History Literature / AHerosWar

** The first collaboration between Cato and "Mad Alchemist" Landar results in the bowgun (distinct from a real-life "bowgun," which is just a pistol-sized crossbow), which standardizes and simplifies the use of magical arrows by providing an easy, safe and reliable way to activate their enchantments. The arrows carry an enchantment that makes them fly forward at great speed, but in a disabled state; the gun stock contains an enchantment, linked to the trigger, that touches an arrow and activates it. Visually it's closer to a crossbow, but its simplicity of use and penetrating power is more like a pistol.
---> ''"A magic gun! He had been in this world barely three weeks and he already helped invent a gun. With magic!"''

* HoneyTrap: In a fairly benign example, Queen Amarante arranges for Morey's companions to be an assortment of young, attractive and competent women, in hopes that by the time he finds the Legendary Sword, he'll have fallen for one of them and be happy to retire with her rather than throw his political and military weight around. Morey sees through what she's doing fairly quickly, and keeps then at arm's length, leading Amarante to wonder briefly whether she ought to have tried sending a young man instead.

''[[https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3238329/1/A-Hero-s-War A Hero's War]]'' is a story by [[https://www.fictionpress.com/u/653855/ jseah]], published on [=FictionPress=] and [[https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/2826/a-heros-war Royal Road]].

* HollywoodAcid: One of the known magical naturals materials, Elemental Water (not to be confused with regular water), will dissolve any nonmagical material, and quite a few magical ones. It can only be properly contained in Elemental Crystal. When the Water is dispelled, the materials precipitate out, though.

** Land-bound zombie hordes are notable for being very hard to put down, since they don't care about losing body parts, and, even after being entirely dismembered, they can pull themselves back together given time. The bat-like zombie nightcryers, however, are {{Glass Cannon}}s. Their [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic attacks]] are dangerous, and they're quite nimble, but if they can be hit, then their wings or bodies are easily broken or burned. Even the Elkas, who are fragile themselves, can easily take them in melee in even numbers.

** Zombie nightcryers have a [[MakeMeWannaShout damaging scream]] that makes them quite dangerous, especially to the airborne Elkas, but in melee combat they're fragile and easily downed.

* ChildishPillowFight: Cato's apartment showcases the advancement of commoditised magic, with appliances that wouldn't look too far out of place on Earth.[[note]]Lamps with wall switches, stovetop cooking elements, a fridge-freezer combination, heated running water...[[/note]] When he starts whinging about how far it has to go, though, like how hard the toilet paper is, Landar picks up one of the oversized toilet paper rolls and goes on the offensive. He's quick to take up his own paper sword and defend himself.[[note]]Landar wins, because she can use magic to strengthen the paper.[[/note]]

* NonActionProtagonist: Cato has no combat-relevant skills, not even leadership, and for some reason he physically can't use magic. However, his insights from Earth about engineering and science led to a {{Magitek}} revolution that resulted in the territory of Minmay developing the most dangerous military force in the world. Cato himself, meanwhile, is mostly just running the new university and collaborating with specialists to come up with new ideas.

-> ''I was a scholar on Earth and I cannot use magic unlike Morey. If you want a warrior, I'm not it. And for all of Morey's developing leadership skill, his companions are better fighters than he is. But if you are satisfied with destroying the zombies through sufficient applied fire then I suppose I can be your Hero. ''

* Fantastic Firearms:

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Cato puts a fair bit of time and effort into studying just how the zombies work, but there are plenty of unanswered questions. What is known is that they sense and attack any living human or animal nearby, they can animate nearby dead bodies, and their abilities become stronger in groups -- including [[spoiler: a magical [[DeflectorShields disruption aura]], potent laser beams]], and worst of all, they become more strategic. However, they are dependent on ambient magic, and will go into hibernation if there isn't enough.

** Landar's robot suit may indeed have been "too cool not to get built," but it's so ridiculously power-hungry that even her unusually large magic reserves aren't able to supply it for more than a few minutes -- and that's from pouring in all the magic she could spare for weeks.
** The university successfully launches a hot-air balloon, using magic-imbued steel as the power source for the heat. It's the first man-made flying vehicle in thousands of years, ever since the precursor civilisations (the First and the Tsarians) fell, but even a short test flight consumes a tremendous amount of power, making it infeasible for any longer trips.

* ForcedTransformation: When Cato first sees Landar's workshop, he doesn't dare touch anything in case it turns them all into chickens. It turns out, though, that magic on Firma doesn't do anything like that. Messing around with the laws of kinetics and thermodynamics, yes. Transforming someone into a different species, definitely not.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The university successfully launches a hot-air balloon, using magic-imbued steel as the power source for the heat. It's the first man-made flying vehicle in thousands of years, ever since the precursor civilisations (the First and the Tsarians) fell, but even a short test flight consumes a tremendous amount of power, making it infeasible for any longer trips.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: Magic is everywhere, most prominently in living things, but also in the ground and the air, and can be tapped to produce a variety of useful effects. It can pass through solid objects, too, but with the right barriers, it can be made to behave like a gas.

With the world threatened by zombie hordes, Queen Amarante commands her mages to summon the Hero who will seek out the Legendary Sword and save them all.

Morey is just a [[SummonEverymanHero regular citizen of modern-day Earth]], with no knowledge of combat or magic. Still, he can learn, and he does prove to be creative and clever. If he needs ''guidance'' to manage his role, the queen can certainly arrange that.

But the Summoning went further awry than they realised. Far away from the summoning circle, a materials engineer named Cato suddenly finds himself lost in the backwoods of a strange new world. He has no resources but a ballpoint pen, no friends, and no magic. But he knows the scientific method, and this world is ripe for an industrial revolution -- [[{{Magitek}} with a difference]]. Even if he has to start from scratch.

''[[https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3238329/1/A-Hero-s-War A Hero's War]]'' is a story by [[https://www.fictionpress.com/u/653855/ jseah]], published on [=FictionPress=].

* CultureClash: Inath has different norms from Earth.

* SummonEverymanHero: Not only is the summoned Hero (Morey) an ordinary Earth citizen, but they get a ''second'' ordinary citizen (Cato) as well. However, since Earth is considerably more technologically advanced than Inath, the two newcomers still have [[GivingRadioToTheRomans a lot to share]].

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Bringing technological advancement to Inath definitely comes with growing pains.