History Literature / Cerberon

On their journey, they receive help from a villainous elven wizard that they're afraid to refuse, since they already know about TheFairFolk. Other strange creatures join the traveling group, forming a RagtagBunchOfMisfits whose mission is not to save the world, only survive it, and each other. They discover the country they are traveling through is marked for annihilation by the Dragon Queen, the supreme ruler of all the world's dragons. An epic battle ensues, while George and Cerberon seek to escape it, their only duty being the safety of their charges. They eventually make it to America, bringing with them guests from the fantastic world, including a dragon and a centaur, but antebellum America is not what they had expected.

* PettingZooPeople: Junapur has mostly human features with distinctly (though nonspecific) animal characteristics. She's probably closer to LittleBitBeastly on the scale, and might qualify as a HotAmazon.

* MortonsFork: One of Aladavan's main methods for convincing people to do what they don't want to do, often coming close to making them [[{{Main/ptitlegkm8fljl1lk8}} An Offer They Can't Refuse]]. Usually in the form of: "You may choose to do X unpleasant/morally suspect thing for me, or I'll force someone else to do it." Being the MagnificentBastard he is, he's ready to respond with something even worse if they TakeAThirdOption. One exception to this was when he put Darkram through a SecretTestOfCharacter, where the Third Option was the correct choice.

** Thedrik tries to warn the patrol he's riding with by using this phrase. Again, it doesn't work.

* HotAmazon: George thinks so of Junapur.

* MortonsFork: One of Aladavan's main methods for convincing people to do what they don't want to do, often coming close to making them [[{{Main/ptitlegkm8fljl1lk8}} An Offer They Can't Cefuse]]. Usually in the form of: "You may choose to do X unpleasant/morally suspect thing for me, or I'll force someone else to do it." Being the MagnificentBastard he is, he's ready to respond with something even worse if they TakeAThirdOption. One exception to this was when he put Darkram through a SecretTestOfCharacter, where the Third Option was the correct choice.

* LegacyImmortality: Merlen offers this as a plausible explanation for his claim to have lived a dozen lifetimes. Oethelzeiren reveals it's actually [[{{Immortality}} Type IX Immortality]], Merlen simply takes a new body when his old one is used up. Whether he was originally and always a unicorn, or is just one in his current incarnation is not revealed.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Occurs throughout the novel. Almost nothing is a complete surprise if you've been paying attention.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Mostly averted, since most of the coincidences do seem genuine, but it strains credulity that Cerberon's father, Cephalon, happens to have been slaughtered and sealed away in the basement of a magic tower as part of a ward to keep out dragons, with his horn becoming the key to mastery of the tower, and that master went out to investigate Aladavan's activities and bring him to justice, which failed badly, putting the horn in Aladavan's hands just at the moment Cerberon is dying from a hackal attack, allowing Cephalon's spirit to alert Aladavan that Cerberon needs to be saved, which Aladavan does just in the nick of time. Got that?

The first published novel by Fredric R. Stewart, ''Cerberon'' is unusual blend of Regency Romance and High Fantasy. The novel opens in Regency England several years after the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, with George making a final, desperate, and futile attempt to convince a wealthy widow to marry him, with Cerberon's begrudging assistance. After being kicked off of the widow's estate, George and Cerberon soon encounter another widow, Margaret, who is significantly less wealthy than the ones George had been unsuccessfully courting. George promises to escort her and her children to their destination, which they then discover is America. They decide to follow through on this promise by taking them through an alternate fantastic world full of magic, strange creatures, and danger. While George enters into a romantic relationship with Margaret while Cerberon learns more about what it means to be a unicorn than he ever suspected.

* CursedWithAwesome: Darkram's curse gives him [[ImprobableAimingSkills perfect aim with his bow]], the ability to put [[TrickArrow magical effects into his arrows]] and some [[EyesOfGold psychic abilities]]. It's also [[{{Metamorphosis}} turning him from a human into some kind of]] [[TheGrotesque demonic creature]], and he emits an [[EnemyToAllLivingThings evil aura]]. It is later revealed that he's not actually cursed, he's just [[TheAntichrist the half-human offspring of a demon]]. He takes this news surprisingly well considering all his angst about it before.

* CantArgueWithElves: Don't argue with Aladavan. Ever. You will lose. If it goes badly, he might kill you and everyone you know. [[FateWorseThanDeath Or worse]].

* AutomatonHorses: Averted. Most of the time horses are not used at all, but any time horses (and horse-like creatures) are shown, they are described in realistic terms, and their proper care is seen to.

* AnythingThatMoves: Probably describes a large portion of the human population of the world, considering the number and variety of half-human hybrids encountered. George might also qualify, as he's shamelessly attracted to a PettingZooPerson (Junapur) and a [[OurCentaursAreDifferent centauress]] (Zofi).

* Tsundere: Jena. After beating Thedrik into submission (it actually doesn't take much since he's mostly broken already), she tells him, "You know I can be hard, but I can also be soft." She does show her softer side to him after their hackal raid.

* Unicorn: Cerberon, of course. Cerberon meets several other unicorns, including Thanades, a purity-zealot who wants to kill him for being part horse, and Merlen, who is much more tolerant. They don't seem susceptible to VirginPower, or consider virgins special enough to even bother mentioning, although they do seem to value innocence, virginity notwithstanding. They are extremely powerful magic users and are very highly regarded by other people, and their alicorn is highly valued for its various magical uses. They despise hackals and will kill them on sight (hackals feel the same about unicorns). The Prince of Aeronweyir tells Cerberon that dragons created unicorns to gather, amplify and focus ambient magical energy.
* Unobtainium: Alicorn, produced by unicorns in their horns and hooves, which they are understandably reluctant to give up, has many valuable properties. It's a powerful healing agent, a magic collector/amplifier, pwerful aphrodesiac, poison neutralizer, and an extremely hard material that is great for AbsurdlySharpBlades.

** To be fair though, King Norrith was quite willing and eager to personally lead his forces in battle against the Dragon Queen, and probably would have if she hadn't attacked first. Considering the overwhelming scale of destruction and death she brought down on him, the only sensible thing for him to do was to get [[RunOrDie right the hell out of town]]. He even steps up and faces Oethelzeiren the Slayer when he's found hiding among refugees, despite knowing he was hopelessly doomed at that point.

* SheIsTheKing: The Dragon Queen rules in her own right, the title of queen only indicating she is a female ultimate ruler of the dragons, not that her power is derived from a king. From what little is shown of dragon culture, they don't seem to place the same value on marital relationships as humans do.

* ShootYourMate: When Darkram has Thedrik hold Lama hostage and threaten to kill her while Cerberon and Zofi go to rescue George and Margaret, Aladavan turns the tables on them and demands Darkram kill her to save Cerberon and Zofi from the trap he had set for them. Unfortunately, Zofi unintentionally shoots Kith, Lama's mate.

* SpellBook: Aladavan has an impressive collection of these, including at least one book which contains multiple other sppell books that can be used by removing the page for the book. He refers to these books to learn spells he doesn't already know or rarely needs to use.
* StealthHiBye: Merlen the Conjurer likes to use this trope, intentionally appearing and disappearing when no on'es looking just because he can. He even does this with other objects, such as siitting in a chair that wasn't there a moment ago, acting as though it was always there. The objects similarly disappear when they're no longer required.
* SuperiorSpecies: The dragons qualify. They've been around for millions of years and have collectively seen it all. Of course they're smarter, stronger, live for centuries, and have more powerful magic than anyone else. They created the network of ley lines and portal gateways that permit near-instant travel over vast distances and even to other worlds. They've created entire species for specific purposes, including unicorns, hackals and half-dragons, but have a general rule not to interfere with other races, as long as they don't become a threat to them or their world. They view all the younger species condescendingly, to the point they don't think they deserve to know their given names. They don't seem to be excessively arrogant about their superiority, even as they explain exactly why they are better than you as a matter of objective fact. As explained above, you can't argue with them.

* ParanoiaGambit: After George punches Aladavan, Aladavan tells George, "I don't think you'll be going back to England." Of course, George takes this as a serious threat and becomes increasingly agitated until he proposes a duel, which Aladavan refuses. George is genre savvy enough to know that sidhe are vicious vengeful bastards, and is convinced the punishment Aladavan has in mind will be exceptionally cruel. Everything goes very badly for everyone before Aladavan gets a chance to let him off the hook.
* ParentalAbandonment: Cerberon's father disappeared when he was very young. George's parents disowned him due to some horrible NoodleIncident. Darkram was raised by an adoptive woodsman, whom he left behind when the wise man of his village told him he was cursed by the Dragon Queen. Cerberon abandoned his own children! (He has a reunion with some of them at the end of the book.)

** Magic itself is apparently given power levels, at least by the Union of Professional Magicians. It is mentioned that one must have a license to practice Class Two or higher magic. what exactly the various classes of magic exist is not described.
* ProudWarriorRace: Arguably hackals, who have combat as a central part of their culture and believe AsskickingEqualsAuthority. Unanimously regarded as the most capable and fearsom fighters in the world, but they don't seem to value the concept of honor very deeply.

* ReplacementGoldfish: The Wizard Royal, Ivinovar cursed the Dragon Queen's daughter as a human and presented her to King Norrith in place of his own daughter who died at birth.
* RetiredBadass: King Norrith killed a hackal who specialized in slaying unicorns, in Hawthren, a country ruled by unicorn-slaying hackals. He also had the balls to try killing the Dragon Queen in her lair and lived. But even he knew to [[RunOrDieget right the hell out of town]] when he heard [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Oethelzeiren]] had shown up.

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The human nobles in Loethess seem to be mostly busy with their on schemes and social activities, leaving their bloated bureaucracy to do most of the actual work. In contrast, the dragon nobility are shown to be actively involved with their duties: the Queen personally leads her forces in the attack on Loethess, and afterwards is demonstrated as being quite busy with the process of installing new nobles to replace the ones that had been killed. The Marquis of Wenthoerl was tasked with setting up the underground explosives to take down the city of Loethess, and to secure a safe vantage point from which to help direct the battle. Prince Aeronweyir is a close advisor to the Queen, and one of his responsibilities is to ensure her visitors are properly vetted so as to not waste her time or present a threat to her. This is in addition to his job managing a great stonegate whish is a major axis of travel, communication and commerce, and also directly connected to the Queen's palace. In fact the royal titles among the dragons seem to be more like job titles indicating social rank and including significant privileges, and not inherited, so it is expected of them to actually do something.
** To be fair though, King Norrith was quite willing and eager to personally lead his forces in battle against the Dragon Queen, and probably would have if she hadn't attacked first. Considering the overwhelming scale of destruction and death she brought down on him, the only sensible thing for him to do was to get right the hell out of town. He even steps up and faces Oethelzeiren the Slayer when he's found hiding among refugees, despite knowing he was hopelessly doomed at that point.

* NeverMessWithGranny: Grenda Yerta, who runs the Silarsi inn in Four Ways. She's old, very well respected, and very tough. She easily runs down Darkram when he tries to run away from Thedrik, and later silently takes Thedrik down when he's about to murder Aladavan in his room. She unfortunately gets [[TheWorfEffect Worfed]] near the end of the book when Jena takes her out with a surprise attack. Grenda Yerta doesn't seem to mind this much, since she recognizes Jena was [[RaisedByOrks Raised By Hackals]], and that's just the way they are.

* NoAntagonist: The main conflict of the story is the interpersonal relationships and differing goals and agendas of people who are traveling together. the only one who really qualifies as the BigBad is King Norrith, who is not the antagonist to the protagonists.

* NoodleIncident: George did something terrible that got him disowned from his family. Oethelzeiren mentions a NoodleIncident that ended his friendship with Merlen, although they might never have been friends to begin with, it was this incident that made Merlen actively hate him.

* OurCentaursAreDifferent: The centaurs are fairly standard, except that their heads are more equine than human, and their humanoid torsos are furry just like the rest of their bodies, and the females do not have breasts on their torsos. The centaurs shown in the book are socially closer to classical centaurs, mainly by being wild and uncivilized, although Aladavan describes these as "wild centaurs," hinting that more civilized centaurs may also exist.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Dragons are about the same size as humans, have bat-like wings, are very intelligent and weild powerful magic. They use magic to gain enormous size and breathe fire. They have extremely long life spans but are not immortal. While they are extremely polite they are not necessarily nice. They have ruled the world for millions of years and view the younger intelligent races as children: often amusing, potentially dangerous, helplessly ignorant, and sometimes useful for slaves, as pets, or food.

* PairTheSpairs: Played with. George and Margaret are the primary couple, but most of the other characters end up in opposite sex couples. Cerberon and Zofi, Aladavan and Sascia, Darkram and Princess Tara, Thedrik and Jena, and Emma Bolton with Prince Aeronweyir. Except that none of these pairings are romantic, including Emma and the Prince, even though they're set to get married!
* ParanoiaGambit: After George punches Aladavan, he tells George, "I don't think you'll be going back to England." Of course, George takes this as a serious threat and becomes increasingly agitated until he proposes a duel, which Aladavan refuses. George is genre savvy enough to know that sidhe are vicious vengeful bastards, and is convinced the punishment Aladavan has in mind will be exceptionally cruel. Everything goes very badly for everyone before Aladavan gets a chance to let him off the hook.

** Darkram thinks this is what Aladavan is trying to do to him, but it turns out to be just a Secret Test Of Character.
* MortonsFork: One of Aladavan's main methods for convincing people to do what they don't want to do, often coming close to making them AnOfferTheyCantRefuse. Usually in the form of: "You may choose to do X unpleasant/morally suspect thing for me, or I'll force someone else to do it." Being the MagnificentBastard he is, he's ready to respond with something even worse if they TakeAThirdOption. One exception to this was when he put Darkram through a SecretTestOfCharacter, where the Third Option was the correct choice.
** The Prince of Aeronweyir uses this too, relying heavily on Cant Argue With Dragons, to get George to invite him to go with them back to Earth.

* NamesToTrustImmediately: George Allgood made up this surname to invoke this trope after his family disowned him. He actually is a pretty good guy despite all his faults. Example: after winning some traveling money by gambling, he shares his room with the guy he won most of his money from, who also lost the most at the table. A bigger example is that he volunteered to escort a family from England to America with no ulterior motives at all.

* NeverMessWithGranny: Grenda Yerta, who runs the Silarsi inn in Four Ways. She's old, very well respected, and very tough. She easily runs down Darkram when he tries to run away from Thedrik, and later silently takes Thedrik down when he's about to murder Aladavan in his room. She unfortunately gets Worfed near the end of the book when Jena takes her out with a surprise attack. Grenda Yerta doesn't seem to mind this much, since she recognizes Jena was [[RaisedByOrks Raised By Hackals]], and that's just the way they are.

* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Darkram's eyes glow when he makes use of his inate (demonic) abilities.

* GoldDigger: George is transparently one of these at the beginning of the story.

** Inverted when George, Margaret, et al. finally arrive in antebellum Virginia. The black slaves are most certainly not happy with their condition. (Captain Obvious)

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Thedrik does this after using the memory of his dead girlfriend to make small talk in a tavern. His Mangst over this and that he's helping hackals raid people's homes has him take the free drink offered by the barman, and then ask for another.

** Darkram has an I Ate What? reaction when he's told he's been eating half-dragon (it's half human) from a dragon's breakfast buffet. All the dishes were clearly labeled, but he can't read; he just made an unfortunate selection when picking out something that looked tasty.
** After going to Virginia with Cerberon and seeing the way white people treat their black slaves, Zofi says to him, "The pale people keep the dark people like hackals keep people they capture. Do the pale people eat the dark people?"

* TheInsomniac: Aladavan has been using an elixer of artificial sleep for days. He's had to take the elixer with increasing frequuency and decreasing effectiveness until it runs out and its effects wear off. The results arent pretty.
* InterspeciesRomance: Severa. Emma and the Prince (See Fantastic Romance, above). Eduard and Sera, a skraad and a human, are married and very much in love. They are surprised when they have a child together; they thought the father was an unknown human until the baby was born. Craig McKinzie and Desirée, a unicorn, hint at a sexual relationship between them, but they might only be joking.

** King Norrith gets it for his campaign to exterminate dragons, skraad, and other pesky critters. Not to mention he kidnapped the Dragon Queen's daughter, and tried to kill her after believing she was his own (human) daughter for twenty years. (She was a Replacement Goldfish for his own daughter who died at birth.)

* LegacyImmortality: Merlen offers this as a plausible explanation for his claim to have lived a dozen lifetimes. Oethelzeiren reveals it's actually Type IX Immortality, Merlen simply takes a new body when his old one is used up. Whether he was originally and always a unicorn, or is just one in his current incarnation is not revealed.

* FantasyCasteSystem: Implied. Dragons are at the very top of the order of intelligent races. Skraad, sidhe, unicorns and hackals occupy a level beneath them, though the order (if any) isn't entirely clear. Human civilization seems to be organized with humans at the top, haflings in the servant/slave class, and beast halfs very definitely at the bottom, barely above animals.

* Foreshadowing: Occurs throughout the novel. Almost nothing is a complete surprise if you've been paying attention.

* GenreShift: Starts out as RegencyRomance with one fantasy element (there's a magical, talking unicorn), then shifts to a HighFantasy setting, then ends as a HistoricalFantasy.

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen!: The Dragon Queen seems to be straight example for most of the book, especially when she launches her apocolyptic attack on Loethess (and the rest of Signolia). Turns out she's actually been extraordinarily patient, waiting twenty years for King Norrith to set things right before giving up and launching the aforementioned attack. She's a Mama Bear, not an Evil Queen.

* HalfHumanHybrids: Haflings, described as half human and half something else. Interbreediing is made possible with the hafling hex, a contagious magical disease. Beast halfs are more something else than human, and considered barely better than animals. Half-dragons are apparently not the same thing as haflings, although they are clearly half human and half something else (dragon). Best guess is that dragons use some other means than the hafling hex to produce half-dragons. Darkram is half demon, and alos mentioned as not a hafling, so demons apparently use alternative means to interbreed with people.

* DefectorFromDecadence: Aladavan claims to be one of these, but he's actually in exile for being just as deadly or worse than anyone else in the Deadly Decadent Court he comes from. However, considering how easily he was suckered by King Norrith's court, the fact that The Fair Folk are made of Deadly Decadent Court, and that Aladavan doesn't seem to mind being in exile at all, he just might really be a Defector From Decadence.
* Deuteragonist: Cerberon is a very close second to George, who is the prime protagonist for most of the story. After George and Margaret are betrothed, and especially once they leave Aeronweyir for America, Cerberon becomes the protagonist, with George taking on a secondary role.

* Don'tFearTheReaper: Edu, the goddess of death, is described as loving and merciful in her duty to provide rest and comfort after death. She's in charge of keeping the dead from bothering the living, but doesn't seem very proactive in this regard, considering all the zombies, ghouls, vampires and ghosts hanging around, although she does promptly respond to her priests' calls to take them away.

** Aladavan is forced to duel the son of a wizard he killed in a Trial by Combat. Aladavan is not allowed to use his sword or magic in the fight, while his opponent is fully armed.
** George offers to duel Captain Mayhew to settle their differences. He tells Mayhew about the special ammunition his pistols are loaded with and lets him pick which one he wants to use. Mayhew Takes a Third Option, which doesn't work out well for him.
* Eliteooks: Wizard Royal Elect Tmneal Kravat has a group of half-hackal warriors called the Nine Fangs explicitely described as elite soldiers. Their eliteness ends seems more like an Informed Ability when Aladavan fries them with a massive ball of lightning, and decapitates the blinded and severely burned survivors who are still trying to achieve their objective despite their fatal injuries.

* EvilOverlord: The Dragon Queen. Most of the people understandably think of her and describe her as an Evil Overlord: Solitary ruler of the world? Check. Lives in a fortress of doom atop an active volcano? Check. Employs an enforcer with a Name to Run Away From Very Fast? Check. Personally responsible for the deaths of thousands if not millions? Check. Eats people as a standard part of her diet? Check. Except that she's actually a subversion. It turns out that she's really a Reasonable Authority Figure who has to Shoot The Dog. Unfortunately the dog in this case happens to be a human nation ruled by Knights Templar who want to exterminate the dragons and a few other races they don't like, and we only see things from their point of view for most of the book.
* TheExile: Aladavan was exiled for banning his sister. The Ban is apparently an evil forbidden technique which is a FateWorseThanDeath for the person receiving it.
* EyesNeverLie: Used multiple times in the novel, even for the purpose of gleaning a transormed character's true identity, though it requires substantial magical/spiritual aid to do this.
* Eyes Of Gold: Darkram's eyes are yellow, and have a golden glow when he uses his powers. Both are attributed to his half demon heritage.

* CursedWithAwesome: Darkram's curse gives him [[ImprobableAimingSkills perfect aim with his bow]], the ability to put [[TrickArrow magical effects into his arrows]] and some psychic abilities. It's also turning him from a human into some kind of demonic creature, and he emits an evil aura. It is later revealed that he's not actually cursed, he's just the half-human offspring of a demon. He takes this news surprisingly well considering all his wangst about it before.

* DeaderThanDead: Cerberon's father, Cephalon, was killed twenty years ago and his ghost was trapped in the basement of a magical tower. After Aladavan frees Cephalon's ghost from its prison, it is forced into a Soul Jar, which the Dragon Queen later crushes, forever destroying the ghost.
* DeathTrap: Merlen and Oethelzeiren face off on the ground level of a colossal tower in the center of the city. After discussing the futility of a direct fight between them, Oethelzeiren improvises a Death Trap for Merlen by blasting out all the supports to the tower above them, leaving Merlen to hold up the tower with his magic while people inside the tower escape, and while an unstoppable Wall of Watery Doom bears down on the city.

* ABoyAndHisX: Cerberon was born wheb George was a child and they've been inseparable ever since.

** Aladavan's horses were uncontrollably spooked by Darkram's evil aura, so he killed and reanimated them, turning them into [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies Zombie]] AutomatonHorses.

* ColdBloodedTorture: Thanades, a unicorn, tortures Cerberon with magic darts because he is part horse, therefore not a true unicorn. If Zofi hadn't interfered, Thanades would have tortured him to death.

* ComingOfAgeStory: There are several in the novel, with Darkram's coming of age being most obvious. Cerberon, while already an adult at around twenty years old, learns through the course of the novel what it takes to be a real unicorn and not just a pretty, well-educated horse with a pointy thing on his head. George also gets his own Delayed CoA. Even though he's in his thirties and a battle-tested veteran, he hasn't had to deal with ordinary adult responsibilities until he meets and joins Margaret's family.
* CompellingVoice: Darkram demonstrates this ability during his Secret Test of Character. No one, including himself, knew he could do this, and he doesn't try it for the rest of the book.

* CoolOldGuy: Prince Aeronweyir is a dragon over three thousand years old, looks his age, has seen it all, and still has a cheerful disposition.

* CrystalBalls: Called scry balls, these are used to view other locations, communicate with other scry balls like a telephone, or to spy through uncovered scry balls. Aladavan keeps a miniature scry ball on a chain around his neck, which he keeps under his shirt when he's not using it. He's able to easily spy on and track Thedrik because his sword has a small scryball on the pommel, which Thedrik never covers. Scryblocks are employed to prevent people from using scry balls to spy on them, and to protect against mental eavesdropping.
* CursedWithAwesome: Darkram's curse gives him perfect aim with his bow, the ability to put magical effects into his arrows and some psychic abilities. It's also turning him from a human into some kind of demonic creature, and he emits an evil aura. It is later revealed that he's not actually cursed, he's just the half-human offspring of a demon. He takes this news surprisingly well considering all his wangst about it before.

The first published novel by Fredric R. Stewart, "Cerberon" is unusual blend of Regency Romance and High Fantasy. The novel opens in Regency England several years after the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, with George making a final, desperate, and futile attempt to convince a wealthy widow to marry him, with Cerberon's begrudging assistance. After being kicked off of the widow's estate, George and Cerberon soon encounter another widow, Margaret, who is significantly less wealthy than the ones George had been unsuccessfully courting. George promises to escort her and her children to their destination, which they then discover is America. They decide to follow through on this promise by taking them through an alternate fantastic world full of magic, strange creatures, and danger. While George enters into a romantic relationship with Margaret while Cerberon learns more about what it means to be a unicorn than he ever suspected.

While the story arc of Cerberon is complete in this novel, it is clear at the end a new arc is beginning, and work on a second novel, "Cerberon's Herd" has been announced by the author.

* AutomatonHorses: Averted. Most of the time horses are not used at all, but any time horses (and horse-like creatures) are shown, they are described in realistic terms, and their proper care is seen to. Zofi, a [[OurCentaursAreDifferent centaur]], is convinced to accept horseshoes to protect her hooves from the paved roads she's not used to traveling on. She refuses to use a saddle when carrying riders, which she later regrets, and gets extremely cranky when she's harnessed to Aladavan's wagon too long.

** Aladavan's horses were uncontrollably spooked by Darkram's evil aura, so he killed and reanimated them, turning them into Zombie Automaton Horses.

* Beastess: Several. Sascia is a hackal. Junapur is big, imposing and strong, with (four) Boobs of Steel. Jena is a mule half, just as big, strong and intimidating as Junapur, but not as nice, and without remarkable cleavage. She introduces herself to Thedrik with a punch in the face.

* BigBadassBirdOfPrey: The skraad are basically huge carrion birds and PerfectPacifistPeople. But when Aladavan severely pisses her off, Lama demonstrates their natural weapons are just as effective at rending living flesh as dead.
* BodyguardCrush: Margaret becomes attracted to George after he volunteers to be her escort for her journey to America. He is oblivious to her attraction until she mentions she wouldn't mind his intimate attention.

* Can'tArgueWithElves: Don't argue with Aladavan. Ever. You will lose. If it goes badly, he might kill you and everyone you know. Or worse.

* Chekhov'sGift: Aladavan gives Robert a special sword which later becomes important in Darkram's Secret Test of Character. It may have other significance that isn't revealed in the rest of the novel. (Maybe the next one?)
* Chekhov'sGun: Aladavan collects a burning timber with a magical device, which he pulls out later when he escapes the grasp of a dragon.
** Aladavan loads George's pistols with experimental magical ammunition. George threatens to use them several times but never gets the chance. Captain Mayhew takes them from George and uses them against him. The results are spectacular and satisfying.

The first published novel by Fredric R. Stewart, "Cerberon" is unusual blend of Regency Romance and High Fantasy. The novel opens in Regency England several years after the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, with George making a final, desperate, and futile attempt to convince a wealthy widow to marry him, with Cerberon's begrudging assistance. After being kicked off of the widow's estate, George and Cerberon soon encounter another widow who is significantly less wealthy than the ones George had been unsuccessfully courting. George promises to escort her and her children to their destination, which they then discover is America. They decide to follow through on this promise by taking them through an alternate fantastic world full of magic, strange creatures, and danger. Romance between George and the widow unsurprisingly ensues. Fortunately for the reader, their relationship develops in a believable manner, and does not consume the entire narrative. Cerberon learns more about what it means to be a unicorn than he ever suspected, becoming a full, independent person rather than the well-educated horse he had been.

They receive help from a villainous elven wizard that they're afraid to refuse, since they already know about TheFairFolk. Other strange creatures join the traveling group, forming a RagtagBunchOfMisfits whose mission is not to save the world, only survive it, and each other. They discover the country they are travelling through is marked for annihilation by the Dragon Queen, the supreme ruler of all the world's dragons. An epic battle ensues, while George and Cerberon seek to escape it, their only duty being the safety of their charges. They eventually make it to America, bringing with them guests from the fantastic world, including a dragon and a centaur, but antebellum America is not what they had expected. While the story arc of Cerberon is complete in this novel, it is clear at the end a new arc is beginning, and work on a second novel, "Cerberon's Herd" has been announced by the author.

* AffablyEvil: This seems to be the standard mode of conduct for obviously evil characters in the book. Aladavan is clearly evil, but he's genuinely friendly, well-mannered, and a generous host. Oethelzeiren also acts this way, but he's probably neither truly affable nor truly evil, just polite and the most powerful asshole in the world.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Averted with hackals, which can vary from Complete Monster to civilized Beast Men, depending on their tribe, clan, and individual disposition. This doesn't stop most people from considering all of them Always Chaotic Evil maneating monsters anyway.

** Another example exists with Thedrik. He plans to hunt down the vampires infesting his Corrupt Church.
* AnythingThatMoves: Probably describes a large portion of the human population of the world, considering the number and variety of half-human hybrids encountered. George might also qualify, as he's shamelessly attracted to a Petting Zoo Person (Junapur) and a centauress (Zofi).
* ApocalypseWow: The complete destruction of Loethess and everything around it is described in detail from multiple perspectives, from a mage in the center of the city paralyzed with Oh Crap, to a family nearby hoping they'll survive, to a distant overview by a pair of people being carried away by a flying dragon.

->Aladavan: You should know that in the Silarsi tribe, humans and hackals share equal standing.
->George: No. I did not know that at all.
->Aladavan: I know, which is why I told you.

* AutomatonHorses: Averted. Most of the time horses are not uused at all, but any time horses (and horse-like creatures) are shown, they are described in realistic terms, and their proper care is seen to. Zofi, a centaur, is convinced to accept horseshoes to protect her hooves from the paved roads she's not used to traveling on. She refuses to use a saddle when carrying riders, which she later regrets, and get's extremely cranky when she's harnessed to Aladavan's wagon too long. Thedrik takes care to regularly rest his old mule while pursuing Aladavan, she balks at the smell of death, and often bucks or otherwise misbehaves for him. She refuses to move anymore once she reaches her point of exhaustion, and requires magical healing to recover. Cerberon observes that a pair of horses galloping past them will be killed by their riders if they keep their pace. Aladavan's horses were uncontrollably spooked by Darkram's evil aura, so he killed and reanimated them, turning them into Zombie Automaton Horses.

->"Be on your way if you wish to live. The sword in my hand was taken from your Wizard Royal Elect, Timneal Kravat, whose body lies three miles behind me with his Nine Fangs. I slew them all alone. You saw their airboat fly by, the coward priest of your ridiculous cult fled from me in terror."

->Cerberon: As polite as the Marquis has been, I still can't help feeling like we're being marched off to slaughter.
->George: Like cattle… But I'm not going to argue with a dragon. Are you?”
->Cerberon: No. It's unsettling to meet someone who'd as soon kill us as sit down for a nice cup of tea.

* MoralEventHorizon: King Norrith crosses it when he finds out the daughter he loves is really a dragon (the Dragon Queen's daughter, in fact). He tries to kill her.
** The Dragon Queen narrowly avoids crossing the MEH when she unleashes a devastating flood on the country, by sending her vast fleet of flying boats ahead of the flood to rescue as many people as possible who don't want to fight her.

"Be on your way if you wish to live. The sword in my hand was taken from your Wizard Royal Elect, Timneal Kravat, whose body lies three miles behind me with his Nine Fangs. I slew them all alone. You saw their airboat fly by, the coward priest of your ridiculous cult fled from me in terror."

The first published novel by Fredric R. Stewart, "Cerberon" is unusual blend of Regency Romance and High Fantasy. The novel opens in Regency England with George making a final, desperate, and futile attempt to convince a wealthy widow to marry him, with Cerberon's begrudging assistance. After being kicked off of the widow's estate, George and Cerberon soon encounter another widow of the Napoleonic Wars, who is significantly less wealthy than the ones George has been unsuccessfully courting. George promises to escort her and her children to their destination, which they then discover is America. They decide to follow through on this promise by taking them through an alternate fantastic world full of magic, strange creatures, and danger. Romance between George and the widow unsurprisingly ensues. Fortunately for the reader, their relationship develops in a believable manner, and does not consume the entire narrative. Cerberon learns more about what it means to be a unicorn than he ever suspected, becoming a full, independent person rather than the well-educated horse he had been.

* ApocolypseWow: The complete destruction of Loethess and everything around it is described in detail from multiple perspectives, from a mage in the center of the city paralyzed with Oh Crap, to a family nearby hoping they'll survive, to a distant overview by a pair of people being carried away by a flying dragon.

Aladavan: You should know that in the Silarsi tribe, humans and hackals share equal standing.
George: No. I did not know that at all.
Aladavan: I know, which is why I told you.

* BadassGrampa: Merlen and Oethelzeiren are both over a thousand years old and are renowned worldwide for their power. The one person who dared to directly defy Merlen was vaporized mid-sentence with a glance. Oethelzeiren easily kick's Merlen's ass because he doesn't mind causing collateral damage.

Cerberon: As polite as the Marquis has been, I still can't help feeling like we're being marched off to slaughter.
George: Like cattle… But I'm not going to argue with a dragon. Are you?”
Cerberon: No. It's unsettling to meet someone who'd as soon kill us as sit down for a nice cup of tea.

* CrazyLove: Sascia for Aladavan after his More Than Mind Control treatment of her.

* FridgeHorror: When zombies attack the village of Darmena, one of the guardsmen who was bitten by them runs away screaming in pain and terror, and is never mentioned again. All these zombies are dispatched and everything is safe. It is revealed that a person bitten by a zombie will become a ghoul if not properly treated. At the end of the book, Thedrik is returning to Darmena, unaware of the zombie apocolypse that has likely occurred in his absense.
** Sera's baby is born during the battle of Loethess, which seems almost cliché until you realize it is half skraad and could feel all the fear and pain of hundreds of people dying every moment, just like the other skraad in the room.
** More like fridge squick: haflings are creatures which are part human and part something else, and beast halfs are more something else than human. Makes you wish you didn't think about how Pavel and Jena, both mule halfs, were made.

** Cephalon later reveals to Princess Tara that she's actually the Dragon Queen's daugher.

* MagnificentBastard: Aladavan, one of TheFairFolk, who serves as the primary villain for most of the book, seems to always have a ready explanation for why his clearly evil actions are actually good, manipulates others to serve his purposes, and manages to squirm out of nearly every undesirable situation he finds himself in.

* SelfishEvil: Aladavan's primary concern is serving his own interests, which is mostly the satisfaction of his curiosity. He is not above doing evil deeds to get what he wants, but he doesn't go out of his way to intentionally harm others.

* UglyCute: Sera and Eduard's child, who's basically a newborn vulture-human hybrid. Junapur thinks he's terribly cute.

* TheWoobie: Thedrik. From having his hometown wrecked to becoming a ghoul (he got better), to being snatched underground by hackals, you gotta feel for the guy.

The first published novel by Fredric R. Stewart, "Cerberon" is unusual blend of Regency Romance and High Fantasy. The novel opens in Regency England with George making a final, desperate, and futile attempt to convince a wealthy widow to marry him, with Cerberon's begrudging assistance. After being kicked off of the widow's estate, George and Cerberon soon encounter another widow of the Napoleonic Wars, who is significantly less wealthy than the ones George has been unsuccessfully courting. George promises to escort her and her children to their destination, which they then discover is America. They decide to follow through on this promise by taking them through an alternate fantastic world full of magic, strange creatures, and danger. Romance between George and the widow unsurprisingly ensues, and Cerberon learns more about what it means to be a unicorn than he ever suspected. They receive help from a villainous elven wizard that they're afraid to refuse, since they already know about TheFairFolk. Other strange creatures join the traveling group, forming a RagtagBunchOfMisfits whose mission is not to save the world, only survive it, and each other. They discover the country they are travelling through is marked for annihilation by the Dragon Queen, the supreme ruler of all the world's dragons. An epic battle ensues, while George and Cerberon seek to escape it, their only duty being the safety of their charges. They eventually make it to America, bringing with them guests from the fantastic world, including a dragon and a centaur, but antebellum America is not what they had expected. While the story arc of Cerberon is complete in this novel, it is clear at the end a new arc is beginning, and work on a second novel, "Cerberon's Herd" has been announced by the author.