#Bug's RWBY Worldbuilding Series

[bug-the-chicken-nug]

Bug's RWBY Worldbuilding Series 2:

Have been cooking up ideas in my head about Aura/Semblances/Dust/Magic, and clarifications and differentiation for each. So finally, Part 2, Dust, which will also need its own sub-parts. First, an overview of what it actually *is*, and then we'll get to the rest. Part 1: Aura Part 1-B: Active Aura Part 2: Dust, A General Overview <- You are here.

Dust in this AU is now not some mysterious independent entity, it's a transmutation of minerals caused by a build-up of condensed Aura, to put it simply. To be more detailed, it's a very slow accumulation of "spent" or "background" Aura within the mineral substrate. That's Aura after it radiates away from living things and loses most of its energy to "cooling". This Aura is very persistent in the atmosphere. Its rate of energy loss eventually hits equilibrium with the energy the system gains as new Aura is released, which creates a sort of constant, low level "background radiation" of Aura across the entire world. This Aura need not be sourced from those with "active" Aura, as every living thing produces Aura particles, and "active" Aura is only the same thing on a much more energetic wavelength. In essence, compared to normal light terminology, most lifeforms are infrared, and "active" Aura is like jumping up to ultraviolet. Meanwhile, "spent" Aura drops down to something like a radio wave. To condense, it then needs a pre-existing, compatible mineral or Dust deposit that will slowly attract it and accumulate it, eventually being transmuted into Dust and then transmuting more pre-existing, surrounding mass into new Dust. Because the particles are ubiquitous, but individually extremely weak, this is the main reason that Dust accumulation takes a long time. ""Renewable"", but on a rather impractically slow scale. A pre-existing deposit steadily increases in mass faster, proportional to available outer surface area, but for each given bit of surface area, maximum accretion rate is only about 1 cm of further buildup per century. Minerals associated with biological sources also seem to be the most "compatible" with the initial transmutation into Dust, but in practice, this does not mean that limestone deposits become giant Dust expanses, or that all coal is replaced with Dust, or that nobody in Remnant knows what diatomaceous earth is. That's because the invisible, uneven "pull" of so many different Dust deposits creates an endless "tug-of-war" that keeps background Aura constantly in flux, instead of always being free to settle and accumulate. Therefore, areas can be considered "saturated" with all the Dust they can form long, long before a full conversion. This phenomenon on a worldwide scale also contributes to background Aura creating vast, worldwide "currents", "eddies", and "jetstreams", which also leads to different areas having different thresholds at which they become "saturated", and these thresholds being subject to gradual change over time. Continuous Aura circulation is also the main reason why someone will not accumulate Dust in their bones as they age. However, ancient remains can transmute, inspiring a great deal of this Remnant's spirituality and mythology. Stories of clams that develop "Dust pearls" are a dime a dozen, as well as tales of legendary creatures and nature spirits born with Dust for bones. Beyond remains, perhaps there is a grain of truth to this... Beautiful as they are, "Dust fossils" are only a rare minority of all fossils found. Not only can they become the nucleus of further Dust growth and become indistinguishable from regular Dust deposits, but many fossils end up in areas that are already too "saturated" with other deposits. However, what kind of Dust you get can be rather complicated. It depends on the environment, depth/elevation, surrounding mineral strata, and the contributing Aura, meaning that it also depends a lot on the local *and* historical ecosystem of an area. So, yes, because it's cold, modern Solitas is currently forming a lot of Ice Dust, but it ends up being much more dynamic and complicated than "Solitas cold, so just Ice Dust".

[tumblingxelian]

How does RWBY's worldbuilding hold up for you?

Ooh fun question, and one I can answer in a short amount of time!

Long story short, yeah it holds up quite well, I don't need to make any significant leaps in logic or desperately headcanon things to compensate the way I might with some other settings.

For instance most super hero settings don't hold up to scrutiny, or present themselves consistently/coherently once they starts whipping out the more ridiculous sci-fi tech and or magic.

This isn't to say its perfect, nothing is, or that there aren't more details I'd like to see explored or various minor nitpicks I could probably pull out if I felt so inclined.

But as it is, I don't, but its not because I just love the series.

See, as much as I love world building, I do think it gets too easily used as a cudgel by bad faith critics.

Let's be real here, even some of the worlds best authors do not have Tolkein's patience to create a whole new language, & I imagine even his stuff raised questions or inconsistencies.

The absence of local languages/accents, them not explaining the praying statues in the V4 trailer don't bug me. Cos their absence is not harming the story.

Meanwhile if there's an inconsistency or question, that too is fine as they are watched enough to avoid any real issues & so I can focus on having a good time.

Hell, let's bring up ATLA, the golden calf for critics who never watched anything else in their lives without asking "Where's the Zuko though?"

Off the cuff & late at night I can name many ATLA world building issues.

The writers one hundred percent do not grasp the philosophical ideas they are trying to espouse, showing a grasp of "Letting go" almost as wrongheaded anti Jedi people.

The origins and nature of bending is inconsistent even just within the first series, being and or coming from education, gifts, blood, spirits, some combination there-of or what have you.

If we jump to Korra the Spirits themselves are weird, initially presented as physical manifestations of a given land, they instead become essentially alien invaders & stuff like the Lion Turtles, Koi, Badger moles & more are just left as ???? Plus again spiritual misunderstanding.

Or heck, one of my biggest gripes ties into the plot as well but would be the introduction of "Bad firebending" and its counterpart "Good Firebending" introduced very late in the game at season 3.

The problem with saying it was meant to be a surprise is we've seen every Bender tap into anger when bending. Toph cracks the ground, Katara broke an iceberg, Aang goes into the Avatar State, ETC.

Anger & fire was only tied to two characters, Zuko during his season 1 lashing out period & Zhao where it was specifically cited as being unique to him and something to exploit.

Worse still, we've seen people happily Firebend, Aang;s issues with Firebending comes from having too much fun, getting careless with it & accidentally burn Katara. & we have seen sad or direction-less Zuko Firebend like a champ before now.

The 'revelation' of "Good Firebending" is the wrong solution to Aang's issue cos it does nothing about fires tendency to burn, & a solution looking for a problem that had to be tailor made for it to fix & did not exist before, Zuko.

The thing is though, while I will happily harp on the last one as part of a greater collection of issues in season 3. The truth is people are not bothered by these things if they watch a show in good faith.

One doesn't even need to like a show to do this, its just part of the deal when watching fictional media that some stuff is not always going to add up perfectly.

What matters is if the writers made it interesting, feel like it fit coherently within the world and kept it consistent enough that it didn't break the story.

Which CRWBY very much do.

They created a wide, vibrant, varied and interesting world, where a multitude of stories could and do take place that can be expanded upon if one wants.

They created and kept consistent its internal logic as best as it can be conveyed to we the audience when the characters also don't know everything.

Above all they used it to tell a interesting and engaging story, where skill & strategy matter so much in combat Where its so easy to believe bandits and criminals can thrive in the wild. Where the introduction of something like the Ever After can actually fit and feel like a revelation rather than break the story!

So yeah, I really enjoy RWBY's world building :)

[goldlightwriting]

So I've talked about RWBY a decent few times, both here on tumblr as well as on my YouTube channel. In both locations I've offered a myriad of ideas for reworking the basics of the series. I've proposed ideas for how Semblances, magic, the Maidens, the Relics, and the Old World could be rehashed to fit a more cohesive narrative and resolve many of the issues I and several others take with the show.

Today, I wanna narrow in another particular issue that has long bugged me about Remnant's worldbuilding: the Faunus. The Faunus are, effectively, RWBY's attempt to tackle the issue of racial prejudice. They're a group of people born with animal traits who are looked down upon as being subhuman by Remnant as a whole, but particularly in Atlas.

It's... Rather sloppily handled, if I'm being honest. For one thing, the show does a lot more showing than telling in regards to how it portrays Faunus inequality. For another, the entire plotline feels almost entirely dropped at the end of Volume 5, which as well know was especially jarring for Blake's character since her arc revolved around fighting for equality.

Frankly speaking, that could all be an entire essay unto itself, but I may reserve that for a proper video in the future. For now, though, let's get into meat of things.

I go over all of my story changes in my "Changes I'd Make to RWBY" post, but I'm going to be diverging a bit from what's written in that post. Here's the gist of what you need to know: a very long time ago, humanity used magic in a war so devastating that fractures the world and even shattered the moon. The gods themselves intervened, cursing all those who partook in the war and turning them into half-beast abominations called the Faunus.

In addition to being physically deformed, the Faunus Curse also came with another drawback: anyone afflicted by it must forever strive to keep their emotions in check, lest they become more and more feral while adopting more animal characteristics. Those that fail to do so eventually lose their humanity altogether and become Creatures of Grimm. This was further deter the afflicted from ever giving into the same bloodlust that sparked the Great War.

Many succumbed and turned into Creatures of Grim, but some Faunus managed to hold onto their humanity. Unfortunately, those that did and went on to have families discovered that the curse was passed onto their children. Thus, the Faunus Curse would persist through generations, its true nature and origins slowly lost to time. The Faunus became their very own subrace of humanity. Though the curse's effects were lessened by newer generations, a Faunus must always strive not to lose themselves to the curse...

Now, we cut to modern-day Remnant, and the key changes to the Faunus plotline:

The Faunus are largely looked down upon the majority of humanity. While each nation has varying degrees of tolerance, most people consider the Faunus as little more than savage beasts just waiting to become monsters. Most Faunus are forced to live in settlements away from human society, called Menageries.

Faunus are generally born with a singular animal trait, such as extra ears, horns, tails or so-on. Those who start to lose themselves to the curse will adopt more animal traits: scales, fur, fangs, claws, and so-forth.

A Faunus that turns feral will eventually transform into a Grimm, at which point the curse is irreversible and all traces of their former selves are lost.

There are ways to reverse the Faunus Curse before it takes full effect, but the most common and efficient is through a special drugs developed by both the Schnee Dust Company and Merlot Industry. The former is considered overall more effective, yet incredibly expensive. The latter is cheaper... If one doesn't mind the risk of dubious side-effects.

The White Fang are a group dedicated to fighting for Faunus Inequality... Though they have resorted to increasingly aggressive methods over the years, stealing drug shipments from both Schnee and Merlot as well as raiding human settlements for supplies.

Blake was once a member of the White Fang, but left the organization when their methods became too extreme for her. She wandered aimlessly for a time, eventually joining Beacon Academy in the hopes of becoming a renowned Huntress and proving that even a Faunus like her could could make a positive impact on the world.

Adam is one of the White Fang's top enforcers, who believes that Faunus and humans will never be able to coexist. His body has been heavily altered by the Faunus curse, leading Adam to cover his face and most of his body, and rely on heavy dosages of suppressing drugs. In spite of that, Adam has no qualms making use of his feral rage to give him tremendous strength boosts during a fight.

Sienna Khan is the current leader of the White Fang, and fully endorses extreme measures to take what is needed for the the survival of the Faunus. That said, she takes issue with Adam's increasingly extreme methods, which seem more focused toward spiting humans than aiding his kin...

And that, for now, is all I've got. May come back and edit this later if I get more ideas.

[duhragonball]

I watched this video on RWBY because I was bored and it’s one of the few HBomberGuy vids I could find that was long and about something I’m remotely familiar with.   I don’t think I’ve seen enough of RWBY to really form a solid opinion on the show, but I gotta say, this video explains a lot of things that bugged me.  

Watching RWBY, I always felt like I had missed an episode or three, even when I knew I hadn’t.    When I learned about the “World of Remnant” episodes, I figured they were designed as a way to give fans an update because the next episode was taking too long to make.    But now I’ve seen how big a team they had working on this thing, and it seems more like they just had a really hard time figuring out how to do exposition.   You’ve got characters telling each other things they should probably already know, you have entire classroom scenes where stuffy teachers give infodump lectures, and they just keep throwing new worldbuilding stuff at you constantly.   At the time, I thought I just needed to give it a chance, but now it feels like the creators weren’t focused on what this show was about. 

I’m just gonna throw this out there, but I sort of assumed the show was about Ruby Rose, because she’s the title character (mostly) and she has the coolest look and they put her on all the promotional stuff.    The other three are like her partners, and that’s cool, I guess, she needs a supporting cast.    But then they introduced even more characters and more characters, and gee lookitthetime we better introduce some MOAR characters, and I found it harder to get interested in any of them.    I’m sure that, once or twice, the creators had a moment where they realized “Oh, yeah, the show’s about Ruby, we need to put her back in the spotlight,” but every time I saw her she had at least three or four buddies nearby.  

This video reminded me that Ruby built her own anti-monster weapon, which is described as one of the most dangerous in the world.   I forgot about that little detail, probably because the writers forgot about it too?    Like, that’s literally the coolest thing about the character.    She’s kind of a goofy nerd with a squeaky voice, but she’s building Iron Man armors in her spare time... or she would be, except they sort of dropped that whole gimmick for no reason.   This is like forgetting that Clark Kent is Superman.   He’s the main character, the whole story revolves around him, but he never does the cool part, he just checks his article for spelling errors and asks Jimmy Olsen if he saw the game last night.

This video also reminded me that the entire RWBY series is on Crunchyroll, so maybe I should try viewing the entire thing and see if I can follow along better.   Then again, Galaxy Express 999 is on Crunchyroll, and I’ve been meaning to watch that for a few years now.

[wheatbeats]

I ended up rewatching all of RWBY Volume 3 tonight (sort of by accident honestly) and, as someone who hasn’t rewatched any earlier volumes since Volume 3 finished, here are some assorted thoughts:

I remember a lot of us feeling cautious about the team switching over to Maya for Volume 4 and beyond, but looking back at Volume 3, probably the best that Poser could do, I think it was the right call. The character models, the expressive animation, the BACKGROUNDS, are all so much better now than they used to be. The look of Poser has its charm but I think overall we’re far better off with Maya.

Putting aside the inherent issues of making the only committed revolutionary fighter in the series an abusive murderous ex, the major thorn of Adam’s characterization remains his first interaction with Cinder in episode 7. The rest is decently well laid; from Blake telling the team about how someone close to her changed, to Adam’s reaction to Blake leaving during the events of the Black Trailer (also in episode 7). It’s not pretty or polished but it fits well enough, except for that one scene. It kind of shoots his whole arc in the foot. Also Adam’s voice actor has done a much better job with his nasty, creepy dialogue than he ever has with his noble freedom fighter dialogue and I think that deserves recognition.

Speaking of which as a whole episode 7 is really good the structure and pacing feels really unique for a RWBY episode. I don’t think they made another quite like it until The Lost Fable in S6.

This whole season is really good at moving its camera, and I’m tempted to lay that credit with Monty Oum. There are lots of interesting shots of characters’ legs (that sounds weird but both Cinder and Ironwood have great shots of a room framed between their feet from behind), and I still love how when Qrow is first introduced at the Crow Bar the camera wobbles drunkenly with him when he stands up. It adds a level of engagement that the animation quality might have otherwise robbed.

Speaking of Qrow, this volume is his introduction and it struck me how, even though he’s always been a bit of an immature bastard, in V3 he still very much feels like an adult, and Team RWBY very much feel like children. I’m used to V6 Qrow, who whines like a baby and is generally useless. The dynamic has shifted so much and I think that’s genuinely intentional so good job, CRWBY.

This is a bit of a nitpick but why is Ironwood the one to tell Yang that she’s disqualified after she blasts Mercury’s knee? That’d be like if I cheated at a high school track meet and Obama shows up to kick me out; Ironwood is a head of state from a different country and the headmaster of NEITHER of the schools involved in the fight. Why is he here?

It’s sort of odd watching this season lay groundwork for worldbuilding that’s already been retconned away. Ozpin’s gang leading Pyrrha through the vault for the first time really make it seem like the Maidens are the be-all end-all of magical power in the land, and that their little troupe was made solely to protect them. Now Maidens are just a small cog in the machine, shoved to the back burner in recent episodes in favor of the relics. I know that RWBY’s worldbuilding has almost always been “go off of what we told you last and forget everything before that”, but it feels oddly disconnected to see the ghost of the original plan peeking through in the earlier volumes.

Also it’s really odd seeing Ozpin on screen I kind of forgot that he used to have a body that isn’t Oscar.

There’s a bit of heartache seeing Pyrrha again, once my favorite character. Her journey in this season might still be the best season-long arc RWBY ever told, and while I still yearn for the reality where she lives and we get to see the fallout of everything she went through, her sacrifice in the finale is still one of the most genuine emotional moments in this entire series and I’ll always applaud that.

In connection to Pyrrha’s arc, this season has the Perfect amount of Jaune used in the best possible way, and I wish he could always be like this. Jaune in V3 is kinda funny, pretty brave, and very sweet and heartfelt. He and Pyrrha talking alone in episode 8 is still one of my favorite moments of the whole show. Jaune is at his best when he’s a loving and supportive friend, not a hero or a leading man, and I hope the series is finally starting to understand that.

As a whole the entire Battle of Beacon is really fucking impressive. For one thing, it’s LONG, about 45 minutes of one big conflict, and it balances the bits and pieces between Ruby vs. Torchwick, Ozpin and Pyrrha vs. Cinder, and Blake vs. Adam really well. The editing is top notch and the score is incredible, and there are some amazing moments of choreography (Ruby vs. Neo and Torchwick is still one of my favorite fights in the series). The whole thing manages to stay pretty breathless and exciting all the way through and I hope that RoosterTeeth can craft another finale this thrilling for Volume 7 and/or something later.

The end of Heroes and Monsters is harrowing, to put it simply. Seeing Pyrrha screaming in pain in the aura transfer machine, Amber being shot suddenly without warning, Blake getting stabbed, and Yang losing an arm all in quick succession is a huge fucking gut punch, made all the harsher by the music choice (that... music box style music they put on haunts my dreams, damn you Alex Abraham and Jeff Williams). 

It’s sort of refreshing to see Ruby Rose herself in such a central role this season. They got better at putting her in focus in V6 but she’s still sharing the spotlight with a solid 10-12 other major characters. In V3 Ruby spends a lot of time alone, doing important things for the plot. I kind of miss that.

Also, Ruby collapsing into tears and then numb shock when she sees Penny die? Excellent content, it breaks my heart, I wish we could see important emotional moments and reactions like that from Ruby all the time.

Torchwick is fucking incredible and I’m so salty he’s gone. He still has maybe the best vocal performance in the entire series and his monologue right before his death is my pick for the best ever string of dialogue from a series that’s historically had problems writing it. I really hope they pull a Hannibal Choi from Pacific Rim and bring him back later, if only to see how hilariously outclassed he is by the newer, bad-er villains. Normally that sort of thing would bug me from a narrative perspective but I love Torchwick so much that I’m literally begging for him to return. Please RT hear my prayer.

When it Falls is the best OP song and Divide is the best ED song of the series and you absolutely CAN fight me on this maybe I can finally put my music degree to use

[bug-the-chicken-nug]

Bug's RWBY Worldbuilding Series 1-B

Second post in a multi-post series on my AU thoughts on Aura, Semblances, Dust, and Magic, in that order.

This will not be perfectly canon compliant, but is meant to at least like, mostly just build on canon instead of contradicting it too often.

Part 1: Aura

Part 1-B: Active Aura <- You are here.

Here, we get into what Aura means for individuals, and in combat, rather than just its significance on a broader scale.

"Active" Aura is when a person or animal learns to produce Aura at a much higher energy output than normal, giving it new qualities and effects.

These effects are as follows:

1: Thermoregulation

Regulating the body's temperature for protection from heat and cold. Can generally be done with little to no conscious effort.

2: Delayed senescence

Slowed aging, and the ability to forestall various deleterious conditions that become more common with advanced age. Generally speaking, though, Aura cannot cure chronic illness, although it may mitigate the symptoms.

3: Damage mitigation

Aura can block all manner of harmful force, whether kinetic or energy-based in nature. However, it does not fare well against things like breathable toxins. Mitigating damage causes Aura particles to rapidly lose energy and disperse from the user, meaning that they can run out if too much is taken.

4: Self-regeneration

Regeneration in most people is limited to the healing of cuts, bruises, abrasions, and general soreness and inflammation. Deep punctures and gashes, and damaged but still semi-functional organs may be possible to heal for an extremely skilled practitioner, but only if such healing is not excessively impeded by blood loss and overall loss of function.

5: Increased strength

Aura can stimulate muscles and reinforce bones, leading to enhanced physical strength. This can also happen involuntarily if an individual is poorly trained, making it imperative that those being trained are taught restraint and emotional regulation.

6: Increased speed and reflexes

Aura can also stimulate nerves and improve the speed at which neurons communicate and carry signals, leading to the ability to both move and react more quickly and efficiently.

7: Dust activation/stabilization

Active Aura can both excite and stabilize Dust, allowing for quite fine-tuned control over its effects, and integration of those effects into the user's Semblance, depending on the frequency applied.

Prolonged exposure to a given Aura frequency can leave a lasting "imprint" or "charge" of that frequency on the Dust, which can allow the Dust to persist in a desired state for a prolonged period of time.

In the case of areas where Dust is exposed to a natural current of strong ambient Aura, a state of low activation and high stability can persist indefinitely. In commercial settings, Dust can be quite safe, non-reactive, and shelf-stable for several years, if stabilized properly.

8: Kinetic energy pulses

Often paired with strength augmentation, this allows a user to produce short-ranged pulses of kinetic energy, using their Aura as the carrier. Not only can this be used to enhance jumps, kicks, and punches, but it can also be focused enough to do deep internal damage to whatever the user strikes.

9: Extrasensory awareness

Extrasensory abilities are among the hardest to truly master, and typically limited to increased spatial awareness of immediate surroundings and threats,

This is thought to be achieved by enmeshing one's own Aura with the ambient Aura of your surroundings. However, in most Hunters, it is rather weak, and not often relied upon. This ability is largely instinctive, and actively focusing on it can cause it to perform less reliably, unless one knows precisely what they are doing.

10: Fueling a Semblance

(This will be covered further in a later installment)

People's individual Auras also tend to have different inherent "proficiencies" with each of these effects, such that the same amount of Aura can differ in its effectiveness at a given task from person to person.

Such proficiency is also often related to someone's Semblance. For instance, someone with a defensive Semblance often has stronger Aura defense in general, even when they aren't using it.

------------------------------------------

Unlocking, Maintenance, and Training:

"Unlocking" active Aura to allow it to be further used and trained is a process that can be done through four methods:

1: A period of intense emotional duress, in which case it can also unlock alongside a Semblance.

2: The aid of another whose Aura is already unlocked. This requires training to do safely and correctly, somewhat akin to giving a "jump" to a car battery, or fanning an ember to produce a proper flame.

3: A period of physical and mental conditioning, typically involving meditation, introspection, cardio exercises, calisthenics, endurance training, and in some cultures, a certain diet or daily routine to be followed. The speed at which this yields results varies, and it may be wholly unnecessary if the user's daily life already provides the required conditioning.

4: Very rarely, someone may simply be born with active Aura, and perhaps even a Semblance. The cause appears to be mostly genetic, but the odds can be increased by having a mother with active Aura.

The third is preferred by most, despite being the slowest. This is because faster options come with risks that someone's mind and body may not yet be prepared, or that they may have dangerously poor control.

This can lead to symptoms such as an abnormally small Aura reserve, excessive appetite and thirst, sweating, blurred vision, excessive tiredness with alternating periods of jittery/restless behavior, migraines, a burning/tingling sensation in the chest and extremities, and intensification of all aforementioned symptoms whenever the user attempts to consciously employ any of their Aura's abilities.

Luckily, these symptoms can nearly always be resolved with no lasting harm in a matter of weeks or months, sometimes with nothing more than adequate rest.

Adaptation can be hastened by various meditative practices and exercises.

However, it is imperative not to try and force oneself to use a painful or uncomfortable level of Aura during this period. It will only slow the body's adaptation process, and may lead to more long-term harm, such that Aura will not be able to heal it.

Sometimes, though, depending on genetics, physical health, and whether or not someone has already undergone some level of conditioning, they may be able to use one of the faster methods with little consequence. Still, they will be less skilled and perhaps have a smaller Aura reserve than someone who trained to reach this point.

Because the third method is so preferred, and yet takes considerable effort, the overall incidence of Aura activation in the broader populace is surprisingly low, although it increases considerably in rural areas.

Another contribution to the low incidence of Aura activation is the concern that Grimm may be more attracted to areas where many people have active Aura. But in most cases, a person's passive, resting Aura emissions will not actually see a major increase once they unlock their Aura.

Furthermore, maintaining active Aura at full strength requires some level of focus and effort, and can be tiring over extended periods, even if the user doesn't otherwise exert themself. However, with further training, or under sufficient duress, it can begin to become passively active at a lower intensity, and be brought to full strength reflexively in a near-instant. The process of maintaining it steadily becomes second-nature, and it becomes far less taxing.

The production and maintenance of an active Aura is a synergistic effort between mind, body, and soul, utilizing every cell in the body. So, it puts stress on both the psyche and the metabolism, and there is no one true "Aura organ". However, the heart and brain do notably produce more than all other organs and tissues, contributing an average of about 40-50% of a person's supply.

Aura supply and Aura efficiency can be increased with training, although the latter is easier than the former.

Aura efficiency is a measure of how well the user can keep their Aura from dispersing, and how well they can control its flow, density, and cohesion, allowing them to essentially do more with less.

Overall Aura supply is slower to improve, as there is a threshold at which simply "training harder" no longer makes it any faster. Because there is no dedicated "Aura organ", the user's Aura supply instead improves through the body's steady, repeated replacement of their cells and tissues with ones better adapted to producing and channeling Aura, if it seems that the user is routinely depleting their supply. As such, seeing a major difference can take several months, or years.

[bug-the-chicken-nug]

Bug's RWBY Worldbuilding Series 1

Hey, look, something nobody asked me to do! I'm about to start a multi-part post on my AU-but-theoretically-at-least-decently-applicable-to-canon idea of Aura/Semblances/Dust/Magic, in that order, in a system that should help unify and streamline them while still making there be an actual difference in what Magic is. I will also repeat myself sometimes in later posts, just so that each post can still be understood on its own without going to every link I'll add as I update this series The tag will be #Bug's RWBY Worldbuilding Series Without Further Ado, Part 1: Aura <- You are here. Part 1-B: Active Aura

Aura is a form of energy produced by all living things, and can diffuse into the atmosphere and surroundings as a wave/particle (it is both, much like photons). Passive Aura is the main thing produced, being akin to "infrared". The exact intensity and frequency of its production also directly coincides with an organism's physical and emotional state. So, when Grimm "sense" negative emotions, this is actually *what* they sense. The specific pattern of Aura produced by a person in distress. Active Aura would be "ultraviolet" in comparison, giving it new properties and abilities thanks to having much more energy to work with. (more on that later!) For now, we're focusing on the broader role and importance of Aura in Remnant, rather than the more specific combat-related things. That comes in my next installment. The Aura passively produced when you experience negative emotion is also what Grimm "eat", meaning that Grimm do not actually have any need to kill humans, however, the act of terrorizing and then killing humans allows them to become stronger at an accelerated rate. The traumatic death of a person produces massive blooms of the "negative" Aura they feed upon. Therefore, it unfortunately serves as their kind's most lucrative feeding strategy, even *with* the energy and risk that must first be invested into hunting and killing prey. Aura particles linger after they are produced, and reach a point where they "cool" (lose energy) to a sort of "ambient" energy level rather than losing all of it, leading to a "background" Aura field that surrounds and permeates the entirety of Remnant. However, the Aura does not simply diffuse itself calmly and evenly throughout Remnant, and then lie still and passive. Aura forms myriad invisible currents, vortices, jetstreams, and eddies throughout the world, much like air or water, although Aura also can and does phase through solid obstacles as it flows. In ways that are not yet well understood, this also has a profound impact on Remnant's ecosystem. Areas where Aura currents converge, or where dense currents flow, can often seem richer than others. This leads to phenomena such as how certain settlements can exist with little physical protection: For instance, by developing the means to discern areas that are within fast-flowing "rivers" of Aura, one can create settlements and trade routes in which negative emotion is typically "washed downstream" faster than it attracts Grimm. Even though Grimm can and do follow the Aura "upriver", especially if negativity gets truly out of hand, they will typically be distracted by the "runoff". Strong vortices and gyres of Aura can also accumulate a dense enough concentration of energy to allow for a very steady "low-level" activation of Dust deposits without any living creature's direct input, allowing for locations like Lake Matsu's floating islands to exist. Dust itself also attracts low-energy Aura, while higher-energy Aura becomes increasingly resistant to its pull. As such, it is not only affected by Aura currents, but the global actions of Dust across the world, all "pulling" unevenly on the background Aura field, contributes heavily to the formation and distribution of currents.

Such a phenomenon can be used as a simple and low-tech way to locate "rivers" as well: If a Dust crystal, especially one held at a considerable distance from anyone's person (such as up upon a flag or banner, for instance), begins to take on a slight glow by itself, and/or starts to weakly exhibit its inherent elemental property on its own, it's a clear sign that you are within a strong Aura current. More advanced applications allow for people to place specially-prepared Dust crystals in machinery and electronics and have the tiny, subtle fluctuations in the Dust's output be read carefully enough to be useful for myriad purposes, measuring and visualizing what might otherwise be almost entirely opaque to human senses. However, human activity and Dust industry can and does alter Aura currents, and sometimes disrupt even those currents which were thought to be too large and stable to *be* disruptable. This can be harmful, as was the case for the Great Vacuan Gyre, whose dissolution greatly worsened and accelerated the region's environmental degradation through an incredibly complex string of unforeseen chain reactions. Little could be done, as little was understood about just how important the invisible Aura currents can truly be to the environment. However, it can also be harnessed in intentional ways. Aura "dams" and Aura "diverters" can be built to increase security, although they do not outwardly look like the kinds of "dams" you may be used to at all, as Aura is not "dammed" by creating physical barriers. By extension, background Aura can also be used to generate power. This is almost always done by using Dust as the middleman, however, which also means the Dust will eventually be expended. Dust industries across Remnant are, of course, keenly against efforts to develop a way to harness atmospheric Aura without a Dust-based intermediate. Also, note that I haven't even gotten into explaining *active* Aura yet. That'll be next.