History Literature / OrsonScottCardsEmpire

* BrokenAesop: The book is about the evils of divisiveness in political discourse and extremism on both ends of the political spectrum, but [[spoiler:the right-wing response to the leftist uprising turns out to be a sham and never materializes -- it's an attempt by the Progressive Restoration's mole to identify who's going to take the most hardline action against them. The Progressive Restoration itself has no manifesto or demands, despite a paragraph talking about the divide it caused in the left-wing community, especially among hard-left radicals]].

* StrawmanNewsMedia: Solidly a left-wing type III, except for Creator/{{Fox News|Channel}} of course.

* HeroicSacrifice: The village headman performs one for Reubens. It haunts him for much of the book.

* NextSundayAD: It's today… except with MiniMecha, PoweredArmor, hovercraft, etc...
** Also, there's no specific mention of who the President and other political figures are except by allusion. This keeps the book from being dated.
** Literally, it's 2008, about two years after the book was published. This is clued in not only by [[ProductPlacement clear call-outs to modern devices and cars]], but also to then-current Senators and specific calendar dates (the Friday 13th mentioned in the book fits with the calendar alignment) and the election cycle. Which brings up the question of why they assassinate a guy that would be out of office in a few months.

** HarsherInHindsight: ...and then fifteen years later a group of poorly-armed protestors managed to take over the Capitol for a while. Imagine if they'd been on the same side as a large share of the local populace?

A 2006 WhatIf novel by Creator/OrsonScottCard, telling the story of Major Reuben "Rube" Malich and Captain Bartholomew Coleman, who get caught up right in the middle of the next American Civil War - the war between the Left and the Right. Takes place in the same universe as the game ''VideoGame/ShadowComplex''. Card was hired to write a story for the game, about a second Civil War, and the authors got more than they bargained for. Card takes a very serious look at the rising extremism and political tensions in modern America and extrapolates them to their logical conclusion: when both sides toss around enough "they're going to destroy our way of life" rhetoric, someone on one side will start shooting, and then it becomes a matter of self-defense for everyone involved. This has [[TruthInTelevision actually happened before]], in several parts of the world, in the last couple decades, and ''Empire'' is the story of how it could happen in the 21st-century United States.

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Rube, who was the protagonist up until he gets shot in the eye by his secretary]]. [[DroppedABridgeOnHim It's extremely sudden - taking all of one sentence -and undramatic]].
* AwesomeButImpractical: The Progressive Restoration's MiniMecha. In the one major combat action shown, they get blown to bits by missiles from Apache helicopters before they even get into the mechs' weapon range. They did, however, manage to successfully occupy New York City without any problem so they couldn't have been ''too'' impractical.
** Aircraft and artillery are next to useless in UrbanWarfare, mechs might have a maneuverability and elevation advantage over conventional ground vehicles though.

* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: Averell Torrent]] manages to give the right people the right ideas at the right time for the extreme measures of the plot to occur, then get himself in the right spots to say the right things and end up [[spoiler: President.]] But as he himself says later, he never planned anything specific- he just saw trends and gave them a push, then had gumption and personal connections to make use of them.

* CaptainErsatz: Averell is a rare in-universe example. [[spoiler: He wants to be Augustus Caesar.]]
* BrokenAesop: The book is about the evils of divisiveness in political discourse and extremism on both ends of the political spectrum, but [[spoiler:the right-wing response to the leftist uprising turns out to be a sham and never materializes - it's an attempt by the Progressive Restoration's mole to identify who's going to take the most hardline action against them. The Progressive Restoration itself has no manifesto or demands, despite a paragraph talking about the divide it caused in the left wing community, especially among hard-left radicals.]]

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: "Aldo Verus", (an {{Expy}} of RealLife's George Soros).

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Around halfway through the novel [[spoiler: Rube gets betrayed and shot right through the eye]] in a very sudden but effective scene.

* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: Averell Torrent.]]
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Dee Nee.]]

* NextSundayAD: It's today.. except with MiniMecha, PoweredArmor, hovercraft, etc...

** Literally, it's 2008, about two years after the book was published. This is clued in not only by [[ProductPlacement clear call-outs to modern devices and cars]] but also to then-current Senators and specific calendar dates (the Friday 13th mentioned in the book fits with the calendar alignment) and the election cycle. Which brings up the question of why they assassinate a guy that would be out of office in a few months.

* OffscreenVillainDarkMatter: The Progressive Restoration manages to research, construct and train an army big enough to occupy [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity New York]], without ''anyone'' picking up on their shenanigans until the moment of their attack. It's [[HandWave hand waved]] as being funded by a phenomenally wealthy hardcore-liberal, not to mention several characters question where the Hell they got the manpower.

* StrawCharacter: The point of the novel - the two extremes of the political spectrum decided to stop beating around the bush and just beat the snot out of each other- except the only punches we see thrown are by the left. A moderate ends up being TheManBehindTheMan, though.

** One might make one regarding [[spoiler: Cole's actions being that of a FaceHeelTurn.]]
* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler: Mark, and the whole jeesh except for Cole]]

* BalkanizeMe: Happens to [[spoiler: Nigeria]] by the end of the book.
* ColonelBadass: Cole

* ForegoneConclusion: That the disease will eventually break containment is treated as this, but since it can't be part of public policy other actions are taken that will conveniently strengthen America's position, readiness, and moral standing.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Torrent's rationale at the end, [[spoiler: which Cole agrees with.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler: Many fans had this with Cole siding with Averell Torrent at the end.]]
** He gets another one earlier in the book [[spoiler: when he spreads the nictovirus to Northern Nigeria in order to infect the Muslim population. See KickTheDog.]]
** A literal example occurs when Cole confronts [[spoiler: Mingo about infecting the team with the nictovirus deliberately.]]

* InfantImmortality: Shockingly subverted with Mark.

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Rube, who was the protagonist up until he gets shot in the eye by his secretary]]. It's extremely sudden - taking all of one sentence -and undramatic.

* WhatTheHellHero?: [[spoiler: Many fans had this with Cole siding with Averell Torrent at the end.]]

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<<|{{Literature}}|>>

* {{Badass}}: Rube, Cole.

->For other works with this name, see {{Empire}}.

!! This first novel contains examples of:

* OffscreenVillainDarkMatter: The Progressive Restoration manages to research, construct and train an army big enough to occupy [[NewYorkCity New York]], without ''anyone'' picking up on their shenanigans until the moment of their attack. It's [[HandWave hand waved]] as being funded by a phenomenally wealthy hardcore-liberal, not to mention several characters question where the Hell they got the manpower.

* BadAss: Rube, Cole.

* InfantImmortality: shockingly subverted with Mark.

* PoweredArmor:[[TheSquad The jeesh]] get these near the beginning.

A 2006 WhatIf novel by Creator/OrsonScottCard, telling the story of Major Reuben "Rube" Malich and Captain Bartholomew Coleman, who get caught up right in the middle of the next American Civil War - the war between the Left and the Right. Takes place in the same universe as the game ''ShadowComplex''. Card was hired to write a story for the game, about a second Civil War, and the authors got more than they bargained for. Card takes a very serious look at the rising extremism and political tensions in modern America and extrapolates them to their logical conclusion: when both sides toss around enough "they're going to destroy our way of life" rhetoric, someone on one side will start shooting, and then it becomes a matter of self-defense for everyone involved. This has [[TruthInTelevision actually happened before]], in several parts of the world, in the last couple decades, and ''Empire'' is the story of how it could happen in the 21st-century United States.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Mostly averted except for GeorgeWBush and Dick Cheney, likely because it doesn't seem appropriate to have real-life politicians getting assassinated as a major plot point, and George Soros, likely so that he won't sue for libel.

* StrawmanPolitical: The point of the novel - the two extremes of the political spectrum decided to stop beating around the bush and just beat the snot out of each other- except the only punches we see thrown are by the left. A moderate ends up being TheManBehindTheMan, though.

* StrawmanNewsMedia: Solidly a left-wing type III, except for FoxNews of course.