Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25936766-20170820043030



I've wondered recently if the Faunus really were right to complain about Menagerie being a "slap in the face" instead of a "fair reward". I mean, on one hand:

1-It's very very damn small compared to the continents. It's barely half of Anima at best.

2-It was uncivilized at the time it was granted to them. Like America, but probably without more-advanced-than-they-seemed natives present.

3-It's 2/3 desert that are supposedly inhospitable due to the dangerous wild-life.

And 4-It doesn't have a CCT, making communication with the outside world dificult.

On the other hand: First of all, being uncivilized at the time, and (Leaving aside the reasons) Humans wanting to leave Faunus there, meant the Faunus could shape it however they wanted to the best of their capablities (current or future) with no real opposition or intervention from the Kingdoms.

The dangerous wild-life could be a "wall on the road" for them, but Rome wasn't built in a day; it's a problem that can at least be dealt with to some extent, over time.

The lack of a CCT can be excused to an extent even leaving aside the discrimination. 

After all, by design, if one falls, the world loses the WWW. Now, Vale, Atlas, Mistral, Vacuo, they were Kingdoms, established nations that had endured the test of time, and could be expected to keep the Towers safe.

Menagerie had literally just been colonized, so placing a CCT Tower there, given that quirk in their design, would've been risky. And placing a smaller, Supporting Tower there would only be of limited efficiency due to Menagerie's distance from the Kingdoms (aside from maybe Vacuo), and because it still couldn't be expected to last long.

And of course, then the Faunus launched a Revolution. Not many humans in high places would be expected to be willing to help the Faunus afterwards without a good incentive.

Even then, it's been less than a Century since the FRR, probably less than half a century, so old feelings and values can remain. Eventually the Kingdoms might be willing + capable of finally giving a real helping hand in this matter. After Vale's CCT is repaired and the Kingdoms recover the Internet first, of course.

As for the "2/3 Desert" part.....let's compare it with Vacuo for a moment. Vacuo was founded in an Oasis with "lush jungles", not too different from Ao Kuana. If anything, it was probably smaller.

By current times, it's a vast, harsh, barren wasteland of a desert, thanks to the Kingdoms's exploitation of the land (made easier by how Vacuans were lazy bums who didn't know what struggle was), bringing warfare, mining, and maybe-sorta ecological disasters. And said Oasis and Jungle, are no more.



Prior to the end of the Great War, there wasn't even a formal government in Vacuo. And even after one was made, the people gave Laws the middle finger, and the only body with any actual authority and ability to enforce Order in Vacuo, is Shade Academy.

Even in current times, it's been noted that due to scarce resources and Grimm attacks, the people have to indulge in a nomad life, moving constantly. Now:

1) Ao Kuana still has quite the jungle to spare, and it's on the coast of Menagerie, allowing it to have an actual harbor among other benefits.



2) Even if the reasons behind it are linked to Faunus Discrimination, the Kingdoms not being particularly-interventional with Menagerie means it's people, and the land, can avoid being exploited like with Vacuo, and thus avoid all the consequences said exploitation had on Vacuo.

2.5) Even if the Kingdoms tried to exploit Menagerie's resources, due to it's "harsher" nature compared to (Original) Vacuo, the people of Menagerie wouldn't be even half as "lazy and easy" as Vacuans were, having been ironed by the Discrimination and by Menagerie's Wildlife.

3) They have a Chieftain, and the current one is Ghira, ex-Leader of the White Fang. So, even though it's much younger than Vacuo, it's likely not even half as Anarchic.

4) Most notably and factually....the people of Ao Kuana aren't nomads, they actually have a Settlement, and Menagerie most definitely doesn't have scarce resources that would push it's people to be nomads like in Vacuo.

Hell, they had enough resources to build a pair of colonies on Anima.



So, overall, I feel like Menagerie is really, really much better than people like Blake make it sound.

Sure, there's the whole bit of "practically forcing the Faunus to live and stay there" that led to the Faunus Rights Revolution, but that has to do with the discrimination, not with Menagerie in itself.

In fact, Menagerie feels like it's only "bad" because it didn't have the hundreds/thousands of years to develop like the Kingdoms. And it easily has the potential to be even better than Vacuo, an actual Kingdom, if it isn't already.

Even in terms of size, current Ao Kuana feels cramped, but not tiny in itself. And being cramped is, in a way, an advantage over having random villages left and right that can take days, if not weeks, to travel between without a vehicle. 