History Literature / Darkover

* BlessedWithSuck: The Elhalyn Gift is a variant form of [[{{Seers}} precognition]] that shows its possessor all the ''possible'' futures that can come from a given action. While this might seem a useful tool for strategic planning, it is instead an awful strain on its users. Allart Hastur, who has it in full measure, observes that he cannot even walk down a staircase without seeing the possible futures in which he trips and falls to injury or death!

* FeudalFuture: The human colonists on Darkover have developed a feudal culture and general level of technology.

* FeudalFuture: With rule by psychic aristocrats.

** And how. Not only can nobody conceive of such a thing as being wanted, Darkover used to have breeding programs for ''laran''. The Comyn still insists on everyone having as many kids as possible with other Comyn (at a time in the past, it was forbidden for one woman to have more than two children by the same man: a Darkovan woman a little patronizingly explains to an Earthwoman the concept of "genetic pool"). Camilla of ''Darkover Landfall'' and Rohana of the Renunciate trilogy particularly were not thrilled to have lots of kids.

** In ''The Heritage of Hastur'', the Sword of Hastur is protected by two force fields. Only a telepath can pass through the first one, but only a ''non''telepath can pass through the second one.

* ShoutOut: One of the main families of nobles is called the "Hasturs". There is a minor family of nobles called the "Alars". There is a place called Carcosa. There is also a lake called "Lake Hali", which is misty. According to TheOtherWiki, this was a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcosa#Other_appearances deliberate shout-out]] to Robert W. Chambers' book ''Literature/TheKingInYellow'' (which also inspired parts of the Franchise/CthulhuMythos).

* FilkSong: Quite a few. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFbUStD1D-A Crystal Silver Blue and Gold]] is a canon example, while [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeyM8CLeaCg Horse Tamer's Daughter]] is a fanfic-ish one.

* WizardDuel: In ''The Forbidden Tower'', Arilinn and the Forbidden Tower fight a RealityWarper battle in the overworld after Damon challenges Leonie's right to issue orders to him.

* ShoutOut: One of the main families of nobles is called the "Hasturs". There is a minor family of nobles called the "Alars". There is a place called Carcosa. There is also a lake called "Lake Hali", which is misty. According to TheOtherWiki, this was a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcosa#Other_appearances deliberate shout-out]] to Robert W. Chambers' book ''Literature/TheKingInYellow'' (which also inspired parts of the CthulhuMythos).

* OlderIsBetter: While the Compact did end the wars of the Ages of Chaos, it also caused an upsurge in superstition about matrix technology. As a consequence, later matrix devices are considerably less advanced than those from ancient times.

* LostTechnology: Matrix technology from the Ages of Chaos. Some of it is still laying around in the Towers, or in less-accessible places like the sacred Rhu Fead at Hali. Darkovans from the era of contact with the Terran Empire have a superstitious fear of this stuff (justifiable, as many of these things are [[LostSuperweapon weapons of mass destruction]]) and if they know ''where'' it is, they usually have little idea of ''what'' it is or how to operate it. This blows up (literally) in the case of the Sharra Matrix.

* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Oddly common. Many characters with ''laran'' powers often fail to use them in situations where they would have obvious value. Part of this may be due to cultural uncertainty about what is and is not acceptable outside the confines of a Tower, especially in the later ages when superstition is the norm. Terrans who know the true extent of Darkovan ''laran'' and matrix technology are often surprised at the haphazard way in which the Darkovan's use it as compared to how the more technologically-minded Terrans would if they had it. Finally, no Comyn would even consider using ''laran'' to attack, due to the Compact.

* DoubleStandard: It's complicated. In general, men and women are both free to have extramarital sex, but if a child has [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe uncertain parentage]], it's embarrassing to the woman. Also, the rules for gay marriage are different between women and men - women can simply get freemate-married (a rule established by the Renunciates), while male partners can only [[BloodBrothers swear brotherhood]] [[note]]The Forbidden Tower is a polygamous foursome, but legally they're two sworn brothers married to two sisters[[/note]]. Conversely, women aren't allowed to take concubines, while men are.
* DramaticIrony: Auster is ''convinced'' that the Terran Jeff Kerwin is somehow being used as a spy for the Terrans against his knowledge. [[spoiler: Turns out that (a) Jeff doesn't have a Terran dad, Auster does, and (b) he was SeparatedAtBirth from an EvilTwin, and the twin is using his psychic link to Auster to spy on the Arilinn circle.]]

* BodyHorror: After Lew Alton loses his hand in ''Heritage of Hastur'', it is mentioned in the following novel, ''Sharra's Exile'' that Terran doctors tried to make it grow back (the technology used being pretty successful by then). The end result was...disturbing (when the anesthetics wore off and Lew saw the ''thing'' that had grown in the place of a hand, he screamed so much that he was unable to speak for ''almost a year'' due to the damage done to his vocal chords.

* AmazonBrigade: The Renunciates, also called the Free Amazons, are a guild of women warriors who reject Darkover's traditional gender roles (women can only be wives or work in a Tower). They all tend to have a DarkAndTroubledPast.

* FeudalFuture

* IdenticalStranger: One of the axioms of ''[[PsychicPowers laran]]'' [[SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic science]] is Cherillys' Law, which states that everything in the universe, except for a matrix, has an exact duplicate somewhere. This includes people. In ''Two To Conquer'' and ''Sharra's Exile'', matrix technology is used to summon the Cherillys duplicates of specific Comyn. In both cases the doubles actually lived elsewhere in the galaxy and are shocked to find themselves "magically" transported to Darkover.

''Darkover'' is a series of novels by famed ScienceFiction and {{Fantasy}} author MarionZimmerBradley. They deal with the LostColony world of Cottman IV, called Darkover by the natives. The series itself spans many thousands of years of history.

* OutNudityIsDifferent: On Darkover women commonly wear their hair in butterfly clips so as not to expose the nape of the neck, which would be indecent.

* DueToTheDead

* TeleportersAndTransporters: During the height of their power, the Towers could send people and objects through the giant artificial matrices from one tower to another instantaneously. The ''chieri'' and some very powerful human psychics can teleport on their own.

* ItsOkayIfItsYou: Regis Hastur has a thing for Danilo Syrtis, who is very reluctant due to a major case of homophobia (preferring to maintain their current [[HeterosexualLifePartners relationship]]) until [[spoiler: Regis finally manages to get him into bed, after which he does an abrupt 180 and becomes quite possessive; it's implied that Danilo is ONLY interested in Regis to the exclusion of any other [[SingleTargetSexuality potential relationship.]]]] Also, a variant between Damon Ridenow and Andrew Carr, who are married to twin sisters. After some initial misunderstandings, Andrew and Damon have sex as part of a foursome. (We don't see whether their wives are also [[BrotherSisterIncest physically involved]] with one another, but they're most definitely emotionally and telepathically involved.)

* DoubleStandard: It's complicated. In general, men and women are both free to have extramarital sex, but if a child has [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe uncertain parentage]], it's embarrassing to the woman. Also, a form of gay marriage exists for women but not for men - men don't have a Renunciate organization of their own to force such a thing through. Conversely, women aren't allowed to take concubines, while men are.

* TwinThreesomeFantasy: Bard and Paul give this a go with a random woman, and then give {{Twincest}} a shot...

* TheMagocracy: The planet is ruled by a king and seven noble houses, and the heir to those positions must have ''laran''. Subversion: those who actually specialize in the use of ''laran'' are supposed to stay in the Towers and out of government.

* BrokenAesop: Coming of Age stories with male protagonists involve accepting duties and responsibilities even against their personal preferences. Similar stories with female protagonists on the other hand have the heroine rejecting any and all ties that impede her 'self-realization'. Magda Lorne is an especially egregious example betraying in turn; The Terran Empire, The Guild of Renunciates, the Forbidden Tower, and finally abandoning her daughters to go to the HiddenElfVillage.

* ResetButton: ''Exile's Song'' largely ignores the important evolution of Darkovan society and politics that had been clearly established in previous books. Gradual rapprochement between Darkover and the Terran Empire is no longer happening or desirable. In ''Traitor's Sun'',[[spoiler: the Terran Empire leaves and this is described as a very positive thing.]]

* EverybodyWantsTheHermaphrodite: ''Nobody'' thinks that the chieri are anything less than beautiful.

* ItsOkayIfItsYou: Regis Hastur has a thing for Danilo Syrtis, who is very reluctant due to a major case of homophobia (preferring to maintain their current [[HeterosexualLifePartners relationship]]) until [[spoiler: Regis finally manages to get him into bed, after which he does an abrupt 180 and becomes quite possessive; it's implied that Danilo is ONLY interested in Regis to the exclusion of any other [[SingleTargetSexuality potential relationship.]] ]] Also, implied to be the case between Damon Ridenow and Andrew Carr, who are married to twin sisters, and maybe be more than just good friends themselves.

* EveryoneIsBi: Sexual orientation is pretty fluid among the Darkovans.

* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Oddly common. Many characters with ''laran'' powers often fail to use them in situations where they would have obvious value. Part of this may be due to cultural uncertainty about what is and is not acceptable outside the confines of a Tower, especially in the later ages when superstition is the norm. Terrans who know the true extent of Darkovan ''laran'' and matrix technology are often surprised at the haphazard way in which the Darkovan's use it as compared to how the more technologically-minded Terrans would if they had it.

* ShoutOut: One of the main families of nobles is called the "Hasturs". There is a minor family of nobles called the "Alars". There is a place called Carcosa. There is also a lake called "Lake Hali", which is misty. According to TheOtherWiki, this was a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcosa#Other_appearances deliberate shout-out]] to Robert W. Chambers' book ''TheKingInYellow'' (which also inspired parts of the CthulhuMythos).

* FantasticRacism: The trailmen and [[CatFolk catmen]], nonhuman intelligent races on Darkover, are the subject of racism from the humans.

Coming at the end of the Ages of Chaos, Darkover has suffered a series of devastating wars using deadly ''laran'' weapons. Some of the gifts of ''laran'' are already starting to die out due to the effects of the breeding programs. The continent is split into dozens of small kingdoms, most still fighting. The Towers produce weapons of enormous destructive capabilities. This period ended with Varzil the Good created The Compact, which forbade anyone from using a weapon that didn't bring the user within equal risk of death.