History Literature / Ravenor

* ForTheEvulz: At the climax of ''Ravenor Rogue'', Molotch has to invoke an evil, soul-corrupting and warp-infused incantation to enact the spell that has any chance of defeating Slyte. He writes it down and makes Ravenor say it, just because he can and because he knows that the Inquisitor has no choice to refuse.
* GaiasLament: Petropolis is a sterling example. Generations of dirty industry left enough air pollution that a slightly ravenous acid rain is a common occurrence, causing acid rain exposure-induced cancer to be the biggest killer of the population just behind pollution-related emphysemas. And with some shades of {{cyberpunk}} to go with the rest of the WretchedHive.

* BavarianFireDrill: Patience bluffs her way through the Carnivora’s kitchens by claiming to be one of the lord governor’s food inspectors making a random sweep.

* BreakingTheFellowship: The trilogy ends with Ravenor’s team falling apart. [[spoiler:Zeph, Angharad, and Carl are all dead. Nayl and Belknap both walk out. Zael, Frauka, and Iosob are taken away for psychic testing, never to be seen by Ravenor again. Unwerth and Preest have broken off contact with him. And Kara is awaiting trial for the crime of keeping Slyte’s existence a secret. Maud and Patience are the only people still standing by Ravenor’s side at the end of it all.]]

* ChekhovsGun: Partway through the first book, Patience notices some sharp-edged fish scales hanging from a wall and decides to take a few as trophies. At the book’s climax, Patience—having lost all her other weapons—uses those scales to slit Madsen’s throat.
* CircusOfFear: The Carnivora is a Roman-style circus where gladiators fight to the death as the main event, while acrobats perform death-defying stunts without safety nets (and get casually fired if they're late), and drugged mutant clowns get eaten alive by alien beasts as sideshows for the crowd's amusement. Ravenor’s people infiltrate the Carnivora's daily show as part of their investigation into the flect trade, getting into fights with some of the staff and beasts in the process.

* EvilVersusEvil: In ''Ravenor Returned'', the Divine Fratery cult comes into conflict with Jader Trice’s Secretists. The Secretists, better trained, better equipped, and having the element of surprise, wipe out the Divine Fratery in a lightning raid on the cult’s headquarters.

* HumanSacrifice: Orfeo Culzean’s ritual to awaken the Brass Thief requires sacrificial offerings to be caged up within the magic circle, so that the daemon can slaughter and feed on them when it manifests. Only then will it be willing to obey its summoner’s commands.
* HungryWeapon: A minor villain in the second books owns a sentient, vampiric sword that thirsts for blood. It can move under its own power when she isn’t wielding it, can magically pull blood out of any wound it inflicts, and will gleefully suck up any blood presented to it, even that of its master.

* InternalAffairs: The Interior Cases department of the Petropolis Magistratum is a villainous example. They have the financial backing of the BigBad, and they shut down the entire Special Crimes department after one of its members discovers something they shouldn’t have.

* OrphanageOfFear: Patience grew up in the Kindred Youth Scholam. On the surface it seems like a respectable charitable institution, giving slum orphans a home and an education, but in reality it’s a front for laundering children and young adults into the hands of criminals for nefarious purposes. Ravenor shuts the place down as part of an investigation.

* PowerNullifier: The villains clamp a psionic nullifier unit onto Ravenor’s chair while his mind is [[AstralProjection occupied elsewhere]]. Since he relies on his psychic powers to do everything, including controlling his chair, this renders him helpless until the device is removed.

* FoeYay: Despite their decades-long pursuit and evasion that both admit can only end in the death of the other, this is Molotch to Ravenor. Towards the climax of ''Ravenor Rogue'', the Inquisitor is captured by Molotch and his henchmen - despite having been horrendously maimed and repeatedly thwarted by Ravenor in previous stories, the first thing that Molotch does is kneel down and hug Ravenor's chair in a display of respectful commiseration.

* UrbanSegregation: Petropolis, capital of Eustis Majoris, is a particularly interesting example in terms of layout. The hive's major hazard is acid rain that only started regularly occurring after centuries of industrial pollution. In many places the upper levels, damaged by non-stop exposure to caustic water, have been abandoned to destitute squatters and gangs as a result. The truly wealthy live deeper in the hive, with the best mansions and complexes being entirely underground. Even the simple possession of an acid-treated umbrella is a sign of success, with the wealthy having rain-proof palanquins with forcefields to prevent their passenger from having to risk getting a single drop near them. The middle class can hire "dampers", people who own a large umbrella, to protect them from the rain for a time; the poor make do with prayer paper (which does absolutely nothing to protect them) or no umbrellas at all.

* BaldOfAwesome: Nayl's shaved/oiled scalp mentioned a few times

* FeatheredFiend: The sheen birds of Petropolis seem like a mere curiosity - in a city where the weather can kill, the locals made artificial fauna to enjoy. But with the right skills and equipment, sheen birds can be organized into murderous flocks known at the Unkindness, which claim a number of victims in ''Ravenor Returned''.

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler: Slyte. It's first manifestation is as a black skeletal humanoid glowing with a baleful red aura; Molotch claims that this form is only Slyte's "harbinger". When it ''really'' arrives, it's true form turns out to be a fleshy mass of spines, mouths, and writhing tentacles that rapidly grows to the size of a mountain.]]

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler: Slyte. His first manifestation is as a black skeletal humanoid glowing with a baleful red aura; Molotch claims that this form is only Slyte's "harbinger". When he ''really'' arrives, Angharad decapitates this form, and gloats a bit. Molotch says, "You stupid [[PrecisionFStrike bitch.]] Weren't you listening? That wasn't Slyte. ''That's'' Slyte." And he points to the enormous fleshy mass of spines, mouths, and writhing tentacles breaking through the wall.]]

* EvilVersusEvil: In ''Ravenor Returned'', the Divine Fratery cult comes into conflict with Jader Trice’s Secretists. The Secretists, being better trained, better equipped, and having the element of surprise, wipe out the Divine Fratery in a lightning raid on the cult’s headquarters.

* FantasticDrug: Several. Lho-sticks, a narcotic which are analogous to, and as common as cigarettes. There are others mentioned, including yellodes, grinweed, baby blues, redlines, and obscura; the exact nature of most isn't exactly known beyond a street name, but obscura [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin can obscure somebody]] from psychic perception.

* FoeYay: Despite their decades-long pursuit and evasion that both admit can only end in the death of the other, this is Molech to Ravenor. Towards the climax of ''Ravenor Rogue'', the Inquisitor is captured by Molech and his henchmen - despite having been horrendously maimed and repeatedly thwarted by Ravenor in previous stories, the first thing that Molech does is kneel down and hug Ravenor's chair in a display of respectful commiseration.
* ForTheEvulz: At the climax of ''Ravenor Rogue'', Molech has to invoke an evil, soul-corrupting and warp-infused incantation to enact the spell that has any chance of defeating Slyte. He writes it down and makes Ravenor say it, just because he can and because he knows that the Inquisitor has no choice to refuse.

* PornStash: Frauka's porno slates. Though not much of a ''hidden'' stash, as he reads them in plain view and purely for comedic value.

* SherlockScan: [[spoiler: Molotch]] while at a restaurant at the beginning of ''Ravenor Rogue''. With the added bonus of using it to identify several different ways they could destroy the government of the ''entire planet'' they're currently on, cripple economies across several nearby worlds, etc., with nothing more than a single object or poison in the right place.

* UrbanSegregation: Petropolis, capital of Eustis Majoris, is a particularly interesting example in terms of layout. The hive's major hazard is acid rain, so in many places the upper levels, damaged by non-stop exposure to caustic water, have been abandoned to destitute squatters and gangs. The truly wealthy live deeper in the hive, with the best mansions and complexes being entirely underground. Even the simple possession of an acid-treated umbrella is a sign of success, with the wealthy having rain-proof palanquins with forcefields to prevent their passenger from having to risk getting a single drop near them; the poor make due with prayer paper or no umbrellas at all.

* MythologyGag: In ''Ravenor Rogue'', Sholto Unwerth is explaining why he is so short and bearded to Patrik Belknap, the medicae. "...it is much derailed, in places high and low...that there ever was a race of beings of the name the squats, and many scholams and those of the high mindful claim it's just a myth, a thing that never was..." He goes on to explain that his great grandfather stated that his family has squat-blood in his lineage. The lampshade is on the fact that until the 1990s, the ''Warhammer 40,000'' game included an army of "space dwarves" called Squats. In the interests of removing 40k from her fantasy sister, Games Workshop removed them from the game, and then relentlessly purged any mention of them from canon, on their official forums, or allowed anyone to ask about them in official conventions. Many fans wanted them back, calling it "The Squat Question," and Dan Abnett is likely one of those.

The first of the novels, ''Ravenor'', features the team's investigation into a suspicious drug known as Flects on Eustis Majoris. ''Ravenor Returned'' leads the heroes deeper into a conspiracy encompassing the whole world, and begins [[spoiler:[[TheSmartGuy Carl Thonius]]'s fall into Chaos]]. The third novel, ''Ravenor Rogue'' ties the threads together and finishes this particular arc. There are also two short stories, collected along with the three novels in an omnibus edition. The first, ''Playing Patience'', is set between the ''Literature/{{Eisenhorn}}'' trilogy and this one, and the second, ''Thorn Wishes Talon'', is set between ''Ravenor'' and ''Ravenor Returns'' and fills in some extra backstory. The series is followed by the Literature/{{Bequin}} trilogy.

** [[spoiler: The sequel series, ''Literature/RavenorVsEisenhorn'', reveals that Ravenor, Kys, and Swole were eventually allowed back into the Inquisition.]]

The first of the novels, ''Ravenor'', features the team's investigation into a suspicious drug known as Flects on Eustis Majoris. ''Ravenor Returned'' leads the heroes deeper into a conspiracy encompassing the whole world, and begins [[spoiler:[[TheSmartGuy Carl Thonius]]'s fall into Chaos]]. The third novel, ''Ravenor Rogue'' ties the threads together and finishes this particular arc. There are also two short stories, collected along with the three novels in an omnibus edition. The first, ''Playing Patience'', is set between the ''Literature/{{Eisenhorn}}'' trilogy and this one, and the second, ''Thorn Wishes Talon'', is set between ''Ravenor'' and ''Ravenor Returns'' and fills in some extra backstory. The author has begun a third Inquisition trilogy, Literature/RavenorVsEisenhorn.

A trilogy of novels set in the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' [[CrapsackWorld universe]] featuring the heavily disabled psyker Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor and his [[FiveManBand retinue]], written by Creator/DanAbnett.

* AndIMustScream: Ravenor has a mild form of this all the time, reliant entirely on his chair for sight and sound and unable to touch anything. The classic NightmareFuel example is his default state without the chair - a limbless, blind, deaf, mute lump of burned flesh that the surgeons had to cut a hole in just to feed him.

* ExactWords: In ''Ravenor Rogue'', Ravenor tries to make the tri-portal take him back to his proper time and place by concentrating on the name Arethusa and the year 404. Because he wasn’t specific enough, the tri-portal brings him to ''Listening Post'' Arethusa rather than the ship ''Arethusa'', in the year 404 of the previous millennium.

* MaleGaze: In the descriptions of Patience Kys and Kara Swole. Subject to either FridgeBrilliance or AuthorsSavingThrow in the third book, which reveals that Ravenor (whose point of view much of the series is written from) is actually kind of creepy at times, not helped by him being locked in a ruined shell of a body normally and regularly possesses his field agents.

* CapturedSuperEntity: Ravenor's [[Literature/{{Eisenhorn}} backstory]] involves a few, where an arranged tragedy allowed some incredibly powerful psykers to escape Inquisitorial custody. The incident, along with killing thousands and damaged an Imperial hive permanently, left Ravenor extremely handicapped and disfigured and he remains so in the present.

* CircusOfFear: The Carnivora is a Roman-style circus where gladiators fight to the death as the main event, while acrobats perform death-defying stunts without safety nets and drugged clowns get eaten alive by alien beasts as sideshows. Ravenor’s people infiltrate the Carnivora as part of their investigation into the flect trade, getting into fights with some of the staff and beasts in the process.

** Inquisitor Lillith, a fairly important minor character in Literature/GauntsGhosts is encountered late in the series.
** In another series, flects are sold by a street dealer on Red Corsair held world during [[Literature/IronWarriors the Skull Harvest]].

** More seriously, Ravenor spends the entire third book and most of the second believing that Zael is [[spoiler:the host of Slyte]]. The readers have known since at least the climax of ''Ravenor Returned'' that [[spoiler:it's really Carl Thonius]].

* EarlyBirdCameo: A large [[spoiler:brood of Tyranid Hormogaunts]] appears in ''Ravenor Rogue'', when Ravenor & co. use the [[spoiler:tri-portal]] to travel to another world. This is a few hundred years before [[spoiler:their "official" first contact with the Imperium]]. Suitably, everyone's reaction is some form of "[[OhCrap What the hell is that?!]]"

--> '''Culzean:''' [[GoodCannotComprehendEvil You don't really understand us, do you, Gideon? You don't really understand our beliefs and our ambitions. We're just evil, an evil to be stopped. And all evil is the same to you.]] It carries the same weight... me, [[spoiler:Zygmunt, Slyte]]. You're so blinkered. You've been through [[PortalDoor the door]], Gideon. [[TimeTravel I'll wager it showed you a future or two.]] Pleasant?\\

* FeatheredFiend: The sheen birds of Petropolis seem like a mere curiosity - in a city where the weather can kill, the locals made artificial fauna to enjoy. But with the right skills sheen birds can be organised into murderous flocks known at the Unkindness, which claim a number of victims in ''Ravenor Returned''.

** The most fantastic and most story-relevant are the "hallucinogenic" flects, shards of glass saturated with energy from [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace the Warp]], used by looking into them to see a "reflection" of something in the warp. One addict, who, beside going through a psychological and physical breakdown, had visions of the future while under the influence.
* GaiasLament: Petropolis is a sterling example. Generations of dirty industry left enough air pollution that a slightly ravenous acid rain a common occurrence, rain exposure-induced cancer are the biggest killer just behind pollution-related emphysemas. And with some shades of {{cyberpunk}} to go with the rest of the WretchedHive.
* GeniusBreedingAct[=/=]SuperBreedingProgram: the Cognitae was partially this. Lilean Chase created the Cognitae school to develop, "by means psychic, eugenic and noetic" an entire generation of highly intelligent and competent heretics, and many of their modern agents are descended from her in one way or another.
* GladiatorGames: Carnivora Circus is mainly about blood sport, particularly when they dispose of intruders.

* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Belknap. [[spoiler: It's what causes him to leave Kara at the end when he finds out that she partly hid Thonius's demonic possession (and was healed by him and not an Emperor derived miracle as Belknap had hoped]].

* LanguageOfMagic: Enuncia. When Kys infiltrates a decoding process, even the partial decoded stuff is enough to make her ill. She's pulled away from the cogitator by two managers and they discover her identity, but she is able to use the phrase that made her sick against her captors, which causes ''them'' to be violently ill, giving her a chance to escape.

* MaleGaze: In the descriptions of Patience Kys and Kara Swole. Subject to either FridgeBrilliance or AuthorsSavingThrow in the third book, which reveals that Ravenor (whose point of view much of the series is written from) is actually kind of creepy at times.

* MythologyGag: In ''Ravenor Rogue'', Sholto Unwerth is explaining why he is so short and bearded to Patrik Belknap, the medicae. "...it is much derailed, in places high and low...that there ever was a race of beings of the name the squats, and many scholams and those of the high mindful claim it's just a myth, a thing that never was..." He goes on to explain that his great grandfather stated that his family has squat-blood in his lineage. The lampshade is on the fact that until the 1990s, the ''Warhammer 40,000'' game included an army of "space dwarves" called Squats. In the interests of removing 40k from her fantasy sister, Games Workshop removed them from the game. Many fans want them back, calling it "The Squat Question," and Dan Abnett is likely one of those.
* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler:The Divine Fratery never found Eisenhorn's after they "dealt" with him]].[[spoiler: They were very, very wrong.]]
* NotSoAboveItAll: For most of the first book (and his prior appearances in Eisenhorn) Ravenor gives every impression of being educated, civil, and pragmatic in person. His education and study post-internment made him an even more perceptive scholar. Attempting to kill everyone he cares about, rendering him helpless with a psy limiter, trying to break into his chair with a boarding axe whilst threatening to kill those he cares about? His first action after being freed will be to reduce you to a fine red paste against a bulkhead with absolutely zero pity, a hint of vindictive pleasure, and no finesse whatsoever.

* ParryingBullets: {{Averted|Trope}} at one point as when one character attempts this Harlon Nayl's answer is to switch to [[MoreDakka full auto]] and shoot her to bits.

* PornStash: Frauka's porno slates. Though not much of a stash, as he reads them in plain view and purely for comedic value.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Like every other Inquisition warband in the history of the ordos, ever.
* RealityWarper: Enuncia is a language that can rewrite reality, but it causes physical harm to humans who speak it, or even see it. [[spoiler:The Secretists plan to harness the focusing powers secretly built into Petropolis to avert the harmful effects and create the trope.]]

* RightHandVersusLeftHand: The Inquisition in a nutshell, to the point that Ravenor considers the possibility that flects are possibly the work of a rival Inquisitor.

* RoomFullOfCrazy: A flect addict takes to drawing on the walls of a derelict penthouse and basically does not stop until the bodily stress and warp-taint kills him.

* SherlockScan: [[spoiler: Molotch]] while at a restaurant at the beginning of ''Ravenor Rogue''. With the added bonus of using it to identify several different ways he could destroy the government of the entire planet, cripple economies across several nearby worlds, etc.
* ShowWithinAShow: Ravenor's a famous writer of philosophy and commentaries, making his writings a Type 1 in this trilogy, though it never becomes a plot point. His writings and books are sometimes referred to by various characters in the 40K canon, though particularly in Abnett's work, making him a Type 2 in most other works, though Culzean first recognizes his name as "that writer".
* SoulCrushingDeskJob: Nayl doesn't complain about much, but he ''does'' complain about having to pose as a records runner in an Administratum office tower. All the characters involved in this infiltration are miserable the whole time and find the work and the work environment utterly unbearable. And they aren't over-reacting - during their time there an anonymous scribe dies of a seizure at his keyboard, and none of the staff seem shocked by this.

* TheAce: Ravenor's role as Eisenhorn's Interrogator.

* UnreliableNarrator: Usually averted. Although the novels have significantly large sections written from Ravenor's first person perspective, he tends to be remarkably honest and GenreSavvy, even pointing out some of his unflattering habits. Examples include his inappropriate attraction to Kara Swole, his jealousy of her relationship with Belknap, and his outrage that Nayl would dare try to hide a secret from him.

* UrbanSegregation: Petropolis, capital of Eustis Majoris, is a particularly interesting example in terms of layout. The hive's major hazard is acid rain, so in many places the upper levels, damaged by non-stop exposure to caustic water, have been abandoned to squatters and gangs.