Firearms WIP
A RWBY lore-fic
By Moriendum
Author's Note: Thank you for taking the time to pick up my first fanfic in 4 years! I've been out of it for a while and decided that this would be a fun topic to take on. This isn't meant to be a story-story, if you get what I mean. It is more meant to be a headcanon of how weapons as they are seen in the show now came to be, from the beginning, and all the struggles and advancements that were made in doing so. I'm hoping that this will become my running headcanon for future stories, and so when the time comes, I'll be referring back to this fic for influences and names. I chose a Latin theme for the Rose family because a) Rule of Cool and b) I saw Crescent Rose and immediately got the feeling it'd be Latin – it just worked.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the historical adventure you're about to embark on!
17/5/15 - This is before I've gone through and made any corrections. I need to make a proper timeline, so any dates right now are either highlighted or in the XXXX format. I'm not done with this yet, but I wanted to get it online for criticism and all that fun stuff.
Huntsmen and Huntresses in Remnant have one main job – to defeat the dangers that threaten the modern society of our world. The Grimm horde; the rebel group White Fang; powerful criminals; all of them pose a risk to our very existence. These brave warriors defend the innocent magnificently on a daily basis on every mission. However, this would not be possible without their weapons. Centuries of development with natural resources, Dust, auras and semblances have allowed us to make even more powerful and versatile tools to combat the evils on our doorsteps. Regardless of how strong one's natural abilities are, a warrior's weapon is the funnel of their strength and can be considered as one's life partner. In dire times – the hardships faced are shared by both the blade and the wielder. But, in moving forward at the rate we are, it is important not to forget where these wondrous tools have come from before the next big step is taken. This is the story of Remnant's weapons from the very beginning, and the struggles we have endured.
Mankind was born from nothingness into a harsh world of cruelty. Grimm – the pitch black bone-clad manifestations of evil - are relentless, attacking without hesitation and before recorded time, drove mankind to the brink of returning to nothingness.
But man had the one thing that no beast could ever have – ingenuity. Our ancestors possessed the ability to make the most of even the most desperate of situations, and from the darkness came hope in the form of Dust. This mysterious resource proved vital in pushing our cornered ancestors out of their corner and out into the world. Rocks could be mined, trees could be chopped and fish could be caught all with the help of Nature's Wrath. It is unknown who first discovered Dust, but it is this time that is taken to be the 'zero-point' of Remnant's calendar – the year 0.
Soon, weapons could be made from the most basic of materials – wood; stone; even the rare piece of metal that could be found. However, this was not the end of the progression. Fire is said to have first been lit using red Dust, leading to utilising the ores found in the many vast caverns across Remnant. From these wrathful flames, the first blade was drawn and marked the dawn of the Era of Blades. Armed with these new tools and increasing knowledge of both Dust and ore, fresh blood could be drawn from the foul anonymity.
This dagger – named Elpis, which translated from Old Mistrali as "hope" – is said to have been forged from the most versatile of ores called remnite – a blue rock commonly found in caverns. It was likely to have been full of impurities that could not be filtered out and probably shattered in the hands of the world's first Huntsman in combat, but by the time this would have happened, many more blades had been forged, each one better than the last. As knowledge of natural resources, Dust and Semblances improved, so did the quality of the weaponry. Advances had been made in the smelting process, and as a result purer blades were hammered out on ancient anvils. Forges previously thought to be lost, such as the Great Xiao Forge – destroyed during a siege of the old Vaculan capital Lacuna – have been excavated in recent times, providing new insight into just how materials were manipulated. Excessive Blue Dust in the solidified slag suggests that the blacksmiths of the time used it to help remove the impurities, and the trace amounts of Red Dust left in the fire pit shows just how the ores were melted down, using the powder to ignite the flames. There is more information on both classical and modern forging techniques in A Blast from the Past (Edition 5, 857) by Dominic Harth.
Ranged weapons had existed since the dark days, but they were not efficient enough at killing the larger Grimm, like the fearsome Nevermores or the heavily armoured Dealthstalkers. In spite of the effectiveness of the ores used to smith the arrowheads, bows and arrows could often bounce off the thick bone plating. The hunters realised, in order to pierce the protection on a Deathstalker's head, a heavier projectile would need to be launched, and faster. This revelation had already been seen in the progression of arrows – wooden arrowtips were replaced with metal arrowheads as soon as it became apparent they were more effective. According to the literature – in a time before computers, there was little way to preserve history in the long term, and so damaged scriptures are all that remain – the first gun was spring-loaded and presumed to use Red Dust in the launching mechanism to give the projectiles extra velocity. The name of this gun was redacted from the original scripts, as well as the name of the creator, but the scripture has been analysed and traced back to the forests of Atlas.
Dust comes in 4 basic elemental forms – Red; Blue; Yellow; Green, which in turn have the characteristics of fire; water; earth; and wind. Furthermore, these four forms can be mixed to artificially create new kinds, such as lightning – a 1:1 mixture of wind and earth. The discovery of all four basics, as well as the eight fundamental combinations, has been crucial in arms development. This can be seen in the contemporary Atlesian military androids, powered by Lightning Dust crystals created by the Schnee Dust Company's Head Laboratory in South Atlas. With everything available at the time, ballistics advanced at a rapid pace and soon, guns became commonplace within years. The advent of the firearm made a major impact on weapons production - resources became more available as trading routes could be cleared more efficiently and mines could be defended against thieves and monsters. In 980, Vale popped up as a trading town in North Vytal and swiftly became the central hub for arms dealing due to the geographical accessibility – located near the sea and relatively close to the borders of Mistral made travel easier.
A man by the name of Osmius Hyacinthe is hailed as the father of multipurpose weapons. Hyacinthe was born in XXX in Stratos, Western Mistral into a family of blacksmiths. After the family forge exploded in a Red Dust accident and killed his parents, the orphaned Osmius took his belongings to Patch, North Vytal to live with family friends – the Rose family. He worked for the Rose family in their workshop, helping forge swords and guns. In the year 1036, Hyacinthe forged a gun sheathed in a sword's blade dubbed Epivios. It is a far cry from the incredible morphing weapons in the hands of noble Huntsmen and Huntresses today, but the remnite:terrium alloy blade and barrel were a perfect mix capable of holding its own in both short and medium range combat – a feat no single weapon could achieve by itself. The new combination of blade strength, gun power and relative lightness meant that new combat techniques emerged. Battle tactics over the ages are explored by Jaune Projee in Fighting through the Years (Edition 6, 823), and covers the most common fighting styles. Students at Beacon are required to study this text for their first semester in the first year of learning.
After promising field results, Hyacinthe convinced the Rose family to produce more weapons in the style of Epivios. The resulting profit boost allowed the Rose family to expand their business and become The Forged Flower Workshop in Vale. Not long afterwards, Vale became known as the Town of Blades, and later the City of Blades as the drastically increased tourism helped the seaside town expand into the capital of the Kingdom of Vale. It soon became custom for a Huntsman or Huntress to name their gun-sword with an engraving on the handle to claim it as their own and make their mark on the world. This practice hails back to Western Mistrali culture, wherein the belief that weapons had souls was commonplace. It is often speculated that this stemmed from weapons glowing during combat as a result of the wielder's Aura.
The founder of the modern weapon was not content with just a gun-sword. There were infinite possibilities – Vale's expansion attracted swarms of warriors to the thriving city, around a time when cars and trains had become more common and transport routes were opening. The western territories brought more aggressive edges such as the Vaculan serrated short sword, and the northern territories were the home of the swifter, more compact daggers, as well as the famous Kampfbogen (translating as "combat bows" in Atlesian).
Static combination weapons have one major issue in that they are not versatile in the field. They can only do so much - integrating a gun barrel directly into a sword did have some drawbacks for how effectively recoil was mitigated. Despite being revolutionary, Epivios' design was flawed and couldn't compensate fully for its shortcomings. Hyacinthe was unable to figure out a workaround, in spite of years of intensive research and funding from the Rose family. The known alloys were incapable of getting past these issues, and not all desired weapon combinations were entirely possible.
The first reported failure of a Forged Flower product breaking before the end of the warranty period was in 1063 when a Huntsman fell in combat wielding his Leichte Erde – a hammer/bow hybrid with the limbs of the aerial component welded to the handle and shaft of the weighty hammer. The stories go that the poor soul was in combat against a group of Ursai using his recently acquired weapon, when the fragility of the hammer head showed at the wrong time and not only ended up shredding his hands, but got him killed.
This was the first of many failed products from the now large-scale company, with a handful of employees and old smelting technology. Hyacinthe began to shut himself in, producing worse and worse weapons with every hit of the once mighty blacksmithing hammer he wielded. Some attributed his decline to chronic exposure to Purple Dust, as it had been known that – if inhaled frequently and in sizable doses – it can cause paranoia, bipolar disorder and loss of mental capacity. Purple Dust was frequently used for the powerful ability to harden metals swiftly. On the 3rd of May, 1071, Osmius Hyacinthe passed away at the age of 82, leaving his legacy to his friend's son, Arden Rose.
A prodigal blacksmith in his own right by the age of 24, he took over the company with immediate effect. He decided to hire more employees to produce the weapons that were so effective on a larger scale. Rose took the opportunity to experiment a bit more and discovered a fundamental quality about terrium. If you expose a piece to your Aura for a long enough time, and then give it to someone else, it becomes easier to stress and fracture. This would explain the infamous Leichte Erde incident – it is common theory that because Hyacinthe spent so much time attempting to forge the weapon to his design, he had polarised the metal to match his aura, and so became stressed when wielded by the new owner.
This property became a hot topic of research, as it was found that even small exposures to someone else's aura could affect the strength of a weapon, regardless of how well it was forged. Furthermore, it was also discovered (perhaps by accident, perhaps by years of folklore) that the weapons seem to conduct aura if exposed for long enough. Furthermore, it was found that if left in the possession of a new owner after significant exposure to the original wielder, the metal would repolarise to match the new Aura after a prolonged time period and thus preventing the fragility seen during the investigation. However, this only holds true if the weapon wasn't used during an initial month – in this time, the weapon would still be prone to shattering. Finally, if two potential wielders have very similar Auras, the weakening of the weapon's structure is significantly reduced. This is often seen in families when weapons are passed down as heirlooms. It became known as the Rose Effect – named after the man who found it. In order for business to continue as usual, it was Arden Rose's daughter – Sapphyrus Rose – who crafted the first anti-Aura outfit. Resistant to the heat of the forge and blocking any and all Auras, it became the perfect outfit for any blacksmith as it entirely prevented the Rose Effect from setting in.
Criminals found much use for it too – many early high-end security systems were developed on the principle of Aura detection. These kinds of sensors were fitted in the bank vaults to catch thieves as the Atlesian Security Company had created a system to identify a person by their Aura, much like fingerprints. However, the anti-Aura outfits meant that a criminal could break into the vault and escape unidentified, and although systems have been upgraded significantly, Aura-based detectors still have the potential to be exploited.
The importance of the Rose Effect breakthrough became truly apparently when in 1193, however, the Great War of Remnant broke out. The Dictator of Atlas, Rejnord Schwartz, declared war on Vacuo with the intention of wiping out a large number of Faunus. His tyrannical rule was a forced racist culture enforced by the first legion of military androids and cybernetic suits, in which any Faunus who was found was either imprisoned or executed on the basis of them not being entirely human. The actions of Schwartz had long been looked down upon by both his subjects and the rulers of the surrounding nations, but war was not something that was particularly favourable for any of them. In the May of XXXX, Schwartz invaded Northern Vacuo, massacring thousands within the space of days. The initial response of the Valean government was to observe – should Vacuo fail to defend their capital, they would step in to help in exchange for money. However, the politicians quickly gave up on this venture and sent two thousand soldiers out to the Vaculan capital to protect both the citizens of Vacuo and their own borders. By the end of the fifth day of deployment, very few of Vytal's Huntsmen and Huntresses had survived the attacks, and the capital was captured, mostly intact. From analysis of the few androids that had been felled, their armoured plating was resistant to Auras thanks to Rose's research, and could be shifted to block certain combat styles, such as melee or long-ranged. In desperation, the government enlisted Arden Rose's daughter, Sapphyrus – the CEO of the time – to create weapons that would defend the borders and save Remnant from being overrun by Atlas. The key to saving Remnant during the war was her Semblance – hypercognition – the ability to temporarily triple one's mental capacity for around an hour. Whilst incredibly taxing, it allowed Rose to design and forged the world's first morphing weapon – the precursor to modern weaponry.
Named Nova Aurora and translating as New Dawn in Rose's lingual heritage, the blade was based off Hyacinthe's original designs for Epivios – a gun in a sword. The crucial difference was that it wasn't a combination, but rather two alternating forms. In its compact form – used for easy storage and transportation – it was the size of a large hand and 5cm thick. Upon pressing the "Deploy" button, it quickly transformed into a short sword, which was both lightweight and strong. Finally, when pressing the "Transform" button on the underside of the handguard, the sword once again transformed into a handgun. Having the ability to seamlessly switch combat styles made a phenomenal impact on the war – the androids were incapable of countering such a swift change in attacks and so the capital of Vacuo was won back at a dampened cost thanks to Sapphyrus's work. However, whilst all this was happening, Schwartz had turned some of his army on Vale, the trading hub of the world. Regardless of how powerful the morphing sword-handgun was, there would be great loss of life if Huntsmen couldn't defend the citizens from ballistics, and the arguably the biggest contribution to the war came from Sapphyrus' son, Adusta. A quiet boy growing up, Adusta was skilled with a hammer and had many concepts to use. He created the deployable shield, and whilst it wasn't a weapon, it could survive a missile blast and could easily be manufactured.
When the Atlesian armies hit the shores of Vale, a defence could be mounted, and Sapphyrus was called to fight on the front lines. She left all her research in the hands of Adusta's brother, Adam Cen, who she felt to be more trustworthy, but not before forging herself a new weapon. Blooming Rose was famously classed as a HPSS – High Power Scythe-Sniper Rifle – a two meter long metallic scythe that morphed into a sniper rifle. The design was interesting in that the sniper rifle form had a lot of recoil, but was very light. In the hands of an inexperienced user, the high recoil would make fighting difficult and painful, but Sapphyrus utilised it in the best possible way. She was a light person, weighing approximately 40kg, so meaning she could be launched by the force of the bullets being fired. As such, she created the fighting style of the current Rose household called Power Flower, wherein the recoil launches the wielder into a new attack, such as morphing into scythe form or propelling oneself further. Such speed was an excellent counter to the androids' switching plates, and Sapphyrus' became known as the Petal Demon as she was rumoured to leave behind a trail of blue 'petals' in her wake. This was her Aura leaking out of the weapon in short bursts, which further strengthened the cutting edge of the scythe's blade.
However, the Petal Demon died protecting Adusta on the battlefield taking on three Atlesian Mark I Titans simultaneously. Abandoning the battlefield to bury his mother on Patch, where the family grave was found, he forged an entirely new weapon off of his mother's designs – the Weeping Rose. It was very similar to Blooming Rose in design, but had a more serrated blade and larger bullets, as well as replacing the vivid blue segments with a deep black in his anger and grief. Upon returning to the battlefield, Adusta proceeded to go on a rampage, destroying any robot who stood up to him. He was enlisted to join the Atlas boarding part in order to force Schwartz to step down from power. The instruction handed out was to subdue any violence, destroy any aggressive robot, and not to hurt any civilians. Three days into the mission, Adusta went mad and slaughtered four villages of innocent civilians after defected from the group he was with – it's assumed he couldn't deal with the stress of his mother's passing and the conflict at hand. The only trace of Adusta was a melted Weeping Rose, a note explaining he'd exiled himself and left possession of the company to Adam Cen, and a glassy crater where he used his fire-based Semblance to destroy his weapon and raze the homes of the dead. His body was never found despite a huge search party – were he found, he would have been sentenced to life in Vale's deepest prison, named Infinite Hell due to the walls that 'vanish' when you touch them – an illusion caused by a special Dust infusion – so some argue he made the best choice he could in the situation.
Finally, on the 19th of June, XXXX, Rejnord Schwartz was arrested on the basis of invading the nearby nations and causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands over the years. In apology, Atlas developed the [communications system] and gave it to all three nations, as well as offering their services as military contractors. There was public outrage in Vale after the Adusta incident, and crumbling under the pressure of the many furious citizens, Adam Cen handed over the Forged Flower to the Vale Government and retired to Patch back to the family home on the terms that the Rose name be cleared. Weapons development continued using many of Hyacinthe's and Arden Rose's designs of combination weapons to create new morphing weapons after Sapphyrus left the information on how to create a morphing weapon to the company, now in the possession of the government. Not after long, the Schnee Dust Company began investing in the government for new weapons development, including Dust bullets and Dust-based weaponry such as Myrtenaster – owned by the current heiress of the Schnee Dust Company Weiss Schnee. The Atlesian Defence Forces also invested a substantial sum for their now swiftly advancing field of robotics with their focus more on static weaponry such as heavy assault rifles and combat rapiers.
On the 28th of November, XXXX, compulsory lessons on how to create a weapon were implemented into any state establishment that taught prospective Huntsmen and Huntresses across all four nations. This was a choice taken by the Vale Government as a gift to the world, though there was initially much debate about whether or not there were hidden intentions. The lessons quickly became an integral part of the curriculum and as a result many new kinds of morphing weapon were created that complimented the owner's personal fighting style, though it is not required that a Huntsman's weapon be created in this class.
However, it wasn't long before war sprung again. Following the Great War, tensions between the Faunus and humans were running incredibly high. Although the threat of genocide at the hands of a power-hungry dictator was gone, the Faunus's calls to be given equal rights were being shot down with extreme prejudice. After all, Vytal didn't intervene to save the Faunus in Vacuo, but rather to defend their own borders. Faunus everywhere were being denied jobs, accommodation and even service in some shops. They retaliated with peaceful protests, though the humans who joined in were beaten or outcast for helping the subspecies as the Faunus were sometimes called. It didn't take long for patience to turn to anger, and anger to violence as the Faunus Rights Revolution finally broke out in XXXX. Using night time attacks, they swiftly gained the upper hand and managed to steal the plans to a lot of morphing weapons and fled for Vacuo, where the Vaculan government sheltered the emigrants of Vytal and Mistral. No one was particularly interested in launching a war, but neither were they happy to allow their peace to be disturbed. Armies were deployed and crossed the borders into the harsh lands of the west to end the uprising.
The theft of the blueprints was crucial in deciding the war – it allowed the Faunus to fight on equal terms against the Vytalian and Mistrali troops, after the weapons supply from Vale to Vacuo had been severed. With both sides wielding morphing weapons, the only thing that could decide the outcome of the conflict was tactics, and after many small scale battles and the infamous capture of [insert name here], the Faunus won the revolution. Since then, the rebel group The White Fang has spawned, with morphing weapons being created illegally using the stolen blueprints. Many of these are substandard and of poor quality, often breaking in combat due to impurities and the Rose Effect.
With permission of the publishers, here is an excerpt from the Higher Tier: Weapons Forging textbook on how a weapon can be made:
The first step of making a weapon is to take the Combat Proficiency test to determine what weapon you are most compatible with. This will save you considerable amounts of time in designing and creating your lifelong combat partner. You will be tested in the following areas: Short range; medium range; and long range. The test takes around an hour, depending on your abilities.
Once you have been assigned a combat style, the next step is to search the WID – Weapons Information Database – for any weapons in your style that have already been created. Each entry will come with data on weight, firepower, CIP (Cohn-Ingeld-Pralog) strength, as well as relative difficulty to construct. This information comes from years of analysing the weapons and once created, every single new tool goes through a Weapon and Combat Scenario Test, carried out at approved centres, to gather the data.
Should your weapon exist on the database, the blueprint can be accessed and be taken to the establishment's forge to create all the parts. This takes about a half day to create all the pieces for a larger weapon, and all you're left to do is left to piece together your weapon. However, if it doesn't exist, there are two options. The prospective Hunter can apply for a prototype blueprint by filling out a form with preferences, or they can design it themselves. In order to do the latter, you must have a score of over 155 out of a possible 200 in the Weapon Design course.
Any establishment teaching this course will own a workshop with all the tool's available to create your weapon – this will include a hammer, full toolbox, belt grinders, LIG (linganum ionised gas) welding machine, and workbenches. Following the blueprints, the average student will complete their morphing weapon in about 14 hours from start to finish, as modifications are often made during this time to suit the owner. In the case of static or combination weapons, this is only about 6 hours, though the current record for a Class A weapon (the highest level of complexity) is 3 hours and 21 minutes. Most morphing weapons come under Classes A and B, with combination weapons such as dust rapiers and shotgun-gauntlets under Class B.
The average morphing weapon is created without using a single screw or bolt – the weapons are, for the most part, made using sliding plates and spring-loaded mechanisms. There are the occasional few that do, those these tend to have central segments that don't change upon transformation; weapons consistent with this include the Rose family's scythe-rifles. Upon transformation, the springs launch the plates along pre-determined grooves and rails, where they lock against counter-springs, which in turn launch the plates back when the button is pressed again.
Modifications are made by students when it is either necessary or desired, though the latter is usually advised against unless you have a particularly high score in the Weapon Design course. Such changes include inserting new springs for faster launching, remoulded muzzles, widened barrels, to name a few.
There are no limitations on what you can create – if the test determines you to need an exceptionally powerful weapon, then you can make it. However, do not be fooled – a powerful weapon does not mean you will be that powerful. Many Hunters believe they are as strong as their weapon, only to suffer a lot of strain trying to use it without the correct training. As such, establishments around the world offer training for specific weapon styles to assist you. These courses tend to be free and are often taken in the year before attending higher education, such as Beacon Academy.
We are now XXXX years on from the first discovery of Dust, and weapons have changed phenomenally over the years. From the first sword to morphing blade-guns, progress has always been for a common goal – to protect ourselves. Regardless of the circumstances we have always striven to defend and repel threats, and to adapt. This is reflected in just how far humanity has come from the very beginning. Grimm, criminals, wars – nothing has stood in the way of innovation. What will the next XXXX years bring? No one knows, but we can expect there to be even more development, and some day, the morphing weapon will not be a relic, but a stepping stone, much like Epivios. We must never forget how modern weapons came to be, and all that they represent.