History Webcomic / DemonThesis

''Demon Thesis'' (or, An Anthropological Study of [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Horrors]] Native to the [[CanadaEh Canadian Maritimes]]) is a creative project from Chris Doucette, creator of the webcomic ''Webcomic/TheLastDaysOfFOXHOUND'' and programmer for [[http://lootdrop.com Loot Drop]]. It is hosted at Doucette's website, and [[http://www.doctorshrugs.com/demonthesis/index.php here]] is a direct link to the game.

* CanadaEh

* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Defied when [[spoiler:Clady]] is the victim of a ForcedTransformation and attacks the party. Only knocking [[spoiler:her]] senseless with spells undoes the polymorph.

* BalefulPolymorph:
** Both [[spoiler:Gordon, (one of the construction workers who first brought the totem to Sam) and Clady are turned into werewolves thanks to Mesmerus, until they can be defeated]].
** At the end of Chapter 4, [[spoiler:the entire party is transformed into the phlegm monster enemies for one battle]].

* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Defied when [[spoiler:Clady]] is the victim of a BalefulPolymorph and attacks the party. Only knocking [[spoiler:her]] senseless with spells undoes the polymorph.

When Sam heads to the school library for a little after hours research, (thanks to Val, who works the front desk part-time) he sees something nobody had noticed before: there's a spot near the front with a recess exactly in the shape of the totem. When Sam tries fitting it in, suddenly there's an explosion, the four are gifted with ElementalPowers, and find themselves using those powers to defend themselves from {{Blob Monster}}s, TheUndead, [[{{Snowlems}} Living Snowmen]], sentient plants from another dimension looking to conquer our dimension, [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent French werewolves]], and more. And all the while, a strange presence called Mesmerus, (speaker of the ArcWords quote at the top of the page) is speaking in their heads, encouraging the violence a little too much for comfort.

->''"[[AC:[[ArcWords THROUGH YOU I GAIN POWER; SO THROUGH ME SHALL YOU GAIN POWER.]]]]"''

Most of the story takes place in or around [=MacPhee=] University, a small, remote, private Liberal Arts college in New Brunswick. The main characters are a group of four students (Alain, Clady, Sam, and Val) some of whom have a long history, some of whom have only just been introduced to each other. One day, a couple of local construction workers dig up a strange stone totem and bring it into the anthropological office at [=MacPhee=]. Being that the head of the department is on vacation and Sam is working in the office, he's the one who receives it.

When Sam heads to the school library for a little after hours research, (thanks to Val, who works the front desk part-time) he sees something nobody had noticed before: there's a spot near the front with a recess exactly in the shape of the totem. When Sam tries fitting it in, suddenly there's an explosion, the four are gifted with ElementalPowers, and find themselves using those powers to defend themselves from {{Blob Monster}}s, TheUndead, [[{{Snowlems}} Living Snowmen]], sentient plants from another dimension looking to take over our plane of existence, [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent French werewolves]], and more. And all the while, a strange presence called Mesmerus, (speaker of the ArcWords quote at the top of the page) is speaking in their heads, encouraging the violence a little too much for comfort.

* BalefulPolymorph: Both [[spoiler:Gordon, (one of the construction workers who first brought the totem to Sam) and Clady suffer this thanks to Mesmerus]].

* BlowYouAway: Clady's power.

* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler:Deveneur.]]

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Damn right they did!
* DishingOutDirt: Alain's power.

* EldritchLocation: [=MacPhee=] is built on a place where our dimension can interact with others. It was originally intended as a line of defense against these other dimensions, but over time almost all of the supernatural courses and influences have been forgotten.

* ElementalRockPaperScissors: To a degree. The elements will interact in various different ways, Doucette created a cheat sheet to help players keep it straight.

* EvilCounterpart: Deveneur.
* {{Fanfare}}: Every time you win a fight (barring the tutorial), Canadian anthem will play, with Canadian flag. Sam, Alain and even [[ForeignExchangeStudent Clady]] salute. Val on other hand [[EagleLand seems to wave]] ''[[EagleLand American]]'' [[EagleLand flags]], resulting in a glare from Clady. [[spoiler:[[GameplayAndStoryIntegration When some of the characters has to be fought, the poses change appropiately.]]]]

* ForeignExchangeStudent: Both Val and Clady, Val is American and Clady is Danish, attending a Canadian school.

* HotBlooded: Val. In spades.
* HumansThroughAlienEyes: Remember those [[spoiler:EldritchAbomination enemies whose appearance Mesmerus censored so the group wouldn't mentally shut down as soon as they look at them? Well, those "abominations" are terrified of these strange creatures called humans and see themselves as frantically fighting for their lives when a group of humans start killing them off in ones and twos, SlasherMovie style. The group is horrified to realize this, and refuses to continue slaughtering them for the amusement of Mesmerus. Mesmerus is not pleased at this revolt, and stops even pretending to be on their side]].

* IJustWantToBeNormal: Val tries to take this approach at first, but the situation doesn't exactly accommodate her.

* KillItWithIce: Sam's power.

* MassOhCrap The reaction to the WhamLine.
* TheMedic: Everyone can use healing magic, but Sam is easily the most efficient at it.

* OnlyOneName: Mesmerus, of course. Also, the last names of the main characters are only mentioned in one scene. Going by likely order of elimination, their full names are probably Valerie Sun, (which makes her talking about how she should have gone to Arizona State University instead a bit of a pun/reference) Clady Vestergaard, Sam Guinness, and Alain Durand.
* PairTheSmartOnes: The story of how Alain and Clady wound up dating. Summed up by Val thusly:

* PlayingWithFire: Val's power.

-->It's not that I don't believe you, if you can make fire appear out of nowhere I'll take the rest on faith, but I can't file a police report with the story you're giving me and be taken seriously. We can't press charges against a werewolf for starting a magical fire that caused no property damage... the justice system isn't set up to deal with your kind of problems.

* PostVictoryCollapse: In a way. After the final battle [[spoiler:everyone breaks down crying in relief and letting out all the stress they've been under. As the narration puts it: "And so 5 months of psychological trauma were suddenly released".]]
* PublicDomainSoundtrack

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Both Professor Sheffield and Detective Rogers. The school's president, Fields, is noticeably less pleasant.

* RedOniBlueOni: Val and Clady, roommates and friends with very different styles. Val is impulsive, abrasive, and HotBlooded, Clady is a level-headed, snarky intellectual with a tendency for nitpicking statements to death, which is pointed out more than once.

* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"And every spell weakens the barrier between his world and ours."]]
* WorldOfPun: It does this ''constantly'' when in game mode, as virtually any action you have the characters take is accompanied by a pun or reference. For example, give Clady the spear and let her attack with it, and the attack is called "Clad the Impaler". Give Val, the sole American, the axe, and it's called "Series/AmericanChopper" when she uses it. If Alain, a French-Canadian, goes into a defensive mode to take less damage, it's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloc_Qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois Block Quebecois]], and so on and so forth.

-->'''Alain:''' C'mon, you've read ''Literature/LordOfTheRings''. You thought it'd be that easy?

''Demon Thesis'' (or, An Anthropological Study of [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Horrors]] Native to the [[CanadaEh Canadian Maritimes]]) is a creative project from Chris Doucette, creator of the webcomic ''TheLastDaysOfFOXHOUND'' and programmer for [[http://lootdrop.com Loot Drop]]. It is hosted at Doucette's website, and [[http://www.doctorshrugs.com/demonthesis/index.php here]] is a direct link to the game.

* GivingUpOnLogic: The following conversation happens after Clady notices that the foil she gave Sam before a battle has [[MorphWeapon morphed into an easier to wield broadsword]]:
-->'''Clady:''' Sam, where'd you get that sword?\\

In Doucette's own words, ''Demon Thesis'' is "the bastard child of ''FinalFantasyTactics'' and ''MSPaintAdventures''", which results in a creation that is half webcomic, half browser game. The game sections are done in [=HTML5=] and Javascript, while flash is used for loading sound files for systems that have trouble using [=HTML5=] audio.

* FishOutOfTemporalWater: [[spoiler:Deveneur was an adult during the [[SevenYearsWar French & Indian War]] who went into a kind of magical stasis after it.]] [[VillainsBlendInBetter Naturally, that doesn't seem to affect him getting around in the 21st century in the slightest]].

-->'''Alain:''' C'mon, you've read ''LordOfTheRings''. You thought it'd be that easy?

* {{Fanfare}}: Every time you win a fight (barring the tutorial), Canadian anthem will play, with Canadian flag. Sam, Alain and even [[ForeignExchangeStudent Clady]] salute. Val on other hand [[EagleLand seems to wave]] ''[[EagleLand American]]'' [[EagleLand flags]], resulting in a glare from Clady.

* MotorMouth: Billy from Newfie. When he starts talking at a normal speed, [[OOCIsSeriousBuisness something is very wrong]].

''Demon Thesis'' (or, An Anthropological Study of [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Horrors]] Native to the [[CanadaEh Canadian Maritimes]]) is a creative project from Chris Doucette, creator of the webcomic ''TheLastDaysOfFOXHOUND'' and programmer for [[http://lootdrop.com Loot Drop]]. It is hosted at Doucette's website [[http://gigaville.com gigaville.com]].

When Sam heads to the school library for a little after hours research, (thanks to Val, who works the front desk part-time) he sees something nobody had noticed before: there's a spot near the front with a recess exactly in the shape of the totem. When Sam tries fitting it in, suddenly there's an explosion, the four are gifted with ElementalPowers, and find themselves using those powers to defend themselves from {{Blob Monster}}s, TheUndead, living snowmen, sentient plants from another dimension looking to take over our plane of existence, [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent French werewolves]], and more. And all the while, a strange presence called Mesmerus, (speaker of the ArcWords quote at the top of the page) is speaking in their heads, encouraging the violence a little too much for comfort.

* PostDramaticStressDisorder: In a way. After the final battle [[spoiler:everyone breaks down crying in relief and letting out all the stress they've been under. As the narration puts it: "And so 5 months of psychological trauma were suddenly released".]]

* EldritchAbomination: Mesmerus.

* LevelGrinding: Averted. Upgrades (or the acquisition of new weapons and items) happen at pre-determined times, and which upgrade actually happens is usually the result of voting on the site.

* TheMagicGoesAway: After the last fight. [[spoiler:Without the influence of Mesmerus, there is no more magic.]] This is treated as being somewhat sad but probably being for the best.

* MorphWeapon: The fencing foils that Clady and Alain borrow from the fencing team will shift into a broadsword if you give it to Same, due to the magical effect going on. Clady will notice this and there'll be a bit of dialog in the midst of the battle about it before [[GivingUpOnLogic everyone agrees to give up trying to use logic in the situation]]. Also, give Val the axe and it'll change into two smaller, hand sized axes that she dual wields.

* PoliceAreUseless: Justified, due to the circumstances, which includes the fact that anyone who comes near a site where the four are battling the supernatural entities gets sick and is unable to comprehend what they're seeing. As for trying to get official police help, Detective Rogers sums it up like this:

* VerbalTic: The Canadian eh is avoided, but oddly enough Mesmerus uses it once in the opening chapter. Whether this was a taunt towards the students or a clue to his identity is unknown.

* WorldOfPun: It does this ''constantly'' when in game mode, as virtually any action you have the characters take is accompanied by a pun or reference. For example, give Clady the spear and let her attack with it, and the attack is called "Clad the Impaler". Give Val, the sole American, the axe, and it's called "Series/AmericanChopper" when she uses it. If Alain, a french-Canadian, goes into a defensive mode to take less damage, it's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloc_Qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois Block Quebecois]], and so on and so forth.

* AWorldwidePunomenon: ''[[HurricaneOfPuns Constantly]]''. Any action you or your enemies take is given a title that is usually a pun or reference. For example, if you have Clady use the spear to attack, the attack is called "Clad the Impaler".

* ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler:After weakening the barriers between dimensions enough, Mesmerus needs blood to be shed in the library so he can cross over into our world. Deveneur (already a DeathSeeker) accomplishes this by making the group believe that he is in the midst of summoning MEsmerus, and letting them pound him with spells. It works.]]