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''Tales of MU'' is an online erotic fiction series. Originally described by the author as an experiment in using LiveJournal to promote her stories, it has since taken on a life of its own. The first four plotlines have been collected into self-published print editions.
The story revolves around the life of Mackenzie "Mack" Blaise, a self-hating half-demon student at Magisterius University, a college of enchantment in an alternate universe where ''[[Dungeons
The story, at least for the first half or so of the first year's chapters, frequently veers off into sexual territory, arguably at the expense of the plot, but usually by offering a different take on a difficult or sensitive topic. For instance, the second book offered Mackenzie's attempt to describe in first-person narrative her first orgasm, without her realizing that's what she was having. Overall, the sexual content has become much less frequent, but when it does show up, it does so with gusto.
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Chapter 496, plus a number of side stories, concluded Mack's first year at MU. The second year has reset the chapter numbering; so far, 89 chapters of the second year have been released, along with more side stories, so almost all the tropes below and on the YMMV page are contained in the first year's stories. Specific chapters will be referred to with the Y__-__ format; first blank is the year, second is the chapter number.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20131031204352/http://www.talesofmu.com/story/ The story can be found here.] Definitely [[Not Safe for Work]]!
{{tropelist}}
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* [[A God Am I]] -- Invoked by Mack Daddy in his "rebel theology" lesson: a god is anyone who can say this and then back it up by having the power to smite/kill anyone who disagrees with the claim.
* [[Actual Pacifist]] -- Amaranth and other nymphs.
* [[Aerith and Bob]] -- [[Justified Trope]] given the setting of multiple [[Dungeons
* [[Alternate Character Interpretation]] -- Invoked by the author.
* [[Alpha Bitch]] -- Sooni has elements of this (the haughtiness, the harem of loyal followers) but also subverts it by her followers actually being her slaves, and her self-important, self-absorbed attitude being a symptom of ''serious'' delusions.
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* [[Asexuality]] -- Two, which made having Mack as a roommate a trying experience at times.
* [[Author Appeal]] -- Pretty much every major character is turned on by one aspect or another of BDSM.
* [[Author Filibuster]] -- When Mackenzie finally learns Steff's "secret", the readers are suddenly subjected to [https://web.archive.org/web/20130317195013/http://www.talesofmu.com/story/book04/91 a long and jarring explanation about what being a trans woman is really like], drawn mostly from the author's own childhood experiences.
** An explanation that is much closer to what's known as "transtrender" than anything else. Steff enthuses that "she" likes "her" male body, and experiences no sense of dysphoria towards being thus or having a penis. In other words, by any legitimate diagnosis he's just a really really feminine gay man.
* [[Axes At School]] -- [[Justified]]; the grounds around the school are sometimes anything but safe.
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* [[Cute Monster Girl]] -- Several. Subverted with the half-ogres, as Victor is described as better looking than Belinda.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]] -- Dee.
{{quote|'''Amaranth:''' One of [[Anything That Moves|[Steff's]]] friends is a virgin! What are the odds?
'''Dee:''' I would say abysmal. But apparently they were high enough. }}
* [[Defeat Means Friendship]] -- Subverted with Sooni's relationship to Mack...[[Zig-Zagging Trope|except when it isn't.]]
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* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: Quoth Mack:
{{quote|"I couldn’t help but notice that he did things like use “fight” twice in the same sentence… and “underprivileged underclass?” It also seemed like he just dropped commas in wherever he felt like it… like there was no actual rules regarding their use… like he was just in love with them as a punctuation mark, or something." (Note that Mack, at another point, remarked in passing that she had once been marked down on an essay for using too many ellipses.)}}
* [[I Do Not Drink... Wine]] -- Several of the characters cannot or will not eat certain types of food. Some, including Mack, have no need for (ordinary) food at all, although Mack enjoys eating and starts to fill out like a normal human being would once she starts eating regularly.
* [[I Just Want to Be Normal]] -- Mack.
* [[I Should Write a Book About This]] -- Subverted. In the final chapter of Volume I, Mack's therapist suggests that she write about her experiences at MU in order to help work out her issues. The final paragraph of that chapter mentions that she got 17 pages into said autobiographic writing, and then got bored and gave up.
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** Hilariously, The Man himself, the only full-blooded demon to have appeared in the series as of yet, is the practical living example that half-demons do NOT behave like demons; he said so himself. He is anything but beastly.
* [[In Which a Trope Is Described]] -- A subversion in that the descriptions are misleading...[[Double Subversion|except a few times when they're not, and you spend the whole chapter looking for the twist...]]
* [[Is This What Anger Feels Like?]] -- Two.
* [[Jerk Jock]] -- Mack hates Skirmish players, though Amaranth of course is more understanding. Belinda is one, though this seems more tragic in her case, {{spoiler|or at least something unfortunate she's trying to move beyond, when we see her later}}.
* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] -- One of the more charitable interpretations of Steff, especially in regards to her relationship with Mack.
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* [[Multiple Head Case]] -- The Leighton twins, as a result of a [http://www.talesofmu.com/story/other/two-heads-are-better teleportation accident].
* [[My Beloved Smother]] -- Sooni's [[Cosplay]] with Kai is ''all over'' this...{{spoiler|until she nearly kills Kai}}.
* [[My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130317202616/http://www.talesofmu.com/story/book0x/280 Here].
{{quote|'''Sooni''': When I was younger, my father told me that he could ask his valet for the smallest pinfeather of a bird sitting on a certain branch of a certain tree on the other side of the world, and it would be on his desk by the afternoon. Can your father do that?
'''Mack''': My father is a soulless killer abomination, Sooni.
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* [[She Is Not My Girlfriend]] -- Mack even protests that the nymph she's having sex with isn't her girlfriend, she's her ''owner''. Apparently that's better...somehow. This does set the stage for ''someone else'' to become her acknowledged girlfriend once she's less terrified of the term.
* [[Shout-Out]] -- ''Lots'' of them.
** The most pervasive and obvious is to ''[[Dungeons
*** In a more direct fashion, MU's health facility is named the Gygax Memorial Healing Center.
** See [[Leeroy Jenkins]] above.
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* [[Transgender]] -- Steff. Played with in that, while Steff can "pass" just fine in human society, she looks like a [[Drag Queen]] among elves or those who've spent a lot of time with elves. This is made all the more tragic by the [[Culture Clash]] between the two culture's views on gender: human culture is dangerously transphobic, elvish culture not so much, but Steff has no hope of passing among elves, and [[He-Man Woman Hater|they have little patience for her efforts anyway]].
* [[Time Dissonance]] -- Averted for long-lived races, used for the [[Fragile Speedster]] sylphs. Meriel makes a reference to "that time of the ''week''".
* [[Took a Level
* [[Transparent Closet]] -- Mack, at first.
* [[Trickster Mentor]] -- {{spoiler|The Owl-Turtle Thing}} to Mack in the second year.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]
[[Category:Erotic Literature]]
[[Category:Fantasy Web Originals]]
[[Category:Web Serial Novel]]
▲[[Category:Tales of MU]]
[[Category:Literature]]
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