#rwby mantle

[iamafanofcartoons]

Was this not part of the plot of Volume 7 for RWBY? by Littleferret22

https://twitter.com/littleferret22/status/1659244125537828882

[nightmare-foundation]

Hmm yknow I just remembered/realized something

I don't think Atlas always had a military- it's probably obvious to like, anyone else, but I'm like, 90% sure that Mantle/Atlas got rid of its military post Great War like the other kingdoms did. And then, yknow, reinstated it at some point after that happened.

I think this mostly because it's never said that Mantle/Atlas was the exception when everyone got rid of their militaries. Since it's post-war, Atlas reinstating their military wouldn't have been brought up during the 'Great War' video. Mantle refusing to give up their military would've certainly caused some issues and would've been notable enough for Qrow to mention, but clearly that never happened.

This is interesting to me, and makes the most sense, because Oz is like, pretty explicitly anti-military. He wouldn't have let one kingdom keep their military if he had any say, based on the way he acts in terms of discussing the military (calling Ironwoods fleets an 'eyesore', not being happy a foreign kingdoms army is on his doorstep, not using Ironwoods army to his advantage even when it could help except in an emergency, etc). It makes sense for Atlas to put their military back up at a point where Oz has no say, either because he has no power or because he's dead, especially if they were under a new leader/council.

Honestly, I fully believe Oz raised Atlas in hopes the kingdoms innovation would help guide humanity forward and protect people. Unfortunately, I think this ended up being twisted into a military being created, which would be pretty on brand for Atlas.

[marcmarcmomarc]

Remnant Alliance reunions and introductions, “Day of Black Sun”-style

JAUNE: Were you able to locate everyone we told you to find?

QROW: You know it.

THEODORE: But I’m a little worried. Some of these people aren’t exactly the warrior type.

(The people from Anima between the Kingdoms approach.)

HIGANBANA WAITRESS: Hey, Mr. Branwen. Want a top shelf again?

QROW: Oh, no, I gave up drinking.

ANIMA BLACKSMITH: Hello again, Arc.

JAUNE: The blacksmith from Anima?

RUBY: It’s so good to see you.

ANIMA BLACKSMITH: How’s the equipment been for you?

JAUNE: Fine enough. Had it upgraded in Atlas and then Cinder chopped the blade in half.

ANIMA BLACKSMITH: Ooh. That’s a nasty blow.

(Ruby sees the mayor.)

RUBY: Mr. Mayor? You’re here, too?

ANIMA MAYOR: Indeed. You and Team RNJR helped out our village in Anima, so we should return the favor.

FLYNT: Hey, girls.

(Weiss and Yang see Team FNKI.)

WEISS: Hello, Team FNKI.

NEON: Don’t worry. We aren’t fighting for fun. Not since Ironwood had us join the military out of desperation.

JAUNE: Well, that’s unfortunate.

(Olive Harper and Team BRIR approach Team RWBY.)

LT. HARPER: Miss Rose?

RUBY: Lieutenant Harper. And Team BRIR?

YANG: You guys up for a rematch?

BIANCA: Negatory.

CORDOVIN: Greetings, children. And the witch.

MARIA: She-devil.

RUBY: Miss Cordovin. Good to see you.

CORDOVIN: I cannot believe I was kissing up to that man for so long.

(Ciel approaches Ruby and Weiss.)

CIEL: Ruby. Weiss.

RUBY: Ciel Soleil.

WEISS: Yeah, it’s been a while.

CIEL: I can’t say I had much of an experience with Penny, but I will fight the way she would have wanted.

(The Beacon Academy professors approach their students.)

PEACH: So this is the Alliance base?

NORA: Professor Peach. How have you been?

PEACH: Not the best. Ann and Harold haven’t been taking the destruction of Vale well, either.

GREENE: I’ve been trying to keep Harold away from the alcohol for days.

MULBERRY: Just one sip, guys. Come on.

QROW: Take it from me. One sip can turn into bottle after bottle of wine with no sign of stopping.

(Shopkeep approaches Ruby.)

RUBY: The Vale shopkeeper? You’re here, too?

SHOPKEEP: Mm-hmm.

(Lisa Lavender and Cyril Ian approach her, too.)

LISA LAVENDER: This just in, we are in the Remnant Alliance base, talking with the face of hope herself, Ruby Rose.

CYRIL IAN: Miss Rose, you were just a small-town girl with a knack for weaponry, who overcame impossible odds to send a message to the world in an attempt to unite us against Salem, and now, you have tons of worldwide allies to back you up.

RUBY: Well, it wasn’t easy, but what made it happen is the people I had to help.

CYRIL IAN: The rumors say that you’ll stop at nothing until you save the world. Any confirmation?

RUBY: I can confirm that I will put forth as much willpower as I have in me.

LISA LAVENDER: And there you have it. Miss Ruby Rose announcing that she is, in fact, not throwing in the towel anytime soon.

(Roch Szalt and Kandi Floss approach Team RWBY.)

ROCH: Hello, Team RWBY. Allow us to introduce ourselves. I’m Roch Szalt, she’s Kandi Floss.

KANDI: We’re Huntsmen from Vale.

(Oscar’s aunt approaches her nephew.)

OSCAR’S AUNT: Oscar, are these the people you’ve been traveling with all this time?

OSCAR: Yes. Oh, Ruby, this is my aunt. She owns a farm in Mistral.

RUBY: Uh, hi.

SAPHRON: Jaune?

(Saphron runs toward Jaune and embraces him.)

JAUNE: Hey, Saph.

(He embraces his sister back. Terra approaches, carrying Adrian.)

TERRA: The Rusted Knight, huh?

SAPHRON: I guess that makes you older than us. The rest of our sisters are on their way. They should be here soon.

(The red haired woman from Pyrrha’s memorial approaches Jaune.)

RED HAIRED WOMAN: Hello, everyone.

JAUNE: Hello, ma’am. Ren, Nora, this is the citizen I met at Pyrrha’s memorial in Argus.

RED HAIRED WOMAN: I will do what I can to contribute to the fight.

(Argus Limited Huntsman Dudley approaches.)

DUDLEY: As will I. For Dee.

JAUNE: Glad to hear it. And to see that your arm has healed.

(Henry approaches Weiss.)

HENRY: Hey, there, snow angel.

WEISS: Hello, what was it?

(May faces her cousin.)

MAY: Henry. How does it feel to be at our level?

HENRY: You could have just stayed up in Atlas with the rest of your family, May.

MAY: I don’t have time for more Atlesian nonsense.

(Councilwoman Camilla stops them.)

CAMILLA: Please spare us the negativity, Henry. You’ll just bring in Grimm.

WEISS: Councilwoman Camilla? Where’s Councilman Sleet?

CAMILLA: James shot him. I’m in this for him.

(Yang turns.)

YANG: Wait. Is that…

(Shay D. Mann and the Branwen Tribe approach.)

SHAY D. MANN: Hey, there, sweetheart. Long time no see, huh?

YANG: Great.

RAVEN: Yang, this is Shay D. Mann.

YANG: Yeah, met him at the gas station near your bandit camp. Started hitting on me the second he laid eyes on me.

RAVEN: That makes two of us.

(Raven points her sword at him.)

RAVEN: Listen, Shay. No funny business with my daughter or any of the women here. Got it?

SHAY D. MANN: Fine.

WEISS: Is the whole Branwen Tribe here?

RAVEN: Yeah.

JUNIOR: As are we.

(Junior and the Malachite twins approach Yang.)

YANG: Junior.

JUNIOR: Blondie- I mean, Sir.

YANG: Miltia. Melanie.

MILTIA AND MELANIE: Whatever.

(Lil’ Miss Malachite and her bodyguards approach.)

LIL’ MISS MALACHITE: I hear you’re responsible for destroying my boy’s bar.

YANG: And you are?

LIL’ MISS MALACHITE: Lil’ Miss Malachite, the leader of Spider.

YANG: The Mistral criminal organization?

LIL’ MISS MALACHITE: I think the tattoo speaks for itself.

JAUNE: You’re not the only one who has an old foe to reunite with.

(Cardin Winchester and Team CRDL approach Jaune.)

CARDIN: Hey, Jaunie-boy. Look at you. You’ve gotten bulkier, stronger, and you’ve styled your hair like mine.

JAUNE: So are you guys actually going to fight and not run away?

CARDIN: I think we’ve had some growing up to do since the Fall of Beacon, right, boys?

RUSSEL: Uh, sure.

DOVE: I’d say so.

LARK: Yeah.

CARDIN: Okay. I’ve had growing up to do. Not them, apparently.

(Fiona’s uncle approaches Yang and Jaune.)

FIONA’S UNCLE: Miss Xiao Long, Mister Arc. Great to see you guys.

FIONA: Uncle!

(Fiona hugs him.)

YANG: You, too, sir. And the refugees.

(Ren speaks to the disgruntled grandmother.)

REN: You getting over your bias against Faunus, ma’am?

GRANDMOTHER: Ha-ha, very funny. But, yes, now that my daughter is getting engaged to a wolf Faunus.

(Mikado Lem approaches Blake.)

MIKADO: Blake Belladonna! You’re back!

BLAKE: Hi, Mikado.

JAUNE: Who?

BLAKE: Mikado Lem, the head of the Blake Belladonna Fan Club.

MIKADO: I brought the people of Essen and Dormir with me.

YANG: Hey, guys!

GHIRA: And we have brought the New White Fang.

BLAKE: Wow. You guys have really made a drastic change to the White Fang. For the better, or course.

(The Captain and his crew approach Blake.)

CAPTAIN: Hello, Miss Belladonna.

BLAKE: Guys, meet the Captain of the ship I rode to Menagerie on.

CAPTAIN: And my crew.

YANG: So, you know him, too? I rode his ship to Mistral.

CAPTAIN: Now, we may not be on water, but we’ll still put up a fight.

YANG: Sweet.

(Team SAFR drop down and approach Team RWBY.)

SKYE: Well, lookie here, boys. Team RWBY in the flesh. Allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Arrastra Skye, leader of Team SAFR, and these are my teammates, Asher Mora, Fenix Nemean, and Pyke Rite.

RUBY: Nice.

[rwbyuser24]

What if Watts wanted Ironwood to focus himself on Mantle during As above, so below?

Hey! This is my first post.

Well, I know what many will think: Watts should be thinking that Ironwood would prioritize Atlas over Mantle. But I think Watts would have thought that Ironwood was going to put attention to Mantle.

Ironwood isn't as bad as you think.

Some say "Ironwood always make excuses when Mantle suffered, he always justified why Mantle should continue suffering". But, that's something that happens when are HIS actions the ones that provoke Mantle suffering. He never justified Mantle murders, or the deaths by Grimm.

He never made Grimm suffer out of malice. When Mantle suffered it's because of collateral damage of his plans. And his plans want to help everyone.

"I needed to ensure Salem couldn't infiltrate Atlas. And I wanted my military here, protecting my people." This is what he said about the Embargo and his military presence in the kingdom.

Even Blake said it, he wanted to help everyone.

"A new communications tower. He's trying to help... everyone."

And Robyn recognized, he wanted to help everyone.

" I used to think you were hiding something to protect yourself. But I can tell there's something much bigger going on here. Now I think it's to protect something else. Us… Atlas, maybe even all of Remnant. And you're afraid of what might happen if you tell the truth."

He recognized that there were problems in Mantle and that's why Ruby's group was sent to help.

"No. No, you're right. Things in Mantle have been... hard to manage lately. I'm not blind to its issues. In fact, that's what I want to talk to you about. With the launch of this mobile communications tower and tensions down in Mantle, I think there's a lot of good your teams can do here."

So he assigned Ruby's group to help in Mantle (Though they also helped by their own initiative) . He didn't put Penny in mantle just because she was a robot, there are human soldiers down there. He put her because he wanted her to be protector of Mantle.

Even he considered the idea of working with Robyn. It wasn't because "he wanted to control the fear of Mantle". It was because he really wanted to help.

 "She's right, you have to do something about Mantle. If you could get Robyn to trust you..."

 "Perhaps... but it will only work if she's open too."

Of course, at the end, Ironwood initially didn't wanted to help Mantle.

"If I move the fleet, then Atlas is vulnerable. I… I tried to keep the kingdom safe. And now we're losing everything."

But the most intuitive think would be that Ironwood would be willing to put attention to Mantle.

That's how Ironwood have been dealing with Mantle since always. Grimm? Sent soldiers, robots and Penny. Deaths in Mantle? Sent Clover (I remind you that didn't know back then that the deaths were made by Salem, he didn't even suspected). More Grimm attacks? Cuts of liberties and freedoms.

I'm not saying that he cares enough about Mantle. Ironwood should have put more attention to the city. And yes, the way he treated the problems in Mantle was even wrong (With the cost of liberties and freedoms) But at the end he always put a minimum of attention on Mantle.

2. Watts thought Ozpin was with him.

Watts didn't know Ozpin was absent with the guys. So Watts should have thought that Ozpin could convince Ironwood to put his attention on Mantle.

Remember what he said?

"He's the only man with a chance of getting through to Ironwood. If that happens..."

Ozpin is the only one capable of making Ironwood reconsider.

3.-Watts should have know that Salem was coming.

Remember, he had a Seer in his bag. With that, Salem could communicate with him. It was that very night that Salem attacked. So maybe she told him that she was coming.

There you have it, Watts should have thought that Ironwood would have put attention in Mantle. Whether by himself or under Ozpin's advice.

And that would weaken Atlas forces and distract Ironwood from Salem.

Remember what Tyrian said:

"The Grimm should have destroyed our enemies, not made them friends!"

The plan was to make their enemies (The military, Ruby's group and mantle huntsmen) go to Mantle and defeat them there.

All so Salem can come and fight a weakened Atlas.

[one-real-wrimonkey]

I actually can’t stop thinking about a RWBY AU where Robyn and the Happy Huntresses are just villains.

Keep them as Champions of Mantle, but make them so much more ruthless, so much more unwilling to compromise to the point where they’re as much a threat as Salem’s forces or Jacque Schnee (or late stage Ironwood).

Robyn still runs for the Council, she still steals from Atlas, but she takes care of her competition and she is far more willing to be ruthless. As are her Huntresses. They’re antiheroes, but they will go to any lengths to protect Mantle and screw anyone and everyone else.

It could be such a fun concept to play with.

Are they outright hostile from the start?

Do they try to play nice and then pick off our heroes?

How long does Robyn keep up the ‘ally’ act before she strikes?

RWBY Vol7-8 is such a fun sandbox to play in mwehehehee.

(Yes this was inspired by Harriet’s paranoia in my last fic but it’s such a fun concept actually I love it.)

[bmblboop]

Reaping what I've sown lol: 2, 14, and 19? 🩷 -TKSS

2. Rank the soundtracks!

Ugh, the volumes aren’t on Spotify at this time so I can’t check the playlists easily. Sorry for the delayed answer!                     

Volume 4 is probably at the top, followed by Volume 5. 6 is very close behind. 2 and 3 have the same issue in that they are a mix of absolute bangers and one or two songs I don’t care for. 7, 8, and 9 are very solid but I haven’t listened to the whole thing recently. I do like a lot of songs from them, but I haven’t added any songs aside from ‘The Sky is Falling’ to my personal RWBY playlist.

Volume 1 soundtrack is great because of all the character songs, but I could never vibe with Gold or Wings. Also no other soundtrack remixes songs that also debuted on it. Which, I understand from a ‘back then’ POV since they didn’t know how big this show was going to get, also I understand the Black and Yellow trailers needed full songs of their new music since most of their trailers were dialogue. The original character songs still go hard. I’m placing this soundtrack in an honorary ‘You’re the reason this show got big’ category, even though I don’t listen to half of it nowadays.

14. Favorite background character design?

Trifa (the spider Faunus that attempted to restrain Blake in v5) has a simple but very cool design, and I love to see the creative integration of animal traits in this show.

For an unnamed character, there’s this mom and kid in Mantle with lynx ears and I LOVE their design despite how simple it is. Justice for Lynx Mom.

19. Favorite Weiss ship?

I don’t think I have any OTPs for Weiss, now that I think about it. I like her as part of Frosen Steel or Bee’s Schnees, but more as a “Ruby (or Yang) has 2 hands” situation, and I doubt it would ever be canon. And her celebrity crush on Pyrrha by that same token, which is probably my favorite wlw Weiss ship (Whiterose is very cute too, but I could never get into it). Funny enough, I think Volume 9 has warmed me up to Whiteknight, which was thoroughly dismissed at the start of the show. It’s kinda neat to look at it as a ‘right person wrong time’ situation, and now that they’ve changed so much, they could be a good partner to each other. It’s possible she won’t be romantically involved with anyone by the end of the show, and that’s good too.

[superiorsturgeon]

Jaune: *finishes his coffee* See you guys later, I have crossing guard duty down in Mantle!

Jaune: *jumps off the edge of Atlas*

Everyone else: 😱

———————————————————————

Little boy: *waiting at Mantle crosswalk*

Mantle mom: *holding her son’s hand* Hm…? Where is the crossing guard? It’s not normal for him to be late!

Jaune: *plummets out of the sky and slams into the pavement*

Jaune: *gets back up while amping his own aura back to full* Whew! Made it just in time! *waves children of Mantle through the crosswalk and around small crater in the middle of the road*

[bobauthorman]

I wanna clear up a big misconception

I've seen it on a few posts, and it really busts my craw. So I wanna say this loud and clear. Everyone listening? No? Too bad.

ahem.

OSCAR DID NOT GO AROUND RUBY'S BACK TO TELL THE TRUTH TO IRONWOOD!!!

Yes, Oscar did show unease with hiding the truth from Ironwood, and expressed it to Ruby. However, in none of Oscar and Ironwood's interactions before "As Above, So Below" does Oscar say anything about the truth being hidden. During "As Above, So Below", both Ruby and Oscar make the simultaneous decision to tell Ironwood together. In fact, Ruby wanted to be the one to reveal the truth because she was the one who lied in the first place, but had to go off and help save Mantle from the Grimm. Here's a transcript of the scene, taken from the RWBY Wiki;

Ruby: Um... I just wanted to say uh--

Oscar: I had thought that maybe--

Both: We should tell Ironwood.

The two laugh awkwardly while Ruby's teammates run past.

Ruby: Well, uh… (awkward laugh) I guess we're on the same page, huh?

Oscar: Guess so. He's finally choosing the truth over fear. We should do the same.

Ruby: I'll tell him. I'm the one who chose to keep it from him in the first place.

Marrow: Ruby! Transport's leaving.

Marrow points out the door with his thumb, and Ruby waves her hands to him.

Oscar: I think you're needed elsewhere.

Oscar starts heading to the dining room.

Ruby: You're sure?

Oscar: Yeah, I've got it.

At what point does this look like Oscar is "going behind Ruby's back"? Please don't spread misinformation.

[rwby-confess]

Confession #312

[strqyr]

thinking about the points ilia brought up, the fucked up-ness of adam's brand, and how seemingly ineffective the white fang was at the time in terms of helping the faunus around the world—or, at least in atlas / mantle:

"where was their help when the dust companies treated our people like slaves?! where was their help when kingdoms hunted faunus just for being who they are?! where was my help when my parents were killed in a dust mine?!"

if ilia, whose parents wanted better for her and managed to get her into an atlas prep school, who could pass as a human as long as she didn't change colors ( i.e. suppressed her faunus trait ), didn't get any help ( from the white fang, at least, which would have been under ghira's leadership at the time ) after her parents' deaths, then 1. what the fuck, and 2. what chance did adam have?

he was a child slave branded on his face. hiding his faunus trait would have already been fairly difficult, hiding his scarred face without drawing any attention to it after he managed to escape even more so.

who would even risk helping him? if what ilia said was correct, faunus were still hunted by the kingdoms just for who they were while the white fang already existed; now add the fact that the faunus who's being hunted down is a runaway child slave with a brand on his face—i.e. someone easily recognizable by anyone, good luck hiding him—, and the chances of anyone taking a risk of helping him and putting themselves in the line of fire is pretty darn low. a few brave faunus might ( and i wouldn't fault the already discriminated for not doing so when the possibility of being hunted down for just existing is there ), but humans certainly would not have; just look at cinder, a human child slave—no one was rushing to help her so there's no chance in hell that anyone was jumping to help adam.

all it would take is one wrong person seeing adam and his brand, even just suspect that he's hiding it underneath any cover he might have worn at the time, and that person calling it in to some authority, and oop. the gig is up, and now anyone caught helping him is in hot water, too.

with one single brand, adam could have very easily been ostracized by everyone, so it's no wonder he kept it hidden.

[amiizuki]

it amuses me how RWBY Beyond was advertised as "see what was happening in Remnant during V9, while RWBYJ were in Ever After", and yet the 2nd episode out of 4 of the series is about what Jaune was doing after V9. yeah, he talks about stuff that happened during V9 (or, technically, before, since it's about events from when he was with Alyx and Lewis), but the whole thing still takes place post V9, with him telling all those stuff to Oscar.

and then there's the 1st episode, which, while indeed taking place during V9, is just comedy filler, that supposedly continues with detectives joke from RWBY Chibi (I never watched RWBY Chibi, I only heard from other people that that show also had Sun and Neptune act like detectives) with no actual relevant info about what was happening with Vacuo, or the Atlas and Mantle refugees, or how people and the ruler of Vacuo were handling a whole ass nation of people just suddenly dropping onto their doorstep, or anything like that. the only sort of plot relevant info was showing that Summer Maiden is in Vacuo, but then again, her identity was still hidden from us and Kerry quickly jumped off from that plot point as soon as it was introduced with his """hilarious""" "nuh-uh, no more new characters lmao XD" line.

this 2nd episode isn't really that bad, it's kinda alright, certainly better than the 1st one, but, again, when I read that the series will be about what people of Remnant, who aren't RWBYJ, were doing during V9, I kinda thought it'll be about Atlas and Mantle citizens trying to get used to their sudden new life in Vacuo, or Oscar/Ozpin talking to Theo and all 3 maidens to figure out what to do next, or, hell, maybe even focus on Tai's feelings on everything that happened, with him thinking if he did the right thing by letting Ruby and Yang leave, since now he doesn't even know if his daughters, his last remaining family, are even alive, assuming he knows about the fates of Vale, Atlas and Mistral. (yeah, Tai's still at his house I think, but the description did say that it's about "what was happening in Remnant", not just Vacuo. yeah, Vacuo is a more important location right now, with everything except Menagerie and Mistral literally getting nuked just so the writers wouldn't have to go back to those places, but then change the description to "see what was happening in Vacuo during V9" if your only gonna focus on that location).

but no – the 1st episode is basically useless (and also very unfunny, but that's just my opinion) and the 2nd one, while okay on its own, takes place after V9 and doesn't focus on other people of Remnant, focusing on Jaune instead.

if the next episode is gonna be about bumbleby going on a date in Vacuo and telling everyone about how they got together in Ever After I'm gonna eat my own chair

and if the last episode will be the only one with any actual plot relevance, useful into or big reveal I'm gonna eat another

[invincibleweasel]

If current Blake was written well, she'd be pulling up the Remnant equivalent of the Geneva Conventions on Ironwood's ass for abandoning Mantle. Like Sir, that's illegal. You can't just leave people to fend for themselves in the middle of a Grimm invasion while people freeze to death because of the lack of heating.

[marcmarcmomarc]

Remnant Alliance reunion and introduction matchups, “Day of Black Sun”-style, reunions with the main members having already happened

All - Rowena, Peach, Greene, Mulberry, Olive, Rae, Ariadne, Elektra, Cordovin and the Atlas Military, Finn, Bertilak, Edward, August, Slate, Green, Lily and her younger sister, Team NDGO, Dudley, Councilwoman Camilla

Team RWBY - Lt. Harper, Team BRIR, Lisa Lavender, Mikado Lem, the Essen and Dormir civilians, Cyril Ian, Team SAFR, Roch Szalt, and Kandi Floss

Ruby - Shopkeep, Oscar’s aunt, and the Higanbana waitress

Weiss - Henry

Blake - The New White Fang and Starr

Yang - Shay D. Mann, Junior and his henchmen, Lil’ Miss Malachite and her bodyguards, Miltia, and Melanie

Jaune - The Arc family, Team CRDL, and the red haired woman at Pyrrha’s memorial

Ruby and Weiss - Ciel

Ruby and Jaune - The Anima blacksmith and mayor

Weiss and Blake - Drunk Mann and Drinking Buddy

Weiss and Yang - Team FNKI and the Branwen Tribe

Blake and Yang - The captain and crew of the ship Blake and Sun rode to Menagerie on

Yang and Jaune - Fiona’s uncle, the shovel mom, the female fox Faunus from the Mantle crater, both women’s respective sons, the disgruntled grandmother, their fellow Faunus refugees from the Mantle crater, and Crimson

[rwbyuser24]

The mysterious Atlas council

Yep. Let's talk about those subjects only I care about. Sleet, Camila and the council structure as a whole.

1.-What do we know?

Their first mention is in Breach

"Ahem... Therefore, we have reached out to the Atlas Council and together have decided that the best action is to appoint General Ironwood as head of security for the event."

They agreed with the idea of lending troops to Vale for the security of the Vytal festival.

"You forget, I hold two seats on the council."

When talking about the continuation of the embargo, Ironwood doesn't say "You forget, I have the support of the council", he says that he have power over the council. This is might imply that Ironwood isn't quite sure about his support from the council.

Later he approves the close of borders. We don't know with how much support of the council.

"Well, the council's so scared, they'll agree to whatever he wants. Though, some representatives from Mantle…"

Pietro says that the council supports Ironwood because they are scared.

"I swear if I have to sit through one more council meeting like that…"

Ironwood doesn't seem comfortable with the council meetings. It seems that the council don't quite agree with Ironwood.

"It's obvious that no kingdom intends to declare war on Atlas. We had no involvement in the incident at Haven, we have proof our drones weren't acting on orders at Beacon. At this point, the closure of Atlas borders is only serving to hurt our relations with the rest of the world."

The council is not happy with Ironwood. For one side, they agreed with this trial where Ironwood would defend his seat on the council. For the other, Sleet said that they wanted to work with him. They seem to oppose, at least now, the measures of Ironwood.

Strangely, though, they seem more concerned with the relationship of Atlas with the rest of the world rather than how the measures of Ironwood affect the population of the kingdom.

At the end, they seemed worried about the people of Mantle that were going to die because of the heating turned off and the Grimm were coming.

Finally they opposed Ironwood because of his martial law and the decision of abandon Remnant. Sleet was executed and we never knew more of Camila. 2.-Four or five seats in the council?

Well, this is something short. We know that the councils of the kingdom have maximum five seats.

But, before Jacques assumed position, was his seat occupied by someone else? We don't know. But let's look at it with logic. The normal thing is that all seats of a government council are filled.

So, probably that was the case of the seat Jacques filled. I mean, even during the elections for a future president there is already someone filling the role of president. So yeah, Jacques had a predecessor.

3.-Are they responsible for the evils of Atlas?

One could assume that James simply approves his measures with the support of the council. Ironwood only have 2/5 of the political power in the kingdom. He is not some sort of president. One could say that since Atlas is a militaristic kingdom, the general is the one with the final word, but Ironwood showed that he depended on the number of seats he filled in the council to approve his measures. Remember? "You forget, I hold two seats on the council."

So, necessarily he needed the support of one in the council to approve his measures. There is also what Pietro said, the council approved what Ironwood wanted because they were scared. Do we have reasons to assume Pietro is lying? No. But at the same time, the council is opposing him during his reunion with them.

And, even if there were only four seats filled in the council before Jacques, necessarily James needed whether Sleet or Camila to approve his measures, otherwise it would be on stalemate.

So yeah, someone in the council supported Ironwood with the close of borders and the embargo.

About other matters like the faunus oppression and the SDC exploiting workers and stealing resources.

There is something interesting about that.

"The law isn't perfect, you know. It's certainly not equal."

"Trust me, I'm well aware."

Marrow is aware that the law isn't equal and yet, he supports Ironwood. He also knows that the society is built in a way it oppresses faunus.

Yet, again, he supports Ironwood. Yes, he is loyal to him, but, why is he so loyal to begin with?

What if James isn't the one responsible for the situation of the faunus? Or better said, what if there are other people responsible for all that happens to them. Those might be Camila, Sleet and the mysterious predecessor of Jacques.

I mean, Ironwood shouldn't have problems improving the faunus rights. It would not be the first time he would have messed with the SDC. He declared the embargo and that costed millions to Jacques. One could say that it was because Ironwood wanted to maintain the Dust inside of Atlas, but the embargo prevents the dust of other kingdoms from entering Atlas.

4.-What I would have liked?

Well, I would have liked the series to clarify how responsible are they for the situation of the kingdom.

If they are indeed responsible, then I would have liked the characters to criticize them. Like, "Hey, I guess that they are bad politicians". I mean, Ironwood is criticized for the embargo and close of borders, but theoretically he needed the support of the council to approve those measures. So, since Nora and Blake and the rest have problems with Ironwood, they should also have problems with the rest of the council. You will say "They of course aren't going to fix the problems of the kingdom". But I'm not saying that they should fix the problems of the kingdom, I'm just saying that the characters could commend about the council members, say something. With just that, I'm pleased.

Is just, they let Jacques become powerful and the faunus being oppressed and they did nothing.

Or even the ace ops, or Winter. They are soldiers but that doesn't mean they don't have political positions.

Other than that. I would have liked a little more of participation of them. I mean, you know, know exactly what powers they posses. For example, James is general and headmaster, maybe Sleet is one responsible for the economy or something.

They feel like elements of the story instead of characters. I know there are time constraints and budget limitation but at least a little could have been done for us to know a little more of how the kingdoms works. You know, world building and that.

5.-Conclusions

At the end of the day. The council remains a mystery. One of the reasons I would like an Atlas spin off is because I would like to know more about how the kingdom of Atlas operates.

In general, James is responsible for many of the problems of the kingdom. But certainly he didn't cause them alone.

[dandy-lions-null]

Throwback to this unfinished angst piece I decided to slap Neco Arc on. Curious Arc if you will.

I fucked up the canvas size and only realized it as I went in to color, so this will never see the light of completion.

[etinceelle]

Penny Polendina queen of ice skating and shuffle dance (after Weiss) ♥

Music : Protector of Mantle (RWBY V7 soundtrack)