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Volume 2, Second Arc (Part II) | Table of Contents | Volume 2, Third Arc
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World of Remnant is, as I said in the Table of Contents for this volume, a sort of two-bird-one-stone deal. They’re infodumps narrated over art deco describing the world of Remnant as we are meant to understand it. In this way, the audience gets their information, while the Rooster Teeth team gets an extra week to make sure the next episode is as polished as it needs to be.

Personally, I’m of the opinion that this is a two-way mirror, because if you’re doing that, it says that your worldbuilding is lacking to begin with and that your staff’s schedule is in need of work.

There were four World of Remnant videos released for Volume Two, three online over the course of the volume, and a fourth released with the DVD and Blu-Ray discs of Volume 2. We’ll compile them here and transcribe them. There will be no gifs or jpegs, because to be honest, you’re not missing that much visually.

The first World of Remnant is “Dust”, and it is 2 minutes and 39 seconds long.

The title card for “RWBY”, black with a red outline, fades in, along with a WoR subtitle that matches, followed by a matching episodic title card. Jen Taylor’s voice is back, and she begins narrating.

Narrator: Dust. By definition, it is a naturally-occurring energy propellant that can be triggered by the aura of humans and faunus. But in reality, it is much, much more.

We see a few indistinct shapes cross the screen before settling on some sort of crystal, which begins to shine. The crystal splits into four, with colors and designs indicating fire, ice, electricity, and wind.

Narrator: Found in four basic forms, dust can be combined both artificially and naturally to form new, stronger types, each with unique properties.

The stones are shown fusing in a burst of fiery energy. The scene fades to a lightning crystal embedded in the ground, being lifted out by a person’s fingers.

Narrator: Since its discovery, man has concocted a multitude of ways in which to harness the powers of these mysterious crystals. From airships, to androids, dust has made its way into practically every facet of technology. Some prefer to use dust in its raw form—elegant, yet destructive. Those who choose to wield dust in this state must possess a certain level of discipline, to ensure that their resulting powers do not break free from their control.

The narration is accompanied by a display of a man using lightning dust to generate a storm overhead. We then transition to shots of men kneeling with muskets.

Narrator: Dust ammunition serves as a more practical application in today’s modern society. With the technological advancements in weapon design, warriors need simply choose the right cartridge for the job, and pull the trigger. While this has become the standard method of use, it is not uncommon to find individuals still practicing more archaic forms of dust manipulation, such as weaving it into clothing, or even fusing it directly into their own bodies.

Shots of a cloak made out of white crystals and a person pressing a glowing hand to their stomach accompany this information.

Narrator: Despite working, fighting, and even turning a profit with it, humanity still has yet to understand how dust came to be, and more importantly, how their involvement with dust will ultimately change the world of Remnant.

Oh, hey, that’s the end. Lovely title drop there, Jen. Cutting out logo animations and title cards, this episode’s content doesn’t make it to two minutes. Great, lovely, cool.

*clapping hands* Well, if you want my personal opinion, that wasn’t entirely a waste of time, but it certainly didn’t warrant being limited to supplementary material. The biggest exclamation point-worthy factoid was that dust can be infused into clothing or flesh. This mostly serves to explain Cinder’s affinity for sewing, and her ability to magically change costumes at the speed of plot. Those glass weapons we saw her with in recent episodes, along with the fiery effects they’re endowed with? Dust.

(This gets really stupid later, I promise. But that’s later.)

You will notice that I bolded a sentence in the last paragraph. That happens to be because that question is unanswered, has remained unanswered for years on end, and likely will remain that way forevermore. How did dust come to be? Doesn’t matter, so don’t worry about it. This simple question left endlessly hanging is a symptom of bad style, in that it’s, ya know, purple. Want me to sum up for you? I promise, despite this episode’s brevity, it still took too long to say its piece.

“Dust comes in four basic forms, and these can be fused to create alternate forms. It runs just about every bit of mechanical or technological engineering in the world. You can use it in ammo, or just throw fireballs with it. Some people put it in clothing and inside their bodies.”

That’s it. There was no reason this should’ve been in supplementary material. While I don’t have any points to award, this is still fairly ridiculous, and I haven’t even gotten to the issue with the actual content yet.

The main one being the choice of phrasing and the form dust takes. See, it’s a “naturally-occurring” energy propellant and generally, it’s found in the ground. We know it is, because the Schnee family business own a mining quarry to dig it up.

You know what’s also naturally-occurring energy?

Electricity. Running water and steam. Sunlight. Wind. All things that are renewable, are freely accessible (if not freely available…) in the real world and presumably in the World of Remnant, too, and almost all of which are things dust creates, thus making it redundant for everyday use. I don’t think they mean to imply that electricity just doesn’t exist outside of dust, otherwise weather patterns wouldn’t exist and Pyrrha’s semblance would almost certainly not work. Why, then, are they mining their everyday lives out of the dirt when there is no reason to? Not in the sense that “oh, why haven’t they turned to solar power yet, the anti-green energy dorks” but in the sense of “why does it sound like the people of Remnant somehow never actually got the hang of anything except dust?”

Yes, naturally-occurring doesn’t also mean “renewable”. Fossil fuels are the former, but not the latter—so why become dependent on one that isn’t? There is definitely a limited supply of dust, otherwise the market wouldn’t be able to run on supply and demand. I understand the choice to use dust in weaponry, and maybe vehicles, but hardly any other facet of day-to-day life. There’s also the question of what it means to own a quarry surrounding shit that basically makes the entire world run, because that is indeed what Jen Taylor’s voice implied via “practically every facet of technology”—in that the Schnees shouldn’t just be rich, they should basically own the world. I’m talking, want a doughnut from Starbucks, show me your snowflake barcode, bitch, kinda shit.

This is the problem with trying to replace real-world engineering, which has hundreds of different faces and forms, with a single one in-universe. You could write serious dystopian stuff with this basic, ultimately unimportant detail you dropped because you liked Materia from the Final Fantasy games and wanted to put it in your anime (which is the comparison Monty used).

Moving on. The next World of Remnant is “Kingdoms”, and it’s even shorter.

We open on a shot of the planet of Remnant, with its shattered moon coming over the horizon as it orbits.

Narrator: The World of Remnant is a dangerous place, particularly for man. In the countless years that humanity has run the planet, civilizations have grown and fallen, but four have withstood the test of time: Atlas, Mistral, Vacuo, Vale.

Hmm. Wonder if I’ve done better or worse than dragon-shaped continents in my worldbuilding.

Narrator: These four kingdoms, with the help of natural barriers and human tenacity, have proven that they have the will to survive. Each kingdom has a governing council to represent the people and their needs. Next comes the military. While most kingdoms only call on its citizens to serve when needed, others find it important to be...prepared.

The visual implication is that robots get involved, so that’s probably talking about Atlas.

Narrator: There are still those who choose to venture outside the walls of the kingdoms. Roaming nomads and small villages are not uncommon, but neither is their tendency to disappear overnight. Lastly, the Huntsmen Academies. These institutions’ sole purpose is to train the next generation of huntsmen. The next generation of defenders that will live and die to protect the lifestyle that they’ve become so accustomed to. Yes, the world of Remnant is indeed a dangerous place, but the four kingdoms stand as beacons of hope. As safe havens from the darkness that surrounds them. They are the key to mankind’s survival…as long as they stand united.

Jen Taylor’s voice takes on the same ominous tone as it did at the end of the pilot episode as the lights among the landmasses are shown being snuffed out, ending the episode.

You know, I remember some YouTuber or other being incredibly peeved that the word “kingdoms” is used to refer to the various nations despite none of them having a monarchy.

While Taylor had a lot more to say despite the compressed time of the episode, there’s still just a lot that isn’t here that should be here. We literally knew all of this already.

Here’s some questions: are the councilors elected, or are their positions inherited? Do they serve for life, and do they represent specific areas or populations? What exactly do they decide as to how the country runs? Are they shadowed, unknown associates, or public figures? What about the Huntsmen? An official dotted-line description of their job might’ve been nice. Do they exist strictly to kill Grimm with anything else being contract work? How do they interact with the police force? What’s the spread of work like, is it competitive? Are they technically government agents? Who do they answer to?

Also, aside from the Grimm, what exactly makes Remnant so very dangerous? With all of the weapon porn we’ve been seeing so far, I find it difficult to imagine the Grimm alone could be responsible for keeping humanity cornered on their own planet (some backpedaling may apply)—perhaps they’d be a consistent threat, but certainly not one catastrophe away from wiping them out, which is the tone that the narration implies. Are there violent storms that periodically hit the coasts? Volcanic eruptions? Are some areas prone to outbreaks of disease? Are there encroaching fungal spores ready to zombify whole populations?

Here, let me toot my own horn a bit and describe some things in those unfinished, un-outlined serials I keep in word docs:

I’ve got a population that lives underwater. Why do they live there? Well, they used to live at one end of the Hell Ring. What’s the Hell Ring? It’s a space taken up by two mountains, one at each end. One mountain is closer to the coast, which gets battered by seasonal hurricanes, while the other is further inland, some distance from the continent’s actual mountain range, all by its lonesome you-can't-sit-with-us-style. The inland mountain is actually a volcano, which became active and destroyed the city at its base in its eruption. The evacuees from the volcanic end fled towards the coastal end, which was a colossal mistake as that mountain, while providing an otherwise excellent development site, is home to a perpetual lens cloud, which has a tendency to flood the valley. Besides the rest of the continent being relatively hostile as it comprises deserts and snowy mountain ranges and hurricane-prone coasts, they also wanted to save their sacred tree, which had already made the journey from the volcano, so they opted to re-plant it in an underwater dome, and later on they decided to just build a new city around it. The Hell Ring in present day is so-called because coastal winds blowing inland slide northeast around the western mountain, while mistrals blow down southwest around the volcano from the nearby mountain range. The winds create a miles-long circular air gyre that feeds volcanic ash from one end around to the other, where it is absorbed into the clouds that get blown back east and bring thunderstorms, essentially creating a hellscape that’s half sulfuric smoke and half acid rain, smack on the one part of the continent that was supposed to be habitable.

That is how you get started on a location that’s ready to snuff out civilization.

Moving on. The third episode is called “Grimm”.

We open on a pair of orange eyes opening with a menacing growl playing in the background.

Narrator: The creatures of Grimm. A ravenous, destructive force that covers the majority of Remnant. While often referred to simply as “Grimm” in the common vernacular, these beings serve as the greatest foe to mankind. For as long as humanity can recall walking the surface of Remnant, so do they remember this wicked force. Many ancient cultures believed the creatures of Grimm to be animals possessed by evil spirits, or perhaps the spirits of tortured animals themselves. However, further study, as well as the discovery of newer, more horrific forms of Grimm, does not support this hypothesis. With new creatures discovered everyday, scientists perpetually find themselves with more questions than answers. While very little is known of their origin, some key facts have been observed in the wild:

First and foremost, the Grimm exclusively attack humans and their creations. While occasional skirmishes between wildlife and Grimm have occurred, these instances appear to be based on territorial provocations rather than a need for sustenance. In fact, the common belief is that the Grimm are not obligated to feed…they choose to.

The image of a Nevermore turns to face the camera ominously as Taylor’s voice describes this phenomena.

Narrator: What is perhaps even more unsettling is the basis of their attraction. The creatures of Grimm are lured towards negative emotion. In the rare instances where villages are capable of defending against a wave of Grimm, their survival is not guaranteed, as widespread panic will only lead to more attacks.

Little else is known about the creatures of Grimm. Keeping them in captivity has proven to be an understandably difficult task, as the creatures tend to either die, or kill those who imprisoned them in the first place. To further complicate study, the corpse of a Grimm will only remain for a short period of time before completely evaporating. Those who hunt the beasts for sport find this particularly upsetting, but manage get by with cheap taxidermic recreations and...bombastic storytelling.

(An image of what is clearly intended to be Professor Port is shown here).

Narrator: Although the creatures of Grimm appear mindless, more delicate observation has proven contradictory. It has been noted that while younger Grimm tend to be more reckless, older Grimm, who have managed to survive their battles, have the tendency to learn from their experience and will exercise caution in the future. This perverse form of self-preservation allows the creatures to become more effective killers. And in the end…killing is all that matters.

The episode closes, and this one, I can actually talk about for a little bit. This is definitely the best one so far, but unfortunately, it does have some hang-ups. Let’s start with the bolded portion.

Grimm are attracted...to negative emotion. Well, axe that bit up there where I said the Grimm shouldn’t have humanity cornered. That’s rather broad for something that attracts killing machines. The entire world of Remnant should be freakin’ Happiness is Mandatory in here. That is not the sort of thing I’d have introduced without some modifiers, like “Grimm are attracted to extreme negative emotion” or “Grimm are attracted to savagery and bloodlust”, critical things you only feel in specific situations. Darkest hour kind of things, that don’t necessarily mean that not having a perfect day puts a target on your back. And knowing how heavily RWBY is going to lean on this going forward—as in, a count highly associated with it—that’s really…not…good. Again, this world should be a damn dystopia, not something we’re told is vaguely dystopic while seeming fairly cheerful in-universe. There should be Huntsmen drugging themselves up with happiness pills 24/7!

You want an example of something that did this better? As much as I hate to laud Attack on Titan for anything (seriously, fuck that manga…), I will admit that early on, it did pretty well at drawing the audience in by questioning an antagonistic force that, by all natural law, should not be, those being the Titans.

The Titans, essentially, are man-eating giants. Like the Grimm, they hunt humans exclusively and ignore everything else. They have no genitalia or excretory systems, and in fact their biology seems so basic it should not support itself. Again, like the Grimm, they dissolve upon death and leave no trace behind. They gain no energy from eating and don’t appear to need to eat at all, since the humans just pile up in their stomach until being vomited back up so the Titan can keep eating. They appear to be diurnal, but this rule isn’t exclusive. Beings of their size and power should be incredibly heavy and slow, but they’re fast, as their bodies are surprisingly light. Worst of all, they never get tired, and never, ever stop. They’re mindless, but ravenous, and exist purely to eat humankind to extinction...seemingly. Why are they like this? Where did they come from? Why do they eat humans?

While those questions are posed, there are also clear rules and weaknesses laid out. Titans can regenerate anything injured, with surprising speed and efficiency—including their entire heads. The only way to permanently kill them is to sever the nape of their neck. Their anatomy is similar enough to a human’s that, while they don’t react to pain, they can be felled by targeting obvious weak points, such as their Achilles tendons and spinal cords. They appear to hunt by sight and sound, and a well-hidden human can avoid them...mostly. Humans have invented anti-Titan weaponry that, in capable hands, is fairly efficient at culling the bastards.

Thus, while we had questions, we also had some answers, and they stuck to the rules rigidly enough that, by the time the rules were broken, it was a source of serious intrigue and excitement, because Titans not following Titan rules meant humans were now at a distinct disadvantage, since their knowledge was their primary way of fighting back. Which brings us around to the whole intelligence thing.

Intelligent Titans were a massive curve ball and a huge threat over the standard variant. There’s some good potential here, with Grimm getting more intelligent the longer they live, but unfortunately that is going to go nowhere fast. And I do mean nowhere—spoiler alert: Grimm are going to remain low on the threat scale (except when they aren’t) while human villains take the lead 100% of the time, and the threat of Grimm that are capable of human-level coordination and acting with malevolent intent is never even proposed.

Moving on, we have the very last World of Remnant for Volume 2: “Aura”. This one is subtitled in Japanese (I think, correct me if it isn’t).

Narrator: Huntsmen are widely regarded as the world’s greatest warriors. While skilled in a wide variety of weaponry and hand-to-hand combat, these champions are also masters of a much greater power.

The art deco shows us Ruby with her scythe as Taylor’s voice says “weapons”, Sun Wukong as she says “hand-to-hand combat”, and Lie Ren as she says “a much greater power”, clearly indicating these three characters to be particularly proficient with melee weapons, unarmed combat, and Aura, respectively—but we already knew this. The narration calls the later, displaying the three shining with red, yellow, and purple light.

Narrator: Aura is a manifestation of the soul. A life force that runs through every living creature on Remnant, whether they are a meager shopkeeper or a renowned knight. However, what sets true warriors apart from all others is their ability to amplify and control their Aura. Aura is primarily used as a defensive mechanism, passively coating the wielder in a protective force field. It can protect a combatant from what would normally be a fatal blow.

It does not, however, make the user invincible. As they receive more and more damage, their Aura reserve will deplete. If this happens, all a fighter will be left with is his resolve. Fortunately, when a fight turns gruesome, a warrior can also rely on their aura in a different manner:

A picture of Glynda Goodwitch working her telekinesis pops up to accompany this.

Narrator: Semblance is a term used to describe the projection of Aura into a more tangible form. For some, this could be the ability to control objects with telekinesis. For others, it could mean superhuman strength. The power associated with a wielder’s Semblance is completely unique.

(The art deco displays Blake in particular over that last line, which is just hilarious considering Sun’s own Semblance—and at least one more that pops up later.)

Narrator: With enough training and focus, a user’s Aura can turn them into something much more than just a man.

The episode ends over that line as twinkling music plays and the art deco takes on the shape of Ozpin, sipping from his mug. Oooh, that…hey, I want you guys to remember that in particular, okay? Promise you’ll remember.

Well...some bonus that was. The only thing we got there was that Semblance is explicitly connected to Aura reserves. I think most of us actually could’ve figured that much out for ourselves. Hell, Pyrrha did a way better job explaining Aura in Volume One, and I remember doing a better job of it than she did when I recapped it.

Man, what a letdown. You know, if you’re going to post infodumps relating to your content on your off weeks, at least make them infodumps, not info-squirts.

I barely stretched this out to seven pages. I almost want to ramble to fill in the extra space.

There were no count changes for this update, but I’ll post ‘em anyway just because this recap feels naked without ‘em. See ya next arc.

Counts:

Jaune: 16
It Was Right There: 3
Fauxminism: 6
Hypocrisy: 8
Ice Cream Queens: 0
Reliable Leaders: 5
- Prowling Wolf Fallacy: 0
Threatening Enemies: 3
Love to Be a Part of It Someday: 10
Your Fight Scene Sucks: 10 + 2
- Evisceration Evasion: 2
Ill Logic: 26
Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Veil: 9 + 1
- Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge: 0
- Band-Aid Brigade: 1
RSVP: 22
Road to Nowhere: 6
Y.A.S. Queen: 3