Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-121.222.136.235-20140704221339/@comment-24117358-20140717011609

Ok so I was scrolling through the pics here on the wiki just now and I noticed something I hadn't before. So way up by the top of this thread I commented on how a few of the faunus were dressed differently and were wearing different masks.

So everyone has pretty much agreed that they think these masks, being different from all the others, are some sign of rank within the White Fang. What I noticed about this picture is that in addition to having a different style of mask, these Faunus also are wearing "casual" clothing (As in not wearing a uniform). Then I came across this next picture.

What I noticed about this one is that there seems to be a small crowd off to the right of just people in normal clothing. This struck me as odd at first because if these people just forgot to wear their uniforms, why wouldn't they be scattered throughout the crowd? Why would they all convene in the same place? The only explanation I can come up with right now is that they were ordered not to wear uniforms and ordered to stay together. My idea is that they are purposely being sent undercover for some reason. I can't say whether any of these people are supposed to be in Beacon or just act like normal Faunus would in Vale, but they obviously have a purpose. It's not even close to being outside the realm of possibilities, since we've already seen that Murcury and Emerald are undercover at Beacon. I mean, if you really wanted to get good, reliable information about a place as big as Beacon, why would you only send in two people? A far better idea would be to send in a lot of people, who, aside from a few being in groups together, (seemingly) have no connections to each other. That way if a few get caught snooping around, they don't jeaporadize the entire mission. Even if some get expelled, there are more there to continue where the others left off.

Now for all we know the White Fang could be doing this all on their own, but I think it is more likely that Roman "suggested it" to them. They probably have no idea Cinder is behind Roman's actions, and may not even know who Murcury and Emerald are. There have actually been real life undercover investigations where the undercover officers were unaware that there were other undercover officers among them. The less each undercover person knows, the less they can give away (even unintentionally) around their fellow undercovers or strangers.