History Webcomic / MyLifeAtWar

** Supplemental material includes a Free Market sport based on their Prime Rule of No Trespassing: Fencing. [[JustForPun Both contestants box each other over an iron fence]], trying to pull the other contestant to their side. The game was invented when an arguing landowner realized [[LoopholeAbuse he could make the other guy illegally trespass if they 'accidentally' slipped onto his hands and onto his property]]. Even though it went against the spirit of the rule, there was too much money to be made from making it into a sport.

* BladeOnAStick: The standard-issued weapon of the Dhuvalian infantry is a spear with a gun attached to it. Although it looks more like an elongated crowbar.
** The seemingly impractical design of the spear-gun is noted in universe. Dhuvalian infantry are not used against other infantry, but to support Dhuvalian [=LIMBs=] and vehicles, by using their spear to pry out disabled LIMB joints, or to open hatches and clear out the crew.

''My Life at War'' is a [[{{Webcomic}} webcomic]] written by Luther Patenge and illustrated by Matt Materniak. It updates every Friday.

* PrivateMilitaryContractors: The 1st Investment Recovery Battalion are just that.

%%* CorporateWarfare

** Salbhaca seems based on the Aztecs, as they use futuristic-macuahuitls and have a great grasp of astronomy.

%%* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Vulture.]]

%%* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Terrence "Vulture" Uzzard

* NeverLearnedToRead: Vulture, meant he couldn't tell what was in the employee handbook [[spoiler: and it was too difficult to find his next of kin.]]
* OralFixation: Vulture usually had a piece of straw in his mouth. While going through his stuff after he died the rest of the team found a box of pre-cut "max relax" hayseeds.

%%* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: The Free Market.

* WorkOffTheDebt: Dizzee is driven into debt due to the [=LIMBs=] he's lost, forcing him to stay with the company for good. It takes a deep toll on his sanity and makes him violently-patriotic to his company.

* CorporateWarfare
* DarkSkinnedBlond: The Dhuvalians, although this trait is limited to the Dhuvalian royalties[[note]]though their hair is mostly white with traces of blond[[/note]].

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Vulture]]

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Terrence "Vulture" Uzzard

* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: The Free Market.

* PretextForWar: A Dhuvalian duke's appointed mayors sold some of his land to Mega-Fun-Foods behind his back. Then at some point, said noble lost a significant portion of his holdings and was forced to return his lands to the Dhuvalian state.[[note]]Conveniently, the mayors were executed while the duke was never convicted of nepotism or incompetence[[/note]] Mega-Fun-Foods refused to return their portion of the land because it was their private property now. Unfortunately, the Dhuvalians refuse the idea of free market ownership, so they saw it as an act of aggression and moved their army to retake the land. Mega-Fun-Foods hires several PMC groups to defend their assets. It sort of escalates from that point. It's heavily implied from the sunken costs of open warfare that either (A) there's something important in that specific patch of land, or (B) the Free Market is making a move on a country that hasn't fought since the last world war.

My Life at War is a [[{{Webcomic}} webcomic]] written by Luther Patenge and illustrated by Matt Materniak. It updates every Friday.

* NotSoDifferent: Dhuvalian officers decline a salary as a show of patriotism. As the officer corps is composed almost universally of wealthy aristocrats, they can easily afford to do so. Meanwhile, in the Free Market rank within the PMC's is determined by how much stock someone owes in the company. In both systems, this means the wealthy elite are in charge of the army.

** Of course, the Dhuvalians views the Free Marketeers as murderous bastards who slaughter for short-sighted profit and fun, instead of something more honorable like their country. To that extent, the state expects all officers and above to ''refuse payment for their military service'', something that would anger the Free Market. Then again, the Dhuvalians' officer corps are pretty much universally wealthy aristocrats, so they can afford to refuse payment. [[NotSoDifferent For the Free Market, rank in the army is literally determined by how much stock you own in the company, so high ranking officers likewise tend to be wealthy individuals themselves.]]

* NotSoDifferent: Dhuvalian officers decline a salary as a show of patriotism. As the officer corps is composed almost universally of wealthy aristocrats, they can easily afford to do so. Meanwhile, in the Free Market rank within the PMCs is determined by how much stock someone owes in the company. In both systems, this means the wealthy elite are in charge of the army.

** The Dhuvalians have a distinctly French feel to them, despite the comic taking place in an original world.

* ForWantOfANail: Supplemental material reveals that Salbhaca was considerably behind the other nations technologically, similar to the Aztecs and Europeans, until some explorers made the mistake of drinking contaminated river water on their border and died. Their deaths by gut-worms conveniently precluded any mistaking them for divine and their gear was quickly reverse-engineered.

* InherentInTheSystem: Dhuvalia has a long history of patriotism and pride in their war winning streak - which means they refuse to back down from a war they could easily negotiate their way out of, and would rather deploy ''untested'' biowarfare weapons ''on their own country'' than lose a single war. The officer who promoted the idea as a tactical ''option'' is left as the potential scapegoat for the fallout, unable to protest publicly against her own retrospectively-bad idea because her influence is limited by gender.

* MildlyMilitary: Free Market private military companies. Justified that they're not regular army, and even the "soldiers" of the [=PMCs=] are treated more like employees, with them treating each other as co-workers.

* PretextForWar: A Dhuvalian duke's appointed mayors sold some of his land to Mega-Fun-Foods behind his back. Then at some point, said noble lost a significant portion of his holdings and was forced to return his lands to the Dhuvalian state. Mega-Fun-Foods refused to return their portion of the land because it was their private property now. Unfortunately, the Dhuvalians refuse the idea of free market ownership, so they saw it as an act of aggression and moved their army to retake the land. Mega-Fun-Foods hires several PMC groups to defend their assets. It sort of escalates from that point. It's heavily implied from the sunken costs of open warfare that either (A) there's something important in that specific patch of land, or (B) the Free Market is making a move on a country that hasn't fought since the last world war.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Salbhaca was hit the hardest during the last World War, with most of its farms irradiated, and seeks to colonize another planet as to leave the other three factions to their next war.

** It isn't fictional! It's Based. Awn. Uh. True. Story.

* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:After Betsy-Lee explains that she joined a PMC and killed dozens of soldiers so she could pay her father's debts and study at a university, Christophe treats her like filth for killing for personal gain. His friend Henri immediately explodes, and swears to their goddess that he will beat Christophe to near-death if he doesn't apologize to the polite, professional pilot / lady who is just trying to redeem her family's debts.]]