History Creator / JanuszZajdel

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: [[AvertedTrope Nope, not here]]. Even if a character gets it wrong, he's soon corrected by someone who knows better. Except ''Cylinder van Troffa'' with the time travel and nearly magical photovoltaics.

* AsimovsThreeKindsOfScienceFiction: Zajdel is one of the premier examples of then so-called ''sociological fantasy'', a Polish take on soft/social ScienceFiction. Arguably a Soviet Bloc equivalent of CyberPunk, this genre used sci-fi trappings to discuss realities of life in societies inspired by CommieLand these writers lived in.

* FakeDefector: Eleven in ''Cała prawda o planecie Ksi'' insists in his account he had only been a fake defector, doing the hijackers' bidding to protect his colleagues and get a chance to escape. The colleagues don't believe that and refuse his help when he finally tells them that.

* MoreThanMindControl: One of the short stories has the protagonist firmly under this - he's a soldier defending Earth from an "alien invasion", except when his helmet gets temporarily knocked off his head during battle, he sees he's fighting regular people. And promptly reassures himself the aliens are using hallucinogenic gas, ''everyone knows that''!

A physicist in RealLife, his stories are very scientifically accurate, sometimes to the point of plot points like [[SchizoTech an ancient figurine being covered in californium]] (Zajdel's specialty was [[WriteWhatYouKnow radioactivity and nuclear physics]]) or Coriolis forces revealing something important (more than once). The annual Polish Sci-Fi fandom award has been named for him, after Zajdel was awarded it posthumously (for the novel Paradyzja).

* TheSocialDarwinist: The Split in ''Cylinder van Troffa'' was caused by an attempt to keep down overpopulation by releasing into the drinking water a chemical agent that would turn people infertile, then only giving the antidote to those "genetically most worthy". But it turned out some people, mostly those with a set of traits completely opposite to the "most worthy" were immune. So the top brass released ''another'' chemical agent that stopped female babies from developing, after they packed their bags and went to Moon colonies to wait the Earthlings out. Hence, two hundred years later, Earth is a FuturePrimitive ChildlessDystopia where disaffected males roam aimlessly and break stuff, while the Moon quickly degenerated into a PoliceState with tight PopulationControl in which "retirement" means getting ReleasedToElsewhere for being old. Fast forward two hundred years and humans are extinct. Filians, the people descended from [[HumanAliens a pre-Split space colony]] are doing some archeaology in the ruins.

* CloningBlues: The "Sandras" ([[spoiler: clones of the protagonist's LoveInterest]]) in ''Cylinder van Troffa'' avert this - most of them just act like {{Dumb Blonde}}s. The one the protagonist befriended may be an exception, but equally well he might be projecting his wishful thinking onto her.

** "Filia" ("daughter") in ''Cylinder van Troffa''.
** "Ksi" (like X, just in Greek) isn't the real designation of planet Ksi, but Sloth likes it for the mysteriousness and we never learn the real one.
** "[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Tartar]]" in ''Paradyzja'', apparently named before "discovering" it's pretty much uninhabitable because of the natural disasters, but incredibly rich in resources.

* FasterThanLightTravel: Usually [[AvertedTrope averted]] - unless the story is explicitly comedic, most of your space journey will be spent in a [[HumanPopsicle hibernation chamber]]. Nothing beyong the orbit of Mars is [[ConvenientlyClosePlanet nearly close enough]] for a weekend trip.

* NoNameGiven: ''Cylinder van Troffa'' has a FramingDevice of future archaeologists finding and translating the protagonist's diary, found in the ruins. Since he hasn't written his name down, they (and we) never learn it. One of the archaeologists names him "the Immortal". [[spoiler: This is {{Foreshadowing}} - there should have been some records of his mission, but he figured out how to go back in time and erased them.]]

* PowersThatBe: The actual top brass behind the dystopiae is never seen, nor their motives revealed, to either the characters or the readers.

* WrittenByTheWinners: ''Paradyzja'' explores the concept even further: the government doesn't stop at history, it falsifies [[spoiler:physics]].

** Played with and ultimately deconstructed in ''Limes Inferior''. Society is organised by glorified IQ scores, and there is a random demand for re-check, with people assigned their social class based on them. It's nowhere near as efficient or fair as intended, and since only the cream of society has meaningful employment and access to luxuries, while lower tiers are deemed too dumb for manning any post and thus don't have to work, ''everyone'' is trying to abuse it one way or another. In fact, the main character makes a living as a "lifter" by helping people pass higher qualification tests, while he himself needs the services of a "downer" to convincinlgy pass himself as a useless idiot. [[spoiler: In reality, ''all'' classes of the society are intended to be manned by harmless idiots, [[BreadAndCircuses just placated differenty]], and it's all part of not-so-BenevolentAlienInvasion]].

** Played with and ultimately deconstructed in ''Limes Inferior''. Society is organised by glorified IQ scores, with people assigned their social class based on them. It's nowhere near as efficient or fair as intended, and since only the cream of society has meaningful employment and access to luxuries, while lower tiers are deemed too dumb for manning any post and thus don't have to work, ''everyone'' is trying to abuse it one way or another. In fact, the main character makes a living as a "lifter" by helping people pass higher qualification tests, while he himself needs the services of a "downer" to convincinlgy pass himself as a useless idiot. [[spoiler: In reallity, ''all'' classes of the society are intende to be manned by harmless idiots, just placated differenty, and it's all part of not-so-BenevolentAlienInvasion]].

* SociallyScoredSociety: In ''Paradyzja'', citizens get a fractional score. If your score falls too much below one, you're temporarily reassigned to the mines on the planet of [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Tartar]], which Paradyzja is orbiting around. If your score exceeds one, you get an extra portion of food from time to time and other small perks.

** And ''Paradyzja'' features a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System point system]] for assessing the citizens' "worth". If your score falls too low, you're temporarily reassigned to the mines on the planet of [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Tartar]], which Paradyzja is orbiting around.

* FantasticCasteSystem: DownplayedTrope in ''Limes Inferior'', where the castes are assigned according to the results of intelligence testing. There's (officially) seven of them, from 6 (lowest) to 0 (brainy). The protagonist, Sneer, makes his living by cheating the system, since a lot of people want perks that come from being a class or two higher than their actual level.

* DeliberateUnderPerformance: Sneer, the protagonist of ''Limes Inferior'', deliberately pretends to be Class 4 citizen, purposefully failing his evaluation tests to be qualified as a menial worker with sub-average, but not outright moronic intelligence. This is also part of his job as a "lifter" - he easily passed the "Class 0" test for his clients, ''twice'', but his line of work requires from him to be seen as a harmless idiot by the system.

* FantasticCasteSystem: DownplayedTrope in ''Limes Inferior'', where the castes are assigned according to the results of intelligence testing. There's (officially) seven of them, from 6 (lowest) to 0 (brainy). The protagonist, Sneer, makes his living by cheating the system, since a lot of people want perks that come from being a class or two lower than their actual level.