#kingdom article

Because Grimm evaporate completely upon death, warriors hired to hunt Grimm historically could not provide proof of their work, let alone their effectiveness.

When a warrior returns from patrol completely pristine, did he really encounter no Grimm, or did he simply hide someplace safe to sleep the day away?

When a warrior returns from patrol exhausted, spent, and injured, did he really fight hundreds of Beowolves, or did just one Beowolf prove he does not have the skills to justify the he wages he demanded?

If dishonest clients accuse honest Huntsmen of dishonesty to avoid paying up, or lie about the level of danger they expect the Huntsmen to encounter, how do the Huntsmen defend themselves?

These issues have driven the people of Remnant to adopt a number of practices to reduce such uncertainty for both clients and Huntsmen. Such as licensing.

Graduates of the four Huntsman academies receive Huntsman licenses; if they could not qualify for any sort of license, they wouldn't qualify to graduate.

The academies also offer tests and backgrounds checks for those who wish to qualify for a Huntsman license even without attending the academy as a student, like Maria Calavera.

Indeed, Maria shows us that one can qualify for a license even without revealing one's face or name. At most, Maria had already become known as The Grimm Reaper before seeking a license, and investigators consulted with her former clients as character witnesses.

Otherwise, she might have received a license that rated her combat abilities higher than any regular graduate, but rated her trustworthiness low until she developed her professional reputation.

But we do know for sure that not all Huntsman licenses are equal.

For example, Qrow Branwen has an Unrestricted License, denoting the supreme faith that Huntsman academy headmasters placed in both his skills and his personal integrity. Anyone paying top-dollar for Qrow's services knows he'll get the job done.

But Dee and Dudley had very low-ranked licenses, so they were only trusted to guard a train, and even then Qrow, Ozpin, and our young heroes thought that the railroad company was scraping the bottom of the barrel in hiring them.

Presenting a false or invalidated license is a crime, but offering openly-unlicensed Huntsman services is not necessarily a crime. “Hunting without a license” is probably completely illegal in Atlas, conditionally legal in Vale and Mistral, and perfectly legal in Vacuo.

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To reduce over-dependency on trust, most Huntsmen missions have easily observed measurements of success: "Delivery", "Escort", and "Patrol".

If a Huntsman delivers a package, intact and on-time, he succeeded as well as his employer could expect. Likewise if a Huntsman escorts a person or caravan from one city to another and everyone arrives alive and well. Similarly, if a Huntsman patrols an area regularly and none of the people living there ever see a Grimm.

If the Huntsman doesn't actually encounter a single Grimm, that's just fortune favoring the Huntsman, and the paying customer has to chalk the cost up to insurance and peace of mind. But if the Huntsman encounters more Grimm than expected, they need to hope their client will agree to renegotiate the contract so that their income meets the unexpected expense.

Carmine Esclados and Bertliak Celadon accepted an "Escort" mission from the Caspians, to get grandfather and grandson across the Vacuan desert and to a quiet little lighthouse on the east coast. Had Ozpin still lived on his own, he likely would have paid Team RWBY handsomely for successfully completing a "Delivery" mission of getting the Lamp of Knowledge to Atlas.

"Search and Destroy" missions are different. Going far into the wilderness to seek out and slay every Grimm in the area is much more dangerous, because there will be no one around to help or even just to send a distress signal if things go wrong. On the other hand, there's also no one around to prove the Huntsman is actually taking that risk and hunting; a sincere Huntsman could clear every Grimm out of the area, and more could still appear later and make them look like a liar.

Team RWBY accepted a "Search and Destroy" mission in Mountain Glenn, and they had Doctor Oobleck with them to serve as a witness. Oobleck himself qualified as a witness because of the level of trust Ozpin placed in him.

"Search and Rescue" missions require a similar level of trust, because of how hard it can be prove that the Huntsman actually bothered looking for their target. It's probably no coincidence that Ozpin entrusted the mission to rescue Lower Cairn to Team CFVY, his chosen stars of the school-year before Team RWBY.

"Bounty" missions are simpler, since those are reserved for rare and particular specimens of Grimm, usually very large, of unusual morphology, and/or bearing notable disfigurements. Since these creatures are hard to miss and easy to distinguish, if it turns up later after a Huntsman claimed to kill it, the Huntsman obviously lied.

Team RNJR accepted a "Bounty" mission when they agreed to kill the Petra Gigas plaguing that one village in Anima. The Nuckelavee might have been the target of at least one failed Bounty mission.

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No one can make a living out of killing Grimm. They don't drop money like in video games, and they don't leave corpses to render into food or other useful materials. You risk your life, spend your time, energy, and ammunition, incur wear-and-tear on your equipment, and get nothing to show for it but smoke on the wind.

Rather, Huntsmen can only make a living out of protecting people, because only people have money or food to exchange for the service. (Or, in the case of Team RNJR and their bounty mission on the Petra Gigas, the blacksmith's services in upgrading Jaune's equipment.)

Naturally, some people have more money than others. Therefore, the single biggest employers of Huntsmen are governments, corporations, and the wealthiest of individuals.

Clients of any sort offer the least payment for a single-mission contract, where the Huntsman does a single job for them and can then decide they're toxic and never associate with them ever again. Huntsmen who treasure their independence rarely take contracts covering more than a single mission with a clearly defined duration, but independent Huntsman can also find themselves suffering if they can't secure and complete enough contracts in time to pay all of their expenses.

Governments offer to hire Huntsmen on a long-term basis as soldiers; military Huntsmen serving a tour of duty. Not just Atlas; other cities will offer Huntsmen contracts to join the local militia. Effectively, that's what villages informally do for Huntsmen who settle down in them to become their permanent resident protectors.

Major corporations and private companies will also hire Huntsmen as soldiers, but to serve and obey the corporation or company rather than their countries or their people.

Naturally, the most lucrative contracts that offer the best benefits (paid vacation, medical expenses, dental, insurance, legal fees, retirement) come with the most strings attached, even after the Huntsman's tour of service expires. Nondisclosure agreements can seal a Huntsman's lips for life.

In practice, Huntsmen do not form Private Military Companies (PMCs) larger than small teams, like Team RNJR or the Happy Huntresses. Clients can see the benefit in hiring such small and cohesive groups of Huntsmen, but anyone who could afford the services of a larger group could form their own group of Huntsmen by semi-permanently hiring and retaining multiple individuals and smaller groups.

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Huntsman Economics as taught in the Four Academies

What little we know about the Great War points to Mantle and Mistral largely controlling the pace of the conflict. It started because Mistral crossed the sea to colonize Vale’s land, just as Mistral likely used naval warfare to begin conquering Anima. The distance between Anima and Sanus being shorter than between Anima and Solitas, Mistral could potentially employ its air-ships against Vale offensively, as it could not have done against faraway Mantle. For Mantle's own part, the same deep-sea sailing technology that allowed them to settle in Solitas and trade with Mistral would allow them to invade Sanus as well. The largest and most decisive campaign of the War, the Vacuo Campaign, was definitely a joint operation by both of these axis powers to invade and fight on Sanus soil.

With Vacuo initially staying uninvolved, Vale alone faced an alliance of two Great Kingdoms, apparently without the ability to strike back at their homelands or prevent the invaders from making landfall. Mantle used its unparalleled technology to field the best-equipped warriors in the world, and Mistral could use conscription to command the largest army. The axis powers likely began the war because they expected an easy victory.

Instead, despite the King of Vale's caution and restraint, Vale managed to hold its own so well that the war dragged on and on, with its enemies running dangerously low on Dust. The axis powers which had started so confidently that they merely warned Vacuo to stay out of the war, eventually turned in desperation to demanding that Vacuo join them and fund their conquest.

Vacuo deciding instead to join Vale and lending their Dust to its king was so disastrous for the axis powers that they hatched the idea of the last-ditch Vacuo Campaign.

As for how Vale managed to hold out for so long on its own? While Mantle might have had the best-equipped warriors, and Mistral the most numerous, the King of Vale probably made sure that his warriors were the best-trained.

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Just as Remnant logically has more than one language, it must have more than one form of financial currency. Rooster Teeth needs to keep things simple with one language, one form of currency, and only one known Dust company, but fans do not.

The Vytal Accords could not establish a global currency without also establishing an international agency with the sole power to print and issue fiat money. Since we haven’t heard of any organization like the United Nations or the European Union, I think it is safe to say none exists.

In order for each kingdom to properly exercise their autonomy, they need to reserve the authority to print and issue their own unique forms of currency. Atlas doesn’t want to suffer any consequences if Mistral decides to start printing too much currency and inflating the market with worthless money, and Vale doesn’t want to suffer if Atlas decides to suddenly stop printing more money, or start issuing a completely different kind without honoring the old forms.

In terms of global value, I think Atlas has the strongest currency – the most reliable and widely-accepted in the world, followed by Vale, Mistral, and Vacuo... with the last three in roughly that order, but exchanging exact positions depending on fluctuations in the market.

If Menagerie is at the point where it needs to print fiat currency, its money is by far the weakest.

Of course, there’s a story behind how and why Vacuo would have a single form of currency despite having no federal government to print it.

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Ruby Rose, age 15, with only one or two years of very dedicated combat schooling under her professional huntsman uncle, could annihilate a small army of Beowolves on her own and not even appear winded afterwards.

But how capable does anyone need to be to struggle with everything they have to defeat a single Beowolf?

Split the difference: Someone who could kill only half as many Beowolves as Ruby would still be amazingly badass. But how many people in Remnant are that capable?

How many Beowolves could the “average” combat school graduate fight before being overwhelmed? How many could one of Junior’s thugs defeat, or one of the White Fang’s grunts, or one of Atlas’ soldiers?

How many could Jaune Arc kill on his own before they wore him down? How many could Cardin Winchester?

Monty’s passions didn’t exactly lead CRWBY to devoting any real time to establishing the “basic” levels of competency in Remnant. Which is a real shame, as knowing more about what is considered "normal" would help us better appreciate what is considered "exceptional".

It would also help us appreciate what is considered “normal”, since even the most mediocre fighter on Remnant would be superhuman on Earth. The dudes that Yang punches across rooms would be nearly invincible to us.

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back to my RWBY Aura index

Well, I think the Schnee are descendants of Mantle’s royal family through Nicholas Schnee’s unnamed wife. But even if it does get revealed as truth, no one seems to care because no one has mentioned it.

The Mistralian emperor’s name is likely a dirty word across most of the country, and we don’t know how well-liked he was at home in the capital, especially after he lost legal power to punish any criticism.

The last King of Vale might not have had any children. But if he had, wouldn’t that be awkward for Ozpin? ^_^

So by process of elimination, I’m going to suggest that Vacuo makes the biggest deal out of respecting the descendants of the woman who led them into victorious war against Mantle and Mistral for the sake of their freedom. Especially if she kept to her apparent strengths after the Great War, and decided to become headmistress of the new Shade Academy rather than join the ill-fated federal government.

If her descendants kept up her legacy by being productive warriors and effective leaders, then naturally the Vacuo people would continue to afford them the appropriate level of respect, with additional regard for belonging to a lineage of honor and glory.

Certainly this is an idea I’m using in my Black Rock Shooter crossover, where Irino Saya is the latest scion of that legacy, horns and all, and plans to become headmistress of Shade in the future.

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Vacuo represents the opposite end of the spectrum from Atlas. Both have inhospitable wilderness, but Atlas can find water anywhere and Vacuo can’t. Thus Atlas can find or make settlements much closer together than Vacuo, which can only build where water can be found, which means its settlements are far apart. That really discourages centralization.

Why do you think Vacuo aborted their attempt at a federal government? Before the CCT towers made long-distance communication feasible, all of the cities and tribes of Vacuo were being governed by a capital too far away to reliably hear their voices. It was governance and taxation without representation. (Had the CCT come first, the federal government might have been embraced.)

Shade Academy could survive and continue to tax all the cities for two reasons: (1), they had the most hunters to go around and demand the money owed them, and (2) Shade Academy doesn’t take that money and then tell other people how to live, it uses that money to turn the people’s children into badasses who can return home to provide strength and income.

So, in a kingdom where every city rules itself and takes care of itself, where they simply couldn’t depend on the rest of the country even if they wanted to, it only makes sense to rely on city militias.

Mistral’s situation isn’t entirely different from Vacuo’s. It’s much easier to find water, and their population and population density are likely higher than either Atlas or Vacuo, but the sheer size of their controlled territory is a major problem for centralization (especially when you’re not being an oppressive empire anymore). Even if there are more settlements to stop for supplies on your way to the edges of the kingdom, it’s still a long way to go. We saw that Mistral simply doesn’t have any major cities or railroads on the western half of their continent, and the far eastern side of their continent was conquered by the faunus in the Faunus War.

Vale is the standard-setter, as always. The Last King of Vale wanted cities to focus on their own defense after the Great War, because humanity had already lost so many cities and defenders to war and the Grimm. In order to rebuild, they needed to focus on holding their ground against the Grimm, rather than on trying to take ground from each other.

Atlas’ federal military is not objectively a better solution than local militias. Each kingdom has different needs. It’s fairer to say that Atlas is the only kingdom that could truly benefit from such a federalized organization, given the technology available to Remnant.

Moreover, let’s not suppose that a city’s militia is automatically terrible just because it’s not a federal military. An individual city may not have as many robots or air ships or soldiers as the Kingdom of Atlas, but Atlas has to divvy its forces up to cover everywhere; a city often has enough of what it needs for itself. And what forces a militia does have, it has just as much reason to employ in combined arms operations as Atlas does.

Part of what Atlas does internationally may be serving as models and trainers for foreign militias; sharing the benefit of their experience with new tactics which were made possible with federalized organization and new technologies.

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