#camel!faunus ruby

[howlingday]

Camel!Faunus Ruby

Ruby: Ugh... So hot... So tired...

Ruby: ...

Ren: Why are you staring at me?

Ruby: (Licks lips)

Yang: Ruby! (Holding bottle) Take your medicine!

Fun Fact! In some parts of the middle east, there is a belief that if a camel becomes sick with an illness called surra or hyam, clinically identified as trypanosomiasis, in which they stop eating and stare at the sun. The "cure" for the illness is to force feed the camel a live snake, usually a king cobra. The camel will both recover and "shed healing tears." However, the real best medicine is, surprisingly, real medicine.

[silveranjyil]

Doomed since Day 1

The finale of RWBY Volume 7 has finally pushed me to write SOMETHING.  It isn’t that there wasn’t anything before in the other volumes, but this volume unleashed a torrent of emotions that I can not even begin to touch on.  With Atlas left in the balance, and a raging debate about right or wrong, I felt now was the time to get this out of my head before in consumed me.

And the best place to start is with General James Ironwood, or resident Tinman with no heart.  I think he desperately needs a character analysis to really put his actions into perspective.  And I need to ramble, of course.

The first thing I want to do is really give an outline for his character type, and this has been obvious since he first showed up in Volume 2.  Even at this time, we get an obvious introduction to the unquestionable loyalty of Winter and his main soldiers.  More than that, we get a sneak peak at his superiority complex, and it only grows as time goes on.

Follow Orders.  It was the theme of this volume, but it was hinted at back in V2 and other interactions between him and his subordinates.  This is a huge red flag when RWBY and co come to him in Volume 7. Ironwood has surrounded himself with Yes men, people who only follow orders and never once question them.  It is a dynamic theme throughout this volume, about controlling and crushing down your emotions to follow orders--or manage your semblance? Winter started eluding to this back in V3, which really set the stage for her and future Atlas soldiers.

He is RIGHT. This is important.  He demands that his subordinates follow his orders without question because he thinks he is right and will always be right.  And he never once afforded Ozpin that same loyalty, trust, or authority.  Since day 1, he was constantly questioning Ozpin’s choices, even though HE was the subordinate to Ozpin.  He thought differently from Ozpin and could never accept Ozpin’s ways, nor listen to them.  He expected the council, Ozpin, and his soldiers to follow him without question and he truly, honestly believes he is right.  This is scary, especially when you compare him to Ozpin, but I will get to that in a moment.  The big point is that people who are so sure that they are right, even if they are dead wrong, are the scariest adversaries.  

What we have here is a narcissist with a superiority complex who can not accept that he is wrong. He was unbalanced since he came into the picture, and Ozpin knew it.  But here is where things get interesting.

Ironwood condemns Ozpin’s choices for keeping things secret and not sharing with the world everything.  And, yes, Ironwood does the EXACT same thing.  The difference here is in intention.  Ozpin’s purpose was to protect the people and ensure that as few people died as possible.  Ozpin’s choices were not based on control or the need to be RIGHT.  They were based on experience, a bit of fear, and concern for the people he needed to protect.  To Ozpin, sacrifice on a great scale was never an option.  He tried his best to make sure that the causalities were as limited as possible.  A difficult thing to do, given that hunters and huntresses were constantly fighting Grimm and such.  But  creating a mythos around the Maidens and eliminating Salem from history allowed him to save many many lives.  And I can guarantee that he attempted what Ironwood planned to do, at least on some levels, and met with staggering deaths.

Ironwood, however, is keeping secrets to keep control and out of fear.  He needs control, and he is frustrated that people do not agree with him automatically.  After the fall of Beacon, these traits became enhanced to an unbelievable level.  We see something else surface, though: Ironwood’s ability to manipulate people and be charismatic.  Ironwood is looking to survive: for himself.  He will, manipulate others and sacrifice millions of people’s lives to protect himself, though he clings to his mantra of “it’s for the greater good.”  It will become the sign on the wall of the slave labor he creates. “For the Greater Good”.

Back in V2 and V3, Ironwood showed his ability to be both charismatic and manipulative. His subtlety in his manipulation is a statement to his rise to power.  He puts himself into the position of a Father Figure to lure in the people he wants.  It worked with Winter and the Ace-Ops, which is why they are his right-hand yes men. During Dance Dance, he was praising Ruby and fueling her admiration for him.  Even when team RWBY came to Atlas, all his actions were calculated to manipulate the team into trusting him.  Unfortunately, his actions never really lined up with his words, which was why the team was on edge.  That is for another post ^_^

Another thing you can do to really get an idea for the type of person Ironwood is, is by looking back to the round table discussions orchestrated by Ozpin versus Ironwood.  Ozpin was constant in listening to his people, sometimes taking ideas from them, and allowed them to question him--even yell at him.  He was patient and understood what they were trying to say.  He demonstrated this Ironwood and Qrow the most.

You would never see that kind of discussion with Ironwood.  RWBY and co are new to the scene and it does throw him off.  You can tell he is trying not to pressure them too much because he knows they are not on his side yet. Hooking them up with the Ace-Corps and Winter was a move to help sway them more, a subtle kind of brainwashing tactic that never worked on RWBY.  Thank goodness!

If you think back to the things we have learned throughout the series, all the people we have met, you will find that all of Ironwood’s traits align better with Salem, Cinder, Jacques, and Adam.  All of them have this hunger for power and/or control, all of them are trying to protect themselves and increase their control.  All of them use a level of manipulation and none of them really cared about the damage it would do to others.  Ironwood might be a little better because, at first, it was something he kind of thought about.  Kind of. He had trouble relating to the idea that protecting more was better than protecting less, and it seems that he had been struggling to find his heart since the beginning.  I do think he has a chance to come around.

All this comes around to why his plan was not only a bastardized and twisted version of what Ozpin was trying to accomplish, but why it was a horrible plan to begin with.  Two words:

Volume 3.

Ironwood’s idea of telling the world about Salem is going to be the hair that broke the camel’s back for the world.  Take the Fall of Beacon and magnify it to a million times, happening all at once all over the world.  Okay, I will be a bit more fair: half that number, because there will be three groups of people after his big announcement.  Those that believe him and panic or immediately try to sign up for Salem’s army, those that don’t believe him, and the very small group of people that will stand by and fight the good fight.  And to those who would point out that people rallied upon his message to the people of Mantle and Atlas--they were already in the grip of madness as Grimm were breaking down the unmaintained walls and killing people.  People were in the grips of fear and panic ALREADY and thus clung to his encouraging words.  The people around the world are not in a panic-stricken moment.  They are peaceful and calm.  

Now, Atlas is a country with very strong military and technology, isolated and far away from all the other countries.  Despite the strong military, it is limited in number.  Who will decide what kingdoms and towns to save?  How will they decide it?  Well, history in our own world has outlined that pretty well. Ironwood, since he claimed martial law, would be the soul judge and jury on who to save and who not to.  And it wouldn’t be long in coming before he will need to demand some kind of “compensation” to continue that “protection.  Kind of like the mafia, gangs, and yakuza, etc have been doing for hundreds of years on this side of the screen.  He wants everyone to rely on Him and his military might. He wants to be the hero.  He wants to be a God.

And he will need people to make that happen.  The factories will be working night and day, little breaks, and the big sign of “For the Greater Good” in big bold letters hanging over the heads of the people who were not of high enough office to keep themselves out of the slave lines.  This isn’t some grand head canon, this is history.  He is setting himself up for this.  

Millions of people will die.  Only the elite few will sign up to get under the protective wing of Atlas.  The rest will stage a revolution to bring down the Iron Hand of Ironwood.  Divided so thoroughly that it will take centuries to bring them back together. Everything Ozpin has been slowly building up and working for will fall apart in the blink of an eye.

See, that is a big point.  It takes one small thing to divide people and make them fight amongst themselves.  It takes hundreds of years of careful planning, movement, and cooperation to bring the human race (and Faunus!) together.

Ozpin’s priority had always been the people, however, I think he was once in Ironwood’s shoes.  I am pretty sure he tried everything, including this, and saw it fail horribly. Ozpin has, after all, had centuries of experience in fighting Salem.  The delicacy of the human mind and heart are something he is well acquainted, and I think he already knew what type of person Ironwood was, or at least was becoming.  Near as I can tell, the big reason he kept Ironwood on was because Ironwood had the resources and technology he needed to keep his plan moving forward.

It was already stated in the show about how Ironwood would bastardize the idea of the floating city.  Using the concept to create a global communication that could be independent for each kingdom seems like a great idea, and on the surface it is.  It ignores the fact that only one kingdom would have full control and access over that system at its most important base: Atlas.  And how that would turn out was well simulated by Watts.

I could go on and on about this, but I want to leave it with one final quote that sums up why Ozpin was almost successful and why Ironwood fell so fast.

"It is necessary for a prince to have the people friendly, otherwise he has no security in adversity." (Niccolo Machiavelli)

Ozpin worked hard to maintain the peace and goodwill of the people.  Ironwood, so far, has not.  Definitely having robot sentries on every corner and forcing an embargo on a kingdom that can not easily generate its own resources, as well as hording those resources and preventing necessary repairs and aid to those people--those actions all show that he is not keeping this important aspect of ruler ship.

(random side note-- it is interesting that despite all the quotes from Machiavelli, everyone ignores the fact that he himself constantly harped on and on about keeping the people happy and on the side of the ruler rather than the Nobles. I felt this applicable because Ozpin did not really care about the council or their rules, he cared about the people. Ironwood, while not caring about the council, either, did not really show any care for the people.  You should definitely at least have ONE of those on your side, but Machiavelli would strongly encourage any ruler to have the people no your side moreso than the Nobles.  The Medici family, especially Cosmos, was his biggest example of why this worked.)

Enough about Ironwood, that poor, damned soul.  Love his character and how they did this.

[warriordreamer95]

HUGE list of info we’ve learned from the After The Fall Novel

(Courtesy of NeoVelociraptorDelta from RWBY wiki for making this list. You’re incredible!) SPOILERS AHEAD, DON’T CLICK IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW

Grimm

Dromedon are camel like Grimm that can spit venom (p.150). Jackalopes are huge four-legged beasts with black fur, branching red and white antlers, and powerful hind legs (p.150). Ziraphs are three headed Grimm that resemble a giraffe. Their bodies are covered in red spots that bear resemblances to a leopard, and each head has two horns. The Ziraph is described as five stories tall, and has razor-like plates on their (four) legs (p.151). Ravagers are small bat-like Grimm, that are described as dark and leathery, and are uglier than Nevermores (p.69). A visual will be provided by RWBY Amity Arena soon, if datamines are to be believed. A Blind Worm is an enormous worm-like Grimm with a singular red eye. These Worms are easily as big as Flatback Sliders, but are built to be far faster when traveling in sands. Their defenses include hooks and pitons for teeth and acidic blood (p.263). King Taijitu are also native to Vacuo

Carmine Esclados and Bertilak Celadon Carmine and Bertilak are veteran Huntsmen who work for an unknown employer that has hired them to traffic people with powerful Semblances for an unknown motive. In After the Fall, the duo targets Gus and Edward Caspian, having met them in Vale and followed them to the Felspar settlement Vacuo (p.28). They are detained and arrested by team CFVY. Both Carmine and Bertilak are originally from Shade Academy (p.32). Bertilak Celadon Bertilak is a tall, broad, and muscular man with a green mohawk and matching goatee. He sports a brown, hooded cloak, a green chestplate, and a black tunic. Bertilak has a long scar along his right forearm, and uses a large chained mace (p.31). He is 6’6” (p.215). He is racist towards Faunus. He apparently barely graduated from the Academy (p.31), and is considered an ass, as Fox put (p.108). Celadon’s Semblance is generating heat, he can use it to form walls of sand and to cause enemies to be exhausted (p.137). Bertalik faces off against Fox Alistair and Edward Caspian in a sandstorm, and is subsequently defeated. His weapon is destroyed. Carmine Esclados Carmine hails from the Kingdom of Atlas, though she claims she chose to study in Shade Academy due to a disdain towards Atlas Academy’s uniforms (p.35). Her clothes are from Mistral (p.33). Carmine’s Semblance is Telekinesis, which she frequently uses to create localized weather patterns and to manipulate her weapons (p.254). Additionally, Carmine has used her Semblance to dig tunnels through sand in order to escape peril. Carmine is stated to have less mastery over her Semblance than Glynda Goodwitch. She is defeated by Yatsuhashi Daichi, Velvet Scarlatina, and Coco Adel.

Wildlife Vacuan wildlife includes, but is not limited to: Geckos Mole crabs; massive crab-like creatures that move in herds and bury themselves in the sand. Their blood is described as a clear liquid, and their bodies contain water that is almost black in color. Mole crabs are considered a delicacy in Vacuo, and are very rarely killed due to how dangerous they are. Flatback sliders; giant turtles that average at 100ft of height and swim through Vacuan deserts. Sliders have terrible vision, and are considered a sign of good luck when spotted. They are not Grimm (p.204). Food in Remnant Mistral is the kingdom with the most spices in all of Remnant (p.36). Vacuan food includes: Cactus leaves, coffee, crab burgers, crab steak, crab cake, crab rangoon, fried crevice worms, cave beetles (toasted), desert lotus tea, cactus tea, gecko cake (p.30), bat stew, ale, flatbread (p.37), breadfruit (p.79) Sand is jokingly referred to as the “local spice” of Vacuo as it can’t be fully removed when preparing food. Shade Academy Notes Graduates: Carmine Esclados and Bertalik Celadon Headmaster: Theodore (p.33) Professor: Rumpole (p.19)

Beacon Academy Notes Initiation For CFVY’s initiation, the characters were hurled into the Emerald Forest much like in Volume 1. The Relics they were assigned to obtain were small stone tablets with playing card symbols etched onto them. Coco obtained the Joker Fox took the King of Hearts Velvet took the Queen of Hearts All upperclassmen watch the initiation live from Beacon, and judge newcomers based on their performances. Professors and Classes Ann Greene - Stealth and Security (p.80) Thumbelina Peach - Plant Science (p.269) Peter Port - Military Strategy (p.269) Harold Mulberry - Weapon Crafting and Upkeep (p.269) Bartholomew Oobleck - Legends of Remnant (p.269) Glynda Goodwitch - Combat Training (p.269) Ozpin does not teach any classes. The clockwork in Oz’s office is meant to symbolize how rules are crucial to keep things moving (at least to some extent; p.245) Standard Schedule at Beacon: 7:30am - Breakfast 8am - class 9:45am - class 11:15am - class 12:30pm - lunch 1:30pm - class 2:15pm - class 4pm - class 5pm - self-directed sparring 6pm - dinner Beacon sends students on missions more often than other Academies, and gives students more one on one time with professionals (p.270)

Pharos Academy Pharos is a combat school in Vale. Coco and Velvet attended Pharos. They knew of each other but weren’t friends then. Coco developed a reputation for being a heartbreaker and record setter. Vega Bleu is a friend of Velvet who also went to Pharos, but chose to go to Atlas. He wields a pair of arm-mounted grappling hooks (p.52)

Vacuo Notes Popular Vacuan tourist gift shop t-shirts include: “Vacuo: The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time” and “A Terrible Place to Visit, but You Wouldn’t Want to Live Here” (p.1) Vacuan fashion: simple, light-colored tunics and linen cloaks/head coverings (p.15) Vacuo has a survival of the fittest lifestyle, and strength/survivability makes you well liked (p.15) Vacuan settlements/tribes include: Tuff, destroyed by Grimm Oscuro Coquina Kenyte (partially destroyed by a giant sinkhole) Schist (destroyed by Grimm) Feldspar It’s built out of several tents, trucks/vans, and adobe homes without and defenses Has a support CCT tower Vacuan deserts are windy, thus making it extremely hard to track people in the sandy environment (p.23) Aloe is a common sunscreen in Vacuo The saying ‘I’ll take a rain check’ means the same as ‘when pigs fly’ in Vacuo Vacuan terms: Misery’s Kiss (sunstroke), Lasting Regret (food poisoning), Sudden Demise (giant sinkholes; p. 78).

Edward and August ‘Gus’ Caspian Edward is a slender, old man at 71 years of age with silver hair tied into a ponytail and a stubble. He is a former Huntsman, which is surprising because most Huntsmen don’t live long. His weapon is a small buckler shield with a metal blade (p.81) and a gun function (p.179). Edward’s Semblance is blocking other people’s Semblances. Gus has the Semblance of amplifying emotions, only he can’t control it. He kept this a secret from others (p.130). He has no interest in being a Huntsman, unlike his grandfather, Edward. August is roughly eleven or twelve. The Caspians were targeted by Carmine, Bertalik, and their unknown boss because of their powerful Semblances.

CFVY and Other Teams CFVY and RWBY became friends shortly after the latter team was formed. Ruby seems to be close to Coco, Velvet and Fox. Both teams respect each other due to their respective hotshot reputations. The two teams lost touch after the Fall of Beacon. CFVY and Neptune/Sun were friends. They meet each other in the Epilogue of the book in the settlement of Coquina, where Sun informs the team about the events at the Battle of Haven, meaning After the Fall takes place right at the start of Volume 6. Velvet notes that Sun doesn’t seem like he wants to stay in Shade for long.

The Battle and Fall of Beacon Velvet observed team ABRN easily defeat a Death Stalker during the Battle of Beacon Roy Stallion was killed after being carried off by a Nevermore, the rest of team BRNZ is missing, presumed to be dead. Glynda set up her office in a library after the Fall of Beacon, and is operating the reconstruction of Vale. Team CFVY does not trust the Kingdom of Atlas following the Fall. Beringels were present at the Fall of Beacon.

Team CFVY’s Missions CFVY’s mission in the present day was to defend the settlement of Gossan due to a Grimm outbreak after they received a distress call. They found the settlement had been destroyed, and aided the survivors in reaching the settlement of Feldspar. After Feldspar was invaded by Grimm, the team successfully lead the nomads to Coquina without any casualties. They uncovered Carmine and Bertalik’s plan to traffic people, and arrested the two. CFVY’s Mt. Glenn mission was considered an outright failure. The team was sent to a small settlement called Lower Cairn near Mt. Glenn due to a distress call. There, they found the settlement was outright flattened, which was incredibly outside the Grimm’s MO. CFVY found a family of six hiding in a cave near the ruins, and attempted to rescue them. To their horror, the father was killed by an Ursa, and the rest of the family fled back to the cave. The cave was then flattened by a Goliath that appeared, causing CFVY to retreat. The mission lasted ten days and was supervised by Professor Port, CFVY believes Ozpin overestimated their team. In V2, Velvet lies to team RWBY about their mission, partially due to shock and in part to not frighten the first years, given they were leaving off on their own missions shortly.

Ada Ada, or an “Accessibility Dialogue Assistant” is an earbud device intended to aid people with disabilities. It is designed to send pulses to distinguish the nearby environment, and is activated through voice control (p.46). Ada has a compass function(p. 176), as well as a battle mode called the Cyrano Protocol, which identifies weapons and weaknesses. The entire Ada system adapts to fit the user over time (p.178).

Miscellaneous Pig snouts are a confirmed Faunus trait (p.30) Pumpkin Pete is also a Looney Tunes-esque cartoon in addition to the cereal brand (p.12) Curry Up is one of the restaurants at Vale (p.239) Ruby made her V1 outfit herself with roughly 20 Lien (p.112) Coco and Oz once had a talk much like Ruby and Oz did in V1 (p. 117) Fox and Yatsuhashi confronted Weiss about her attitude in V1, shortly after team RWBY was formed (p. 121) More books in Remnant:  The Boy Who Fell from the Sky (p.122), My Sweet Samurai, and Hidden Remnant (p.161). ‘Catnap’ is an offensive term when talking about cat Faunus (p.161).

Fox Alistair Fox’s Semblance is that of telepathy. He can send message to people’s minds to convey his thoughts, and he can sense when people are close by. Fox’s Semblance is more precise if people are close by. When using it, other people feel as though they are being watched by something. He is originally from the Vacuan tribe of Kenyte, where he was considered a frail boy by his parents and peers. His parents were killed when a part of the settlement was destroyed in a sinkhole, resulting in him being taken care of by the tribe in a communal fashion. Fox was trained to fight by his honorary uncle, Copper, as he was the one person who didn’t view Alistair as frail. Copper was eventually killed by the tribe for training him as a punishment. Because of this, Fox decided to turn to Vale with the goal of protecting others who couldn’t protect themselves. Fox’s weapons are called Sharp Retribution.

Yatsuhashi Daichi Yatsuhashi’s Semblance allows him to wipe other people’s memories when he touches them. He can permanently wipe “easy memories,” which are trivial in nature, and temporarily wipe important memories, which return on an equal basis as to how they were wiped (so, if he were to wipe a day, then the person regains the memory the next day). Yatsu uses the Semblance sparingly, only wiping seconds at a time. Yatsuhashi was born in the city of Mistral, where he lived with his parents, grandfather, and his sister, Hiyoko. At the age of eight, he discovered his Semblance, and being a problem child, decided to use it to his advantage. However, this took a turn when, in a fit of jealousy, he wiped his mother’s memory of his sister for a day. Yatsuhashi was traumatized by this, and took care of Hiyoko while he waited for his mother’s memory to return. Once they did, he came clean to his parents about discovering his Semblance, to which his parents told him to never use the Semblance again. However, his grandfather suggested that he went to Beacon to master it to use his ability for good. Yatsu’s greatsword is called Fulcrum.

Coco Adel Coco’s Semblance, simply called Hype, allows her to use her Aura to increase the effects and power of Dust. She uses this to power the effect of her gatling gun’s bullets, thus explaining her power level in Volume 2. Additionally, Fox notes Coco has a large amount of Aura. She is native to Vale, and studied in Pharos, having developed a reputation as a heartbreaker and a record setter. Coco notes Ozpin reminds her of her younger brother. She admires Glynda’s leadership and tries to replicate that when talking to her team and when encouraging Ruby Rose. She designed her gatling gun, Gianduja, herself.

Velvet Scarlatina Velvet’s Semblance is Photographic Memory, it allows her to easily learn skills that would otherwise take years to master. Velvet, like Coco, is from Vale and studied in Pharos. At her time in the school, tormentors from Mistral frequently bullied her, causing Velvet to gain a deep seeded hatred for the Kingdom. She also dislikes Vacuo, mainly because it’s simply not as comfortable as Vale was to her. Velvet is sassy when with her team in comparison to her usual shyness around others. Her camera is called Anesidora.

Slate Slate is an old woman with spiky grey hair and what is described as a leathery face. She is the leader of Gossan nomadic tribe, and the former mayor of Tuff (where the tribe was originally settled), which had recently been destroyed by a Grimm outbreak (p.14). Slate is highly respected as a leader, gaining the trust of the entire nomadic tribe and team CFVY.

[party-of-rpg-muses]

How I Would Fix Adam Taurus: Part 4 (The Future)

I would probably have Adam take a moment to recover, either recovering his blade or getting a new weapon from somewhere. He knew that Blake and the others were heading to Atlas and concerned for her safety, as that’s where the Schnee family live, he makes his own way to Atlas. Either by stealing an airship and stowing away on a ride to Atlas, still trying to save Blake.

Adam would appear somewhat infrequently, doing his best to stay hidden from view of humans, killing any humans mistreating or happily talking bad about Faunus. However, he’d also appear to the downtrodden Faunus, extending a helpful hand; either giving them food or defending them from aggressive humans. He’d basically be a Robin Hood-type figure to them, giving them hope.

Every now and again, he would happen across Blake. If she’s with her friends, he won’t approach, not wanting “her brainwashers” nearby to distract her. But on occasion, when he happens across Blake while she’s alone, he peacefully approaches and calmly talks to her, even laying down his weapon. A repeat of the other times occur, with Adam questioning why Blake would ally herself with humans, even questioning why she would go to Atlas, where Faunus are treated worst of all out of all other places. While they talked, some Faunus kids appear and share some of their food with Adam, thankful for him for helping them. Adam would talk about the evil he saw on Atlas and how the Faunus were treated especially badly, talking about how he wanted to take the humans down a peg and make them feel the pain of the Faunus, but Blake would refuse, arguing that would make them just as bad as the humans. After a bit more talking, they would calmly go their separate ways, intending on going through with his plan. Blake tries to call out to him, but he’s already gone.

While the main story is going on, Adam would have his own side-story going on at the same time. He would be spending time with the Faunus, helping and protecting them. He would even have his own episode or two where he talks about his past, causing a flashback. We’d see that he and his mom were basically slaves for the Schnee Dust Company, even removing his mask to show his branding. He and his mom were basically property, used to push incredibly heavy minecarts full of raw Dust in Mantle. And it was there that he met Ilia and the two became fast friends, though he was sad when she moved to Atlas. And when the cave-in occured, Ilia’s parents were killed while Adam’s mom was heavily injured and couldn’t work anymore. And since she couldn’t work, a few incredibly cruel humans who work with the SDC decided to “euthanize” her like some common animal. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back, causing Adam, enraged, to fight back. But since he was only a kid, the humans easily overpowered him and mercilessly kicked and beat him. Desperate for anything, he grabbed the nearest item he could find, using it to block their attacks as best as he could before suddenly triggering his Semblance, killing them all with massive blunt force trauma.

He eventually escaped and ended up learning about a new group called the “White Fang”, wanting to join them because he wanted equality. Along the way to reaching a White Fang base, he would meet a human girl named Viri and actually befriend them, sneaking food for Adam while he rested. But the girl sold him out to the others (at least, that’s what he believes) and the townspeople came to get the Faunus boy, causing Adam to run. He eventually reached the White Fang base, where he was basically raised within their ranks, even meeting up with Ilia again while making friends with Blake. And he’s been with the White Fang ever since. This would bring him to stage a violent uprising against the humans and especially against the Schnee Family.

And near the end of the Volume, while Team RWBY are inside the Schnee estate (they separated from the others), Adam catches the group while he’s attempting to assassinate Jacques and one reason or another, hears the name “Weiss”, which catches his attention. When he realizes the girl in white is Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, he flies into a rage, ambushes the group and attacks Weiss almost relentlessly. But despite being consumed with rage, he’s able to hold his own against all four members of Team RWBY, though Ruby doesn’t fare as well, since she doesn’t do well against opponents like Adam and she hasn’t faced him before. The entire time, Adam is livid, blaming Weiss and her whole family for the death of his mother, cursing her name and her family, while also accusing her of brainwashing Blake and turning her into a servant, demanding he wants his friend back. He even says that the Schnee Family are the worst of all humans. And Adam is able to either counter, block, or dodge many (but not all) combos Team RWBY throw at him, but they manage to get the upper hand with Weiss successfully disarming Adam. As he lays on the floor, he curses Weiss one last time, but know’s he’s beaten, telling Weiss to just go ahead and finish him, so that he could at least be with his mom.

Suddenly, Jacques shows up, applauding Weiss for stifling the “riff-raff”, catching everyone’s attention. He comments considering forgiving Weiss and saying he’ll welcome Weiss back as heir to the Schnee Dust Company if she kills Adam and for an added bonus, she’ll get to keep Blake as a pet/personal servant. Of course, Weiss refuses, stating that while they’re different, they’re still people, people who have suffered even worse than she has at his hands, at the hands of a monster. Enraged, Jacques bemoans having an insolent brat of a daughter and decides to dispose of them, calling forth a powerful security android soldier that Ironwood gave him as a gift, which fires a powerful laser at the group. Suddenly, Adam rushes forward, his sword in hand, and blocks the beam with everything he’s got. He’s slowly being pushed back, trying to stand his ground as he looks back at Weiss, his eyes saying that while he’s still angry at humans, he’s willing to return the favor Weiss gave him for sparing his life. Slowly, his hair starts to turn red, signalling that his Moonslice is ready while Ruby and Yang work together to get the android to stop if only for a moment. Once the android stops, Adam quickly tells everyone to get down before he uses Moonslice, dealing massive damage to the surrounding room and destroying the android completely.

Jacques is thrown from the mech’s explosion, landing in front of the group, heavily injured as they glare down at him. Blake asks Adam what he wants to do with Jacques, only for Adam to pick the man up by his collar and drag him outside where a horde of angry Faunus are fighting against the guards, spurred on by Adam’s words of rising up. Seeing Adam, the fighting stops. Adam holds Jacques out and tells them that this man is one of the main reasons why Faunus are treated so poorly, viewing them as items or servants at best and garbage at worst. He doesn’t doubt that many would want to torture or even kill him, leaving Team RWBY stunned, only for him to follow by saying that they’re too good for that. Instead, he’d be placed under close supervision and forced to atone for his actions. First act being kicked out of his home (everyone else is fine (except maybe Whitley if he’s just as much of a turd)) and forced to live like the Faunus were, in slums, barely surviving on food.

Afterwards, Adam would finally truly open up to the others. While he’s still not ready to forgive humanity, the kindness Weiss, a Schnee, gave him opened his eyes to the possibility, so he leaves Atlas and goes on his own personal journey. But not before offering an apology to Yang, saying that he’s sorry for taking her arm, not that he expects her to forgive him. Yang only responds with “It’s cool, that arm wasn’t right for me anyway.” Everyone groans, but Adam simply chuckles and says “That’s pretty good” before leaving.

 A brief scene would play with him going through the village he momentarily stayed at as a kid with Viri, now a grown woman, recognizing Adam, even giving him a hug. Of course, he’s hesitant to return the favor, keeping his arms to his side, and even glaring at her before she starts to explain that some other kids found out and forced her to tell the adults about Adam. Every day she worried that he was okay and that she saw him on the news, showing him at Haven. While she was happy to see he was alive, she was less so upon seeing that he became so violent. He explains what happened, telling her that he’s changed. He also finds that Viri has been smuggling Faunus who ran from the Schnee Dust Mines and held them in her barn until the dead of night so they could escape. He even spends some time at her town, wearing a hat to disguise his Faunus traits and cuts down a few ruffians who try to harass Viri. Afterwards, he leaves to continue his journey, but assures Viri they’ll meet again.

Later, when RWBY and friends arrive at Vacuo and meet Sun, he tells Blake that Adam passed by some time ago. He also says that they talked for a bit and Sun comments that he seemed satisfied about Vacuo (because humans and Faunus live peacefully together). There’d even be a scene where Adam finally makes his way to Menagerie, surprising Ilia. When he says he’s happy to see her, she can’t help but hug her old friend, happy to have both him and Blake back. Adam would smile, returning the embrace, but states that he’d like to meet with Ghira.

Later still, when Team RWBY find themselves at the White Fang base, Adam would join, knowing they have no chance of defeating Sienna Khan by themselves. Seeing this betrayal enrages her, causing her to fight the group with intense ferocity that even Adam and Blake have trouble keeping up with her. Eventually, Adam is gravely injured and taken out of the fight. No wanting to lose her friend again, she goes into a rage, attacking Sienna like a wild animal while the others back her up. Eventually, Sienna is defeated and unable to comprehend the fact that Faunus are working with humans to stop Faunus equality, she snaps and charges at Blake one final time, only for Adam to come in, still injured, and run her through with his sword. She asks why he would betray her and the White Fang before she dies with Adam’s response being “You’re not what the White Fang needs.” With Sienna’s death, Adam ascends as High Leader of the Faunus, taking a new path for Faunus equality; peace, but not being afraid to fight back. Blake isn’t... completely okay with it, but lets it go as she leaves with her friends.

And that is what I would have done with Adam. And yes, Viri would be Adam’s love interest.