The Atlesian Military was an organized body of armed forces from the former Kingdom of Atlas, which was regarded as the world's strongest military power led by General James Ironwood. Their headquarters was located at Atlas Academy. The uniforms of standard soldiers included metal body armor and helmets that conceal the top of their faces. They were seen wielding a variety of weapons including rifles, pistols and swords.
While originally a force of good at the beginning of the series, the events during the Battle of Beacon, where their technology was hacked, caused them to be seen in a negative light by the world. As such, they were recalled to Atlas. However, when the one responsible launched an attack on the Kingdom, the military under orders from Ironwood took direct control by overthrowing the council following martial law and intended on raising Atlas in order to escape, leaving Mantle in the process.
In "The Final Word", the vast majority of the military was destroyed alongside the Kingdom. However in "Of Solitude and Self", the remaining Atlas ships went to Vacuo to join the other Kingdoms’ forces in the fight against Salem.
Military Technology[]
The new Atlesian Knight-200s
Atlas had always supported the idea of the removal of men from the dangers of the battlefield, thus a large component of their significant military force was made up of android soldiers, such as the Atlesian Knight-200, designed to replace the standard Atlesian Knight-130 security model. The androids were heavily networked, routed through the large carrier airships used by the air fleet; destruction of all such ships in the area led to a full shutdown of all automated units.
The Atlesian military understood that many situations still required a Human presence, with Human soldiers still serving among their forces, and in conjunction with the Schnee Dust Company had also introduced piloted mechanized battle-suits known as the Atlesian Paladin-290. Although designed to operate in as piloted units, they could also be remotely and independently operated, functioning in the same way as the smaller Knight units. They had also developed towering mechs designed to defend against giant Grimm. An upgraded, more formidable version of the Paladin was seen in the Battle of Beacon.
Prior to the switch to the AK-200 model, Atlesian Knight-130s were upgraded into the Atlesian Knights-135. AK-135s were variants to the AK-130s with added durability by ways of a riot shield on its arm. Additionally, Atlas created an unknown number of prototypes of the Spider Droid, which served as security for both the military and for companies such as the Schnee Dust Company.
The Atlesian Military also created the Colossus, a giant mech that was used to defend Argus from giant Grimm like Leviathans. It was placed in the Argus Military Base when not in use.
The Kingdom's borders were defended by the Atlesian Beam Turrets, which sat perched atop walls, firing lasers at incoming threats.
Following the Fall of Beacon, the Atlesian Military made steps to improve its Kingdom's defenses, creating weaponry that would improve the public perception of their forces. Such an example was the Atlesian Burrow Gun, a turret built to conceal itself unless a nearby threat was present so that the threat of war was out of the citizens' minds.[1]
Later, the next generation of defensive installations were the Atlesian Arachna Mines. Using the technology of the Accessibility Dialogue Assistant (Ada) for target acquisition and threat detection, these bombs could scuttle towards enemies on the ground.[2]
The technology has been stolen and used in the past by multiple factions, such as the White Fang, who managed to get their hands on multiple paladin prototypes, the Wave crime syndicate in Kuchinashi who sold it among their other stolen goods and by Amoncio Glass who managed to steal the technology with assistance from Lieutenant Colonel Olive Harper and used the southern coast Dust Mine in Solitas for a weapons furnishing operation to arm mobsters in the streets of the capital of Atlas. Among the stolen Atlesian Military technology in the Wave's possession included an air bomber and a Dust carrier ship.
Following her fight against Cinder Fall, Winter Schnee began wearing an exoskeleton that is described as power armor.[3]
To support the development of these technologies, the Atleasian Military utilized numerous research facilities around Solitas, including the now defunct Fort Arrowfell.[4]
Arrowfell Technology[]
Arrowfell was the Atlas Military code word for higher-than-top-secret experimental technology.[5]. Atlas used to develop these technologies at the Fort Arrowfell Research Facility, including a device that attracted Grimm through stored fear energy. The securty surounding this technology sparked numerous legends and myths about the facility with some of them dating back to when it was still operational.
Over time, these technolgies became unmanagemable, prompting the closure of the facility and the canceling of all Arrowfell projects.
Airfleet[]
An impressive contingent of the Atlesian air-fleet in action
Along with their army, the Kingdom also boasted an impressive air-fleet even in times of peace, able to field several large airships and a heavy escort of smaller fighter-transports, which would provide tactical fire support for its ground forces. The larger airships were armed with laser batteries, which were capable of easily destroying a ship of the same class. The smaller fighter-transports used a gimbal-mounted dual chaingun as their primary weapon. Atlas' domination of the skies allowed the Atlesian military to respond and deploy its troops to face potential threats in quick succession.
The Atlesian air fleet and android ground forces displayed their impressive strength by defending the city of Vale from a marauding force of Grimm forces in the episode "Breach". By Volume 3, at least eight airships were deployed from Atlas at the height of Atlas' presence in Vale, as seen in "PvP". However, they were taken by surprise during the Grimm invasion of Vale and the Battle of Beacon, losing two ships to an airship captured by Roman Torchwick, which itself would later crash, bringing Atlas' losses during the invasion up to at least three airships. Some of the ship's survived the invasion and were placed above the skys of Atlas by General Ironwood to protect the city. Given that during the Grimm invasion, the city of Vale was designated as the primary evacuation point by the Atlas military, and contained a much higher population than Beacon Academy, it is likely that at least a few ships were still operationally defending the city.
Many of the ship's in the air fleet were destroyed during the Battle of Atlas by invading Grimm like the Tempest.
Members[]
Leadership[]
General Ironwood, a prominent general of the Atlesian Military
General James Ironwood was a prominent leader of the military, the former Headmaster of the academy and a holder of two seats on the Atlas Council. His agenda was focused on security and safety, however, his methods of doing so, described as "shows of power", brought him into conflict with Ozpin. He also expressed doubt that "children", the Huntsmen-in-training of Beacon Academy, would be able to win a war. Winter Schnee was also second in command to General Ironwood, making her a high ranking officer.
Following the Battle of Beacon, his leadership started to worsen due to the immense pressure and actions he had taken. By the time of "The Final Word", many of his closest allies have turned on him because of this. He was later killed during the destruction of the Kingdom.
Special Operatives Unit[]
- Main article: Special Operatives Unit
Winter Schnee, Special Operative and former student of Atlas Academy
The Atlesian Military was known to recruit graduate Huntsmen and Huntresses from Atlas Academy, especially to join their Special Operatives Unit.[6] This practice drew criticism, as Huntsmen were initially intended to be free from allegiance to a specific Kingdom, and the practice also involved pressuring of the graduates and trainees into joining.
Qrow Branwen made reference to "Specialists", which was a title for members of the Special Operatives Unit. One such member was Winter Schnee, who reported directly to General Ironwood. Another notable member was Caroline Cordovin, who was stationed at the Atlesian Military Base stationed at Argus.
Amongst the Special Operatives unit, the Ace Operatives were said to be the most elite group of agents in the military, answering directly to James Ironwood in covert operations.
After the destruction of Atlas, the Special Operatives Unit was likely disbanded alongside the rest of the military.
Soldiers[]
- Main article: Atlas Soldier
An Atlas soldier
Multiple soldiers made up most of Atlas's military power. The soldiers also acted as the police force of the Kingdom instead of the police and military being separate entities. Soldiers wore different colors to show what position they were in as blue soldiers were the most common and acted as the ones that mainly fought on the front lines. The colors the soldiers had worn were blue, red, yellow, and green.
Due to the size of the military, there were outposts spread throughout all of Remnant for soldiers, with the largest one being located in Argus and smaller ones located across Solitas.
During the Battle of Atlas, the military brought students from the academy in their ranks, as was the case with Team FNKI.
It is unknown if any soldiers survived the destruction of the Kingdom.
Engineering Team[]
Will Scarlatina is the father of Velvet Scarlatina, and a big-shot engineer working with the military and Ironwood. Astounded and amazed by Velvet's invention of Anesidora, Will showed the weapon to Ironwood before she attended Pharos Academy.[7]
Arthur Watts and Pietro Polendina were also possible members of this branch of the Atlesian Military. With Watts having been involved in the creation of the security of Mantle and apparently also had some involvement with developing the Atlas Military defensive weapons, such as the Atlesian Paladin-290 prior to him faking his death. Pietro was also involved in the development of the Kingdom's defenses, with him having been been part of the team tasked by Ironwood to create new defense technology for the military, eventually leading to the start of the P.E.N.N.Y Project.
History[]
Decades prior to the start of "RWBY", Atlesian researchers at the now defunct Fort Arrowfell developed a deployable device for attracting Grimm through the use of stored fear energy. However, these devices proved to be too dangerous to manage, so Ironwood's predecessors canceled the project and closed the facility. They then assigned the protection of what remained of the technology to a secret Huntress team known as the Keepers of Arrowfell.
Sometime prior to the events of the series, Bram Thornmane once trained in the Atlas Military in order to become a member of the Ace Operatives. However, he was rejected as a member and eventually left he military as a Huntsman and became resentful towards General James Ironwood. Around the same time, Hanlon Fifestone enlisted in the military as a soldier in order to fight for better rights for the people of Mantle. It was during this time that he saw the corruption, wealth and greed of the people of Atlas and deserted military duty in order to become a union leader in Mantle and resulting in him having a bad reputation among the people of Atlas.
Ironwood visited Vale in order to attend the Vytal Festival with students from his academy. However, he arrived not just with his students, but hundreds of soldiers carried by airships. The Atlesian Military protected the city of Vale during the Breach, and served as the primary security in the Vytal Festival Tournament.
During the Battle of Beacon, Cinder Fall's virus caused the military's technology to turn on them, causing further panic and chaos in Vale.
Upon learning from Winter Schnee of a brewing threat in Mistral, Ironwood decided to close the borders of the Kingdom of Atlas, calling back most of his troops to defend their home. He stationed a small group of soldiers, lead by Special Operative Caroline Cordovin, to stay in the city of Argus and restricted transportation to Atlas.
During the time Team RWBY assisted the military, a conspiracy led by Bram Thornmane against Ironwood was discovered and eventually multiple people involved were arrested by the military including Hanlon Fifestone, Lieutenant Colonel Olive Harper who secretly provided military technology to Amoncio Glass and his goons and turned herself in out of guilt, and Bram Thornmane himself after being defeated by Team RWBY. During this period, a deal between the military and the Schnee Dust Company set up prior to the events of "RWBY: Arrowfell" to find a new Dust Mine for the company was also completed with Winter acting as the contact between both factions. However, the new Dust Mine site was deemed unusable due to the Dust inside it having inert specks and imperfections.[8]
The Atlesian Military aided in the assembly of the Amity Communications Tower, and later defended Mantle in the Battle of Mantle from incoming Grimm onslaughts. Once Ironwood declared martial law and attempted to raise the city of Atlas, the military became a dictatorship and attempted to capture Ruby's Group as an arrest warrant for them was sent out throughout the Kingdom.
After Penny Polendina became the Winter Maiden, Ironwood attempted to bring her back to his side to complete his plans. During this time, councilmen Sleet and Camilla tried questioning Ironwood about declaring martial law until Ironwood killed Sleet. When Ruby's Group infiltrated the Atlas Command Center, Ironwood authorized his soldiers to use lethal force to stop them.
Multiple Soldiers were killed during the Battle of Atlas
When Salem destroyed the Hard-Light shields around Atlas and had Monstra land on the floating city, the military was seen trying to hold off the Grimm she created during the Battle of Atlas with multiple soldiers killed in the ensuing fight. They tried to send a bomb to the giant Grimm, but it was killed before they deliver it. Later, Ironwood sent multiple ships to destroy the Schnee Dust Company drones meant to help evacuate the people of Mantle by Whitley Schnee. He delivered an Ultimatum to Penny, come to him and open the Vault within an hour or he would destroy Mantle using the bomb originally meant for Monstra.
After realizing that Ironwood was going too far, Winter and Marrow both helped Ruby's Group try and stop Ironwood by pretending to go along with his plan. The other Ace-Ops went after Qrow and Robyn when they tried to stop the bomb, but were frozen in place by Marrow's Semblance while Winter helped defeat Ironwood. She later locked him up in a cell next to her father to prevent him from getting in the way of the evacuation process.
Atlas Command Center personnel wiped out by Cinder, Neo, and Watts
Later, Cinder Fall, Neopolitan, and Arthur Watts used the last question of the Relic of Knowledge to find out what Ruby's Group were planning and used the information learned to sabotage them. First they killed all of the military personnel in the Atlas Command Center and had Watts cut the broadcast about how they can evacuate. He then sent a hacked Atlesian Knight-200 towards Qrows group to detonate. This freed the other Ace-Ops and Harriet planned on delivering the bomb herself with Vine, Qrow and Robyn in pursuit. Watts later hacked the ship's autopilot to give them a harder time stopping Harriet.
Sometime later, Ironwood regained his Weapon after his cell went down and used it to vaporize Jacques Schnee before heading for the Vault. There, he confronted Winter and the two began to fight. Harriet ended up being talked out of bombing Mantle by her teammates, but the bomb started to fall out of the ship until Qrow managed to stop it. However, Watts armed the bomb himself, forcing Vine to sacrifice his life to save his friends from the bomb.
In the Vault, Ironwood bested Winter and was about to win the fight, but she ended up receiving the Maiden powers and used them to defeat him before entering the portal to join the other evacuees.
After Cinder came back through the portal with both Relics, she presented them to Salem, who had entered the Vault. Ironwood attempted to shoot the two, but when Cinder turned and taunted him with "checkmate", he gave up. The two then leave Atlas as it crashed into Mantle and both cities were flooded with the Ace-Ops, along with Robyn and Qrow watching from their ship.
Notable Members[]
Former[]
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Trivia[]
- The Kingdom's forces were also referenced in "Welcome to Beacon", depicted as a playable force in the tabletop, Remnant: The Game. One of the units mentioned in the game was the Atlesian air-fleet. Yang Xiao Long also commented that most of the Atlesian troops were "probably androids".
- Cordovin and the rest of the Atlas personnel stationed in Argus are not meant to be representative of Atlas. Cordovin herself was intentionally stationed in Argus because she was considered a nuisance to the rest of Atlas and it was a job they believed she could do well without bothering anyone.[9]
References[]
- ↑ RWBY: Amity Arena Atlesian Burrow Gun card info
- ↑ RWBY: Amity Arena Atlesian Arachna Mine card bio
- ↑ 2B vs Winter Schnee | DEATH BATTLE Cast #231
- ↑ RWBY: Arrowfell
- ↑ Pietro Polendina, RWBY: Arrowfell Chapter 5
- ↑ Volume 3: World of Remnant: "Huntsmen"
- ↑ RWBY: Before the Dawn
- ↑ "RWBY: Arrowfell"
- ↑ Volume 6 Directors' Commentary Chapter 8
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