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* BodyguardCrush - After a very awkward start, [[spoiler: Drusilla Wayles]] starts to feel this way about Gersen.
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* BodyguardCrush - BodyguardCrush: After a very awkward start, [[spoiler: Drusilla Wayles]] starts to feel this way about Gersen.
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* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler: Howard Alan Treesong]] Eerily so.
** They are:
*** [[BloodKnight Loris Hohenger the Red]]
*** [[WarriorPoet Rhune Fader the Blue]]
*** [[BlackKnight Eia Panice the White]]
*** [[TricksterArchetype Spangleway the Jape]] (color: yellow)
*** [[TheChessmaster Mewness of the Green]]
*** [[EvilGenius Jeha Rais the Black]]
*** [[TheObiWan Immir]] (no colour), who seems to be an {{Expy}} of Treesong himself.
** They are:
*** [[BloodKnight Loris Hohenger the Red]]
*** [[WarriorPoet Rhune Fader the Blue]]
*** [[BlackKnight Eia Panice the White]]
*** [[TricksterArchetype Spangleway the Jape]] (color: yellow)
*** [[TheChessmaster Mewness of the Green]]
*** [[EvilGenius Jeha Rais the Black]]
*** [[TheObiWan Immir]] (no colour), who seems to be an {{Expy}} of Treesong himself.
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* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler: Howard Alan Treesong]] Eerily so.
**so. They are:
*** ** [[BloodKnight Loris Hohenger the Red]]
*** ** [[WarriorPoet Rhune Fader the Blue]]
*** ** [[BlackKnight Eia Panice the White]]
*** ** [[TricksterArchetype Spangleway the Jape]] (color: yellow)
*** ** [[TheChessmaster Mewness of the Green]]
*** ** [[EvilGenius Jeha Rais the Black]]
*** ** [[TheObiWan Immir]] (no colour), who seems to be an {{Expy}} of Treesong himself.
**
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[[quoteright:317:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/demon_princes.jpg]]
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* TheDragon: Attel Malagate has Beauty Dasce as his Dragon. Howard Alan Treesong has two CoDragons.
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* TheDragon: Attel Malagate has Beauty Dasce as his Dragon. Lens Larque has Bel Ruk. Howard Alan Treesong has two CoDragons.
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** Horribly subverted. You almost feel pity for Viole, because after all the effort he's put into [[spoiler: raising clones of the girl he wanted to love him, it all falls flat: one is terrified of him, another falls for his nemesis on sight, and a third laughs in his face and regards him as something of a bad joke.]]
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** Horribly subverted. You almost feel pity for Viole, him, because after all the effort he's put into [[spoiler: raising clones of the girl he wanted to love him, it all falls flat: one is terrified of him, another falls for his nemesis on sight, and a third laughs in his face and regards him as something of a bad joke.]]
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* AlwaysSaveTheGirl - ''The Palace of Love''. This is Navarth's primary motivation for visiting the titular building.
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* BodyguardCrush - After a very awkward start, [[spoiler: Drusilla Wayles]] starts to feel this way about Gersen.
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** Horribly subverted. You almost feel pity for Viole, because after all the effort he's put into [[spoiler: raising clones of the girl he wanted to love him, it all falls flat: one is terrified of him, another falls for his nemesis on sight, and a third laughs in his face and regards him as something of a bad joke.]]
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* AllPowerfulBystander: Gersen muses that the Institute could destroy the Demon Princes if it wanted to. The Triune informs him later that [[spoiler:it could easily control all of humanity if it wished, and that the Dexad (its highest council) will often sabotage the lower ranks' efforts at critical moments in order to prevent this from happening. This is probably the reason why, in one of the Footnotes, a senior Institute member is stated as hoping there are no disguised Star Kings among the membership.]]
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* AllPowerfulBystander: Gersen muses that the Institute could destroy the Demon Princes if it wanted to. The Triune informs him later that [[spoiler:it could easily control all of humanity if it wished, and that the Dexad (its highest council) will often sabotage the lower ranks' efforts at critical moments in order to prevent this from happening. This is probably the reason why, in one of why Treesong wanted to become Triune so badly; he had the Footnotes, a senior Institute member is stated as hoping there are no disguised Star Kings among ambition to become the membership.first Emperor of Human Space, and he came perilously close to doing so.]]
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* CounterfeitCash: Used in an ''epic'' scam in ''The Killing Machine''.
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* CounterfeitCash: Used in an ''epic'' scam in ''The Killing Machine''.Machine'' [[spoiler: The in-universe equivalent of 10,000,000,000,000 dollars]].
** Much of the Beyond. One of the first things that happens to new arrivals on many worlds Beyond is that they are interrogated by the Deweaseling Corps, a criminal organisation whose sole purpose for existing is the detection and extermination of law enforcement officers. On one landing, Gersen reflects that their absence is an indication that the planet is ''not'' under the control of slavers and other heinous criminals.
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* DuelOfSeduction: Alice Wroke has been told by Treesong to seduce Gersen for information. Gersen, however, is way ahead of her, and chooses to simply FeedTheMole.
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* DuelOfSeduction: Alice Wroke has been told by Treesong to seduce Gersen for information. Gersen, however, is way ahead of her, her and chooses to simply FeedTheMole.
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* FasterThanLightTravel: Called Jarnell intersplit. It's a kind of Warp Drive.
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* FasterThanLightTravel: Called the Jarnell intersplit.intersplit, after its inventor. It's a kind of Warp Drive.
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* FictionalDocument: Lots of these are used through all five books to round out the setting. Notable documents include the multi-volume ''Life'' by Unspiek, Baron Boddissey, (excomunicated from the human race); ''The Avatar's Apprentice, a Scroll of the Ninth Dimension'', a narrative romance populated by tricksters and used as an {{Epigraph}} whenever shenanigans are about to go down; and ''The Demon Princes'' by Caril Carphen, used as an EncyclopediaExposita.
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* FictionalDocument: Lots of these are used through all five books to round out the setting. Notable documents include the multi-volume ''Life'' by Unspiek, Baron Boddissey, (excomunicated Bodissey, (excommunicated from the human race); ''The Avatar's Apprentice, a Scroll of the Ninth Dimension'', a narrative romance populated by tricksters and used as an {{Epigraph}} whenever shenanigans are about to go down; and ''The Demon Princes'' by Caril Carphen, used as an EncyclopediaExposita.
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* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Gersen, on several occasions. Somewhat mitigated in that many of the people he does it to were trying to kill him at the time.
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* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Gersen, on several occasions. Somewhat mitigated in by the fact that many of the people he does it to were trying to kill him at the time.time.
* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Although we don't see it demonstrated, the Thribolt Gun is this - a projectile powered by the intersplit device that drives spacecraft, it is described as offering instantaneous capability over vast distances... provided that you can aim it adequately. It also offers the opportunity for a non-lethal warning shot, depending on the payload. Gersen has to be mindful of these when visiting some planets, as recklessly transgressing customs protocols can get you killed.
* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Although we don't see it demonstrated, the Thribolt Gun is this - a projectile powered by the intersplit device that drives spacecraft, it is described as offering instantaneous capability over vast distances... provided that you can aim it adequately. It also offers the opportunity for a non-lethal warning shot, depending on the payload. Gersen has to be mindful of these when visiting some planets, as recklessly transgressing customs protocols can get you killed.
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* [[spoiler: LastGirlWins: Alice Wroke]]
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* [[spoiler: LastGirlWins: [[spoiler: Alice Wroke]]
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** Young Kirth's first kill happened by this.
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** Young Kirth's first kill happened by this.this way.
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*** [[BloodKnight Lorris Hohenger the Red]]
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*** [[BloodKnight Lorris Loris Hohenger the Red]]
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* TakeAThirdOption: Lens Larque, after Gersen has arranged that he can either show up in court or forfeit his ship. [[spoiler: He blows it up and collects on the insurance... the policy for which is held by a company owned by Gersen.]]
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* TakeAThirdOption: Lens Larque, after Gersen has arranged that he can either show up in court (where Gersen plans to kill him) or forfeit his ship. [[spoiler: He blows it up and collects on the insurance... the policy for which is held by a company owned by Gersen.]]
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* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: The protagonist trains since childhood to avenge his parents deaths and his DoomedHomeTown, but after finally taking revenge on all of the titular princes, he realizes he no longer has any purpose in life, and is devastated.
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* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: The protagonist trains since childhood to avenge his parents parents' deaths and his DoomedHomeTown, but after finally taking revenge on all of the titular princes, he realizes he no longer has any purpose in life, life and is devastated.
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* [[spoiler: WifeHusbandry: Viole Falushe's motivation in ''The Palace of Love'', horribly mixed with TrulySingleParent.]]
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* [[spoiler: WifeHusbandry: [[spoiler: Viole Falushe's motivation in ''The Palace of Love'', horribly mixed with TrulySingleParent.]]
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** TheBrute: Lens Larke
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** TheBrute: Lens LarkeLarque.
** And in its defence, charnay is indeed delectable - it's just that it is lethally poisonous if prepared incorrectly.
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* PapaWolf: Navarth is a partial example. Although a neglectful and...erratic...parent to Drusilla / Jheral IV, he is still willing to go to great lengths and privations to get her back.
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* PapaWolf: Navarth is a partial example. Although a neglectful and...erratic... erratic... parent to Drusilla / Jheral IV, he is still willing to go to great lengths and privations to get her back.
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** Typically Darsh marriage is based on male earning and female homemaking, with no romantic attraction on either side and both partners affecting contempt for the other. Husband and wife will both be far more interested in forcing younger (but sexually mature) members of the opposite sex to accommodate their desires than in actual marital intimacy.
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* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: A charabanc-load of Methlen tourists of both sexes go out into the Darsh desert by moonlight, not realizing that the locals will consider this as willingly taking part in the rough sexual customs of Dar Sai. After having suffered unspeakable outrages (as the genteel Methlen consider it), they decide it is the better part of wisdom to return home and preserve each other's good names as best they can.
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Your shift key is lonely, don\'t forsake it!
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* FasterThanLightTravel: called Jarnell intersplit. It's a kind of Warp Drive.
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* FasterThanLightTravel: called Called Jarnell intersplit. It's a kind of Warp Drive.
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* RayGun: projacs are this.
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* RayGun: projacs Projacs are this.
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* FasterThanLightTravel: called Jarnell intersplit. It's a kind of Warp Drive.
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* RayGun: projacs are this.
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* AllPowerfulBystander: Gersen muses that the Institute could destroy the Demon Princes if it wanted to. The Triune informs him later that it could probably control all of humanity if it wished, and that the Dexad (its highest council) will often sabotage the lower ranks' efforts at critical moments in order to prevent this from happening. This is probably the reason why, in one of the Footnotes, a senior Institute member is stated as hoping there are no disguised Star Kings among the membership.
to:
* AllPowerfulBystander: Gersen muses that the Institute could destroy the Demon Princes if it wanted to. The Triune informs him later that it [[spoiler:it could probably easily control all of humanity if it wished, and that the Dexad (its highest council) will often sabotage the lower ranks' efforts at critical moments in order to prevent this from happening. This is probably the reason why, in one of the Footnotes, a senior Institute member is stated as hoping there are no disguised Star Kings among the membership.]]
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* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique
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* JackBauerInterrogationTechniqueJackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Gersen, on several occasions. Somewhat mitigated in that many of the people he does it to were trying to kill him at the time.
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* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Gersen gives one of these to a barbarian chieftan in ''The Killing Machine''.
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* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Gersen gives one of these to a barbarian chieftan chieftain in ''The Killing Machine''.
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* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Institute, again. Purposely, as it turns out.
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* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Institute, again.again, or at least the upper echelon. Purposely, as it turns out.
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* AllPowerfulBystander: Gersen muses that the Institute could destroy the Demon Princes if it wanted to.
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* AllPowerfulBystander: Gersen muses that the Institute could destroy the Demon Princes if it wanted to. The Triune informs him later that it could probably control all of humanity if it wished, and that the Dexad (its highest council) will often sabotage the lower ranks' efforts at critical moments in order to prevent this from happening. This is probably the reason why, in one of the Footnotes, a senior Institute member is stated as hoping there are no disguised Star Kings among the membership.
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* AncientConspiracy / AncientTradition: The Institute, which is officially "just" a society of philosophers. Its (many) detractors consider it to be the former.In some ways, it also resembles an AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil.
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* AncientConspiracy / AncientTradition: The Institute, which is officially "just" a society of philosophers. Its (many) detractors consider it to be the former. In some ways, it also resembles an AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil.
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* DevilInPlainSight: The Princes are very good at concealing themselves despite their notorious reputations.
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* DevilInPlainSight: The Princes are very good at concealing themselves despite their notorious reputations.reputations (and in Malagate's case, his literal inhumanity - but this latter ability is lampshaded by Gersen in-universe and also in the footnotes).
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*** [[TheObiWan Immir]] (no color)
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*** [[TheObiWan Immir]] (no color)colour), who seems to be an {{Expy}} of Treesong himself.
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rewriting Raven Hair Ivory Skin...
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* RavenHairIvorySkin: Both Jerdian Chanseth and Jheral Tinzy qualify as this: the former induces LoveAtFirstSight in Kirth Gersen; the latter was locally known as TheVamp, and had Viole Falushe obsessed with her to the point [[spoiler: of repeatedly cloning her after she died]].
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zero context examples and poorly written examples for Raven Hair Ivory Skin are being removed. If this example does fit this trope please re-add and elaborate by mentioning the character\'s pale skin, black hair, and explain how the work portrays them as outstandingly attractive.
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* RavenHairIvorySkin: Jerdian Chanseth, from ''The Face'', and Jheral Tinzy, from ''The Palace of Love.''
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** Well, you can't really blame Lens Larque for having been warped by upbringing in one of the most repulsive cultures ever imagined.
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* FictionalSport: Hadaul, in ''The Face''
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* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Jerdian Chanseth.
* HeadDesk: Gersen, "a man not given to demonstrations" does this when he realizes [[spoiler: he has just been [[OutGambitted maneuvered]] into paying Lens Larque a very large sum of money.]]
* [[SheCleansUpNicely He Cleans Up Nicely]]: Gersen, whenever he has to disguise himself.
* [[SheCleansUpNicely He Cleans Up Nicely]]: Gersen, whenever he has to disguise himself.
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* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Each of the Demon Princes has selected a name that appeals to him: Lens Larque is a predatory bird from his native planet; Howard Alan Treesong is named for the hero of an obscure story cycle; Kokor Hekkus' MeaningfulName comes from the screeching sound made by his title beheading machine.
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* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Each of the Demon Princes has selected a name that appeals to him: Lens Larque is a predatory bird from his native planet; Howard Alan Treesong is named for the hero of an obscure story cycle; Kokor Hekkus' MeaningfulName comes from the screeching sound made by his title titular beheading machine.
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* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Jerdian Chanseth, from ''The Face'', and Jheral Tinzy, from ''The Palace of Love.''
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* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: RavenHairIvorySkin: Jerdian Chanseth, from ''The Face'', and Jheral Tinzy, from ''The Palace of Love.''
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* UsedToBeASweetKid: Howard Alan Treesong is remembered fondly by his kindergarten teacher.
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* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Alusz Iphigenia is regarded as this.
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* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: The protagonist trains since childhood to avenge his parents deaths and his DoomedHomeTown, but after finally taking revenge on all of the titular princes, he realizes he no longer has any purpose in life, and is devastated.
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** VERY young men - the Darsh culture is essentially one of institutionalised paederasty, bordering on (if not crossing over into) paedophilia.
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** VERY ''Very'' young men - the Darsh culture is essentially one of institutionalised paederasty, bordering on (if not crossing over into) paedophilia.
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t he apparently once worked in a candy factory and
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* EvenMooksHaveLovedOnes: In ''The Star King'', Gersen [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique interrogates]] and kills a man who participated in the Mount Pleasant raid. Said man now has a wife and young son, whom Gersen meets.
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* FiveBadBand: the Demon Princes during the Mount Pleasant raid.
** TheBigBad: Howard Alan Treesong.
** TheDragon: Attel Malagate.
** TheEvilGenius: Kokor Hekkus.
** TheBrute: Lens Larke
** TheDarkChick: Viole Falushe.
** TheBigBad: Howard Alan Treesong.
** TheDragon: Attel Malagate.
** TheEvilGenius: Kokor Hekkus.
** TheBrute: Lens Larke
** TheDarkChick: Viole Falushe.
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t he apparently once worked in a candy factory and
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* GirlsWithMustaches: Darsh women, especially as they get older.
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* GirlsWithMustaches: GirlsWithMoustaches: Darsh women, especially as they get older.
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* GirlsWithMustaches: Darsh women, especially as they get older.
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Zero Context Example of renamed trope
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* HairOfGold: Alusz Iphigenia from ''The Killing Machine''.
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** {{Retcon}}ned [[hottip:*:(in a [[FootNoteFever footnote]])]] in the post-Apollo books to A.D. 1969, First Man on the Moon.
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** {{Retcon}}ned [[hottip:*:(in a [[FootNoteFever footnote]])]] in the post-Apollo books to A.D. 1969, First Man on the Moon.
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namespace
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A ScienceFiction pentalogy by JackVance, comprising these volumes:
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A ScienceFiction pentalogy by JackVance, Creator/JackVance, comprising these volumes:
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move ymmv items
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* CompleteMonster: Hardly needs to be said.
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* MoralEventHorizon: The Demon Princes crossed this (again) when they massacred and enslaved the entire population of a planet.
** By the time we meet them, they've long since relegated themselves to living on the wrong side of that line.
** By the time we meet them, they've long since relegated themselves to living on the wrong side of that line.
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Re-released in a two volume omnibus edition in 1997, simply titled ''The Demon Princes: Volume 1'' and ''The Demon Princes: Volume 2''.
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move to namespace, add missing \"The\" to title (used in ombibus edition)
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A ScienceFiction pentalogy by JackVance, comprising these volumes:
# ''Star King'' (1964)
# ''The Killing Machine'' (1964)
# ''The Palace of Love'' (1967)
# ''The Face'' (1979)
# ''The Book of Dreams'' (1981)
Set in the Oikumene, a loose [[TheFederation federation]] of planets, they chronicle the adventures of one Kirth Gersen as he exacts his revenge on five supercriminals — the "Demon Princes" — for their raid on his hometown, causing the death or enslavement of every inhabitant except himself and his grandfather.
----
!!Tropes in this series
* AbhorrentAdmirer: The Darsh of ''The Face'' seem to feel this way about each other, even (or [[NoAccountingForTaste especially]]) if they're married. One Darsh tradition is a chase for desirable sexual partners on the night of the full moon. Some of the women use younger, cuter (pre-mustache) women as bait. Rape in Darsh society appears to be part of the deal in courtship, and cuts both ways for both genders.
* AerithAndBob: Names in all five books range from slightly odd-sounding (Kirth Gersen) to fanciful (Kakarsis Asm) to... Myron Patch and Howard Alan Treesong.
* AlliterativeName: such as Silas Sparkhammer, Caril Carphen, and others.
* AllPowerfulBystander: Gersen muses that the Institute could destroy the Demon Princes if it wanted to.
* AlternativeCalendar: The calendar was recalibrated starting from A.D. 2000.
** {{Retcon}}ned [[hottip:*:(in a [[FootNoteFever footnote]])]] in the post-Apollo books to A.D. 1969, First Man on the Moon.
* AncientConspiracy / AncientTradition: The Institute, which is officially "just" a society of philosophers. Its (many) detractors consider it to be the former.In some ways, it also resembles an AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Skin, hair, and eye color can be altered at will. Notably, in the first book Gersen dates a GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe.
* {{Badass}}
* BadassGrandpa: Kirth Gersen's grandfather, who trains him and is hinted to have had criminal ties in the past.
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler: Howard Alan Treesong's other personalities decide this fate for him.]]
* BizarreSexualDimorphism: The HumanSubspecies known as the Darsh have women who are larger and hairier than the men (who are usually hairless after puberty) to the point of often growing {{Badass Mustache}}s.
* CelibateHero: Kirth Gersen, at first.
* CounterfeitCash: Used in an ''epic'' scam in ''The Killing Machine''.
* CompleteMonster: Hardly needs to be said.
* CloningBlues: [[spoiler: Viole Falushe has spent his entire career cloning the woman he desired, but can't get any of them to desire him.]]
* CrapsackWorld: Thamber.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: Marmelizing is a process mentioned in ''The Book of Dreams'' that turns a body into its own memorial statue. [[spoiler: It almost becomes Demon Prince Howard Alan Treesong's FateWorseThanDeath when the parents of one boy he killed beat Kirth Gersen to a revenge BestServedCold.]]
* DefaceOfTheMoon: [[spoiler: Lens Larque's final plan in ''The Face''.]]
-->'''Kirth Gersen:''' Go out into your back garden. There's a great Darsh face hanging over the garden wall.
* DevilInPlainSight: The Princes are very good at concealing themselves despite their notorious reputations.
* DoomedHometown: The Mount Pleasant colony.
* TheDragon: Attel Malagate has Beauty Dasce as his Dragon. Howard Alan Treesong has two CoDragons.
* DreadfulMusician: Gersen once goes undercover as a band member. Eventually, the target gets fed up and orders him thrown in the river. HilarityEnsues. [[spoiler: And you can also put an S on the front of "laughter".]]
* DuelOfSeduction: Alice Wroke has been told by Treesong to seduce Gersen for information. Gersen, however, is way ahead of her, and chooses to simply FeedTheMole.
* CoupDeGrace: [[spoiler: Howard Alan Treesong--to himself.]]
** Also indirectly [[spoiler:Suthiro the poisoner, whom Gersen has infected with ''cluthe'' but who still needs a finishing shot when Gersen nearly gets too close.]]
* EvilIsPetty: All five Demon Princes are seen exacting DisproportionateRetribution for relatively minor slights.
* EvilOverlooker: Justified in ''The Face'': it's actually [[spoiler: foreshadowing.]]
* FeudalFuture: The planet Thamber in ''The Killing Machine''.
** Specifically, it's being kept in medieval stasis by Kokor Hekkus for his personal playground.
* FictionalDocument: Lots of these are used through all five books to round out the setting. Notable documents include the multi-volume ''Life'' by Unspiek, Baron Boddissey, (excomunicated from the human race); ''The Avatar's Apprentice, a Scroll of the Ninth Dimension'', a narrative romance populated by tricksters and used as an {{Epigraph}} whenever shenanigans are about to go down; and ''The Demon Princes'' by Caril Carphen, used as an EncyclopediaExposita.
* ForeignQueasine: Half the food in the Oikumene.
* FoodPorn: The other half.
* FootnoteFever: The footnotes are seldom important to the core plot, instead adding color and forcing the reader to imagine what various strange words would sound like.
* FreudianExcuse: Almost all of the Demon Princes have poor or at least pathetic backgrounds, but that's far from justifying their crimes.
* GildedCage: Interchange in ''The Killing Machine'', a planet whose sole purpose is to house kidnap victims awaiting their ransom.
* GottaKillThemAll: [[spoiler: Except for Howard Alan Treesong, whom Gersen is satisfied has been broken as a man.]]
* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Pallis Atwrode in ''Star King.'' It's actually an artificial dye.
* HairOfGold: Alusz Iphigenia from ''The Killing Machine''.
* HeroesWantRedheads: Alice Wroke from ''The Book of Dreams''.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Averted. Marksmanship is Gersen's weakest point compared to his ninja-like hand-to-hand skills; in ''The Book of Dreams'' he has two opportunities to shoot at Howard Alan Treesong, and fails to deal a killing blow both times.
* InsultBackfire:
--> '''Gersen:''': "In your youth, you committed many outrages."
--> '''Navarth''': "I'm a mad poet! I've committed outrages my whole life!"
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Malagate is killed by the world he wanted to conquer.]]
* [[spoiler: LastGirlWins: Alice Wroke]]
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Demon Princes Howard Alan Treesong (''The Book of Dreams'') and Viole Falushe (''The Palace of Love''). ''Especially'' Viole Falushe.
* MadArtist: Navarth the poet (''The Palace of Love''). Depending on your tastes, his poems as seen in the book may be a fine example of StylisticSuck.
* MasochistsMeal: Darsh food is intentionally vile: the people of Dar Sai seem to pride themselves on their ability to stomach it. The once-mentioned Sandusker cult also has the same attitude to their food. And part of ''The Book Of Dreams'' revolves around a banquet for the highest-ranking members of The Institute at which ''charnay'' is served - a foodstuff which, apart from being fruit, is more or less a direct stand-in for ''fugu''.
* MasterPoisoner: The planet Sarkovy's [[PlanetOfHats Hat]] is brewing and finding creative ways to administer poisons. The higher ranks of their grand masters can be {{Poisonous Person}}s, although in a touch of realism, these people tend to die rapidly themselves. Hero Kirth Gersen spent several instructive years there, to the point of being able to outwit and infect a rival Master Poisoner.
* MoralEventHorizon: The Demon Princes crossed this (again) when they massacred and enslaved the entire population of a planet.
** By the time we meet them, they've long since relegated themselves to living on the wrong side of that line.
* MuggingTheMonster:
** Young Kirth's first kill happened by this.
** A story is recounted of a mugger who tried to jump Howard Alan Treesong, who at that point was [[TheSyndicate licensing every criminal act in that section of the Oikumene]]. Treesong had the man arrested.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Each of the Demon Princes has selected a name that appeals to him: Lens Larque is a predatory bird from his native planet; Howard Alan Treesong is named for the hero of an obscure story cycle; Kokor Hekkus' MeaningfulName comes from the screeching sound made by his title beheading machine.
* NightmareFetishist: Kokor Hekkus.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Gersen gives one of these to a barbarian chieftan in ''The Killing Machine''.
* NotSoDifferent: In ''The Face'', [[spoiler:Kirth Gersen decides to carry out Lens Larque's final plan — and for pretty much the exact same reason]].
* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Institute, again. Purposely, as it turns out.
* PapaWolf: Navarth is a partial example. Although a neglectful and...erratic...parent to Drusilla / Jheral IV, he is still willing to go to great lengths and privations to get her back.
* PlanetOfHats: Sarkovy, a Planet of Poisoners (mentioned in ''Star King'' and featured in ''The Palace of Love'') as well as Methlen (''The Face''), a Planet of Snobs. One of the planets of ''The Book of Dreams'' is clearly influenced by the DeepSouth.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Jerdian Chanseth, from ''The Face'', and Jheral Tinzy, from ''The Palace of Love.''
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Kokor Hekkus has been operating for two hundred and eighty-seven years.
* RescueSex: Jerdian Chanseth.
* ReunionRevenge: Howard Alan Treesong does this in ''The Book of Dreams''.
* RevengeBeforeReason: A recurring theme throughout the series. One of Gersen's girlfriends leaves him when he refuses to end his quest for revenge.
* SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: Kirth has been trained by his grandfather [[TykeBomb since childhood]] in fighting, assassination, poisons, weapons, disguise... but his socializing abilities are primarily focused on infiltration rather than regular human interaction.
* SpiderTank: The "dnzad".
* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler: Howard Alan Treesong]] Eerily so.
** They are:
*** [[BloodKnight Lorris Hohenger the Red]]
*** [[WarriorPoet Rhune Fader the Blue]]
*** [[BlackKnight Eia Panice the White]]
*** [[TricksterArchetype Spangleway the Jape]] (color: yellow)
*** [[TheChessmaster Mewness of the Green]]
*** [[EvilGenius Jeha Rais the Black]]
*** [[TheObiWan Immir]] (no color)
* TheStoic: Jehan Addels. High-ranked members of the Institute are expected to be this.
* SoWhatDoWeDoNow: The final lines of ''The Book of Dreams'':
-->"I have been deserted by my enemies. Treesong is dead. The affair is over. I am done."
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Alusz Iphigenia.
* TakeAThirdOption: Lens Larque, after Gersen has arranged that he can either show up in court or forfeit his ship. [[spoiler: He blows it up and collects on the insurance... the policy for which is held by a company owned by Gersen.]]
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: used straight and subverted in one case, where Gersen's opponent was wearing a mail vest and he had to scramble to get his knife back. [[spoiler:The second time, he aims for the bare throat.]]
* TransplantedHumans: Through colonization of the Oikumene, and to the extent that HumanSubspecies exist. Apart from the Star Kings (a race of [[AdaptiveAbility adaptable aliens]] to which the first Demon Prince, Attel Malagate, belongs), no other sapient aliens are seen in the entire series.
** There are hints of extinct sapient races whose extinction predated human arrival on their planet.
* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: Part of the reason the slave trade thrives.
* [[spoiler: WifeHusbandry: Viole Falushe's motivation in ''The Palace of Love'', horribly mixed with TrulySingleParent.]]
* WhipItGood: Lens Larque (''The Face'') has a whip named Panak. A traditional art form on his planet, Dar Sai, is a dance where nude young men are whipped into performing acrobatic maneuvers by an older male.
** VERY young men - the Darsh culture is essentially one of institutionalised paederasty, bordering on (if not crossing over into) paedophilia.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Or blue (red, gold, green, etc.) skin — cosmetic dyeing is very fashionable throughout the Oikumene.
* YouKilledMyFather: Part of Gersen's motivation [[spoiler: as well as Alice Wroke's]].
----
# ''Star King'' (1964)
# ''The Killing Machine'' (1964)
# ''The Palace of Love'' (1967)
# ''The Face'' (1979)
# ''The Book of Dreams'' (1981)
Set in the Oikumene, a loose [[TheFederation federation]] of planets, they chronicle the adventures of one Kirth Gersen as he exacts his revenge on five supercriminals — the "Demon Princes" — for their raid on his hometown, causing the death or enslavement of every inhabitant except himself and his grandfather.
----
!!Tropes in this series
* AbhorrentAdmirer: The Darsh of ''The Face'' seem to feel this way about each other, even (or [[NoAccountingForTaste especially]]) if they're married. One Darsh tradition is a chase for desirable sexual partners on the night of the full moon. Some of the women use younger, cuter (pre-mustache) women as bait. Rape in Darsh society appears to be part of the deal in courtship, and cuts both ways for both genders.
* AerithAndBob: Names in all five books range from slightly odd-sounding (Kirth Gersen) to fanciful (Kakarsis Asm) to... Myron Patch and Howard Alan Treesong.
* AlliterativeName: such as Silas Sparkhammer, Caril Carphen, and others.
* AllPowerfulBystander: Gersen muses that the Institute could destroy the Demon Princes if it wanted to.
* AlternativeCalendar: The calendar was recalibrated starting from A.D. 2000.
** {{Retcon}}ned [[hottip:*:(in a [[FootNoteFever footnote]])]] in the post-Apollo books to A.D. 1969, First Man on the Moon.
* AncientConspiracy / AncientTradition: The Institute, which is officially "just" a society of philosophers. Its (many) detractors consider it to be the former.In some ways, it also resembles an AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Skin, hair, and eye color can be altered at will. Notably, in the first book Gersen dates a GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe.
* {{Badass}}
* BadassGrandpa: Kirth Gersen's grandfather, who trains him and is hinted to have had criminal ties in the past.
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler: Howard Alan Treesong's other personalities decide this fate for him.]]
* BizarreSexualDimorphism: The HumanSubspecies known as the Darsh have women who are larger and hairier than the men (who are usually hairless after puberty) to the point of often growing {{Badass Mustache}}s.
* CelibateHero: Kirth Gersen, at first.
* CounterfeitCash: Used in an ''epic'' scam in ''The Killing Machine''.
* CompleteMonster: Hardly needs to be said.
* CloningBlues: [[spoiler: Viole Falushe has spent his entire career cloning the woman he desired, but can't get any of them to desire him.]]
* CrapsackWorld: Thamber.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: Marmelizing is a process mentioned in ''The Book of Dreams'' that turns a body into its own memorial statue. [[spoiler: It almost becomes Demon Prince Howard Alan Treesong's FateWorseThanDeath when the parents of one boy he killed beat Kirth Gersen to a revenge BestServedCold.]]
* DefaceOfTheMoon: [[spoiler: Lens Larque's final plan in ''The Face''.]]
-->'''Kirth Gersen:''' Go out into your back garden. There's a great Darsh face hanging over the garden wall.
* DevilInPlainSight: The Princes are very good at concealing themselves despite their notorious reputations.
* DoomedHometown: The Mount Pleasant colony.
* TheDragon: Attel Malagate has Beauty Dasce as his Dragon. Howard Alan Treesong has two CoDragons.
* DreadfulMusician: Gersen once goes undercover as a band member. Eventually, the target gets fed up and orders him thrown in the river. HilarityEnsues. [[spoiler: And you can also put an S on the front of "laughter".]]
* DuelOfSeduction: Alice Wroke has been told by Treesong to seduce Gersen for information. Gersen, however, is way ahead of her, and chooses to simply FeedTheMole.
* CoupDeGrace: [[spoiler: Howard Alan Treesong--to himself.]]
** Also indirectly [[spoiler:Suthiro the poisoner, whom Gersen has infected with ''cluthe'' but who still needs a finishing shot when Gersen nearly gets too close.]]
* EvilIsPetty: All five Demon Princes are seen exacting DisproportionateRetribution for relatively minor slights.
* EvilOverlooker: Justified in ''The Face'': it's actually [[spoiler: foreshadowing.]]
* FeudalFuture: The planet Thamber in ''The Killing Machine''.
** Specifically, it's being kept in medieval stasis by Kokor Hekkus for his personal playground.
* FictionalDocument: Lots of these are used through all five books to round out the setting. Notable documents include the multi-volume ''Life'' by Unspiek, Baron Boddissey, (excomunicated from the human race); ''The Avatar's Apprentice, a Scroll of the Ninth Dimension'', a narrative romance populated by tricksters and used as an {{Epigraph}} whenever shenanigans are about to go down; and ''The Demon Princes'' by Caril Carphen, used as an EncyclopediaExposita.
* ForeignQueasine: Half the food in the Oikumene.
* FoodPorn: The other half.
* FootnoteFever: The footnotes are seldom important to the core plot, instead adding color and forcing the reader to imagine what various strange words would sound like.
* FreudianExcuse: Almost all of the Demon Princes have poor or at least pathetic backgrounds, but that's far from justifying their crimes.
* GildedCage: Interchange in ''The Killing Machine'', a planet whose sole purpose is to house kidnap victims awaiting their ransom.
* GottaKillThemAll: [[spoiler: Except for Howard Alan Treesong, whom Gersen is satisfied has been broken as a man.]]
* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Pallis Atwrode in ''Star King.'' It's actually an artificial dye.
* HairOfGold: Alusz Iphigenia from ''The Killing Machine''.
* HeroesWantRedheads: Alice Wroke from ''The Book of Dreams''.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Averted. Marksmanship is Gersen's weakest point compared to his ninja-like hand-to-hand skills; in ''The Book of Dreams'' he has two opportunities to shoot at Howard Alan Treesong, and fails to deal a killing blow both times.
* InsultBackfire:
--> '''Gersen:''': "In your youth, you committed many outrages."
--> '''Navarth''': "I'm a mad poet! I've committed outrages my whole life!"
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Malagate is killed by the world he wanted to conquer.]]
* [[spoiler: LastGirlWins: Alice Wroke]]
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Demon Princes Howard Alan Treesong (''The Book of Dreams'') and Viole Falushe (''The Palace of Love''). ''Especially'' Viole Falushe.
* MadArtist: Navarth the poet (''The Palace of Love''). Depending on your tastes, his poems as seen in the book may be a fine example of StylisticSuck.
* MasochistsMeal: Darsh food is intentionally vile: the people of Dar Sai seem to pride themselves on their ability to stomach it. The once-mentioned Sandusker cult also has the same attitude to their food. And part of ''The Book Of Dreams'' revolves around a banquet for the highest-ranking members of The Institute at which ''charnay'' is served - a foodstuff which, apart from being fruit, is more or less a direct stand-in for ''fugu''.
* MasterPoisoner: The planet Sarkovy's [[PlanetOfHats Hat]] is brewing and finding creative ways to administer poisons. The higher ranks of their grand masters can be {{Poisonous Person}}s, although in a touch of realism, these people tend to die rapidly themselves. Hero Kirth Gersen spent several instructive years there, to the point of being able to outwit and infect a rival Master Poisoner.
* MoralEventHorizon: The Demon Princes crossed this (again) when they massacred and enslaved the entire population of a planet.
** By the time we meet them, they've long since relegated themselves to living on the wrong side of that line.
* MuggingTheMonster:
** Young Kirth's first kill happened by this.
** A story is recounted of a mugger who tried to jump Howard Alan Treesong, who at that point was [[TheSyndicate licensing every criminal act in that section of the Oikumene]]. Treesong had the man arrested.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Each of the Demon Princes has selected a name that appeals to him: Lens Larque is a predatory bird from his native planet; Howard Alan Treesong is named for the hero of an obscure story cycle; Kokor Hekkus' MeaningfulName comes from the screeching sound made by his title beheading machine.
* NightmareFetishist: Kokor Hekkus.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Gersen gives one of these to a barbarian chieftan in ''The Killing Machine''.
* NotSoDifferent: In ''The Face'', [[spoiler:Kirth Gersen decides to carry out Lens Larque's final plan — and for pretty much the exact same reason]].
* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Institute, again. Purposely, as it turns out.
* PapaWolf: Navarth is a partial example. Although a neglectful and...erratic...parent to Drusilla / Jheral IV, he is still willing to go to great lengths and privations to get her back.
* PlanetOfHats: Sarkovy, a Planet of Poisoners (mentioned in ''Star King'' and featured in ''The Palace of Love'') as well as Methlen (''The Face''), a Planet of Snobs. One of the planets of ''The Book of Dreams'' is clearly influenced by the DeepSouth.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Jerdian Chanseth, from ''The Face'', and Jheral Tinzy, from ''The Palace of Love.''
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Kokor Hekkus has been operating for two hundred and eighty-seven years.
* RescueSex: Jerdian Chanseth.
* ReunionRevenge: Howard Alan Treesong does this in ''The Book of Dreams''.
* RevengeBeforeReason: A recurring theme throughout the series. One of Gersen's girlfriends leaves him when he refuses to end his quest for revenge.
* SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: Kirth has been trained by his grandfather [[TykeBomb since childhood]] in fighting, assassination, poisons, weapons, disguise... but his socializing abilities are primarily focused on infiltration rather than regular human interaction.
* SpiderTank: The "dnzad".
* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler: Howard Alan Treesong]] Eerily so.
** They are:
*** [[BloodKnight Lorris Hohenger the Red]]
*** [[WarriorPoet Rhune Fader the Blue]]
*** [[BlackKnight Eia Panice the White]]
*** [[TricksterArchetype Spangleway the Jape]] (color: yellow)
*** [[TheChessmaster Mewness of the Green]]
*** [[EvilGenius Jeha Rais the Black]]
*** [[TheObiWan Immir]] (no color)
* TheStoic: Jehan Addels. High-ranked members of the Institute are expected to be this.
* SoWhatDoWeDoNow: The final lines of ''The Book of Dreams'':
-->"I have been deserted by my enemies. Treesong is dead. The affair is over. I am done."
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Alusz Iphigenia.
* TakeAThirdOption: Lens Larque, after Gersen has arranged that he can either show up in court or forfeit his ship. [[spoiler: He blows it up and collects on the insurance... the policy for which is held by a company owned by Gersen.]]
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: used straight and subverted in one case, where Gersen's opponent was wearing a mail vest and he had to scramble to get his knife back. [[spoiler:The second time, he aims for the bare throat.]]
* TransplantedHumans: Through colonization of the Oikumene, and to the extent that HumanSubspecies exist. Apart from the Star Kings (a race of [[AdaptiveAbility adaptable aliens]] to which the first Demon Prince, Attel Malagate, belongs), no other sapient aliens are seen in the entire series.
** There are hints of extinct sapient races whose extinction predated human arrival on their planet.
* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: Part of the reason the slave trade thrives.
* [[spoiler: WifeHusbandry: Viole Falushe's motivation in ''The Palace of Love'', horribly mixed with TrulySingleParent.]]
* WhipItGood: Lens Larque (''The Face'') has a whip named Panak. A traditional art form on his planet, Dar Sai, is a dance where nude young men are whipped into performing acrobatic maneuvers by an older male.
** VERY young men - the Darsh culture is essentially one of institutionalised paederasty, bordering on (if not crossing over into) paedophilia.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Or blue (red, gold, green, etc.) skin — cosmetic dyeing is very fashionable throughout the Oikumene.
* YouKilledMyFather: Part of Gersen's motivation [[spoiler: as well as Alice Wroke's]].
----
