History Literature / Railhead

* KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect: [[spoiler: Under the [[ProudWarrorRaceGuys Kraitt's]] matriarchal society, all women are warriors, while scientists are a 'lesser' role filled by males. The Tzeld Gehk Kharneiss even ''kills'' one of her technicians to prevent him from [[DisproportionateRetribution claiming too much credit]].]]
* LizardFolk: [[spoiler: ''Black Light Express'' introduces the [[ProudWarrorRaceGuys Kraitt]], a young race of [[BloodKnight bloodthirsty raiders]] on the Web of Worlds, who are reptilian and only roughly humanoid.]]

** [[spoiler: When the Guardian Anais Six [[DivineDate fell in love with Raven]], she[[BrainUploading ascended him to near-digital-godhood]] and gave him access to the boundless information of the Datasea... Forgetting that this was allowing him to access secrets such as the existance of alien civilisation that the Guardians ''really'' wanted to keep under wraps.]]

* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: In ''Railhead'' [[TheHeavy the most prominent antagonist]] is Yanvar Malik, a grizzled Railforce officer ([[TurnInYourBadge at least, initially]]) who has [[OldSoldier spent most of his life]] hunting down [[spoiler: [[MesACrowd the many bodies of]]]] Raven and [[ProperlyParanoid believes he's still hiding somewhere]], even though his superiors and the Guardians are sure he's dead. He [[WorthyOpponent very much respects his target]], and harbours no ill will towards Zen and Nova, to the point that he doesn't try to stop them from [[spoiler: [[PetTheDog escaping together through the new K-Gate]] once Raven is KilledOffForReal]].

** [[DeusEstMachina The Guardians]]... [[{{Downplayed}} Generally]]. Their individual personalities run the gamut from the Mordaunt 90 Network, being perhaps the straightest example of this trope, to the Twins, who are straight-up [[KnightTemplar Knight Templars]]. All seem to share the same flaws of [[WellIntentionedExtremist taking their duty to protect humanity a little too far]] and [[{{Pride}} a massive superiority complex]], given that they [[HoldingBackThePhelbotum refuse to allow other AIs of their caliber to be built]] and [[spoiler: killed the Railmaker simply because it was more powerful than them]].

** [[DeusEstMachina The Guardians]]... [[{{Downplayed}} Generally]]. Their individual personalities run the gamut from the Mordaunt 90 Network, being perhaps the straightest example of this trope, to the Twins, who are straight-up [[KnightTemplar Knight Templars]]. All seem to share the same flaws of [[WellIntentionedExtremist taking their duty to protect humanity a little too far]] and [[{{Pride}} a massive superiority complex]], given that they [[HoldingBackThePhelbotium refuse to allow other AIs of their caliber to be built]] and [[spoiler: killed the Railmaker simply because it was more powerful than them]].

[[caption-width-right:330: ''[[TagLine Step aboard – the universe is waiting]]'']]

** The Guardians, a group of 12 centuries-old and immensely powerful [[BenevolentAI AIs]] that guided humanity in constructing the Great Network and are [[MachineWorship revered as gods by its citizens]]. However, they are vulnerable to petty human vanities, favouritism and grudges, can (with enough effort) be deceived and hidden from, and even [[DivineDate occasionally fall in love with mortals]].

* CoolTrain: Given that the 'trains' in the setting are nuclear-fusion-powered, controlled by fully sentient AI and crewed by [[MechanicalInsects maintenance spiders]], ''every'' train in the setting counts, although some deserve special mention:

* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: In ''Railhead'' [[TheHeavy the most prominent antagonist]] is Yanvar Malik, a grizzled Railforce officer ([[TurnInYourBadge at least, initially]]) who has [[OldSoldier spent most of his life]] hunting down [[spoiler: [[MesACrowd the many bodies of]]]] Raven and [[ProperlyParanoid believes he's still hiding somewhere]], even though his superiors and the Guardians are sure he's dead. He [[WorthyOpponent very much respects his target]], and harbours no ill will towards Zen and Nova, and doesn't try to stop them from [[spoiler: [[PetTheDog escaping together through the new K-Gate]] once Raven is KilledOffForReal]].

* MadeOfIndestructium: The C12 Zodiak class of wartrains, designed from the ground up to be the biggest, baddest and toughest fighting machines in existence, have an almost impenetrable layer of thick ceramic armour protecting their hull. In ''Black Light Express'', one of them, the ''Ghost Wolf'', is able to NoSell dozens of missiles and [[RammingAlwaysWorks smash straight through]] '''[[TanksForNothing tanks]]''' blocking the line as if they were cardboard.

* AndIMustScream: As she and Zen make their escape from [[SpaceStation Spindlebridge]] in ''Railhead'', Nova is grappled through the chest by a damaged Noon [[AttackDrone Beetle]] and dragged out into space. Of course, since she's a [[RobotGirl Motorik]], the lack of oxygen and extreme temperatures can't kill her, and she is left drifting above Sundarban for several weeks [[spoiler: before [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl Zen returns to save her]].

* EatingMachine: Nova is able to eat human food, her [[TradmarkFavoriteFood favorite]] being toast (corners first). However, she doesn't need to do this, and it's a custom self-modification to [[PinocchioSyndrome help her feel more human]].

* EatingMachine: Nova is able to eat human food, her [[TradmarkFavouriteFood favourite]] being toast (corners first). However, she doesn't need to do this, and it's a custom self-modification to [[PinocchioSyndrome help her feel more human]].

** [[spoiler: At the end of ''Black Light Express'' it’s revealed that the [[{{Precursors}} Railmakers]] are in fact the Rail''maker'', an alien 'data-entity' that was capable of creating the [[PortalNetwork K-Gates]], building DysonSpheres (yes, ''plural'') to power them, and other physics-and-reality-warping feats making the Guardians look pathetic in comparison… So [[{{Pride}} they killed it out of fear it would supplant them]].]] [[spoiler: However, it turns out to be NotQuiteDead – Raven rescued a fragment of its personality much later which he used to create Nova, with the Railmaker reforming once she enters its homeworld core.]]

->''The Interstellar Express was thundering down the line from Golden Junction, and singing as it came.''

-->-- '''Railhead'''

* EvilChancellor: {{ZigZagged}} with Rail Marshal Lyssa Delius, the SocialClimber head of Railforce, the Empire's [[StateSec Space Military Police]]. At the end of the first book [[spoiler: she realises she can replace the [[TheParanoiac paranoid]] and [[SketchySuccessor unpopular]] Empress Priya Noon, who took over after Mahalaxmi's death, with her sister Threnody, whose inexperience allows Delius to all but [[AmbitionIsEvil seize control of the Network Empire for herself]].]] The Noons' enemies quickly cotton onto this and [[InvokedTrope portray her as such]], but her 'evil schemes' seem to mostly consist of [[InternalReformist policies that benefit the working classes of industrial worlds like her home planet]] like restricting the use of [[JobStealingRobot Motorik labor]].

* EvilChancellor: {{ZigZagged}} with Rail Marshal Lyssa Delius, the SocialClimber head of Railforce, the Empire's [[StateSec Space Military Police]]. At the end of the first book [[spoiler: she realises she can replace the [[TheParanoiac paranoid]] and [[SketchySuccessor unpopular]] Empress Priya Noon, who took over after Mahalaxmi's death, with her sister Threnody, whose inexperience allows Delius to all but [[AmbitionIsEvil seize control of the Network Empire for herself]].]] The Noons' enemies quickly cotton onto this and [[{{Invoked}} portray her as such]], but her 'evil schemes' seem to mostly consist of [[InternalReformist policies that benefit the working classes of industrial worlds like her home planet]] like restricting the use of [[JobStealingRobot Motorik labor]].

* EvilChancellor: {{ZigZagged}} with Rail Marshal Lyssa Delius, the SocialClimber head of Railforce, the Empire's [[StateSec Space Military Police]]. At the end of the first book [[spoiler: she realises she can replace the [[TheParanoiac paranoid]] and [[SketchySuccessor unpopular]] Empress Priya Noon who took over after Mahalaxmi's death with her sister Threnody, whose inexperience allows Delius to all but [[AmbitionIsEvil seize control of the Network Empire for herself]].]] The Noons' enemies quickly cotton onto this and [[{{Invoked}} portray her as such]], but her 'evil schemes' seem to mostly consist of [[InternalReformist policies that benefit the working classes of industrial worlds like her home planet]] like restricting the use of [[JobStealingRobot Motorik labor]].

%% This page is under construction. Many more tropes are set to be added - Azorius24