History Literature / EmpireOfTheEast

* AGodIAmNot: Ardneh (in all three books) and Draffut the Beastlord (in ''The Black Mountains'') are both believed to be supernatural entities. The truth is somewhat different. [[spoiler:Ardneh is actually a self-aware computer program 500 centuries old; Draffut began his existence as a dog, and grew to god-like power and stature through exposure to LostTechnology.]]

* UnholyNuke: An inverted example. Magic transformed nuclear explosions into the unholy race of demons.

** On the Western side, Prince Duncan and Ardneh both qualify.

* NuclearNasty: [[spoiler: Orcus is literally a nuclear explosion given form and sentience.]]

* CallARabbitASmeerp: There are no horses, there are "riding-beasts". There are no mules, there are "load-beasts". But there are birds and lizards. Possibly justified in that it is 50,000 years in the future, but why have only a few animals' names been lost?

A trilogy of fantasy novels by Fred Saberhagen, set 50,000 years in Earth's future, after a devastating change in the laws of physics which unleashed demons and made most technology unusable. The books are ''The Broken Lands'', ''The Black Mountains'', and ''Changeling Earth'' (later re-titled ''Ardneh's World''). They tell the story of the conflict between the titular Empire of the East and the rebellious Free Folk of the West, in particular an orphan warrior named Rolf.

A trilogy of fantasy novels by Fred Saberhagen, set 50,000 years in Earth's future, after a devastating change in the laws of physics which unleashed demons and made most technology unusable. The books are ''The Broken Lands'', ''The Dark Mountains'', and ''Changeling Earth'' (later re-titled ''Ardneh's World''). They tell the story of the conflict between the titular Empire of the East and the rebellious Free Folk of the West, in particular an orphan warrior named Rolf.

* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: The final main villain, Emperor John Ominor, looks like a normal man. This was a surprise after dreading earlier less powerful climactic villains, such as demons, the wiszard Wood, and Som the Dead.

* AfterTheEnd

* DeathByIrony: Som The Dead was imbued with the power to turn attacks back against his foes; trying to kill him killed you instead. [[spoiler:This is simply because he is, in some way, already dead, but still walking around. He meets his end when Draffut [[PuffOfLogic mistakes him for a gravely wounded soldier]] and [[ReviveKillsZombie heals him]].]]

* EarthAllAlong

* ThanatosGambit: Ardneh's plan.

* XanatosGambit: The entire trilogy proceeds according to Arndeh's design, and no matter what choices the leaders of TheEmpire make, they are playing into his hands.
** The main plot of ''Changeling Earth'' is Ardneh finally revealling his location to the East, luring them to himself and making them desperate enough to actually summon the demon Orcus. This puts them in a position to be destroyed by Ardneh's counterstroke. Of course, if they had not moved against Ardneh with all their power, they would have still lost, since Ardneh would have continued to work against them, now with enough power to almost match all the might of the Empire at once, but from a position of complete security.

* LostTechnology: The advanced technology that still exists is either 50,000 years old and is treated as magical, or is created by djinnis summoned for that purpose. Rolf is highly unusual and crucial to the rebel war effort in actually having some empathy for the ancient technology. [[spoiler:The biggest technology of all is Ardneh, a computer imbued with semi-magical powers to prevent nuclear war. In doing so, it changed the laws of physics, making magic possible and bringing demons into existence.]]

* PowerCrystal: Ardneh figures out what certain rare black gems really are, acquires one, and transforms it back into [[spoiler:the hydromagnatodynamic core of a hydrogen fusion power lamp.]]