Chapter Text
Why Mount Glenn Was Unique
Unlike typical colonial outposts in Remnant—small, pragmatic settlements built to exploit resources or expand territory—Mount Glenn was a grand experiment, a utopian vision driven by one man's ego and idealism. Here's what could set it apart:
- The Visionary: Elias Vorn
- Concept: Let's name this industrialist Elias Vorn (a nod to "vanguard" and "forlorn"), a hybrid of Walt Disney's optimism and Andrew Ryan's obsession with control. A Vale-born magnate, Vorn amassed wealth through Dust refining and automation tech, dreaming of a city that would transcend Remnant's chaos—Grimm, war, and scarcity. His first name means "The Lord is my God" in Hebrew and is a deliberate reference to the prophect Elijah. His surname, Vorn, is Middle Germanic and means "Forward" or "Vanguard", indicating his ambition. This adds a tragic poignancy to his dreams.
- Goal: Mount Glenn wasn't just a settlement; it was the model for humanity's future. Elias envisioned a self-sustaining metropolis under Vale's banner, blending cutting-edge tech (automated defenses, Dust-powered infrastructure) with a utopian society free of kingdoms' squabbles. It would prove humanity could thrive beyond survival, cementing Vale's supremacy.
- Strategic Importance
- Location: Nestled in a mountain valley near Vale, Mount Glenn sat atop a massive Dust vein—rare for its purity and variety. Vorn saw this as the economic engine to fund his dream, making the city a beacon of industrial might.
- Symbolism: Unlike ad-hoc colonies, Mount Glenn was a deliberate statement. If successful, it could shift Remnant's power balance—Vale outpacing Mistral's sprawl, Atlas's militarism, and Vacuo's resilience. Other settlements were scrappy; this was engineered perfection.
- City of the Future Design
- Disney Influence: Think soaring spires, monorails zipping through lush parks, and holographic billboards—a fairy-tale aesthetic masking hardcore functionality. Public plazas with Grimm-proof walls, schools for the next generation, and a central "Vorn Tower" as his HQ.
- Ryan Influence: Beneath the sheen, authoritarian control—automated turrets, surveillance drones, and a "citizen contract" demanding loyalty to Vorn's vision. No kings, no councils, just his will shaping a utopia.
- Tech Edge: Mount Glenn boasted prototypes: robotic workers, Dust-fueled climate control, even early AI to predict Grimm attacks. It aimed to be untouchable, a blueprint for all cities.
- Cultural Pull
- Propaganda: Vorn marketed it as humanity's hope, drawing settlers with promises of safety and prosperity. Artists, engineers, and dreamers flocked there, unlike the mercenaries or miners of other colonies.
- Vale's Stake: The kingdom backed Vorn (perhaps reluctantly), seeing Mount Glenn as a prestige project to rival Atlas's tech or Mistral's trade. Its success would elevate Vale's global standing,
Why Mount Glenn Was So Important
Mount Glenn wasn't just another outpost—it was a gamble on humanity's destiny, distinct from the countless settlements popping up and fizzling out:
- Scale: Most colonies were villages or forts; Mount Glenn was a metropolis-in-waiting, designed for tens of thousands. Its ambition dwarfed the norm.
- Ideology: While other settlements aimed to survive, Mount Glenn aimed to thrive—a proof-of-concept that humanity could master Remnant, not just endure it.
- Investment: Vale poured resources—Dust, Huntsmen, tech—into Vorn's dream, far more than typical frontier efforts. Its failure was a gut punch to the kingdom's pride and economy.
- Legacy: If it worked, Mount Glenn would spawn sister cities, reshaping Remnant's urban future. Its downfall left a void—both literal and symbolic—other colonies couldn't fill.
The Downfall: Doctor Merlot's Role
Doctor Merlot, introduced in RWBY: Grimm Eclipse, is a mad scientist obsessed with mutating Grimm. Tying him to Mount Glenn's collapse makes its tragedy poignant and personal. Here's how it could unfold:
- Merlot's Involvement
- Hired Genius: Vorn recruits Merlot, a brilliant but unhinged Dust researcher, to perfect Mount Glenn's defenses. Merlot designs the city's Grimm-repelling tech—sonic barriers, automated turrets—earning Vorn's trust.
- Secret Agenda: Beneath his role, Merlot experiments with Grimm, believing he can control them. He builds hidden labs under Mount Glenn, using the Dust vein to fuel his mutations, convinced a "tamed" Grimm army would secure Vorn's utopia.
- The Collapse
- Hubris Meets Madness: Vorn's obsession with perfection blinds him to Merlot's instability. When Merlot's experiments spiral—mutant Grimm breaching containment—the city's defenses, reliant on his tech, fail spectacularly.
- Catastrophe: A horde of enhanced Grimm from Merlot's experiments overruns Mount Glenn, which allow more Grimm in. The tunnels, meant for transit, become death traps. Vorn's dream crumbles as settlers are slaughtered, and Vale's Huntsmen can't stem the tide.
- Merlot's Escape: Merlot flees, abandoning his creations, while Vorn likely dies in Vorn Tower, a tragic figure clinging to his vision. The city's ruins become a Grimm-infested scar.
- Poignancy and Tragedy
- Lost Hope: Mount Glenn wasn't just a failure—it was humanity's shot at transcendence, dashed by greed and folly. Its gleaming spires overtaken by vines and Grimm mock Vorn's dream.
- Personal Cost: For Huntsmen, the loss is visceral—they fought, bled, and left people behind as the city fell. The "City of the Future" became a graveyard, proving heroism's limits.
Losing the Dust vein and Mount Glenn crippled Vale's industry, explaining its reliance on Atlas later.
The Man Behind Mount Glenn: Elias Vorn, the Visionary of Vale
Name: Elias Vorn
Meaning: "Elias" evokes a prophetic, visionary figure (biblical roots), while "Vorn" is Middle German "vanguard" (leading the charge) and evokes "forlorn" (a hint of his fate).
Age: Mid-50s at Mount Glenn's peak (decades before RWBY's main timeline). Born roughly 60-70 years before Volume 1, placing him in Vale's post-Great War industrial boom.
Allusion: Walt Disney (dreamer, innovator, showman) + Andrew Ryan (industrialist, control freak, utopian idealist) + a dash of Howard Hughes (eccentric genius with a dark edge).
Appearance: Tall and wiry, with sharp gray eyes that gleam with intensity. Salt-and-pepper hair slicked back, a neatly trimmed mustache, and a perpetual half-smile—like he's always pitching something. Wears tailored suits in Vale's colors (green and gold), with a Dust crystal tie pin as a signature. In Mount Glenn's final days, he's disheveled—suit torn, eyes wild, clutching blueprints like it's all he has left.
Personality:
-Public Face: Charismatic, inspiring, a born salesman. He speaks in grand, poetic terms—"Mount Glenn will be our lighthouse in the dark!"—winning hearts with unshakable optimism.
-Private Core: Ruthless, obsessive, and paranoid. He micromanages every detail, distrusts dissent, and sees failure as betrayal. His charm hides a temper that flares when challenged.
-Core Flaw: Hubris—he believes he alone can save humanity, blinding him to risks like Merlot's madness or Grimm unpredictability.
Background:
Born in Lutetia, capital of Gallia (Vale's subordinate kingdom), a bustling river city of trade and innovation. His father, Jove, was a Dust prospector who struck it rich. His mother, named Glennys, was a seamstress with a knack for machinery—Elias inherits their grit and ingenuity. He grows up in a post-Great War Vale, a time of rebuilding and hope. He's a tinkerer, sketching fantastical cities in the margins of schoolbooks, obsessed with tales of Vale's resilience against Mistral and Mantle. The Grimm are his boogeyman—he vows to conquer them. At 12, a Grimm raid kills his mother during a trip outside the city. His father squanders their fortune on failed ventures, dying broke. Elias, orphaned, swears to build something unassailable.
As a teenager, he works as a Dust refinery apprentice, mastering its chemistry. By 20, he's designing automated extractors, earning a small fortune. His charisma wins investors; his inventions win contracts.
At 30, he founds a Dust-tech empire—the Vorn Combine—specializing in industrial automation (robotic mining equipment, Dust-powered engines). He pitches Vale's council on "progress through ingenuity," securing their backing.
Known as "Vale's Visionary," he's a celebrity—parades, speeches, even a children's book (Elias and the City of Tomorrow). But rivals whisper he's a control freak, crushing competitors with lawsuits or buyouts. His childhood dreams though will be realized, one way or the other.
At 40, Elias surveys a mountain valley near Vale, uncovering a colossal Dust vein—pure, multi-type, a goldmine. He names the site Mount Glenn after his mother, Glennys. He believes humanity's survival hinges on transcending nature—Grimm, Dust scarcity, tribalism. Mount Glenn is his manifesto: a perfect society engineered to endure. He thinks here he can realize his vision. A city to outshine his parents' failures and banish his childhood fear of Grimm. It's his "gift to mankind," but also his monument.
Post-Great War, Vale lags behind Atlas's tech and Mistral's trade. Elias wants Mount Glenn to leapfrog them, proving Vale's industrial and cultural supremacy. He sells Vale's council on a utopian city: self-sustaining, Grimm-proof, a model for Remnant. "One triumph here, and we'll build a hundred more!" They fund him, eager for prestige, though many of them (like Ozpin) have some concerns.
Ozpin has been cultivating a relationship with the CEO, seeing something of himself in the man's ambitions. Ozpin is well regarded as a Huntsman at this point and Elias could be a valuable ally against Salem. The Mount Glenn project is very ambitious though, and Ozpin tries to counsel caution. They break over this a bit, due to Elias' ego and the fact he hires Doctor Merlot as his Chief Scientist. Ozpin warned Elias about Merlot's potential instability but Elias had to have it his own way.
As for Mount Glenn, Elias designs everything—spires of steel and glass, Dust-powered monorails, automated defenses. He hires architects, engineers, and Huntsmen, promising a new era.
The key features of the city: Vorn Tower, his skyscraper HQ, a gleaming symbol of progress with labs, a penthouse, and a panoramic view of "his" city. The Dust Nexus, a subterranean reactor channeling the vein's energy, powering homes, defenses, and Merlot's experiments. It's the largest Dust Reactor system ever built up to that point and is the most advanced. It features incredible automation for its communications, public transit system, and defenses. Said defenses include sonic barriers that are proven to drive Grimm off, remote turrets to kill them, and even early robot sentries to engage them. Being underground improves its defenses further, with plans for an artificial day/night cycle with projected views of the blue sky overhead.
Settlers sign a pledge, the Citizen Contract—loyalty to Vorn's vision, no outside affiliations. It's freedom... But with a leash.
Over time, even as Mount Glenn is constructed, Elias' relationship with the Council gets worse. Elias manipulates them with promises of glory, but they grow wary of his autonomy and his refusal to compromise with them. He calls them "short-sighted bureaucrats"; they call him "Vale's loose cannon" and a "tin-pot dictator". His relationship with Ozpin was also significantly strained by this time, though Ozpin still encouraged him and Hunters to work with him on the project.
During this time, Elias marries Lila Flores, an artist who designs Mount Glenn's aesthetics, and they have a daughter, Mara. Lila dies of illness mid-project, hardening Elias. Mara, a teen during the Fall, escapes—her fate unknown (a potential future figure?).
By his 50s, Mount Glenn is complete—10,000 settlers, gleaming streets, a buzz of hope. Elias stands atop Vorn Tower, declaring, "This is humanity's dawn!" It runs very well for a few years... Before Merlot's experiments get out of hand and breach containment. In doing so, they break the defensive systems and allow for a massive Grimm incursion into the city. Elias refused to leave, though he did allow for evacuation back into Vale and coordinated the defense himself.
When those fell, and the Vale Council decided to blow up the tunnel to Mount Glenn, Elias locked himself in Vorn Tower. He still broadcasted defiance to try and encourage his people to prevail—"We will not fall!"—as the Grimm swarmed. He died there, crushed by rubble or a mutant Grimm, clutching his blueprints. A less dramatic death would not fit such a dramatic figure.
Ozpin does mourn Vorn, he truly does. Ozpin was a distant mentor, intrigued by Elias's fire but wary of his pride. Their bond was professional—mutual respect, not friendship—cut short by Elias's refusal to heed warnings. Ozpin might've seen a younger self in him: a leader who dared too much, paid too dearly. He recognized Elias's brilliance and how his charisma could inspire. He subtly encouraged Vale's council to fund him, hoping Mount Glenn would have aided his war against Salem. Elias respected Ozpin as a sage but chafed at his cryptic warnings: "I don't need riddles, I need results."
In the aftermath, Vale quietly buried much of what happened at Mount Glenn to hide their culpability and because of the embarrassment. Many still quietly mourn the loss of the city and the visionary, Elias Vorn.
Ultimately, hubris and Merlot's betrayal undo him, his city a tomb for his vision and thousands of lives. As well as the dreams of Vale's dominance.