Faction



Factions are groups of four or more individuals that are formed to fight alongside one another. Every Union has factions that represent that said Union. Factions were created in order to increase the efficiency of certain tasks and missions.

Roles in a Faction
In a faction, every person has a specific role based on their abilities.

Leaders
Leaders are the people of the Faction that are said to be the strongest overall. Leaders usually take on two jobs (like Tatiana Zilia) in order to make missions go by quicker. The leader assigns the roles to the other members of the Factions and the leaders decide what kind of missions or tasks everyone will do.

Assaults
Assaults are the people of the Faction that contain the most destructive power. Assaults lead everyone in battle and delivers the most damage to the targets. The assaults usually are the people who can cause the most destruction, people who can withstand the most damage and are sometimes the biggest person on the team.

Defenses
Defenses are the people of the Faction that contain the most durability. Defenses usually occupy the main threat in battle and keeps everyone else in the Faction, out of harm's way. The defenses usually are the people who can take the most damage, people with the most amount of spiritual energy and the fastest and most durable person on the team.

Medics
Medics are the people of the Faction that contain the most development potential. Medics tend to the trauma and wounds of every other role of the team and usually rely on both mid and long range combat. Medics usually don't fight but in some cases, medics are shown to be on par with every other combat role of the group (like Helgen Stryker). The medics usually are the people with the least amount of power and speed but with the most intelligence on team.

Snipers
Snipers are the people of the Faction that contain the most range and precision. Like medics, snipers rely on long and mid range combat. There are some cases where snipers are either extremely fast or extremely powerful or even a mix of both. Snipers are usually the people with the least amount of development potential and have the best precision and best range.

Trivia

 * Since first year students are seen speculating how teams are going to be formed and even asking others to join theirs the morning before being assigned teammates, it seems that the process and details of creating teams at Beacon are kept secret until the initiation. Glynda herself calls what the students heard as "rumors", although Pyrrha apparently knew the teams consisted of four students each beforehand and Nora was previously aware that the test would take place in the forest.
 * It is unknown what would happen if the first year students that survive the initiation are not divisible by four or an even number, as they would not be able to create pairs or full teams. It is possible that the leftover students are made into teams with less than 4 members, or they could be absorbed into other teams to make them consist of five or more members.
 * It is also possible that when deciding whom to admit to the school, Ozpin makes sure that the total number is divisible by four.
 * There were twenty black and white chess pieces visible in the temple, two for each piece in chess, both white and black. This would mean that there was a possible total of ten teams of four able to pass the initiation.
 * Each team has its own motif: RWBY's is fairy tales, JNPR's is cross-dressing warriors and legends, CRDL's is birds, and CFVY's is seemingly various sweets.
 * The motif of SSSN is currently unknown, though people used to draw parallels to the Chinese novel Journey to the West before more of the characters' basis were known.
 * All fully revealed teams have a member whose name alludes to a shade of red: Ruby Rose, Pyrrha Nikos, Scarlet David, Velvet Scarlatina, Cardin Winchester, Arslan Altan, Roy Stallion, Octavia Ember, Cinder Fall and Summer Rose.
 * Due to only having shown two members of each team, it is unknown whether the teams from Atlas Academy also follow this pattern.
 * Under most circumstances, all letters in a team name consist of their members' first initials; however, there are three cases in which the last initial is the one in the team name. However, Lie Ren is usually referred to as Ren, suggesting that his culture (like some real-world Eastern cultures) puts one's surname before one's personal name. It is likely, but uncertain, that Sky Lark and May Zedong are similar cases.
 * Despite the fact that all teams introduced so far have their first letters and even entire titles represent the name of their leaders, Jaune, Weiss, and Ruby were all shown to be surprised at who would command the group, indicating that not all teams may follow this pattern.
 * If this was a tradition for names of teams to reference their leaders, however, it is unknown how changes of leadership (if allowed in the first place) would affect the title so it would spell out a word.
 * Weiss, for example, commented to Peter Port how she thinks she should have been the leader of Team RWBY, indicating that the name might stay if she had gotten what she wanted.
 * This may merely be the students' lack of knowledge as to how teams are assigned.
 * In the first episode of Volume 4, Ren, Nora and Jaune debate on whether to call their new team RNJR (Ranger) or JNRR (Junior).
 * Nora explains that there are more members from Team JNPR, so they should be called Team JNRR. Ren disagrees because the pronunciation of the name does not link to a color. He also points out that since they are helping Ruby on her mission, their team name should start with Ruby's initial. This creates the team name RNJR.