Rowana Bristledhide

"**Coco's machine gun is laughable. I mean, she's able to carry it!**"
—Rowana Bristledhide
**Rowana Bristledhide** is a fan character designed by MagnumDong6969. Rowana Bristledhide resides in the *RWBY* universe.

Rowana Bristledhide is a member of Team CROC within the *RWBY* universe, attending Beacon Academy. She is one of the more agile members of the team, but compensates that fact with her deadly and brutal weaponry.

## Biography

Rowana Bristledhide was born on the edge of the jungle and desert on the very southwest tip of The Kingdom of Vale, in which her home was in the less dense underbrush of the jungle. She was raised well, and protected strictly because of the threat of Grimm was great where she lived.

Rowana's hometown consisted of a thousand residents, in which the ostracized Faunus remained on the edges of town, with many exceptions, of course. Initially, Rowana learned how to fight from the local kids, who bullied her because of her serpentine traits.

Initially, Rowana was forbidden from participating in anything related to being a Huntress, but soon won the arguments made against it by proving that she was not a defenseless child, and soon shipped off to Signal, and later Beacon Academy. There she met her teammates, Crzeck Armoredflesh, Oren Hellbender, and Crozenck Shieldback, and was partnered with Oren when she made eye contact with him in the Forest during the initiation. Initially she felt like she had been grouped with reptilian Faunus on purpose, in which the Headmaster, Ozpin, proved her right, but explained that the four would work together well.

Rowana mingled well with other students, being the most social with others out of any other team member. However, she maintained a covert personality in order to keep her team's success from being a topic related to jealousy within Beacon's halls. When the Vytal tournament was scheduled to come into Vale for the year, Rowana urged her team leader to participate. They gained significant ground until the team lost to another group. They remained on the sidelines for the rest of the festival, until the Grimm attacked.

The Team received a rude awakening when they discovered that the entire city was being overrun by Grimm and the Faunus terrorist organization known as The White Fang. However, as the battle began to turn into most of their favor, Atlesian machines turned on the populace, gunning down civilians and their creators alike. On top of this, Rowana discovered that Oren had the Grimm's eyes, forcing the man overboard and attacking anything that attacked him. She managed to subdue him with her venom, and the team fled to Oren's Homeland when they realized the city and academy was lost.

## Appearance

Rowana is a short, lithe Faunus, which is a human-like creature possessing one singular trait. In Rowana's case, she possesses the sharp, triangular scales of *Atheris hispida* on her shoulders and neck. Rowana's human traits are that of Philippine descent, in which she has dark skin, slanted black eyes, and short, black hair which is usually in a tight bun on top of her head. She has an elegant, triangular face, and a lithe but muscular build that allows her to be both quick and flexible, in addition to the ability to maneuver in small spaces.

Rowana's normal attire mostly consists of tight, warm clothing that covers her midriff, back, and chest, as well as detached sleeves on her arms and legs in order to keep her warm, but also vent heat when her activities become strenuous. She frequently wears red, with black as her secondary color, and bronze for her accents.

In her armor, Rowana adopts armor that has a strong resemblance to the ancient Greeks, in which the only hardened armor she wears is on her shoulders, chest, and shins, the rest is either leather or bare skin. The primary color of the armor is a deep, blood red, with black and gold interchanging as her secondary.

Rowana's helmet is of Greek style, however, her venomous nature dictates that there is a sufficient amount of room to bite opponents and inject her venom. As such, the helmet only covers part of the jawline, leaving much of her face exposed. The chest armor covers her breasts, and half of her abdomen, while leaving her waist and sides exposed, in order to not restrict her movement too heavily. She additionally wears a combat skirt, which consists of durable, scale-like plates that protect her upper thighs. Her shins are protected by rather large armor plates, and the rest of her legs, save for her thighs, are exposed. Rowana's shoulders are protected by two interlocking pauldrons, which grant her more flexibility when using hand-to-hand combat. She also possesses gauntlets that allow for her to protect her forearms from light amounts of damage. In addition, Rowana carries a slightly crescent-shaped shield, which displays her symbol, a red circle that rises above two crescent moons.

## Personality

Out of all of Team CROC, Rowana is the most outgoing and social, as well as very clever, intelligent, and humorous. However, she completely changes when going into battle, she is almost entirely serious, with the exception of small-fry enemies. When it comes down to it, Rowana usually does not fear her enemies, but knows when to back down when it is impossible for her to handle on her own. Additionally, she also shows a slight affection to Oren Hellbender, and although the two flirt on occasion, Oren has a tough emotional exterior, and tries to focus on other things before relationships.

## Abilities

* **Spear-Master:** Rowana utilizes five identical javelins, collectively named *Night's Fall*, occasionally using them as melee weapons. Despite the different functionality of her weapons, Rowana is fairly effective when using her javelins without throwing them.
* **Javelin-Thrower:** Rowana is a master at throwing her javelins, able to strike her enemies with pinpoint accuracy and piercing blows, able to pierce a Grimm through the head or the heart in one single throw. Additionally, she has tiny cables attached to each that reel in the weapon after it has been thrown.
* **Turret Operator:** Rowana's javelins and shields all collectively transform into a highly powerful stationary turret, which fires heavy .30 caliber rounds at her foes, which can tear through armored Grimm and machines, the only setback being that the turret is completely stationary.
* **Hand-to-Hand Combat:** Rowana, a Huntress that uses two sets of ranged weapons, has to be an expert at melee combat without a weapon. She is extremely proficient at using it, and deceptively strong. She is known to be able to flip small Grimm onto their backs. The only drawback of this tactic is that it can leave her helpless against larger Grimm.
* **Infiltration:** Rowana is extremely adept at infiltrating enemy facilities, being very flexible, and quick, she can climb almost any rough surface, as well as reducing the noise that she makes to barely a soft whisper.
	+ **Contortionist:** In addition to her infiltration skills, Rowana is a contortionist that is able to squeeze through almost anything she can fit herself through.
* **Semblance:** Rowana, like all Viper Faunus, can utilize their semblance whether or not they have trained to become a Hunter or Huntress. The semblance, however, is always related to venom, and they possess a venomous bite, much like real snakes. In Rowana's case, her venom is a neurotoxin, which is a paralyzing solution that renders the victim unable to move, in addition, her venom also can cause internal hemorrhaging and even cytotoxic (cell-killing).

## Relationships

### Family

* **Brothers:** Rowana has mentioned that she has two brothers.### Allies

* **Team CROC:** Rowana has extreme loyalty to the Team, consisting of Crzeck Armoredflesh, her leader, Oren Hellbender, her assigned Hunting partner, and Crozenck Shieldback.
* **Other Teams at Beacon:** Rowana is always willing to ally herself with other teams at Beacon academy.

### Enemies

* **Creatures of Grimm:** Rowana, as a Huntress, has sworn that she is an enemy of the Creatures of Grimm, and like the majority of Remnant's population, wants to hunt them to extinction.

## Trivia

* Rowana has an immense amount of strength, due to having similar traits of snakes.
* Rowana, as a result of having snake-like biology, is very vulnerable to cold environments.
* Rowana's scales are rather small and sometimes go unnoticed, making her able to blend in as a human better than other members of her team.
* Rowana is named after Rowena Ravenclaw in the *Harry Potter* series.
* "Bristledhide" is a reference to the styles of scales that Rowana has, as the African species *Atheris Hispida*, which has bristly or thorny-looking scales.