The next day Giles woke up and started what he decided was to be his new routine. Firstly, take a shower and bask in the gentle warmth of hot water and room temperature that was above 0 degrees. Secondly he set out to enjoy a meal that had never been freeze dried, in this case he called Glynda and asked if she could have a meal delivered to him, since he was still supposed to be cooped up in his room while they worked out the cover story and official paperwork for his stay in Beacon. She agreed to have breakfast brought to his room, although she stressed that this was not to be done after he was free of his room. She also informed his that Ferrus was going to be busy today and such as one of the other members of the staff had volunteered to teach him about the world today.
This, of course, was to be provided by the esteemed Doctor Oobleck, teacher of history and the world at large for Beacon academy. Who showed up bearing in one hand a stack of books and in the other a ceramic plate stacked high with these round tan bread things.
"Good morning Doctor Oobleck, thanks for bringing me breakfast. Come on in." Giles said politely, never mess with the guy carrying the food.
Oobleck walked in before putting the plate down on one of the desks, along with the stacks of books.
"A good morning to you as well Giles, before we begin I hoped to ask you a few questions for prosperity, coming in contact with a human from another world is just too intriguing an opportunity to pass up.
Giles hesitated before nodding, he figured that Oobleck might just have questions about his technology and how it worked. He was wrong.
"Good, first how did humans come to be on your planet? Were they a natural evolution like here on Remnant or was the planet colonized?" Oobleck asked while holding his scroll up like a microphone.
"Uhhh, humans first attempted to colonize E.D.N. lll about 90 years ago, but we had been aware of the planet for a long time before that."
"Interesting, you said that there was an attempt, meaning that it failed, what was the cause?"
"Humanity dug too deep. Under the planets crust we found a new species. Akrid, an immensely varied species of reptilian creatures with an insects knack for breeding different types for specific tasks and places in their hives. After being disturbed by us they boiled on to the surface and promptly overran every city and settlement on the planet. The company that oversaw the planet, NEVEC, pulled out valuable personal and resources and left the rest of us to the swarms."
"Fascinating. Why the future attempts, and were there any survivors?"
"Resources, regardless of the hostile conditions on the planet, it was also home to a powerful energy source. Thermal energy, or T-ENG for short, is an immensely concentrated fuel found flowing through E.D.N. lll's crust and in the bodies of the Akrid. As for survivors, I don't know, I heard that there were rumors of such a thing but this was before i was born. However when the second wave of colonists came, they did so as research and mining teams. Naturally they were never told of the first attempt. Any old cities were marked as areas of extreme danger and to be avoided. Any time anyone found out about the first colony, they and their entire teams were executed by NEVEC security forces." Giles said bitterly.
"Goodness, how did the battle against NEVEC start then?"
"One man found the truth and got news out. NEVEC tried to eradicate every team on the planet, the teams, hardened survivors from their missions, rallied together and fought back. They became the first snow pirates. Others came after them, the planets resources was too much to resist for many. People hoping for a new start, rebels forced into exile, rebel NEVEC forces that wished to make up for the company's sordid past that they had assisted with. All came to E.D.N. lll and engulfed the planet into a battle for supremacy. No one faction ever won. To this day the planet is being constantly torn apart by wars, with Akrid slaughtering any that they come across in a vain attempt to protect their territory."
"Dark, but enlightening. Humanity fought for the planet so hard that the original threat that had drove them back, was a secondary threat when compared to other humans." Oobleck mused.
"Suuuurrrreee." Giles said unsure of what to make of the doctors impression.
"Can i just eat my breakfast?" Giles asked desperately, licking his lips in anticipation.
"Oh dear excuse me. I was wrapped up in my own questions i forgot about your breakfast. Go on dear boy, eat up." Oobleck said before stepping away from the desk and sitting on one of the beds in the room.
Giles sat down and started to eat the bread things, they had been covered in a sticky syrup of some sort. It was the sweetest thing Giles had ever eaten in his life. After finishing his meal with gusto, he turned back to Oobleck and got things back on track.
"Alright, now that my breakfast has been dealt with, you were going to tell me about the history of Remnant?"
"Ah of course, forgive me. New information is always needed. Where to begin...? AH I known, the kingdoms of Remnant. You said that your home had many factions, i suppose you could say that the kingdoms are the equivalent."
"Ozpin said that we are in a time of peace, is the competition between the kingdoms that intense?"
"Yes and no, all four of the kingdoms went to war 80 years ago. We call it the great war." Giles scoffs at this part. "It started with a disagreement with how to express ourselves. The kingdom to the north, once known as Mantle, decided that emotion should be suppressed at all costs. This was done in order to lessen Grimm attacks, due to their attraction to negative human emotion. Today all the kingdoms have come together to avoid a repeat of the great war, but pride will be pride." Oobleck lectured.
"So the four kingdoms work together, but compete to see how much they can do for the best of all? Since they no longer can fight each other directly. That seems to me pretty petty." Giles guessed.
"Indeed but humanity has always been petty. Now the four kingdoms are Vale, where we are now. Vale has long been a place of mixed peoples, its central location compared to the other kingdoms has helped its economy and culture flourish. We are among the most stable and accepting of the four kingdoms. However we are also the smallest sized kingdom, due to our reliance on the natural barriers that protect us from Grimm, tall mountain ranges and the ocean to our back, we can not expand very far."
"Safe but restricted. The other kingdoms?"
"Vacuo is a desert kingdom to the west of Vale, on the other side of the continent, which is called Sanus. It was once a great kingdom that enjoyed an abundance of resources and peace, the Grimm wouldn't cross the desert to get to it, However as a result of the easy living they had, they refused to adapt. The other kingdoms abused this and invaded, after years of exploitation the kingdom was effectively destroyed by the heavy mining and industry. Now the kingdom is a mostly lawless wasteland where the only authority is Shade, the huntsman academy."
"Sounds familiar, just switch sand for snow. Next."
"Mistral is to the east of Vale and is the largest kingdom by far, it controls and has settled most of the continent of Anima. They are most defined by the fact that the farther from the capital you get the less laws there are and by the great cultural gains of the nobility. Other then that the kingdom is very diverse in its cultures and people."
"Rich people and criminals, got it. And the last?"
"That would be Atlas, formerly Mantle, It is to the north and would probably be the most familiar to you. A kingdom of snow, resources and technology, they lead the world in many technological fields and are home to the largest Dust mining company in the world, The Schnee Dust mining company. However they are not perfect, Atlas is ruled by its military and those that support it, in other words the Schnees have great influence and have used it in recent years to gain great power, at the cost of those that do the work, mostly Faunus."
"So basically this worlds NEVEC huh? Lovely, guess i will never get away from dealing with assholes like that. Let me guess they also design V.S?" Giles said sarcastically.
"Actually, yes, they do have a fairly advanced robotics program. Including many designs similar to V.S."
"Well... Guess what? You have successfully motivated me. I Have to one up this guys. Corporate types with too much power are the reason why E.D.N. lll was almost destroyed, not taking that shit again."
"Language my boy language. But what do you mean almost destroyed?"
"Crap. Well not like it matters. The explosion that brought me here, it was caused by us snow pirates dropping the NEVEC space station NEOS on an absolutely huge Akrid. This thing was going to concentrate all of the T-ENG on E.D.N. lll into itself and freeze the planet so deeply that we would all die. NEVEC knew this and guess what they did? They tried their damnedest to keep it a secret so they could kill it when it finished its job and take all the T-ENG in one go. So if Atlas is even somewhat like NEVEC,they need to learn some humility."
Oobleck stayed silent, chewing on this new information. He decided to bring the conversation towards some more useful things for fitting into Beacon. The rest of the day was filled with more benign topics, like what the different types of food that were common and more obvious things that Giles should know as a "regular" member of Remnant society.
Don't worry, this story will continue. I just have little time to work on it. The reason this chapter came out was because my job finnaly had a normal work week of only five days instead of six, two days off is way better then one.