User blog:Zathronas/Speculative author: Can we play a card game?

Hello and welcome to the 8th post of speculative author.

I had several ideas for today’s post. At first, my thought was leaning toward speculations on the Main plot of the show I decided to wait andseehow Monty intends to redeem the Grimm first. My second option was to make a piece on Atlas and Ironwood, I actually started writing it when I discovered some interesting tidbits while doing my research. That tidbit changed my mind. So in conclusion, let’s talk about a card game :)

Why am I talking about a scene that happened in episode 2 of volume 2 now? Because with the information we received lately, it brings some of the dialogue into a new light. You can read a transcript of the episode right here. But I’ll resume it anyway.

RWBY is in Beacon’s library playing a card game centered on the four kingdoms. Ruby starts by attacking Yang with her Atlesian air fleet. She points out that since Atlas is part of Mantle, her repair time is only 1 turn. Yang counters with a giant Nevermore that has a chance of attacking her instead of the fleet but wins the toss and decimates Ruby’s fleet. Ruby is bummed out by her loss but Yang points out they were probably androids anyway.

Let’s start here. With the latest World of Remnant episode, we now know that some of the kingdoms have a permanent standing army and with Ironwood’s visit, we can certainly conclude that Atlas is one of them. Now at the start of the same episode we actually see some of the Atlesian air fleet. We see several big gunships and nimble fighters around them. Now imagine a Nevermore big enough to destroy a fleet of them. Could the Grimm we’ve seen not really be representative of the race? Could the beasts outside the kingdoms wall be several orders of magnitude bigger?

Now Ruby points out that Atlas is part of Mantle and because of it, the repair time to her fleet is only one turn. Could Mantle be the name of the continent? If so, maybe this rule means that the continent is rich in resources. That would explain how a company like Schnee would come from Atlas. Then we have Yang’s offhand comment about them being androids. It confirms that Atlas uses mostly robot in their armies. Let’s continue our analysis.

We get a few banters between Yang and Ruby some of it is interesting. Yang explains she gets a double reward because of the Mistral trade route. Mistral is the eastern kingdom on the map. She also says something about the smugglers of the wind path. Before Weiss shows her confusion at the game. Yang points out that she plays Vacuo, that’s the western kingdom. Her cards consist of sandstorms, desert scavengers and raiders. She has an endurance bonus against natural based hazard.

So...smugglers, raiders and scavengers exit in Remnant. That means the world outside the kingdom’s wall is very difficult and dangerous. It also means that RWBY and her friends haven’t really encountered the real world of Remnant yet. We also learn that Vacuo seems to be in or very close to a desert. Maybe that’s why they don’t wear shirts?

Now what can we speculate from all this?

That the world of Remnant is more dangerous than what we’ve seen from the comfort of a walled kingdom. That the Grimm we’ve seen may be the very little brothers of the actual Grimms outside the kingdoms. Finally, it could also have been a little heads-up from the writers. Telling us to expect a war between kingdoms. Maybe what we've seen isn't really the real world of remnant.

That would certainly explain the difference between what we've been told and what we've seen.

