History Literature / ParanoidMage

* WeaponizedTeleportation: Turns out that combining mundane weaponry with magical portals is incredibly effective. Callum's combat debut is [[spoiler:firing guns through tiny portals to [[BoomHeadshot headshot]] an entire nest of vampires ''and'' their supporting mage, without them seeing him coming despite their SuperSpeed]]. He only gets more dangerous from there.

* ProperlyParanoid: Rather unsurprisingly given the title, Callum's efforts to cover his tracks are often barely enough to avoid being caught.

** Using selective enforcement of their own laws, they actively back a vampire armed invasion into the quiet town of Winut, up to and including helping the vampires in question hide the bodies of their victims. GAR used a mana bomb to KO every last man, woman, and child in a city in France and one of their agents even blew up a restaurant, just because Callum happened to be there. They kidnap a couple of innocent hikers just because they dared to survive a Wild Hunt, thanks to Callum coming to their aid. They treat their own "dud" employees like they're sub-human, seeing nothing wrong with mind controlling or mind raping them to keep them in line. Yet they call Callum "evil" because he dares to reject having them boss him around. When he's arrested after the Winut case, he actively points out how his actions are ''entirely'' self-defense because the "victim" vampires were killed in the very act of kidnapping and murdering people. The arresting agent's response? "It's not a crime if they don't exceed their quota, wait a minute, I don't need to justify myself to you!"

* WeaponizedTeleportation: Turns out that combining mundane weaponry with magical portals is incredibly effective.

''Paranoid Mage'' is an urban fantasy WebSerialNovel, by the author of Literature/BlueCore available on [[https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/49879/paranoid-mage RoyalRoad]], and [[https://www.scribblehub.com/series/417236/paranoid-mage/ ScribbleHub]].

* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Callum's introduction to mage society is pretty much this. He's told pretty bluntly that GAR service is mandatory and that GAR hunts down rogue mages, often executing them.
* ArrestedForHeroism: Repeatedly. Callum first got on GAR's radar when he tried to pull mundanes out of a fire sparked when armed goons stormed Mr. Shahey's gym and he retaliated by breathing Dragon Fire back at them. Then when Callum is trying to help Gayle Hargrave pass her tests so she doesn't need to apprentice under the head of her house's rival, the Fane house, Gayle gets used as bait to nab him, and then poor Gayle is called a "heretic" and shoved into BSE [[MortonsFork to apprentice under Fane's goons.]] Archmage Hargrave is less than thrilled when Callum breaks her out and then hands her over, for free.
* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: Because GAR treated Callum West like a criminal slave, dragging him into a "test" that was just shy of torture, tattooing him against his will when he was unconscious, and pushing him around like a moron, demanding he end his civilian life or be declared Rogue and face execution, Callum West '''went rogue''', bolting at the first opportunity and destroying GAR infrastructure to punish them every time they try to get a handle on him, and when GAR decides to mess with someone he likes or turn a blind eye to mundanes suffering thanks to supernatural shenanigans, ''that's when he gets mad.''

* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: According to GAR's own charter, which Callum read to avoid having to listen to Fane Sen brag about his unimpressive front-line military service, GAR was founded to defend the Earth against supernatural threats coming from the portal worlds. While it's understandable doing so requires a certain amount of Command and Control, whatever noble intentions GAR may have had are long gone, as the entire organization is now all about Command and Control, whatever it takes, protecting the Earth is far more often than not just an excuse.
* DavidVersusGoliath: The story features Callum Wells, alone, squaring off against GAR, an organization that isn't just international, but ''interdimensional'', with at least 4 worlds in their sway, and he also has to keep an eye out for mundane authorities that buy into GAR's lies, either out of convenience, greed, or sheer helplessness to resist.
* EntertaininglyWrong: For the better part of a year, GAR is convinced that Callum Wells is just the front man for a larger unknown organization, and once that has been debunked, various factions are utterly convinced he's a secret pet project for some unstated Archmage house that slipped his leash because the alternative, that he is precisely what his dossier says he is, is far, far more terrifying. Even Lucy Harper, who ''likes'' Callum West, has that mindset, until she meets him in person.
* TheFairFolk: The Fae are one of the four known powers in the supernatural world, organized into traditional courts.
* FantasticRacism: All the supernatural factions, in general, view mundanes and "duds" with nothing but contempt.

* HateCrimesAreASpecialKindOfEvil: One of the things guaranteed to get Callum West on the war path is when supernaturals treat mundanes like livestock or wild game, to hunt for sport. He considers GAR an evil organization because they either turn a blind eye to it, citing unstated "quotas" before it becomes a crime, '''or actively participate''' as was the case in Winut.
* IGaveMyWord: Oaths are SeriousBusiness among the fae. It's why Alpha Langley, a sub-alpha under Chester and the Winut sheriff, first thought Callum was a fae, as Callum was willing to completely ignore GAR laws and his own safety, to come to the rescue of his daughter and Alpha Chester's great-niece from a vampire nest because, being neighborly, promised that if there was something he could do to help, he would.

* JoinOrDie: As explained to Callum West by Agent Jahn, when a mage awakens among the mundanes and is brought before GAR, they either bow and scrape, complying with GAR's policy, to the letter, and obey every order given by their Master, which has a 30% mortality rate, or be declared a rogue and face certain death. Callum, not looking forward to conscription, at best, outright slavery, at worst, and clearly not happy with the prospect of the 30% mortality rate, bolts first chance he gets and has been a thorn in GAR's side ever since.
* LawfulStupid: The GAR's department of acquisition has standard operating procedure to put mundanes who are exposed to the supernatural under the care and responsibility of the group who thus exposed them. Out of sheer '''laziness''', they turn over some kidnapped teens to the very same vampire faction that kidnapped them, to kill and eat, after Callum rescued them, ''precisely because Callum rescued them.'' Callum went apoplectic, unable to do anything about it, and is still looking to make the one who authorized it pay. Callum does indeed retaliate when the DOA does it ''again'' after Callum rescued a couple of hikers from a Fae "Wild Hunt." This time, he breaks them out of GAR confinement and hands them over to the Fae King of Miami, who agreed just to spite King Jespite, the Fae King of the clan involved in the hunt.

* MageBornOfMuggles: Seemingly Callum Wells, though his "parents'" ages imply they're probably his grandparents, so might not be technically true. [[spoiler: Turns out they are his grandparents, and his mother was very sexually lose, coming home as a single mom, going through so many guys, she couldn't identify the father. After a heated fight, she abandoned her son with her parents, and was thrown out of the house, disowned.]]

* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: GAR treats their "dud" employees as sub-human, and they're forced into the job by the figurative or literal use of the magical equivalent of a gun to the head, so when Lucy Harper gets the chance to give them the middle finger by helping Callum under the purview of Alpha Chester, who has a legit beef, she takes it, the huge retainer she's paid a welcome bonus. When GAR gets the "brilliant" idea to have Agent Black and vampires use their CompellingVoice to march all the "duds" into interrogation rooms, and question them, she stops playing and goes full-tilt traitor, considering GAR the root of all evil. Then when Duval forces the issue, and uses her as bait for Callum, up to and including having a Fae put her under a Geas, she signs on with Callum completely, looking to tear the place apart!
* MoralMyopia: GAR has some serious chutzpah to see themselves as the good guys in this story. Using selective enforcement of their own laws, they actively back a vampire armed invasion into the quiet town of Winut, up to and including helping the vampires in question hide the bodies of their victims. GAR used a mana bomb to KO every last man, woman, and child in a city in France and one of their agents even blew up a restaurant, just because Callum happened to be there. They kidnap a couple of innocent hikers just because they dared to survive a Wild Hunt, thanks to Callum coming to their aid. They treat their own "dud" employees like they're sub-human, seeing nothing wrong with mind controlling or mind raping them to keep them in line. Yet they call Callum "evil" because he dares to reject having them boss him around. When he's arrested after the Winut case, he actively points out how his actions are ''entirely'' self-defense because the "victim" vampires were killed in the very act of kidnapping and murdering people. The arresting agent's response "It's not a crime if they don't exceed their quota, wait a minute, I don't need to justify myself to you!"
* {{Muggles}}: Most of the supernatural world barely considers mundane humanity to be people, and pay very little attention to things like technology or modern media. Magical laptops and the such do exist, but most of these things come from [[MuggleBornOfMages non-magical humans]] who are aware of the supernatural world.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Formed by a symbiotic relationship between a human and a lifeform from one of the portal worlds. Have a glamour effect that makes mundanes see them as ordinary cats or dogs.

* TheFairFolk: Interbreeding between humans and occupants of one of the portal worlds has produced the Fae. Slightly monstrous or animalistic looking humanoids with abilities that work outside the normal magical rules.

* ArrestedForHeroism: Repeatedly. Callum first got on GAR's radar when he tried to pull mundanes out of a fire sparked when armed goons stormed Mr. Shahe's gym and he retaliated by breathing Dragon Fire back at them. Then when Callum is trying to help Gayle Hargrave pass her tests so she doesn't need to apprentice under the head of her house's rival, the Fane house, Gayle gets used as bait to nab him, and then poor Gayle is called a "heretic" and shoved into BSE [[MortonsFork to apprentice under Fane's goons.]] Archmage Hargrave is less than thrilled when Callum breaks her out and then hands her over, for free.

* CrimeOfSelfDefense: Callum has been deemed a criminal by GAR because he dared to fight off an armed invasion by vampires, under the sway of Levigne, Master of Minneapolis, into the city of Winut, said vampires breaking into people's homes, kidnapping and killing them for a laugh, with Callum himself being targeted, and Callum only attacked after one of these vampire nests tried to provoke a war by kidnapping the great-niece of Alpha Chester and the locals came to him for help, at which point he did his best impression of John Wick, destroying that entire nest, no survivors, and went after the remaining 5 nests when he saw a GAR mage '''actively aid the vampires in hiding the bodies of their victims,''' utterly annihilating 4 of them and backing off only because Levigne himself threw in the towel and begged Chester to back off. Then GAR does it ''again'' when Callum stumbles upon Fae attacking a couple of innocent hikers, hunting them for fun, and Callum fought them off.

* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Callum's introduction to mage society is pretty much this.

* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: According to GAR's own charter, which Callum read to avoid having to listen to Lester Fane brag about his unimpressive front-line military service, GAR was founded to defend the Earth against supernatural threats coming from the portal worlds. While it's understandable doing so requires a certain amount of Command and Control, whatever noble intentions GAR may have had are long gone, as the entire organization is now all about Command and Control, whatever it takes, protecting the Earth is far more often than not just an excuse.

* TheFairFolk: The Fae are one of the four known powers in the supernatural world, organised into traditional courts.

* IGaveMyWord: Oaths are SeriousBusiness among the fae. It's why Alpha Langley, a sub-alpha under Chester and the Winut sheriff, first thought Callum was a fae, as Callum was willing to completely ignore GAR laws and his own safety to come to the rescue of his daughter and Alpha Chester's great-niece from a vampire nest because, being neighborly, promised that if there was something he could do to help, he would.

* LawfulStupid: The GAR's department of acquisition has standard operating procedure to put mundanes who are exposed to the supernatural under the care and responsibility of the group who thus exposed them. Out of sheer '''laziness''', they turn over some kidnapped teens to the very same vampires that kidnapped them, to kill and eat, after Callum rescued them, ''precisely because Callum rescued them.'' Callum went apoplectic, unable to do anything about it, and is still looking to make the one who authorized it pay. Callum does indeed retaliate when the DOA does it ''again'' after Callum rescued a couple of hikers from a Fae "Wild Hunt." This time, he breaks them out of GAR confinement and hands them over to the Fae King of Miami, who agreed just to spite King Jespite, the Fae King of the clan involved in the hunt.

* LawfulStupid: The GAR's department of acquisition has standard operating procedure to put mundanes who are exposed to the supernatural under the care and responsibility of the group who thus exposed them. Out of sheer '''laziness''', they turn over some kidnapped teens to the very same vampires that kidnapped them, to kill and eat, after Callum rescued them, ''precisely because Callum rescued them.'' Callum went apoplectic, unable to do anything about it, and is still looking to make the one who authorized it pay. Callum does indeed retaliate when the DAS does it ''again'' after Callum rescued a couple of hikers from a Fae "Wild Hunt." This time, he breaks them out of GAR confinement and hands them over to the Fae King of Miami, who agreed just to spite King Jespite, the Fae King of the clan involved in the hunt.

* MistreatmentInducedBetral: GAR treats their "dud" employees as sub-human, and they're forced into the job by the figurative or literal use of the magical equivalent of a gun to the head, so when Lucy Harper gets the chance to give them the middle finger by helping Callum under the purview of Alpha Chester, who has a legit beef, she takes it, the huge retainer she's paid a welcome bonus. When GAR gets the "brilliant" idea to have Agent Black and vampires use their CompellingVoice to march all the "duds" into interrogation rooms, and question them, she stops playing and goes full-tilt traitor, considering GAR the root of all evil. Then when Duval forces the issue, and uses her as bait for Callum, up to and including having a Fae put her under a Geas, she signs on with Callum completely, looking to tear the place apart!

Callum Wells is a successful architecture consultant who is perfectly happy with his almost entirely mundane life. Sure, he can see werewolves, dragonkin and various other odd individuals than no one else seems to notice, but as long as they don't bother him he's happy to pretend along with everyone else.

* FantasticRacism: All the supernatural factions, in general, view mundanes and "duds" with nothing but contempt

''Paranoid Mage'' is an urban fantasy WebSerialNovel, by the author of Literature/BlueCore available on [[https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/49879/paranoid-mage RoyalRoad]].

* LawfulStupid: The GAR's department of acquisition has standard operating procedure to put mundanes who are exposed to the supernatural under the care and responsibility of the group who thus exposed them. Out of sheer '''laziness'', they turn over some kidnapped teens to the very same vampires that kidnapped them, to kill and eat, after Callum rescued them, ''precisely because Callum rescued them.'' Callum went apoplectic, unable to do anything about it.

* MageBornOfMuggles: Seemingly Callum Wells, though his "parents'" ages imply they're probably his grandparents, so might not be technically true.

* Beardness Protection Program: Multiple times Callum grows or alters his facial hair, along with wigs, fake tattoos and other props to try and pass undetected.

* WeaponizedTeleportation: Turns out that combining mundane weaponry with magical portals is incredibly effective.

* Masquerade: In full effect, and maintained by the use of glamour magics which interfere with both mundane perceptions and technological surveillance.