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Full of thieves and assassins, this is a region where the people can be just as, if not more, dangerous than the Grimm. Just make sure you don't stick up your nose too far where it doesn't belong...

Kuchinashi is a city in the Kingdom of Mistral. It is located to the south of the main City of Mistral. A seemingly endless labyrinth of dark, twisting and turning streets, it is the home of every pirate, brigand, assassin, thief, vagabond, creature of the night and evil-doer for hundreds of miles around lying in wait to trap unwary travelers.

Recently the Creatures of Grimm seen in and around the area have been behaving strangely, prompting Qrow Branwen to begin an investigation. His request to investigate it is taken up by Team SAFR.

From the episode "Can You Hear Me Now?" to When Life Gives You Lemons, the city was under the control of the Wave crime syndicate until Huntsman reinforcements came to take it back.

The city is the primary setting for RWBY: The Grimm Campaign.

Description[]

The city of Kuchinashi is a city tucked into the open mouth of the mountains, referred to as an "egg in a viper's nest" in the local region. From a distance, neon lights of the city are able to shine through the ever-present fog and rain in the region, thanks to the area's weather systems rolling in and being broken up by the mountains of Anima.

The city has anti-air artillery as a form of defense, alongside various sirens and air horns which can travel through large distances. Due to its distance from the capital, the city is farther from the governing council's watch. This makes it an ideal location for thieves, assassins, and other people who wish to remain hidden from the authorities. Because of this, Kuchinashi has become very well known for it's corruption, poverty, and numerous crime waves.

The city is filled with bright, neon lights of business advertisements, outfitting onto the contrasting traditional Eastern architecture that makes up the majority of the buildings seen. It is old, mysterious, and most people in Kuchinashi are either in constant direct contact with or in service to the criminal enterprise of Mistral. Even the honorable civilians in the city who are trying to make an honest living are aware of who their patrons are. Endless back alleys stretch across the city, making it a maze.

Kuchinashi is divided into three main sections:

Central Strip[]

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Central Strip.

The Central Strip, as the name implies, is the central part of Kuchinashi where the majority of public businesses are conducted. Amongst these are The Hedges, the main marketplace in the city which is connected to the crime syndicate, an unnamed Huntsmen combat school, and The Skillful, a tavern known for high Huntsman activity and for making the major decisions of the city.

The Hedges are loud and overwhelming, being very busy and crowded. There's a large amount of vocal interest in Huntsmen and Huntresses here, and the most eye-catching shops tend to be Dust stands. The east of the Hedges tends to be seedier, where people would be pushing drugs.

The Central Strip has a local hospital, as well as a local Sheriff's Office with a jail whose cells are supported by Lightning Dust, perfect to hold even the most capable Huntsmen. In addition, it hosts a blacksmith shop.

Following the Wave taking over Kuchinashi, some of the city guard decided to join them and used the Sheriff's Office as a base. They also used it's evidence room to store many of the magic artifacts in their possession.

The Lower Valley[]

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The Lower Valley.

The Lower Valley is an area known as the warehouse district, where the criminal underworld's hidden activities are kept in the dark, even by Kuchinashi's standards. The warehouses are all guarded like strongholds, and people don't go there unless intending to be involved with crime.

Some of the warehouses are used by the Hana Guild as their main compound to store narcotics and more recently Weapons. Another Warehouse serves as the main compound of the Hearth led by Abigail Pyre.

The Upper Cliffs[]

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Javi Pastel's estate in The Upper Cliffs.

Kuchinashi's residential area, The Upper Cliffs, is where citizens and criminals live their daily lives. Like Mistral, the nobility is seen the farther up the mountains you go. However, there's a twist on this in Kuchinashi: as you go higher up, the cliffs become more and more dangerous and inaccessible, just like how the crime lords prefer it to be. The higher up you are in the cliffs, the more powerful you seem to others, reflecting the culture in the city. Amongst the people residing here are the Black Sheep, a crime family, and various noble houses that are dabbling into the underworld.

Pastel Estate[]

Javi Pastel owned a large three-story estate in the Upper Cliffs of Kuchinashi which contained secret passageways within the mansion connecting various rooms inside the building.

The first floor of the mansion connected to a large backdoor garage allowing transport into the basement of the estate. It had a large guest hall and several restrooms, along with a kitchen and bar in the estate's wing. The basement of the first floor connected to a secret tunnel system between the walls of the building, allowing for secret transports.

A large staircase led to a second floor, where a library and kitchen could be found. The floor's kitchen had a secret passageway into the first floor's basement. Pastel's library was large, filled to the brim with various books. One of its shelves hid away another hidden passage, leading to a subbasement detailed below.

The estate's third floor consisted of an entertainment room, Pastel's bedroom, and his office. Pastel's office desk had a hidden compartment to store away confidential items.

A passageway in the second-floor library leads into a hidden subbasement below the estate, descending from a spiraling staircase. The subbasement contrasted the typical architecture of Kuchinashi, being highly industrialized as opposed to a more traditional aesthetic. It was large and expansive, proving to be a maze of hallways that lead into a computer room. Prior to the start of RWBY: The Grimm Campaign, Pastel had imported various merchandise across the world into this subbasement, including Sabyr Grimm from Atlas in order to conduct experiments in them. The Sabyrs eventually broke loose, killing various employees in the subbasement and forcing hired workers to lock themselves in.

The subbasement had a total of five floors, with access through an old gravity Dust-powered elevator. Certain rooms had electric floor panel traps as a defense mechanism against possible Grimm experiment accidents. Evidently, after discovering a Magic Necklace, Javi Pastel gained control of the Grimm prior to his death.

The subbasement leads into the northern Kuchinashi mountain pass, traversing much deeper into the wilderness.

Pastel's Estate appears to be inspired by the Lockwood Manor from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and the Jurassic Park franchise as a whole, with Arrastra Skye even making a nod to the character of Lexi, repeating her iconic line, "It's a UNIX system! I know this!" when in the estate's subbasement.

The Skillful[]

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The Skillful.

The Skillful is a tavern in Kuchinashi known for being where all the major decisions of the city are made. It is run by the famous Huntress named Opal. It is physically unassuming and quaint, compared to a warm log cabin in the woods. However, inside, The Skillful is where you find Huntsmen in Kuchinashi, where Huntsman stop by when traveling, and where they find illegal activities to get pay. To enter, you need to show a Huntsman's license at the door, but it doesn't have to be active or originally yours to begin with–if you've obtained one by any means, then you've earned it and will be allowed inside.

Inside, there's a stage for performers, photos on the wall of former Headmasters of the Huntsmen Academies, famous Huntsmen, etc, and even a poster of the upcoming 39th Vytal Festival in Mistral.

The Skillful doesn't have many rules, but it bans bar fights due to a past fight between Asher Mora and two members of the Hana Guild.

Main Entrance[]

The entrance of Kuchinashi is a dark cave, which leads into a large archway hanging over them. The entrance has what is called a Mummified Grimm on display. Mummified Grimm isn't actually mummies in a traditional sense, but more so warning signs and trophies of genuinely living Grimm who are horribly injured to the point of being unable to do anything. Kuchinashi's entrance has the decapitated head of a Boarbatusk mounted on a rod, its eyes following travelers as they enter the city.

Airship Port[]

Connected to the main entrance of the city, there is a large airship port carved out of the mouth of a large cavern that opens up to the sky. The port has several landing pads, a market, and a security checkpoint which is normally staffed by the city guard. There is also a large automated turret guarding the mouth of the cavern, and a security lookout above the main enternace to the port.

The port has several offshoots that were closed off due to cave ins.

Kuchinashi Approach[]

On the way up to the city, a series of unkempt ropes, gates, and drawbridges are known as the famous Kuchinashi Approach. It is a part of the city's security system to keep out both Grimm and unwanted visitors. The Kuchinashi Approach is known for the saying; "you never enter Kuchinashi by accident, it's not the kind of place you stumble into."

Northern Mountain Pass[]

The northern mountain pass isn't like the Kuchinashi Approach, instead of being a precarious path that navigates around cliffs and deeper into them. The mountain pass has been excavated in specific locations, with some dig sites having been caved in on purpose. However, there doesn't seem to be any tunnels in the past. Dust can be found in these mountains, but they've also found ruins and abandoned regions in them.

In "A Rocky Start", it is revealed that parts of the mountain pass are armed with Scroll-activated bombs. In the episode, Sil uses these bombs to cause a landslide to try and kill the protagonists of RWBY: The Grimm Campaign.

In "SHEATHE ME!", it is revealed that the mountain pass is home to an "older than old" civilization which has been left in ruins over time. Later, it was revealed to have contained multiple magic artifacts within them.

Sewers[]

Sewers

Settlement in the city's sewers

Following the Wave's takeover of Kuchinashi, many of the people fighting against them like professor Takaya were forced to hide in the sewers and eventually set up a settlement. Dust shops are among the shops in this settlement and a security system was put in place by Templeton to prevent outsiders from entering.

Two of Takaya's students, Razz and Fuchsia were actually undercover agents of the Hana Guild and were sabotaging the security system while reporting everything they knew about the settlement to them. Takaya decided that they would have to relocate because of this.

Crime Guilds[]

There are several infamous crime syndicates residing in Kuchinashi:

  • The Black Sheep reside in the city's Upper Cliffs.
  • The Hana Guild, or simply the Hana, is a crime family in Mistral located in Kuchinashi, known for moving narcotics. It's an old and powerful family, and their sigil is a flower with blade-like petals. Their new leader is a man named Vermillion Raddock.
  • The Wave was another criminal organization in Kuchinashi, known for being a relatively newer organization that dealt in stolen goods, such as high tech Atlas Military merchandise, and similar products. They were rivals to the Hana Guild and their leader was a woman named Lemon until her death and the organization was destroyed.
  • The Hearth is a guild of thieves and assassins that returned to Kuchinashi to deal with the Wave. They were led by a woman named Abigail Pyre prior to her death.

Appearances[]

In "Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back", Team RNJR encounters a signpost in the middle of a fork in the road while on Anima. Kuchinashi is indicated to be in the same direction as Mistral, to the right of the fork.

Its name also appears in the departures list shown in the Volume 6 premiere, "Argus Limited".

It is the main setting of RWBY: The Grimm Campaign.

History[]

RWBY: The Grimm Campaign[]

In the past, Abigail Pyre set up Asher Mora to the Hana Guild and a fight broke out in The Skillful. Because of this incident, Opal made a rule that prohibited fighting in the bar from that point onward.

Four Huntsmen from Mistral: Pyke Rite, Arrastra Skye, Asher Mora, and Fenix Nemean are sent to Kuchinashi. En route to their mission, they find the city is being attacked by the creatures of Grimm. Lancer Grimm attacks nearby gates in the city, but they are slain before breaching its walls.

There, they learn that the Grimm have been acting strangely near the city, avoiding attacking people but targeting specific parts of the city–the Lancers in the gate being an example, and another being a case where a Beringel snuck into Kuchinashi's walls, avoided the entirety of the Central Strip, and instead chose to wreak havoc in the Lower Valleys inside a Hana Guild warehouse. It was originally unknown as to why.

In recent history, Javi Pastel took the Pastel mining company into Kuchinashi as an offshoot for his family business to make a name for himself. There, he found that the Kuchinashi mountains were host to an ancient civilization that was left in ruins, and contained a treasure trove. Javi's findings caught the interest of the Hana Guild and the Wave, who tried to buy off an item from Javi. After Javi sold one item to the Wave, the Hana Guild gained a new leader which stopped the dealing of narcotics and changed the organization into a more shadowy group. Soon after, Pastel turned out dead as the Wave claimed another item from his estate before their rivals. His estate would later be auctioned off, along with the items in it.

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Kuchinashi burning after the Wave attacks.

During the auction, it would be revealed that items which were allegedly Magic in nature would be sold, drawing attention of the Hana and the Wave. With all their enemies in one place, the Wave launched an attack with a Magic Necklace that allowed them to control the Grimm, then turned their eyes to the city in large, spreading terror throughout the settlement. However, the attack doesn't completely eradicate all of their enemies, with there being rumours that Vermillion Raddock survived the attack.

The majority of the city escape to the city's sewers for safety after the city is taken over by the wave. Later, it is revealed that the Wave has multiple magic artifacts and is planning to sell them to factions outside the city to increase their influence and power. They use the city's sheriff's office to keep them all secure while keeping multiple guards stationed there to keep watch over them. Team SAFR infiltrate the station with the help of the city's former sheriff Alabaster. They manage to obtain some of the magic artifacts, but are forced to leave Alabaster behind when the Wave in the rest of the city are alerted to their actions.

After this, Team SAFR decide to gain the help of Abigail Pyre and The Hearth to stop the artifacts being shipped out to potential buyers in the city of Mistral. While Team SAFR was still in the sewers, they discovered that the sensors used for security have been sabotaged by somebody and inform professor Takaya of this. He later sends some of his students to look into it. They later attack the convoys carrying them and run into Team SMMK who are protecting them while preparing to fight them. After fighting them for a while, Lemon uses her magic necklace to control Grimm in the area around the Convoys as they prepare to attack Team SAFR. When Marton and Mina attempt to get out of the way of the incoming Grimm however, the truck they were on gets flipped over by the Grimm as they pursue Team SAFR's truck. Once their truck falls off a cliff and the team survive it, the Grimm stop pursuing them as they decide to return to the sewers with the artifacts they retrieved the next day.

When they come back however, they realize Taupe is nowhere to be found and learn that he went to confront the two students Takaya sent to look into the sensors being sabotaged. When Pyke and Fenix find footprints and a trail of blood at where he confronted them, they inform the rest of their team and attempt to track Taupe down. Later, they learn that the two students that Taupe was suspicious of were actually agents of the Hana Guild sent to keep an eye on Takaya's resistance by Vermillion Raddock and that they sent him to their main compound.

When they asked Abigail to help them deal with the Hana Guild to rescue Taupe, she decides to send two of her best men to assist Team SAFR. When they infiltrate the compound, Fenix opens one of their crates stored their and finds it filled with weapons while the group find Taupe ties up in a chair. After he warns them that it was a trap, Vermillion Raddock fights Pyke and Fenix himself while taking notice of Pyke's unique semblance. While Team SAFR attempts to fight off Vermillion and escape with Taupe, he takes an interest in the Magic Gauntlet in Arrastra's possession while fighting off the Team with his superhuman abilities. After they manage to escape the Hana Guild's main compound, Vermillion attempts to pursue them but they manage to outrun him using a stolen convoy and escape with Taupe.

While Taupe felt guilty for getting captured, he was cheered up by Pyke for his efforts. Following his rescue, Takaya revealed that he planned on relocating their base of operations due to the Hana Guild now knowing all about it and that the Wave was making a last attempt to ship out any of their remaining magic artifacts to the capital through a stolen Atlesian Airship Dust carrier with controlled Grimm as extra security. After they learned this and that Vermillion and the Hana Guild would likely also be their for the artifacts, they came up with a plan to stop them using the help of their allies like Grayden's people, Takaya's students like Taupe and The Hearth. After Fenix Nemean managed to infiltrate the airport disguised as a Tacco deliveryman, he unexpectedly ran into Daff from the former City Guard now working for the Wave.

After Daff tells Fenix why he joined the Wave, Fenix easily manages to convince him to help them stop the Wave. While all infiltration groups attempt to access the airport, they learn that the other two members of Team SMMK, Sil and Khaki, are also there as extra security. Khaki almost recognized Fenix, but was fooled by his disguise and distracted by an explosion caused by Pyke's group. While all groups begin to distract the Wave, Sil told the ship to take off and ended up being shot by a turret piloted by Fenix. Following this, Team SAFR managed to sneak onboard the ship as Lemon told the guards inside to increase security.

While they fight against Wave personnel onboard and found Team SMMK abandon Lemon after getting an artifact for themselves and setting the artifacts room on fire, they later found Lemon bleeding to death in her personal quarters following an attack from Abigail Pyre. She revealed to them she was sent under orders from Vermillion Raddock and stole her necklace while warning them not to let Vermillion get his hands on any of the artifacts for his own master. After they learned this and Abigail took control of the ship herself, Fenix put Lemon in her bed while the team left her to bleed to death. After the Team confronted and fought Abigail, they managed to steal the artifact from her and Asher used it to control the Manticore in the same room as them to grab Abigail. After she was defeated, she began fearing for her life as Vermillion contacted the ship and threatened to destroy it unless he got the artifacts. When the ship began to crash, Asher controlled the Manticore using th necklace and got his team and Abigail out of there before running into debris and being knocked out.

when they awoke, Team SAFR still had the Necklace but the Manticore and Abigail were nowhere to be found with Abigail implied to have been killed by the Manticore. After Vermillion and his men surrounded them, Asher prepared to use the magic necklace to control any nearby Grimm to attack them. Before he could however, Huntsman reinforcements sent by Professor Leonardo Lionheart arrive to help retake the city from the remnants of the Wave while chasing off Vermillion and his men before he swore to personally hunt Team SAFR down himself.

Inhabitants[]

Currently in Kuchinashi[]

Formerly in Kuchinashi[]

Visitors[]

Currently in Kuchinashi[]

Image Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Kuchinashi is the Romanized spelling of the Japanese word for the gardenia. In Japanese floriography, the meaning behind this flower is "secret love".
  • In the episode "Action Time!", Kerry asks the RWBY Wiki to include details about the gate in the Kuchinashi Approach as the MVP of the episode because of their resistance when faced against attacking Grimm. The gates are named as follows: Bill Gates, Alexander the Gate, and Gate #3.
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