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For the other uses of "Vale", see Vale.
Apparently it had some kind of reputation to uphold as a light to other Kingdoms throughout Remnant, blah blah blah. To be honest, Roman had stopped paying attention to his real estate agent as she bragged about the low crime rates, good schools, and thriving art and music scene downtown.

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Vale was a large city on the western coast of the former Kingdom of Vale. It was the location of Beacon Academy, one of the four Huntsmen Academies of Remnant.

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

To the southeast lied a mountainous and uninhabited area, but it was also known to contain the ruins of Mountain Glenn, a failed attempt by the Kingdom to extend the city's borders. The location was overrun by Grimm and had to be fenced off from the rest of the city.

The city's leadership was its council and manager. Former City Manager Jimmy Vanille[1], who was pressured to be under the employ of the Xiong Family to control Dust shipments prior to his passing. The Xiong Family was the most powerful organization in Vale with even the city's police force under their payroll, prior to Vanille's demise and Roman Torchwick's rise to criminal power.

In the "Volume 9 Bonus Ending Animatic", the Kingdom was destroyed by Salem during her search for the Relic of Choice, which included the city as well.

Layout[]

The city of Vale is divided into multiple sectors, having an upper-class district, a commercial district, an industrial district, an agricultural district and a residential district.

Commercial District[]

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Tukson's Book Trade

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.
  • Vale Police Department headquarters - police controlled by the Xiong Family.
  • Just Rite - a restaurant and gas station brand.
  • Clothing stores - damaged during Grimm breach on Vale.
  • Bakery - damaged during Grimm breach on Vale.
  • Banks - frequently robbed by Roman Torchwick.
  • Bubba Bubba Boba - a boba tea restaurant

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.

Vale City Library[]

Following the Fall of Beacon, Beacon Academy's destruction led to Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch to set up her new base of operations within the Vale City Library, having chosen an office for herself while also defending the kingdom and slowly repairing the damages to Beacon.[2]

Vale City Square[]

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Ironwood presenting his androids in the city square.

Vale City Square[3] is a small park in a lowered area, surrounded by buildings. The area has grass and trees and the middle features a raised platform that functions as a stage for gatherings and announcements. This is where General Ironwood hosted an unveiling of his new Atlesian Knight-200 combat androids.

This area was also used as the exit to the tunnel to Mountain Glenn in the past, but was built over. This was used by Roman Torchwick and the White Fang to stage a Grimm attack on Vale. The hole was fixed by Glynda Goodwitch after the Grimm attack.

Port[]

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Team RWBY at the docks

Vale contains a port in the commercial area that is first introduced in "The Stray" while Team RWBY explores 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 "Black and White", where large cranes are used to unload heavy shipping containers from docked freighters.

Sun running on the docks

Sun running on the docks

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

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

Warehouses[]

Torchwick outside warehouses

Outside view of 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 his stolen Dust.

In "Painting the Town...", a secret White Fang recruitment meeting is held in a 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 pass a street 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.

Magic Beans, a coffee franchise, owned a warehouse containing their shipments. It is robbed by Roman and Neo, who ultimately destroy it in a conflict with Huntsmen.

Beacon Academy[]

Main article: Beacon Academy
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Beacon Academy and the tower

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 are further enhanced by one of the four major CCT towers being erected on the academy's campus.

Mountain Glenn[]

Main article: Mountain Glenn
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Grimm in 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 Grimm destroyed Mountain Glenn. The underground subway leading to the commercial district of Vale was sealed off.

Vanille Estate[]

Main article: Vanille Estate

The Vanille family owned an estate somewhere on the outskirts of the city of Vale. Due to Jimmy Vanille secretly helping the Xiong Family smuggle Dust illegally in Vale, Jimmy took parts of these shipments for himself and placed the Dust in his daughter's bedroom.

It was ultimately destroyed in a gang war between the Xiong Family and Spider when Neopolitan led Lil' Miss Malachite to shoot the Dust in her bedroom which killed her parents and the leader of the Xiong Family, Hei Xiong.

Lady Browning's Preparatory Academy For Girls[]

Main article: Lady Browning's Preparatory Academy For Girls

Lady Browning's Preparatory Academy For Girls was an all-girls academy led by Beatrix Browning. While it presented itself as an institution for teaching young girls the etiquette and skills they'd need for high society, it was in fact a cover for a school of spies and assassins that trained operatives for Spider. Students who impressed the headmistress would be entered into a secret program where they would learn the skills required for combat and espionage. Among it's top alumni was Carmel Vanille.

During a gang war between the Xiong Family and Spider, the truth about the academy was exposed by Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan after handing information about it to Lisa Lavender from the Vale News Network. While Beatrix Browning survived the gang war, her reputation and career were ruined after being exposed and the academy was shut down for its criminal activities.

History[]

Criminal Atmosphere[]

Backing away from Torchwick

Frightened citizens

At the beginning of Year One, the city of Vale saw an 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. Furthermore, the police was controlled by the Xiong Family years before this event, only they were more subtle about their operations.

When 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[]

Main article: Vale Huntsmen vs. Breach Grimm
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Grimm arriving through the broken ground

Vale experiences a catastrophe when a train breaks the sealed underground tunnel from Mountain Glenn, allowing several Grimm to breach into the city. Beacon Academy staff and students, with the help of the Atlas Military, efficiently stop the Grimm, but not before the city experiences damage and people are hurt. Glynda is quickly able to set the damage to rights, but the people of Vale feel an increased uneasiness and fear.

The incident causes the governing council to change security measures for the Vytal Festival, placing 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[]

Main article: Vytal Festival
Vale Vytal Festival

The city in celebration

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

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

Battle of Beacon[]

Main article: Battle of Beacon (battle)
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Vale in the shadow of Beacon Academy's ruins

The city of Vale experiences another, more devastating, catastrophe during the finals round of the Vytal Festival Tournament. The White Fang and Grimm facilitated by Cinder Fall invade the city. Roman Torchwick escaped from imprisonment and reprogrammed all Atlesian Knight-200s and Atlesian Paladin-290s to attack people instead of Grimm, causing massive casualties.

The robots are stopped and Vale is secured, but a Wyvern, frozen atop the broken CCT tower, continues to attract more and more Grimm to Beacon. With the Academy lost, a Huntsmen base is set up in the city.

Later, the people of Vale receive Ruby's message to all of Remnant publicly revealing the existence of Salem and asking for help with the current situation in Atlas. In the end though, nobody came to help as Atlas is destroyed in "The Final Word".

Other[]

Law Enforcement[]

Main article: Vale Police Department
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Vale has its own police department, which has both uniformed and plain-clothes detective sections. Criminal mastermind Roman Torchwick was relatively high on its most wanted list before his death.

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.

During the events of "RWBY: Roman Holiday", it was revealed that the Vale Police Department was under the payroll of the Xiong Family led by Hei Xiong with some corrupt members reporting to him. Following his death at the end of the novel however, the Xiong Family has seemingly lost it's hold over the Vale Police Department by the time Roman Torchwick rises to power and replaced Hei Xiong.

Media[]

Main article: Vale News Network
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The Vale News Network (VNN) seems to be a major source of newscasting in the Vale Region, broadcasting to the people of Vale and even out to the island of Patch. Known newscasters include Lisa Lavender and Cyril Ian.

Trivia[]

  • The Kingdom of Vale was designed with old European architecture in mind.[4][5]

References[]

Locations
Minor Locations
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