The Chronicles Of Jakwin is a planned trilogy of fantasy novels by the creator of Benders And Brawlers. It is highly subversive, and is almost a Deconstruction of a fantasy novel.
The story revolves around Alexia of the House of Priam, heir to one of the noble houses of Avenlo. Avenlo is both a city and a country, ruled by both a King and a council of nobles who struggle against each other for power. Alexia is a member of the City Guard, a law enforcement organization who is well-known and considered to be the best of its kind.
Alexia is also haunted by dreams she won't tell anyone about and suicidal thoughts. Her partner, Tristan, is oblivious to her depression. One day, the two of them are out patrolling when they encounter a criminal named Craven. When Tristan chases after a thief, Alexia buys something from him. She is seen by a member of the Royal Guard, the City Guard's rivals who are only loyal to the king. And later that day, Craven ends up dead.
Alexia is accused of the crime and ends up exiled. She wanders without purpose until she is captured by a band of Orcs who threaten to make her their sex slave. She is rescued by a half-Orc named Derrin who asks her to join him on his quest; a quest to save a young girl from a mad king. Avenlo's king. And it turns out the girl, Zaina, may not be so helpless after all...
Since only two chapters have been written, tropes are subject to change, but it's planned to contain examples of:
- Actually, I Am Him: An indirect version happens when Alexia meets Zaina and asks her if she knows Duncan Reed. She's his adopted daughter and the person Alexia's actually looking for.
- Badass Normal: Almost every character that isn't a caster.
- Bad Powers, Bad People: Both subverted by Zaina and played straight by the villains.
- Black Magic
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Deconstructed. Happens twice (by different means) and both times it's implied the victim subconsciously wanted to do the things they were ordered to do.
- Call-Back: No specific examples yet, but expect to see them because the author likes that sort of thing.
- Charles Atlas Super Power: Almost every character that isn't a caster.
- Charm Person: Most wizards can do this.
- Combat Tentacles: Zaina
- Comforting Comforter: It's possible this may happen at some point between Alexia and Zaina.
- Compelling Voice: The Serpent Queen
- Cool Sword: Alexia's Zweihander. Also, the Golden Sword.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Alexia's basic planning strategy. Either this or Indy Ploy.
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Moment of Awesome: Every main character gets at least one. - Cry for the Devil: Very likely to happen with nearly every villain.
- Cursed with Awesome: Zaina's natural necromancy.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Zaina is afraid of increasing her power because most necromantic spells are like this.
- Demonic Possession: A main plot point, so I won't go into details.
- Emotion Bomb: Zaina can do this with the Fear variant, even though she's a good guy. The Serpent Queen, a villain, does this with Despair.
- Empathic Weapon: The Golden Sword.
- Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy: At one point, the heroes have to sneak into a ball to talk to a Duke. Alexia surprises everyone by not only being able to curtsy, but by being intimately familiar with upper class ettiquette. Of course, they don't know her Backstory.
- Fighting from the Inside
- Full-Contact Magic: The Magical Gesture bit below? It's kinda like a whole body gesture.
- Functional Magic: Sorcerers use Inherent Gift while wizards use Vancian Magic. There is also Theurgy and Device Magic. Most of the styles of magic are present. Did I mention this was originally inspired by Dungeons & Dragons?
- Genre-Busting: It's a Dark Fantasy/Cosmic Horror Story/Western/Psychological Thriller. With a bit of Police Procedural and Mystery Fiction thrown in.
- Healing Hands: Brother Jason
- Holy Hand Grenade: Most of Brother Jason's powers after he reappears in Book 3.
- Ki Manipulation: The rest of Brother Jason's powers after he reappears in Book 3.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Tristan, Alexia's former partner in the Guard, takes his ancestral shield when he leaves to go find her.
- Mental World: Alexia is forced into one by a villain, where she fights a representation of her evil side.
- Mind Rape: A magical form is used by both King Ulrin and the Serpent Queen.
- More than Mind Control: See Brainwashed and Crazy.
- Personality Powers: Subverted by Zaina, a necromancer who is shy, kind-hearted, and mortally afraid of her powers.
- Power Degeneration: It is thought by some that necromancers lose their humanity the more they use their powers.
- Puppeteer Parasite: Interacts with Demonic Possession.
- Spell Construction: Combining Magical Gesture, Mana and Calling Your Attacks.
- Squishy Wizard: Although the magic is Full-Contact Magic, most casters are slight and would not be able to stand up to many physical attacks.
- Touch of Death: Soulless uses this power almost casually.
- Trouble Follows You Home: Actually, the trouble was there before Alexia even left; she was just unaware of it.
- Turn Undead
- Whatevermancy
- White Magic
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity and Comes Great Responsibility: The line is made very, very thin.
