The Maidens
The Maidens are 4 women who were bestowed magical abilities by an elder man as said in a fairy tale. That tale has turned out to be true. The Maidens still live on by the powers being transferred to the next young woman that the current user is thinking of right before they die. If the user doesn't think of anyone and dies, the power is transferred to a random woman on the world.
The magical powers seem to be different from Dust and Aura by how the user is able to use elemental attacks and abilities that no one semblance can hold. Killing a Maiden is difficult to pull off, but not impossible. The reason why everyone doesn't hunt the Maidens for their power is solely due to Ozpin's circle. They let the tale fall into myth and therefore no one hunts legends nowadays.
The Maidens are important not only because they're more powerful than top-tier Huntsmen, but because they are the literal key to the Relics. (See Relics). You can't retrieve the relics without the corresponding maiden to unlock the relic's room.
There is the downside that the Fall Maiden is in a coma and half of her power is gone depending on a timeline. There is also the fact that hunting for the Maidens will resurface because of RWBY confirming the existence of the Maidens
While everything may sound hopeless, there are silver linings to all of this.
1.) Salem may only have 1 Maiden out of 4 to defend.
2.) Ozpin has stated in the show that Beacon's relic is harder to retrieve than the others if the Fall ever happens.
3.) We know half of the Maidens and their locations.
4.) Earth's governments can set up guards or better intel to locate and detail the health of these Maidens faster and more efficiently than Ozpin's circle alone.
I hope Salem doesn't have any aces up her sleeve against these linings.
I'm sorry that I didn't update for a good while! I had stuff I wanted to work on but I'm back to writing until the end of the summer!
Mr. Sandman: Thanks for reviewing! Hope you enjoy what I'm planning after these notes!