Ather City

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"If a person doesn’t post for three weeks, then it is okay for a player to kill them. Otherwise, we assume they were eaten by giant mutant bunnies."
—SpiritfChaos (Keyes), on the topic of absent posters

Ather City is part of a Play By Post Game created by SpiritfChaos. It focuses on the titular city, and the events therein after it's devastated by a massive nuclear explosion. At the game's start, most of the city's civilians are dead, and the survivors have grouped into several factions, which are locked in a brutal gang war. Eventually, the gangs dissolve, and the focus shifts to the characters' attempts to survive in, and eventually escape, the hellhole the city has become.

The story is told in the form of a forum roleplay, or as the creator calls it, "collaborative fiction". While this format makes it vulnerable to trolls, it also means that it updates constantly, sometimes reaching almost two hundred posts in one day. Short, action-based posts are often interspersed with increasingly long walls of text, which increases the story's length considerably.

The sequel of the story is still ongoing, known as The World After or Ather City 2. This one is run by Gambi69, although SpiritfChaos is still a major figure in the production.

It has a character sheet.

Tropes used in Ather City include:
  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: Dominic's sword. Doesn't matter which one, it just seems to happen to every sword he picks up.
    • Pretty much any weapon made of adamantium, orichalcum, brimstone, luciferite, or some other form of Unobtainium.
    • And Osiris' Blade of Fearsome Size in the sequel, to at least some extent.
  • Action Girl: Rogue in the original, Solaris in the sequel.
    • Pretty much all female player characters count, more or less.
  • Action Hero: Dominic.
  • Aerith and Bob: The major players of the first game include Dominic, Victor, Nick, Matthew, Riley, Michael... and Eclipsis 'Void' Eclipsion.
    • To be fair, he changed his name to that on purpose. Even so...
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Averted with ARGUS, played straight with Matthew and Achilles.
  • All Powerful Bystander: Attempted by Dominic in the sequel.
    • Done right by the two mysterious beings that abducted Jonathan Newton and Jennifer Lorenz. Not that they had much choice, being non-canonical cameo appearances from another Kongregate forum game and all.
  • Ancient Conspiracy: The Klilox, fulfilling the Prophecy of Death (simply put, the apocalypse).
  • Anticlimax: As seen in Void's confrontation with Alice.
    • And Dominic's confrontation with Chaos.
  • Anti-Hero: Most of the characters.
  • Anti-Magic: Chaos's black fire has this effect. So Lucius, how does it feel to have your supposedly indestructible magical metal soul containers reduced to ashes?
  • Anti-Villain: Michael, after he quits being the Silencer.
  • Anyone Can Die: Officially announced by Gambi for TWA - before the announcement, people had around three weeks and a certain number of warnings to post with a given character before they were killed off, assuming they were remembered by him before they posted; as of 19th January 2012, no warnings are given for disused characters, and the time they have to post is roughly altered to "the point at which the character cannot keep up with the game".
    • ...unless the character in question has earned their Plot Armor back with good character development and activity.
      • Also, Andrus is no longer the main protagonist. It's whoever manages to kill Lucius now.
  • Applied Phlebotinum / Unobtainium: So far, brimstone (hellish substance which secretes incredibly deadly venom, is horrifically radioactive, superheated, and virtually indestructible), orichalcum (absorbs energy and substance traits upon contact, excluding those of brimstone, which can then be used to great effect), luciferite (a metal that directly opposes brimstone, is virtually indestructible, and is saturated with a form of energy apparently only usable by a select few) and bloodsteel (corrupts other substances to turn them into more bloodsteel, and violently repels orichalcum).
    • Also, there's the pieces of unnamed Thunderbolt Iron that Chaos has been hunting down. It grants scary boosts in mutant and magic power, but drives the user horribly, horribly insane.
      • And adamantium, although considering that its only notable effect - that of nigh-invulnerability - is replicated in a minimum of two of the other substances in this list, it still comes out bottom in all of them.
    • Notably, these are all metals.
  • Artifact Title: The city that the series is named for no longer exists as of the end of the first game.
    • It's back in the third game though.
  • Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Dominic after his torture, Nick after training in the Mindscape for ten years.
    • That's without accounting for that time goes more slowly in the Mindscape.
    • One should note that neither character is forced to permanently remain in a plane of existence other than their own, and that they only attain their godly status power after leaving their respective alternate planes, which somewhat ruins the point of this trope.
    • Nick even uses the word ascended to describe Dominic and himself, but it's actually a reference to Homestuck rather than this trope.
      • The term 'godsoul' has been officially adopted as the term for characters with power on a deific scale. Other than Nick and Dominic, the only other ascended characters in existence are the Phases, and the TKoH.
        • Arthur McQuietus and Lucius also count for this. Evangeline Wright may or may not count, given that her secret ability implies a great amount of strength.
  • Awesome By Analysis: Jonathan, on the first sight, has 'only' telepathy and telekinesis. On the other side, he can get really creative with them. [1] Lucinda went there first, but Jonathan doesn't have her very painful range restriction.
    • What range restriction?
    • Same goes for Arthur. His control over Entropic Paint and creation of Mind Particles allows him to simulate each and every one of the above.
  • Awesome McCoolname: Several.
    • Victor and Andrus Sonic
    • Dominic Nabokov
    • Everyone named in the Eclipsion family
    • Michael Bolt
  • Ax Crazy: MICHAEL.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Keyes and Matthew against Plague.
  • Badass: Everyone.
    • Badass Abnormal: All mutants.
      • And, in the sequel, mages.
    • Badass Automaton: Matthew and Achilles.
    • Badass Biker: Michael for a short time.
    • Badass Bookworm: Nick.
    • Badass Crew: The main characters of both games, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
    • Badass Normal: Everyone except Nick in the beginning of AC 1, just Michael by the end of it.
      • Michael obtains a robotic arm near the end of AC 1, and has a shapeshifting arm from Hell before that. I wouldn't exactly count that as normal... maybe by Atherverse standards, but not Real Life standards.
    • Badass Longcoat: Argus and Solaris. In addition, Jonathan wears a black leather duster.
    • Badass Transplant: Michael. Twice. The first transplant occurs when he loses his arm and Cepheus gives him one made of brimstone; he is then given a mechanical arm from Nick after the brimstone arm is torn from the roots.
      • Granted, he kicked ass before either transplant, but after that, it's made clear he could probably beat anyone in the series in a fight if he wanted to.
  • Bait and Switch Boss: Wallenquist is set up to be the Big Bad of TWA... and is then killed off by Riley in an unseen battle ending in both their deaths.
  • Battle Couple: John and Jenny.
  • Bash Brothers: Several combinations:
    • Nick and Michael;
    • Nick and Matthew;
    • Dominic and Matthew;
    • Dominic and Victor.
  • Berserk Button: Do NOT call Void 'Tentacles'.
    • Technically, that applies more in the sequel than the original.
    • Don't threaten Riley if Dominic or Haseo are nearby, either.
    • Woe betide thee if you question Abel's calculations. Even if he has gotten something wrong.
    • Insulting or threatening Michael if Nick is anywhere within earshot is a big no-no.
  • Big Freaking Gun: Void's Vulcan cannon.
  • Big Bad: Cepheus for the first game.
    • Wallenquist for the second.
      • He's dead now, but a new Big Bad in the form of Lucius has arisen.
      • Other notable villainous characters include Chaos, Arthur McQuietus and Legion.
        • And Reverse Aether.
  • Big Good: Arguably Nick. Could be Dominic, were it not for his more disagreeable qualities.
  • Bigger Bad: The True King of Hell, on account of his unimaginable form and cosmic power. If he ever made a move against the mortal realm, it's game over. Good thing he doesn't care!
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Rick's mother, Sarah. On the other hand, her Freudian Excuse gives her a fair reason to be as such... but not really.
    • Her Moral Event Horizon is reached when she somehow resurrects herself and indirectly kills her own son.
  • Blade of Fearsome Size: Pharoah Osiris' sword, now in Solaris' possession - assuming an average height of 180cm, and considering the fact that it's about twice as long as him, that gives the sword a minimum length of roughly three and a half meters.
  • Blindfolded Vision: Demonstrated by Andrus against General Monash. After being deprived of sight, he continued the whole of the rest of the battle by sensing the heat energy from his surroundings, and the energy created from attacks.
  • Blood Knight: Michael. The only times he isn't sleeping in the sequel is when he's in combat.
  • Blood Magic: In the sequel, two kinds are seen in several characters - a certain mutation allows the user to control and solidify their blood for use as weaponry and such, whilst actual, vampire-esque blood magic exists, having been derived from Water magic, to make the user ageless and significantly more powerful than the average human, so long as they continuously drink the blood of others for sustenance.
  • Bullet-Proof Fashion Plate: Heavily averted with Nick. Almost every fight he's part of ends with one or both of his wings broken.
    • Played straight with Jonathan. Jonas set himself ablaze to look cool, while blatantly stating that his black leather duster was badass enough to be fireproof. Justified, since he was covered from head to toe in psionic armor, including his clothes.
  • But for Me It Was Tuesday: Lampshaded by Lee.

Lee: "Because, while all this is ‘fighting huge groups out for your blood’ thing is new to me, for you it’s just damn Tuesday and Sarah is only Number 152 on the list of things trying to kill you, just below ‘Generic NOS Mage Number 34’ and just above that rock over there.”

Solaris Embarta (to self): "...sadness. That's a depressing emotion."

  • Casting a Shadow: Void uses a type 1 variant of this in the sequel.
    • More recently, Solaris has achieved a type 2 use of this trope.
  • Charge Into Combat Cut: The fight between Riley and Wallenquist is completely unviewed.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Michael gets Brought Down to Normal during the fight against the dragon, he's bleeding out, and then he gouges the dragon's eye out with his good arm.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Matthew. He disappears halfway through the story, then shows up for the fight against the Horsemen.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Norman, Nick's brother/physical personification of latent insanity. His power is literally driving people insane.
  • Cloudcuckooland: The Mindscape is heavily implied to be this in the right hands.
  • Coitus Uninterruptus: Wallenquist manages to do this.
  • Collapsing Lair: The temple in Machu Pichu. Courtesy Sol Shard's rainforest magic.
  • Colossus Climb: Occurs several times in the sequel. Colossi include a giant rock golem, a frost giant, and a massive sandworm to date.
  • Combat Tentacles: Void, but he mostly uses them to hold up his Vulcan. Later on, and in the sequel, they become one of his primary weapons.
  • Combo-Platter Powers: Lucinda could manipulate everything up to an inch away from her, including herself, which caused her to become a Flying Brick. She also glowed weakly.
    • Also, Jonathan's psion control lets him do pretty much anything from conducting electricity to crushing minds... just as long as he doesn't overexert himself. If he does...
  • Compelling Voice: The only aspect of the Mindscape that Connor seems to be any good at.
  • Cool Airship: The 'Colossus.'
  • Cool Hat: Solaris owns one.
    • It gets destroyed, though. She promptly swears vengeance against the NUO for it.
    • Rick has a cowboy hat, too.
  • Convection, Schmonvection: Apparently, it is quite possible to get right up close to the Field of Black Glass without suffering too horribly, either from the heat or the radiation emanating from the pure brimstone it is composed of. Woe betide you if you actually move over it, though...
  • Crapsack World: Confined to the titular city in the original, but played straight in the sequel, after the closing of the hellhole.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: While not necessarily stupid, Michael tends to be rather lazy in the sequel, and spends a lot of his time either asleep or unconscious. If he wakes up, however, he will absolutely wreck your shit.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: The actual fight against Colonel Howard is confined to page 93.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Apparently done with Void in the sequel.
  • Dead Little Sister: Dominic's mother and three sisters in the original, killed in the nuclear explosion. The loss changed his very personality, such that he no longers remembers how he was before The Bomb.
  • Deader Than Dead: Achieved by Dominic against Void; after essentially being disembowelled, the latter's body is impaled hundreds of times beneath the neck, then crushed between two slabs of rock on his left and right, leaving only his head behind.
  • Deadly Upgrade: Lucius gives one to Isis Ptolemy in Thinis.
    • Lucius has a shard of brimstone stored in his body, ready to be assimilated at any time.
      • Said shard also apparently acts as a Hell Gate. In fact, Isis's upgrade seemed to have been obtained from this Hell Gate in the first place.
  • Determinator: See the entry for Charles Atlas Superpower.
  • Diabolus Ex Nihilo: In the form of the NUO sniper who kills off Jake, moments before he gets into a submarine of sorts to head for Australia.
  • Diagnosis From Dr. Badass: A non-dialogue version with Michael.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: One of the many abilities of Dominic. Also Colonel Howard, and, in a late phase, General Monash.
  • Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Invoked several times near the beginning of TWA against Dominic.
  • Doomed Hometown: Paris, in case of Andrus. Its destruction is what set him off on his journey in the first place.
    • The City of the Dying, where Solaris originates from, is also destroyed, with her only learning of it a looong time afterwards.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: Dominic. He gets better.
  • Eldritch Abomination: True King of Hell. Enough said.
  • Elemental Embodiment: As of their introduction by Abel. Comes in Self and cardinal flavours.
    • And anticardinal. And bicardinal, and anti-bicardinal, and tricardinal...
      • Their ultimate form being the Cosmic and Null elementals, using every possible elemental combination and anti-elemental combination respectively.
  • Emotionless Girl: Solaris, for a short while after Void's death.
  • Evil Weapon: Michael's brimstone arm. It actually tries to strangle him a few times.
    • The Juuchiyosamu, or Ten Thousand Cold Nights katana, forged using dark magic. It contains brimstone and bloodsteel, two of the "evil" supermetals.
    • The Darendrake, later renamed the Apocalypse, also contains dark magic and is said to have similar powers as the sword above. But whereas the Ten Thousand Cold Nights is wielded by the protagonist Cheryl Smith, the Darendrake belongs to the Angel of Death.
  • Extra Ore Dinary: Lucius can transform his body into silvery metal.
  • Extreme Omnivore: Both Void and Solaris are capable of consuming nearly anything you could think of with no ill effects, as their stomachs break the ingested matter into its base atoms before appropriately reforming said atoms as excess cell biomass.
  • Eye Scream: Michael does this a couple times, with a harpoon and an ice shard to an ally gone berserk and a frost giant, respectively.
  • Face Palm of Doom: While not lethal, Nick's facepalms are often setups for unconsciousness and a Battle in the Center of the Mind.
  • Fallen Hero: Dominic in the sequel.
  • Fantastic Racism: The NUO against mutants, and the NOS against humans and non-mages.
  • Five-Man Band:
    • Dominic is The Hero
    • Victor is The Lancer
    • Nick is The Smart Guy
    • Michael/The Silencer is The Big Guy
    • Rogue is The Chick
      • In the sequel, the band consists of Andrus as The Hero, Jack as The Lancer, Lucinda as The Smart Gal, Rick as The Big- well, The Fast Guy and Solaris as The Chick. Also, Sol as The Sixth Ranger, the two magic-infused children as the Team Pets and Lee as the Tagalong Kid.
        • Also, one might see Void as the Older and Wiser mentor of sorts, in certain lights... perhaps not a very mentorial mentor, but certainly the oldest of the main group in the sequel. Of course, this subjects him to Mentor Occupational Hazard, and... well, yeah.
          • As of Dana joining the main group in the sequel, Solaris has been relegated to The Heart. Either that, or Dana herself is The Heart. Exactly who's who hasn't been made entirely clear just yet.
            • And with Michael and Connor showing up... well, by this point, I think the Five-Man Band thing has been slightly destroyed for the sequel, wouldn't you agree?
              • Actually, most of those mentioned above have died, or otherwise been removed from the protagonist group. It currently consists of Andrus, Jack, Lucinda, Michael, John, Connor, Lee, Amy, Solaris and Conglacior, with the recent update meaning that nobody is The Hero until Lucius gets killed off.
                • Andrus and John have both been kidnapped. Michael and Connor have been removed from the group, too. That leaves Lucinda, Lee, Amy, Solaris and Conglacior (and technically Jack, but his controller has left TWA indefinitely).
  • Fastball Special: Invoked by name when Michael tells Void to throw him at War.
  • Fate Worse Than Death: Ancalagon, the Dragon of Hell.

Cepheus: "It would seem that Ancalagon could not keep his powers from Hell intact. How unfortunate to lose such a valuable asset; his punishment when he returns to Hell shall be long and exquisite."

    • Also, apparently, having your soul absorbed by Legion.
  • Fiery Coverup: Giza is burned down by the NOS to cover up the murder of Osiris Ptolemy.
  • Flash Step: Chaos and Dominic.
  • Floating Continent: Thinis, the capital of New Egypt. The 'ground' of the city is madeup of etinarg, a rock that has negative gravity compared to other substances... such as granite, for instance.
  • Flying Brick: Lucinda, until she was Brought Down to Normal.
  • For the Evulz: Pretty much everything Chaos has done has been because he thinks it would be fun and/or awesome. This includes:
    • Taking over a city by setting much of it on fire.
    • Announcing said victory by setting the sky on fire and writing 'I WIN, BITCHES.'
    • Almost killing his commanding officer by setting most of his soul on fire.
  • Frickin' Laser Beams: Solaris can use her lightbending ability to produce these. Lucinda's force control can perform a weaker version.
    • Lucius used a light beam attack against Jonathan, though that's probably more like Wave Motion Gun.
  • From a Single Cell: Phaeus "Shade" Eclipsion boasted this after getting the exact same Rasputinian Death as his grandfather Eclipsis. His soul was then subjected to the Omega Sanction, forced to reincarnate through an infinite number of painful lives, each one more torturous than the last.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Nick.
  • Gambit Roulette: How Lucius managed to convince Jonathan that Jenny sold him out when they tried to leave Novus Ordo Seclorum. It's quite complicated.
  • Giant Spider: Michael kills one. Then he eats part of it.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: Whenever Nick is about to do something dangerous in the first game.
  • GMPC: Dominic in the sequel. Sadly, of the bad kind.
  • God of Evil: The True King of Hell.
  • Goggles Do Something Unusual: Nick's welding goggles.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Take a wild guess.
  • Guns vs. Swords: Comes up in a lot of the fights, particularly when Dominic is involved.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: Manipulation of everything up to one inch away from yourself? That thing has no range! Until you notice you're always in range, and that there seems to be no other cap whatsoever. Get your flesh to never come apart when hit, never bruise, never catch fire. Fly into enemies, counting your speed in Mach numbers. Lucinda, the owner of the above, was requested to be depowered as a result.
  • Hero-Killer: Chaos, or at least it seems that way.
    • Actually, Chaos has had one proper player battle which he won as of current - against Dominic, whose definition as a 'hero' is ambiguous at best. Dominic himself, on the other hand...
      • Technically, that's not true. He also fought Michael shortly after his introduction. He didn't kill Michael, but he came close, considering he got kicked off the 'Colossus' over the Pacific ocean.
        • I thought Michael jumped off of his own accord, rather than being kicked off?
          • He did, but he was pushed off the first time.
  • Hidden Agenda Villain: Chaos. Most of his actions seem to be For the Evulz, but recent events make his plan being that simple seem unlikely.
  • Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Three of them show up as the Quirky Miniboss Squad during the fight against Cepheus; the fourth had previously caused a miniature zombie apocalypse-type scenario and subsequently been defeated and uncorrupted.
    • Less quirky, more evil. But still rather incompetent, in comparison to the mutants fighting them.
  • Hypocritical Humor: These examples are slightly detached from one another, but Void is quoted as being a "wandering whore" by Dominic, despite not enjoying how frequently others wish to have sex with him due to his age; Dominic himself, meanwhile, was merely "practising" for the last two hundred and fifty years, and is about five hundred relative years older than even the other members of the Old Guard. Perhaps not humorous, but at least somewhat hypocritical.
    • Those are... humorous? This Troper thinks the mark was missed by a wide margin on this one.
      • "Perhaps not humorous." Read correctly, please.
  • Idiot Ball: Void, you cannot reason with or fight against God. Even if you don't care whether he is or not, you should at least read his mind to check before insulting him repeatedly.
    • Or attempt to use your telepathy to alter his mindset, thereby getting out of dying at his hands.
      • No, neither can you, Solaris.
  • I Fell for Hours: A possibility, given Dominic's teleportation ability. Apparently, though, gravity only affects him when he wants it to.
    • Justified since he can keep himself up with a variety of propulsion methods, none of which require his teleportation ability.
      • ...in the sequel. Electricity alone does not count as a propulsion method, as far as this troper is aware.
  • If It's You It's Okay: Void for Mike.
  • I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Riley goes and fights Wallenquist herself, resulting in both their deaths. Cue Dominic destroying a huge portion of NYC.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: Also Void. He's complex.
  • Immortality: Dominic becomes type I after five years in the Abyss; Void, and presumably Solaris, are type III due to their mutant abilities.
    • Marvin would also be type I, considering any form of damage simply causes his body to phase around it like water. Of course, having been dropped into Hell via an expanding hellhole at the end of AC1...
      • Actually, it's been established that living beings can fall into and survive in Hell for a while, at least until the torture destroys their physical forms. What with Marvin's inability to actually be destroyed, or even take damage, he should be alright. Probably.
    • Nick and Sarah have this resulting from the latter's necromancy abilities.
  • Implacable Man / The Juggernaut: Pretty much anyone with any powerful defensive/self-healing ability is this. Notable examples include Dominic, Void, Matthew and Michael.
  • Ineffectual Loner: To some extent, Void in AC 1, after the Council is destroyed completely. Example: taking on War by yourself means you're going in the massive hellhole. Throwing a psychopath who happens to be your ally in that battle at him instead? Instant success!
    • On the flip-side, he does manage to kill a supposedly immortal being by himself... perhaps only through the luck of discovering his one weakness, but that's still a plus.
  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: In the sequel. The fight of the main group against a particularly rare species of dragon and that of the Jonathan group against another served no purpose in plot progression.
    • Also, Conglacior.
      • Averted in the original, where Ancalagon, the Dragon of Hell, played an important part in displaying the might of the antagonist. Said battle also armed the main party: Dominic acquiring his dragon fang sword; Victor, his dragon scale shield.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: Connor and Michael.
  • Ironic Echo: Hey, Void? Remember you said you wouldn't even care if Dominic were God himself...?
    • Idiot Ball: And you didn't even bother to check, either. You have telepathy. USE IT.
  • Jerkass: A lot of characters have their moments, but the most noticeable ones are Michael and Dominic.
  • Kill It with Fire: Victor, and later, Andrus and Chaos.
  • Lamarck Was Right: A lot. Solaris inherits her power directly, Andrus is nearly identical to his ancestor Victor as well. Lucinda's family ability of shared memories might also count.
  • Landmark of Lore: Stonehenge, Machu Pichu among others. They are sites from where magical energy can be obtained (simply put, one can become a mage by absorbing the magical energy of these places).
  • Large and In Charge: Matthew. He's by far the largest of the original cast, and definitely the strongest.
  • Leave No Witnesses: The NOS decides to destroy all of Giza only because, contrary to their plans, the dead body of king Osiris Ptolemy landed within the city.
  • Leave Your Quest Test: One is presented to Dominic: either he traps himself in the Mindscape, forever left to create and destroy as he sees fit; or he returns to the mortal world, and continues to defend it from threats. This being Dominic, he goes for the former option. With fair reason, of course.
    • He promptly returns, after he realises that he cannot control his own mind. And then he goes completely insane.
  • Legacy Character: A lot of characters in the sequel are in some way related to members of the cast in the original.
    • A meta-example, Spirit stepped down from the GM position after the first game, allowing Gambi to take his place.
  • Let's You and Him Fight: Michael just randomly attacks Dominic on sight in the sequel. Presumably he knew Dominic was basically a god by now, so he likely knew it would be a Curb Stomp Battle. He does it anyway.
  • Light Is Not Good: Lucius Ferre, the current Big Bad, uses Light magic. His name is also made to resemble "Lucifer".
    • Rick's mother, Sarah, has wings, wears a long white robe (which has only been mentioned once), and is generally made to resemble an angel. She killed Rick.
  • Like a Badass Out of Hell: This is why Dominic is still alive after the timeskip.
    • He's managed it twice, actually.
      • Technically, Void also escaped from Hell after being thrown into the hellhole by War.
  • Little Miss Badass: Sarah, before the timeskip.
  • Lost Forever: Michael's morningstar. Probably the most powerful weapon in the world, and it gets dropped into hell at the end of the first game.
  • Made of Iron: Pretty much everyone, but Matthew is a notable(and almost literal) example.
  • Magikarp Power: It has been explicitly stated that Connor is pretty much worthless in combat, but since he was exposed to magic recently, that might start to change eventually.
    • It has. He's a white mage now.
  • Master of Illusion: Any Mindscape user can have some skill at this, but only Nick, Connor, and Lucius have been seen doing so.
  • Meaningful Name: Sarah's last name translates from Latin as 'undead'.
    • ARGUS is said by Nick to see everything, much like his namesake from Greek mythology.
    • "'Conglacior Solus' translates from Latin to English as 'Freeze Alone'."
    • "Lucius Ferre" looks a lot like Lucifer. His first and last names also refer to light and metal respectively, indicating his power over these two elements.
      • Lucinda's name is the same reference. She emits a weak glow.
    • Wu Shuang, i.e. Frost. His name in Chinese, "吴霜", literally means "Wu Frost". But it has the exact same pronunciation as the word "无双", which means "unique". "双" also means "two", indicating his dual nature (life and death powers, mutation and magic, Chinese and British heritage).
      • His cousin Wu Ming has a similar pun in his name. "吴明" means "Wu Bright", but it has the same pronunciation as "无名", or "nameless" in Chinese.
    • Arthur Mc Quietus's name consists of 'quietus', which means 'a state between life and death'. Considering how Arthur generally doesn't consider himself to be a human being, but a machine of destruction...
      • His second form, Pictor Mortis, is Latin for 'Painter of Death'. His signature material is known as Paint.
  • Mecha-Mooks: The ARGUS drones.
  • Messianic Archetype: Dominic, up to a certain point.
  • Mind Screw: Happens to anyone on the receiving end of the Mindscape.
  • Minor Insult Overreaction: At being spat on and called Tentacles one time too many, Void begins stripping Rick's mother as though to rape her.
    • His potential for doing so is quickly disproved, however; he flatout states afterwards that he never intended to actually rape her, merely using his actions as a method of getting information as to what had occurred to her when she was younger to make her so paranoid/psychopathic. Which, both incidentally and unfortunately for Void, was being raped by someone.
      • ...and it then turns out that she wasn't actually raped at all; she just pretended to have been to hide a massive anger spike.
  • Morph Weapon: Michael's morningstar after it gets separated from his arm.
  • Mundane Utility: Jennifer Lorenz has the power to heal or destroy biological matter. Among other things, she uses this power to trim her fingernails, keep her skin flawless, and regrow a piece of half-eaten steak. She even wears leather clothes because they can be repaired by her ability.
  • Mutagenic Goo: Entropy. Created by the Grey.
    • In the sequel, its processed form Paint/Furor.
  • Naughty Tentacles: Void and two women of ill-repute near the beginning of AC2 make use of this trope.
    • To justify why they aren't "of ill repute": at least one of them owned a gaming system, which is a rarity, given the circumstances; it was also noted that most of the townspeople got along fairly well with them... although what they did with him and Argus (and what they intended to do afterwards) would put them somewhat closer to the Moral Event Horizon than before.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: Here's a few things Dominic has managed so far:
    • Defeat the ruler of hell in single combat;
      • There was plenty of help from the main group, namely Victor and Mike.
    • Survive unimaginable torture at the hands of an Eldritch Abomination;
      • Even Lovecraftian lore has humans surviving encounters with Cthulhu and those of his ilk... granted they're not SANE, but Dominic has the benefit of Matthew's mind to keep him from going over the edge.
        • His soul was at the TKOH's mercy for five hundred years (since one year is equivalent to a century in Hell). By all rights, he should be insane to the point of not being capable of doing anything, regardless of Matthew's mental presence or not.
          • Can a supercomputer understand madness to that extent, though? Dominic could be a slobbering, raving mess in reality, but because of the circumstances regarding his possession he could be forced into some form of clarity. Then again, perhaps this could be a good reason too?
            • So he's so insane he's sane, then. That'd actually explain a lot.
    • Possess Matthew's body, which is mechanical and should not be able to contain a soul;
    • Learn how to flash-step after fighting Chaos for a couple of minutes;
      • There is no indication that Chaos is doing anything other than moving very quickly, and the android body Dominic possesses is more than capable of matching that speed.
    • Learn and master the Mindscape spell (which Word of God states only Nick can do without training) after talking to Nick for a few minutes;
      • The time is glossed over, admittedly, but that doesn't mean that a few moments isn't enough to learn the initial process, after which all that matters is training. Dominic can (and is) doing that on his own.
        • "Mastered" is perhaps a minor overstatement - it is made obvious that he can barely control his mind, let alone form anything of worth in it. Matthew, on the other hand, is far better at manipulating the Mindscape to his whims.
    • Destroy a person and absorb both their bodily mass and their soul;
    • Expand his own soul to cover the entire planet.
  • Nigh Invulnerable:
    • Void has this of the regeneration variety. His grand daughter does as well.
      • Presumably, therefore, the link between them would, too.
    • Matthew is Made of Iron, with mild healing ability.
    • Marvin has both of these, and he literally can not die. He just regenerates from everything. (He's likely dead after the end of part 1, though.)
      • He has nanomachines in his body that are actively regenerating the instant injuries occur. Nothing can kill him because there's nothing fast enough to do the job before he heals it.
    • Jonathan has his psionic armor. Usually not too indestructible, unless the dominant personality is Nathan.
    • And Lucius has his silvery metal, luciferite. It can't be destroyed by anything except Anti-Magic. It even managed to chip off a small shard of brimstone and fuse with it.
  • Not So Invincible After All: Dominic, when faced with Chaos' power nullification ability. Promptly subverted due to the nanites in Matthew's body, which Dominic is possessing, that make him essentially immortal anyway.
    • Same thing happened to Lucius.
    • Almost exactly the same thing, except replace "Dominic" with "Lucius' soul jars".
  • Not the Fall That Kills You: Solaris makes a reference to this, then tells herself to stop seeing the world as a game.
    • Actually, this applies to Void and Solaris in equal measure, since both have tentacles and regeneration to absorb the impact. Void frequently uses this to his advantage when travelling in AC 1; Solaris also uses it, but not very often.
  • Nuke'Em: Lucius plans to do this to Chaos because Anti-Magic can't nullify an ordinary nuclear blast.
  • Officer and a Gentleman: Both Nick and Lucius. Leaders of their respective factions, two of the three strongest people in the world, both rather cultured under most circumstances.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Nick and Michael's fight, which was supposedly awesome enough to spawn an entirely new universe, takes place entirely between near the end of the second game and the third.
  • Omniscient Morality License: Dominic in the sequel; being immortal, and having lived for two hundred and fifty years or so at that point in time, he honestly doesn't care what happens to the world around him any more, and has even considered ending it a few times just to end his own life.
  • One-Man Army: Dominic.
  • One Steve Limit: Averted big time. There are a lot of Michaels running around.
    • Sol and Solaris also have very similar names; they even have (read: had) respective relatives named Lune and Eclipsis.
      • Then Solaris gets a baby dragon who she names Solus.
    • And two Sarahs. One is Rick's now-dead mother, the other is Nick's nigh-immortal necromancer assistant.
    • The name Argus is shared by both the mutant Void meets at the start of TWA, and Nick's AI system. Distinguished by the way their names are capitalised - Argus the mutant to ARGUS the AI.
  • Opposites Attract: Word of God says that Michael and Nick were best friends before the events of the first game. One is an Ax Crazy Boisterous Bruiser who has a sword made out of one of his victims. The other is an introverted Gadgeteer Genius who has killed two people in his 250+ years of life, neither time intentional.
    • It helps that the two people playing the characters are brothers.
  • Outrun the Fireball: At the ending of the original, when the whole city is engulfed by the expanding hellhole.
  • Parental Incest: Solaris is HEAVILY attracted to Eclipsis, and makes no effort to hide it from him once they meet. He does not approve.
  • Physical God: Dominic in the sequel. Immortal, teleporting, powerful mage.
  • Playing with Fire: Victor (and his great^X grandson Andrus) can control fire.
  • Power Makes Your Voice Deep: Applicable to Isis Ptolemy. Her voice grows heavy and 'demonic' when she taps into her inner potency.
  • Powered Armor: Seems to be standard issue for the Hive.
  • Precision F-Strike: Two by Nick in the sequel.

Nick(after Lucius accused Michael of causing the events of the first game): "That wasn't Michael's fault, motherfucker."
"If those kids don't kill you, just know that I can. Now get the fuck out of my city."

  • Put on a Bus: Dominic in the sequel; see Leave Your Quest Test above.
    • Promptly gets off the bus and walks back into the game after only a short while. Then he goes mad.
  • Quick Draw: Jack Scarlet vs. Michael De'Lore in Japan
  • Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: ...as, apparently, is even threatening rape, as Void found out to his cost.
  • Really 250 Years Old: Any given character who survived the timeskip.
    • Justified in that all of them except Michael have some form of Immortality working for them.
      • Michael's cell death rate was slowed to about 1/25th its usual rate due to his exposure to the Hell arm. That, in my own view, is close enough to partial immortality anyway.
        • Dominic plays the trope completely straight by actually being seven hundred years old, due to the severely stretched passage of time within Hell.
  • Ret-Gone: Jonathan and Jennifer are whisked from the Atherverse by two immensely powerful beings from a game of their controller's own creation without ever meeting the main group; one Phaeus "Shade" Eclipsion was also completely destroyed by one of these beings.
    • Of note is the fact that, in said game's canon, both beings would be more powerful than the True King itself in one-to-one combat. This quote says all:

"Besides, why focus our attentions on a school bully when a serial killer is on the loose? The threat of this supposed True King of Hell is negligible compared to Nightmare."

    • In said game's canon. As in, not canonical in TWA. Nothing is stronger than the True King in the Atherverse.
  • Sanity Slippage: Arguably, Michael.
    • Arguably?
  • Sand Worm: In the deserts near Giza, two females and one territorial male attack the party in the sequel.
  • Science Hero: Nick.
  • Schizo-Tech: If Nick brings a weapon out of the Mindscape, it qualifies.
  • Shipper on Deck: Solaris to Andrus and Lucinda.
  • Shock and Awe: Dominic can control electricity.
    • In the first game, anyway. He doesn't do it as much after the timeskip.
      • Also, Jonathan.
  • Shout-Out: Several.
    • Both Nick and Alex have used Mega Man-esque Arm Cannons.
    • Nick references Homestuck a few times during his fight against Wallenquist.
    • One of the most blatant examples in the sequel comes when Void and his bedfellows are shown playing Mortal Kombat and Halo. The issue with the Xbox logging out all players on a console when a single one does so is even referenced.
    • "Atuhor's Nose: 'Conglacior Solus' translates from Latin to English as 'Freeze Alone'."
    • The entirety of Lucinda's character or pretty much any addition to the story by her author is a reference to something.
    • Nick's weapon of choice in the Mindscape is a giant key reminiscent of a Keyblade.
    • Cheryl Smith can apparently use Fire Release ninjutsu and has a zanpakutou that is basically a fusion between Senbonzakura and Ryuujin Jakka. Her "zanpakutou" also has several attacks that are blatant expies of Byakuya's techniques.
    • Lee channels Ulfric Stormcloak during his speech on why he fights the NUO.
  • Someone Has to Die: In the end, Dominic sacrifices himself in order to prevent the world from being engulfed by the expanding hellhole. Somebody has to die in order to close it.
    • Of course, with Dominic's escape five earth years later, he has gained immortality and general powerful magery skills to go with his teleportation... not a bad reward for surviving five (or, you know, five hundred) years of torture against The True King.
  • Soul Jar: Lucius had hundreds of these around the world. Most of them got destroyed by Chaos's Anti-Magic fire though.
  • Split Personality: Jonathan has three that can communicate among themselves. They form a Freudian Trio, with John as the ego, Jonas as the id, and Johann as the superego.
    • Plus Nathan, his latent insanity and hatred for absolutely everything else.
  • Stealth Pun: Most of Nick's weapons are giant key(e)s.
  • Stepping Stone Sword: Andrus used his sword as a handle to maintain grip on the sandworm when it took him for an underground ride.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: The trademark ability of the Wu family, complete with Ki Attacks. Users include Emperor Wu Zheng Yuan, Wu Ming, and Wu Shuang (a.k.a. Frost).
  • Super-Powered Evil Side: Nathan.
  • Swiss Army Appendage: Michael's shapeshifting arm.
  • Telepathy: Too many to count; most notably, Void has some powerful telepathic techniques which will start injuring him as though he were a human being if used too much. Jonathan has this too, which can be used in hundreds of different ways. It also seems to be a prerequisite for becoming the Big Bad in either game, as seen with Cepheus and Lucius.
    • The Mindscape could be considered a more in-depth version.
  • Sword Fight: Occurs frequently. In the original, barring other smaller (but no less important) sword fights, the fight against Cepheus is noteworthy.
  • Teleport Spam: The first power Dominic gets.
  • Tempting Fate:

German NUO Soldier: [moments before his soul is absorbed into Legion] "Oh, come on! What could be worse than death at the hands of whatever that is?"

  • The Battle Didn't Count: When Nick broke into Lucius's Mindscape, at first it seemed that Nick totally curb-stomped Lucius. But that turned out to be not the real Lucius himself but a presumably much weaker psychic stand-in.
  • The Lost Lenore: The deaths of Riley in both the original and the sequel are an ongoing source of grief and turmoil for Dominic.
  • The Messiah: Nick. He's currently devoted his life to improving human-mutant relations, and has gone so far as to confront the Big Bad by offering him tea before fighting. His pacifist outlook helps a bit.
  • There Was a Door: Matthew's entrance into the Speedster's hideout, charging in with a strike that did some damage to a group of mutants.
  • White Magician Girl: A rare male example, Connor has been training to use White Magic, complete with Thou Shalt Not Kill ultimatum.
  • The Worf Barrage: The sandworms in the deserts between Cairo and Giza specifically target Solaris, only to fail to do lasting damage due to her abilities.
    • Runihura in Thinis unleashes one of his most powerful attacks on same character with identical results.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Everyone, once they mutate.
    • And in the sequel, anyone who gains access to magic.
  • True Companions: Clearly visible with the main group in the second game. Less so in the first.
  • Ultimate Blacksmith: Dick, Dominic's teacher, turns out to be this.
  • Ultimate Evil: The True King of Hell, whose eye alone is fifteen thousand miles in diameter.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Nick and Michael's past hostility seems to completely disappear if anyone else insults them. Thus we have Nick completely curb stomping Lucius.
  • Wasteland Elder: Argus, the incredibly tall mutant present in the town Void visits at the beginning of the game.
  • Weapon Tombstone: Not a weapon per se, but Nick's goggles are hanging from the grave Sarah dug for him before the start of TWA.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: Wu Ming, one of the main NOS members, was killed off before his character was elaborated upon.
    • Same with Phaeus "Shade" Eclipsion, evil grandson of Eclipsis, who was meant to be encountered by the main characters in England.
      • Then Wu Ming's corpse was reanimated by his cousin Frost.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Connor's bug-whispering. It has been used exactly once, and for something completely unnecessary.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: Marvin, upon realising that he can never die, becomes cripplingly depressed for several decades, extending right through the first game to its end.
    • Dominic expresses hatred for his immortality, wishing to meet his mother and sisters in this universe's equivalent of Heaven. He's forever banned from it, unfortunately, because of his exposure to the True King.
    • This trope is averted with Void, although unlike the other two, he actually can (and does) die in the sequel.
  • Word of God: The players are the ones editing this page.
  • You Fail Physics Forever: Averted by Solaris' lightbending ability, which conforms to real physics as part of the in-game power limitation agreement that everyone has. Played straight with Dominic's teleportation in the first game, as he apparently ignores gravity for a fair while after teleportation, and can seemingly control whether excess momentum is carried over between teleports or not.
    • Artistic License would be argued, but only because You Fail Reading Forever doesn't exist. In the first game his teleportation was always conforming to the direction of his current movement. It is only in the sequel that it changes, allowing Dominic to move through the void in-between the Realms whenever he teleports, resetting his momentum if he wishes.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: After Sarah becomes Death.
  1. ↑ create force fields; control fire, ice, and electricity; control chemistry via the manipulation of molecular bonds; have Photographic Memory; speed up his perception of time; block out pain; read and control minds, as well as defending against these.
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