A Brief History of the Great Founding
"Fury of Vacuo, Spirit of Vale, Might of Atlas, Courage of Mistral!"
Eighty years ago, the treaty that brought the Great War was signed on the little island of Vytal, just off the Valean coast. Leaders and representatives came from the four Kingdoms still left standing to decide the fate of what still remained. The conflict had brought a scale of warfare and with its destruction never seen before. Over a hundred million souls had died from battle, starvation, and genocide alongside a half dozen smaller nations dissolved and absorbed, all over a few colonial towns on the shores of Eastern Saunus just a decade ago.
Though all those that sat on the conference wished never again to see such war occur again, they could not quite trust that their successors would want the same. Nor could they hold such faith for those sitting across the table from them, just months ago mortals foes that would have stopped at nothing to ensure the utter annihilation of the other.
A permanent peace had to be secured but many issues meant that full disarmament was impossible, not because of internal paranoia amongst fellow men but a foreign power on the dark continent that was growing in power. When humanity had first come blinking and squinting from their caves, they found that evil had followed them. Huddling around their fires, the early man learned quickly to fear that which skirted the edge of the light, growling and barking in the dark, just waiting for a moment of weakness to pounce. But man is not a creature that is willing to stand idly by and let their enemies hold such reign. So they fought back, slowly carving themselves a place in this world with rock, spear, sword, arrow, and eventually gunpowder.
If there has ever been a constant on this chaotic planet, it's that Humanity and Grimm have and always will be locked in an eternal battle for supremacy over Remnant, both claiming to be its rightful heirs.
For the past century, with the widespread introduction of firearms, massed organized artillery was enough to dissuade any marauding band from even approaching the major cities, though every once in a while an outlying colonial settlement would disappear off the map or a trade caravan would never reach its destination. But the Great War had changed all of that. Carnage and anarchy ruled, creating unbelievable amounts of hate, despair, fear, and a myriad of other negative emotions that served as suitable breeding material for the Grimm. At the height of the war, their numbers had become so out of control that impromptu ceasefires between warring armies had to be declared in order to combat this threat with their combined might, before of course after resuming killing each other once the danger was dealt with. Now with much of the known world in ruins,
Solutions were introduced, with Mantle proposing the most outrageous, that all military duties against the Grimm be delegated to itself alone, which once the other nations had realized was not a jest, was firmly rejected. The one that seemed to have the most potential was the idea put forth by Vale's regent, named now only as the Warrior-King. He wished to recruit those with the gifted powers of Aura and Semblances into Academies that would be established in each nation, where their abilities could be tempered and forged into a blazing sword that would strike down all Grimm that threatened the Kingdoms before they became a threat. While nearly all members were keen to agree to this plan, there were practical restrictions. No doubt these "Huntsmen," as they would later be called, were certainly a great weapon against the Grimm with a single trained one able to slay thousands with ease, but there were simply too few of them to be found in the population to be enough to defend everything, especially against a foe with now seemingly unending numbers. While all living things possessed Aura, it was simply too hard to unlock it in the mass numbers needed. Semblances, even harder, easily requiring years to bring to the surface, and even more time to be brought to an acceptable level of strength, time that they did not have.
Huntsmen could be the spear, but humanity needed a shield.
Then came a most outrageous idea, but perhaps outrageous enough to work. It is not known which nation was the one to come up with it, it seemed to be a spontaneous one that had been on the back of everyone's mind. Someone simply had the courage to bring it up. While many stood against it for varying reasons, the arrogance of Mantle, the stubbornness of Vacuo, and the doubt of Mistral, it was soon clear that they had little choice but to agree to it.
Like the conflict that had just ended, what would become known as the Great Founding would change the face of Remnant forever. Across all four Kingdoms, the great machines of destruction that had fueled the war and the battle-hardened soldiers that were the raging fire were not disarmed and left to rust nor once more used against fellow man like so many had expected, but rather were used against their true enemy, the Grimm. Regiments were disbanded and reformed once more into mixed units with members from all nations. Great sea armadas belched black smoke as they let slip their moorings, alongside ships that still carried their scars from the guns of their new comrades. Above them flew the air fleets that blotted out the sky. Armaments were standardized so that military resources could be shared without worry for incompatibility. A single high command was established that had unquestionable authority over this power and was not beholden to the internal worries of any nation, for better or worse being a neutral power.
When all was done, at the end of the Great Founding would form the largest armed group that had ever been formed in history, with nearly fifty million men in its ranks and uncountable amounts of artillery, armored vehicles, and all assortment of killing mechanisms known to men.
Three years after the Vytal Treaty was signed, the Remnant Guard emerged into a new dawn with a thousand battle-standards, each waiting for battle glories to be etched upon their plain faces. Alongside the newly wrought Huntsmen that had been established alongside them, they marched towards the borders for war.
Thus, would begin the era known as the Grimm Wars.
Just a brief quick write-up I made as I'm working on editing for the second section which is gonna be released soon. Most of it is already done, just needs some touching up. Hope you liked this one and that it gave you a brief insight into this AU and what the Guard is. More lore posts, at least the ones I can't fit into the actual story itself, to follow in the near future.