Mason Mydnight

Basic Info
Name: Mason Mydnight

Age: 16 (start); 17 (current)

Gender: Male

Hair Color: dark

Eye Color: light green

Skin tone: tanned

Stature: "tall for his age"

Born in: Florentino, Mistral

Affiliation:

1. Beacon Academy- Team CSMC (formerly)

2. Atlesian Lyceum of Combat (formerly)

Likes:

Well-strategised plans

Art and literature

The Adventures of Patty McMilan the Art-Warrior (TV Series Adaptation)

Calling Stephen "Stiff"

His hair

Drinking alcohol

Atlas I Found My Love

Ham and yellow-green eggs

My Physicochemical Love

Kathryn Lavender

Dislikes:

Catelyn Helias "in general" (debatable)

Catelyn's plans

Catelyn's cooking

Catelyn's taste in music

Stephen calling him "Macey-daisy"

ironwood's haircut

Winter treating him like a child

Remembering Kathryn Lavender's death

History
Mace Mydnight was a member of team CSMC (Cosmic) along with Catelyn Helias, Stephen Resyns, and Clover Greenfield. He was first born in Florentino, a village in Mistral that was founded by a Mistralean priest. It is a rather large village that almost counts as a small city in size, with them supplying some native supplies to Windpath in Anima, and a properly-defended walls against both grimm and bandit attacks. His mother, a retired huntress, was from Mistral while his father (who died 6 months before he was born, sacrificing himself to save the village from a grimm attack) was an elite special operatives unit from Vale.

Since their village regularly faced bandit and grimm attacks, Mace learned how to defend himself at a very young age. He, alongside with his best friends Stephen Resyns and Kathryn Lavender, trained together and went on adventures outside the village perimeters during their childhood. According to his mother Tanya Mydnight, Mace inherited the "classic Mydnight trait" of getting into trouble. Later on as they grew older, the three best friends also started to help in defending the village against grimm and bandits. One day when the trio were only fourteen years old, when most of the local huntsmen and huntresses were gone on an exploration in an effort to expand the village, a particularly large number of grimm invaded their Florentino. Rallying those who can fight, they defended the town, buying enough time for the adults to arrive. They made headlines on the CCT worldwide for the trio's efforts, and caught the attention of General Ironwood of Atlas. Stephen, Kathryn and Mace were offered a full scholarship in the best combat school in Atlas- the Atlesian Lyceum of Combat (he initially wanted them straight away at Atlas, but he thinks they are too young, so he inclined to send them in a primary combat school first.) The three of them agreed and began training for two years, honing their already-sharp skills and talent for combat. Mace in particular proved to inherit both her mother's tenacity and skills as a huntress, and his father Malcolm's tactics and keen instinct.

As they grew older, Mace began to develop feelings for Kathryn, his best friend since childhood. After some encouragement from Stephen, he eventually asked out Kathryn, to which she revealed she's been crushing on him since they were kids. They eventually grew to love each other very much.

When they were 16, a coup d'etat erupted at Atlas spearheaded by Lieutenant Thresh, and although it was quickly shut down by Ironwood and the high council of Atlas, the event drew massive amounts of grimm in the city. The trio was sent as emergency forces in an effort to defend the kingdom from the advancing grimm. In the Defense of Atlas, Kathryn sacrificed herself in order to save their unit, fending off the multiple monsters until her death. Mace, unable to help due to broken limbs, can only watch as his love died before his eyes. The harrowing experience hardened him and sent him in a spiral of depression, and chose to drop out at ALC and immigrated to Vale to forget about what happened. Stephen, his best friend, followed him out of concern and loyalty. Despite not completing the primary combat school and being one year younger than the accepting age, he and Stephen passed the entrance to Beacon with flying colors and was assigned to team CSMC, where they were eventually teamed up with fellow classmates Catelyn Helias and Clover Greenfield.

At his time in Beacon, Mace quickly proved himself to be a capable and level-headed huntsman-in-training, coordinating and complementing with his team, and despite being polar opposites at nearly everything, follows Cate's orders to-the-letter. Since their leader can be eccentric and chaotic at times, Mace has to be the voice of reason in their team, anchoring her down back to the reality of the situation and making sure they don't get into too much trouble with their leader's antics. Being best friends all their lives, he naturally works best with Stephen, and can perform numerous co-op attacks without even communicating. They completed many missions together, and each member of the team is ready to risk their lives for each other.

They valiantly defended Beacon during its Fall, but despite their best efforts, was eventually overrun. Stephen, having accidentally gotten Clover pregnant, decided to stay at Clover's parents at Norfolk (a coastal town in Vale) to take responsibility as a father, while Cate went back to her hometown in Vacuo. Alone in the world yet again, with the academy he called home destroyed, Stephen decided to explore Remnant on his own, finding some meaning in his life, and finding some sort of cause worth fighting for.

Appearance
Mace is rather tall for his age, with dark blond hair styled in a crew-cut. His eye color is blue-green, which seems to be a mix of his mom's green and his dad's blue eyes. For his usual outfit, Mace wears a dark blue bomber jacket over an old fashioned cream t shirt, cargo pants, and black combat boots. He keeps Kathryn's lavender scarf wrapped around his left thigh. He also sports black-and-blue fingerless gloves plated with steel. he keeps his two magnums Freki and Geri holstered on his hips.

Alternate appearances:

1. "Dawn": Mace's alternate outfit. He removes the blue bomber jacket and switches into a cream-colored long sleeved t shirt folded up to his elbows, a dark blue bandana tied around his neck, and white handwraps extending up to his forearms. He also wears dark brown cargo pants with its ends wrapped up in bandages (similar to how traceurs wrap it in tape when doing parkour), and ratty cream-colored sneakers. Freki and Geri are holstered at his side, while Kathryn's scarf is wrapped up around his left leg.

2. ALC uniform: the ALC uniform sports a white long-sleeved button up shirt and charcoal-colored vest, and black trousers. Students are also allowed to wear either a school-issued silver necktie or bowtie. In Mace's case, he forgoes both and keeps his first shirt button open and the sleeves folded up to his elbows, giving him a less formal take than the "inspection-ready" dress code. Mace notes that he used to keep it in long sleeved, but since he had a growth spurt after two years, he preferred folding it up as it's too short now for him.

3. Beacon Uniform: Mace also wears the Beacon uniform dress code, but he forgoes the suit and tie, instead going for his vest and button up. And similar to his ALC days, he keeps it folded up to his elbows. As usual, Kathryn's scarf is tied up around his left thigh.

Personality
When he was younger, Mace greatly idolized his parents, especially his father, from the numerous stories of his mother and other villages about his heroism and sacrifice. He strives to be a huntsman like his mother, and a hero like his father. According to his mom Tanya, Mace inherited the classic Mydnight trait of "getting into trouble". Mace was much happier and more upbeat back then, and according to Stephen, he used to smile a lot more back when they were kids.

As he grew older, and especially after the death of Kathryn, Mace drastically changed in personality. He became more mellow and cynical, and had a tendency on pushing away the people he care about. He preferred solving problems on his own and refuses to share his sorrow to anyone, preferring to keep it buried deep down. He also became more introspective and aloof, even cold to others.

During his time with team CSMC at Beacon, he became more attached and approachable to others, especially towards his team. Mace's straight-laced, gruff personality started to unravel when he's with his friends, showing that despite his serious demeanor, he can have fun and be "normal" if the situation allows it.

Similar to Ruby Rose, he feels most natural when fighting but for different reasons:  because growing up in a rather dangerous town with semi-constant attacks, he learned how to defend himself at a young age. This translates well into his abilities, with many people noting that it's like he was born for battle.

He is constantly haunted by the death of Kathryn, as he blames himself for her death. Mace has recurring nightmares with her dying over and over again, and suffered from insomnia because of this. He only sleeps for 3-5 hours a day because of stress and the constant nightmare plaguing him.

Mace has an interest in art, and often spends his time looking at paintings and other artistic works in his free time, which is probably due to his Mistralean heritage. Since he stayed in Atlas for two years, he also developed a strict following in the rules, and is irked at Catelyn's constant non-conformism and the occasional rule-breaking. Being the team's logical head as opposed to their leader's more eccentric personality, he strives to make sure Cate (and by extension, team CSMC) doesn't get too much into trouble.

After the Fall of Beacon and losing another place he considers home, Mace began to lose hope and faith in the world, sincerely believing that none of his acts would matter at all and that humanity would one day be doomed anyway.

Weapons and Equipment
Weapons:

Freki and Geri: twin modified magnum pistols, with an engraving of a two wolves running at the handle. They are accurate up to 100 yards, and while lacking in range, they make up for its stopping power. These guns can leave  holes the size of a dinner plate, penetrate even the thick hides of older grimm, and pierce through reinforced armor plates of Atlesian robotic soldiers and paladins. Mace has access to multiple dust ammunition that gives him great versatility to his arsenal, such as ice, fire, earth, sonic bullets that leaves a horrible screeching sound (useful for stunning multiple enemies), emp rounds for shutting down electronic devices, and smokescreen rounds for escaping or hindering an enemy's line of sight. Freki and Geri also have access to shotgun rounds if Mace needed even more firepower at the cost of accuracy.

Dama de Noche: unlike most huntsmen weapons which doubles as a gun, and often made by the wielder himself, Dama de Noche is a family heirloom passed down to every firstborn male of the Mydnights. Mace's grandfather was the last one to wield the sword, since Jake Mydnight (Mace's father) refused to wield it at he was not a huntsman. It is a viking sword that is 3 feet long and rather wide, with a sharp end, perfect for slashing or stabbing. It can be wielded by one or both hands. It has two special abilities: one is its unusually high affinity for aura even for a huntsman's weapon, meaning it can be easily channeled to increase its cutting capabilities. Another is its ability to be summoned by any Mydnight, despite it usually staying at the Mydnight family estate in Vale. With a thought, Mace can summon it into his hands, and just as quickly banish it away from him back to the estate. Mace clarified that this is not part of his semblance- in fact, for generations, it is not known how this works. The prevailing theory is that the sword is somehow bound to the blood of the Mydnight, and as such when called, it beckons to its master.

Semblance
Mace's semblance allows him to summon forth the spirits of his ancestors to aid him in battle. He does this by spreading his blood over Dama de Noche and concentrating on the ancestor in question. They will materialize in a semi-translucent, ghost-like apparitions, all of them wielding their favored weapons (some are wielding an ethereal Dama de Noche). In times of dire need, Mace can even merge temporarily with an ancestor's spirit, temporarily granting him super strength, speed, and the widom and experience of that ancestor in question. As much as it is a powerful semblance however, he cannot maintain this for very long, as eventually, his own soul will eventually slip away and join the ancestor in death- if he overuses his semblance, it could kill him. Furthermore, the spirits only come to his aid in life-or-death situations, because as Mace puts it, "They only come when you needed them the most, when the bloodline is threatened with an early end; only during that. No more, no less." Also, he can do it as long as he still has aura no matter how little there is left; if his reserves are completely depleted, then his summons will not manifest. Finally, he can summon only one ancestor at a time.

1. His father, Jacob "Jake" Mydnight. He wields his tactical rifle.

2. His grandfather, Luthor Mydnight. He wields Dama de Noche and a shield.

3. His great-great-great grandfather Quintus Mydnight, wielding twin axes.

4. His great-grandmother Selene Mydnight, wielding a bow and twin daggers.

5. Mace's oldest known ancestor, Cierno Mydnight, wielding Dama de Noche and another sword.

6. His great-great uncle Marrs Mydnight, wielding Dama de Noche and a dagger.

Trivia

 * during their days at the ALC, Mace would secretly watch Atlas I Found my Love, a best-selling romance novella-turned-tv-series as his guilty pleasure.
 * When teasing him, Stephen calls him "Macey Daisy".
 * When he was a child, Mace enjoyed watching The Adventures of Paty McMilan the Art Warrior, a kids tv show about a woman using her art to fight bad guys.
 * An annoyed Mace once spiked Cate's morning orange juice with sleeping pills just to shut her up. The pills did nothing to her.
 * Of all the spirits he can summon, he finds Selene and Marrs to be easiest to work with.