[RWBY] RWBY Shorts

[LordofBones]

Here is a rough for a brief Blake x Sun bit.

It wasn't like Blake wasn't aware of how attractive she was. She knew it. But that alone couldn't explain Sun's interest in her, could it?

Yes, she was a fellow Faunus but there were many other female Faunus around. Plenty of them had been making eyes at Sun. Yet he still pursued her.

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Sun: "I can fix her!"

"SOMEHOW I DOUBT IT!"

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<The next day>

"Why is Pyrrha floating outside the window - holy shit that's a Bullhead-"
"BRING OUT YOUR MAN-STEALING SKANK!"

 

[SharkCultist]

Sun: "I can fix her!"



<The next day>

"Why is Pyrrha floating outside the window - holy shit that's a Bullhead-"
"BRING OUT YOUR MAN-STEALING SKANK!"

Click to shrink...

They're lucky her semblance is magnetism and not electromagnetism.

Because that shit can make black holes.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

This is how I contextualize the Vale/Beacon Fall for my fics:

Given how much more concentrated Remnant populations have to be (given the Grimm and all), the fall of Vale would be equivalent to...

Washington DC, New York City, Los Angeles, and the Dallas/Fort Worth metro areas coming under massive attack by invaders all at once, and any US Military vehicles within range of those areas being hacked by a virus to either not respond or attack our own people. And the Internet would be out across the entire country, at the very least.

(Washington DC for the political and military control center, NYC, LA, and Dallas for the economic/financial and cultural production centers.)

Now, would this make the US surrender immediately? No. Thanks to the Cold War there are many plans in place for worst case scenarios of this nature. As long as someone's left in the chain of command, they can be made President and they can organize a response. The US also has many military forces distributed across the country and the world that could all be pulled together to mount counterattacks, once the virus was isolated.

But it would be a massive blow and the US would be fighting at a severe disadvantage. There would be mass panic in many cities, riots, looting, fires, and chaos. To say nothing of supply chain failures and many other crises.

So while it wouldn't necessarily be a knock-out blow? It would leave the US fighting desperately. That is how I picture Vale's fall going.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

A fun idea might be this: Nora is curious about religions. She's learned a bit about some of them, Ren's religion being Pathism (a mixture of Buddhism with a bit of Taoism), but she's interested in others! So she might ask her friends about their religions and go with them for their services or rituals.

With Jaune, she might go to a Tablebreaker church service and learn about this world's version of Christianity. Maybe talk to Aslan if you use her characterization as a nun.

Ruby and Yang are a bit lapsed in their faith, they just went to the Tablebreaker church for free food and help when Taiyang was out of it. Yang would be unsure about any faith in a higher power given everything she's been through, being agnostic, and Ruby might believe but doesn't go very often if at all due to her social awkwardness.

Weiss might officially belong to a Tablebreaker church in Atlas, but in her case, her belief is tainted by how her father just used church membership to get political clout and bonus points with the people, seeing it as a kind of social club. So she might be agnostic at best about it.

Conversely, Nora might talk to some other Atlasian students about a Norse-like religion that some inhabitants of Solitas still follow, something that might give her a clue to her own origins given her last name. Her mother may have been Atlasian and maybe even a follower of this particular religion.

She'd go with Ren to an actual Pathist monastery, or with someone else who believes in it, to get a more indepth view on it. Ren might follow Pathism because it's how he was brought up, and he may have spent time in a monastery getting trained in their arts to become a Huntsman. But he wasn't very interested in the faith itself and isn't sure if he fully believes in it, or if he merely follows it because it's a tie to his past.

Blake might be an atheist, or she might believe in the Animal God of the Faunus. It's an ethnocentric faith but Nora would be curious about it anyway, so Blake might talk to her about it. Or another Faunus might.

Pyrrha could follow a Greek-inspired take on the Tablebreaker religion, like the Greek Orthodox Church, or she follows a version of the Hellenic religion, worshiping the classic Greek Pantheon. Which could also be very interesting to explore.

People from Vacuo might have their own religions, some based on Zoroastrianism or maybe even something a little like Islam. Or she could talk to May and learn about Dharmism, my take on Hinduism for Remnant.

You can do a lot for character exploration and worldbuilding with religion, and Nora might be a great person for this viewpoint thanks to her energy and her openness to new ideas, as well as her isolation from "regular" civilization.

 

[Bommel]

You can do a lot for character exploration and worldbuilding with religion, and Nora might be a great person for this viewpoint thanks to her energy and her openness to new ideas, as well as her isolation from "regular" civilization.

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On the topic of religion, and particularly on the Tablebreaker church (Remnant's version of Christianity).
It's too pieceful and clean, which is incredibly unrealistic in my opinon.

I know of absolutely no IRL religion where there haven't been commited atrocities in it's name, leaders of the religion have exploited, supressed or violated humanrights of people, or done terrible and shit things things in it's name.
TThere have been crusades, ethnic cleansings, slavery (which was condoned by the bible in the old testement and never said anything about in the new testiment), force their religion on others under the threat of death, making people pay to get into heaven (indulgence), sexually exploit or even rape people, hypocritically go against their own rules (some Popes were outright married and had kids while buying their position), and many other things.
And some of these things are still happening in the modern day, like how the mormon church (church of jesus christ of latter-day saints) taught that the ancient curses of Cain and Ham was the cause of black and Native Americans skin tones (and thus was okay to enslave them when that was still legal), and were banned to join until 1978 when it started teaching that the curses "were no longer in effect" and the whole curse thing was still tought to be true until 2013.
Even Buddhism, one of the most piecefull religions I know of has had some horrible followers (I remember a news story from years ago where a couple of Budhist monks in India were championing to have an entire ethical and/or muslim population deported or have all of them put into enclosed reservations or camps).

So if there's going to be some exploring of the religions of Remnant, then they shouldn't be squeaky clean and have some less than ideal things going on here and there.

I also think that there should be more than a couple of polytheistic relitions, because those were historically the norm, rather than monotheistic religions being the most prevalent like most people seem to think.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

On the topic of religion, and particularly on the Tablebreaker church (Remnant's version of Christianity).
It's too pieceful and clean, which is incredibly unrealistic in my opinon.

I know of absolutely no IRL religion where there haven't been commited atrocities in it's name, leaders of the religion have exploited, supressed or violated humanrights of people, or done terrible and shit things things in it's name.
TThere have been crusades, ethnic cleansings, slavery (which was condoned by the bible in the old testement and never said anything about in the new testiment), force their religion on others under the threat of death, making people pay to get into heaven (indulgence), sexually exploit or even rape people, hypocritically go against their own rules (some Popes were outright married and had kids while buying their position), and many other things.
And some of these things are still happening in the modern day, like how the mormon church (church of jesus christ of latter-day saints) taught that the ancient curses of Cain and Ham was the cause of black and Native Americans skin tones (and thus was okay to enslave them when that was still legal), and were banned to join until 1978 when it started teaching that the curses "were no longer in effect" and the whole curse thing was still tought to be true until 2013.
Even Buddhism, one of the most piecefull religions I know of has had some horrible followers (I remember a news story from years ago where a couple of Budhist monks in India were championing to have an entire ethical and/or muslim population deported or have all of them put into enclosed reservations or camps).

So if there's going to be some exploring of the religions of Remnant, then they shouldn't be squeaky clean and have some less than ideal things going on here and there.

I also think that there should be more than a couple of polytheistic relitions, because those were historically the norm, rather than monotheistic religions being the most prevalent like most people seem to think.

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I never said any of these religions were squeaky clean, and I included some polytheistic religions in the idea.

So, by all means. You're free to explore these topics with what I have created if you wish. That is the point of worldbuilding, after all, to provide tools for others to work with in the fictional world.

 

[Bommel]

I never said any of these religions were squeaky clean, and I included some polytheistic religions in the idea.

So, by all means. You're free to explore these topics with what I have created if you wish. That is the point of worldbuilding, after all, to provide tools for others to work with in the fictional world.

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No, but they were kinda portrayed in the text like that, as if everyone who was part of it basically had nothing had nothing even slightly shady about them.
Sorry for going on a bit of a rant there, it's just something that 's been bothering me in most fiction stories.

And on that topic.
Maybe part of the Human Faunus tension is because historically the predominant religion on Vale for Humans have been monotheistic, while those of Faunus were polytheistic, and both groups took exception to the possibility the idea that their god might all be grouped together or split apart (or something similar to that).
And maybe something interesting to explore is how Adam has been so consumed by his quest for revenge and hate against humans that he doesn't know anything about the ancient religions and culture of Faunus, showing how meaningless his goal and worldview actually is.

Another fun one to add are some nature religions or Animism faiths, such as shinto.

Pyrrha could follow a Greek-inspired take on the Tablebreaker religion, like the Greek Orthodox Church, or she follows a version of the Hellenic religion, worshiping the classic Greek Pantheon. Which could also be very interesting to explore.

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Personally I think it would be more interesting if Pyrrha followed the polytheistic Hellenic-like religion based on the ancient Greek faith, as she is based on the ancient greek hero Achilles.
They don't have to be exactly the same (they could be expy's of them) and she believes and worships them despite them being terrible and doing horrible things, because they're not all knowing or the ideal representation of what should be, but rather a reflection on how the world is, terrible things and all (to quote Red from OSP: "To the Greeks, the gods were reflections of what was TRUE, rather than what was IDEAL.")
Though with how marriage is a lot better on Remnant than it was in ancient Greece, the Hera expy is almost certainly a lot nicer and good to the victoms of the Zeus expy.
Even in ancient Greece she was a with a benevolent and fair queen with a strong sense of justice and loyalty, who protects mothers and wives and is generally well-disposed toward faithful husbands.

Spoiler: Simple Greek gods explanation

It could cause tention with how it's very different from most of the faiths that the students in Beacon have, or how her manager may have forced her to keep it hidden and make her seem her more appealing to a larger audiance.

 

[Joshuahaderach]

Expanding the post by Andrew about the fall of Vale /Beacon is how it would impact the rest of the world.

The other nations economies would likely be affected for generations due to loss of trade and could include starvation especially if Vale is a breadbasket shipping hub. The Schee Dust Company would record a massive loss and their recovery impacted due to the loss of an entire market.

I'm not the author at the moment to do it but exploring the fallout worldwide would be something I would love to be explored in depth.

 

[Joshuahaderach]

No, but they were kinda portrayed in the text like that, as if everyone who was part of it basically had nothing had nothing even slightly shady about them.
Sorry for going on a bit of a rant there, it's just something that 's been bothering me in most fiction stories

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I actually come at it from the other side. I am personally super tired of the cynicism and trope that the inherent nature of such organizations is corrupt and must be treated with continuing suspicion/disdain. Instead of it being on an individual basis or a schism that was resolved generations ago much like several of your examples were in reality.

Because in a world with Objective Evil like Remnant, the life and death struggle against their inarguably visible evil would maintain a level of self-correction and keeping the organization focused on keeping to their virtues. The occasional corrupt person or cabal would of course crop up due to free will but get resolved decisively, either by the group itself, the non-member law enforcement, or by natural selection. This Conquering Evil YouTube explains it better.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Well, here's a stupid idea: What if... the Vytal Festival took place at a brand new construct built by all the Kingdoms together? A space elevator?

One very recently finished?

I mean, Dust doesn't work past the atmosphere. But you could use Gravity Dust to lift stuff up high, and then use chemical rockets to boost things up into space from there. And, if people could eventually escape Remnant for the stars? Escape the Grimm? It would be great.

It would be a great achievement... And thus, something for Salem to target to destroy.

I actually come at it from the other side. I am personally super tired of the cynicism and trope that the inherent nature of such organizations is corrupt and must be treated with continuing suspicion/disdain. Instead of it being on an individual basis or a schism that was resolved generations ago much like several of your examples were in reality.

Because in a world with Objective Evil like Remnant, the life and death struggle against their inarguably visible evil would maintain a level of self-correction and keeping the organization focused on keeping to their virtues. The occasional corrupt person or cabal would of course crop up due to free will but get resolved decisively, either by the group itself, the non-member law enforcement, or by natural selection. This Conquering Evil YouTube explains it better.

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Agreed. It's a very, very tired trope. Especially given that in comparison to certain other religions, Christianity, Buddhism, even Hinduism aren't so bad. And certainly not as bad as the Grimm.

 

[Abramus5250]

Jaune learned a great deal of dealing with the 'nonsense of women' (in his nana's words) due to having to deal with as many sisters as he had (and maybe female cousins, idk?). As in, as soon as he both knows the person well enough, even at a cursory glance, and his empathy combined with his strategic mind, he knows the 'cure' to problems almost immediately. Whether it's a small carton of their favorite ice cream, a hug, a massage, constructive criticism combined with an uplifting morale booster, he can do it all.

For his sisters, he's the best brother ever, and Jaune never got bullied for long in his childhood before the bully suddenly stopped and transferred schools and also changed their name.

For his buddies, he's the best bro ever and they would die for this dude.

For his female friends, colleagues and casual acquaintances, he's dangerously close to becoming their ideal man. Not even Cinder is immune, as when in disguise he bought her some butterscotch custard free of charge when he saw how down she seemed on what turned out to be her birthday. Somehow he knew it was her favorite flavor.

The fact that Jaune does all of this platonically makes it even worse, because he has no angle other than wishing to make someone feel better. Bro isn't playing with fire, he's playing with matches in the middle of a lake of gasoline.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Jaune is at his desk doing some paperwork... When Ruby bursts in, wearing a red domino mask.

Ruby: "Never fear, Councilman Arc! I am here to help!"

Jaune: "Ruby?"

Ruby: "Who is this 'Ruby' you speak of? I am... Crimson Reaper! I'm a superheroine! And I'm here to protect you-The city! Yes! Well, you and the city!"

Jaune: "... Kay."

Ruby: "With my sidekick, Wonder Zwei!"

Zwei, in a mask and cape, trots up and sits on Jaune's lap. Jaune gives him some ear scratches.

Jaune: "Well, I'm very glad to have you Ruby."

Ruby: "Crimson Reaper!"

Jaune: smiles goodnaturedly "Crimson Reaper. My mistake."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

This could be a fun way for Ren, Nora, Jaune, Yang and Blake to bond: Criminal histories.



Ren: "We did work for a Triad for a time as enforcers. We only ever hurt rival gangsters."



Nora: "Yeah! They were muscling in on our turf so we had to rough 'em up!"



Jaune: "Well... In addition to the fraud to get into Beacon, I did steal from some bandits who tried to rough me up on the way to Beacon."



Yang: "Wait, before your Aura got unlocked?"



Jaune: shrugs "Most of them didn't have theirs unlocked either, and I've always been freaky strong. Even if I suck at fighting, once I knocked their leader out with a bash to the head they usually turned over anything they had to let me go."



Yang: "HAHA! You're a riot, VB! Well, I have a juvenile record. Smashed up some bars and stuff. Assault and so on. Got a good deal from the judge but I still have to do community service for it."



Nora: "Pfft. Judges! Renny and I had to intimidate a few in Mistral! It's really easy! Just drop in unannounced, say we'd really like it if you'd let this one guy go, and say 'Oh no! Your car got smashed to pieces by a freak hammer fall! Must be a sign from the gods to do what we say!'"



Blake: "... I suppose I am technically a terrorist."



Nora: "Pffft! Renny and I had to pose as terrorists for a heist gone wrong! You're not special!"

 

[FourthPear]

…I'm starting to understand why team JNR immediately jumped to stealing an airship.