Estelle Fenix and Marcus Wiseman are two rookie Guilders based in Clockwork Town. Their job brings them into meeting various characters and embarking on adventures that will take them across the kingdom and to explore the world. There will be laughter, tears, life, death, romance, heartache, adversity, tribulations, conspiracies and a whole load of monster ass-kicking. This is a Legend of Heroes. This is Tales of the World.
Tales is a Play-by-Post Game with a varied, rotating cast. While it is an original story, tropes are honored and lovingly referred to throughout.
This roleplay features examples of:
- Annoying Arrows: Lisette's arrows can be this, depending on the foe.
- Anyone Can Die: Implied at the end of Chapter 1.
- Apologizes a Lot: Lisette on occasion, and later Lute.
- Archetypal Character
- Armor and Magic Don't Mix: None of the magic-using characters in The Pride wear armor.
- Art Attacker: Dylan's specialty.
- Atomic F-Bomb: When you hear it, it's most likely from Moira.
- Bleak Level: The Woods of Weir, as well as its immediate aftermath.
- Break the Cutie: No character is safe from this trope.
- The Casanova: Thunderhawk, apparently. Although the female leads aren't buying it.
- Cat Girl: Nikkolaira Wyatt, although she isn't the only one.
- Chained Heat: Moira and Syed. It's perminent.
- Character Level: Represented by letter ranks, the lowest being H.
- Tech Tree: Implied, as characters tend to learn or improve on their skills as they rank up.
- Nonstandard Skill Learning: Lisette learns to Commune from Cole.
- Tech Tree: Implied, as characters tend to learn or improve on their skills as they rank up.
- Character Portrait
- Cheshire Cat Grin: Lucien's trademark smile.
- Chubby Mama, Skinny Papa: Valentine and Jack.
- Christmas Episode: A short-lived, unfinished mini-chapter when the forums went down around Christmas 2013.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Estelle, along with the majority of The Pride.
- Combination Attack: Syed's electric magic combines with Lisette's arrows or Tobi's bullet to create a railgun-like attack.
- Cool Shades: Don has loads of these, and even gave one to Trixie.
- Cool Sword: Estelle's Magitech Sword isn't especially common in Artar.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Though this RP avoids random killing for the sake of killing, the deaths that do occur are pretty brutal.
- The vision Estelle experienced in the very first chapter, as everyone's very skin and bones are blasted away from Gaoh's Magitech Cannon.
- Largo being crushed to death in the same chapter, although this occurs off-screen.
- Grant purging Gaoh's pores with sand.
- Lucifer ripping out Oren's heart.
- Many of the nightmares depicted during Thaum. For example: Moira's son Sonny dying at every turn, and the unnamed figure with Trixie crushed by a large mass.
- Crutch Character: Colchester Grale. In this case, he leaves after the first chapter and is soon replaced by another nature-attuned Guilder, Lisette.
- Cute and Psycho: Circe.
- A Day in the Limelight: The character(s) change depending on the chapter. An example of this is Lisette in the Woods of Weir chapter.
- Deadpan Snarker: Several characters, notably Amy.
- The Ditz: Lisette.
- Does Not Like Men: Amy, although the reason for this has yet to be addressed.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Kapi is a capybara.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Don, to the point that he's still convinced he and Selan are engaged.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Particularly after the chapter in The Woods of Weir.
- Easing into the Adventure:
- Enchanted Forest: The Woods of Weir and all of its inhabitants are cursed. Enemies include Savage Wolves and treants.
- Even the Subtitler Is Stumped: The curse wars between Estelle and Josette.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Circe, until her face does match her mind.
- Fat and Skinny: Moira and Syed, respectively.
- Fictional Currency: Gald is the standard currency.
- Fluffy the Terrible: In Thaum, Trixie names a giant, rather terrifying milipiederian "Leggy" because it has a ton of sausage legs.
- Friendly Rivalry: Estelle likely considers her relationship with Trent to be this.
- The Gambling Addict: Trixie, surprisingly. Selan and Lucien had to physically remove her from the slot machine.
- Gender Bender: Fun times in Los Paraisos.
- Genki Girl: Trixie and her adoration for superheroes, as well as Estelle and her adoration for all things cute.
- Get on the Boat: Happens in-between chapters to and from Los Paraisos.
- Guest-Star Party Member:
- Lisette Marchand in Chapter 3. She becomes a full-fledged member of The Pride shortly after.
- Lute Aiseirigh in Chapter 8.
- Gladiator Subquest: In Thaum; Moira, Syed, Aria, Lucien, and Lute participate in one.
- Harmful to Minors: While everyone faced their biggest nightmares in Thaum, Trixie emerged from hers in near paralysis.
- Hates Being Alone: Estelle and Lisette.
- Haunted Castle: Hawthorne's Manor, located in Vandrell.
- Healing Magic Is the Hardest: Amy can't heal people indefinitely, and there is a limit to the severity of wounds she can heal.
- Heavy Sleeper: Don definitely wakes up on his own terms.
- Heel–Face Turn: Don and Josette Capuello, along with their "bros".
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Estelle, Moira, and Lute.
- Hourglass Hottie: Notably Selan and Amy. Antagonists such as Megaera (of Vandrell), Mordie (of the Suits), and Francesca (of Aliquam) were noted as such as well.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Don and Trixie.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Against Golem!Cole, and later Selan's fight with a brainwashed Don.
- In-Series Nickname: Also doubles as Affectionate Nickname in most cases.
- Given by Trixie:
- "Supersis" and "Superbro" for Estelle and Don, respectively.
- "Miss Pretty" for Selan.
- "Lissa" and "Bugbread" for Lisette and Kapi, respectively.
- "Boss" for Moira (as coined by herself); Lucien calls her this as well.
- Given by Don:
- Variations of "Bro" and "Sis" for pretty much everyone.
- "Sel" for Selan.
- Given by Trent:
- "Gorilla Girl" for Estelle.
- "Grandma" for Selan. (It Makes Sense in Context.)
- "Blondie" for Lisette.
- Given by Trixie:
- Incredibly Lame Pun: Lucien is chock-full of these, though other characters are susceptible to them as well.
- Intellectual Animal: Kapi is shown to be rather intelligent, even moreso than his owner Lisette on occasion!
- Intergenerational Friendship: Trixie and Amy most notably share this dynamic, though it can just as easily be applied to Moira and Amy with the rest of the younger guilders.
- It Always Rains at Funerals: Largo's, to be specific.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Thunderhawk, although he usually takes his job seriously.
- Killed Off for Real: Largo dies at the end of the very first chapter.
- Lampshade Hanging: “… All I’m saying is, don’t you think it’d be so much easier if these monsters just, I don’t know, blew up in a puff of smoke and turned into some gald and items?”
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Arguably for anyone who joined after Largo's death and reread the RP from the start to catch up.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Played with; Selan is the Light to Amy's Dark, but ironically Amy is attuned to the element of light.
- Living Shadow: Jack and Shiloh's power. Jack also Casts No Shadow.
- The Load: Lisette could be seen as this during the Woods of Weir chapter, but by the end she takes some steps in the right direction.
- Lonely Rich Kid: What brought Lisette all the way to Artar in the first place.
- Love at First Sight: Don experiences this with Selan, just one of the catalysts leading to his Heel–Face Turn.
- Mad Libs Catch Phrase: Trixie's "Oh my [typically a dairy product]!"
- Mad Scientist: Oren.
- Magic Music: Selan's special ability.
- Mirror Match: In Thaum Tower.
- Money Spider: Averted in the opening lines of the roleplay.
- Monster Arena: The Colosseum/Coliseum at Thaum.
- Mooks: Don's bandit bros in Chapter 1. Reaver grunts, though they still packed punches.
- My Name Is ???: Damon Thorne's name is only revealed during his climax fight scene.
- The Nicknamer: Don and Trixie notably; many of the others employ nicknames as well.
- No Bulk Discounts: Certainly not for Don, who racked up an insanely large tab at an expensive clothing store.
- No-Gear Level: For a large portion of the chapter at Hawthorne Manor.
- No Social Skills: Lute, although other characters show this at times.
- Oh, Crap!: The Pride in Tabul against Gaoh.
- One-Winged Angel: Oren and Lucifer.
- Only Known By Her Nickname: Amy's real name is "Amaranth" - and the only Pride members who have learned of this in the journey thus far are Syed and (presumably) Estelle.
- Only Sane Man: Thunderhawk, although Amy has her moments at times.
- Origins Episode: Alluded to when the characters experience their worst fears and memories in nightmare form.
- Our Demons Are Different: The Family.
- Parental Substitute: Amy to Trixie.
- Poison Is Evil: Averted with Lisette, who is capable of enchanting her arrows with poison.
- Port Town: Tagress.
- The Power Of Friend Ship
- Power Source: Magispheres, Syed's rings, and possibly the gem in Amy's staff.
- Quest Giver: A role usually filled by Guild Secretaries.
- Recurring Boss: Many bosses are left alive, hinting at a future return. Some have already made their return - as nightmares chasing the heroes in Thaum.
- Recurring Extra: Crispin, to a small extent. He appears as a chef at Los Paraisos and again as a fire-breather at the circus.
- Refuge in Audacity: In-universe, no one seemed to blink when Thunderhawk totally hit on a fifteen-year-old girl. [[Squick Out of universe]]...
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Kapi, full stop. Estelle can hardly resist Kapi's cuteness.
- Running Gag: Multiple.
- Kapi clinging to Syed's face.
- Lute's adoration for potatoes.
- Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: While Don is capable of some rather amazing feats of strength, he lacks the ability to read.
- Savage Wolves: The Firons, as well as the wolves in the Woods of Weir.
- Scenery Porn: Beautiful images are used throughout the RP to detail the Pride's environment at a better extent than words alone can do.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Everyone fleeing from giant monsters in Thaum. (And Don's flight from bugs.)
- Ship Tease: Estelle and Marcus, most notably. Amy and Syed is also hinted. ;)
- Small Towns: Fenaru, a city surrounded by farms.
- Smoking Is Cool: Shown in Don and Moira's character portraits.
- Squishy Wizard: Marcus and Syed.
- Teleport Spam: Neil Hunter's specialty.
- Trademark Favorite Food:
- Estelle with sweets.
- Trixie with cheese and apple juice.
- Moira and Amy with alcohol. (Thunderhawk fits here as well, though the last time he was seen, he was trying to break away from his alcoholism.)
- Tsundere: Amy; she has definitely opened up more to the other Pride members since she has first joined them.
- Vacation Episode: The Los Paraisos chapter, although The Pride was still on the job.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Amy and Trixie.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: Gaoh, Golem!Cole, Oren, and (arguably) Lucifer.
- When Trees Attack: Treants pop up every once in a while.
- Why Did It Have To Be Spiders? Don during the Ruins chapter.
- You Are Not Alone: During the conclusion of Chapter 6.
- You Monster!: Gaoh Capuello, according to his son Don.
