#rwby sanus

[bobauthorman]

Nationaliteam

I'm choosing to believe that Yang was actually born somewhere in West Sanus / Vacuo before the Xiao Long family settled down on Patch Island.

I'm also choosing to believe that Blake was born in Mistral or Mistral-adjacent.

This way, we can say each member of Team RWBY represents a different major nation on Remnant.

Ruby - Vale

Weiss - Atlas

Blake - Mistral

Yang - Vacuo

[bestworstcase]

Your thoughts about Remnant's kingdoms having imperialistic and expansionist tendencies that don't have anything to do with Salem or Ozma makes me wonder, at least based on what I vaguely remember of the game RWBY Arrowfell:

In Arrowfell, we learn about the existence of ruins outside of Atlas and Mantle with ancient historical artifacts, and that makes me question if Solitas really as empty as it seemed, or was there already indigenous people living there before the displaced settlers of whatever regions of Sanus showed up on their doorstep? Did THEY get destroyed by those settlers?

Did those people live alongside Solitas' Grimm with no issue, and shit only went down AFTER the emotionally repressed imperialists of Sanus came in and wiped out whatever culture they had, imposing their own "Grimm evil emotions bad must repress and subjugate" nonsense onto a culture that might have already figured out a better solution?

I keep thinking about this because of how the settlers of the local settlements there within the game have vastly different appearances, and strongly implied different cultures compared to the likes of Mantle and Atlas.

tumak!

i rotate those ruins in my mind a lot, because the only thing we really know about them is that they predate the great war and they’re a formally-designated “heritage site.” vine talks about artifacts taken from the site as though they’re very ancient, but his statements are framed pretty overtly as bullshit—he comes across more as a new age mumbo jumbo type of hobbyist than someone serious about history. older than the great war just means that the ruins are at least a century old.

so there’s definitely a layer here of atlas—which has probably not been around much longer than a century or two—culturally not having a very accurate sense of historical scale (a la US americans thinking anything older than a century or two is ‘ancient’) and exoticizing The Past. whereas beacon’s professor of history teaches teaches the great war and its aftermath as recent history, because vale is much older.

that said, tumak does look like it’s a few centuries old, because it’s all built of stone. in any other story i’d take it as a given that the people living there were conquered or displaced by mantelian settlers for… the same reasons i take it as a given that mistral being called an “empire” and having “territories” means what it sounds like.

what gives me pause with regard to tumak and mantle is—well, two things:

there were no grimm in western solitas when mantle’s first settlers arrived.

it’s heavily implied that the global industrial revolution began in mantle following the discovery of large dust deposits under the tundra.

now, the one thing we know for certain about grimm is that they eat people and they die in captivity, meaning that they do need to eat. the simplest explanation for there being no grimm in western solitas when the mantelian settlers turned up is that there weren’t any people there for grimm to eat.

the second point matters matters because the industrial revolution is a prerequisite for building anything with steel: before this confluence between practical necessity and a great abundance of underground dust deposits, every large structure on remnant would have been built with timber or stone or clay, or whatever material happened to be abundant in a given region.

(i am making a drastic oversimplification here but, in essence, the main reason we had our industrial revolution when and where we did is england ran out of trees and started digging for coal. coal mines have a lot of coal on site, making coal-powered machines a more cost-effective way to pump water out of deep shafts than manual labor, and then after a certain point these pumps become very efficient and it becomes cost-effective to employ mechanized rotational movement further away from the coal mines, and then you get automated spinning jennies and trains and it all snowballs from there. whether it’s on purpose or not, remnant’s industrial revolution occurred under precisely similar conditions and i think that’s neat.)

one presumes that mantelian settlers didn’t go from living in natural caves or snow shelters to steel-frame construction overnight. the technological innovation needed to build with steel in subzero temperatures would have been a long, iterative process. both tumak and the “ancient monument” built in the same architectural style are also situated on the continent’s western coast, while mantle is at least a few hundred miles inland (although it’s difficult to get an accurate sense of scale from the game map). if i’m right that these settlers were displaced from northeast sanus by valean expansion, the west coast of solitas is where they would have landed.

we also know that mantle itself is built on top of what seems to be an enormous dust mine.

in the WOR episode, the early settlement is represented like this, with people keeping watch over coastal cliffs and grimm being frozen solid by the cold:

the amity arena ice sabyr card indicates that the ice-encrusted solitan grimm adapted to the cold fairly quickly:

These Sabyrs seem to have somehow adapted to Mantle's environment. Gone are the days when the cold kept the Grimm at bay, and now we deal with the ice crusted versions of the Sabyr. Still, there is a burning question in our minds. Didn't these Sabyr… adjust a little too quickly?

(which, lol. it’s dust. solitan grimm incorporate dust into their bodies to give themselves a protective coating against the cold; we’ve seen the geist in the mine use dust to armor itself against attack. a lot of the amity arena grimm cards are fun; the one for seers is literally like “they’re super weird, we have no idea what they do because we’ve only ever found broken husks, but they’re floating crystal balls with tentacles so we assume they must be able to control people. probably.” grimm studies is pseudoscience!)

and then back to the WOR episode, the depicted distance between mantle and alsius is wildly exaggerated:

with mantle located on the southwestern peninsula and alsius being where mantle stands—or stood—in the present day. before playing arrowfell, i always took that to be just a stylistic choice to emphasize the economic separation between mantle and alsius, but:

again, nothing is to scale here, but mantle and the atlesian crater are in the right place, there’s an abandoned dust mine on that southwest peninsula, an outpost with a train on the western island, and tumak and the other ruin along the west coast. so the relocation depicted in the WOR episode—a migration inward from the coastal region to where mantle is today—actually seems to have been literal.

what makes the most sense to me is that these coastal ruins were built by the original settlers a few hundred years ago. both tumak and the “monument” are mainly underground, with these barrow-like stone caps over the entrances: this strikes me as a solidly defensible layout for fending off weakened, scattered packs of grimm, but not one that could withstand the increasing numbers of cold-hardy grimm as time went on.

in the SDC WOR episode, it’s noted that mantle’s existing dust mines were nearly depleted before nicholas schnee discovered new deposits in the mountains to the north. and in arrowfell, if memory serves, the old southwest mine was exhausted and abandoned long ago. taking this to its logical conclusion, the people living in tumak and other coastal settlements had to deal with a relatively fast spike in grimm populations at a time when dust was already becoming scarce, so they abandoned these sites and migrated to a more defensible area—the plain flanked by mountains—where they serendipitously found much larger and deeper dust deposits. and that became mantle and alsius/atlas.

meanwhile, over on the eastern side of the continent…

the geographic separation here is pretty striking! in between mantle and the free towns to the east we have a large inland sea and mountains. these towns are explicitly not part of the kingdom and, as you noted, have a pretty different culture. (including cultural attitudes toward the grimm: a huge megoliath wanders into essen early in the game and the townspeople just… clear out of the immediate area and keep an eye on it from afar, which is probably also how the unnamed village in v4 dealt with that geist. there is also a lady from dormir who goes into GRIMM-INFESTED CAVES, alone, to dig up dust. nothing bad happens to her.)

tellingly, bram thornmane seems to view these free towns as independent polities for the purpose of fueling his persecution complex by treating his residence in essen like a quasi-exile from atlas, but when it’s politically expedient to do so he acts as though these are satellite communities dependent on atlesian protection, hence his use of the grimm lures to attack them as well as atlas and mantle. i imagine that this is a common atlesian attitude.

one of the villagers—cerise claire, who fled from crossed to essen when the former was overwhelmed as a consequence of thornmane’s scheme—mentions having ancestors who fought during the great war; specifically she implies that her ancestors were involved in resistance to the mantelian regime’s prohibition against art and self-expression. the free towns don’t seem to be particularly young—wood and stone, again suggesting pre-industrial construction—so they must have existed before the war.

cerise is also a faunus (i think; it’s hard to tell if the wolfish ears are attached to her head or just to her hood and they’re not the same color as her hair, but they’re a prominent feature of her design and why do that if she’s not meant to be faunus) which certainly. carries a lot of unspoken weight in the remarks she makes about her ancestor bravely keeping a journal of their years fighting in the great war… and if her family lived in crossed back then, well.

gestures at vacuo’s side of the great war being a desperate bid for independence. gestures at the implication that the vytal accords were in large part a decolonial project; vacuo and menagerie became sovereign states, and a huge swath of eastern anima seems to have been freed from mistrali rule.

mantle and mistral formed an alliance during the conquest of northern anima; if if the towns in eastern solitas are older than the great war—which is quite plausible!—then they likely existed during this period of time and it seems reasonable to think that they might have been occupied as well, if not by mantle then by mistral. eastern solitas being under occupation prior to the war and liberated by the accords thanks in part to the efforts of a local rebellion tracks.

but an interesting thought occurs to me: this means the quasi-scientific modern narrative that the grimm “adapted” to the cold unnaturally fast might be baseless. there would have been cold-hardy grimm living east of the mountains already. perhaps the intense hardship and struggle of those early years simply drew an existing population of grimm over the mountains?

[fullbattleregalia]

WIP Game

Rules: You will be given a word. Share one sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that start with each letter of that word.

I got tagged by @greentrickster and my word is LIFE. So here are some snippets of Wild Card, a RWBY fic I’ve been working on where Roman Torchwick never got sprung from prison during the season three finale and has joined up with the protagonists in an attempt to find out what has happened to Neo (because things would have had to gone very wrong for her to leave him in Atlesian custody).

L

“Looks more like a coverup to me,” commented Uncle Qrow, taking a shot from his flask.

“Cover up? Covering up what?” Ruby frowned. Didn’t tattoos... already cover up your skin? Wasn’t that the point?

“Another tattoo. It’s not like they come off again if you change your mind a few years down the line. So what was it, Torchwick? Old flame? You lose a bet?”

Torchwick just smirked.

“I’ll just say that you should never bet against Neo when laundry duty is on the line. She hates ironing her own clothes.”

I

It only took Qrow six matches to get the campfire started, and he was counting that as a win.

Qrow had had a lot of bad ideas in his time. A lot of bad ideas. A looooot of-

The point was that taking five teenagers and a known criminal on a hike through the Grimm infested forests of Sanus to the nearest town with an airship that could get them to Mistral wasn’t his worst idea ever, but it was an unfortunately low bar. Tai must never know.

F

“Face it,” Torchwick smirked, “I’m your best bet for stopping Cinder. We both get what we want – I get my revenge, and you get to take that bitch out before any more of your precious ‘innocents’ die. Think about it.”

Uncle Qrow’s expression had gone blank.

“Close the cell door.” Torchwick offered a mocking salute as the door slid shut. Uncle Qrow’s shoulders slumped slightly as the final lock clicked into place. Then he turned to the guards. “I need to talk to General Ironwood.”

E

Evidently, Qrow had been wanting for more theatrical snark in his life. He loved his niece, but naively optimistic teenagers weren’t his first choice for conversation partners. Torchwick was also completely capable of having an entire conversation with himself. The only thing Qrow really had to do once Torchwick got going was exist.

[deadbeatbirdmom]

Hello, a question about the artbook. I remember seeing one of your posts about a map of remnant and their concept names, is it alright to know them? And where can I buy the artbook? Thank you.

Hi! Thanks for the ask.

I'll answer the second question first. I got my copy of the art book from the Crunchyroll store, and it looks like it's still available there:

RWBY art book on the Crunchyroll store

Just in case you haven't seen one of the posts where I mention it: the majority of the book's text is in Japanese, including the interviews with CRWBY.

The concept map of Remnant with the place names on it is interesting, it's just definitely not entirely accurate with where places turned out to be in RWBY.

But with that caveat out of the way, sure, I'm happy to share them. Some are tricky to make out because the map's text is tiny (bonus pic of the napkin with sauce stains that inspired the map):

Detailed pics and transcribed place names under a read more cut:

In alphabetical order by kingdom/country:

Anima, containing the Kingdom of Mistral

Roughly from north to south within Anima: SoulCrest Phantom Break Crystal Forest Crystal Chasm Glass Heart Serpent's Cove Mistral Haven (with teams CRBN, NMEZ) Stile Isle Turtle Bay White Mountain Overlook Harlot's Cove Jagged Bluff Sand Flow Burning Coast Obsidian Sea Tale's End

Far to the east of Anima: Sea Fan

Dragon shaped continent, unnamed and presumably uninhabited in canon RWBY.

North to south: Dragon's Eye Thorne Nest Diamon Drop Signal (this is different in canon RWBY, because Signal is the combat school on Patch where Ruby and Yang went before Beacon)

Menagerie, again north to south:

Nora (prototype name for Kuo Kuana?) Menagerie Shallow Sea Siren's Walk

Solitas, with the Kingdom of Atlas, formerly Mantle.

North to south: Deep Frost Atlas (with team name PSCY) Heaven's Spiral Mantle The Ice Crawl

Vacuo, on the west side of the continent of Sanus.

North to south:

Shade (with teams SSSN and WTCH) Sea Bolt Vacuo Fiery Landing White Sand Hatch Mountains Wolf's Den (possibly in the kingdom of Vale) Skull Cliffs (possibly in the kingdom of Vale) Pygmy Reef

Vale, on the east side of the continent of Sanus.

North to south: Watch Point ArrowPort Forever Fall Vale Beacon (with teams RWBY and JNPR) Garden Vale Cliffs Starlight Mist Lake Mermaid Isle

Patch isn't marked on this map, but it's the island west of Vale.

[citadelofmythoughts]

I’ve always LOVED that RWBY characters and places are coded/inspired by from around the world and not just one country.

Like, this is an America produced animation, but the main group is German, French (with some Japanese influences), Chinese/Japanese, (idk how I’d classify Ruby) and are friends with French, Greek, Norwegian, and Chinese.

Eastern Sanus is Europe based

Western Sanus is African (North African mainly) based

Mistral is Asia based

And Menagerie is Australian based

Not too sure about Solitas

I hesitate to consider any of their ethnic backgrounds to be carved in stone but there are undeniable influences.

I've always had a theory that the names and locations being a bit of a hodgepodge is due to multiple diasporas due to wars and Grimm.

But yeah, I do love the fact that CRWBY borrowed from so many traditions.

[darksaiyangoku]

RWBY/Swords of Fate: Arc Kingdom

Chapter 3: New World, New Beacon

Inside a small shack, Jaune sat down, shivering. Ozpin took off his cloak and wrapped it around the young man.

Ozpin: It would seem that you were prepared for everything, except the weather

Jaune: i-I sort of acted on instinct as soon as I heard the cries for help. *nervous chuckle*

Ozpin; Some things never change. Now tell me about why you've come here to this universe.

Jaune: Well it's kind of a long story. Um, we met this, uh, scientist? He's called Dr. Merlin and he said he had a vision about your death.

Ozpin: Hmm. I see.

Jaune: Huh? *blinks twice* That doesn't freak you out?

Ozpin; Not at all. You see, I too had the same vision. Everything around me burning, Salem standing over triumphantly and the Knight of Treachery getting his sword ready to kill me.

Jaune: Oh...

Ozpin: It's a lot to take in, I understand.

Jaune: A bit of an understatement. That's why Merlin sent us here. Me and my team. Merlin said that your death had something to do with the Holy Grail or something? And that we need to destroy it? Agh, this is all so confusing! *buries face in his hands*

Ozpin: It's okay, Jaune. I don't blame you. Merlin didn't exactly give you much to go on besides finding the Holy Grail and destroying it. But I'm afraid you're much too early.

Jaune: *raises his head* ...wait what?

Ozpin: The Holy Grail hasn't materialised yet.

Jaune stared open mouthed. The whole reason that he was sent here was to save Ozpin's life and here he was told that the mission wouldn't even happen until much later.

Jaune: So I came here... for nothing?

Ozpin: *circles rhe top of his emerald* Oh I wouldn't say that. I believe Merlin did the right thing sending you here early. You aren't familiar with this universe. Listen to me, Jaune. *taps fingers on the table* Despite the fact that you'll meet your friends and family here, you can't treat them like they're the same from back home. They all have different histories, sometimes even different personalities.

Jaune: Really?

Ozpin: Yes. The multiverse works in mysterious ways. The more you learn about this world, the better prepared you'll be for the materialisation of the Holy Grail.

Jaune: I guess that makes sense.

Ozpin: However, I would still advise caution. Just because there's no Holy Grail, that doesn't mean that there aren't any threats here. When you saw the village being attacked, did you notice something unusual?

Jaune thought for a moment. During the attack, he was fighting alongside Ruby. The fact that grimm were present didn't seem that out of of the ordinary from his perspective.

Jaune: I'm not sure, Ozpin.

Ozpin: Do you recall seeing anyone else who looked a huntsman or huntress?

Jaune: *shakes head* No. No one else except Ruby.

Ozpin: Exactly. Unfortunately, aside from the Kingdom of Vale, the regions of North Sanus doesn't have any huntsmen or huntresses to protect them. Not anymore anyway.

Jaune: What? No huntsmen or huntresses? But how are people supposed to be protected from the grimm?

Ozpin: *sighs* That's the thing; they're not. The current King of Vale saw to it that any huntsmen or huntress would be drafted into the White Wyrm Army, his personal soldiers.. With no one to protect the regions, North Sanus has become a hostile wasteland where the grimm are free to feast on the civilians.

Jaune: Are you serious? He's just letting innocent people die like this? How can anyone like that call himself a King?

Ozpin: Jaune, please remain calm.

Jaune: Why should I? *clenches fist* My home is being ruled by a tyrant!

Ozpin: *raises his hand* Calm down, son. Listen, things look bad now. But I assure you that the King won't remain in power for long. I've seen to that personally.

Jaune: So... you have a plan then?

Ozpin: I do. But I can't tell you now. You aren't ready.

Jaune: But Ozpin, I-

Ozpin: Do you trust me?

Jaune: I- well... *sighs* Of course I do.

Ozpin: I will explain everything in due time. Throughout this journey of yours, I will guide you and your team. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask me.

Jaune: Yes sir. *nods*

Ozpin; You'd better head back to your siblings. I'd imagine they'rs worried about you.

Jaune: Yeah, I'm sure they are. Well, thank you Ozpin. *gets up from his chair*

Ozpin: Oh wait. Before you leave, is there anything else you wanted to ask me? Anything at all?

Jaune: Well.... earlier, after the fight with the beowolves, I got this splitting headache and these images kept flashing. They were of this man with spiky black hair and dark eyes. What does that mean?

Ozpin: Hmmmm. It would seem that your counterpart's memories are being merged with yours. More of these will start to happen the longer you remain here. They can be useful in helping you adapt to the world, but it will be painful. Try not to fight it. Make sure you get some rest. You do have school tomorrow, after all.

Jaune: Yes sir. *opens the door and leaves*

[Jaune's Room]

Jaune felt drowsy as soon as he returned home. He stripped out of his clothes and flopped onto the bed. It had been less than a day and Jaune was already feeling homesick. The mission wasn't supposed to happen until much later and his counterpart's home was being ruled by a King who cared more about feeding his own ego than to protect the people. This was going to be harder fhan he thought. His eyes fluttered several times before he finally slept. Tossing and turning, Jaune was bombarded by several images. He could barely make out what they were as they all seemed to go by in a flash. When they finally stopped, the scenery had changed.

Jaune found himself outside a stone courtyard. Standing next to him was the version of Adam Taurus he saw in his head back at Vin Village. He was quite tall and was shirtless, aside from a red sleeve on his left arm and wore a black hakama with charcoal grey kyahan and black sandals. He backed away slightly and took the Kenka Yotsu stance of Judo. Jaune raised his fists, his left hand near his face while his right hand near his chest.

Adam: Show me what you got, kid.

Jaune dashed forward and raised his right hand to punch Adam. Immidiately, he grabbed Jaune's arm and threw him onto the stone floor. The impact made Jaune scream in agony. Even with Aura, he could still feel the pain.

Adam: Hmph. Again.

Jaune: *groans and winces* God damn, that hurt...

Adam: That's the point. Cardin and his team aren't gonna hold back during Combat Class and neither should you.

Jaune: *stands up* But this is supposed to be training and here you are kicking my ass!

Adam: *flicks Jaune's forehead*

Jaune: Ow! What was that for?

Adam: To give you some perspective. I am aware of how brutal these training sessions have been. But if I take it easy on you now, you'll underestimate the next opponent when a real fight happens, whether human or grimm. Now come on. Again.

Jaune charged with a haymaker from his right hand. However, Adam spotted an opening and punched him in the chest.

Jaune: Ack!

Adam: Again.

Jaune tried to punch his stomach, but had his fist deflected and ended up getting kicked in his ribs.

Jaune: Agggh!!!

Adam: *smirks* Again.

Jaune was starting to get angrier. He started to punch the air wildly. Adam simply dodged all of them, dancing through the punches with fierce elegance. Witnessing another opening, Adam sent three punches in Jaune's way. One hit the stomach, another hit the chsst and the final one hit him square in the nose. Jaune yelped and fell to the floor.

Jaune: *coughs* Damn it.

Adam: Again.

Jaune: *pants* Screw... you... *stands up*

As Jaune walked up to leave, he felt a sharp pain strike his back. He turned around and saw that the Adam was holding a wooden sword.

Adam: You're not leaving here until you land at least one hit.

Before Jaune could object, he was struck again by the wooden sword. Jaune kept fighfing back, but was met by a more focused hit each time. Jaune was on his knees, panting and gasping. Adam raised the wooden sword high in the hair and hurled it back down.

CLAP!!!

Unexpectedly, Jaune caught the blade in his hands and tried to wrestle it out of Adam. The bull-faunus kept his grip tight, refusing to yield. Blue met bronze as their eyes were locked together, filled with determination.

Jaune: AAAAAAAGH!!!! *disarms the Stranger* HAAAAAAAAH!!! *hits the Stranger's leg*

Adam: Hm.

Jaune: *grips sword, gasping*

—7th January 212 Second Age, Fateverse Remnant - Kingdom of Vale, Charlemagne—

Jaune stirred awake with a small, but nagging headache. He remembered vividly about Adam in his dream. Or was it a memory?

Jaune: *groans* I can't believe that was really Adam. Damn, he's brutal. *looks at the window* Welp, no time like the present. Other-Beacon, here I come.

Jaune looked in the mirror as he tried on his clothes. He wore a plain yellow shirt, black trousers, brown boots and hung his sword around his waist. He put on his grey chest plate and headed downstairs and out of the door. He was about to leave for Beacon, thanks to the map he found in his room, when he was tugged on the shoulder by Noir.

Jaune: Agh! *turns around* Huh? What are you doing here, Noir?

Noir: You don't seriously plan on going all the way to all the way to Beacon on an empty stomach, right? I just made toast and eggs.

Jaune: Oh? Well I appreciate the thought, but I can't. I really gotta-

Noir: *grabs Jaune's tunic* Come onnnnnn!!! Pleeeeeeease? *gives puppy eyes*

Jaune: Agh! Fine! You and your puppy eyes. *walks back to the house*

Jaune took a seat in the kitchen as Noir served thw breakfast. He quickly wolfed it down before heading back outside. Jaune thought back to the dream he had last night and remembered an image of a white mare with a blonde mane. He walked to the back of the house and found a stable of horses. In the center was the white mare. He slowly approached her and reached out his hand to gently touch her neck. The horse nodded in approval.

Jaune: So you're my horse? The one in my dreams? *reada name sign below* Andrea. Nice to meet you. Okay, now where's the saddle?

Jaune looked around the outside until he spotted a small, saddle rack near the stable. Picking out the one that was a light-brown, he slowly opened the gate and let Andrea come out. He placed the saddle onto her back and mounted on her. He wobbled a little before finding his grip.

Jaune: Woah... okay then. *gulps* I guess it's time to ride to Beacon. A horse ride should be smooth sailing compared to an airship, right?

[Malbec Town]

Throughout the ride, Jaune screamed so loud that his throat was burning. Andrea was much faster than he originally thought. He tried to grip on as tight as he could and closed his eyes.

Jaune: Woah! Woah there, Andrea!

Finally, Andrea stopped, but Jaune ended up falling off the saddle anyway. While he wasn't hurt, he did feel woozy.

Jaune: Uhhhh.... maybe having that breakfast was a bad idea.

He looked over at Andrea and noticed her eyes were sticky. She was quite thirsty.

Jaune: Don't worry, girl. I'll go fetch some water for you.

Jaune wandered through the streets and searched through the market stalls for a pouch of water. The further the more sad he became. He was expected the town to be filled with crowds of people clamouring adound, the air willed with chattering and laughter. However, Malbec was almost bare and the market stalls didn't have much to offer either. At the the very end, he managed to find a stall that was selling water pouches. He dashed over as quick as he could.

Jaune: *gasps* C-Can I get a-a pouch of water please?

Vendor: Certainly, young man. *hands pouch* That'll cost you 5 lien.

Jaune: Okay, so my money pouch is here. *takes pouch and gives 5 bronze coins* Here you go.

Vendor: Thank you, young man. Now you best get going, I'm closing now.

Jaune: Hold on a minute, mister. What happened to Malbec? There's hardly anyone here and most of the markets have low stock.

Vendor: *sighs* It's the same with the shops as well, son. The King's White Wyrms have been robbing us. Nearly all of our products go towards Vale City, where all the Lords and Ladies gather. Drinking, parties and tournaments. Meanwhile, we're left with nothing.

Jaune: Oh...

Vendor: Hey, don't you worry about me. I've been around long enough to see prosperity emerge from hardship. Things will get better soon. *small smile*

Jaune: ...you sure?

Vendor: Positive. Now run along, lad.

Jaune thanked the vendor and headed back to Andrea, feeding her the water. After a short rest, Jaune climbed back on the saddle and rode towards Beacon Academy.

[Beacon Academy - City of Arcadia]

Andrea trotted near the entrance and Jaune dismounted.

Jaune: Good girl, Andrea. *pats her head*

His jaw almost dropped as he saw Beacon. Jaune couldn't believe his eyes. It was a magnificent grey castle, smooth as marble. The windows were all stained glass, with a variety of pictures from knights to bards and archers. Jaune took a few steps to the entrance gate and inside the courtyard. At the center was a knight mounted on top of a lion. Was this really Beacon?

Jaune: Wow... oh my go- gah!

Jaune yelped as someone hugged him from behind. He glanced back and saw a golden-blonde wave of hair. His face went red he could feel soft breasts pushed up against him.

Jaune: Y-Yang??

Yang: *laughs* Hey Jaune! *hugs tighter* Great to see you again!

Jaune: Y-Yeah. *blushes*

Jaune couldn't help but admire Yang's new look. She wore a red headband, black fingerless gloves with golden-yellow bracers, a firey-orange yukata and black-kyahan.

Jaune: *blinks*

Yang: Jaune? Hey Jaune! *snaps fingers*

Jaune: Huh! Oh, *ahem* sorry, I zoned out there for a second.

Yang: *giggles* I'll say. So, how was your Christmas?

Jaune: Uh... it was pretty good. W-What about yours?

Yang: *smiles* Amazing! Check this out.

From her bracers appeared two short blades, making Jaune jump back in surprise.

Jaune: Woah! That is seriously cool!

Yang: I know! Mom managed to get these bad boys hand-crafted herself from a blacksmith in Xion.

Jaune: Well if you know the name of the blacksmith, can you send my sword over there? I think it's overdue for an upgrade.

Yang: You got it, Vomit Boy.

Jaune: *groans* Not this again.

Yang: Sorry, but that nickname's never going away anytime soon. *squeezes Jaune's cheek* Anyway, I gotta run. My team is inside. See ya. *runs off and waves*

Jaune shook his head in amusement. No matter what world he was in, the name 'Vomit Boy' would always haunt him.

Nora: JAUNE!!!!!!!!

Jaune was knocked over by the full force of Nora's bear hug. His face was turning blue as she squeezed tighter.

Jaune: Nora.... I can't breathe!!!

Nora: Oop! Sorry Jaune! *lets go* I got so caught up in the moment. Oh, the rest of the team is here too.

Jaune looked up and saw Pyrrha and Ren as well. Like himself, they also had new looks to them. Nora had a pink-coloured leather chestplate, white-furred skirt with matching boots and red bracers. Pyrrha wore a gold-coloured leather vest, red-armoured fingerless gloves, light-red pteruges and brown boots. Ren wore a green tunic, with black-coloured pauldrons, magenta fingerless gloves, white trousers and black shoes. Jaune stood up and gave them all a big hug.

Jaune: It's so good to see you guys, again!

Pyrrha: You too! I hope the journey wasn't too rough, Jaune.

Jaune: Well, kind of. It's a long story. I ended up meeting Ruby again. We saved a village near my hometown. All the villagers managed to get out of there okay.

Pyrrha: That's wonderful news, Jaune. I found out that my counterpart's pretty well known in this world as well. *nervous laughter* Argus City have even erected a statue.

Jaune: Some things never change. *chuckles*

Nora: Man, this is so cool!!!! *bounces* Look at us in our fancy outfits, slaying monsters! It's like we're in a video game! *squee*

Ren: *stifles laughter* Aside from the aesthetic change to Old Remnant, it's not much different from back home.

Nora: You always have to be a killjoy. *pouts*

Ren: *shakes head* Let's go inside. We don't want to keep everyone waiting.

[Beacon Grand Hall]

Team JNPR were amazed at the Grand Hall. Hanging from the walls were green banners of Vale's Coat of Arms; an two battle axes surrounded by a wreath. The stained glass windows were more beautiful fhan the ones outside and more elaborate, each one depicting a different event in history. The tables were pushed near the end to allow everyone to stand to attention. Jaune looked around at all the Beacon Students. Next to his Team were the new Team RWBY. He already met up with Ruby and Yang again, but took notice of Weiss and Blake's new looks. Blake was wearing a dark purple hood and mask, black shirt, trousers and boots and a purple corset. Weiss had her hair down and wore an elegant, dark blue battle dress, with white pauldrons and long, brown boots. He could see Blake take a small glance at him before nervously looking away.

Jaune: Huh. That was weird.

Sitting at the podium were the staff at Beacon; Bartholomew Oobleck (History), Peter Port (Grimm Studies), Ann Gable (Weapons Maintenance), Thumbelina Peach (Dust Studies), the new teacher, Adam Taurus (Combat Training) and Glynda Goodwitch (Assistant Headmistress). Standing at the center was Ozpin, staff in hand. He smiled and cleared his throat to speak.

Ozpin: Welcome back, my students. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break. A new year has begun and so has a new semester, you will receive your new timetables with your new classes after this assembly has concluded. For the second year students, you will be undergoing a new kind of mission in 3 weeks: two teams will be required to work together by splitting off into 4 pairs. These will be assigned to you on the day of the missions.

Jaune looked over at Team RWBY and smiled. He hoped that he would be paired up with Ruby for the future mission. Working with her in Vin Village was remarkable. She might not be his Ruby, but she was still Ruby all the same.

Ozpin: Finally, this bit of news doesn't just concern you but all the regions of North Sanus; in the Forests of Forever Fall, I have placed a sacred treasure inside. On the first day of Spring, all students, teachers and other citizens shall gather to forest to find this treasure. I ask that you do not take this lightly, for the very future of Vale shall depend on it. Thank you.

Ren: Well... that sounded ominous.

Pyrrha: What kind of treasure would determine the future of an entire Kingdom?

Nora: I bet it's the Grail! This makes our mission all the more easy to complete.

Jaune said nothing. He thought back to the conversation he had with Ozpin about a so-called plan. Could this treasure have something to do with it?

Jaune: *whispers* Ozpin, what are you up to?

[blade-liger-4ever]

RWBY X Transformers Partnerships 3: Yang Xiao Long and Sideswipe - War Dragon

"How do you do it? How do you move forward when you lose so much, and have to let your little sister grow up? Okay yeah, she's technically my cousin, but I'll never stop thinking of her as the little baby I've been caring for my whole life."

"I used to be a gladiator. Fought and, sometimes, killed to make a living. But when the war started...all I could think about was how much was at stake. And then I remembered that I had a means of fighting the Decepticons, and I realized that if I could use that, I'd be able to stop the war faster. Heh, granted I got pretty full of myself early on..."

*both chuckle, then become silent* "So, that's one question answered. What about the other?"

"Speaking as the younger sibling, the best thing you can do for Ruby is to stand by at the ready in case something goes wrong. Breathing down her neck and watching her all the time will only upset her and drive her to prove herself. Sunny and I had to learn that the hard way - which is actually how I got my first battle scar."

"Really? Do - do you mind sharing that story?"

"Sure! I mean, I gotta let others know how awesome I am, don't I?"

"Haha! I'm starting to think you were always full of yourself, Sideswipe!"

"You know me so well, Yang!"

Sideswipe hates grass. And trees. And endless hills and mountains that drive him fragging nuts with how expansive they are, and seem to never end...!

So he's naturally beyond relieved to get the signal from Ironhide, and hears pretty much everyone chattering through the line immediately afterward. After a short eternity of 'Bots asking "where are you?", "are you damaged?", "how do we get this Dust Wheeljack spouted seventy different yet oddly specific facts about?" (and Sidewipe's own enthusiastic, "THANK THE PRIMES, SUNSTREAKER, YOU'RE ALIVE!!"), Optimus agrees with Ironhide's suggestion that all Autobots on the continent of Sanus (slag, the planet's internet is better than Earth's!) converge on the island of Patch. If they are too far away or on another continent, the Autobots are to make contact with Qrow Branwen and Taiyang Xiao Long's allies in the City of Vale or the main cities of the other continents for a means of temporary shelter and Dust supplies.

Though annoyed that Optimus and his nephew Smokescreen are already on the Vale island, Sideswipe manages to double time it to the City of Vale before hopping a transport to Patch. Having gotten the contact information from Qrow and the necessary Dust Wheeljack recommended (the Wrecker-scientist is gonna have to explain the side effects of that Lightning subtype), Sideswipe managed to convince/annoy that Glynda lady into a transport to where his allies are. It hurts like the Pit that Sunstreaker is on Solitas, but if Sideswipe wants to join his older brother and make sure his dumb aft survives on Remnant, then he needs to be with his leader for that to happen without hot-dogging it himself and risking his own death.

He's not sure what he expected the Xiao Long residence to look like, but a simple log cabin like the old Westerns with modern tech isn't it - nor the attempts of Wheeljack to build a GroundBridge a few yards away from the place.

Introductions to the inhabitants are memorable: the blue-haired boy who is somewhere below Miko's level of excited when she first met the 'Bots is Neptune Vasilias. Funny name, but the kid's got talent considering the weapon he has. The quiet, silver-haired guy who hangs around the apparently-unconscious girl's bedroom is Mercury Black. A more straightforward name for sure, though Sideswipe's noticing the boy is not one to socialize. The blond man is Taiyang - or Tai, as he insists on being called - and the one-armed blond girl is his daughter, Yang Xiao Long.

Maybe it's the clear vulnerability she radiates, or the spark of fire he sees in her when she's being pushed by Ironhide to reintegrate into society. Regardless, Sideswipe likes Yang, and decides to get to know her between his time helping Wheeljack with the GroundBridge and reporting to Optimus for scans of Autobot and Decepticon activity on Remnant.

It doesn't take much work for the ex-gladiator to strike up a conversation with Yang. The girl's got spunk, even if she is in shock over her losses. Neptune's there most of the time too, and after one particular session involving both Ironhide and Tai when Yang is trying out her new arm, Sideswipe has a talk with Neptune about encouraging Yang. Taking her out for a drive, the two help Yang reignite her love of adventure and brawls. Through their efforts and Ironhide's experience in training kids, Yang becomes more like her old self and learns to embrace her new prosthetic limb.

Sideswipe and Yang are a nigh perfect match for battle. While they each love a good brawl, are jokers, and some of their teammates' heavy hitters, Sideswipe provides the necessary experience to help temper Yang's impulsiveness. Neptune is her calm center, but Sideswipe is the voice of reason she needs to figure out her new approach to life. Although she still loves to drive her bike Bumblebee (as well as the confusion it causes the Cybertronians) with Neptune, sometimes she'll ask Sideswipe if she and her boyfriend can ride with him for some fun. The younger of the Lambo twins enjoys taking them up on this offer, and the three normally get up to mischief together in their off-time.

In spite of their fun antics, Sideswipe finds himself thrown into a new dynamic when Ruby is revealed to be Yang's cousin and not her sister. He gives her space, letting Neptune help her in this time before she can face Tai or Qrow again. Despite that, Sideswipe's suspicions of her emotional state are confirmed when Neptune asks him to talk to her, since she needs an outsider's perspective for this. Taking her through Patch, Sideswipe and Yang talk about the family drama that's unfolded, and listens as she explains she doesn't know how to accept both that Ruby's not her sister and that Ruby is growing in a way that requires her to step away from Yang's protection. After some thought, Sideswipe encourages her to keep contact with Ruby, but to also focus more on herself, since she's defined herself by being Ruby's protector. Yes, Ruby still needs guidance, but Yang has to break out of the maternal mindset she's imposed on herself for her entire life.

"Let me and Neptune be there for you, okay? You can go back to Tai whenever you want, but you can rely on us to let you be yourself. You're my friend, and Neptune's girlfriend. You can fight alongside us, goof around with us, or blow off steam, and we won't judge you. You're Yang Xiao Long, and we'll help you find your path in life."

Not only does this help Yang in her journey of growing up, but it brings her closer to Neptune, Sideswipe, and her family.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Phew, this took a while to figure out! Honestly, their team name didn't take too long to discover: Yang's the dragon of the two, and Sideswipe's got the experience of war under his belt to help guide her. Maybe I've just been out of it, but I thought for sure I'd have my two favorites done sooner than this.

Oh well, I hope you enjoyed them, folks! I've got another duo in mind, but time will tell when I post them. I will say this, however - it's not a pair you'll expect. Until next time...

"Autobots, transform and roll out!"

[ryuto12]

One thing I’ll never let go in RWBY is like, the world has these insane ATLA level animals that are just simply outshined by Grimm so much we forget they don’t have the same faunua as we do

This is most obvious in Vacuo where they have giant fucking lion turtles like what do you mean lion turtles????

Vacuo and Menagerie specifically have some absolutely wild animals just roaming around sometimes in the same danger category as Grimm

It’s a good thing Grimm don’t attack animals because holy shit that’d be terrifying cause one day you walk out your tent into the desert to catch the sunrise before everyone else and and what the hell is that???? Yooooo there’s a sand worm boxing a king taijitu

Also willing to bet outside the city Vale catches some strays from Vacuo since they’re both part of Sanus and can you imagine what goes on in Mistral?

Anima is the only continent where it supports basically all weather types, not overly perfect weather like Vale, not overly hot in Vacuo or freezing cold in Atlas but just kinda all over the place depending where you are in the kingdom.

And Solitas? Anything that can survive the freezing temperatures like that deserves to have respect put on its name

[zerm2v0hg]

TToaCMC Remnant Timeline - Part 4

PART 4 – SEVEN TO TWELVE MONTHS AFTER THE FALL:

(Anima)

The party in Anima attempt to gain an audience with Mistral’s council: although Mistral's huntsman-huntress population is depleted, the kingdom still has the most resources out of any kingdom on Remnant, with Vale and Atlas-Mantle gone. Due to the terms of Salem's "gift," Mistral rejects the heroes' request.

Raven retakes leadership of the Branwen Tribe for use against Salem.

The Anima party encounter a White Fang contingent from Menagerie and discover what's become of the island: the schism on Menagerie caused by the Belladonnas' call to aid the kingdoms was somewhat resolved when shadier elements among the local Faunus decided they could use the reformed White Fang's mobilisation to quietly claim new territory for Menagerie that Mistral and Vale have lost due to their weakened and destroyed states. The heroes attempt to persuade the White Fang to help them. The White Fang are won over by the promise of a new world where Menagerie has a higher standing and things for the Faunus are better (which doesn't seem so far-fetched anymore with the current apocalyptic state of Remnant, not least the destruction of half the kingdoms including Atlas, making it clear that Remnant will never be the same again whatever happens going forward); and by recognising that Salem needs to go before Faunus can have that better world.

In Mistral, the heroes eventually make contact with the council and try to win their support, informing them what Ruby's broadcast failed to mention about the planet being physically destroyed if Salem wins. The Mistral council agree to aid the heroes only if the heroes sending a portion of their forces away from the strike on Salem and towards physically protecting Mistral from Salem's Grimm's reprisals. To the heroes' surprise, Mistral and the White Fang presence seriously consider an alliance between them where the White Fang will spare forces to protect Mistral's people in exchange for Mistral not going back on treating Faunus better. (ADDENDUM: I'm not sure if that particular alliance goes through, but it's there and the offer's enough to lay the groundwork for improved Mistral-Menagerie relations in the future.)

(Sanus)

The party headed to Vale aim to avoid being detected by the Grimm, and by extension Salem, until they’re close to Vale. They get sighted by and fight a group of Grimm, and during the fight, they “accidentally” let some of the Grimm catch a glimpse of the fake Sword of Destruction on their person and get away.

Salem moves out towards Vale, calling legions of Grimm to converge on the ruined city.

The party navigate across Vale. They take refuge for the night in the ruins of Beacon Academy. Ren and Nora visit Teams JNPR and RWBY's old dorms.

Ozpin-Oscar leads the Vale party to the true Fall Maiden vault, which the Fall Maiden opens. The group activate the Crown of Choice, and its spirit gives them a glimpse of a future choice relating to Remnant's fate.

Salem arrives with a legion of Grimm, besieging the party at the vault. The heroes initiate their plan - thanks to at least one member of both the Vale and Anima parties respectively being bonded to Raven, Raven’s portals begin teleporting other heroes and allies and their Mistral-provided ammunitions from both Vacuo and Anima to the vault’s location, to fight Salem.

(ADDENDUM: Mistral at this part's end-point is heavily fortified, due to Raven having previously offscreen teleported the heroes' assets that they promised the Mistral council in from Vacuo the same way. I also imagine many heroes not actively guarding Mistral are all on standby to join the final battle, but the heroes are only sending them in through Raven's portals in waves rather than sending all of them in at once. Lastly, I imagine that if Tyrian doesn’t die at the previous Vacuo battle for the Sword of Destruction, then he'll die at the Vale battle that's just begun.)

[zoeyslayter]

Remaking my RWBY OCs: Team KYNT

IDC if this is cringe I made these almost 4 years ago and I'm probably going to write the fanfiction soon if I can get the motivation.

Team KYNT (Kyanite) consists of Kelly Greene, Yale Taivas, Noire Deces, and Tawny Erimos. They attend Beacon Academy in their second year, one year ahead of team RWBY and JNPR.

I'm not an artist so I made the pictures here

Kelly Greene

Name meaning: Kelly is a shade of green and also means warrior and bright-minded in Gaelic. Greene is a different spelling of the word green, while also meaning at the green, a grassy plot used by the village common.

Semblance: Banshee's Cry; she can let out a supersonic screech. This takes up a lot of aura, so in battle she only uses it in a dire emergency. One scream and she's out, two on maybe a really good day.

Weapon: Mandolin; a musical instrument with a different type of dust ingrained into each string. The colors are always changing, implying that she regularly changed the strings on her instrument before and after battle.

Background: Kelly was born in Sanus, but traveled around Remnant for most of her life. Her parents were famous musicians who would preform from big cities like Atlas to small villages outside of the protection of guarding huntsmen. It was at one of these shows where a Grimm attack took place and she got separated from her parents in the chaos. Faced with an Elk-like Grimm, she screamed for help and out came a piercing shriek that knocked the Grimm back, destroying it. This left her weak, confused, and stranded until her parents found her and packed her up along with their belongings. This traumatic experience drove Kelly to want to attend Beacon academy.

Personality: Kelly is a soft-spoken woman, avoiding large crowds when she can and keeping to herself. If you wish to find her you usually can by looking for her in an empty lecture room practicing her music or in the library reading. She values her solitude, which is challenging when met with the responsibility of being team leader. Her performance background has helped in being able to mask this, however even this can only help her so much.

Additional notes: Dating Coco Adel of Team CVFY. I don't remember if I added this before or after her sexuality was made canon but I've loved Coco ever since her debut in Volume 2. Also she absolutely has an Irish accent, North Dublin to be exact

I didn't expect this to be this long so I guess I'll put the other three in their own separate posts too.

[bobauthorman]

Recording done by May Marigold:

"Journal entry...1, I guess. I don't normally do this. Anyway, I suppose it all started with Atlas. A technologically-advanced city that was supposed 'encompass the true potential of humanity's progress', or something like that. What the brochures didn't mention was that the city was also designed siphon money and resources from the common people. The leaders were greedy and self-righteous, and their servants were naive and shortsighted. And when the borders closed, Atlas' culture of exploitation was turned inward, slowly destroying whatever facade of perfection the kingdom hid behind. Fittingly, the final blow would come from those most hurt from Atlas' selfishness.

"As it turned out, Atlas was merely the latest battlefield for an ancient war, fought between beings that saw the whole of humanity- and faunus- as their tools and weapons. Can you imagine what it's like? To realize that everything you've worked for, your blood, sweat and tears, was only a moment in time for some 'higher life-form'? Not a good feeling.

"But, just when things looked at their bleakest, we were given a way out. Teams RWBY and JNPR. They too were being manipulated by the war. But rather than remain puppets, they fought to alert the world, and found a way to save the people of Atlas from total destruction.

"Unfortunately, things didn't go smoothly. Thanks to enemy's infiltrators, the people are now stranded in Vacuo, the Kingdom of the Sanus Desert. And Team RWBY- Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long- and the leader of Team JNPR, Jaune Arc, vanished in the confusion. Most think they died. Some insist they're alive, just...lost. I can't say for certain who is right. But one thing is certain;

"They've given us a chance to make things right in the world, and we can't throw that away."

[imjusthereforironwood]

I am curious: how would you use cardin?

Makes me think of the post: How I would use Jaune Arc

Is cardin only good as bully turn redemption path?

Is it better to remove the bully aspect completely?

Is he a rich family or tough street guy that is why he is in canon?

To talk about how I would use Cardin Winchester if I was writing RWBY, we must first look at how he was used. Simply put, he was a high school bully, meant to serve as a temporary antagonist to Jaune. The only things we really get to see of his personality is his arrogance, his pride, and his aggressive behavior. Other personality traits can only really be gathered if you overanalyze him. So, it's up to us as the audience to determine why he acts the way he acts.

After Jaundice Arc, Cardin kinda...disappears? Sky Lark and Russel Thrush appear in a doubles match against Penny and Ceil, so apparently, CRDL won a match. Then we see Cardin for a few seconds during the Fall of Beacon getting saved by Ironwood. And that's it. We never see him in any following volumes. He's never mentioned, even in passing.

This gives the fanfic writer ample blank space to work with. Everyone has their own tastes and ways they like to write Cardin, and if you write him differently then me, that's perfectly fine.

Me personally, I like to write Cardin Winchester as a troubled young man. His father, Caleb Winchester, was a Huntsman who died defending a village on the outskirts of Sanus. His mother had to work twice as hard to support him and his older sister, Carrie, who is about 5 years older than Cardin. When Cardin was 11 years old, Vale was facing some pretty severe racial tensions, after a human supremacist group hung several Faunas. There were clashes in the streets between human supremacists and Faunas eugenics groups. Around this time, the White Fang had begun employing stronger methods to free slaves from the Dust mines and fighting back against human supremacists. A group of Faunas thugs, putting on the disguise of White Fang members, decided to attack a Dust shop and rob it. They figured they could make a quick buck and pin it on the White Fang as well. A Dust shop that Cardin's mother worked at. She was hurt, badly, and to this day, her scars have not fully healed. This memory forever left an impact on Cardin.

Cardin went to Beacon, primarily because he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father. He's agressive and cocky, but Ozpin saw something in him. A chance to be more than just a racist bully.

All of that to say, when I write Cardin, I like to keep some of that pride and arrogance, but I like to show how he grows up. Have him redirect his aggression away from other people, and towards the Grimm. Have him mature into an adult.

So, yeah, that's how I like to use Cardin Winchester.

[nottoxicfr]

Actually, weird animals do exist in RWBY. After the fall novel reveals that there are fantastical creatures such as giant crabs along with a giant mobile turtle that's big enough to carry a whole settlement of people. We probably just don't see them (or animals in general for the most part) in the show due to the budget. Heck, volume 9 is the most amount of animals we've ever seen in the show I think.

I really need to get to reading the rest of the RWBY literary collection! How can say anything about RWBY with any authority if I don’t finish those… Honestly right now I’m only reliable on RWBY collaborations and the singular series.

Back on topic though, that’s so cool!! I feel like giant turtles are something that would be neat to show around Volume 4 or something. That was when those probably would have come in handy in terms of crossing Sanus or Anima. Apparently, or at least according to an angry Reddit post on r/RWBYCritics about the Ruby V-Tuber, rabbits don’t exist on Remnant anymore so that’s another creature that sort of exist(ed). You likely know how I feel about the canonicity about that source though, and it just generally didn’t seem credible. Still, it makes you wonder if they recognize Velvet as a rabbit Faunus or if they think she’s like a…long eared squirrel Faunus.

My idea for a Creature of Remnant that brought on that post was a canine type animal that lives around Dust sources like mines. It crushes dust to a powder, probably because it requires minerals that surround Dust crystals. Then they roll in the Dust and it gets caught in their specially adapted fur strands which allows them to use rudimentary bursts of elemental energy until the dust loses its charge and crumbles out. Essentially they’d be Dust Wolves, and their elemental affinity would depend on where they live.

My ideal thing to do for RWBY is to compile an Ultimania of stuff like that.

[unlockthestars]

Now that they were in Vacuo, Ren realized that he had now been to Solitas, Anima, and Sanus. While he knew that becoming a Huntsman meant it could include travel, he hadn't anticipated the amount of traveling that had taken place over the past…..however long it had been since the fall of Beacon.

Sometimes, it felt like it had been ages since they'd last been at the school where all of this had started. And sometimes, it felt like no time at all had passed. They'd all been through a lot in that time, but they had all managed to learn, to continue to grow. Ren was thankful that his team had forgiven him for his own outburst; he didn't often bottle up his feelings enough that they burst like water from a dam, but, as was clearly evident, it did sometimes happen.

But now that they were in Vacuo, they had to help take care of the refugees from Atlas. The arrival of thousands of terrified people had brought in a wave of Grimm, and they'd had to fight, without knowing if team RWBY or Jaune had made it through the portal, with no way to go back, no way to protect the refugees except to deal with the Grimm and get to the city.

It had been a long, hard fight, but they'd managed, somehow. Calming everyone down took longer, and there was no way that Ren could have used his Semblance to mask everyone, not with the sheer number of people that were here, and his Aura had been dangerously low after the fight.

They were still figuring out places for everyone, but it was a lot better than it had been when they'd first arrived. A lot of the Atlesians weren't used to facing much, if any, hardship, so it was turning out to be harder for some people to adjust than others.

Each of the Huntsmen that had come from Atlas (along with any fighting capable citizens) did their best to patrol the city, to hopefully nip any potential Grimm attack before it got as bad as it had that first day, and to help people as needed.

Which was how Ren found himself asking a lone woman if she was lost. Though he hadn't been here that long, he would do what he could to help her get where she needed to be.

But when she turned around, when he could see her eyes, Ren couldn't move. It was as though he was a little kid again, looking into eyes that mirrored his, a laughing face telling him to go buy a present for his father for when he returned…..

His eyes widen, and when the woman speaks, to say a single word, to say his name, he almost can't find his own voice.

"Mother….," is all he can manage before he closed the distance between them, hugging her tight. He wasn't normally a big hugger, but……his mother was alive.

@unlockthestars asked:

“Are you lost?” [Ren for An? ^^]

Lost was an understatement - An was completely out of her element. Before Kuroyuri was destroyed, she had barely travelled beyond its borders. Since then, she had mainly stuck to the village that took her in and nursed her back to health. She'd had nowhere else to go - nobody to return to - and so she had stayed, to repay their kindness and allow herself time to grieve her husband and son.

Eventually, the village's resident huntsman had urged her to take her grief and turn it into strength. To honour her family's memory by protecting others from the same fate. With him as her mentor, she became a decent huntress - even if it was only in name and with no formal training. For years, she helped to protect the village from Grimm, bandits and wildlife alike. But one day, she heard whispers from travellers about a group of young huntsmen and huntresses - one of whom shared her family name. Ren. She couldn't believe it. Could one - or even both - of her loved ones have survived Kuroyuri? Were they really out there somewhere all this time?

With her mentor's blessing, she had left the village the next day. She had to follow this lead, if there was any chance it would bring her back to her son and perhaps even her husband. She had travelled throughout Anima, trying desperately to track this elusive Ren down, but the last thing she had heard was that his group had now left for Atlas. She had been too late. With no way to get there with the borders closed, she had been heartbroken. It felt like she had lost her little Lie all over again.

Several agonising weeks - perhaps even months - passed before she would find a new lead in the form of an emergency broadcast from Atlas. The young girl, who's name she recognised as one of those who had been traveling with this Ren, dropped all kinds of unbelievable truths before being suddenly cut off. To think of what her son, if it really was him, could be going through in Atlas pained her greatly. The world later found out that Atlas had fallen, but that refugees had somehow found their way to Vacuo. This was her chance. She had to believe that her son had made it there safely with the rest of them.

And so, she had made the journey to a kingdom she never would have visited before, holding fast to her hope that Lie was here and that he was safe. However, no amount of hope could help her find her way around this foreign kingdom, let alone find him within its winding streets - especially at night. As fate would have it however, a voice speaks up from somewhere behind her as she attempts to locate a place to stay. Turning with a smile, she begins to speak.

"Oh! Yes, it would seem I am. I--"

Any words she was about to say are stopped dead in their tracks, and the woman gasps, dropping the map in her hands. Before her stood a boy, taller than her, with long black hair and striking pink eyes. Her eyes. The boy even had a streak of magenta in his hair. Just like her son. There was no mistaking who stood before her. The mother begins to tremble, widened eyes threatening to spill over with tears, and she is barely able to speak.

"Lie?"

[bestworstcase]

ok so. the timeline.

besides seasonal changes to the environment the best temporal marker we have in rwby is the academic calendar for the huntsmen academies. for simplicity i’m making the following assumptions:

1. BASH follow the same calendar

2. we are in the northern hemisphere

3. calendar units on remnant do not significantly differ from our own

i’m going to use the names of gregorian months instead of “1st/2nd/3rd winter month,” for ease of understanding, with seasons blocked out like dec/jan/feb, mar/apr/may, jun/jul/aug, and spt/oct/nov.

note: the second assumption requires that we also assume that the canonical map is NOT a world map. again assuming that remnant is earthlike in the essentials, the equator should then go approximately here:

…and then we have to assume that either this an extremely distorted projection OR remnant has way more ocean coverage than earth does and cartographers just kind of crop out all the extra water.

the clocks shown in the cct tower in V2 indicate that mistral (11:20) is three hours ahead of atlas/vale (8:20) and nine ahead of vacuo (2:20); which, again assuming all relevant variables are earthlike, would make the approximate distance between them roughly comparable to the distance between new york city and madrid—and given their relative positions on the map, either days on remnant are quite a bit shorter than ours orrr there’s a massive ocean between the east coast of anima and the west coast of sanus which DOESNT MATTER FOR THE TIMELINE DISCUSSION WHATSOEVER i just think it’s neat :)

back to the BASH academic calendar: from bits of dialogue in primarily V2, V3, and V5, we have a… relatively comprehensive understanding of what an academic year looks like. we’ll assume that a semester is 18 weeks.

vale has cold, snowy winters, shown in V3; it’s lush and green when V1 begins and remains so until V3, when ruby (and various environmental changes) indicate that it’s now autumn. since V1 encompasses the whole first semester, and V2 the first several weeks(?) of the second, the first semester of the academic calendar must begin in mid-to-late spring, likely the middle of april. it ends in early august, and with a two-week break (V2.1) before the next semester, that puts the beginning of the second semester right at the end of august.

the vytal festival is a complication here, because a significant number of students from the other three academies come to the host academy for a considerable length of time, which would impose a critical disruption of education once every other year for all huntsmen/huntresses in training given that the festival and pre-festival events seem to last for several months coinciding with the fall term—the simplest way to account for this is to assume that students intending to participate in the vytal tournament get enrolled in the hosting academy for the second semester, making this a formalized study-abroad program. (this is never stated outright and somewhat obscured by the “other students arriving for the festival” verbiage and how light V2-3 are on classroom/study scenes, but the integration of international students into beacon does pretty unambiguously support this reading.) all of this to say the festival is concurrent with the normal academic semester, rather than interrupting it with an extended holiday.

the weather stays fair throughout V2, and is noted to be “getting colder” early in V3; also, preparations for the vytal festival begin in vale during the break, toward the end of august. the festival appears to be more akin to an international expo than a holiday, albeit one small enough to occur biennially, so an event lasting somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-8 weeks after prep time of several weeks sounds about right. since the tournament is said to be the pinnacle of the festival, it likely takes place at or near the end. this would make V2 about 5-7 weeks in length and place V3, and the vytal tournament, around the beginning of october, which ties pretty well with the shifting weather.

under normal circumstances the fall semester would end in mid december, followed by an extended winter/spring break lasting until the start of the spring semester.

as a point of interest, on remnant the cultural associations with the seasons—as established by ozma, who also designed the huntsmen system—go like this:

winter (creation): “center yourself and think reflectively to gain awareness of who you are and what you can contribute to the world”

spring (knowledge): “nurture the life around you, and remember to stop and smell the roses”

summer (destruction): “don’t view the world at a distance—take an active part in it”

fall (choice): “be thankful for what you have and show your gratitude.”

and this lines up quite well with the structure of the academic calendar: there is an extended break during the winter and first half of spring, ideal for reflection on and integration of what was learned during the school year; the first semester begins in spring, the season of knowledge and fresh beginnings, and continues for most of the summer, which is all about participating actively in the world (as huntsmen are trained to do!). then the second semester covers the entirety of the fall and the first few weeks of winter, thus gratitude and appreciation leading to reflection and growth. the “knowledge, then choice” pattern repeated frequently throughout the show—including in ozpin’s welcoming speech at the beginning of the first semester—is followed in the academic calendar as well. all of which is to say, this is absolutely an academic calendar cooked up by ozma, the man is obsessed with symbols.

so. with the basics established we can approximate the in-universe length of each volume up to V6 pretty precisely:

V1 is 18-20 weeks long, depending on how much of it takes place during the two-week-long semester break.

V2 lasts for approximately one month, plus 1-2 weeks.

V3 picks up at the beginning of the tournament and spans most of it. it’s not entirely clear how long the tournament lasts, but there are eight finalists for the singles: so the doubles round is eight bouts, and the teams round sixteen. the singles round itself requires seven matches to arrive at a singular champion. thirty-one fights in total, for the whole tournament. dialogue between qrow and the barman during the teams round indicates that matches are fought more or less back-to-back; being very conservative and saying that the average bout in both teams and doubles rounds lasts fifteen minutes, with fifteen minute intervals scheduled between bouts, the teams round clocks in at eight hours and the doubles, four. it is… conceivable that the tournament is a three day event; maybe five, if the teams and doubles round are split across two afternoons each. there just aren’t enough competitors to stretch it out for much longer than that.

3.1 and 3.2 are contiguous and 3.3 begins around sundown, at most 10-15 minutes after the end of the previous episode, and continues until dark. the doubles round begins in 3.4 the following day and continues in 3.5. there’s a button at the end of 3.4 where it’s nighttime and winter is leaving, so either the doubles round IS split into two days, or rwby simply skipped ahead a few hours from winter’s goodbye to her actual departure from vale in 3.4 to maintain (more important) emotional/thematic continuity over strict chronological order, and then skipped back to the afternoon of the same day to continue the doubles matches in 3.5. i think both are valid readings here. in any case, 3.5 ends in the evening and 3.6 picks up immediately where it left off, then jumps forward to the next day with the beginning of the singles round. 3.7 is primarily a flashback episode, with present events concurrent with the latter half of 3.6; in 3.8 the yang incident has postponed the remaining matches, but they’re scheduled to resume in the evening; and aside from the falling action in 3.12, the whole rest of the volume takes place in a matter of hours during the evening/night of 3.8—so, all signs point to the vast majority of V3 taking place over the course of only 3-4 days (depending on how you read the nighttime button on 3.4).

beacon falls in early october. ruby is in a silver glare coma for an uncertain length of time, but long enough for the inner circle to confirm ozpin’s death (reading between the lines of what qrow tells ruby, he’s already retrieved the cane and is following instructions given for the event of ozpin’s death) and for huntsmen to stabilize the situation in vale. a few days at minimum, possibly more like a week or two. thereafter there is a time skip of 1-2 months, long enough for winter to set in but not for the snow cover to get more than a couple inches deep. so inclusive of the falling action time skips, V3 ends around the middle of december.

there is another time skip of several months between the end of V3 and V4, which picks up in mid-to-late spring. (this tracks with pretty well with everyone’s travel time: weiss gets flown back to atlas and has been stuck there for a good long while by the time V4 picks up; rnjr traveled mostly on foot all the way from patch island to eastern sanus, hopped a boat to anima, and are now on the final leg of the journey toward mistral; and blake got on a boat that had to get around sanus and then all the way down to the southern hemisphere to reach menagerie, possibly with other stops along the way, and is still on the boat when the volume picks up.)

V4 is annoyingly vague on the passage of time in comparison to the previous three volumes, but it realistically must last at least a couple months. this is because it begins in the spring, and:

V5 picks a couple days, tops, after the ending of V4, and “approximately one month” before the beginning of the fall semester; ergo, V5 begins at the end of july, and ends during the full moon in august, immediately before the fall semester begins. thus V4 begins sometime in the middle or end of spring or early summer and lasts until the end of july, so anywhere from 2-4 months

V6 begins two weeks after the end of V5 and lasts four days: the apathy arc spans two, with rwbymoq arriving in argus around sunset on the second day; the whole crew visits the military base on day three, with jnr being filled in and oscar going “missing” later the same day and everyone searching for him until nightfall; jaune proposes stealing an airship that night, and they execute their plan the following day, depart from argus in the afternoon, and reach atlas that night. this puts the ending of V6 somewhere around the second or third week of september.

now. V7 is… tricky. there are two time skips of indeterminate but significant length (between 7.2 and 7.3, and during the montage in 7.5), the action is divorced from the academic calendar altogether, the one major event that could serve as a temporal marker—the election—is left temporally ambiguous, and because atlas is polar we can’t gauge the passage of time by changes in the weather. however!!

remnant has earthlike seasons, ergo the planet’s axis likely has an earthlike obliquity, ergo atlas—being just barely inside the polar circle—must experience midnight sun and polar twilight phenomena during the summers and winters respectively. V7 begins in late september, when the days and nights should be of roughly equal length.

and, here’s where this gets fun: 7.7 seems to cover a decent chunk of time. it begins long enough after the election for the massacre to mature into the news cycle, calls for penny to be taken offline to gather momentum, robyn’s vigilanteism to “embolden” suppliers in mantle to refuse to do business with the atlesian government, and jacques to get the other two council members on board with impeaching ironwood; so, it’s been anywhere from a few days to a week or two. most of the episode takes place at night (or indoors in windowless areas), with a single daylight scene in ironwood’s office in the first part of the episode. pietro also offers one of the very few hard temporal markers in the volume, stating that maria has been helping him for “the past few weeks”—however, it’s not clear whether he means the past few weeks since the election, or if he’s talking about having been running on fumes in the weeks leading up to the election and the new situation with penny is just one more overwhelming thing. personally, i lean toward the former reading, since it squares with the other subtle signals that it’s been some time since the night of the election, but both are equally plausible. anyway—after 7.7, there are no daylight scenes until the sun rises at the end of 7.13. granted, the reason for this is that 7.8-7.13 are all contiguous, beginning on the evening of jacques’s dinner part and lasting through the entire night, BUT.

you see the pattern here, yeah?

the first five episodes of V7 have mostly, by a wide margin, daylight scenes. 7.6 begins in the morning, but most of it occurs during or after sundown. then there’s a modest time skip with one gloomy daytime scene, and the rest of the volume plays out in the dark. there is obviously a lot of symbolic mileage to be gotten here, but in the absence of any concrete temporal markers we can also take this shift from day to night as a rough approximation for the dwindling of days toward the polar twilight of the atlesian winter, and the sunrise at the end of the volume as a signal that we haven’t quite reached the winter solstice yet.

so: V7 begins around the third week of september and likely ends in the first or second week of december, just a couple weeks shy of the solstice. the first time skip (between 7.2 and 7.3) is probably somewhere around a week, tops; the montage time skip in 7.5 would then begin in early october and last until mid-november (at which time daylight hours would be around 6 depending on atlas’s exact latitude). if the election itself occurs within the next few days, and 7.7 picks up a few weeks after the election, that puts 7.7 roughly in the first week of december (daylight hours approximately 4) and 7.8 a day or two after that at most, and possibly the evening of the same day.

V8 explicitly takes place in about 48 hours. but, after using the presence of daylight to approximate a hard timeline for V7, it would be remiss of me not to discuss daylight in V8 soooo,

based on the estimate of V7 ending in early december, there should be only about four hours of daylight per day in V8. 8.1 begins no more than an hour or so after 7.13—the whole episode occurs in full (if overcast) daylight, so it must occur within the approximately three hour long window between dawn and dusk; which is to say, those kids moved FAST! breaking into the atlesian military complex a mere hour or two after catching their breath and regrouping. 8.2, 8.3, and 8.4 are contiguous, with sunset occurring in 8.4, meaning that approximately four hours elapse between the end of 7.13 and the end of 8.4.

8.5 begins after dark, and during ruby’s broadcast it’s shown to be sunset in vacuo, WHICH MEANS that we can pinpoint the time of the global broadcast fairly precisely—because we know, from the world clocks in V2, that atlas is in a time zone six hours ahead of vacuo. using the equatorial line marked on the map above, we can estimate vacuo’s latitude as roughly 40N, and we’ve worked out that it’s the first or second week of december. therefore sunset in vacuo occurs around 4:30 PM, vacuo time, making it 10:30 PM in atlas when ruby’s message is broadcast at the end of 8.5. :)

next up is 8.6, the present-day portion of which begins at sunrise the following day—around 11 o’clock in the morning and about 24 hours after the end of 7.13. 8.7 begins at dawn (late morning) and lasts until after dark (with sunset around 3:20 PM). it’s not clear how long after dark, so 8.7 might be last as little as six hours or as long as twenty. 8.8 seems to begin no more than ten or fifteen minutes after 8.7—the amount of time it takes klein to get started treating nora and for rwb to lift penny out of her crater and bring her to klein—and realistically only lasts around half an hour to forty-five minutes. 8.9 begins most likely around the time 8.8 ends—it jumps forward from jyr leaving the ship in 8.7 to them having made it into the whale—and lasts for most of the night (the sky becomes noticeably much lighter between the beginning and end of the episode, suggesting that jyr were inside monstra for quite a while; this would also explain why ren runs out of aura from masking and tracking them even with jaune amping him, he keeps it up for several hours straight.) 8.10 is contiguous with 8.9, and ironwood’s view of monstra at the beginning shows that sunrise is just barely beginning—the eastern horizon is tinged red—when oscar nukes the whale. so 8.9 ends and 8.10 begins around 11 o’clock, 48 hours after the end of 7.13. everyone in the immediate blast zone is knocked senseless for… probably around half an hour? as it’s fully dawn by the time we see the ace-ops picking themselves up. it then takes a few hours for jyre to hike to schnee manor from the outskirts of atlas, so they arrive at the very beginning of twilight, probably around 2 PM. 8.11-8.14 all take place inside the hour limit ironwood gives in 8.10; when atlas falls, the sun is setting around 3 PM, late in the afternoon, approximately 52 hours since salem arrived in atlas. (and: the refugees reach vacuo at 9 AM, vacuo time.)

and—because the vast majority of the action in this 52 hour period takes place in the dark, and because there are two separate episodes that begin at dawn and end at dusk or after dark despite covering events that should realistically only take a few hours—V8 seems to me to strongly support the early december almost-polar-twilight reading of V7’s dwindling daylight scenes.

and, putting it all together (using 80 as an arbitrary year number for the sake of clarity, and assuming that the calendar year begins in spring for the sake of tying it neatly with the academic calendar):

V1: mid-april to mid-august, 80.

V2: end of august through september, 80.

V3: first week of october, 80.

RNJR leave patch: mid-december, 80. ruby turns 16 during the time skip.

V4: mid-april through late july, 81.

V5: late july through august, 81.

V6: second or third week of september, 81.

V7.1-4: mid-september to early october, 81. it’s about one year since the fall of beacon by 7.4.

V7.5: early october through november, 81. ruby turns 17 during the montage.

V7.6-13: late november through first or second week of december, 81.

V8: about 52 hours in early december, 81.

it’s been approximately 20 months, in-universe, since the story began.

and, if that feels too short to you, it’s also plausible to interpret the 7.5 montage time skip as lasting through the winter solstice, in which case everything after the time skip occurs in mid-january, with 4-5 daylight hours and the days becoming gradually longer; which could conceivably push it to about 22 months if you put the end of V7 in early february. this isn’t my preference, though, because so much of the montage occurs in full daylight.

anyway here’s hoping for some concrete temporal markers in arrowfell so i can stop tinhatting about the proportions of daylight to nighttime scenes