Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-4141313-20190126081959/@comment-4141313-20190203075023

The Devil&#039;s Advocate WP wrote: BlizzardDragon wrote: 1. Your arrogance about future plot developments you can't say anything definite about is pretty tiring. 2. War-making ability is really only about resources and manpower.

3. Not a single one of the Kingdoms is presently at a loss for manpower, though Mistral has seen a reduction in skilled manpower.

4.  We keep operating on a certain assumption about it based on World of Remnant, but that was a pre-RWBY understanding of things. The fall of Beacon and the chaos at Haven has prompted a lot of students, and likely some faculty, to head off to Shade.

5. The point of all this is that, Salem's people breaking through Atlesian defenses would not be easy under normal circumstances, especially with them so much on guard. Ironwood is clearly indicated to not be knowingly under anyone's influence so they can't do what they did in Mistral. However, being divided and weakened by war makes them much more vulnerable. 1. I could say the same for you, considering I'm not being arrogant at all, just logical based on how the story is being set up, whereas you seem to be all but certain it will happen and have stated it would be stupid to not set it up.

2. Are you serious? No, War-making ability is not only about resources and man-power, its also about justification behind declaration of war, a unified agreement towards said declaration from the ruling bodies, and the willingness of both sides to partake in the war. If only a single side is partaking, its not a war, just a siege or attack.

Atlas has a council, one Ironwood has two seats on, but a council nonetheless. Unless the council willingly agreed on the decision to declare war, a sanctioned war wouldn't happen.

Vacuo meanwhile has no stable form of government. Since even to the present day:

Qrow: ''After the Great War, a formal government was finally established, but by that point the folks living in Vacuo didn't care to uphold its laws, making Shade Academy the only real source of order in the Kingdom. But order isn't everything.''

With no stable form of Government, they can't officially declare war. Any form of attack from a huntsman of Vacuo would only be seen as an individual person or a radicalized group rather than an official declaration of war, meaning if anyone were to declare war, it would have to be Atlas.

3. Vale is lacking on Manpower, primarily due to the Fall of Beacon. Whatever huntsman forces there are focused on trying to take out the Grimm overrunning the Academy, or are busy doing their own stuff, like Tai still teaching at Signal. The Vale council itself is in no position to try and declare war, as they've banned all air traffic not associated with evacuating the kingdom, leaving Vale stuck in a state of disarray.

4. That is an assumption based solely on speculation. Even so, even if any students or professors moved to Vacuo and told what happened at Beacon, they would only be affecting Shade Academy, not the entire kingdom, since again, Vacuo has no stable form of Government. Since the narrator is Qrow, its reasonable to believe this information is accurate to atleast before the Fall of Beacon, and since the time between Volume's 3 and 4 is uncertain but around a year at most thanks to Ruby's confirmed Age Range, its highly unlikely they managed to get a stable form of government up and running, ironed out all the kinks, and made the kingdom unify under it and follow it.

5. Except you are then ignoring Hazel's last line of the episode.

Hazel:  If you want something done right... do it yourself.

If Salem was trying to instigate a war, in what way is making a horde of Beringhal with wings doing something right herself. The line is implying Salem isn't sitting in Evernight anymore, but is making an army to launch an assault on Atlas. She's already sent Watts, an established hacker thanks to creating the Queen Virus, and Tyrian, a deranged psycho, ahead to make sure Ironwood can't ask for aid from Vacuo.

Tyrian: Her Grace must act swiftly if we are to prevail. If General Ironwood comes to his senses and calls upon aid from Vacuo, all may be lost for us! And so the good doctor and I are being sent to Atlas... to prepare.

As for what they're preparing for? Preparing for Salem's army to arrive, since Watts has demonstrated his Virus can hijack Atlesian tech, he's more than likely meant to cripple their defenses with Tyrian as his bodyguard, so that when Salem launches her assault, it will leave little to stop her.

The plot has one major focus right now, collecting and protecting the Relics. To deal with a War subplot eats up time, and is ultimately unneccesary since Salem can easily strongarm her way into Atlas like she had Cinder do at Vale. The Sword of Destruction only has Shade to guard it, the Lamp of Knowledge is being taken to Atlas, the Crown of Choice is MIA, and the Staff of Creation is in Atlas, meaning if Salem wants to achieve her goals, Atlas is the biggest obstacle, so rather than waste time and try to instigate a war, she's gonna make it first fall apart from within, then make it come crashing down.

Salem's entire sthick is weakening her enemies from the inside out so they're easier to conquer.

Salem: Your faith in mankind was not misplaced. When banded together, unified by a common enemy, they are a noticeable threat. But divide them, place doubt into their minds, and any semblance of power they once had will wash away.

Its what she ultimately had Cinder do, put the fear of a war between Atlas and Vale into People's minds, create panic to attract the Grimm, take over Atlas tech, and then bombarded Vale. Doing so caused most to blame Atlas, forcing Atlas to close in on itself, and all but destroyed Vale. So she then went to Mistral, already having Haven's Headmaster in her control, allowing him to neuter the kingdom, and she would have succeeded had Cinder's lust for power not derailed their plans, and had Raven not bested Cinder and let Yang take the Lamp. Her next target was supposed to be Vacuo, the obviously easiest of the remaining two kingdoms, but she only shifted focus once it became apparent Atlas would have two relics and may lock down further. So she's doing what she does best. Turning humanities strength against them.

Watts will most likely release a virus into their servers, possible obtain some scandalous info on either Ironwood or the Schnee's to cause discontent, send Tyrian out to assassinate some bigger enemies and maybe even the general while also hunting down the Winter Maiden, and once all that is taken care of, Salem will be free to storm Atlas with her army of Beringhal, and possibly some other Aerial Grimm like Manticore's, Sphinx, Nevermore, Griffon, and Lancers. The Atlesian Forces will be too focused on trying to handle to maelstrom of Grimm, while Salem, Watts, Tyrian, and possibly Emerald, Mercury, and Hazel provided they haven't tried to defect by then, will storm Atlas Academy, force the Winter Maiden to unlock the Vault of Creation, kill her, steal the Staff, and all they'll have left to accomplish is finding the Lamp of Knowledge, and killing both Ironwood and Jacques. Ironwood to cripple the Atlesian Military, and Jacques to neuter the SDC, making sure there will truly be no reliable way to get Dust.