>>15307
I like the way you think. Atlas would certainly have use for such individuals.
But, let us not forget other Kingdom's powers, and this kind of person would be fit for a mercenary, one such that might be employed by rich Mistral traders, or some rogue warlord on the outskirts of Vacuo.
There is definitely more to be revealed of each kingdom's militaries as the crisis will develop. The new season can't come too soon.
On the topic of Atlesian Specialists, not much is known, really. Their numbers, uniforms or modus operandi. And Winter is a single datapoint that's hard to extrapolate from.
And to add a little bit more oil onto the tinfoil hat:
We've yet to see anything about any of the kingdom's secret services. They either hide their presence well or are nonexistant. Either way the job they should be doing is not being done well or at all, a major terrorist group gathering in city cargo docks with stolen military hardware, a rogue agent and assassin infiltrating a school, let alone the city without being spoted or reported on by double agents in White Fang's ranks…
…or, Vale assault was an inside job. A sign of a cold war being waged. Who would benefit from this? Maybe Mistral. Vacuo seems to be laid back, but Mistral needs to gain more ground if it wants to dominate the Remnant. Atlas is too powerful to take on directly, unless something happens to a large part of their fleet and their forces would be tied up solving an immediate crisis involving Grim infested Vale. Vale is crippled with the Beacon in flames. Vacuo won't enter a hot war outside of their territory as they are said to benefit and therefore to an extent rely on "homefield advantage" granted by their arid environment.
So get this:
>After great war, 4 kingdoms make peace to concentrate on not dying under hordes of Grim
>Mistral need not relinguish the will to dominate
>Mistral staerts a plot to overthrow the remaining kingdoms
>Mistral starts supporting the White Fang to cause havoc in Vale and sabotage Dust production of Atlas
>Vacuo is unaffected since nobody there gives a damn about cat ears or a tail, so Whitefang has no just cause to violently operate there
This may also mean that Vacuo is in on the plot, at least for the time being
>Enter Cinder, a rogue operative with no overt goal and mysterious origin and loayalities
>Cinder is a covert operative sent to bring Vale and Atlas to their knees
"But where does Salem fit into all this?"
I admit that's a big hole in the picture. Chances are she is being used as well, or is using Mistral herself, to create more negative vibes her Grim may dine on, letting them think they are using her pawn Cinder.
>Mistral would gain the upper hand by weakening the two kingdoms
>Mistral now needs a just cause to start an open war
This remains to be resolved, though a crafty warmonger could use Pyrrha's death. A champion fighter from Mistral and reasonably loved by the people dies during a crisis Atlas failed to prevent despite allocating large ammount of resources. Mistral could press demands for Ironwood to step down and to replace the Atlesian fleet in Vale. This would lead to a de facto occupation like we know it from the eastern block after WW2, where USSR was "liberating" various countries.
This still doesn't open the war, but it is a good primer, as Mistral would have control over Vale and Atlas would be weakened by subsequent reorganisation as android-based military concept is questioned after the incident in Vale.
>Powderkeg would be set, waiting for the spark
Red dust can't melt airship support struts!
Something seems off about this, though maybe I'm reading way too much into this and it's just not there to begin with.