#vacuo article

As a reminder, here are the very simple rules for Shade Academy's initiation:

“…they usually transport students in windowless airbuses to random spots in the desert and wait for them to come back. They’re assigned to teams in the order they appear in, and the manner in which they survived.”

Or at least, that's what the professors of Shade want the initiates to believe. But now I am certain that Shade's professors are lying as much as Beacon's did, and that Shade's initiation process serves as a multi-layered Secret Test of Character.

Know Your Audience

Recall that modern Vacuan culture highly prizes physical strength and competition. The strongest and most competitive of Vacuo's children enroll at Shade Academy, either to prove themselves the strongest or to grow stronger by challenging the strongest.

If you suggest to a bunch of headstrong, hormonal teenage warriors that "the order in which they return" will have an affect on their placement within the academy, what will they naturally assume?

Most of them will assume that First Is Best and Last Is Least. They will see the whole exercise as one big race to the finish, where the first and only rule is "Survive".

For mere mortals like Headmaster Theodore and his professors, who lack Ozpin's millennia of experience with judging character, every step of the test reveals a wealth of information about each potential student.

First Test of Character: "Who first?"

Shade likely doesn't try to control which candidate disembarks from the air-bus first. The professors let the candidates decide. They might even (as they did for reinitiation) leave the candidates unsupervised in the air-bus, without even the visible presence of a professor to discourage hostilities or to remind them they're being watched.

This way, the test proctors get a very unfiltered show of which candidates feel confident enough to let their competitors go first, with the intent of overtaking them on the way to the goal. Which candidates put victory ahead of pride, and want to go first. Which candidates timidly step back, afraid to take the first step.

And oh, the fighting. Even before the candidates get off the air-bus, they might break into fighting over who gets to depart next. So the professors get to see which candidates will more readily resort to intimidation or outright violence to get their way, which candidates will back down and conserve their strength, which candidates will step forward to try and make peace.

All of this must be more important than the order in which the students actually reach the goal, but none of the candidates would take the matter so seriously (and therefore reveal their true, authentic selves) unless they had been told otherwise.

Even if a candidate knows the truth, it might not matter. After all, impressing one's peers has a value in and of itself. Who could resist the prestige of coming in First Place, and who could survive the shame of arriving Dead Last?

Second Test of Character: "How do you survive?"

Young Vacuans might assume this part of the test involves their Semblances, weapons, and chosen skills, because those are the tools they use to survive on a personal level. And while the test proctors might want to take those abilities into account when forming teams, I think this test concerns strategy more than tactics.

While feeling the pressure to finish the race as fast as possible, who chooses to try surviving on their own? Who attaches themselves to a stronger, smarter, or more confident candidate? Who tries to take control of others and use them for their own benefit? Who chooses to protect and lead others?

If four candidates meet and naturally form what seems to be a cohesive and functional team, as happened in the Emerald Forest with Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, Theodore wouldn't need to worry about what chess pieces or playing cards they might have chosen; he can simply declare them a team because he said so.

Stubborn loners can be plugged into incomplete groups to bring them up to the standard four, or saddled with leadership of three teammates to learn responsibility, or just bundled off with three other stubborn loners to teach them the value of teamwork (because the other teams at Shade will crush them if they don't figure it out).

Of course, when assigning the spares and pairing the pairs, some care is taken not to put too many of the most aggressive students into the same team, with the knowledge gleaned from the first step of the test. Shade does encourage competition between teammates as well as between teams, but the professors still want the teammates to work together in the end.

Comparison to Ozpin's methods

To share the words of Spacebattler "Potates":

It's an equal and opposite of Ozpin's method. Ozpin's method leaves the outcome to seem outside of the student's hands with 'the first person you make eye contact with is your partner' but a student could easily just not look at people's eyes so could, in theory, have complete control over their fate.

Shade's, by contrast, emphasizes your individual actions determine the outcome but really, it's the teachers who determine where you go in the end.

This also reflects their circumstances. Oz is stuck in a reincarnation cycle set to seemingly fight a never ending war but if he plays it right, he can end the war. His destiny is in his hands. Shade meanwhile always has in the back of people's mind, no matter how you fight, your morality, or beliefs, who you help or kill, the desert will claim you in the end.

Here on Tumblr, @random-french-girl wrote a post titled Fate and Choice, in which she explains that Ozpin designed Beacon's initiation policy to present the candidates with a series of challenges that would force them to make choices and take responsibility for themselves.

However, Theodore seems to assume that Shade's candidates already came prepared to take responsibility for themselves, and that they already accept the chaotic and hostile nature of the world. Theodore only wants to know how each of his potential students intends to survive, so that he can learn what he needs to do to help them succeed.

Ironically, Shade's more direct control over team-formation resembles Atlas's authoritarianism than Beacon's libertarianism. But merely mortal headmasters don't have Ozpin's experience to make judgments and manage chaos, so they err on the side of caution. Even someone as flighty as Theodore.

Partners?

We have no confirmation that Beacon is the only academy that assigns partnerships within teams, but Beacon is the only Huntsman academy which we can confirm does so.

It bears mentioning that Ozpin is the only headmaster we know who has been married at all, let alone multiple times, and that's leaving aside how, every reincarnation, the previous Wizard and current Wizard need to learn to get along. So of course Ozpin, as a headmaster, had a unique perspective on two-person partnerships.

But for Shade, partnerships within teams would probably discourage internal competition between teammates; or worse, make such competition personal.

If any Huntsman academy allows the students within a team to compete among themselves to decide a new leader, it would be Shade. Partnerships could complicate that, if the partner of the current leader cares more about their status as Number Two than about who would be the better leader, and if the partner of the challenge cares less about the better leader than about gaining the status of Number Two.

Smaller Details

Theodore and Rumpole needed four air-buses to transport all four years of Shade's student body. One bus should be sufficient for the candidates of a new school year; two at most.

Therefore, rather than splitting the candidates up among three or four different regional sites, the professors probably drop them all off in one general location, one at a time in randomized spots.

The lack of windows on the air-bus means that the air-bus's current location in the desert won't affect the initiates' decisions about when they want to disembark. They can't simply look out a window to recognize whether or not the air-craft has arrived at a location favorable or unfavorable to them.

Fortunately, Shade doesn't demand that all initiates must come with a "landing strategy". It seems that the air-bus normally lowers close enough to the desert floor for the combat students that the lack of trees for slowing their fall won't pose a deadly problem.

If Shade's students normally have the floor pulled out from under them at potentially crippling altitudes, a repeat during re-initiation would not have surprised them the way it did. Even the youngest students would have trained at Shade for most of a year, so Theodore didn't risk newbies with that stunt. Even under mind-control by the Crown, Rumpole didn't want to kill any of her students, not even Team CFVY who opposed the Crown.

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back to my sub-index on the Kingdom of Vacuo

If by "decent portion" you mean "a clear minority that needed to rely on secrecy, instantaneous total-brainwashing, and a surprise assault to begin to have a chance of succeeding, and was ultimately defeated when the overwhelming majority of the city rose up to fight them".

Humans are humans, and humanity encompasses all sorts of personalities and vices. No matter what a culture is like, there will always be someone who wants to control other people, and someone who wants to be controlled.

Vacuo's culture encourages personal freedom and responsibility, so those people will be fewer and marginalized, but they'll still exist. Those who want to take control will waste their entire lives trying to trick others into giving them control. Those who want to avoid all personal responsibility will seek out the person they think will offer them the most security.

The minority in Vacuo doesn't believe in the strength of their country. These are the sort of people who envy Atlas and want Vacuo to become more like Atlas, with a Strong Man in charge who takes resources from lesser men and uses them according to his Grand Vision, which of course involves a Strong Military that obeys his every command.

If they hate Atlas, that would only make their envy worse, since fear would drive their desire to emulate Atlas' idea of strength.

In their envy and fear, they would try to persuade their countrymen to give up their freedoms and labor. To become slaves to a king who will offer them security in bondage. To return to the old ways of Vacuo.

But Vacuans love their new freedom too much. They've survived 80 years (or more!) without a king, through the robust strength of everyone pursuing their own self-interests, investing their time and resources towards their own profit and passion. They are confident that their system not only works, but works better than the old ways.

And since Vacuans have long memories and a deadly serious respect for their history, I trust that they make accurate comparisons between the past and the present.

The control freaks would do anything to ERASE all record and memory of Vacuan history (or at least change it) to make it easier to lie to the people about how much "better" the old ways were, and how much freedom "sucks".

The control freaks would accuse the masses of selfishness, when in truth they are the selfish ones. They think freedom and wealth are wasted on others because the control freaks want to take all freedom and wealth for themselves. They want to elevate themselves like gods above others, to feel better about themselves without ever addressing their own flaws.

My headcanon:

When the angry peoples of Vacuo assembled to destroy their new federal government, the warriors of Shade Academy moved quickly... but not to save the councilmen or their offices or their voting chamber. They stood by and watched those officials and edifices burn.

Rather, the mob found their former Great War leader and her chosen educators standing guard over one single office: The Treasury.

Shade's headmistress met with the leaders of the people, and explained to them the shape of the future, just as she had done during the Great War, when she convinced them to band together and join her in allying with Vale.

Vacuo needed trained warriors after the war had claimed so many of the last generation's best and brightest. Shade represented their best hope for training those warriors. But Shade could not survive without money.

She demanded that the federal Treasury be spared, and given over to the control of Shade Academy. The Treasury would continue to print and issue Vacuo's new form of currency, which would be the only form of currency that Shade would accept as payment in dues. And everyone would pay Shade's dues in taxes, or else.

The nomadic peoples acquiesced most happily, preferring that the cities continue to deal in only one set of coins, rather than the multitude of previous systems. Their support strengthened Shade’s position.

More reluctantly, the city-states came to recognize the unpleasant truth, just as they had realized the bitter necessity of joining the Great War and agreeing to the Vytal Accords. They, too, accepted Shade's ultimatum.

In the end, the people of Vacuo gladly embraced this new arrangement. The worst of the new government had been destroyed, and even if Shade could force them to accept one universal currency, it would lack the power to dictate anything else about how they lived.

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The Great Oasis no longer boasts the mineral resources it once offered in abundance, and while its agricultural potential must have recovered enough to support a large population, it probably hasn’t recovered to the level of its glory days, either. So while the city-state of the Great Oasis serves as the de facto capital of the country, there’s plenty of opportunity for other city-states to rival its importance simply through greater production of essential goods...

And by taking ruthless advantage of their own unique geographical assets.

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The mountains of the east and west should each boast at least a few cities of their own, whether nestled safely in the foothills or perched high on the slopes and cliffs like Mistral City. Runoff rivers from the mountain peaks would provide them plenty of water for raising livestock and crops, and they can mine the earth for Dust and sundry metals and minerals, providing them potential surpluses to trade to the other corners of the country.

The mountain cities might even be able to threaten the capital’s dominance by building river-dams that choke the Great Oasis’ supply of life-giving water, or simply by reminding the capital of the debt it owes them for using those dams to mitigate the desert’s seasonal flash-floods.

The mountain cities of the east might be economically stronger than those to the west, because they are closer to Vale’s cities on the other side of the central Sanus mountain range. Travel through the mountains is hard, slow, and dangerous, but at least the possibility gives them an alternative that coastal cities must keep in mind when negotiating the eastern cities on trade deals.

The western mountain cities might have more access to water, however, given that there’s an entire ocean on the other side of their mountain range, rather than the other half of a continent as with the east. More water means more food, and more possible leverage against the capital city. But if they’ve also developed a feasible path through their mountains and established a port on the shore of the other side, a mighty western city-state might lack for nothing on its own.

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back to my sub-index on the Kingdom of Vacuo

The Great Oasis no longer boasts the mineral resources it once offered in abundance, and while its agricultural potential must have recovered enough to support a large population, it probably hasn’t returned to the level of its glory days. So while the city-state of the Great Oasis serves as the de facto capital of the country, there’s plenty of opportunity for other city-states to rival its importance through greater production of essential goods...

And by taking ruthless advantage of their own unique geographical assets.

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The northern and southern ocean shores of Vacuo’s large desert are easily home to coastal cities. Plenty of water for livestock and crops, all of the seafood they can fish from the ocean, and sea-ports for naval commerce with their coastal neighbors and with other countries.

While sea-travel has its own dangers, it has many advantages compared to the hazardous trade routes through the central Sanus mountain range, and while various cities have air-ports, air-travel is prohibitively expensive for mass transportation of goods.

Therefore, while the capital is the central hub of all travel and trade within the kingdom of Vacuo, the coastal cities are the gateways for almost all international travel and trade. The capital and other cities trade with the outside world by the allowance of the coastal cities.

The northern cities are likely the oldest and strongest, thanks to long-time commerce with Mantle (now Atlas) and Vale. The potentially younger and weaker southern cities might have run into problems with the White Fang recently.

Incidentally, I believe Sun Wukong was born and raised in one of the northern coastal cities. Much about him suggests to me that a tropical environment between an ocean and a desert is his comfort zone.

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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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While forsaking a federal government works out for Vacuo in various regards, everything has its downsides.

Each tribe and city in Western Sanus is a nation unto itself; likely has been since before the other Great Kingdoms invaded the Great Oasis. In the modern day, this includes private companies large enough to own at least one settlement, where company policy is the only law.

Just as with anyone who visits a Great Kingdom, anyone in Vacuo who enters a city or stays with a tribe must obey its laws. This is just common sense.

If the citizen of one city enters another city and breaks its laws, he can expect to be arrested and tried in that second city according to the laws he broke. The laws and legal authority of his own city cannot protect him, and he would have to be particularly important for two cities to risk starting a civil war over him.

But out in the wilderness between Vacuo’s cities, and beyond the watch of any tribe, whose laws apply?

No one’s. Anyone’s. Whoever is closest, or most willing to care.

Now, there really isn’t any kingdom where traveling through or living out in the wilderness is ever safe. Outside of the sight and reach of the law, people get away with murder on any continent.

Further, despite that each tribe and city of Vacuo has its own laws, those laws differ mostly in relatively minor details, rather than disagreeing on major issues like murder and theft.

But devils can lurk in details, and those lucky enough to get any kind of law enforcement in the wilderness may not always prefer the form it takes. As always, those who prefer more security and predictability in their lives are better off living in cities, or at least closer to a specific city than to particular others.

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It’s part of my headcanon that after Menagerie was “gifted” to the faunus in the Vytal Accords, experts from Vacuo went to help the immigrants make a home there... either out of the goodness of their hearts, or because someone paid them. The Last King of Vale, in particular, might have spared some personal funds to pay for the job.

So when Blake says that Menagerie's desert is different from Vacuo's, and that the wildlife is more dangerous, I don’t think this is an uninformed opinion. It’s probably an opinion passed down to her from her parents or grandparents, who personally met survival experts from Vacuo. Experts who might have thrown up their hands and said, "Fuck this continent. I'm going back home to Vacuo where it's safe."

However, this still doesn’t make the notion of greater danger an objective fact.

By the time of the Vytal Accords, people had already been living in Western Sanus for hundreds of years. Whatever dangerous wildlife existed there, the local people had long understood intimately. New and unfamiliar wildlife is always the most dangerous; the people of Vacuo and Menagerie get by today because of the ancestors who survived by learning from the tragic examples of those who became lessons.

But even setting aside the wildlife, Vacuo is objectively better off in many other regards. Even before the Great War, the people of Western Sanus had established infrastructure: cities, walls, outposts, fortresses, smithies, mines, livestock, trade routes, and maps to all known sources of water. That’s what allowed them the strength to prove a threat in the Great War, such that Mistral and Mantle feared Vacuo joining forces with Vale.

The faunus exiled to Menagerie had none of that, and no expertise in how to start building it.

Since the faunus of Menagerie naturally wanted to pursue the developmental path that would lead to the fewest deaths, they stuck to the more hospitable coastline. Mastering Menagerie’s desert can wait until Kuo Kuana becomes strong enough to project a colonizing force without risking as many lives. The time spent waiting is also time that volunteer scouts can spend gathering vital information for those future colonists.

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