#/is the magic fight between ozma and salem

[bestworstcase]

i do think it’s thematically important that the maidens are inherited in this specific way, it’s not an accident that when the narrative sets down the rules the potential violence is not just remarked upon but given emphasis and used explicitly as justification for the aura transfer machines. nearly everything ozpin does is rooted in keeping the maidens within his control—selecting candidates in anticipation of their deaths, giving the branwens bird forms to identify maidens when the line of inheritance jumps the tracks, chaining the maidens to these vaults, etc—and his greatest adversary in this endeavor is the maidens themselves, because the magic preferentially selecting maiden-killers is, in effect, the magic fighting against this control.

why does the magic transfer itself like this? it will not be controlled. throughout the years ozma and his allies have devoted enormous effort to dictating the Final Thoughts of anyone who receives this power in order to maintain control over it (& their abject failure in this regard leads to the invention of the aura transfer machines); meanwhile the magic binds itself to "random" heirs if the candidate its host has in mind is unsuitable, and prefers to go to ozma’s enemies when it can.

(and do mark that. the person in the maiden’s Final Thoughts is explicitly only a suggestion, one the magic can and will disregard if he or she is unsuitable. ozpin et al believe that these candidates are only rejected if they are 1. male or 2. too old, but none of them can read minds; and as ozpin says, maidens choose themselves. it’s just as likely that there are additional disqualifying criteria, such as the candidate being coerced or just not being spiritually compatible. there’s no reason to think that KILLING A MAIDEN couldn’t be a disqualifying act if the magic were unwilling.)

of note in this regard is that cinder breaks amber’s aura (orange) before using the beetle to draw out the magic (golden):

which matters because the magic is attached to aura and separates at the moment of death; as i said in the last post, the grimm beetle is successful because it respects the magic’s own rules. cinder breaks the outward projection of amber’s soul and then shoots her in the back (symbolically, killing her) and then claims the magic as she begins to die. had she walked up and slit amber’s throat here instead, she would have almost certainly inherited all of the magic too. the grimm beetle thumbs the scales a bit but in the context of the magic’s rules, it’s playing ball.

whereas:

when cinder uses her arm to drain raven’s/penny’s auras, she doesn’t gain any portion of the spring/winter maiden’s magic, nor do either of them suffer lasting harm in the vein of amber (coma) or pietro (holes burned through his aura).

so there’s nothing special about grimm that allows them to violate the magical rules. all evidence suggests that the ATMs don’t work for this purpose either: as soon as amber dies, the magic rips free, and cinder’s grimm arm can harvest aura but not magic. it follows that in the event of a complete aura transfer, the magic would detach from the donor aura as soon as the donor died, leaving the recipient with two souls and no magic. there is a degree of wiggle room (under particular circumstances you can convince the magic to begin separating before the previous maiden is fully dead) but you can’t outright cheat.

which is the whole point. you can’t take a maiden’s magic without killing her and you can’t circumvent the maiden’s agency by stealing the soul of its host. the maidens are unbound by death. and i think there’s a literal causal relationship between how ozma treats the maidens and how they choose their hosts—he can’t use them as weapons without losing them, or outright delivering this magic into salem’s hands. nor can he hoard them or hide them away forever because he can’t dictate their final thoughts.

[howlingday]

A New World

"So nice of you to join us, Cinder."

"My queen." Cinder bowed, holding out the Relic of Knowledge to the Queen of Grimm.

Taking the relic from her hands, she then notices the girl standing next to her. "And who might this be?"

"This is Neopolitan, your grace." Cinder answered. "She's an... asset in my getting the relic."

At this, Neo rolled her eyes. From there, she noticed the group begin to devolve into bickering and in-fighting, with only the scary woman in black acting as any authority. Suddenly, the wall behind the throne became a window with a clear view of the approaching Atlas. From here, in what she assumed was the head of monstrous Grimm, Atlas seemed so small. She and Roman used to dream of hitting banks here, but now that she was so close, those dreams seemed less interesting, especially without Roman here to share it with.

Then, in the distance, she saw the silhouette of something. Something in the air a distance away. It was too large to be a bird, and it was too small to be an airship. As it drew closer, Neo could see exactly what it was, pointing at it in warning. It was a person, and they were heading right for them.

Smashing through the "window" of the Grimm, a howling, blistering cold wind blustered into the room. The man with the scorpion tail opened fire on the figure hovering over the throne, only to be forced to the ground with a wave of a hand. Then it happened again to Cinder, which brought a smile to Neo's face before she too was forced to the floor. Emerald, Mercury, everyone in the room was forced to kneel to this floating figure.

Except Salem.

"A bit dramatic, don't you think?" The witch asked, standing from her throne to look at the intruder.

"It's necessary." The figure replied in a woman's voice. With a tap, she landed on the floor next to Neo. "Especially since you aren't affected by my semblence."

"Oh? And what's to stop me from ending your semblance?"

"This." In a blink, the relic flew from Salem's grasp and into the stranger's hands. As Salem reached out to destroy her sudden foe, the relic was held between them, in danger of being destroyed. "I'll be taking this, Salem."

"You know my name, but I don't know yours." Her eyes narrowed. "Who are you? Another one of Ozma's soldiers?"

"No. Not anymore." This earned a smirk from Salem. "I will release your soldiers, but they cannot attack me." Cinder was pushed down further into the ground by a boot, leaving the woman straddled over Neo. "Especially this one."

"I cannot speak for them," Salem said, seating herself on her throne again, "but if it means an end to this standstill, then I can give my word that I will not."

Leaping from Cinder's shoulder, causing her to grunt in pain, the woman landed a distance away from the group. Neo stood up quickly but knew better than to act. The others didn't and were ready to strike when Salem raised her hand. Most of them stood down. Most of them.

A fireball flew from Cinder's hand, sending the sphere of inferno hurtling towards the stranger. The woman ducked and rolled underneath, leaping into the Fall Maiden. Magic brought blades to bear as Cinder charged her opponent.

As Neo watched the two duel, she noticed that this was the first time she got a good look at the stranger. Her body was covered completely in red armor, head to toe, with a helmet that spit in the center as a Y for her to see. Neo also noticed that the relic hanging limply from the stranger's hip.

"I am here to usher in a new world." The woman said. "And I have an offer for you, Salem." With a swipe, Cinder was knocked onto her back and sliding across the floor before her queen. The stranger extended her hand. "Join me. End your pointless mission to destroy this world and instead let us create a new one. Together."

Salem was quiet for a moment before giving her answer. "You said you no longer served Ozma. But I can still sense their magic on you." With a glaring red eye, she asked. "Who are you?"

"SHE'S DEAD!" Cinder roared, throwing her hand out to blast her towering foe. However, the woman simply walked through the fire, flames licking over her body, but leaving no scars. Reaching out, she grabbed Cinder's wrist, the heated armor searing into her wrist, making her scream in agony.

"I have one question for you, Cinder Fall." The helmet around her head began to shift and shrink, curling into itself until it formed a ring around her head, like a halo, before stretching to look more like a crown. Green eyes pierced into Cinder's soul as scarlet locks draped over the openings in the crown. Cinder was in too great a shock to gasp. "Do you believe in destiny?"

"Well done." Salem said. "Neo, was it?"

Pyrrha turned away from the reeling Cinder, seeing Neopolitan behind her with the relic in her hands. She'd been so distracted by Cinder she didn't notice the relic leaving her side. And now it was in the hands of Salem once more.

"Now, give it to me."

Neo wasn't sure what was going on in her head in that moment. She was caught between two incredibly powerful people who could easily kill her without a second thought, and in her hands was the only thing keeping them from killing her. She blinked and saw the relic was still in her hands. Looking up, she saw Salem glaring with malice in her red eyes on one side and the suddenly revived Pyrrha pleading with a tenderness in her green eyes. Green eyes just like his.

She made a mad sprint towards the two of them, grabbing Pyrrha by the hand and leading her to the wall she arrived in. She flew in, so she can fly out, right?

"Seize them!"

"Hold onto the relic." Neo then felt arms wrap themselves around her and the ground leave her. The clamoring of killers and psychopaths became distant as cold wind filled her ears instead. Looking around, she saw Atlas getting closer and the massive Grimm she'd just left getting further away.

"Thank you." Pyrrha said, giving a sigh. "I don't know if I could have taken it from Salem twice." There was a silence for some time. "I'm... I'm Pyrrha Nikos, and, well, I'm going to become the new god of Remnant. Would you like to join me, Neo?"

[adoptable-fanfic-prompts]

RWBY writing prompt

The idea is this: when Ozma and Salem’s children died, only one had figured out how to use magic. As such, she was the only one able to enter that ‘Afterlife’ space and meet the God of Light. He’s initial surprised but is prepared to have her go to the official afterlife.

However, she inquired about her family. He explains that her sisters are currently unable to pass until either Ozma succeeds in uniting humanity (who will continue to ‘reincarnate’ until he either succeeds or fails) or when Salem completely divides humanity beyond repair (who cannot die until then).

The daughter wants to return, thinking she can get her family to get along again. God of Light tries to explain that it cannot be done, but the daughter states that she at least wants to try.

The God makes a deal with her: he cannot return her to her original body but instead allow her to reincarnate into the body of one without a soul. In turn, she may try to stop the war that is brewing between her parents. An additional catch is that once the relics are collected, the only way to summon the Gods in their true form would be if one of her parents knows that she is their daughter and kills her. The God of Light will also join her in an animal form (he wants to keep a closer eye on her after what happened between her parents (does not want any more mistakes happening)) with limited power.

So she begins her journey of reincarnation (both Faunus and human), the only common trait among her reincarnations are silver eyes. She cannot find her parents for a few reincarnations but she does continue with her life (finds love, has a few children who happen to also possess silver eyes, etc).

She only begins to realize her father’s reincarnation when he begins to recruit her descendants to fight in his war (as their Silver Eye ability becomes known).

Unfortunately, this ability catches the eye of Salem and results in the death of the daughter’s past reincarnated descendants and her current children. In one case, Salem herself kills her without ever realizing that the woman she killed was her daughter.she typically ends up dying before she can speak with him.

The daughter is also unable to get into contact with her father when she finds his reincarnation, typically dying before she can.

But she is now becoming more jaded. She knows that her parents do not realize that they are killing her and her descendants (either on purpose or because they recruited them), but it still hurts.

So when she goes to her granddaughter Summer’s graduation and finally meets Ozpin… she remains silent. She dies not too long after.

Her current reincarnation looks the most similar to her father’s first reincarnation. The God of Light (who has grown attached to her due to spending so many years together) convinces her to help in the battle against Salem, as Salem was getting too close to victory. The daughter inquired why he cares and the God admits that living so closely with humans and her has made him grown attached. She reluctantly agrees.

And so she begins her journey to Atlas, where her father’s current reincarnation was headed.

[historyhermann]

RWBY Volume 9 Spoiler-Filled Review [part 1]

RWBY is an anime-inspired science fantasy action-adventure series, using computer animation, which has run for eight seasons, known as "volumes". Originally created by animator and writer Monty Oum, in 2013, and continued after his death in 2015, RWBY is the flagship series of Rooster Teeth, a digital media company and subdivision of Warner Bros. Discovery. As a warning, this review will discuss death, suicide, blood, torture, animal death, physical (and emotional) abuse, and other related themes.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the thirty-first article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on April 26, 2023.

This young adult animated series primarily centers on the four primary protagonists: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long, with the series name deriving from their forenames. Set in a fictional world named Remnant, these characters, and others, train to become warriors (huntresses or huntsmen), so they can save the world from monsters known as Grimm, which are driven by fear and dedicated to destroying humanity.

Apart from the aforementioned protagonists, others, such as Ozma/Ozpin/Oscar Pine, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, Qrow Branwen, Robyn Hill, and Jaune Arc, help them fight against evil forces. Uniquely, the series has theme songs, primarily by Casey Lee Williams, at the beginning of each volume, which foreshadows what will happen, making the show unique in its own way.

The show's ninth volume is unlike the previous volumes, which had a classic conflict between good vs. evil, intricate story telling, horror elements, and character development. That is because the protagonists are stranded in a magical land known as the Ever After. Even so, they retain a semblance which allows them to have superpowers-of-sorts, so they can either manipulate objects, disorient people, use super strength, or have other abilities.

Morally grey characters are inherent to RWBY, including the Ace Ops or General James Ironwood. In contrast, Cinder Fall breaks from the strict dictates of her leader, Salem. The latter, and her enforcers, are determined to do anything to achieve their goals, even engaging in human experimentation. This interlinks with the blood, gore, and death of some characters.

The series' large focus on sci-fi and magic elements goes beyond characters like Penny Polendina (voiced by Taylor "Pelto" McNee), a cyborg girl, and scrolls which record and receive messages. Arguably, in this volume, the series has received a "directional reset" and ended on a strong note, even setting up a possible volume 10.

One of the most controversial parts of RWBY, up to the current volume, has been its LGBTQ representation. There have been lesbian couples, like Saphron and Terra-Arc, and lesbian characters who have crushes on the protagonists, as is the case for Ilia Amitola (voiced by Cherami Leigh). This was strengthened by the role of May Marigold, the first trans character in the series, in Volume 8. She was voiced by trans female voice actress, Kdin Jenzen. She did not appear in Volume 9 and Jenzen has been critical of the company's practices. This volume is the last one that Jenzen will be working on, as she was reportedly laid off from the company.

Some fans have held out hope that the Bumbleby ship (Blake and Yang) would become canon, especially after Arryn Zech, Blake's voice actress, confirmed her character as bisexual in May 2020. This came to pass in this volume and there have been hints of other possible romantic ships, which I'll discuss later in this review.

One of the strengths of this series is its visuals, which have improved dramatically from the first volume, and its voice actors. Furthermore, although the fandom of this series can be toxic, the show's fans have come up with colorful ship names. This includes femslash ones, such as Baked Alaska (Yang and Neopolitan), Blood Mint (Ruby and Emerald Sustrai), Freezerburn (Yang and Weiss), Ladybug (Ruby and Blake), and White Rose (Ruby and Weiss), even though some of these are problematic.

The surreal nature of RWBY's ninth volume makes it fundamentally different from the canon-adjacent anime series, RWBY: Ice Queendom. The latter focused on Weiss Schnee, especially on how she needs to "unlearn her white supremacist thinking" and become a better person. There was a non-binary character named Shion Zaiden (voiced by Hiroki Nanami, and Jenzen in English). It was confirmed in an interview with the show's staff and producers. Unfortunately, similar characters have yet to appear in RWBY, even though both series share fight scenes, strong visuals, and soundtrack.

RWBY is somewhat complicated by issues that Rooster Teeth has dealt with over the years. For one, actor Vic Mignogna, who voiced Qrow Branwen until Volume 6, was removed after accusations of sexual harassment. Ryan Haywood and Adam Kovic were either involved in scandals which related to their leaked nude photographs or grooming underage fans, in the case of Haywood. Furthermore, anonymous reviews focused on a negative crunch culture at Rooster Teeth, especially at their animation division, leading to the resignation of Gray Haddock (creator of gen:LOCK), head of this division, as a result.

Former hosts of Rooster Teeth programs stated that they received racist and sexist abuse from the audience. Jenzen argued that an upper manager engaged in transphobic and homophobic abuse. This was followed by other employees posting similar stories. In response, the company released statements arguing they were taking steps to improve the work culture, review pay parity, and even replace the entire Human Resources department, while reducing the number of shows being produced. These issues were compounded by the arrest of then-vice president of Rooster Teeth, Michael Quinn, for assaulting his wife, in November 2019.

In terms of RWBY itself, fans previously claimed that the show queerbaited after the death of a character in the show's seventh season, believing that Qrow Brawnen and Clover Ebi were canon. In reality, the series never directly showed them together. The argument that Clover's death is queerbaiting, is like saying Wednesday did the same by not making the friendship between Wednesday Addams and Enid Sinclair a romantic one, despite the false insistence of fans that it was canon. As such, it is no surprise that some see RWBY as a lost cause and not worth supporting.

From my perspective, I think that regardless of these issues, and the fact that Rooster Teeth seems to be a toxic work environment, RWBY still has value. This is because of the hard work of the animators and writers, known as CRWBY. In fact, I would argue that the latest volume is the strongest in the series up to this point and it has some of the best animation. Although some may balk at the show's style, or even claim that the protagonist's clothing constitutes fan service for the audience, the reality is that the show's style makes it stand out, apart from any other action-adventure science fantasy.

Unlike previous volumes, the ninth volume premiered on Crunchyroll on February 18, as part of "a one-year exclusive release with Crunchyroll", and it will then release on the Rooster Teeth website in 2024. This is a big deal because the series is primary show for Rooster Teeth and its streaming platform of the same name. So, it may portend the end or reduction of the platform.

Whether the worst for Rooster Teeth comes to a head, I'm not sure. It seems very likely that the show will receive a tenth volume, which may be the final season. I would be very surprised if RWBY is not renewed, as it has generated a lot of buzz, has generally strong ratings on Crunchyroll, and, undoubtedly, has thousands of people watching each episode.

The ninth volume of RWBY is captivating. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang try and find themselves, and anything they have lost. There are new characters like a talking mouse named Little (voiced by Luci Christian), the Curious Cat (voiced by Robbie Daymond), which fulfills a specific role in a land which has many characteristics of Alice in Wonderland, and enemies such as the jabberwalkers (voiced by Richard Norman). Little later becomes Ruby's emotional support animal of sorts.

I was further drawn into this volume by the story of Alyx, her brother Lewis, the Rusted Knight, and the Curious Cat. This was weaved together artfully, with the audience knowing as much as the characters about the real story as the series went forward. This included the revelation that Juane became the Rusted Knight and was reportedly betrayed by Alyx (voiced by Shara Kirby). He became trapped in the Ever After for over 40 years, causing him to become a "mature" older man, who has a steed named Juniper.

The volume interrogates Juane's hero complex. It breaks down when the town of the Paper Pleasers is flooded (possibly mirroring what happened to Mantle in Volume 8) and he can save none of them. He admits as much in the seventh episode, saying he "not ok" or "right". In some ways I see a parallel between Juane (voiced by Miles Luna) and General Ironwood (voiced by Jason Rose). Juane seems to be just as tired and angry at people, thinking he is "saving" people by making "hard choices". Ironwood is different as be became an unhinged military dictator who turned against the protagonists.

Even more than any previous volume, this 10-episode volume of RWBY has a specific focus on Ruby. She begins a downward spiral, although her sister, Yang, repeatedly tries to ask her what is wrong, often to no avail. Understandably, she is further shaken when her friends are shrunk to miniature size. She begins to have so much self-doubt that she isn't sure is a huntress/hero anymore.

This volume shows the extreme pressure Ruby is under as team leader, as she puts the needs of others ahead of her own. This is shown directly when she can't even use her weapon, Crescent Rose, in the show's seventh episode, after having flashbacks to traumatic events from the previous volumes. This is almost akin to the Steven Universe Future episode where Steven Universe tells his friend's mother about all the childhood trauma he has experienced over his life time.

Getting back to RWBY, at the end of episode seven, Ruby has a breakdown, asking why she has to be the leader. She criticizes everyone else for not devoting time to solve her problems, for helping Juane's "make-believe" friends, and seeming to disregard what she is going through. I thought it was interesting that none her teammates push her over the edge, but Juane, who has experienced as much trauma as her, ends up blaming her for everything that went wrong.

Although Juane has a valid point, it is wrong of him to put the blame on her entirely. In addition, Ruby's plan in Volume 8, to use the staff of creation to create paths to evacuate citizens from Mantle to Vacuo, clearly opened them up to a lot of danger. But, its failure wasn't entirely her fault. If Cinder hadn't asked about Ruby's plan, thanks to magic lamp, it might have been successful. Even so, they seemed to ignore the advice from the genie, in the staff of creation, who told them to "not fall".

This reality mattered little to Ruby, who felt overwhelmed by everything, and fled, shocking the rest of her team. Having Ruby snap at her team in the ways she did was inevitable based on what has happened through the previous seasons. In fact, she was already under a lot of stress by the end of Volume 8 and almost lost her life multiple times over.

In watching this volume, I am reminded of the mental health struggles of Steven in Steven Universe Future and Steven Universe, and Julian Chase in the ever-problematic gen:LOCK. However, it is different for Ruby. In the eighth episode, she pushes away Little and faces Neopolitan, a mute villain-of-sorts in a mansion, with Neo bringing back ghosts of Ruby's past to torture her. Through Roman Torchwick, Neo "says" that she will enjoy seeing Ruby break down.

At the end of the same episode, drinks a cup of tea, poured by Neo, with a leaf from the ever-powerful tree. She appears to end her own life, staring into the eyes of her sister, Yang, and feels that the world would be better without her. As this happens, her teammates remain in shock over what she did.

This serious tone of RWBY is only part of the show's mature, and distressing themes. It is coupled with death, loss, destruction, and horrific creatures such as the Grimm, which are attracted to those who are afraid or scared. Although such beings don't appear in this volume, the above scene is followed by the Curious Cat possessing Neo for his own ends. The devious cat sees Neo as an "empty host", and the cat-as-Neo is a being which Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Jaune fight in the last two episodes of this volume.

How RWBY depicts suicide is fundamentally different from how it is depicted in the continually controversial gen:LOCK. The latter featured all of the characters killing themselves, then each becoming the equivalent of a swarm of locusts to defeat the enemy. In the case of Ruby, there are questions as to whether she ended her own life, or she only engaged a suicide attempt.

The final nail of Ruby's descent into a dark place, Neo, is more than a villain. She is not completely heartless, even though she terrorized Ruby into the drinking the tea and killed Little with a twist of her heeled shoe. By the end of the volume, it is clear that she  may have some form of redemption or will become an ally-of-sorts to the show's heroes. Ruby even says that Neo will find herself, one way or another, as she falls back into the Ever After.

In terms of the tonal shifts in this volume of RWBY, they were not as well-executed as they could have been. At the same time, it should be remembered that a lot has happened in a short period of time, leaving Weiss, Blake, and Yang, especially after Ruby "ascends", without much time to process to process everything. Furthermore, it would be inaccurate to say that Ruby's teammates don't care about her, as they clearly do, in more ways than one.

The volume was effective in connecting the previous volumes to this one, with an emphasis on the themes of self-acceptance and self-love. Ruby exemplifies this directly. She isn't sure what choice she wants to make, even as those outside the tree, like Yang, Weiss, and Blake, accept whatever path Ruby wants to go down. At one point, Ruby thinks she might be doing more harm than good, looks at all of the possibilities in front of her, and grabs her mom's weapon. In the end, she embraces herself. This isn't as much change as some had been expecting, but it is a powerful message that you are enough, without a need to remake yourself.

The ever-present tree in this volume is shown to be a place of rebirth and rejuvenation, which does not simply resurrect and kill someone. Instead, ascension isn't death, but it is change, and that is the role of the tree. This is connected with the theme of this volume that you should not condemn yourself for mistakes you make, but accept them and learn from them. In fact, when the Curious Cat, which is vulnerable after the tree's leaves released him from Neo's body, argues that humans are weak, confused, incomplete, and break everything they touch, Weiss, Yang, and Blake disagree, saying Ruby is none of those things.

The volume nine finale of RWBY was one of the best episodes, giving background, but tying up loose ends, even talking about how the Ever After was created. It brought together the aforementioned themes and it ends with the characters walking through the portal to a place they are needed most: Vacuo. It was a fitting end to the series, if this is the last episode ever produced.

There is more about of RWBY's ninth volume, especially when it comes to LGBTQ representation, which put it on the map when it comes to all the representation in series this year. Episode 6, entitled "Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds", was written by Eddy Rivas, and directed by Kerry Shawcross and Yssa Badiola. The latter was known for her short-lived series, Recorded by Arizal.

This episode built upon previous interactions between Yang and Blake, with flirting or blushing at one another in this volume, and in previous volumes. Everyone is trapped in a Punderstorm, a literal and metaphorical crossroads, with individuals only able to get out if they either solve the problems or wait until the storm passes.

In one of the best-constructed and well-done queer romantic scenes I've seen in an animated series, Blake and Yang admit their feelings for each other, as the music swells, then kiss. Significantly, the characters almost express the feelings of the fandom, with Weiss and Ruby surprised to see them linking lips, while Juane says that it "feels like I've been waiting forever for that". It is something which many fans of the Bumbleby ship had been waiting for.

While the scene was hinted in the volume 9 poster, it was no substitute for the scene, which excited fans over the canonization of Bumbleby, including on the show's subreddit. Even the Bumbleby's subreddit was exploding with new content. It could be said that the episode set a high standard for women-love-women romance.

It is only rivaled by the developing yuri story within the recently ended yuri isekai The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, or the queer romance encapsulated within She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Dead End: Paranormal Park, Arcane, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Helluva Boss, Craig of the Creek, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, and Steven Universe to name a few recent series with prominent representation.

The episode itself generated discussion from the show's roundtable and even on All Good and No Worries, a Rooster Teeth show hosted by Barbara Dunkleman (voice of Yang), in an episode in which she talked with Arryn Zech (voice of Blake). In previous years, Zech and Dunkleman often hinted at this ship, stating their support for the ship, as did actor Kara Eberle (who voices Weiss).

The life of Zech somewhat mirrored her character, as she accused her ex-boyfriend, prominent actor Bob Morley, of verbal and emotional abuse, and said that Morley was furious when he learned that she was bisexual. Blake had been with an abusive ex-boyfriend of her own named Adam Taurus, who wields a chokutō and a gun, and attempts to take over the White Fang, peaceful organization originally aimed at improving conditions for the animalistic Faunus, a group of cat-like people.

In the penultimate season six episode, "Seeing Red", Blake and Yang kill Adam together, and touch their foreheads, which some see as a sign of romantic affection. Blake is also a bisexual character, like Zech is real life. In addition, during the discussion with Zech, Dunkleman admitted she is "not fully straight", but is "for the most part...fairly straight", while Zech talked about the struggles of dating as a bisexual woman.

It is clear that the romantic relationship between Blake and Yang was always planned, despite brutal shipping wars claiming otherwise. The canon nature of Bumbleby flies against those claiming the show's crew was queerbaiting. In fact, some made similar claims about the slow build-up of the romance between Marceline the Vampire Queen and Princess Bubblegum in Adventure Time, whose relationship, known as Bubbline by fans, was canonized in the series finale "Come Along with Me". It is not known if the CRWBY would ever an hour-long episode about Bumbleby, akin to the Adventure Time: Distant Lands episode "Obsidian", which almost exclusively focused on Bubbline, but would be great if that occurred.

The episode six scene was reinforced in other episodes: Blake and Yang fight together in tag team style, Yang protects Blake at one point, or Ruby sarcastically says she is "happy" for Blake and Yang getting their "feelings sorted out" when she has her breakdown at the end of episode seven. More powerfully, in the final episode, Blake and Yang walk through the portal door back to Vacuo holding hands just like Korra and Asami Sato in the Legend of Korra series finale.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Continued in part 2

[bafflement]

Deaged Oz AU - Finding Oz

Felt like that very first scene needed expanding, so here it is.

Qrow flew… literally… through the devastation that Cinder had wrought on Beacon, heading for the vault. He wasn’t too late, he couldn’t be… he couldn’t lose Oz. Not like this, not when everybody had already lost so much. Yang was injured, Pyrrha Nikos was dead, and yet he’d only just be informed that Oz was… missing.

Missing, dammit. Not dead, he wasn’t allowed to be dead. The man he loved was meant to be bomb proof, indestructible. The thought that he’d fall so easily to someone like Cinder, of all people? One of Salem’s pawns?

And yet… and yet that would be exactly the damn fool decision Oz would make, wouldn’t it? His life for his students, he’d always told Qrow that was the way he wanted to go out. Protecting the youth, protecting the future. Yes, he’d come back… but it wouldn’t be Oz anymore, would it? He’d be filtered through whoever the next version was. There’d be no more quiet nights spent in Oz’s ridiculous sitting room, sipping whiskey and watching Oz consume those sugary beverages he adored so much. No more evenings spent under the stars while his lover told him all the names they’d had however many thousands of years ago Ozma had lived… or during the vast  gulf between then and now. One taloned foot clenched at the thought of just how lonely Oz must have been, however long this stupid war had consumed him already. The talons bit into his leg slightly, but Qrow was far too panicked to feel it. If he’d died, alone… if Qrow hadn’t been there to save him, to help? How could he claim that he loved him, if he hadn’t even been there for him as he died. From the scorched walls he was flying past, the rubble… it would have been many things, but never an easy death.

He wasn’t going to think about that. Not yet, not while there was still a chance that Oz was still alive. Magic could do a lot, after all. Maybe there really was time for one last miracle? For Oz, of course… not for Qrow. He hated his semblance, had tried to keep away as much as possible but what if it hadn’t been enough? What if his mere background presence had… had… no. No, Qrow had NOT killed Oz. That wasn’t the way things worked. If he was dead at all. Oz was a competent Huntsman, one of the very best, after all. This was hardly his first fight, he would be okay.

But then… Huntsmen fought Grimm, not each other. Human targets were rare enough to need entirely separate fighting styles. Oz was very old, or a part of him was, he had to have killed before. But. But Cinder Fall had been masquerading as a student and if his ridiculously perfect lover had one major flaw, it was his protective streak. She had been a student, had posed as a student… could Oz have bought himself to fight her at his full strength? He would have seen her as a child, she’d fought in the Vytal festival, for the Brother’s sake. Oz… could he hurt a child, or would he just have let her kill him?

The vault, by the time he made it there was a mess. The air stunk of burned hair and blood and some of the walls were collapsing into heaps of masonry. He glanced at the ceiling and swore as it bowed. Whatever… whoever… was down here might not have much time.

He started the search, hoping against every fibre of himself that he’d find Oz. Every instinct in him was screaming that it was hopeless, that this was a tomb, but he had to try at least. If nothing else, the next version of… him… would need his cane. Finally he spotted it, the scrollwork seemingly untouched by the devastation around it. He scooped it up, eyes still scanning and froze. There was a figure, curled up in a heap and surrounded by rubble, but as he watched, astounded, their chest moved with a breath. Then a second, could Oz somehow still be alive? He felt his heart race for an instant before it sank like a misaimed stone skipping on a river. Whoever this was, they were far too small to be Oz. His lover was six foot six and big with it, this figure was, well… tiny. Diminutive and child like, and… what was a child doing here, how could they have found their way into a situation like this? Oz would never have let… but no, there was no time to wonder.

Qrow snatched the child up, cradling them protectively in arms that were shaking from adrenaline. Most of the smell seemed to be coming from the kid, but he’d know more once they were both out in the light and he could take a good look at them. If Oz was still here… he’d run out of time to find the body. At least he had the cane, and this unexpected burden… blessing? From such a tragedy. As Oz would have implored him, ‘save the child.’ He just hoped that, somehow, the lift was still functional, there was no way he could carry the kid out of here as a bird.

Miracle on miracle, the lift seemed untouched. As it made its slow rise towards the surface, he glanced down at the child. The kid hadn’t stirred, a dead weight in his arms. At least they were breathing, which was something, but… were their arms meant to be that skinny? He wasn’t at all certain how old the kid was, but surely Yang and Ruby had had more muscles at however old this poor brat was? If so, if they were truly a civilian… had Salem bought them there, had that been why Oz had let her kill him. And he really would have had to have let her kill him, there was no other way she should ever have got the drop on him. But threatening a child, one she’d bought there for that very purpose? That seemed very Cinder like, from the little he’d seen of her. He clenched his teeth, gripping the kid harder as he did so. They still didn’t stir, whatever had been done to them seemed to have knocked them out pretty good. That was worrying, for more reasons than one. Hopefully someone could help once they got to the surface?

Dammit Oz, how long was this lift going to take? There was making an entrance, then there was overkill. This lift fell in the latter category at this point. He concentrated on the kid. Boy, girl? He wasn’t sure at this point, just glad that they were still breathing. As long as he was concentrating on that, he wouldn’t break down. He couldn’t, he couldn’t afford to. Not yet, not with what was looking like a child’s life on the line. They were so young though, far too young for Beacon. Where were their parents, had Cinder or… worse… Salem killed them when they snatched the poor kid up? It would certainly track, but…

One tiny hand seemed to shift slightly, reaching for something. With a pang, Qrow realised that they seemed to be reaching for the cane, but… surely he was imagining things? Oz had told him about the reincarnation process, what was likely to happen when he died. This wasn’t it, not in the least. Yet the child smelled of ashes and blood and he had found him very close to that cane. He’d been the only sign of life Qrow had spied down there, though his eyesight wasn’t as good in the dark. Was it possible? He spent a second, daring to hope, before dismissing the thought.

Qrow could never, ever hope to be that lucky. After all, it wasn’t in the cards for someone like him.

He squinted at the sudden glare as that damn lift finally came to a halt. At least they were out of the vault, the probably-a-tomb. Wherever Oz was, whoever he was now, he’d find him again. At least the child was safe.

He glanced down at the kid, only to blink in shock. They seemed to be dressed in clothing that was far too large for them, torn, bloodstained and badly burned. But what little was visible under the burn marks was a worryingly familiar shade of emerald. The child’s skin and hair were dirty and soot smeared, but just as pale as Oz’s were now he could see them in the light of day. Too pale, actually, though at least they were still breathing. If this was Oz, if they hadn’t just snatched a kid that looked similar and decided to torment the adult Ozpin with this kid who could have easily been their child, then what had happened? What could have gone so badly wrong that this could occur? What would happen, now, anyway? As it was, the boy was far too young to return any feelings that Qrow still felt for him. Oh, he loved Oz, he always would. But this child? No, he needed his protection but… what if they woke and their mind was as young as their body? What if he truly had lost Oz? Forever… what if his initial thought down in the vault was right and this wasn’t Oz at all. He scanned the surroundings, but although there was frantic activity in the distance, nobody seemed to have noticed him or his burden just yet. Could he risk handing maybe-Oz over to the medics, though? There didn’t seem to be anything too wrong with him that he could see, and as the surge of adrenaline left him, he could feel the kid’s aura tickling against his own.

It was strong, too strong to be coincidence. Familiar, too, though it was a painful thing to realise. This had to be Oz, it couldn’t be anyone else. But he hadn’t stirred, hadn’t woken. Was entirely vulnerable. Qrow ached to go and see to his nieces, but Oz needed him right now. He couldn’t leave the boy alone, if Salem found out that he was trapped like this… there was no telling what she’d do with the unconscious, too thin child Oz currently was.

Well, there was. He knew exactly what she’d do if she got her hands on the little boy. She’d torture him, make an example of him. Swallowing back sudden bile, he gripped the kid harder. Just hard enough for the clothing to shift slightly, revealing a half melted pin in the vague shape of a cross. Qrow let out a sob at the state of it, at the state Oz was in. How could they keep going, like this? What if he never woke up? What if he died, would Qrow be forced to watch as his heart shattered even further than it was already? What if this was actually a ten year old Oz, devoid of any memories, no longer the wizard? If he died, it might be possible after all. There was too much he didn��t know and for all the warnings, Oz had never mentioned anything even remotely similar to this.

Blinking down at the weakly twitching fingers, the only sign of life beyond the rise and fall of Oz’s chest, he placed the cane in the outstretched hand. Oz gripped it tightly enough that his knuckles went white, but some of the tension seemed to drain out of him. As his face relaxed, Qrow readjusted his guess as to age downwards. If he was eight, that might explain the size a bit better. But then, Oz had always been small until he suddenly wasn’t. There were very good reasons it was referred to as the growth spurt from hell, after all. He shook his head, glancing over at the medics again. They still hadn’t noticed, or if they had then they were choosing not to get too close to him. But then Qrow had rather a reputation, they had to know that even if he was injured he was unlikely to go to them willingly. Besides, they had far more important people to treat.

He couldn’t see Glynda, or any of the others from Beacon. That was good, to an extent. It meant that he’d have a chance to get Oz to safety, somewhere he could heal from whatever had happened down in the vault. Time to think of a plan of sorts, to get things sorted… to learn what had happened, if Oz even knew that, either. To prepare, if the worst should happen and he really was just a little boy now. Although, had he been, Qrow rather doubted the cane would have calmed him as much as he did. Where was the easiest safe house, though? Who could he trust to have Oz’s best interests in mind when he could not be there, and he would have to check in with Tai and the girls soon enough. Oh. Oh, yes, she was rather the obvious choice, wasn’t she? Besides, Mistral was the closest kingdom anyway, Salem’s probable next target. Hopefully she’d think Oz was dead, he was pretty certain Cinder would have thought that or she wouldn’t have left the body long enough for whatever had happened to happen. She would have just killed him again, or worse, presented him as an offering to Salem. Qrow shivered at that, Oz’s still form shifting slightly but not waking, not stirring.

Rise and fall, rise and fall. Watching him breathe seemed to take up most of Qrow’s attention at the moment, but he needed to get moving. He could wrap Oz in a blanket once they were far enough away from Beacon so as they wouldn’t be stopped. Hopefully anyone that saw him would assume Oz was an actual kid and Qrow his caregiver. In a twisted way, he was right now. And to think, the day had started off so well.

He managed to make it away from the aftermath of the fall of Beacon without being stopped of questioned. That was odd, considering the lack of luck that Qrow always carried with him like a miasma, but maybe something somewhere knew just how important this was? They might not be looking out for Qrow, but maybe they were looking out for Oz?

He glanced down at the kid again, taking in the familiar features in rather unfamiliar sizes. Maybe his first guess was right and he really was nearer ten, but either way he wasn’t anywhere near old enough to fight yet. He would still be at least three years too young for even one of the primary Huntsman’s academies, after all. Maybe they could stop him from fighting if and when it came to it? Probably a bad bet though, knowing Oz, but it was an amusing one none the less. Oz had always been the protector, but now? It was rather likely that he’d be the one being protected. Qrow couldn’t help the snort at the image that bought up, but as he lay him down to wrap him in a blanket, his eyes were very sad. What would happen, really, if Oz never woke up? He was breathing, true, but there was no telling what sort of damage could have been caused by whatever it was that had turned him into a kid. It was probably magic, [Qrow was one of the few people who had been privy to Oz’s semblance and this certainly wasn’t it] but that just raised more questions. If it was magic, was it even something that they could reverse? Should they? From the state of Oz’s suit, it was more than likely that he’d be gravely injured as an adult if not… worse than injured. Ah well, it was only a decade and Qrow could wait. He just hoped Oz would still love him, when the time came. If it was Oz, and, well, that remained to be seen.

At least the person he was counting on knew he was coming. If it turned out Oz really was just a kid now, then that would be as safe a place as any for him to be raised, it wasn’t that likely Salem would really go looking as long as she thought he was dead after all. Qrow felt like the weight of Remnant was crushing him at the thought, though. If they’d lost the wizard, if Oz woke as a child and nothing more and the wizard never reincarnated… then they’d lost. Salem would run unchecked with nobody to counter her. So few people even knew about her to start with, how would they ever get them to believe that she was real? And without Oz, they’d have to. Without Oz, it was hopeless. They weren’t even certain where all the maidens were, and one of them was Cinder of all people… and Cinder was on Salem’s side.

Maybe their powers would vanish if the wizard died? Qrow was trying not to think about it, but the worst possible situations usually happened around him. After all, what was his semblance if not a curse to himself and those around him? Dooming Remnant, though? That would be a new low, even for him. Maybe Oz really should never have trusted him, never kept him around. If the worst happened, then the Tribe was right.

He swiped away the tears, angrily, watching Oz as he slept. It was getting dark, Qrow really needed rest himself, but Oz was too vulnerable to leave. Oh, Qrow could deal with any Grimm that popped up, he could really do with something to hit right now, but that wasn’t the point. Oz was never still when he slept, not really. That this sleep was too deep even for his normal nightmares… was that a good thing, or a bad thing? Could anything about this particular situation be viewed as anything bar a disaster? But no, Oz was still alive, even if he was a kid right now. He’d wake up, he’d be Oz, everything would be as okay as they could make it. Or at least as okay as anything really could be under the circumstances, weird though they very much were.

Qrow pulled a face, even as he got out his bedroll, positioning it so as to be between Oz and anything that might want to attack, trusting the fire to act as a sufficient barrier on the other side. He did need to rest, even though he knew he wouldn’t actually sleep.

They still had a long way to go to reach Mistral and safety, after all.

[sonofthetrigod]

This one is a bit dark, even for me. An AU where Salem is forever reborn, Ozma is immortal, Oscar is a golden-eyed mage, and the merge really is the hostile takeover people mistakenly believe it to be.

The sky is choked by fire and smoke. Wails of the dying and the screams of those left behind echo all around. Remnant is being reduced to hell. A black cloak fluttered in the wind that fueled the flames.

“Are you satisfied yet?” a brown-haired boy asked, a cane clutched in his hands like a lifeline. There’s a fearsome glare in his eyes as he takes in his opponent. “All of this suffering. All of this death! Just so you can find a way to kill Ozma and the gods!”

A girl with black veins surrounding her face stood opposite him wielding a scythe. It, like the girl’s hair, had red in it once. But now they were both just black and grey. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand, boy,” the girl said, sounding far too old and weary for her seemingly young frame. “We’ve fought through so many eras. So many of my lives. I’ll be free once it’s finally over.”

“Ruby wasn’t ‘one of your lives’, she was her own person! She wouldn’t have wanted this!” he spat, shifting into a more aggressive stance. “She was... She was everything to me!” His hazel eyes gleamed gold, a reminder of the magic he’d been born with in this world of Semblances.

“She was,” the thing that wore Ruby’s skin acknowledged, because Salem wasn’t a human anymore, not really. “But she’s not anymore. Just another victim to my curse... Poor girl. Don’t you get it, boy? I’m not responsible for the loss of your beloved. Direct your rage at the gods.”

There was an expression of rage on the normally calm young man’s face. “You could have submitted to her,” Oscar said. “Ozma told me about how your curse works, when I was desperately trying to find a way to save Ruby. You could have given up to Ruby, to any of the young women you were reborn within. The gods may have cursed you, but you chose to keep coming back.”

Magic crackled in the air between them. The magic of a witch who is eternally reborn and the magic of a boy born to a war he’s never understood. But as he stares at the corrupted face of the girl he’d loved, the girl he will always love, Oscar finally understands what he’s fighting against: A curse that will steal away innocent people. The gods may have created the curse, but it is perpetuated by this... undying witch. This witch who stole away the girl he loved.

[aknolan]

What about the balance of life and death wouldnt penny retune would kinda ruin the balance? (Just a question not a rant)

Once again, I appreciate the clarification, I'm gonna answer this with three points that all stand on their own with different perspectives for why this doesn't worry me.

First is she already returned once, what's another time gonna do? She's still the same Penny, and none of the characters were concerned about the balance in v7 when they found out Pietro brought her back. There's no real reason they should start now.

Second, Oz and Salem are right there fucking up the whole concept of death repeatedly. And they're both like that because the god of light wanted that. The same god of light that talked about the balance of life and death being super important. Bringing Penny back through Magical Wonderland Fuckery one time really doesn't compare to Salem's immortality or Oz's repeated cycle of death and reincarnation.

And third... the balance is made up. It's not a natural law of the universe. The brother gods made it up. When they're arguing over darkness bringing Ozma back, light specifically says it was what they agreed on. It's not a law of the universe, it's a rule the brother gods made up. And then they destroyed humanity and left. Why should the new humanity value their rules? The brother gods aren't Remnant's gods. Not really. They're the ones that abandoned Remnant, and everything that happened after? It came without their input, and in their absence.

I know that in fiction the topic of characters coming back from the dead always has a lot attached. The main concern of course being, how can death still matter after this? But the setup here in the Ever After? It's very easy to make it impossible to reach the Ever After on purpose, because it runs on fairytale rules. And so if they need something from the Ever After to make this work, there's no chance to revive other characters once they leave. Especially if there was another requirement that Penny fulfilled but which typically really won't come up, like something with the maiden powers, or Jaune, or the staff of creation giving her something unusual.

I don't think revival should stay on the table for any given character, but I do think this is the perfect time to make an exception.

And then there's the general belief in the balance between life and death. Different people believe different things. Personally, I just look at the context of the story. It's the brother gods that tell us about this balance, but are they a reliable source? Does it really have to be that way? These are the guys that killed everyone on the planet, including people who had nothing to do with their fight, because they were annoyed. They were never in any danger. They treated humanity like an ant colony that they were fucking around with until a few of them tried to take the gods' sandwich and then they put a flamethrower on the whole colony. And moved on to the next ant colony to try something new.

If there's a reason you think the balance between life and death is important that doesn't have to do with the gods though, feel free to clarify.

[goldlightwriting]

Changes I would make to RWBY

There's a lot under the cut, so take heed.

-The gods of Light and Darkness gave humanity two forms of magic: sorcery and witchcraft. Sorcery was generally considered the better of the two as it allowed for the performances of miracles, while witchcraft could be used to invoke curses and summon monsters called The Creatures of Grimm.

-Salem was a young woman accused of practicing witchcraft. She was sentenced to be executed for this breaking this taboo, but was saved by a traveling sorcerer named Ozma.

-Ozma was a hero, an adventurer and a scholar, seeking to uncover the world's many many mysteries. Among the secrets he sought to uncover were the fabled Silver Gauntlets.

-The Silver Gauntlets were ancient relics said to be capable of individually bolstering the magical power of any who wear them. When used together, they could supposedly even open a gateway to the realm of the gods.

-Salem and Ozma traveled together for a time, searching for the elusive Silver Gauntlets. However, as the search dragged on, Salem would slowly start to employ more and more immoral methods, including witchcraft.

-Ultimately, Salem and Ozma would be driven apart. Their once-joint search for the Silver Gauntlets became a race, and eventually even a war as they formed their own factions devoted to finding the Silver Gauntlets. Eventually, other factions begin cropping up as well.

-Salem and Ozma eventually each manage to claim one of the gauntlets for themselves, elevating their powers to new heights.

-The war spreads in intensity and all sides resort to using more and more powerful magics against one-another, shattering the moon in the process. Eventually, the gods themselves intervene. Most of humanity is stripped of magic and transformed into half-beast creatures that would come to be known as the Faunus as punishment for their sins.

-Salem and Ozma manage to shield themselves and some of their followers from divine judgement with their respective gauntlets.

-Salem discovers a forbidden ritual that allows her to maintain her youth by fusing herself with Grimm essence.

-Ozma, knowing that Salem's ambitions won't be halted, tasks his descendants with opposing her.

-Ages pass, and the era of magic becomes little more than legend.

-Magic itself lives on in only a handful of bloodlines, though it has weakened to the point that most who are born with it can only use a specific spell. This is how Semblances come to be.

-There are five types of Semblances: ~Augmentation (Allows users to enhance their physical form) ~Illusion (Allows users to deceive others' senses) ~Conjuring (Allows users to summon familiars or avatars) ~Elemental (Allows users to manipulate a certain element to a limited extent) ~Distortion (Allows users to distort reality to a limited extent)

-A secret war is waged for ages between Salem and the bloodline of Oz, as well as their respective followers.

-The world is infested by Creatures of Grimm summoned by Salem, though few truly know where the beasts originate. Nevertheless, Huntsmen and Huntresses are trained specifically to fight these beasts.

-The Oz family creates academies around Remnant to train Huntsmen and Huntresses, with Ozpin running Beacon Academy.

-Ozpin hopes to be the one to end the war against Salem by uniting the people of Remnant against her. He must do this discreetly, however, as he knows that revealing the truth of Remnant could ignite another great war.

-Oscar, originally born Ozkar, was a child of the Oz family who was sent away to live a mundane life without ever knowing his true lineage. He will be forced to join the war against Salem, though, when his home is attacked by her forces.

-As time passes, the world begins to rely more and more on technology, inventing weapons fueled by special crystals called Dust.

-Dust is excess magical energy used in the Ancient War that settled and crystalized deep underground. It is used as a power source for machines and weapons, though burns out rather quickly.

-Dust no longer correlates to elements, but it does allow for objects and materials to be enhanced (ie red dust can strengthen durability, yellow dust decreases an object's weight while maintaining its mass, blue can repair damage and purple increases an object's weight.)

-The Faunus are looked down upon and reviled as inhuman creatures, though few still remember that they are descended from the original sinners cursed by the gods.

-Faunus no longer have Semblances and cannot use magic, but make up for it with their animal abilities.

-Pureblood Faunus more closely resemble animals, but Faunus-Human offspring resemble humans with vague animal features.

-It is possible for hybrids to have Semblances.

-The Four Maidens are descendants from one of the oldest magical bloodlines that stood with Ozma during the Ancient War. Each of them possesses powerful elemental magic that grows stronger during a specific season: fire in summer, wind in fall, ice in winter and flora in spring.

-Both Salem and the Oz family vie for the power of the Maidens, viewing their strength as a valuable asset.

-There can only be one of each Maiden at a time, so the previous Maiden of every season must pass before a new one can awaken.

-Cinder Glass is descended from the Summer Maiden bloodline, though she was orphaned as child and adopted by Madame Glass. Cinder spent many years suffering abuse in her new household until she awakened to her power, which she used to kill her adoptive family and burn their hotel, The Glass Unicorn, to the ground.

-Cinder was eventually found by one of Salem's acolytes and told of her heritage, as well as the existence of the other Maidens. Cinder is informed of a ritual devised by Salem to take the other Maidens' powers, but Cinder simply steals the ritual to use for her own ends.

-Cinder holds a grudge against both Salem and the Oz family, viewing both parties as responsible for her parents' deaths and her abandonment to the cruel Glass family. Her goal is to attain the powers of the other Maidens and tear down both sides.

-The other Maidens are Amber Akasha the Winter Maiden, Coral Rose (renamed from Summer Rose) the Spring Maiden and Pyrrha Nikos The Fall Maiden. *Pyrrha's Semblance of magnetism will be replaced with the power to control wind. This could, in theory, still allow allow her to perform similar feats such as lifting things with tornadoes or creating gusts of air to throw opponents off-balance. It would also fit better with her Achilles parallels, since he was said to be able to move as fast as the wind.

-Cinder steals Amber's power before Volume 1, meaning that she starts with only ice and fire. Cinder will acquire the Fall Maiden's powers by killing Pyrrha in Volume 3.

-After Coral's demise, Ruby will become the Spring Maiden, though she doesn't fully awaken to this power until witnessing Pyrrha's death. Even then, Ruby will struggle to fully master and utilize the powers of Spring.

-Petal Burst is now an early manifestation of Ruby's Maiden Powers.

-Silver eyes by themselves will have no special power(?)

-Cinder will be the antagonist of RWBY's entire first arc, acquiring the powers of all the Maidens, even from Ruby. After she is defeated, Cinder will bestow powers of Summer, Winter and Fall to Yang, Weiss and Blake respectively, while giving Spring back to Ruby. *I haven't decided on Cinder's ultimate fate nor the exact reason why she does this. I just think it makes too much sense to give these powers to the main cast when they all already have vague seasonal themes to start with.

-The Maiden powers will be significantly weakened after being transferred to Team RWBY, allowing them each a degree of element control while ensuring that the main cast don't become too overpowered.

-The Schnee family are among the most powerful conjurers on Remnant, retaining stronger traces of their ancestors' magic than most. As such, they can all summon glyphs that can be used as platforms and barriers, but every Schnee descendant also has the ability to conjure a guardian unique to them.

-Winter Schnee will be renamed to Whisper Schnee. *If it wasn't obvious, I am renaming everyone with a seasonal name because it's too on-the-nose or otherwise serves as a red herring with the identities of the Maidens.

-Weiss can no longer combine Dust with her Semblance, but she can still empower Myrtenaster's blade with various Dust energies to change its properties in battle.

-Weiss's summon, as well as the Armagigas automoton she battles, are both based on the armor of Nicholas Schnee.

-Whisper's summon resembles a giant bird.

-Whitley's summon, which is only unlocked during the Battle of Atlas, resembles a guard dog.

-The descendants of the Branwen tribe are known to be capable shape-shifters, specifically with the ability to turn into birds. This is a rare form Augmentation Semblance.

-Qrow and Raven are brought into Ozpin's inner circle during their time at Beacon. Initially, they're tasked with protecting Coral Rose, the Spring Maiden, who has enrolled as a Huntress. Unfortunately, this brings them into direct conflict with Salem's forces.

-Qrow gets cursed with a Bad Luck Charm that brings misfortune to everyone around him, forcing him to isolate himself. Raven, now traumatized by the fate that befell her brother and furious that Ozpin hadn't prepared them for the full extent of what they were facing, goes into hiding.

-Tai and Yang are both left to believe that Raven simply abandoned them, when in truth she was fearful of remaining by their sides and getting them mixed up in the secret war.

-Yang's Semblance, Burn, doesn't actually gain fiery properties until she becomes the Summer Maiden. Until then, it only gives her a strength boost but drastically drains her stamina.

-Blake is a half-Faunus/hybrid in this continuity. Her father is human (since Ghira pretty-much looks like one in the canon anyways) while her mother takes on more of a cat-like appearance.

Ghira is no longer the former leader of the White Fang, but he does still lead Menagerie; he used his connections to establish it as a safe-haven for Faunus and hybrids.

-Other hybrids include: Sun, Velvet, Neon, Ilia and Adam.

-Adam's Semblance is now Beast's Roar; he can build up energy as he takes damage, then unleash it all once during his next attack.

-Velvet no longer has a semblance. Instead, she simply learns other fighting styles through careful observation.

-Despite being a hybrid, Adam despises humanity and only thinks of himself as a Faunus. He covers his entire face to hide his more human appearance.

-The White Fang fights for equal rights of Faunus and hybrids alike, though grows increasingly extreme thanks to Adam.

-Despite this, there are even some faunus that hold prejudice against hybrids.

-Penny doesn't die a second time. She gets rebuilt and permanently rejoins the main cast after they journey to Atlas. Also she doesn't get an organic body because it serves no purpose.

*Not currently sure what to do with the relics of Creation, Destruction, Choice and Knowledge.

Characters that no longer have Semblances because they're not used/shown often enough or just because their abilities don't need to be magical:

Ironwood, Coco, Fox, Neptune, Mercury, Jaune, Ren(?), Tyrian, Scarlet, Fox, Yatsuhashi, Octavia, Elm, Marrow, Maria(?), Cardin, Peter Port, Professor Oobleck

Anyways, that's all for now. What do you guys think?

[sinqrowithascythe]

Another weird idea could be that none of my last posts are true but the knight is an ancestor of Jaune who got caught up in the magical fight between Ozma and Salem by accident who everyone thought died, but has become a knight in the magical ever after since falling in so many years ago and being re-forged by the blacksmith we saw in the trailer (not certain on whether he'd be friendly or foe, definitely seems like a foe so far)

[convoy914]

History of RWBY in Chronological Order (Volumes 1-9)(May Contain a Few Assumptions):

So uh…yeah I did a thing, if anyone’s interested here it is

● In the beginning, there was The Tree and The Ever After. From The Tree were born Two Brothers, who learned of destruction & of creation as they expanded this land into Acres & gave the succeeding inhabitants roles. Talking animals, walking statues, & odd creatures. Everything & everyone in the Ever After serves a purpose, & if they cannot fulfill it, they’re “reset”, or “Ascended'' via the Tree. Eventually, however, The Two Brothers  became curious about what lay BEYOND the Ever After, & desired to do more. And so a Door was opened to the Wider Universe, with a way left for them & their creations to return. To take up their roles, they created The Curious Cat to help those to The Tree, & The Jabberwalker to permanently destroy what’s beyond repair. The Blacksmith, an aspect of  The Tree, helped the abandoned Afterans find their purpose, as The Cat grew resentful & The Jabberwalker terrorized.

● The Brothers' activities prior to their creation of the World that would one day be known as Remnant are unknown, but what IS known is that it was an “experiment” of theirs, as they became Gods to this barren world. The Elder Brother, the God of Light, re-created plants & animals & ecosystems to inhabit the world, though they were much…simpler than their predecessors. The Younger Brother, The God of Darkness, jealous of what His Elder had done, created creatures of spite & destruction much like The Jabberwalker: The Creatures of Grimm. Eventually, the Two came to an understanding, & collaborated on creatures that would all possess the same innate capacity for Knowledge, Creation, Destruction, & Choice as Them: Humans.

● The First Age of Humanity was one of magic and fantasy. All could wield magic, and the Gods lived among their creations, offering guidance when asked-though only the Elder Brother was ever asked. And so it was, until the birth of two people who would lead to the end of the “experiment”: Salem and Ozma. Salem, a woman locked in a tower by her cruel father, and Ozma, a young warrior who freed her. And they lived happily ever after-until Ozma died of sickness, and Salem’s grief caused her to accidentally cause a fight between the Brothers, who cursed her with immortality as punishment

● Taking this as an opportunity, she rallied the people of this world to overthrow their gods, which ended in the Younger Brother wiping out all life on the planet save for her and the Elder to declare this world a failed experiment, a mere Remnant of what it once was. And so they left, taking the magic with them…and shattering the moon in the process. Eventually, through as of yet unknown means, life returned to this world, but not as it once was

● The power of Dust, the human subspecies known as The Faunus, and a mere Semblance of the power they once held, fueled by their souls, their Auras. And constantly under threat from The Grimm, no running wild without their creator to hold them back. Salem herself became part Grimm after attempting to kill herself in the Grimm Pools. A being of infinite life with a desire for nothing but death. Human and Faunus cultures still rose and fell….and it was into this that Ozma was reborn, tasked by The God of Light to prove whether or not this planet is worth saving: He’ll reincarnate, live life after life, but in a way where’s he’s never alone. And he’s told of Four Relics, each representing the four gifts they gave humanity, which when brought together will summon them back for the final judgment: If they’re united, the Gods will return and bring the magic with them. If they’re divided, this world will be wiped from existence

● With all this in mind, Ozma reawoke on a very different world than the one he knew. And his first order of business was to find Salem, still alive after all this time. The two rekindled their relationship, and Salem suggested that THEY be the new gods of this world, to unite it. And so they did, spending decades on The First Kingdom, an Empire where they were worshiped as gods. They even had a family, who inherited their magic-something that only they possessed. And it was with this that Ozma started to realize what he was doing, and explained the whole situation to Salem. This caused a rift between them, which ended in their Empire destroyed, daughters dead, and Ozma shifting into another person

● For thousands of years since, Ozma and Salem fought a shadow war for the fate of this planet: Ozma spent entire lifetimes drunk, until an encounter with four Maidens rekindled his faith in humanity, and he gave up a great deal of his magic to empower them, which would pass from person to person like his soul. Salem took direct control over The Grimm, actively setting them on humanity and the faunus and bending them to her will. People with slivers of the God of Light’s magic, the silver eyed warriors, would emerge, but would often be hunted down. Salem’s goal would become to destroy the world-as she’s grown so tired, and the stipulations of the curse means that if the planet goes, so does she. In theory.. So, divide humanity and the faunus, summon the Gods, and have them wipe the slate clean

● At some point, two humans, siblings Alyx & Lewis, somehow fall through to The Ever After, meeting with a time displaced Remnan known as The Rusted Knight & The Curious Cat as well, who wished to use them to get answers as to why their creators left them to make humanity & whom Alyx had promised to bring back to Remnant with her. Alyx left a mess around the Ever After, culminating in Alyx poisoning The Rusted Knight to get to The Tree w/Lewis & The Cat. Upon reaching the Door, tho, Alyx had a crisis of conscience over what she had broken, & so while Lewis returned to Remnant, she stayed…only to be killed by The Cat for her “betrayal”. Lewis would write an edited account-with himself removed-of this adventure as “The Girl Who Fell Through The World.” Believed to just be a story by the people of Remnant, it is in fact VERY real. And what it holds in store for its visitors…depends on them.

● In one of his lives, Ozma found The Relic of Knowledge, and asked the Spirit within three questions: Where are the other relics? What powers do they possess? And how can he kill Salem? The answer to the last one is-he can’t. She’s immortal, completely and totally. From then on he’d have to settle for a stalemate. When Ozma was the King of Vale, one of four nation states of the modern era, the Kingdoms of Mantle and Mistral declared war on him, a brutal war that lasted 10 years. In the aftermath, Vale stood victorious, with Mantle, Mistral, and even his own ally Vacuo surrendering to him. He could have conquered the world then, FORCED it to unite…but he wasn’t going to make THAT mistake again

● Instead, the Vytal Accords had the Kingdoms remain separate, but had their inner workings revised: No more kings or emperors, instead they would be ruled by Councils. Inventions such as the CCT Towers to bring the kingdoms closer together. And each would have a school, an Academy, to train warriors to hunt down the Grimm in lieu of armies that are bound to a single kingdom…in theory. And, secretly, to guard the Relics underneath them, each one sealed in a vault that could only be accessed by a specific Maiden. And so the modern age of Remnant was born, but it wouldn’t all go easy from there. It’s not that simple. It never is

● The Faunus, long a minority among Remnant’s population, had been various degrees of slaves their entire lives. And they finally got sick of it, launching a revolution of their own. In theory, they won, promised equal rights at long last…but in practice, they were given an island to be shoved into, not even considered its own kingdom, and what laws WERE passed were rarely enforced. Nicholas Schnee founded the Schnee Dust Company as Mantle was slowly supplanted by the new Kingdom of Atlas, held aloft by the Relic of Creation. And it seemed Atlas had learned NOTHING. Exceptionalism became the name of the game, and they became the only kingdom to have a standing army

● Still, it seems like things were looking up-but Salem has always been watching in the shadows, making her own moves to tear apart any unity that Ozma attempts to create. And she’s hardly going to stop now. Indeed, it might be even easier now. Hunting silver eyed warriors like Maria Calavera (who survived, but blinded), gathering human and faunus minions of her own by convincing them that only SHE could get them what they need. And so it continues, as Ozma reincarnates into Ozpin and becomes the youngest Headmaster ever appointed-in body, at least

● Now directly in charge of Beacon Academy, Vale’s school, Ozpin started to take a vested interest in one team in particular: Summer Rose, Taiyang Xiao Long, Raven Branwen, & Qrow Branwen. While the other headmasters are aware of the true purpose of their schools and the threat they face-tho noticeably not the full extent-he would take other agents as well, such as Team STRQ. Summer was a silver eyed warrior, and he gave the bandit born Qrow & Raven the ability to turn into birds. As this was happening, Jacques Gele became head of the SDC, driving the Schnee name into the ground as he created a monopoly on Dust. Ghira Belladonna, Sienna Khan, & others formed the White Fang, a movement dedicated to equality with…questionable results

● Eventually Summer, Raven, & Tai formed a family. Qrow was the fifth wheel. Raven and Tai had a daughter named Yang Xiao Long, but Raven abandoned her family shortly after to return to the Tribe, motivated out of fear of the unstoppable horde. Around this time, Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee are born, as young Cinder Fall is abused in Atlas. Summer and Tai have a kid of their own called Ruby Rose, & a small time after Summer vanishes on a mission she thought up with Raven-some attempt to stop Salem on her own? Whatever the case, it didn’t end well for her, and Ruby & Yang were deprived of a mother for a second time (W/Yang learning of her birth mother in the process and almost getting killed trying to find her)

● The White Fang grows understandably impatient, and eventually Sienna Khan supplants Ghira as the leader and brings about a more…forceful approach. Among those who follow is his kid, Blake. Many would call it “extreme”, but the real issue lay in who she chose to put her trust in. Winter Schnee joins the Atlesian Military under General Ironwood to get away from her abusive father. Pietro Polendina experiments in artificial aura. And Salem’s Cabal grows to include Cinder Fall, abuse victim turned victimiser, Arthur Watts, disgraced scientist and doctor, Tyrian Callows, serial killer and religious fanatic, and Hazel Rainart, broken into submission and convinced to redirect his grief to the easier target

● Ozpin’s circle of allies includes his second in command Glynda Goodwitch, General Ironwood, who’s also the headmaster of Atlas Academy, Qrow, serving as his eyes and ears in the field, Headmaster Theodore of Shade, and Headmaster Lionheart of Haven…although HE’S been converted into a double agent for Salem out of fear. And it’s through Lionheart that Salem’s endgame can begin: Sending Cinder out to collect the Maiden Powers (which she half succeeds with the Fall Maiden, Amber) and engineer Beacon’s destruction. Along the way, Cinder gathers allies of her own: Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black, Roman Torchwick, Neopolitan, and the Vale Branch of the White Fang. In Mistral, Pyrrha Nikos becomes a young prodigy while Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie are forced to grow up with only each other thanks to the Nuckalavee Grimm, and in Vale, Jaune Arc fails to live up to his family legacy, in his mind

● But these 4, along with the four we already discussed, are already on their way to becoming Hunters-even Ruby, let in early after stopping a Dust Robbery led by Roman Torchwick. Weiss seeks an escape from her abusive father as well, Blake saw her mentor for what he really is and ran to try and do ACTUAL good, and Yang has never given up on finding her mother, but also wants a bit of a thrill. All of them meet at Beacon Academy, where they pass the initiation with flying colors and are sorted into groups: Team RWBY and Team JNPR. Their early days are marked by some intrigue, with Weiss unlearning much of what she was taught growing up, Jaune having an arc of his own, (Goddammit Barb) and Blake opening up slightly, and learning of the White Fang’s dealings with Torchwick

● But it’s the Vytal Festival, a time to celebrate unity between peoples. As a result they meet Penny Polendina, a gynoid with a soul and the end result of Pietro’s experiments, Team SSSN, a bunch of himbos and Neptune, and General Ironwood, who decided that the best course of action as to bring his entire military unannounced. Team RWBY do some sakeouts, run the dance when Team CFVY can’t make it, & eventually find The White Fang’s base in the abandoned Mountain Glenn, and while they're successful in stopping the engineered Grimm invasion of Vale, it all wraps up in quick order. Oh, and they stop a mad scientist trying to “fix” The Grimm. But while they bask in their victory, the true plan continues unimpeded.

● And during the Vytal Festival, it goes off without a hitch. Mostly. The Fall of Beacon is a success. Among the casualties are Professor Ozpin (who of course would just reincarnate), Penny Polendina (who would be repaired later), Amber (Who’s full power was claimed by Cinder), Roman Torchwick (who died via irony), & Pyrrha Nikos (who was supposed to inherit Amber’s power). Yang Xiao Long loses an arm to Adam Taurus, who’s return & threats make Blake Belladonna flee. Weiss Schnee is taken back to Atlas for her “safety”. The CCTs are down, & the Atlesian Drones were hacked & turned on the civilians, fostering an environment of mistrust. Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, & Nora Valkyrie head off to Mistral…unaware of Salem’s gloating.

● Cinder Fall did not escape unscathed, as Ruby used her silver eyes for the first time & burned off an eye & an arm. She will remain by Salem’s side until she’s recovered. Until then, Arthur Watts is sent to meet with Leo Lionheart, Hazel Rainart is sent to meet with Sienna Khan, & Tyrian Callows is sent to hunt down Ruby. He almost succeeds were it not for Qrow Branwen, who had been shadowing “Team RNJR”, intervening-tho almost at the cost of his life. He informs the kids of Salem & the Relics. After killing the Nuckelavee, they make their way to Mistral.

● Elsewhere, Weiss reflects on what she’s learned, gets disinherited in favor of her brother, & finally moves on from her father’s influence & control. Blake visits her parents in Menagerie (with a stowaway) who assure her all’s forgiven, & after an encounter w/an old friend in the White Fang, Ilia Amitola, discovers that Adam plans a coup. Yang gets a new prosthetic arm & regains the fire she lost-to an extent. And on top of that, Ozpin/Ozma reincarnates into a 14 year old farmhand named Oscar Pine. All their paths lead to Mistral, where Salem’s forces are already planning the Fall of Haven.

● The key is the Spring Maiden, whom Qrow is convinced is with his sister’s bandit camp. Atlas shuts its borders & recalls all the troops, leaving Weiss undefended when Raven Branwen takes her prisoner. Oscar finds Qrow & is introduced to Team RNJR, who begins training them. Yang finds her biological mother…in order to get to Ruby faster. She & Weiss are allowed to leave & reunite with the others, but not until doubt has been placed into their minds regarding Ozpin. A recovered Cinder (& also Watts) recruit Raven to open the Spring Maiden’s Vault…& for Cinder’s shot at revenge.

● Adam executes his coup, killing Sienna, much to Hazel’s dismay, & orders his agents in Menagerie to kill the Belladonnas, who have been trying to muster up some support for a counterattack to defend Haven from Adam’s madness. It backfires, as Ilia defects, the attack is thwarted, & they get their Militia, Ilia being the first to volunteer. The Faunus Militia heads off to Mistral to stop Adam’s twisted mockery of the White Fang…which unbeknownst to them, will coincide with the Battle of the Relic of Knowledge.

● Lionheart lures Ruby, Qrow, Weiss, Yang, Jaune, Ren, Nora, Oscar, & Ozpin into an ambush led by Cinder, Raven, & Hazel. Jaune discovers his Semblance by healing Weiss when she was critically injured, Hazel tries to murder a 14 year old, whilst Cinder, Raven, & the (supposed) Spring Maiden, Vernal, descend to the Vault. Raven had always planned to betray them to take the Eelic for herself, but Cinder’s quicker…& discovers that Vernal is just a decoy, & the true Spring Maiden is Raven herself. A battle ensues which sees Cinder frozen & sent off into the shyest below the Vault

● The Faunus Militia arrives as Adam & his strike force are preparing to destroy Haven, & after Nora makes a Hazel-sized hole in the door, Blake reunites w/her team-Yang in particular. The White Fang are defeated, with Adam running away & being forever disgraced in their eyes. Yang makes her way down to the Vault, where she deconstructs her mother’s pathetic excuses & takes the Relic herself. Hazel, Emerald Sustrai, & Mercury Black are able to retreat, a New White Fang is made, Raven’s fled in shame, and the Relic is in the hands of our heroes…who at Ozpin’s request, plan to take it to Atlas.

● Blake is filled in & rejoins the group as they head to Argus, a town jointly owned by Atlas & Mistral,  though things are a tad bit…well,  awkward between her & Yang. And between everyone and Ozpin, when half the train gets derailed because of another one of his secrets. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Qrow, Oscar, & a “stowaway”-Maria Calavera-want answers from the immortal wizard. He won’t budge…but Oscar’s able to tell them about Jinn, the Spirit of the Knowledge, & when Ruby asks what Ozpin’s hiding from them, she explains the backstory behind this whole immortal war…& that Salem can’t be killed, a fact that he knew & willfully kept from them.

● Trust in Ozpin is completely broken due to this, especially with Qrow, & he retreats inside of Oscar’s mind. The demoralized group take refuge in the ruins of Brunswick Farms, where they question why they’re even doing any of this if it’s pointless…not helped by a pack of Apathy hidden below. Ruby’s able to kill some with her silver eyes, which Maria is able to help her with-she had the same once upon a time, after all-& becomes Ruby’s “mentor”, more or less. They reunite with Jaune, Nora, & Ren in Argus…but things don’t go very smoothly.

● First of all, the border guard led by Caroline Cordovin refuses to let them pass, Qrow’s alcoholism hits its peak, & then JN_R discovers the truth, & in the resultant fight Oscar runs away. While trying to find him, JN_R finds some closure with a statue of Pyrrha, & ultimately they find Oscar back at the house, with a new look & determination to help out with whatever time he has left before he & Ozpin merge completely. Ruby is reinvigorated as well, calling out Qrow for wanting to give up, & they got upon a plan to steal an Atlas Airship to get to Atlas.

● This as well doesn’t go according to plan, as it was Blake & Yang’s job to disable the commutations…only for Adam, who’d been stalking Blake since Haven, waiting for her to be away from the others, to attack. As a result, Cordovin becomes aware of the theft & decides that a giant mech suit is the only appropriate response. Blake & Yang are able to face their shared demon one last time as he refuses to give up & they’re forced to kill him. The others defeat the Mech…but a massive Grimm Horde marches on Argus…

● And while all this has been happening, Salem adjusts her plans upon learning of Ozpin already being back-instead of Vacuo being the next target, Atlas will be, to prevent Oz from getting through to a slowly deteriorating Ironwood, & she’s sending in Watts & Tyrian in advance to prepare for her own arrival-she’s been idle too long, she thinks. Elsewhere, Cinder survived, & after a fight with a re-emerging Neopolitan, recruits the mourning thief to help her get revenge on Ruby. And finally, Emerald begins to question things, like how much Cinder truly cares about her & whether or not this is worth it if not.

● Back in Argus, Ruby’s able to petrify the Leviathan leading the Grimm w/the lessons Maria gave her, & it’s quickly finished off by Cordovin, who offers to look the other way. Qrow decides to go cold turkey, Ozpin’s still there, watching, ruminating, & things seem to be looking up…except once they GET to Atlas, it’s…not great. The military pointing outwards, a borderline police state in the lower city of Mantle, propaganda in the form of James Ironwood & Winter Schnee blaring across every screen. One good thing comes out of it, though: they meet Pietro Polendina, & learn that Penny was reactivated.

● Not a lot of time to appreciate that, as they’re “preemptively” arrested by the Ace-Ops, Ironwood’s elite team, who bring them up to Atlas, where the General explains his own plan-he’s already told Winter, Penny, & the Ace-Ops about Salem & all that, & he plans to reactivate Amity Arena to replace the CCTs, & tell the world about Salem. Atlas is of course ready to “help out” during the enduring panic, hence the recall…but all of that, combined with Lionheart’s betrayal & Ozpin’s deceit, as well as seeing the cost of this plan, convinces Ruby to withhold what they learned from Jinn & Ozpin’s true status.

● Nonetheless, they are quickly integrated into Atlas, continuing to hone their skills & helping out where directed. But the cracks are still showing, & not just the literal ones in the walls of Mantle. The Arrowfell Incident for one, where an ambitious former soldier manipulated well meaning down on their luck people to help him gain power. Jacques Schnee running for the Council. All of the resources strapped from Mantle almost exclusively & Ironwood’s proven indifference to their suffering. Jacques’s opponent in this race, homegrown Mantelian Robyn Hill, & her Happy Huntresses, not having the full information & so are unable to help.

● And of course Watts & Tyrian. Tyrian killing Ironwood’s critics as Watts strikes a deal with Jacques to spread chaos: On the night of the election, Watts hacks the vote to make it seem like Jacques had a last minute surge in supporters, while Tyrian went on a murder spree at Robyn’s campaign rally, Watts altering the footage to make Penny seem responsible. It breeds division, & Ironwood’s response of instituting more curfews doesn’t help it any. And the rest of the Council isn’t very happy at Ironwood’s erratic actions, & so he & the others are invited to Jacques’s victory party to…discuss this.

● While there, they almost manage to pull it together. Weiss learned that her mother had hidden cameras across the Manor, & so brings proof of her father’s dealing w/Watts to the table. Just in time, as Watts had shut down Mantle’s heating grid. With Robyn there as well to verify things (after an illicit talk she had before the election with Blake & Yang), Ironwood explains to the Council about Salem as Jacques is led away. When they learn of the situation with Mantle, the kids are able to push Ironwood into forming an alliance with Robyn to evacuate the lower city & capture Watts & Tyrian.

● They even decide to trust him with the full truth, but that…may have been a mistake. It goes well at first. Ironwood & Robyn make a public broadcast explaining the situation, Robyn, Qrow, & the Ace-Ops’s leader Clover Ebi corner Tyrian, Watts is lured to Amity for a one on one fight with Ironwood, & the rear help with the evacuation. But no one was counting on Cinder & Neo to arrive to mess things up. Neo is sent to recover the Lamp, & Cinder leaves a single chess piece on Ironwood’s desk. 

● Recalling Team RWBY & the Ace-Ops (minus Clover) to his office, and after a talk with Salem herself through a Seer Grimm, to confirm that she’s on her way, Ironwood fully gives into his paranoia, authoritarianism, nationalism…& fear. Clearly, this plan won’t work. Especially as Salem can’t be killed & is on her way. So, he has a new one: to use the Staff of Creation to lift Atlas itself beyond Salem’s reach…abandoning Mantle & the rest of Remnant to fend for themselves. He’s sent Winter off to claim the Winter Maiden’s power, & the rest of the Council won’t be complaining when he institutes martial law. Oh, and Team RWBY and their allies are under arrest, to prevent their interference, & to punish them for their “treachery”.

● Ruby managed to warn the others of this before Ironwood cut off their Scrolls, tho, & so fights broke out. RWBY vs the Ace-Ops, where they use the elder Hunters’s disunity against them, & are picked up by Maria & Pietro. The Manta carrying Tyrian & the ones who beat him crashes, with Robyn injured in the crash and a three way battle between Qrow, Clover, & Tyrian ensues…which ends when Tyrian uses Qrow’s own sword to kill Clover, before running off & leaving him & Robyn to be arrested. Penny argues with Winter over this before they’re interrupted by Cinder trying to claim the Maiden Powers for herself. And Oscar & JN_R face off against Neo for the Relic.

● It doesn’t go great, as Neo’s able to use her Semblance to throw Ren off-guard & escape with the Lamp. Oscar takes a different path than JN_R to try to reason with Ironwood in the Vault…which fails utterly, as Ironwood is just further convinced that he’s right & NO ONE will stand in his way. Including this 15 year old child, whom he shoots off the edge. And as Cinder & Winter fight…PENNY claims the Maiden Powers from the elderly Fria. Ruby & the others catch up & force her to retreat…before they too have to retreat to avoid arrest, tho Winter gave them a head start. Penny goes with them, they pick up Jaune, Nora, Ren, & start looking for Oscar.

● Speaking of whom, he’s saved from his doom by Ozpin returning & waking him up, using their magic to cushion the fall. There’s a lot to talk about, but right now…all the pieces are in place. Salem arrives on the scene (along with Hazel, Emerald, & Mercury) in a massive floating fortress whale Grimm named Monstra, along with the largest Grimm horde in recorded history, ready to claim her prize & burn Atlas to the ground. Watts is still in Ironwood’s custody, but Cinder, Tyrian, & Neo go to the whale, and the Fall of Atlas begins in earnest.

● Oscar was quickly recovered (though chose to hide Ozpin’s return) & teaming up with the Happy Huntresses, the crew were…divided on what to do. They need to warn the world about Salem, of course, now that she’s in the open like this, but they also need to keep up the Evacuation, as much as they can now that Ironwood left them to rot. Speaking of whom, he solidifies his military dictatorship by shooting Councilman Sleet dead, with Winter & the Ace-Ops watching in shock. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Nora, Penny, & the Happy Huntress May Marigold will go to hack into Amity (where Maria & Pietro will be waiting) to deliver the warning, while Yang, Jaune, Ren, & Happy Huntesses Fiona Thyme & Joanna Greenleaf continue the evacuation of Mantle.

● Ironwood “recruits” Watts to hack Penny to get the Staff, with Ace-Op Harriet Bree making off with one of her remote control swords after they successfully hack into Amity (& Nora scars herself). And now that Salem HAS the Lamp, she has questions, & she needs the one who can show her how to ask: Ozma. And for this, she releases The Hound, a sophisticated Grimm formed around the corpse of a Silver-Eyed Warrior, to get him. Which it does. Cinder & Neo attack Amity as Penny’s there to defend it for the message, which gets out to all of Remnant: Telling them of Salem, the Relics, the Maidens, all that. Glynda & Theodore can verify this…but Ironwood can no longer be trusted. And Salem may be unkillable, yes, but she wouldn’t have stayed in the shadows for the longest time if that was an immediate guarantee of her victory. 

● The message gets cut off when Penny gets hacked & crashes to the ground. Team Ruby regroups at Schnee Manor…where they’re hunted by The Hound, or more specifically Penny is. Weiss reconciles with her original family (mother Willow, brother Whitley, & former butler/medical doctor Klein) as they manage to kill it…but discover what it really was. Oh, and Cinder rescues Watts, giving Qrow & Robyn the chance to escape.

● Simultaneously, Team Yang is captured by Winter & the Ace-Ops…whom they convince to let them “scout ahead” in Monstra. Speaking of the whale, as while Tyrian & Mercury are sent ahead to Vacuo to get that one ready, Emerald & Hazel become aware of Salem’s true goals, & help Oscar & the others escape. Well, halfway: Hazel gives his life to hold Salem into place as Oscar releases the kinetic energy stored in Oz’s cane to obliterate Monstra.

● That’s a temporary reprieve and everyone knows it. While our heroes regroup at Schnee Manor (and Emerald tentatively agrees to join them) and Watts calls Cinder out on her failures as Neo made it out with the Lamp, Ironwood crosses his final line. He NEEDS the Winter Maiden NOW. And once it becomes clear that Winter let the hostages go on top of losing Qrow & being exposed as what he’s become to the rest of the world, he realizes, thanks to a plan Weiss & Whitley set up, that he can use MANTLE ITSELF as leverage. The ships sent to evacuate them are shot down & Ironwood makes a public broadcast, stating his demands: Penny can surrender & give him the Staff…or he can use this bomb he intended for Monstra on Mantle instead. None of them want it to come to that…but HE’S willing to do it.

● As you can imagine, this will just play into Salem’s hands, which the rookie of the Ace-Ops, Marrow Amin, calls Ironwood out on. He almost gets executed for it…but Winter agrees, saves his life under the guise of taking him to the brig, & they meet up with Qrow & Robyn. The rest of the Ace-Ops, especially heavy hitter Elm Ederne, barely remember to get into formation. Penny’s virus causes chaos at the Manor, but they use Jaune’s Semblance to suppress it. After that, Ozpin makes his apologies & explains that he understands where he went wrong, & the others accept him back-though it’s not HIS show. Emerald officially switches sides after a…well, it’s a something speech, & Ruby hits upon an idea…

● It’s a good one…but forgot to take several variables into account: Cinder & Watts meet up with Neo, & use Jinn’s final question this century to figure it out themselves: Defeat Ironwood using Emerald’s Semblance to get in close & he’s taken down by Jaune, Ren, Nora, Oscar…& Winter, as the doubting Ace-Ops are taken down by Qrow, Robyn, & Marrow, while Team RWBY & Penny use the Staff of Creation to first get rid of the Virus, & then, very meticulously much to the Spirit of the Staff, Ambrosius’, annoyance, use the “central location” of the Vaults to set up portals to Vacuo: Atlas is doomed no matter what, but they can at least save the people.

● But then Cinder, Watts, & Neo launch their plan: as everyone’s being ferried away, Cinder makes herself known to draw the attention of the others, while Watts arranges for both Harriet, the most obsessed of the Ace-Ops, to escape with the Bomb, for the message to the people to be cut off, & for Ironwood’s cell to lose power, setting him free to claim the Staff-after he kills Jacques, of course. Neo joins Cinder in the Central Location…and Yang takes a hit meant for Ruby, falling into the Abyss below.

● Penny is prevented from joining Emerald, Ren, Oscar, & Ozpin in Vacuo (as Ozpin realizes that the portal is one way) by this, & while Nora goes on unawares, the others remain behind to fight Cinder & Neo. As they are, Ace-Op Vine Zeki catches up to Harriet & tries to dissuade her from this: He no longer sees the point with Ironwood deposed & the city falling. She rejects that…& Qrow bursts in on her. And finally, in the Vault, Winter is confronted by Ironwood, who even now refuses to admit that he was wrong.

● And as all that’s happening, Salem re-forms. In the Central Location, Cinder reveals that while she DID learn from Watts’s rant…she never forgave him nor Neo for their slights against her, as she makes clear when she knocks Neo into the Abyss. Ruby & Blake are the next to fall, Cinder cutting up Gambol Shroud. Weiss, Jaune, & Penny are the only ones left…and soon enough, that drops to just Weiss & Jaune, as Penny is mortally wounded (in her flesh form) by Cinder.

● The other Ace-Ops manage to talk Harriet down as Vine sacrifices himself to contain the explosion. Winter shoots back at Ironwood’s deluded rants but still ends up beaten-past few days have taken their toll. And Penny…to ensure that Cinder doesn’t get the Maiden Powers, has Jaune kill her. The went to Winter instead, who after a tearful goodbye stood back up, laid Ironwood down low, & joined the battle in the Central Location…just as Weiss was knocked into the Abyss as well.

● At this point Salem’s return is obvious, & Cinder has claimed both the Lamp and the Staff, using the latter to lock Watts in a burning room as Atlas falls. With the portals disintegrating before them, Winter & a guilty Jaune try to make their escape…but Jaune’s just too late, & ends up falling into the Abyss as the portals fade. Winter uses her powers to protect the survivors, but it’s…very bitter. The only victory here was the evacuation.

● Ironwood wakes up to see Cinder present the Lamp & the Staff to Salem (while lying to her master’s face), & for them to depart, utterly ignoring him (and a burning Watts, to be fair)…save for Cinder declaring a checkmate. As Salem & Cinder flee the falling city in triumph & as Qrow, Robyn, Marrow, Elm, & Harriet watch, Atlas falls onto Mantle, utterly destroying & flooding both cities, while Watts dies in flames & Ironwood dies knowing that everything he did was for nothing.

● But not ALL hope is lost, though to some of the people in question it certainly seems to be from their POV: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc, & Neopolitan survived, having fallen through the Abyss…& into the Ever After. Ruby befriends a talking mouse she names Little, finds Weiss & Blake being held hostage by Little’s tribe, & they find Yang when fighting The Jabberwalker. It looks like they’re playing out The Girl Who Fell Through The World, huh?

● Except not quite. While the encounter with The Jinxy Peddler plays out similarly to the story, the encounter with The Red King-or rather, The Red Prince-doesn’t, with him shrinking down Weiss, Blake, & Yang to the size of chess pieces, & they’re only saved by the intervention of The Curious Cat. Ruby has…begun to give up, especially after hearing about Penny from Weiss, & so just…goes with it, even if time has clearly passed since Alyx’s journey. As they’re doing that, The Jabberwalker runs into Neo in the God of Darkness’s half…who’s Semblance evolves to make clones. And of course, no one is aware that Jaune fell with them…

● The Curious Cat learns much more of Remnant than they did from Alyx all those years ago, & while off distracted by trying to find a cure for the shrinking, Team RWBY encounters The Herbalist, who shows them visions of their past selves, offering a simpler life, with a simple price: Giving up who they are. Weiss, Blake, & Yang are able to deflect it…but Ruby can’t. It’s only The Cat’s return & Herb being sent off for “failing in his purpose” to be “reset” that she stays herself. At the market, Ruby has an encounter with The Blacksmith, & while fighting off an attack by Jabberwalker clones-which when killed give off the effects of Neo’s Semblance, are escorted to a safe house by The Rusted Knight…aka Jaune Arc, though that was decades ago from his perspective.

● As it turns out, when Jaune crashed into The Ever After, he had time reversed around him by a time tree. For however many years he’d been waiting the long way around for Team RWBY, & in the process joined Alyx & Lewis on their adventure as The Rusted Knight. He saw, from his perspective, Alyx’s cruelty, & came to believe that she sacrificed Lewis to get home, coming to hate The Curious Cat upon discovering their purpose, not knowing what REALLY happened. In the present, he escorts Team RWBY to his village that he’d been “protecting”, though not before getting caught in a ponderstorm, learning to distrust The Cat, as they learn to distrust them…& forcing Blake & Yang to finally admit their feelings to each other. At the village at last, Jaune presents Crescent Rose, which he’d recovered, to Ruby…who rejects it. 

● The village is the home of the Paper Pleasers, a nice bunch…who want to Ascend, but are being kept back by Jaune, who wants to be able to actually protect people…whether they want it or not. They finally succeed in doing so when Neo’s army of Jabberwalkers attacks, & in the aftermath…Ruby finally cracks under the strain. Why does it always have to be HER to fix everything? And she’s not even good at it, as Jaune shouts back in his own decades in the making rant. Weiss, Blake, & Yang are caught in the middle, & Ruby runs off-Little in tow -when they try to make her feel better, telling her closest friends and family to just shut up. She then finds herself in Neo’s Mansion, where her imitations of Roman, Pyrrha, Ozpin, Penny, Ironwood, Lionheart, & more drive her to drink the Tea and Ascend. 

● The Cat interrupts this…because they want to break Ruby down, to fill her empty heart with theirs & use her as a host to go to Remnant to find out why their creators abandoned them to create humanity. Little is squashed underfoot and as Weiss, Blake, Yang, & Jaune make their way over and watch, Ruby drinks the tea and Ascends. And with that, Neo sees how empty all of this is…which makes HER the perfect host for The Curious Cat. NeoCat takes off as the Tree appears in front of them all. Upon seeing the Ascended Paper Pleasers, The Genial Gems, Jaune realizes the truth of the Tree, & this allows him, Weiss, Blake, & Yang to finally reach it, where they find Ruby mid-ascension.

● They also find NeoCat, who proves unable to use the Door as Neo has no attachments to Remnant any longer. Ruby still might, so her Team & Jaune hold them off, discovering the truth about Alyx in the process. In The Tree, Ruby meets The Blacksmith properly & is offered a choice on who she wants to be. After getting a glimpse at her mother’s last mission, Ruby chooses…herself. Because that’s enough. Jaune was able to use the leaves of the Tree to separate Neo from The Cat, & when Ruby returns triumphant-herself as always-RWBY & Jaune defeat The Cat, who’s finished off by Neo’s Jabberwalker clones. Neo herself accepts that Roman’s gone and chooses to remain & Ascend.

● Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, & Jaune head through The Door-though not before leaving Jaune’s Steed, Juniper, in the care of the Ascended Little, aka Somewhat, having been inspired to make themself into a brave hero like Ruby. Through the Door, they enter The Blacksmith's Workshop, where she tells them of their creator’s origins, shares Alyx’s last gift with Jaune, making him physically younger (though with grey streaks), assures them that they’ve done good in the Ever After, & opens up a portal to where & when they need to be-aka Vacuo, fortified with help from what remains of Atlas, Amity Colosseum, Mistral’s forces, & more. The world had listened to Ruby's message after all. And so they made their way back to the world they’d left, now more confident in their ability to stand up to Salem despite everything. It’s not an instant fix, but it’s a start, if nothing else.

[threbe]

Names /titles weren't important to ozma part 2

At first after the merge my ozpin that Oscar he didn't really value his privacy, and even though we didn't really see much of it kind of gasoline Oscar into going to Mistral so he could meet Crow and get the long memory back

And later in the volume of volume five he even takes control of Oscar

Volume six he tries to stop Oscar from telling the others his secrets about the lamp so they could end up seeing his past with Salem

and then after that ozpin leaves The following episode after everyone turns against him and gets physical with Oscar, for a full volume and maybe several episodes we don't hear from ozpin but then when he comes back he talks with Oscar about how they need to work together along with everyone

He even tries to figure out a way with Oscar after being kidnapped by one of Salem's newest room a way to turn Salem's forces against her it is then and there where you see the similarity between Oscar and Oz and them learning the trust in each other and not just have eyes pen being full control but they learn to value each other's presence even though it's clear they both don't want to merge at this point but right now it's hard to tell if that's

originally due to ozpin not wanting to merge and wanting to stay himself or if it's Oscar's influence is his new like-minded soul influencing how he had an outlook on things because I spent himself said that with each new life he gains new experience in different outlooks on things back in volume five

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

Here a clip if you're wearing headphones or you have your volume all the way up turn it down a bit I forgot that the volume was all the way up on my phone when I recorded this sorry if it's a bit loud

We also see Oscar and Osmond talking about fairy tales one fairy tale in particular the girl who fell through the world which plays a key thing and what happens in the following episodes of volume 8 that lead into volume 9 Oscar and Austin have a conversation like people instead of one person who was just using the other

And it's after this that they do succeed in turning Hazel and somehow drinking emerald over to their side and against Salem and you see Oscar using the cane that is important to us that he's had for many lifetimes that we saw one of his past life make we see Oscar in control using the canes magic to stop Salem so everyone can escape and everyone can have a chance to relax for a bit and think of a way to stop her when she comes back and ironwood not ozpin

and you can see throughout the rest of the volume that instead of us can taking control he lets Oscar take the lead ,like when oscar explains how the long memory works, to Yang Jean and Rin

How it's Oscar when they make it back to the Weiss house that talks about how ozpin is back and they need to work together it's also Oscar who gets the others to give us a second chance and gets us into apologize about keeping secrets it's also Oscar who stays in control during the fight against ironwood and helping evacuate the people of Atlas and mental to vacuo

Again like iv said be for note sure when we'll get v10-12/14

There's going to be going a lot going on in volume 10 whenever we get it team Ruby are going to have to adapt to being back on renting it looking for their friends and loved ones and once they reunite with them and get accustomed to being evacuo and being stronger after coming from the other after they're going to have to possibly adapt to a world that's going through a Time skip

Or even if they don't have to go through like a long time skip it could be from several months have gone by at best I could say to maybe 4 months they could be in the ever after or two years in the ever after is one of my main theories is that team Ruby will be in the ever after for 2 years and that way it'll give the characters who were left in remnant time to regroup and do things it'll get to Salem that actually time to plan out what her final attack will be in it actually makes sense

🌲🌲🌲

And it'll also give the other characters room to grow past thinking their friends are lost and move forward and be stronger people to take on the challenge of saving the world with just a few of them and trying to be as strong as the others were that they think they lost and help carry others to a possible victory

We're also going to get reintroduced to a lot of new characters and old characters from the earlier volumes so I'm thinking kind of like what Volume 7 will get bits and pieces of Oscar and Oz talking about the merge or maybe them talking about the merge with someone else but I don't think the merge will fully happen till Volume 11 towards the end of the volume and they'll leave it on a cliffhanger where we don't know who's the one there at the end or if it's both

🌄🌄🌄🌄

Or if my wishes come true somehow someone will figure out how to separate Oscar and Oz pin and even though Oscar won't be a like-minded soul anymore of Oz it doesn't mean they're just going to send his character away he's going through so much development and spent so much time with the main cast of characters he's invested in this fight now and even if he isn't a part of ours anymore Salem knows who he is she's not just going to let

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

him walk away like any other character he still connected to the person she hates more than the gods themselves so it I doubt Oscar would get some just go back home or go off and living hiding and have a peaceful life he's going to be there he's

going to be a big part of the final fight whether people in the fandom like it or not I get people don't 100% like his character but out of all the characters even some of the main characters he's grown so

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

much throughout the volume he's going to be playing a major part in that final battle against Salem and confronting the gods of light and dark and I'm looking forward to seeing that when we get it

[bestworstcase]

Okay- Salem throwing in during the Great War especially with Grimm would belatedly justify that card game from Volume 2 because of how it was over control of Remnant besides as an in show ad. Especially with the whole bit of the Nevermore card.

Salem as supporter of revolutionaries fighting for their freedom... One that fits extremely well. Two it puts additional layers to Cinder approaching the White Fang and also just ... Cinder being taken in.

I also would find such a reveal in show to likely be extremely hilarious as the implications hit the audience and cast.

my god i wrote that entire fucking post without remembering the great war Board Game existed

you’re right though, it would be a sly piece of foreshadowing if that’s the intention, esp bc the nevermore bit is between ruby (playing atlas) and yang (playing mistral) and a dice roll which of their forces it attacks.

in terms of the worldbuilding that game has always kind of interested me for what it says about how grimm are viewed in military contexts by the general public; qrow in WOR suggests that grimm on the battlefield was an automatic ceasefire until they were driven off again, but also that “grimm came in droves” while ozma laid waste to his enemies with the sword. and then there’s this grimm card in a war game where the mechanic is “flip a coin to see whose soldiers get mauled”—implying that opportunistic “let the grimm attack your enemies” tactics are not unheard of.

and… then. there’s arrowfell. the grimm lures the antagonists use were developed by the atlesian military, and… the only practical use case for a device that summons swarms of grimm is to weaponize grimm against human targets, ideally a safe distance away from your own forces. like, they’re grimm bombs. and these were developed post-war! in a time of peace! the great powers during the tense period before the great war must have been thinking about how to point the grimm at their enemies, too.

but unless you’re salem, or have salem on your side, weaponizing the grimm will always be a double-edged sword—as yang says, that’s just a risk you have to be willing to take.

anyway yeah if i’m right, the reveal would be so punchy. and i do for sure think were due for some sort of revelation about the great war—it’s been set up and referenced over and over, and they made a deliberate choice to convey this information through a heavily biased perspective, and the great war ended in vacuo, and everything the narrative is building up to the last stand in vacuo. something about history coming due, and the truth coming out.

it’s also be a neat counterpoint to the Team Oz narrative, which is very black-and-white (mantle and mistral were the bad guys, vale and vacuo were the good guys, don’t ask too many questions about valean expansion into the likeliest origin point for those desperate crazy founders of mantle or vale’s involvement in the complete destruction of its next-door neighbor centuries ago or the part where ozma magic nuked everyone so hard that allies and enemies alike bent the knee.) whereas the truth seems to be more complicated with vale also having imperial ambitions prior to ozma assuming the throne, and then at best prioritizing the status quo.

an interesting possibility that i think about sometimes is that ozma may have been the one to withdraw vale from vacuo; less out of anti-imperialist principle than because the vacuan people were increasingly unhappy with valean rule and he recognized that the only way to avoid a war for independence in the long term would be to give vacuo independence first. and then mistral swooped in like a vulture because ozma neglected to do anything but formally recognize vacuan sovereignty, rather than make reparations and provide support needed to allow vacuo to emerge from centuries of valean occupation as a functional country—the same conflict-avoidant, shortsighted approach on display in his choice to “share the land” with mistrali colonists in eastern vale.

[howlingday]

Godzilla in Remnant: What are the odds when Atlas tests their new Anti-Kaiju weapon or when the Kingdoms digging out space for an Anti-Kaiju bunker that a new Kaiju is discovered?

So I've been talking with a buddy of mine at work, who is also a RWBY fan. And he brought up some really good points and ideas for the Godzilla in Remnant story.

First, he said he liked the idea of a pure white beam for his "atomic breath". He also suggested having Godzilla breathe dust crystal, which I thought would be pretty cool, too. However, he also mentioned that RWBY already has so much going on, with magic, semblances, Grimm, aura, alternate dimensions, that throwing Godzilla into the mix would be tricky.

He said it would be a tricky subject, too, since Argus is now flattened and the Grimm are going to start swarming over the area due to the DEVASTATING amount of negativity Godzilla brought. Also, the fact that Salem's biggest Grimm was destroyed so easily is going to set off a chain reaction across Remnant, especially since it's WAY bigger than what Huntsmen are normally equipped for.

As we were walking and talking on the subject, an idea came to me. The Relics. Specifically, The Relic of Knowledge. Every one hundred years, the Relic of Knowledge permits three questions to be asked and answered. So I thought, "Hey, what if Ozma asked about Remnants greatest threat and it turned out it wasn't Salem?" Then I learned that 1. You can't ask about the future. And B. Ozma spent them all in The Lost Fable.

So I thought, dang. What now? Because there was an idea I had that would've given humanity an edge. Something that would make them able to protect themselves from Godzilla and any other Kaiju that comes their way. And that's when I found the loophole... The gap.

See, RWBY's events are so greatly spaced between whenever The Brothers gifted humanity and when the Relic was last used that we could find our questions before Ozma asked. Among these questions, one of them could have been "How can we protect humanity?" And Jinn shows them an image of a human as tall as a tower, stepping on Grimm and striking even larger Grimm. Which leads us to my idea... The Guardians (name is a work in progress).

The Guardians are essentially giant magic mechs designed to protect humanity from enormous threats. However, such power would be too dangerous in human hands, so humanity locked them away and sealed them like they did the Relics, and to ensure that they could not be used in tandem, the Relic Vaults were hidden in one location, with the Guardian Vaults hidden in another, maybe even requiring high-level magic to unlock, instead of a maiden. I don't know. I'm just brainstorming at this point.

What do you guys think? Should there be Guardians? Should there be other Kaiju tossed in? Should I start designing Grimm to fight Godzilla? Please let me know! I'm having a lot of fun with your questions, suggestions, and feedback!

Until then, keep up the good work!

[redheartedtramp]

Okay, saw a few comments like this, and was gonna reply to those, but since we've got THIS gem, allow me to break down why this wouldn't satisfying. And no, it's not because I'm hungry for blood.

"Finding a way for her to discover peace without destroying Remnant. Maybe helping her to change her own perspective." Okay...how. :D Like, this isn't even a joke. What peace? Salem's motivation has always been two-fold; to wipe out humanity and to replace it with descendants of her in order to bring back true magic. It's basically eugenics on crack. She wants humanity in her own image. She's too stubborn and too far gone to ever WANT to see another other solution. What could Team RWBY possibly show her at this point? Hell, the show even made it clear that talking to these villains isn't gonna work. You remember the last time Ruby tried to appeal to their humanity through a big speech or something? She got shut the fuck up and a big fight broke out for the lamp. So, you know, forgive me if I think violence is the solution when it's the ONLY solution that the show allows.

"Helping her Ascend." Okay, but Ascension is something you only do when you - Salem - WANT it. When you WANT to change. Salem does not want to change. She thinks she's in the right. What could Team RWBY possibly tell or show her to make her see otherwise that Ozpin hasn't? That seemingly 1000s of years haven't shown her? At this point, if RWBY ends with Salem ascending because someone told her "look at yourself and all the pain you brought to people" as if she hadn't realized she was killing children and taking away their mothers over her multi-millennia campaign with nightmare monsters then...frankly, if I hadn't dropped the show already, I would have wished I had then.

"Or Calling Back the Brothers and helping her defeat them." Okay, so we established killing Salem is a no-go. So how is killing the Brothers any easier? Hell, they said they could just wipe out everything if Ozma failed his mission to stop Salem. And even assuming this was a typo and you meant the reverse...how would they call down the Brothers? As far as we know, Ozpin (I'm sorry if I keep going back between 'Ozpin' and 'Ozma', it's the same guy, but still) apparently hasn't. If not, then why wouldn't he? You'd think by now, it'd be clear that Salem isn't gonna learn her lesson so this immortality thing has backfired.

I wanna make something ABSOLUTELY clear, killing Salem, stopping Salem, however you wanna read the words - there is seemingly no way to actually stop Salem. Killing seems off the table. Redemption of any kind seems unlikely and the show has reinforced that if someone is too far gone then they ain't coming back. And from where I'm sitting, it feels like the writers wrote themselves into a corner and were using volumes to bide for time until someone figured a way out of it.

So, let's say RWBY comes out of limbo somehow. Like, someone buys the property, and the series resumes.

What the hell is "the plan" to stop Salem?

I can't help but feel the "plan" from a writing standpoint was to keep doing side quests until someone on the writing team figured out a way to have Team RWBY win.

I can only assume the answer was somehow for RWBY to max out her silver eyes, have all the relics, and that would somehow reveal an answer. Like, Silver Eyes can somehow undo Salem's immortality and either make her killable or she'd turn to dust, but I feel that's just a hail marry theory by me. Hell, if this WAS possible, then Jinn would've said it, wouldn't she? That Ozma would need the 4 relics and a Silver Eyed Warrior to defeat Salem, but she literally said nothing could.

I'm sorry if this is overly negative of me without any humor to soften it up, but it really feels like Salem was made too powerful. Like, to the point where defeating her seems so impossible that any way of defeating her seems unrealistic.

[witchoflegends]

indie multi-muse - multi-fandom - selective

                              featuring the original maidens from RWBY

                                               Eira (Winter Maiden)

                                               Maple (Fall Maiden)

                                              Kyra (Summer Maiden)

                                              Dawn (Spring Maiden)                                     

[historyhermann]

"RWBY": The Captivating YA Animated Series

Yang, Penny, Weiss, and Blake at the end of Volume 8

Last year, when looking for another animated series to watch, I came across RWBY, a young adult animation, and one of Rooster Teeth's flagship series. While I wasn't sure about it at first, as I watched all eight seasons, I became invested in the characters, especially the protagonists, and a fan of the show itself.

Reprinted from The Geekiary, History Hermann WordPress blog, and Wayback Machine. This was the fourth article I wrote for The Geekiary. Before this got published, they said I would be kicked off the publication if I don't start writing, if I remember right. So, I started writing this post and many others. This post was originally published on October 8, 2021.

RWBY is the brainchild of the late Monty Oum. It is known for its captivating stories and a theme song, sung by Casey Lee Williams, which begins every episode, foreshadowing what happens in the season/volume. Although the series has the classic conflict of good vs. evil, there are well-developed characters with intricate storylines, elements of horror, and good character development. Some characters are even morally grey, like General James Ironwood or the Ace Ops. Other villains, such as Cinder Fall, don't want to strictly follow their leader.

Ruby in Volume 9 preview

The anime-inspired series is named after the four main protagonists: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. They stand against villains, such as Salem and her enforcers, like Cinder, Arthur Watts, Neopolitan, Tyrian Callows, Mercury Black, and the Grimm monsters. On the other hand, Ozma/Ozpin/Oscar Pine, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, Qrow Branwen, Robyn Hill, and Jaune Arc, among others, help Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang fight against the forces of evil.

The show is clearly mature as it features its share of blood and gore, and the death of some characters, with the antagonist, Salem, even engaging in human experimentation. On the other hand, this science fantasy/adventure/action series has a large focus on magic, and sci-fi elements like the cyborg girl, Penny Polendina, and scrolls which can receive and record messages. Each of the protagonists, like those on RWBY, have a semblance which derives from their aura, helping them battle against the Grimm and other villains, either including powers such as object manipulation, disorienting people, or super strength.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot but I will say that the show features various supporting LGBTQ characters. In Volume 6, Saphron and Terra-Arc, a lesbian couple with a son named Adrian, as confirmed by Lindsay Jones, the voice of Ruby, who the protagonists, and their friends, stay with on their journey to another kingdom. Additionally, in the Volume 5 episode "Alone Together," Ilia Amitola confessed her romantic feelings to Blake, and was later confirmed by show writer Miles Luna as a lesbian in a Reddit AMA.

Most prominently is May Marigold, a trans woman. Unlike other trans characters in animation, she is voiced by a trans female voice actress, Kdin Jenzen, and her character came out as trans in the Volume 8 episode "War," which she described as "something so wildly powerful & meaningful."

LGBTQ characters in RWBY so far

There is a lot about the series which is wonderful. There is a strong possibility of confirmed LGBTQ representation in the main cast, especially since the voice actress for Blake, Arryn Zech, confirmed her character as bisexual in May 2020, and some even have argued that the shipping between Blake and Yang, known as Bumbleby, will come become canon in the show's next volume.

Even if this doesn't happen, the show is still powerful, from its music to the characters, the voice acting to the visuals, which have improved from the earliest seasons to the present-day. Although the fandom may be toxic at times, the show is unique in its colorful ship names, especially the femslash ones, like Baked Alaska (Yang and Neopolitan), Blood Mint (Ruby and Emerald Sustrai), Freezerburn (Yang and Weiss), Ladybug (Ruby and Blake), or White Rose (Ruby and Weiss) to name a few.

So, if you haven't seen RWBY yet, whether on VRV, Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime (in some locations), YouTube Movies (for purchase/rent), or on the RoosterTeeth website, now is the perfect time during the show's hiatus, before Volume 9 begins again sometime in 2022.

© 2021-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.