Vale (city)


 * For the kingdom of the same name, see Vale (kingdom).

Eh, I kinda like it. Tall buildings, diverse culture...

Vale is a large, coastal city in the kingdom of Vale. The cityscape of Vale has a build similar to modern cities like New York and San Francisco. However, the narrow roads occasionally seen suggest that the city is old enough to formerly have traditional roads.

It is divided into multiple sectors, having an upper-class district, a commercial district, an industrial district, an agricultural district and a residential district.

Vale has a large port area where passenger and cargo ships dock, including international ships from Vacuo and Atlas. The cargo docks include large-scale container handling facilities, indicating that the port handles large quantities of goods on a frequent basis.

To the southeast lies an area teaming with wild forests and deep caves, but it is also known to contain the ruins of Mountain Glenn, a failed attempt by the kingdom to extend the city's borders. The location was eventually overrun by Grimm and had to be fenced off from the rest of the city.

Commercial District


The commercial district of Vale includes numerous shops for the public catering to a variety of lifestyles and interests befitting its vibrant and diverse culture.


 * From Dust Till Dawn - a Dust shop that also sells books, tools, and other related merchandise.
 * A Simple Wok - a streetside noodle stand
 * Tukson's Book Trade - a bookstore with a comprehensive selection
 * Crow Bar - a food and alcohol establishment with live TV access
 * Junior's Club - a dance club with nefarious ties
 * Clothing store - damaged during Grimm breach on Vale
 * Bakery - damaged during Grimm breach on Vale

The architecture of the commercial district appears to vary widely, possibly according to socioeconomic factors. While some areas appear to be surrounded by buildings with well-kept brick façades, holographic street lamps, pedestrian crossing and clear streets, other areas appear to be more low-income, such as those surrounding Junior's Club, which are characterized by metal, bare concrete and power-lines.

Port
Vale contains a port in the commercial area of Vale that was first introduced in Episode 15, while Team RWBY was exploring the city.

The docks are fenced with metal railing, and, according to Ruby, smell distinctly like fish. Sailboats can be seen in the large body of water the docks border, and several large transport ships are known to ferry sizeable shipments to and from the port. Given that land is visible across the body of water, the port is likely to be at the edge of the main river estuary instead of the ocean.

A more industrial area of the docks is seen in Episode 16, where large cranes are used to unload heavy shipping containers from docked freighters.

As stated by Weiss, students from Vacuo would be arriving for the Vytal Festival on board a ship at the docks. Sun Wukong arrived as a stowaway one of these ships, when the Vale Police Force tried to apprehend him. A Dust shop in Vale is seen to be located in the vicinity. Considering this and the amount of people milling around, it is possible that the docks border the industrial and commericial districts.

In Episode 16, Sun and Blake Belladonna return to the docks a couple of days later in order to oversee the unloading of an incredibly large shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas, consisting of dozens of shipping containers. Whilst there, they interfere with a significant theft operation orchestrated by Roman Torchwick and his White Fang allies. Penny Polendina arrives with Ruby in the middle of the fight and brings down several Bullheads.

Warehouses
A section of the industrial district contains warehouses, which are low-traffic enough to be a safe place for White Fang activity, as well as the location Torchwick hides all the stolen Dust. In "Painting the Town...", a secret White Fang recruitment meeting is held in the warehouse. After Sun and Blake burst through a window and run, they are seen nearing buildings that look similar to houses, suggesting that the warehouse is near the residential area. During the chase sequence as Torchwick follows in the stolen Atlesian Paladin-290, they soon pass a road that is outside Junior's Club, suggesting instead that the warehouse is located closer to the commercial district. The presence of the river makes it unlikely for it to juxtaposition both districts.

Beacon Academy
Beacon Academy, a training school for Huntsmen is founded in the city of Vale. The school's ongoing excellent reputation is a cultural asset to the city.

Vale's culture and importance is further enhanced by one of the four major CCT towers being erected on the academy's campus.

Mountain Glenn
Mountain Glenn was an attempt at expanding Vale toward the southeast. It did not have the natural barriers of inner city Vale, but an aggressive perimeter defense was utilized. The people who lived there commuted to their jobs in the city through a subway system, which helped them stay safe from Grimm. Unfortunately these methods only proved effective for only a short while and Mountain Glenn was destroyed by Grimm. The underground subway that lead to the commercial district of Vale was sealed off.

Criminal Atmosphere
At the beginning of Year One, the city of Vale saw in increase in crime at the hands of Roman Torchwick. He was recognizable on sight, causing citizens to freeze or back away when he openly walked down a street with henchman.

As Torchwick stepped up his thievery, under the orders of Cinder Fall, police presence in the city increased dramatically. As Roman himself put it: "I've got this town running scared. Police at every corner, Dust prices through the roof."

Breach
Vale experienced a catastrophe when the sealed underground tunnel from Mountain Glenn was broken by a train, allowing several Grimm to breach into the city. Beacon Academy staff and students, with the help of the Atlesian military, efficiently stopped the Grimm, but not before the city experienced damage and people were hurt. Glynda Goodwitch was quickly able to set the damage to rights, but the people of Vale felt an increased uneasiness and fear.

The incident caused the governing council to change security measures for the Vytal Festival, placing James Ironwood of Atlas in charge and threatening Professor Ozpin. Roman Torchwick, who had been caught causing the breach into Vale, was put into custody.

Vytal Festival
The city of Vale hosted the 40th Vytal Festival. The town decorated with banners and balloons the day exchange students first started arriving. According to Weiss Schnee, the city also hosted a parade as part of the festivities.

A section of Vale, part of the Beacon Academy grounds, was set up with tents for the festival's fair.

Battle of Beacon
The city of Vale experience another, more devastating, catastrophe during the Finals round of the Vytal Festival Tournament. Grimm invaded the city, as well as the White Fang. Roman Torchwick escaped from imprisonment and shot down defense airships and reprogrammed all Atlesian Knight-200s and Atlesian Paladin-290s to attack people instead of Grimm.

Eventually the robots were stopped, but a Grimm dragon, frozen atop the broken CCT tower, attracted more and more Grimm. A Huntsmen base was set up in the city under Glynda Goodwitch.

Law Enforcement
Vale has its own police department, which has both uniformed and plain-clothes detective sections. Criminal mastermind Roman Torchwick is currently relatively high on its most wanted list.

However, the capabilities of Vytal's criminal element, including super-criminals and the White Fang terrorist organization, sometimes outstrip the department's ability to counter them, forcing it to rely on the Huntsmen to deal with any of these extreme threats.

Media
The Vale News Network (VNN) seems to be a major source of news casting in the Vale Region, broadcasting to the people of Vale. Known newscasters include Lisa Lavender and Cyril Ian.