates in the nearby city, one that was especially notorious for Faunus inequality, but had never been charged. A civil protest had been scheduled for the event, and Lanse knew that his friend wouldn't miss it for the world. Even as the limousine he rode in pulled up to the site, he could see her there in the front of the crowd, holding a picket sign and chanting for change. He knew he couldn't wave or get her attention, lest he hurt the family image.

Suddenly, some of the Faunus began to reveal weapons. They surged forwards in an attempt to seize the family members. They clashed with the Nanhai Corporation's Security Forces, and a battle started to erupt right in the middle of the city. Horrified by the slaughter going on around him, Lanse forsook the family's neutrality and jumped directly into the fray to look for his friend.

He found her lying motionless in the middle of the street. Blood pooled around her body. She had obviously been unarmed. Devastated, Lanse cradled her body in his arms as tears fell down his face in hot streams. The moment was soon gone, as one of the security forces dragged him back towards the automobile. He screamed for the man to stop and let him go back, but there was nothing he could do. He would never see her again, and never found out if she lived or died.

That day shook Lanse to his core. His family, in a sense, was at fault for what happened. They ignored the plight of the Faunus and piddled away their lives while others struggled just to avoid daily abuse. While he slept away under his haystack, a wolf had stolen into the pasture. The one sheep he treasured above all else had been eaten, and no amount of horn-blowing would bring it back.

For the first time in his life, Lanse felt like he had awoken from a stupor. He came to two big conclusions. The first was that he had no real power to protect the things he cherished in life. The second was that this dispute over Faunus rights would only lead to more bloodshed unless it was resolved. And the only way to ensure that nothing like that would ever happen again, Lanse determined that it would need to end in Faunus getting their rights peacefully.

But the event had also changed his mother. She ruled with an even tighter grip on him, practically forbidding him to leave the manor and even communicate with any Faunus. Lanse even heard rumors among the staff that he was to be politically wed to a female member of another large, influential family. Lanse knew he needed to find a way to get away from (and perhaps spite) his parents and make sure he gained the strength to hold his own.

Taking his friend's dream into account, Lanse set his sights on the legendary hunter school, Beacon Academy. He began a rigorous training methodology, gaining muscle mass and working on his agility. He even commissioned a weaponsmith to modify the gunblades that were standard-issue for the Nanhai Security Forces into a weapon solely suited for him. He christened it "Gjallarthorn" and began to practice with it constantly in secret. He nearly killed himself multiple times trying to get the hang of the weapon, and ignored training his Aura and Semblance to further familiarize himself with his new weapon.

Eventually, Lanse applied to Beacon. Although his combat skills were subpar at best, his academics were off the required charts, and he was accepted. Once his parents found out, his mother was outraged and attempted to derail his plans. To her, Lanse was breaking the first tenet of the family's creed by trying to take up an occupation that resulted, as she saw it, only in death. But Lanse won out in the end, and she agreed to let him attend Beacon only if he took a bodyguard along. Coincidentally, one of the Security Force members' sons had been accepted into Beacon as well, and Lanse was introduced to him. His name was Marcus Leinedhearg, and they became fast friends. It wouldn't be long before the two made their way onto the airships bound for Beacon.

Abilities and Powers
Lanse is extremely book-smart, able to recall facts and figures seemingly from nowhere. He puts this to good use at Beacon by extensively researching various types of Grimm and their weaknesses. He makes certain to communicate an enemies' Achilles' heel to his teammates as soon as the battle starts.

He's also extremely skilled in nearly every type of instrument on Remnant, but his forte is the trumpet. However, he hasn't played it much lately, and prefers to practice with the harmonica instead, one of which he carries around in his jacket breast pocket. If he's bored or has some down time, it's not unusual to see him whip the instrument out and play a song or two.

In battle, Lanse always goes after the most high-value target, usually the "Leader". His specialty is a huge amount of damage over a short time period, so while his teammates keep the smaller enemies occupied, he throws down with the big guy. If there's only one enemy, Lanse waits for a bit, looking for the enemies' weakness, then strikes it with precision.

When fighting one-on-one, Lanse always tries to make the first move, but afterwards, prefers to wait and judge his enemy while moving as little as possible to conserve his low stamina. After getting a feel for the enemy's battle style, he engages. If he's alone against multiple enemies, Lanse cuts through the smaller enemies first, before proceeding on to the leader.

His aura glows a dark blue when it is active.

Weapon
Lanse's weapon is Gjallarthorn, Dual Hydraulinked Doubarreled Gunblades (DHDG).

In its main combat form, Lanse holds a gunblade in each hand. Each is outfitted with a pistol barrel on either side of the blade, which fire high-recoil dust bullets, which are loaded via clips into magazines that act as the blade's crossguard. The hilt of each gun has two triggers. However, this is where the similarities to the standard Dual Double Barrel Gunblades (DDBG) used by the Nanhai Security Forces stop.

The blades are linked by a hydraulic cable that runs from the end of one hilt to the other. The cable has two main purposes. One is that it can extend and retract using levers that seem to be handguards. The cable can shrink completely down, or extend up to ten yards. The other usage is the firing mechanism. The trigger closest to the blade on each weapon fires the outer barrel of the respective gun. However, thanks to the guns being connected, the second trigger fires the inner barrel on the opposite gun. This means that Lanse can activate a gunblade when it isn't even in his hand. This allows for a near-unparalled amount of flexibility.

The second form of Gjallarthorn is simply when the two blades meet side by side and form into a longsword with four pistol barrels. This form doesn't see much use in battle due to its bulk, and is mostly relegated to an easy eay to carry it around.

Gjallarthorn is a reference to the Gjallarhorn of Norse mythology, which, according to lore, will be blown at the onset of Ragnarok.

Trivia
Lanse Nanhai is derived from lán sè nánhái, which, translated from Chinese, means "Blue Boy".
 * Lanse's name was originally going to be Lanse Xiao Nanhai, from lán sè de xiǎo nánhái, which means "Blue Little Boy", but was shortened due to similarities to Yang's name.

Lanse alludes to the titular character of the nursery rhyme "Little Boy Blue".
 * His skill with the trumpet reflects this fact.
 * There's also a secondary allusion in his weapon's name, as the Gjallarhorn was a mythical horn said to be blown at the onset of Ragnarok.

Lanse was originally planned to be scrapped due to too many similarities to characters from Attack on Titan in dress and weapon style, but still ended up making the cut.
 * Fun Fact: Lanse was originally conceived before the creator ever even saw Attack on Titan.

Of all the members of Team AVLC, Lanse is the most approachable, so others usually go to him even if they need to contact another member.
 * He also takes care of all of the team's forms and paperwork, with the exception of any class assignments.