Human

Humans are a race in the world of Remnant that is distinct from Faunus for their greater civil rights, and constitute a major power in the world, lacking the animal attributes of Faunus.

Background
Unlike Faunus, humans are not held accountable for their actions due to their race alone by the majority of the people on Remnant. Their ongoing struggles with the Faunus, in both wars and civil protests, are well documented. As humans are in control of most business in Remnant, some companies, such as the Schnee Dust Company, use mistreated Faunus labour. Although racist attitudes toward Faunus are not uncommon, they are still frowned upon, at least in Beacon Academy.

History
It is generally accepted by modern scientists that humans are native to Remnant.

Few continue to subscribe to the ancient myth that humans were 'born of dust'. However, one fact from this creation myth continues to hold true: For all of recorded history and as far back into pre-history as anthropologists have been able to reliably probe, humans have been at war with the strange group of animals known collectively as The Creatures of Grimm. It is unknown why this creatures are so instinctively hostile to humans but it is this history of conflict that has shaped the development of human culture from its earliest days.

Ancient cave drawings, such as those seen in the caves in the Emerald Forest show that stone age hunter-gatherer tribes of humans were forced to develop social and military structures very early on in their history to counter the Creatures, which are generally larger and faster than humans and resilient enough to physical damage that they are nearly impossible to stop with weapons not enhanced with Aura or Dust. Both mythology and history confirms that the conflict with the creatures drove humans close to extinction on at least one occasion.

Aura and Dust
This outcome was averted by two discoveries, the exact details of which are lost in the mists of prehistory.

The first of these is 'Aura'. Typically, Aura is described as an 'extension of the soul'. In scientific terms, it is an energy field generated by all true life-forms that can boost their physical attributes for a short period. It can also act as a shield, deflecting and weakening the effect of concussive and cutting impacts. Aura is a scientifically measurable energy and commonly available personal technology can measure the strength of a person's aura relative to its maximum possible strength.

Aura may or may not be associated with Semblance, another special ability apparently unique to humans and their cousins, the Faunus. Semblance is a special ability that can vary wildly from practitioner to practitioner. Known examples include the ability to run fast enough that travelling short distances is near-instantaneous and he ability to psychically manipulate magnetic fields.

However, Semblance is tends to have very narrow applications and Aura is, by its very nature, is a resource limited to the inherit strength of its wielder. Although able to greatly empower a properly-trained practitioner, it is unable to tip the balance against sufficiently powerful or numerous foes.

There were several phases of attempts at settled civilisation during this period of human history. However, given the number of Creatures and the limits of the tools humans had to hand at this time, few of them were successful. To this day, in the wild parts of the world, there are ruins of these brave but doomed early attempts, such as the Abandoned Temple in the Emerald Forest.

The details of the discovery of Dust by humans is now lost to history and myth. What is known is that it is one of the most flexible and powerful tools humans have ever discovered. In its raw form, Dust is a hexihedral crystal but can be processed into a fine powder, both of which can be used as a power source for a variety of tools and, most importantly weapons. Dust usage in pre-history and early human history seems to have followed three distinct phases.

The main historical significance of Dust, in the context of the struggle against the Creatures, is that it gave semi- or untrained humans weapons and defences of sufficient power to enable them to fight the Creatures effectively. For the first time, humans were no longer out-gunned and outnumbered. The tide of the age-old struggle had turned and has never turned back.
 * The earliest Dust users were often portrayed as wizards or servants of some deity using what was sometimes defined as "nature's wrath" by channelling the power of the Dust crystals directly.
 * The next and possibly most significant phase was the use of Dust to enhance melee weapons such as swords and spears. This made otherwise-unremarkable weapons able to penetrate the armour of all but the largest Creature and marked the turning of the tide in the battle against these strange, invariably hostile creatures.
 * The most recent application of Dust has been to use Dust reactions to propel high-velocity projectiles and even create directed energy fields for weapons. This has, for the first time, meant that even humans who have not received the extensive training received by Hunters can reasonably expect to be able to hold their own against an average Creature.

The Rise of the Kingdoms
With the issue of the Creatures, if not resolved, at least now under some semblance of control, humans were able to make their first lasting attempts to build a settled civilisation. With the Creatures still a significant threat, early human settlements were few in number and heavily fortified. With time, the safe zones around these fortifications grew. Smaller population centres slowly merged and the current international order of four major kingdoms slowly emerged.

It is a fact however, that Remnant remains a dangerous and hostile world. Far away from the major population centres, the cities and regions of the Four Kingdoms, the Creatures are still dominant and even Hunters must be wary going there.

Human-Faunus Conflict
The next major event in human history was the conflict with the Faunus.

The exact causes of this conflict are the subject for a separate study. However, it is reasonable to conclude that the long struggle against the Creatures of Grimm left humans with a deep xenophobic suspicion of any organised organised species that was not them. This is curious because, apart from their varying animal-like features, faunus and humans are very similar. Both are upright humanoids, capable of using Aura, Semblance and Dust.

Nonetheless, suspicions and hatreds festered. The more dominant humans continually oppressed and discriminated against the Faunus. Finally, only fairly recently in the past, an attempt was made at a "final solution" that would see Faunus restricted to a specially-created 'Kingdom' all of their own called Menagerie.

Facing permanent subjugation, the Faunus fought back, leading to a full-scale war. After a series of military victories considered by historians to be very much against reasonable expectations, the united Faunus race forced humanity to the negotiating table. Although the settlement of this conflict theoretically led to equal standing between faunus and humans, the underlying hatreds remain. Many humans disdain faunus as 'animals' and there are still profound suspicions and resentments on the human side regarding the outcome of the war.

As a consequence of this ongoing discrimination and oppression, there is a strong and growing faunus civil rights movement, protesting the exploitation of faunus and discrimination against them. Additionally, The White Fang, an organisation set up in the aftermath of the war to promote unity, equality and peace between humans and faunus has become radicalised and has turned into a powerful terrorist movement. So powerful is this movement and so extensive is its activities that it now represents a major threat to continued overall peace between the races.

The Modern Day
Modern human society is a cosmopolitan mix of the traditional and the technological.

Humans still primarily live in the Four Kingdoms, where agriculture, industry and life may continue without continual threats from the Creatures. Faunus integration is such that large numbers live in traditionally human areas. International trade and co -operation is largely entrenched with many organisations, such as the Schnee Dust Company operating in several kingdoms and transporting their wares all over the globe.

Although most commentators regard the modern era as unprecedented one of peace, there remain many problems. As well as the continued threat of the White Fang, there is a growing issue from organised crime in the major population centres. Sometimes, these criminal organisations are powerful enough to outstrip police forces' ability to contain them. For this reason, the ancient tradition of trained aura- and dust-wielding warriors known as Hunters continues into the modern age. Trained at such institutions as the world-famous Beacon Academy, the Hunter remains a person with a vocation, having determined in themselves to hone their natural talents as fighters and protectors and then spend their entire adult lives defending civilisation against the numerous threats around them.

Culture and Society
Modern humanity remains scarred by the wounds of its long historical struggle with the Grim. The training of Hunters when the trainee is barely into their teen years and will continue for nearly a decade. As horrifying as it may seem to come in the safer areas, from early on, human adolescents are taught to fight, to kill and to be ready to die in the protection of civilisation. This has led to a idealisation of physical strength and martial prowess in many parts of society.

One way in which this idealisation is manifested is in the Tournament. Basically, regulated versions of the ancient Honour duel, tournaments remain a popular spectator event. Large-scale tournaments such as the Vytal Festival and the Mistral regional tournament often reach global audiences. Combined with other cultural events such as dancing and art contests, these festivals and tournaments remain a reminder of the degree to which preparedness for conflict is a core feature of human society even today.

With the increase of Dust-powered transportation that has shrunk the world, Remnant is home to an increasingly cosmopolitan society with popular cultural forms such as music and literature spreading across the globe. Mass-production of technological conveniences has led to a comfortable life for most. A modern human can expect to live their entire life without seeing a Creature and without needing to learn to use their Aura (or even learn what it is) let alone wield a weapon.

Nonetheless, there remains a considerable tribal mentality (once necessary to survive the Creatures' wrath) and most humans have an instinctive suspicion of the 'different'. This most frequently manifests itself in the continued discrimination against the Faunus.