Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25947212-20180518145912

I have a question that I want to hear the opinions of the RWBY community.

Does the Kingdoms have in any shape and/or form armed forces?

It is stated that not all (with the exception of Atlas) maintain standing armies and would just call upon their citizens in time of need, I imagine assembling a Militia to defend their homes possibly a common occurrence to towns and villages far from the city, but is it really?

Also note that there's a large gap in terms of military technology between the Kingdoms, such as the ff:

Vale - Being led by a 'King' I assume Vale have the same military technology and system of Medieval Europe, judging by Jaune's Heriloom weapon Crocea Mors, an arming sword and kite shield and overall having a 'Knight' theme.

Vacuo - Isolated from the rest of her neighbors, Vacuo don't have many external threats and with the WOR episode for Vacuo their technologically inferior compare to other Kingdoms, using bows and spears and little else forcing them to use guerilla tactics to fight enemies more larger than them.

Mantle (Atlas) - The most technologicaly advance Kingdom by far have superior weapon technology, using the same rifles almost a hundred years ago is still being used today by Atlas soldiers and knight androids.

Mistral - Being close Allies with Mantle I presume Mistral would be around Early-Modern level of military tech, such as rifles and cannons, judging by their Asian aesthetics (Chinese? Or is it Korean?) gunpowder based weapons is a possibility.

And that's before and during the Great War. In modern times Atlas is the de-facto military of humanity as a whole, being the only Kingdom that have a standing military this give them tremendous prestige, power and influence. Kingdoms like Vale and Mistral have their own police force but such can't trully fend off a Grimm assult.

Vacuo being described having a 'rough and tumble lifestyle' I assume everyone in Vacuo own and know how to use a gun, this give Vacuo somewhat of a chance of repelling any Grimm incursion since the entire population would take up arms.

Looking back, Vale and perhaps even Mistral don't have any force to defend themselves with and rely on Atlas and the Hunters for security from external and internal threats.

Speaking of which...the Hunters.

I would like to point out that the term 'Hunter' is the same as calling someone a 'Warrior' it was referred as such during the WOR 'Great War' episode that all warriors were taken to fight the war thus no one was capable of fighting Grimm and protect the towns and villages. So not all 'Warriors' are 'Hunters' but all 'Hunters' are 'Warriors'.

This was enforced with Ren's dad, he's the town's 'Hunter' but he found with nothing but a bow and by the looks of it does not have aura, it seemed only trained Hunters have acsses to Aura and advance weaponry but I'll just chalk it up as being separating themselves from Mistral, thus the lack of tech and extra sharp pointy sticks.

The Kingdoms (as far I can see) rely solely on their Hunters to protect them, considering the Council of each Kingdom dedicate funding to the Academies, this is quite a possibility they forgo the maintenance of a standing army and opted producing more Hunters.

It might just because the Kingdoms don't need such a thing because Grimm operate mostly in packs and a squad of Hunters is sufficient enough, only Atlas have a Military just to be prepared for anything but I think it's just to enforce their monopoly of Dust through the SDC.

With Beacon in ruins and Vale in a very bad shape, the Council of Vale might be considering to create a defence force, With the Hunters of Beacon, it's students and staff and students from other academies obviously failed to protect Vale and the ruins of Beacon become a Grimm nest, it's possible but that's just me.

Menagerie have the White Fang so that's that.

I would like to hear opinions on this matter. 