#vacuo

[rwby-confess]

Confession #1721

[dappercat123]

Carmine Esclados from the after the fall books has to be the funniest hypocrite in RWBY, more so then even Hazel

Like, she leaves atlas because she values individual freedom and hated how much atlas pressures its huntsman into joining the military

So she joins an organization trying to install a hereditary monarchy lead by a guy who literally strips free will away from people!

Line, I get traumatized people don’t always think logically. But for example cinder’s reasoning makes sense, she think freedom can only come through power so she works for Salem hoping to gain power, not realizing the power Salem gives is just another collar.

Maybe I’m misreading this and like cinder carmine only wants freedom for herself, but she’s also apparently convinced a monarchy is good for vacuo?

Frankly she’s starting to seem like the discworld villains that all wanted to reinstate the monarchy, I guess remnant only had democracy for like two generations? So they have more of a reason to be nostalgic.

I just genuinely cannot comprehend anyone who would want to live under a monarchy.

[rwby-confess]

Confession #1708

[vigilantsycamore]

I am very interested in the Vacuan Grimm designs, but especially this one

I get that the actual design inspiration is the cow skulls that are apparently all over the place in the desert, but they do also remind me of the Kankrelats from Code Lyoko and I like anything that reminds me of the funky Potato Bois

[rwby-confess]

Confession #1655

[mrpullmanjr]

This is the last time I "try something different" and completely forget about it by accident. Hopefully I can post more of my WIP RWBY fic lore and photos here.

Following up from this post, more of my RWBY OC lore.

Behold, the Cross Continental Express. Massive WIP lore dump incoming (IE; I have way too much free time). The artwork above was made by yours truly and a friend of mine named AndrewK4.

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The New Vacuo Central Railroad set the standard for luxury at the time of the train's inauguration, and to this day the name "Cross Continental Express'' is used as a side-term for something incredibly luxurious. In time, it would also be the origin of the name for the Cross Continental Transmit System. The train was inaugurated by the New Vacuo Central as a means of providing an effective means of high-speed transportation between the two kingdoms of Vale and Vacuo.  What set the Cross Continental Express apart from other trains of its time was its luxurious interior and quality extra-fare service. The idea was to give every common Jane and Joe of Vacuo a taste of the high life, since many travelers could not afford such amenities for the nomadic life that they lived. There are rumors floating as to why the train was so immensely luxurious, with the most frequent answer being that the luxuries serve as a well thought out distraction against Vacuo's bland landscape.

Perhaps it was intentional that the train departed Vacuo when the sun would soon set.  Once the desert was in view, everyone except the engineers would be asleep.  By the morning light, Sanas was in view with the “boring” part of the trip, scenery wise, now behind them.  From then on, passengers were greeted with the blooming and wild greenery for the rest of the trip to Vale.  Although the direct route was between Vale and Vacuo with limited station and service stops, there was through-service to Mistral, Menagerie and Atlas via other railroads and sea ferry service.

On board, the as-built cars were glamorous in more ways than one.  The car’s interior was only the finest Art Deco.  Beds and blankets, both in the open section and enclosed rooms, were made of the finest wool.  Enclosed rooms had the added benefit of fresh flowers, mainly fauna native to Vale.  The dining service was only the finest of Vale and Vacuo, with many stating how the Toast rose above all other meals offered on the train.  If a speck of sand made its way onto someone’s meal, the chef in charge of the diner that night would be given a fine and one hell of a yelling about.  Other amenities were found aboard the train as well.  Up towards the Baggage-Club, one could receive a haircut en-route as well as a shower.  The lounge also served mini drinks, and one could expect the cigar smoke to be quite heavy in this car.  This was the men’s territory for most of the train’s run.  The lounge in the observation car also had similar amenities, and was a proving ground for gossip, fashion and the latest for all the women aboard.  What the Baggage-Club was to the men, the Observation was to the women.  The observation car also featured enlarged windows at the tail end so one could get a marvelous view of the passing scenery.  The open platform was also a frequent spot for scenery gazing, though the whipping wind and dust sucked by the train at speed was sure to leave some people with dirty clothes.

The luxury didn’t stop with the interior furnishing though, the porters and attendants to the train were always ready to serve the passengers for whatever needs they needed.  It was the porter’s task to make the beds, freshen the blankets, ask for a drink and of course punch and obtain tickets.  With 174 sleeping beds available in 4 different forms, there was plenty of work to be done to make sure the passenger had a comfortable trip from start to finish!  Crew would usually be exchanged at the last station or at a brief stop in the middle of the night.  Many of these men were well trained; they often could run the entire trip without having to be changed, though by railroad law they had to change porters.

Over the years the CCE has seen frequent changes in motive power.  The original engine, a 4-6-4 Class J1e “Hudson”, is often regarded as the icon of the Cross Continental Express as well as the New Vacuo Central.  Steam gave way to diesel, and diesel gave way to gravity and dust-based engines.  Many of the CCE Engines are found in museums today.

The Express train continued to be a smash, proving to be a source of valued income for the railroad.  As Vacuo continued to be stripped of its natural resources over time, as well as the advent of safer transports like airships coming into the picture, the train started losing ridership as well as revenue for the railroad.  Attempts like revamping the train’s exterior, interior and publicity stunts were successful but everyone still preferred the other transports.

No matter the change, upgrade or downgrade, service on the train remained to a high standard from start to finish.

The last runs of the CCE were performed to a grand farewell run before a more economical train was introduced.  However…the above set is what many people today consider to be the true embodiment of the Cross Continental Express. The 13-car set was sold through varying owners and decayed over those prolonged periods of time. One owner sought to revamp the train to its original as-built look but never got farther than “de-streamlining” the train. Atlas, Menagerie, Vale, Vacuo, it's literally seen the world. It wound up in a Mistral railroad museum looking like walls of scrap on wheels, a former shell of itself.  Despite being on museum property, it was privately owned by a relatively shady family so there was nothing the museum could legally do in regards to restoring it. Not until news came about that the set, and one engine, were donated to a local museum member; Frisco Luther Cohen. 

Over a period of several years, Frisco and the members of the Gilded Era Roundhouse, the museum he volunteers at, painstakingly restored every piece of the train back to its as-built glory and revealed it to a grand spectacle. Celebrated historians praised Frisco’s efforts at making sure the interior furnishings were original as well as the return of the engine to full operation.

Everything was registered in Frisco’s name, and many considered him to be the owner of Remnant’s greatest privately owned train. Sure, the three others still existed but in terms of historical value and originality, “Section 1” is the greatest of them all.  It was his train from coupler to coupler and he intended to keep it that way for a very long time.

As part of many modern railroad laws, Frisco had to also toss in two extra cars before legally traveling on rails outside of museum property. Two former New Vacuo Central head-end cars, a 70’ Baggage car and a 70’ Postal-Baggage, became the new Water Auxiliary and Tool Cars respectively. Both are painted in the original New Vacuo Central markings but not the Cross Continental Express gold trim.

Frisco himself takes great pride and care in his train.  He frequently runs excursions and private charters to great success, but his work ethic while running or conducting the train leaves him shrouded in controversy.  When his train isn’t running he makes sure that no one except crew is allowed on board, storing the whole set and engine in a private facility at the railroad museum.  No one gets a free ride or glimpse of the train unless they have a ticket.  He plans to pursue a huntsman career, and theories float that he is doing this to enforce his “no ticket, no ride” rule, although the real reason is that he'd prefer the battle experience when he ventures out onto more grimm-heavy rail lines.

One of the more unique stories about the Cross Continental Express is the ghost of Daisy Lolanthe. Unconfirmed rumors state that she was killed in a mafia mix up aboard the Cross Continental Express during the Post-Great War years, and her spirit has lingered ever since.  No public records of her exist and any mafia ties that could explain the story have likely been lost to history.  Even eagle-eyed patrons riding the observation car would fail to notice a series of 6 strange dents in the wall behind one of the lounge chairs. Ghost hunter shows have reported nothing, yet there's always one passenger who reports the strange sighting of a woman in a vintage dress roaming the train.  Frisco himself does not believe in ghosts, but says he'd be lying if the ghost hunts didn't help bring in extra necessary revenue to keep the train running.

"If she is on the train, her ticket is still technically good. She paid for it in more ways than one."

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[nubis84]

Las generaciones pasadas aprendieron a ser trabajadores.

Nuestras generaciones a ser consumidores.

Las futuras generaciones no aprenderán nada: serán nada.

La nada.

[foulfirerebel]

Why Vacuo? (A response to certain discourse)

Hey there! Me again!

I decided to ponder why Vacuo was chosen as the next story beat/kingdom to focus on in RWBY. More specifically, however, this is a response to a fair few people who don't seem to understand why Vacuo was chosen as the evacuation point for the many citizens of Atlas and Mantle during Volume 8.

Indeed, one of the more annoying claims about this part is that Vacuo is a desert and that any one of the other kingdoms could've been chosen as an evacuation point. Or that people could've been split up.

Here are a few points to consider.

Vacuo is the only remaining kingdom left unscathed by Salem's influence. Other than the Crown attempting a coup, and a large subsequent Grimm invasion circa Before the Dawn, Vacuo and Shade Academy haven't been touched by Salem's agents. If the V9 epilogue animatic is to be believed, however, things are going to start heating up soon.

The other kingdoms have been torn asunder thanks to Salem's faction. Consider:

 Vale's capital city and Beacon Academy were still attracting Grimm when we last saw it in Volume 4 and After the Fall. The latter even acknowledged that the remaining huntsmen and huntresses were fighting “one step forward, two steps back” against the tide of Grimm still being attracted to the city. Volume 9’s epilogue animatic shows that Vale was destroyed since Salem went straight there. So that’s one Kingdom down.

Atlas and Mantle are effectively gone from Atlas’ fall and the subsequent flooding. Nobody’s going to want to go back. And before anyone says anything about the outlying villages in Arrowfell? Those would’ve been evacuated or already destroyed. That’s two kingdoms lost.

Mistral would be a good choice…were it not for one problem: there’s a massive security hole in it. Demonstrated mainly by volume 5 and Qrow’s fruitless search for allies yielding nothing, alongside Lionhart being brought into Salem’s fold, there are no real experienced Huntsmen or Huntresses left in Mistral. That’s not going to be good with the fearful refugees. Who’s going to protect them? The Spider gang? The Mistral police?

Before anyone says Patch or Menagerie? Those two are both out likewise.

Patch is a relatively small island. While we don’t exactly know how many people are on this island, it’s probably not enough to support the hundreds if not thousands of people that our heroes saved.

Menagerie, however, we do know from volume 4 and 5. And what we know suggests that’s not a good pick either because it’s cramped, two-thirds of it is a desert that supposedly makes Vacuo look tame, and the majority Faunus population might not be so comfortable with Atlasians trying to live alongside them. Granted, the Faunus population in the crater in Mantle were willing to lend a hand to their fellow man but that’s a desperate situation. 

Splitting people up doesn’t work either, because families tend to stick together and people don’t have a way to communicate across the world anymore thanks to the fall of Beacon’s CTT tower in Volume 3. They had to move everyone, all at once, to a single location because of this. 

Vacuo is the next kingdom we, the viewers, haven’t seen onscreen in an actual volume. From a Doylist perspective, it makes sense to go there next. We already explored Vale (volume 1-3, comics, Roman Holiday novel, Grimm Eclipse game), Mistral (Volumes 4-6, comics, flashback bits from After the Fall/Before the Dawn), and Atlas (Volumes 7-8, comics, Arrowfell game). Vacuo has thus far only been explored in After the Fall, Before the Dawn, the V9 epilogue, the RWBY Beyond shorts, and the introductory bit of the second RWBY/Justice League film. 

If anyone has anything to add, please do. These were just off the top of my head.