A world defined by its cycle of violence: an Overlord rises up to unite the monsters and terrorize humanity, until a human hero manages to slay the Overlord, leading to peace until the next Overlord rises up. But not all monsters agree with this way of things, and nor do all heroes...
Blue is a Monster Girl Encyclopedia fanfic by Silenta-Atestanto. It can be read at Fanfiction.net
and Archive of Our Own
.
Blue provides examples of:
- Always Chaotic Evil: Downplayed. Almost all monsters in the setting are hostile to humans. Many have animal-level intelligence, so there's no way for humans to reason with them in the first place. Some monsters (mainly Luxuria's faction) can interact with humans normally, and some noble families in Vulkan raise kobolds (monstrous dogs) as hunting dogs.
- Amphibian at Large: Giant toads, ranging from horse-sized to bigger than a house, are a threat when the party travel towards Caral Marsh. One of them nearly eats Holly.
- The Berserker: Fiann has an incredibly aggressive fighting style and can keep going after numerous wounds. She's even described as a descendant of actual berserkers (warriors of the Viking-inspired Vinlanders).
- Boxed Crook: Both Seth and Fianna committed crimes before joining Abel's group: Seth was an infamous thief, Fiann assaulted several people and nearly killed one. Seth is punished by making her follow Abel in his quest, while Abel actively recruits Fiann using his Right of Conscription.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Bees the size of cats and cockroaches the size of dogs are among the illusionary monsters used to test Abel.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Abel pisses himself when he thinks (not without reason) two monsters are trying to eat him.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: The companions of Shavran are all women with large chests, except for Xiao who's only working with him temporarily.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Fiann does not like the other women around Abel, thinking of them as "whores".
- Clueless Chick-Magnet: Most of Abel's female companions are into him. He has trouble realizing this due to his low self-esteem.
- Compelling Voice: When Lailah is the target of unwanted attention, she orders her admirers not to touch her. They follow this order, seemingly not realizing why they're doing it.
- Cute Monster Girl: Despite being set before most monsters became monster girls, the fanfic still has some of these.
- For the monsters as defined by the setting: Lailah is a succubus and she looks like a woman with white hair, one white wing and a white spaded tail, sharp teeth, glowing red eyes with slitted pupils, and arms covered in black scales and ending in hooked claws. Other monster girls include Lailah's mother Luxuria (another succubus) and her servants (a lamia, a slime and a dullahan).
- There's also examples who aren't literal monsters, namely female demihumans like Notte and Marsya.
- Death World: The land of Xibalba is inhabited only by monsters, including powerful monsters rarely seen elsewhere, such as death gazers. It's saturated in monster miasma that can kill an unprotected human in minutes.
- Deus Sex Machina: A certain ritual involves this. Specifically, the ritual needed to appease Isha's guardian is for the head of the Azai clan and his wife to consummate their marriage in front of the guardian. This means that Kagura (heiress to the current Azai head) and Abel (who came with her and is the only man nearby) have to have sex.
- Does Not Like Men: Claire and her secretary Laura, who routinely use "degenerate" when referring to men. When Claire became president of a Mage's Guild branch in the backstory, she forced every man in the branch to transfer elsewhere or be expelled.
- Fallen Angel: Niel is stripped of her angelhood and her power by Ilias for helping Abel too much. When she spends the last of her power reserves to save Abel, her wings disappear and her hair turns black. She spends some time in this weakened state, eventually striking a deal with the Fallen to become a dark angel. This makes her more powerful than before and also causes an Evil Costume Switch, with her now having black wings, black eyes and a black spiky halo.
- Fantastic Racism: Demihumans are generally looked down on by humans. Monsters are seen in an even worse light, though this is justified by them being (almost) Always Chaotic Evil.
- Fog of Doom: When monsters are in an area for a long time, they produce a miasma which is poisonous to humans. It can also turn animals or people into more monsters, such as turning dogs into kobolds. Monsters themselves are unharmed by miasma, in fact, they're invigorated by it.
- Gambit Pileup: Where to start...
- The protagonist Abel is one of the heroes chosen by the gods, and thus is on a quest to gain power and defeat the Overlord.
- Ilias, the Top God, is trying to impede Abel's quest due to him being a hero of a lower-ranking god.
- Some of Abel's companions have their own agendas. Lailah is a monster who hopes to become human, while Raine is an observer working for what seems to be a civilisation of aliens.
- Not all heroes care about the quest, either. The hero Shavran seeks out a genie for the power it could give him, and is willing to leave two other heroes to die.
- Our Gorgons Are Different: A gorgon is a monster resembling a bull but covered in protective plates and with "burning red eyes". Its breath can turn anyone it touches to stone.
- The Great Serpent: A huge, monstrous snake attacks the main cast at one point. It captures Lailah with the intention of devouring her soon after. Unfortunately, it bites off more than it can chew...
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: All heroes get a Relic, and Abel's is Ariadne’s Amulet, which points him to whatever he seeks. He's initially disappointed by it, and some other characters also look down on it, but the ability to find anything proves useful numerous times throughout his quest. It lets Abel find the altars that he needs to touch, as well as missing people, the estate of a mysterious family, a long-lost tomb...
- How Do I Shoot Web: Since he starts out as a peasant with no fighting experience, Abel has trouble initially with his hero abilities. It takes a while before he can fight effectively on his own.
- Human Resources: The alchemical catalyst rubedo is made from extracted life force. It's stated that making more than a few drops would be impossible without murdering someone.
- Hypocrite: The hero Cavall mocks Abel by saying he might have made more progress if he spent less time cavorting with women. As noted by the narration, Cavall says this while having A Lady on Each Arm.
- Our Homunculi Are Different: Minze is a homunculus, a living being created by alchemy. She can Feel No Pain and is The Needless, only needing to absorb ambient magical energy to survive.
- Kill It with Water: Water magic is effective against undead.
- Kitsune: While travelling through Zipangu, Abel and Kagura encounter two foxes named Tamayatsu and Zaramatsu, who are unusually intelligent and can use magic. Kagura name-drops this trope, saying they are messengers of the gods. The two end up joining Abel in his quest, which is also when they reveal they can take on human forms.
- Malicious Slander: Abel is portrayed by church propaganda as the infamous "Whoremonger", someone who mind-controls women into serving him. It's severe enough that some towns refuse to let him in.
- The Nicknamer: Raine likes to give other characters nicknames. To give a list:
- Abel is "Blue", for his hair colour.
- Lailah is "Sister", for her job as a priestess.
- Holly is "Jugs", for her... feminine attributes.
- Niel is "Parrot", since according to Raine, she likes to "sit on [Abel's] shoulder and squawk in his ear all day!"
- Seth is "Madame", due to being the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Prior to this, Raine calls her "Pukey" due to her seasickness while they're on a ship.
- Fiann is "Psycho", for her personality.
- Claire is "Prez", for her job as president of one of the Mage's Guilds.
- Violet is "Bottles", for her job as an alchemist.
- Minze is "Miss Maid", for her job as... a maid.
- Tamayatsu is "Goldie", for her blonde hair.
- Pure Is Not Good: One theory among historians is that the long-dead monster Ixion was a unicorn. These are traditionally drawn to purity, and Ixion may have been drawn to the purity of Bahamut's cause and ideals. Of course, with Bahamut being an Overlord of monsters, said cause involved a lot of death and destruction.
- The Quest: Heroes like Abel are required to travel around the world and visit eight of the altars of Alondight. Whenever one touches an altar, they get to talk with the god who chose that altar for his quest. The expectation is that during their travels, they'll meet many obstacles and grow stronger by overcoming them, eventually becoming strong enough to defeat the Overlord.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Roland is a prince who's also a hero.
- Shout-Out:
- "Klaatu Barada Nikto" is used as a coded message for Abel to pass on to Sister Beatrix.
- A past Overlord was Bahamut, and the Fiend Generals serving him were Ixion, Hecatoncheir, Garuda, Ifrit, Bismarck, Mishiva, Kujata, Ragnarok, Diabolos, Maduin, Carbuncle and Fenrir. All of these are Final Fantasy references, usually summons from that series.
- There's a family with the surname "Promestein", the name of a character from the Monster Girl Quest! series.
- The Speechless: Fiann can't speak due to an injury to her neck. She communicates by writing in her journal and showing it to others.
- Standard Evil Organization Squad: A recurring trend for monster Overlords is to have these. In the present, Baphomet has the Black Hand, a group of five (hence the name). Bahamut, a past Overlord, had the Twelve Fiend Generals.
- Statuesque Stunner: Zaramatsu is very tall (mentioned to be taller than Abel himself) and the bustiest character described so far.
- Theme Naming: The fanfic and (for the most part) its individual chapters have titles consisting of a single word.
- Thinking Up Portals: Some powerful monsters like Korzanna, Luxuria and Baphomet can create Gates that let people cross vast distances.
- Token Heroic Orc: Lailah is one of these, being a succubus who hates her true nature and disguises herself as a human. Her goal is to ask the gods to make her human.
- Treants: Treants are monsters that look like trees with long arms and faces with sharp teeth, and they're constructs that serve the bidding of a master. Multiple treants appear in the early chapters, sent by a dryad who's angry at the local humans for failing to uphold an agreement (to give offerings to her before cutting down trees).
