Aura, Semblance, and Dust
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Aura is the manifestation of one's soul in the RWBY universe, and can be used for a wide range of abilities. The specific abilities and their strengths differ from individual to individual and are dependent on a number of factors, such as experience, training, and innate skill.
Aura is an ability that all those with a soul can use, at least with enough practice. A person with a strong Aura may radiate bright colors when using it. Because Aura is the manifestation of the soul, it can appear very differently depending on who is using it. For example, the color of Aura differs from person to person: Pyrrha's looks red, Jaune's looks white, and Ren's appears to be a shade of purple.
It is mentioned that anything with a soul has an Aura, but Humans and Faunus seem to be the only beings able to weaponize it for their own protection. However, this fact has been recently subverted with the introduction of the first synthetic person able to generate an Aura in Penny Polendina. Skilled users of Aura can create their own barriers or even increase their own abilities in some way. Weapons and armor can also act as a conduit for Aura, allowing for an even wider range of offensive and defensive capabilities.It has been shown that the strength of an Aura degrades with continual use. This limits the applications of Aura in combat as, with time or heavy use, a person's Aura will decay to the point where they are left weakened or even incapacitated. Aura being completely depleted is visually represented as a colored sheen passing along the length of a person's body, indicating that they can now be physically injured.
Aura is a necessary energy source for all Huntsmen, being a powerful ally in battle. It is also required in order to trigger the use of Dust. Aura, as demonstrated by various characters, has the ability to do the following:
◆ Defense: Demonstrated by Lie Ren in the Emerald Forest, and explained by Pyrrha Nikos. Aura is mainly used for defensive purposes. Ren used his to block the fangs of a King Taijitu that was attacking him. While users of Aura will not be hurt as long as their Aura is up, they can still feel sensations such as pain and heat.
◆ Offense: Demonstrated by Ren in the forest, as he sends a shock wave of force propelling a fang through the snake's head, causing it to explode. Additionally Pyrrha has stated that all tools and equipment are conduits for a person's Aura.
◆ Unlock Aura: One's Aura can be used to 'unlock' the Aura of someone else; as shown by Pyrrha, who unlocks Jaune Arc's Aura. Doing this appears to take a toll on the user however.
◆ Healing: It also seems that those with a strong enough Aura can heal minor wounds. Jaune used this directly on a small cut after having his Aura unlocked. However it appears that the healing is automatic and not caused at will. It also seems to wear off after engaging in combat, as Jaune's injuries returned post-battle with an Ursa.
It appears that Aura is able to manifest in different ways when in use and takes on the color of one's inner energy. It appears as a slight glow around the body. It has been stated that the activation of an Aura requires training and willpower, though someone with considerable training can unlock the Aura of another person.
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Semblance is the manifestation of one's innate and personal power as an ability unique to each individual, with the effects varying greatly from user to user. The nature of one's Semblance is noted as representing an aspect of their character. However, a person's Semblance can be similar to the Semblances of their parents or other family members.[1] For instance, the Schnee family Semblance, summoning glyphs, is completely hereditary. According to Winter Schnee, a Semblance that remains exactly the same between family members is something very rare.Those that use Semblance are able to manipulate certain physical phenomena according to the nature of their power. Some individuals, such as Weiss Schnee, are able to use their Semblance to create "glyphs" that generate some desired effect - the most prominent being sudden disruptions in movement and bursts of momentum. Ruby Rose is able to move at incredible speeds, while Pyrrha could manipulate magnetic forces. Some have Semblances that depend on external factors, such as Nora Valkyrie's ability to convert electricity in the environment into physical strength.
Using Dust, certain individuals can modify their Semblances with elements, such as Weiss using Myrtenaster to change her glyphs and Blake inserting Dust vials into Gambol Shroud to make her Shadow clones take on elemental properties.
Overuse of one's Semblance for prolonged periods may adversely affect its user at certain times. This was demonstrated by Weiss on one occasion after using a series of glyphs in rapid succession to assist Ruby, subsequently collapsing afterwards. It seems that emotional turmoil or stress can affect one's use of Semblance.The earliest and most frequent example of this phenomenon is Yang Xiao Long's habit of accidentally activating her Semblance when she is angry.A user should not be able to still use their Semblance even though their Aura has been depleted.
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Dust is a source of energy in Remnant. The physical properties of Dust make it incredibly useful for a variety of purposes, particularly in the weapons of many characters in the series.The name "Dust" is implied to be a reference to the primordial state from which mankind was born. As a natural resource, it is sometimes poetically referred to as "Nature's Wrath", or more prosaically as an energy propellant.
According to ancient legends recounted during the opening narration of "Ruby Rose", mankind was fighting a losing struggle with creatures of darkness known as the Grimm. However, through their resourcefulness and ingenuity, humanity managed to discover and harness a source of power they named "Dust" in order to battle the Grimm.The advent of Dust became the turning point in the war. It would appear that after mankind drove back the Grimm and built civilizations, Dust became integrated into everyday life within Remnant.
Despite its widespread use and prevalence in society, humanity has yet to understand the origins or the implications of their involvement with Dust. Dust is known as a naturally occurring energy propellant triggered by the Aura of Humans and Faunus. For unknown reasons, Dust does not function outside of the atmosphere of Remnant, precluding the possibility of space flight.
Dust exists in four basic types. These four types can be combined both artificially and naturally to form other types of Dust, each with their own unique properties. Different colors of Dust appear to correspond to their different natures or effects.
The four basic colors are red, blue, yellow, and green. Other known colors include cyan, white, purple, bright orange, and dark orange. Each color has its own unique property. Green is known to correspond to wind, Red is known to correspond to fire, and as for the other two basic colors it is unclear to what property they are supposed to correspond to.
◆ Wind / Air (Green): A "primary" type of Dust, which is known to be white in color. It's usually seen in a sort of crescent shape. It's able to create strong gusts of wind when used, blowing away all that surround the use (and possibly even the user themselves).
◆ Fire (Red): Fire Dust is one of the most seen Dust types around, given its large usage. When used, fire dust creates a blast or spark of fire, which is able to ignite foes. Its also been referred to as "Burn Uncut", which might be a name for the Fire Dust type.
◆ Water (Dark Blue): Water Dust seems to be a bit rarer than others, but is a bit useless on its own. Its true power comes from being mixed with other types of Dust.
◆ Earth (Green): Earth Dust is very powerful, due to it being able to affect even the actual earth itself. Though it's also powerful mixed with other Dusts.
◆ Lightning (Yellow): Yellow Dust does, of course, generate lightning. That makes it most useful against mechanized enemies, but less effective against earth ones.
◆ Ice (Light Blue): A "secondary" type of Dust, formed by the combination of Water and Air Dust. It seems to be most effective against that of water, being able to freeze liquid surfaces... if it's not lava, of course.
◆ Steam (Milky White): A "secondary" type of Dust, formed by the combination of Water and Fire Dust. Steam Dust is not very useful for those of the offensive mind, but much better for sneaking away from unwanted confrontations.
◆ Gravity (Purple): Gravity Dust seems to be incredibly difficult to use, given that it affects the balance of nature. But it's very powerful, in return. It seems to have the colors black and purple, when released as energy.
◆ Barrier (Cyan): Barrier Dust is just as the name says. When used, it creates a barrier around its user. Or, if shot at an enemy, creates a barrier around them, to trap them for a limited amount of time.
Dust can be found in two distinct states, crystalline and powdered. Both crystalline and powdered Dust are known to be highly explosive. For example, during the Dust store robbery, Roman Torchwick threw a crystal at Ruby Rose's feet and fired at it, causing a sizable explosion. The powdered form appears to be even more volatile, since something as innocuous as a sneeze is enough to detonate a cloud of Dust.