WMG / Arc Corp

Anomalies come from the magic humans had before they died out...

• The magic of the maidens finds a new host when the current one dies, so it is never killed/destroyed. When humanity was first wiped out by the gods, their magic left their bodies and collected in the environment, like nutrients decaying out of a corpse. Magic phenomena and creatures come from the magic coalescing into "natural formations" similar to mineral deposits and animals adapting to use an abundant resource. This is also why ARC corp contains rather than destroys: the magic would just go somewhere else. As a sidenote, this respawning has happened with several SCPs.
• Jossed by Chapter 5, as the author confirmed this story is set in an alternate universe that follows different lore. Aura and Grimm are anomalies themselves, just to give an example.

There will be an anomaly at Beacon Academy.

This would lead to Blake and Jaune interacting with Teams RW_Y and _NPR, who still went to Beacon.

• Confirmed in Chapter 5 when it comes to an anomaly at Beacon (and the two would make return visits as well). Teams RW_Y and _NPR are not a thing, though. Instead Yang, Weiss, Nora, and Ren are on a team; Ruby rejected Ozpin's offer for early admission and is still a Signal student, and while her whereabouts weren't stated during the Blank Slate incident, Pyrrha later turns out to also be an Arc Corp employee (under the Fist Office).

Cinder and her group, and by extension Salem, will either be Demoted to Extra or Adapted Out.

In the final chapter for Knight of Salem, Coeur said that he wanted to step away from writing canon compliant fics, so that he wouldn't have to concern himself with the events of the Beacon Saga or anything from Volume 4 onwards. As ARC Corp is the first work he's published since that announcement, there's a good chance that Cinder will either play a minor role or won't appear at all, with the anomalies taking center stage as the main threat.

• She been mentioned in Chapter 63, still working for Salem, who is only trying to kill Ozpin/Ozma instead of all humanity.
• They finally appear in Chapter 73, trying to take anomalies from the Containments Office despite Salem's warnings.

Adam will appear at one point.

Unlike Cinder's faction, there's nothing stopping Adam from trying to hunt down Blake, especially since she ran away earlier than in canon. This would likely lead to him being killed by whatever anomaly she and Jaune are dealing with at the time.

• It's mentioned in Chapter 73 that he is still in contact with Cinder's group like canon and that he will be appearing soon since Cinder is going to tell him where Blake is.
• In Chapters 74 and 75, he raids the Containments Office, slices off one of Timothy's legs, and kidnaps and tortures Jaune to get to Blake, predictably extremely jealous over their apparent relationship. He is then killed along with the rest of his branch of the White Fang by Blake using The Lady of the Lake when he refuses to surrender Jaune.

Ozpin is aware of ARC Corp.

Considering that in a number of his previous lives he's had important/powerful roles, at least one of those may have been in a position to know about them before the mass breach event; either as a someone high enough politically to be aware of them, a financial backer, or even as one of their staff.

Or, of course, he may have been a contained Anomaly at some point. After all, a body-hopping immortal consciousness? Which gradually takes over/merges with its host? If it weren't for the fact that he's one of the "good guys" and said immortality/body hopping is beyond his control, we as an audience could easily see him as a figure of horror, perfect for an SCP analogue.

• Confirmed in Chapter 5; not only was Ozpin a contained Anomaly at one point, he actually had a hand in the containment breach that nearly destroyed ARC Corp in the past and purposely released an Anomaly that created Aura and Semblances. In the present day, Ozpin and ARC Corp try to leave each other alone, though Jaune's father did try to kill Ozpin the last time he was in Vale.

Faunus are an anomaly.

In chapter 5 Jaune tells Blake that Aura, Semblances, and the Grimm are not the only Realty Class anomalies in existence. It's likely that the Faunus anomaly originated on Menagerie and the "Faunus War" was actually ARC Corp's failed attempt at keeping it contained.

• Further evidence is given in Chapter 6 where Blake mentions the SDC treating the Faunus like slaves, Weiss says that another group, implied to be ARC Corp, would treat them worse.

• Confirmed by Ozpin in Chapter 18.
  • Semi-jossed by Jaune a few chapters later. Faunus are descended from anomalies, but don't function as and thus aren't truly considered anomalies themselves, just like anyone who has aura isn't considered an anomaly by proxy.

Salem still exists, but isn't an anomaly.

Instead, she's ARC Corp's biggest enemy, and the most infamous case of an Abuse of Anomalous Artifact. She might have been one of the members of ARC Corp who were profiting off of anomalies instead of containing them, and used the breach in order to steal Brothers Grimm in order to use it for her own ends and take over the world with an army of shadow monsters.

• Chapter 62 reveals she is a similar being to Ozpin and that ARC Corp doesn’t really poke into her affairs like huntsmen do, though she apparently has had meetings with the Arcs in the past.
• Jossed, Chapter 63 reveals she was once human and worked for the original ARC Corp before Ozma escaped and caused the containment breach and she played a hand in it as Ozma's lover. She later had an encounter with the Brothers Grimm (the Gods of Light and Darkness) that made her immortal and have the ability to control Grimm before they disappeared themselves and ARC Corp classifies her as the new Brothers Grimm until the Brothers are found. She then had a major falling out with Ozma that continues to this day, though she has limited her grudge to him instead of humanity as a whole and is actually something of The Atoner for her part in the original breach and works with ARC Corp in a capacity while the Arcs mostly stay out of her business with Ozma... and considers herself Jaune's godmother.

Ozpin is part of an anomaly "set".

Jaune is noticeably irritated by Blake mentioning the story of the Wizard and the Maidens. Ozpin is obviously the Wizard, but perhaps the Maidens aren't just anomalies, but the exact same type of anomalies as Ozpin, and unlike in canon, someone "inheriting" a Maiden's power is just the Maiden acting as a Body Snatcher and pretending to be the same person.

• In that case, the Maidens would have the characterizations of their canon hosts.
  • Fall: A power-hungry psychopath that wishes to kill her "sisters" to absorb their magic and become the strongest being on Remnant.
  • Spring: A cold and pragmatic woman looking out for herself, disillusioned with Ozpin and his cause due to an as-of-yet unknown incident.
  • Winter: A kind and compassionate lady who wishes to live in peace. Notable for being the only Maiden that managed to live a full life in her current host.
  • Summer: An arrogant girl that believes herself to have been blessed with the power of the gods, using her magic to do whatever she pleases.^note As the canon Summer Maiden has yet to be revealed, this theory uses her characterization from one of Coeur's previous works, Relic of the Future.

• Jossed, as Chapter 73 seems to imply that the Maidens are still the same as canon since Cinder mentions destroying Beacon to get the Fall Maidens powers.

The student using Blank Slate was Pyrrha Nikos

Pyrrha purchased Blank Slate from the Schnees so she could use it's ability to escape her fame. She likely only intended to use Blank Slate temporarily until it started to effect people's memories of her (including her own). Blank Slate gave her what she wanted in the worst way possible. The reason she was ransacking dorms with female students wasn't to steal their panties, she was desperately searching for her own belongings, some proof of her identity and that she existed.

• Jossed by the first chapter post-Blank Slate, which introduces Pyrrha as a properly vetted employee of Arc Corp's Fist office under Saphron and Terra. Incidentally, Pyrrha is quite content with her job here because she gets to escape the drawbacks of her fame.

The story will end with Jaune becoming the head of ARC Corp

If only because it would be a very reasonable place to end things.

• Alternately, Blake becomes the head of ARC Corp. First off, there's the fact that the focus/viewpoint character is Blake, so this is about her experiences with ARC Corp rather than Jaune's. As such, it would be more appropriate for the story to end with her doing/obtaining something significant, rather than Jaune. Then, you can compare to Coeur's previous fics, specifically Forged Destiny, Professor Arc, and In the Kingdom's Service . Stories where the protagonist, despite starting with no qualifications or training in their eventual role, in the end becomes a leader in one form or another (King of Vale, Headmaster of Beacon, and Director of the Vale Secret Service).
  • Perhaps Jaune becomes the head of ARC Corp as a whole, while Blake takes over the Containments Office?

Silver-Eyed Warriors are the result of an anomaly, that ARC Corp aren't yet aware of

This adds to why Ozpin was so agitated at the thought of ARC Corp "poaching" Ruby. He's not just worried about the last Silver-Eyed Warrior not becoming a Huntress, and losing her skills as a weapon. He's afraid of Ruby being tagged/identified as an anomaly, and being dealt with accordingly.

• Jossed: ARC Corp are aware of Silver-Eyed Warriors, but regard them in the same manner as Aura; something caused by an anomaly that they can't really do much about and just leave be.

What Associations inspire each office's uniform.

It currently looks like each ARC Corp Office will have a uniform inspired by one of the Library of Ruina Associations, with the Containments Office being inspired by the Zwei Association and the Fist Office being inspired by the Liu Association. With that information, we can begin to guess which associations inspire which offices.

• The Blades Office
  • The obvious choice is the Hana Association which is in charge of all other Associations, who wear a white suit under a long white coat with gold lining.
• The Burn Office
• The Secrets Office

Juniper Arc is dead.

We've seen no mention of her so far. To add onto things, the detail that "Amber is staying with Lavender" rather than with her mother points to the conclusion that Juniper is absent, or dead.

• Why is Saphron becoming the next director? We've seen from Arcanum and other parts of the Coeur-Verse that Juniper is more or less a competent administrator, so why isn't it falling to Juniper?
• Juniper dying to an anomaly could potentially explain Nicholas Arc's attitude toward the anomalous.
  • Confirmed: In Chapter 13, Jaune revealed to Blake that an anomaly killed Juniper.
    • Eh, kinda played with. We later learn that Juniper wasn't killed by an anomaly, but rather by the firestorm caused by the Mountain Glenn anomaly getting its daily carpet bombing.

Penny is an anomaly.

She's weird enough in canon, it's just a matter of how she'd be anomalous. Perhaps Pietro used an anomaly to create her.

Cinder still exists, but her plan is different

Something to do with exploiting anomalies, perhaps?

• Jossed. Mostly. Cinder is still doing the same plan as in canon, but gets the idea of exploiting anomalies when Salem warns her about the Containments Office. She fails and gets called back to Evernight Castle for her insubordination.

The anomaly affecting the crops isn't being used by another farmer.

Instead, the fact that Tawney is a faunus and the discrimination he's facing from the older farmers is a Red Herring. Since Chapter 11 ended with all of the farmers now affected by the anomaly, it's possible that the person using it is a Corrupt Corporate Executive that bought it from the Schnee family and is using it to drive out the farmers so that they can purchase a bunch of the land for cheap and make a lot of money off of exploiting the wheat valley.

• Jossed. The theory Arc Corp came up with was exactly right — a racist family of farmers were using it to try and drive the Faunus out. The spread of the anomaly was the family trying to cover their tracks.

The transformed humans are caused by Light of the Soul.

With the many references to Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina, it's easy to see that the anomalies that used to be regular humans - like the textbook anomaly or Arthur Watts - are references to Distortions from Library of Ruina: originally they were normal people, but something occurred to transform them into something akin to Abnormalities due to them despairing over something, and they often have their head replaced by something unusual, like a jackal head or a skull. In Library of Ruina, Distortions are caused by the Light (a supernatural force meant to help people and give them incredible powers through E.G.O. manifestations) being manipulated by a malevolent force actively trying to cause people to despair, destabilize, and Distort. The obvious parallel here is the anomaly Light of the Soul, or aura and semblances, with it being notable that the textbook anomaly had powers reflective of his book semblance. The only things currently missing from a perfect 1:1 analog are the person using the Light of the Soul to distort people, and the distortions being resisted to obtain an even stronger semblance/transformation akin to E.G.O.

• Jossed. It's the exact opposite, with not having activated aura being part of what makes you susceptible to transforming, the other thing being the victim undergo great despair.

The identity of the Blank Slate's buyer

• A member of Team CRDL
  • Team CRDL is the obvious answer for any situation that has an antagonistic student at Beacon. That said, we can narrow down the list of who it could be. Cardin is out, since the buyer used a sword, while Cardin uses a mace. Sky Lark is confirmed to not be the buyer since Chapter 17 shows that his family portraits still show his face clear as day - plus, he uses a halberd instead of a sword. The only two team members left are Dove Bronzewing and Russel Thrush, and Dove seems to be the more likely suspect, as while both use sword-like weapons, Russel uses a pair of blades that are closer to daggers, while Dove uses a single actual sword. All that said, the fact that Team CRDL is the obvious answer does also lessen suspicions somewhat, as they're also an obvious candidate for a Red Herring.

The Twilight City is the result of the anomaly in the hospital maternity ward messing with time in order to make the residents produce the emotional energy needed for its offspring to gestate.

• We know that there’s at least one anomaly that’s distorted time in order to make its human victims into suitable prey.
  • Jossed, but close. It turns out the anomaly was a civilian woman that was in denial that her unborn child wasn’t going to make it to childbirth (and even if it did it wouldn’t survive long). It trapped people that were in the hospital to use them as nutrients to keep the baby alive and kept reviving it and them until the baby could be delivered out her “womb”.

Another reason Pyrrha Nikos is with ARC Corp is because she is in love with Saphron and Terra

• Aside from a sense of duty to help in dealing with the anomalies, the 5 years she spent with them in the Tunnel of Love anomaly had them grow closer and the fact she is not sick of them after going through that.

This story’s Jaune was anchored to Raven Branwen in Arc Royale mostly due to their shared hatred of Ozpin.

• And they will actually get along similar to Relic Of The Future, much to Blake’s frustration.
  • Chapter 62 reveals that Raven is in Jaune’s list of contacts and that Qrow knows she is.
  • Confirmed, at least so far as their relationship. Chapter 83 has Raven show up, and she and Jaune are indeed on good terms, even sharing a fist bump after insulting Ozpin.

Adam will revealed to be not dead.

• Considering that Blake mentions Adam almost every chapter after his death (It's true,you can check yourself), he might come back (in one way or another).
  • Maybe Jossed? The Lady of the Lake talks in detail about how it felt to seduce Adam and devour his soul.