text: [[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/erfworld_cast_350_9519.png]][[caption-width-right:350:[-''Front'': creator Rob Balder, artists Jamie Noguchi on the left and Xin Ye on the right. ''Right'': King Slately at the top, pushing down Vinny over princes Ansom, Tramennis, and Ossomer. ''Center'': Parson Gotti, a gobwin, Stanley The Tool, and Bogroll. ''Left'': Maggie and Sizemore behind Wanda, Jillian, and Jack Snipe. ''Back'': a blue dwagon and Hamstard.-] ]]->''"One world's game rules can be another world's physics.''\\''One world's "cuddly" can be another world's "deadly".''\\''And one world's misfit, misshapen loser can be another world's perfect warlord.''\\''At least... he'd better be.''\\''The enemy's on their way."''-->-- ''' Book 1, ''The Battle for Gobwin Knob'' (back cover)'''''[[http://www.erfworld.com Erfworld]]'' is a {{webcomic}} written by Rob Balder (of ''[[http://www.partiallyclips.com/ Partially Clips]]'', and [[http://www.thefump.com/ The FuMP]]), with the first book ''The Battle for Gobwin Knob'' illustrated by Jamie Noguchi (of ''[[http://www.angryzenmaster.com/ Angry Zen Master]]'' and ''WebComic/YellowPeril''), and the second book, ''Love is a Battlefield'', illustrated by Xin Ye. The third book, ''Hamsterdance vs. the Charlie Foxtrot'', is being illustrated by David Hahn. As of October 2015, David Hahn has departed and the third book is now illustrated by Xin Ye once more, with Lauri Ahonen doing inking and colors.A fanatical, obsessed gamer geek named Parson Gotti[[note]]an anagram for "protagonist"[[/note]] gets magically summoned to another world to be the "Perfect Warlord" for a city that's losing a war, in [[RPGMechanicsVerse a world that seems to be]] one giant TurnBasedStrategy wargame. (For instance, nobody can move beyond the immediate vicinity when it's not their side's turn.) Plays with many different strategy game tropes. Includes cutesy, SuperDeformed art and dark characterization, landing '''DEEP''' in the territory of GrotesqueCute. Many features of ''Erfworld'' are references to real-world popular culture and Internet memes.Before ''Erfworld'' had its own site, it was hosted on the [[http://www.giantitp.com/Comics.html Giant in the Playground]] website, but it is otherwise unassociated with Rich Burlew (of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'').Now has a [[ReferencedBy/{{Erfworld}} Referenced page]].----!!Provides examples of:[[foldercontrol]][[folder: Tropes A to I]]* AboveTheInfluence: Parson is informed that, as a warlord, he can order the Archons or any other unit under his command to do any perverted thing he wants. He also realizes that there's no way he could bring himself to do something like that. One of the reasons he gives is that the women are [[HotSkittyOnWailordAction so small that he may hurt them]]. Maggie [[DoubleEntendre mocks him with multiple jokes]], since all injuries in Erfworld heal at dawn (and she suspects he's overestimating his "damage bonus", anyway and even if he isn't, the archon would probably remember the experience forever).* AbsoluteCleavage: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book+1/140 Wanda's take on]] Music/MichaelJackson.* AbstractScale: The nature of Date-a-mancy, which attempts to quantify intangible things such as leadership, loyalty, and even love.* AgeWithoutYouth: Erfworlders do not die directly of old age. However, when a unit's talents are inevitably wasted, or if they betray their side, it puts a strain on them, which manifests as old age or other detrimental Signamancy. When a regular unit becomes too weak, they are ultimately disbanded by their ruler. When a ruler becomes too weak, they grow weak minded and leave their side open to conquest. It's believed that no Erfworlder alive is more than 100,000 turns old, or 273 years. Most likely not even that.* TheAlliance: Ansom's forces.* AllNaturalGemPolish: Mined gems, which also glow and are diamond shaped.* AllThereInTheManual: In the time between book 1 and book 2, several text-only "updates" detailing the aftermath of the Battle For Gobwin Knob were released. They were so popular that the second book was changed to a webcomic/text hybrid format. Whether they are necessary or not to actually understanding the story is a matter of debate, but the authors are doing their best so that ''technically'' you can ignore the text updates and still know what's going on. The other reason they gave for Book 2's text updates is that drawing comic pages takes a lot longer than writing text, so they'll be able to update more frequently this way.* [[AllTrollsAreDifferent All Twolls Are Different]]: See {{Retcon}}, below.* AnAesop: In many of the stories, "outsiders" of a group should generally be brought in to provide a new perspective. Basically, uniqueness can help destroy common knowledge and improve tactics, strategy, etc.** Parson was summoned to Erf partially to help destroy the status quo and remove CreativeSterility. His ideas and perspective often lead to unusual discoveries that natives of Erf either never think of or dismiss as being impractical or underhanded. These are often described as loopholes.** Many units find these loopholes or exploit or manipulate resources in a way that others didn't think of. In the story of Digdoug, King Posbrake found new uses for dirtamancy that Digdoug's home kingdom of Follywood did not think of. Posbrake traded his heir (an unusual move) for a dirtamancer in order to have trapped and upgraded cities without having to spend Shmuckers on actual improvements, thus allowing them to build up an army instead. This is similar to how Parson utilizes Sizemore's ability to make traps in book 1, but uses his ability for a much wider strategic goal. This novel idea allows Homekey to build horizontally instead of vertically.** In the story of Duke Forecastle, non-seafaring warlords are used by Anchorbar, Seaworld's major naval rival, as first mates or second officers on their ships. The implication is that the "land lubbers" provide a unique perspective on naval combat that dyed-in-the-wool sailors don't and can't have, thus making their units more effective despite minor penalties to movement and attack. How this is achieved has yet to be seen, though it has been hinted at with Forecastle's decoy/ramming approach to sea dwagons, plus [[spoiler:the revelation of non-seafaring warlords being able to tame sea monsters]]. Notably, Seaworld hates and refuses to accept the actual moral of the story, rewriting Duke Forecastle as a DirtyCoward and changing the aesop into "Fate protects a fool".* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Jillian when her mind is invaded by Charlie.]]* AnimalEyeSpy: Doombats for Transylvito, which can also be used for diversions, and with the right bonuses [[EliteMooks even more than that]].* AngelsPose: Charlie's Archons, which are a direct ShoutOut to the TropeNamer.* AnimateDead:** Uncroaking a corpse creates a zombie controlled by the caster.** In book 2, [[spoiler:Wanda gets an upgraded version of this (called Decrypting), which appears to actually bring the unit BackFromTheDead, but loyal to her rather than to the unit's original side. When they get killed again, they turn to dust]].* ApocalypticLog: A rule of Erfworld. Whenever a side ends, a book is automagically written and published telling the story of its downfall.* ArchEnemy: Charlie and Parson. As far as Charlie's concerned, Parson is the most dangerous being in all of Erfworld. When he realizes that Parson has been made Chief Warlord again, he [[OhCrap immediately realizes the situation has become dire]]. He even starts providing extra support and advice to Stanley's enemies at cost, or even gratis. He is ''that'' worried about Parson. The feeling is mutual; Parson seems to believe that Charlie is his most cunning opponent. According to Wanda, Charlie is this to the Thinkamancers, possibly even the entire Magic Kingdom.* ArcWords: "It's the little things which make a difference sometimes."* ArtEvolution:** The longer Parson stays in Erfworld, the more realistic-looking the natives seem - though still super-deformed, of course. There's at least one {{Epileptic Tree|s}} to be had there...** In a similar vein, Parson eventually loses his pupils, [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/18 despite clearly showing them during his summoning]]. This implies the changes aren't a one-way street.** Rather more notably, either Parson is shrinking or the entire world is growing. When he first arrived, most of the "human" Erfworlders barely came up to his stomach (Stanley didn't even reach his waist); now he stands barely a head above some of the taller ones (such as Ace).** The in-story explanation is that this is the normal effect of a branch of magic called Signamancy.* TheArtOfWar: The basis for Parson Gotti's lecture on strategy, which he delivers to Wanda, Sizemore, and Maggie [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/137 in this installment]].* AscendedFanboy: Parson.* AsideGlance: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/138 Jojo]]. Canonically he's just looking over his shoulder at Parson, but knowing this comic...* AsskickingEqualsAuthority:** Higher level units are assumed to be better strategists, which is sometimes true.** Stanley is a minor {{Deconstruction}}: He earned his spot as Overlord due to his fighting prowess, and he is one of the strongest (if not ''the'' strongest) units on his side ([[EpilepticTrees maybe strongest in the world given attunement]]). Unfortunately, it's also a KeystoneArmy, and if he croaks, so does his entire side. He's also a bit dim as an actual leader.** The world is learning from Parson that the leadership stat isn't really a good gauge of tactical ability as had always been assumed. Parson is Level 2 and is noted to have only led one major battle, leaving people not familiar with him confused as to why the people that HAVE seen him in action consider him to be so important.* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: One of the rules of Erfworld. Signamancy is a branch of magic that causes units to appear in a way that reflects what they are and their personality. As a unit's personality changes, their appearance will change with them.** Though this seems to have been broken with [[spoiler:Olive Branch]] who remains youthful and gorgeous after in-universe centuries of betrayal, murder, insanity and outright sociopathy. Which is probably the point. She would look like femme fatale despite all the treachery.* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Nobles and royals have higher stats and level faster than others.* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: The Magic Kingdom is a place for barbarian casters and has a stance of neutrality towards all of Erfworld's wars. Since they wouldn't let Parson in, Parson decides that he has no problem with breaking their rules, and antagonizes them by breaching their neutrality and smuggling in an army of decrypted. After the fighting between Gobwin Knob and Charlescomm croaks several free casters in the crossfire, and Jojo successfully pins all the blame on Gobwin Knob, all of the free casters go to war with Gobwin Knob. The result is a CurbStompBattle that rapidly decimates Gobwin Knob's forces.* AwesomeByAnalysis: Parson.* AwesomenessInducedAmnesia: Casters can join into a "Caster Link", a type of MentalFusion initiated by a [[{{Whatevermancy}} Thinkamancer]]. If two casters participate in addition to the Thinkamancer then the resulting gestalt can create whole new spells or effects no single caster could even attempt. After such fusions, the individuals retain only vague memories of how they did it, but usually gain greater insight into their own discipline in general.* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:The attuned Arkenpliers can apparently resurrect ("decrypt") dead units, when before, all anyone could do was reanimate ("uncroak") them as [[TheUndead undead]] units]]. The implications of this power are mind-boggling. The first unit raised this way was [[spoiler:Ansom]].* BadassBoast: As you'd expect in a war story, there are a few of these.-->'''Parson:''' I am ''not'' here to fight. These troops and warlords are my personal guard. Just... relax. Okay? I'm not gonna try and [[spoiler:take over the Magic Kingdom]] or anything. But if anybody takes a shot at me, or gets in my way again, [[ImpliedDeathThreat then you can expect to join my personal guard.]]* BadBoss: In one of his Klogs, Parson explicitly says that Stanley reminds him of the most terrible boss he ever had back on earth. He's steadily improving as the story progresses, though, to the stage where he's capable of actually being quite reasonable, even pleasant.* {{Badass}}: Wanda. Stanley when he's on the battlefield.** Really, there's quite a number of Badasses in this comic, in various flavors and sub-tropes of the Badass genre.* BarbieDollAnatomy: When Maggie and Wanda form a caster link to use a special type of Thinkagram, their appearance in the mental space shows them unclothed, but they completely lack certain features.* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: It is rarely ever seen, since it is considered to be [[TheDarkArts a foul corruption of Thinkamancy]], but psychic combat takes place in Thinkspace, a WorldOfSymbolism where aspects of the combatants' minds are manifested into symbolic form.* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor:** Stanley gets [[ExactWords everything he wants to the letter]] when summoning Parson with unexpected results. It works out, though:--->'''Stanley:''' I want someone who eats marbits [a creature] for breakfast!\\''[later]''\\'''Parson:''' Yeah. Marbits... Marshmallow bits. They come in some breakfast cereals.** Parson himself has expressed this attitude, given that he has found leading an army according to wargame rules (as he wished for just before being summoned) is a lot more harrowing than expected. Subverted in Parson's case, though, as evidenced in this conversation with Wanda:--->'''Parson:''' This isn't what I wished for.\\'''Wanda:''' Hah! You didn't wish for this world, Parson Gotti. It wished for you.* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler:Bea, Queen of Unaroyal, chooses to commit suicide by going through the portal to the Magic Kingdom, thus ending her side and disbanding all her units, rather than fight a futile battle against Gobwin Knob and be Decrypted]].* BewareTheNiceOnes: Charlie. He is calm, polite, and consummately professional. But as Prince Sammy found out in Book 2, Charlie takes ''exactly'' no shit from anyone.** In addition, possibly the two most beneficent classes of mage are the Florists (make units unable to fight each other) and the Healomancers (ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin). Then we meet Olive Branch and Sister Betsy, a Florist and Healomancer respectively, and both masters of MindRape.* BeyondTheImpossible: JustifiedTrope. Thinkamancers can link up to three casters (including themselves) into a sort of uber-caster that can do things flat-out impossible for normal casters. The Summon Perfect Warlord spell that brought Parson to Erfworld, for instance, is one of these 'supposedly impossible spells' but was accomplished in this manner.* BigBad: Stanley isn't ''bad'', per se, he's just extremely immature and slightly stupid - basically a JerkJock who happens to run an empire. (A wee little JerkJock at that - but don't mention that to him!) Similarly, the leaders of the Royal Crown Coalition, the faction Stanley's empire is fighting against, don't seem to qualify, either, because they embody too many HeroTropes. The real BigBad of the setting is Charlie, who seems to be [[TheChessmaster controlling everything from behind the scenes]], [[LetsYouAndHimFight sowing conflict]] so [[WarForFunAndProfit his mercenaries will always be in demand]], presently devoting all his resources to killing Parson personally, and shows signs of being motivated by ImmortalityImmorality.* {{BFS}}: Jillian's WeaponOfChoice.* BigDamnHeroes: Right as Jillian is about to be stabbed by Manpower, Ansom swoops in and crushes Manpower's head with the Arkenpliers.* BiTheWay: Wanda appears to be so. She's very nonchalant about it, too. Also Jillian. Since sex is completely unconnected to procreation in Erfworld, however, it's quite possible that sexuality is just not that big an issue.* BlackBox: Most of Erfworld's mechanics are treated this way. Everything is "simplified", happening automatically via natural magic. The actual mechanisms on which the world goes round are behind the scenes and visible only to casters. Even they only have their own narrow insights afforded to them by their disciplines. And despite this, most of them do not bother experimenting with the hows and whys of how Erfworld's laws work and merely hold discussions. This is why Erfworld lies in a form of MedievalStasis. Changing that is why Parson was summoned into Erfworld. The Thinkamancers, led in part by a man named Isaac (an obvious reference to Isaac Newton), has set up many devices whose main purpose is to observe how the world works. It is unknown how much they have actually discovered.* BlackComedy: When leading an attack against a Haffaton outpost in the prequel, Wanda briefly wonders if she can control the uncroaked well enough to make them sing or dance, leading to a prompt ShoutOut to Film/YoungFrankenstein with her and her own rotting brother mimicking the scene of Freddy and the Monster singing "Putting on the Ritz." Also a CallForward to her leading a Thriller-themed dance fight in Book 1.* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Poor, poor Manpower.* BloodKnight:** What Stanley expected Parson to be. [[spoiler:And he comes very close to this in Book 1]].--->'''Stanley:''' I want him to be ''obsessed'' with war. Somebody who plans wars and kills his foes for ''fun''.** At one point during the summer updates, he also ruminates on having been in Erfworld for about a week and spending that time automatically considering the military applications of ''everything''.* BloodlessCarnage:** Erfworlders have blood, but they do not bleed. ''At all''. Even after taking blows that expose several ribs, tear off multiple limbs, jaws, or even the entire head; and even after a good dozen elves are ripped limb from limb, and a couple marbits are eaten alive, not a drop of blood is to be seen. At most, you'll see some red decals, but someone impaled multiple times by spears going through them won't have a drop of blood. Any blood that leaves a body will vanish upon contact with air.** [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Erfworld vampires]] feed on blood. But if they take a pause, any blood in their mouth will vanish quickly.** There is a reference (in the first block of text updates) to it "raining something other than water" as the Transylvitans let their swarm of bats out to feed on the local small animals one night. It sounds like it's meant to be blood, but it's most likely guano.** Parson himself, being a native resident of a world like ours, of course, does bleed. When he takes some minor damage in the Magic Kingdom he comments on it and Marie, similarly injured but with no blood, calls it gross.** Weirdly enough, a blinded decrypted purple dwagon shows a stream of what looks an awful lot like blood streaming out of one of its eye sockets, though that ''could'' just be the remains of its torn eye.* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Apparently it is perfectly fine to order a unit to bed you despite the fact that they have no way to resist. Given that units can turn based on a hidden loyalty stat, this has probably led to a few assassinations, however... In fact, units can actively do something bad to someone on their side if they ''believe'' it will help their side. If they happen to believe that mind-controlling, poisoning, or killing their leader or a warlord will help their side, they can do it.* BoringYetPractical: Jetstone's combat philosophy; lots of stacks of basic infantry with warlord boosts and a few specialist units mixed in. Transylvito's bats are also this trope; they're very weak and cheap units mostly used for scouting, but when stacked directly with vampire warlords they get so many bonuses that they're equivalent to heavies or knights.* BowTiesAreCool: Jack and Jillian during Book 2.* BrickJoke:** One massive one is seen in [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book+1/126 this comic,]] which harks all the way back to the [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book+1/4 fourth strip]] in the entire comic.** Not to mention [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book+1/37 this]]** When Prince Tramennis [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/102 calls Parson a potato]], it harkens all the way back to [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/18 when Stanley first met him]].* BrokenBird: Wanda as seen in her StartOfDarkness "Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower)."* [[CallARabbitASmeerp Call a Rabbit a "Wabbit"]]: Dragons? Trolls? ''Earth?'' That's just ridiculous!* CallBack: In the Epilogue of Book 2, Jack tells Parson about the fall of Haffaton, which happened in book 0.-->'''Jack:''' It was a strange day; [[ItMakesSenseInContext I spent much of it as a bird]].* CallForward:** Book 0 was written somewhere between chapters 2 and 3 of book 2, but is set long before the story began. So there are a few of these here and there.** Wanda stylizes her clothes with a skull and flower emblem, like what her decrypted units wear in the present.** Jillian and Wanda's first encounter involves Wanda torturing Jillian, demanding to be called "Mistress". This is almost exactly how their first shown interaction went in book 1, except here Wanda is ''actually'' torturing her. Right down to the "Prisoner is alert?" opening query.* TheCallHasBadReception: Parson wasn't exactly what Lord Stanley was expecting as a "perfect warlord".* CardCarryingVillain: Explicitly averted. Parson assumes Stanley is one, but Stanley is not at all amused by the suggestion that he's the bad guy.* TheCassandra: [[spoiler:Delphie Temple of Goodminton. Though her advice was always correct, she did a very bad job of convincing those that needed to heed it. While Wanda eventually realized that YouCantFightFate, it happened too late for the survival of her side. And Delphie's final prophecy was completely disregarded by Jillian, who holds such things in contempt, sealing the eventual end of FAQ]].* CelibateHero: Parson, which Maggie apparently takes plenty of fun in ribbing him on. In this case, Parson is celibate because Erfworld is so alien to him, and as a warlord, nearly every female unit on his side would obey his orders without hesitation, even in the bedroom, which creeps him out considerably.* TheChainsOfCommanding* CharacterBlog: The Klogs, the [[TheRant news portion]] of [[http://www.hamstard.com/ the "Hamstard" page]].* CharacterDevelopment: A lot, actually, but in the [[DyeingForYourArt physical]] sense, Parson seems to have dropped quite a few pounds lately.* ChekhovsGun** In the last panel of [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/38 this strip]] (spoiler warning) you see a wall of arrows hanging in mid-air. It is later revealed that this is what happens when you fire out of a hex off turn.** One of the problems with book 1 is an aversion of this trope: The author didn't make it very clear that any non-caster who tries to enter the Magic Kingdom is disbanded, so a climactic scene became confusing.** Early in book 2, Wanda suggests killing and decrypting Jack. While her request is denied, it does bring up the very important question of whether or not decrypted casters can still cast, and it becomes clear that they need to test the theory eventually. [[spoiler:Once Jack is killed and decrypted, however, it becomes apparent that the ''real'' reason was because Jack and Wanda were under a non-disclosure agreement from Charlie, and she hoped a decryption would free him of that. It did, and she instructed Jack to talk to Parson about it as soon as possible]].** In the Digdoug print comics, King Posbrake has Lady Barstool place a Carnymancy spell on him, rendering it impossible to hit him with ranged attacks for one turn. Though this is intended as a precaution against treachery from Charlescomm, it saves King Posbrake when [[spoiler:his brother, Prince Creen, breaks their alliance and hits Posbrake with a massive arrow volley.]]* ChekhovsSkill:** In [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/11 this strip]] and [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/87 this strip]] Parson studies the physics of Erfworld flight, gravity, and some more about hex boundaries. He later uses this knowledge to attempt to [[spoiler:drop an immobilized army onto the ground hexes below where it can engage an enemy in full while it's not his side's turn.]].** When she was with Goodminton, Wanda was present to see how a Predictamancer fights; each attack always hits, because the Predictamancer knows where the target will be when the spells get there. Later, Jillian needs to kill Olive Branch before she leaves the city. They can only cast one spell, but they don't know where the target is. Fortunately, there is a Predictamancer present...** While Jillian is exploring a city they captured, Haffaton is alerted to her presence by a mannequin, animated by Dollamancy and used as a security camera by Wanda. [[spoiler:She can do this with Archons as well, as she relays to Parson in the Book 2 epilogue.]]* ChekhovsVolcano* TheChosenZero: Done a lot to Parson.* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: According to Janis, the "rules" of Erfworld are defined by what a unit believes. For example, units with the flying special can fly because they ''believe'' they can. Carnymancy is basically the magic of putting on a show to manipulate this belief. By magically influencing a unit's sense of reality, a Carnymancer can make reality work a little bit differently for them. However, Parson doubts this explanation, largely because ''he'' believed that going through the portal to the Magic Kingdom would kill him (or send him home), and it didn't.* ColdBloodedTorture: Wanda is an expert at this, but it's conducted off-screen up until the "Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower)" text-only episodes, where we get to see some of the actual methods, which include inflicting a prisoner with starvation, thirst, sensory deprivation, itching, and various other distresses, then leaving them alone for days.* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: In-universe. The [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/11 Magic Kingdom]] is separated into eight equal parts and each one represents a class of magic. Each part is a different color and continues out into the sea where the sea itself has different colors for each class. The Glade of the Hippiemancers, for example, is dark green and the sea is a mellow green compared the extreme shades of the other sea greens.* ComboPlatterPowers: The Arkenhammer (see below)* ConflictingLoyalty: All non-barbarian Thinkamancers are subject to this. Thinkamancy is one of the most common and useful of all magical disciplines, so they're greatly in demand by rulers who they're then required to be loyal to. But all Thinkamancers are also loyal to Thinkamancy itself, and to their own leaders, called The Great Minds that Think Alike. While mostly dutiful to their side, Thinkamancers intentionally misdirect their sides as to the full capabilities of Thinkamancy in order to protect their secrets. Also, their organization is involved in a number of conspiracies, the most important of which is their plan to [[spoiler:take out Charlie, since he knows too many of their secrets and refuses to join them]]. Parson lambastes Maggie for mind controlling their ruler into making him Chief Warlord again, not for the good of the side, but to support said conspiracy. This also likely to be an issue for Thinkamancers on Royal sides, since their sides are enemies of the side they are sponsoring to support their scheme.* ConvenientColorChange: Whenever a unit is turned, croaked or decrypted.* ConspicuousCG:** The Arkentools are very obvious CG images, making them stand apart from the rest of the art. This highlights their otherworldly nature.** A similar effect happens in the monochrome images that accompany the text updates. Portals, such as the ones to and from the Magic Kingdom, are '''always''' in color, even if nothing else is. Speculation over the meaning of this abounds.* CoolShades: Parodied with Parson's 3D viewing shades.* CosmicRetcon: Retconjuration allows the Titans to do this.* CradleOfLoneliness: Wanda does this in her StartOfDarkness after [[spoiler:her brother Tommy dies. She raises his body, but despite doing a fantastic job on it, she realizes that it'll never be the same as having her brother. She then orders it to hold her while she cries]].* CrapsaccharineWorld: {{Lampshaded}} by Parson.--> '''Parson's journal''': ...everything is cute. Like it's been made safe for children. The people even look like children. Except that then they ''die''. What is that?* CreativeSterility: Likely a consequence of the fact that Erfworlders pop into being fully grown with preprogrammed knowledge and end up taking far too many things for granted. Warlords understand tactics at only a very basic level. When it comes to understanding magic, Isaac is one of the very few casters to use the scientific method. The vast majority of casters spend all their time debating the merits and flaws of their own theories rather than experimenting and testing them. As a result, Erfworld lies in a sort of MedievalStasis, even though its magic could conceivably be developed much in the same way our world develops technology. Since Parson comes from a more sophisticated universe, he is able to see {{Game Breaker}}s in the most mundane of things and several sides are already starting to adopt his style of tactics. The titans likely caused Parson to be summoned for the specific purpose of teaching Erfworlders "lateral thinking" and shattering the status quo.* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Stanley may venture into TooDumbToLive territory when it comes to strategy especially given his god complex, but he did legitimately become a warlord from common infantry even before finding the Arkenhammer, and as a tactician, combatant and wielder of an artifact level weapon he is not someone to be ignored.* DarkIsNotEvil:** Transylvito is a side of vampires, but they're fighting on the (mostly) good side, and no one minds.** To a somewhat lesser degree, most of Stanley's side.* DeaderThanDead: [[spoiler:Bogroll, thanks to being [[KillItWithFire burnt to ash]]]]. According to Wanda, even the attuned Arkenpliers can't restore him. This also applies to any Uncroaked or Decrypted units who are killed, as they turn to dust.* DeadpanSnarker:** Prince Tramennis.** Also the Gobwin Knob Foolamancer, Jack Snipe.** Don't forget Hamstard! And Parson himself.** Isaac shows signs of it.--->'''Jojo:''' Well [[TermsOfEndangerment friends]]? Is he (Parson) in there?\\'''Isaac:''' I'm not inclined to say, given that you tried to assassinate him.* DeathByFallingOver: One aspect of Erfworld physics is that anything considered a "fall" has a significant chance to incapacitate or croak a unit. A fall is a transition from the airspace of a hex to the ground without actually landing. This means that dismounting from a flying unit (by getting knocked out of the saddle, having the mount killed underneath you, or just jumping off) is ''always'' considered a fall, no matter how high up you are at the time. Fall distance does have ''some'' bearing on it, but mostly it's just random -- a unit has roughly the same chance of instantly croaking from falling two feet as they do from falling two hundred.* DeathGlare: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/136 Don King's expression]] at his Warlords' rebellion against him is ''scary''. Not helped by the [[spoiler:fact Don may have tried to have gotten Caesar killed already.]]* {{Deconstruction}}: Explores what would happen if there was really a world based around fantasy wargaming principles.* DefeatMeansFriendship: In the Lord Crush side story, an alliance of four sides is almost wiped out when a fifth side, Bullyclub, convinces one of them to betray the others. When Bullyclub is inevitably defeated, the alliance ends up letting Bullyclub join them (as well as the side that betrayed the alliance to Bullyclub).* DefensiveFeintTrap: The Dwagon Doughnut.* DefiantToTheEnd: As Charlie is ready to barge in the room in which Lilith is hiding in her thinkspace, she seems ready to accept her fate, but takes the time to tell him how much she hates him.* DeliberateValuesDissonance: many aspects of day-to-day life in Erfworld don't sit well with Parson.* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Parson hasn't been quite the same since his victory over the Royal Army. See WhatMeasureIsAMook]]. Queen Bea as well, after seeing her decrypted daughter among the ranks of the Gobwin Knob invasion force. She takes the time to pass on what intelligence she was able to gather on Decryption to the rest of the Royal Coalition and then...* {{Deuteragonist}}: In the main plot, Parson is the Protagonist with Wanda as the Deuteragonist and half a dozen characters who could be considered for the role of tritagonist including Ansom ([[DemotedToExtra in book 1 at least]]), Jillian, Charlie, and Tramennis.** In the prequel, Wanda is the Protagonist with Jillian as the Deuteragonist.* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Parson planned to enter the city of Spacerock through its portal to the Magic Kingdom. They can't take the city before he gets there, since it wouldn't be a capital any more, and the portal would disappear. [[spoiler:The same exact thing happens when they take down the tower--which was why it wasn't part of Parson's original plan]]. Whoops.* DistractedByTheSexy: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/34 Weaponized]].* DivineRightOfKings: Royals are an actual type of unit, who have slightly higher stats and level faster than regular units. They insist that the Titans created them to rule Erfworld. Stanley the Tool, a commoner Overlord who (probably) committed regicide to earn his throne, claims that the fact that he has attuned to one of the greatest Titanic artifacts means that there is now a ''new'' Titanic mandate. This does little more than unite all the Royal sides against him, and his side is quickly whittled down to one city, soon to be conquered. And then the comic starts with the summoning of Parson Gotti, the Perfect Warlord, who immediately turns the tide in Stanley's favor.* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:** Parson notes how pretty much everything in Erfworld is vaguely familiar from our world in one way or another, especially lots of pop culture references keep popping up. At first it lent weight to his theory that he was dreaming or in a coma or something, but eventually he wonders if there is some connection between the two worlds, or if it is just an effect of him being there to observe the occurrences and creating the associations himself. Alternately, since the instructions Stanley gave in the summoning included "finding everything familiar", the spell may have simply found the one universe out of infinite possibilities whose inhabitants would consider everything in Erfworld a reference to something in theirs.** Ossomer may not realize why he feels so upset for that little broken tile being knocked out of the place where it used to belong, but the subtext is pretty clear that he is absolutely breaking inside about having been decrypted (and thus turned against his will to fight his home, family, and everything he ever believed in).** Many kingdoms act in similar ways to real world empires. The So-Be-It Union is the Soviet Union without the purges. Homekey could the colonial United States without the revolution. Seaworld is most likely Portugal when it was a sea power but without the papacy or it could be the British Empire. Faq is some type of far east country, etc etc. None of them are perfect matches but there's enough references there to place them. Lord Crush, for example, may be a reference to Nikita Khrushchev (Crush, Chief), the Premier of the Soviet Union (So-be-it Union) and First Secretary of the Communist Party (First Post) during the Cold War.* DramaticIrony: King Posbrake of Homekey in the Dig Doug side story says of Charlie ([[spoiler:who is in fact the world's greatest Carnymancer]]):-->'''Posbrake:''' He may indeed be a treacherous schemer, but he has no idea what a little [[spoiler:Carnymancy]] can do to one's best-laid plans.* DrivenToSuicide: Queen Bea of Unaroyal committed suicide via portal to prevent Gobwin Knob from Decrypting her and the remnants of the Unaroyal army.* DropTheHammer: The Arkenhammer tames dwagons, produces thunder and lightning, can levitate, glows, turns about 20% of all walnuts that it cracks into pigeons, some of the Orlies it hits into walnuts, functions as a magical guitar, and is not too shabby of a weapon. By now, it's well into GreenRocks territory.* DueToTheDead* [[TheDragon The Dwagon]]: A Chief Warlord is this for their side's Overlord.** It's not always the Chief Warlord. In many sides the chief caster takes this role instead. We've also seen at least two sides (Haffaton and Gobwin Knob) where an over-mighty chief caster effectively runs the side as DragonInChief.** DragonWithAnAgenda: Wanda, who also becomes a DragonInChief in Book 2.* [[DragonRider Dwagon Rider]]: Stanley mostly, but other characters have been seen on Dwagonback.* [[DragonWithAnAgenda Dwagon With An Agenda]]: Wanda may be fighting on Stanley's side, but [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/160 she's only in it for the Arkentools]].* EasyCommunication: One of the privileges of being a ruler is a form of natural Thinkamancy that allows them to telepathically order units and check their current status. However, this form of communication only works in one direction, from ruler to unit.* EnemyExchangeProgram: What unit types a city will produce is decided by the current Signamancy [[note]]Symbolism[[/note]] of the owning side's capital when that city site is built up into a higher level city. If that city gets captured by a different side, they can raze it back to level zero for schmuckers, or keep it in its current shape to produce the same unit types it did before.* EntertaininglyWrong: A lot of Erfworlders simply fail to understand Parson because he is so outside their frame of reference. For example, many people (including several of Parson's allies) assume that Parson's low chief warlord bonus means he is a bad commander (or at best, mediocre). And while this may be true for as far as they've known it, they are completely wrong and are often punished for it.* EquivalentExchange: How Luckamancy, and possibly other number magics work. Luckamancy can cause units to "roll higher" for a while, but at the cost of lower "rolls" later, or lower rolls from other units on their side.* EvilCostumeSwitch: All of the Decrypted get one.* EvilLaugh: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/155 Wanda can be very scary]].* EvilMakeover: After [[spoiler:being "decrypted", Ansom's outfit's radish decorations turned into skulls]].* EvilOverlord: Stanley, as noted by Parson; in all fairness, Stanley's actual position ''is'' "overlord", but he [[BerserkButton strongly]] disagrees with the "[[WhatIsEvil evil]]" part.* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: Inverted, Parson wants to take down the power of Fate to allow people more free will.* EvilSorcerer: Wanda, the Croakamancer.* ExactWords:** While Stanley is debating an issue, [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/83 Maggie asks if she can give him a suggestion]]. Stanley says "sure" and immediately takes a Suggestion spell in the face.** See also BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor above. Stanley got ''everything'' he asked for in Parson. Just not what he meant.** Stanley angrily gives Parson a magically binding order not to speak until he's ordered to speak. Parson, quickly realizing that the order didn't specify that only Stanley could order him to speak, starts using written messages asking others to order him.* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Crap Golems, [[ShockSite Shockmancy]].* ExpendableClone: In the fight between King Slately and the Archons, the King is heartened when he sees his magically created double go down fighting, and while he cheers how great it is to be alive we get a closeup of the other King's body. Gets an extra kicker a little later.-->'''Archon:''' We weren't defeated. We won! Your body lies in state upon the rooftop. There. See it?\\'''Slately:''' Be at ease. That is only my double. Lloyd Elliot created it, and it expended itself nobly in the fight.\\'''Tramennis:''' Father...[[spoiler:[[TomatoInTheMirror doubles don't leave a body]]]].* {{Expy}}:** Prince Ossomer [[{{Superman}} just needs an "S" on his chest instead of the radish]].** [[CloudCuckoolander Jack the Foolamancer]], who [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker grins a lot and has taken to wearing a purple suit and boater]].** Thinkamancer [[MargaretThatcher "Maggie" ]]** And now, Chief Healamancer [[Series/{{MASH}} Pierce]]. Complete with martini!** Lady Sylvia Lazarus, the [[Creator/SylviaPlath suicidal poet]].** Many mooks and less-than-tertiary characters appear to be this, though due to a literal lack of character it's more a case of straight-up cameos. Example: most Casters in The Magic Kingdom, Charlie's Archons, etc.* FantasticDrug: Pink flowers ("heroine buds"), as grown by Hippiemancers. (They may literally be magic versions of opium poppies.)* FantasticHonorifics: Although the term "Tool" was originally a StealthInsult Parson gave Stanley, Stanley took to it so well that it is now a general honorific for any wielder of an Arkentool.* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:Jillian experienced one when Charlie invaded her mind and destroyed her very being.]]* FilkSong: "[[http://thefump.com/fump.php?id=107 Quest for the Arkentools]]"; is it filk if it was made by the guy that writes the comic?* FinalFirstHug: Trammenis and his father King Slately, [[spoiler:or rather his Dittomancy dupe, share their first and last hug in the second book after Trammenis is promoted to Heir, and just before the duplicate goes off to make a doomed final stand against Parson Gotti.]]%%* FisherKingdom%%* FiveBadBand: They may disagree on the "bad" part, but Lord Stanley's best vassals seem to fit the trope fairly well.%%** BigBad: Lord Stanley%%** [[TheDragon The Dwagon]]: Wanda%%** TheBrute: Bogroll%%** TheStrategist: Parson%%** EvilGenius: Sizemore%%* FlatWhat: Flat Lolwut* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: [[spoiler:Delphie]] in Book 0 left a note where she knew [[spoiler:Jillian]] would find it long after [[spoiler:Goodminton]] fell.* FoeRomanceSubtext: Wanda seems to be a magnet for this.** Wanda and Jillian have their own, strange, [=BDSM=]-esque relationship.** Wanda and [[spoiler:Olive Branch]] have a good amount going, too. Which turns [[spoiler:Olive's drugging of Wanda with the heroine buds]] into a terrifying comment on abusive relationships.* ForegoneConclusion: There's a 'book 0' prequel starring Wanda. Obviously, anyone who read the main comic knows that she's going to end up in Faq, and that her 'screw destiny' philosophy in the prequel is going to turn into the absolute fatalism she shows normally sometime along the line.* FormalFullArrayOfCutlery: Briefly brought up [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/91 in a conversation]] between [[ActionGirl Jillian]] and [[WarriorPrince Prince Ansom]] where Jillian elaborates to Ansom how was the princess of a hidden nation big on class and culture, and that [[ThePhilosopherKing her father]] wanted a son like himself instead of [[BloodKnight her]]...-->'''Jillian:''' Only instead of a perfect philosopher-prince like he wanted? ... He got a swordswinging madwoman, who knows exactly which fork to use to pluck out an eyeball... but not for the salad.\\'''Ansom:''' Far left.\\'''Jillian:''' What?\\'''Ansom:''' The smaller fork, with the one stronger tine. That's for the salad.\\'''Jillian:''' Oh it ''is'' the eyeball one.%%* FormulaicMagic: Mathamancy.* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Quite literally; when Charlie communicates with others via Thinkamancy, he only shows himself as a sequence of soothing colours and images... many of which are {{Shout Out}}s that [[BreakingTheFourthWall Break The Fourth Wall]]. Of course, with the way Erfworld works in the first place, what seem like blatant fourth-wall-breaking shout outs to us may easily have some in-universe meaning that we're unaware of.* {{Foreshadowing}}: Often, one-off casual lines introduce ideas that won't pay off until much later.** Two casters remarking on their opposite yet complementary strengths, the vague resemblance of certain characters, even the limits on mining in the city's hex all play a role later.--->'''Wanda:''' [[spoiler:He looks like a pink you, but with depth perception]].** The line, "We have harvested three Sourmanders we can scarce afford to spare," subtly introduced a mechanic that would later become very important strategically. [[spoiler:It introduced harvesting heavy mounts for rations for upkeep, a mechanic integral to Parson's plan to cross zones off-turn, along with the aforementioned use of heavies on flyers]].** Parson ends one of his eyebook notes with, "How did Dorothy get out of Oz? Short answer: by killing." Book 0 reveals [[spoiler:Dorothy, the Wicked Witch and the Wizard were all Erfworld figures, and the Wizard is still around.]]** In the prologue book, Betsy is at one point offended by Jillian asking if she'll heal [[spoiler:Wanda of her heroine bud addiction]]. She says she would heal anyone of anything, including [[spoiler:Jillian's "desire" to kill.]] Before long, we find out that she means it. [[spoiler:Even if there's nothing actually wrong with Jillian and "fixing" her would be the equivalent of a lobotomy.]]** Book two starts with Parson getting drunk with the casters and trying to see if he can mount a dwagon. They tell him no, since he's probably a heavy unit. He tries and the dwagon slowly falls to the ground, allowing him to land (mostly) uninjured. [[spoiler:This is a crucial part of the plan to take Jetstone's capital by promoting all the hobgobwins they can to heavy units, allowing them use the gravity mechanic to move from the airspace to the city proper without having to take fall damage when it isn't their turn.]]** When Parson sends a Thinkagram to Jack to try and get him to recover, Jack tells him that "...a wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends." Sure enough, [[spoiler:immediately afterwards, Parson gets the reinforcements he needs by uncroaking his enemies, while Jack's mind ultimately recovers due to his name being said by Jillian, an enemy.]]** Wanda's personal livery is a skull with a pretty pink flower attached to the top. Cute, but that flower is actually a Heroine Bud. The prequel story wasn't even out yet when that was made, making it easy to miss the significance of her emblem, the design of which is rarely focused on.* ForWantOfANail: The entire series of events is kicked off by The Titans of Ark leaving one extra gemstone in the Minty Mountains, allowing the Marbits to afford one extra squad of axemen, which pierced through Stanley's troops at the right moment, which allowed them to kill one of Stanley's last warlords, which caused him to send for Parson in the first place.* FridgeHorror:** An in-universe example for Parson, when he realizes that the decrypted Archons literally couldn't resist any advances he cared to make.** A more traditional version: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/23 Wanda doesn't]] [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/155 laugh]].* FriendlyEnemy: Charlie is happy to chat with Parson via Thinkamancy and is uniformly polite while doing so.* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire: Vinny Doombats. The ''rest'' of Transylvito... not so much. (Except for Weird Al, he's a pretty nice guy.)* FunWithAcronyms: Stanley's elite guard, the [[Music/{{KISS}} Knights In Stanley's Service,]] look just like their namesakes.* TheGadfly: Jack Snipe shows signs of being a great one. His treatment of Wanda during [[spoiler:the siege of the Royal Capital]] had a BreakingSpeech feel to it.* GambitIndex** BatmanGambit:*** Parson pulls a couple on Ansom in Book 1, made easier because of the latter's predictability. One is explained [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/138 here]].*** Ansom gathers a bunch of flying units - Archons and mounted Dwagons - and has a mass veil cast over them to make them appear to be his usual choice of units, infantry and siege. He approaches Spacerock with this army, knowing Ossomer will commit most of his forces to holding the only bridge into Spacerock by land. Ansom simply dispels the veil and flies over them.** TheChessmaster:*** Charlie*** Parson shows signs of it.** GambitPileup: The end of Chapter One. Too many {{plan}}s, too many people and too many {{Gambit Roulette}}s for one little mountain. In the end, Parson subverts it by TakingAThirdOption: [[spoiler:"RocksFallEveryoneDies."]]*** Book Two only makes things worse. It's revealed that there are three major plans Parson's summoning was arranged to enact [[note]]Janis wants him to end the eternal war, the Thinkamancers want him to kill Charlie, and Marie is suspected of using him to address some unfinished business with Wanda.[[/note]] Charlie is still working against Gobwin Knob with a variety of different pawns in play and Wanda's pursuit of her Fate have begun to diverge from Gobwin Knob's aims. Add in Haggar's planned betrayal, Jojo's possible trap and Jillian doing whatever the hell she wants and things have gotten very complicated in Erfworld.*** Book Three sees this happen mostly between [[spoiler:Parson and Charlie]], as the motivations of certain Sides become clearer.** ImpersonationGambit: [[spoiler:Bogroll takes out Ansom by pretending to be Parson and pulling an ISurrenderSuckers, then tackling him off his flying mount]].** MacGuffinDeliveryService: [[spoiler:Ansom delivers the Arkenpliers to Wanda]].** TheManBehindTheMan: Wanda, to Stanley.** ManipulativeBastard[=/=]PlayingBothSides:*** Wanda again. [[spoiler:She sold out Faq to Stanley in a bid to obtain his Arkenhammer. When he ended up ''winning'', [[TheStarscream she acted as a "loyal" subordinate]] while goading him into searching for more Arkentools. All to facilitate her own bid for an Arkentool]].*** Charlie loves to do this as well.** TheStrategist: Parson, but as shown [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/137 here]] his allies are a little resentful of him early on for not living up to his [[MaryTzu Perfect Warlord]] name, and he has to explain to them that "perfect strategy" does not mean you never lose.** UnwittingPawn: Wanda believes this of Parson, and seems to pity him somewhat for it.--->'''Wanda:''' You, too, are an instrument of Fate. You will suffer, as you pursue your path. You will grieve. And lose. As you have lost here.\\'''Parson:''' I didn't lose, Wanda.\\'''Wanda:''' You did! And it has just begun for you.** XanatosGambit:--->'''Charlie:''' We prefer to play games that don't even ''contain'' a losing outcome. You see?** XanatosSpeedChess: Parson and Charlie toward the end of the first volume. Parson even explains the concept [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/137 here]].* GameBreaker:** In-universe, [[spoiler:Wanda]]'s attuned Arkenpliers can resurrect their enemies' corpses. These units retain original skills, cost nothing to run ''and'' are loyal [[spoiler:to Wanda.]] Small wonder [[spoiler:her]] side is toppling cities left and right.** Parson himself has been referred to as someone who will break the rules of war. Moreover, the Hippiemancers ''want'' this to happen.** Linking casters can have some gamebreaking effects as well. Book 1 ended with [[spoiler:Wanda and Sizemore linking to "uncroak" an extinct volcano that wiped out ''everything''. Charlie later arranged for a Turnamancer-based link, and made Stanley's side lose a turn -- a ''very'' big deal in this universe]].** Even earlier than that, a foolamancer plus a lookamancer plus a thinkamancer equals a map presenting Stanley's side with complete and seamless tactical data (it's not clear if this is simply the location of every unit anyone on their side knows about, or every unit period, since at one point Parson realizes that the enemy doesn't know where his units are because they lack this), while the enemy busies themselves with scouts who must survey everything in person and relay information in person or with magic items.** Parson is exploring the mechanics of Erfworld's rules, and is actively experimenting on exploits to create one of these, such as forming upkeep-free armies in cities, or using individual dwagons' movement as a relay system to transport riders across the vast distances of Erfworld in a single turn.** Parson's game-breaking exploit at the battle of Spacerock actually violates the fundamental physics of Erfworld: [[spoiler:allowing units to move between city zones off-turn through a combination of obscure rule interactions]]. Far from being merely unconventional, this was previously thought utterly ''impossible,'' to the point where people watching the initial stages of the plan initially [[TemptingFate dismissed it as a useless posture]].** The Arkendish grants Charlie a couple of really potent abilities.*** He can cast spells remotely by using Archons as a relay. Combined with the Thinkamancy power it appears to grant him, this makes link-ups far easier for him than is normal.*** The reason the Thinkamancers want him dead; he can intercept and jam Thinkamancy. The fact that he can do this is a closely guarded secret of the Thinkamancers, as if it were to get out, Thinkamancers wouldn't be seen as nearly as valuable as they are for communications.*** From his own perspective, we see that it gives him an incredibly amplified version of the already-potent senses a ruler possesses about their side and units. It also grants him complete knowledge of all channels of communication between units, including magical ones: even the secret ones like Intuition and body language.* GeniusLoci: The world as a whole is heavily implied to be one, and is likely connected to how Fate operates. Cities quite definitely are. After some experimentation with a caster link, Maggie discovers that cities actually have primitive minds of their own, and enjoy being owned and fought over. She is then able to awaken the city of Spacerock into a sapient being loyal to Gobwin Knob.* GenreSavvy: Parson.* GodMode: Referenced in one of Parson's klogs. He hasn't found an actual cheat code yet, but the whole "ultimate warlord" thing is about as close as he's going to get.* GodzillaThreshold:** When Charlie realizes Parson has decided to come after him, he starts bringing out weapons he's never had to use before, because he wanted them kept secret. Such as [[spoiler:guns. From assault rifles to anti-air artillery. He even proves willing to spend hundreds of millions of schmuckers and to declare open war with the Magic Kingdom to deal with Parson]].** Parson himself crosses this when, due to a treaty violation that cost Gobwin Knob its entire treasury and faced with another claim due to damages, [[spoiler:he is forced to turn to Charlescomm in order to save the side and the people he cares about from being claimed as collateral.]]** When Gobwin Knob manages to acquire [[spoiler:several of Charlescomm's guns and rescue Lilith, Charlie effectively declares war on the Magic Kingdom.]]* {{Golem}}: Multiple golems have appeared, with names indicating what they are made of: Soft Rock, Hard Rock, Acid Rock, and Metal Golems are based on musical genres, and Cloth Golems are literal giant animated stuffed animals, while Crap Golems are... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well..]].* GoodAngelBadAngel: Maggie and Wanda (respectively) take these roles for Lilith, when they link up with her (and each other) to [[spoiler:help her resist Charlie's Arkendish-powered interrogation]], complete with Maggie decked out in white with feathery wings and a flowing robe, while Wanda is red with devil horns and demonic wings. Playing with the stereotypes, after they [[spoiler:bring the fight from thinkspace into worldspace]], it's ''Maggie'' who ends up insisting Lilith try to kill Charlie, and Wanda who tells her to stop. Maggie is ultimately shown to have been entirely correct.* GoodColoursEvilColours (and how!): For starters, Stanley's forces consist of stereotypical "bad guy" units such as [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent Gobwins, Hobgobwins]], [[AllTrollsAreDifferent Twolls]], [[TheUndead Uncroaked]], [[GiantSpider Spidews]], and [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dwagons]]; and they tend to wear red and blacks. Ansom's stereotypical "good guy" units include [[OurElvesAreBetter Elves]], [[LivingToys giant stuffed animals]], and [[WhenTreesAttack Gumps]], and his units tend to wear [[BlingOfWar gold and silver]]. It is also subverted in Transylvito's forces: Vinny Doombats is a count, in black, who controls bats, who looks like a vampire. And, in all appearances, is Ansom's best friend, [[TheLancer right-hand man]], and close confidant. He (and the other members of his force) also talks like something between [[Series/HappyDays The Fonz]], the Sharks from ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' and TheMafia.* GoodPowersBadPeople: Olive Branch showcases the martial abilities of Hippiemancy and is a treacherous, manipulative sociopath. Betsy is a Healomancer, and when she is given the opportunity to, tries to "[[MindRape heal]]" Jillian of her aggressive tendencies.* {{Gorn}}: A particularly shocking example, especially after so much BloodlessCarnage: [[spoiler:after Parson gets knocked back through the portal back into the Magic Kingdom while being perforated by heavy machine gun fire from Charlie's Archons we get a ''lovely'' clear look at the bloody pulpy mess of mangled muscle, shredded tendon and shattered bone that is now his left shin- just as another round ''tears half his left foot off.'']]* GoryDiscretionShot: "Wow. Um...good job, guys."* GreaterScopeVillain: Fate appears to have some form of intelligence, but it isn't a person and functions more like a SentientCosmicForce. Charlie is the BigBad and responsible for many reprehensible acts, but he doesn't actually wish Parson any personal harm. He simply wants to ScrewDestiny and stop a prophecy that [[spoiler:involves his demise]]. But as long as Fate continues to manipulate events and enforce the prophecy, conflict between him and Parson is inevitable.* GreyAndBlackMorality: The villains in the prequel text (Olive Branch and Charlie) are more clearly evil than any of the sides in the Royals vs. Stanley conflict.* GreyAndGrayMorality: In Book One, both sides are presented sympathetically to a degree, but both are also very flawed. Stanley and his side are more overtly evil in appearance and methods, but are notionally striking a blow for freedom from the tyrannical mandates of the "royals"; whereas Ansom looks like a KnightInShiningArmor, but is a ruthless bigot under the surface. Charlie, the BigBad, is responsible for some of the worst deeds in the comic, but he is motivated by an understandable desire not to die. The mechanics of Erfworld are such that constant warfare is the norm, and morality plays second fiddle.* HappinessInSlavery: Part of the reasoning for Jillian's part of the MoreThanMindControl.* HazyFeelTurn** After his Decryption, Ansom [[strike:willingly]] switches alliances to side with Parson, whose earlier [[IShallTauntYou anti-royalty jibes]] he now accepts as truth. It's debatable how much of this is MindControl and how much is simply taking up another fanatical worldview after his earlier one fell apart.** After Stanley's gobwins and hobgobwins are Turned away from him he goes and recruits the Juggle Elves, a neutral faction shunned by the other sides who normally embrace elves. Though normally weak and implied to get by on minor raids since no one will hire them, they ''did'' get a lot of new recruits after three elf tribes abandoned the battle for Gobwin Knob when they [[KnowWhenToFoldEm saw how it was going to end]]. Not only that, but they then went and absorbed several other groups who were forced to fend for themselves by broke royal factions who could no longer afford their upkeep.* HeartIsAnAwesomePower:** It is in the hands of a Sociopathic ManipulativeBitch. There's a reason Olive Branch is far and away the scariest villain in canon.** Aptitude for finding things like this is part of why Parson is so terrifyingly effective as a warlord. Dirtamancy only good for construction and latrine duties? Construct traps and make crap golems for combat. He even had it done to himself once, learning that his mathamancy bracer can determine probabilities of future events.** "It's the little things which make a difference sometimes."* HeavyMetalUmlaut: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/97 GÖLEM]]* HeavyMithril: Stanley's [[ThePowerOfRock rocking out]] with the Arkenhammer sounds specifically like heavy stadium rock, and is used in a fantasy setting. Quoth the tool, "Course it was good. It was Titanic. Rock is the highest music there is."* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:Jillian, and then Wanda after Jillian snaps out of it, ''because'' Jillian snapped out of it]].* HeroicSacrifice** [[spoiler:Bogroll dies taking out Ansom]].** [[spoiler:Queen Bea of Unaroyal empties her side's treasury, disbands her entire side, and commits suicide to prevent Gobwin Knob from using most of Unaroyal's resources against her allies. It also overlaps with SenselessSacrifice, since Gobwin Knob ''had'' offered her the chance to simply ally with them and she rejected it for ideological reasons]].** Also [[spoiler:Cubbins]] who passes up ''two'' rides out of the falling Jenga Tower so he can [[spoiler:use the last bit of juice to attack ''all'' of Gobwin Knob's Archons. Cubbins didn't actually die in this sacrifice, ending up incapacitated under rubble. Since he's still in the garrison, this ends up buying enough time for Jetstone to declare an heir and shift the capital site so that Jetstone doesn't get completely destroyed or captured when Stanley's troops try to eliminate everyone in the garrison. Ace Hardware then pulls Cubbins from the rubble and uses a jetpack autopilot to get Cubbins to a healer thus making the sacrifice his own. Rather a senseless sacrifice as he failed to kill Parson and is now decrypted.]]* HeroWithBadPublicity:** Gobwin Knob is the side of the protagonists, and is the most hated faction in the entire world. This horrible reputation is mostly well deserved.** Duke Forecastle is seen as a joke by his side due to being their only landlubber warlord. He wins the loathing of Admiral Chequer and his entire crew due to his accidental taming of a double eagle, a type of bird seafarers fear and loathe. When he becomes captain of the last ship in a losing battle, he buys time to win with a tactical retreat instead of [[HonorBeforeReason continuing the suicidal]] battle he was ordered into. The fact that all of these things allow Forecastle to save Seaworld from otherwise certain destruction only makes the [[{{Pride}} Proud]] UngratefulBastard leadership of Seaworld hate him even more. They rewrite the story of what happened to make Admiral Chequer into the real hero who saved the side. They portray Duke Forecastle as TheFool and a DirtyCoward who caused the doom of the entire fleet and got Admiral Chequer croaked. They also start using his name as a FantasticSlur for the landlubber units they now have no choice but to use. Duke Forecastle only avoids court-martial and execution due to the fact that he had the good fortune to conquer a colony and devote it to his side.* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Charlie is only shown presenting avatars of himself in various Thinkagrams. His actual physical presence is never felt. However, when [[spoiler:GK's last surviving Archon]] is taken to Charlescomm, he finally does appear in person [[spoiler:as a crippled, obese adult version of Charlie Brown, unable to so much as move his hands without assistance. Lilith says that no one who sees him could ever love him, though that doesn't stop the likes of Tondelayo.]]* HiddenDepths:** Wanda appears to be completely ruthless and singleminded in her pursuit of power, and she's not above a good EvilLaugh, but at times she displays hints of sadness at all the destruction she has caused, and on some level she has genuine affection for Jillian.** Virtually every named character displays HiddenDepths.** Subverted by Anson. Jack notes that he was a boring individual despite probably being a competent commander because he never said anything he didn't mean and he never did anything that couldn't be explained in a single sentence. [[spoiler:This only changes when he starts having an identity crisis about whether or not he "already gone".]]* HiddenElfVillage: Faq.* HitAndRunTactics: Parson directs a strike force in a strategy of destroying enemy siege units and then breaking off the engagement. This means that his side technically "loses" each battle, but deprives the enemy of a key resource they'll need to win the war.* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Anchorbar discovers how to make a type of seamonster friendly to their ships and uses them to sink the otherwise superior Seaworld forces. Duke Forecastle eventually learns how to turn Anchorbar's seamonsters right back on them.* HoldYourHippogriffs: "Titans-disbanded" (goddamned), "croak time" (kill time), etc.* HollywoodTactics: Parson attempts initially to avert this, but is frustrated by the constraints of Erfworld's rules. When he becomes more familiar with the rules, he becomes quite adapt at using (and exploiting) them.* HumansAreCthulhu: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/21 Ansom, at least, thinks that Parson's genius is unsettling]]. [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/14 Stanley is disturbed that Parson can actually ''disobey'' him sometimes (something that the rules of Erfworld shouldn't allow)]]. [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/8 And Maggie and Sizemore are completely shocked that Parson comes from a reality where time isn't relative]]. Parson looks very different from the average Erfworld "human", thinks on an entirely different level, and hails from a different dimension with radically different rules that govern reality. To the people of Erfworld he's pretty much [[Creator/HPLovecraft Nyarlathotep]]. And now that he's breaking the law of Boop left and right, who knows what he's going to do ''next''? See also {{Quotes.Erfworld}}. He also bleeds and gets tired from "redeploying" in the same hex. Erfworld people don't get tired from moving around unless they leave a hex.* HumansThroughAlienEyes:** A very strange example, in that Erfworlders aren't actually reacting to anything in our world. But - specifically in the text updates - they will describe things in decent amount of detail, and then there will be a picture of the scene at the bottom of the page, showing that what was described actually looks almost ''exactly'' like something from Earth. Just one example; a drugged Jillian describes a perverted Shockamancer as a "little daemon-like creature". He then mounts a Gwiffon, and she sees the two shapes merge into one bigger version of the Shockamancer. He fights the BigBad, described as a lizard-flower hybrid, using a jagged light attack of some kind, while shouting "Peeeep at... you!". Later, at the very bottom of the page, there is a picture of this scene, depicted as [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} a Pikachu launching a thunderbolt at a Venusaur]].** Also shows up in the post-Book 1 summer updates to an extent. Parson, in his interactions with the Casters, describes things from his world that don't exist in Erfworld, such as constant universal flow of time, and the concept of planets. They have a hard time wrapping their heads around what he describes.* HypercompetentSidekick: Wanda and Parson to [[PointyHairedBoss Stanley]].[[/folder]][[folder: Tropes J to Q]]* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: Parson's dealings with Charlie often take this form.* ImageSong: Stanley, "[[http://thefump.com/fump.php?id=107 Quest for the Arkentools]]"* IncrediblyLamePun: Yes, there is such a thing as a pun too lame for Erfworld. [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/193 "The doll's in your court now!"]]* InformedAbility:** Ansom's portrayed as a KnightInShiningArmor, leading a fractious coalition to deal decisively with a hated common foe. But for all his reputation as a legendary warlord, his plans for the war at large betray a severe "lack of tactical imagination" (according to Ossomer). Part of this may be his status as an UnreliableNarrator regarding his own tactical genius.** It should be noted here that Ossomer believed Ansom was unimaginative for bringing infantry and siege to fight Jetstone as they predicted. But...--->'''Ossomer:''' You made it easy! Bringing your usual siege-heavy infantry assault? Come now, Ansom. Someday you must develop some tactical imagination!\\'''Ansom:''' [[IAmNotLeftHanded Dispel the veil]].** Also, for his post-decryption performance, it's implied at several points that Decrypted leaders are less flexible than they were before due to the ironclad obsession that has been imposed on them -- several of Ansom's larger big-picture mistakes come from his fanatical devotion to Toolism (refusing to seek allies, parlaying with Queen Bea, etc.)* InItsHourOfNeed: Defied with Don King and Slately. [[spoiler:Slately begs Don to "lend" him the money he needs to designate Tramennis heir and thus keep Slately's side alive if the city falls, but Don's poor fiscal policies in the past cause his leadership to band together and prevent Don from doing so]].* IShallTauntYou:** Parson's needling Thinkagram to Ansom.** Not to mention the filthy songs the troops sing around the campfire at night.** The scary part? [[spoiler:Ansom ''now agrees with Parson.'']]** [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/27 "Me, I'm just talking."]]** [[spoiler:Decrypted Ossomer]] attempts this to the Chief Warlord of Faq, but inexperience (plus his lack of conviction for what he's saying) combined with the Warlord having no regard for Royalty one way or the other means he makes a complete mess of it.* IronicHell: According to the Book of Canon, a religious scripture written by the Titans themselves, those who do something exceptionally wrong, betray their side, or willfully shirk their duty end up in a place of infinite wrongness, where everything clashes against who you are and what you want.* ISurrenderSuckers: Parson pulls this twice, [[spoiler:first to jump Ansom with a veiled Bogroll and second when he plays along with Jetstone's negotiation demands to get his counter attack into position.]]* ItGetsEasier: Parson's command decisions.* ItHasBeenAnHonor: Antium delivers this line [[spoiler:to Parson after they are all trapped in the city of Spacerock as it burns. Parson isn't having any of it, however.]]-->"Don't start that shit. [[{{Determinator}} I'm not done here. I'm not.]]"* JerkAss: Stanley, although he's showing signs of gradually [[CharacterDevelopment developing]] into a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, or at least a JerkAss-with-occasional-PetTheDog-moments.* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: [[spoiler:Wanda, after attuning to the Arkenpliers. Even ''[[JerkAss Stanley]]'' is starting to feel disturbed about how cruel she's become]].* KamehameHadoken: The "Hoboken" spell, which all casters know from the moment they're popped.* KangarooCourt: [[spoiler:Gobwin Knob fights a battle in the portal park and lose to the barbarian casters of the Magic Kingdom. Wanda is captured and then put on trial. But ultimately, no one actually cares whether or not Wanda is technically guilty of anything. The faction that is using Gobwin Knob for their own agenda attempts to preserve her life. The rest of the Magic Kingdom is either in Charlie's pocket or views Wanda as a monster and Gobwin Knob as a world ending threat. Janis eventually concludes that the entire trial is a lost cause and entirely procedural.]]* KeystoneArmy: This trope is enforced on every army in Erfworld, with the ruler as the keystone. If a side's ruler has no heir, and that ruler croaks, the ''entire side'' is immediately eliminated, no matter what. Field units are disbanded, city units are frozen in time. A side that does have an heir simply has a backup keystone.* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Bogroll and Misty]]. Interestingly, both subverted the ForgottenFallenFriend trope.* KillerGameMaster: The Battle of Gobwin Knob mirrors the game Parson had set up for his friends, which he admits was designed to be unwinnable - unlike most killer [=GMs=], however, he was actually ''hoping'' they'd find a way to break the system and surprise him.* KillItWithFire: Erfworld's rules governing fire [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/189 have now been explained]], such as how one can essentially capture a city space by burning it and everyone in it to the ground.* KingOfAllCosmos: The world was made by Elvis impersonators, two of whom look suspiciously like the comic's creators.* KnightInShiningArmor (deconstructed): Ansom looks like one of these, he cares deeply about the troops under his command, and [[BigDamnHeroes he can swoop in at just the nick of time to rescue Jillian]]. Then we get to see his main reason for trying to slaughter Stanley and the Plaid Tribe: Stanley's not a Royal. [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/101 Ansom does not like non-Royals taking charge]].* KnightTemplar: Betsy the Healomancer so abhors Jillian's nature as a Warlord that she {{Mind Rape}}s Jillian in an attempt to change her basic personality.* LandPoor: The overview of [=CharlesComm=] provided between Books 1 and 2 hints at this. Charlie apparently generates only archons (meaning no "commoners" or noncombatants); thus his lands produce no crops, resources, or trade goods. Archons aren't cheap to maintain, so Charlie needs a constant influx of money to keep them alive, fed and healthy. His choice of profession may say as much about the world climate as about him.* LastSecondChance:** Thinking that Wanda is under a loyalty spell, Jillian tries to salvage their relationship. Wanda, in no uncertain terms, [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book+1/105 shows that she is not under a loyalty spell]].** After [[spoiler:being Decrypted, Ansom]] offers each opponent a chance to ally rather than be conquered, apparently out of zealous belief that [[spoiler:attunement to an Arkentool represent the true mandate of the Titans]]. To be fair to him, this is also what Parson wants due to the fact they are severely outnumbered without allies. As of the developments at Spacerock, Parson is putting a bigger emphasis on getting help.* LeetLingo: Orlies.-->'''Orly:''' ''[[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/9 ORLY?]]''\\\\'''Orly:''' ''[being roasted by dwagon]'' ''[[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/12 OMGWTFBBQ!]]''\\\\'''Tramennis:''' Now here is my battle plan. If you don't care for it, then you can find another Chief Warlord.\\''[beat]''\\'''Orly:''' ''[during beat panel] [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/122 OSNAP!]]''* LesYay: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/30 Wanda and Jillian]] [[invoked]]* LettingHerHairDown: Wanda.* LightIsNotGood:** Ansom isn't quite this trope because although his desire to exterminate Stanley is less than sympathetic, he still cares for the people under him and respects his equals. Charlie on the other hand surrounds himself with glowing blue ladies that are the closest thing to angels in the setting that we've seen, and he's an unrepentant opportunistic mercenary who's officially in the business of solving problems for his clients, but secretly creates more problems down the line to make more money.** Charlie's Rule #3: We are in the business of solving problems for our clients. Corollary: Creating problems for our clients creates business.** Also [[spoiler:Olive Branch]] in Book 0. It's not too surprising [[spoiler:that she is Charlie's daughter.]]* LightNovel: Whether by accident or design, the text updates are in this format.* LockAndLoadMontage: Parson. See [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/106 this page]].* LoopholeAbuse: Erfworld is an RPGMechanicsverse. Erfworlders, the native residents of this world, are oblivious to them, but an enterprising {{Munchkin}} ([[HumansAreCthulhu like a human]]) can exploit all sorts of oversights in Erfworld's rules, just like in a real game.** Carnymancy is the ''magic'' of loophole abuse. Among other things, it can TakeAThirdOption as far as prophecies are concerned, allowing Fate to resolve its karmic debts in a more harmless fashion. If you trust the Carnymancer, that is.** A side's units cannot cross city zones in a non-allied city unless it is their turn. The only known exception is for a unit mounted on a flying unit to jump off or for their mount to be croaked, which results in a fall likely to injure or croak said unit no matter how close to the ground they already were. [[spoiler:Parson discovers that Heavy units cannot ride mounts, but certain units that can be promoted to Heavy ''can''. If you promote a unit riding a flying unit to Heavy, the flying unit safely drops to the ground. He is able to use this to make Gobwin Knob's Hobgobwin units land safely with their dwagons]].** Only casters can enter the Magic Kingdom. This is enforced by the portals used to enter the Magic Kingdom. There might be an exception for some small animals, but any other non-caster unit that enters one of these portals is destroyed on contact. [[spoiler:An object doesn't count as a unit, and a dead body counts as an object. Parson uses this to smuggle in an entire army by decrypting a bunch of corpses once on the other side of the portal]].** Wanda is oddly eager to croak and decrypyt Jack, something Parson and Stanley consider to be an attempt to expand her power. [[spoiler:Many turns ago, Jack, Jillian and Wanda signed a confidentiality contract with Charlie. The information is crucial, but so long as they live they are unable to speak of it. Once Jack accidentally gets himself croaked, she raises him and the agreement is no longer binding.]]* LoveDodecahedron: Alright, let's see; Jack is [[AllLoveIsUnrequited in love]] with Jillian (Jack and Jillian, heh), who is in love with Wanda -- and with Ansom, who used to be in love with Jillian but is now in love with Wanda but might still have feelings for Jillian, and was also best friends with Vinny who became Jillian's lover after Ansom died, and may be in love with her.* LuckManipulationMechanic: The nature of Luckamancy, which allows "boosting" one or more units. Luckamancer Clay compares it to being able to ensure a die will always roll the highest possible number. It operates on EquivalentExchange however, meaning that Luckamancers typically only use it for important engagements at the expense of less important ones, preferably with the help of a Predictamancer or Mathamancer. This mechanic is also used by Fate in order to enforce its prophecies.* LuckyBastard:** Ansom got dramatically lucky at several points before he was defeated.** Stanley was also one of these in the backstory. [[spoiler:His invasion of Faq would have failed if he hadn't discovered dozens of wild dwagons to tame nearby]]. He takes it as a sign of divine providence. He may be right: Parson suspects that Erfworld cheats in order to force people to think outside the box in order to win.* MacGuffin: The Arkentools. There are at least four: Arkenhammer, Arkenpliers, the Arkendish, and the Arkenshoes.* MageTower: A standard feature of cities. They offer a spellcasting bonus to any caster that resides within. The bigger the tower, the bigger the bonus.* MagicAIsMagicA* MagicallyBindingContract: Signamancy can create these. It is capable of judging adherence to a contract. While ordinary Signamancy spells do not seem able to magically compel a unit to obey ''all'' of a contract's terms, it ''can'' inflict penalties for breach of contract, such as by forcibly transferring cities, schmuckers, and even units. And when combined with the right disciplines via caster links, it ''can'' enforce contracts by other means.* MagicDance: Dance-Fighting is a special ability certain units have that gives them a bonus in combat. So far we've seen Caesar lead his Transylvito forces in a song-and-dance number straight out of ''Theatre/WestSideStory'', Wanda leading a horde of uncroaked in a giant [[Music/MichaelJackson Thriller]] dance, and Charlie's Archons setting up a spell that allowed Ansom and his forces to play VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution. There's also the ostensibly more powerful "Rocking Out", practiced by Haggar's forces (all of whom can, at least, headbang) and Stanley's elite hobgobwin knights, the [[FunWithAcronyms Knights In Stanley's Service]]. There is also reference to a [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/146 "Safety Dance"]].* MaleGaze: Happens frequently around Wanda.** And Prince Ansom's royal kiester makes it into the frame everytime he mounts or dismounts.* MaliciousSlander* MassOhCrap: [[spoiler:Everyone around Parson is shocked to discover he switched sides to join Charlescomm. Decrypted units look betrayed, Jack immediatly requests Parson to come back to Gobwin Knob, and Marie drops her accent and threatens to shoot him on the spot, pointing out that Wanda could decrypt him.]]* MauveShirt: [[spoiler:Misty, Jaclyn, Webinar and Dora]]* MedievalStasis: Erfworld's magic and culture have remained largely the same since Erfworld's creation thanks to CreativeSterility and various limitations InherentInTheSystem. Those rare people who ''do'' risk threatening the status quo, such as King Posbrake, tend to be accused by the Royals of heresy and end up being quashed by them. A conspiracy in the Magic Kingdom aims to change this by summoning a warlord ''so'' powerful, that said system will collapse under the strain. [[spoiler:Also, Charlie has had some success developing technology with clever use of Thinkamancy links. His capital boasts anti-air artillery among its defenses, and modern guns wielded by his Archons]].* MenCantKeepHouse: The apartment Parson Gotti lived in prior to his summoning was, by his own description, a complete mess.-->'''Parson:''' This place is a hole. A ''condemned'' hole. For squatter hobbits.* {{Metaphorgotten}}: Prince Tramennis gives us this:-->'''Tramennis:''' You seem bent on spending your last moments in this world with your thumbs jammed into the thumbscrews of guilt, and turning them as hard as you can...which is impossible, I realize...but that analogy had a lot more promise when I started this sentence, and it seemed likely to end with a witty bon mot about screwing yourself. That didn't work out, did it? Nothing has, today.* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: Inverted. A unit's natural signamancy reflects their inner nature. Slately, who never fights, slowly changed into a portly, short, balding monarch. Wanda goes from MsFanservice to an emaciated husk under Olive Branch's command and recovers after being removed from her service.* MindRape: [[spoiler:What Charlie and Betsy do to Jillian in order to cure her from her flower addiction. The thing is, they also have other goals in mind...]]* MisappliedPhlebotinum: One of the easiest ways to annoy your casters is to make them do simple boring jobs below their level of ability or contrary to how they actually want to use their craft. [[spoiler:Ace Hardware]] loves working for [[spoiler:Gobwin Knob]] because he can do more than make boring golems like his predecessor. Digdoug in the backer stories was wasted throughout most of his career just building rock golems, but Homekey put him to good use upgrading their cities and allowed them to make use of strategies complete unheard of in Erfworld. Dirtamancers in general don't seem to be valued the way they should be, really.* MissingStepsPlan: A rare justified variant. Wanda admits she doesn't know what the missing step is but also firmly believes YouCantFightFate so she is going through with the plan anyway.* MissionFromGod: Stanley believes himself to be favored by the Titans, evidenced by his attunement to the Arkenhammer; Ansom believes that royal rulership is part of the proper order of things as established by the Titans. The very first comic page shows both are wrong, and the Titan's plan went off the rails before the siege even began.* MoodWhiplash: Several. One notable instance [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/136 here]]. Everyone is gearing up for a vicious conflict, perhaps even a [[spoiler:regicide]], but...it [[TearJerker doesn't work out like that]].* MookCommander: Because its fantasy setting is based on Strategy Games, commander units have a Leadership special that bolsters nearby allies. Normal Erfworld strategy is just to pile up as many of these bonuses as possible. For example, stacking Wanda's Decryption bonus on top of warlord bonuses and so on theoretically makes Ansom strong enough to take a moderately defended city single handed.* MoralityPet: Jack serves this role for Wanda, since he's a constant reminder of her betrayal of Faq. Were it not for this, she probably would have killed and decrypted him already.* MoreThanMindControl** At the beginning of book one, Wanda has a level of subtle control over Jillian. She can't make her do anything she really wants to do and the moment the control becomes too overt, it breaks.** Decryption in addition to bringing back a croaked unit under Wanda's control also seems to modify the unit's Loyalty, both by making them worshipful of Wanda and by modifying their personality. Parson's taunts to Ansom about the will of the Titans and the Arkentools got to him on some level, for example, making him a strong believer in the cause even as he detests Wanda's methods. Sylvia was popped as a Stabber before becoming a Warlord and thus her personality was naturally inclined to link violence with fulfillment. Wanda and Parson certainly gave her ''that'' opportunity. Ace is extremely pleased to work with Gobwin Knob because the side respects him more, uses his talents more and allows him to experiment and play around. Presumably, it goes like this for most of the units decrypted. When it's not enough, you might end up [[spoiler:having the unit turn back, like with Ossomer's disgust for Gobwin Knob's lack of honor and indifference to the ideas of toolism.]]* MsFanservice: Wanda, again. Openly acknowledged in this [[FetishFuel ...spectacular]] piece of [[http://web.archive.org/web/20101229070552/http://www.erfworld.com/2010/12/merry-christmas/ bonus art]] from Xin. Merry Christmas indeed.-->'''Xin:''' I made you a Wanda and was successful in not eating her. Enjoy!* {{Munchkin}}: Parson, more or less. He spends his free time trying to find loopholes within the very laws of physics themselves. The campaign he himself made for his friends was pretty much designed so that only a Munchkin would have been able to win.* MundaneUtility:** [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/103 Parson can now climb stairs more easily]]. (Note that that page is spoiler-y.)** Also Dirtamancy is the magic of Mundane Utility. Key abilities include building and upgrading cities faster and cheaper and producing units from common materials. Sizemore is a "filthy rich rock star" in the Magic Kingdom solely because he can quickly and effortlessly build structures and roads.** The Arkenhammer is a good weapon to use in dance fighting. It can also be used for just having a rock concert given that it provides ALL [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/14 the instruments to a band]]. One can see Stanley as a traveling musician if it wasn't for his bigger plans.* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Parson's reaction to the aftermath of his final plan for Gobwin Knob's victory. It leads to a RageAgainstTheHeavens and a TenMinuteRetirement.* MySecretPregnancy: Parson refrains from a joke about this to Janis; after all, he had just explained pregnancy to her.* MysteryCult: All the different spellcasting disciplines keep secrets, but the Great Minds that Think Alike fit the trope best. They keep their knowledge esoteric and deliberately encourage misconceptions among those outside their group. They also have many occult practices that are reserved from even lesser Thinkamancers.* TheNapoleon: Stanley is rather short, and sensitive about it: he threatened to ''croak'' Parson if he mentioned it again after the first time, even though from Parson's perspective, ''everyone's'' short.* NeverSayDie: Parodied; the word "croak" is used instead. Only a tiny number of Erfworlders have ever used non-euphemisms. As is later revealed, Erfworld units are instinctively aware of what the word "kill" means, but it isn't a normal part of their vocabulary and they find the word vulgar if they hear it spoken by one of the few people that do use it.* NewEraSpeech: Parson delivers one of these to Ansom early on, although he doesn't really believe any of it and is mostly just trying to get Ansom off his game.* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Parson speaks to one of the three spellcasters, known as "Misty" before she lost her individuality, that Stanley has mindlinked to monitor the battle, and uses her advice to plan an assault on Ansom. [[spoiler:He later learns that treating linked casters as individuals damages the link and that caster. When Stanley orders the link broken in disgust when the assault fails, Misty dies]].* NoBodyLeftBehind:** A rare non-video-game usage. Dead bodies disappear at the end of the day, unless they have been [[AnimateDead uncroaked]] or Decrypted.** This rule can be bent by moving the body across hexes, which delays the decay.* NobodyPoops: Averted. One function of a dirtamancer is turning crap into crap golems.* NonAnswer: Parson has Maggie, Ace, and Sizemore use a caster link to upgrade the tower into a golem. The result is a giant [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moai Moai]] statue. Parson's StatOVision glasses describe the tower in archetypal words, and when he asks them what it can do, they just tell him it can "be", doing little to explain its practical implications.* TheNothingAfterDeath: According to the Book of Canon, most Erfworlders, who haven't done exceptionally well or poorly, will "rejoin with the spirit of the world" or "go back into the box" when they croak. Most Erfworlders interpret this to mean their identity and sense of self will dissolve, possibly into eternal bliss.* NotSoOmniscientAfterAll:** The Great Minds that Think Alike certainly enjoy ''believing'' that they know everything relevant that goes on in the Magic Kingdom, but they were [[OhCrap not]] prepared for [[spoiler:[[CrazyAwesome Jack]] [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/151 poking his head out of the portal behind them]].]]** [[spoiler:They also aren't aware that one of their own is apparently in Charlie's influence.]]* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: Or rather, it is. More precisely, it's dropping from whatever counts as airspace to whatever counts as solid ground without first landing appropriately. Even hopping off your flying mount, a scant few inches above the ground, may hurt, incapacitate, or outright kill you.* ObfuscatingStupidity: Tramennis is highly intelligent and insightful, but tends to act like a shallow ditz during parleys.** Also, in the Lord Crush side-story, [[spoiler:Axe is a lot smarter than he seems, although it's unclear whether he's hiding it deliberately.]]* ObviouslyEvil: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. Stanley's side has [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/32 "all the classic evil creatures"]], and the antagonist sides tend to have classic good creatures and designs, but the actual motivations and morality followed by the various sides are...[[GreyAndGrayMorality hazy at best]]. Certainly LightIsNotGood and DarkIsNotEvil, at least not necessarily.* OddNameOut: A stack of archers popped in Jetstone ([[NominalImportance the Sagittari CXIV stack]]). Their names were Mary, Carrie, Terry, Jerry, Perry, Harry, Gary, and Rudolfo Sagittari (meaning archer in Latin).* OhCrap:** [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/118 Tramennis's expression]] as he realizes that [[spoiler:the enemy's force has air-dropped ''itself'' into his garrison]].** Jillian seeing Sammy killed because she distracted him. [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/75 Her eyes have a distinct look of horror.]]** [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/157 Wanda realizing Decrypted can turn.]]** Maggie [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/175 has an understated one]] when [[spoiler:Parson admits to her that he doesn't ''have'' a genius plan to save the day and she actually completely screwed up by forcing Stanley to designate him Chief Warlord again]]. She's literally struck dumb and simply can't believe that [[spoiler:Parson doesn't have a plan]].--->'''Maggie:''' Oh dear.** Of all people, [[spoiler:Charlie]] utters a ''"Oh. That's not good"'' during the battle for Castle Lilith when he realizes that [[spoiler:Wanda entered her thinkspace and is eager to kick his ass out of her decrypted unit]].* OhMyGods: "Titans' testes!"* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[spoiler:When aloof and detached Marie drops her creole accent and threatens to shoot you and coldly add that they can decrypt you, you know that things got very serious.]]* OrcusOnHisThrone:** Due to in-universe mechanics, averted with Warlords, but ''enforced'' for all Rulers, who have to send their Warlords to do all their work for them. Stanley, for example, is the in-universe BigBad. The aforementioned mechanics are that every single side is a KeystoneArmy, with the Ruler as the keystone. As a Ruler, Stanley can't risk leaving his capital to fight in battles; everyone would be gunning for him, and if he croaks, it's game over. Unusually enough for this trope, ''he doesn't like this''. He started out as a common infantry unit, and he ''misses'' taking part in battles and is resenting that Wanda is doing all the work and getting all the glory for him.** Furtheremore, there's Jillian, who used to be a Princess, then a Barbarian, and is now a Ruler of her own side. She's a sword-swinging BloodKnight, and to her, her babarian days were the best for her. Even though she's now the Ruler of her own side, she hasn't given up her fighting ways--she's still out raiding, and is buzzing several of Gobwin Knob's cities. Parson is too busy with the Battle of Spacerock to do anything about it, but he's made it clear that as soon as the battle's over, he's going to put ''all'' his focus on taking her out. He even told Maggie that if he doesn't make it, tell his replacement to do just that.** Lastly, we have the ruler Slately for the Jetstone side. Once the crap hits the fan for Jetstone and Gobwin Knob forces enter the city, Tramennis says, in explicit terms, that Slately is now their single point of failure and their highest priority is ''getting him away from the battle.'' This is then subverted when [[spoiler:Slately decides that Tramennis should be promoted to heir. When that occurs, then Tramennis should flee to the old capital where he will set up a last stand. Slately would stay behind to buy some time. Slately then has his Hat Magician and his Dollamancer make him the best war gear that they could. He then prepared to earn the money he need for his son's promotion by destroying the archons and getting paid by Charlie. If that didn't work, he was going to make a last stand with his men]].* OurMonstersAreDifferent: Boy howdy!* OurDemonsAreDifferent:** "Daemons" are a tribe of natural ally. There have been few references to them so far, but the things that have shown up appear to be references to ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''.** An alternate spelling, "demon", is occasionally used by Erfworlders to refer to some of their deadliest most hated enemies, especially [[TheDreaded Wanda]]. Wanda in particular has been represented as a demon in the WorldOfSymbolism that is [[MentalWorld Thinkspace]].* [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Our Dwagons Are Different]]: Dwagons look like plush toys, and are colored [[SuperSentai blue, brown, green, yellow, purple, red, and pink]]. With [[BreathWeapon breath weapons]] ranging from fire to taffy, disregarding the yellows' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin caustic battlecrap]]. Their scales are ceramic.* OurElvesAreBetter: Parodied. So far, we've seen more than twenty, rather specific, types: Altruist, Eager, Lofty, Luckless, Schlemiel, Shady, Superfluous, Tardy, Woodsy, High, and Bawdy Elves. The Eager Elves, for example, are all [[CaptainErsatz recoloured]] [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Links]], and High Elves use "natural Hippiemancy, mostly Flower Power", which apparently causes them to act like a Creator/CheechAndChong routine. Book 3 adds [[Music/InsaneClownPosse Juggle Elves,]] a faction that has few of its own members but accepts all converts who follow their code. The other types of elves allied with Jetstone and the other Royal forces flocked to their banner for survival after the various sides could no longer afford their upkeep.* OurGiantsAreBigger: Western Giants are based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Giants baseball players]], even with a reference to steroid use.* [[OurGryphonsAreDifferent Our Gwiffons Are Different]]: And look like marshmallow peeps. Which sounds cute, until their front splits open into a terrible gummy maw. They eat marrow, horns, and hooves[[note]]ingredients for gelatin[[/note]].* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Vinny Doombats and the other warlords of Transylvito. They're a combination of vampire, Italian, and 50s Greaser stereotypes. Vinny on occasion acts a lot like [[Series/HappyDays The Fonz]].* OutOfFocus: Since his side is only peripherally involved in the fight at hand, Vinny nearly disappears completely for the second book, despite being a major supporting character in book one. He does return in Book three, but since he's been reassigned as ambassador to Faq, he's still not as prominent as in book one.* OutsideContextProblem: From the perspective of his enemies, at least, Parson fits this trope to a tee for all the same reasons he fits HumansAreCthulhu above. He comes out of nowhere to fight for a side that shouldn't have had any great (or even good) strategists left, and yet consistently invents strategies and tactics that are almost literally unthinkable to any unit popped in context of Erf* PerpetualMotionMonster: Normally a unit costs money to keep (upkeep) that is represented as a ration of food popping at the start of a turn. Decrypted have zero upkeep, which basically makes them not need to eat (though it's not been shown if rations of some sort still pop for them).* ThePeterPrinciple: Stanley is an excellent front-line fighter and squad leader. This got him promoted to directing strategy for his whole side, which he was [[TheStarscream not so good]] at. Then he became Overlord and was even ''worse'' at that.* PetTheDog:** Stanley may be a bit of a JerkAss, but after Jack manages to save his life (and a fair number of their dwagons) he does seem genuinely grateful and makes a concerted effort to remember Jack's name thereafter.** When his side falls, Digdoug is saved by Dove Barstool, who also heals him up and takes care of his initial upkeep.* PlayingBothSides: Wanda has been playing both sides for a chance to [[spoiler:get her hands on the Arkenpliers]].* PietaPlagiarism:** Parson and [[spoiler:Misty the Lookamancer]].** Also, [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/139 Sizemore]] and the [[spoiler:self-destructing]] Crap Golem - God and Adam, anyone? Inverted as Sizemore is the "Adam".* PillarOfLight: The massive attack Wanda unleashes on Jillian's incursion group.* PlotArmor: Has an InUniverse explanation. There are certain units that Fate doesn't want croaked until a prophecy is fulfilled. And it will use Carnymancy to ensure they survive by rigging the game, albeit at the expense of other units. According to Wanda, it ''is'' possible with enough effort to croak a Fated unit, but this will result in Fate replacing them with something worse, which is why certain antagonists have avoided croaking such adversaries.** Jillian fights with reckless disregard for the odds and has gotten her entire company save herself killed on at least one occasion. Nevertheless, Jillian herself always survives to stir up trouble, since she plays the role of Fate's WildCard.** When several members of Faq were trying to croak Olive Branch, Wanda assured them that though hitting Olive would be unlikely under normal circumstances, they would succeed because Fate wants them to. But when they try to target Olive, Marie's Predictamancy indicates that there is zero chance of hitting her, because Fate doesn't want her to croak in this way and is intervening to protect her. However, Fate does allow them to hit Olive's flying broomstick, allowing them to capture her and put her on trial first.** Stanley can tame wild dwagons using the Arkenhammer. Under normal circumstances, he can only find an average of one dwagon every two or three turns when he goes hunting. Stanley ''should'' have been croaked when he tried to conquer Faq, because he didn't start out with nearly enough units to defeat them. He didn't, and in fact won, because dozens of feral dwagons ''just happened'' to appear in his path to tame.** At one point, Ansom has Wanda at his mercy. But a few strange words from her are enough to rattle him, causing him to hold long enough for Sizemore to rescue her.** Sylvia is absolutely assured that the Titans insure her side's inevitable victory. [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/145 Three]] [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/147 perfect headshots]] from the archer blocked by utterly improbable coincidence later, and you've got to wonder if she might be onto something... [[spoiler:She is. A carnymancer named Jojo rigged the game in her favor. In a similiar way to a luckamancer, others around her suffer misfortune while she stays safe. It can't protect in every situation, though.]]** [[spoiler:When Parson is trapped in an inferno and about to die, he yields to Charlie and attempts to use a scroll that would have sent him back home. Fate intervenes by causing a burning beam to fall on his head, knocking him out. And a rescue just so happens to be arranged at the last minute, thanks to an awkward troll finally gaining the courage to speak with and persuade his ruler.]]* PointyHairedBoss: Stanley; a perfect case of [[http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Peter_Principle.html The Peter Principle]].* PoorCommunicationKills:** A minor case occurs during the Battle for Gobwin Knob, in that Wanda doesn't tell Parson about all the scrolls she has cached up because she underestimated him and [[YouDidntAsk he didn't ask]]. Far more egregious examples occur during the fight for Jetstone, because Parson forgets to give Ossomer any orders, everyone ''overestimates'' Parson and everyone misunderstands his plans.** Charlie also suffers from this when [[spoiler:his connection to the Arkendish is weakened. He launches an operation to croak Parson, ordering his archons to set up machine guns and croak or capture him if and when he comes through his portal. But then, Fate just so happens to land Parson in his hands, when Parson ends up offering himself up as payment for a contract violation. Charlie orders Parson to go through his portal to join his side. But his order to the archons in the portal room to stand down is received too late, causing his archons to fire upon Parson and croaking {{Innocent Bystander}}s in the Magic Kingdom in the cross fire.]]* PortalCut: Happens to Jack [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/157 here]]. Fortunately, it was just an illusion he set up to freak everyone out.* PortalNetwork: The portals in Portal Park of the Magic Kingdom qualify as this, though they are rarely used that way since Erf is constantly at war and it is against convention to weaponize them.* PowerPerversionPotential:** Commanders issue commands to their troops, and ''all'' commands must be obeyed. Including, as Parson so ''[[SarcasmMode elegantly]]'' put it: "I could just like, order an Archon to take off her clothes and drop to her knees. And she'd do it, right?". Fortunately, Parson considers this abhorrent, but unfortunately, he is not the norm. "What an utterly alien thing to think."** Everyone gets healed and cleaned, fully, with no marks, at dawn if they weren't croaked - BDSM fans would have free rein to do almost ''anything''. Wanda [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/30 shows]] [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/36 us]] [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/39 how]].** In a StartOfDarkness text update, Wanda is in a city where an enemy Hippiemancer used her flower power to make it impossible for anyone to attack one another, however the enemy soldiers are free to try and grope Wanda (free loving is allowed), which Wanda can't defend herself against since she can't attack them. She solves that problem by ordering her rotting uncroaked soldiers to similarly molest anyone who tries it.* ThePowerOfRock:** The entire concept of dance-fighting. Also, the '''K'''nights '''I'''n '''S'''tanley's '''S'''ervice.** "[[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/123 How do I love it? I love it... LOUD!]]"** No, Rocking Out is ''not'' Dance-Fighting. "Rocking Out is ''better'' than Dance Fighting."* PowerWalk: Parson, [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/106 suited up for battle]] in Book 2. Even makes that goofy demon hamster helm look badass.* PrecisionFStrike: [[spoiler:[[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/163 The first time Parson's obscenity is readable]].]]* PrivateMilitaryContractors: [=CharlesComm=] operates as a multi-purpose mercenary/consultancy outfit and communications network, the latter of which would be significant ''if'' people in this setting went beyond the {{gunboat|Diplomacy}} variety of diplomacy or had peacetime occupations. The latter is significant anyway; the Decrypted Archons told Parson that the telecommunications part of Charlescomm service probably provided more income than the mercenary part.* ProperlyParanoid: After all the underhanded schemes Parson did (attacking while surrendering, attacking during a parley, violating the neutrality of the Magic Kingdom), many Sides refuse to negotiate with his Side, considering them underhanded. They're right. When asking a decrypted Ansom if Parson ordered him to assassinate Tremmannis during their negotiation, Ansom replied that it was considered, but admitted that he would probably only get a Dittomancied clone. It's heavily implied Ansom was talking to said clone.* ProphecyTwist: Predictamancy seems to be based more on peering into the Titan's great plan than literally predicting the future. Fated events are inevitable short of a [[ScrewDestiny Carnymancer's interference]], since the world will arrange events to prevent or even punish attempts to defy Fate, but the way they can occur tends to be optional.* PstandardPsychicPstance: Thinkamancers when they're sending or receiving thinkagrams.* PunctuatedForEmphasis: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/144 "Royalty. Is. Obsolete". I think not]].* PunnyName:** Every Erfworld native and race has a name that is a pun. Some are more obvious than others. Prince Ansom is quite handsome, and Prince Ossomer better be awesomer than Ansom if he wants to beat his brother, but his brother Tramennis is hardly tremendous compared to him. And while Wanda Firebaugh hasn't been seen with a wand of fireball yet, Jillian Zamussels' jillions of muscles help her wield that {{BFS}} against the minions of our Protagonist, [[SignificantAnagram Parson Gotti]].** Adderall (add them all) Hawk, a Mathamancer in Faq is a good one. Even his shortened name counts, since it reduces to Add Hawk (Ad Hoc, a largely unstructured form of analysis).* PuppetKing: Normally, this is near impossible to manage (unless of course, the Ruler willingly goes along for whatever reason), thanks to the rules of Erfworld forcing units to obey and have some degree of loyalty to their rulers. But [[spoiler:there has been a terrifying exception. The Chief Hippiemancer of Haffaton made her ruler into a [[FantasticDrug flower addicted]] puppet and imprisoned her in one of her own cities]].* PurelyAestheticGender: A unit's gender affects their appearance, their personality, and their ability to sleep with someone. But for the most part, it doesn't seem to have any significant bearing on any of Erfworld's mechanics. There does however seem to be one exception. Units can be popped in cities, and any commanders popped in the capital will function as the "children" of the ruler, inheriting some of their Signamancy. While sharing a bed with a unit of the opposite sex is not at all required to create them, it should be noted that Jillian's son seems to have inherited traits and even special abilities from the man she was sleeping with.** Additionally, female Rulers in a city 'pregnant' with an heir or commander show signamantic effects such as swollen feet and morning sickness.* PuttingOnTheReich: Stanley's new [[MalevolentMugshot logo]] and banners look a lot like the emblem and propaganda posters from the old Soviet Union. This was intentional, given that Maggie suspected that Stanley might be developing a bit of a self-esteem problem after suffering one too many defeats while his subordinates win all his victories for him.* PyrrhicVictory:** When Parson takes out Ansom's siege units, it goes unnoticed for a while because the rules of Erfworld count every battle as a "victory" for Ansom because his opponents fled--unfortunately for the Royal Crown Coalition, Parson's troops only fled after destroying the entire hex's siege units and before taking any losses.** Also subverted at the end of book one -- it looks like [[spoiler:Parson's last gambit at defending Gobwin Knob succeeded but left them with absolutely no resources to defend themselves with]], but a few pages later he discovers that [[spoiler:the Arkenpliers recovered from Ansom allow them to restore their entire army stronger than it was before instantly, and the gems obtained from the earth-moving allow them to instantly rebuild their capital city even stronger and still be the ''richest'' side in the world]]. Not so Pyrrhic after all.** In book 2, [[spoiler:Gobwin Knob manages to win Spacerock, but their losses are massive. Thanks to Charlie's manipulations, they lose half of their army, most of their dwagons, nearly all of their high level warlords, every single one of their archons, and even a caster, Jack. Gobwin Knob is also forced to transfer its capital to an ''extremely'' vulnerable location. Parson furthermore manages to infuriate most of the Magic Kingdom by violating their neutrality, earning Gobwin Knob some very powerful enemies. Jetstone takes a heavy blow, but their losses are comparatively minor]].** In book 3, [[spoiler:Charlescomm and Gobwin Knob sign a truce which awards massive penalties if either side inflicts material harm upon the other. Charlie uses LoopholeAbuse to experiment with Lilith. Wanda and Maggie stop him, prevent him from learning what he wanted to, and acquire some ''very'' valuable intelligence, but Wanda prevents Maggie and Lilith from croaking Charlie and Lilith croaks several Charlescomm units as she escapes, practically emptying Gobwin Knob's treasury]].* QuipToBlack: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/146 Call it the last... of the ''last'' of the last stands]]. Complete with [[BigYes YyyyeeEAAAAhhhh]]!* QuirkyBard: Rhyme-o-mancy is apparently the magic of art and music and focuses on applying buffs to allied units, unlike disciplines like luck-o-mancy that simply alter odds. There are other downsides, however: It's difficult to use properly since it has to be spontaneous, low level users need a lot of time to research and to successfully use the more powerful abilities requires the attentions of other units who may simply choose to avoid you. On the bright side, rhyme-o-mancy itself can also be used to increase the effects of other spells, such as Wanda using it to improve her uncroaking ability.[[/folder]][[folder: Tropes R to Z]]* {{Railroading}}: Erfworld is an unusual example in that the [=GM=] is the world itself. Erfworld is heavily implied to be a GeniusLoci, that uses a LuckManipulationMechanic and many other things to enforce certain outcomes in the form of Fate. According to the Carnymancers, Erfworld is horribly rigged.* RealityEnsues: After all the dirty underhanded tricks Parson pulled in the first two books the other sides are extremely reluctant to negotiate with Gobwin Knob, considering them dishonorable and untrustworthy. It doesn't help that they're right. Parson seriously considered having Ansom assassinate Tremmannis during their negotiations, and was only was dissuaded when he realized that he'd probably only get a Dittomancy clone.* RebelliousPrincess: Jillian, at least until Book 2.* RedEyesTakeWarning: Subverted with Vinny Doombats, and Transylvito in general, all of whom seem to be the vampiric equivalent of [[Series/HappyDays Fonzie]] and/or TheMafia. Played straight with Parson: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/118 Ruthlessness]].* ReferenceOverdosed: The whole of Erfworld. Parson notices this and wonders if it's not a sign he's lying on a hospital bed in a coma. He eventually realizes that, whatever the reason for it, it gives him unique insight into [[AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance Signamancy.]]* RemixComic: The [[http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49314 lolerfs]] and [[http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49479 demotivators]].* {{Retcon}}:** Twolls were supposed to be crafters, but the author realized too late that he had put "Regeneration" as Bogroll's special. Now, there's a whole new school of magic replacing "Deletionism" with "Retconjuration". WordOfGod states Retconjuration is so far solely in the domain of the Titans, and is seldom used.** [[AllTrollsAreDifferent All Twolls Are Different]]: Twolls are capable of fabricating any non-magical item, such as armour or baskets. ''[[CosmicRetcon And that is how it has always been]]''.** All black/brown dwagons were retconned to purple. According to its wiki, this change happened about the same time that the ''Familicide'' spell was cast in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', so it wiped out all of Erfworld's black dwagons to boot.** Epilogue 8 with Wanda was retconned when a bunch of people pointed out Parson was already told about [[spoiler:Ossomer turning.]] In the original, he was surprised by this for some reason.** The description of Faq (city) shown in the 2009 Summer Update #37 was retconned to fit the image that appears in Epilogue 21.** Epilogue 25, the Archons were glowing blue, not red.* {{Retconjuration}}: The TropeNamer.* TheReveal: After Book 1, conspiracies start coming out of the woodwork, enabling this trope.** Parson was summoned by ''multiple'' factions, for various reasons.*** The Great Minds That Think Alike want him to defeat Charlie.*** Janis Atlantis and Marie Lavraie want him to completely break war, by making the biggest war Erfworld has ever seen.** Charlie is [[spoiler:not a Thinkamancer. He is a Carnymancer]]. Various characters already knew this, but it was a surprise for the reader.*** On [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book+3/112 page 122 of book 3]] we finally get to see what Charlie looks like. [[spoiler:As [[{{Foreshadowing}} his name might have clued us in on]], he's an obese, crippled [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charlie Brown]].]]-->'''Charlie:''' [[spoiler:[[CatchPhrase Good... grief...]]]]** While it was [[{{Foreshadowing}} foreshadowed]] when [[spoiler:Lilith hurled herself through the portal with Parson while making her DivingSave and survived]], [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%203/123 page 123 of book 3]] makes it explicit that [[spoiler:Charlie's Archons can freely enter the Magic Kingdom]].* RevivalLoophole: Some time before the start of the comic, both [[spoiler:Wanda]] and [[spoiler:Jack]] made a promise, [[MagicallyBindingContract enforced by magic]], that they wouldn't reveal a secret of Charlie's that they had stumbled across. However, when [[spoiler:Jack]] is [[NeverSayDie croaked]] and [[BackFromTheDead decrypted]], the contract no longer applies.* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Dirtamancers can instantly sense (without using juice) the physical composition of anything around them; this was demonstrated in a Kickstarter story when the Dirtamancer main character scanned the molecular composition of his coffee and lamented that he couldn't figure out which compound in it gave him stomach trouble. This applies to other casters as well: Foolamancers have incredible observation skills, Thinkamancers count body language as a type of communication and so have control of it, Croakamancers can sense the structure and function of a body, and so on.* RidiculouslyFastConstruction: Part of the [[RPGMechanicsVerse game-like mechanics]] of the universe.* RocksFallEveryoneDies and TotalPartyKill: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/149 This strip]]. [[InvokedTrope By name]].* RolePlayingGameVerse and RPGMechanicsVerse: Erfworld the world. One of the few instances of this being played semi-seriously.* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The rule rather than the exception. Justified by AuthorityEqualsAsskicking being an actual rule of the world. Although generally, once you become a Ruling Royal, you stay in your capital and appoint a different Royal as Chief Warlord while you stay to run the kingdom. There are a number of practical reasons behind this (such as how cities are more efficient if being directly run by the Ruler, and the danger of a Ruler being croaked, which could end the Side). In this regard [[spoiler:Jillian is still exceptional as a Queen who still goes into battle]].%%* RuleOfCool* SchmuckBait: Wanda's brother Tommy fell for it in "Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower)". He led his troops, including Wanda, into what seemed to be very lightly defended enemy city, despite being advised against it. Once they got in, the enemy caster stationed there started playing her chillaxe, preventing any combat in the hex.* ScrewDestiny: Parson, unlike Wanda, refuses to be a gamepiece of Fate.* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The only racial ability of the Superfluous Elves is to know when it's time to leave, usually because they're not wanted. However, when Ansom croaked at the battle of Gobwin Knob, the chief of the elven forces instantly knew it was time to pack their bags and get out of their. Apart from the Woodsy elves and Shady elves, none of the others came with him.* SelfFulfillingProphecy:** Fighting Fate is possible, but hard. A Predictamancer, Marie, asserts that you don't fight Fate, you help it.** Parson is Fated to defeat Charlie. Until the events of Book 2 however, he was content to manage a city and study tactics with Jack and Sizemore. But in order to defeat the prophecy, Charlie sabotages Gobwin Knob, causing them severe losses and putting Parson back in charge of the war effort. Eventually, Charlie reveals his hand to Parson and makes things personal, ensuring that Parson ''will'' go after him. As Parson put it through the eyebook:--->'''[=LordHamster=]:''' Chuck you, Farley. Why are you so afraid of me?\\'''[=LordHamster=]:''' Cause you know I'm gonna find a way out and come after you now.** In Digdoug's story, it is predicted that the city of Homekey will experience a major air attack. A Carnymancer proposes ''making'' it a self-fulfilling prophecy so that Fate can be satisfied under controlled conditions. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Charlie, the person she hires to launch the air attack, has his own interests in mind and uses the opportunity to end the side instead of sparing it]].* SemanticSuperpower: Most types of magic have this to [[InverseLawOfComplexityToPower one degree or another]], but Turnamancers are the most visible example. They can "[[HeelFaceTurn turn]]" units, but they also have powers over [[TurnBasedStrategy Turns]] and can create machines with automagically turning components, such as a magic-powered paddleboat.* SeriesContinuityError: The author sometimes forgets what he's established, and contradicts it later. He uses {{Retconjuration}} to go back and fix it when he finds out.** Sizemore, during the updates between books 1 and 2, mentions Stuffamancers in a way that makes it seem he isn't one, even though being a Dirtamancer makes him a Stuffamancer. This has since been Retconjured.** In a Book 2 text update, Slately comes across a table on which are several accessories made by Dollamancer Ace Hardware. He picks one up in particular, and describes it, so readers can tell it's a grenade. Come book 3, Charlie sends a grenade to Ace, who has no idea what it is, only surviving because Parson (who recognized it) told him to throw it away. Perhaps justified as the two grenades were different varieties and Ace didn't have a lot time to examine it.* ShellShockedVeteran: Sizemore is much more withdrawn and world-weary than at the beginning of the comic. He was never really happy with his life, but he has a lot of [[ThousandYardStare thousand yard stares]] nowadays. You can first see it when the Coalition attack Gobwin Knob through the tunnels and he uses traps to single-handedly kill dozens of warriors while the troops perform hit and run tactics.* ShipTease: Fans are starting to notice a certain degree of... ''something'' between Parson and Maggie.* ShootTheDog: What it eventually comes to.* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/{{Erfworld}} Has its own page]].* ShowSomeLeg: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/34 The "Flash Mob" tactic]].* ShownTheirWork: Everything from throwaway jokes to side characters contain multilayered references across many fields, including history, biology, music, politics and literature. Rob Balder once stated that he put 30 hours of research into creating one specific character who as yet hasn't had ''one on-panel line.'' The art by Xin Ye is similarly impressive, containing advanced uses of perspective and filling the backgrounds with rich detail.* ShroudedInMyth: Parson.-->'''Ossomer:''' This new Chief Warlord, he is only Level 2. How can he--\\'''Sylvia:''' He is Level 20. He is Level Thousand. He is Level Million. It does not matter.* SiegeEngines. Siege units. The battle for Gobwin's Knob included siege towers pushed by 20m tall Cloth Golems and Wiener Rammers: living {{Battering Ram}}s in the shape of elongated wiener dogs with rams horns. Upon striking the gates of Gobwin's Knob they invoke "YTMND!": they are drawing their striking power from the "You're The Man Now, Dog" meme.* SignificantAnagram: Parson Gotti --> Protagonist. Even ''[[http://www.erfworld.com/wiki/index.php/Parson_Gotti more]]'' Significant Anagram: Parson ''A.'' Gotti -- ''A'' Protagonist. As in, ''there are others''.* SirSwearsALot: Parson, particularly in Book 1. For a fun DrinkingGame, take a shot every time he says "Boop." (It may kill you though).* SleepingWithTheBoss: This is a fundamental part of Erfworld culture, since a commander can give his units any order, including "take off all your clothes", and they'll obey it. [[AboveTheInfluence This really ]]{{Squick}}[[AboveTheInfluence s Parson out.]]* SlidingScaleOfFateVsFreeWill: The world in general lies somewhere between types two and three, as "Fate" is an explicit force and even has its own axis in [[{{Whatevermancy}} the world's magic system]]. Though not even a Predictamancer can foresee the entire future in absolute certainty. Wanda and her forces believe it's a type one, and that she is a driving force in fulfilling fate. Parson and those concerning him, however, such as Grand Hippiemancer Janis, appear to be agents of ScrewDestiny. The Titans control Fate with Carnymancy. Carnymancy works like a {{Railroading}} or even cheating GameMaster. It manipulates behind the scenes mechanics, like Luckamancy or the design of a newly popped unit. It has even been shown to be capable of tampering with Parson's Mathamancy Bracer in an attempt to dissuade him from taking a certain course of action. Carnymancers, like Charlie, are capable of using their own Carnymancy to ScrewDestiny. This effectively results in a conflict between two {{Railroading}} [=GMs=]. The Titans' Carnymancy tried to make Parson's Mathamancy Bracer show zero odds of success for taking an action they didn't like, but Charlie's Carnymancy allowed the true odds of success to appear for a brief flash.* SlidingScaleOfUndeadRegeneration: Most uncroaked are either Type I or Type III, depending on how much power a given Croakamancer has put into the body. Decrypted, however, are always Type IV.* SlobsVersusSnobs: Part of the whole conflict with Royalty. Whenever a non-royal side gains too much power, the Royal sides tend to gang up against them. The fact that Stanley claims that the Titanic Mandate has been transfered from the Royals to the Attuned wielders of the Arkentools just makes things a lot worse. Lately, this issue has begun to affect Transvylto. A long time ago, the king replaced the old system with a merit based one. But thanks to the war over the Arkentools, he has begun to rethink it and has become very snobby indeed with his Chief Warlord, since he is barely even Noble. Neither side is really that good, since while the Royals enforce their perceived superiority with ruthless abandon, Stanley got such a large coalition fighting against him because he was attacking so many people.* SmallNameBigEgo: Stanley.* SmarterThanYouLook: Axe Bodyspray, chief warlord of Squashcourt, is a huge hulking man with no patience for books or the other more intellectual pursuits of his predecessor, Prince Racket. However, that's out of disinterest, not stupidity. When his king passes along a "coded message" that's actually just a sudoku puzzle, he realizes that it's just a game, solves it and then goes to see Lord Crush in the dungeon. After hearing Crush's plan to save their side and their alliance against a larger, more powerful side, he recognizes that it'll work and is their only chance, even though he had intended to come down and laugh at the infeasibility of whatever plan Crush had come up with.* SoundEffectBleep: Boop!* SpamAttack: ''Literally'' for Charlie; when the decrypted Gobwin Knob Archon Lilith is about to describe what he looks like to some of his other Archons (while protected from direct attack by a treaty that will empty Charlie's treasury if he or any of his units harms a Gobwin Knob unit) Charlie proceeds to send ''hundreds'' of parley requests to her in the space of a few seconds, completely obscuring her vision with a massive cloud of message pop-ups faster than she can dismiss them, leaving her blinded and dazed.* SpannerInTheWorks:** The story was set off from the Titans accidentally leaving an extra gem in the Minty Mountains.** In Book One, Stanley is several times the Gilligan to Parson's plans. Jillian does this to the anti-Gobwin Knob coalition in Book Two thanks to her [[MoreThanMindControl relationship issues]]. Hell, Parson even said Stanley fell somewhere between Gilligan and Starscream at one point.* SpeechBubbles: Using different fonts for real-world and Erfworld characters.* SprintShoes: Arkenshoes, which grant unlimited movement and allow teleporting "home".* StartOfDarkness: The "Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower)" series of text updates details Wanda's backstory.* StartXToStopX: Janis the Hippiemancer, who wants to see Erfworld at peace. She's become convinced that this won't happen until things get broken even worse than usual.* StealthInsult: Parson convinces Stanley to require that everyone address him as the Tool instead of Lord.* StealthPun:** The walking, talking trees are called "[[Film/ForrestGump Gumps]]." And that's not the end of it.** Wanda (a Croakamancer) is leading a horde of Uncroaked against the Coalition forces to the tune of ''Thriller'' while dressed as Michael Jackson. Ansom replies by setting up a dance-fight of his own. What tune can we assume he is dancing to, based on his moves? [[spoiler:The Bee Gees' ''Staying Alive'']].** Charlie's flying chicks, named "[[Series/CharliesAngels Archons]]"...** Jack suggests casting the Flash on the enemy hex, so that they can't see anything else in Wanda's hex. Look at the last panel. What are the decrypted archons doing? [[spoiler:They're flashing the enemy]].--->'''[[DirtyOldMan Jetstone Dittomancer]]:''' Double your pleasure, double your fun. That's a winning pair if I'd ever seen one.** In [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/176 this]] Summer update, Jillian kills a fish. AFishCalledWanda. Bitter, ironic, and oddly funny.** In a rather dark version of this, the flowers that [[spoiler:Olive Branch]] uses to control everyone are called "hero buds", or, with women, [[FantasticDrug "heroine buds"]][[note]][[DontExplainTheJoke remove the 'e']][[/note]].* TheStrategist: There are several. Parson and Charlie, obviously. Ansom is actually getting even better. Hell, Tranmennis counts as he's the first one to figure out what Parson was doing in Spacerock.* {{Stripperiffic}}:** Wanda; [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/28 10 pounds of sexy]] [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/140 crammed into a]] [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/156 5-pound bag]].** And then taken UpToEleven with an [[http://web.archive.org/web/20101229070552/http://www.erfworld.com/2010/12/merry-christmas/ art bonus]] from Xin. ''Damn.''* StylisticSuck: Hamstard.* SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat: When she hears Judy say the word year, despite never having heard of it before, Jillian knows instantly that it equals three-hundred and sixty-five turns. The word "kill" also inspires a similar reaction in Erfworlders - they recognize it as a vulgar synonym for "croak".* SugarApocalypse: Partially thanks to Stanley demanding during Parson's summoning that they find a warlord for whom "everything should seem ''familiar and safe''."* SummonEverymanHero: Parson. [[spoiler:Also, Judy. And Charlie seems awful savvy about Earth terminology, but he did know Judy long ago]].* SummonMagic: a great deal of [[{{Whatevermancy}} hat magic]] is this, pulling things out of hats from messages to a KillerRabbit.* SunkCostFallacy: When Don King wants to bail Jetstone out so they can promote Tramennis to heir, Benjamin rejects the proposal and goes to make sure of his decision by running it past Chief Warlord Caesar. Playing DevilsAdvocate, he argues that they've already thrown a lot of money into this fight which Caesar says was just throwing it ''away.'' As a Moneymancer, Benjamin obviously would have known this and returns to Don to tell him the bad news.* SustainedMisunderstanding: A PlayedForDrama version, wherein pretty much everyone thinks Stanley killed Gobwin Knob's former ruler, King Saline, even though he didn't. Since Stanley is ''Stanley'' and most of the people who think he's a usurper aren't the sort who'd listen to him, this fact is unlikely to go away.* TalkingPoo: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Crap Golems]].* TakeAThirdOption:** Parson's specialty. Jack in particular admires his skill at it, noting when he hears Parson's plan after they are stranded above Jetstone that while the rest of them had done a decent job coming up with a plan to survive the battle despite their obvious sitting duck status, Parson had come up with an even better plan on how to WIN the battle instead.** We see Ansom do this at least once too, when Vinny presents him with two options to escape one of Parson's traps and he takes a third.* TakeThat:** A possible one towards the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Garden Olive Garden]]: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%200/74 "Much of what we might find would be products of the Olive Garden, and not fit to be consumed."]]%%* TearsOfRemorse* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Parson and Maggie in the beginning, because Parson was a ''little'' peeved over Maggie's indirect role in [[spoiler:Misty's death]]. They've since reconciled. Parson and Stanley ''still'' don't really get along, although it's not as bad as it was in the first book.* TemptingFate-->'''Tramennis:''' What's the worst that could happen?\\'''King Slately:''' The ''worst''? The Titans could hear you ''ask'' such a question.\\''[Later]''\\'''Slately:''' Evacuate? [[ShoutOut In our moment of triumph?]] [[StarWars I think you overestimate their chances]].\\'''Tramennis:''' ''I'' tempt the Titans?** King Posbrake comes up with a counter strategy in case Charlie betrays a contract: He has a hired Carnymancer cast a spell on him to make him immune to ranged attacks for one turn. That's all well and good, quite clever, but then he ends the chapter saying that Charlie has no idea what a clever Carnymancer can do. [[spoiler:Charlie ''is'' a Carnymancer, quite an old one and almost certainly the most powerful seen in the story.]]* TermsOfEndangerment: Jojo calls the people he just attacked "[[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/205 friends.]]"* ThrivingGhostTown: '''All of them''', because any job not related to fighting just gets done automatically.* TongueTied: Anyone under Charlie's magical non-disclosure agreement literally cannot speak of the bound subject.* TooDumbToLive: Stanley displays some level of this at times, on the strategic level anyway. Oddly, he occasionally shows brief flashes of genius through all the stupid.* TookALevelInBadass [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/106 This]]. Bottom-left panel.* ToWinWithoutFighting:** Parson places an emphasis on that in [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/137 his strategy lecture]].** Frequently used by Haffaton. For example, Uncroaked decay after a certain number of turns. The only way to get new Uncroaked is to croak living units. By simply waiting until all of Wanda's Uncroaked decay, Haffaton deprives Goodminton of a sizeable chunk of its forces without risking any of its own in the process.* TrapIsTheOnlyOption: Parson asks Marie if either Jetstone's remaining forces or fate itself have set up a trap on the other side of the portal. [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/188 She answers that of course there's a trap on the other side, but that he'll go anyway]]. [[spoiler:Sure enough, the city is on fire, and the portal closes behind him; he is physically trapped within the burning city]].* TrappedInAnotherWorld: Parson.* TronLines: These appear while Wanda is casting the Summon Perfect Warlord spell. Even the [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/17 "PLOT"]] UnsoundEffect when Parson appears in Gobwin Knob (''not'' the earlier one when he disappears from his apartment) somewhat resembles the ''{{TRON}}'' logo.* UnequalRites: There can be friction between casters of different disciplines due to the differing philosophies behind each discipline. For specifics:** Most seem to look down on Croakamancers in particular, citing the magic as unclean and abominable.** Carnymancers are also disliked, especially by Thinkamancers, for being more or less "cheaters" of Erfworld's physics.** Predictamancers are the only kind of casters ashamed to live in the Magic Kingdom, as they are considered to have failed to prevent their side's fall. Their natural caginess when it comes to talking about their discipline doesn't help much.** Dirtamancers, while considered nothing more than glorified janitors by most Warlords, are ''loved'' in the Magic Kingdom for quick, effortless construction talents. Sizemore intentionally works for [[IncrediblyLamePun dirt]] cheap but is still filthy rich among casters. Dirtamancer Digdoug in one of the side stories recalls the previous side he worked for, whose Chief Caster forbade him from entering the Magic Kingdom, and made a point of looking down his nose at Dirtamancy. Digdoug became convinced his discipline was regarded similarly to Croakamancy or Carnymancy, but astute readers will realize the Chief Caster didn't want Digdoug to discover he would be more respected than himself in the Magic Kingdom. According to Dove Barstool, however, Dirtamancers are often viewed as creeps. Probably due to social tensions outside of the Magic Kingdom that isolated them and because they live underground in the Magic Kingdom where no one but Dirtamancers can reach them. She is an UnreliableNarrator, though.** Date-a-mancers are especially susceptible. Their role is to read the cold, hard facts about people's relationships. Most sides get rid of them after a while because, according to Duncan, "knowing the cold truth behind our interpersonal relationships only causes grief."* UnfortunateNames: [[PrecisionFStrike Sofa King, Mount Mofo,]] [[YourHeadASplode Countess Hedda Splode,]] Warlord Ranger Ford which wouldn't have been a problem, [[{{Irony}} if he wasn't attacked by an elephant named irony,]] Stanley the Tool turns out to be a subversion (sorta, his last name is Plaid as in "played" and he is easy to fool, but this does make him a good Tool for the Titans, so...), [[DeathSeeker Lady Sylvia Lazarus]], the suicidal poet, Lord Manpower the Temporary who is killed in the second strip, as well as a few others.* UnlimitedWardrobe: Wanda's Wardrobe has its own entry at ''Erfwiki''.* UnsoundEffect: "[[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book+1/16 PLOT!]]", [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/120 "Redox!"]], [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/139 4CHAN! YTMND!]], NSFW!, [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/142 FUNKENSTEIN!]], and lots more.* UnusualEuphemism: Parson's unpleasant arrival is followed by a string of profanity, whereupon Parson realizes all of his swear words are automagically censored as "boop". Croak is universally used for kill, dead or death. (As explained under "NeverSayDie" above, the word "kill" isn't magically censored, but native Erfworlders react to its use as though it were an obscenity.)** In-universe, the word 'year' is considered this by a native Erfworlder, who instinctively knows its meaning but can't understand why someone would have a word for 365 turns.* UnwinnableByDesign: The world's economic system is designed so that expanding beyond a dozen or so cities starts to drain money faster than it generates it, blunting any successful conqueror's momentum unless they're willing to spread themselves ludicrously thin. We see the result of this in the side of Haffaton in the prequel story; they had conquered at least 50 cities, but other than a powerful border army expanding the frontier and some magical traps those cities are ''empty'' and they can't afford defenses even in the capital.* TheVamp: Wanda's not above using sex to manipulate Stanley.* VillainProtagonist: Parson, technically.* VisualPun: Lloyd, the [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/125 Jetstone Dittomancer]] (a caster that creates copies of things like soldiers and [[MoreDakka arrows]]), has a staff with a copyright symbol on the end of it. [[spoiler:He's a ''copywright.'' Or alternately, he has the right to copy]].* WarHasNeverBeenSoMuchFun: Deconstructed.* WarIsHell: Parson seems to flip-flop somewhere between this and apathy about the plot.* WasItReallyWorthIt: [[spoiler:Parson after winning the Battle of Gobwin Knob]]. See MyGodWhatHaveIDone?** In the grand strategy meeting Parson holds after [[spoiler:the Battle of Spacerock]], Parson weighs up the costs of the whole fiasco and is quite clear that [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "It. Was not. Worth it."]]* WatchingTroyBurn: [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/184 Something Tramennis has to watch as he departs from the soon to be lost capital of Jetstone]].* WeaksauceWeakness: Lord Stanley can shoot lightning from the Arkenhammer, control dwagons, fight pretty well apparently, give significant bonuses to all his nearby units, and is the leader of one of the most powerful sides out there... and, like all rulers, would die instantly if he touched his side's portal.* WeAreAsMayflies: Erfworlders both subvert and play this straight. There are no indications that Erfworlders can die of old age, or even age at all beyond their natural Signamancy changing [[note]] Signamancy reflects personality and how they view themselves rather than their actual age [[/note]]. However, the nature of Erfworld means that most don't live that long. Within eighty thousand turns, or a little under 220 years, there have been eighteen kings of Jetstone. That means that even some of the people least likely to croak [[note]] Rulers don't take the field of battle with any other choice and losing a ruler is exceedingly rare [[/note]] are only averaging around twelve years of rule. They probably live as long as 15-20 if lucky. Slately, himself, has lost 22 children (one was never even born and another died in his first battle) and has ruled at least 3 thousand of those 80,000 turns making him at least 8 years old. By that standard, Parson is practically ancient. The only known exceptions are the most powerful casters in the Magic Kingdom, such as as Roger Victor Clarence, who is over 78 years old.* WeCanRuleTogether: At the beginning of the Love is a Battlefield story arc, Jillian and Wanda both try this on each other. Both have their own reasons for refusing.* WhamEpisode:** [[spoiler:"I want you to try and ''uncroak'' the volcano"]].** Shortly before that, [[spoiler:Bogroll killing Ansom and dying immediately after]].** [[spoiler:Ossomer pulling a HazyFeelTurn. And it was preceded by a fake-out wham episode when Jack fakes his own decapitation via PortalCut]].*** The fake-out makes it even more whammy when [[spoiler:Jack suddenly and unexpectedly dies in a dwagon accident a few dozen strips later.]]** [[spoiler:''Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower)'', Episode 66. Not only is Charlie a Carnymancer, but Judy Gale was, in fact, a human from Earth (or at least was summoned to Erfworld via a similar method to Parson), and on top of that, the story's BigBad Olive Branch is ''Charlie's daughter.'']]** While the Wham of [[spoiler:Parson being turned to Charlescomm]] was largely negated by it being undone only a few strips later, in [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%203/123 page 123 of book 3]] Charlie [[spoiler:[[RageBreakingPoint has had ENOUGH of Parson]] and is about to send his Archons to ''invade the Magic Kingdom'' to [[KillThemAll kill him and all Gobwin Knob units]]]].* WhamLine:** [[spoiler:[[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%201/157 "I...what am I?" "I don't know. Something new. Something...glorious."]]]]** [[spoiler:[[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/175 "I don't have a plan!"]]]]** [[spoiler:[[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/176 "Father. Doubles don't leave a body."]]]]** [[spoiler:From ''Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower)'' [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%200/66 "...a Carnymancer. you would know him as Charlie"]]]]** [[spoiler:[[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%203/112 "Good... grief."]] Revealing Charlie's true identity, as Charlie Brown.]]** In-universe, Don King is negotiating with a Ruler of an enemy side for a prisoner ransom. Silently observing, Caesar spends the entire conversation mentally admiring how skilled Don is at negotiations and how easily he's manipulating his opposite number. Finally, it comes time to issue their demand, a ransom of ''two million'' Schmuckers, which is, to Don and Caesar's knowledge, the full extent of [[spoiler:Gobwin Knob's]] treasury. The response?-->'''[[spoiler:Stanley the "Worm"]]''': Fine, draw it up.** And now [[spoiler:"But I think Charlie might be." by Parson after being asked if he's a Titan.]]* WhamShot: Over 100 pages into Book 3, we ''finally'' get to see [[spoiler:Charlie in the flesh. He's a combination of [[Franchise/XMen Charles Xavier]] and [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charlie Brown]].]]** That's nothing compared to the shot that comes a few pages later when we see the result of Parson's Parley with Charlie: [[spoiler:Parson dressed in Charlescom livery]]. [[OhCrap The end is nigh.]]* {{Whatevermancy}}: ''Everywhere.'' Only a handful of schools fail to use this form. It even provides the picture for the trope. The exceptions are Flower Power, Hat Magic, and Retconjuration (formerly Deletionism). The other 21 disciplines all end in "mancy".* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:** Gobwin Knob's human forces are mentioned once at the beginning, and never seen or mentioned again.** Also, in an in-story instance, the Gobwins of Gobwin Knob's namesake - not a single one can be found after the Volcano Uncroaking event. Though there is speculation that Charlie's machinations are behind this. By notable exception, Hobgobwins (a variant) have not vanished.* WhatIsEvil: Stanley's reaction to Parson labeling him an EvilOverlord.* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Most types of elves are proficient in Healomancy or various kinds of gathering skills. All Superfluous elves get is the ability to know when they [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aren't needed]] or should just go, and an ability to blend into the background. [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower However, this ''did'' save their forces during the battle for Gobwin Knob, along with the other elves who listened to their warning.]]* WhatMeasureIsAMook: This principle is probably the reason why [[spoiler:Parson feels so guilty over defeating the Royal Army]].* WhatTheHellHero:** Parson calls out [[spoiler:Maggie for her (albeit indirect) part in Misty]]'s death towards the end of Book 1.** Taking the position that Stanley is the bad guy and the allied forces the good guys, then Ansom calls out Jillian for her hypocritical treatment of the Decrypted. [[spoiler:She captured him, but she brutally kills any other Decrypted despite capturing normal enemy troops. Ansom states that despite being Decrypted they ''are'' alive, and if this is the kind of example she's setting she's sure not going to be able to make him do a 'HeelFaceTurn' back like she intends. Oddly enough, Ossomer appears to have actually been turned while Decrypted, albeit in the absence of the Arkenpliers and Wanda. Range apparently being a factor in whether Turnamancy and its Natural Magic variety are successful on any unit (mentioned earlier when Vanna failed to turn Ansom from a distance), this leads to speculation that the Arkenpliers' mock-Turnamancy effect on the Decrypted also is limited. Turnamancy being the magic of 'HeelFaceTurn', this casts doubt on Ansom's statement just mentioned above]].* WhatYouAreInTheDark: [[spoiler:[[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/197 Stanley has a decision to make]]. Will he save Parson not knowing what his plan is, or will he let him die?]]* WhenDimensionsCollide: Parsons lack of stats points to him still working by some of the laws of Earth, despite being bound by many of Erfworld's rules.* WhenTreesAttack: Gumps.* WhipItGood: Wanda, when she indulges her "hobbies".* [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim Why Don't We Just Decrypt Them?]]: Wanda's averting this in regards to Ossomer caused Ansom to question her methods for the first time.* WingdingEyes: Whenever an Erfworlder croaks, their eyes literally squeeze into Xs.* WingedUnicorn: Unipegataurs which have humanoid torsos, horses bodies, wings of an eagle, etc etc.* WithDueRespect: People are forced to shut up if ordered to do so by their superiors. This trope is the only way units can contradict their rulers without risking being silenced. This means that a lot of sarcasm is thrown around instead.* WorldOfPun: Pretty much every other object in Erfworld is based on or named after some real-world equivalent. Listing examples would take up the entire page.** WorldOfSymbolism: The nature of Signamancy and Erfworld's puns. Carnymancy is implied to be able to manipulate this. And ultimately, since Parson can recognize tropes and puns, that makes him a master at natural Signamancy - he can see a pun or trope and instantly recognize the symbolic connection that it implies the actual entity performing the pun or trope to have. Example: King Haggar looks like President Nixon, which means that he's untrustworthy and shrewd.* YouAndWhatArmy: Inverted.* YouCantFightFate: Seems to be one of the "rules" of Erfworld. Fighting fate just seems to cause pain and suffering for whoever tries it, and they never manage anything more than delaying the inevitable.** Wanda came to accept this as her core philosophy in her backstory, and uses it to justify her actions.** [[spoiler:Sylvia]] seems to relish the idea with a cold, fanatical zeal, after joining Gobwin Knob.** The attitude of Predictamancy in general. While most people, units, and even sides have no particular Fate or inescapable destiny, those that do have one are bound by/to it absolutely. Trying to fight against it or defy it only ends up increasing the pain and suffering for everyone involved as it comes true anyway.** Carnymancy is a branch of magic intended to fight against fate, and win; basically known as rigging the game.%%* [[YouCantThwartStageOne You Can't Thwart Chapter One]]* YouDidntAsk: Parson does ''not'' consider this an adequate response.** The Great Minds, however, have formalised this, the next level of secrecy above Need To Know being described as Need To Ask.* YoungerThanTheyLook: Occurs by default given that Erfworld has no children and everyone pops as young adults. Even so, one turn is equal to one day, though spread out in a rather odd fashion between the various sides. So when units talk about something having happened thousands of turns ago, they only mean a few years. As a result a unit like the old looking King Slately has been king for less than ten years. On the other side of things, Thinkamancers Isaac and Clarence look significantly younger than they are. The difference between an Isaac and a Slately is that Isaac has remained a useful, clever unit and thus maintained his Signamancy while a Ruler like Slately who does little and isn't particularly capable has deteriorating Signamancy.* ZettaiRyouiki: Prince Tramennis in book 2. He has such nice legs![[/folder]]----