Umuthi Iqhawe

**Umuthi Iqhawe** is a huntsman, former member of team LILC, and professor at Beacon Academy where he teaches Medicinal Botany.

## Background

Born to a poor family in vale and given up for adoption as a baby, Umuthi grew up in  an orphanage until the age of 8, when he was adopted by a moderately wealthy human family that, despite being kind to him, effectively used him as a glorified manservant. At the age of 13, he managed to talk his adoptive parents into enrolling him at Signal so he could be trained as a bodyguard for their own children.

After spending several years in Signal, where his aura was unlocked, he applied for Beacon, passing the entrance exam by cunning rather than raw power. He returned home during the brief gap between Signal and Beacon to apologize for lying to his family about his reasons for entering combat school.

During Beacon initiation, he was paired with Arevik Lusashogh and placed in team LILC. Throughout their time at Beacon, his three teammates never realized he was male, and ignored him when he tried to correct them. Besides that, they were generally rude to him, and treated him poorly.

After graduation, he actively avoided them and spent 6 months as a hunter on active duty before being hired at by Ozpin to teach a class on medical botany.

As a result of his effeminate appearance Umuthi has been mistaken as being a woman for most of his life, and has mostly given up on correcting people.

## Personality

Extremely intelligent and good natured, Umuthi tries his best to be
kind to others and wil go out of his way to aid students that ask for
his help. In his younger years he would quickly become agitated when
people mistook him for female, but he has grown out of this. Tends to be quite docile and calm. Somewhat passive in most situations but with a particular passion for plants and gardening.

## Appearance

Very lean and effeminate, keeps his long leaf-green hair tied back in a low ponytail at most times.

### Combat outfit

Dark green cotton hoodie with sleeves cut off over a simple white t-shirt. Wears a cutting from a Chinese wing-thorn rose on his right bicep, braided into a band. Sturdy denim pants with padded, reinforced knees and leather gardening belt. Hand tooled brown leather work boots.

### Work outfit

Dark grey slacks and leather gardening belt with brown and green striped shirt, worn untucked.
Dark brown leather oxford shoes with black quarter brogueing, worn over white socks.

## Skills and Equipment

### Weapon

* Name: Ihlumela Imbali

* Type: Dust Channel Garden Sickles, DCGS

* Weapon Derivation: sickle, garden shears

* Form 1: A pair of sickles. one is painted green and contains a

canister of earth dust in the handle, the other is painted dark blue and uses water

* Form 2: Sickle blades retract and lock together just above the handles to form a small pair of garden shears

* Holstered/Sheathed Appearance: garden shear form, kept in a dedicated pocket on his belt

* Features/Capabilities: Dust cartridges inside the handles.

* Usage: Primarily close combat weapons, the dust functions are used to elementally charge aura-based ranged attacks. when in combined form, they are used for trimming plants under various circumstances.

* Planned/Possible Upgrades: Possibly a larger third form if he ever has the time to upgrade them

* Notes: Name means Plant Blossom in Zulu

### Semblance

* Name: Floraculture
* Type: Aural
* Purpose:Utility
* Short description: allows the user to accelerate and control the growth of plants
* Visual effect: any plant he directly manipulates will enter full bloom
* Range: long (100ft)
* Other limitations: cannot alter dead plants, cannot revert

growth, drain varies depending on complexity of plant and fine control used.

* Passive ability(s) (if any): can sense sickness in plants, plants around user will feed on their aura, requiring less water and sunlight to grow properly
* Active ability(s) (if any): can cause plants to grow rapidly and direct said growth at will.
* Notes: often used to create barricades or furniture, can also be used to create weapons on short notice. also used for the purpose of creating elaborate bonsai and topiary trees.

## Trivia

Umuthi is Zulu, meaning tree, while Iqhawe means soldier or champion, thus it can be read as "tree soldier" or "tree champion"