RWBY

Deer faunus under the employ of Salem. Adoptive younger sibling of Tyrian Callows. Full name Olivine Roberta Callows; alias Robin Baird. They/she. Former leader of Team [B]RKN. Half-Grimm. Not a people person.

More in-depth info below.

Physical

A thin “woman” of average height, Robs stands at 5’8.5”, her light brown antlers adding another six inches or so. Her naturally dark brown hair is dyed a bright teal, styled into a grown-out hime-cut, reaching partway down her back.More often than not, her head is adorned with a flower crown, its petals subtly changing color based on her mood. She typically bears a stoic, flat expression - only rarely does she emote aside from a scowl. Her right eye is a dull green, and her left has been torn out and replaced with a deep red Grimm eye, dark veins visible around her eyelid. Her lower jaw is completely gone, replaced with a light turquoise metal prosthetic, made by Watts. It gives her a slight lisp when she speaks. When a small button is pressed, the jaw separates, and seven cockroach-esque feelers of bone burst from the roof of her mouth. Her skin is almost paper-white, aside from a large, reddish scar that covers most of the left side of her body. It starts at her neck, and goes all the way down to her foot.

Grimm Body

Beneath these scars lies the Grimm rot that she can call upon to literally invert her limbs. When she does so, her left arm and/or leg burst open to reveal long, skeletal, insectoid limbs. They can be dislocated at the joint and reattached with little effort. Her metal jaw also collapses to reveal cockroach feeler-like appendages of bone that burst from the roof of her mouth.

Henshin

After a chance meeting with an agent of the God of Light, Robs was granted the abilities of some minor magic. She has another alternate appearance thanks to her transformation. In a flash of turquoise, the Grimm scars disappear from her body, replaced with the magic granted by the agent. Her left eye turns the same shade of orange as Kade Palamedes - her old partner from Beacon.

Mental

Robs follows her personal “mantra” of take no shit, do moderate-to-severe amounts of harm. She typically comes off as standoffish and rude upon first meeting her, because… well, she is. However, much of her unfriendliness stems from her overcompensating for her own awkwardness in conversation. Combined with her chronic Resting Bitch Face and complete lack of any other facial expression, she is difficult to approach on her best days. Past that tough exterior, she’s easy to get along with - though harder to actually befriend. She knows how to be personable well enough, but she’s not exactly friendly. She’s easy to piss off, and if you leave a bad first impression, it’s not easy to sway her otherwise. She likely will not be willing to give you the time of day if she’s to cross paths with you again. Robs is very set in her ways, and once she decides something, it’s difficult to change her mind. (Robs Callows is never wrong, after all.)

Her mood changes at the drop of a hat, often violently. She’ll be fine one minute, and then with a single word, her mood will plummet through the floor - though she takes great pains to not let it show. How she’s feeling at any given moment is a mystery, really. She’s an extremely cagey person, but extremely honest at the same time. She’ll answer nearly any question asked to her about her past or her actions, but she’ll decline to answer questions about her mental state, or how certain things make her feel. In her mind, it’s no one’s business but her own. In truth, beneath all of her brick walls, Robs is an intensely emotional person. She feels things deeply, even though she doesn’t express it. She is fiercely devoted to her cause and her friends, and would stop at nothing to protect what she holds most dear.

She is plenty confident in her martial prowess, though less so everywhere else. Compliments and random gestures of kindness almost never feel genuine - more like she’s being made fun of, or like it’s some sort of trap. Her self-loathing is just that strong. Despite the confidence in her martial prowess, she prefers to take on more of a following role than a leading one. It was a bit of a shock to her when she was made the leader of Team BRKN. She’d always been accustomed to just taking orders, doing whatever she was told. Being the one to finally give orders is a welcome change of pace, however. She took to it quickly - perhaps a little too quickly, there were definitely a few moments in the beginning where she may have been a bit… bossy. Robs is very good at following directions, but she's very forgetful and often has to ask multiple times to be shown how to do something, so she typically opts for writing things down rather than embarrass herself in asking someone in charge to repeat themself.

Off the topic of personality and onto the topic of what else goes on in her head. Robs has… a lot of things wrong with her. She has so many problems. Without getting too into the nitty-gritty, she received several diagnoses while at Beacon Academy, having spent two separate stays in a psych ward during her time there. Among these were major depressive disorder, borderline personality disorder, and schizoaffective disorder. She often experiences psychotic episodes in the form of delusions and/or hallucinations, and depressive episodes where she isolates herself from the world. This is, needless to say, not something she readily shares with others.The Grimm rot in her eye socket so close to her brain does not help with this at all. It eats slowly away at her memory, gradually making her become more complacent and loyal to Salem.

Abilities

Semblance

THORN IN MY SIDE: Sharp, long thorns of bone burst through Robs’s skin, aiding her greatly in melee combat. She can also direct the thorns through her weapon, which takes less aura than guiding it through herself. Using her semblance repeatedly takes a great deal of aura and pains her to use (as the thorns do /literally/ burst from her skin) - so she uses it very sparingly, focusing it on smaller areas of her body, such as her knuckles. Her semblance has also evolved to the point where she can direct the thorns through other people’s skin - though she must make physical contact with them. This also uses less aura than using it on herself, but more than on her weapon. Generally, the thorns are about two and a half inches long, though if she concentrates and/or sacrifices some extra aura, they can be longer and thicker.

Weaponry

SONGAHM SPIRIT: A collapsible jahng bong (bo staff) made from bamboo, painted jet black. It can be deconstructed to form two short bahng mahng ee (escrima sticks), which can then be reformed into two ssahng nat (kamas). The name of her weapon is a nod to her training in songahm taekwondo, which is the fighting style she most often utilizes in melee combat.

FULL COURSE: In a pinch, Robs keeps a set of cutlery on her person at all times. Never know when you’re gonna need ‘em. And a pocket knife or two. She uses no ranged weapons due to her poor eyesight.

Grimm Body

As detailed earlier in the pinned, Robs has the ability to invert both her left arm and left leg into massive insectoid limbs of bone. This improves her reach, and allows her to keep fighting without aura. In this state, she cannot communicate verbally, and can only speak telepathically with other creatures of Grimm. Robs can enter this state with or without aura, though if done without, has extremely painful consequences. Thanks to her Grimm rot infection, she has some passive Grimm abilities as well, such as the ability to read emotions and receive energy from others’ negativity. Thanks to this ability, she has little need to eat or sleep as much as your typical person, as she can feed off of emotions instead.

Other Strengths

Robs is fast and not afraid to get hit, largely thanks to her semblance. She doesn’t have the highest pain tolerance out there, but she’s good at masking the pain. She’s an exceptional melee fighter, trained extensively in martial arts nearly her whole life.

Weaknesses

Robs cannot fight at range at all. Her weapons are all meant for close-quarters combat, as she’s afraid of using a gun. (She doesn’t like the noise.) When fighting masked (as she usually does), she’s got a big blindspot on her left side due to her left eye being covered by the fabric. She is easily manipulated - despite her insistence otherwise. It is not hard to make her doubt herself or her own mind. Her semblance actively harms her to use. As mentioned, the thorns are literally her bone piercing through her skin. Activating her Grimm body is painful, especially without aura - it becomes excruciating. Her henshin can only last up to an hour or two at a time before she must rest, lest her soul gem become clouded.

Non-Combat Skills

Can speak some Mistrali.

Knows a little sign language.

Enjoys drawing as a hobby.

Quick at picross puzzles/nonograms.

Can do basic mental math pretty quickly.

Can eat a whole lemon without flinching.

History

Early Life

For as long as she can remember, Olivine Roberta █████ has been a loyal follower of Salem. Her early childhood is hazy at best, and has no solid memories up until she’s around nine years old. If you ask her, she’s honest - she has no idea how or why she initially joined Salem’s cause, it’s simply always been the only thing she’s known.

Callows Family

TL;DR story beats: Olivine admires Tyrian and ends up becoming closer to him via training with him. They grow to view each other as siblings, and Olivine takes his last name.

When Olivine was around nine or ten years old, a man by the name of Tyrian Callows joined the faction. Intrigued by there being a new face - especially a faunus like her - she began to quietly watch him from the shadows. He was interesting to her, to say the least - with his odd movements and unique attitude towards the cause. She’d always been a shy child, not one much for conversing with the other members of the faction. But Tyrian was different. Everyone else seemed to be here out of some obligation, or expectation of reward, when all was said and done. But not him. He was just in it for the sake of Salem, and Olivine, who’d never known anything else, felt like there was finally someone she could relate to here.

But she was still shy and antisocial. She merely admired him from afar, quietly following behind him, watching him train, and then “secretly” practice what she saw him do. After a few weeks of this, Tyrian would take note (or perhaps he’d known since the beginning, and merely waited for Olivine to make the first move), and approached her himself, and offered to train her properly. They would grow closer from there, able to relate as some of the only faunus members of the faction, as well as devotion to Salem. He took her under his wing, so to speak, helping her with her daily training, taking her on jobs, etc - which would lead to her feeling more comfortable around the other members of the faction.

They would grow to view each other as siblings, ultimately culminating in Olivine adopting the last name “Callows” for herself. Because she’d spent so much time around him, she grew close with other members of the faction he often worked with, such as Hazel and Watts, viewing them as sort of uncle-like figures. Cinder gave her bad vibes though. Thanks to Tyrian’s attentive training, Olivine was always improving, steadily earning her the respect of her associates and ultimately Salem herself. On her seventeenth birthday, she was given the most important job for Salem she would take on thus far: Pose as a Beacon student, learn as much as she could about the way the Academy operates, and feed information to Salem about its faculty and student body.

Beacon Days

TL;DR story beats: “Robin Baird” joins Beacon, partners with Kade Palamedes, and becomes leader of Team BRKN (Bracken) with other teammates Nicholas Desraben and Nova Rider. BRKN participates in the 39th Vytal Festival, succeeding their 4v4 match and losing the 2v2. She and Nick kill classmate Peter Root in their second year as well. She feeds information to Salem until partway through the beginning of her third year, when she defects after a lengthy conversation with Ozpin about theology. In their fourth year, BRKN participated in the 40th Vytal Festival, winning both their 4v4 and 2v2 matches. The 1v1 match never occurs. She returns to Salem’s side during the Fall of Beacon, boarding an airship back to Evernight.

In the autumn following her seventeenth birthday, Olivine applied to Beacon Academy with falsified documents under the assumed name of Robin Baird. She posed as an exchange student from Mistral, and was housed by the Baird family. During initiation, she ended up as Kade Palamedes’ partner, and the leader of Team BRKN (Bracken - like the fern) alongside members Nova Rider and Nicholas Desraben. To put it simply, “Robin” did not settle into her new role as leader very quickly. She’d only known how to take orders, never how to give them - causing BRKN to be off to a rocky start. After several petty squabbles with Kade, well-meaning words from Nova and Nick, and a few derogatory “bossy”s thrown her way, she did eventually come into her role.

During her first year at Beacon, Robin (and the rest of her team) met another student named Peter, leader of Team ROOT, a year ahead of BRKN. “Bully” isn’t a strong enough term for him - he was absolute scum of the earth, terrorizing younger students, especialy faunus. Robin easily fell for his taunts and would frequently get into fights with him in the middle of the Academy’s halls. (Peter’s semblance was a subtle sort of mind control that worked especially well when his target was isolated. He could manipulate their emotions and easily bait them into certain things.) Robin and Kade frequently butted heads and got into arguments. Despite being one of the strongest partnerships in battle, barely a day would go by where the two of them wouldn’t fight over something. Peter was often the subject of their arguments - Kade felt that Robin constantly buying into his bullying was reflecting poorly on the team as a whole, while Robin felt she was the only one who cared enough to do something about Peter’s constant harassment of her fellow students. Nick would later confront Robin about it as well - supporting her for standing up to Peter, but offering a suggestion that she should, maybe, probably, stop threatening to kill him in his sleep where professors can hear it. And stop getting into fights with him where she does seem like she’s trying to kill him for real in the middle of the hallways. And, if it’s not too much trouble, please stop pulling out your pocket knife whenever he comes within ten feet of you?

In the beginning of BRKN’s second year, with everyone coming back with clear heads, the year goes much smoother. Robin is given the nickname “Robs” by Nova, and it ends up sticking so well that it catches on with faculty as well as other students. Robin and Kade have warmed up to each other at this point, and were honestly starting to get a little obnoxious about it. BRKN participated in the 39th annual Vytal Festival Tournament held in Mistral. Kade and Robin attended the Vytal Dance together. BRKN won their initial 4v4 round, and sent Robin and Kade to the doubles round - but they ended up losing their match thanks to them trying to one-up each other. They didn’t speak to each other outside of arguing over whose “fault” it was for almost a full week.

Later their second year, in the spring, Teams BRKN and ROOT were paired up for a job. For Robin, this spelled an opportunity. An opportunity to finally rid the world of Peter, once and for all. Not confident enough to do it on her own, though. She’d ruled out Kade and Nova being able to help her almost immediately - Kade’s moral compass was too strong, and Nova… Robin didn’t want to drag Nova into it. But Nick. Nick, she’d talked to about it before. Vented about Peter with him before. Many times, even. He could help. He would help. The night before the mission, Robin presented Nick with a plan to get rid of Peter, and he agreed quicker than she’d expected him to. The following morning, the two teams got in an airship with a professor chaperone, and departed for their target location in the forest. They were to split up and take care of the Grimm that had infested the area. The teams would split into two groups of three and one group of two plus the professor. The plan was to manipulate the drawn straws and end up with Nick, Robin, and Peter on the same team, and it was successful. Kade and Nova ended up paired with the professor, and the three other members of Team ROOT were together.

Nick and Robin laid a trap for Peter, slowly and subtly drawing him further and further away from the area they were meant to be patrolling. When they were certain no one would overhear, they attacked him. He put up a fight, but with Nick and Robin’s efforts combined, he didn’t stand a chance. Once his aura broke, the Grimm made their presence known, and the pair let the creatures finish him off. Once the majority were dealt with, and their own auras were broken, they sent a distress signal to their allies, who would arrive shortly. Nick and Robs fed them a lie that they were led out of the area by Peter, where they became overwhelmed by the Grimm. Of course they’d done everything they could, but they couldn’t stop the Grimm from getting to Peter. The mission was called off, and the students were flown back to Beacon Academy as quickly as they could. Peter was given a funeral and a burial, and the rest of Team ROOT would end up dropping out not a week later. For the rest of the semester, Nick and Robs were given “counseling” to help them recover from witnessing the death of a classmate. Over that summer, Robs was placed on a voluntary hold in a psych ward for several days. It was around this time she began to have doubts about serving Salem for the first time in her life.

The team was still a little shaken at the start of their third year at Beacon, but the year managed to progress smoothly, without incident. Well… mostly without incident. Thanks to the doubts she’d felt over the summer concerning Salem, Robs became nigh obsessed with theology. She read every book she could get her hands on in the school’s library about the Brother Gods and then some. Her obsession grew to a point where she finally snapped and asked Ozpin about it directly, and ended up learning far more than she meant to. Ozpin seemed to have known more about Robs than she initially assumed, as well. It was during this conversation she learned Salem’s history and “true” goal - to destroy herself, and in doing so, the entire world. Up until that point, Robs was unaware of exactly what victory Salem was vying for. Her feelings were mixed, but largely negative, not knowing who was telling the truth and who she could trust.

In the weeks following the conversation with Ozpin, Robs would slow her reports to Salem, eventually stopping them completely. She reasoned that Ozpin, while he may have suspected her of having connections to Salem, would have no reason to lie to her, especially about something so serious. Not to mention, she’d made some real connections to her team and other classmates, feeling a growing guilt that she’d been literally selling out everyone she knew for the past three years. These people trusted her, befriended her, loved her, and she’d been betraying that since she’d met them. She could only hope cutting Salem off was the right thing to do. It’s also during this year that Robs and Kade officially got together as a couple. And they’re really annoying and obnoxious about it. Sorry, BRKN. Sorry, Beacon student body. Okay, /now/ the rest of the year passed without incident. Yayy, calm before the storm, yayyy!

The summer was oddly quiet and peaceful - after stopping her reports to Salem and fighting the few Seekers that /were/ sent after her during the school year, she found herself completely unbothered by Salem. Which was odd, but welcome - even if it did occasionally paralyze her with anxiety. This anxiety over Salem would culminate in the beginning of BRKN’s fourth and final year at Beacon, where Robs spent an involuntary short stay in a psychiatric hospital. Everything else was fine though. Smooth sailing for their senior year and beginning of the canonical RWBY timeline. (Aside from Robs not-so-subtly avoiding a certain four transfer students from Haven Academy. But anyway.)

That is, of course, because nothing is ever easy, until the 40th Vytal Tournament rolls around. I would love to say Robs and Kade went to prom and everything was fine, but everything was, in fact, not fine. Nick’s semblance started giving him horrific visions of the Fall of Beacon, and they drove him to a point where he gouged out his own eyes before BRKN was scheduled to compete in their 4v4 match. Miraculously, BRKN pulled off the victory despite Nick’s newfound lack of eyes. After some debate, Robs and Kade were selected to progress to the 2v2 match. And they pulled off the win this time without fighting, yay! Kade was selected to advance to the 1v1 match, but the match never got the chance to happen.

The day before Kade’s final match was scheduled, he and Robs were spectating the match between Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos, while Nova visited Nick in the Beacon infirmary. It was then that a giant Nevermore broke through Amity Colosseum’s forcefield, which kickstarted the Fall of Beacon. The academy and surrounding areas of the city of Vale were overrun with creatures of Grimm. Amidst the chaos, Robs and Kade were separated. It wasn’t until much later in the evening that Kade happened to catch a glimpse of Robs boarding one of the many airships that had been setting Grimm loose. She was collected by associates of Cinder and followers of Salem to return her to Evernight, with Kade’s pleas for her to stop and come back falling on deaf ears.

Post-Fall

TL;DR story beats: Robs is punished via enucleation of her left eye for betraying Salem. Months later, she is “gifted” a Grimm eye in its place. She is then placed on Team BRCA (Brocade). Days later, sneaks out of Evernight to confront ex-teammates Nick and Kade, but can’t bring herself to harm either of them and retreats. She meets Kyubey, who gifts her with magic in exchange for making a wish - to have Kade back. This causes Kade to ingest pure Grimm liquid and make his way back to Robs. Later, Robs becomes half-Grimm as well after an accident by the pools.

Immediately following the Fall of Beacon, as soon as Robs returned to Evernight, she was summoned to Salem’s quarters for a “meeting.” As punishment for her betrayal and failure of her mission, Salem mused on how to properly discipline her. Salem commented on Nick’s self-enucleation, and decided that Robs would lose one of her eyes as well. The enucleation was conducted immediately, with Salem’s long, sharp black nails clawing the eye out quickly, cleanly, and painlessly. Sorry, did I say painlessly? I meant painfully. Anyway… During this meeting, Salem also noted that she should’ve known better than to entrust such delicate work to a ‘child’ - and that Cinder should have been her choice from the beginning, which would spark a lifelong grudge Robs would hold against Cinder.

In the days and weeks that followed, Robs was completely isolated from the rest of the faction, and those that did see her offered little sympathy. The nickname “Robs” was used to belittle her for the bonds she’d let spark her betrayal at Beacon. But it eventually just became how she was known, which was nice, because she preferred the name anyway. Roughly four or five months following the Fall of Beacon, she was again called to a meeting with Salem. As a “reward” for proving her loyalty once again, Salem performed a procedure that would give her sight in her left eye once again. In her empty eye socket, pure Grimm liquid was poured, where it would pool, and slowly over the course of the next week, form a new eye. In truth, it was less a reward and more of a way to track Robs’s movements more easily. The Grimm rot in such close proximity to her brain allowed for easier control, as well.

Almost immediately after the eye finished forming and connecting itself to her severed optic nerve, Robs was assigned to a new team by Salem. This was Team BRCA, consisting of Bai Ren, the leader, Jade Arc, and Cornelia Jabberwokky, Robs’s new partner. Much like BRKN, Robs didn’t settle easily into the new team, but eventually warmed up. It was around this time a small white creature, introducing itself as an agent of the God of Light, would make its presence known to Robs, asking her to enter a contract in exchange for power. Having known of its true nature thanks to being warned about it by some of her fellow faction members, Robs would repeatedly deny the creature’s attempts.

Not even a full month after her new team assignment, Robs snuck out of Evernight in the dead of night to travel to the ruins of Beacon Academy. She’d secretly been keeping tabs on her ex-teammates - Kade especially - and planned to meet them there and take care of them. Kade seemed to be alone when she arrived at the top of the broken Beacon Tower where Ozpin’s office once sat. They exchanged a few words, and he attacked. Their battle was interrupted by Nick, and in the midst of his joining the “conversation”, Robs retreated, suddenly unable to bring herself to harm either of her old teammates.

When she returned to Evernight, the creature was waiting for her. Still, she denied him. In the days that followed, Robs was wrought with vicious hallucinations of her old team, especially Kade. In such a vulnerable state, Robs finally caved and made a contract with the creature. In exchange for having Kade back as her partner, to rely on her, to trust her fully, she would “serve” the God of Light as a sort-of spy. She would take down enemies of his choosing in exchange for power, and act as his eyes where he needed her. Elsewhere, a post-battle Kade succumbs and drinks from a pool of pure Grimm liquid. His transformation into a Grimm is near-immediate, and with her new powers, Robs contacts him from Evernight. They met halfway, and she took him back to Evernight, where he would train to use his new abilities.

A few months later, when Robs was doing some training of her own by the Grimm pools, she slipped and fell into one of them, completely submerging her left leg in the liquid. It seeped into some cuts and wounds she had on both her leg and arm, and she’d accidentally ingested some of it as well. She thought nothing of it at the time - but within hours, the pain was unbearable. She approached Salem and practically begged for help. Salem decided it was time to test an idea that had been floating around her head, and accelerated the Grimm rot that had taken hold of half of Robs’s body. Her limbs inverted, skin and muscle receding into bone that grew to large, freakish, insectoid shapes. She was stuck in this half-Grimm form for a little more than a month before she learned how to control it.

The next step in Salem’s plans was to take Atlas. What remained of the faction following the attack on Haven (which Robs hadn’t participated in) boarded Monstra and set off for the floating city to acquire the Staff of Creation.

Current Day

TL;DR story beats: Prior to the Fall of Atlas, ARC is sent away to Vacuo shortly after Tyrian and Mercury depart. Robs shirks the job, sneaking out with Kade just before ARC was scheduled to leave. They search for teammates Nick and Nova, but during their search, the whale is destroyed and the portals to Vacuo are opened. At these crossroads, they confronted Nick, but Nova had already gone through the portal. They fight, and Nick is pushed into the abyss. Robs and Kade go through the portals, and sneak away from the refugees on Grimm mounts.

As Monstra made its flight to Atlas, Robs continued her Grimm training alongside Kade and her regular training with her new team. Prior to the giant Grimm whale landing on the outskirts of the floating city, Robs said a temporary goodbye to her older brother Tyrian, who took Mercury with him to Vacuo for the next step of their work. BRCA was scheduled to leave on another airship soon after their departure, but Robs had other plans. She snuck away at the last moment to find Kade and pursue a different target. Rumor had it that Nick and Nova were spotted in Atlas, and Robs and Kade had a job to finish. They snuck off the whale shortly after it landed, taking advantage of the chaos to sneak into the city. They grew closer to finding their targets, but it was at this time that Team RWBY had used the Staff of Creation elsewhere to mass create portals to Vacuo. Robs and Kade had little choice but to enter through the portals, and hope to find Nick and Nova there.

By the time Robs and Kade found them, Nova had already gone through the portal to Vacuo, so Nick was their solitary target. They fought, and after breaking Nick’s aura, Robs and Kade kicked him from the floating platforms into the abyss. Satisfied with their work, they ran through the portals into Vacuo. The chaos with the refugees made a quick escape easy to pull off, and they headed for the faction outpost, where they reside now.

Alternate Timeline

In an alternate timeline, Robs stayed with her team during the Fall of Beacon, and remains the proud leader of Team BRKN. Her team stuck around during the Fall to help fight off Grimm as long as they could before they were forcibly evacuated from the scene. During the fight, Robs lost an eye, bringing the total number of eyes within Team BRKN down to just five, and now wears an eyepatch. As far as she knows, none of her team are aware of her past affiliations with Salem, at least not yet. She also has no Grimm in her body, though still loses her eye.

Verse Links

Click through below to visit her various verse pages.

Verses, organized alphabetically.

Closing Notes

Thanks again for checking this out! This wiki template was made by @limegreen on neocities.