u/Impetuous_Soul

"Torch their homes, slaughter their young and, most importantly, don’t let any of them escape…" - The Matriarch

Throughout the vast wildlands and ruins of Remnant, seemingly endless hordes of Grimm roam. For every monstrosity that is slaughtered by Huntsmen, ten more seem to take its place, crawling from the shadowy recesses of nature. Within caves, dense foliage and even ancient ruins, specialized Grimm set up and maintain the spawning pools from which their endless ranks are constantly being replenished.

Classified as the “Jorogumo”, these spider-humanoid Grimm serve as the engineers and custodians of each Grimm horde. In their base form, these Grimm are almost never found outside of the nests that they care for, devoting a majority of their time, weaving defenses and expanding the sizes of their nests. Despite their more passive role, the Jorogumo have hair-trigger tempers ready to go off at anything that disturbs their meticulous work. Even the newly-formed Grimm that emerge from their pools are not immune to their wrath. If any of them make the mistake of trampling on a Jorogumo’s web, their brief existence will come to a violent and painful end as they are repeatedly stabbed and torn limb from limb in a mad frenzy. Ironically, this obsession with their own territory makes Jorogumo incredibly prone to infighting, straight up murdering each other and letting rival nests dry out. Though on occasion, multiple older Jorogumo may agree to expand in different directions to avoid such conflicts.

Compared to the Nuckalvee, the Jorogumo is not as flexible nor as durable. Instead, it relies heavily on territorial defenses and advanced mobility to win its fights. Its webs aren’t lethal but can serve as motion sensors informing the Jorogumo of the exact locations of intruders and obstacles that can slow the progress of any attacker. The older Jorogumo may even use their webwork and the acoustics of their surroundings to mimic the shrill scream of a woman or child to pull intruders deeper into an awaiting ambush. Fire is a crippling weakness for the Jorogumo and can cause them to flee in terror at its presence - though this often leads to more problems down the line.

Unlike most other Grimm, Jorogumo don’t evolve into their “Alpha” state with age, but rather through circumstance. When a Jorogumo’s nest is purged but the Jorogumo remains, it undergoes a berserk metamorphosis as its overwhelming rage and hatred twists its physical form. The Jorogumo loses its ability to produce spawning fluid in exchange for even greater strength, perception and sadistic intelligence. In this state, these Alphas become lone predators, beelining to the nearest human settlement to terrorize. Instead of attacking right away, the Alpha Jorogumo wait until midnight before slipping past and kidnapping villagers at random. From there, the Jorogumo uses the terrified cries of its hostages to lure rescuers into a death trap of webs and tight corridors that heavily favor the Jorogumo’s strength and wall-climbing abilities.

When sieging a Grimm nest, Huntsmen are advised to move as a Team, placing explosive charges as they go. They are also advised to bring along the appropriate gear (flashlights, flares and blades for cutting through webs) and encouraged to follow a doctrine of cautious advance until they eliminate the Jorogumo. However, many veteran Huntsmen have cleared enough nests to be able to solo blitz them and reach the Jorogumo before it even has time to formulate a counterattack. Meanwhile, less morally conscious Huntsmen may take the easy way out by simply burning out the nest to claim the bounty and letting any potential survivors be someone else’s problem down the line.

Age: 30 yo | Attributes: 6’8” 230 lbs Human

Semblance: Death Match
Ylsa can focus her hatred on a single target within eyesight, instilling a myriad of psychological effects and buffs on herself and her mark. From an outside perspective, there is no visual sign / change that indicates her Semblance is active. From the target’s perspective, their vision darkens and blurs, while they go deaf to all surrounding noise. The only thing they can see and hear clearly is Ylsa and the thunderous beat of her wrathful heart as she draws closer. Ylsa becomes transfixed on her target, sensing them through walls and low visibility. She takes significantly reduced damage from outside distractions and can only be hurt by her target. Theoretically, the “Match” ends when Ylsa’s hatred is sated. In practice, this usually means either the complete annihilation of the target or Ylsa’s Aura breaking. Ylsa can only have one target at a time, but there is no cooldown as her anger can never be satisfied.

Weapon:  Mark XI Warblade
A highly advanced battle rifle/greatsword issued to Atlesian Marines. Its rifle form fires caseless, high-velocity munitions in rapid bursts while its sword form uses superheated Hardlight Dust to burn and slice through most materials. Ylsa’s blade has been significantly corrupted from the time spent in the Forbidden Continent.

Background:
(Former) Gunnery Sergeant Ylsa Slidr was born the youngest child to an impoverished family in the slums of Mantle. Growing up, Ylsa became very familiar with violence as it permeated every aspect of her childhood, from witnessing the endless cycles of gang warfare, riots and heavy-handed state repression on the streets to living with her abusive parents at home. Every day was a desperate battle, keeping her head low, evading gunfire and enduring the drunken wrath of her family long enough to make it to the next day.

At the age of 16, long after her older siblings had run away, Ylsa quietly scoop what little possessions she had and enlist in the Atlesian Armed Forces, hoping to find a better life. Lying about her age to get accepted, she quickly became smitten with all the aspects of military life; a steady supply of lukewarm meals, heated rooms and most importantly, a “family” made of people just like her. Meanwhile, the life skills Ylsa developed in her childhood translated well into her new profession with the discipline and fortitude she demonstrated in training impressing her instructors. Once she completed the standard 13 weeks of training, the newly minted Private Slidr would be assigned to the Atlesian Army’s Recon Element, an elite cadre of no-Aura soldiers who work closely with Specialists on a variety of missions, providing tactical and logistical support when needed.
Over the next decade, Ylsa would run through countless operations with distinction and rise through the ranks. Despite having no Aura, her quick thinking and bravery would save Specialists on several occasions from Grimm and other formidable foes. However, she would also lose numerous close comrades. The mental toll eventually led her to develop Aura of her own.

Transitioning from Recon to Specialist was a natural process for Ylsa. Given her extensive service (and lack of connections to the Academy), General Ironwood moved her straight into his elite Black Ops forces. In Black Ops, Ylsa began to struggle for the first time in her illustrious military career - not due to a lack of competency, but rather due to the dubious ethics of the missions her Team was sent on. Blackbagging “speech terrorists” in front of their families in the dead of night, killing police or even other Huntsmen in foreign operations and feeding prisoners to Grimm weighed heavily on Ylsa’s mind. Though her survival instincts kicked in, preventing her from acting on or even vocalizing her hesitation out of fear of knowing that she would be executed as a traitor if she ever did.

One day her squad was sent on a special mission by General Ironwood to investigate a secret research lab near the core of Atlas that went dark. Upon entering the facility, her Team was greeted by rivers of blood dammed by mangled corpses, as Grimm ran rampant throughout the claustrophobic lab spaces and vents. Ylsa and her comrades systematically began clearing rooms as protocol, but the Grimm were strong. Augmented with bionics and other twisted sciences, these nightmares tore through the Black Ops Team like savage wolves on sheep.

Drenched in blood and gunpowder, Ylsa never noticed she was the last survivor left as she continued to fight her way deeper and deeper into the facility. Pure adrenaline was all that was keeping the pain, horror and fatigue at bay.

Eventually, the lone Specialist made it to the central laboratory and epicenter of the chaos. There a giant portal to the Forbidden Continent spewed forth ancient Grimm like a gaping wound. Against direct orders to preserve the lab for any usable data or research, Ylsa rigged the facility’s neutron generator to implode and annihilate everything before stepping through the portal and taking her chances in the wild.

At the end of her wits, Ylsa was overwhelmed with pure rage. Rage at the General for sending her here. Rage at the scientists for playing Gods. Rage at herself being a coward and a knowing pawn in their hideous game.
She bled the legions of Grimm to a standstill with blade and fist, until nightfall when she faded into the blasted landscape. No plants grew on the accursed soils of the Forbidden Continent, but life did flourish through macabre and twisted ways. Warring packs of cannibalistic wolves patrolled the blackened hills and plains, while opportunistic vultures the size of Nevermores blotted the skies day and night. The barren lands offered little cover to hide or shelter. It was eat or be eaten.

The weeks felt like decades as Ylsa trudged along, slaughtering animals and Grimm alike. Rest was rare and brief, as the Marine constantly needed to remind the vultures that she was not their food. After a month, she finally reached the coast with enough bones and bloated corpses to build a raft to drift away from the blasted continent.

Later rescued by a Valean merchant vessel, Ylsa would immediately give herself up to the Circle authorities in Vale and confess her story and guilt to a bemused Sierra. Expecting to die for her many sins, Ylsa was surprised when the young lady investigating her offered her a job instead. It would be dangerous, frontline work with significantly less material support than what she had in Atlas, but it would allow her to make up for all crimes she committed before.

Psychological Report:
Despite the madness and trauma that grips Ylsa’s mind, she still maintains a quiet and implacable exterior outside of combat. While she seems unreadable on the surface, her primary concern is to atone for her past and to keep her wrath in check. As the oldest member of the Team, Ylsa feels a unique obligation to keep Sierra and Tomoe safe. She isn’t much for words, but does hang out with Tomoe to meditate and actively assists Sierra in her investigations. Meanwhile, she can’t stand Xoe, seeing the silent Faunus for the monster that she is. In Xoe, Ylsa sees everything that she hates about herself - a mindless war machine who can only kill and destroy. And, unlike Ylsa, Xoe really *loves* what she does.

In combat, Ylsa is Team STYX’s frontliner, attracting enemy attention and agro away from civilians and her Teammates. The second-most military-minded on the Team, she is surprisingly strategic about her rage, selecting the most optimal times, locations and targets to go berserk in battle. Ylsa’s combat endurance is unparalleled, able to maintain peak intensity for days, but also mentally degrading as her mind is gradually consumed by flashbacks. Ironically enough, there have been a couple occasions where Xoe has had to find and extract Ylsa after battles where she gets “lost”, being the only one skilled enough to do so reliably and safely.

Age: 19 yo | Attributes: 5’4” 145 lbs  Faunus (Platypus Spurs)

Semblance: Off the Grid
Xoe’s Aura can convert itself into electrical energy that her body can siphon off of, replacing the need of respiration and even allowing her to temporarily function without a heartbeat. Additionally, her Aura is hyper sensitive to electrical fields, allowing her to sense nearby electronic gadgets with pinpoint accuracy. The full extent and functionality of her Semblance is a closely-guarded secret by Xoe.

Weapons: Wetworks
An experimental, suppressed bullpup rifle of unknown origins. In addition to being a versatile gun with the compactness of PDW and the power of a Vacuoan Rifle, Wetworks also comes with a suite of useful gadgets stored within its chassis - a dive knife, blowtorch, boltcutter, glass breaker, and spade. Additionally, Xoe also carries throwing knives laced with detcord for more explosive punch and sabotage.

Background:
Not much is known about Xoe prior to her service to the Valean Branch of the Circle as her files have been heavily redacted by some unknown authority or have gone missing. However, in her years of service to the Circle, Xoe has made a name for herself as a competent and bloodthirsty Agent, engaging in numerous solo missions, fighting pirates and aquatic Grimm off the shores of Vale and Patch. The briefings and specific details of each mission are kept obscure with Xoe being curt in her mission reports and most of the records being destroyed shortly thereafter. The only information that seems to survive are Xoe’s kill counts.

Due to her high lethality (and suspicious behaviors / activities), Xoe was the last member Sierra picked to be part of Team STYX, attempting to put her superior martial prowess to better use and to investigate her true motivations and actions more closely.
Her backstory would end here - if it wasn’t for Sierra’s investigation shining more light on Xoe’s origins.

After secretly obtaining Xoe’s DNA and sending it to a lab for analysis, Sierra was able to deduce that Xoe was born to a small Faunus village off the coast of Menagerie due to her close genetic links to the local population. But, when surreptitiously introduced to cultural artifacts from the region, Xoe genuinely seemed confused and did not know what they were, leading Sierra to believe that Xoe didn’t grow up there. Additionally, her lack of tattoos and perfectionist tendencies makes it virtually impossible that Xoe was taken in by pirates or White Fang raiders.

Sierra would reach a second breakthrough after carefully examining Xoe’s spurs through combat footage and hidden surveillance cameras she had wired in Xoe’s personal dorm. As a Faunus, Xoe seemed to have inherited platypus spurs. However, female platypus spurs are vestigial and fall off shortly after birth. Xoe’s current spurs are steel bladed prosthetics surgically implanted into the empty sockets. While these prosthetics are well-fitted and meticulously designed to retract into Xoe’s heel at will, whoever placed them there did not do so for Xoe’s comfort. Even with Aura, the sharp metal blades constantly rubbing against Xoe’s flesh is mildly painful at best, especially when Xoe decides to extend or retract these blades. This modification was added solely to make Xoe a better killer. Sierra has only seen such thorough, single-minded devotion to murder once before.

Psychological Report:
Outside of her spotty, official records, most of what is known about Xoe comes from witness statements from other Huntsmen and Circle Agents. Before joining Team STYX, Xoe’s reputation was a mixed bag. Some Huntsmen Teams were grateful for her lifesaving interventions and professionalism, while others were more disturbed by odd lack of visible emotion, sparse communications, and disturbing affinity for extreme violence. The few veteran Agents, like Professor Port and Oobleck, that have personally seen the aftermath of Xoe’s work would describe her as a “depraved serial killer”, while many others suspect her of being a spy. However, they are unable to prove her criminality in any official capacity.

On Team STYX, Xoe is an awkward fit socially, only being liked by Tomoe, who often has one-sided  friendly conversations with her. While quiet and unassuming, Sierra keeps a close-eye on Xoe and will constantly ask prodding questions in effort to learn more about her. Meanwhile, Ylsa openly disdains Xoe for her suspicious behavior and will physically bully her. Despite these interactions, Xoe always keeps a calm head, barely even noticing the harsh treatment. Instead, Xoe is more focused on her mission and “improving her metrics” (increasing her kill tally).

By Sea, Air and Land, there is no battlespace where Xoe can’t dominate. She relies heavily on stealth and surprise, striking against her foe’s vital points and fading from view before they can retaliate. In water, she is especially potent, thrashing and drowning her targets like a crocodile does with its prey. Her lack of oxygen bubbles and incredible swimming skills give victims little warning before they are dragged away to watery graves. On land, she uses her mobility to secure high ground and engage in flanking maneuvers to gun down opponents with precision, automatic fire. In close quarters, Xoe favors using her dive knife along with her steel prosthetic spurs in brutal melee combat. Additionally, the extra tools in her kit allow her to assist the rest of her Team in infiltrating defenses and opening up new pathways in urban environments, even if they hardly ever get to see her.

Age: [REDACTED] | Attributes: 5’4” 145 lbs  Faunus [REDACTED]

Semblance: Off the Grid

Xoe’s Aura can convert itself into electrical energy that her body can siphon off of, replacing the need of respiration and even allowing her to temporarily function without a heartbeat. Additionally, her Aura is hyper sensitive to electrical fields, allowing her to sense nearby electronic gadgets with pinpoint accuracy. The full extent and functionality of her Semblance is a closely-guarded secret by Xoe.

Weapons: Wetworks

An experimental, suppressed bullpup rifle of unknown origins. In addition to being a versatile gun with the compactness of PDW and the power of a Vacuoan Rifle, Wetworks also comes with a suite of useful gadgets stored within its chassis - a dive knife, blowtorch, boltcutter, glass breaker, and spade. Additionally, Xoe also carries throwing knives laced with detcord for more explosive punch and sabotage.

Background:

Not much is known about Xoe prior to her service to the Valean Branch of the Circle as her files have been heavily redacted by some unknown authority or have gone missing. However, in her years of service to the Circle, Xoe has made a name for herself as a competent and bloodthirsty Agent, engaging in numerous solo missions, fighting pirates and aquatic Grimm off the shores of Vale and Patch. The briefings and specific details of each mission are kept obscure with Xoe being curt in her mission reports and most of the records being destroyed shortly thereafter. The only information that seems to survive are Xoe’s kill counts.
Due to her high lethality (and suspicious behaviors / activities), Xoe was the last member Sierra picked to be part of Team STYX, attempting to put her superior martial prowess to better use and to investigate her true motivations and actions more closely.

Psychological Report:

Outside of her spotty, official records, most of what is known about Xoe comes from witness statements from other Huntsmen and Circle Agents. Before joining Team STYX, Xoe’s reputation was a mixed bag. Some Huntsmen Teams were grateful for her lifesaving interventions and professionalism, while others were more disturbed by odd lack of visible emotion, sparse communications, and disturbing affinity for extreme violence. The few veteran Agents, like Professor Port and Oobleck, that have personally seen the aftermath of Xoe’s work would describe her as a “depraved serial killer”, while many others suspect her of being a spy. However, they are unable to prove her criminality in any official capacity.
On Team STYX, Xoe is an awkward fit socially, only being liked by Tomoe, who often has one-sided  friendly conversations with her. While quiet and unassuming, Sierra keeps a close-eye on Xoe and will constantly ask prodding questions in effort to learn more about her. Meanwhile, Ylsa openly disdains Xoe for her suspicious behavior and will physically bully her. Despite these interactions, Xoe always keeps a calm head, barely even noticing the harsh treatment. Instead, Xoe is more focused on her mission and “improving her metrics” (increasing her kill tally).
By Sea, Air and Land, there is no battlespace where Xoe can’t dominate. She relies heavily on stealth and surprise, striking against her foe’s vital points and fading from view before they can retaliate. In water, she is especially potent, thrashing and drowning her targets like a crocodile does with its prey. Her lack of oxygen bubbles and incredible swimming skills give victims little warning before they are dragged away to watery graves. On land, she uses her mobility to secure high ground and engage in flanking maneuvers to gun down opponents with precision, automatic fire. In close quarters, Xoe favors using her dive knife along with her steel prosthetic spurs on the back of her heels in brutal melee combat. Additionally, the extra tools in her kit allow her to assist the rest of her Team in infiltrating defenses and opening up new pathways in urban environments.

Iron Squirrel has fled the nest.

Deploying Silent Dingo for high-priority intercept.