Character Arcs
All of core plots were meant to be carried forward with the various character plots. If it wasn't clear already already, the idea of Spirit Marriages to share aura was a growing concept that was just going to get bigger. Much of Season Two was to be Jaune relying more and more on his friends, their aura, and the spirit marriages that result once Jaune can enter their dreams. Some, like Nora and Ruby, are chaste. Others, are not.
Add in the quest of getting Jaune a new body, and the question of 'what next?'…
(Don't call this a 'harem fic,' though. Harem is such a dirty word. I prefer… an open relationship of various degrees of emotional investment amongst a murderous coven of cannibalistic necrophiliacs. Usual Harem do need not apply.)
What those individual characters sketches were, and the sort of character jokes planned, follow.
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Ren
Team Leader of Team JNPR, and a Seer. Ren has seen ghosts all his life, and is driven by a desire to understand ghosts and to protect both the living and the dead.
Ren's backstory is 'typical' for a Seer child now-adays- seeing things no one else could, and not being believed when he shared. Ren watched her parents be murdered by a Bad Ghost, which was how he became an orphan. Ren, like Ruby, was ostracized from a young age until he met Nora and her Grandmother's ghost, who was still trying to look out after her from beyond the grave. Nora believed Ren when Ren played medium, and the two have been close friends even since.
Those years of the three of them- Ren, Nora, and Nora's grandmother's ghost- were happy years, until it all went wrong. Nora became reckless, pushing her Grandmother to more and more feats of ghost power that used up her residual aura to protect Nora. Nora's recklessness eventually extended to the Grimm, when her Grandmother used the last of her power save Nora from a Grimm. Nora's Grandmother was overpowered by the Grimm Ash and turned into a Revenant, a bad ghost, who terrorized the town and killed everyone but Ren and Nora in a mad bid to protect them from those who hurt them. An Exorcist was dispatched to deal with the Revenant, dispelling the Revenant ash but sealing Nora's Grandmother in a Lantern where she would be trapped for eternity, never moving on. Nora and Ren didn't understand the Lantern sealed ghosts- Ren was blinded by the light- and so they assumed Nora's grandmother was banished or destroyed.
Nora has never forgiven the Exorcists or herself, but Ren remembers how sad the unknown Exorcist looked at the time. Part of Ren's desire to deal with the Exorcists is to find that Exorcist, and the Lantern that was used to seal Nora's Grandmother. Until then, though, Ren and Nora have stayed together- Nora protecting the ghosts they could, and Ren learning all he can about Ghosts. Nora and Ren both want to protect ghosts, Nora from people and Ren from spiritual corruption that turns them bad. Both want to recreate the memory from their childhoods of ghosts and humans living together peacefully.
In the story, Ren is forced to expand out of his shell by the responsibility of being team leader and responsible for Jaune as a whole. Ren and Jaune are friends as much because Ren is the only one who can see Jaune as anything else, but gradually more as they work with and for eachother. One of Jaune's elements to grow up and mature is realizing that his pranks and foolishness as a ghost cause trouble for the more responsible Ren. After the Cardin incident, and Ren's purification of Jaune's soul from Grimm Ash, Jaune tries to return the favor by being more mature and supporting Ren in turn. This cements the friendship, and Ren's Jaune Dreams aren't strictly for sharing aura but also become the grounds for bromance of a different sort. The two talk families and pasts and theories on ghosts from their unique perspectives, and eventually Jaune gets the truth about Ren's thoughts on Nora. Ren likes Nora, and knows Nora likes him, but plays dumb because she's too important to risk losing on a relationship that might fail. Jaune gradually becomes a spiritual bridge through mutual spirit-marriage for Ren and Nora to share dreams with eachother as well as Jaune, allowing them to get together-together. Jaune dreams between the three of them are call-backs to their childhood, and Jaune is always included and never a third wheel.
In terms of plot, Ren becomes more and more significant in Season 2 and 3 when the Exorcists become more significant. Ren lacks Nora's hostility to them, remembering the bad ghosts that killed his parents, and sees them as a potential source of ghost lore. The Exorcists in turn see Ren's Seer abilities as a gift, not a curse, and want to recruit him for their effort against bad ghosts. Represented by a mostly sympathetic/reasonable Exorcist OC, Ren is tentatively recruited with the understanding of his friends that it's just to investigate. Jaune and Ren are in agreement with this, even though Nora is not, and Jaune even accompanies Ren in some cases. Ren is key to revealing the Exorcists as understandable quasi-antagonists. There are good exorcists and bad exorcists, and while they are opposed to Jaune they aren't Cardin-esque bullies either. Exorcists view their job as protecting people from ghosts, but if Ren and Jaune can prove that there are good ghosts they could cooperate and co-exist with…
Ren's investigation gets deeper in Season 3, when he starts looking for the Exorcist who sealed Nora's Grandmother. Potential drama there, as Ren deals with more sympathetic Exorcists who want to change the order. The Exorcist OC is resistant, but will adapt in a change to circumstances, and so Ren starts to think about reforming the Exorcists. Ren's investigation into the Exorcist who sealed Nora's Grandmother turns up lore on the Lanterns, but he's stopped from reading it by the Exorcist OC who doesn't trust him yet. When the crisis occurs, Ren is one of the few who appreciates that the Lantern seals both good and bad ghosts, and that releasing the ghosts trapped within will cause problems across the world.
When the crisis occurs, Ren is put in a 'join us or leave us' moment where he can join the Exorcists as they go to protect the villages from the released ghosts, or stay with Nora, who refuses to help them. Ren chooses to join the Exorcists over his girlfriend- both for greater access to their lore, and to help them deal with the ghosts released by the breaking of the Lantern. The breakup is as painful as Ren feared, even if he's resolved that his way can protect ghosts too, and it's an emotional crack in the coven. Ren hopes he can use his help and influence as a Seer to change the Exorcists from within, to make them focus on bad ghosts rather than all ghosts in general. Jaune understands and believes in Ren, promises to look after Nora at Ren's request, and blesses Ren. Ren and Jaune are still tight, and Ren clearly still cares for Nora, and entrusts her to Jaune.
In Season 4, Ren would be helping the Exorcists deal with the upsurge with ghost activity around the world, but focusing his abilities on 'bad' ghosts rather than innocents. Ren is suspected of just that sort of selective helpfulness by the Exorcists, but Ren's assistance against bad ghosts slowly earns trust. Ren's place is fragile, though, and so Ren hides Jaune's weekly check-up visits and covert assistance. Ren and Jaune working together saves a group of Exorcists at the 'start' of Season 4, however, accelerating Ren's rise in the organization and rewarding him with long-sought information on the Exorcist who used a Lantern on Nora's Grandmother.
Ren's patron in the Exorcists is the Exorcist OC, who benefits from Ren's assistance as much as Ren benefits from him. The Exorcist OC and Ren have a very productive relationship, respectfully debating the role of ghosts, the dangers they pose, and the good they could do. The Exorcist OC suspects Ren is getting help from Jaune, but is pragmatic enough to accept it, and is the one to guide Ren to the Exorcist archives and into the order. From within, Ren is also brought to some of the other Lanterns, specifically the one Nora's Grandmother is sealed in. The Exorcist OC explains that while the Exorcists developed their sealing techniques from the Lanterns, they lost the ability to create the Lanterns long ago. Now the Lanterns are filled- a product of their over-use against ghost good and bad. The Exorcists need more Lanterns to contain the current Ghost outbreak. In exchange for nearly unrestricted access to the Exorcist Archives, Exorcist OC gives Ren a task- figure out how the Lanterns work, so that more can be made. When Ren asks how he's supposed to do that, the Exorcist OC ambiguously suggests 'from the inside'- while saying that as long as Ren doesn't break the Lantern, anything he happens to find inside is his.
Thus sets up the Ren arc of Season 4- Ren and Jaune are allowed to study the Lantern to figure out how it works, and to try and recover the soul of Nora's Grandmother if they dare. The Exorcist OC knows Ren has Jaune around, but and is exploiting it. If Jaune helps Ren understand the Lantern, that's worth him snooping around. If he fails and is trapped, problem solved. Ren's plot is a scholarly/investigative one, as Ren spends most of his time studying in the archives, and Jaune's visits are chances to experiment on the Lantern. The risk is high, but the prize…
Progress is slow at first, as Ren and Jaune are concerned of Jaune being trapped by the Lantern. Jaune can't 'possess' the Lantern or slip through when it's off, as the Lantern's form is made of a material that blocks ghosts. This material also blocks the Grimm from sensing the ghosts within, but the Lantern can only be entered when the shutter is open and 'on.' Jaune is strong enough to resist the light, but only barely. After a near-miss in which Ren was able to 'pull' Jaune back, Ren and Jaune develop their spirit-marriage bond to fasten a 'safety line' (a red string) that Ren can use to pull Jaune back from the Lantern's pull. With it, Ren and Jaune's experiments eventually reach a point where Jaune can enter the Lantern.
The inside of the Lantern is a massive prison, with ghosts 'shrunk' upon entering the Lantern and put into rows upon rows of cells in a giant matrix. Inside the cells, ghosts survive, sustained by the power of the Lantern. Outside the Lantern, golems patrol as jailors and janitors- repairing the prison, and seeking to catch any escaped ghosts. Ghosts can break free of their cells easily, and evading golems isn't hard, but with nowhere to go most ghosts stay in their cells where it's safe. There is no escape, not even 'death by golem'- any ghost that is caught by the Golem patrols is dragged deep into the bottom of the Lantern, where they, too, are turned into golems. With little else to do, the prisoners have taken to breaking down the walls between cells and forming their own communities, typically grouped by era of capture. There are old and ancient ghost communities still alive- including one led by a famous Arc, Joan Arc, Jaune's namesake.
Joan of Arc is Jaune's prison-guide and rescuer from the golems when he first arrives. Joan was a warrior, a Seer, and burned at the stake during the Witch Hunts. Joan is anachronistic- speaking oddly and not knowing the Kingdoms of present- but strong. She's hard, having led and protected her prison-community from the constant pretty competitions of the prison gangs of bad ghosts trapped inside, but she's loyal to family. Joan takes Jaune under her protection, and helps him in his quest to find Nora's Grandmother. She thinks he's foolish to have entered the Lantern willingly just to find one lost soul amongst millions- cursing Arc promises and the motto of never going back on one's word- but she agrees to help because he's family. When Jaune reveals he can leave the prison via Ren's 'thread', Joan makes clear the stakes: if others realize what Jaune can do, they'll trap him there himself in hopes he can extract them as well. Jaune's prison visits become the makings of a 'jailbreak' plot, during which Jaune takes risks and also learns/bonds with his ancestor, who reveals that she died protecting her child from exorcists and fool-hardy people. Joan hates the exorcists, for what they did to her and trapping all the ghosts here, but reigns in her hatred when she learns of Ren's assistance. Joan opening up about her family gets Jaune talking about his, and his coven, which provides some advice and guidance from a voice of experience. Joan tells Jaune to treasure all of his coven, supporting his decision to balance his friends, and gives Jaune some support to carry on. Joan specifically tells Jaune to care for the weapon spirits as if they were his own children, because they are, and finally reveals that her own child- the one she died and was trapped in the prison in order to save- was none other than Crocea Mors. Realizing the connection, and that her child is still 'alive' and they could be reunited, Jaune resolves to rescue Joan as well.
The prison plot draws to a close as the window of opportunity closes. Ren is pushed to produce results or else go back to ghost-hunting by the Exorcists. Nora's Grandmother is found, but she's in a bad place and enslaved by one of the tyrannical gangs of the prison. Once the prison-break starts, the golems will come out in force and increase the risk of capture. Finally, Jaune has the Weiss and Blake plots resolving at the same time as well. The season climax is the trifect of Jaune hitting Weiss, Blake, and Ren's resolution in that order, so that if worse comes to worse and he's captured…
The prison break occurs, is dramatic and stuff, and Jaune finds Nora's Grandmother. Jaune's able to convince her to follow him thanks to name-dropping Nora and Ren. In the course of the fighting, Joan's attempt to extract both Nora's Grandmother and Joan from the prison fails. Joan has to hold the line, and it ends with Jaune telling her of Crocea Mors and swearing to come back and reunite them one day. Joan believes him, Jaune and Nora's Grandmother escape, and it's a wrap… except Ren nearly having a heart-attack in the effort to draw them both out of there, and Jaune having to apply ghostly CPR/possess Ren's heart in order to get it started again.
The exorcists get what they need from the debriefing- runes and golem seals and other things- while Ren tries to hide the ghosts of both Ren and Nora's Grandmother. The Exorcist OC implicitly knows, but allows Ren to go, and even gives Ren leave to 'take care of personal business.' Ren leads Nora's Grandmother, who doesn't have much time left now that she's outside of the Lantern, to the Coven.
Reclaiming Nora's Grandmother from it, setting her free, and bringing her back to Nora so that she can move on in peace would be the key to being forgiven by Nora and restoring their relationship. Ren's not 'back'- he returns to the Exorcists to continue reforming them from within and to get their help with the Cinder plot- but Ren's return- however brief- helps restore the Coven. Jaune and Ren's bonding improves in the process, as the tri-lateral Nora-Ren-Jaune dreams resume, and Ren returns with a lighter heart. Penny accompanies Ren as well, as she's a new-age 'golem' who can shed light on the golems from within the Lantern. Ren's return is a surprise to the exorcists, who thought he'd ditch, and Ren makes the confession that it was a ghost and living effort. Ren starts to be an active reformer within the Exorcists, even as they turn their attention towards helping in the fight against Cinder... which means sending Ren right back to the Coven, who's leading the chase.
From then on, Ren is the 'Exorcist' member of the Coven, trusted by both sides and the key to their cooperation. Ren occasionally leaves for short periods for Exorcist business, potentially taking along some of the others (like, say, Blake post-Adam to share news of the White Fang Coven). The Exorcists are a reoccurring faction, while Ren is a frequent companion, with Jaune always having his back when dealing with the exorcists.
That'd be a lot of things, as Ren is a major character, but the above is all that's specifically mapped out. In the hazy end-game, Ren ultimately replaces the Exorcist OC as the leader of the Exorcists, reforming them into an organization that can work with the dead to protect everyone. That he's part of a Coven, and spirit-married to a ghost, only heightens the irony.
Ren's Coven Name is Sister Mister or Brother Sister. It sometimes becomes Brother Sissy after Ren conceives a spirit weapon.
Ren's relic is a Necronomicon, a book of ghost lore bound in Jaune's skin and written in Jaune's blood. At first the text is gibberish, but when Jaune possesses the book he can make the words his own, allowing Ren to read Jaune's thoughts even if they can't hear them. Ren and Jaune gradually turn the Necronomicon into their own book of ghost lore.
Jaune's relationship with Ren is… no homo bromance turned increasingly-less-awkward triad to 'because Nora says so'?
At the start, Ren's spirit marriage with Jaune is in name only, strictly for aura purposes… until Ren, too, somehow conceives a weapon-spirit. Neither Jaune or Ren know how, especially when Nora can vouch for their shared dreams being friendly, but admitting such just launches speculations of ghastly threesomes. Such a threesome wouldn't occur until at least Nora and Ren get back together, but at the time Jaune's just a third wheel in Ren and Nora's Season 2 lovey-dovey.
After the breakup of Season 3, Ren 'hands off' Nora to Jaune, asking him to look after her while working with the Exorcists. Nora attempts a rebound relationship with Jaune, which Jaune confides with Ren unsure of what to do. Ren misses Nora and regrets hurting her, but tells Jaune to support her as best he can, while both Ren and Jaune both work on the Lantern project. Still no romance, but Ren and Jaune do get closer when they play with the spiritual-bond between them. Ren is responsible for drawing Jaune out of the Lantern, a difficult process, constantly knocking him out after each Lantern-dive and forcing the two to share Jaune Dreams to communicate what's happened. Ren's final effort to draw Jaune and Nora's Grandmother out during the jailbreak runs into some complications, and Ren almost dies in the attempt. Jaune has to possess his heart to restart it's beating, along with ghost-CPR.
Ren and Jaune's next/last progression is upon return to Nora. Nora is happy to see Ren back, and forgives him for saving her Grandmother, but she also had a 'comfort' relationship with Jaune and even turned to Pyrrha during the rebound phase. It healed more than hurt, but it also made things complicated between them despite Ren understanding and Jaune trying to back out during the couple's reunion. Nora doesn't consider Jaune a third wheel though, as Nora is grateful to both of them and relieved for both of them, and doesn't want to let either of them go. So Nora doesn't, and in the renewed shared Jaune dream Nora brings both Jaune and Ren into a menage a trois in the first dirty dream they've shared.
From then on, Ren and Jaune are both Nora's 'boys,' and they learn to deal with it. Jaune and Ren are uncomfortable at first, uncertain of how it (and they) fit together, but Nora shows them how. Ren and Jaune gradually become more comfortable with it and each other. Ren and Nora are always involved together, with Jaune an occasional third, in the first outright three-way relationship of the Coven that spurs the curiosity/fantasizing of parts of Team RWBY. As the Coven transitions to polyamory, Ren and Nora lead the way with including others, with Nora in charge of her own little wing of the Team JNPR end of the Coven.
Once the RNP threesome gets out, the question of who tops between Ren and Jaune becomes a reoccurring joke, typically in the faux-hypothetical 'Ren, would you prefer to screw a dead guy or get screwed by a dead guy?'
Ah, yes. Gay necrophilia. This story was going classy places.
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Nora
A non-seer who none the less believes in ghosts, and does her best to protect them.
Nora and Ren's backstory is pretty much the same. Nora was left an orphan when her beloved Grandmother passed away, but her Grandmother became a ghost to keep watch over her. Ren and Nora met and bonded when Ren was able to see her Grandmother and play the medium. The period that followed was a golden time where a ghostly grandmother looked after the living children.
The golden time ended as a consequence of Nora's carelessness. Nora's exuberance caused her Grandmother to use up most of her aura, and taking a foolish risk that endangered her to Grimm ended up turning her Grandmother into a Revenant. Her grandmother became a mad ghost, a twisted perversion of the gentle and loving woman she had been in life and death, and was only stopped when an exorcist banished the Grimm ash and then sealed the Grandmother in a Lantern. Nora believed her Grandmother destroyed, never to move on, and has never forgiven the Exorcists or herself for what happened. Since then, Nora has done her best to protect ghosts and stop them from becoming 'bad' ghosts.
Nora's role in the story is mostly as an enthusiastic friend and defender of Jaune, a 'good' ghost who reciprocates her attempts at friendship. Nora is blatantly biased in favor of ghosts, giving them the benefit of the doubt, and so Nora is Jaune's most stalwart defender during the Cardin crisis. Jaune appreciates the faith, and Nora's near-sacrifice to save his soul, and is a faithful friend from then-on. Nora has plenty of energy to share to cover Jaune's aura worries, and is happy to be able to help. When spirit marriage is spelled out, Nora still goes along with it, equating being with Jaune with how she's with Ren. Nora's Jaune Dreams are bubbly, happy affairs where Nora's dreamscape comes up with crazy but fun things they can do, like riding pancakes down a river of coffee.
As thanks for her friendship, and his friendship with Ren, Jaune is instrumental in getting Nora and Ren together-together. Jaune says what Nora isn't brave enough to, and convinces Ren to take a risk, and the resulting happiness deepens the friendship between him and them. This even leads to three-way dreams where Ren and Nora and Jaune all share dreams. Rather than let Jaune be a third wheel in a romantic rendezvous, Nora ensures that they all have something to do together.
Cracks later form when Ren accepts an invitation from the Exorcists. Nora hates Exorcists, but is convinced by Ren and Jaune to allow it so that Ren can browse the Exorcists's accumulated ghost lore. Jaune is key to smoothing over the differences, and Nora accepts it as a temporary measure. The differences become too much at the end of Season 3, after the Lantern is destroyed and countless ghosts are released into the world. Ren leaves with the Exorcists despite an ultimatum from Nora, choosing to help the exorcists stop the bad ghosts that were released rather than help Nora protect the good ghosts from the Exorcists. Nora feels betrayed and heartbroken, and in her dreams turns to Jaune for comfort.
It's the first her Jaune Dreams almost become intimate, and for much of Season 4 Nora is heart broken and on the rebound. While she clearly still cares deeply for Ren, she also feels personally betrayed that Ren would side with the people who exorcised her Grandmother. In her turmoil, Nora turns to the last person she's thinks would betray her like that- Jaune- and pushes an almost desperate dream-relationship like Jaune had with the RWBY girls. It's unhealthy, and Jaune knows it's unhealthy, but it's less unhealthy than letting Nora be broken alone. Even as Nora is saccharine cheerful, she's also crying, and Jaune turns to both Ren for advice and Pyrrha for assistance in looking after Nora.
Nora is emotionally unstable- pretending things are fine, but having outbursts that prove otherwise, and at her worst becomes closer to Ruby and Yang- clingy, needy, and monopolizing. Nora's sense of betrayal runs deep, and Jaune's frequent departures aren't helping. When Team RNPP encounters the Badwitch coven, Nora falls victim to the false-happiness and stability that Brenda offers as she targets Team RNPP.
Ultimately what starts to break Nora out of her funk is Pyrrha, who's been Jaune's confidant and steps up to offer emotional stability to the team. After Jaune leaves another time, prompting a sense of irrational betrayal from Nora, Pyrrha lays down some tough love and enforces some emotional discipline. Pyrrha calls Nora out- firmly but honestly- and breaks through Nora's façade of denying the reality of Badwitch, loving Jaune, and not caring about Ren. Nora breaks down, forced to confront reality, but not alone. Pyrrha accepts Nora's break down without becoming rebound to the rebound, Nora gives up her false relationship in Jaune when she still cares for Ren, and Jaune is still there for her when he returns early to give her fore-warning of the impending attempt to break into the Lantern. Jaune tells her what he and Ren have been up to, how they've found her Grandmother and are going to try and break her out, and promises her that the next time she sees him or Ren will be when they break out of the Lantern.
Nora is terrified at the prospect- afraid that Jaune and Ren are both in danger in the effort. Nora is afraid that Jaune will get sealed, trapped like her grandmother, all because of her anger/grief over Ren. Nora prays for their safety, that Ren will keep Jaune from being trapped while Jaune will protect Ren from being punished by the exorcists, and in admitting her fears for Ren Nora breaks out of her rebound period of denial. Nora helps with dealing with the Badwitch coven, though she's the person most inclined to summon Jaune to help (and thus avoid the risk of the Lantern).
Of course, Ren and Jaune are successful, and Nora is infinitely grateful. Even if she can't sense her Grandmother's presence, she believes them and Ruby when they attest to her happiness, and as her Grandmother moves on Nora 'hears' a final goodbye. Nora is reunited with Ren, and reconciled- but also the same with Jaune. Even though Jaune was 'humoring' her during her rebound period, he tried to help her to a healthier place, and he risked himself for her and her Grandmother. That was real, that meant something, and that leaves a spark of something that doesn't go away just because Ren comes back. Ren is understanding, and Jaune tries to recede to the background, but Nora won't let him be a third wheel unless he's their third wheel. They're her most precious people, they're both her boys, and if she can't give either of them up she won't. In their shared dream, Nora resolves the contradiction by making the Jaune Dream a menage e triose.
Thus starts the first trilateral part of the Coven, and Nora's relationship with both. Ren's her main squeeze, but Jaune's a frequent second, and both of them have to live with it. The most secure in her new multi-lateral relationship, Nora is also the most willing to experiment or expand within the coven- especially with Pyrrha, who provided her critical emotional support at a decisive time. Nora runs the Team JNPR wing over the Coven, and is a key instigator of turning it into a combined relationship.
As for her role in the coven- as an enthusiastic member and willing spirit-wife (if platonic and for Jaune's survival at first), Nora goes along with just about anything with good cheer. She and Jaune are platonic and easy-going, until she conceives her own spirit weapon during the comforting after the end of Season 3. Nora is an eager advocate and defender of ghosts, especially against the White Fang's desecrations, and that shapes most of her relationships within the group. Like Weiss, Nora is mostly a supporting character until Season 4, where her part of the plot arc focuses on accepting the harm 'bad' ghosts bring to the world and the justification for the Exorcists. Once Nora is able to understand their perspective, if not their stance, Nora is able to forgive Ren for his goal of trying to help and reform the Exorcists. Nora is the first to be deceived/misled by the Badwitch Coven as it tries to assimilate RNPP, but her turn-around is decisive in overcoming the Bad Witches.
Nora's coven name is Sister Boo(p), either Boo or Boop, which Nora does a lot when playing around with ghost Jaune.
Nora's relic is an Oracle Bones set, including sets of multi-sided bone-dice. Oracle bones are used for fortune telling, with allegedly predictive abilities or to commune with the dead. Nora uses them for fortune telling, or to play games with Jaune, like a Remnant Dungeons and Dragon. Jaune helps his friends cheat at dice.
Nora's relationship with Jaune is an extension of her relationship with Ren. A bit latter, a bit less, but still important due to Nora's importance on ghosts. Despite a false-relationship during the comforting/rebound period, it's Jaune's efforts to reconcile her with Ren and bring her Grandmother back that spark something genuine. Nora is the first and the easiest to accept multiple feelings for multiple people as part of the Coven's dynamic, turning it into less of a Jaune-centric web and more into a multi-lateral context.
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Pyrrha
The non-seer partnered with the ghost of the boy she killed and can barely interact with. What could possibly go wrong?
Pyrrha is Jaune's killer, a fact he knows but which otherwise goes unbelieved by most for most of the story after Pyrrha 'magnanimously' shares the blame from Weiss. Pyrrha's role as Jaune's partner and killer really messes her relationship with him, killing off canon's crushing and replacing it with a mix of guilt and assumed responsibility. Mixed in this is Pyrrha's entirely non-canon trait of being something of a narcist, and wanting everyone's approval and adoration even as the real her is less than ideally noble.
Jaune and Pyrrha's relationship gets off to a slow start due to Pyrrha's guilt at killing him, Cardin framing him for spreading her semblance secret, and their inability to communicate easily. Because they can't communicate, Pyrrha is a more distant relationship early on, with Ruby and Ren and Nora being Jaune's closest companions. When the Jaune Dreams start, Pyrrha is again left out, having not eaten of Jaune. This puts Pyrrha as the least-close relationship for some time. Pyrrha disapproves slightly of Jaune's early immaturity, but doesn't really have the grounds to criticize harmless fun. Pyrrha's silence goes cold, however, when her Semblance secret leaks, with Jaune as the suspect. But even if she disapproves Pyrrha won't let Jaune fall to murdering Cardin, stopping Jaune from falling completely, and plays a key role in saving him. Afterwards Jaune admires her- but not as a fan- and their relationship soon improves. Once Blake figures out the secret for Jaune Dreams and has the BBQ, Pyrrha begins to have Jaune Dreams of her own which allow her and Jaune to actually connect and talk to eachother.
Jaune and Pyrrha's relationship is much different from canon, in that there's never any real romantic tension from Pyrrha's end. Post-Cardin Jaune admires and looks up to Pyrrha, who's a bit uncomfortable with the high opinion. Pyrrha does train Jaune in their dreams though, and that does bring closeness, but Jaune and Pyrrha lack means to bond outside of dream-training. Pyrrha isn't a seer, and can't interact with Jaune, and is a bit too guilty to entertain interest. Pyrrha stays out of the drama between Jaune and Team RWBY, and generally sticks with supporting Renora as a couple. Jaune actually shows more signs of interest/awareness of Pyrrha as a girl than Pyrrha thinks of Jaune, though there's hardly anything much when Jaune is dealing with Team RWBY's plots and interests as well.
Pyrrha's view is that helping Jaune survive Beacon to move on and die peacefully is a matter of honor, her responsibility as his killer, and only later part of being a friend. Despite dutifully going along with spirit-marriage as if it were an arranged marriage, an expectation she has to uphold, she has absolutely no jealousy when Yang or anyone else shows interest in Jaune. Pyrrha is actually Jaune's go-to girl for asking for help with Yang and the other girls once a relationship starts, putting Pyrrha in the awkward position of being relationship advisor despite being (a) forever alone, (b) advising a triple-timing ghost relationship that violates what little she does know, and (c) being a virgin herself. Pyrrha is embarrassed at the more intimate elements of Jaune's relationships, and sticks to the safe, vague, 'reasonable' advice as best she can.
Amusingly, Jaune always finds some great and deeper meaning in Pyrrha's bland platitudes, making his opinion of her grow even more. Jaune is always talking Pyrrha up, seeing her as the best person ever, despite Pyrrha's frequently less-than-noble and even self-serving reasons for her faux magnanimity. Pyrrha turns out to be a sort of narcist- eating up people's approval and admiration of her- and so while she has a lot of canon's personality cores, her selflessness is actually a lot more grudging than she lets on and often done on the expectation that it will make people like her more. Pyrrha can't resist showing off from time to time just to get admired, even as she truly does want to be accepted as an equal rather than just on a pedestal.
Jaune and Pyrrha's friendship is sedate, stable, and gets publicly contorted into something more with Salem's arrival in Season 3. Despite Salem's comedic joy Jaune's relationship with Yang, she's still out for revenge against his killer. Salem scares the truth out of Crocea Mors, goes on the warpath against Pyrrha, and effortlessly crushes her with dark magics and telekinetic ghost powers. Pyrrha is only spared by Jaune's intervention- and spur-of-the-moment claim that while Yang is his girlfriend, Pyrrha is his fiancé. Pinned against a wall by a single hand that could crush her throat with ease, Pyrrha has no choice but to play along- and then be smothered by Salem as she's welcomed to the family.
Jaune and Pyrrha's farce of an engagement is one of the primary plots of the tournament arc, even as Jaunce begs/convinces Yang to let it stand because Salem really will kill Pyrrha if she doesn't… and will make it hurt if she 'breaks Jaune's heart.' Endless riffing on Arkos of canon- from 'love at first sight' to 'I speared Jaune to a tree so that no one else could have him'- as Pyrrha plays a yandere tint. The farce only grows, though, as more and more people catch wind of it. First the tabloids, then the press- all leaked by an 'inside source' at Beacon with juicy gossip of Pyrrha, Jaune, and the Coven in general. The tabloids are fed by Cinder, who's trying to distract/disrupt the Coven as the media tries to investigate sordid rumors of covens and consorting with ghosts. Pyrrha's reputation takes a beating, in the 'she's a necrophiliac yandere who's enslaved the soul of her crush into a love-toy' sort of way.
By and large, it's treated as Pyrrha's karmic comeuppance for having gotten away with killing Jaune for so long. Pyrrha powers through, Jaune does his best to help with humor, and in the Jaune Dreams where they can talk Pyrrha has Jaune make it up to her by… basically doting on her every whim and desire. Peeling grapes, foot massages, that sort of thing. The spoils of being a Champion is to be spoiled, and discovering that Pyrrha likes to be spoiled is one of the first real points where Jaune peels back Pyrrha's polite shell, as Pyrrha and ghost-Jaune's relationship develops on the discoveries that while Pyrrha is nice and polite and does the right thing, she does have a slightly selfish side to her as well.
Pyrrha doesn't have too large a role in the plot, serving as the Ace in non-ghost fights and following the lead of the Seers who can actually understand Jaune. Pyrrha is the public face of the Coven, giving the friends of Jaune some good press, and helps Jaune deal with the publicity of being the first public ghost. Pyrrha comes to the fore in the finale, though, as Pyrrha is the one to break the Lantern. Doing so in order to save Jaune and Summer, Pyrrha frees countless ghosts good and bad across Remnant. In the dust-up that follows, Pyrrha is held responsible for just about everything, and exiled/tasked to find and stop Cinder to redeem herself of the various charges cannibalism, necrophilia, and murder. When Pyrrha is exiled, Jaune gives her Crocea Mors as a sign of trust and solidarity, sticking with her as partners for the quest (even though Jaune spends much of Season 4 being summoned across Remnant in order to accompany everyone at least once a week).
An Arkos tint to the spirit marriage would be a long-term goal, but it would only even start in Season 4. The idea of Jaune and Pyrrha's spirit marriage is 'an arranged marriage that becomes closer over time,' where Pyrrha starts the process out of guilt and a feeling of obligation, but gradually becomes a friend and more.
What really brings Pyrrha and Jaune closer together is, ironically, Jaune's stressing over balancing all the other spirit-wives of the Coven. In Season 4 Jaune is constantly on the move and being summoned across Remnant to help the divided Coven. Each only has him for a day, but they're all on different continents and in different contexts: Ren and the Exorcists, Blake and the White Fang, Weiss in a haunted mansion, Yang and the hunt for Summer and Raven, and of course the rest hunting for Cinder and dealing with the Badwitch Coven that pretends to be nice and helpful. Jaune is worn, worried for them all, and balancing their needs both physical and emotional.
The emotional health of the coven is especially in doubt as Blake deals with dead babies, Yang and Ruby get jealous in different ways, and Nora is on the rebound. That doesn't even touch Weiss, Ren, and Jaune's own problems, and his desire to keep them from worrying. Jaune is running out of energy, figuratively and literally, trying to keep the Coven stable.
Pyrrha gets closer by being the rock and stability Jaune needs while shouldering the burdens she can. Pyrrha asks for nothing in her dreams, allowing Jaune to rest, and takes up the burdens she can without having to be asked. Aside from giving up some of her own allotted time so that Jaune can focus on pressing problems, Pyrrha helps as she can with good advice and handling the issues that Ruby, Penny, and Nora have with Brenda Badwitch and otherwise. Pyrrha consoles Nora about rebounding on Ren with Jaune, stabilizing her and helping Nora address her real feelings rather than pretend otherwise. Pyrrha helps with Ruby after Jaune snaps in stress, kindly assuring Ruby of Jaune's concern on one hand but pushing Ruby to understand the needs of others on the other. Along with… something else for Penny, Pyrrha leads-from-behind with the girls of the Cinder mission, guiding them to address the Brenda Badwitch coven on their own while Jaune handles the other crisis plots. Fewer summonings allow Jaune to rest more, prepare better for the tasks ahead, and cherish the time he does spend with R/N/P more for having fewer worries. Pyrrha's dependability shines through to Jaune, even as Jaune's diligence and hard work for the sake of everyone endears him to Pyrrha.
Pyrrha and Jaune culminate near the season resolution, where Jaune runs a gauntlet of helping Weiss deal with ghosts/helping Blake escape the White Fang/helping Ren extract Nora's grandmother from a Lantern, and coming back dead to tell the tale. Pyrrha is the last of the Coven that Jaune shares a dream with before departing, borrowing deep from Pyrrha's aura to have strength for the tasks ahead and being sent off with a kiss on the cheek for luck… and Pyrrha is the first Jaune visits when he returns post-Lantern. Jaune visits Pyrrha in her dream worn and nearly fading out of existence, but victorious. Jaune is nearly crashing he's so in need of aura recovery, but before he can try to check on the other girls Pyrrha assures him she already has. Pyrrha bids Jaune to rest with her, and Jaune gratefully agrees. Before he crashes, Jaune embraces Pyrrha and promises her anything she desires as thanks for being so reliably amazing in general, and amazingly reliable for him. Pyrrha spends the rest of the dream lying beside Jaune, stroking him as he rests, and musing about how he can live up to his promise to her after all.
Arkos is a slow burn from there on, more of a simmer than anything. Pyrrha is an emotional cornerstone for her team, the coven, and a rock of stability for Jaune. She doesn't try to be first in any way, but in doing so is Jaune's confidant even as Jaune is a confidant for others. Pyrrha gradually takes what she wants, and what she wants is ultimately inclusion as an equal (but an admired equal) within the coven. Pyrrha is the one everyone in Team JNPR can turn to, and she gradually (and, not-quite-sinisterly, deliberately) turns that into her own niche in the Coven. Pyrrha is like the oldest wife of a man who has many young ones- not necessarily the most passionate, and not necessarily the most emotional, but solid and respected despite the years.
Pyrrha's story plot is nominally the core plot of the rest of the story- to find and stop Cinder. It's as much the Coven's mission as Pyrrha's mission, as it's not particularly personal, but as the Coven does great things Pyrrha (by hook and crook) ends up getting the credit, and avoiding the blame. The Coven's adventures is publicly Pyrrha's redemption tale- no matter how much (or how little) she deserves her public rehabilitation.
Pyrrha's coven name is Sister Killer… more for her killer moves than her killing Jaune. Most of the Coven never even really knows she does it. Pyrrha also has a reoccurring joke of contemplating killing any witnesses to this or that transgression, which builds onto a gag of Pyrrha actually being a bit of a narcist and only being nice and selfless because it's the easiest way to be adored.
Pyrrha's relic is a compass made of Jaune's bones. Most compasses are useless for Pyrrha, but this one unwaveringly always points towards Jaune('s spirit). With it, Pyrrha can always find Jaune.
Pyrrha's relationship with Jaune was hit above. Pyrrha's relationship really only starts when the polyamory is in full swing, though, as Pyrrha is late to the party. Pyrrha's actually pretty okay with that, and maneuvers herself into the Team JNPR triad that forms when Nora clings to both Ren and Jaune. Pyrrha has her own special tie to Nora after bringing her to her senses, is consistently indispensable to both Jaune and Ren, and ultimately invites herself in as a well-earned reward after some heroic quest cast in terms of giving Team JNPR (and the trio in particular) a break away from Team RWBY to have some time to themselves. Pyrrha's fantasy is to have all of Team JNPR waiting on her hand and foot like a noblewoman, and ultimately Team JNPR can comply.
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Jaune
Jaune is Juane and the center of the story. Do I really need to go into more detail?
Jaune's character is mostly about trying to live as a dead person, and being close to his friends. After the Cardin Arc in particular, Jaune realizes how precarious his afterlife is, and dedicates him to trying to repay his friends the favor of saving his soul. While Jaune's friends try to give him a good death, Jaune tries to help them with their lives. The whole Coven open relationship isn't intended, but just gradually… happens.
One of Jaune's best features to his friends is his discretion. Between the Jaune Dreams and other things, Jaune sees sides of his friends that most never do, and he respects their privacy while doing so. Even when things are embarrassing- or alluring- Jaune keeps confidence, which gives everyone more confidence to confide in them. Jaune doesn't play psychologist, but his presence does allow his friends to entertain their dreams without judgement or work through their issues. While Jaune is confidant to many, Jaune's own confidant is Pyrrha.
Jaune's spirit relationships are… not quite hidden from eachother, but not really open either. Everyone knows about spirit marriages, but from the start one of the rules of the friends is 'What Happens in Jaune Dreams stay in Jaune Dreams,' unless you feel like sharing. Weiss, Yang, and Blake know each other have dirty Jaune dreams, but tend to keep what and how they feel about Jaune to themselves. Most of all, no one treats the spirit marriages or Jaune dreams as 'real' relationships. Jaune's just… part of a fantasy, something not real and thus consequence free, and something that the girls can leave behind at any time for a 'real' relationship. The idea of being consequence free ends when Ruby conceives a weapon spirit, but as the spirit marriages become more Jaune is committed to upholding them all as best he can. This requires compromises- such as taking turns with dream-time- but Jaune is as committed to his coven as they are to him. The fact that the Coven starts unofficial and open is what allows the polyamory to develop over time.
At the end of Season 3, the cast splits in different ways and as if to force Jaune to pick and choose one over the others. Jaune refuses, and has developed his ghost power enough to more or less teleport to any of his relics that the friends each have. Season 4 stresses Jaune with balancing the various needs and wants of the Coven even as he tries to help them all handle their issues, and ends with a tour de force of the Blake, Weiss, and Ren plots.
Season 4 was never consolidated, and Season 5 and beyond was even less planned. Season 5 and 6, aside from cementing the transition to polyamory, would have reunited the Coven and left them a new sort of world to address and no end in sight. Plots could have allowed arbitrarily splitting the Coven from time to time to allow different aspects.
-A race against Cinder to find cities of the dead, ruled by ancient and powerful Crypt Lords, for a Lantern/leads on the Devils/other McGuffins. Would have featured standard undead nobility villains.
-A rising threat of the Devils, who are machinating social conflicts (like driving the SDC-White Fang War and so others mentioned here) to raise the risk of Grimm and for other goals. Arguably the Big Threat aside from Cinder.
-Cinder herself, who grows more and more powerful. Cinder becomes a threat of moon-shattering proportions.
-The White Fang Coven, which is using ghosts as weapons but is secretly manipulating Adam for their own ends.
-An Exorcist splinter group, hardline in the extreme, trying to ruin things for all ghosts and nearly killing everyone's souls in an attempt to 'starve' the Grimm into extinction so that a precious few survivors would inherit a 'pure' Remnant.
-A crazy Atlas nationalist/cultish group, who wants to restart the Penny Project and make golem armies to beat back the Grimm… and maybe conquer the world in the process.
-The Army of Angels, supplied with bodies by SDC, coming into the world to protect the innocent- and coming into conflict with the Exorcists.
-The rise of ghost-cults, which range from 'fanclubs for the deceased' to 'creepy villains.'
-Salem giving birth to Blake's once-aborted child, who is the epitome of 'creepy kid' and would be vaguely anti-christish if he (she?) weren't such a momma's boy/daddy's girl.
-An undead tyrant/super-villain, released from the Lantern that Pyrrha broke. A ghost that requires the entire Coven to beat it.
-Plot threads of the Primeval Empire, a tyrannical super-state of ye time past who enslaved the dead as golems and lorded over the living as god-kings before the Grimm destroyed it. Many of its surviving spirits are now the Devils.
-A ghost-tied super-weapon that cracked the moon when it saved the world from something vaguely super-Cinder-ish.
-The Coven turning outright polyamory. Team JNPR is its own wing, but also building things amongst Team RWBY (mostly with the arrival/involvement of 'Yang', a now guy-shy Blake, and possibly teasing Weiss with possibilities towards the point of her having suppressed desires).
-A Team Vacation/Team Assignment arc, where JNPR and RWBY split to remind them that, Coven or no, they are two separate Teams. Probably in a 'return to Beacon' concept, Team JNPR gets a vacation while Team RWBY gets a mission. Split would be key to furthering the polyamory elements of both teams- where Pyrrha gets JNPR, and 'Yang' and Blake make do without Jaune.
-A honeymoon/date arc, where the Coven collectively has to split for a period and Jaune is back to being summoned every day of the week to a different person to help them with something far more trivial and far more likely to involve private time gone wrong rather than sexy. Helping Ren with Exorcist paperwork, Weiss/Yang/Ruby visiting parents, sickness, and so on.
-Jaune increasingly running low on the Arc Family Aura reserves due to all the adventure. Jaune keeps it secret as to not worry everyone, but his (and Crocea Mors) time is running out for real. It's not enough to conserve energy- Jaune needs to start gaining more than he looses.
-The discovery of nature spirits and radiant aura absorption- a new way for Jaune to actually 'gain' energy from the living and his coven.
And so on. Thing is, there were way too many ideas to ever really do, and honestly… all of them could have happened, as part of that 'the adventures never end' concept. The core plot of Cinder and the Devils could have concluded, and the world-changes of the return of ghosts and everything else would have justified The Coven going out and addressing such things.
The shakiest of shaky core plots, to lead to an end-game-
-Jaune's eternal aura crisis getting serious
-Jaune discovering the way of the Nature Spirits and how to absorb aura from the living
-Cinder growing more powerful in the race for the necro lord artifacts
-The White Fang coven working towards the moon-shattering ghost weapon
-The devils looking to rebuild the Primeval Empire through an army of Penny-bot golems
All vaguely coming together towards a finale where
-Cinder is final boss after devouring devils
-The White Fang uber-weapon has to be used to kill her.
-Jaune dies- should-be-perma- in the process of killing Cinder. Jaune is a hero, and is able to Move On.
-Jaune has a 'beyond the other side' sequence, a chance to reincarnate/start over from the start and live a 'canon' life.
-Jaune's coven/friends bring him back from the dead, and the other-side, breaking all known rules of ghostdom.
-The Coven is Big Damn Heroes, and Jaune finally gets a homunculus body.
-Jaune asks his coven to marry him, officially.
-End with a poly-wedding, specially Ruby and Yang at the same time.
And then do Adventures Ever After, with maybe epilogue scenes for how everyone ends up in the long run happily ever after. Those epilogue end-states might be-
Ruby- The Virgin Wife. The final marriage scene has living Ruby and body-less Jaune trade I-do's, while the relationship stays in Ruby's head/dreams from start to finish. Ruby never has a physical child, but raises Crescent Rose and is a second-mother to a lot of the ghost-kids. Ruby lives the longest of all of them, and her eventual death of old age surrounded by living and dead loved ones is what reunites the Coven on the other side. Ruby becomes a ghost, like everyone else before her, as no one would move on without the others. Ruby's passing as a ghost allows them all to move on together as a Coven, the 'true' end for the story.
Yang- Two Wives In One. Yang and 'Yang' are basically two sides of the same soul, both eventually on board with it, with 'Yang' getting to wear the dress and walk down the isle with her mother(s) and father while Yang does the ceremony as a ghost. Homunulus Yang and Homunculus Jaune 2.0 have many kids, while the ghost Yang/'Yang' helps rear the spirit-kids.
Weiss- The Angelic President. Weiss takes over SDC on her own, which causes her to physically leave the Coven in time, but she's never alone in spirit. Weiss remains close and is the favorite aunt who spoils all the kiddies. She gets regular visits from her Coven sisters, but not as often as shrieks are heard in the Schnee mansion. Few brave the thought of the haunted Schnee mansion- fewer still stay when they realize it's not screams of fear. Weiss has twins- another creepy kid duo- one with ghost-sight and one with ghost-hearing- who are never lonely as they realize just how full the mansion really is.
Blake- The Purrfect Witch. Blake's a full-time witch, and leads the revival of dream-magic in the world. Hurt by Adam and the White Fang, Blake never looks beyond the Coven for a relationship again, but never needs to either. Blake never formally gets married, and doesn't have another living child, but she does conceive another weapon spirit or two to fill Gambol Shroud's components. Blake's child would be the anti-Christ of Remnant, were it not such a momma's boy/daddy's girl and raised with so many morals.
Ren- The Bromantic Exorcist. With JNPR's help Ren becomes leader of the Exorcists, reforming them into an organization that works with good ghosts to hunt down the bad. Ren leads a project to gradually empty the Lantern prisons of souls, allowing countless ghosts a chance to move on and dispelling the bad ghosts before they can be released in-mass. Despite being happily married to Nora with children of their own, and something on the side with Pyrrha, what everyone really remembers is his multiple spiritual knock-ups from Jaune, despite his insistence he never bottoms to a dead man.
Nora- The Valkyrie. Nora eventually joins the Exorcists with Ren and Pyrrha and heads up a special enforcer unit that protects ghosts from people as much as the other way around. Nora is the heart of the Team JNPR poly, with Ren and Jaune being 'her boys' and Pyrrha being 'her girl,' and woe be the knees of anyone who belittles them. Nora has children, spirit and living, who never know a world where spirits and the living existing together isn't normal.
Pyrrha- The Coven's Champion. Pyrrha eventually redeems her name with the defeat of Cinder, and serves as the Coven's public face thereafter. Accepted by her Coven-sisters, and loving the lime-light of being a world-champion, Pyrrha joins Ren and Nora in the Exorcists and keeps JNPR together. Pyrrha has three children in time- one red-headed, one blonde, and one with black hair. Pyrrha ages like a fine wine- only getting more elegant with age.
Jaune's coven name is… Jaune.
Jaune's Relic is Crocea Mors, his weapon and weapon spirit. Crocea Mors eventually talks to Jaune, since they (and Yang) share the same residual aura needed to survive. Crocea Mors would eventually be reunited with its mother, Joan of Arc. Also a prime candidate for a perma-death in the end-game.
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Author Note:
Rest of the characters coming up last.
Team JNPR was a bit odd to work with, since their relative importance is the inverse of their role in most stories. Ren and Nora are incredibly important, while Pyrrha is much, much, much less so. Writing a Ren and Nora plot was interesting, especially when dealing with the idea of romance. I dabbled on the Harem/poly aspect for a bit- considering limiting to just Team RWBY- but I figured if I was going to stoop to design a poly, I might as well go all the way. Ren and Nora were the best options to shift some of the balance away from Jaune being the center of everything. Ultimately, while RWBY was generally Jaune-centric in set-up the JNPR was meant to be more team-centric.
Still, Pyrrha was a pretty minor character all things considered. Without the early-story plot hooks, she didn't have much to do after killing Jaune. Still, her dynamic- of helping stabilize a poly- is actually a concept a friend and I worked out, for how a late/newcomer to an already established poly might actually work out in practice.
Will say that I liked the idea of Ren who joins a nominal 'antagonist' side. Ren's an ideal character for being the reasonable character, and the Exorcists were meant to be a 'reasonable' faction at the end of the day. It's a problem, they're a means to deal with it, and while they might not be the right way they're not without justification either.
Also- and I'm ashamed I didn't think of it before- someone came up with the perfect name for 'Yang'- Yin.
Yin and Yang. Two souls, one body. I wish I'd thought of it myself. (Or would Ying work better? Hm.)