History Literature / Railhead

* DeadlyEuphemism: [[spoiler: The [[InsectoidAliens Neem]] military's official title is the "Hard Diplomacy Office".]]

* VillainDecay: After [[KnightTemplar the]] [[AxCraxy Twins]] attacked ''all'' of the other Guardians on Khoorsandi at the climax of ''Black Light Express'' out of desperation to block the new K-Gate, the other Guardians quickly join forces to severely limit their powers, resulting in them being able to do nothing but complain by this point.

Creator/WarnerBros snapped up the rights to ''Railhead'' in April 2014, before it was even published, and was planning to produce a [[TheFilmOfTheBook cinematic adaptation]], with Creator/DougLiman reportedly brought on as director. However, there’s been little news of the project since then: it's supposedly languishing in DevelopmentHell, but may have been quietly shelved, especially after the 2018 adaptation of ''Film/MortalEngines'' resulted in the [[{{Pun}} Mother Of All]] [[BoxOfficeBomb Box Office Bombs]].

* MysteriousPast: [[spoiler:The [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Railmaker]] is an alien being of almost unfathomable power -- and that's basically all that is known about it, other than the fact that it's inorganic. Is it a HiveMind, an AI which outlived its creators, or something else entirely? Nobody knows. When Zen finally asks it/Nova at the conclusion of ''Station Zero'', they can only respond "[[LampshadeHanging it's complicated]]"]].

* ShoutOut: All trains choose whimsical names for themselves upon activation, most of which are obscure ParentalBonus style references not aimed at the target audience -- the practice itself is very similar to [[Literature/TheCulture Culture ship names]].

* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Skar is [[BloodKnight just as bloodthirsty and vicious]] as any other [[ProudWarriorGuy Kraitt]], but is ''far'' more intelligent than essentially any other member of his race. He's bright enough to recognise that his people are outmatched by humans not ''just'' because [[HumansAreSuperior their technology is centuries more advanced]], but because [[SoldierVsWarrior their forces have actual military discipline rather than being disorganised bands of raiders]].

%% NOTE: Due to the big old reveal in "Railhead" regarding the existance of alien life, there are a lot of spoilers. Planning to eventually separate into "Railhead" & general and post "Railhead".

* ActionBomb: A "Railbomb" is a train [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin consisting primarily of a giant antimatter warhead]], controlled by an AI whose only desire is to [[DeathSeeker detonate gloriously]] after travelling through the target K-Gate, with the resultant explosion blocking it completely. This rather disturbing weapon was unsurprisingly a creation of [[AxCrazy The Twins]].
* AlienArtsAreAppreciated: [[spoiler: Nova is a fan of ancient human movies (as in, black-and-white classics), and conveniently, the Hetrasec, an antelope-like ProudMerchantRace, share her enthusiasm - while travelling around the Web of Worlds she sells a whole bunch of them to a Hetrasec couple, who end up doing a roaring trade out of it.]]

* 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 before [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl Zen returns to save her]].
* AndTheAdventureContinues: ''Railhead'' ends with [[spoiler: Zen and Nova travelling together through Raven's new K-Gate, towards unknown alien stations]].
* AttackDrone: Lots of these, ranging from tiny micro-missiles disguised as hummingbirds to the mid-size 'Beetles' and fighter-jet-scale models used in railwar.
* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler: After receiving a significant amount of focus as TheHeavy of ''Railhead'', Yanvar Malik returns briefly in ''Black Light Express'' when Threnody and Chandni end up in Desdemor, only to be unceremoniously gunned down by a Twins-controlled Motorik.]]

* TheChainsOfCommanding: In ''Black Light Express'', The Noons' rivals the Prell family take over the Network Empire, with their leader Elon Prell taking the throne... Only to discover, in ''Station Zero'', that he '''hates''' it, and prefers hunting and war to the endless bureaucratic tasks of the monarchy.
* CoolOldLady: Lady Sufara Noon, the Emperor's sister, is a remarkably sharp-witted woman who quickly takes a shine to Zen ([[ImpersonationGambit pretending to be Tallis Noon]]) and his rather blunt attitude, displaying a lack of the Imperial snobbery she herself shares.

* DeadlyEuphemism: [[spoiler: The [[InsectoidAliens Neem]] military's official title is the "Hard Diplomacy Office".]]
* DivineDate: Guardians occasionally fall in love with humans, [[spoiler:as occurred between Raven and Anais Six, though it's mentioned that this was not the only case]], and any long-term lovers get the substantial benefits of [[ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount never having to worry about any material needs]], being able to attend the glitziest parties and events, and [[BrainUploading having their mind uploaded into the Datasea]] to become something immortal and beyond human, allowing [[MesACrowd control of multiple bodies]].

** [[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 [[DysonSphere Dyson spheres]] (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.]]

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:By 'killing' the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Railmaker]] with a computer virus, the Guardians managed to take down a ([[BenevolentAbomination friendly]]) DigitalAbomination that was ''[[JustForFun/AbusingTheKardashevScaleForFunAndProfit a strong type II on the Kardashev Scale]]'', while the Guardians at this point hailed from Earth, TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. It's strongly suggested that this staggering feat was ''only'' possible because the Railmaker was an ActualPacifist which didn't see the need for any kind of weapons or defences]].

* EarthThatUsedToBeBetter: Taken to the LogicalExtreme: Since Earth doesn't have a K-Gate, [[spoiler: [[TheReveal or at least, that's what everyone thinks,]]]] it's been completely abandoned and converted into a planetwide wildlife preserve, accessible only by particularly interested tourists with ''deep'' pockets.

* 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]] like restricting the use of [[JobStealingRobot Motorik labor]].

* FutureImperfect: Raven mentions [[Franchise/StarTrek Klingon]] as a language of Old Earth.

* HoneyTrap: To enable the Noon train job, Raven hires an attractive criminal named Chandni Hansa to seduce Tallis Noon so [[ImpersonationGambit Zen can take his place]]. However, Chandni gets bored and decides simply to rob her mark at the worst possible time.

* ImpersonationGambit: Central to [[TheCaper Raven's plan]]. Since Zen is a stolen Noon DesignerBaby, he [[UniqueProtagonistAsset has Noon DNA]] and can board the Imperial train using the alias of 'Tallis Noon', an obscure relative to whom Zen bears a StrongFamilyResemblance and Raven is able to, ahem, [[HoneyTrap distract]].

* InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien: [[spoiler:The [[{{Precursors}} Railmaker]]. An alien '[[DigitalAbomination data-entity]]' of mysterious origin, with a godlike level of power allowing it to [[DysonSphere cage multiple stars]] to provide power to its [[PortalNetwork K-Gates]] and other megastructures. Unfortunately for it, however, it's not only an ActualPacifist, but [[WideEyedIdealist the concept of war and hostility is so far from its mind]] that it doesn't even consider that it could be seen as a threat, and thus possesses no weapons or defences whatsoever. And, as it works to connect the civilisations of the galaxy together, it encounters [[DeusEstMachina the Guardians]] on Earth TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, who destroy it easily with a virus as it could weaken their own rule over humanity]].
* JerkassGods: [[DeusEstMachina The Guardians]], though on a macro scale as they (except from maybe [[AxCrazy the Twins]]) don't tend to screw with people ''directly''. Instead, they are fully capable of ending war and poverty, and dramatically advancing human civilisation through the use of technologies such as BrainUploading, but don't. Instead they prefer to role-play as deities and preserve their own superiority, necessitating the archaic system of power that is the Network Empire. They refuse to permit the development of any other advanced [=AIs=], and [[spoiler:killed the Railmaker as they were convinced it would overshadow them]].

* KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect: [[spoiler: Under the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuys 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 [[ProudWarriorRaceGuys Kraitt]], a young race of [[BloodKnight bloodthirsty raiders]] on the Web of Worlds, who are reptilian and only roughly humanoid.]]
* MadeOfIndestructium: The C12 Zodiak class of wartrains, designed from the ground up to be the biggest, baddest and toughest fighting machines on the Network, 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.
* ManipulativeBastard: Raven. He promised Zen untold riches in exchange for stealing the Pyxis from the Noon Train... [[spoiler: But neglected to mention that his plan involved crashing said train and killing dozens, if not hundreds, of people, forcing Zen to become a fugitive and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone live with the guilt for the rest of his life]].]]
* MiniMecha: A bipedal exo-suit with powerful manipulator claws known as an "Iron Penguin" is a common sight in industrial areas across the Network, and one was pressed into a (temporary) combat role during [[JobStealingRobot anti-Motorik riots]] on Cleave.
* ModernStasis: Since their creation [[DeusEstMachina the Guardians]] have decreed that no more advanced [=AIs=] can be created -- they only begrudgingly allowed the creation of the android Motorik, who are limited to a human-level intellect at best and usually operate far below that. As a result, humans in the series have access to all manner of advanced technology, but still use the Internet, [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter projectile weapons]] and manual labour, and crime and poverty still exist. The reasons for this are [[WatsonianVersusDoylist twofold]], and explained further by Philip Reeve [[AllThereInTheManual in his blog]]: first, the Guardians are '[[{{Pride}} jealous gods]]' who rather enjoy lording it over humanity and don't want to share, and second, if this ''hadn't'' happened humanity would be an unrecognisable [[TheSingularity post-Singularity]] civilisation which would be difficult to understand or write about.
* MoreDespicableMinion: In ''Railhead'', the BigBad Dhravid Raven is a refined and charismatic AntiVillain... But his wartrain the ''Thought Fox'' is a [[AIIsACrapshoot sadistic trigger-happy killer]].
* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: [[spoiler:Skar is [[BloodKnight just as bloodthirsty and vicious]] as any other [[ProudWarriorGuy Kraitt]], but is ''far'' more intelligent than essentially any other member of his race. He's bright enough to recognise that his people are outmatched by humans not ''just'' because [[HumansAreSuperior their technology is centuries more advanced]], but because [[SoldierVsWarrior their forces have actual military discipline rather than being disorganised bands of raiders]]]].
* MysteriousPast: [[spoiler:The [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Railmaker]] is an alien being of almost unfathomable power -- and that's basically all that is known about it, other than the fact that it's inorganic. Is it a HiveMind, an AI which outlived its creators, or something else entirely? Nobody knows. When Zen finally asks it/Nova at the conclusion of ''Station Zero'', they can only respond "[[LampshadeHanging it's complicated]]"]].
* NobleDemon: Laira Prell, who is an OfficerAndALady literally as well as metaphorically. She's fully on board with her family's militarism and goal to seize the Imperial throne, but is dismayed when that goal is achieved through [[MilitaryCoup underhanded means]] rather than a 'proper fight'. Her [[VillanousValour obsession with honour]] causes her to willingly torpedo her own career in ''Black Light Express'', warning her enemy Threnody that two assassins are being sent after her.
* NominalHero: Zen Starling, full stop. Even though he is a LovableRogue, pretty much everything he does throughout the series is done either with the aim of bettering himself and his family, or out of [[{{Robosexual}} love for Nova]], who has the more traditionally-heroic mindset.

* PerkyFemaleMinion: The energetic and friendly Nova is this to the inscrutable Raven in ''Railhead''.
* ProperlyParanoid: Yanvar Malik, [[spoiler: who spent most of his life hunting down Raven's bodies,]] is ''certain'' that Raven is still out there somewhere in the far reaches of the Network, up to no good. He's thrown away a promising career in order to continue hunting for the elusive mastermind, with his superiors being convinced he's chasing a ghost. He is, of course, bang on the money.

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: [[spoiler: In ''Black Light Express'', the Prells' assault on Grand Central is explicitly stated to have claimed 100 lives... Even though the planet is the capital of a galactic empire, with individual skyscrapers stated to have tens of thousands of residents, and the assault kicks off with missile strikes on the Imperial palace, a huge public building. No matter how good the Prells might be at reducing collateral damage, this number is impossibly low]].
* SelfDisposingVillain: [[spoiler:Elon Prell]] gets himself killed in a hunting accident (no, [[HuntingAccident not that kind]]) before [[spoiler:Threnody's]] forces get anywhere near him.
* ShoutOut: All trains choose whimsical names for themselves upon activation, most of which are obscure ParentalBonus style references not aimed at the target audience -- the practice itself is very similar to [[Literature/TheCulture Culture ship names]].
* StarfishAliens: [[spoiler: The Hath - they resemble a sheet of canvas stretched between thin limbs, have rows of eyes on the side of said sheet like a starfish, and feed by sitting in nutrient-rich pools. When Zen and Nova first see them, they are mistaken for tents]].
* 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 [[spoiler: [[HeelFaceTurn shoots his boss]], a '''Guardian interface''', no less, to allow [[PetTheDog Zen and Nova to escape together through the new K-Gate]] once Raven is KilledOffForReal]].
* VillainDecay: [[spoiler:{{Justified}}. After [[KnightTemplar the]] [[AxCraxy Twins]] attack ''all'' of the other Guardians on Khoorsandi at the climax of ''Black Light Express'' out of desperation to block the new K-Gate, the other Guardians quickly join forces to severely limit their powers, resulting in them being able to do nothing but complain by the time of ''Station Zero'']].

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

** The ''Damansk Rose'', a grouchy yet kind-hearted old locomotive recovered from the Dog Star Line by Zen and Nova - [[WhatAPieceOfJunk which turns out to be surprisingly well-armed]].

* 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.

* ModernStasis: Since their creation [[DeusEstMachina the Guardians]] have decreed that no more advanced [=AIs=] can be created -- they only begrudgingly allowed the creation of the android Motorik, who are limited to a human-level intellect at best and usually operate far below that. As a result, humans in the series have access to all manner of advanced technology, but still use the Internet, [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter projectile weapons]] and manual labour, and crime and poverty still exist. The reasons for this are [[WatsonianVersusDoylist twofold]], and explained further by Philip Reeve [[AllThereInTheManual in his blog]]: first, the Guardians are '[[{{Pride}} jealous gods]]' who rather enjoy lording it over humanity and don't want to share, and second, if this ''hadn't'' happened humanity would be an unrecognisable post-Singularity civilisation which would be difficult to understand or write about.

* InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien: [[spoiler:The [[{{Precursors}} Railmaker]]. An alien '[[DigitalAbomination data-entity]]' of mysterious origin, with a godlike level of power allowing it to [[DysonSphere cage multiple stars]] to provide power to its [[PortalNetwork K-Gates]] and other megastructures. Unfortunately for it, however, it's not only an ActualPacifist, but [[WideEyedIdealist the concept of war and hostility is so far from its mind]] that it doesn't even consider that it could be seen as a threat, and thus possesses no weapons or defences whatsoever. And, as it works to connect the civilisations of the galaxy together, it encounters [[DeusEstMachina the Guardians]] on Earth TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, who destroy it easily with a virus as it represents a threat to their own rule over humanity]].

* JerkassGods: [[DeusEstMachina The Guardians]], though on a macro scale as they (except from maybe [[AxCrazy the Twins]]) don't tend to screw with people ''directly''. Instead, they are fully capable of ending war and poverty, and dramatically advancing human civilisation through the use of technologies such as BrainUploading, but don't. Instead they prefer to role-play as deities and preserve their own superiority, necessitating the archaic system of power that is the Network Empire. They refuse to permit the development of any other [=AIs=], and [[spoiler:killed the Railmaker as they were convinced it would overshadow them]].

* JerkassGods: [[DeusEstMachina The Guardians]], though on a macro scale as they (except from maybe [[AxCrazy the Twins]]) don't tend to screw with people ''directly''. Instead, they are fully capable of ending war and poverty, and dramatically advancing human civilisation through the use of technologies such as BrainUploading, but don't, instead preferring to role-play as deities and preserve their own superiority, necessitating the archaic system of power that is the Network Empire. They refuse to permit the development of any other [=AIs=], and [[spoiler:killed the Railmaker as they were convinced it would overshadow them]].

* HoldingBackThePhelbotinum: Since their creation [[DeusEstMachina the Guardians]] have decreed that no more advanced [=AIs=] can be created -- they only begrudgingly allowed the creation of the android Motorik, who are limited to a human-level intellect at best and usually operate far below that. The reasons for this are [[WatsonianVersusDoylist twofold]], and explained further by Philip Reeve [[AllThereInTheManual in his blog]]: first, the Guardians are '[[{{Pride}} jealous gods]]' who rather enjoy lording it over humanity and don't want anything to get in the way of that, and second, if this ''hadn't'' happened humanity would be an unrecognisable post-Singularity civilisation which would be difficult to understand or write about.

* HoldingBackThePhelbotinum: Since their creation [[DeusEstMachina the Guardians]] have decreed that no more advanced [=AIs=] can be created -- they only begrudgingly allowed the creation of the android Motorik, who are limited to a human-level intellect at best and usually operate far below that. The reasons for this are [[WatsonianVersusDoylist twofold]], and explained further by Philip Reeve [[AllThereInTheManual in his blog]]: first, the Guardians are '[[{{Pride}} jealous gods]]' who rather enjoy lording it over humanity and don't want anything to get in the way of that, and second, if this ''hadn't'' happened humanity would be an unrecognisable post-{{Singularity}} civilisation which would be difficult to understand or write about.

* GreyAndGreyMorality: The vast majority of the series' major characters and conflicts are subject to this, with the exceptions of the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuys Kraitt]], who really are just [[RapePillageAndBurn bloodthirsty marauders]], and the [[spoiler:Railmaker, which [[WideEyedIdealist caused its own death by being nice]]]]. For instnce

* GodInHumanForm: The Guardians are able to download their consciousnesses into artificial bodies known as "interfaces" - some are human, others are strange humanoids, animals, or even mystical creatures such as centaurs.

* CryoPrison: The standard form of incarceration throughout the Network Empire. It is mentioned that [[{{Justified}} this is a leftover relic from the Empire’s early days when planets were still being terraformed, and thus space and resources were scarce, making it a good way to remove criminals from society.]] [[AwesomeYetImpractical They are kept only out of tradition, as there’s no way to rehabilitate the prisoners]] and most, when released [[FishOutOfTemporalWater are suffering from such huge culture shocks]] that they immediately return to crime.

* TheReveal:
** [[spoiler: Raven isn't a normal human, he's a former [[BrainUploading digital demigod]] with [[MesACrowd multiple bodies]], and the [[DivineDate ex-lover of a Guardian]]]].
** [[spoiler: Alien civilisations exist, and Raven's plan is to build a new K-Gate to them.]]
** [[spoiler: The [[{{Precursors}} 'Railmakers']] are in fact only one entity, a [[DeusEstMachina godlike AI]] that was killed by the Guardians.]]
** [[spoiler: [[NotQuiteDead Nova is in fact the detached consciousness of the Railmaker]].]]

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: [[spoiler: In ''Black Light Express'', the Prells' assault on Grand Central is explicitly stated to have claimed 100 lives... Even though the planet is the capital of a galactic empire, with individual skyscrapers stated to have tens of thousands of residents, and the assault kicks off with missile strikes on the Imperial palace, a huge public building. No matter how good the Prells might be at reducing collateral damage, this number is impossibly low.]]

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:By 'killing' the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Railmaker]] with a computer virus, the Guardians managed to take down a ([[BenevolentAbomination friendly]]) DigitalAbomination that was ''[[UsefulNotes/AbusingTheKardashevScaleForFunAndProfit a strong type II on the Kardashev Scale]]'', while the Guardians at this point hailed from Earth, TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. It's strongly suggested that this staggering feat was ''only'' possible because the Railmaker was an ActualPacifist which didn't see the need for any kind of weapons or defences]].

* DigitalAbomination: [[spoiler:The Railmaker probably counts as this. It's an alien "data entity" of murky origin, powerful enough to ''construct multiple {{Dyson Sphere}}s''. Luckily for the galaxy, it's [[BenevolentAbomination very friendly]].