Introduction
Vale is one of Remnant's most major Kingdoms and has always played a fairly neutral role in history, it was never the first to fight any wars even during the time of King Arcwald, the King before Arthur Lionheart, expanded the Kingdom by establishing Arcwald Dam along the Arcwald River with the city of the same name. Enabling the expansion of the Kingdom to Rose City and Bell's Hope sometime before the Great War which would later run afoul of Mistal Settlers who attempted to remove Bell's Hope and did so successfully. Despite major setbacks, Vale was able to use it's own terrain to funnel the Supremacist Powers of Mantle and Mistral into a trap outside Vacuo. Though Vale never reclaimed Bell's Hope from the Grimm, Vale was the one capable of creating a lasting peace. Lionheart in his Twilight years used his power to create a new Liberal Order in the World which replaced the Imperialist Land Hungry Order that came before it. Still, after his death, the Neutrality resumed and Vale stepped aside to allow the far larger Solitas Countries of Whitecliffe and Atlas, supposedly operating under the same banner to take centre stage.
By 42 AGW, Human Purists took over the Kingdom's Council which led the Kingdom down a dark path of Suppression and a withering of Rights. This is why during the Faunus Liberation War, many attending Beacon and even those not hunters joined the Faunus Liberation Army and fought in honour of Vale's Last King. The Kingdom suffering from huge unrest, supply disruptions and other Grimm-related problems, would be neutralised from the War when the FLA won over Fort Castle and secured Arcwald Dam, using the Kingdom's Water as leverage to stop their contribution to the war.
Since the Signing of the Treaty, Vale has been slow to reclaim the prestige and image it once commanded, often plagued with Racism and Purity Culture keeping he country 'traditional' even though the Last king of Vale desired his Kingdom be free and fair. In recent decades Vale has lost the ability to truly defend itself due to the Government's focus on Civilian Life and the development of Technology. Of the 4 main Kingdoms Vale is most well known for its fairly even living standards across its many cities and is a famous Tax Haven rivalled only by Mistral's Banks.
Vale is also one of the safer Kingdoms with historically low numbers of Grimm but since the Faunus Liberation War that has steadily become less true, with Grimm Infestation levels rising to levels comparable to Mistral 4 decades ago. Vale is blessed with large Mountainous Valleys that enable the Kingdom to set up multiple cities easily that grow to a large size. This includes one of the world's greatest Wonders, the Arcwald Dam. The Dam brings drinkable water to all of Vale and is the safest source of water in the world.
It is also the site where Beacon Academy is based and produces some of the best huntsmen and Huntresses in the world and is seen as something of a Capital or Nexus for those in the profession. All that said, the Kingdom is very Pacifist and is unenthusiastic to have any involvement with the Problems of today.
Government
Everdawn Castle
Like many Kingdoms, Vale is a Kingdom with no King thanks to the events of the great war and the division inspired by the Faunus Liberation War has only made this a more permanent feature of Vale's Government. Instead, Vale since the Great War has been embarking on a steady quest to Democracy but a flawed one as the kingdom is officially positioned against Whitecliffe and sided with Atlas.
As such the Kingdom is often referred to as the Vice Kingdom as much of its security affairs are handled by the Atlas Military and Corporations like the Schnee Dust Company have a lot of influence in the High and Low councils that has turned the Kingdom into a sort of Corporate Haven however strict market Restrictions placed by Vale's Last King still reign supreme and check corporate greed.
High Council
The unelected Super Elite of the Kingdom, they serves a sort of similar role that the Supreme Court plays in our world's America. They decide the overall legal trajectory and policy trajectory of the nation and are famous for not intervening in everything like the High Councils of other Kingdoms. Instead, The Vale High Council is one of the delegators who guide the country in a lot of ways.
Obviously inspired by the ruling style of Vale's Last King.
Low Council
A Large Body of Government made up of 100's of Representatives who in multiple Houses decide the many policies and judgements of the Kingdom. The House of Justice, House of Coin, House of Vitality, the likes. They are all elected but not all are elected equally. Running a Semi Federal Electoral system, some cities have slanted voting systems while others are not. The Low Council is seen as a bunch of arguing morons most of the time as in recent decades since the Mountain Glenn Disaster expansion and growth has been stagnating.
Stuck in a stun lock of debate and deliberation, the Low Council has been largely ineffectual and the High Council has been forced to act more than once in the last 20 years alone.
People's Council
A completely unofficial body of government made up of community Leaders who are forced to act as a lesser form of Low Council due to the government's stun lock. Thanks to them the Kingdom trudges along, albeit Slowly. Each representative is evenly elected however and many believe they could be the sign of a true democracy forming in Vale.
Law & Enforcement
After the Faunus Liberation War, Police Commissions made the early decision to 'de-tyrannize' the police force, downgrading the armour of the average Officer and relegating most Officers to Pistols and Shotguns as well as stun batons and cuffs. Training prioritized service of the community and protection of it rather than the strict enforcement of prior eras. There is a Special Tactics Force that maintains full Militarization and is deployed in circumstances of emergency.
It is also one of the few Human Police forces outside of Whitecliffe to integrate Faunus into its forces however the Police is plagued with corruption and there are still departments that abuse Faunus with the commission fighting itself to try and correct that, getting them stuck in a sort of limbo for decades. Where the Police reach for inclusivity, progressivism and healing but are held down by existing racism, brutality and autocrats within the force.
When Criminals are caught they are handled by a very modern Court System managed by the House of Justice, enforcement of laws is based on the judgements of the judges and Faunus have been known to get longer sentences for lesser crimes than Humans, while other courts such as the Crescent City Court openly refuses this trend.
Deputy Huntsman Programme
Since 78 AGW, The Vale Council passed a Proposed plan to involve Hunters in Policing, those who signed up for these Roles often got in by becoming Junior Detectives, Analysts and more. The Programme was pretty young when Neptune and Sun tried out the roles in Volume 2, 80 AGW. The Programme was considered highly controversial because Hunter-Cops were often poorly restrained by red tape and there were accusations levelled by Groups like the Whitefang that Beacon was flirting with the concept of the Secret police, this is because it was hard to tell if a Hunter had Police Authority. Badges were small and many Deputies were inexperienced with the Procedures of Proper Police Work. Very often, Corrupt Handlers used unwitting Deputies to do the wrong thing.
Luckily, Beacon was very successful in training its hunters, and despite the flaws and accusations, Police Corruption lessened. Later in 80 AGW, Volume 3, The Programme was expanded with some Deputy Hunters being experienced enough to attain higher ranks within the police. Some of these Deputy Hunters were Faunus, Making these Faunus Hunters the first Faunus Vale Cops to achieve a high rank.
(Read Past Volume 3 Content involving Team CFVY to find out more)
House Of Judges
Day-to-day, in all the Major Cities, Judges are the ones entrusted by the Higher Council to enforce the laws and interpret the Intentions and will of the Last King of Vale but other than they also handle lower-level disputes such as Claims, Financial Disputes and Battling Corporate Overreach when it comes to the Schnee Dust Company. These judges are selected from Candidates who earn High-Level Law Degrees from the Universities such as the Crescent City University of Balance. Since the Faunus Liberation Law, the House has had Modest to Decent performance and Approval ratings however there has been some major push since 70 AGW for Vale to Democratise the House by downgrading the Approvers to the Lower Council, the positions that are electable within Vale.
This so far has not yet come to fruition but in 79 AGW, the First Faunus Judge, Lenora Feodoria Limesmith, was appointed the High Judge of Crescent City and continues to serve faithfully. Every city has a High Judge and they pretty much are the 'SCOTUS' of Vale's Cities. So having a Faunus for Crescent City would mean very good news for Crescent City in multiple cases and not so much in others.
Economy
Vale is a modern Market Economy with relatively low amounts of Nationalization with most needs being provided by Private enterprise but the last King's law has preserved Vale's Small business ecosystem making Vale one of the more healthy and diverse Markets in the world. The Bar for creating a small business is a Business license which can be attained by graduating from Business courses and paying small fees to start their ventures. This also thanks to a very advanced Shipping Market, with some of the Largest Shipping ports outside of Solitas.
They can move in large Company Freighters loaded with Goods and Equipment, as well as disturbing it abroad. This does give some limited Market diversity across the World but it is still not as good as it would be if Mistral or Atlas had less monopolised Markets. At least in Vale's case, it benefits the Kingdom because it makes Vale Products and Goods more hotly desired and price gouging can occur with relative impunity.
Living Standards are even across the Kingdom, Technology is not hard to come by thanks to High-Speed rails and complex and vast metro tunnel systems that connect the entire Kingdom. Thanks to the Atlas Military the Kingdom has been able to maintain this even though Grimm numbers keep rising. The accessibility of clean drinking water by Arcwald Dam is also a giant bonus that allows small settlements in Vale to grow fast and healthily.
Demographics-wise the economy is well balanced between the Old and young, with Gene Clinics from Atlas slowly opening up and allowing the treatment for old age to spread, decreasing the number of Old people slowly over the years and raising the age ceiling for retirement. Though wages have stagnated for a long time, common people are spared strain as Prices have also remained a steady growth and decline over the years.
Rougher periods were handled by community efforts, in the bad times People can still eat and drink thanks to the efforts of the People's Council and creating communal assets to soften the blows of Economic downturns.
Banking System & Investment
Vale's Banking system is one of the few banking systems that ties their currency to Gold and Diamonds, this is because Vale Believes that digital Currency is still too novel to trust and requires further fine-tuning to stabilize, seeing as Mistral and Atlas and Whitecliffe have all had difficulties of inflation with the system. Though limited in value by material things, Vale's banks are seen as genuinely innovative while working with this system.
The Valish Lien has higher value than the Atlas Lien, one Valish Lien can do what 50 Atlas Lien can do allowing keep Vale Competitive, this is because Banks see Products as capital and not currency. The Flow of Currency is seen almost like a power current, venting money into circulation to create more Capital. The existence of Private Enterprise also allows investors to experiment far more than they would in Atlas or Mistral.
This allows a high volume of money to find purpose in something so while the vault is not overflowing, the productivity is high.
Technology And Production
While not as sophisticated in robotics and in computing as Atlas, Vale has a much more even balance of technology across itself, Vale is one of the few economies that still has a relatively low amount of Automation compared to the other Kingdoms, with SDC company sites of course having the most amount of automation in the Kingdom. This is due to stricter regulations on Artificial Intelligence, in a rare progressive move 10 years ago.
Prohibiting the enforced service of any A.I aware enough to realize they're in turn which complicated things for the SDC.
Back in the Day, in the Pre-Great War Period and During the War, Vale was actually a Highly industrialized nation with some of the largest factories that produced Thousands of Bolt-action Dust Rifles, Trucks, Airplanes and Steel Titans (Later named Tanks). This was because Vale was the second Kingdom to Embrace Technology, rivaled only by Mantle. It is recorded in history that Vale in this time was full of Smog and bleak weather from high levels of pollution. When it came to inventions, The Vale Army R&D funded by the Vanile Family and various other esteemed Noble & Royal Families were instrumental in keeping Vale equal to Mantle's Military during the war.
(By Soundwave)
The Vale Royal Air Force or VRAF was truly revolutionary in this time, and while the faction has largely become the Beacon Hunter Taxi service and limited Airwatch, they were a truly horrifying menace in the Great War, bombing Mistral and Mantle Cities into ruin. They also dropped supplies, schematics and ammo to the Vacite Army during the War. Other innovations were the B-22 Super Air Fortress, a Giant Great War Zepplin and a Mobile Weapons Platform that provided devastating artillery support and Infantry Reinforcements to the Front.
After the War, the R&D Department became basically useless to the now Pacfist and Disarmed State, many of the Inventions that Vale made during the War were purchased by
The Republic of Whitecliffe to develop newer and separate Designs from Atlas to maintain some level of independence. As it stands, any innovations made by Vale are exclusively commercial and more than likely from the Private Market.
The Last True Fragment of the Vale R&D Department was the Privatised Merlot Industries, Doctor Merlot was a young Investor by the time he entered the R&D Department. Infact he continues to wear a uniform reminiscent of his Army Uniform in Between Volume 2-3 (80AGW). When the War ended, Merlot became dedicated to pushing Vale into the Future and absorbed R&D Resources and Assets for his Company, eventually establishing an HQ in Mountain Glenn, working on Cybernetics and Robotics in the name of Vale. Funding dried up for Merlot Industries when the Schnee Dust Company's Proxies, such as Schnee Robotics, Schnee Chemicals and other companies began taking over military contracts abroad, especially as Computer Technologies out-paced Merlot industries.
Merlot Industries would meet its end with the Fall of Mountain Glenn, it was later revealed that Merlot Industries via complete automation and stolen Schematics was continuing its work in weaponising Robotics and Grimm for War, selling its goods to Criminal black market vendors. His Innovations were proven to be the cause of Mountain Glenn's Disaster by Team RWBY & JNPR in this universe's version of Grimm Eclipse. Merlot Industries lay abandoned until 81 AGW, where General Gold led the reconstruction of the HQ and turning it into Military HQ after much struggle and several Hunter missions, aided by Team RRSET.
It is unknown what happened to Merlot's Grimm Research but all data was transferred to a Shadow-Database that remains undiscovered.
Merlot's Fall at the hands of Beacon's Hunters did mark the end of this Great War Legacy.
Labour Laws
Vale also has strict contracting regulations making it difficult to contractually trap someone into employment which is the preferred method of Enslavement in the Modern Remnant world. Workers Unions also have a healthy presence in the economy but are not overwhelmingly powerful causing serviceable work standards across the country. However, there are cracks in the systems, and regulations against extortionate contracts made outside of Vale's borders are incredibly weak.
Meaning Wage slaves from the SDC can be migrated to Vale and forced to work in factories and in services even though the terms of their contract are otherwise illegal in Vale. This is due to a general weakness towards the projection of standards to other Kingdoms.
Crime Economy
After the Great War, there was a vast Void in Vale's Economy, Hundreds of Thousands of Fighting Men no longer had jobs to fight in and many did not have the skills to achieve Huntsman Rank. The Economic Fallout of the Great War was exasperated by Austerity Measures and Demilitarisation as well as the Prohibition of Spice, a Drug Made from Dust. The Criminal Economy of the Kingdom exploded. While Mistral is often said to be the Crime Capital of the World, this *actually* isn't true and is fairly Xenophobic because Vale is the Financial Tax haven of the World and that includes the World's largest Criminal Syndicates. Even the Spider got most of her Money Flow from the business in Vale, especially with it having the largest ports outside Solitas, it enabled the mass trade of banned Substances.
Xiong, Vanile, Malachite and so much more were some of the big central names in the Organised Crime Network. Vale also suddenly shut down many, many, many arms factories and warehouses that are being used by Organised Crime to make Store and maintain Black Market Weapons. Many of these weapons find themselves in Vacuo and Vale, Ineed if Vale wasn't such a Hub for Organised Crime, Bandits and Raiders in both Nations would be far weaker.
It was a Surprise to Blake Belladonna but the White Fang had actually been comfortable with Crime for a long period of time, in fact, the White Fang had done mercenary and bounty work for money. They also did a lot of illegal shipping themselves. Seeing them in alignment with the likes of Roman Torchwick and various criminal enterprises really isn't a surprise to the likes of Qrow Branwen and other Hunters in the know. Various Human Supremacist movements were also in the same trade along with other normal gangsters and robbers.
Vale has trained some of the Best Assassins in the World, many Criminal Factions such as Gangs and Raiders actually send their Young to Academies and Combat Schools in order to fight, using the Booming Forgery Business, the very same Jaune Arc used to get into Beacon Academy. Such as the fact that the Branwen tribe sent Raven and Qrow to learn how to kill Hunters and eventually only one of them returned to fulfil their promise to their tribe. This is a common occurrence but also a fair few Hunters join the Criminal Network for a stable flow of money and well, it's also because the Criminal World takes better care of various communities than the actual government of Vale itself.
When Faunus can't access basic services due to Illegal discrimination, the Black Market is always ready to fill the gap. In all honesty, pushing Crime out of the kingdom of Vale is just not possible in the current arrangement of its market and Government, as many forces even inside the High Council of Vale benefit hugely from the loyalty, support and protection of Vale's biggest Crime lords. It's also still one of the best employers for the Poor, many jobs provide stable pay but upward mobility isn't exactly always an option. So many join quite literally just to put bread and water on the tables of their families.
Culture
People in Vale are known as very friendly, and many towns and cities are highly idyllic, a mix of cosy classy near Victorian building architecture and Neo-Classical is another common style for Government buildings. Holograms are pretty common and a lot of buildings in Vale's cities are about showcasing light shows, pretty parks and amazing calm sights. Cities and towns are full of trees and often have Animal reservations contained within.
Many in the world feel that Vale is a piece of paradise and thanks to constant small-scale festivals, fairs and shows it certainly feels that way. That said it is not perfect, while nowhere near as bad as Mistral or Atlas, discrimination still finds itself within the idyllic Kingdom.
There is also a standard of politeness that Valish Citizens try to uphold but this doesn't always extend to Faunus but a fair few people still embrace Faunus. It is not uncommon to see some citizens flying the F.L.R flag, carrying symbols and icons. More racist citizens tend to fly the old Red flag of Vale, the one used after the Last King and the one that Valish Military forces used while they fought the F.L.R.
After the war, the old Green Flag was restored as the National banner, in an effort to restore the honour of the old days, the days were Kings used to rule the Kingdom. There is a streak of independence within Valish Citizens too, across all isles of politics many take issue with Atlas' role as security of the Kingdom.
Politics
Politics is a neutral affair, rather than the hot-headed arguments of Atlas, debates are eloquent and rather passive. This is due to many in Vale valuing the content of the argument rather than the catchy gotcha moments or loudness of it all. With this passivity comes a general lack of momentum in Vale to change much of anything, to the chagrin of the White Fang who demands immediate action.
It is also a double-edged sword, Racists in Vale's Politics struggle to get momentum for any noticeable changes against Faunus, leaving racial politics in Vale mostly stagnate with movements being major controversies only to later be pushed back. Politics in Vale is a slog and it's easy to just forget about it if you're human and continue on with your life which could be by design.
Festivals
Fairly commonly there is festivals, weapons festivals are pretty common as well other common festivals are festivals that focus on Hunters and their work against Grimm. Sometimes Grimm Plushies are sold which some take a stern disliking too and others just like having fluffy plushies no matter the theme. Food and Wien festivals are held at the end of every month, ordinarily in parks or showgrounds where people can try the latest and greatest recipes
Close Knit
Unlike Mistral and Atlas in Vale Communities are tight-knit and held together by common rituals and expressions, enough to form a unified voice on issues. When you find your group in Vale, you find it and it's hard to fine people who are isolated. This is a legacy from ancient Vale History and how the first Valish Settlers huddled in caves and up tall mountains for safety from Grimm.
When there is someone isolated it is usually a rare case or someone who has done something truly awful as to get shunned by everyone else.
LGBTIQ+ Acceptance
Thanks to the communal nature of Vale's society those who are usually minorities are not minorities and are just common parts of society, this is thanks to the colour revolution back in the great war where Vale increasingly embraces freedom of expression and individuality, so the idea of not only accepting but allowing the spread of LGBT+ Individuals was a natural evolution of that.
While there are still bigots, they are politically weak and ordinarily focus on the Faunus issue as that is much more volatile and active comparatively.
Military & Security
Vale still does have a military named the Kingdom Guard, these are highly equipped soldiers designed for emergency situations whether to provide aid or defend against Grimm, Guardsmen are usually hunters who washed out of beacon and instead receive military training to still make use of their talents. Outside of that Atlas and specifically their Automated Bot Armies are mainly behind the defence of the nation.
Atlas holds large defence citadels across the nation however they rarely have overall authority and work at the behest of the High Council with the Generals leading specific armies normally being Vale-born to keep Atlas Forces at least a little 'native' and keep them as friendly to the community as possible.
During the events of Volume 2 and 3, Atlas' role changed to be more involved with Ironwood gaining a seat on the council, forcefully ceded from Professor Ozpin. Renaming the Seat, Secretary of Defence. Later he has Vale born, General Hadrin assume the seat who overhauls security and manages to improve relations with the locals a little by upping local recruitment and not truly fulfilling all of the orders given to him by Ironwood.
After Mountain Glen Atlas adopted the Doctrine of Kill first and ask questions never, meaning that when Military forces spot Grimm they are to attack them, normally done by air assets, it's not uncommon to see Atlas Jets bombing large Grimm out in the wastes. They also deployed multiple sonic emitters, that projected Sounds that lure Grimm, luring them into traps and creating large clusters to bomb.
Hunters
Outside of the Military, Vale is also blessed with some of the most consistently high performing Hunters with a low rate of going rogue thanks to favourable policies and wages hat keep Hunters hunting. They're also known to be highly diverse, a trait Ironwood had Atlas adopt in it's hunters 20 years before Volume 1, creating an entire generation of Vale style hunters for Atlas.
Most Hunters in vale are taught by beacon but many wasteland Hunters are self taught or mentored by a existing Hunter. They also possess a wide assortment of support and supply as well as easy to use pinging system they can use to call down air strikes and bot support from the Atlas Military when things get too hairy.
Defence Budget
So despite the lack of personnel Military, Vale still spends roughly 24-30% of its budget on Defence, this is to augment the capabilities of Hunters, Kingdom Guard and the Atlas Military. Budgets rises and cuts are fairly common and are responsive to the situation on the ground. Portions of the budget go to innovation of defence, as Grimm can be highly adaptable and using the same old set ups will not always work.
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