#vacuo

My Boosty illustration from last summer~ Ruby and Yang enjoying boba tea together. Inspired by the last RWBY: Beyond episode. I wanted to show how happy Yang is to be reunited with her sister, and how she began to appreciate time with Ruby in a new way after the events in Ever After.

The only thing I changed is their clothes. Come on, do you wear fur jackets and long-sleeved sweatshirts with leather gloves in the heat? Tаkе it all оff, lаdiеs!!

Nuts and Dolts comic from 2023 again, they like date naps o/

There are quite a few differences.

First, the function. If I recall Ziggurats were sacred buildings, dedicated to an Ancient Mesopotamian god. They basically served as a temple and likely for civil administration as well. The famous Pyramids on the other hand weren't temples. They are tombs. For the Pharaoh and their consorts. You may find some from the Kingdom of Kush (Nubia today), too, also dedicated to their monarchs.

Shapes? They may be similar but they are different. Before the pyramids, there were the mastabas, which looked kinda like this

Then, they started evolving. This is the Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, which is basically a mastaba with steps.

That looks more similar to a Ziggurat. But the classical great pyramids we all know are more like these. Smooth, no steps.

Then, THIS is a Ziggurat

Looks similar to the Egyptian pyramids, but pretty different, and you can tell the differences just by looking at it.

And now, this is what Vacuo and Shade Academy look like

Specifically, it's framed as recorded footage done by a reporter in Vacuo getting not only the full scoop on Atlas's fall but also on the currently M.I.A. Team RWBY. It may take less resources in terms of the original animation with it each being of single characters talking of past events, showing the new animation team's chops with potentially new software.

Additionally, they can put in edited archive footage in tandem with relevant voiceover. For the sake of saving on time and money but in no less of an effective way of selling audiences on RWBY.

Like Qrow and Oscar talking about Ruby. Winter talking about Weiss. Sun talking about Blake. Raven about Yang. Ren and Nora about Jaune. It would be interesting to hear them talk about the missing characters, what they truly meant to them and them holding out hope for their return.

Because I have no control of my life nor my hyperfixations. I’m also keeping in mind the episodes of RWBY Beyond and the bonus ending animatic of Volume 9.

Also, spoilers, obviously.

Qrow is either back on the bottle or being dangerously risky when it comes to fighting Grimm. Possibly both.

Team CFVY make a reappearance! Along with Team FNKI, Team CDNL, and others. This is more obvious in the animatic, but the CRWBY did say it wasn’t going to be a one to one.

Cardin and Jaune have a heart to heart, Cardin having grown from his old schoolboy bully shtick

Tyrian and Mercury have been in Vacuo for ages, and are butting heads constantly.

The two figures that are with Mercury and Tyrian in the animatic seemed to be unnamed as of now, but I'm guessing the prisoner has some kind of connection to Salem, in more ways than one. 

Speaking of Tyrian, my prediction is we will see A LOT more of him and get a proper backstory. 

Tyrian is originally from Vacuo, so this is personal for him. I also feel like someone he knows personally will make an appearance to give that aforementioned backstory. 

Kali and Ghira are in Vacuo to help with the fight against Salem, which then has Yang and Blake “meeting the in-laws" far sooner than they would've liked. 

Jaune and Weiss start feeling an attraction towards each other, their Volume 1 interactions being foreshadowing as well as her comment towards him in the Ever After after they find out he is the Rusted Knight. 

Ruby and her friends and Oscar meet in the first or one of the first episodes. Ruby and Oscar lock eyes and he says "You have silver eyes” with a smile as a nostalgic call back. RoseGarden???

While Salem is focused on her plans, Cinder is the background playing with the idea of not only taking the Maidens’ powers, but Salem’s as well. I'm not sure how that would work, but it's technically the same magic, right?

I may add more later on, but this is kind of the general list. However, as a Tyrian fan above all else, I have separate predictions for him:

Tyrian was some kind of performer before joining Salem’s ranks. As I said above, I think he was originally from Vacuo, so maybe he was with a traveling troupe and that's how he got to Anima in the first place. I think that’s why he’s so dramatic and confident when he fights, and is tapping into the stage performer ego. When the performance doesn’t go the way he envisions, that’s when he gets frustrated and tries to “end the show” in a way.

His color scheme makes me think he has some kind of connection with the Brothers. You know, the gods that cursed Salem? Now this is going into conspiracy theory so bare with me. What if the gods, the God of Light and God of Darkness, have made other vessels, like they did with Ozma? My guess is Tyrian is supposed to be one of those vessels. However, Salem either caught on to this or just sees people popping up with gold and purple and sees them as a tool to get back at the gods. There are few reasons why I think this might be viable. 

One is that the show RWBY is very color-focused. Team RWBY themselves have trailers named after their color scheme. Red, white, black, and gold. If the gods have such important colors as gold and purple, why would a mortal with the same colors not be connected in some way?

Another connection is not from the show, but from one of the spin-off books. If you've never read Tales of Remnant, I highly recommend it, but basically there's a story in that book that tells a period of time of Ozma’s past lives. Long story short, a group of people start following him after he saves them from a Grimm attack, and the group of four becomes a large amassed organization looking to him for guidance. One day, someone comes and challenges Oz to a duel after fighting through many of his followers. The challenger is specified to have Dust that is purple and yellow in nature. In my mind, it is also hinted that the challenger was sent by Salem, but they don't confirm it, only saying that with Oz’s power, of course a powerful warrior such as themselves would come and try to fight a god. 

Spoiler warning for Tales of Remnant, but after Oz is defeated and he seeks his old followers out, he finds that the warrior didn't keep their word to spare them if he was killed. That makes me also think that if Salem did send them, she encouraged that kind of behavior, the same as she does with Tyrian. 

Looking back to the show itself, I want to point out Tock, the previous Faunus follower of Salem that almost killed Maria. While Tock only has gold in her color scheme, she was fighting Maria who uses Gravity Dust specifically, which is purple in color. Because of that, I think this shows that only having one of the colors was Tock’s downfall, being killed by Maria because of her skill with it. 

Focusing back on Tyrian himself, I want to point out his eyes specifically. Of course this is where he gets his name from, Tyrian dyes being multiple colors, not just yellow and purple. His gold eyes are a connection to the God of Light, his mortal nature being a creation of the God. However, his eyes flash purple with his venom and Semblance. Not only is his venom lethal, if not treated in time, but his Semblance itself is destructive, cutting through someone’s Aura to deal more lethal blows. The God of Darkness is a destructive force himself, so this connection isn't too far off the mark. Additionally, a Semblance is an extension of a person, as Ren explains it in Volume 5. It may be based on their personality, or vice versa, no one truly knows and it is a heavily debated topic. It isn’t a stretch to think that if Tyrian does have a connection with the gods, his Semblance would be an extension of that. Or at least one of them. Being ‘destructive’ himself, maybe his Semblance manifested because of his tendencies and Salem only guided it more into that darkness.

Even though I say Tyrian might be a ‘vessel’ of some kind, I don't think he's as powerful as Salem or Oz. In fact, I think in a way he would’ve been pretty much the same if the gods hadn't interfered. But with the evidence of reincarnation, seen with Oz and in the end of Volume 9 and the Blacksmith pointing out the lights being souls, I think maybe Tyrian had past lives that were the same as him. He may not remember them like Oz does, but I think that maybe, like the theories and beliefs we have in our own world, past lives are felt through everyone. Ruby herself could've chosen to don a new identity when she was given the choice, and that would’ve been a past life of hers or anyone else’s. Tyrian possibly being gifted that, even if it was in a past life, it would make sense with his colors. 

The last point I want to make goes all the way to Jinn’s story of Salem, Oz, and the Gods. The God of Light said that he and his brother would come back to Remnant only when all four relics were gathered together and used, and humanity would be judged. But we don't know how they would be judged. My theory, with the addition of all information and the points I made on Tyrian himself, is that the Gods made a vessel to help them judge. If that vessel thinks humanity can come together as one and be worthy of saving, they would be saved and given back their magic. But if they think humanity has failed and cannot be redeemed, then the Gods will clean the slate of Remnant. What if Tyrian is that final call?