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* EvilTowerOfOminousness
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* FirearmsAreRevolutionary: This trope is the reason why FantasyGunControl is enforced by everyone: war with firearms would be just too damned lethal.
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* ThisIsUnforgivable: In ''Rediscovery'', the Terrans commit two sins in the climax: [[spoiler: using guns, and starting a forest fire intentionally. These are so out of line that [[EveryoneHasStandards even the bandits give up in sheer disgust]], and the open-minded Lorill Hastur advocates for a complete ban on contact with the Terrans]].
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* AuthorityInNameOnly:
** The King, from the Elhalyn Domain, doesn't rule - the closest thing to a ruler is the Regent of the Comyn Council, a Hastur.
** Darkover and the Domains as a whole don't actually have a government in the modern sense, though the Comyn Council and the Regent can be very persuasive. "The will of Hastur is the will of Hastur, but it is not the law of the land." Even in Thendara City, they can't actually keep the Terrans from setting up trade. The best they can do is keep the Terrans from importing Compact-breaking weapons or exporting matrix tech, and they can't do even ''that'' in Aldaran.
** The King, from the Elhalyn Domain, doesn't rule - the closest thing to a ruler is the Regent of the Comyn Council, a Hastur.
** Darkover and the Domains as a whole don't actually have a government in the modern sense, though the Comyn Council and the Regent can be very persuasive. "The will of Hastur is the will of Hastur, but it is not the law of the land." Even in Thendara City, they can't actually keep the Terrans from setting up trade. The best they can do is keep the Terrans from importing Compact-breaking weapons or exporting matrix tech, and they can't do even ''that'' in Aldaran.
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* CultureClash: The Darkovans and the Terrans do this a lot; stories where the characters [[GoingNative go native]] invariably focus on the difficulty of adapting to a different culture.
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* CultureClash: The Darkovans and the Terrans do this a lot; stories where the characters [[GoingNative go native]] invariably focus on the difficulty of adapting to a different culture. In addition, the Domains, the Alderan Domain, the Dry-Towns, the Towers and the Order of Renunciates each have their own laws and morals, even before you add Terrans into the mix. Clashes between the laws (and occasional forum-shopping for one's preferred rules) drive several plot lines.
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* RoyallyScrewedUp: The Elhalyn line, who are the royalty of the Comyn, got the short end of the genetic stick and produced a lot of idiots and madmen. This led to a permanent Regency.
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* RoyallyScrewedUp: The Elhalyn line, who are the royalty of the Comyn, got the short end of the genetic stick and produced a lot of idiots and madmen.madmen, and their [[BlessedWithSuck precognitive gift]] didn't help on the madness front. This led to a permanent Regency.
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* BittersweetEnding: ''Rediscovery''. [[spoiler: Leonie kills Evans, preventing him from turning ''kireseth'' into an offworld drug-dealing scheme, and warns the Terrans so they can save David and Elizabeth from the bandits who have captured them. But she kills Ysaye in the process, and the Terrans save David and Elizabeth by using long-ranged weapons to start a forest fire, a sin so heinous on Darkover that [[EveryoneHasStandards even the bandits are disgusted]]. Lorill Hastur is forced to advocate a complete closing of relations between the Comyn and the Terrans.]]
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* BrokenAce: Leonie Hastur in ''Rediscovery'' is introduced as a young woman with TheGift even by Hastur standards, including both immense ''laran'' and native intelligence, and is on the fast track for Keepership. She is the defining figure of the First Age of recontact, but the traumatic experience of FirstContact, and later TheChainsOfCommanding and [[NotQuiteTheRightThing the burden of maintaining Arilinn's traditions]], wear her down as a person and a leader. [[spoiler: By the time of her death, she is thoroughly hated by her subordinates, and she [[DyingAlone dies alone and unmourned]].]]
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* {{Transgender}}: Intersex people (''emmasca'') have a special status on Darkover, due to the trait being associated with ''chieri'' blood. They tend to be LongLived but sterile. In addition, women who have undergone hysterectomies are also referred to as ''emmasca''. Some ''emmasca'' are nonbinary, but some aren't, and ''emmasca'' women are accepted among the [[AmazonBrigade Renunciates]] (who have no use for Darkover's traditional gender roles).
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* FakeWizardry: Illegal on Darkover. When Andrew Carr informs Ellemir Alton that he was shown a "vision" of her sister Callista by what he thought was a PhonyPsychic in the ciy, Ellemir is shocked because on Darkover, pretending to psychic powers that one does not actually possess is a very serious crime.
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* OurElvesAreBetter: The ''chieri'', of the SpaceElf variety.
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* OurElvesAreBetter: OurElvesAreDifferent: The ''chieri'', of the SpaceElf variety.
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* StrongerThanTheyLook: The ''chieri'' are tall, slender and graceful elf-like beings. They are also more than capable of killing a human just by pushing too hard.
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* MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours: The Forbidden Tower operates on a mixture of this and simple AppealToForce, with an additional dose of making it up as they go along. For example, they override the laws against unregulated matrix use when Damon declares himself a Keeper (who is expressly allowed to make the rules for his own Tower, even if all the conventional towers obey Arilinn's laws), enforce that by challenging Arilinn to a WizardDuel TrialByCombat under centuries-old rules, and prevent Callista from being forced into being separated from Andrew afterward by getting her pregnant (since a woman can't be unwillingly separated from the father of her child).
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* MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours: The Forbidden Tower operates on a mixture of this and simple AppealToForce, with an additional dose of making it up as they go along. For example, they override the laws against unregulated matrix use when Damon declares himself a Keeper (who is expressly allowed to make the rules for his own Tower, even if all the conventional towers obey Arilinn's laws), enforce that by challenging Arilinn to a WizardDuel TrialByCombat under centuries-old rules, and prevent Callista from being forced into being separated from Andrew afterward by getting her pregnant (since a woman can't be unwillingly separated from the father of her child). This is also deconstructed in ''The Bloody Sun'', since while the Forbidden Tower's actions were ultimately proven legal, religious fanatics with a penchant for [[BurnTheWitch burning witches]] aren't concerned with the specifics of the law.
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* AltarDiplomacy: In ''The Winds of Darkover'', Brynat Scarface, who has captured Storn Castle, solidifies his claim to Storn by forcing the elder Storn daughter to marry him.
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* AltarDiplomacy: In ''The Winds of Darkover'', Brynat Scarface, who has captured Storn Castle, solidifies his claim to Storn by forcing the elder Storn daughter to marry him. In ''Stormqueen!'', there is an attempt to resolve a SuccessionCrisis for Aldaran by having the two claimants -- Lord Aldaran's illegitimate daughter and his nephew -- marry. The attempt fails when the would-be groom tries to rape his fiancee, and her ''laran'' instinctively kills him.
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* AltarDiplomacy: In ''The Winds of Darkover'', Brynat Scarface, who has captured Storn Castle, solidifies his claim to Storn by forcing the elder Storn daughter to marry him.
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* ScienceFantasy: Is ''laran'' sorcery, or just matrix mechanics? Well, objectively it's the latter, but it's [[ClarkesThirdLaw sufficiently advanced]] to most people that it's the former. Many of the novels show ''laran'' in a mystical and spiritual light even as Tower workers discuss their jobs in technical terminology. And then the LostTechnology of the Sharra Matrix, and its counterpart the Sword of Aldones, are both portrayed as manifest deities rather than simply ancient machines gone haywire.
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* MageTower: ''Laran'' workers segregate themselves from the public in the Towers.
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* AppealToForce: In theory, this is the rule for the Towers. A Keeper of a Tower sets its laws as he or she sees fit, and a new Tower can be created only by the consent of the other Towers or by defeating any Tower who wants to challenge it. In the modern age, all Towers are at peace and obey the laws of Arilinn Tower, but the rule is still there, which allows Damon Ridenow to create the Forbidden Tower.
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* AppealToForce: In theory, this is the rule for the Towers. A Keeper of a Tower sets its laws as he or she sees fit, and a new Tower can be created only by the consent of the other Towers Towers, or by defeating any Tower who wants to challenge it.it in a WizardDuel. In the modern age, all Towers are at peace and obey the laws of Arilinn Tower, but the rule is still there, which allows Damon Ridenow to create the Forbidden Tower.
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* AppealToForce: In theory, this is the rule for the Towers. A Keeper of a Tower sets its laws as he or she sees fit, and a new Tower can be created only by the consent of the other Towers or by defeating any Tower who wants to challenge it. In the modern age, all Towers are at peace and obey the laws of Arilinn Tower, but the rule is still there, which allows Damon Ridenow to create the Forbidden Tower.
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* RegentForLife: To the extent that anyone rules Darkover, it's not the Elhalyn kings, but the Hastur hereditary regents.
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* NomDeMom: On taking oath, a Renunciate forsakes the surname of father or husband, instead using her mother's given name as a surname of sorts; e.g., Magda Lorne becomes Margali ''n'ha'' Ysabet (Magda, daughter of Elizabeth).
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* ExtraDigits: The ''chieri'' and some humans descended from them have six digits (five fingers plus a thumb) on their hands.
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Useful Notes/ pages are not tropes
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* {{Patronymic}}: Children take the last name of the higher ranked parent.
** The Renunciates use matronymics, with members identfying themselves as so-and-so daughter of (''n'ha'') mother's name. For example, Kindra n'ha Mhari, Jaelle n'ha Melora, Margali n'ha Ysabet, Camilla n'ha Kyria.
** The Renunciates use matronymics, with members identfying themselves as so-and-so daughter of (''n'ha'') mother's name. For example, Kindra n'ha Mhari, Jaelle n'ha Melora, Margali n'ha Ysabet, Camilla n'ha Kyria.
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* TheMagicGoesAway: After the Ages of Chaos end, due to the Compact and the increasing superstition toward matrix technology, the technological knowledge of ''laran'' takes a few steps backwards. Furthermore, with the end of the SuperBreedingProgram and the uniform adoption of Arilinn Tower's laws (which keep the most powerful ''laran'' users out of the marriage pool), the power of ''laran'' declines, and many Gifts either are forgotten (such as the nature of the Hastur Gift) or go extinct (like the Rockraven Gift).
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* LongLived: The Hasturs often live well over a hundred years.
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** The Hastur Gift is a downplayed example. If it's not used, it grants [[LongLived well over a century of life]]. However, using the living matrix involves CastFromLifespan, and Regis Hastur's extensive use of the power caused him to die in his fifties.
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* HeroicBastard: Danilo Syrtis-Ardais is a subversion. Not of the heroic part (he's definitely that) but he's not actually Dyan Ardais' son (Dyan is as gay as it gets). He's declared Dyan's ''nedestro'' son because he has the appropriate Gift, which is good enough to make him a potential heir to Ardais domain.
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* HeroicBastard: Danilo Syrtis-Ardais is a subversion. Not of the heroic part (he's definitely that) but he's not actually Dyan Ardais' son (Dyan son: Dyan is as gay as it gets).gets. He's declared Dyan's ''nedestro'' son because he has the appropriate Gift, which is good enough to make him a potential heir to Ardais domain.
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* HeroicBastard: Danilo Syrtis-Ardais is a subversion. Not of the heroic part (he's definitely that) but he's not actually Dyan Ardais' son (Dyan is as gay as it gets). He's declared Dyan's ''nedestro'' son because he has the appropriate Gift, which is good enough to make him a potential heir to Ardais domain.
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* SuperpowerfulGenetics: As a legacy of the SuperBreedingProgram, each major Comyn lineage (and some minor ones) has a particular Gift, as well as the general potential to use ''laran''. Possessing the appropriate Gift has, on more than one occasion, been used as proof of lineage, as when Danilo Syrtis was declared Dyan Ardais' ''[[HeroicBastard nedestro]]'' son because he possessed the Ardais Gift of catalyst telepathy.
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* FreeLoveFuture: Inside the Towers, the only rules are honesty, consent, and that the Keeper stays celibate (the specific rules for the latter depend on the era). This is a natural result of their working environment: Everyone in a matrix circle is in close telepathic communion with everyone else, so keeping each other from sensing their desires is impossible, pent-up sexual frustration can be dangerous when working with advanced ''laran'', and a Keeper's position in the matrix relays means that holding the position while sexually active will fry the nerves.
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It's not a gendered ability, per Thunderlord
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** The Rockraven Gift, when possessed in full measure by a female, enables ShockAndAwe and WeatherManipulation. But the physical strain of channeling huge amounts of electromagnetic energy tends to cause neurological damage to the possessor. Dorilys has to be placed in permanent stasis after she uses her power to repel an attacking army.
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** The Rockraven Gift, when possessed in full measure by a female, measure, enables ShockAndAwe and WeatherManipulation. But the physical strain of channeling huge amounts of electromagnetic energy tends to cause neurological damage to the possessor. Dorilys has to be placed in permanent stasis after she uses her power to repel an attacking army.
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* ''Thunderlord'' (with Deborah J. Ross)
