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masterhandss · 4 years ago

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HameFura Manga V6 Bonus SS (translated)

It says “Magical Girl Flag Breakers” and “Our Enemies: The Ruin Four”

Volume 6 Bonus SS - “Magical★Girl Flag Breakers”

Hello! So I snagged a raw copy of Manga Volume 6 on the internet because I was really excited for the bonus story ever since I got raws of Volume 5. For those who don’t know, typically a copy of the manga comes with an extra chapter with Katarina having a dream about different scenarios (V1 was Fortune Lover, V2 is a Highschool AU, V3 is a Fantasy RPG AU, V4 is a Genderbend AU and V5 is a Kindergarten AU), and alongside the chapter of the volume is a image preview of the next story in the next volume.

I couldn't wait to read this one-shot so with the power of google translate, I’ve decided to translate it myself! Please read this one, it’s a very fun one-shot, so much so that I want more of this story XDD (also because it took me half a day to translate this from pictures qwq)

Please do remember to read this one-shot once an official English Release of Manga Volume 6 comes out, and please forgive me for any mistake I made while translating this story to English.

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It was a sunny morning that day. I, Katarina Claes, an ordinary high school student, overslept that day and was late for school. While I was dashing to school with a fresh cucumber in my mouth from our fridge instead of my breakfast, was suddenly struck with something hard on the head. I was surprised! I rubbed my head and looked around, but I saw nothing.

I was about to start running again because I assumed that I just imagined, until I heard a voice. "Ouch, I'm sorry I bumped into you", the voice said as I looked up to follow it. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH~~~~" I screamed instinctively as I looked at what looks like a small little doll.

There was a small boy with wings. The boy covered his ears and frowned at my loud outcry. "Oh, I'm sorry" I apologized, also instinctively, but this is turning out to be a really weird situation. What even is this small little boy? It's a really well-made toy or something like that. "I'm not a toy", eh did I say that out loud?

I was surprised to hear a reply, so I asked "Are you a dwarf then?"

"No, I'm a spirit" he said with a matter-of-fact tone. 'Oh, so he's a spirit~' is what I would have said........

"Wait, what do you mean a spirit?" I wasn't convinced at all. What do you mean it's a spirit? The little spirit boy begins to explain to me, who was still surprised and flustered, while pointing with his tiny finger.

Well, it turned out to be quite the serious discussion. While a story about an evil organization, the most worrisome part to me was, "So, if the 'planet' dies, what will happen?" I could predict what his answer would be, but it still scared me to hear what the answer was. "If the planet dies, all living creatures here will die" The little spirit replied with an expected answer. When he said that all living creatures will die, does that mean everyone?!

"We will fight and defeat the evil organization with the power we receive from the planet," the spirit declared so bravely. He may look cute like a doll, but he was very cool. I instinctively made a guts pose, "In behalf of everyone, I thank you. Good luck on your fight". "Thank you, but the one who will be fighting is not me--. The spirit boy was interrupted by a loud explosion nearby, where I heard a loud scream saying "Ah! It's a monster!".

When I ran over there to check it out, for some reason, there was something big rampaging in a park just further away. Wait, what? There was a giant bear that appeared out of nowhere?! Around these parts, there could be monkeys showing up, but not bears.

Next to me, the spirit boy was visibly upset. "Oh no, They've already started to appear. I haven't even formed a contract with anyone yet" the spirit boy whispered. What does he mean by a contract? No, its not the time for such questions when something serious is happening in front of us.

"Um, Spirit boy, lets run away, the situation over there looks dangerous". I called out to him, but the spirit boy didn't answer with his eyes growing bigger. "And you, can you help me with my work?" He said as if there wasn't anything happening in front of us. What does he mean help with his work? What is he saying in such a dangerous time like this.

"The Evil Organization".

"?!"

"What happening right now, it's involving the things I've told you about. I need your help, please". "Wait, even if you say it so suddenly like this...." I'm already really late for school, and at this point getting in would be really difficult. I'm in deep trouble. "Please, I can only ask you." I was being stared with such a desperate face and moist eyes, making it really hard to refuse. Aside from that, the noise in the park is getting louder, and I feel like it's really dangerous to stay here.

For now, its best to run away for the time being and listen to him when we get to somewhere safer. I thought and said, "I understand. I'll help you, so lets run away from here first." My words did not even finish until the end. Before I finished, the spirit boy grinned and said, "Okay, then lets form the contract."

The moment I saw his grinning smile, I knew something was weird, but before I could say anything, the spirit boy pulled something that looked like a stick with a flag and asked, "What is your name?" "Katarina Claes". For some reason, my mouth started to move on my own and said my name. Eh, what's going on?

"Then, Katarina Claes, I will appoint you as a magical girl who will help protect this planet". When I shook the flag that the spirit boy had, my body was wrapped in light, and my school uniform changed into a cute and frilly costume.

"What's this?!" "It's a magical girl costume. Now you have the power to do more than what a hundred normal persons can do".

"Wearing this frilly outfit can make me do that?!" "Yes, that costume has that kind of power. With this, you can defeat the enemy as a magical girl". "Wait, what's a magical girl? and by enemy you mean--" "Ah, it's already here"

As soon as the spirit boy interrupted my words with his own, a giant pink bear doll came out from the entrance of the park.

"What's that?" "That's our enemy. Now, let's defeat it with the power of a magical girl." "Even if you tell me to defeat it--?!"

What should I do? The bear started to launch itself towards us while I was trying to figure out what to do. While it is a stuffed toy bear, it was very big so it's power was quite impressive.

It’ll be bad if I get hit, so I jumped really high unexpectedly in order to avoid it. Wow, the bear looked really surprised by my movements, which are a hundred times faster and stronger than a normal person, and it made the bear look like fool as he gave his all into that attack. What a terrifying bear. That bear tried to attack with a punch again. The bear is very quick for its size. Thanks to this outfit, I can easily avoid his punches, but this can’t keep going on like this.

“Hey spirit, how I can I defeat this bear?”. While trying to avoid the bear’s attacks, I asked the spirit who was watching me jump above. “Oh, that’s right. Point the bracelet at the bear and say ‘Flag Break’. If you do that, you can defeat it”. He seems to have forgotten to tell me this earlier.

I wondered if that was enough, but I did as I was told, pointing my bracelet at the bear and shouted “Flag Break”, and a ray of light appeared from the bracelet. When the light hits and wraps the bear in its entirety, it disappeared after the light.

I coughed while staring at the spot where the bear disappeared, and the spirit who was now next to me said, “Thank you, Katarina. Thank you for your continued support. My name is Raphael”, he said as I held his outreached hand.

This how I, Katarina Claes, became a magical girl who fights against evil organizations.

And, through this event, I learned that I should not accept unclear requests so easily. I became a magical girl by being convinced in a shocked state by Raphael, and in the months since I became a magical girl, my number of friends seemed to have increased. After several months, I realized that there are more magical girls in my school, such as Maria who was part of the student council and the school’s cooking club, Mary from the gardening club, and Sophia from the literature club. Strangely, all of them are smart and beautiful students. Not only that, they were all scouted by a female spirit named Anne as magical girls. I was only scouted in the heat of the moment, but everyone else are so good at their job, and eventually we all began to get along as friends. Until then, I usually go to school late because I always get lost, but now we all go to school together every day.

“Yes, I tried to turn the flowers in the gardening club as a bookmark, Katarina. If you’d like, please use it”. “Wow. it’s so cute, thank you. Mary has good taste” “Katarina, I’ve brought a book I want to recommend” “You did? I’m looking forward to it. Thank you, Sophia” “Katarina, I brought some sweets I made in the cooking club, please eat some if you’d like” “Oh! Thank you Maria. I love your sweets so much because they are just so delicious”

Just like that, we continue to have fun chatting to each other, when suddenly there was a figure ahead of us. “Hello, Katarina and co.”

A beautiful young man with blonde hair and blue eyes appeared before me. “Wow, you’re here again Geordo” I frowned, but Geordo returned it with a smile. “Today, I will defeat you and make you mine”, that’s when he suddenly changed into a black cloak with a mask; the uniform of the evil organization.

Yes, this handsome young man is named Geordo, he might look like a prince, but he is actually one of the Four Kings of Ruin, part of the enemy organization that we, magical girls, need to defeat. I met Geordo after I had become a magical girl, during my third battle. It was Geordo who summoned enemies like the giant stuffed toy bear and released it onto the city. Since then, I had fought him multiple times as enemies, where he continuously says things like “You’ve piqued my interest. Would you become mine?” whenever he approaches me. Is this a new form of attack? When I reply to him with an attack, he would reply with “One day, I will beat you and make you mine”.

I don’t know if this is a new kind of attack, but Geordo would typically show up every three days, and now that its the third day, it probably means I need to transform into a magical girl again.

“I hate you” “Yeah, please stop disturbing our good time” “Please pack it up”

Mary, Sophia and Maria all said, as they transformed into magical girls too. “You girls are interrupting the moment between me and Katarina. You girls are in my way” Geordo said, as he raised his hand to the sky. Then, a black circle appeared, with people falling out from it.

“Ouch! Geordo, do you know how many time you’ve been calling out to us recently? I was gonna take a nap”, that was Geordo’s twin brother who scratched his head, the snobby Alan who is also part of the Four Kings. “That’s right, I was on a date with a girl” said Keith, the playboy from the Four Kings of Ruin, who frowned and brushed his bangs. The last one was expressionless, but was looking at the pasta who had fallen onto the ground with a sad face. He is Nicol, the final member of the four who has a magical and mysterious charm to him.

“Everyone, don’t be so lazy. Let’s work together and defeat the magical girls once and for all” Geordo said to them, and they all turned to me in a daze. There’s something he didn’t know about his allies when he called them out.

“Yo, it’s been a long time, Katarina. You’re still playing magical girl?” Alan said. Perhaps he was embarrassed that he had just declared that he would take a nap, because his face was flushed red. I met him during one of my battles.

“Katarina Claes, you’re always so free. It’s so lonely to think that you don’t have anyone to date yet,” Keith said. Perhaps he was shy or was embarrassed by the girl he was just on a date with, because his face was also quite red. I also met him during one of my battles so I’m acquainted with him.

Maybe he was called from a place where he was eating his pasta, and now it had fallen to the ground and splattered, because Nicol had a very sad expression. ”................” “Would you like some of these sweets so compensate for your food?” I offered to him. He gave me such a happy and devilish smile, saying “thank you” as he reached out for one of the sweets. I staggered a bit at the sight. I also met Nicol during one of my battles.

“What are you guys talking about so happily with my Katarina? I called you guys here to deal with the other three magical girls who are trying to get in between us” Geordo said. “What are you taking about? You’re the ones who are in the way of our good time,” Mary lifted her eyebrows and snapped at Geordo, who simply replied to her accusation with a dark smile. “That’s my line. You high school girls who just talk about crap without any meaning”.

“That’s rude, it’s not meaningless” Sophia said angrily. Well this is the kind of thing that Geordo definitely won’t understand. He doesn’t seem to have a prejudice against high school girls... wait a minute, shouldn’t we be fighting? Geordo, Mary and Sophia are quarrelling, Alan and Keith are summoned but have flushed cheeks and are looking away, Maria is sharing handmade sweets to Nicol who lost his pasta.

Recently, every time we confront the Four Kings of Ruin, we more frequently fight like this, without throwing any hands. I even started to wonder if I was still a magical girl, so I tried to look around for our two spirits, before I was interrupted by Maria who offered sweets to me. It was so good that I lost all my will for battle.

“Lady Katarina, Lady Katarina, please get up. It’s time for you to go to school”

What happened to the battle? “Battle? Katarina, you’re sleeping. We need to get you ready for school”, Anne said, bringing out my clothes. “Oh I had a very strange dream. I was transformed into a magical girl. Not only that, the enemies were Geordo and the others. What a strange dream”.

“What’s a magical girl?” Anne gave me a suspicious look while the adjusting my clock. “Ah, um, a magical girl fights against an evil organization--”

“Katarina, I’m grateful for your explanations but we don’t time for that right now, so I’ll ask about it later after we finish your preparations”. Ann told me, and when I looked at the clock, I knew that it was almost time for class and that I was about to be late. I hurriedly cooperated with Anne and started preparing myself for school. My usual day begins as from that point.

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That’s it! It’s a very cute one-shot, and I hope after I post this, maybe it inspires people to write stories based on this au qwq. Volume 7′s oneshot is “Detective?! Katarina’s Office” (Tantei?! Katarina Jimusho) so if thats interesting then i’ll translate that too.

Some unnecessary notes from me if you’re interested in reading:

Since Katarina is the hero and Miri is the leader of the evil organization, I guess if this really was a story then the plot twist is that Katarina is her daughter. I can imagine maybe this story takes place in her old world with her old family (mom, dad, grandma, two brothers) but the difference here is that Katarina is adopted or something like that.

It’s interesting that Raphael is Katarina’s fairy partner instead of Ann. It works since both Kat and Raph use Dark Magic in canon lol haha also because it shows how competent Ann is haha

It’s also cool to see the playboy version of Keith liking Katarina.

Sophia and Nicol don’t seem to be related at all in this version of the story, which I’m cool with. They could also have a Hawkmoth-Chat Noir situation where they aren’t aware of each other’s secret identities (though I doubt it myself since they all transformed in front of the boys, but hey i’m just throwing it out there).

Omg rip Nicol’s pasta. Press f to pay respects

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itsclydebitches · 4 years ago

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The thing that feels disingenuous about Miles answer about Ironwood is that he was part of the writing staff that framed the general as a cool character to start with. I do think that the signs about Ironwood's evil were clear since V2 and in V7 he was an outright dictator from episode 1. Nonetheless, he was still consistently framed as a cool character, someone you can trust and rely. You don't get to blame the fans for liking a genocide if you was the one framed him as cool in the first place.

I actually don’t think being cool is the problem. If we’re satirizing and/or making a statement about the toxic masculinity that leads to something like a dictatorship, then being “cool” is a crucial part of that. People don’t leverage the power they have by looking lame, they do so by appearing desirable, enviable, awesome. Being in the military is supposedly “cool.” Being a white guy with a giant gun is supposedly “cool.” Having power over an entire nation is supposedly “cool,” etc. If you only make such characters look revolting — even when they are — then you miss one of the main recruitment tools for this kind of rhetoric. Any version of Ironwood that’s meant to make a point about the dangers of following someone like him needs to make him look “cool” and then deconstruct that, pointing out the ways in which this cool veneer is a lie meant to pull you in. To do otherwise is to claim that evil people are always easy to spot. Making your villains “uncool” implies that the people who do appear cool in real life must be fine then. That good looking, charismatic leader is great. Why would I look critically at his actions? He’s too cool to be evil.

My personal problem is not that “They made the dictator look cool and we can’t possibly expect the audience to tell the difference between someone who is truly good and someone who is just using various Cool Points to skate by” because that would be the point of such a character — the work the show needs to do. My problem is that RWBY didn’t do that work. At least, not to the extent they needed to. Rather than making Ironwood a truly heinous character (prior to Volume 7 ‘s shooting, I mean) and allowing the audience to learn how appearing cool can’t hide that, they just made him good person. Straight up. Flawed, absolutely, but no worse than any of the other character on screen, particularly post Volume 6 when our heroes are frequently putting people in danger, seizing power, telling lies, keeping secrets, and generally acting in the ways we’re supposedly meant to condemn Ironwood for. Since talk of Miles’ vid last night I’ve seen three separate “Ironwood was always bad, idk how people can miss the signs” posts and those people are half right. There 100% were signs we were meant to pick up on. The problem is RWBY then went and deconstructed those signs. Ironwood didn’t just bring an army to a peace festival, he brought an army to an event he had good reason to believe wasn’t peaceful — and he was right. Ironwood didn’t wrest control from Ozpin (using a series of checks and balances that exist for this very purpose...) because he has an obsession with being in control, he did so because he honestly believed Ozpin was putting people in danger — and he was right. Ironwood didn’t step up post-Fall because he arrogantly believes he’s the only one capable of saving Remnant, he did so because he’s actually the most qualified: a fully trained huntsmen leading an Academy (like Ozpin) with an army and knowledge of this secret war. What, was Ironwood supposed to read the script and wait for the group of dropout teenagers to arrive and save the world instead? To say nothing of how his power and responsibility are framed as sacrifices, not something he sought out. Ironwood doesn’t want to be the sole ruler here. His desperate relief at having allies again proves it. Good setup for the rise of a dictator would have been Ironwood being cagey with his information and exerting control over the group... not telling them everything, not giving them more power, not letting them keep the Lamp, not taking arrest off the table so as to keep them in line, and generally doing the opposite of everything he did do to share that responsibility and power. RWBY got very good at giving us the first half of these red flags — he has an army, he’s stubborn, he’s hurting Mantle, etc. — but then time and time again introduced a context that changed that flag dramatically: they are fighting literal monsters, he’s no more stubborn than our title character, hurting Mantle is a consequence of a plan he thinks will help the whole world and our heroes back this. Those who insist that Ironwood was 100% a villain in the making (or a villain already) prior to shooting Oscar are working from their assumption of what his archetype represents, not what RT actually put on screen. Because RT is just really bad at writing a dictator character. They didn’t have the skill to manage someone who only appeared good on the surface, let alone a character with the complex nuance of wielding “coolness” to their advantage, which is why in Volume 8 they had to resort to cartoon villainy with literal, evil spotlights. It’s not that the audience is too dumb to pick up on those red flags, it’s that RT couldn’t manage to plant them without continually introducing valid justifications. You can’t say, “Bringing an army is a bad thing. Look at this dictator coding!” without me going, “Yeah, except in the fictional world you created an army does not represent the problems it does in our real life societies. This isn’t a guy amassing soldiers to go after oil, he’s trying to protect people from monsters. Not even metaphoric monsters acting as stand-ins for a minority group. Literal, evil monsters!” RWBY ignores its own context and a good chunk of the fandom ignored it too.

The problem with that (besides the general frustration of someone ignoring parts of canon to forward a particular reading) is that the fandom’s go-to claim is that everything is meaningful — and it’s a reading the writers very much support. Fans do not, as the above attests, push for a simple reading of, “Don’t think too hard about it. Just take the surface reading and run with it” which, while still frustrating, would have at least been a valid stance. Rather, they insist very strongly that nuance and depth are what drive the show. From the song lyrics to a tiny detail in the opening, everything is important and if you don’t accept that then you can’t appreciate RWBY’s complexity.

“Okay,” I said. “Then in that case Ironwood coming around to Ozpin’s position is meaningful too? Glynda — one of our best and most faultless characters — supporting him is meaningful? Flipping his gun, defending Weiss, Qrow writing to him, the group working with him for months on end... all of it is meaningful to his characterization? You said so yourself.”

“No, no, no,” comes the reply. “He’s just bad. But he’s also nuanced. He’s tricked you into thinking he’s a good person by acting kind sometimes, by getting support sometimes, but none of that is true. His actions are what matter and his actions are simplistically bad.”

“Ohhhh. So then does that mean this story is really about the creation of a villain?”

“Huh?”

“Well, Ruby. She’s ��nuanced’ in the same way. She acts kind sometimes and gets support, but her actions are terrible. She endangered an entire city because she couldn’t wait to see if Ironwood got his letter. She condemned Ozpin for keeping secrets about Salem and then kept those same secrets just two days later. When the kingdom was under attack she sat around drinking tea, crying on a staircase, just hoping someone would come fix things for her — all while actively sabotaging the one person who was trying to save people, even if that action seems silly to us (let’s fly really high). So if we’re looking at the impact of someone’s actions outside of their intent, as we just did with Ironwood, then she’s a bad guy too, yeah?”

“No! She’s the hero!”

“... these characters don’t know she’s the hero from a meta perspective. If we’re supposed to judge the meaning of RWBY based on these details — ”

“But it’s not just the details. It’s also the allusions. Everyone in RWBY is based on another person or character. It’s very complex and that inspiration drives their story, so if you don’t have that information it’s no surprise you’re confused. For example, this is why Penny had to get a human body. That’s what happened to Pinocchio!”

“Oh! So then Ironwood is destined to be a good guy!”

“What?”

“Well, you just said the allusions drive their stories, right? The whole point of the Tin Man is that he always had a heart and just needed to realize that. So clearly — “

“No! He’s supposed to be a classic dictator, he’s only bad!”

And ‘round and ‘round we go. RWBY’s writing is atrocious yet the fandom pushes this narrative that it’s all a complex, multi-layered story that requires taking every part into account to understand the “real” message... but when you try to do that with certain characters like Ozpin and Ironwood it’s, “No, actually, they’re just simple archetypes of Bad Men.” Nuance exists for the bees, but not other ships. It exists for the characters fans like, but not the ones they don’t. And RWBY’s inspirations have to predict the ending for this character... but not that other character. It’s a nonsense grab bag!

Fans are right that Ironwood had a lot of red flags to set up this downfall. Fans are also right that those red flags were severely undercut, thus reversing their impact. Fans are right that Ironwood becomes a 100% bad guy who kills because he can and threatens to bomb a city. Fans are also right that this characterization feels absurd for Ironwood, both in terms of his morality and his intelligence (how does bombing Mantle help you now??) Ironwood is badly written. He was badly written in 7 and 8, if he was always meant to be a dictator in the making then he was badly written in 2-6, and he’s conclusively badly written when it comes to lacking a backstory and a canonical semblance — two things are are supposedly driving all of this characterization. That’s the answer: not that he’s good, or bad, but that RWBY can’t write a consistent character, let alone a nuanced one, so it’s no surprise the fandom can’t decide on anything. What’s there to decide on? It’s that nonsense grab bag. In a different show I think making the dictator appear cool would be a crucial bit of commentary, but RWBY doesn’t have the skill to pull that off.

#rwby #rwde #mymetas #Anonymous

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lore-of-the-silvereyes-rwby · 4 years ago

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I am power I am due process I will smite

We talked about Ironwood's personality, history, major theories, and his possible origins. Now we will discuss the prime and major aspect of his character that has impacted the story the most. His overall status, power, and abilities as the leader of Atlas Military, Headmaster of Atlas Academy and the major de facto Leader of the entirety of the Atlassian Government and how it has made him lose sight of what he was fighting for.

Status

As a general, Ironwood normally doesn't associate himself with the front lines of combat and usually orders his forces using his tactical know-how and military knowledge. However, when pressed, he is very adept in combat.

In "Remembrance", he has two seats on the Atlesian Council, assuming both seats symbolize as Headmaster of Atlas Academy and General of the Atlas Military, giving him a even greater amount of authority and influence over the Atlesian Council and the Kingdom of Atlas, allowing him to make unilateral decisions such as initiating a Dust Embargo, closing off the Borders of the Kingdom from the rest of the world and even initiate and enforce Martial Law should he deem it necessary.

Rank

This is probably the most difficult to point down and to make a solid argument since the writers haven’t really explored the command structure of the Atlas Military but since they’re claiming it to be the America of RWBY we will be using facts and details of the U.S. Army rank structure as a logical comparison as well as listing the potential base requirements for Ironwood’s current rank and overall status.

Takes 30 years average to achieve the rank of [a 4 star] General

Candidates for Flag officers (General ranks) must have over 22 years of service as an officer

3 years in grade as a colonel to qualify for flag promotion(Time In Service at best 25 years for earliest promotion)

Atlas equivalent of the US chairmen of the Joint chiefs of Staff (Must be a 4* Gen)

As well as the Secretary of the Department of Education

Most likely achieved the rank and status of General 1-4 years prior to his debut in V2 (Assuming his age is somewhere between 47-50)

With these facts for both his status and rank it's quite clear that potentially Ironwood hasn’t had much time or experience being a leader or General. As I stated before in the Chosen one section chances are that Ozpin or his predecessor have been manipulating Ironwood’s career in order to gain an inside man over what can be assumed to be the most unstable Kingdom on Remnant ready to wage war. Because of this It has led Ironwood to descend further down into his ego and narcissism as he would see his fast success as his own accomplishments that he achieved on his own with his power, instead of the truth that it was all handed to him by Oz. Because of that Ironwood has thought of himself better than Oz and believes in his own hype as his power increased.

The source of his power

With his rank and status aside let's now discuss the source of his power and how it solidifies Ironwood’s overall role in the plot. The source of his power being his complete and total authority over his home Kingdom of Atlas. This is the only reason why he is even the plot in the first place. He is the de facto leader of the world’s strongest and advanced Military that is allied with the main heroes. The main heroes didn’t come to him for a plan nor did they come to him because he has some special power, they came to him just to get access to his army. That is the entirety of his role. He is supposed to be the guy that is supposed to lend his assets for the heroes, specifically the assets of Atlas entirely.

Now, Atlas is a country with very strong military and technology, isolated and far away from all the other countries. Despite the strong military, it is limited in number, resources, and assets. Since Ironwood came to power he has hoarded almost all of them and gives the world the bare minimum. Not because it is limited or because he is preparing for war but because he believes that he is the only one that can win. He wants to be the hero. Ironwood’s overall power stems from the consent of the people to his authority, and their willingness to die for him and his cause.

He needs people to make his plans happen. He needs people to make his war machines. He needs them to supply his army with troops willing to die for him. But more importantly he needs people to validate him and his choices in order to fuel his ego and his “For the Greater Good '' mantra as well as to fuel his false sense of chosenness. He’s a barely competent General who genuinely wants to protect & win for the sake of others, but he is not a noble leader of his or any people who he will use to get the mission done.

Individual Powers & Abilities

His overall combat and abilities are pretty standard to $417 honestly. In comparison to other RWBY fighters I would have to say that Ironwood isn’t in the top 10 or top 100 of the World's best warriors. Decent skills maybe, but nothing new or special that would make him stand out from a regular joe combat wise.

Semblance

To start, let's discuss the key element of RWBY’s combat system that gives it its uniqueness; Semblances. Now this is actually a key factor and component to the RWBY lore and Universe as a whole.

A Semblance is the manifestation of one's innate and personal power as an ability unique to each individual, with the effects varying greatly from user to user. With the sheer number of people unlocking their Semblances, it can lead to unrelated people gaining similar abilities. The nature of one's Semblance is noted as representing an aspect of their character.

Basically it's a physical representation of one's soul

(Note due to the vague description of his semblance I had to browse through around to get a solid idea for what his semblance is in a manner that everyone can agree and understand)

Ironwood's Semblance is revealed to be Mettle, which strengthens his resolve and allows him to carry through with his decisions, helping him hyper-focus. His semblance is possibly “passive”meaning he has no control over it. It also gives him a surge in concentration and pain tolerance so that he can accomplish whatever goal he’s fixated on.

An example of its use on-screen was when he ripped his arm out of the hard-light construct Watts trapped him in during their fight in Volume 7.

It speculative if he does have any control over his semblance or if it works in the same manner as Qrow Branwen’s semblance(Always Active)

One argument saying that it is active is from the lyrics of Hero;

“Our enemies destroy, Mettle I’ll deploy, No chance that I won’t take, My oath to you I won’t forsake”

The words in bold help hint at the possibility that he has some control over his semblance but it does remain unclear whether or not if it's truly passive or not

To help summarize as to what his semblance does; Ironwood's Semblance, Mettle, allows for temporarily increased brain processing power. This can be utilized to help James hyper-focus, blocking out everything else to help him achieve his goals.

His semblance is also a manifestation of his tenacious character trait and allows for mental health to affect his semblance like everyone else. The changes here are slight, but meaningful and could probably still be worked on to make it sound better.

Also to help better understand here is the definition of Mettle;

A person's ability to cope well with difficulties or to face a demanding situation in a spirited and resilient way.

His semblance is probably ideal on the battlefield but not much in terms of Administrative and/or Political issues

His semblance isn’t exactly ideal or overall useful in most fights since it's possible that he can’t control it

As well as it does seem to be a self indulgent power that only benefits him in regards to his psyche and nervous system

With that in mind I think Ironwood would have to find other ways to enforce his power without a semblance in a world where it seems to be a common phenomenon.

Physical

Due to his lack of unique abilities or useful semblance Ironwood would have to focus his efforts on other forms of combat to compensate for his handicap.

One of them being his physical prowess.

Due to his status as General his individual combat efficiency has diminished to an extent due to basically being a military politician.

With that in mind it's possible that Ironwood hasn’t seen active combat on a regular basis since he was a Captain(O-3) which is the most common officer rank in any military as well as the most common rank to be seen on the field of combat in comparison to ranks above that.

In other words his combat experience has probably diminished during the later half of his career as the headmaster of Atlas Academy and later when he became The most senior leader of the Army

Given this Ironwood’s personal combat style has been reduced to the basics that he learned during his Basic Military boot camp training.

This is best seen during his fight with Arthur Watts who was possibly also a member of Atlas Military given his surprising combat abilities to be on par with Ironwoods. But this is due to the both of them relying on a mixture of their combat training from boot camp, and the experience from their respective career fields. In this case it's an administrative politician vs a scientific inventor both of whom are in career fields that are non direct combat orientated relying on their shared knowledge and training of basic military combat.

To further add to this an allegory example for the Ironwood vs Watts fight would be a Army mechanic vs Army Sniper. These are both non direct combat careers in the military and are less likely to see any form of close quarters combat that an infantryman would as one works with heavy machinery and repair while the other does stealth and ranged operations.

But if we put these two into a free roam boxing match to the death chances are these two would have to rely on their basic training as their current career paths don’t focus much on CQC or any direct combat. As such the sniper would most likely adopt a fighting style similar to an out-boxer given his light build and frame needed for the stealth part of his career while the mechanic adopts a slugger style given his greater body build needed to lift and operate heavy tools and other manual labor.

The mechanic will also have a need to be direct and end this as quickly as possible as he may be use to a finish by the time quota mentality while the sniper knows that he is physically out matched but uses the speed granted to him by his smaller build to his advantage and tries to tire out the slugger and wait for an opening while the slugger tries to end it all in one hit.

In the case of their fight Ironwood was the slugger forfeiting strategy for brawn and strong one shot finishers, while Watts was the out-boxer who knew he physically stood no chance and focused on tactics and unconventional combat via the terrain settings of Amity Colosseum to tire and weaken Ironwood enough for an opportunity to incapacitate him

Another key aspect of Ironwood’s physical prowess are his Cybernetics.

Now we don’t know when or how he got them but it's quite clear that they were made to enhance his strength evidence from the shockwave that shattered the ground when he and an alpha beowulf parried each other in V3 Chpt.10

So yeah his cybernetics probably have doubled maybe even tripled the strength of his right side.

But sadly these are probably outdated and old as again we don’t know when he got them but they seemed to have been on him for awhile which would make sense as his status would grant him cybernetics that would be advanced for their time but with the down side that he can’t replace them for newer and better models

Evidence for this is when Ironwood had a new state of the art arm made for yang when he probably could have had a new arm made for himself and equipped it onto him, but he can’t cause his cybernetics are permanent and non changeable

As such he’s stuck with prosthetics that can only enhance his strength and nothing else. With unchangeable cybernetics aside let's look at the non cyber part of him and how it may be failing him.

The downside of his human half is that it still ages and with age comes physical deterioration and later mental deterioration. After looking up some medical research human beings start to deteriorate at the median age of 50 and as such start to weaken physically, losing the abilities of their prime

If my estimation of his age is accurate his body is nearing or is already deteriorating and with the added amounts of stress and PTSD may as well caused his mind to deteriorate prematurely as well.

Also his semblance apparently allows him to tolerate pain and damage allowing him to have some form of berserker mode like wolverine(Basically an adrenaline rush)

Also remember its passive and only happens at random so yeah it's not really that useful in long drawn out fights even if it's active.

With these facts in mind Ironwood at present may now be aware of his physical limitations and as such would have to rely on a another form of combat where he would have to rely on others to do his fighting for him

Leadership

Now this is his most defining trait at present that has been explored the most in the show and the center of controversy for his character

As stated before Ironwood lacks any special powers that could give him the edge as well as that his physical body is starting to fail him due to age, greatly weakening his usefulness in a fight.

As such he is left with the only viable option that he has to enforce his will without direct contact.

His command and Authority over others, and their consent to die for him and his needs

In order for him to have this kind of power may have been a result of his leadership style.

His leadership style appears to be a mixture of 3 different types of leadership styles.

These 3 being Autocratic, Authoritative, & Pacesetting with Autocratic being the dominant of the 3

Autocratic

The phrase most illustrative of an autocratic leadership style is "Do as I say." Generally, an autocratic leader believes that he or she is the smartest person at the table and knows more than others. They make all the decisions with little input from team members.(Sound familiar)

This command-and-control approach is typical of leadership styles of the past, but it doesn't hold much water with today's talent.(Times of war maybe?/Times of peace, nope!)

That's not to say that the style may not be appropriate in certain situations. For example, you can dip into an autocratic leadership style when crucial decisions need to be made on the spot, and you have the most knowledge about the situation, or when you're dealing with inexperienced and new team members and there's no time to wait for team members to gain familiarity with their role.(He would be more suited as a mission handler instead of a strategic tactician)

Authoritative

The phrase most indicative of this style of leadership (also known as "visionary") is "Follow me." The authoritative leadership style is the mark of confident leaders who map the way and set expectations, while engaging and energizing followers along the way.( Basically him in V 2 & 3 before things went to $417)

In a climate of uncertainty, these leaders lift the fog for people. They help them see where the company is going and what's going to happen when they get there.(He may be a man of vision poor vision but had a some sense of direction just poorly showed, & executed for others)

Unlike autocratic leaders, authoritative leaders take the time to explain their thinking: They don't just issue orders. Most of all, they allow people choice and latitude on how to achieve common goals.( It’s a 40/40/20 split with this being the least)

Pacesetting

While the pacesetter style of leadership is effective in getting things done and driving for results, it's a style that can hurt team members. For one thing, even the most driven employees may become stressed working under this style of leadership in the long run.(Mantle, Vale and the Heroes are prime examples of that)

Ironwood’s Leadership is quite the mix bag of results

In some situations specifically Combat oriented ones it works and is effective to a certain degree

But for most of the time in situations like politics, commerce, and peace in general it can lead to the worst outcomes imaginable hence all of the conflicts plaguing rwby present

With this in mind it probably won’t take long to realise that Ironwood is an ineffective leader of and for the people

Remember most of the power that he holds now is through the consent of the people

Whether they be soldiers, scientists or civilians they are the only things that keeps him in power as well as make his position of power legitimate in order for him to plan and execute his plans.

Also as evidence from extended sources and media most of the progress and advancements of Atlas have been done through Ironwoods efforts ergo Ironwood has more or less become the main benefactor of the kingdom through their eyes

This however more or less makes him the de facto king of Atlas if you think about it and as most troubles that befall a king it's usually their own pride that can get the better of them especially if they surround themselves with enablers that paint them in a almost god-like light

Also with the added reveal of his semblance It does have a very heavy affect on his mind in terms of decision making but sadly it tends to happen on impulse and isn’t much suited for a political or administrative environment

Sadly he has done a poor job trying to keep the people on his side and as such has justified the revolution to bring down his ineffective & immoral leadership

Effectiveness

Depending on the situation the effectiveness of Ironwood's overall power and command is moderate to ineffective in all honesty

This mostly stems from the fact that Ironwood’s ego and overall favoritism of his kingdom tends to clash with the general idea of the common goal of peace that is shared with the heroes (Ozpin, Ruby, Oscar, etc) and the world as a whole

As such it has fueled his need to be validated to raging war, even though the results would be catastrophic in order to do so and completely unnecessary

The effectiveness of Ironwood's overall impact on the world is mostly done in self-indulgence as he believes his dreams and goals are what is best for everyone.

In a true totalitarian way unless something can further his power or goals it's good to him, while anything that threatens it is bad to him

This is first seen when he discredited Ozpin as he saw it his way of handling the situation was not ideal even though he is his ally. In doing so he became the head of the security force and further discredited Ozpin to the point that his position as headmaster was in jeopardy. Even though Oz is the leader of the group that is meant to keep the peace in secret as open conflict would result in heavy losses which is what the fall of beacon was. A preview on a small scale as to what could happen had Ironwood his way all the time and the results that it would yield.

By V7 Ironwood acknowledges his failure with the amount of power he had brought, except unlike most people he hasn’t learned anything from the ordeal and continues down a path of paranoia and warmongering. Instead he chooses to find ways that would benefit his power and goals.

Fear and rage aside Let talk about his overall planning and strategy

Most of his plans that have been shown and revealed so far have had a tendency to backfire

The first of his plans that took a turn for the worst was the P.E.N.N.Y. project during the Vytal tournament as well as his power grab at beacon which led to its fall

Okay this is speculative but I do believe Ironwood was field testing Penny for his upcoming war based on dialogue from her in V2 and used the Vytal tournament as a means to do so. Thus turning an event of peace that was meant to celebrate the end of war just to test new weapons for his upcoming war of change.

This accompanied by the army of robot soldiers that he insisted to have as security brought to question the practicality of Ironwood's methods. This is also brought into question as the people are unaware of salem' existence thus from the perspectives of the Vale citizens and the world in general, Ironwood's interference with Vale security would basically be needless foreign intervention, to them that would eventually lead to disaster. Which it did as both were used to portray him and atlas as the villainous force at the fall of beacon and has contributed to salem's plans.

The second of his plans to go off the deep end was the dust embargo and the closing of borders

Though granted with drawing from the rest of the world seemed like a good idea to ease tensions of war but overall it had lasted too long especially if you take into account that Atlas was Remnants source of Industry and main economic and technological center that the world desperately relies on to survive.

This would make it difficult to rally anyone to his side as from their perspective he and by extension his kingdom would only be seen as the ones who left them for dead and would think twice before trusting him with any plan especially one of war.

The third plan of his to go astray was his confrontation with Watts

This isn’t much of a plan but an overview of his strategy during that fight and it could have gone better honestly.

By the way that entire fight was essentially a capture mission for Watts. Which is self explanatory as to why Ironwood didn’t straight out kill watts when he can use him to his advantage so I’ll give credit for forethought of enemy interrogation but the means and execution as to obtain watts were very poor and half thought out

To start where it began to turn to s*** was how he essentially went in alone without backup. Remember he is a General during a time of peace, who at this point probably has very little combat experience to rely on for this fight. I really don't see the point of why he would fight the crazy mad scientist alone when he could have at least had winter with him or a squad of soldiers to assist .Hell even a sniper could have been beneficial. It's not like everyone, was needed to evacuate the city of mantle.

Which brings me to my second point of the fight; why did it have to be Ironwood to capture watts? From a fan perspective the answer was probably to give a character a good fight scene but in universe why did it have to be the general of the entire army to capture one cyber terrorist. Especially when there are other more qualified fights that have seen more action in a week than Ironwood has in his entire military career. That may be an over exaggeration but as I stated before Ironwoods career shifted from the battlefield to the political and administrative.

Meaning his combat experience has diminished since his 30’s? as he became more focused on running a kingdom rather than micromanaging the battlefield as he used to. So with that in mind Ironwood should have at least thought of someone more capable of capturing Watts than him. He could have sent Winter or Qrow or even the ace opts who probably are more qualified to disarm and detain watts faster and more effectively than how Ironwood’s fight went without complications.

Now we come to the fight itself where Ironwood for no reason drew out the fight longer than it should have been. For example we know that his cybernetics are possibly capable of doubling the strength of his right side. So once Ironwood had gotten within grabbing range of watts after depleting his Aura Ironwood should have at least tried to crush the bones of either of Watts arms thus disarming him and making it easier to detain. He also could have taken a page from Nora and broken his legs thus immobilizing him and limiting Watt’s options of escape.

Maybe Humans are more durable in rwby, than humans of our world but if you need to capture someone alive they don’t have to be in perfect condition. They just need their head intact to give info and the necessary vital origins needed to live. They don’t exactly need their arms or legs unless you want to risk the chance of escape from them

Here comes the standoff which is another point that's problematic given Ironwood's intentions. If Ironwood knew Watts was out of ammo why did he just taunt watts instead of making a move to subdue him. Instead of pointing out his enemy was out of ammo he could have shifted his gun a bit and put a bullet in his shoulder and making his arm useless and make the necessary preparations to capture watts alive without any further risk to himself and probably wouldn’t lead him to flay his only remaining arm to win

(Assuming he was out of ammo as well hence why he was taunting again he has cybernetics that can double his strength if need be which he could have used to break any part of watt’s limbs without further damage to himself.)

Now we come to the final issue of the fight that honestly could have been avoided or at least handled better. Ironwood didn’t necessarily have to sacrifice his remaining arm to get free. He could have tried destroying one or all of the rings that were keeping his arm trapped. I do believe he has the strength in his cybernetics needed to crush the rings no problem. If he couldn’t then he could have shimmed his arm out through the side instead of pulling it out and burning it.

Overall Ironwood had plenty of options to his plan to capture Watts but it was his narrow mindedness that led to the escalation of the fight and cost him greatly when it could have been avoided and ended quickly without much loss.

The only plan that seemed to have been ideal and would have benefited everyone was the Amity project, and restoration of global communications but it had its consequences the way he had led it.

Communication is a very crucial and essential tool needed for any society to help better coordinate and resolve the issues that happen during a crisis. Overall his plan for amity was probably the least Atlas centric that would have benefited the world but his intentions for it and means to obtain it were problematic.

His intentions for the amity project were not based on altruistic or selfless motives but were based on his desire to gain and gather resources for his war with salem. Ironwood wanted to restore global communications just to convince the people of the other kingdoms to rally to him and to fight for his cause.

The means of how he obtained it also lead to problems as he had to siffen off resources from the 2nd impoverished city in the world that needed those resources to help keep it safe just to gain a way to recruit soldiers and acquire more resources needed for his war

This is also furthered by the fact that he intended to reveal a world shattering truth that would cause a lot of negative emotions of disbelief grief and fear that will fill the remainder of the world. Meaning Ironwood knowingly and was willing to cause global panic and take advantage of the chaos that would follow just to further his needs for war.

That may be speculation but based on the latter half of the plan from A New Approach it pretty much highlights the Values and lengths of Ironwoods Motives and intentions for war and what he may be willing to do to get his way;

Ironwood: Yes, panic is inevitable, and panic brings Grimm. But I believe we are ready. Once Atlas has come to grips with the fight ahead, I'll use Amity Tower to spread the message to all of Remnant.

Weiss: But everything will fall apart. Grimm will be everywhere!

Winter: You're right, but Atlas is willing and prepared to assist.

Ironwood: Trying to hide the truth from the world will eventually kill us all.

So the highlight of his plan will eventually cause more problems and the eventual fall of the other kingdoms especially given their current states

Vale; Beacon infested with Grimm and the Main city on the brink being overrun by them

Mistral has Almost no Huntmen left to help with the kingdoms defense and already struggles with the criminal underworld that plagues the kingdom

Vacuo has no official structure or system of government besides Shade academy which is currently struggles to maintain order with the flooding of students going to it in order to train very much needed huntsman

This in all honesty will just wipe the slate clean and undo almost a century's worth of progress that will only leave what remains, fair game that can be claimed by anyone or to be specific to be claimed by Ironwood and Atlas.

Now I know that's a theory and it would paint Ironwood as a villain but it's not far from the likely truth and motives considering that Everything Ironwood has done has and always been in the best interest of Atlas and since he and the kingdom are synonymous at this point, his best interest as well.

Which brings us to his final and current plan

Abandoning Mantle and Raising Atlas

Okay we all know that this is probably one of the most talked about things that has divided the fandom the most in recent times sparking the debate of the morality and choices of RWBY’s characters. The most of those debates revolved around Ironwood’s current last ditch plan of survival. As it has been debated and analyzed over the last few months everyone has already discussed the pros and cons of the of this plan but I’ll summarize and give my thoughts of this plan as well as point out how it reveals Ironwoods hypocrisy and personal agendas

Pros;

Had everyone gone with ironwood on this plan and left Mantle to die this would at least give the heroes and the military some time to prepare for the next engagement should it come

while at the same time keeping at least 2 of the four relics away from the villains.

And the Winter Maiden as well

Cons;

This however would only be a short term retreat as eventually the city will need resources to sustain themselves as well as to gather even more resources to meet Ironwoods war demands.

But when it comes to getting those supplies the other kingdoms would have heard at this point how atlas abandon its own citizens and thus deny them the supplies needed.

This would also play into salem's hands as its not unlikely that she would spread the news of Mantles demise to turn the other kingdoms against Atlas

With this in mind and Ironwoods decent into extremism and desperation this would lead to atlas having to forcibly extort the other kingdoms for resources further playing into salem's hands and starting Remnants 2nd great war and all salem has to do from here on out is watch the world burn and wait for an opportunity.

If that outcome seems unlikely then lets cover another possible outcome of this plan succeeding but with this question; What happens to Remnant in the absence of Atlas?

Assuming that Atlas is self-sustainable as Ironwood said this would eliminate the need to make contact with the surface and need of supply runs.

However this also highlights the possibility that once Atlas is far and high enough Ironwood most likely won't return to help aid the rest of the world

As invoked by Oscar, raising Atlas will mean Salem will have free reign to slaughter the millions of people left on Remnant.

The truth;

Oscar says this not only to convince Ironwood not to abandon Mantle but not to abandon the world as well. When he said this Oscar is trying to convince Ironwood that it's not a lost cause and run away as that would only lead to further lost and the world ever closer to Salem’s rule should Ironwood run now(Like Raven did)

This is also given more credibility as when Ironwood abandoned his original plan for amity which was intended to reunite the kingdoms

Taking this into account and his plan there doesn’t appear to be any hint or motivation to return to or go to the other kingdoms for help or anything once Ironwood runs away.

This is an unintended byproduct of Ironwoods Paranoia and distrust for others as well as the unveiling of his hypocrisy and self survival.

This is hinted at in the V7 finale as Oscar tries to talk Ironwood down in the Relic Vault, where the latter blames everyone, from Robyn, to the council, to the Kingdom and even to Oscar, for not seeing the bigger picture and getting in the way of doing what he thinks is right, and not once does Ironwood stop to consider that he himself may have had a role in things escalating as badly as they did.

As I stated before Ironwood is probably the main catalyst for everything that has gone wrong in the current events of rwby as he was the one who ended up giving the villains more opportunities and ammo needed to get their way.

Results;

The volume also focuses on the heroes, Robyn and Ironwood all having different ideas about how to protect Atlas and Mantle.

When they finally come together to help evacuate Mantle, the truce quickly falls apart once Ironwood realizes Cinder is in town, Salem is on her way and Team RWBY leaked intel to Robyn. He orders the arrest of the heroes, the forcible extraction of the Winter Maiden powers, and the abandonment of Mantle to save Atlas.

As a consequence of his extremism and paranoia corrupting his judgement, he loses the Relic of Knowledge, the Winter Maiden, almost all of his allies, and stands alone when Salem arrives on his doorstep.

By the end of the volume everything that Ironwood has done has been for nothing. Every decision Ironwood has made in the last few chapters winds up being for naught. Ordering the heroes to be arrested gets his best agent Clover killed and allows Tyrian to escape custody. Neo takes advantage of his arrest order for the heroes to confront Oscar and get away with the Lamp of Knowledge. Sending Winter to claim the Maiden power led Cinder right to where Fria was being held and ultimately causes the power to go to Penny, who sides with the heroes due to Ironwood's extremist methods.

Also Salem was far closer than the general realized, so even if things had worked in his favor it still would have failed.

In earnest most of Ironwoods recent and current plans and ideas have had negative results. His individual powers and abilities aren’t as impressive or out of the ordinary as others in the series. As well as not as useful as they could have been. His semblance is pretty lackluster if I'm being honest. His status has only fueled his ego and arrogance and has left him blind to his purpose as a guardian for all of remnant, not just one aspect of it.

But what exactly was going on in Ironwoods head to make him like this? To answer that we need to know the practices and beliefs of his homeland as the Kingdom of Atlas has had more influence on Ironwood than anyone or anything else in his life.

The Altasien Philosophical ideals

Now we don’t really know any of the political, religious, or philosophical ideas of Remnant, or Atlas especially but we can make a guess and see how it might have affected Ironwood. As best as I could see Atlas seems to have a philosophy equivalent to Nietzscheism. Below are the facts, concepts and ideals of Nietzsche's Philosophy.

Nietzsche’s Big Ideas

Favored perspectivism, which held that truth is not objective but is the consequence of various factors effecting individual perspective;

Articulated ethical dilemma as a tension between the master vs. slave morality; the former in which we make decisions based on the assessment of consequences, and the latter in which we make decisions based on our conception of good vs. evil

Belief in the individual’s creative capacity to resist social norms and cultural convention in order to live according to a greater set of virtues.

The Will to Power

the drive of the superman(ubermensch) in the philosophy of Nietzsche to perfect and transcend the self through the possession and exercise of creative power.

a conscious or unconscious desire to exercise authority over others.

Master Morality

Nietzsche defined master morality as the morality of the strong-willed. Nietzsche criticizes the view (which he identifies with contemporary British ideology) that good is everything that is helpful, and bad is everything that is harmful.

Slave Morality

Slave morality is the inverse of master morality. As such, it is characterized by pessimism and cynicism. Slave morality is created in opposition to what master morality values as "good". Slave morality does not aim at exerting one's will by strength, but by careful subversion.

The übermensch

the ideal superior man of the future who could rise above conventional Christian morality to create and impose his own values, originally described by Nietzsche in Thus Spake Zarathustra (1883–85).

After reading this you can probably agree that this is the default guiding philosophical mindset of the Atlasian people and Ironwood especially but in the extreme and toxic. Which suits Atlas given what we know of it. The Kingdom is filled with people who believe they are this superior race and that everyone else is below them. As well as the fact that they are willing to throw away morals to get their way and are willing to crush those that stand in their way. As for Ironwood he is sadly a part of this toxic mindset whether he likes it or not as it's the greatest flaw of his character that he is just simply an extension to enforce Atlas and their immoral ways.

Atlas as a whole, not just the military, perpetrates the whole no emotions thing. Colors, feelings, individuality are bad. Look at how Atlas is presented. It’s detached from the rest of the world, and is devoid of warm colors. It’s all the same color, that cold grayish blue. So while yes, the Atlesian military definitely does it’s best to crush all those things too, it’s not a foreign concept to Atlesians. I’m fairly certain that if you were born on Atlas, not Mantle, that you would already be conditioned to start thinking this way even before you decided to go to Atlas Academy.

The Atlesian Military is a huge part of the problem as well, but if Atlas is already crushing individuality and feelings, it makes sense that the military would just continue to do so. Considering the fact that the military is not separate from their government, it shows how Atlas just continues the cycle of crushing and indoctrinating their citizens.

Atlas is this poisonous mindset of destroying emotions and individuality. Which is why those who leave it become better people and change for the better. Weiss leaves Atlas and becomes a better person. She loses the Ice Queen persona and has fun. She makes friends because she likes them, not because their skills would be most effective in a battle.(V1 ep.4 with Pyrah) She embraces her quirks and they become her strengths. Penny learns about friendship and the joys of life outside of the mission. Robyn knows that there is more to life than to keep advancing ahead. She knows that there is good in protecting the past and that we cannot forget the old. Advancement and efficiency will only take you so far. If we leave the human part of ourselves behind, what we become is much worse than being less efficient.

It’s so heavily ingrained in Ironwood, to the point that when we first see him he is already this inhuman machine that will carry on the will of his home kingdom regardless of the truth that the world knows, and that truth is that it is evil and inhuman.

The Strain and Revelation of power and responsibility

“But although the cliche says that power always corrupts, what is seldom said ... is that power always reveals. When a man is climbing, trying to persuade others to give him power, concealment is necessary. ... But as a man obtains more power, camouflage becomes less necessary.”

If you are unsure of what that quote meant, basically this section will explain the truth of Ironwood's character through the revelation of what his power has turned him into.

Though granted there is nothing wrong with power. However it becomes a problem when one gains too much that they can no longer control it. In Ironwood's case he had amassed too much that had burdened him with too much responsibility that he wasn’t prepared for.

As people began to rely on him which is actually part of his job as a General/councilman/Headmaster of a toxic government, the stress and burden had increased.

One could argue that his job as a general, who is under a lot of pressure, especially after the fall of beacon and people not understanding the true dangers of the real enemy. Ironwood lacks the skills needed to do his job as a protector and guardian. Which has led to him being this toxic and immoral person that keeps making mistakes, and the situation worse.

The strain of his power is having him make choices that has slowly made him break away from his human soul. But if Ironwood’s power has turned him into an immoral person who’s choices escalate the situation for the worst, why has he not been removed from this role of power and given the proper time needed to adjust and contemplate the understanding of his power and responsibilities of his assigned role?

Why toxic senior leaders survive — and sometimes thrive — in the military

From what I’ve found that has been able to determine, it comes down to three major factors: individual competence of the toxic officer; lack of personal accountability up and down the chain of command; and senior leader fear of loss of confidence.

The first major factor that results in the retention, and sometimes promotion, of toxic senior officers is intellect and work ethic. Most of the senior leaders in the military are highly intelligent with tremendous drive and ambition. While some senior officers have proven themselves unfit to lead others, there is a desire by some senior leaders to retain that intellect, drive, knowledge and experience to the benefit of the service.

Atlas and Remnant in general needs to fix the way it selects and grooms officers and people for leadership roles

Atlas is not designed to produce good leaders

Being in a leadership position does not make you a leader. Unfortunately, the Atlas Military officer system sees it differently. They talk a good game, but the system is seriously lacking.

The second factor contributing to the retention of toxic senior leaders is a lack of accountability and transparency by those who have sponsored the toxic leaders.

Leaders we can believe in

There has to be a demand to finding smart officers, but Atlas must do more to find good leaders and sideline the bad ones

Rationally speaking, this makes sense — if the offending people can still provide good service to the nation, why not retain them? After all, the service failed to properly prepare those individuals to lead and made the additional mistake of placing people unsuited to leadership in those positions. Before we judge toxic leaders in the military too harshly, we should remember that the institution failed them as much as they failed the institution. Unfortunately, the lack of explanation from their most senior leaders leaves the rank and file with the perception that there is a complete lack of accountability at higher ranks. They are not entirely wrong.

Atlas must do a better job of screening, educating and evaluating its officers, especially for grades O-6 and above(Col to General)

The truth of the role he didn’t understand

That being said. I do believe James has the best intentions. But as he accumulated more power, the tendencies to be in control - or be in control of every facet of a situation - as much as any commander of armed forces wishes to be, has clouded his judgement.

As a military leader, his word is law. That is how his men are trained. But as a politician ruling over the common citizenry, the common citizen is not indoctrinated into that lifestyle, thus presents random uncontrollable elements in his plans.

Ironwoods lacks the experience to deal with that entirely. He is surrounded by other like minded individuals who follow his orders unquestioningly. What he really needed and could have used the most of his career was a consultant. As to help better understand how his choices will affect those around them and how they will have to live with his decisions

A descanting (preferably civilian) opinion to counter his directives and provide the means for a more balanced perspective. The problem is Ironwood doesn't have the social skill or experience to handle dissenting opinions. Which is why he and Qrow clashed so damn hard in V3.

And why he was so shocked when the rest of the Ozluminati placed the blame squarely at his feet for the unrest in Vale during the second and third volume. He was astonished to realize that his views weren't universal in the group. He didn't comprehend the civilian mindset, let alone the foreign civilian mindset in a country that isn't militarized like Atlas is.

He was just simply not suited or ready to be in a position of power that deals with the responsibility of Safeguarding peoples’ lives and maintaining world peace. His ambitions and sense of entitlement have led him astray from his assigned purpose. Because of this he has become a man of War instead of Peace like the other heroes and Oz are for.

His Power had stripped him of his soul and made him more Machine than human that even if Salem drops dead tomorrow what's next for him?

(Note; The words in bold at the bottom are links to the next section)

I am Machine I never sleep I keep my eyes wide Open

#rwby #rwby ironwood #james ironwood #general ironwood #rwby7 #rwby analysis #rwby 8 #rwby 8 spoilers #rwby theory #rwby atlas #rwby mantle #world of remnant #Ironwood analysis

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jerryb2 · 4 years ago

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In my ongoing quest to create the ultimate Expanded Universe® Grand Master® Luke Skywalker® Lightsaber® (shut up, that’s totally my latest quest 👀), here we have some side-by-side pics of the ROTJ Luke V2 & V3 sabers, as well as the MK1 for scale and reference.

I’ve just recently added the blade plug to the V3, as well as replacing the original D-Ring on the pommel with one that has a more rounded shape, which I personally think looks better. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. 😎

Breaking character for a moment though; ever since I learned about the different versions of Luke’s Lightsaber I’ve been sort of mulling over a metanarrative that I’d like to share (this’ll take a while, so strap in):

For those that might not know, Luke’s lightsaber from Return of the Jedi has a complicated history, to say the least; there are actually multiple screen-used lightsaber props for Luke in ROTJ. If nothing else, this simple fact serves as a testament to the sheer disorganization of the early Star Wars films. In general, movie scenes are rarely shot in sequential order - in fact, they’re shot in an order that’s the most cost-effective. Pressed for time, and shooting the climactic throne room duel with Darth Vader early in the production, the prop department was forced to re-purpose several "stunt sabers" and turn them into on-camera props. These were originally FX/stunt sabers for Ben Kenobi (the MK1) in ANH, and that had since been repurposed so that the actors could practice with them. There’s some really neat footage out there of Mark Hamill and Bob Anderson (Vader’s stunt double) practicing the fight from ESB where Mark is actually using the V2. This led to the V2, V3, Yuma and later, the Hero versions of the same (technically) lightsaber. This also goes a long way to explain why Luke & Ben’s sabers have such a similar profile. How did no one notice this for literally decades? Well, when you take into account that there was no such thing as a high-definition picture, as well as the fact that most kids watched the OT on VHS tapes in the late 80′s and early 90′s, you can start to see why the filmmakers weren’t too worried about smaller details like that.

It was a different time - and in that way - worse.

If we look at the V2 (that is, the one with the gaffer tape around the neck and the overall aesthetic of ‘let’s just get this over with’) we see something that fits the part it played in ROTJ; a weapon made by a burgeoning Jedi Knight, who was probably just glad that it didn’t blow up in his face when he hit the activation plate. For my money though, I’d say that this is Luke’s saber for only a few days to a week, at most.

For anyone who hasn’t read Shadows of the Empire, here’s a brief aside; Luke built his lightsaber using plans he found in Ben Kenobi’s Hut on Tatooine, hence an in-universe reason why the sabers look so similar. After losing to Vader on Cloud City, Luke and his allies spent the next several months recuperating and making plans to rescue Han from Jabba the Hutt. During this time, Luke was able to scrounge the parts necessary to build his new lightsaber; a high-energy reflector cup, diatium power cell and a focusing lens, etc. The only thing he needed to complete his blade was the main crystal. Due to a lack of resources (thanks to Old Palpy himself), Luke was forced to use a synthetic crystal. After a solid month of work, he finally completed his saber and it’s here where we more-or-less meet the narrative of the film. There are dozens of pictures that depict Luke fighting on the sail barge, on Endor and on the Second Death Star - and in the vast majority of them, he’s holding the V2.

So where does the V3 come in, within the context of this story?

Well, after the conclusion of ROTJ and the events of the next several days as depicted in The Truce at Bakura, I would imagine that Luke took some time to reevaluate his saber. Maybe it had begun to malfunction? Maybe the insulation wasn’t properly protecting the power source from the superconductor after all? Or maybe he was just slightly embarrassed that his (not-so) shiny new Jedi weapon had a strip of tape holding it together? The point is, I would imagine that he probably made a trip or two down to the ol’ hangar bay and had a chat with one of the chief mechanics, who was then able to procure some slightly higher-quality components.

The gaff tape is outta there; it doesn’t provide proper insulation and it just doesn’t befit the only Jedi Knight left in the whole galaxy. After the insulator was properly (re)installed, it’s conceivable that Luke took the neck to a milling machine and polished it to expose the metal underneath, revealing its copper-brass color. For that matter, Luke probably gave the whole thing a good once over with some steel wool. Now at least it doesn’t look like a Bantha shat it out after an evening meal. And as it turns out, with proper dimetris circuitry, he doesn’t need the nipple on top of the emitter to stabilize the blade, so he just removed it.

That’s the way it probably stayed for several years; it looked more polished and was properly functional. It would still have the long clamp lever and the unique circuit card over the activation plate, as well as the cone knob and mystery chunk, but we’re already starting to look more like the V3. Then we get to the Thrawn Campaign and shortly after, Operation Shadow Hand with the reborn Emperor. After these threats had passed, we do know (via The Jedi Academy Trilogy) that Luke spent some time contemplating his place/role in the galaxy - it was shortly after this that he decided to establish the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin IV, after all.

By now the clamp lever is getting a bit sad; probably more trouble that it’s worth to replace just the clamp lever, so why not replace the whole thing? And that clamp card is pretty grotty, so it’s time to fix that. And I would imagine that he would be a bit tired of having the cone knob & mystery chunk cutting into his hand (I can relate, fam) so let’s just rework that booster. What we come away with is something that looks almost bang-on like the stock Rudy Pando V3; no emitter nipple, copper wind vane, new activation card and clamp, and no extra greeblies.

From then on his saber stays pretty much the same for a couple of decades....until he recovers it from UnuThul/Lomi Plo after The Dark Nest crisis.

Now, because we know that Luke did build a replacement after UnuThul confiscated his first saber (one which apparently looked almost identical to his OG saber - sure, okay, Troy Denning), I think this is where the Hero saber enters the narrative. Most likely only a short time after he claimed the title of Grand Master of the Order (around the time when the Jedi were preparing to launch an all-out attack on the Dark Nest and thus the newly minted GM would need a functioning saber), I’d like to think that Luke let his natural mechanical ability and technical knowhow run a bit wild - he builds a very close facsimile of his saber, but this time with a proper control box and indicator lights, better basic construction, etc. Once he recovered his original saber, I don’t think it would be out of the question for him to carry over a few design tweaks he had just made with the Hero. Notably, he added back the nipple on the emitter - in the long run, it’s just better to have it since it prevents power bleed-off (or something - lads, I’m literally pulling all of this out of me arse) and more than anything, because it improves the overall profile. And on top of that, it looks like he added some mesh coverings to some of the heat venting ports(?), probably to prevent grime or dirt from building up over time. Smart man, that Luke Skywalker.

And at last, we have arrived at the construction we see in the pictures above; this is (for me) Luke’s saber as he carries it in his duels with both Darth Cadeus & Lumiya, when he goes into (more-or-less) self-imposed exile and through to when he confronts Abeloth and eventually becomes one with the Force.

This has been my TED Talk. Thank you for coming. 😅

Oh, and because I suspect that some of the more eagle-eyed readers out there will be wondering - where does the Yuma fit into all this? Well hey, this is my metanarrative. Go make your own. 😉

#star wars #Luke Skywalker #lightsaber #hero #v2 #v3 #rudy pando #meta #ted talks #dear lord that was longer than i thought it would be #i am so sorry

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texanredrose · 5 years ago

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I’m curious bc i’ve seen a lot of opinions and you seemed to have some great insight regarding ironwood,,,,what are your thoughts on winter’s characterization this volume(and overall ?? Also what do you think of her dynamic with weiss has evolved and her new dynamic with penny

Winter is my favorite dumbass.

I mean this with all sincerity; while most thought her introduction in V3 was some flavor of badass, I was headdesking because ‘holy shit, you stupid Private, what are you doing, this is why you need an adult, where’s your NCO?’ so I definitely have a different take on Winter overall than a lot of people. That being said, I spoke back during the V3-V4 days that Winter was a lot of things, like 1) a very young, very stupid soldier, 2) a big sister who was earnestly trying but, also, very bad at being a good big sister, and 3) still very much a product of her upbringing and hadn’t yet broken away in the same manner Weiss had. This volume has taken the next logical step on all three points.

Winter is aware of her role as a young, stupid soldier. She talks to Weiss about it, and how she’s taken the mission handed to her and made it her own. Something I’ve spoken about regarding the military in general is that, if you try to join the military without a clear reason, a driving force that ties you to your service, it’s just going to be pain and misery, or you’re going to reach a point where continuing to serve just isn’t worth it. Generally speaking, the military targets young, poor people with few avenues to escape or better their life situations. That driving force- the idea that, no matter how shitty your situation is, it’s better than where you came from- keeps a lot of people going, keeps them in line, allows them to fit the soldier mold. That’s not Winter; she has other avenues to pursue now that she’s armed with the skills and world knowledge to do so, much in the same way Weiss has. Winter initially used the military as an escape from Jacques, and that was her driving force prior to being designated for the Winter Maiden powers. Something I said last week was that, if she continues to follow orders, then she’s traded one set of chains for another, and this is what I was talking about when I said that. If Winter’s truly taking this mission as her own, making it her driving force- that is, actually becoming the Winter Maiden- then she’s going to rebel against Ironwood. It would be regression of her character to fall back in line; not only that, it just wouldn’t make sense in general, because she’s not in, say, Emerald’s position, where there’s nowhere to go back to if she breaks away. Winter has her huntress license, she has been earning some manner of money outside of Jacques’ allowances (remember her conversation from V3), and she’s well traveled, having been to/lived in at least Atlas, Mistral, and Vale. She has options and she’s about to have the powers of the Winter Maiden. The moment those powers are in her hands, she’s not a soldier any more, and I think she realizes that. It’s playing a long game, in a sense, but if temporary obedience secures her power that will ensure no one can chain her again, it really puts her behavior throughout the show in a more sensible light. Her criticism of Qrow, fighting him in public, watching over Penny- she’s proving herself constantly as someone who will safeguard whatever she’s told to... but not without keeping her own priorities in mind.

Her own priorities being: Weiss. Winter’s a big sister, but not a good one in some sense, and that’s not exactly her fault. Given the home situation for the Schnee family, Winter’s attempts to support and teach Weiss are tough love bordering on abusive, though I’m certain there’s no intent on Winter’s behalf to be anything other than a stellar role model for her younger sister. It’s just an unfortunate side effect of their upbringing. We see this characterized most clearly when Winter’s trying to offer commentary on Weiss’ differing form that continuously comes off as condescending. It isn’t until Weiss’ flippant, almost teasing replies that Winter appears to realize what she’s saying is not what she’s trying to say. Arguably, this could be a result of her interactions with Penny but could also just be that Winter’s genuinely bad at interpersonal relationships. For the former, Penny doesn’t have the baggage that Weiss and Winter have; she doesn’t have years of being subjected to thinly veiled insults and constant diatribe to shape her own inner voice. Ergo, when Penny hears something, she takes it at face value. For example: “I counted three missed strikes.” Weiss took this as a criticism, because, let’s face it, it sounded like a criticism. It was blunt, harsh, and a statement that could’ve definitely been worded to be more constructive. Penny, on the other hand, would probably be interested in which strikes were missed, because she doesn’t instinctively take criticism to be a bad thing. Winter’s extended interactions with Penny, I think, have made it easier for her to open up and explain, offering more than the clipped, blunt responses we saw in V3- understandable, as Penny would logically need more explanation, as her world knowledge is markedly less than everyone else, on account of her unique beginnings- but they didn’t reteach her how to be mindful of her words. It’s when Weiss teasingly responds that Winter’s like ‘oh, shit’ and starts paying more attention to her word choice. As I said, she’s genuinely trying to be a good big sister and role model, but she’s been bad at it in the past to varying degrees. However, Weiss has forged her own path, and Winter recognizes that, and it’s in this manner that they start repairing their relationship as sisters. I have more than one AU where Winter is Penny’s surrogate mother in one form or fashion, primarily because I realized at their introduction that Penny could be the one to help Winter realize her own faults, especially juxtaposed with Weiss. This volume’s nailed that on the head, giving enough context that we can easily fill in the blanks on Winter’s off screen character development and where it stems from.

Now, as I said, Winter and Weiss forged their own paths through life. Now, they stand as equals of a sort, pioneering their own ways forward, and choosing for themselves what to fight for and what to protect. Unfortunately, among other things, this volume has wrapped up- in a sense- Winter’s character arc. Winter was initially introduced by name only in V2, where Weiss was hesitant to talk to her even though she obviously regards Winter highly. In context, we can take this to mean that Weiss thought she hadn’t progressed enough to impress Winter at that point in time, so opted not to talk to her. In V3, we see Weiss trying desperately to earn Winter’s approval, and getting a facsimile of that just before they part. In V4 and V5, we see Weiss dealing with the concept that she can’t rely on Winter to help her and must fight her own battles. Here in V7, Weiss has grown beyond needing Winter’s approval and validation, but gaining both all the same. Winter’s gone from being a strict, harsh older sister who genuinely cares about her inexperienced younger sister while not being able to communicate that well to a more relaxed, more open older sister who sees her younger sister as an equal. I would love to see Winter take the Maiden powers, desert the Atlesian military, and go into hiding to train with her new powers while RWBY continue their hunt for the artifacts, as I think this would open up a new avenue for both Weiss and Winter- essentially, the next chapter in their evolving relationship, not only sisters overcoming trauma but allies in a global war- but I’m also not holding my breath, as I would find it especially amusing if Winter’s been using her time with the current Winter Maiden to talk about Weiss, knowing her sister would be a better candidate for the powers (which may have something to do with why she was so adamant Weiss learn how to develop her semblance on her own, so she’d know how to hone the Maiden powers) and standing ready to feign surprise when she doesn’t inherit the powers herself, thereby undermining Ironwood without him being any the wiser as to how.

Ultimately, though Winter’s character development is mostly off screen and has to be tied together using context, I think she’s come a long way as a character and as a person, and she’s an excellent example of how people who undergo trauma may make some mistakes born from that trauma but can still heal and rise above it. They just need to be called out in a way that’s going to help them realize what they’re doing, and it’s gratifying that it was Weiss who’d matured faster and to a point where she could help Winter take the last steps towards making herself a better person.

And if Winter takes the Maiden powers and then remains loyal to Ironwood, she’s literally just a dumbass soldier and I’m going to keep calling her a fucking butter bar. Would it undo a lot of her character progression? Yes and no, as soldiers are, by definition, kinda mcfucking stupid, so it wouldn’t surprise me if, in that soldier mentality, Winter makes the dumb decision instead of the right one.

#TRR asks #Winter character study kinda #the bottom line is that she's a dumbass and I know this #I have no illusions that I've decided to stan a fucking moron #But I'm also VERY real about her flaws and her strengths and that's why I love her so much

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silveranjyil · 5 years ago

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What does it Mean to be Human

Okay, this is probably my last little rant for a looong time.

Penny as the Winter Maiden.

A lot of people saw this coming. I didn't--but I really just enjoy the show as it rolls and try not to think too deeply on it until later. In this case, something caught my attention.

Many people were confused about WHY Penny could have the Maiden's powers. It was a combination of: she's a robot, it was a man's aura.

So I want to get the aura thing out of the way, first. The majority of religions and spiritual beliefs seem to agree that the spirit, the soul, the "aura" is neutral. It is neither male nor female. It does not create our identity in many cases. Instead, our life experiences and our consciousness form those things. Almost all instances of reincarnation do not have a limit on if you can incarnate into a male or female body, or even a human one. So the gender of the holder of the aura is a moot point. We can take this even one step further and point out that the Maiden's powers also came from a male source: the wizard. It has no bearing. Gender is not found in magic, nor in aura or souls. So it is not even a consideration to me on why she got the power.

What it comes down to is how we define what is Human. See Bicentennial Man (great movie by the way). Ruby said it way back in V2--having squishy guts doesn't make you human. It is what is inside. This whole volume has been a talk about what it means to be human and how it defines us. While Ironwood lost his humanity, Penny gained hers.

This volume seems to be eluding to the fact that our humanity is the price we place on life. To Penny and RWBY and JNPR, life is priceless. It is the most precious thing on earth and should be protected at all costs. To Ironwood, Winter and the Ace-Corps, life is expendable.

Not only did Penny demonstrate this understanding of humanity, but she has her own consciousness. Her own mind and will. She was not the puppet everyone made her out to be. If she had just followed orders like Winter, never stopping to think, question or act on what she believed, she would not have been able to accept the powers of the Maiden. It is unbelievable that no one picked up on this key factor in the choice of who gets the Maiden's power. It seems so obvious now.

We were told a while ago that the Maiden's power would first go to the last person the Maiden thought of, and if they did not meet the requirements, would go off into the world to find someone who does. We always assumed that the powers would definitely go to the person if it was a young female. I think that was a little naive. There are some variables involved in determining the next holder, and I think that level of humanity is important. Of course, people can be corrupted over time, but if they have all the keys at the beginning, they get the gift. I do not think the powers would have gone to Winter, no matter how hard Ironwood tried to manipulate them. Winter does not fit--she has tried to kill her will, her humanity to follow orders.

Something else to keep in mind was that Penny was most likely originally developed for this very purpose. In V2 she said she was supposed to protect the world. It seems that at least her father knew that she would not be ready without experience and learning to be human. Ironwood could not wait for that, especially after Ozpin died, so he pushed Winter into the role.

I really enjoyed this exploration on what it means to be human, and questioning how we define it.

Oh...oh right. That thing about being a girl. Well. Penny is a girl. She may be a robot, but she is still a girl. Her body was designed as that of a girl. Her treatment was of that as a girl. Her mentality is that of a girl. I do not think that a man identifying as a girl could become a Maiden, though. There is something more to it than that, and I am willing to bet that there is an unspoken aspect of Penny that makes her "girl" to the powers. It isn't aura, as I discussed above, but I can not say what it would be. But Penny was created, or born, as a female. Her reaction to Blake having kept a secret in V2 (*le gaso* Is she a man?) indicates that there is more to this. But this is something that CRWBY will most likely never touch on. Ozpin won't have a clue since it has never happened before anyway. As inclusive as CRWBY wants to be, they want to be honest and real with the community, and using Penny as the transgender equation would actually be a cop-out. They tend to throw themselves into these things, so I don't think they will go that route. Will be fun as they explore more of their characters and worlds.

In any case, Penny getting the Maiden power was a nice twist. I have always believed that true monsters wear human skin, and those that are truly human may not look as human as we expect.

And yes yes of course there is the Blue Fairy reference and Penny becoming a "real girl" thing. Everyone has talked about that, so I wanted to go a different route. That was also a nice touch by the team as well.

#penny polendina #penny lane #vasily polenov #rwby #volume 7 #finale #human #maiden #winter memories #winter

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tommysam94-blog · 4 years ago

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5 Best Golf Putting Mats – 2020 Reviews & Buying Guide

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Big Moss Admiral V2 Putting Green

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Big Moss Natural V2 Putting Green

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fringchound-a · 5 years ago

Text

The Black Forest Zone V2.x

god this took longer than expected, helloooo three weeks of compiling

Since the original lore I wrote for it is both ancient and frankly lacking in any real diversity, I figured a rewrite and redevelopment was in order, capitalizing on a lot of things I’ve developed over the last ... however long it’s been since I originally made it. A lot of things will stay the same but be added on to, and a lot of things will be changed or added. All of it will have decent explanations attached. I’m debating on making an historical timeline for it, but that’ll be in another post, I think.

So let’s get started on the tour, shall we! Further details are below the cut, and I’m sure I’ll add to them over time, and a reminder I mixed the lores from all three pieces of media so it doesn’t conform to just one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Black Forest is one of the six known Landings, also known as a Visitation Zone. Like many, it was mutated by the Landing and has become sentient on some level, encompassing all of the infamous Black Forest and some small swatches of land around it in the southwest of Germany. A few small towns have been swallowed by the sea of rapid-growing trees, but nearby cities are widely unaffected.

It is the proverbial ‘Elephant in the Room’ for the government, and they have spared no expense to keep its presence quiet. There is no news coverage about it and it has been taken out of all historical texts and maps published in the country show the area as fertile agricultural flatland instead. People heard talking about it are ‘investigated’, though they are known to disappear regardless of verdict of intent. In a futile attempt to put the Zone out of mind, a twelve-foot tall security wall made of concrete eight feet thick was erected around it, topped with rolls of razorwire and crowned with anti-climbing spikes. As expected, it does little to put the thing out of peoples’ minds, and as a result of its invitation to the illegal class known as stalkers, military presence is thick around the main or noticeable entrances and exits into and out of the Zone.

Due to its inherent personality of Quietly Active and Playful, the Black Forest has become nothing short of one of the more treacherous Zones. After mutation, it grew native trees almost overnight in massive sizes so tightly knit together that barely any sunlight can penetrate the canopy, casting it into an eternal green gloom unaffected by normal seasonal changes. It is a labyrinth of massive trunks and vast roots that change location and orientation at any given moment. A good Forest stalker can still navigate fairly decently, though extreme caution and vigilance is recommended, since there are other dangers the Forest hides than just shifting landscaping.

Originally known for being both the cradle of darker folklore [including the Grimm Brothers’ original tales] and notorious for being haunted, it is safe to say that being changed by the Landing has only made the haunting worse.

Locations of Note

The Fringes are the area around the Zone’s perimeter. They are a thin ribbon starting at the inside of the security wall to the barrier. A majority of them are flatland border-forest, sporting scrubby foliage, short bushes, and small clusters of average-sized trees. The fauna from the fringes is the most normal in the Forest, as fringeanimals are the least physically mutated of anything to come out of the Zone. The only human presence that has staked any claim to this land are bandits, and that is due to the lack of influence from the Forest itself. While stalkers use the fringes as a path between the civilized outer world and the primal inner world, it is the bandits that call the fringes ‘home’. There are no anomalies in this crucial outer ring of the Forest Zone.

The Barrier, also known as The Wooden Highways, is an eerie surreal place that encircles the inner Zone entirely after the fringes have ended. Noticeable against the flatland outer ring, this thin second ring around the Forest is composed almost entirely of truly gargantuan trees that no one remembers how they got there. Known affectionately by native stalkers as the Tree’s Cemetery, it’s surmised that this is where all trees in the Forest go to die, adding their own roots into the complex system that makes up the pathways between the fringes and the Forest Proper. No light from above can filter through, leaving the world in this thin ring in total blackness, and any artificial light is swallowed in the vastness of the space between tree trunks. The roots of these trees are large enough that a group of four or five can stand shoulder-to-shoulder across the widest portions, and high enough off the ground that the world below the roads is shrouded in mystery. This is also the last of the fringes, where the influence of the Forest begins to take hold. All that is known about the ground far below is that it is a breeding place for Fractures, and besides their occasional scurrying and mutterings, there is virtually no sound in the barrier. No other animal or mutant lives in this part of the Zone besides Fractures, and people only use it to pass back and forth. Only one anomaly has ever been encountered in the barrier and it is an imperative tool to use on the Wooden Highways; Flashbangs.

The Forest Proper is the vast tract of land within the encompassing circles around the perimeter. It too is an eerie place, eternally covered in low light due to the tight canopy up above, and where the influence of the Forest is in full effect. The trees in the Proper aren’t nearly as big as those in the barrier, but they are still overly large and alive, and have a habit of moving around at their own whim and wills. Due to the canopy, weather hardly ever penetrates in, the occasional raindrop or snowpile falling through to the forest floor when the cover above becomes too heavy or saturated to block it out. The only places the canopy opens to the sky above is over towns, hamlets, Castles, and the crags. Of the dozens of towns that used to pepper the Forest before the Landing, only three remain at the Zone’s good graces with the Forest backed up on and through them. Their original names have been lost to time, but they are known by the locals as Northtown, Central, and Southtown. Not very creative names, but descriptive and therefore easy to remember. They still exist mostly as trading and market hubs at the behest of the Zoners who live in small villages, or ‘hamlets’, across the span of the Proper. As there is little need for money, a bartering system is set up that is fairly easy to follow for those new to the economic workings of the Zone. The Forest Proper has a surprisingly diverse ecosystem for a Zone. It is home to a large variety of mutated animals and plants, both benign and hostile. Some can be found only in certain areas, while a fair few others migrate around the Zone and can be seen at nearly every corner. Several rivers and creeks run throughout the Proper, funneled through the security wall at various heavily-guarded drainage points. How water flows as it does to get from one side of the wall to the other is a wild mystery, given how the Barrier supposedly slopes down and encompasses the Zone in a bowl. Running water is attractive to many living in the Forest, and most hamlets will take up residence on a river or creek, provided there are no ruins there before. Anomalies here are widespread and plentiful, it’s advised to walk with caution.

The Inner Circle is a thin ring around the Landing Point, where the Central Anomaly formed, somewhere in the western foothills. The trees here are very close together, leaving very few to no gaps between them. It is dark and ‘blue’ in this portion of the Forest, and very quiet. No animals, mutated or not, live here, and all native stalkers tend to avoid it like the plague, if they can. The only people known to frequent this area are the Cult of the Cage, a group of fanatics that have devised a strategy to move without consequence through it. Predator Trees spawn and grow here and while small packs are known to roam the Proper, it is here where their population is highest in number. No anomaly spawns in the Circle, likely due to the proximity to the Central Anomaly, though Shades and Ghosts have been known to spawn just outside its borders.

The Central Anomaly, also known as The Tree Cage, is the place in the Forest where the Landing happened. The trees around the space all lean to one side and bow out at the center, just far enough apart to show a hint of the space between them as a lure to any brave and capable enough to navigate the Inner Circle without incident. However, on entering, the ring of trees closes with all the speed of a flytrap and stays closed for a time before opening back up. Stalkers plenty have disappeared in the Cage and as a result, no one knows what exactly it hides and protects. Rumors are plenty, but the fact is that no one actually knows and it’s very likely that no one will ever know.

The Crags is the adoring name for the mountain range around which the Forest sits. The names of it and its peaks are forgotten with the Zoners, and very few outside the Zone remember them much at all due to media blackout and historical censorship, knowing they exist purely because they tower over much of the landscape and the security wall. Central backs up against them on the western slope, and a few hamlets here and there dot the base on all sides. Trees cease to grow in abundance up the sides, dotting the mountainsides with stubborn copses of uninfluenced trees and brush. Considering the rich diversity of the Proper creeping around the crags, there is a distinct lack of it on them. The only wildlife present are Satyrs and small clusters of songbirds and ravens, and the only anomaly that has been picked up are Vortexes. Castles are frequent along the full range of the crags, though only along the lower slopes and bases, rarely above the halfway point.

Castles

Castles are a very strange phenomena in the Forest. There are ruins scattered across the Zone in various states of decay or preservation, depending on whether or not they had been found and taken care of by historians and archaeologists.

When the Landing happened, Castles became their very own thing. If it had a solid foundation still in place, it gained its own level of sentience and started to act of its own accord and whims. In a sense, they became miniature Zones, functioning within the bigger Forest. Whether or not this was a will of the Forest itself or something that happened spontaneously without influence is still undetermined.

Acting as independent Zones, Castles have their own unique personalities and rules from one to the other, none of which are controlled by the Forest in any way. All influence of the Forest disappears at the borders of a Castle’s defined foundation, whether it be the edge of a yard surrounding them or the walls of the main structure themselves. All animals and anomalies don’t intrude on them either. Even the pathways to a Castle are controlled by them, and if the road and paths are cut off, it’s best to leave it be. A complete path or road leading up to a Castle is the only way to tell if they are friendly. As Castles are their own entities, they also make up their own tests and traps, as any good Zone will do.

A Castle’s Voice is very distinct from the rest of the Forest, and Guides have said it’s really more of a dialect of the Forest’s own Voice. They sound like settling wood and stone at such immense volume that it sounds like it comes from everywhere, with the occasional mutter of both being moved. The latter is likely due to the fact that Castles are constantly building themselves up [or rebuilding, as might well be the case], and the shuffle of stone and wood is their innate ability to move materials by sheer force of will into place. The process is slow-going, but they have all the time in the world to do so.

Castles are tricky creatures, as they do not like to be intruded upon, even if friendly. They all have a condition for those looking to take shelter on or in them, and unfortunately for most, it’s only the Guides who can properly understand what that condition is at any given time. Since they have the ability to hear what the Forest is saying, Castles are hardly different to them. While Guides can technically interact with any friendly Castle, they each have one specifically linked to them that they can talk to and access without having to jump through too many traps or tricks.

There is one ruin, however, that no one is sure of, not even the Guides. An ominous black stone foundation on a rocky spire on the east slope of the crags, it looks like talons gripping the mountain, earning it the name The Dragon. It has cut its bridge off, and deeper diving into the history of the area shows no record of it anywhere, leading Guides to believe the Forest constructed it on its own. One thing they know for certain is that it is very subtly moving, spire and all, up the mountain.

Quirks

The First Rule: Greed Is Punished. Before being changed by the Landing, the Forest was at risk of deforestation. The residual emotion at the time of the Landing was distress and upset, and much of that taints the way the personality developed. She is a plentiful Zone, for better or for worse, but the reminder of being taken from with little return remains. As such, the act of Greed is punished by her, in different varying ways. Usually, the offender ends up dead on the spot, or hopelessly and purposely lost to die of exposure. Even Zoners are not exempted from this rule, and hamlets and towns that have broken it by action are simply swallowed into the deep greenery without so much of a word. Stalkers are held even further in account, as they are only allowed to carry five artifacts at a time in a trip, no more. Language while outside hamlets and towns in the Proper are slotted in with actions as well, and that is where it gets touchy. Asking permission to take something one Needs will resort in her providing for the asker, so long as Thanks is given for it. But even saying that one Wants something without appropriate trade, or simply taking things without asking, will result in punishment.

Second Rule: No Fire. As expected of anything made predominantly of wood, fire in the Barrier and Proper is strictly forbidden. Ignoring this rule doesn’t necessarily bring punishment directly to the breaker, but the resulting flailing of nearby Patrol Trees to put even the smallest flame out can end in them being unintentionally beaten to death. The only exception to this rule is in hamlets and towns under strict supervision, and of course in the influence of Castles. Campfires in the higher reaches of the crags have also resulted in no action.

Third Rule: No Real Names. The Forest’s Playful nature really shines here. Being the origin of many dark and frightening folkloric tales, it takes after the better known stories that giving your real given name to something otherworldly gives it power over you, and most of all, gives it power to hurt you. Tagnames and call-signs used in the Forest are partially due to the military being known to hunt down families of captured stalkers and mostly due to the Forest’s use of real names. The only people immune to this rule are Zoners, but they also understand the Zone on levels better than most other people traversing it and know how to avoid the events triggered by the use of birth names. While no immediate punishment comes from using real names in the influence of the Forest, consequences can come later, either from long-term exposure in the Zone or the closer to the Inner Circle one goes.

Fourth Rule: Stay Silent. Silence is key to survival. Many things in the Forest are attracted to sound, such as Predator Trees, Ritters, and Shades. Towns and hamlets are exempt of this rule and it is safe to be loud while in them. However, it is not in the vast Zone between them. The Forest has been known to waive such rules in the event of asking for necessities that require loud sounds like hunting, but stalkers from other Zones have noted that compared to the constant noise of human life in their native Zones, the Forest is eerily devoid of manmade sound. Natural ambiance is commonplace, however, and sounds like songbirds and animals and the occasional creak of trees in the wind give it some life. The Forest does not directly take any retribution for being loud, mind, but silence has its merits, like sneaking passed sleeping Predator Trees or hearing when blind Ritters come tapping along.

Fifth Rule: No Electronics. Less of a rule written by the Forest itself and more of a rule spoken between stalkers, electronics include any device that draws power continuously, usually from a battery. The radiation that made the Zone does strange and horrible things with electronics and it is not uncommon to find the unfortunate many who don’t heed the warnings twisted in the landscape with their precious devices growing out of them.

Sixth Rule: The Water Ritual. Water is drinkable in the Forest, but only those bodies used in hamlets and towns are safe from this rule. Water in uninhabited space can be dangerous, another rule written in the spirit of faerie tales. Stalkers and Zoners alike pat the surface of still bodies of water and watch the reaction to it. If the ripples act like they are supposed to and the reflection of people, animals, and landscape acts normally, the water is safe to drink or disturb. If it reacts in any way other than naturally [ie Ripples from the opposite shore from the patting, reflections look skewed or move around without reason], it is unsafe. The rule applies even to water that was deemed safe in a prior visit, as the nature of Zone water changes regularly. Not patting the water to see if it’s safe results in everything from being poisoned to being sucked into the water and disappearing. Flowing water, like rivers and creeks, can be deciphered merely watching them, staring at ripples around stones or fallen branches to determine if it’s safe to interact with.

Seventh Rule: No Straight Lines. This seems to be a rule with most Zones, as even foreign stalkers talk about it. No one is quite sure why Visitation Zones are against people walking in straight lines to their destinations. All that is agreed on is that doing so has dire consequences, between people disappearing entirely before reaching their goal or being struck with sudden fatal ailments on the way there. The Forest is known to mimic peoples’ voices to warn arrogant stalkers trying to break this rule before striking them down. It is best to take a roundabout way to get to a destination. Even if you can still see where you are trying to go from different angles, a meandering path to a new arrival point is better than a straight line.

The Voice: All Zones have a Voice, a sound used to show their presence to those in and out of it. The sound of a Voice is said to be enveloping, drowning out everything else around it when it talks. All people and creatures in a Zone can hear the sound of its Voice, and regulars and natives to a Zone can even hear it when away from it. The Forest’s Voice is the sound of creaking groaning wood. Only Zoners and Guides can actually hear the words it’s trying to use, however.

Weather Patterns: Most, if not all, Zones have volatile weather, one of very few things that are actually consistent. Whether it’s the energy of a Zone or the way the land or reality itself warps while in their space, something as simple as a cloudy day can swirl into torrential rains, and a drizzle can turn into cyclones. The Forest has a habit of taking rain and turning it into violent hail and thunderstorms that sweep across most of the western half, very rarely the eastern. The east tends to get blizzards with ice and wind, however, while the west merely gets large amounts of snow.

Zombies: Visitation zombies are a very strange breed. Closer to the classic zombie of legend, they are merely the recently dead within the influence of the Zone who, for whatever reason, come back to life with a single task in mind. Usually, the task is the last thing on their thoughts before death, and they will make their way to a location fresh in their memory while muttering this last bit of agenda. Once there, they will decay as normal before finally dying for good. Fresh zombies tend to have some semblance of language and motor function. After about a week, it all begins to degrade until they can’t speak and their reaction time slows. The military detail around the Forest has a tendency to leave zombies stumbling through the cordons well enough alone after realizing they’re zombies. It’s probably the only thing even they don’t have the will to stop.

Change: There is very little actually consistent in any Zone. Everything is subject to change, even when it seems unchangeable. In the Forest, all inhabitants -be they stalkers or Zoners- have learned that if it looks different, it probably is different. Even things like anomalies, normally regular fixtures, can change purposes without noticeably changing appearances. It’s good to keep such things in mind while traversing the Forest, and all travelers carry rocks with them in place of the usual bolts found in other Zones; since there are no gravity-based anomalies that require weight recorded, rocks are used to test the environment for changes, as well as being easy to replenish without leaving an environmental mark.

People/Factions

Zoners are the people who live in the Zone who were original to it before the Landing. They are a quaint folk who are born into the Zone and mutated by it, and have adopted a pagan lifestyle several centuries old in order to adapt to the lack of modern amenities. They worship the Zone as nothing less than a god, and it seems to work in their favor, as the Zone provides them everything they need from space to materials to workable crops at a fair trade from them. After stubbornly refusing to evacuate after the Landing, the Forest covets them so long as they maintain The First Rule. They share a special bond to their Zone and are the only ones trusted to defend it. In the rare cases of military and government involvement in the Forest, it is Zoners who are first to stand firm against them and push them back out. Although they have unsettling wide smiles and their eyes tend to glow in the dark, Zoners are very friendly toward stalkers, provided they don’t bring ill intent with them and understand the balance of The First Rule. They are a reminder that even people born from the fabric of the Forest are not exempted of the rules, assuming the ruins of arrogant hamlets and swallowed towns fail to instill the same warning.

Stalkers are a fairly universal breed from Zone to Zone. Designated as ‘daredevils’, the ones that go into the Black Forest live up to the moniker. The Forest swallows more and more of them every year, but the allure of such a dangerous temperamental Zone brings more than twice that amount to the door. Native stalkers tend to be more likely to help greenhorns to the Forest out, and veteran stalkers of other Zones pick up on the quirks of the Forest fairly easy enough to survive. It’s not uncommon to see new faces filtering in and out of the Forest, though. As a whole, stalkers are a pretty decent helpful bunch, and the majority of the clan are beloved by Zoners for their ability to bring necessary supplies they can’t ask the Forest for to them. The ones who aren’t decent live in the fringes as bandits.

Guides are a particularly special handful of stalkers who have garnered the Forest’s favor through sacrifice. Sacrifice of everything from time to sanity to their own bodies, Guides are capable of understanding their Zone on a more intimate level than the standard stalker. They are imperative to others’ ability to navigate the twisting ever-changing Forest, as they can feel changes and hear anomalies and the messages beneath the Forest’s Voice. They are also the only individuals capable of speaking to and opening Castles safely, something not even the native Zoners can do. There are two different stages to becoming a Guide. Threshold Guides have given enough to hear the Voice’s message as well as the thrumming pressure of anomalies. Fledged Guides, or simply just Guides, are properly ordained by the Forest into its embrace, usually given a gift/mutations to better serve their Zone. As expected, Guides are not very common. For the sheer volume of the Forest, there are only nine ordained Guides and one Threshold to date.

Bandits are a fixture in almost every Zone nowadays and are generally the same, greedy little opportunists who like to reap the rewards of others. The bandits of the Black Forest have gotten smart about it, bypassing The First Rule of Forest life by staying on the fringes. Since the central influence of the Forest doesn’t reach into the fringes as much, bandits regularly exploit the lack of punishment. To any proficient stalker of the area, they are fairly easy to avoid. Despite their disregard of the coveted First Rule, bandits in the Forest maintain a sense of loyalty and duty to their gangs and above that, the Zone. As the Forest doesn’t fully influence or control the fringes, it’s up to them to keep an eye out for noticeable damage and especially fire. They have been known to stomp out all ties in order to band together with stalkers in the vicinity and work to put out any fires that start. Afterwards, they return to their expected deviancy, but it is surprising to realize even they can be human sometimes.

The Cult of the Cage are a group of fanatics that aren’t seen much outside the Inner Circle. They worship whatever the Tree Cage protects, though it’s unclear if even they know what it is. It probably wouldn’t change their minds or beliefs even if they knew. The exact reasons for their worship are unclear, but it is obviously not out of greed or arrogance, as the Forest would have killed them off if that were the case. They’re known for being undetectable to all but the Forest itself, silent and quick. They don’t carry firearms, but do carry crossbows they’ve managed to silence. Unsurprisingly, they have found a toxin to use on their bolts that, if untreated, can be deadly. While their ballistics are used on the outer edges of the Inner Circle into the Proper, they are also trained in close-range combat for any fighting that might break out in the Inner Circle itself. While they are fanatical, the Cult is not in any way conscripted into protecting the Tree Cage. Individuals can still think on their own away from their brethren and outside shared rituals and prayers, share little in common with each other otherwise. A few of their numbers have been spotted recently wandering the Forest Proper, and given their uncharacteristic politeness, are assumed to be missionaries to their religious cause. The Cult is held in suspicious regards but so long as a member doesn’t start a fight, those who wander from the Inner Circle are generally left alone.

Fauna and Flora

Fauna

Fringeanimals are among the least physically mutated animals in the Forest. They are typically domesticated dogs and feral cats who were born in the fringes, though there are reports of local fauna like foxes and rabbits that also slot into this category. While they are born in the fringes, they are not trapped on the fringes; seeing fringeanimals in the Forest Proper is not uncommon at all, and they make their homes in hamlets and towns, where they are regularly spoiled and treated like one might a common pet. They don’t seem to mind this, at all. Fringeanimals are best known for their friendliness to non-hostile peoples, willing to jump in to defend trapped people or lead them to a safe spot. They are also known for being incredibly intelligent to the point of sapience, and it’s not uncommon to hear them responding in a conversation, capable of picking up on and learning multiple languages at once. While they don’t speak human languages, they still use their own vocalizations and body language to interact. They are also born with a deep-rooted connection to the Forest and can tell when things change or shift, making them invaluable companions to those in and out of the Forest. It’s a common practice for stalkers and Zoners to leave an area if a fingeanimal is trying to warn them away from it.

Livestock has been widely unchanged physically. Only found in hamlets and towns, the familiar shapes of native cow breeds, chickens, pigs, sheep, and the occasional goat are a welcome reprieve from the weirdness of the majority of the Forest’s wildlife. Zoners use them for everything from food to farmwork, and while a few of the animals may accidentally mutate physically in a generation, the only constant mutation they seem to have is the ability to over-produce milk, eggs, and wool. It only works in this way, and slaughtering an animal for food does not yield more meat.

Songbirds don’t look like they have any physical mutations on first glance, small and fluttery as their brethren outside the Zone are. They live primarily in the crags, having moved back into the area after the initial violent changes at the start of the Zone settled, and they are never seen in the Forest Proper. However, they can still be heard down in the Proper, and that is because they have an innate ability to warp and amplify their own soundwaves to be heard for miles. Like all songbirds, they are skittish around larger animals and can be seen fluttering around their mountainous home when disturbed.

Ravens are another bird that moved back into the Zone after fleeing it during the first changes. They have mutated just slightly, gaining another set of eyes and serrated beaks with a disturbingly human-like cackle as a call. Their main population is in the crags, but they have been seen further into the foothills on all sides. They are also non-hostile to people and animals, known for hanging around and begging food from humans when not snuffling around on their own, not unlike standard corvids outside of their Zone.

Owls are perhaps the only documented bird that lives in the Forest Proper as well as in the crags. They don’t look much different than their normal counterparts from the ground, since they live in the branches high above the shifting forest floor, but distance tricks perception. Owls are immense in size, standing at ten feet tall with wingspans that can grow to fifty or more feet. Their mutation gives them the sheer size to capture cherubs, their main prey, and carry them off to be eaten. Despite their gigantism, they seem to be smart enough to dislike the idea of eating or the taste of humans and will generally avoid and observe them from their lofty homes. Even if they are non-hostile, humans and fringeanimals will try to stay well out of their way and hunting parties will abandon cherub herds if owls are present.

Cherubs used to be deer. In some ways, they still maintain the original mannerisms as skittish herbivores that travel in herds. They’ve grown to stand close to nine feet tall at their shoulders, colored various shades of white and off-white with massive iridescent eyes. Their build has changed drastically, with prominent rib structure leading into naturally caved stomachs, long spindly legs, and long slender necks topped with thin pointed heads. Their antlers have changed orientation and make-up, from bone to a weird mushroom-like tuber. It grows along their backbone in shoots and across their shoulders in intricate coral-like fans, the tips displaying multiple colors that fade to white or cream near the base. Every part of a cherub is edible, save for the bones within the body itself, and one cherub can feed a group of six for the better part of a week or two. They are one of two of the only animals the Forest grants permission to hunt, and the only animal it sends to be hunted when a request for Needing food is made, as long as only what is needed is taken and no more. Their name derives from the fact that cherubs are the only known animal in the Forest that is immune to Silver Thread, which can grow across their fans and glitter in light, giving the illusion of wings. Hunters typically avoid those with it growing on them, since Silver Thread can kill anything else in short amounts of time.

Fractals were foxes once. So named for their ability to change outlines and shape in swirling clouds of multi-colored matter, they also pose no threat to humans. They have a tendency to float in the general direction of anomalies and artifacts, occasionally resuming their original forms as small foxes. They don’t seem to have any corporeal form, which lets them float through objects, animals, and people. When they do so, it’s said that they ‘feel like what white static sounds like’.

Bounders live in trees. Their disproportionately large hindquarters are the only things left from their previous rabbit forms, and the actual animal is only about knee-height on an average human at their biggest. Their front legs sport claws on their toes with protowings along the undersides of their arms, and their tails are long with tufts of feathers at the tip. Although they’re relatively harmless herbivores, bounders have been known to cause deep gouges in anything that provokes them. Despite their defense, they are a favorite snack of many of the Forest’s inhabitants.

Satyrs were goats at one point and to some extent, still sort of are. Although their warped squished faces have grown eerily humanoid and their bodies are disturbingly primate-like, they share no genetic background with either. Their eyes are large and have the square pupils that denote them as goats, along with the telltale horns curving back on their heads around the base of their leaf-shaped ears. As expected, they like to headbutt things, provoked or not. Their bodies look remarkably like long-limbed primates of some sort, their arms and legs ending in four-toed feet and hands. They stand at the height of an average human and can walk hunched but upright on their legs, or on all fours without any trouble. They can scale cliffs, unstable rockfaces, and trees without much thought or issue. Which is good, since they live primarily in the crags and bound and swing across the more treacherous terrain higher up to reach their primary food sources. Satyrs are neutral animals, though at times their goaty nature makes it feel like they’re vindictive or doing things solely for their own entertainment. This is not the case, even though stalkers and Zoners have both returned with welts from being headbutt by them.

Fractures are one of two human mutants in the Forest. The lesser of the evils, the first populations of them were turned from Zoners who angered the Forest in its earlier years. Their villages and towns were swallowed and remain as crumbling ruins in the depths of the Zone, and the people were transformed into Fractures. Since then, Fracture nests are fairly common and they are the only living thing to inhabit the Barrier. Fractures walk primarily on all fours, with an elongated curved spine and excruciatingly long limbs. One arm is twice as long as the other, the fingers tipped with large hooked claws. Fractures are relatively skittish and if they see anything from far off that might be a threat to them, they will turn tail and gallop back toward their nests. They will attack if something is too close to them and they will retaliate if attacked first, usually pulling more and more of their brethren hiding in the woodwork around them to help. While they are not much of a threat by themselves, as they are a common nuisance of a mutant, they can easily overwhelm an adversary with numbers. They still retain the ability to speak, but have since lost the ability to intelligently converse. As such, they parrot phrases and words said around them and will repeat them regularly.

Fracture Eaters mutated from German horses that are native to the Black Forest region. As their name suggests, they are the only known predator of Fractures and their presence works to keep the population down. Fracture Eaters are about the size of a small horse and retain much of the original posture and build. From far away, they even look like a horse. Up close, it’s easy to notice the long snakelike tails behind them, as well as the clawed finger-like paws that replaced their hooves. Their mouths open unnaturally wide to the jaw joint, displaying rows upon rows of sharp triangular teeth that point backwards toward their throat, and their eyes have moved more toward the front of their skulls. They even issue a strange roaring noise when the hunt begins. Despite looking like a nightmare and being actively carnivorous, Fracture Eaters are very social animals with packs of their families around them and prefer the comfort of non-hostile parties. They still retain a fondness for human contact and it isn’t uncommon to be nudged by one or several until pets are given, making purring and nickering noises when paid mind. They are still able to be ridden and trainable, and several hamlets host games showing off their prowess with the creatures. Fracture Eaters generally stick to the forested areas around hamlets and towns, keeping a firm eye on the landscaping for their next meal.

Ritters are easily the most terrifying mutant in the Forest to date, as well as being the second human mutant, named after one of the more frightening folktales of the Forest’s dark past. Like Fractures, Ritters are changed after their hamlet is swallowed by the Forest as punishment for breaking The First Rule. Unlike Fractures, Ritters are rare to encounter, but they leave a lasting impression of the Forest’s anger. Ritters tower over all but owls and cherubs, standing upright at eight feet tall. They carry themselves on four spindly legs ending in three long fingers each; one for balance on the inside, two on the outside for gripping and navigation. An elongated skeletal humanoid torso is attached by its hips at the center of its legs. The head is large and sits on a swiveling long neck. There appears to be no face at first glance, a thick flap of skin covering where its eyes should be like a helmet, and hunting and feeding are the only times it opens its mouth, splitting its head from ear to ear and filled with needle teeth. Their arms are long and lanky with long delicate fingers tipped with curved claws, which they use to feel their way around. It’s the only way to tell when one is nearby, as they make a distinct rapid tapping noise against trees and rocks. They are pale in color, sickly green-grey fading to pallor. Their ‘helms’ and the tips of their extremities are a darker grey speckled with dark pine green. Being completely blind, Ritters are easy to avoid by standing perfectly still and waiting for them to pass if expected. As they only travel alone or in groups of two or three maximum, it’s easy to keep track of them. However, noise attracts them and the louder a noise is, the easier it is for them to zero in on the source. When hunting, they let off a shriek and become unexpectedly nightmarishly agile, capable of moving around the terrain with the ease of a spider. It’s harder to escape them head-on, but hiding and keeping perfectly still can cause them to pause and try to relocate their prey. If they can’t pick up its trail again, they cease the chase and continue on their way. Ritters do not wander far from the place they lived as humans. Stalkers and Zoners avoid the ruins of towns and hamlets for this reason. There are still outliers, though, so any proper Forest stalker knows to listen for tapping, no matter where they are.

Flora

Patrol Trees are massive trees that move around in the Forest Proper on their root systems. They don’t appear to have any real aim in how they move, meandering in packs. They aren’t inherently malicious, simply moving around as they will. They pay no mind to what’s in front of them, under them, or behind them, and unintentionally smash their way through animals and people on their way. Hamlets and towns are specifically guarded by the Zone, so that any migrating trees are ushered around habitation on their way through. Patrol Trees also act as guardians for human settlements, anchored around them to cover them when inclement weather comes, as well as beating their massive branches on out-of-control fires. They are also the ones who extinguish fires in the Forest itself in much the same way, pummeling them with little regard to who or what is sitting around it.

Predator Trees are also massive trees that move around the Zone using their root systems. Their intent is more sinister than the Patrol Trees, however, and their ability to hide among other trees makes them extremely dangerous to anyone and anything that lives or peruses the Forest. Predator Trees are considerably more aware of their surroundings and the potential meals in them. They will stop and change course abruptly to go after anything they deem edible, which doesn’t leave out a lot. When caught, they either pull their victims under them using their roots, or simply smash themselves down on top of them until they’ve eaten. They are attracted to loud noises and are ferocious in their pursuits. Unless beaten away by Patrol Trees in charge of guarding settlements, they have no issue entering inhabited spaces for a meal. They are viciously territorial and act in a way like a rogue guardian force of the Forest itself. They have been known to jump straight up and take out low-flying aircraft, prompting an air traffic ban over the Forest for safety. There is very little someone can do when being chased down by a Predator Tree besides run away, though knowing where you are in relation to deterrents is helpful. Using Patrol Trees is a common tactic, since they are nonplussed at being shoved and attacked and will retaliate, as well as climbing up slag piles around the crags, where the roots of the heavy monsters can’t get a good grip. Hiding in Castle courtyards helps too, provided the Castle is friendly and is told what is happening; most Castles will issue a sign they understand and unless the building is intruded on, will give asylum to those escaping the wildlife. Predator Trees originate from the Inner Circle, where they protect the Tree Cage and whatever it holds. It is there the highest number of them can be found, which makes any trek to push to the center extremely difficult, between the trees and the Cult of the Cage. It isn’t uncommon to see a Predator or two wandering the rest of the Forest, looking for an easier meal.

Whipsnaps look like the tree roots that make up much of the Forest’s floor, save for a slightly different pattern that distinguishes them as different. It’s such a subtle shift that makes this act of camouflage dangerous for greenhorns and even seasoned stalkers who don’t pay attention. Whipsnaps do not activate until disturbed, laying nestled into the weave of tree roots. They are easy to avoid if you see them, but if they’re stepped on or nudged, they react by wrapping tightly around whatever’s close and dragging them away. Once thought to be the roots of Predator Trees, it’s now known via plenty of survivors and observations of them that they attach to a bulb partially buried under the roots and ground surface. Proficient Forest stalkers and Zoners will purposely activate a root to drag them to the bulb, which surfaces to feed, in order to stab it, which will kill its network in the area. Given that whipsnaps are fairly common, it’s a losing battle but one necessary for survival.

Moss Pools are exactly as they sound, bottomless pools of moss. They’re fairly large in size and very easy to spot, since not only does the inviting vibrant green of the moss stand out against its surroundings, but tree roots will also grow around it like the sides of a pool. People not paying attention to where they’re going run the risk of falling into one, but they don’t grab or lure or really do anything other than simply exist. Sadly, no one knows where they go or even if they end up anywhere, as no one has been pulled out of one or found after falling into one.

Sleepers are unusual simply on the basis they obviously evolved from kudzu, a non-native plant in Germany, much less the Black Forest. Though the leaves are a bit larger, it looks at first glances exactly like kudzu and even appears to act like it, taking over anything in range at a fairly alarming rate. While the Forest is already actively pruning it on its own and has it relegated to ruins, it has been mutated to be a different threat to anything that breathes. Sleepers smell like mild mint, and has been attributed to the smell of wintergreen more than anything. The stronger the smell, the more damage it does, since the smell comes with a cloud of unseen spores that, when inhaled, releases a sleeping toxin after about five or ten minutes that hits suddenly and heavily and unless removed from the area, permanently. Once the victim is out, sleeper clusters in the area move to cover and consume it in order to fuel its slow assault against the Forest. They’re easy to avoid, either by sight or by smell, and easier to pass through since they don’t have the speed to take down moving entities so long as a filtering mask or respirator are in place.

Corn was an hilarious accident, as well as a good lesson in asking the Forest for something not native to the land. Although it was grown with appropriate tribute, the warped nature of the Zone caused it to gain a quasi-sentience and ability to mobilize itself, wherein it disappeared into the depths of the Forest Proper. While some hamlets and Northtown have growing corn in their farms, these are from seeds brought from outside and given blessing rather than the Forest making them as it normally does crops. Corn is startling to come across, to say the least, rustling around and running aimlessly, but overall, it’s harmless and still edible. Catching and harvesting ripe ears does not seem to hurt the stalks themselves, and they regrow their fruits fairly quickly, making them the perfect gift for any starving stalker in the Proper.

Anomalies

Flashbangs are the most common and generally useful anomaly in the Forest. They are easy to spot by the faintly glowing orb bobbing in mid-air. They occasionally drift around, but it’s slow and easy to predict some of their paths. They’re fairly easy to trigger, everything from tossing rocks at them to clapping works. Once activated, it’s best to stand a decent distance from them, as they ignite with an intense heat that burns the immediate blast area around them, making a loud bang and growing considerably brighter. Their bright white light is ideal for seeing in dark places and makes them necessary especially in the Barrier, where normal light can’t penetrate, and the bang is loud enough to activate any other flashbangs in the area. They stay lit for about fifteen minutes before dimming to nothing and recharging for five minutes. Only when the glowing sphere returns can they be reactivated. Flashbangs are the most common anomaly in the Zone known to change, as well, and has a pretty obvious tell on whether or not it’s a flashbang or simply looks like one at a glance. The glow on a standard flashbang has a hint of pale blue to it, while mutated flashbangs are a different shade of blue or a different color or lack a color altogether. The effects differ from mutation to mutation, and the only way to tell what it’s actually doing is to throw a rock at it and activate it from a safe distance.

Quicksands are not so easy to spot. Perfectly circular pools of what looks like bare soil is the tell, and they’re known for sucking in limbs that interact with them with such ferocity, it would take nothing short of amputation on the spot to be free of one. The pressure created on the inside of the tube that makes up a quicksand anomaly can suffocate a victim and potentially crush them. Quicksands are useful in their own way, and all long-term inhabitants of the Zone will use them for trash cans or garbage disposals. Since they’re activated by touch, all it takes is a rock in the middle to set one off and once it’s done sucking the rock down into its sandy depths, the ground solidifies while it recharges for ten minutes.

Vortexes are the resident teleporters. They are distinguishable by the distinctly warped spiral in reality and also one of the rarer anomalies. The outcome is randomized and no two end locations are the same place twice, popping users out either in the Forest or even out of it. While not harmful to stalkers trying to use them to get around easier, they can cause nausea and dizziness for a short time to greenhorn users. They take fifteen minutes to recharge.

Faerie Doors/Circles are a rather infamous Forest exclusive, another throwback to its deep folkloric history. Like in stories, faerie doors and circles teleport the unwitting victim walking through or into them to an alternate parallel existence where they are the only ones inhabiting the space, trapped in endless forest with no other civilization. They are seemingly-unnatural arches made with branches [Doors] or circles of mushrooms, flowers, or misplaced saplings on the ground [Circles] that appear randomly in front of a traveler. Throwing rocks at them does not activate them, as only a human body going through them can, and the disappear when someone walks through them. If not engaged, they disappear and reappear in a different place. They are easy to avoid, simply moving carefully around them and continuing on. Most deaths caused by doors and circles are less the phenomena themselves and more of a different Forest hazard trying to avoid them.

Silver Thread, or Platinum Thread in some regions, is a caustic nearly-invisible fiber that grows in strange places. The dim light catching its fine existence causes it to glint like pale precious metals, thus earning it its name. Despite its delicate appearance, silver thread is deadly to the touch. It has been known to penetrate clothing and safety suits somehow and causes sudden organ failure as well as rapid-growth cancer cells. It’s hard to avoid and due to the inability to handle it, causes stalkers and Zoners to take wide detours. Only cherubs are immune to it, growing it across their spines and fans.

Burnt Fuzz seems to be a fixture in any Zone, clinging to metal and wood alike and slowly eating away at them. Except in this case, when it feeds both Patrol and Predator Trees, what devour it gladly and with extreme prejudice; while it’s a commonly-shared phenomena, the Trees’ diet have made it much more manageable in the Forest. As with all variations of burnt fuzz, it burns to the touch and drapes over anything it can find.

Ghosts, Orbs, or Will’o’Wisps are so-named because of Zoner belief that the balls of floating light are the dead souls of those who were lost to the trees. They have no actual sentience, meandering aimlessly through the Forest Proper and are easy to avoid if spotted first. When interacted with, they envelop their victim in a sense of warmth and comfort, playing good memories or writing pleasant stories to keep them in a stupor until they die of exposure. It’s easy to pull a victim out of one’s influence, and they will regain their senses fairly quickly, depending on how long they were hypnotized. There are rare cases where a rescued victim will seek out and return to the world crafted for them.

Shades are another delve into the Forest’s favorite faerie stories and as such, shades are the most terrifying ‘anomaly’ encountered to date, being almost entirely independent of the Forest outside creation. They only inhabit the fringes and interior of the Inner Circle and are one of many things in the Forest attracted to sound. The rule concerning using call-signs only and disregarding real names were based almost entirely on shades’ existence, as they are a product of the Forest attempting to wheedle names out in order to get into peoples’ heads. Encountering a shade is encountering a figure from the victim’s life, good or bad, demanding their real name. It’s strongly advised to never give in, no matter what sort of tactics it resorts to in order to get what it wants until it gives up and goes away for the time being. There is no other way to activate a shade outside attracting it to you, and there is no cool-down period for this particular anomaly.

Artifacts

Artifacts in a Visitation Zone are essentially refuse left by the visiting aliens after the Landing. All of their uses are as of yet unknown to humans, but they are the reason Visitation Stalkers exist as a whole; collectors pay good money for whole artifacts and the temptation is great. Artifacts in the Forest hardly differ from those Visitation Zones’ hauls anywhere else in the world, save for one. They call it the Screw, on account that it looks like the pointed threaded tip of a construction screw. Sometimes, the grooves between the threads gives off a faint glow, but other than a glorified nightlight, its actual uses are as much a mystery as all the other artifacts pulled out of Visitation Zones. It fetches a fairly high price among scientific communities, but since it’s a common artifact to the region, local collectors won’t pay much for it. It’s better to peddle it to foreign ones.

#Roadside Picnic #S.T.A.L.K.E.R.#stalker oc #Black Forest Developments #i'd been developing this one in snippets over the last few years; figured i should finally compile the damned thing together #it took three weeks to get it all together and im sure i missed bits and pieces #i'll either add them later or make new posts for them; i put the main details under a readmore for a reason

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badsithnocookie · 5 years ago

Note

Character meme: both keepers (former watcher 2 + future minister of intelligence)

the former minister formerly known as keeper

How I feel about this character

problematic fave. he does not buy into Sith Bullshit for a single iota of a moment. he does not buy into much of anything in the way of imperial propaganda, though what he’s doing with imperial intelligence in that case remains a question. he bows and scrapes when the sith are present and correct but he makes no bones about how awful they are when they’re not listening. he goes above and beyond to protect the people under his command. he knows far, far more than he lets on, and is absolutely not to be crossed. if jadus ever shows his head again, he’s a dead sith walking.

i stan one (1) imperial minister

All the people I ship romantically with this character

i don’t really have a ship for him? i feel like he’s. one of those ‘married to the job’ people. even for intelligence work.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

a long uneventful retirement

My unpopular opinion about this character

i do not interact with imperial agent fandom so i don’t know what if any popular onions exist about this man. however i will say one thing: he is not a good person. he is not a nice person. he works in intelligence - at all, never mind for the sith empire.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

personally i was satisfied with the way his story tied up in vanilla, appreciated his brief cameo in sor, and was glad that he’d fallen into a plothole by the time kotfetet rolled around.

the former keeper formerly known as watcher two

How I feel about this character

my daughter and another problematic fav.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

ls agents. bioware pls.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

therapy, deprogramming, a long and fulfilling life

My unpopular opinion about this character

looks like a cinamon roll, could and would kill you. if not in person, would not feel bad about ordering the hit. she’s not a good bean!

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

again i was very happy with how her arc turned out in canon! that you’re basically kidnapping her in sor always made me :\ even knowing that she’s not with the empire of her own free will, either. but i really appreciated that when she cameo’d in the post kotfetet content, it was for saboteur agents when they called in to see jonas after the ossus story was done. i particularly liked that she remembered her rescue in sor, and i thought the line of dialogue she had for defector agents (from back in vanilla) was particularly touching. i hope they bring her back as a recurring character! bioware, romance pls

it’d be a terrible waste of her character if they’d done something like, idk, have her show up on nathema v2 to lament a defector agent betraying the same empire that fucked them both over, before dying stupidly offscreen. that would be awful and i am super glad bioware did not go that route.

#keeper #watcher two #codariidoescrimes

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nikoto-n · 5 years ago

Photo

(template here)

PLAYER TRUST AVATAR - Niko’to Nagatani

Selection VO Line: “ Of course. “

Job: White Mage/Dragoon Hybrid, some magicks borrowed from other casters

Weapon: Custom Pike imbued with crystals aspected to each element to channel magicks, and forged with white auracite shards in the blade and tip to cripple Ascians on engagement.

AI Behaviour: Generally sticks close to the tank in trash pulls and on the target’s rear-flank in boss fights. On pull, will immediately Jump the tank’s primary target and then close in with Dragonfire Dive after landing back where he was if the tank has established enmity on all targets near enough the primary target to be hit by Dragonfire Dive’s AoE. Will maintain 100% uptime with Regen on the tank and also slap it on anyone else who takes damage but is not in immediate threat of sustaining more. When allies are healthy, he will perform standard Dragoon combos and maintain Disembowel + Chaos Thrust. When disengaged from an enemy due to dodging mechanics, will cast Thundaga, followed by Blizzaja and three casts of Firaja, unless the boss has become safe to attack from melee range again, at which point he will close the gap with Spineshatter Dive. When allies are in need of healing, he will cease all damage output and first apply Divine Benison to the target most in need of healing, before deciding what to cast. If the whole party needs healing and is stacked, he will move to them if he is not among them and cast Curaga, if they are not he will cast Medicara, weave Assize, and pop Afflatus Rapture if he has access to it- if not he will cast Medica. If only one or two targets need healing, he will pop Tetragrammaton or Afflatus Solace on them if he can, then cast Cura on targets below 50% HP and Cure on targets above 50%, alternating targets if both are safe from further damage to heal them evenly- may focus healing on one if one is about to take further damage. (I’m sorry healing is complicated okay, like it’s not hard but there’s layers here)

If the tank dies, will first cast Mighty Guard on self, Dragonfire Dive the tank’s former primary target to establish himself as makeshift tank, then begin casting Raise on the tank as enemies attack him. May heal himself if needed after the Raise cast is finished, then heal the tank to full before dropping Mighty Guard. If any other ally dies, he will simply Raise them once nobody else is in need of healing.

Quotes “ Lead, and I shall follow. “ - Starting an instance, does not always play “ Here goes! “ - Beginning attack “ Hup! “ - Using jumps, v1 “ Hiyuh! “ - Using jumps, v2 “ Have no fear, I will protect you. “ - Emergency healing “ What happened to you? “ - Raising DPS “ I suppose the time for this has come... “ - Casting Mighty Guard “ I am sorry, I have failed in my duty to you. “ - Raising Tank

“ All will be well. “ - LB1 “ You will walk away from this alive. “ - LB2 “ We will make it through this, I promise. “ - LB3 “ I will NOT let it end here...! “ - LB in desperation “ Oh...dear. “ - KO’d, v1 “ My...I suppose I aught rest. “ - KO’d, v2 “ Mistakes were made, t’would seem... “ - Revived, v1 “ Thank you, I will walk it off. “ - Revived, v2

Misc./Notes Available in all instances, but will move more slowly in hot places such as Halatali and other places in Thanalan, and may spout random dialogue about it being too hot and how he generally has disdain for all things Thanalan. If brought into Doma Castle, his dialogue will become pensive, and he will don a mask so as not to be recognised by his people as the one who dares to rock the boat and overthrow the Garleans in case he should fail and merely anger the Garleans and put those who know him in harm’s way.

#ffxiv #ffxiv rp #trust avatar #so basically he's a lanceman who has all the magicks #but kinda just doesn't use all of it because wow that'd be busted #he's not all that chatty though #he's actually pretty reserved #and yes he can do every role but functions primarily as a healer

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pluckyredhead · 6 years ago

Text

Daredevil 101: The King of Hell’s Kitchen

And we’re back! Last time, Matt beat the crap out of Fisk, unmasked in Josie’s, and declared himself the new Kingpin. We pick up a year later, with Ben explaining to an unseen companion at a diner just what’s been going on for the past twelve months. This is gonna be a long one, guys, sorry. (Bendis/Maleev, DD v2 #56-60.)

[Content Warning: There is a passing reference to Squirrel Hill, as in the Pittsburgh neighborhood - no connection to the recent tragedy there, as this comic is about 15 years old. I just didn’t want anyone blindsided.]

Basically, despite Matt unmasking in front of a room full of criminals, everyone is too terrified of him to actually admit that they saw his face, which means that he’s been able to keep up the double life game, even though fewer people than ever believe he’s not Daredevil anymore. This is all stuff Ben has gathered through hearsay, since Matt told him to stay away for his own protection and they haven’t spoken directly since before Josie’s.

Matt even had time to grow a horrible goatee!

It’s SO BAD, MATTHEW, WHY.

He also won his lawsuit against that one tabloid, meaning that currently, in the eyes of the court, Matt Murdock is not Daredevil. He donated the enormous amount of money he won to neighborhood charities. Please note this line: “See, Matt’s new girlfriend, Milla Donovan, actually works at the Hell’s Kitchen housing commission.” Just hold onto that for a minute.

Matt’s so popular, in fact, he’s approached to run for mayor!

“I am dizzy from you.” Wow, Franklin. WOW.

Not everyone is happy with Matt’s recent choices, though, as evidenced by an intervention from some of the local superheroes:

Do you think Luke got all the way to that fourth panel before realizing he was the only one here without an alliterative name and felt suddenly self-conscious? Do you think he had a split second of “Should I try to go by Carl Cage just for right now? Could I pull it off?”

Anyway one of the things I really love about Maleev’s art is the specificity of his...well, either photo referencing or just drawing from life. I could take you to the exact spot they’re standing in Bryant Park. (It’s a logical meeting place for this group, too, since it’s centrally located and walking distance from - but not inside - Hell’s Kitchen.)

Anyway, the others are pissed because Matt saying “Get out of Hell’s Kitchen!” to criminals just...made them do crime above 59th Street and below 34th, which was a pretty foregone conclusion. Matt’s unsympathetic:

Who wants to tell Matt that Hell’s Kitchen, Harlem, and the Village are all in Manhattan and his little plan here doesn’t make sense? Like, Matt and Luke covering neighborhoods while the other three, who can travel further and faster, cover the city as a whole, does make sense, but also “go do crime over there” doesn’t stop crime. As Peter points out, while wearing a very strange facial expression.

But Matt ignores the warnings, and ignores the growing tension in Hell’s Kitchen, and then, just a few days before Ben’s telling this story, he and Milla are attacked by like a hundred Yakuza assassins. He sends Milla running for safety...and hasn’t been seen since. And that’s all Ben knows.

And that’s when we see who he’s been talking to:

I want to clarify that Ben’s explanation of the past year of events has taken two full issues. That’s like five bucks worth of comics that is Ben mansplaining Milla’s own recent history to her, including explaining to her what her job is. They should have killed 616 Ben instead, Jesus.

Also, Milla and Matt are married! Hey, how about that?! She goes on to explain to a stunned Ben (who, I guess, didn’t ask her any questions before he started talking for two entire months holy shit Ben what is wrong with you) that they got married about four months ago, and we later learn that Milla’s the one who proposed. So she proposed to a man she’d known for eight months, who is...sort of a crime boss? An anti-crime boss? Anyway, keep that in your pocket for a bit.

(I’m sorry, I’m still so angry about these two issues. Anyone who wants to hear me rant about decompression, the ask box is open.)

Uh, Milla, that’s not a compliment. You want Matt to be in love with you as a human being, not the abstract concept of you as a conglomeration of eight million people and island real estate.

Anyway, Matt told Milla that if anything went wrong, she should contact Ben. She and Ben are both baffled by this, so Ben goes to see the actual person most likely to know where Matt is:

Take the money and just make shit up, Fogy! Anyway my poor beautiful tired boy has no idea where Matt is, and is also rather wounded that Matt had a contingency plan in place for Milla but a) not for Foggy and b) didn’t tell Foggy about it. Especially since the Yakuza are out in full force and Foggy has been sleeping in his office because he can’t safely leave it.

My heart. Foggy has never really gotten to grieve on page for Karen, given that he was in jail for her funeral, but he knew her as long as Matt did (technically slightly longer) and he loved her too.

Ben tracks Matt to the Night Nurse (who, remember, is not Claire Temple in the comics) and floats a new theory by him:

I’m very sorry Matt but i can’t take you seriously with that facial hair.

Matt stops crying long enough to deny it, but by now Ben knows he’s right:

I’m...pretty sure this is the first time someone has seriously said: “Matt, your behaviors are unhealthy and I’m concerned about your mental health.” And, like, itemized them (including explicitly saying that flaking on Foggy and leaving him in these crisis situations is cruel!). People have said “you’re crazy” or “you’re being a jerk” but it’s always been said in anger. This is uncompromising but compassionate. This is “a terrible thing happened to you and I know that you’re still in pain.” No wonder Matt cries.

And Matt’s not the only one who’s listening:

Wow, Foggy has a good memory. And the face of a man who is contextualizing the past few years of his life and doesn’t like what he sees.

(A+ for the frazzle of of hat hair, Maleev.)

Matt goes to a safehouse. Foggy goes...somewhere undetermined. A spa? Everyone gets naked:

No, seriously, I have no idea why everyone needed to be SO NAKED in this scene (although I’m not complaining). Anyway please enjoy FOGGY’S TATTOO (WHAT???) and also Matt calling him both “Franklin” and “good boy” in a single page.

If you want to, like, read the actual words and pay attention to plot, I GUESS, Matt promises to deal with the Yakuza situation. Foggy’s still not happy:

YES I HAD TO INCLUDE THIS DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD, IT’S IMPORTANT. Text if you can’t embiggen:

Matt: Are you breaking up with me?

Foggy: I don’t think you’ll let me.

Matt: I need you, Foggy. I’ll fix this. I’ll make it right.

Foggy: Yeah, okay. So just do what you have to do.

Matt: I need you to bring me something to wear.

Foggy: Something red?

Matt: It’s red?

Foggy: What?

Matt: I thought it was yellow.

Foggy: ...Are you serious?

Matt: No.

Foggy: That was pretty funny.

IT IS A VERY GOOD AND IMPORTANT EXCHANGE and it is only slightly marred by Milla draped in silent nakedness over Matt the whole time because...of reasons? Ugh.

Matt goes to get backup and finds himself being dragged for like the third time in 24 hours:

Haha! Pregnant women! So hysterical about being lied to by their friends and employers who they are risking their lives for! Hormones, fellas, amirite???! LOL.

(Seriously, fuck this shit.)

Anyway. Main Yakuza Dude Whose Name I Forget is still pretty confident about moving on Hell’s Kitchen now that Matt’s out of the picture:

Oh man, sorry about your life, Main Yakuza Dude!

“Are you guys sure you want me to do this pose? It feels more ‘boy band’ than ‘badass.’“

“Yeah, Luke, definitely!"

“Yeah? I don’t know, I kind of feel like...”

“No, dude, it works, it looks totally cool, I promise!”

They beat up the Yakuza. Meanwhile, Foggy joins Milla at the safehouse:

Why is Milla still in her underwear???????????????? #cancelmen

When Matt returns to the safehouse after defeating the Yakuza, Foggy is gone, and Milla is finally dressed...and very unhappy. She tells him what Foggy told her:

Here are the things that jump out at me about this page:

1. Milla says “this Karen Page person,” which implies that she has rarely or never heard Karen mentioned before. Considering that Matt (and Foggy!) knew Karen for, as Ben pointed out, almost all of his adult life, and that she was intrinsically tied not just to Matt (and Foggy!) but Daredevil and Nelson and Murdock, this is stunning. How do you spend a year with your wife and almost never mention someone you were intimately close to for at least a decade? I know Matt is secretive by nature, but this makes me think that Matt and Milla essentially never had any real or deep communication. Which, honestly, checks out.

2. We don’t see the conversation between Milla and Foggy. Theoretically, he could have said “LOLOLOL MATT NEVER LOVED YOU HE STILL LOVES MY DEAD FRIEND SUCK IT” but that seems...out of character, to say the least. I suspect, given how confused and distressed Milla is, that he said something more like “I think the reason Matt is acting like this is because he is still processing his trauma over the death of someone he loved very much.” Which shouldn’t be a surprise to Milla, considering that one of the very first things Matt told her was “Two women I loved have been murdered.” But apparently this is a great betrayal somehow??? Because:

And this is why I just can’t with Milla. So much of what doesn’t work with her character, like the thin personality and the helplessness and the fact that she’s IN HER UNDERWEAR ALL THE TIME FOR NO REASON, is because of sexist writing and drawing, and I’m not laying that at her feet. And I’ll be the first person to declare that Matt Murdock is a shitty boyfriend/partner and has been to literally every single woman he’s dated.

But the compassionate response to “the person I love is having a nervous breakdown because he lost someone he cared about” is not to scream “SHUT UP!!!” and accuse him of lying. I’m not married but I’m preeeeeetty sure the vows don’t include “I swear that I definitely never loved anyone else and if I did, I don’t love them anymore.” Matt broke no promises here (for once!) and, as I’ve said before, Milla went on two highly dangerous dates with Matt Murdock and then he declared himself Kingpin and then she proposed. She had all the evidence she needed that life with Matt is dangerous, bizarre, and full of ethical pitfalls and the ghosts of murdered girlfriends, and as an educated, intelligent adult woman in charge of her own business, she decided to sign up. This one is absolutely not on Matt and it pisses me off that it’s treated like it is.

Anyway. *breathes*

Next up: Black Widow returns!

#daredevil #daredevil 101

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lore-of-the-silvereyes-rwby · 4 years ago

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Paranoia over reason

Now we move onto the source of Ironwood's problems his new dominent trait of Fear. Now there could be an argument for pride or strength of will but in all honesty fear has been the core value of his entire personality. For It is human nature to fear death above all else.

Before I delve into why fear may be his most dominant emotion at present, let's take a look at several definitions and meanings of the word.

Fear;

an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

a feeling of anxiety concerning the outcome of something or the safety and well-being of someone.

the likelihood of something unwelcome happening.

a mixed feeling of dread and reverence.

Now that we have the clear definition and example of what fear is let's proceed.

I think we can all agree that the first signs of Ironwood's fear were first seen in volume 3. Due to the events of the Fall of Beacon where he was completely and utterly out maneuvered by Salem and Cinder despite his best efforts to stop them, Ironwood now appears to suffer from a degree of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), an increased sense of paranoia, and an increased desperation to stop Salem by any means.

This, now coupled with his typical bullheadedness, arrogance and bluntness has made him make several decisions that have led to many of his own people from Atlas and the world in general to outright despise him due to the countermeasures he had implemented and the severe secrecy he has exhibited to the people, even his fellow Councilmen.

Even those in high positions or highly influential within the Kingdom have begun seeing him in a bad light, as seen with Jacques, Robyn Hill, Pietro Polendina and Councilmen Sleet and Camilla have begun doubting his state of mind and the honesty of his intentions.

Fundamentally, fear of death is the governing principle of human action. Fear is also one of the main motivator for most if not all of Ironwood's decisions that have affected the main plot of the current RWBY storyline.(For more details about this proceed to the hero section) His paranoia assuming he was already a paranoid individual before his debut has grown from worst to the extreme. So much so that it has warranted the concern of most of his allies.

Below are a few selected quotes and dialogue from some characters that evidence this reasoning and observation.

“James was no different. I couldn't tell you exactly what it was he saw there, but it changed him. He's…”

“He's scared.”

“Paranoid would be the more appropriate term.”

Pietro Polendina, & Qrow Branwen/ The Greatest Kingdom

“I'm not sure what happened to James in Vale, but it seems to have only worsened some of his more unfortunate tendencies. ”

Lionheart/ Welcome to Haven

“General Ironwood.... he looks.... tired.”

“James... what have you been doing?”

Yang, Ruby & Qrow/ The Greatest Kingdom

This more or less was a call for concern for the mental health and state of Ironwood’s mind. Fear is the main survival trait of all living things and it's okay to have it. But for Ironwood he had relied on fear too much to the point that it had consumed him and influenced every choice he had made. Not a very good trait to rely on.

Especially when you concern yourself more with uncertain and possible threats instead of the current and known threats that are in front of you. For Ironwood he ignored the current issues at hand in order to prepare for uncertain threats thus escalating the problem to the extreme.

Now we know how fear has motivated Ironwood and how it has led his situation from bad to worst. So we will now look at the possibility of how he might use his fear and the fear of others to his advantage.(Can’t be a General if you can’t motivate the people under your command to follow you without question)

“But ask yourself this: do you honestly believe your children can win a war?”

—Ironwood, before leaving Ozpin's office

“Discreet wasn't working. I'm here because this is what was necessary.”

—Ironwood, about the military presence in Vale

“The people of Vale needed someone to protect them, someone who would act. When they look to the sky and see my fleet, they feel safe, and our enemies will feel our strength.”

—Ironwood

Basically Ironwood is the class A example of Machiavelli in terms of philosophical ideals of security and control. Specifically relating to these 2 main ideas of Machiavelli’s philosophy;

Famously asserted that while it would be best to be both loved and feared, the two rarely coincide, and thus, greater security is found in the latter;

Viewed ambition, competition and war as inevitable parts of human nature, even seeming to embrace all of these tendencies.

But in the case of Ironwood he took these to the extreme. To the point that he became a fear monger; someone who spreads fear, or needlessly raises the alarm. This is what he did in V2. Now why would I assume this. As stated before his actions have more or less influenced the current course of events that has shaped the current world of RWBY for the worst.

This might also explain why Winter the Ace-Opts and even the members of Ruby’s group(@ v7 beginning & specifically Ren & Qrow) were willing to follow Ironwood. Not because he has the plan or because they trust him but because Ironwood has prayed on their fear and insecurities. As such they surrendered control of themselves and consented to Ironwood's authority.

For Winter it can be assumed that Ironwood had used her fear and anger of her father to his advantage. Thus gaining a loyal obedient servant. This might actually explain winter's line in the enemy of trust;

“What are you doing?! My life doesn’t matter!”

—Winter, to Penny after she saves her

Because she had consented to following Ironwood and accepted that her life has no value unless her assumed savior gives her a purpose. Basically Winter feared that she would end up like her father and so she rejected him in favor of Ironwood. To her Ironwood was the father she had always wanted. But her fear of Jaques had blinded her to the truth of Ironwood. Blinded her to the point that she had consented to a paranoid tyrant that will put his own agenda before everyone else.

Ironwood groomed and conditioned Winter from the start to be his right hand and be wholly loyal to him even against what’s right and against those Winter loves so she would carry out his orders even if they were morally dubious. He had brainwashed her to the point that she said, out loud, that her life doesn’t matter compared to Ironwood’s goals.

This same logic is also quite possible for the ace-opts as well as they all seem to have more fear dwelling within them more than the main heroes that they hide behind a false façade of confidence while relying and believing that Ironwood can ease their fear because he has made them believe that he can.

This is also shown in Ren where he seems to be the only one of the main heroes to actually join Ironwood’s side without hesitation in the worst case scenario. Not because he thinks what Ironwood is doing is morally right or if it's the pragmatic choice. It's because he is afraid and has no idea what to do. Add in the fact that his usual leaders (Ruby/Jaune/Qrow/Oz) have no idea what to do as well. Hence this quote;

“We spent so much time worrying about how Ironwood will react to the truth about her, but have any of us considered how we're even going to beat her if we manage to work past that?”

—Ren, to Ruby and Nora

The fear of losing Ironwood’s trust is secondary to his main fear of Salem and how he and his allies have no idea or plan to combat her. But despite that he is consenting to Ironwood because of how hopeless he believes the situation to be and thinks Ironwood can relieve him of some of the despair. And chances are that this was shared with the rest of the main heroes but at varying levels.

This is also more evident with Qrow. Prior to this, Qrow has hated Atlas and what it stands for, and was never afraid to call it out. But Qrow was the character most devastated by the revelations in Volume 6, as it shatters his entire worldview and causes him to doubt his entire life’s work. A life’s work that has both fulfilled him and given him purpose, while also putting a strain on many of his relationships. So with his entire world thrown into chaos, he clings to the stability and security Ironwood offers and ignores the warning signs he would’ve caught at anyone other point in his life.

This is also true in real life: where groups that try to embed unthinking loyalty into their followers always try to recruit people at their most vulnerable. This even works on a macro-scale, where whole nations can fall under the sway of strongman leaders after massive social upheavals.

Okay we have covered how Fear has influenced his actions as well as how he may take advantage of the fears of others to achieve his desired goals. Now we will cover how Ironwood’s fears, and paranoia may be unfounded.

To start we will take a look at an overall summary of the final 3 episodes of Volume 7 that displayed the extreme limits of Ironwood’s fears and paranoia.

As of "Gravity", once he learns Cinder Fall is on Atlas, and taking into account the lies from Ruby's Group and that Salem was coming, Ironwood caves into his paranoia. Now more distrustful than ever before, he believes the entirety of Ruby's Group is betraying him, leading him to commit many unethical acts in order to prevent Salem from winning.

He was willing to abandon Mantle despite the people not being fully evacuated and use the Relic of Creation to raise Atlas into the sky instead of Amity Tower, deciding he'd abandon his original plan to solely save his city instead. He was even willing to have Fria killed in order to make Winter Schnee the next Winter Maiden.

His paranoia had reached a level where he now plans on using his immense influence as both General to the Atlas Military and Headmaster to the Academy to now put the entire kingdom of Atlas in a state of martial law without the kingdom's council's consent or approval due to now no longer knowing who to trust as seen where he ordered the arrest of Ruby's Group when they refused to go along with his extreme plan of self preservation. He was even willing to go so far as to shoot Oscar Pine without any hesitation or remorse afterwards so he could proceed with his plan.

This is pretty much a summary of the events that happened in the final episodes of the last season and where the controversy of his character begins in the rwby fandom. Basically arguing whether or not he's a hero or a villain. Well as stated his actions were all motivated by fear and paranoia instead of actual reason or logic. Sure it can be argued that he made the rational choice but he wouldn’t have had he not been motivated by either his fear or ambition. Thus he had unnecessarily escalated the situation and did more harm than good.

And as stated by Ozpins speech at the end fear is just like alcohol the more you are consumed by it the more your real self is revealed.

The single quality that is common across every living creature on this planet... is fear. It’s funny then, that as common as fear is... we so easily underestimate its power.

But fear itself isn’t worthy of concern, it is who we become while in its clutches.

Will you be proud of that person? Will you forgive them? Will you understand why they felt the need to do the things they did? Will you even recognize them? Or will the person staring back at you be the very thing you should have feared from the start?

I suppose we all find out... sooner or later.

And as stated by Ozpin's speech at the end, fear is just like alcohol the more you are consumed by it the more your real self is revealed. And his true self has been revealed to be nothing more than a scared barley competent man that should have never been put in power in the first place

For it was his insistence that his way is what’s best for everyone has been the source if not all of the main cause of all the conflicts in the story. Because of this he has done more harm than good to Remnant and its people.

You had me with your words but you lost me with your action

#rwby #world of remnant #general ironwood #rwby ironwood #james ironwood #rwby atlas #rwby mantle #rwby analysis #rwby theory #rwby spoilers #rwby salem #Ironwood analysis

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