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* BureaucraticallyArrangedMarriage: It's implied that this is how pairings are done on Atlas, although it's possible it's only an option if one doesn't want (or doesn't have time) to look for a match him/herself.
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* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Troy's little sister constantly whines about her brother and life in general, mostly focusing on how things affect her personally rather than the family. After Troy's conviction, her main concern is not that her brother is going to an orbital jail for life, but how this might affect her future marriage prospects. It's then pointed out that her being a shrew is likely to have a bigger effect than Troy's conviction.
* BureaucraticallyArrangedMarriage: It's implied that this is how pairings are done on Atlas, although it's possible it's only an option if one doesn't want (or doesn't have time) to look for a match him/herself. It's also possible that it's also a more institutionalized version of RealLife online matchmaking services.
* CoolBigSis: Troy's older sister lover her little brother and constantly defends him from their parents and their [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling annoying youngest sibling]]. She wants Troy to escape this life of backbreaking labor in the mines to become something better and has always encouraged his love for painting, much to the chagrin of everyone else, who believe that painting is a waste of money.
* BureaucraticallyArrangedMarriage: It's implied that this is how pairings are done on Atlas, although it's possible it's only an option if one doesn't want (or doesn't have time) to look for a match him/herself. It's also possible that it's also a more institutionalized version of RealLife online matchmaking services.
* CoolBigSis: Troy's older sister lover her little brother and constantly defends him from their parents and their [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling annoying youngest sibling]]. She wants Troy to escape this life of backbreaking labor in the mines to become something better and has always encouraged his love for painting, much to the chagrin of everyone else, who believe that painting is a waste of money.
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* HumanPopsicle: All starships are equipped with cryotubes to allow people to spend most of the journey (50 years) asleep. [[spoiler:Dokken keeps one of them in a secret location, using it periodically to "skip forward" to see his plans unfold without taking TheSlowPath. He also feels tired, if he waits too long before entering the tube, as it appears to be "recharging" him. This is also what has allowed him to survive for over two centuries and has given him a broad perspective on life in the colony]].
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* OrbitalBombardment: The ''[=SkySword=]'', a warship sent by Earth's totalitarian government to take control over Atlas, had missing tubes for bombarding colony from orbit, should the colonists prove to be uncooperative. After being scuttled and turned into the Truthsayer Guild temple, the tubes have been converted into troughs to water plants, while the missiles were destroyed. [[spoiler:The leader of the Platform turns out to have kept a few of the missiles and uses them at the end to destroy Dokken's estate from orbit. Unfortunately for him, he warns Dokken before the missiles hit, allowing the BigBad to enact his own plan and destroy the Platform with the rigged SpaceElevator]].
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* {{Terraforming}}: A long and painstaking process, necessitated by the planet being at an early stage of organic development, with most of the soil being entirely infertile. At least the air is breathable, and the local microorganisms are too different from terrestrial lifeforms to affect them with the bacterium that is used to produce Veritas being a notable exception. After over two hundred years since the landing, the colony is still struggling and will continue to struggle for many more. Luckily, the next ship with settlers from Earth claims to be bringing new machinery to aid in setting the planet. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:the Platform is destroyed at the end of the novel, losing all the terrestrial seeds and embryos stored up there, also losing zero-g manufacturing capability and Veritas production]].
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* {{Infodump}}: The author tries to weave these into the story, where appropriate, such as when Troy is receiving instructions on how Veritas is produced and how it affects the human nervous system.
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* SettingTheFrontier: Despite the expectations of the original colonists, Atlas turned out to be a primordial world in the early stages of evolution. While the air is breathable, life is still relatively new, to the point where most of the soil is infertile. This also means that fossil fuels have not had time to form, although methane has been found and is used to power vehicles. Fertile land has to be artificially fertilized, in order to allow terrestrial plants to survive there. More and more land is reclaimed every year, but it's still a tiny portion of the planet's surface. The various landholders try to introduce new plant and animal species from the embryos aboard the Platform, but they have to make sure that the appropriate ecological niche is available for them (e.g. a food chain). It's not stated if any other extrasolar colonies exist, although it's heavily implied that Atlas is the only one.
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* SettingTheFrontier: SettlingTheFrontier: Despite the expectations of the original colonists, Atlas turned out to be a primordial world in the early stages of evolution. While the air is breathable, life is still relatively new, to the point where most of the soil is infertile. This also means that fossil fuels have not had time to form, although methane has been found and is used to power vehicles. Fertile land has to be artificially fertilized, in order to allow terrestrial plants to survive there. More and more land is reclaimed every year, but it's still a tiny portion of the planet's surface. The various landholders try to introduce new plant and animal species from the embryos aboard the Platform, but they have to make sure that the appropriate ecological niche is available for them (e.g. a food chain). It's not stated if any other extrasolar colonies exist, although it's heavily implied that Atlas is the only one.
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* KnightTemplar: Eli Strone is a former elite guard, who deifies the Truthsayers. After leaving the service, he becomes convinced that he can read people himself and see their sins. He then proceeds to commit mass murders of those he believes to be sinners (most people). After getting caught and brought before a Truthsayer, he is eager to show her that all he did was in the pursuit of justice. He is astonished when she declares him guilty and loses all faith in the Truthsayers, becoming convinced that they are corrupt.
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** There are two other small stations, [=OrbLab=] 1 and [=OrbLab=] 2, where Veritas is manufactured for the Truthsayers. [=OrbLab=] 1 has been abandoned since the outbreak of the deadly Mindfire plague (one of the results of Veritas manufacture), and no one has bothered to try to clear out the infection and get rid of the bodies. Instead, the second station was built with better safeguards. If a Mindfire mutation is triggered in a particular section, it's immediately sealed off and vented into space, including anyone who is in it at the time. For that reason, most of the people working at [=OrbLab=] 2 are convicts with life sentences. The only way to and from [=OrbLab=] 2 is via ballistic pods that are launched from and to the Platform (the pods themselves have no means of adjusting their trajectory, which can result in them missing and burning up in the atmosphere).
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The novel takes place on a planet called Atlas, which has been settled by humans roughly two centuries prior. It's not a very habitable planet with infertile soil and virtually no native lifeforms (meaning all they have to work with is what they brought with them from Earth). Every inch has to be painstakingly reclaimed from the planet. With Earth being roughly 50 years of travel away, the people of Atlas are on their own, although three ships have arrived since the original landing and a fourth one is on the way. Colony life is centered in First Landing, the original arrival site and the location of the SpaceElevator to the orbital platform, as well as the hub of the maglev network. The rest of the colony is split into a number of landholdings, [[FeudalFuture ruled over by hereditary families]], all of them connected to First Landing via maglev lines. A unique local form of bacterium has been used to cultivate a drug known as [[MeaningfulName Veritas]]. When ingested, it temporarily allows a person to read other people's minds. The drug is restricted to a special caste of genetically-engineered people called [[LivingLieDetector Truthsayers]], who are trained from birth to use Veritas in a responsible manner to give instant and final judgment on a suspect's guilt or innocence. The Truthsayer Guild is the pillar of Atlas community, the belief in the infallibility of Truthsayers keeping the colony from descending into anarchy. But what if one of them made a mistake?..
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The novel takes place on a planet called Atlas, which has been settled by humans roughly two centuries prior. It's not a very habitable planet with infertile soil and virtually no native lifeforms (meaning all they have to work with is what they brought with them from Earth). Every inch has to be painstakingly reclaimed from the planet. With Earth being roughly 50 years of travel away, the people of Atlas are on their own, although three four ships have arrived since the original landing and a fourth fifth one is on the way. Colony life is centered in First Landing, the original arrival site and the location of the SpaceElevator to the orbital platform, as well as the hub of the maglev network. The rest of the colony is split into a number of landholdings, [[FeudalFuture ruled over by hereditary families]], all of them connected to First Landing via maglev lines. A unique local form of bacterium has been used to cultivate a drug known as [[MeaningfulName Veritas]]. When ingested, it temporarily allows a person to read other people's minds. The drug is restricted to a special caste of genetically-engineered people called [[LivingLieDetector Truthsayers]], who are trained from birth to use Veritas in a responsible manner to give instant and final judgment on a suspect's guilt or innocence. The Truthsayer Guild is the pillar of Atlas community, the belief in the infallibility of Truthsayers keeping the colony from descending into anarchy. But what if one of them made a mistake?..
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* FeudalFuture: The Atlas colony is divided into several territories ruled by landholders, usually descended from the officers of the original colony ship. Most people don't live in very nice conditions, while the landholders live in palaces. All territories are connected via a hub where the Truthsayer temple is located along with the SpaceElevator.
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* TheDragon: Maximilian is Franz Dokken's loyal manservant. He handles much of Dokken's business, while Dokken is on one of his "sojourns". With a Veritas pill, Dokken was able to confirm that Maximilian is absolutely loyal to him and him alone, having zero ambition of his own. [[spoiler:After accidentally turning Maximilian into a vegetable with a MindRape, Tharion gives Dokken a new manservant, he gives him another, not telling Dokken that the man is a convicted mass murderer named Eli Strone, hoping that Strone sees the wickedness inside Dokken and kill him]].
* EarthThatUsedToBeBetter: While not much is known about Earth, the colonists are aware that the political conditions on the homeworld have been steadily getting more repressive over the past several centuries, to the point where the Earth government saw fit to send a warship to bring Atlas under a military rule about a century ago. The Pilgrims, who have arrived after that, claim that a calamity of some sort has struck Earth but don't go into any details. The fifth ship that is on the way implies that things have gotten better.
* FeudalFuture: The Atlas colony is divided intoseveral twenty territories ruled by landholders, usually descended from the highest-ranking officers of the original colony ship. Most people don't live in very nice conditions, while the landholders live in palaces. All territories are connected via a hub at First Landing, where the Truthsayer temple is located along with the SpaceElevator.SpaceElevator.
* FightingForAHomeland: The Pilgrims, who have come on the fourth ship since the arrival, want a land of their own, but the landholders are resistant to parting with such hard workers.
* EarthThatUsedToBeBetter: While not much is known about Earth, the colonists are aware that the political conditions on the homeworld have been steadily getting more repressive over the past several centuries, to the point where the Earth government saw fit to send a warship to bring Atlas under a military rule about a century ago. The Pilgrims, who have arrived after that, claim that a calamity of some sort has struck Earth but don't go into any details. The fifth ship that is on the way implies that things have gotten better.
* FeudalFuture: The Atlas colony is divided into
* FightingForAHomeland: The Pilgrims, who have come on the fourth ship since the arrival, want a land of their own, but the landholders are resistant to parting with such hard workers.
* SettingTheFrontier: Despite the expectations of the original colonists, Atlas turned out to be a primordial world in the early stages of evolution. While the air is breathable, life is still relatively new, to the point where most of the soil is infertile. This also means that fossil fuels have not had time to form, although methane has been found and is used to power vehicles. Fertile land has to be artificially fertilized, in order to allow terrestrial plants to survive there. More and more land is reclaimed every year, but it's still a tiny portion of the planet's surface. The various landholders try to introduce new plant and animal species from the embryos aboard the Platform, but they have to make sure that the appropriate ecological niche is available for them (e.g. a food chain). It's not stated if any other extrasolar colonies exist, although it's heavily implied that Atlas is the only one.
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* SpaceStation: The Platform is a space station built even before the original colonists made it to the surface of Atlas. It is located in geosynchronous orbit right above First Landing, connected via a SpaceElevator. The colony has no other means of going to or from the Platform.
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* SpaceStation: The Platform is a space station built even before the original colonists made it to the surface of Atlas.Atlas out of a portion of the original colony ship. It is located in geosynchronous orbit right above First Landing, connected via a SpaceElevator. The colony has no other means of going to or from the Platform.
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* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: Justified, as much of the machinery broke down before the infrastructure to maintain it was established. As a result, most of the work on Atlas is done by people.
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* BureaucraticallyArrangedMarriage: It's implied that this is how pairings are done on Atlas, although it's possible it's only an option if one doesn't want (or doesn't have time) to look for a match him/herself.
* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: The Truthsayers wear white robes (blue for Guild Master Tharion) and spend their days training their mental abilities, not worrying about things like food, which are provided to them. They live in a temple with hydroponic gardens. Averted for everyone else, though. Most people live in squalor and resign themselves to backbreaking labor just to survive.
* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: The Truthsayers wear white robes (blue for Guild Master Tharion) and spend their days training their mental abilities, not worrying about things like food, which are provided to them. They live in a temple with hydroponic gardens. Averted for everyone else, though. Most people live in squalor and resign themselves to backbreaking labor just to survive.
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* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: The Truthsayers wear white robes (blue for Guild Master Tharion) and spend their days training their mental abilities, not worrying about things like food, which are provided to them. They live in a temple with hydroponic gardens. Averted for everyone else, though. Most people live in squalor and resign themselves to backbreaking labor just to survive.
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* FeudalFuture: The Atlas colony is divided into several territories ruled by local lords, usually descended from the officers of the original colony ship. Most people don't live in very nice conditions, while the lords live in palaces. All territories are connected via a hub where the Truthsayer temple is located along with the SpaceElevator.
* LivingLieDetector: The Truthsayers.
* LivingLieDetector: The Truthsayers.
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** Earlier, he punishes a young couple for trying to do the same thing with three months of hard labor.
* FeudalFuture: The Atlas colony is divided into several territories ruled bylocal lords, landholders, usually descended from the officers of the original colony ship. Most people don't live in very nice conditions, while the lords landholders live in palaces. All territories are connected via a hub where the Truthsayer temple is located along with the SpaceElevator.
* LivingLieDetector: The Truthsayers. Most criminals who are caught tend to confess for a lighter sentence in order to avoid wasting a Truthsayer's time.
* MagnificentBastard: [[spoiler:Landholder Franz Dokken has a plan to destabilize the colony by weakening the other landholders and the Truthsayer Guild before picking up the pieces and establishing himself as the undisputed ruler of the planet. He plans to do it all by the time the next colony ship arrives in about 5 years. A big part of his plan is sponsoring illegal Veritas trade in other landholdings, while mercilessly crushing it in his own (he doesn't want anyone accidentally reading his mind). Another part involves spreading clones of himself throughout the colony in order to later use them to facilitate the takeover]].
* MassiveNumberedSiblings: It's implied that this trope is not uncommon on Atlas. In fact, after only three weeks in First Landing, Troy is told by his mother that he quickly needs to find himself a wife and start cranking out kids, just like everyone else.
* FeudalFuture: The Atlas colony is divided into several territories ruled by
* LivingLieDetector: The Truthsayers. Most criminals who are caught tend to confess for a lighter sentence in order to avoid wasting a Truthsayer's time.
* MagnificentBastard: [[spoiler:Landholder Franz Dokken has a plan to destabilize the colony by weakening the other landholders and the Truthsayer Guild before picking up the pieces and establishing himself as the undisputed ruler of the planet. He plans to do it all by the time the next colony ship arrives in about 5 years. A big part of his plan is sponsoring illegal Veritas trade in other landholdings, while mercilessly crushing it in his own (he doesn't want anyone accidentally reading his mind). Another part involves spreading clones of himself throughout the colony in order to later use them to facilitate the takeover]].
* MassiveNumberedSiblings: It's implied that this trope is not uncommon on Atlas. In fact, after only three weeks in First Landing, Troy is told by his mother that he quickly needs to find himself a wife and start cranking out kids, just like everyone else.
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* MistakenConfession: A mental version. Troy's feelings of guilt over breaking into the office after hours in order to file a late report is interpreted by Kalliana as admission to the murder of Troy's boss. Normally, Truthsayers are trained to distinguish the different thoughts and feelings, but Kalliana has recently been traumatized by the mind of a crazed killer and [[spoiler:the supply of Veritas used by the Truthsayers has been diluted]].
* MyGrandsonMyself: Done by the villain, who uses a cryopod to become a HumanPopsicle for a few years before re-emerging to see how things are progressing.
* MyGrandsonMyself: Done by the villain, who uses a cryopod to become a HumanPopsicle for a few years before re-emerging to see how things are progressing.
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** Landholder Franz Dokken is known to dispense justice on his own in his own holding, using his friendship with Guild Master Tharion to justify it, much to Tharion's chagrin.
* MistakenConfession: A mental version. Troy's feelings of guilt over breaking into the office after hours in order tofile adjust a late report is interpreted by Kalliana as admission to the murder of Troy's boss.a Veritas smuggler. Normally, Truthsayers are trained to distinguish the different thoughts and feelings, but Kalliana has recently been traumatized by the mind of a crazed killer and [[spoiler:the supply of Veritas used by the Truthsayers has been diluted]].
* MyGrandsonMyself: Done by the villain, who uses a cryopod to become a HumanPopsicle for a fewyears weeks before re-emerging to see how things are progressing.
* MistakenConfession: A mental version. Troy's feelings of guilt over breaking into the office after hours in order to
* MyGrandsonMyself: Done by the villain, who uses a cryopod to become a HumanPopsicle for a few
* PrisonShip: The first ship to arrive to Atlas after the original colony ship was full of prisoners exiled from Earth. They assimilated into the Atlas society fairly well, and many people can trace their ancestry to a prisoner or two.
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* {{Telepathy}}: The Truthsayers use the Veritas drug, which temporarily increases their brains' receptive abilities, allowing them to detect another brain's EM impulses (i.e. read thoughts).
* TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: This almost happened to the Atlas colony. A regime change on Earth resulted in the new government sending a warship to take control of the remove colony. After two decades of traveling, during which the captain of the warship successfully convinced the colonists that they were merely another colony ship, the ship arrives in orbit. One of the delegates sent from Atlas just happened to be the first guy to experiment with Veritas. He shakes the captain's hand and instantly realizes the truth. During the tour of the ship, he gets on the bridge and uses the command codes he learned from the captain to set all missiles to explode in their tubes, if the soldiers don't surrender. The soldiers are forced to join the colonists, while the ship is brought down and turned into the temple for the new Truthsayer caste (the missile tubes are used to water plants).
* TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: This almost happened to the Atlas colony. A regime change on Earth resulted in the new government sending a warship to take control of the remove colony. After two decades of traveling, during which the captain of the warship successfully convinced the colonists that they were merely another colony ship, the ship arrives in orbit. One of the delegates sent from Atlas just happened to be the first guy to experiment with Veritas. He shakes the captain's hand and instantly realizes the truth. During the tour of the ship, he gets on the bridge and uses the command codes he learned from the captain to set all missiles to explode in their tubes, if the soldiers don't surrender. The soldiers are forced to join the colonists, while the ship is brought down and turned into the temple for the new Truthsayer caste (the missile tubes are used to water plants).
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* SpaceStation: The Platform is a space station built even before the original colonists made it to the surface of Atlas. It is located in geosynchronous orbit right above First Landing, connected via a SpaceElevator. The colony has no other means of going to or from the Platform.
* {{Telepathy}}: The Truthsayers use the Veritas drug, which temporarily increases their brains' receptive abilities, allowing them to detect another brain's EM impulses (i.e. readthoughts).
thoughts). Touching is not necessary required, but it helps to clear up the thoughts.
* TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: This almost happened to the Atlas colony. A regime change on Earth resulted in the new government sending a warship to take control of the remove colony. Aftertwo several decades of traveling, during which the captain of the warship successfully convinced the colonists that they were merely another colony ship, the ship arrives in orbit. One of the delegates sent from Atlas just happened to be the first guy to experiment with Veritas. He shakes the captain's hand and instantly realizes the truth. During the tour of the ship, he gets on the bridge and uses the command codes he learned from the captain to set all missiles to explode in their tubes, if the soldiers don't surrender. The soldiers are forced to join the colonists, while the ship is brought down and turned into the temple for the new Truthsayer caste (the missile tubes are used to water plants).
* {{Telepathy}}: The Truthsayers use the Veritas drug, which temporarily increases their brains' receptive abilities, allowing them to detect another brain's EM impulses (i.e. read
* TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: This almost happened to the Atlas colony. A regime change on Earth resulted in the new government sending a warship to take control of the remove colony. After
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The novel takes place on a planet called Atlas, which has been settled by humans roughly two centuries prior. It's not a very habitable planet with infertile soil and virtually no native lifeforms (meaning all they have to work with is what they brought with them from Earth). Every inch has to be painstakingly reclaimed from the planet. With Earth being roughly 50 years of travel away, the people of Atlas are on their own, although three ships have arrived since the original landing and a fourth one is on the way. Colony life is centered in First Landing, the original arrival site and the location of the SpaceElevator to the orbital platform, as well as the hub of the maglev network. The rest of the colony is split into a number of landholdings, [[FeudalFuture ruled over by hereditary families]], all of them connected to First Landing via maglev lines. A unique local form of bacterium has been used to cultivate a drug known as [[MeaningfulName Veritas]]. When ingested, it temporarily allows a person to read other people's minds. The drug is restricted to a special caste of genetically-engineered people called [[LivingLieDetector Truthsayers]], who are trained from birth to use Veritas in a responsible manner to give instant and final judgment on a suspect's guilt or innocence. The Truthsayer Guild is the pillar of Atlas community, the belief in the infallibility of Truthsayers keeping the colony from descending into anarchy. But what if one of them made a mistake?..
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* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: The Truthsayers wear white robes and spend their days training their mental abilities, not worrying about things like food, which are provided to them. They live in a temple with hydroponic gardens. Averted for everyone else, though. Most people live in squalor.
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** Additionally, years of Veritas use render Truthsayers sterile, so they can't have any children of their own.
* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: The Truthsayers wear white robes (blue for Guild Master Tharion) and spend their days training their mental abilities, not worrying about things like food, which are provided to them. They live in a temple with hydroponic gardens. Averted for everyone else, though. Most people live insqualor.squalor and resign themselves to backbreaking labor just to survive.
* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: The Truthsayers wear white robes (blue for Guild Master Tharion) and spend their days training their mental abilities, not worrying about things like food, which are provided to them. They live in a temple with hydroponic gardens. Averted for everyone else, though. Most people live in
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** Mindfire is a deadly mutation of Veritas that literally fries a person's brain. Unlike Veritas, Mindfire is airborne.
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** Mindfire is a deadly mutation of Veritas that literally fries a person's brain. Unlike Veritas, Mindfire is airborne.airborne.
* AMindIsATerribleThingToRead: Truthsayers spend their lives training to accurately read minds in order to determine guilt or innocence. A young Truthsayer named Kalliana is told to read the mind of a murdering sociopath. What she sees in his mind is so disturbing (he's convinced he's carrying out justice), that it affects her in ways she can't imagine. This is in part responsible for her misreading Troy's mind and delivering the verdict "Guilty", even though he is innocent.
* AMindIsATerribleThingToRead: Truthsayers spend their lives training to accurately read minds in order to determine guilt or innocence. A young Truthsayer named Kalliana is told to read the mind of a murdering sociopath. What she sees in his mind is so disturbing (he's convinced he's carrying out justice), that it affects her in ways she can't imagine. This is in part responsible for her misreading Troy's mind and delivering the verdict "Guilty", even though he is innocent.
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''Blindfold'' is a science fiction novel by Creator/KevinJAnderson. Anderson sent the novel to BrianHerbert as a sample of his work in order to let him collaborate on the post-FrankHerbert ''{{Dune}}'' novels.
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''Blindfold'' is a science fiction novel by Creator/KevinJAnderson. Anderson sent the novel to BrianHerbert as a sample of his work in order to let him collaborate on the post-FrankHerbert ''{{Dune}}'' ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' novels.
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* OhCrap: As the leader of the Truthsayers is scanning the BigBad's mind, discovering all his plots, he finds out that [[spoiler:not only is he the BigBad's clone but that the Veritas capsule he took is laced with Mindfire. He dies a few seconds later]].
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* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: The Truthsayers wear white robes and spend their days training their mental abilities, not worrying about things like food, which are provided to them. They live in a temple with hydroponic gardens. Averted for everyone else, though. Most people live in squalor.
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* FeudalFuture: The Atlas colony is divided into several territories ruled by local lords, usually descended from the officers of the original colony ship. Most people don't live in very nice conditions, while the lords live in palaces. All territories are connected via a hub where the Truthsayer temple is located along with the SpaceElevator.
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* PenalColony: Criminals sentenced to life without parole are sent to a small orbital lab that grows the Veritas drug. The job is extremely dangerous, due to a small but ever-present chance of mutation into the deadly (and airborne) Mindfire variety, which kills almost instantly. If a mutation is detected, the compartment is automatically vented into space, along with any prisoner working there.
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** It should be noted that only capital crimes are brought before the Truthsayers. Smaller offenses are handled by local Magistrates, some of whom are washed-out Truthsayers.
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* DirtyMindReading: The BigBad has sex with his mistress and takes a dose of Veritas in order to read her thoughts during the experience. To his surprise (and anger), he sees that she's fantasizing about having sex with his cook and, in a fit of rage, chokes her to death.
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* MeaningfulName: The drug Veritas, used to make Living Lie Detectors.
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* MeaningfulName: The drug Veritas, Veritas (Latin for "truth"), used to make Living Lie Detectors.
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* SpaceElevator: The elevator to the space station is located at the center of the colony. It is the only means the colonists have of going to the station and from it. [[spoiler:The BigBad blows it, and the station, up at the end]].
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* MistakenConfession: A mental version. Troy's feelings of guilt over breaking into the office after hours in order to file a late report is interpreted by Kalliana as admission to the murder of Troy's boss. Normally, Truthsayers are trained to distinguish the different thoughts and feelings, but Kalliana has recently been traumatized by the mind of a crazed killer and [[spoiler:the supply of Veritas used by the Truthsayers has been diluted]].
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** This is why Veritas is illegal for anyone except for the Truthsayers, as those using it can forcibly extract secrets from others.
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* MindRape: Near the end of the novel, the head of the Truthsayers does this to TheDragon in order to find the location of the BigBad. The dragon is left a vegetable.
** The reverse happens near the beginning, when the female protagonist reads the mind of a fanatical killer who's convinced that he was doing what's right. Being in his mind is too much for her, and she suffers from HeroicBSOD after that.
** The reverse happens near the beginning, when the female protagonist reads the mind of a fanatical killer who's convinced that he was doing what's right. Being in his mind is too much for her, and she suffers from HeroicBSOD after that.
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''Blindfold'' is a science fiction novel by Creator/KevinJAnderson.
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''Blindfold'' is a science fiction novel by Creator/KevinJAnderson.
Creator/KevinJAnderson. Anderson sent the novel to BrianHerbert as a sample of his work in order to let him collaborate on the post-FrankHerbert ''{{Dune}}'' novels.
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* TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: This almost happened to the Atlas colony. A regime change on Earth resulted in the new government sending a warship to take control of the remove colony. After two decades of traveling, during which the captain of the warship successfully convinced the colonists that they were merely another colony ship, the ship arrives in orbit. One of the delegates sent from Atlas just happened to be the first guy to experiment with Veritas. He shakes the captain's hand and instantly realizes the truth. During the tour of the ship, he gets on the bridge and uses the command codes he learned from the captain to set all missiles to explode in their tubes, if the soldiers don't surrender. The soldiers are forced to join the colonists, while the ship is brought down and turned into the temple for the new Truthsayer caste (the missile tubes are used to water plants).
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** This has the side effect of [[spoiler:making him sterile, although he has managed to spread clone embryos of himself throughout the colony]].
** The villain is actually [[spoiler:one of the captains of the original colony ship]].
** The villain is actually [[spoiler:one of the captains of the original colony ship]].
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** Mindfire is a deadly mutation of Veritas that literally fries a person's brain.
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** Mindfire is a deadly mutation of Veritas that literally fries a person's brain. Unlike Veritas, Mindfire is airborne.
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** Mindfire is a deadly mutation of Veritas that literally fries a person's mind.
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** Mindfire is a deadly mutation of Veritas that literally fries a person's mind.brain.
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** Mindfire is a deadly mutation of Veritas that literally fries a person's mind.
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** The secondary purpose of the genetic engineering is to keep Truthsayers separate from any familiar relationship with any of the rulers.
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I kept coming across examples on trope pages, so I\'ve made a page to collect them together.
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''Blindfold'' is a science fiction novel by Creator/KevinJAnderson.
!!This novel provides examples of:
* DesignerBabies: The Truthsayers are a group of genetically-engineered people trained from birth with the use of the Veritas drug. While it is possible for a normal person to use the drug, the results are unpredictable. However, not all trainees become Truthsayers, meaning the genetically-engineered process is not perfect.
* LivingLieDetector: The Truthsayers.
* MeaningfulName: The drug Veritas, used to make Living Lie Detectors.
* MiscarriageOfJustice: The plot revolves around a man wrongly convicted in a justice system where the use of {{Living Lie Detector}}s is ''supposed'' to make wrongful convictions impossible.
* MyGrandsonMyself: Done by the villain, who uses a cryopod to become a HumanPopsicle for a few years before re-emerging to see how things are progressing.
* {{Telepathy}}: The Truthsayers use the Veritas drug, which temporarily increases their brains' receptive abilities, allowing them to detect another brain's EM impulses (i.e. read thoughts).
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!!This novel provides examples of:
* DesignerBabies: The Truthsayers are a group of genetically-engineered people trained from birth with the use of the Veritas drug. While it is possible for a normal person to use the drug, the results are unpredictable. However, not all trainees become Truthsayers, meaning the genetically-engineered process is not perfect.
* LivingLieDetector: The Truthsayers.
* MeaningfulName: The drug Veritas, used to make Living Lie Detectors.
* MiscarriageOfJustice: The plot revolves around a man wrongly convicted in a justice system where the use of {{Living Lie Detector}}s is ''supposed'' to make wrongful convictions impossible.
* MyGrandsonMyself: Done by the villain, who uses a cryopod to become a HumanPopsicle for a few years before re-emerging to see how things are progressing.
* {{Telepathy}}: The Truthsayers use the Veritas drug, which temporarily increases their brains' receptive abilities, allowing them to detect another brain's EM impulses (i.e. read thoughts).
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