History Fanfic / TheWarcrafter

* BalefulPolymorph:
** This happens when an Actor is transformed into a non-human Azerothian race. These include Adrian [[spoiler: and Taylor]] (Worgen), [[spoiler: Theo and Rune (Pandaren), Alec (Vulperan) and Rachel (Orc). Sparky (Blood Elf) also somewhat counts.]]
** [[spoiler: Both Sparky and Rune as Azerothian spellcasters]] can cast this, and they use it on Lung, which not only turns him harmless, but also [[ResetButton leaves him in his baseline human form when it wears off]]. Adrian later applies the effect to a polymorph gun and gives it to the PRT, officially reducing Lung to a ''minor'' problem in Brockton Bay.

** [[spoiler: Sparky]] – Shar'din Belore, [[OurElvesAreDifferent Blood Elf]] [[FunctionalMagic Mage]], giving him [[MassTeleportation mass teleports]], {{Status Buff}}s, debuffs like BalefulPolymorph, and good old-fashioned [[ProjectileSpell magical firepower]].

* SurpriseJump: The first time Alec saw Rachel's new [[CanisMajor mega-mastiff]] Truck, he ended up on the nearest

* SurpriseJump: The first time Alec saw Rachel's new [[CanisMajor mega-mastiff]] Truck, he ended up on the nearest top shelf in panic.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Given who the author is, there are unsurprisingly a number of these instances, pointing out the issues in the source material:
** The Merchants, including their leader Skidmark, getting high on their own product is ''not'' conducive to them functioning well as a gang. It turns out that [[spoiler: Coil is TheManBehindTheMan, using a special Magic 8-Ball with a built-in holographic screen to feed Skidmark instructions]].
** Bayleaf notes that the sudden drop of international trade because of Leviathan has resulted in the loss of many products. For example, with oil being so much harder to obtain, there is not as much plastic as there could be -- which includes products like latex condoms. This, combined with a sharp increase in the cost of most safe methods to prevent pregnancy, has resulted in a slideback of sexual mores.
** Contessa has been using Path to Victory all but constantly ever since she was a child, so she's never truly learned anything, and has become so dependent on it that she's [[WomanChild fairly childlike]] without it. In addition, Adrian points out that all the Paths that Cauldron so religiously follow are built on information ''provided by the enemy'', and their plan to kill Scion makes about as much sense as trying to drown an ocean.
** The Entities and Cauldron both fall into the same trap of thinking that they can predict anything with enough data, oblivious or willfully ignorant to the fact that simple chance can and will throw a monkey wrench into the works; in other words, they have no concept of Murphy's Law.
** As Bayleaf points out, the idea that Rachel's powers messed with her head doesn't make sense, given that dogs have been domesticated for millennia and have grown to understand humans well. Instead, it's just a combination of trauma from her Trigger and existing mental issues.
** The Slaughterhouse Nine have only lasted as long as they have because Cauldron has been manipulating events to keep them alive in the vague hope they'll be useful against Scion and the number of capes they have caused to Trigger. [[spoiler: In Chapter 27, most of them are killed during their attack on the Bay, with Burnscar/Butcher even asking why Jack is surprised when Flechette shoots and kills Shatterbird, pointing out that she was sniper-bait from Day One, and wondering why someone didn't use a surface-to-air missile on her ages ago.]]
** Crawler knows very well that his body is a mishmash of conflicting biologies only kept stable by his AdaptiveAbility and is very careful to stay away from {{Power Nullifier}}s like Hatchet Face and Animos. [[spoiler: Sure enough, when the Chuckles/Hatchet Face hybrid is forced down his throat, his body starts breaking apart almost immediately.]]
** Jack Slash is only as dangerous as he is due to his Shard and how it interacts with others. Without them, he's a baseline human with a rather lackluster blaster power and relatively harmless. [[spoiler: None of the Warcrafted are vulnerable to said ability, and without the rest of the S9 to support him, he's easily taken down and killed by Hemlokk.]]
** The Teeth were a large, powerful gang led by a nigh-unstoppable monster of a cape. With them gone, the area they ruled over has begun to suffer instability.

* TheNeidermeyer: Directly named in how Piggot describes Director Tagg.

* GameChanger: Adrian's actions have become this within the world of Earth Bet, such that as of Chapter 32, Cauldron is actively seeking to take him out of the picture to as not to disrupt their plans.

** [[spoiler: Tagg's first action when he arrives in Brockton Bay is forcing Parian to close down her shop the same day she was reopening after the Slaughterhouse/Teeth attack and attempting to have her arrested.]]

** Right after pushing Taylor into the locker, Sophia blacks out and flips when she wakes up because it means Taylor was finally pushed over the edge and Triggered. Then the crap factor ''doubles'' when Skinwalker – the most dangerous Rogue in the Bay – intervenes to save Taylor in such a way she immediately realizes he's actually Adrian Smith, the loser interested in Taylor. So not only does her victim now have the power to retaliate, her boyfriend would probably tag along for the ride. This doesn't last long due to some {{Gaslighting}}, but...

** Thomas Calvert [[spoiler: (alias Coil)]] suffers one in Chapter 23 when his criminal activities are exposed and he's subsequently arrested.
** The Alliance, when [[spoiler: not only do the Teeth return to Brockton Bay, but Burnscar of the Slaughterhouse Nine is now the [[LegacyCharacter fifteenth iteration]] of [[GrandTheftMe the Butcher]], and the two groups of psychotic murderers are working together.]]

** Fennek when [[spoiler:the PRT troops sent to arrest him and Lok'tara use his ''real'' name, Jean-Paul Vasil]].

** Chapter 33 ends with [[spoiler:the Alliance being forced on the run and a paranoid PRT agent shooting at Danny]].

* InsultToRocks: Piggot remarks that labeling Director Tagg a "war hawk" would be incorrect, as that would imply the man had any military-esque competence whatsoever, as opposed to the frothing-at-the-mouth xenophobic bigot he is.

** [[spoiler:Tagg's first action when he arrives to Brockton Bay is to force Parian to close down her shop the same day she was re-opening after the Slaughterhouse/Teeth attack and attempting to have her arrested.]]

* LoopholeAbuse: [[spoiler:Tagg uses the former Undersiders' and Rune's former allegiances to attempt to arrest the Alliance and shut down Azeroth Ltd.]]

* TheNeidermeyer: Directly named as being how Piggot describes Director Tagg.

** [[spoiler: Sparky]] – Shar'din Belore, [[OurElvesAreDifferent Blood Elf]] [[FunctionalMagic Mage]], giving him [[TeleportersAndTransporters mass teleports]], {{Status Buff}}s, debuffs like BalefulPolymorph, and good old-fashioned [[ProjectileSpell magical firepower]].

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: When Jack Slash tries to call the PRT in order to further screw with them, as well as to dictate "terms", Piggott hangs up in his face. Repeatedly. Then delivers an ''epic'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that leaves Jack seething in impotent rage.

** When Kaiser proposes a truce with the PRT to [[spoiler: stop the S9 and Teeth]], Piggot admits to herself that if the Warcrafted didn't exist, then she probably would have agreed. However, they do, and seeing the good they've done in the city drives her to refuse the deal.

* GettingHighOnTheirOwnSupply: This makes Adrian very, very suspicious of the Merchants – how can they still be a somewhat cohesive gang if the higher-ups keep drugging themselves on their drugs? [[spoiler: It turns out they ''would'' be far less effective, but Coil controls Skidmark via a Magic 8-Ball toy that he runs all his choices by.]]

** Bayleaf notes that the sudden drop of international trade because of Leviathan has resulted in the loss of many products. For example, with oil being so much harder to obtain, there is not as much plastic as there could be – which includes products like latex condoms. This, combined with a sharp increase in the cost of most safe methods to prevent pregnancy, has resulted in a slideback of sexual mores.

** [[spoiler: The Simurgh is dealing with one after her defeat, the mental strain of it even significantly slowing her healing processes and causing her to lose track of her pawns and manipulations back on Earth. Because the Entities are arrogant, and imagine themselves as the pinnacle of existence in a purely materialistic universe, where they can and have predicted any potential outcomes, their code flawless (with the narration noting how those readers actually familiar with programming can take this moment to laugh hysterically), she's effectively paralyzed due to her makers' shortsightedness. Basically, the "Prime Directives" that she and the other Endbringers live by have focused on prioritizing reporting threats to the Cycle to an Entity to destroy, preserving the knowledge gathered by the Shards in the Cycle, and obeying the orders of the Shard that accidentally ended up in Eidolon's control. The fact that the Entities ''never once'' anticipated a scenario where their empowered pawns could actually find a way to pose a genuine threat causes these goals to conflict, forcing the Simurgh to try and think of a way to "think outside of the box", so to speak, as she recovers from her pounding.]]

* NotSoDifferent:

* LetsGetDangerous: When the Teeth and the Empire begin to fight in the Boardwalk, [[NonActionGuy Parian]] kicks their asses less than in a minute – including getting Hookwolf stuck in place with a ball of Azeroth-based thread.

** With his ability to adapt to anything that doesn't kill him, you would think Crawler does not have any weakness. He does: himself -- or, rather, the acids and toxins his body is constantly producing, which he himself only resists because of his power. [[spoiler:So Lok'tara and Fennex pretty much force-feed him the Chuckles[=/=]Hatchet Face hybrid, nullifying his powers – and his own biology immediately begins to attack and kill him.]]

* SetSwordsToStun: Literally, in the case in Taylor's new Ghost Iron blades -- able to [[AbsurdlySharpBlade cut through iron like no one's business]], yet will phase right through living flesh leaving nothing more than a painful stun.

* WarmHeartedWalrus: Wonder Walrus, one of Adrian's alternate cape identities, wears a beach towel cape and has a white W painted on his chest. He's extra goofy in this form, at one point giving Armsmaster a ''big walrus smooch on camera''.

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Adrian compares the way the Warcrafted use magic vs. how most of Azeroth uses magic to the difference between chefs and cooks, the former using techniques while the latter works from a cookbook. The Agents get knowledge of not just Azerothian magic, but also the underlying principles and mechanics as well, in contrast to the residents of Azeroth who have experienced so many wars, demonic invasions, etc. that most magic users (save for some intellectual types) treat spells almost like apps (a bit like how they're depicted in the game).

* ThisIsReality: Agent dismisses the various game mechanics as contrivances for balance. He especially refutes the idea of there being any such thing as [[BadPowersGoodPeople good warlocks or demon hunters]], stating that [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil demonic magic corrupts any mortals who attempt to use it into their slaves]].

* RealityEnsues: Given who the author is, there are unsurprisingly a number of these instances, pointing out the issues in the source material:
** Bayleaf notes that the sudden drop of international trade because of Leviathan has resulted in the loss of many products. For example, with oil being so much harder to obtain, there is not as much plastic as there could be – which includes products like latex condoms. This, combined with a sharp increase in the cost of most safe methods to prevent pregnancy, has resulted in a slideback of sexual mores.
** Contessa has been using Path to Victory all but constantly ever since she was a child, so she's never truly learned anything, and has become so dependent on it that she's [[WomanChild fairly childlike]] without it. In addition, Adrian points out that all the Paths that Cauldron so religiously follow are built on information ''provided by the enemy'', and their plan to kill Scion makes about as much sense as trying to drown an ocean.
** The Entities and Cauldron both fall into the same trap of thinking that they can predict anything with enough data, oblivious or willfully ignorant to the fact that simple chance can and will throw a monkey wrench into the works; in other words, they have no concept of Murphy's Law.
** As Bayleaf points out, the idea that Rachel's powers messed with her head doesn't make sense, given that dogs have been domesticated for millennia and have grown to understand humans well. Instead, it's just a combination of trauma from her Trigger and existing mental issues.
** The Slaughterhouse Nine have only lasted as long as they have because Cauldron has been manipulating events to keep them alive in the vague hope they'll be useful against Scion and the number of capes they have caused to Trigger. [[spoiler: In Chapter 27, most of them are killed during their attack on the Bay, with Burnscar/Butcher even asking why Jack is surprised when Flechette shoots and kills Shatterbird, pointing out that she was sniper-bait from Day One, and wondering why someone didn't use a surface-to-air missile on her ages ago.]]
** Crawler knows very well that his body is a mishmash of conflicting biologies only kept stable by his AdaptiveAbility and is very careful to stay away from {{Power Nullifier}}s like Hatchet Face and Animos. [[spoiler: Sure enough, when the Chuckles/Hatchet Face hybrid is forced down his throat, his body starts breaking apart almost immediately.]]
** Jack Slash is only as dangerous as he is due to his Shard and how it interacts with others. Without them, he's a baseline human with a rather lackluster blaster power and relatively harmless. [[spoiler: None of the Warcrafted are vulnerable to said ability, and without the rest of the S9 to support him, he's easily taken down and killed by Hemlokk.]]
** The Teeth were a large, powerful gang led by a nigh-unstoppable monster of a cape. With them gone, the area they ruled over has begun to suffer instability.

* GoodIsNotNice: Carol is a Cape and loves Vicky very much. She also convinced Amy that she deserves to be a slave to society because she's utterly convinced that villainy is InTheBlood. And when Vicky finds out the truth and calls her out, Carol [[NeverMyFault blames Amy]] and wants her daughter taken away from the supposed "bad influence".

* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: Mr. Chuckles ''massacres'' the stray dogs Lok'Tara had taken in. '''''[[MuggingTheMonster Big]] [[http://www.rhjunior.com/eng/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/MarkHarrisLoktaraFennekTruck.png mistake]].''''']]

* KryptoniteProofSuit: More "LogicalWeakness" than "WeaksauceWeakness", in this case. At Christmastime, Adrian (shapeshifted into a reindeer) infiltrates Piggot's office and delivers enchanted Gnomish gadgets to the Protectorate and Wards that complement their parahuman powers.

** [[spoiler: Shatterbird dies when Flechette [[BoomHeadshot shoots her in the head]] with her arbalest, killing her before she can begin [[GlassShatteringSound singing]].]]
** [[spoiler: William Manton (the man controlling the Siberian) is killed by Brian and his Bayleaf-issued [[{{BFG}} gnomish handgun]]. Brian then proceeds to prove it was not a fluke by killing Animos next.]]
** [[spoiler: Crawler and the Chuckles[=/=]Hatchet Face hybrid die when Lok'tara drives the latter into the former's mouth, nullifying Crawler's powers and allowing everyone to just blast them both to bits.]]
** [[spoiler:Mannequin is killed by Vindicator, with a little assistance from a newly Second-Triggered Grue.]]

** [[spoiler:Jack Slash is killed by Taylor using her Ghost Blades.]]

* FluffyDryCat: What happens to the now-Worgen [[spoiler: Taylor]], after going through Adrian's specialized shower. When she appears looking like a giant puffed-up Pomeranian, Adrian nearly chokes to death laughing.

* IgnoredEpiphany: Talking with other Thinkers and mundane mathematicians has caused Doctor Mother to suspect that Contessa's Shard has been essentially faking omniscience the whole time; however, Cauldron's plans have become so utterly dependent on that power that she keeps suppressing her doubts.

* HesBack: [[spoiler: After a period of going hard after the Merchants and becoming TheDreaded as Skinwalker in vengeance for Hawk's death, Adrian is forced into a healing coma that leaves him unable to entirely prevent Taylor's Triggering, though he does rescue her from the locker and deliver her to the hospital. After she's become Hemlokk and he and her father have formed a plan to escape and cover their tracks, Adrian declares, "Call me Bayleaf," indicating that he's back to his more lighthearted self.]]

* HeroicBSoD: After the battle with the Slaughterhouse Nine, the Alliance is emotionally drained. While they are powerful, they're also teenagers who aren't emotionally prepared for the fact they knowingly killed people, no matter how much they deserved it.

** [[spoiler:Bonesaw and the Butcher are ''really terrified'' when Piggot's conversation with Jack Slash drives him to the point of shaking in rage.]]

** After the battle with the slaughterhouse nine, the Alliance is emotionally drained. While they are powerful, their also teenagers who aren't emotionally prepared for the fact they knowingly killed people, no matter how much they deserved it.
*** Lok'Tara is a massive Ork who manhandled a super-strong brute but is also a young animal lover whose beloved pets just died. When she returns to the base she starts sobbing uncontrollably and needs a hug.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After being told she's being replaced with Tagg, Piggot decides to take a long vacation to a tropical island where she can enjoy her restored heath and two decades of youth to see if that myth about Cabana boys is true.

** [[spoiler: Whereas Squealer died early, Skidmark, Mush and Trainwreck end up arrested and have yet to meet their canon fates.]]

** [[spoiler: The drawbacks to Oni Lee's powers are what ultimately do him ''and'' the Butcher, in. After killing Butcher XV, and with his own mind practically gone, the individual Butcher identities fight one another and attempt to take control, only for A) all of them to die in the melee, and B) the "original" body being ''not'' the last to die, resulting in the Butcher Shard jumping to a clone body which disintegrates seconds later.]]

* InTheBack: Just as [[spoiler: Alexandria]] is threatening Adrian with death to stay out of their operations, [[spoiler: Taylor appears to (non-lethally) disable her with her [[ArmorPiercingAttack Ghost Iron]] blades.]]
* InvoluntaryShapeshifter: [[spoiler:Taylor]] has trouble maintaining her human form after becoming an Actor, tending to transform whenever she becomes flustered. She has to hold off on returning to school until she gets a better hold of the ability.

* LetsYouAndHimFight: When Oni Lee attacks the PRT forward operation base to take Bakuda back, the Butcher also comes up, forcing the former to fight the latter before she kills Bakuda. Skinwalker takes advantage of this to get away with Bakuda [[spoiler:and accidentally get both serial killers to destroy each other.]]

** Piggot gives one to Jack Slash after he keeps trying to call the PRT to screw with them during a hostage situation he engineered; it doubles as a ShutUpHannibal, as she points out how utterly pointless it is to ever listen to his nihilistic blather and declares that he's only proved his own words to be empty.

** The secondary one is Adrian Smith, a civilian teen trying to rebuild his life after being caught into memory-wiping shenanigans.

* SetSwordsToStun: Literally, in the case in Taylor's new Ghost Iron blades – able to [[AbsurdlySharpBlade cut through iron like no one's business]], yet will phase right through living flesh leaving nothing more than a painful stun.

* ShootTheHostage: A curious subversion, where [[spoiler: Hemlokk stabs Bonesaw's hostages in the head with her [[SetSwordsToStun Ghost Iron blades]], shorting out the bombs that she had implanted there.]]

* SympathyForTheDevil: [[spoiler:Adrian feels sympathy for Riley[=/=]Bonesaw as she dies, full of shame and pain for everything she did as part of the Slaughterhouse Nine.]]

* TeleportInterdiction: [[spoiler: The Simurgh sets up one during her attack on Canberra]], to prevent any reinforcements from teleporting into the battle, [[spoiler: specifically the Alliance from Brockton Bay]]. Aegis even suffers a PortalCut with his leg, to the point it's a [[GoodThingYouCanHeal relief he can live through it]].

* TooCleverByHalf: [[spoiler:The Entities fell into this trap with the commands driving the Endbringers. When the Simurgh is defeated, she suffers from a LogicBomb as she hides, recovering, behind the moon, unable to move past the conflict of three main directives: informing an Entity of a threat to the Cycle so it can be eliminated, preserving the Cycle and its accumulated knowledge at all costs, and obeying their Controlling Shard. Not only is said Shard in Eidolon's possession, but the fact that the Entities ''never once'' considered their parahuman test subjects could actually pose such a threat as they have when they blinded and defeated the Simurgh at Canberra, any more than a military lab could have predicted their lab mice rising up and attacking the researchers, traps the Endbringer in a deadlock as she tries to find some way of dealing with the problem of the "preserving the Cycle" and "eliminating the threat" goals conflicting.]]