I have mentioned in PJB where Jaune’s brand new dust-steel armor just keeps rusting, without losing any tensile strength. This is due to the Blacksmith naming him as “The Rusted Knight.” Would something like this be true in Fae-U? It would track with the Soldier and Poet parts of the story imo.
Yeah this is pretty much spot on. Even in (my version of) canon, Jaune's new armor that he gets in the Ever After (cause the stuff he's wearing in V9 isn't his normal stuff) starts rusting basically as soon as he puts it on because the Ever After knows that he's the Rusted Knight and it needs him to look the part.
Time is already bullshit there, it doesn't care about oxidation rates, it cares about a character being in the correct costume. And that absolutely carries over into Fae-U, because that kind of thing is very much in line with how the Narrative treats him
The Soldier and Poet roles both reinforce it, just in slightly different ways (Soldier more than Poet)
From the Soldier side, rust reads as wear. Use. Time spent fighting. It’s a visual shorthand for experience and endurance. The armor looks like it’s been through things, just like its wearer, even if it hasn’t actually had the time to get that way yet
From the Poet side, it’s symbolism. “The Rusted Knight” isn’t just a title, it’s an image, and the Narrative likes keeping its imagery consistent. The armor rusting isn’t about chemistry, it’s about matching the story being told about him
It’s also why it doesn’t actually weaken the armor. The Narrative cares about the appearance and the meaning, not necessarily the mechanics. Physics doesn't hold a huge sway over any of this lol