History Fanfic / TheMorrigan

* ShipTease: If chapter 47 ends with a bit of HoYay between Lilique and Petra, then chapter 48 dives headfirst into this territory, with Petra blushing when Lilique smiles at and compliments her, and finding herself distracted by the smell of Lilique's perfume when they are standing close together.

[-[[https://twitter.com/griouk/status/1683708752925544449/photo/1 Fanart]] by [[https://www.tumblr.com/theyurihunter/ Yuri Hunter]]. Image used with permission-]]]

* PoorCommunicationKills: Lilique and Renee broke up because Lilique said she couldn't stand seeing Renee be mean to her favourite person. Renee reacted to this with jealousy, whereas Lilique had actually meant to imply that ''Renee'' was her favourite person, and she wanted her to stop her self-deprecation.

* HopeSpot: At the end of chapter 52, [[spoiler:Felsi nearly gets her throat slit when Lilique enters and shocks Renee enough that she lets Felsi go, seemingly leading to a situation where everyone can get out alive... Except Petra had picked up Felsi's gun and fired it at Renee before she could register what had happened]].

* CallForward: In a flashback in the third intermission, Maisie tells Ireesha that she can't die because if she does Maisie will go crazy. Sure enough, Ireesha lives... but Maisie does not, and it has a clear negative impact on Ireesha's mental state.

* ContinuityNod: The Morrigan's internal monologue at the start of chapter 35 calls back to the GUND-Arm promotional video [[spoiler:which was how Sophie first learned about Suletta]].
-->''I am Morrigan.\\

* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: In chapter 51, [[spoiler:Felsi and Renee confront each other in a church at Luna. Because they're in a demilitarized zone and both are high-ranking officers in the Dawn of Fold and CAUL respectively, they can't shoot each other, or risk an incident. So, after a moment of banter, they both dismantle and discard their guns, and go at each other with nothing but their bodies as weapons. Felsi even asks if Renee has a knife, which she denies]].

* RegionalRedecoration: It's mentioned that California no longer exists. The region is now called Arizona Bay.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: Permet from the original anime is of course still a factor in this, and is given a bit of AdaptationalExpansion. In addition to being a fictional mineral that can carry information, the fic also gives a few subtytpes, like "Lonely" permet that actively seeks out connections with other permet clusters, or "Dyadic" permet that only communicates with its counterparts. Permet also has some distcintly less natural properties, like preserving the mind of Ericht Samaya after her death. [[spoiler:Chapter 52 goes in-depth about the true nature of permet; According to Notrette's research and theories, permet is no mere mineral with unusual properties; It is part of a universe-spanning network, akin to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhizal_network Mycorrhizal networks]] created by fungus to share information and nutrients between plants connected to it, except this network spans the universe, what it shares is information rather than nutrients, and it is made up not of mycelium, but of the universe and every living and dead mind that has ever existed, and the mineral is merely small nodes of the network that poke above the "surface". In other words, Permet is actually a manifestation of ''both the afterlife and the universe's nervous system'']].

* DoingInTheScientist: Permet is a bit fantastical already, given that it can preserve the mind of dead witches even after their deaths, but it is at least theoretically reasonable from a scientific viewpoint; A mineral that can preserve and share information, and its more fantastical properties are easily handwaved as weird effects of experimental technology, or hallucinations. Then chapter 52 blows that out the water with [[spoiler:Notrette's theory that permet is not a mineral with weird properties, but physical pieces of a vast network that spans the entire universe and is made of and by every human mind, both living and dead, describing it as a language in which the universe speaks to itself]], which is ''definitely'' not within scientific reasoning.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: Permet from the original anime is of course still a factor in this, and is given a bit of AdaptationalExpansion. In addition to being a fictional mineral that can carry information, the fic also gives a few subtytpes, like "Lonely" permet that actively seeks out connections with other permet clusters, or "Dyadic" permet that only communicates with its counterparts. Permet also has some distcintly less natural properties, like preserving the mind of Ericht Samaya after her death. [[spoiler:Chapter 52 goes in-depth about the true nature of permet; According to Notrette's research and theories, permet is no mere mineral with unusual properties; It is part of a universe-spanning network, akin to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhizal_network Mycorrhizal networks]] created by fungus to share information and nutrients between plants connected to it, except this network spans the universe, what it shares is information rather than nutrients, and it is made up not of mycelium, but of every living and dead mind that has ever existed, and the mineral is merely small nodes of the network that poke above the "surface". In other words, Permet is actually a manifestation of ''both the afterlife and the universe's nervous system'']].

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: In the third intermission, [[spoiler:Ireesha enters the datastorm fully and perceives it as an ocean containing everyone who has ever died, even interacting with the souls of Maisie May and Naji Geor-Hija. While the datastorm ''has'' been known to contain the spirits of dead witches, it's unclear if what Ireesha saw was the actual Hereafter, or simply a hallucination brought on by a combination of the immense pain and her worsening mental state]].

* ShipOfTheseus: Norea notes that the Lfrith-Ur has been so thoroughly rebuilt and modified into the Morrigan that it can hardly be called the same mobile suit, directly referencing the Ship of Theseus.

** Of the two (so far) original Gundams in the fic, rebuilt from canon Gundams, each are named after one of the Three Morrígna, a trio of Celtic war goddesses.

** The main original Gundams in the fic have so far been named after the Morrígna, a triumvirate of war goddesses in Irish mythology. The Morrigan after the goddess of war and fate, and [[spoiler:the Nemain after the goddess of frenzied havoc]]. Their weapon systems have names from Celtic myth and folklore:

** The [[spoiler:Gundam Lugh]] is named after Lugh, hero-god and father of Cú-Chulainn.

* EnsembleCast: ''The Morrigan'' has a huge cast of POV characters. While some are more important to the overarching narrative than others, ultimately it's impossible to point to one single main character. Nika, Morrigan, Suletta, Miorine, Ericht, the Triune, and Norea have arguably the most focus, but Sabina, Chuchu, Felsi, Guel, Shaddiq, Elan, Rajan, Prospera, and even some minor characters like Naji, Olcott, Belmeria, the Children of the Coven, and a few unnamed or barely important characters get their own days in the limelight.

* {{Transhuman}}: A bit of a theme throughout the fic, ranging from enhanced humans like Norea, Sophie, and the Elans, to people who's use of the GUND-system have somehow changed them in other ways, like Sabina and Nika, and {{Brain Uload|ing}}ed witches now inhabiting the bodies of giant mechas, like Ericht, [[spoiler:Sophie, and Elan. There is also the Triune, who's implants turn them into what something like a HiveMind. We eventually learn that ''everyone'' in the setting is some degree of transhuman, as the local AppliedPhlebotinum, Permet, is so omnipresent that everyone spends their life breathing in miniscule particles that are normally harmless but may have strange effects under certain circumstances, such as when using the GUND-format or anything like it]].

* WhamLine: From chapter 31; [[Music/TheEagles "On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair..."]]. Since an earlier flashback showed that Elan #4 was learning "Hotel California", this seemingly confirms [[spoiler:that he exists in the Pharact in the same way as Ericht and Sophie]].

* IllegalReligion: As of the third book, being an Aeriali is considered on par with being an enemy combatant in CAUL-controlled territory. Norea is a bit surprised at this, since Spacian culture tends to act tolerant of things like religion and sexuality while hiding their disdain under a veneer of civility.

* TheNeutralZone: The Langlands Autonomous Fairgrounds Front, a massive amusement park owned by Yushura, has been turned into a sanctuary for refugees from either side of the war by Yushura, who left the CAUL with her company at some point.

* Foreshadowing: Guel mentions offhandedly in book two a list of OldMoney families, including the Rembrans, the Zenellis, and the Zahis, Rajan's family. Come the end of book two and it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Zahis have a history stretching back hundreds of years of assiting and upholding power structures, and Rajan is looking to continue the family business]].

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The CorruptCorporateExecutive in chapter 8 bought a high-end pacemaker that ran on Permet despite it serving no purpose, just because it was more expensive. It allows Ericht to kill him.