Story Poll - New story in January

Hey all.

Over the Christmas break I’m obviously going to be thinking about my stories and I need to come up with a new one starting in January. I do have one idea that I’m quite excited about, even if I think not everyone will be down for the specifics – mostly due to it being a cultural thing.

Basically, I’m interested in writing a Wuxia RWBY story.

And I need your help for a vote!

For those who don’t know, Wuxia is Chinese martial arts fantasy – not purely Kung-Fu but closer to sword and war fantasy. Think traditional Game of Thrones, but typically focusing on a virtuous character with a strong code (which is what Xia means, and what the tile of the story will be) navigating their way through a war torn or conflicted scenario.

Sometimes it does near-magic levels of martial arts like I’m sure you’ve seen in movies where people are flying through the air, but there’s a lot that is more grounded (and that’s what I’ll be focused on).

However, I’ll be incorporating Qi and the more fantasy elements of internal energies and such because those actually fit ridiculously well in RWBY if we just say Qi and Aura are the same thing. They’re both internal energy, they’re both the soul, and some characters in RWBY have even proven capable of manifesting it for attacks in the show, so it’s canon that it can be done.

A supreme martial artist using a punch to shatter a person’s aura is not “martial arts nonsense” but instead “incredible control of your own aura which you use to destabilise their aura”. And jumping ten feet in the air is not “martial arts nonsense” but “using your aura to strengthen your legs and propel you for a short burst of power”.

Basically, adapt aura to fit the realm of qi, but still avoid too much crazy cultivation stuff like immortality and magic. It’s more focused on martial arts, swordplay, and aura control to simulate effects like meridians, qi, etc, but honestly a lot more focused on the characters and the conflict than it is the idea of describing every move and perfecting a martial art. 

The story is only in its infancy, but the basic intro idea is penned out as such:

Jaune’s home village is attacked and destroyed by Grimm and the fate of his family is unknown. Fleeing with Grimm on his tail, Jaune arrives at the temple / training grounds of a wisened old man known as Shu Ren or Master Ren (Lie Ren's great grandfather), who takes pity on Jaune and dispatches the Grimm chasing him. Shu Ren attempts to assist Jaune in finding his family, but it soon becomes clear there is little hope of that and, not wanting to release this young man into an uncertain world, takes him in and trains him in the arts of what was once a great sect of martial artists. Thus, Jaune begins his journey.

Without spoiling what comes later, Jaune is obviously going to be unleashed onto the world of Remnant later, but I kind of didn’t want him to rehash the old idea and go to Beacon, but rather to have his own adventure which does still involve the characters, but with Jaune as a free spirit and wandering martial artist seeking to find his place in the world.

Anyway, onto the vote.

I know it’s dangerous to leave story ideas up to people but I’m really even on both paths and just want to know what you’d find more interesting. It mostly involves the setting and overall state of Remnant.

The world, essentially.

Most Wuxia thrive in stories of strife and war because it gives the character a lot of stuff to get involved in. Remnant is at war, but it’s a very tame war early on, and most people don’t even know that Salem exists. I was wondering if I should take more AU elements to liven things up and create a more unusual world.

The choices are thus:

CANON RWBY: It’s the canon RWBY scenario with the rest of the cast going to Beacon and the main conflict being between Salem and Ozpin. You know this one by heart, but Jaune won’t be going to Beacon. He’ll interact with it, though. This is very much the same as what we normally have, which some people may like because it keeps some parts of the world familiar.

REMNANT AT WAR: Things are bad. After the end of the faunus wars and the expulsion of the faunus to Menagerie, the faunus decided to kick the war off a second time. The White Fang is now an official army of Menagerie fighting for faunus rights, and Blake is still a loyal member with Adam since it’s an army and not a terrorist group. Atlas has closed itself off early and takes a “kill on sight” approach to the White Fang, and Weiss and Winter Schnee are major actors in its military. Huntsmen and huntresses still fight Grimm, but are also used as peace keepers and law enforcement, even soldiers in desperate times, and the academies, while they do still exist, are much more secular and nationalistic, with some like Atlas even being used as military academies and leaving the Grimm as an afterthought. Pyrrha is in Mistral as a champion fighter, and Yang and Ruby serve in Vale under apprenticeship to their father, Taiyang. All the while, an ancient evil stirs in the Grimmlands. The characters are scattered, and this will allow Jaune to travel and meet them in different circumstances and get embroiled in matters behind the scenes.