#Corsac Albain

[howlingday]

Lord Taurus

Adam: Hello, ningen~!

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Adam: Ha ha... Your threats are as empty as your title.

Adam: All hail Weiss Schnee, heiress to nothing!

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Adam: Well, well, this could be quite salubrious for me.

Corsac: I'm not sure I...

Fennec: ...know what that means.

Adam: It means "beneficial to one's health and well-being," you dolts!

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Yang: Thanks for the assist, Ozp-AGH!

Adam: ...Oops! How rude of me. The pommel of my sword has slipped into your chest~.

Yang: Heh heh... No problem.

Adam: HURGH!

Yang: Sorry 'bout that. My fist just happened to punch your chest "on accident," too.

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Harriet: It's a simple fact; I'm the fastest member of the Ace Operatives!

Adam: So you're a master of retreat, eh? You must be so proud.

Harriet: (Activates Super-Speed) Get ready for a surprise!

Adam: ...

Harriet: (Running in place) My semblance will allow me to dodge your sinister and nefarious attacks with the greatest of ease! JUST TRY AND HIT ME! (Blinks out)

Adam: ...I'm just going to let that play out.

Harriet: (Attacking Adam, Missing)

Adam: (Backhands Harriet)

Harriet: Rgh! B-But how?!

Adam: That's funny, because I was about to ask the same to you. As in, "But how do you expect such pitiful attacks could do any damage to topple a top tier titan like me?"

Adam: (Grips sword) A grievous insult I intend to pay back tenfold.

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Adam: Is Yang not here yet?

Penny: No, but she's on her way!

Adam: Oh, look at that; the toy robot from Atlas. I remember watching you die on-screen before Cinder took over. I guess the Maiden's powers can bring back both the powerful AND the pathetic!

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Weiss: YOU'RE ACTUALLY MAKING ME HOLD ADAM'S HAND?!

Adam: Heh heh heh... There's nothing for you to be scared of Schnee. I won't bite.

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Adam: Well, well, it seems the woman of the hour has finally arrived! I've been waiting a long time for you! And I see your Schnee friend is with you, too. I would be surprised, but ningen never were good at fighting alone, were they?

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Ruby: Huh? It's you...

Adam: Salutations, ningen~!

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Adam: I remember when Nikos' partner was just a shrimpy, little thing. It's so touching to see boys becoming men.

Jaune: Adrian, stay back!

Adrian: But Uncle Jaune-

Jaune: You don't stand a chance against him, so just leave him to me!

Adrian: (Pouts)

Adam: What tender love~! I can barely stomach it. When I'm done with him, I'll kill the brat, too, so you can hold hands together in Hell. (Blinks out)

Jaune: Huh?!

Adam: (Behind him) NOTHING PERSONAL, KID.

Nora/Ren: JAUNE!

Jaune: AUGH! (Falls to the ground)

Adam: ...I'm sorry, but I don't think you understand how this works. Once you're on the ground and can't move, you're supposed to beg me for mercy! Say you'll do anything to spare your nephew's life!

Jaune: Ngh!

Adam: Come on! Let's hear it, boy! Cry for me! Scream! SOAK YOUR FACE IN TEARS AND TEAR OFF YOUR ARMOR IN FRUSTRATION! AHAHAHAHAHA! Not that I would let you live, but it's all part of the fun for me!

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Pyrrha: (Struggling)

Adam: Oh, I do respect powerful fighters. But there's one other facet to my character, which is...

Adam: THERE'S NOTHING I DESPISE MORE THAN NINGEN.

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Adam: That's it, Xiao Long! Keep getting stronger! Be your best lizard!

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Adam: Care to put her to the test?

Adam: (Draws blade)

Willow: (Shakes head)

SHKT!

Adam: (Sheathes, Ahem)

Adam: ...WINTER, LOOK! IT'S SUCH A TRAGEDY!

Winter: Huh?!

Adam: IT'S YOUR MOTHER! SHE'S BEEN FATALLY WOUNDED BY A STRAY ATTACK!

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Ozpin: There must be something you care about! The White Fang?! Loved ones?! Memories?! Everyone has SOMETHING they want to protect-

Adam: You're pissing me off! I don't care about anything or anyone. Hm... Except for myself, of course.

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Adam: I can't stand the sight of your pitiful, broken faces wearing MY masks...

Adam: (Grips handle)

Blake: (Eyes widen) EVERYONE RUN, NOW!

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Yang: You're definitely not a pushover, that's for sure. If you weren't so evil, you'd actually be a fun sparring partner. What a waste of talent.

Adam: It's exactly that kind of small-minded drivel that makes ningen like you so especially intolerable.

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Adam: WAKE UP! Torture isn't any fun if I can't hear you scream! (Stabs Yang's prone body)

Yang: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

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Adam: Attention, brothers and sisters of the White Fang...

Adam: (Points)

Penny: Huh?!

Adam: I will grant ownership of any human settlement to any one of you who can slice that Atlas toy in half!

Penny: What?!

Adam: Ha ha ha! History repeats, with only certain details that change. And when Xiao Long shows up, she'll give in to her rage again, leaving her wide-open for me cut not just her arm, but her head off, too!

[arc-misadventures]

In the dragon Faunus au, what Adam up to or is it eve in this au?

The Splintering

Upon a stage before a throng of faunas strode one, Adam Tauras: He was called many things by his enemies: radical, extremest, terrorist. But, to his fellow faunas he was much more than the lies they spread about him; for he was a leader, an equalist, a hero!

Adam: Brothers, and sisters of the, White Fang! Here is our would be king! The supposed dragon faunas. This human in sheep’s clothing’s… But, do not take that as a note of disdain towards him. For he possesses many faunas traits, unlike use who posses one trait, with some minor additional sub-traits. Jaune Arc, the Dragon King possesses five unique traits! An elongated tongue, and retractable fangs that can bite through solid metal! Retractable talons hidden within his hands, the ability to breath fire. And, based upon the reports of our field operative, his majesty is currently in the process of growing horns, these are no doubt to become a crown that signifies his rank among all faunas. As our king!

Adam: Now, many of you have no doubt heard that his majesty has made contact with, Kali Belladonna, and High Leader Khan. They are no doubt trying to sway his grace towards their side. A side of human lovers…

Angry jeers, and cries of outrage echoed throughout the hall. Some even spitting in disgust on the floor at this revolting piece of news.

Adam: I know! I know brothers, and sisters that is grave news. But, worry not! For we will not allow this to stand! For the glory of the faunas, and for the glory of our future king! All shall see the true might of the faunas! For we shall send our most valuable assists to meet with his grace, and tell him the true might of the faunas!

As, Adam step back, a pair of fox faunas step forward, one with a tail, and another with a set of ears. The Albain Brothers, Fennec, and Corsac Albain.

Fennec: Brothers, and sisters we bring forth tidings of great joy; The legend is true: The Dragon King is among us!

The crowd cheered, and howled as the news echoed throughout the crowd.

Corsac: Legends for told of his, Majesty coming, for his arrival will bring forth a golden age for all of, Remnant, and more importantly, a better age for all faunas!

Fennec: His, Majesty may have aligned himself with the more… peaceful faction of the, White Fang. But, my brother, and I shall be heading to, Beacon Academy to tell him of the glory of the faunas, so that he will know how to lead all faunas to a brighter future!

Corsac: We must move swiftly before others dig their filthy claws into his, Majesty, and spread lies to him! But, worry not brothers, and sisters, for we shall set them right!

FC: For the glory of the Faunas!

Adam: FOR THE GLORY OF THE FAUNAS!!!

The crowd cheered, chanting, ‘Glory to the Faunas’ over, and over again. Adam let them cry out for a time before stepping forward, and silencing the crowd before him.

Adam: Now, before we make our preparations for our departure to meet out, King, is there anything you lot want to ask?

Adam’s voice demanded silence, for he knew none would dare ask anything, forhis word was law amongst his brothers, and sisters. And yet, a single hand shot up into the air. Adam gritted his teeth as he held back a snarl within his lips.

Adam: What is it…?

A faunas with white streaks in his brown hair, no doubt a squirrel, or chipmunk faunas of some kind. He held out his scroll as he yelled out his question to those before him.

WF Grunt #1: Uhh… Question! Why are the males, and the female faunas having two separate meetings?

Adam: …

Adam: Eh…?

WF Grunt #2: Yeah, why aren’t their any woman here?

Adam: There aren’t any woman here…?

WF Grunt #3: Ya, ‘der’s just a bunch of boys ‘ere.

Adam: Wasn’t word spread among the ranks about this meeting?

WF Grunt #1: Well yeah, but they told the guys to come here, and the girls to go elsewhere. Why did you do that?

Adam: I didn’t do that! Did you two do that?

Corsac: We have nothing to do with this.

Fennec: This is a matter for all faunas to attend to; why would we exclude half of our kind?

Adam’s mind raced as he look about the crowd. He had no idea why this was happening, but he knew how to find them.

Adam: Where is this meeting taking place!

WF Grunt #1: In the conference hall. I heard they needed to use the monitor in there for something.

Adam jumped off the stage, and rushed towards the hall, a few other members along with the Albain brothers chased after him.

As, Adam reached the conference hall he saw something, and someone he didn’t want to see.

Adam: Ohh… fuck…

Adam could only swear in fear as upon stage before a picture of the Dragon King, was the one person he feared about hearing about the, Dragon King.

His older sister, Eve Taurus.

Eve: Hello ladies~!

The crowd cheered as she waltz across the stage, her large breasts bouncing with every step.

Eve: Alright girls, see this handsome bastard?

Eve pointed to a smiling photo of, Jaune Arc.

Eve: This sexy son of a bitch is the, Dragon King, Jaune Arc~! A short name that rolls of the tongue, that I for one love~!

Adam: Eve?! What the hell is this?!

Eve stopped in her presentation to address the sudden interruption.

Eve: Oh hey little bro! I’ll talk to you in a moment, Mama’s busy.

Adam: With what?!

Eve: Female faunas stuff. You wouldn’t understand.

Adam: What?

Eve: Okay! I know everyone here, especially me, wants nothing more then to pounce this handsome specimen till you look like you’re three months pregnant~!

Adam: Wait what?!

Eve: But, if anyone wants a chance with this guy, all of you must learn the does, and don’ts of seducing this man.

Eve: Okay, there are a few things you must understand about the, Dragon King’s faunas traits. First off, unlike any other faunas, Jaune Arc posses several traits, and is in fact developing more as we speak.

WF Grunt #4: Seriously?!

WF Grunt #5: How many traits does he poses?!

Eve: In total, he has five traits!

WF Grunt #4: HOLY SHIT!

WF Grunt #6: We usually have one main trait, and a few sub traits! But, five traits?!

WF Grunt #5: What are his traits!

Eve: Okay! First off: He has retractable fangs, and is capable of opening his jaw very wide like many snake faunas can.

A photo of, Jaune appeared on the screen showing his mouth wide open, sharp fangs bitting down, and shattering what appeared to be chains.

Eve: See ladies, these are the fangs that our, King possesses. Notice how he is capable of biting through threw metal. So don’t try to chaining him up, he’ll just break the chain.

Eve: With this he has, my personal favourite trait, one hell of a long tongue~!

A photo appeared on the monitor of someone pulling out, Jaune’s rather long tongue from his mouth, much to his disdain.

WF Grunt #6: Holy fuck!

WF Grunt #5: I’ve seen snake faunas with shorter tongues than that!

WF Grunt #4: And, thinner ones at that…

Eve: I don’t know about you girls, but I’m for one interested in finding out what he can do with that~! Now, another one of his traits is his fire breath.

A new photo appeared showing, Jaune roasting marshmallows with his fire breath.

Eve: Now this is rather self explanatory, he can breath fire, hence the moniker of him being a dragon faunas. Just be careful, and try not to get burned. So, sorry, Trifia you won’t be able to wrap him up in your little webs, despite the fact we all know you’re the one into bondage.

Trifia: No I’m not!

The crowd soon started laughing at the poor spider girl’s expense as, Eve continued on with her presentation.

Eve: Now a lot of you feline faunas know what’s these are like. Boom! Talons!

Many of the crowd, particularly the cat faunas oohed, and awwed, at his, once again, rather unique talons.

Eve: These are your pretty standard talons, or claws, whatever you want to call them; The talons hidden under the fingernails can appear on command, yada yada yada. Moving on! Now, there isn’t a photo for this one, for this trait, for this is the trait he is currently developing: Horns. He is currently growing horns.

WF Grunt #5: Horns?

WF Grunt #7: What kind?

Eve: No idea, our sources have just reported on this as a new fact.

Adam: How the hell did you find out about all of this?! You have way more detail on his traits than I do.

Eve: Internet.

Adam: Internet, seriously?!

Eve: Yep, faunas girls like to talk about a hot man. Now quiet, Mama’s busy.

Eve: Now, like most faunas, he also has two common sub traits: A heightened sense of smell, and sight. Now the first one here, his hightten sense of smell is very, very important!

WF Grunt #6: What’s so important about that; lots of us have a good sense of smell?

Eve: Well~! Here we have the lovely Milf of Menagerie, Kali Belladonna.

WF Grunt #5: Preach it sister!

Eve: Before, Kali Belladonna met with, His Majesty, he not only sniffed her out, but he was able to identify that she was the mother of, Blake Belladonna…

Adam: My beloved!

Eve: SHUT UP! Anyway, he was able to tell that she was her mother by scent alone. And, because of his heightened sense of smell, he can easily identify… A prime mate~!

WF Grunt #7: A prime mate…

WF Grunt #6: He can find this just by our natural scent…?

WF Grunt #5: How does he do that!

Eve: Behold! Exhibit A: Deputy Headmistress of Beacon Academy, Glynda Goodwitch~! And, I gotta say, his Majesty has great taste~!

WF Grunt #8: Hello mommy~!

Eve: Based upon reports, Jaune Arc~! Ahem! His Majesty smelt her natural body odour by accident, and went into a panic attack, mostly because he didn’t know what was going on. Now, that he knows that he can sniff out prime mates he hides the fact he smelling them out. He’s not doing it intentionally, his sense of smell is just that strong. Look for his nostrils to be flaring, when they are he has picked up a tantalizing smell~! Good, or bad is the question; he used this to hunt, Adam’s little spy so be careful.

Adam: He did?!

Eve: Yeah, so get ready for, Sienna to give you lot a beat down.

Adam: Eh?

Eve: Also, Sienna has been potentially marked out as a prime mate. Again, he has such good taste.

WF Grunt #8: Can you blame him?

WF Grunt #5: I’d pick her if I could.

Eve: So ladies, now that you know his graces traits, you shall now learn how to seduce his, Grace! No shampoo, or any scented fragrance, or at the least something weak. We gotta let him smell your natural aroma to know if he’s interested.

Eve: Next, don’t come after him screaming you want his babies. He’s a family man, you’re either in it for the long haul, or not at all. His preference are more on personality than your body, but he does appear to like the thic hourglass figure, and who can blame him?

WF Grunt #7: Whoo! My odds are getting better all the time! Suck it!

Adam: Wha… Who the hell is giving you all this information?!

Eve: An information broker on the internet.

Adam: You’re paying for this?!

Eve: Hey, ThunderThighs gives good information, it’s well worth the price.

Adam: ThunderThighs?! Who the hell is that?!

~~~

Nora: ACHOO!

Jaune: Bless you. Hey, where did you get all that, Lien?

Nora: Internet.

Jaune: Internet?

Jaune: …

Jaune: You’ve been selling information about me, haven’t you?

Nora: Yes, but this is mostly from selling the photos I’ve taken of you.

Jaune: Photos? What photos?!

Nora: …

Nora: Oops…

~~~

Eve: Don’t know, don’t care. All I care about is the results, and achieving our goal.

Adam: That goal is having him lead the faunas to a brighter future?

Eve: No, the goal, at least our goal is getting into his pants!

Adam paled as he heard the crowd of woman cheer, and howl in agreement at his sisters depraved words.

Fennec: How dare you! His Majesty is far more than this!

Corsac: You should be on the ground worshiping his Majesty, with the respect, and reverence he is due!

Eve: Oh, but I will. But, while you worship him in your silly little temple, I’ll be worshiping him in the bedroom~!

The men that had trickled into the hall mouths dropped in shear shock, and horror. While the ladies in the hall burst into laughter, and cries of agreement.

Eve: Alright ladies, now you know some of the does, and don’t, there’s nothing to be said, but this: ‘Happy hunting ~!’

Adam: Serious, Eve?! The Dragon Faunas has appeared, a being that will lead the faunas into a golden age, and your more concerned about bedding him; What is wrong with you?!

Eve: You’ll never understand woman, little brother. Haa…No wonder, Blake dumped you.

Adam: What…? S-She didn’t dump me.

Eve: …

Adam: Right…?

Eve: Yeah, you just think that, Adam. Now if you’ll excuse me; Mama’s is on the hunt~!

[uncaught-coolfish]

skittles squad pull up to the projects

[the-path-to-redemption]

Unrelated to everything but sometimes I feel miffed that CRWBY came up with the Albain brothers and just used them for two seasons and that was it? Brothers had connections to the faunus Council (THERE WAS A COUNCIL!!!), the White Fang, were stirring the pot, and were ambiguously religious. They were prime material for Salem's squad. I remember seeing that they were planned to appear in V1, and I can see it. They are much more appropriate for the role than Adam, who was NOT interested in starting shit and minded his business, plus Sienna would've lived. They were different from the usual food we got and were so interesting to me. Also, they were FOXES. One was a FENNEC fox. Adorable.

Bonus points: there was the opportunity to make Fennec's death more meaningful and Corsac going absolute batshit, disappearing for a couple volumes then appearing back in the Vacuo arc or later in the Atlas volumes. Come onnnnn

I know a lot of people didn't like the Albain brothers, and that's fair. I wasn't too keen on them initially either, and most of it was because (aside of not bringing anything to the plot in any meaningful way) the cult member shit was getting overdone in media to the point that I'm just...bored. Very few writers actually get into the actual horror of cults, and that's how these organizations takes advantage of people who needed a sense of community in order to conduct abuse without anyone doing anything about it, because the main mentality seems to be "they got into it because they're dumb enough to get manipulated, so why should we care", but it's so much more than people being dumb.

But then that train of thoughts continues; people turn to something in times of crisis because they need some semblance of hope, some reassurance that there will be some saving grace or some reason to keep going, and often times people turn to faith. That's why religion exist, and like anything that makes up society, religion can be manipulated for negative goals. The Albain brothers now, to me, looks like people who were abused by the oppressive system then turned to faith in order to have hope, only for that faith to be something that doomed them. To me, that faith should have been Salem, who has a long track record of manipulating people to her side when they're at rock bottom. Hell, relate them to Tyrian who might've been in the same position!

And holy fuck, yes they should've made Fennec's death more impactful for Corsac. They're brothers! I would be devastated if my family members were to die in such a horrific death! The Faunus plot line introduces interesting and complex characters only for them to get fucked over because they didn't ask for their rights nice enough, fuck right off.

[bobauthorman]

[marcmarcmomarc]

RWBY (Behind the Voice Actors): Major characters 2

[problematic-rwby-shipping-poll]

I/NCEST BRACKET - ROUND ONE: BRANWENCEST VS ALBAINCEST

Propaganda is below the cut.

BRANWENCEST

“They have such an amazing amount of tension and complex history and feelings, it makes their dynamic so fun and interesting. Plus y’know, who knows what happens in the Branwen Tribe.”

ALBAINCEST

"they are doing it in front of their weird alter thing and they're bringing in a religion kink.

[unofficialadamtaurus]

My individual piece from the RWBY 10th Anniversary Ever Artists Collab! In an unexpected twist, I got Corsac and Fennec.

Was I sad to not get Adam? Absolutely. Did I get over that the instant I saw the Adam artist's sketch? You betcha.

[night-sky-blood-sea]

Okay but listen:

Au where Adam scapes from the mines and ends up in the brother's village. The village priest believes that he is a messenger from their god and raises him to be like a high priest or something like that. Fennec and Corsac end up obeying his orders and adoring him.

Imagine they juat fooling around in the temple and the brothers being like the biggest service tops in the world.

The priest is unaware his protegé is getting smashed every day.

Oh hello, Rosemary Baby/Midsommar/cultist horror erotica. Haven't seen you in a while >:3

trigger warnings: cultism, grooming, reference to death and gore, toxic relationship.

Anon I love your brain so much, I need more of this idea. Adam slowly losing his mind and assimilates into this closed-off village after his traumatic event in the mines, watching the worshippers around him with a blank stare who would do anything he wants them to, playing into the role of "god" for them to survive and feeling like he belongs.

Having the two devoted brother priests next to him was a good bonus as well, especially when he needed the leader of that place, the man who let him into the community who used him like those bastards in the mines had, to be dead and buried Corsac and Fennec would make it happen. Because they obey him.

Because they worship him.

Because they love him.

And why, a god must love his followers back, right? On his altar soaked with blood, they can have as much of his love as they want. They can be together like this, drenched in the fading life source of a blasphemer and laughing the night away.

Forever.

[definitelyrwbyandtadcbrainrot]

rwby studios hc pt 9

Blacksmith

Just the way Imogene heap creates music literally gives blacksmith

Dee

Fitting for his 8 seconds of screen time

Brawnz Ni

Him too

May zedong

She would be a big chase girlie

Roy Stallion

I imagine him singing with this much intensity

Fria

Ngl she’d ask them to play some shit like this in the home

Nicholas Schnee

Badass I mean what can I say

Saphron Cotta-Arc

I imagine she’d have a voice like this but only sing drunk

Leonardo lionheart

Young Leo would constantly play this older Leo would reminisce but if the two met young Leo would be so disappointed bcc homie is a traitor :(

Corsac Albain

They give church boy vibes

[short-wooloo]

WOW

Boy was I right

I love how none of RWBY's villains have been truly killed by the heroes, their deaths have all been the result of their own stupidity, stubbornness, and inability to just let things go and call it quits

[howlingday]

Corsac: Looking at the demographic draw...

Fennec: ...and the response from long-time members...

Corsac: ...There's really only one path forward.

Fennec: Sienna should maintain being the leader...

Corsac: ...because what the people want is based...

Fennec: ...on sexual attraction.

Adam: What? Put it plainly!

Corsac/Fennec: SHE'S HOT~!

Adam: Wha- I can be hot, too! Just look at my ass! LOOK AT IT!

[kuokuana]

Corsac's and Fennec's primary allusion is the Kitsune of Japanese folklore. Kitsune are mischievous fox spirits, and can be both benevolent or malevolent in nature. Benevolent Kitsune, known as Zenko, are associated with and often the messengers for Inari, a Shinto god, whom in this case would either be Ghira Belladonna or Sienna Khan. In spite of this, Zenko are still considered trickster spirits, as they are known to shapeshift in Japanese folklore to fool unsuspecting humans for various, though not necessarily harmful, reasons. No matter what side they're on, Corsac and Fennec are talented liars and manipulators, knowing how to get what they need out of others.

Malevolent Kitsune, Yako (or Nogitsune in some places), harbor no loyalty to any particular deity and their tricks are often for nefarious purposes. They are well-known thieves; Corsac and Fennec grew up on the streets, often stealing food and other supplies just to get by. A Zenko spirit can also "fall from grace", become a Yako spirit, and vice versa. Depending on the verse, Corsac and Fennec can either get better or become worse.

Corsac's and Fennec's secondary allusion is Hermes, the Greek god of mischief and the herald of the gods. Hermes has been known to assist several Greek heroes, such as Odysseus and Perseus, and is typically the messenger for Zeus, the king of the gods, specifically. Corsac's and Fennec's loyalties are verse dependent, but they are primarily Sienna Khan's errand boys and sent to assist or carry out tasks when need be.

[bestworstcase]

(hi again fsdf)

If you haven't already touched on it, do you have any thoughts on Mercury's role in the narrative and his possible redemption in V10+? 🥺✨

first i gotta soapbox a little bit grfxvhk

redemption is conceptually fraught because it inherently entails forgiveness of a debt; to redeem someone is to save them, through either forgiveness or repayment on their behalf. the person redeemed by this transaction is often reduced to passive object, and even in circumstances when they do act, the extent of their agency is asking to be forgiven. within the context of fiction specifically this puts the onus for change onto the heroes—the villain is given salvation through heroic forgiveness—and generally elides both the villain’s agency and their emotional interiority because the focus of the redemption arc is on the villain’s salvation.

(this is fundamentally a christian narrative: sin begets suffering begets repentance, often in the form of sacrificial death, followed by forgiveness. it’s also why everyone went nuts for zuko, because his character arc follows the beats of redemption from inside his head, so the character interiority isn’t lost.)

anyway i bring this up not to be pedantic but because ‘redemption’ in rwby is treated as an innately coercive mechanism:

the albain brothers frame kidnapping blake and assisting in the assassination of the elder belladonnas to ilia as an “opportunity for redemption.” implicitly, forgiveness for her “past failures” and her continued place in the white fang is contingent on her obedient participation in what amounts to a violent coup and profound betrayal of someone she loves. redemption is the weapon used to keep her in line.

salem justifies her decision to abandon cinder after haven on the grounds that cinder failed and must therefore be “left to toil in her isolation until she has redeemed herself.” salem is willing to forgive cinder’s failure (and has thought about giving cinder her aid often enough that she feels compelled to raise the possibility specifically to declare that she won’t), but withholds forgiveness to force cinder into this penitent quest for the lamp.

the divine ultimatum is a redemptive project: if mankind is “unchanged,” they will be found “irredeemable” and wiped from existence. the question of whether humanity deserves to exist at all is made contingent on humanity coming together in humble obedience to the gods (humans weren’t executed because they fought among themselves but because they “demanded things of [their] creators,” thus the salient part of the mandate is “if you still demand our blessings” because that is the sin which must be redeemed). and salem phrases her rejection of this mandate as a rejection of redemption itself.

contrast this against the way the narrative handles actual villain-to-hero arcs:

blake confronts ilia directly on both the morality of her actions and how ilia feels about what she’s doing until ilia voices her internal conflict; after ghira saves her life, ilia intervenes to stop corsac’s vengeful retaliation, then becomes the first to step forward and say she’ll stand with blake for haven academy. blake’s emotional appeal and ghira’s decision to save her life both come from a place of wanting to help ilia, without any expectation that she now ‘owes’ them and the inflection point in ilia’s arc is her actions—stopping corsac and declaring she’ll stand with blake if blake will have her. blake’s forgiveness is (in contrast to the albains’ “opportunity for redemption”) an overt rejection of the idea that ilia deserves to be punished for her past failures.

similarly, emerald’s defection is motivated by her fear and moral scruples which she can no longer ignore, and oscar explicitly makes the point that whether they choose to forgive her or not has no bearing on the fact that she defected. the heroes are angry and distrustful but do not inflict any punishment or demand anything from her except that she keep her unhelpful commentary to herself. the idea that she could work with them is presented as an invitation, not a requirement.

winter defects from ironwood and actively reaches out to her sister to offer whatever help they need; there is never a question of forgiveness, only acceptance of her desire to do the right thing.

neo tortures ruby to the point of attempted suicide, and yet as soon as she decides to change herself for the better, she is given the freedom to do so, one way or another.

the distinction in essence is that redemption is explicitly punitive (“you have done wrong and deserve punishment; my forgiveness is a reward you must earn”) whereas the actual villain-to-hero arcs center atonement (“i have done wrong and now i’m trying to do better, whether or not you forgive me”) and compassion (“no matter what you’ve done in the past, what matters is what you choose to do now, and everyone deserves a chance to find their own way”).

SO all of that is a lengthy way of getting to: mercury isn’t due for redemption, by which i mean no one is going to ‘save’ him in the way a lot of the fandom seems to expect emerald to do. (although i do think emerald will play an important role in his story.) rather, i expect mercury’s arc in vacuo to be about what does he want?

narratively, the point of pairing mercury with tyrian isn’t about terrorizing mercury per se. it’s that both of these characters are nihilists. tyrian seeks total annihilation, mercury actively chooses not to want or care about anything because he feels that being an empty killer-for-hire is what he’s meant for. but mercury’s nihilism is a projection, a brittle emotional armor with obvious cracks (he cares about emerald, he resents cinder, he’s terrified of tyrian).

in a twisted way, tyrian is the idealized form of mercury’s projected self—a living weapon with no purpose other than to enact violence on salem’s behalf—and i think there is a degree of self-recognition lurking under mercury’s visceral discomfort with tyrian. now add to this duo the asturias twins: jax is so fiercely dedicated to his cause that he’s willing to die for it, and gillian loves her brother too much to let him die. the twins are defined by true, passionate, unrelenting commitment to what they want and what they believe is right.

so mercury is positioned between this extreme living embodiment of what he pretends to be, and two people who are exactly the opposite. he is also undoubtedly going to find out that emerald defected sooner or later, bringing his true feelings into conflict with his outward actions. i think it’s likelier than not that he and tyrian will be posing as supporters of the crown, which necessitates some degree of interaction with actual supporters—many of them driven by anger and fear of salem—so mercury is also going to be faced with the harm he’s helped enact in a way that will be difficult to look away from.

where do his sympathies fall in this situation? what does he want? does he know deep down what really matters to him? tyrian and the asturias twins represent the crossroads he’s approaching; at some point the narrative will force him to choose.

which is an interesting set-up because both halves of the crossroads are villainous, so the most intuitive path for a villain-to-hero arc for mercury is one that precipitates villain-to-hero arcs for the asturias twins too. i’ve seen a lot of speculation that mercury might get between emerald and tyrian, but mercury doesn’t pick fights he can’t win, as a point of pride. he does want to protect emerald, but getting himself killed won’t save her from tyrian and mercury isn’t stupid.

but if he and tyrian are masquerading as supporters of the crown, there is something mercury can do that will meaningfully keep emerald safe from tyrian:

tell jax and gillian the truth.

they want to protect vacuo from salem. mercury wants to protect emerald, who is in vacuo, from tyrian, who has infiltrated the crown on salem’s behalf. mercury can’t take tyrian down by himself, but the twins together pose a really credible threat—gil can outlast him, jax can overpower him. they are also generally safer than tyrian or salem, which makes it easier for mercury to take a risk on trusting them.

sure, they might retaliate against him by draining his aura or twisting his memory to ensure he’s loyal to them—but they will definitely take tyrian down. and if mercury comes to them and honestly says he’s been working for salem under extreme duress but he’s got someone he loves in vacuo and he’ll fight to the death on their side if they can help him kill tyrian, well, i’d put better odds on them taking him at his word than i would on mercury surviving if he got between tyrian and emerald on his own. and i bet mercury would run those numbers in his head.

and if he goes to the twins, and the twins hear him out and take down tyrian, then mercury kind of… ends up being a potential point of contact between the crown and shade academy, because emerald knows and cares about him and the twins 1. decided to trust him and 2. know salem benefits from vacuo’s internal conflict and might feel more inclined to set aside differences after being infiltrated by one of her lieutenants.

and. well. yknow. the mythological mercury is the messenger of the gods and all.

[pilot-boi]

Wonder what other ghosts affect the Voices AU. Watts? Lionheart? Sienna? Fennec Albain? Amber? Vernal? Brawnz, Roy, and May Z? Pilot Boi? Fria? Nicholas Schnee? Gretchen? F Pickerel (the guy who initially captured Tyrian)? Ilia's parents? That huntsman that died in front of RNJR in Volume 4? Fox's uncle Copper? Marcus Black? Bartleby from Brunswick Farms? Ozpin (the host, not Ozma)? Forest? Curious? Neo's parents? Rhodes? Sleet? Hazel? Tock? Tukson? Clover? Vine? Sorry this is a lot.

Nah you’re good, lemme just cover them one at a time. It’s nice to see people excited

Saddle in because this going to be VERY long

Okay first of all we need to establish some ground rules. Not all deaths in Remnant create a ghost, otherwise Jaune wouldn’t be able to function ANYWHERE because if all natural deaths made a ghost the whole world would be infested

So ghosts only appear from particularly traumatic/violent deaths. AKA Grimm, usually. But if you die peacefully in your bed, you don’t make a ghost.

ALSO, if it’s been long enough, or they don’t have a reason to stay, a ghost will fade away. This process is faster for ghosts without their Aura unlocked. As they fade they become harder and harder to understand until their speech is complete unintelligible

For example, Oz and Salem’s daughters have LONG since faded. In Kuroyuri most of the citizens are still around but they’re completely unintelligible and barely corporeal, but Li is the same as the day he died because he has a “mission” to continue protecting the village

So going through the list, I can say that Fria, Nicholas Schnee, and presumably Neo’s parents wouldn’t have ghosts. They all died naturally. But all those other guys would have ghosts

Most of them continue haunting the area where they died, or go off and do their own thing

Some of them would probably follow the gang around if they could but they don’t know where the gang is. For example, Ironwood only knows where they are because he was in the inner circle and so knows the next target is Vacuo

And then there’s the ghosts that don’t follow out of choice

Pilot Boi, for example, tries to find his way back to Atlas. Bartleby continues haunting his farm even after the gang leave. Lionheart is a coward and stays in Haven Academy. The huntsman who died returns to the capital, same with Tock with her respective city. Forest and Sleet stay haunting the ruins of Mantle and Atlas, as do Amber and Tukson with Vale.

That leaves a LOT of ghosts though, so let’s cover them one at a time

Most of them, if they don’t haunt a location, follow around someone who was important to them in life, like Pyrrha does with Jaune

Watts and Ironwood both go to Vacuo, because they know that’s the next target. They bicker the whole way which is very entertaining

Hazel follows Emerald around, a sort of guardian spirit. Since he helped them escape and fought Salem for them, Jaune doesn’t see any reason to try and get him to leave. He does tell Emerald that Hazel is there, though

Fennec follows his brother around, which mostly just consists of the two of them sitting in jail. He tries to comfort his brother, but of course Corsac doesn’t know he’s there

Sienna follows Adam around, constantly berating him, and she helps Pyrrha kick his ass when he finally dies. After that she goes back to Menagerie

Vernal either follows Raven around or returns to the tribe. It’s not like she’d be lonely, there’s plenty of ghosts in the Branwens to keep her company

Brawnz, Roy, and May Z all follow Nolan to Vacuo when he goes. He doesn’t know they’re there until Jaune arrives and can tell him, and then Nolan breaks down crying because his team didn’t let him have to be alone, even after dying

Gretchen, of course, follows her twin around and the two reunite after his death. It’s the happiest and most complete Hazel has felt in decades. Jaune doesn’t even know they were siblings until after Hazel dies and they reunite. After all, she still looks seventeen

F Pickerel probably tries to follow Tyrian around, at least until he joins Salem, and then the man’s spirit is promptly banished. Gretchen she allows to stay because she knows the girl won’t try to interfere, she just wants to be with her brother, but Pickerel could be a problem

Ilia’s parents of course follow her around, from Mantle to Mistral to Menagerie and eventually to Vacuo. Not that she knows, again until Jaune gets to Vacuo and can tell her. Then she has a similar reaction to Nolan

Copper follows Fox until he joins team CFVY and finally has a family again, then the man passes on since his “nephew” is safe and loved

Marcus Black would certainly TRY to follow Mercury, at least until he gets to Everlight. Then the man almost meets a similar fate from Gretchen as Adam does at Pyrrha’s hands. Gretchen isn’t quite strong enough to get him to leave, just enough to get him to keep his distance. Once Hazel dies, though, it’s all over for him

Ozpin, of course, follows Oscar around. Jaune actually figured something is up with Oscar when they first meet because for the first time ever, someone else can hear what a ghost is saying. Only the most recent Ozcarnation remains as a spirit, and as the merge comes closer, Ozpin’s ghost starts to fade

Oz used to be able to see/hear ghosts just like Salem, but as he’s used up his magic he’s lost that ability. He DOES know that Jaune can see ghosts, because the boy makes eye contact with him and reacts when he speaks to Oscar

Rhodes would, of course, follow Cinder, but he gets similarly banished when she joins up with Salem. A Huntsman’s spirit is too dangerous to keep around

Clover follows Qrow around, trying to apologize to the man for his stupidity. The two of them reunite when Vine dies, and they actually also get to reunite with Tortuga as well. With Tortuga back it’s the first time the Ace Ops have felt whole since his death, and all three follow the remaining Ace Ops to Vacuo

And finally, the Curious Cat. CC doesn’t leave a spirit when they die, because Ascension works differently. No body left behind, so I figure also no spirit. Alyx only left one behind because she was killed and because she’s from Remnant she doesn’t ascend

[diaryofamadsunwukongfan]

Case file #101: Adam Taurus

Race: Faunus

Nationality: Atlas

Ethnicity: Mantlecean

Weapon: Wilt & Blush (note: resembles a SDC weapon prototype that was stolen about 5 years ago. The blade stores kinetic energy that is then released in the form of harsh destruction rays.)

Gender: Man

Sexuality: Gynephiliac (This information was obtained from a double agent in Menagiere)

Current Age: 21

Aura Color: Red

Handedness: Right

Complexion: Pale

Eye Color: Pale blue

Faunus trait: Bull horns (Adam has both the strength and Endurance of a Bull, according to reports.)

Occupation: White Fang Vale branch leader

Previous Occuppation: White Fang Black ops commander (Classified)

13 years ago, Adam Taurus (note: last name constructed) became the subject of a world known, yet private court case against the SDC where a brand over his left eye was used as evidence of several claims of Faunus workplace abuse. The accusers in the court case were the two leaders of the White Fang, Ghira Bête & Sienna Khan. The White Fang won the court case and an anti neo-slavery bill was passed throughout Atlas-Mantle as a result. Adam, who had recently lost his mother at the time and was a still a minor, was adopted by Sienna Khan who took him to Menagiere.

... unfortunately, 5 years ago Ghira and his wife Kali Bête were assasinated at a Faunus rally somewhere in rural Sanus. They survive by their only daughter, Blake Bête. Since then, the White Fang has cultivated a [CLASSIFIED] organization under the leadership of Sienna Khan. The leaders of the White Fang under Sienna include Adam (Vale branch leader) and Fennec & Corsac Albain (Religous leaders). Attempts by the White Fang to establish an Atlas branch have been stopped by the council (note: countinue to stop them. watch all WF gatherings in Atlas).

WARNING: ONLY MEMBERS WITH LV.5 CLARENCE ARE ALLOWED TO READ BELOW

The White Fang has a Black Ops organization being used to carry out robberies and assasinations in all of Renment. The leader of the Black Ops is Adam Taurus, with Illia Amitola (note: needs a case file) and Blake Bête (has carried out 8 known assasinations on Faunus hate groups, currently missing, needs a case file) as sub commanders. All three serve as de-facto leaders of the White Fang in the event Sienna Khan is killed (note: Do NOT assasinate Sienna Khan, it will lead to race riots. Limit anti White Fang activity to covert operations).

Adam is wanted for the murders of 64 individuals in Atlas, all of whom are connected to the SDC (note: at least 20 were family members). If spotted, do NOT kill him, he is to be captured alive under all circumstances. Allow him to flee if he cannot be captured.

[The writing below is a transcript from a page recovered from a mansion attacked by the White Fang. It is believed to come from Adam Taurus, written by him and then stabbed to the wall.]

"...your father is a white demon. He told me he loved me and would take me to Atlas, but after I gave him what he wanted he left me down here in his mines. Adam, I need you to find your father. And when you do, I want you to kill him. And his wife. And their children. Kill every human on this earth so I can forgive giving birth to a half-"

"I WILL DO IT MOM"

[End of paper dialouge]