#RWBYECHO Hazel

[rwby-echo]

Any changes to Salem and her gang of minions in your ECHO AU

Parts of her faction are still in development, but I’m reasonably sure that I’ve got her core motivation and plan figured out.

Spoilers for Salem’s goals and such below the cut:

Salem’s primary goal is to reunite with Ozma... By destroying the barrier that separates the dead from the living. She believes that the Ozma who has been reincarnating into new bodies over the centuries is just some soul-homunculus that the Brothers created to torment her(and on some of Ozma’s worse days, he can’t help but wonder if this is actually true) and if she can’t reunite with the “real” one the normal way, then she’ll break what that separates them instead.

As for whether this is actually possible or not... Salem is convinced that she can accomplish her goal with the help of objects of power from the very entities who spited her to begin with: the Relics. In ECHO the Relics are capable of more than just their individual functions and summoning the Brothers. They can also be used in large and complicated magical spells to give effects a boost or increase complexity. An example of using the Relics like this is the creation of the Furies(the Maidens), when Ozma bound four seasonal spirits into mortal bodies to benefit mankind and keep them from destroying civilization. So Salem reasons that she use the Relics in order to increase the potency of her own massive spell.

This goal and Salem’s confidence that she can achieve it also means that she has little regard for any deaths that occur along the way--it won’t matter in the end, since the dead and living will reunite once the spell is cast.

Cinder’s backstory has been changed, though she still has the Dark Cinderella allusion. She was from an elite family in Atlas who fell from grace after crossing the Schnees, and everything she’s done has been her trying to claw back any speck of power and privilege she can. After meeting Salem she realized that she would be able to stand atop the world if she joined her, and she’ll be doing Salem’s bidding as long as it benefits her. She’ll also be a pretty direct rival to Weiss due to her backstory, so that part will be fun.

Hazel still lost Gretchen, but rather than focusing on Ozma for the purposes of vengeance, he’s carrying out Salem’s bidding because she promised him Gretchen’s return to the living world. Because of this, Hazel will also try to convince Ruby and Yang to join Salem as well after he finds out that they lost their mother; he’s unsuccessful, but this hints to the sisters that perhaps Hazel could be won over in turn since he’s willing to have a discussion at all.

Hazel’s semblance and general attitude have also been changed. His semblance allows him to numb not only himself but also others when he touches them, and is a sort of manifestation of his unwillingness to process and move on from Gretchen’s death, choosing to numb and ignore the pain instead. Hazel also acts as the emotional “heart” of Salem’s crew, smoothing over relations between members and using his semblance to numb pain where needed.

Watts is still a bastard, with personal vendetta against Pietro and Ironwood because they had a direct hand in his fall from grace(it also involves Penny’s development, so he doesn’t care for her either).

Tyrian... I’m still working on him, truth be told. He’s still going to be a Salem fanatic.

Along with her little council, Salem also has followers among the civilian population. They stay hidden for the most part, and their reasons for joining her vary: some do it for protection from the grimm, others because like Tyrian they see her as a divine being, some do it for power...

There’s a lot more that I haven’t covered here, but this is the general rundown of what I have so far.