Summary: Following their introductions, the students learn about their schools, understanding the culture and expectations of each Kingdom.

Notes: An excessive amount of world building.

I'm about to pass out as I upload this.

The evening of their introductions, the new Beacon Academy students stood once more in an assembly, ready to be addressed by the Principal.

"I know that you're probably getting tired of seeing my face," the grey-haired Headmaster said humouredly, as he walked up onto the stage, "But bear with me; there were things that I could only tell legitimate students of Beacon and I'm glad to say, you're all legitimate students here."

His declaration sent a roar of cheers throughout the auditorium, the students raising their voices to the maximum in happiness over their achievements being recognised.

After a minute or two of thunderous cheer, Ozpin gestured with his hands to signal that he wanted to say something else.

"It's important to enjoy your achievement," he said with a small smile, "But you can't let your guard down. Being a Huntsman is no joke, from the moment you step into these halls your lives are up to the gods."

He seems to at least be a realist, Adam evaluated silently on seeing that Ozpin wasn't just congratulating them, but also preparing them for the realities of their new life.

His sudden change in tone sobered the crowd of students, and they all acknowledged his admonition solemnly.

"Now, everything you need to know about Beacon is in your manuals, there isn't very much I have to tell you, but I feel that I should re-impress upon you some of the important principles and values of this prestigious academy."

"The motto of this school is 'We'll live on through the light of our memories', our goal is to train the next generation of Huntsmen who will guard of this world as we have done and carry on our light."

"As you have all heard, this is the most prestigious Hunstman Academy in Remnant, I say this knowing the magnitude of that claim, knowing the gumption it takes to disregard the Academies in Vacuo, Mistral and Atlas, but I do not say it lightly. We're called Beacon for a reason; we're the light that sets an example for all others and you will all be expected to act in that manner."

"Thank you, enjoy your evening, celebrate, enjoy the town, but tomorrow, your journey as students truly begins."

Once more, the cheers sounded, escorting the Principal off the stage.

xXx

"So," Nora asked as the team walked out of the auditorium, "What do we do with our night out, team leader?"

"I'm open to suggestions myself," he said, offering a smile to his teammates.

"Well," Pyrrha started a little shyly, "The Festival of Lights is going on presently, we could go and experience part of the culture of Vale."

"No objections," Adam said coolly, not particularly concerned with their plans.

"Sounds like a plan then, let's go."

xXx

After boarding a bus to the centre of the city, team RAVN walked down, admiring the sight before them.

Streaks of light danced throughout the air, forming shapes and figures in the sky that seemed to move.

"It's a play," Pyrrha announced as she looked up with wonder in her eyes, "The fireworks are used to animate a drama."

Interesting, Adam thought as he analysed the movements of the lights in the sky.

The Festival of Lights, or the Beacon Festival, was a festival that had been celebrated in Vale since The Great War.

The dramas animated by the lights were each decided by the year it fell on in what was known as The Circle. The first year was the Year of the People and the play focused on the people who discovered the land which Vale was founded on and created the Kingdom, it also celebrated the common man and their contributions to the great Valean society.

The second year was the Year of the Castle which celebrated the great nobles and military men in the history of Vale who made sure it continued to prosper despite the chaos of both Grimm attack and neighbouring Kingdoms.

The third year was the Year of the King which celebrated the great kings of Vale's history, it was also known as the Year of the Pillar because the Kings were believed to be the central support of Vale in times of chaos.

The fourth year-which was added more recently, after the Great War- was the Year of the Lighthouse. To celebrate the novel institution of the Huntsman Academy believed to be the future of Vale as the nobility and the Kingship continued to recede.

The years were repeated in a cycle to educate and inspire the future generations and showcase themselves to the rest of Remnant.

Following the Vytal Peace Accords, it had been less celebrated, partially because the Vytal Festival came to be seen as the most important in Vale, and also because members of Vale's nobility, dissatisfied with the King's decision to relinquish Mistralian lands back to them after The War and the abolishment of slavery (a trade which many of them subsisted on), who decided to turn public sentiment against the King leading to a lack of zeal to celebrate the Festival which would unavoidably celebrate their King.

However, on Beacon Academy's acquisition of the title of most prestigious Huntsman Academy after the seventh Vytal Tournament, the Festival was reinstituted with support from the nobility to celebrate the excellence and culture of Vale, and of course Beacon Academy.

Adam looked up once more in awe of the lights, according to Pyrrha, this was the Year of the Castle and it celebrated the nobility and military. In the sky, he saw a young man outlined in red giving a speech to the masses and urging them into battle.

There's something about him, Adam thought to himself, observing the character in the play, There's something about him that makes them willing to follow, that makes them willing to give their lives.

Principal Ozpin has that about him too; the way with words, the passion, the conviction... I used to have that too.

xXx

Just over a year ago, in the Centella Forest of Menagerie, Adam looked at the new recruits with a small smile; his mind briefly travelled to his time as a new recruit also.

Time to whip them into shape, he thought as he prepared what to say to them, This is going to be risky.

"I'm happy to see so many fresh faces ready to join to fight," he began, smiling brightly at them, "It's truly heartening; hope that our fight will carry on."

"Make no mistake however, this isn't what many of you think; this is war. A war for the reclamation of our dignity as a people, a war to take our destiny back from the hands of elites and exploiters. A war where we will all die."

The surging spirits of the newcomers instantly quenched on the utterance of his last statement.

What? What did he mean by that?

"Let me be honest with you; I do not believe that we have any hope of winning this," he said fiercely, his countenance wrought with pain as he spoke, "The forces at play are much bigger than any of us here, much bigger than the Fang. Even if we give it all that we have, we're not going to win."

"This world," he said gravely, "Is a world of conflict, a world of darkness. From the moment we awaken, we are greeted by the evil that is the Grimm, and even when we cope with that, we find that among us, among those who walk like us are even worse monsters. The same monsters that put us in chains, that wrung us dry and that continue to torment us. Against this world of darkness, there's no hope of victory."

"What is he saying?"

"Then why are we all here?"

"There's no point then?!"

Those were the whispers that passed the volume of the crowd, trying to understand what the Monster of Mena was saying.

Hmm, High Leader Khan thought as she watched Adam speak, Where's he going with this?

Adam was a rising star among the youth, with his power, good looks and charisma along with his fanatic devotion to the cause, he had been one of the spearheads of transformation of the Fang, introducing a change in philosophy that pushed them to the forefront of the political war alongside herself.

She had faith in him; she had seen him in action, and he himself had inspired action from her but still, the direction his speech was taking was a little... worrying.

"But we do not fight for victory!"

His sudden shout silenced all the whispers and even snapped Sheera out of her thoughts.

"We fight because with each second we fight, with every drop of blood we shed, this world becomes a better one than it was when we started! We fight because the alternative is to surrender to this darkness. We fight because we would rather die than live as cowards. Because..."

"...Only cowards go to Hell!"

"I do not fear death, I fear only damnation," he said, pulling out his crimson blade burning with an even more brilliant crimson Aura, and pointing it to the sky,"If there's anyone here that feels the same; anyone ready to die in a hopeless war, anyone willing to follow me to overcome Hell, let me hear your voice!"

"AARGH!"

The entire assembly roared in unison with him as his Aura climbed up for metres like a forest fire.

They were with him, unified under the red flag of the Fang and ready to give their all with him no matter what it cost.

"ONLY COWARDS GO TO HELL!"

xXx

I convinced them to give their lives for a cause I abandoned...Adam thought with his fists tightly balled up, All that blood.

He had lied to all of them.

He had truly believed that the cause was worth every sacrifice, but he had been deceiving himself; his duty was more important than the cause. He was a coward, and he deserved the damnation that came with it.

Suddenly, Adam felt a warmth flow over him.

He looked back to see that Pyrrha was holding his hand; somehow, as though on instinct, his hand had unclenched to welcome hers and he held onto it tightly.

It was just like that day; without a word passed between them, their eyes had found each other. And now, she responded to his darkness, reaching her hand out to him and anchoring him with her light.

Thank you, he said silently, looking up at the fireworks, knowing that she was looking up with him now, For being here for a coward like me.

Under the light of the fireworks, unaware to everyone, even themselves, they made another promise to each other.

xXx

Cardin looked with irritation at the assembly of Shade Academy students. They had all been apparently gathered for an address from the Headmaster, Theodore.

This place differs in many subtle ways from Beacon, Cardin said silently as he observed the mass of students.

For one, there was no uniform, students were free to wear whatever they wished, a feature that although Cardin didn't mind, he found a little confusing.

Uniforms weren't just used to show off, but as a symbol of rank, affiliation and most importantly unity, it was even in the name. However, that didn't seem to be the case here.

Was it a reflection of the culture here?

Although Cardin felt that his theory may have been a stretch, his rearing as the heir of the Winchester family- a family that although not officially a noble one, could be classified alongside them- exposed him to in depth studies of the cultures of all the Kingdoms.

The summary of his opinion of Vacuo from his studies was: divided.

Perhaps if any word could best define the sandy kingdom, that would be it.

Some would say terrible, others dreadful and almost everyone a 'terrible and dreadful place to visit', but divided most sufficiently captured the essence of the diamond in the rough of Sanus.

Being generous, one could say that the structure of the Kingdom was nonexistent; there was no official government or political system that was adhered to, instead, a variant of the tribal system popular in the continent of Anima, was dominant.

Although here, they were known as cabals, a difference that although small, was far from insignificant.

The tribes of Anima generally prioritised blood relations or common ancestry and heritage. Cabals however had no such favour; they prioritised strength over all things, making them far more vicious as the influence of a family name was insignificant in negotiations and decision making, therefore leading to the reliance on violence as the ultimate decider.

That Principal Ozpin sure knows how to pick his punishments.

Suddenly, an explosion of Dust occurred on the stage, drawing everyone's attention towards it.

"Students of Vacuo!" a smooth voice that echoed like thunder called, as its owner emerged from the smoke of the fireworks.

The speaker was a tall tan man with close cut dark hair and bold facial features and disposition which captured all of those things.

"I'm here to welcome you all to Shade Academy as official and proven students of this school. I want to tell you a little about the school that you're all now a part of."

"This Academy is the one pillar of this Kingdom," he said gravely, "Those who are locals are aware of this without my saying so."

"The motto of this school is 'By our strength we shall prevail', right now in Beacon and Atlas and Mistral, their students are celebrating."

An audible growl passed through the volume of the crowd at the mention of the three Academies, it seemed the student body wasn't a fan of the rival schools.

"That doesn't mean that they're wrong; they live in worlds sheltered from the harshness of this world and therefore can afford the luxury of celebration."

"You do not have such luxury, and this school exists to remind you of that fact. This school exists to give you the strength to be a pillar. If you're not strong enough to be a pillar, when the sand storm comes, you'll be overtaken and consumed."

He raised his gloved hand upwards as he said this, compelling the students' gaze towards it, like a lighthouse.

"We're a people of the storm!"

"A people who are strong!"

"A people who will prevail!"

"By our strength we will prevail!"

His speech was short, but it lit a fire within the spirits of every single student. Even Cardin who looked at the Kingdom of Vacuo with a measure of contempt was moved deeply by his words for a second.

So, Jaune thought in excitement and awe as he watched the speech, This is a Headmaster.

The title of Headmaster wasn't something given out lightly; each individual who earned it was rumoured to be strong enough to take on an army and among them, Theodore was said to be the strongest.

That's what I want; I want to be strong, I want to be a pillar!

xXx

"That was amazing," Jaune shouted excitedly to his teammates as they walked into the training room.

"As much as I'm loathed to agree with you," Cardin said aloofly, "It was."

Sky shrugged his shoulders as though he didn't care much either way.

"You're all wrong," Shouter whispered, making the trio turn around to look at him, "You're so wrong it's unbelievable."

"What do you mean?"

Cardin raised an eyebrow at the faunus, wondering why he was suddenly speaking up.

"You hail from Vacuo right? Why didn't you apply to Shade."

"It's because this place is hopeless; a pillar without a roof is just a decoration. I left because Vacuo is damned and there's nothing for me here."

"We're supposed to be training now," Cardin said, "But I feel that we'll all benefit from understanding the culture of this place a little better, being a local, you're best-suited to tell us."

Shouter looked at him with an unpleasant expression, the first Cardin had ever seen from him, he had begun to suspect that 'pussy' was his only facial expression.

"Vacuo isn't like other Kingdoms," he began, "Following the Great War, the Kingdoms slowly got rid of their former monarchical and archaic systems of government in favour of the Council system."

"This failed majestically in Vacuo, although they still answer to the Higher Council. This left a huge power vacuum in the land and in eighty years, nothing has helped it recover. That was until Theodore became Headmaster; his power and charisma acted as an adhesive and have gotten the most powerful seats on the Council to cooperate with him."

"It seems like the Headmaster resolved all the issues," Jaune observed after his explanation, "So what's the problem?"

"A Kingdom doesn't just transform overnight;" Cardin started, educating the ignorant fourth generation warrior, "Change like that has to come from the ground up to be effective. The White Fang has the right idea, they first appealed to the people and seemed to have a disdain for the rulers. If you have the people on your side, you can't fail."

Sky showed his first interest in the conversation by way of a cocked eyebrow at his friend. He wondered what made him bring up the White Fang all of a sudden.

I know you haven't given up on that, he thought gravely, But I can't get anything else from you.

The mention of the White Fang also made Shouter uncomfortable, causing memories of what had happened between the two partners to re-emerge.

"Either way, we've had enough of talking, let's get to our training."

As they trained with their partners, Cardin couldn't help but feel piqued by his; he had always considered Shouter to be nothing short of a coward, but he felt that he had gotten a glimpse of something else within him that made him curious, something that he saw within himself.

He found himself pondering over his words as they trained.

I can understand his 'pillar without a roof' reference though.

Cernu's words referred to the lack of structure of Vacuo.

Following The War, the highly controversial Council System was introduced. Via a Council of appointees representing every Kingdom, operating out of the Vytal Islands, the decisions of each Kingdom would be made.

This system sparked huge protest from the citizens of both Vale and Vacuo (Mistral and Mantle-later Atlas- were far less concerned because they had faith in their long partnership and could therefore rely on each other).

This was part of the reason the Festival of Lights ceased to be celebrated for a time. The Nobility and the Military along with the masses colluded to form a protest, saying that the King would not be celebrated till the oppressive system was removed.

The protest was the limit of what the people could do in actuality as the recent war had depleted them of both zeal to wage a civil war, and the resources.

In the old days, after a war was one, the Nobility would partake in the spoils alongside the Crown, but as a show of good faith, neither Mantle nor Mistral were raided after their defeat, but that also meant that the Nobility- who had participated at great cost in the war- were weakened significantly. This blow was magnified by the complete absolution of slavery, the mandatory of reparations to the now freed slaves and the Council System which removed power from their hands and also heavily taxed them.

The Nobility felt thoroughly betrayed by the actions of the King and continued sabotaging all efforts made by the Crown. That was until the seventh Vytal Festival, in which through the initiative of Beacon Academy, a Lower Council was proposed.

The Lower Council constituted of representatives from the central pillars of each Kingdom, and they made all domestic decisions for their respective Kingdoms. In Vale, the central pillars consisted of the Military, Nobility, Hunstman Academy, Police Force, Farmer's Guild, Scientist Guild, The People's Representative and the Crown.

Each representative had one seat, except the Crown which had two and each seat was decided by either appointment or elections. The Military, Police Force and Crown seats were obviously appointed seats, while the Nobility, Scientist Guild, People's Representative and Farmer's Guild were elected offices although the People's Representative was an election open to all citizens, whereas the other three were limited to the members of that faction. The Huntsman Academies had a selection system that was honestly a mystery to everyone.

This amendment put an end to the 'Cold War' as it had been called, between the Nobility and the people against the Crown. The reinstitution of the Festival of Lights was a symbol of that, it was also why the festival aligned with the induction of new students into Beacon.

Unfortunately, in Vacuo, it hadn't been a cold war. The people prided themselves on being assertive, and since they had been the last to join The War, and therefore the ones with the least losses as well as resentment towards their Crown for allowing their exploitation by Mistral and Mantle, they were quick to start a rebellion.

It hadn't been a continuous war like The Great War, but a series of long-spaced battles that ultimately led to the destruction of the Crown. Their Council was therefore crippled, as the Crown seats were vacant and there was deep distrust and dysfunction between the surviving seats.

But even now, efforts were made to revive the Crown and restore order to the Kingdom of Sand.

xXx

"You're not coming with us?" Ruby asked her partner with a disappointed expression, "But it's good team building."

"I wish I could," Weiss said, "But I still have some duties as an heiress that can't wait, you guys go on without me."

Blake looked at the white-dressed Schnee with a measure of distrust but ultimately gave up because she didn't care either way. Being away from her was actually a perk.

"What do you think is up with her?" Yang asked as the trio walked out of the school.

"An heiress mustn't be seen associating with the common folk I guess."

"Come on, that's not fair, she probably has her own reasons."

"Whatever, so what do you want to see?"

"Well there's this..."

xXx

Weiss turned the lights off and placed her scroll on the table, the face of a particular family heir appearing in the hologram it formed.

"Hey," she said silently, "How'd induction go?"

"It was okay," Cardin said, "The Principal's really weird though."

"Is he?" Weiss asked with a forced feeling of interest.

"Yeah, he's like really intense, even wears a cape."

"A cape? That's interesting."

"Yeah..."

"It's the Festival of Lights here," she said after enduring a minute of tense silence. "Oh it is?" he asked, somehow forgetting the most important local festival in Vale, something that his History and Culture tutors would have him strung up for should they ever find out.

"Yeah, you promised you'd show it to me once I came to Beacon."

"I did didn't I?" he asked, rubbing his hair in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, you know I would if I could."

"It's not important now, you'll show me whenever you get back."

"That's a promise," he said determinedly, "A promise."

"I'll be waiting then. What are your teammates like?"

"Ugh, I'm happy that Sky came here with me, I'd have lost my mind otherwise."

"That bad huh?"

"Yup, what about yours? You have that kid as a team leader right?"

"I do, I can't believe it still," she said with a hint of anger, "I thought I'd shown my capability to be a leader here."

"That Principal Ozpin... he has a weird way of doing things."

"Is that so, weirder that middle-aged cape man?"

"Funny enough, they're polar opposites. Ozpin's almost like a shadow, when I met him he semed unremarkable, not at all like the fabled Headmasters of the Huntsman Academies. Theodore on the other hand, is light a bright beam; he draws everyone's attention and keeps it. He's bigger than the stories."

"He'd have to be," Weiss observed, "After all, Vacuo's a mess. You need to be larger than life to keep it all in check."

"You're right about that I guess... you're still wearing that white dress? You hate white."

Weiss simply smiled at him, refusing to answer the question.

"Whatever," he said, "Have a nice night, talk to you next week."

"Bye."

Once the call ended, the room descended into darkness.

I promise, she said to herself, sobbing silently, I promise I won't forget.

Notes: Share, comment, review, bookmark, follow all that stuff, really encourages me.

Feel free once again to offer any ideas you'd like.

I rewrote a bit of canon by saying slavery was banned in Vale after The War I think, but bear with me.