User blog:ChishioKunrin/Vale & Beacon's position

So, we know Beacon is really close to Vale but not actually in the city of Vale. And we know that Beacon is on top of a cliff. But what is their position in relation to each other and the geography?

In the beginning of volume 1, we saw Beacon's placement on top of a cliff as airships flew through the air with this artwork as the background. It clearly shows Beacon on top of a cliff, near a forest, with rivers leading to waterfalls. There is some sort of path winding its way down the cliff to a port below. Perhaps the episode The Stray took place in that port area, or there's a different port area in the main city section of Vale.

In the end of Players and Pieces, we were treated with this map of the city of Vale. We see Beacon marked in a spot that seems to be at the top of a cliff, and below it is the city. Two waterfalls lead down into a forked river that leads into the ocean.

This doesn't really match up with the artwork from the beginning of the volume, but perhaps that artwork was made really early on, before they had finalized the setup of Vale.

In volume 2, we are given two views of Vale from in front of Beacon, in the episodes Mountain Glenn and Breach. The city seems to be across a body of water, perhaps at an elevation below Beacon, with the cliffs sloping downward to the city's level.

So, what exactly is the city's position in relation to Beacon? Are there different sections of the city scattered in different spots around the cliffs and rivers? Or is the RWBY crew just really inconsistent with how they want Vale to be set up?

Either way, if Vale is going to be a map in RWBY: Grim Eclipse, let's hope they have it figured out by the time they build that map. That said, I wonder if Grim Eclipse will help us get a good idea of the geography of at least Vale's region of Remnant.