History Literature / APracticalGuideToEvil

** Type 4: [[spoiler:Cat as [[SemiDivine First Under the Night]]]], [[ScienceWizard Hierophant]], [[SummonMagic Diabolist]], [[VillainOverride Tyrant]], [[EvilSorceror Warlock]], [[GodSlayer Captain]], [[LadyOfWar Ranger]], [[NatureHero Witch of the Woods]], [[MysteriousProtector Grey Pilgrim]], [[ImplausibleFencingPowers Saint of Swords]], [[TheOlderImmortal Rumena]], [[TheWildHunt Prince of Nightfall]].

* {{Asexuality}}: [[SmugSnake Heiress]] sends minions of both sexes to tempt [[BadassBookworm Masego]] with sex. He doesn't even notice it, [[StraightEdgeEvil causing her to lament his lack of vices]].

* FisherKing: The Grey Pilgrim claims that [[spoiler:with Catherine, a Villain, as the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Black Queen]] of Callow, the people of Callow will be twisted to have their morality more easily align with hers, making them fall on the side of Evil and the Gods Below too]].

* ShadowWalker: One of the more common tricks for drow to use Night is to turn into/ slink into a puddle of darkness and re-emerge later -- for example to dodge an attack. Some drow, like the longstrider-cabal, take this one step further and use the Night for long-distance travel.

*** Indrani as Ranger's apprentice takes this spot over Hakram, due to her nature as a contrast to Catherine, also oftentimes [[StatingTheSimpleSolution stating the simple (but brutal) solution]]. Notably, she also calls out some of Catherine's stupider decisions, and is oftentimes Catherine's choice to lead the second half of the Woe whenever the Woe are split up in a combat situation.

*** While it would be wrong to call Hakram a copy of Captain (as he has heavy shades of Scribe's style in him), there is still a reason most people in-universe mistake him as a copy. His role is identically functional to Captain, leading Catherine's troops, and is often Catherine's choice as a champion where possible. He also maintains the band behind Catherine, forming relationships as necessary with the other members.

''[[https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/summary/ A Practical Guide to Evil]]'' (2015-present) is a YoungAdult ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids Allegedly]]) HeroicFantasy WebSerialNovel written by erraticerrata. The sixth book of the series was completed on January 1st 2021, with the author announcing that he would be starting a seventh in March. A key element of the setting is that many HeroicFantasy tropes are enforced by the universe's laws.

BlackAndWhiteMorality is an objective reality here. Individuals, species and nations can be clearly and [[CardCarryingVillain unapologetically]] Evil and Good. People can gain superhuman powers and a degree of in-universe PlotArmor by embodying certain archetypes, which leads to gaining a Name. The majority of Names have a definitive association with either Good or Evil. A few Names can be claimed by a person from either side. While some Names used in-story are more specific (Bumbling Conjurer, Ashen Priestess, etc.) the majority of Names can be found or derived from the FantasyCharacterClasses page (Black Knight, White Knight, Ranger, Warlock, Thief). Named individuals are both more powerful than normal people (able to kill dozens or hundreds of Nameless {{Mooks}} or RedShirts single-handedly) and more important in terms of fate (i.e. the plot). Fate tends to play out in patterns that can be manipulated by particularly GenreSavvy individuals. Named individuals also each have access to three personalized Aspects, initially undefined powerful moves or abilities that they gain access to at a [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands suitably dramatic or necessary moment]].

!! This Series provides examples of:

* AnnoyingArrows: Well, annoying to a Named at least, unless it [[BoomHeadshot hits somewhere lethal.]] This is more a case of regular soldiers not being able to take down Named under normal circumstances. Named bow wielders such as the Archer, the Silver Huntress, and [[spoiler:the Hawk]] avert this trope. The last is lethal enough to even [[spoiler:deal a deadly enough blow to Catherine that she nearly dies, and is unable to command the rest of the battle, which promptly goes FromBadToWorse, and [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the worst case scenario]] is only stopped by the HeroicSacrifice of multiple major characters]].

** The Woe got their group name after the Fey Queen of Summer said that they were destined for Woe. The group would [[spoiler:survive the battle, and (as unintended pawns of the Winter King) completely destroy the concept of the Summer Court from Arcadia]].

* AssholeVictim: Catherine's first introduction to the world of perpetrating villainy is killing a multiple rapist and his accomplice. No tears were shed for them.

** Goblins seems to have shades of this, with core values wildly differing from humans. Pickler seems to think saying someone is good at stabbing people while they're asleep is a compliment and later notes that by goblin standards Robber is macho.

** She is the only one not on leave when all her superior and equally-ranked officers are [[spoiler:assassinated during the Night of Knives]], leaving her unexpectedly in charge of the soldiers in Laure right as a mob of rioters start to form.

** Catherine has demonstrated a few times that that this trope is not limited specifically sworn to the Good side. Given a villainous enough Hero, the right sort of villain and story can viciously take advantage of this. Two notable examples include [[spoiler:William and his city-warping angel]], and [[spoiler:the Saint of Swords who was breaking an alliance of heroes and villains.]]

* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: The [[HaveIMentionedIAmADwarfToday Kingdom Under]] is expansionist and very possessive of all subterranean territory. In pursuit of this, they are more than willing to wipe out every member of the Drow Tribes. To be fair, the Dwarves' goal is the territory, not actual intent to annihilate them, and the Drow's [[KlingonPromotion tendency towards killing each other]] makes them AssholeVictims, but the sheer disregard for their lives is chilling. [[spoiler:We eventually find out that the drow ''started'' the war in a bid to attempt to reach immortality for their species and were attempting to sacrifice enough dwarves to achieve this.]]

** Particularly noticeable are the field rituals in the Wasteland where convicted criminals are sacrificed and bled to ensure the fertility of the land to grow much needed crops.
** There seems to be an entire branch of sorcery running on (human) sacrifice: blood magic can bring people back from the brink of death or turn quarter-fae to full fae, but not without sacrifice.
* HungryMenace: The [[RatMen Ratlings]] have a unique biology that keeps them overpopulated and always on the brink of starvation. Cannibalism and attempted migrations south to eat anything and anyone in their path are a yearly occurance for the species. Similarly, Praes used to feed the orcs in the Legions of Terror enough meat to keep them from starving, but by such a small margin that they were in a near-constant state of hunger-induced aggression.

** Notably, the villainous side does have to work significantly harder at this. Healing spells are not fire-and-forget like many other examples of it, so a significantly knowledge of biology and biochemistry is necessary. The Heroes, on the other hand, do not have to learn as they can off-load the knowledge to the Gods Above if they use a miracle of Light (miracle being a term for any spell that comes pre-programmed by the gods, the caster only has to channel the Light into his target).

* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Dwarves -- the Kingdom Under -- are the most powerful country on the continent of Calernia. Dwarves themselves are nearly five feet tall, very strong and tough, with leathery skin and owl-like eyes and, of course, beards. InUniverse, they are misliked and feared due to their belief that only dwarves can own property (everyone else merely borrowed it from a dwarf) and them consequently stealing everything that isn't bolted down, as well as them laying claim to every mineral under a certain depth. When someone else takes something that belongs to a dwarf, or mines too deeply, dwarves are not afraid to even sink cities in revenge.

* PersonOfMassDestruction: Warlock. Specifically noted several times in the text as only being deployed on the battlefield if the BlackKnight is willing to write off the entire location as collateral damage. In one of the later flashbacks we get to see exactly what he did to both earn the Name of Warlock and the sobriquet "Sovereign of the Red Skies". [[spoiler:He dropped a small mountain on a Keep containing the holder of the Name Warlock and his former teacher, by thinning the boundaries with Hell and aligning it enough with reality that he was able to summon the mountain with minimal effort.]]

** Special mention goes to the Dead King, who, [[spoiler:back as an alive prince of Sephirah, orchestrated his sucession to the throne, the use of progessively darker sorceries, and the turning of his entire country to undead so flawlessly that the Good side were unable to do anything against it]]. [[spoiler: He has not dulled with age either, still being one of the most deadly villains in the Guideverse, despite having an immortal as his eternal opponent.]]

** Type 5: [[spoiler:[[AGodIAmNot Cat as Queen of the Hunt]]]], [[TheNecrocracy Dead King]], [[PowerBornOfMadness Hierarch]], [[FaerieCourt King of Winter, Queen of Summer]], [[OurElvesAreDifferent Forever King, Sve Noc]] [[spoiler:upon apotheosis]], [[OurTitansAreDifferent Kreios Maker-of-Riddles]], and [[spoiler:[[PowersThatBe the Intercessor]], aka: the Wandering Bard]].

* VillainousFriendship: Black Knight and the Empress are genuine friends and have been since before she was taken into the Imperial seraglio. [[spoiler: This has not prevented them from turning on each other, however.]] Likewise the Calamities are [[TrueCompanions by friendship and trust rather than fear or ambition as might be expected.]] Catherine follows her mentor's lead in this when she gets her own minions.

* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: A reoccurring and often discussed concept is how people in positions of power have to do what is necessary, instead of what is good or in line with their personal desires. Praesi philosophy holds that a ruler and the person holding the position are two seperate entities, and the ruler's needs must always come before the person's.
* WorstAid: Catherine works out a way to use necromancy to control her body when it's too damaged to function properly. It's point out this is a ''very'' bad idea as the magic damages the tissue and can cause necrosis.

'''Kairos''': [[BlatantLies I’ve no idea what you could possibly mean]]
'''Aoede''': First step always works, so always have a first step going.\\

-->“Hahahahaha. Ha. You can’t beat me now, this is the first part of my plan!”

* BadassCape: Catherine's "Mantle of the Woe": not only is it magic-resistant, it is also highly recognisable and intimidating due to the stripes of the banners of her vanquished enemies that Hakram sew to it. This includes [[spoiler:Diabolist's soul]]. It is, at one point, noted to be an artifact in the making.

** Being TheEmpire, the Empire is no slouch in this department either. Of note is a previous Emperor who believed he was a giant spider in human skin. Through some process or another, he was proven right and disappeared into the sewers to spawn a horde of other giant spiders, though the way this is presented makes more a case of Narm.
** Catherine herself is no slouch in the department of horrific self-mutilation, such as using necromancy to move her half-dead limbs. Especially as the [[spoiler:Sovereign of Moonless Nights her body is changable at will, such as turning to mist or regrowing chopped off limbs. After the Battle of the Camps, when she is unconscious, her body shifts wildly 'like a puzzle box', with 'square blocs of flesh erupting from her chest', 'face melt down to the skull and reform', and other such horrors. ]]

** She is the only one not on leave when all her superior and equally-ranked officers are [[spoiler:assassinated during the Night of Knives]], leaving her unexpectedly in charge the soldiers in Laure right as a mob of rioters start to form.

* ChekhovsGun: All over the place bordering on ChekhovsArmory. If something is mentioned and might be remotely at all plot important, expect it to show up again in the future.
* ChildlessDystopia: The Golden Bloom was established by a splinter faction of elves and constructed on land taken by slaughtering any Deoraithe who did not flee. The spirits and trees of the forest remember this atrocity and as a consequence not a single child has been born to the elves since that time.

** Hakram "the Deadhand" is no slouch in the "injury-schminjury" department, either. His nickname isn't just for decoration: when you willingly sustain injury to get what you want, you're hard. When you get necromantic prosthesis just so you can keep slugging? You are definitely determined. TurnedUpToEleven in Book 6, where he [[spoiler:loses an arm and a leg to a demon then an impromptu surgery by Severance, both of which inflict permanent wounds. At the point where most villains and heroes would be content with retirement, he instead asks Masego for more magical prostheses and is trying his damnedest to get back to the field. As of Book 7, he seems to be on the verge of succeeding]].
** Anaxares of Bellerophon, [[spoiler:The Hierarch,]] decides to [[spoiler:declare the Choir of Judgement guilty of murder, while the Choir of Judgement is expressing its ''displeasure'' because a mortal is passing judgement on them. Said displeasure consists of attempting to reduce his body to ash multiple times. The Hierarch does not back down in the face of this, '''Mending''' his body so that he can finish reading out the verdict and sentence them. Three years later, there is no sign of his verdict and sentence expiring due to the sheer resolve Anaxares has, despite being locked into into an everlasting duel of willpower with the Choir of Judgement.]]

* EvilIsOneBigHappyFamily: Averted initially, with the one of initial conflicts being a [[EnemyCivilWar civil war]] between the Praesi traditionalists and the Praesi reformers.

** However, [[spoiler:Catherine notably averts this. When given a chance, she promptly betrays the Tyrant, Dead King, and Malicia to the Grand Alliance, noting that even if they are on same side as her, all three of them would be horrible outcomes for the common person.]] [[spoiler:Then again, after a few initial missteps, Catherine and Sve Noc have a mutually beneficial relationship that borders on heartwarming, death threats and snarking aside.]]

* EvilVersusEvil: Very often, usually along the lines of traditional Evil versus [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatic Evil]]. Because Good wants the destruction of Evil, and the Evil want Villains to destroy on principle, EvilVersusEvil fights are usually much more vicious than BlackAndWhiteMorality or GoodVersusGood fights.

** [[spoiler:Masego]] rips out his own eyeballs after [[spoiler:his transition from Apprentice to Hierophant]]. He implies, however, that the magical prosthetic eyes might be even better than the natural ones.

*** Indrani as Ranger's apprentice takes this spot over Hakram, due to her nature as a contrast to Catherine, also oftentimes [[StatingTheSimpleSolution stating the simple (but brutal) solution]]. Notably, she also calls out some Catherine's stupider decisions, and is oftentimes Catherine's choice to lead the second half of the Woe whenever the Woe are split up in a combat situation.

*** Book 3's ending starts with battle where Heiress, Squire, and Black Knight attempt to outgambit the other side. [[spoiler: The gambit pileup continues to build with Malicia, the Black Knight, and Wandering Bard out-gambitting each other. The Wandering Bard won. [[AmbiguousEnding Probably]].]]

** Two of the Extra Chapters shows that the end of Procer's Civil War was one of these between the Dread Empress of Praes and Cordelia Hasenbach of Procer with the latter coming out on top, narrowly. Also serves to drive home the woman's competence since Malicia is [[MagnificentBastard an incredibly competent plotter]] and generally shown to be two steps ahead of everyone else.

** Book II deals heavily with the Rule of Three, where two foes clash three times, with a win, a draw, and a loss being guaranteed once each. For example, if the loser of the first confrontation draws in the second, they are fated to ultimately triumph in the third. Catherine knows she is fated to lose against the Swordsman but arranges the situation so she will survive her mandated defeat. [[spoiler:She goes on to outplay the Lone Swordsman who no longer has a Creation-mandated win]] Similarly, Heiress purposefully arranged this situation between herself and Catherine so she could have a Creation-guaranteed win when it would be most useful. [[spoiler:She fails because Catherine gives her a useless win, with everything post-win going Catherine's way]]

** The actual Rule of Three in-universe occurs when two Named become nemeses. They are fated to have three battles and cannot die until then, unless there is major interference (which can be quite costly, as the [[spoiler:Exiled Prince finds out]]). Each side is assured a win, a draw, and a loss each. Engineering this pattern and gaming it are the hallmarks of a GenreSavvy character.

** The battle of Liesse is really a struggle between three Named for the future of Callow: The classic villainess Heiress, the classic hero William, and the progressive villain Catherine.

[[folder: L - Z]]
* LoopholeAbuse: Heiress extracts an oath from Catherine that for three days and nights, Catherine will not kill her or spill a single drop of her blood. [[spoiler: So Catherine uses her experience as a pit fighter to break nearly every bone in Heiress' body without breaking the skin.]] [[spoiler:Also notably, this does not cover souls. Though Hieress has precautions for her own soul, her minions do ''not''.]]

* MeaningfulEcho: Book 4 Chapter 33 has a quote form Dread Empress Triumphant.[[note]]May She Never Return[[/note]] About 187 chapters later, [[spoiler:Amadeus of all people]] echoes her.
--> '''Catherine''': And what is it you are?
--> [[spoiler:'''Amadeus''']]: [[spoiler:Not yet content]].

* NoCureForEvil: Villains can use healing spells just fine, but only the side of good (via [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angels]] and the [[GodofGood Gods Above]]) is capable of actually bringing the dead back to life properly. The bad guys have to make do with necromancy. [[spoiler:Unless, of course, you're a villain tricking a resurrection out of an angel.]]
** Notably, the villainous side does have to work significantly harder at this. Healing spells are not fire-and-forget like many other examples of it, so a significantly knowledge of biology and biochemistry is necessary. The Heroes on the other hand, do not have to learn as they can off-load the knowledge to the Gods Above if they use a miracle of Light (miracle being a term for any spell that comes pre-programmed by the gods, the caster only has to channel the Light into his target).

** The Dread Empire was considered this before the story began. Prior to Malicia taking power the general consensus of most of Calernia was that the empire was comically inept, led by tyrants whose elaborate evil plots always backfired spectacularly. Of their seventy-odd attempts to conquer [[TheGoodKingdom Callow]], only one had succeeded (though that once was by Dread Empress Triumphant [[note]]May She Never Return[[/note]], which was terrifying). Now, not only has Malicia taken Callow, she's managed to hold on to it, causing the rest of the continent to see the empire as a legitimate threat for the first time since the days of Dread Empress Triumphant[[note]]May She Never Return[[/note]].
** The [[TheBard Wandering Bard]]. An Ashuran [[HeroAntagonist hero]] who joins The Lone Swordsman's party before the rebellion begins in southern Callow. Ridiculously dressed, constantly throwing back enough alcohol to kill a herd of livestock and a less-than-competent musician and singer, The Bard at first appears to be little more than comic relief. There's certainly more to Almorava of Smyrna than meets the eye. She has the GenreSavvy that is the hallmark of her profession, with an understanding of the workings of fate rivaling even the Black Knight. She has a tendency to appear (literally) whenever anything particularly plot-relevant is going on; no matter how much violence is directed her way she always manages to escape just in time; she seems to know intimate details of events she should be far too young to have witnessed and if nothing else, her liver must be superhuman. [[spoiler: Later revealed to be immortal, an emissary from both the Gods Above and Below whenever they need one, and planning the [[FantasticNuke obliteration]] of at least the western half of the continent for ambiguous goals.]]

* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Dwarves - the Kingdom Under - are the most powerful country on the contintent of Calernia. Dwarves themselves are nearly five feet tall, very strong and tough, with leathery skin and owl-like eyes and, of course, beards. In-universe, they are misliked and feared due to their belief that only dwarves can own property (everyone else merely borrowed it from a dwarf) and them consequently stealing everything that isn't bolted down, as well as them laying claim to every mineral under a certain depth. When someone else takes something that belongs to a dwarf, or mines to deeply, dwarves are not afraid to even sink cities in revenge.

* OurElvesAreDifferent: They take GoodIsNotNice UpToEleven, considering every non-elf or non-hero to be scum, even shooting down birds that get close to their forest They are certainly very powerful though, as single elf can be expected to wipe out a company of soldiers.

* PermaShave: The appearance of Named is influenced by their self-perception (as well as, to a lesser degree, other people's expectations of the Named) - thus, male Named whose self-image does not include a beard (for example Black) won't ever grow facial hair and never have to shave.

* PersonOfMassDestruction: Warlock. Specifically noted several times in the text as only being deployed on the battlefield if the BlackKnight is willing to write off the entire location as collateral damage. In one of the later flashbacks we get to see exactly what he did to both earn the Name of Warlock and the sobriquet "Sovereign of the Red Skies". [[spoiler: He dropped a small mountain on a Keep containing the holder of the Name Warlock and his former teacher by thinning the boundaries with Hell and aligning it enough with reality that he was able to summon the mountain with minimal effort.]]
* PlatonicLifePartners: Catherine and her [[NumberTwo Adjutant]] Hakram have this going. [[spoiler: The scene where Hakram pledges his loyalty to Catherine splits the difference between a feudal pledge of loyalty and a marriage proposal, under starlight no less.]] As in so many things, her mentor did in first in his relationship with the Empress.

** Black leaves Catherine a series of journals that reveal the real reason for [[spoiler:the constant wars between Callow and Praes: Overpopulation. Praes has limited arable land but is wealthy due to its trade in gems and valuable metals. When the Praesi went hungry a war would be launched to either claim land and food or just kill off enough people to balance the supply.]] That this was not sustainable in the long term is a large part of why Black decided to break the system.

** Prior to the reformists taking control goblins were subject to population control by the Tower. Removing this is one of the reasons goblins are happy to join the Legion.

* ProxyWar: The rebellion in Callow is effectively this for Procer. If the rebels win, they are heavily endebted to Procer and Callow effectively becomes a Vassal State. If the rebels lose, Praes has been bloodied and the stage has been set for another Crusade. To be fair, Praes had [[PlayingBothSides perpetuated Procer's civil war]] for decades before this point, so Procer was turning their tactics against them.

* ReflexiveRemarkOfReverence: Inverted, whenever someone mentions Dread Empress Triumphant, every Praesi present presses a knuckle to their forehead and says "may she never return." This is explained as the closest Praesi ever come to prayer.

** Special mention goes to the Dead King, who, [[spoiler: back as an alive prince of Sephirah, orchestrated his sucession to the throne, the use of progessively darker sorceries, and the turning of his entire country to undead so flawlessly that the Good side were unable to do anything against it.]] [[spoiler: He has not dulled with age either, still being one of the most deadly villains in the Guideverse, despite having an immortal as his eternal opponent]].

** Indrani throwing things at Masego’s head

* ShadowWalker: One of the more common tricks for drow to use Night is to turn into/ slink into a puddle of darkness and re-emerge later - for example to dodge an attack. Some drow, like the longstrider-cabal, take this one step further and use the Night for long-distance travel.
* ShamelessFanserviceGirl: Cat grew up in an orphanage, surrounded by dozens of girls her own age, with very little privacy. She's not unaware of cultural nudity taboos, but she finds other people's reactions to her not being clothed more amusing than anything. The only exception is that she won't be naked around someone who is her superior - either the Black Knight, or (when he's her Captain when she first joins the College) Ratface.

** The dwarves, rather than a dwindling remnant, are depicted at the height of their power with an empire that spans the entire continent of Calernia beneath the surface. Instead of accidentally [[DugTooDeep unearthing a long-buried monster]] that destroys their civilization, they routinely harness and tame them to heat forges or use in warfare. All of their traditional negative traits are amplified - they believe that no one but a dwarf can actually own property and so dwarves travelling the surface customarily steal everything that isn't nailed down, with surface dwellers generally too fearful of the power of the Kingdom Under to object. They are also in the habit of destroying entire surface cities when vexed.
** Little is known of the gnomes, however their general BunglingInventor hat has been replaced with an overwhelming technological advantage over all other civilizations. Generally the only time Calernia hears about the gnomes is when they send cryptic threats to any nation dabbling in technology they deem forbidden. Any nation ignoring their first two warnings is eradicated without a trace.

* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Only one person can claim a given Name at any given time, so if multiple people try for the same one, none can succeed until all of the others are somehow knocked out of the running (most commonly by death). That said, the winner does not have to kill the other contenders personally - using a hero to knock off your villainous rivals is a valid tactic.

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: The Sovereign of Moonless Nights [[spoiler:Catherine]] becomes more melodramatic, more prone to monologes, and less rational and humane the more she throws her power around.

* YouCantThwartStageOne: The [[CreepyChild Tyrant]] of [[AncientGrome Helike]]'s strategy relies on this.
--> '''Aoede''': So your grand plan, it’s not really a plan, it’s a juggler’s philosophy.
--> '''Kairos''': [[BlatantLies I’ve no idea what you could possibly mean]]
--> '''Aoede''': First step always works, so always have a first step going

* KneelBeforeZod: As a final trial before facing her, Akua confronts Catherine with the spell Trifold Reflexion: it shows Catherine three different lifes she could have led, and each one - be it as a heroine, a crime-lord or a rebellious general - ends with her being brought before Akua who orders her to kneel. She refuses in all cases.

-->'''Hakram''': Can we... can we actually do that?
--->'''Nauk''' ... Hells, I’d take a potshot at him myself if I thought it would work.

* TheWildHunt: They are a faction of TheFairFolk who like to terrorize mortals for sport, complete with [[HellishHorse hellish]] [[{{Unicorn}} unicorns]] for steeds.

The series follows the exploits of [[YoungAdult 16-year-old]] Catherine Foundling, [[BastardUnderstudy The Squire]]. An orphan born a few years after her homeland, [[TheGoodKingdom The Kingdom of Callow]], was annexed by their perennial foe, [[TheEmpire The Dread Empire of Praes]], following a short and [[CurbStompBattle utterly devastating]] war of conquest, Catherine was raised at the Imperial House for Tragically Orphaned Girls. Though she resents the greed and corruption of the imperial governor of her home city, she is cynical about the prospects of rebellion, instead planning to join the Imperial Legions of Terror in order to improve the system from the inside. However, when she manages to impress the Empress' BlackKnight she is offered a chance to join the ranks of the Named by taking the role of The Squire.

But the BalanceOfGoodAndEvil is reasserting itself. Whereas previously a new hero might have appeared in Callow once every few years, they are now popping up every few months, which is a rate that even the Black Knight's supremely efficient spy network can no longer keep a lid on. Meanwhile the very [[PragmaticVillainy reforms]] that made it possible for the Dread Empire to triumph so completely are stirring unrest among the [[DecadentCourt nobility]] of Praes who seek a return to the StupidEvil ways of the Empire's past. To make matters worse, the powerful neighbouring [[TheFederation Principate of Procer]] has emerged from the long, debilitating civil war that has crippled them for so long - and are seeking revenge for the Empire's role in prolonging that conflict. As all of this threatens to boil over into a continent-wide war, Catherine must navigate her own, and her country's, path through the turmoil.

** Sometimes the IdiotBall and the AdvantageBall are in play at the same time - the best example being the Exiled Prince [[spoiler:trying to get the AdvantageBall by challenging Catherine to a duel... [[IdiotBall while standing within crossbow range]] of the Legion of Terror's line of battle.]]

** Technological advancements are held back by [[HigherTechSpecies the gnomes]] who prevent certain technologies from being researched in the form of a warning by [[AppealToForce Red Letters]], and total annihilation if you hit your third.

* TheAgeless: Evil Named are this, living until they are killed. However, since all Named are soldiers in the endless war between Good and Evil, most of them end up killed in action long before they can take advantage of this. Good Named are notably excluded - because of this, one absurdly powerful Heroic Named is defeated when [[spoiler:Catherine uses an artifact to cause an artificial passage years of life from both herself and the Saint of Swords. The Saint, who was already elderly before the series started, dies as a result, unable to do a single thing to prevent it. On the other hand, Catherine mostly walks it off.]]

* AngelicAbomination: Angels are almost as horrific as demons, and those who meet angels are warped to reflect the angel's nature to an extreme degree. For example, it has been noted those that serve the Choir of Compassion are unable to reconcile with the world's uglier sides because of their nature as an AllLovingHero
* AnnoyingArrows: Well, annoying to a Named at least, unless it [[BoomHeadshot hits somewhere lethal.]] This is more a case of regular soldiers not being able to take down Named under normal circumstances. Named bow wielders such as the Archer, the Silver Huntress, and [[spoiler:the Hawk]] avert this trope. The last is lethal enough to even [[spoiler:deal a deadly enough blow to Catherine that she nearly dies, and is unable to command the rest of the battle, which promptly goes FromBadToWorse, and the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the worst case scenario]] only being stopped the HeroicSacrifice of multiple major characters]].

* ArcWords: "I/We Do Not Kneel" is Black's. "Justification Only Matters To The Just" becomes Catherine's, and become a critical part of her RefusalOfTheCall.

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: William, the Lone Swordsman]] is this.
* BadassArmy: The Legions of Terror [[spoiler: and the Army of Callow that uses the same template]] as a whole. This is mainly because of a comprehensive reform of combat doctrine, professional officers, and the excellent leadersship of Black and Catherine.

* BadassCape: Catherine's "Mantle of the Woe": not only is it magic-resistant, it is also highly recognisable and intimidating due to the stripes of the banners of her vanquished enemies that Hakram sew to it. This includes [[spoiler:Diabolist's soul.]] It is, at one point, noted to be an artifact in the making.

* BadassNormal: an unusual non-action example in [[TheChessmaster Cordelia Hasenbach]], [[BigGood First Prince of Procer]] and [[TheManBehindTheMan the woman behind]] [[HeroAntagonist the man]] in Book 2. Despite not having a [[TheChosenMany Name]], she manages to go plot for plot against [[BigBad Dread]] [[TheEmperor Empress]] [[TheChessmaster Malicia]] just fine.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: In theory, the world operates this way, but from the reader's perspective it often seems more like BlackAndGreyMorality since some of the heroes are [[JerkAss Jerkasses]], many of the villains are AffablyEvil [[PragmaticVillainy Pragmatic]], [[AntiVillain Anti-Villains]] and ultimately both sides are aristocratic societies where the peasantry gets shafted.

--> '''Catherine''': Told you my plan was working.
--> '''William''': You ''planned'' to [[spoiler: become a necromantic abomination?]]

** Being TheEmpire, the Empire is no slouch in this department either. Of note is a previous Emperor who believed he was a giant spider in human skin. Through some process or another, he was proven right and disappeared into the sewers to spawn a horde of other giant spiders, though the way this is presented make more a case of Narm.
** Catherine herself is no slouch in the department of horrific self-mutilation, such as using necromancy to move her half-dead limbs. Especially as the [[spoiler: Sovereign of Moonless Nights her body is changable at will, such as turning to mist or regrowing chopped off limbs. After the Battle of the Camps, when she is unconscious, her body shifts wildly 'like a puzzle box', with 'square blocs of flesh erupting from her chest', 'face melt down to the skull and reform', and other such horrors. ]]
* BoomHeadshot: both [[spoiler: the Exiled Prince]] and [[spoiler: the Bumbling Conjurer]] get brutally killed off this way, just as they seemed poised to seriously threaten the protagonists. In book 5 [[spoiler: The Dead King]] does this to [[spoiler: Archer]].

* BrickJoke: The rebelling faction of the Thieves Guild from Summerholm is mentioned as one possible faction being supported by the Hero in the city, but they do not make an appearance in that book. They show back up, briefly in Book 2, [[spoiler:when the Lone Swordsman yells "Now!" and then Robber pops up and informs everyone present that his line "ran into some shady Thieves’ Guild folks" with bows and "stabbed everything until it stopped moving". Also serves as a hilariously subverted ChekhovsGun.]]

** By Book Five, she has been field-promoted to General due to [[spoiler:violent demise of every other ranking officer in her legion in a surprise raid]]. And ''then'' the [[TheDreaded Black Queen]] shows up with her insane plans and requests, as well as personal attention and tutoring.

** Catherine spares [[spoiler: - as in: keeps her ghost around -[[ArchEnemy Akua]] so that she can use her considerable political and magical skill to serve Callow]], as well as a form of CruelMercy.

* ChekhovsGun: All over the place bordering on ChekhovsArmory. If something is mentioned and might be remotely at all plot important expect it to show up again in the future.

* TheChosenMany: While only one person can be chosen for a given Name at a time, there are a lot accumulation of Names over the years, not all of which are in use at any given moment. As a result, there are a lot of Named out there, and more of them turn up all the time. Black Knight estimates in Book Two that he has been directly or indirectly responsible for the death of at least ''eighty'' Named Heroes, and there are still plenty of them around for his Squire to fight.

** So do most of the upper echelons of any Evil side

** Hakram "the Deadhand" is no slouch in the "injury-schminjury" department, either. His nickname isn't just for decoration: when you willingly sustain injury to get what you want, you're hard. When you get necromantic prosthesis just so you can keep slugging? You are definitely determined. TurnedUpToEleven in Book 6, where he [[spoiler:loses an arm and a leg to a demon then an impromptu surgery by Severance, both which inflict permanent wounds. At the point where most villains and heroes would be content with retirement, he instead asks Masego for more magical prostheses and is trying his damnedest to get back to the field. As of Book 7, he seems to be on the verge of succeeding]].
** Anaxares of Bellerophon, [[spoiler: The Hierarch]] decides to [[spoiler: declare the Choir of Judgement guilty of murder, while the Choir of Judgement is expressing its ''displeasure'' because a mortal is passing judgement on them. Said displeasure consists attempting to reduce his body to ash multiple times. The Hierarch does not back down in the face of this, '''Mending''' his body so that he can finish reading out the verdict and sentence them. Three years later, there is no sign of his verdict and sentence expiring due to the sheer resolve Anaxares has, despite being locked into into everlasting duel of willpower with the Choir of Judgement.]]

** The Court of the Dread Empire in the Black Tower of Ater, City of Nine Gates. The BlackKnight describes it as the most lethal environment short of an actual battlefield. Just for starters, all the food and wine is poisoned - not necessarily fatally, but with something with visibly embarrassing side-effects. Nobles are expected to have a spy network good enough to find out what antidote to dose themselves with ahead of time.
** The [[TheFairFolk Winter Court]] certainly apply.
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: Catherine [[spoiler: pressures an angel into reviving her despite not being a hero. When it refuses, she '''Takes''' her resurrection]].

** Demons are creatures from outside creation, which are not bound by creation's laws, the very presence of which is damaging to creation. Their appearance, and the appearance of the things they make also fits the bill; the Battle of Liesse involved a tower-sized pillar of flesh bleeding bile and pus , with dozens of spindly arms and legs and a head covered entirely in eyes.
** Angels are just as bad

** Twilight [[spoiler: being created from a part of Faerieland, the Eldritchness turns rather more friendly, but it is still wonky in time and paths just like the original. However, the eternal twilight is noted to be a nice atmosphere for traveling.]]
** Rare Heroic examples also make an appearance. The island formed from the corpse of an Angel in Liesse lake is one of them, considering [[spoiler: that the forty-nine hours required for the Hashmallim ritual is nearly on the verge of completion after a single night]]. The Golden Bloom may count as another when it phases [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere out of reality]].
* EqualOpportunityEvil: The Legions of Terror operate this way, there is still some racism between the different Praesi species and ethnic groups and against Callowans but institutionally these attitudes are suppressed and the Fifteenth Legion has officers from all the major human ethnic groups in the Empire (Callowan, Taghreb, Soninke, and Duni) as well as Orcs, Goblins and Ogres. Every other faction, good or evil, is openly bigoted against one group or other.

* EvilerThanThou: Heiress believes she is this to the Praesi Reformists, and despises them for departing from the Empire's former ForTheEvulz ways, which are supposedly superior.

* EvilGloating: Played with but mostly averted. Black, Catherine, and the rest of the protagonists specifically and intentionally avert this, Heiress mostly avoids it but still falls into the trap occasionally. Played completely straight and lampshaded with [[spoiler: the Fey multiple times, who, locked in by story, are required to [[EvilGloating monologue about all their plans]], though they often attempt to mislead or omit crucial information where possible. GenreSavvy opponents of the Fey often avert TalkingIsAFreeAction to [[CaughtMonologuing disrupt whatever plan the Fey is attempting to accomplish]]]].

* EvilPlan: The most well-known Praesi rulers all had devious and grandiose plans which promptly imploded, sometimes without heroes needing to intervene at all. Examples include creating an army of sentient tigers [[labelnote:*]]which promptly ate their controllers and went back to the wilds[[/labelnote]], building flying fortresses [[labelnote:*]]which Callow used for building materials[[/labelnote]], and steal Callow's weather[[labelnote:*]]resulting in a good chunk of Praesi land now being the Wastelands[[/labelnote]].

** Even after claiming a Name there is still competition - such as Catherine as the Squire and her nemesis Heiress figthing over the fate of Callow, as their predecessors Amadeus as the Squire and the Heir fought each other.
** Evil factions fighting among themselves: the [[DecadentCourt court in Ater]] is a cesspool of violence, poison, and treachery, and the Drow take it to eleven: their entire empire has been in a relentless war, one Sigil (clan) of drow against the other, for ''millenia''.

* EvilGloating: Villains have an innate tendency to do this, with some of the more powerful sentient Evil entities physically unable to stop from doing this. A monologue has such a tendency to lead to an underdog winning that [[spoiler:Tyrant giving a brief monologue when his (at the time) allies were in a fight was rightly seen as a betrayal]].

** As part of the ritual to [[spoiler:summon an Angel]], William inserts his angelic sword into a stone altar. Catherine uses this narrative element combined with her claim of [[spoiler:being Callow's rightful heir (not by blood, we don't know who her parents were, instead using the narrative power of being the squire of the man who in essence rules callow to finagle part of a story into the right shape) ]] to [[spoiler:Take the sword and the bully the Angel into granting a villain a resurrection]].

* ExtraDimensionalShortcut: Traveling through Arcadia can reduce your traveling time by weeks... Or increase it by months, as time flows differently there. Powerful mages such as Warlock use it by forcing a fae to create a portal and then traverse through Arcadia with a small team of Named, as it is very dangerous. With [[spoiler:Catherine's ascension to the Sovereign of moonless nights]] and later the creation of [[spoiler:the Twilight Ways]], mass travel through dimensions becomes possible.

** [[spoiler:Masego]] rips out his own eyeballs after [[spoiler: his transition from Apprentice to Hierophant]]. He implies, however, that the magical prosthetic eyes might be even better than the natural ones.

*** Those that lampshade some [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality narrative]] attribute: Hye Su TheLadyOfTheLake, Wandering Bard the [[SpannerInTheWorks Intercessor]], [[spoiler:General]] Abigail the [[MistakenForBadass Fox]], Otto [[UnexpectedSuccessor Redcrown]], Tariq Isibili the [[TheDrifter Peregrine]].

** Type 0: [[BadassBureaucrat Scribe]], [[ManipulativeBastard Wandering Bard]], [[{{Seers}} Augur]], [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask Cordelia Hasenbach]], [[TheEngineer Pickler]], [[TheSocialExpert Aisha]], [[BadassUnintentional Abigail]], [[TheScrounger Ratface]].

** Type 5: [[spoiler:[[AGodIAmNot Cat as Queen of the Hunt]]]], [[TheNecrocracy Dead King]], [[PowerBornOfMadness Hierarch]], [[FaerieCourt King of Winter, Queen of Summer]], [[OurElvesAreDifferent Forever King, Sve Noc]] [[spoiler:upon apotheosis]], [[OurTitansAreDifferent Kreios Maker-of-Riddles]], and [[spoiler:the Intercessor, aka: the Wandering Bard]].

* TheWildHunt: They are a faction of TheFairFolk who like to terrorize mortals for sport, complete with [[HellishHorse hellish]] [[{{Unicorn}} unicorns]] for steeds.

** In general, all demons will be this because most inflict a WoundThatWillNotHeal. For example, Demons of Terror will inflict permenant terror on whatever they wound, meaning you will forever be in terror, even long after the Demon is dead. Demons of Absence tend to ''erase'' whatever they come into contact with, so that you do not even remember what went missing. In Book Four, [[spoiler:14 heroes join the northern push of the Crusade. After an implied fight with a Demon of Absence, there are only 12 heroes, but nobody can remember that there was even ever a Demon or two missing heroes except for some seemingly odd headaches that they tend to forget about quickly]].

** The Dead King at least the last time Ranger paid him a visit.

** Catherine having castrated an ogre in single combat and the increasingly elaborate lies her followers tack on to that. Robber having a jar full of eyeballs comes up now and then, as does the fact that Hakram is an inveterate gossip and something of a ladies' man among the Orcs of the 15th.

* SacredHospitality: the custom of vowing not to harm the people you share your fire with until the next morning (originally from the Taghrebi) has become common among all human ethniticies of Praes.

* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Slavery is the BerserkButton for Orcs, and generally despised outside of the MerchantCity of Mercantis, and a society built around a SlaveMook army, Stygia.
* SmugSnake: Heiress, all the way. The way she constantly schemes against and undermines Catherine while hiding behind her connections had made her arguably the most hated character in the series.

** The Orcs used to fall firmly on the [[ProudWarriorRace warrior]] side, but after Black showed them how ten humans fighting in formation could win against ten orkish champions, they tried their luck with Black and his Reforms, now making up a significant portion of the soldiers in the Legions of Terror.

** Type 5: [[spoiler:[[AGodIAmNot Cat as Queen of the Hunt]]]], [[TheNecrocracy Dead King]], [[PowerBornOfMadness Hierarch]], [[FaerieCourt King of Winter, Queen of Summer]], [[OurElvesAreDifferent Forever King, Sve Noc]] [[spoiler:upon apotheosis]], [[OurTitansAreDifferent Kreios Maker-of-Riddles]].

** Type 0: [[BadassBureaucrat Scribe]], [[ManipulativeBastard Wandering Bard]], [[{{Seer}} Augur]], [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask Cordelia Hasenbach]], [[TheEngineer Pickler]], [[TheSocialExpert Aisha]], [[BadassUnintentional Abigail]], [[TheScrounger Ratface]].

** The Orks used to fall firmly on the [[ProudWarriorRace warrior]] side, but after Black showed them how ten humans fighting in formation could win against ten orkish champions, they tried their luck with Black and his Reforms, now making up a significant portion of the soldiers in the Legions of Terror.

* RedBaron: Apparently quite common for Praesi.
** Warlock is called the ‘Sovereign of the Red Skies’, [[RedSkyTakeWarning for his ultimate trick of aligning various hells with reality]].
** the Black Knight is called the Carrion Lord for the many dead he left in his wake.
** Scribe is called the Webweaver for her continent-spanning network of spies.

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: So feared is one former Dread Empress that if ever her name is mentioned, every Praesi character present immediately prays to the [[ReligionOfEvil Gods Below]] to ensure that she never comes back to Creation. When she died, half her Legions of Terror went down with her, and it is widely held that she may have tried to conquer Hell when they all ended up there. Such is the CrazyAwesome cultural memory of Dread Empress Triumphant[[note]]May She Never Return[[/note]].

* MagnificentBastard: Most stories are lucky to get one these characters and have them pulled off well. This story lives and breathes off this trope as a look inside the making of magnificent bastards. It's practically in the title.

** The Dread Empire was considered this before the story began. Prior to Malicia taking power the general consensus of most of Calernia was that the empire was comically inept, led by tyrants whose elaborate evil plots always backfired spectacularly. Of their seventy-odd attempts to conquer [[TheGoodKingdom Callow]], only one had succeeded (though that once was by Dread Empress Triumphant, which was terrifying). Now, not only has Malicia taken Callow, she's managed to hold on to it, causing the rest of the continent to see the empire as a legitimate threat for the first time since the days of Dread Empress Triumphant[[note]]May She Never Return[[/note]].

* AppropriatedAppellation: The Calamities got their group's name after the Dread Emperor they rebelled against said that they'd bring calamity on any who followed them. The group later [[spoiler:overthrew and violently executed him, before establishing Malacia as the new Empress]].