Main theme: Metro Exodus rap by Jt Music, featuring Andrea Storm Kaden
Theme: Peg Doll Nursery Rhyme from Doctor Who

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Do not go gentle into that good night, by Dylan Thomas

Transcript recovered from the Forever Forest, just after the last initiation. It had been scribbled onto the walls, and was untranslatable until multiple years later, when new knowledge was brought to light. This transcript is now part of the unabridged Age of Endings book, itself part of the unabridged Age of Man collection.

All continuing versions of the Age of Man books are to be sent for abridgment and editing, and the original, unabridged version of the Age of Man collection is to be kept locked away in the Belladonna Archives. Only those with ARKOS level clearance are allowed to read the unabridged texts and transcripts. Anyone who reads the unabridged texts and transcripts without the correct clearance is to be detained and interrogated immediately, and is to be kept under surveillance for signs of criminal activity until further notice or change in suspect's profile or behaviour demands otherwise.

Transcript provided below:

Do you remember me?

Do you see me?

Will you see me?

Will you love me?

Will you accept me?

I know you will. You're like that, you see. Always accepting. Always loving. Why do you think I fell for you, like so many others?

I have come to claim you, my dear. I have come to take what is mine. I have come to hold my beloved by my side, and begin the final evolution of man. We will embrace the great change. We will mould and morph into our new perfect shapes, and we will embrace each other, as man changes and accepts the embrace of our mother eternal, cutting away the chaff from the wheat, culling the weak from the strong, the mighty, the righteous, and begins our final empire, where we will claim these lands like our ancestors of old, and you and I will be the ones to spread our love and unity through our dominion, joined together under the eternal union of man.

Does the thought not excite you, my dearest? Does the imagining of leading our fellows towards our new paradise, and creating an eternal Eden for our empire not fill you with a feeling of purpose, and belonging? It is the dream that I shall share with you, the dream you will embrace, and the dream that I have been gifted by my mother eternal.

Do you hear that? My mother is calling us. She has given me everything, and asked for nothing in return. She has saved me from darkness. From the nothingness that laid before me for so long, and needed so little from me. Our paths are aligned, and our goals are the same. My mother will be there to walk me down the isle, while I bring to her the rightful gifts and treasures that she so longingly seeks.

Let Ozma come. Let him send his hunters and Hunters against me. Against us. Against our rightful joining. It will matter not. Nothing will stand between our rightful union. Nothing will stand betwixt our love, and our imperium. Our covenant.

Our empire of right and no wrong.

Our golden world, of only good, where evil shall be only a forgotten word.

Be ready, my love, for the time of man's hatred towards itself is finally over. Man's ascension towards its true form has come.

And we will be there to lead them to our new Eden. Our new empire's heaven on earth.

Transcript end.

Here's a pro tip, friends: Make sure that you have your planning stages done before you begin a story.

I have, but when I started this, I didn't. Now I do (Sort of), So this is definitely going to be edited around a lot.

In short order, welcome to Ascendancy, one of the few genuine war fics out there in this fandom, bar Biohazard and Tomorrow And Never Again (Of the former, I have only heard in reviews, the latter by experience of reading). However, it is not only that, but also part worldbuilding fic and deconstructionist fic as well.

That's right, I'm going to be writing this out as partly a deconstruction as well, where I take apart a lot of the former bits of RWBY's lore and add in my own ideas and bits and pieces, so be ready for all of that.

But most of all, be ready for the themes. This is a story that is not for the faint of heart. It's as dark as it is engaging.

If there is one prevailing theme that will be running through this fic, it's this: The light is always darkest before the dawn.

If there was another theme, it's the poem above, which really does encapsulate the entire message of this fic:

Do not go gentle into that good night, and rage rage rage against the dying of the light.

And that's another point that I'll be heading into about this fic: Its themes. There's going to be quite a few of them. When I was thinking this entire fic over in my head, I looked at what I definitely wanted to do, compared to what I could do, and everything seemed to click into place.

Want to know a fun tidbit? One of this story's biggest influences is Remnant Inferis: DOOM, by GamerJay.

Yeah, let that sink in.

Now, you may be wondering to yourself, Titanmaster117, what in the name of Oum could you be offering from any other RWBY fic out there like, literally everything made by Coeur Al'Aran that is different to yours?

I propose that I am offering something that no other RWBY fic has done before: A full blown war fic on Remnant, a complete retuning a redesigning of the lore around the world, and an in-depth look into the deep psychological issues that come with living in a world consumed by war, all tied together into a neat little bow.

Sound's fun, doesn't it?

So, coming up on the menu, we've got 'Survivor's Guilt', 'The manipulation of trust', 'Truth and lies', 'The horrors of war', and 'Dark pasts vs darker futures'.

But, juxtaposing that, we have 'The power of friendship' (I'm not kidding), 'The power of love', 'The strength of community', 'The innate good in humanity', and 'The refusal to die without a fight'.

But more than that, more importantly, are the themes of 'Destiny', and 'Love, and the absence of'.

I think you guys are really going to like the last one.

So, strap in fellas, and hold your loved ones tight. Not everyone is going to come out of this fine, and not every one is going to live to see the rising sun. The Grimm are on the rise with a new leader, legends are coming to life, the dark pasts of Beacon's teachers and students and the world around them are digging themselves out of the dirt and into the open, and our brave boy and his friends (Did you not read the summary?) Have no idea of the horrors that they are in for.

Like I said, the night is darkest before the dawn, and so, things must get worse before they get better.

So, with all of that in mind, I hope that we can see this through till the end, and until then, I shall see you all next time.

Titanmaster117 out!

Edit: I just realised how much I wanted to put butterflies in as a motif. Expect a lot of edits about that.