[@ReaptheMusic]
1 - She's got some hubris issues with her big sister and wings. That's about it. Cannon characters in RWBY aren't based very heavily on their themes, just loosely inspired by them to varying degrees. I followed the example of the RT Animation RWBY crew here and did the same. It's just a basic inspiration, so don't read too much into it.

2 - It's just beams. The intensity of the beam depends on how long she charges it before firing. Longer charge means stronger beam means larger drain on her Aura.

3 - Total coinky-dink. I mean I have no particular problem with steampunk, but it's not really what i had in mind when I wrote this character.