The Duchess: more likely than not the reason you started reading
The dark metropolis of Autumnport: a corner of Hell run by a Technocracy (no, not that one) beholden to a megalomaniacal demoness known as the Duchess. Our hero is Dr. Vortimer Lance, emoboy of science who is increasingly disillusioned by the hollow pleasures and cruel actions of his overlady's reign. Vorty-Worty happens to be part of the problem himself as he works as a middle-ranking technocrat in the ruling party, being the creator of a race of cyborgs called Destroyers, whom are readily used and discarded in accordance with Duchess's will, much to Vortimer's dread. As is cyberpunk law, the reader can expect rebellion, technomagical hijinks, and a clinically depressed main character.
Welcome to Autumnport is a cyberpunk-tinted urban fantasy series of light novels with ecchi and isekai elements, written by Norfy A. R. and illustrated by anime artist Ieka95. Its reign of darkness began August 7, 2021, and was independently published by Citadel Starworks.
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- Ambition Is Evil: Lance’s previous life was ruined by his scientific obsession for what would later become the Destroyers, and the Duchess is a notable megalomaniac with dreams of cosmic dominion.
- Angelic Beauty: Molly is indeed quite beautiful, and her angelic form is enough to momentarily paralyze Lance with awe.
- Badass Bookworm: The aforementioned technocratic officials, who often possess heroic-level magical powers as part of their day jobs as scientists and engineers. In general, given the cyberpunky nature of Autumnport, there's no shortage of geeky characters dual-classing as badasses.
- The Baroness: The one in this story has a different royal title, but otherwise plays the dominatrix side of this trope straight as an arrow.
- Break the Cutie: Molly maintains a cheerful, maternal front in spite of Duchess's prolonged efforts to break her will and render her into a subservient toy.
- Crapsack World: You probably read the synopsis. The grand irony is our dear Duchess ISN'T trying to make it horrible. Sadly she doesn't understand that humanity desires more than beer, butts, and spiffy tech.
- Creating Life: The Duchess has extensive life creating powers to the point she can create a soul. She uses it to give Lance a raccoon as a reward for his services.
- Death Ray: Duchess can summon one from the palm of her hand, and often uses it to disintegrate dark elves or other adversaries she deems unworthy of a noble death.
- The Dragon: Maxwell Townsend, a swashbuckling, cybernetically augmented warlord serving as Duchess's chief of police and military, as well as being one of her most loyal, sycophantic underlings.
- Evil Overlord: Duchess to a Tee. She is a literal demon surrounded by minions and demonic progeny at almost all times, she rules with an iron fist from the comfort of her looming megatower, Daydream Court, and she goes to battle wielding a giant viking axe and dark metal armor complete with spiky fingertips.
- Genius Ditz: Doctor Jensen has some traits of this in her neurotic, caffeine-jolted nature, but is otherwise an authoritative expert on robotics.
- Ms. Fanservice: Subverted with Circe. She is presented initially as a generic fan service character, but her true nature as a predatory monster and secondary antagonist become increasingly evident as the story proceeds.
- Musical Theme Naming: Many of the characters are named in honor of progressive rock. The steampunky Clockmaker is loosely based on the watchmaker, a character from the Rush concept album Clockwork Angels. Maxwell Townsend is named after Devin Townsend. Duchess is named after the Genesis song of the same name, and her backstory is even loosely inspired by the lyrics to the point that she shouts a piece of them during a wine-drunk, sentimental outburst. Clockmaker's home district of Duke's End is also named after the terminating song from the same Genesis album as Duchess.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Subverted. When Lance expresses concern to Doctor Jensen about the Doll-Net schematics being sabotaged, she shrugs it off mentioning the offsite backups she keeps for just such an occasion. Also subverted by dead_crow's transponder spoofing device, of which the original prototype still exists as a backup whenever the primary device isn't present.
- Power Levels: The power-level categories in Autumnport are as follows: Least (a skill with magic that's present and notable, albeit relatively unimpressive), Lesser (average power), Middle (heroic power), Greater (demigod-level power), and Grand (Godlike power). Lance and most of the other characters in Act I are of Lesser ability. Clockmaker and Townsend are Middle and Middle-Greater respectively. Duchess and Molly are Greater. Grand-level characters fall outside the scope of Act I, as do the implied entities of super-grand power.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Duchess is a former gladiator, and is shown to be brutally effective when taking to the field alongside her power-armored minions. It's also explained that there's a correlation between a technocracy official's rank and their magical prowess, with those of Administrator-rank being particularly formidable telekinetics. Even the otherwise lowly Moderators have access to plasma-beam weapons.
- Ray Gun: Lance's weapon is a plasma pistol that shoots a coherent beam of green energy. It looks like a Desert Eagle, too.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Played almost comically straight. The three primary antagonists of the story (Duchess, Maxwell, and Circe) all have glowing red eyes. The Cycloids have magma-orange irises glowing against black sclera, which are explained to be multispectral targeting devices that are constantly scanning the weakpoints of those around them.
- Reluctant Mad Scientist: Doctor Lance. His genius intellect and expertise in cybernetics are routinely abused by Duchess for the purposes of crushing her opposition.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Spaghetti - an overweight, genetically modified raccoon belonging to Lance as a consolation reward from Duchess. Despite his limited impact on the plot so far, Spaghetti has since become the unofficial mascot of the series and a defacto subject for memes among the Autumnport fandom.
- Truly Single Parent: The life creating abilities of The Duchess result in her being one.
- Uncanny Valley Girl: The Cycloids. They are seemingly beloved throughout Autumnport for their celebrity-level cuteness and their quiet, innocuous nature. Lance is the only character that is actually weirded out by them, and rightfully so.
