Academies
Huntsman Academies are institutions in Remnant dedicated to training Huntsmen and Huntresses, warriors whose task it is to defend the Kingdoms from the Grimm. The Academies and their staff also play a significant role in organizing the defence of the Kingdoms.
Prior to the establishment of the four Academies, combat training came exclusively from the many combat schools throughout the Kingdoms. Almost 80 years before the events of Volume 2, the Great War came to its conclusion, and the peace secured at Vytal saw to the creation of the Academies, one to each of the four Kingdoms. The Academies would train Huntsmen and Huntresses, whose sole purpose it would be to fight the Grimm, and whose allegiance would not be tied to an individual Kingdom. Huntsmen and Huntresses would have the freedom to work for whomever they wished and choose whatever types of jobs they wished to take from mission boards.
The Academies were also given the responsibility to defend each Kingdom's Cross Continental Transmit tower, and each Academy hides a secret object known as a Relic. Qrow states that the academies were founded in part so that the Relics would be protected by highly trained warriors and to prevent humanity from using the Relics irresponsibly.
The Huntsman academies and the Kingdoms they correspond to are:
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Atlas (formerly Mantle) - Atlas Academy (formerly Alsius)
Atlas is the only Kingdom whose Academy is part of the state itself. After the Kingdom's capital was moved from Mantle to Alsius, Atlas Academy, the government and the military coalesced into a single entity known as the Kingdom of Atlas.
In honour of the peace of Vytal, students from the four Academies also attend the Vytal Festival, a biennial celebration of the diverse culture of the Kingdoms. In the Festival, students compete in a combat tournament against contestants from other Academies in order to prove their skills and motivate them to strive for excellence. This tradition continues into the present day, with Academies sending students to the host Kingdom every two years to compete in their name.
As institutions that train the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses, the future defenders of the world, Academies are vital to the security of the Kingdoms. The staff of the Academies are highly skilled Huntsmen themselves, and they work to protect the world from harm in addition to teaching and tutoring students.
Students are generally admitted to an Academy at age 17, though exceptions may be made for those with remarkable skill, but this is usually only by invitation. Before a potential student can attend an Academy, they must usually attend a Primary Combat School, which are institutions which teach more basic tenets of combat, such as forging a unique weapon.
However, some students are accepted without having attended a combat school if they are skilled enough.
Before classes begin, new attendees at Beacon go through an initiation, which involves some degree of genuine danger, such as retrieving "relics" from a Grimm-infested forest. Following the initiation, students are sorted into teams of four, with one leader.
The purpose of teams is to teach teamwork and empathy and to forge lasting bonds between members. Teams stay together for the four-year duration of their training at their Academy. Graduates have the option to stay with their team or pursue a solo career.
All four Academies group their students into teams of four, but it is not known if they are formed in a manner similar to Beacon's initiation or if they have their own methods of forming teams.
Although only the course at Beacon Academy is known in any detail, it can be presumed to be a typical representation of the other Academies' courses. The course at Beacon Academy lasts four years and consists of both practical and theoretical portions. Classroom lessons include courses on history as well as the various types of Grimm. For first-years, the practical component includes gathering of red sap samples for botany and fights against captive Grimm in a controlled environment.
In addition, sparring or practice matches are held between students; in the lead up to the Vytal Festival, these matches may include students from visiting Academies.
Students also go on real missions in the course of their training. First-year students generally go on lower-risk missions and are accompanied by a Huntsman or Huntress, but second-year and above student teams may go on higher-risk missions alone.
Some more dangerous missions may bring students outside the borders of the Kingdoms and involve actual combat with Grimm. Aside from providing students with valuable work experience, these student missions also serve to keep the Kingdoms safe from harm.
Beacon Academy
Beacon Academy is located in the kingdom of Vale. The Academy trained teams of Huntsmen and Huntresses to slay the various monsters that plague Remnant.
Following the end of the Great War, 80 years before the start of the series, Beacon Academy was founded in the Kingdom of Vale. Along with the other three Huntsmen academies, Beacon was founded in order to train Huntsmen and Huntresses to slay the Creatures of Grimm. In the 80 years since the founding of the Academy, Beacon trained generations of Huntsmen and Huntresses.
In addition to its role of training future warriors, the Academy also played an important role in worldwide security. The headmaster, Professor Ozpin, along with Glynda Goodwitch and staff members of other schools, are part of a clandestine group which actively works to protect the world from threats. In addition, Vale's Cross Continental Transmit tower, which is vital for long-distance communication across Remnant, was also built in the center of the Beacon campus. It is also mentioned in "A Much Needed Talk" that Beacon, along with the other three major Huntsman Academies, hides a secret object known as a relic.
In the lead-up to the 40th biennial Vytal Festival, a celebration of the peace that followed the Great War, students from the other three Huntsman academies around the world converge on Vale to participate and are welcomed into Beacon.
Students with the aspiration to become Huntsmen, whose duty is to keep the peace within the world, strived to attend Beacon.
Beacon Academy was a residential/boarding-type school, with its students residing in dormitories on the campus. The school seemed to provide all living facilities, including hygiene, food, and laundry. However, students were not restricted to the campus outside lessons, and frequently spent their weekends in Vale.
In order to be accepted into Beacon, students typically went to combat schools, such as Signal Academy, in order to prepare for the Academy's rigorous entrance exam. Some candidates, like Ruby Rose, may be invited to the school after showing exceptional skill. However, attending previous combat schools does not seem to be a prerequisite, as some entrants were talented enough to pass the exam without transcripts (such as Blake Belladonna). Students were generally admitted at around age 17, although Ruby was one exception, being admitted at age 15.
In the lead-up to the Vytal Festival, Beacon also participated in an exchange program with the academies of the other three kingdoms of Atlas (Atlas Academy), Vacuo (Shade Academy), and Mistral (Haven Academy). Exchange students participated in some activities, such as sparring matches, and attended events such as the Beacon Dance.
For males, the Beacon Academy uniform consisted of black suits lined with gold, accompanied by a blue vest and a white shirt with a red tie. The females wore a red plaid skirt, stockings of various length, and a brown jacket with a tan vest and white shirt with a red ribbon tied at the collar.
Students were given the freedom to customize their attire, as Ruby also wore her hood with her uniform. The dress code did not seem to be upheld very strictly, as students were often seen in casual attire during classes, assemblies, and field trips. Students tended to avoid wearing their uniforms during combat practice.
After being accepted into Beacon, new students had to go through an initiation, after which they were placed into teams.
Students attended lectures, given by staff members such as Peter Port, on various topics intended to prepare them for their jobs, such as the different kinds of monsters they may encounter.
Practical exercises appeared to be a significant part of the courses; of these, some were held in the Emerald Forest. Other out-of-campus activities included field trips to locations such as Forever Fall.
Students were also sent on missions as part of their time at the academy. First-year students were generally limited to lower-risk missions, such as accompanying detectives into the city, and had to be accompanied by a professional Huntsman or Huntress on their first mission. Upperclassmen were known to go on higher-risk missions.
Beacon lies along the east edge of the city of Vale, and has a wide river that runs through part of it. Airships were used to transport new students to the academy.
A port is seen at the bottom of the cliffs next to Beacon Academy, implying that naval transportation was also possible.
Beacon's boundaries appear to extend rather far, including the large Emerald Forest and some surrounding terrain, such as the Beacon Cliff. The academy also held field trips in areas such as the Forever Fall forest.
Beacon is situated just before an impressive cliff's edge that overlooks the city across the sound. At the top edge of the cliffside are several large, circular aerial docking bays, where airships and Bullheads can dock and allow their passengers to disembark. At the base of the cliffs, a docking bay is also available for water-going surface vessels, and a path from there leads upwards to the top of the cliff.
After arrival, new Huntsmen and Huntress cadets were deposited on a long, wide avenue leading up to what appears to be the main academy buildings and their large, impressive main doorway, which opens up to a large amphitheater surrounded by a double ring of colonnades bisected by the main avenue with the outer ring rising high over the main entrance to the academy itself. The avenue is marked with trees and flag-draped light-poles, as well as a number of impressive aqueduct-like features and archways.
In front of the entrance to the main amphitheater is a large statue and fountain of a Huntsman and Huntress standing atop a rock, beneath which a Beowolf cowers. There's also a large circular pond feature surrounded by a pathway and a garden of red trees. The main avenue is also referred to as the courtyard.
The most prominent part of the academy buildings is a large tower. The tower was surmounted by a number of green spheres or lights (possibly the beacon after which the academy was named), as well as an intricate clockwork mechanism consisting of many interlocking cogs and gears. Situated immediately below this was Ozpin's office, which sat high above the clouds and afforded an impressive view of the surrounding area.
Forming the base of Beacon Tower, the CCT allows for seamless communication between locations within the other kingdoms outside of Vale. It is very tall, with an elevator in place to take visitors to a level of their choosing.
The interior of the communications room has several video terminals where a holographic AI operator would patch users to the location where they wished to send their messages.
The campus of Beacon Academy includes a large statue featuring two figures, one a male and the other a younger-looking female, standing on a rock outcropping. They are both dressed in a robe with hoods over their heads.
The male has a sword in his right hand, raised in a seemingly triumphant gesture. The younger female has a double-edged battle-ax in her left hand and looks off to the side into the distance. Below the two figures is a Beowolf looking in the same direction as the male figure.
The assembly area takes the form of a glass-domed amphitheater with raised bleachers arranged in a circle around a circular stage that has a tall, ornate (possibly wooden) backdrop with blue lights. There is also a large, open area in front of the stage where students could stand.
As well as being used for meetings of the student body, the assembly area could be used for duelling practice, with the raised stage serving as the fighting area, as seen in "Jaunedice" and "Extracurricular". The lighting in this area could be carefully controlled, making it impossible to see the rest of the area, thus giving duelists the illusion of being entirely on their own.
This also appears to be the location from which missions were assigned to students. The missions were displayed three at a time on numerous screens, listing the type of mission, location, and mission start time, among other extra details. Teams assigned themselves to missions by selecting one and then entering their team name.
All the dorms at Beacon appeared to be co-ed dorms, with males and females having slept in the same room. This allowed all members of a team to share the same living area, regardless of differing genders. The students noted that these rooms are somewhat cramped. However, more organized teams generally found that there was sufficient room to meet all of their needs.
The Academy includes a large, formal dining room running down the length of a cloister-like hall. The dining room features four long tables running the length of the hall with benches to either side and walking areas located in between. Students were able to sit not only with their teams, but other groups.
The library is a repository of books and other sources of archived information within the Academy. It was generally meant to be a quiet place for students to read and study, though students often used the area as a gathering place, playing board games and socializing instead.
Beacon Academy used the Emerald Forest as the location for its initiation. The forest is filled with dangerous wildlife. Students were catapulted into the forest from Beacon Cliff, on purpose-built launch pads emblazoned with the academy's insignia.
Haven Academy
Haven Academy is a Huntsman Academy within the kingdom of Mistral. Students from Haven are able to participate in the Vytal Festival. The headmaster was Leonardo Lionheart.
Haven's school uniform consists of a black jacket with a light gray outline around the edges, a white undershirt and a white band around the student's left arm.
The female outfit consists of a gray and black checkered skirt, whereas the male uniform has a pair of black trousers.
The office is shaped as a half-circle, with another, smaller half-circle jutting out to the room's front door.
A large desk made of mahogany dominates the space of the autumn-coloured office. In the right-hand corner, for a more comfortable setting, are a small table and chairs for guests. On the table is a tea set Ozpin gifted the current headmaster, Professor Lionheart.
Two tall bookshelves flank the front door. Spanning the far wall of the office and above the windows is a single shelf lined with books, boxes and lamps. Ladders are present to provide access to the high shelves. Much of the floor is open, and a large, rectangular green rug leads from the door to the desk. There are many boxes, books and papers scattered about the floor. The ceiling is slanted, declining from the front to the rear of the room. In the center of the ceiling is a chandelier of four lights with square shaped shades.
The quad is a large, spacious area in Haven Academy. It is surrounded by forests and there is a fountain at the center of it, with some shrubbery, wooden benches and lamp posts lined along the perimeter. Flanking the quad are the kingdom of Mistral's two Cross Continental Transmit towers. The quad leads up to Haven's Grand Hall.
The Grand hall is a spacious building leading up to the headmaster's office which contains a statue of a woman that conceals the Haven Vault. The interior is colored with greens and browns. The statue leading to the vault is flanked by two stairways that join together at the top. There is an upper walkway that can be accessed by flanking stairways near the hall's entrance. The walls are decorated with various paintings and blue banners bearing Mistral's symbol. The lower floor also has some trophy cases.
Shade Academy
Shade Academy is a Huntsman Academy, situated within the Kingdom of Vacuo. Students from Shade participate in the biennial Vytal Festival combat tournament.
Shade Academy was founded in the Kingdom of Vacuo following the end of the Great War, in order to train Huntsmen and Huntresses to slay the Creatures of Grimm. According to Qrow Branwen, it is the only real source of order in the Kingdom due to the lack of a formal government.
Uniquely to the main four Huntsman academies, Shade appears to lack a uniform. At Ozpin's speech, students from Shade are seen attired in a range of casual clothes.
Atlas Academy
Atlas Academy, formerly known as Alsius, is the Huntsman Academy of the Kingdom of Atlas. Unlike the other Kingdoms, the Academy as an institution is not an entity separate from the Kingdom's government.
The headmaster of Atlas Academy is General James Ironwood, who is also a military commander.
What would become Atlas was originally known as Alsius, a combat school in the Kingdom of Mantle. The territory surrounding Alsius was used as a research and development facility during the Great War.
Alsius was later reopened under the name Atlas Academy, in order to house and give guidance to warriors after the conclusion of the Great War. The campus was greatly expanded with the technologies developed during the war, helping to better secure the surrounding territories. As a result, Atlas grew quickly and attracted many to the area surrounding it, including research facilities, laboratories and the military. In time, residential areas also started flocking to Atlas.
It eventually became clear that Atlas had become a bustling city in its own right and overshadowed the main city of Mantle. The decision was thus made to move the capital from Mantle to Atlas, ushering in "a golden age of prosperity". The Kingdom as a whole was also accordingly renamed to Atlas. Today, the government of Atlas and the academy are known to exist as a single entity, along with the military.
In the years following, the academy has come under criticism for the imposition of military lifestyle on its students. Graduates and trainees are also pressured to enlist in the Atlesian military's Special Operatives unit, a practice which runs contrary to the academy founders' initial intentions for Huntsmen to be free from allegiance to a specific kingdom.
The dress code at Atlas consists of white long-sleeved shirts with gray pocket-vest jackets on top. These are accompanied by a pair of white dress gloves and a dark-gray tie. Male students wear long white trousers, while female students wear gray stockings and knee-high black boots.