Literature / Alien Chronicles

Cover of The Golden One, the first book in the series. Cover art by Bob Eggleton.

The Alien Chronicles — also known as Lucasfilm's Alien Chronicles — is a trilogy of Sci-Fi novels by Deborah Chester, published by Lucasfilm. The books tell the tale of how a single Aaroun slave named Ampris leads an uprising against the cruel but crumbling Viis Empire, becoming a legend to the abiru — the various species enslaved by the Viis — in the process. It reads largely like a cross between The Book of Exodus and the story of Spartacus, in space!

The first book, The Golden One, tells of Ampris' birth and "adoption" as the pet of Israi, the future Empress of the Viis. Ampris enjoys a privileged yet restrictive life, until she starts reading forbidden records that challenges her Stockholm Syndrome for the Viis. The emperor ultimately casts her out of the palace to punish Israi over a prank gone wrong, placing Ampris on her fateful journey to freedom.

The second book, The Crimson Claw, chronicles Ampris' fight for survival in the empire's gladiator rings. With the help of her Kelth friend Elrabin, she uses her celebrity and influence to plant the seeds of La Résistance, but falls as hard and quickly as she rose.

The third book, The Crystal Eye, shows us how Ampris — now living free in the wilderness with Elrabin and a small band of abiru — returns to civilization to confront her old friend Israi for the last time, before making a desperate bid to free the abiru from Viis tyranny once and for all.

Oh, and did we mention that no humans exist anywhere in the series? That's right: only aliens. Articles on the now-defunct website (which lives on only as a Wayback Machine backup on the Internet Archive) explain that it was inspired by Monsters and Aliens From George Lucas, an art book of Star Wars alien design released a few years earlier. The book's success spurred plans for a series of novels to flesh out some of the species depicted.

However, the original plans were much different to the end result, not least of all by actually being set in the Star Wars universe. Robert J. Sawyer was originally tapped to write the trilogy, with the first installment to be known as Alien Exodus. Ironically, humans would have taken center stage, with Alien Exodus serving as an origin story for humanity in the Star Wars universe. But in the end, disagreements between Ace Books and Lucasfilm resulted in the decision that the books would not be associated with Star Wars after all. Sawyer departed the project, Chester was brought in, and thus Alien Chronicles — now set in an original but distinctly Star Wars-esque universe — was born.

The trilogy doesn't appear to have sold very well, and has become fairly obscure as a result. But it did receive some subtle nods in the Star Wars Legends continuity, establishing that the Viis Empire and the Aaroun at least did exist. It's not hard to imagine Ampris' adventures occurring in a quiet corner of the Star Wars universe after all.

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Provides Examples Of:

• 11th-Hour Ranger: Jobul the Myal medic is only introduced about halfway through the third book, but proves integral to Ampris' plans. He develops the disease that tricks the Viis into thinking a new strain of the Dancing Death has arrived, causing enough panic that the abiru exodus escapes the Viis Empire safely. He also cares for Ampris during her final days, ensuring she lives long enough to briefly experience the abiru's new homeworld firsthand.
• Absent Aliens: Inverted. Everyone is an alien. It's the humans who are absent.
• Accidental Murder: After being cast from the palace and sold to a wealthy household known to the imperial family, Ampris breaks into the office to contact Israi using the communication equipment there. The head of the household discovers her and attacks, and she ends up unintentionally killing him in self-defense. She soon flees in blind panic, leading to her being abducted for the second time in her life and sold to a gladiator school.
• Action Girl:
  • Ampris. Some may argue that her actions in the third book constitute Faux Action Girl, but at least when she's in the gladiator rings she's definitely kicking ass.
  • We're also introduced to several other female Aaroun gladiators during Ampris' time as a gladiator.
    • Ylea is the initial leader of the Blues team, with the strength and prowess to back it up.
    • Lamina is a later addition to the team that Ampris considers a competent fighter, if an unimaginative one.
    • There's also Sheir, Ampris' rival at the Bizsi Mo’ad gladiator school. While the two never end up fighting, her description highlights that she'd be no slouch in the ring.
• Adaptation Distillation: The audio adaptation drops some character-focused scenes from Ampris' childhood in the first book and her gladiator training in the second, instead focusing on scenes that move the plot forward.
• Affectionate Nickname: Ampris receives a few of these based on her unusual golden fur. Her mother and several other characters refer to her by some variation of 'golden one', but the most consistent is Elrabin calling her 'Goldie'.
• All Gravity Is the Same: Averted. The planet Fariance has much stronger gravity than Viismyel. Galard Stables maintains its training center for the Blues gladiator team there, using it to further develop the gladiators' muscles. Ampris struggles to adapt to the difference when she begins training, even though she's in peak physical condition upon arrival.
• Alpha Bitch: Israi.
• Always Chaotic Evil:
  • Members of the Toth species almost always appear as criminals or enforcers throughout the series. The number of times we see Toth not falling into either category can be counted on one hand.
  • The Viis themselves have shades of this as well, with almost all engaging in (or at least unquestionably supporting) evil acts such as slavery of the abiru and inflicting violence against those who resist. Of the few Viis who don't act like this, most are Viis Rejects (an underclass wracked with genetic defects) rather than regular Viis.
• Ancient Artifact: The Eye of Clarity, an amulet featuring a disk with radiating points and a small crystal in the middle. Apparently several Eyes of Clarity have existed throughout history in the possession of various species , including the Aaroun and Myal. Only one comes into play, introduced to Ampris by Bish the archivist as he tries to open her eyes to Viis oppression and teach her the near-lost heritage of the Aaroun. He claims that the Eye bestows great wisdom unto its wearer - at least once they've proven themselves worthy. Israi ends up giving it as a parting gift when Ampris is cast from the palace, putting its mythical claims to the test. Sure enough, the Eye of Clarity displays some of the only truly supernatural properties in the trilogy. Often, this takes the form of providing Ampris with visions, but at one point it teleports her out of danger.
• A Protagonist Shall Lead Them
• Assassin Outclassin': A previous Kaa singlehandedly fought off five Aaroun servants attempting to assassinate him. Their heads have been preserved as trophies, much to Ampris' horror.
• Asshole Victim: At the Vess Vaas lab, the abiru test subjects are overseen by a Kelth caretaker named Niruo. Not only does he look down on and torment his fellow abiru, but it's all but stated that he's sexually harassing the young Kelth Shevin. Ampris doesn't hesitate to kill him when he tries to stop her and the other subjects from escaping, even using one of her old gladiator moves to do so. It doesn't help that Niruo tries taking one of her sons hostage, with predictable results.
• Assimilation Plot: The Viis engage in this culturally with the species they enslave, often suppressing knowledge of their culture and history. Ampris is actually raised to believe there was never a time that the Aaroun didn't live under Viis rule, while Elrabin concedes he never really thought about the Kelth's pre-Viis history (or even their homeworld) since he's typically too busy struggling to survive. The Viis also claim certain cultural accomplishments as their own, with one popular musical instrument seen throughout the series being revealed to have been Aaroun in origin, not Viis.
• Audio Adaptation: The first two books were adapted into audio plays, complete with full casts and original music. The third book wasn't adapted, however.
• Badass in Distress: Ampris as the Crimson Claw, after a condemned Zrhel engineer, whom Ampris was desperately trying to talk to rather then just kill, manages to get in a lucky shot and severs her heel tendon, permanently ending her gladiator career and crippling her for life.
• Batman Gambit: The Freedom Network's master plan hinges on the Viis reacting as they usually do to the Dancing Death plague, namely with blind terror. By convincing the Viis that the disease has returned in a mutated form, they cause enough panic in the crumbling Viis Empire for civil society to begin breaking down and the abiru exodus to depart Viis space without interception.
• Beast Man: What many of the species boil down to. Though varying wildly in biology, appearance and behavior, most of them have some sort of animal basis and conduct themselves in ways recognizable to humans.
  • The Viis are reptilian, with a tall stature and prominent rill used to display emotions. The artwork of Israi on the back cover of the third book indicate that they have ridged faces, beak-like noses, and the obligatory scales. However, genetic damage from the Dancing Death plague leaves many hatchlings with defects, leading to an underclass known as the Rejects.
  • Aaroun are vaguely feline, with their size, muscular builds and thick pelts making them primarily reminiscent of big cats. The artwork of Ampris on the back cover of the first book indicates they have powerful jaws, somewhat flat faces, and tall triangular ears.
  • Kelth are canine in appearance, though their meek and cunning nature gives them more of a vulpine impression. The artwork of Elrabin on the back cover of the second book shows that they have long muzzles and manes.
  • Myal are small, simian-like beings known for their intelligence.
  • Zrheli are avians that - despite being insular, noisy and foul-smelling - have a knack for handling quantum hardware.
  • Toth are bovine in appearance and strong in nature, with large heads, beady eyes, thick hair and floppy ears. They are notably unintelligent, and disposed to violence.
  • Gorlicans are another reptilian species, albeit closer to turtles than lizards. Their torsos are encased in a hard shell, their bodies are covered in thick scales, and their faces curve into a horned beak for their upper lip.
  • Samparese are mustelids with long, lithe and graceful bodies, covered in short fur. They have sinewy necks, wedge-shaped heads, blunt muzzles and sharp fangs.
  • Averted by a couple of the species, who veer more into Starfish Alien territory.
    • Phiveans are cephlapods with thick, elongated bodies, numerous tentacles, four stout legs, flat spade-shaped tails, and bulbous heads. They are said to never be completely still.
    • Skeks are rodentlike creatures with multiple limbs and furry bodies. They are noted for being Explosive Breeders.
• The Beautiful Elite: The Viis, who actually judge individual worth by attractiveness, force aliens they find particularly (namely the Gorlicans) to wear masks in public to avoid offending them. "Ugly" Viis are a separate social class called Rejects. The Rejects join the Freedom Fighters in Book 3, playing a crucial part in helping Ampris cause the entire Viis empire to BSOD. They turn her offer of joining the abiru on Ruu-113 down, however, preferring to stay behind and remold Viis society instead.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Ampris is generally kind to everyone, but when she gets dangerous, watch out.
• Big Damn Heroes: Elrabin gets several.
• Binding Ancient Treaty: The Osoa Treaty. As the Aaroun fought desperately against Viis subjugation centuries before the trilogy takes place, their homeworld of Sargas III was suddenly wracked by ecological collapse and subsequent famine from an unknown bacterial contaminant. The Viis - secretly the ones responsible for the contaminant - withdrew their armies and offered a deal: they would evacuate the Aaroun population and restore Sargas III's biosphere, and in exchange the Aaroun people would repay them by offering their skills as builders, architects, sociologists, healers, and musicians under indentured servitude. The Aaroun scholar Osoa spearheaded the negotiations, which were filled with deceptive wording from the Viis. But with his people dying of starvation, Osoa ran out of time to negotiate and was forced to accept the deal. The Viis subsequently destroyed Sargas III shortly after the Aaroun were evacuated, with discussion the Treaty - and indeed much of Aaroun culture - becoming forbidden as the Aaroun were forced to toil as slaves. It's only in the third book that Ampris rediscovers the Treaty in the Imperial Archives, using it to help rally the abiru and expose the treacherous nature of the Viis.
• Bittersweet Ending: Ampris' rebels deal a crippling blow to the Viis Empire, with its collapse offering the more sympathetic Viis Rejects a chance to build something new in its place. Meanwhile, many abiru join Ampris' pilgrimage to Ruu-113, and the Eye of Clarity gives her a vision of the free and prosperous society they will build there. But with her health failing due to illness and injury, she realizes that this future will not be one she will witness for herself. Sure enough, Ampris dies peacefully on the surface of their new world, surrounded by her now-liberated friends and family.
• Black-and-Grey Morality: The Abiru Freedom Network has a righteous cause of overthrowing the tyrannical Viis and freeing the abiru, but resort to some questionable tactics like associating with criminals and biological terrorism (though Ampris refuses suggestions that they escalate it to the point of genocide). Even so, compared to the extensive and brutal crimes of the Viis, the Network is still easily the sympathetic side of the struggle.
• Blessed with Suck:
  • Ampris' beautiful golden coat causes her to be stolen from her mother three days after being born, because she'll turn a profit on the slave market.
  • After Ampris flees the family she was sold to after being kicked out of the palace, she ends up abducted and sold to a gladiator school. There, she applies herself to training as hard as she can in the hopes of becoming a trainer instead of an actual gladiator, sparing her a life spent killing her fellow abiru. Though her request is initially accepted, she proves too good in her graduation bout against her own trainer, and her owners realize she's more valuable sold to a gladiator team than kept behind as a trainer.
• Blood Sport: Ampris ends up a champion of this.
• Break the Cutie: The abuse Ampris suffers over the trilogy turns her from an innocent youngster to a hardened warrior.
• Breeding Slave:
  • When Ampris is cast from the palace and sent to a slave auction, the auctioneer suggests she would make an excellent addition to Aaroun breeding stock due to her unique pelt. Luckily, Ampris instead ends up being sent to an upper-class household on Israi's orders.
  • After a crippling injury ends her gladiator career, Ampris is sent to a research lab where several abiru women are used to create half-Viis hybrids, with the ultimate goal being splicing abiru resistance to the Dancing Death over to the Viis. The resultant children are often dissected, and the abiru women themselves are taken away and implied to be killed if they can no longer bear children. After being forced to bear a litter of half-Viis cubs, and having her sole daughter dissected less than a day after her birth, Ampris manages to escape with the other prisoners while destroying the facility behind her.
• Cain and Abel: Israi and Ampris start out as master and pet, which develops into a deeper friendship. In the end, however, Israi becomes ruler of the Viis Empire while Ampris leads La Résistance against it.
  • Nashmarl and Foloth, Ampris' half-Aaroun half-Viis children from her Medical Rape and Impregnate in the second book, display a good deal of this in the third book. Not only do the two frequently quarrel, but Nashmarl focuses on his Aaroun side while Foloth focuses on his Viis side. Ampris also receives a vision from the Eye of Clarity that indicates the two brothers will remain at odds after the abiru exodus to Ruu-113 at the conclusion of the series, possibly for leadership of the new abiru society. The vision does leave her with a feeling that they will eventually reconcile, though.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp":
  • The term "abiru" is used to refer to the various species the Viis have enslaved.
  • There are also a number of Viis terms used for titles (e.g. "Kaa" being their emperor, "Sri-Kaa" being the Kaa's heir, etc.) and life stages (e.g. "chune" for infants, "ta-chune" for children, "vi-adult" for teenagers / young adults, "lun-adult" for older adults, etc.).
  • Kelth children are referred to as "lits".
• Call-Back: The audiobooks add a couple of these that weren't in the original novels, even though the things they're calling back to were.
  • While recovering in hospital from a gladiator match, an Aaroun nurse introduces Ampris to the concept of "Erizana" - the last daughter an Aaroun mother will have, with whom she will have a special bond. Ampris cries out "my Erizana" in grief as Ehssk takes her newborn daughter away for dissection.
  • In a more humorous example, in the first book Elrabin is infatuated with - and later tries to escape a Patroller raid with the help of - a pair of twin Kelth prostitutes. During an argument with Ampris in the second book, he brings up the twins giving him an ear rub as his idea of a dream come true.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • Israi's brother Oviel is painfully aware that the Viis Empire is in a very precarious position - far more than most Viis characters care to acknowledge - and believes that Israi is too incompetent to sit the throne. But once Sahmrahd Kaa dies, Israi easily outmaneuvers Oviel and his flimsy claim to the throne, becoming the next Kaa. Under Israi's rule, the Empire goes on to decline even further.
  • Chancellor Gaveid also believes that the Viis species and its empire are doomed to decline, even through Sahmrahd Kaa refuses to believe such claims. Many of Gaveid's suggestions and warnings go unheeded with predictable results.
• Cat Folk: Ampris' race is apparently this, though the artwork on the paperbacks makes her look like a cross between a dog and an ape.
• Character Development:
  • Being raised as little more than a pet to the future ruler of the Viis, Ampris has a hard time shaking the idealized, benevolent vision of the Viis that she had been taught growing up. Even when she comes to recognize just how oppressive they are, she still struggles to convince her fellow abiru to mount any sort of resistance for fear of reprisal. While she remains a very idealistic character, she does come to temper her beliefs, such as by acknowledging that the abiru will still argue among themselves even if they did throw off the yoke of Viis oppression. She also develops fighting and leadership skills that help her actually build a following and put her plans into action.
  • Elrabin initially aspires to nothing more than a life of crime pursuing wealth for himself, with his impoverished upbringing, run-ins with the law, and numerous betrayals at the hands of others leaving him deeply cynical. Over time, his friendship with Ampris and reluctant participation in her schemes sees him begin to care more about others, even going as far as risking his life to save her. He also goes from being something of a Casanova Wannabe who lusts after prostitutes in the first book to settling into a tender - if somewhat strained - relationship with Velia as of the third.
• Chew Toy: Elrabin's life before he meets Ampris.
• Children Forced to Kill: Adolescent abiru can be abducted off the street and sold to gladiator schools, if Ampris' experience is any indication. By the time they graduate and are pushed into the ring for real, they're still in their late teens.
• The Chosen One:
  • While not played completely straight, the history of the aliens - hinted at on the blurbs of the various books - position Ampris as this by virtue of a Foregone Conclusion. The blurb of the first book especially gives this impression.
  History will name her Ampris the Exile. Leader of the Great Emancipation. Conquerer of the Viis.
  • Bish and the other archivists view Ampris as this on account of her unique position in the royal household, believing that she may one day influence Israi into freeing the abiru.
• Civil War: The Viis Empire is engaged in a minor one, suppressing an insurgency on its fringes. The details are limited, and it's never made entirely clear what the rebels are fighting for or whether they are Viis, abiru or both. The conflict escalates to the point of successfully repelling a major offensive by the Viis Empire's navy, costing it about two thirds of its invasion force and the life of Israi's right-hand general, whose Reasonable Authority Figure influence had helped rein in the worst of her hotheadedness. But perhaps most consequentially, the rebels cut much of the empire off from vital resources, bringing it closer to the brink of collapse and levelling the playing field for the Freedom Network.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Velia, Elrabin's mate as of The Crystal Eye, whose behavior is consistently screechy and unhelpful. It turns out she thinks Elrabin only takes pity on her, while truly loving Ampris. Given that Ampris and Elrabin are both unwilling to seek a lover outside of their respective species, Ampris assures her that they're Just Friends.
• Condemned Contestant: At the low point in her gladiatorial career, Ampris finds herself being forced into the role of mercenary executioner, killing untrained political prisoners and unarmed convicts. She doesn't take it too well, though her brief attempt at going on strike was met with unmerciful torture.
• Creepy Child: Ampris' half-Aaroun, half-Viis sons Nashmarl and Foloth count as this for other races. Leads to Wangst, naturally.
• Daddy's Little Villain: Israi, so much.
• Deadly Gas: Zeron gas makes repeated appearances, and becomes a Chekhov's Gun during Ampris' imprisonment in the lab.
• Deadly Prank: Israi grows jealous of Lady Zureal, her father's new favorite wife. When Zureal sends her an insultingly infantile gift, Israi decides to respond by giving Zureal a gift of cosmetics laced with itching powder. It turns out Zureal geninely didn't realize Israi's age, and intended no insult by her gift. Israi pushes on with the plan anyway despite Ampris' protests, leading to Zureal suffering an allergic reaction to the powder that causes her to miscarry the Kaa's eggs. The Kaa has the merchant who sold Israi the powder executed, and casts Ampris out of the palace to punish Israi.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Both played straight and subverted, repeatedly, and often harshly.
• Dirty Cop: The Viis Patrollers - vicious as they can be - are also surprisingly corrupt. Both Tiff the brothel owner and Barthul the drug lord pay off the local Patrollers to turn a blind eye to their activities, though the Patrollers don't always keep their end of the bargain. When Elrabin's father Cuvein is arrested, the Patrollers openly plot to sell him to a labor camp instead of bothering with the paperwork of arresting him officially.
• Divided We Fall: Ampris fights an uphill battle even starting an abiru resistance movement, with distrust, paranoia and fear running deep after centuries of Viis oppression.
• Dramatic Irony: The trilogy begins with Ampris being taken from her mother just days after birth and sold into slavery, leaving her mother distraught upon losing her only daughter. In the second book, a very similar scene leaves Ampris just as devastated when her own daughter taken away and dissected shortly after birth.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Ampris earns this not for herself, but for the rest of the abiru. Through her sacrifice, many are finally able to begin a new life and civilization free from Viis rule.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The Viis unleashed this against the Aaroun homeworld of Sargas III. They drew power from its sun and directed the energy towards the planet, leaving it a lifeless rock. The Aaroun themselves and many cultural artifacts had already been 'evacuated' (i.e. enslaved and stolen, respectively) from the planet by this point, though.
• The Emperor: The Kaa. Sahmrahd Kaa, specifically, is on the throne when the series opens.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite being a ruthless and often incompetent tyrant at the helm of a slave-driving empire, Sahmrahd Kaa truly loves his family. He falls head over heels in love with Lady Zureal, appreciates the input of his son Oviel in matters of state, and loves Israi despite her troubling behavior. Israi herself gets this to a lesser extent, though she tends to only realize how much certain people mean to her after they pass away or otherwise leave her life, such as when her nursemaid Subi dies or after Ampris is cast from the palace.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • The Viis will happily enslave and oppress any species they come across. However, they are very strict in ensuring sex workers do not take underage clients. This comes up when Elrabin visits a brothel's bar to speak with his deadbeat father, and the owner's wife very nearly turns him away. At that point, Elrabin is just shy of the legally-mandated age of twenty, and she fears the legal consequences of his mere presence in the establishment.
  • While Ehssk is well-respected among the Viis leadership and is an avid supporter in return, when Israi learns that he killed and dissected Ampris' daughter she is taken aback by the revelation. She even silences him when he tries to defend himself.
• Explosive Breeder: The rodentlike Skek fit this so well, they're an almost literal instance of the trope at one point.
  The Skek exploded in his arms. One moment Elrabin had been in possession of a solid mass of kicking, leggy fur; the next he seemed to be juggling pieces of Skek in all directions.
  For a second Elrabin actually thought the creature had blown up, then a piece of fur no bigger than his fist went bouncing onto the pavement and skittered away from him as fast as it could go.
  “Babies!” he said in astonishment as another piece of fur landed on the ground. The rest were squirming inside his coat, crawling up his arms, escaping him despite his every effort. He still had hold of the adult, although it was much smaller than it had been at first.
• Fantastic Drug: Dust, a highly addictive narcotic that the Viis try unsuccessfully to crack down on. Elrabin's father is an addict, and Elrabin himself becomes a Dust runner at one point out of desperation.
• Fantastic Racism: The themes are definitely there.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
  • The Viis Empire is partially based upon the Roman Empire. This is most obvious with its gladiator games, but there's also its slow decline due to internal problems and enemy action. By the end of the trilogy, its fall has well and truly arrived.
  • There's also some similarity to ancient Egypt, mainly with the Book of Exodus parallels.
  • In comparison to the original plan for the trilogy as Alien Exodus, the Viis Empire is the counterpart of the Varlian Empire. Similarly, the free abiru civilization founded on Ruu-113 at the end of the trilogy is equivalent to the free human civilization founded on Corellia at the end of Alien Exodus.
• Fascist, but Inefficient: As oppressive as the Viis Empire is, it's clearly in decline. Most work is done by slaves, which is both inefficient and open to sabotage. Desperation among the abiru has led to a surprising amount of criminal activity, despite Viis efforts to clamp down on it with violence. The Viis themselves certainly don't help matters, making extremely shortsighted or vindictive decisions. Their technological knowledge also appears to be slowly becoming forgotten, as they have grown accustomed to not having to do any work themselves, even before the destruction of the imperial archives at Israi's hands.
• Faux Affably Evil: The Viis Mad Scientist Ehssk puts his abiru test subjects through some truly horrific experimentation, but consistently addresses them with far more civility than most Viis characters display.
• Feudal Future: The Viis Empire operates as an absolute hereditary monarchy, with seemingly little in the way of oversight on the decisions of the ruling Kaa. Noble houses also exist, exerting a great deal of influence over politics and business. The Empire does seem to have formal political parties, including a Reformist party that seeks to grant citizenship to the abiru, though their influence is unclear. While Chancellor Gaveid maintains that the parties are necessary for Viis citizens and nobles to air their grievances peacefully, Sahmrahd Kaa looks down upon their existence and expresses a desire to have them abolished.
• Fish out of Water: Ampris goes through this twice in rapid succession after being kicked from the palace.
  • First, she is sent to a slave auction, where she realizes that the Viis treat the abiru like chattle. It's also where she first meets Elrabin, who doesn't hold back in telling her about the realities of life under Viis oppression.
  • Afterwards, thanks to Israi's intervention, she is sent to an upper class family known to the imperial household to work as their servant. There, she is forced to work for the first time in her life, and she struggles to adapt to it.
• Forced Prize Fight: The arena circuit.
• Foreshadowing: Lots of it in Book 2.
  • Early on, Ampris thinks about crippling a rival by severing her heel tendon - no points for guessing how Ampris' gladiator career ends.
  • Once Ampris firmly established herself as a champion and leader of her team, her owner informs her that he's received a very generous offer from the Vess Vaas research institute to purchase her as a test subject. The offer is initially rejected since she's more valuable as a gladiator, though that quickly changes following a career-ending injury.
  • While onboard the Shrazhak Ohr space station, Ampris learns that it controls the long-dormant gate to the paradise world of Ruu-113, considered sacred to the Zrheli and a potential source of resources to the Viis. It lays the seeds for Ampris' plan to convince the Zrheli to open the gate for the abiru, making Ruu-113 a new home for them. By the end of the third book, her plan succeeds.
  • During one of her later gladiator bouts, when Ampris is serving as a glorified executioner to untrained prisoners, a helpless, barely-armed Gorlican nearly runs her through in a blind rush when she lets her guard down. When she does the same thing trying to talk to a Zrheli prisoner about the gate to Ruu-113, he manages to cripple her leg.
• Future Food Is Artificial: Quixlix is a highly versatile foodstuff made from the flour of the stelf plant, and can be flavoured to taste like essentially anything (including meat). It's mostly consumed by the abiru, who don't speak of it particularly fondly. And that's before deteriorating ecological conditions on Viismyel wrack its stelf crops with poisonous blight, leading to quixlix being deemed unsafe to eat by many abiru in the third book.
• Gaia's Lament:
  • The Viis homeworld of Viismyel has been hit hard by exploitation and pollution. The cities are often described as having polluted air and a buildup of garbage, and by the third book food production is starting to be impacted. This trope is part of why the Viis take an interest in the paradise planet of Ruu-113, seeking to use its resources to prop up Viismyel without having to rely on other planets in the Empire - a move that they believe would shift the balance of power.
  • It also comes to light that the Viis deliberately did this to the Aaroun homeworld of Sargas III. They unleashed a bioweapon onto the planet, crippling its ecosystem and inflicting famine onto the Aaroun. Prior to this the Aaroun had been resisting Viis subjugation handily, but were ultimately forced to surrender in the face of starvation.
• Gentle Giant: The Aaroun are one of the more physically imposing species in the setting, often working as labourers and gladiators. However, despite some exceptions, they also make up some of the kindest people Ampris and Elrabin encounter on their journeys.
  • Ampris herself shows great empathy for others, especially as she realizes the true extent of Viis oppression and the need for the abiru to unite against them.
  • Tiff is a brothel owner with criminal connections, but is still something of a surrogate father to Elrabin, at times displaying more concern for his wellbeing than his actual father.
  • Moscar is an old Aaroun servant with a mental disability and resultant muteness, but is still very gentle towards Ampris and Israi. He even helps Ampris rescue the latter during a hiking accident at the Kaa's mountain lodge.
  • Fain and Gur are servants in the wealthy household where Ampris is sold after being kicked out of the palace. Though most of the other servants have little fondness for Ampris due to her inexperience doing real work, the pair are consistently very friendly towards her, with Ampris considering Gur especially to be her only real friend in the household. Though Gur had his tongue cut out years before for talking too much, he makes up for it with physical affection, and also seems to be aware that the Eye of Clarity is more than just a mere trinket.
  • Fula is a nurse who tends to Ampris after a particularly gruelling arena match. She admits to illegally betting on Ampris, having won enough money that her cubs will have food and warm clothing for the coming winter while her mate won't have to work a dangerous shift. She also helps Ampris reconnect to Aaroun culture, being the first one to indicate that Ampris is of the Heva clan based on her appearance, and arranging for her elderly mother to record some traditional songs and prayers for Ampris to learn. She's also one of the few abiru characters to display any sort of hope for the future, hoping that one day employment restrictions will be eased and that her daughter will be able to study to become a doctor.
• Gilded Cage: Ampris grows up in one.
• Gladiator Games: And the Viis take them every bit as seriously as the ancient Romans. The whole of Book 2 is Ampris' taking on the Sparticus role.
• Gladiator Revolt: Subverted. Ampris uses her fame, traveling and combat experience as a gladiator to lay the foundations for the Abiru Freedom Network, but her fellow gladiators never find out about her activities or go on to play any role in the rebellion. By the time the Freedom Network is in a position to make a difference in the third book, Ampris is no longer a gladiator and her old team doesn't make any appearance in the story.
• Godzilla Threshold: With Viismyel's declining ecosystems offering little forage or game, and the planet's farms too beset by blight to be worth stealing from, Ampris' starving band of free abiru decide to risk capture by returning to the city of Vir in search of supplies not long into the third book. Ampris takes it even further by planning to break into the imperial archives for information that would help them acquire food back out in the wilderness, even if returning to the palace poses an even greater challenge and risk.
• Great Offscreen War: About two centuries before the events of the trilogy, the Aaroun put up a considerable fight against looming Viis subjugation. They were only narrowly defeated and subsequently enslaved.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • The Zrheli constantly sabotage efforts to open the gate to the paradise planet Ruu-113, which they consider sacred and fear will be exploited by the Viis. This often results in entire flocks of Zrheli being executed when their sabotage is discovered. Interestingly, heroic sacrifices are actually part of Zrheli culture, with one outright saying “It is the Zrheli way. It is the Zrheli belief.” Said Zrheli is part of the flock that helps Ampris escape from Vess Vaas laboratory, sacrificing themselves in the process by blowing up the facility. Not only does this neatly destroy evidence of the escape, but it spells the end of the horrific experimentation being performed there.
  • In the third book, Ampris' rebels develop a disease that mimics the Dancing Death, a plague that didn't affect the abiru but had horrific consequences for the Viis. Several abiru rebels willingly infect themselves with the new disease and die from it, followed by several Viis Rejects doing the same with the actual Dancing Death, with the discovery of their bodies leading authorities to the conclusion that a mutated cross-species strain of the Dancing Death has begun spreading. This sends shockwaves of panic through the increasingly unstable Viis Empire, just as predicted.
  • To take the above plan even further, Ampris infects herself with the same disease before surrendering herself to Israi in front of live media. Ampris not only reveals herself to be infected, but spits in Israi's face to seemingly infect her as well. Though Israi turns out to be fine, this only comes after the panic surges to the point of civil breakdown. However, to make the ploy as convincing as possible, Ampris realises she needs to confront Israi with the most advanced symptoms she can display. As a result, she takes a much larger dose of the disease's serum than its creator advised. Though she survives thanks to Elrabin getting her the antidote in the nick of time, it proves the breaking point for her already-declining health. She dies not long afterwards, but not before she sees the final stage of her plan - the exodus of abiru to Ruu-113 while Viis society breaks down - succeed.
  • Continuing the proud Zrheli tradition of heroic sacrifice, several Zrheli accept practically inevitable capture and execution in order to remain behind and keep the gate to Ruu-113 open, preventing the Viis from closing it before the abiru exodus can escape. Ampris even speaks to one of the Zrheli staying behind, who asks the abiru to protect her son (who is among numerous Zrheli who accompany the exodus as a condition of Zrheli support) and preserve the sacred sites on Ruu-113.
  • And just as the climax of the series is ending, we see yet another heroic Zrheli sacrifice. After Israi's pursuit of the abiru exodus stalls thanks to the gate to Ruu-113 starting to close, the Zrheli navigator aboard her flagship seizes the controls and forces the ship into the gravitational maelstrom of the closing gate. The ship is destroyed, killing Israi and everyone else onboard.
• Hero of Another Story: When teaching Ampris about the history of the Aaroun, Bish mentions two of these from their homeworld of Sargas III.
  • Zimbarl was a leader of the Heva Clan who united the scattered tribes of the northern hemisphere into a single civilized nation. United and working together as one, the Aaroun under his leadership made great strides forward. It also seems to have been very populous nation, as multiple Aaroun in the series - including Ampris herself - display some Heva heritage in their appearance.
  • Nithlived was a priestess who rallied the Aaroun and led an uprising that came very close to preventing them from being enslaved. Had the Viis not pulled an Earth-Shattering Kaboom, Bish believes it would have succeeded.
• He's Back!: After Ampris' career-ending injury, sale to Vess Vaas and subsequent years spent living with a free band of abiru in the wilderness, she regrets that her time spent building the Freedom Network came to an abrupt halt with seemingly little accomplished. But after sneaking back into the imperial archives in the third book, she learns from the Myal archivists that her work did not fall on deaf ears. When they arrange a meeting with local underworld leaders willing to aid her cause, they recognize her legend enough that - despite distrust and cynicism - she does manage to garner some support. It isn't long before the Freedom Network is back and more impactful than ever, with Ampris firmly at its head as a widely-recognized symbol of hope for the abiru.
• Hidden Depths: Despite being a mere gladiator who Ampris considers competent yet unimaginative, Lamina's complaints about having to fight in the recycled air of a space station allude to her having a surprising amount of knowledge about air quality and pollution.
• Human Head on the Wall: Aaroun, in this case, but the trope still applies. The heads of several would-be Aaroun assassins are kept in the Kaa's hunting lodge as trophies after their failed attempt to kill a previous Kaa years before. The very sight of them is one of Ampris' first steps in realizing that the Viis are not as benevolent as she has been raised to believe.
• Human Pet: Again, not human specifically, but the Viis are known to keep members of the sentient abiru species as pets. Ampris being Israi's pet is the primary example, but there's also an elderly Viis widow Elrabin tries to scam mentioning that he reminds her of a Kelth she once kept as a pet. When Israi buys Ampris, she does so from a shop noted as having infants from several abiru species for sale as pets.
• I Owe You My Life: For all the good it does.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Book 2 has Ampris taking it in her last gladiator bout. She'd already faced a Gorlican that, as an utterly untrained, condemned prisoner, nearly managed to take a chunk out of her in a desperation rush. In a later bout, she faces a unarmed Zrhel engineer in a similar situation, lets her guard down to attempt to talk to him, and gets rushed a second time - this one resulting in an injury that cripples her for life.
  • Book 3 has this in spades, especially when Ampris makes perfectly sound leadership choices, delivered in a reasonable tone, and gets treated like a howling tyrant even though she's been leading one particular group safely and successfully for twelve years.
  • Also in the third book, Ampris captures Israi in the Palace Archives during an incognito database search. She tries to convince Israi to free the slaves but fails, and cannot ransom her back because that would only cause a palace coup. Knowing that retaliation with extreme prejudice is imminent, Ampris lets Israi go then prepares the Myal archivists to abandon ship. She could have easily kept Israi locked up incognito long enough for an orderly evacuation but did not. It's a moment of supreme stupidity from an otherwise very smart character, just so the author could Kick the Dog yet again.
  • Additional standouts are when the Freedom Network proves hopelessly underequipped thanks to poor planning and preparation. Ampris laments that they didn't acquire weapons when the Viis begin massacring abiru in the streets. Later on, one of her associates notes that they fled Viismyel to Ruu-113 with little more than the clothes on their backs and the ships they commandeered - certainly without adequate tools to colonize a planet. If it weren't for a vision from the Eye of Clarity confirming that a new abiru society will in fact thrive on Ruu-113, their ultimate fate may have been much more ambiguous.
• Idle Rich: The Viis, and how. It's a big part of what destroys their empire.
• Inadequate Inheritor: Deliberately invoked by Israi. Due to the lingering genetic effects of the Dancing Death, some of her offspring are very sickly. When she becomes Kaa, she plans to choose her sickliest child to be Sri-Kaa so that they won't detract the public's attention away from her. She even counts on some of her Sri-Kaas dying young and needing to be replaced. When her first Sri-Kaa ends up dying, Israi is genuinely shocked and reconsiders her choice, but she ends up continuing the practice.
• Informed Attractiveness: The Viis consider themselves the apex of beauty in the universe, but the pictures of them on the official website are... not so much. Yes, indeed, Reptiles Are Abhorrent.
• Interspecies Romance:
  • Elrabin and Ampris are occasionally teased, but count more as Heterosexual Life-Partners. The fact that they are of different species is specifically mentioned as being a big dealbreaker for both of them.
  • In fact, this trope seems to be averted for the broader setting. Despite its multispecies nature, no interspecies couples are shown. There are a couple of instances of interspecies flirting in the audiobooks, but it's mostly just flattery there to establish the species of the characters involved. For instance, Elrabin tells Tiff's wife Oma that she's the most beautiful Aaroun he knows, and she immediately waves him off in annoyance.
  • Horribly subverted when Ampris is experimented upon by a Viis Mad Scientist, who impregnates her with half-breed babies. Her two surviving sons initially think their mother had a Viis lover.
• Intelligent Gerbil: Pretty much everyone.
• Jade-Colored Glasses: Most of the abiru, having known nothing but oppression and indifference, and Ampris spends a lot of time trying to rip these off.
• Joan Of Archetype: Complete with mystic overtones, humiliation, and tragic death.
• Karma Houdini: During the third book, Ampris comes very close to being able to kill Ehssk, the Mad Scientist behind her Medical Rape and Impregnate and the subsequent death of her daugther, but he manages to escape.
• Karmic Death: Israi orders her flagship to pursue the abiru exodus through a closing stargate, ignoring her captain's protests that doing so will see the ship caught in unsurvivable gravitational forces. The helmsman sides with the captain, only for the Zrheli navigator to commit a Heroic Sacrifice by seizing the controls and forcing the ship forward anyway. Israi and all others onboard are killed just as the captain warned, all at the hands of one of the abiru the Viis had oppressed for so long.
• King on His Deathbed: Sahmrahd Kaa - Israi's father and ruler of the Viis Empire - dies partway through the second book. Israi narrowly fends off a challenge from her brother Oviel to claim the throne.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Elrabin. Thief, drug runner, con artist...and utterly loyal to Ampris.
• Lady of War: Ampris, who is probably the most educated and sophisticated Aaroun in the galaxy, ends up being trained as a gladiator - and she's so good at that she's almost immediately bought by one of the top teams in the Empire.
• Liberty Over Prosperity: Some abiru escape from Viis society, living free in the wilderness outside the cities. There, they forgo the few amenities the abiru have in the cities, and are constantly at risk of discovery by the authorities. But they still live in freedom, which still makes it an appealing choice to some.
  • If the treatment of Ylea from Ampris' gladiator team is any indication, the Viis are particularly brutal to those who do live in the wilderness. After growing up in one of these free groups, Ylea's family is caught and killed by the Viis. Between this and torture inflicted onto her, she was brainwashed into becoming a bloodthirsty killing machine for gladiatorial combat.
  • Ampris and Elrabin live in one of these groups in the wilderness of Viismyel between the second and third books. The beginning of the third book shows just how much of a struggle it is to obtain food, with foraging and hunting being no guarantee thanks to ecological decline and theft running the risk of capture.
• A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away...: Star Wars influences notwithstanding, the human-free setting gives this impression. The taglines and blurbs on the books also frame the events of the trilogy in a mythical tone, as though referring to past legends.
  Before the Great Emancipation, in a world ruled by darkness, a hero rose up...
• Magnetic Hero: Unfortunately for Ampris, her magnetism has a tendency to waver when she most needs it.
• Mama Bear: During her escape from Vess Vaas, Ampris doesn't hesitate to brutally kill the Kelth attendant Niruo when he takes ones of her sons hostage.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Due to her unusual golden fur, Ampris is named after Ampria, the Viis goddess of gold and the sun.
  • Nashmarl and Foloth are named after the Aaroun words for courage and hope, respectively.
• Medical Rape and Impregnate: After her gladiator career is ended by a crippling leg injury, Ampris is sold to a research lab where she is subjected to this at the behest of its director, Ehssk. It is part of broader research into the Dancing Death plague that has widely damaged the genome and fertility of the Viis, but leaves the abiru unaffected. As such, Ehssk is interested in splicing this immunity from the abiru species over to the Viis, but needs to produce hybrids to do so. Ampris is forced to bear a litter of three half-Aaroun half-Viis children, though her daughter is taken away and dissected immediately after birth. Luckily, Ampris manages to escape before her two sons - or any planned future children - meet the same fate.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Subverted by Bish. He takes a huge risk in teaching Ampris the Aaroun's censored history to open her eyes to Viis oppression, even without his talk of rebellion. By the time Ampris returns to the palace years later, she learns that Bish is dead... from old age.
• Moses Archetype: Ampris was raised in the Viis royal household, and ends up seeking to lead the Viis' slaves to freedom in The Promised Land. The influence of the Eye of Clarity even indicates a supernatural hand in her struggle.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much:
  • A small minority of Viis propose reform to improve conditions for the abiru and grant them citizenship, though the Viis government is largely opposed to such suggestions.
  • Similarly, there are indications that not all Viis are happy with the way the Empire is run in general, from the rising popularity of reformist political parties to an armed rebellion in the colonies.
  • The Viis Rejects are treated little better than the abiru at the hands of the regular Viis. The Rejects not only side with the abiru rebellion, but actually decline joining the exodus to stay behind and build a new Viis society.
• Narrating the Obvious: Since the Audio Adaptations of the first two books are more audio play than audiobook, a lot of the dialogue has been modified to describe things that would have otherwise have been covered in textual narration. One very common example is the species of different characters being established via dialogue, with other characters - or even the characters themselves - mentioning their species not long after being introduced. For example, an Aaroun character interacting with Ampris might refer to her as 'a fellow Aaroun'.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: The Eye of Clarity primarily offers visions to its wielder, at least once properly attuned to them. Being able to teleport them physically comes out of left field, though. This happens without warning in the third book when the Eye teleports Ampris out of Viis imprisonment, with this specific ability not being mentioned or utilized again.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The Viis help bring down their own empire almost as much as the abiru rebellion does, either through poor choices or plain inaction.
  • When Sahmrahd Kaa learns that the bank containing the imperial treasury is about to fail, he is advised to move the funds to a different bank. However, the only other viable option is owned by a political rival, so he instead moves the funds to the palace itself. As a result, the imperial coffers receive no interest, leading the imperial government to financial ruin.
  • When Israi visits another major city on Viismyel, the adoring crowd grows overexcited and breaks down the barricades to swarm her. Though she escapes with minor injuries, Sahmrahd Kaa orders the city quarantined, allowing no trade to or from it beyond the barest essentials. Considering that said city is integral to the Viismyel economy, the move results in further economic decline.
  • After the above incident, Sahmrahd Kaa smashes a video screen in anger at his daughter being harmed, causing the toxic gas within to billow out and give him respiratory distress. It's implied that his exposure to the gas resulted in his early death a couple of years later, along with the subsequent ascension of Israi to the throne. She proves to be an even worse ruler than her father.
  • The ongoing economic decline leaves Viismyel increasingly isolated from the rest of the empire. Even without that, the flow of goods has already disrupted by an ongoing revolt among important resource-exporting colonies and Zrheli sabotage of the empire's stargates, both of which which are failures of the Viis' security forces. Not only does Viismyel's isolation even the odds for the Freedom Network, with Ampris and company operating largely out of the imperial capital Vir, but it also proves integral to the final stage of Ampris' grand plan. Due to the lack of trade, a large number of idle cargo ships are parked in orbit around Viismyel, which are taken over by the abiru to become arks ferrying their exodus to Ruu-113.
  • One of the most devastating blows to the Empire comes when Israi destroys the imperial archives after discovering Ampris there in the third book. Not only does the move destroy countless irreplaceable artifacts, but it obliterates centuries of knowledge that she could have used to save the struggling empire. Tellingly, this act is what convinces Ampris beyond all doubt that the Empire is doomed to collapse.
• No Biochemical Barriers: Zigzagged.
  • The various species in the setting appear able to eat the same range of food with no issues.
  • The Dancing Death devastated the Viis, but was not harmful to the abiru.
  • The Viis Mad Scientist Ehssk creates half-Aaroun half-Viis hybrids in his experiments to cure the Dancing Death, despite the two species being mammals and reptiles respectively. However, no other hybrids are seen even between the more similar species, so this is clearly only possible through cutting-edge - albeit horrific - science.
  • The abiru who flee to Ruu-113 seem to adapt to the new ecosystem without issue. A vision from the Eye of Clarity even shows a vision of a healthy society generations into the future.
• The Not-Love Interest: Only their different species prevent Elrabin from being the no-brainer match for Ampris.
• Numbered Homeworld:
  • Sargas III, the original homeworld of the Aaroun.
  • At the end of the triology, Ruu-113 becomes the homeworld of a new civilization of free abiru.
• Pardon My Klingon:
  • "Nolo" is an insult used by some abiru, apparently meaning "fool" or "idiot".
  • "Ruvt" is another insult that gets used against Ampris at one point. She's quite angered by it and notes that it's a very dirty insult, though the exact meaning isn't specified.
  • "Min deith el" is a curse in the Aaroun language, though the meaning is once again unknown.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Sahmrahd Kaa's most sympathetic moments involve small kindnesses to Ampris when she was a cub. Sadly, when she starts imbibing forbidden knowledge and participates in a tragic, lethal prank by Israi, he still ruins Ampris' life without a second thought simply to punish Israi, indirectly inflicting the deathblow to his own empire.
  • Lady Zureal is genuinely kind and polite towards Ampris, making her one of the few Viis to act towards her in such a way.
  • After Ampris is cast out of the palace, Israi arranges for her to be sold to an upper-class household - a comparatively better fate than manual labor or breeding stock. She also records a final message - albeit a bitter one, since she discovered Ampris' data crystal of forbidden knowledge - along with a parting gift. Said gift turns out to be none other than the Eye of Clarity.
  • In between all his hardships, Elrabin actually gets the gang assassin Scar to like him. Scar's obviously not happy when Barthul gives the order to lead Elrabin right to the authorities as a distraction, but he's Barthul's Dragon and does it without hesitation.
  • A big moment comes in the second book, when Elrabin's revealed as Ampris' new servant (and confidant) when she's bought by the Blues gladiator team. Last we'd seen in Book 1, he'd been condemned as gladiator bait.
  • Elrabin finds a mate named Velia between the second and third books. Though Velia is still recovering from past abuse and can get quite abrasive towards others (especially Ampris) as a result, her relationship with Elrabin is clearly helping her work through things. So too does having a proper family after so many years mean a lot to Elrabin.
• The Plague: The Dancing Death - named for the convulsions and madness it causes - ravaged the Viis population in the past. Not only did many die, but its effects have lingered in the Viis genome with declining fertility and an increasing number of birth defects. The abiru were unaffected, however. In the third book, the abiru rebels create a disease that mimics the symptoms of the Dancing Death in the abiru species. They use it to convince the Viis that the Dancing Death has not only returned but also mutated to effect all species (thus spreading easier than ever), creating such panic that the teetering Viis Empire starts breaking down entirely.
• Planet of Hats: Occurs to some extent with the various species of the Viis Empire. Characters often display a number of inherent traits depending on their species, sometimes even determining their occupation.
  • Viis tend to be snobbish, aggrandizing and prone to violence (either directly or by ordering it). They often make shortsighted and vindictive decisions, even in the case of the comparatively reasonable ones. Given that they rule the Empire, they tend to occupy high positions in government and business, though they often pass most of the actual work onto the abiru.
  • Aaroun are temperamental, just as often standoffish as they are caring. They also tend to be well-built, commonly seen as manual laborers and gladiators.
  • Kelth are typically nervous and sly. They seem to be employed as domestic servants more often than the other species, and socially they are often the ones doing the complaining.
  • Myal are a highly intelligent and refined, if somewhat meek, Proud Scholar Race. They most notably make up the Viis Palace's archivists, and a Myal composer is offhandedly mentioned at one point.
  • Toth are Dumb Muscle, often used by the Viis as enforcers. They're often unwashed, and accompanied by flies.
  • Gorlicans are the resident Proud Merchant Race. They are the only other reptilian species beside the Viis, and as such are actually considered their allies rather than their slaves, though the Viis consider them ugly enough that they are forced to wear masks. Gorlicans don't play much of a role in the plot, often appearing as merchants and business owners in the background.
  • Zrheli are noisy, foul-smelling and reluctant to associate with non-Zrheli, only cooperating when it suits them and with some persuasion besides. Their knack for quantum hardware - described as the only reason one would want them around - means they're often employed to operate such machinery, be it in research labs, space stations or starships. Even the royal flagship has a Zrheli navigator.
  • Samparese are noted as only being used by the Viis as gladiators. Sure enough, that's the sole context where they appear at all. They're universally shown to be vicious things, too.
  • Similarly, Phiveans apparently make excellent masseuses. The only one to have any sort of relevance to the story is employed as one.
  • Averted on occasion with examples such as Barthul the utterly ruthless Myal drug lord and his Dragon and Elite Mook, Scar the Kelth.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Ampris and Elrabin, by virtue of their being wholly different species.
• Pleasure Planet: Mynchepop, with its upside-down waterfalls and pink seas. Actually becomes a plot point, as reduced travel due to Zrheli sabotage of the imperial gate network leads to visitor numbers declining severely. With the planet's economy overly reliant on tourism and the Viis unwilling to threaten its idyllic environment by diversifying with industry, the planet's economy ultimately fails.
• Police Brutality: Standard procedure for Viis patrollers, who are fully authorized to use wrist cutters to remove the hands of criminals. Elrabin narrowly escapes such a fate.
• The Promised Land: Ruu-113, a paradisiacal world rich in resources. The Zrheli consider it akin to Mecca and continuously sacrifice themselves to keep the one gate to it closed so that the Viis can't exploit it for resources. They only open it for Ampris and her abiru exodus, in exchange for said exodus taking some Zrheli with them. The final vision Ampris receives from the Eye of Clarity shows that the abiru will prosper on the planet, and build a free new society there.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Chancellor Gaveid provides consistently sound counsel to the royal family, though his advice - or even his mere attempts to highlight important issues - often falls on deaf ears.
• The Resistance: Ampris gradually builds this up over the second and third books. It ultimately brings down the Viis empire, but at a horrible price for themselves and for Ampris.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Deliberately invoked, according to Word of God.
• Royal Brat: Oviel, Israi's scheming brother, is a real piece of work. Which isn't to say Israi herself is any better.
• Science Fantasy: The science fiction side is quite apparent, with the trilogy focusing on the various species enslaved by an interstellar empire. The setting's technology tends towards the fantastical, especially with interstellar travel via stargate and genetic modification well beyond what would be realistically possible. But there's also the Eyes of Clarity, which stray well into supernatural territory. Their exact nature is left mysterious, but the Eyes were apparently known to multiple species prior to contact with each other under Viis tyranny. The one Ampris uses provides her with several visions of the future, and at one point actually transports her physically so that she can escape Viis custody.
• Sequel Hook: While the main story is tied up rather conclusively, there is some setup for potential sequels. None ever came to pass, however.
  • In the end, it's clear that the tensions between Nashmarl and Foloth are far from settled. Foloth is very eager to embrace his Viis side and claim dominion over the new abiru society, even clashing with Elrabin when Ampris names him her successor and gives him the Eye of Clarity. Earlier on, the Eye actually shows her a vision of her sons as grown adults standing at odds, possibly representing a power struggle for leadership after Elrabin. Ampris intuits that Nashmarl will suffer a great loss and that Foloth will remain a very bitter person, but deep down she knows that her sons would ultimately reconcile.
  • Despite the end of the trilogy seeing Ampris' victory and the Empire's downfall, the future of the Viis is still somewhat open. On the one hand, the Viis are still in ongoing genetic decline from the Dancing Death, meaning that the Rejects likely represent the species' future in the long term. The Empire itself is decapitated by Israi's death, is in the grips of anarchic panic over a possible return of the Dancing Death, and was already on its last legs long beforehand thanks to Viis hubris. Zrheli sabotage of the stargates has left many worlds increasingly isolated and suffering from economic decline, with the Empire's capital Viismyel suffering from severe ecological decline on top of this. Rebellion is raging on several fronts, including by the growing population of Viis Rejects, the unnamed rebellion in the outer colonies, and any remaining Freedom Network supporters among the many abiru unable to join the exodus. However, the last we see of the imperial government, it is still barely functioning and is in contact with at least some colonies and parts of the military. Israi's brother Oviel - previously implied to be painfully aware of the Empire's decline and desperate to reverse it - is also still alive but in custody, making it unclear if he will be able to seize the throne. A big point is also made of Ehssk escaping from Ampris' revenge, leaving his fate potentially open as well. Whatever happens to the Viis - or whatever might come to replace the Empire in the looming power struggles - is purely speculative, but there is enough of a foundation that further stories could have been told in the setting after the events of the trilogy.
• Ship Tease:
  • Ampris and Elrabin have their moments, but they are ultimately unwilling to look for a mate outside their own respective species. They end up as close Heterosexual Life-Partners instead, which suits them just fine.
  • Teinth, one of Ampris' gladiator teammates, is noted as having a thing for her. She doesn't return his feelings, and considering that she follows Aaroun tradition of female-initiated courtship nothing ultimately comes of it.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Seriously, Ampris gets repeatedly kicked, almost from birth: stolen from her mother, raised by the unfeeling Viis, betrayed by her best friend, enslaved as a gladiator, maimed and discarded, experimented upon and artificially impregnated, gives birth to two ungrateful jerk-brat halfbreeds, and when all is said and done, dies right after she arrives at the planet she brought all the races to in order to liberate them all.
• Shout-Out: The Viis word for emperor being 'Kaa' seems to be a reference to certain fictional reptile.
• Sinister Surveillance: Omnipresent, to the point where it gives a lot of abiru a serious complex.
• Slave Liberation: Ampris' ultimate goal is to free the abiru races from Viis tyranny. She manages this on a smaller scale from time to time, such as helping her fellow test subjects escape from the Vess Vaas lab in the second book and leading a breakout of farm workers early in the third book. The ending of the trilogy sees her lead an exodus of abiru slaves to begin a new, free society in the Promised Land of Ruu-113.
• Slave Race:
  • The various species falling under the umbrella of "the abiru" are this to the Viis, though the trope is played with a little bit. Abiru are shown to receive pay, own businesses and even work in surprisingly priveged positions (e.g. the Kaa's household having a Kelth nursemaid). However, the conditions are universally horrible, with brutal punishment for stepping out of line always around the corner. Outright slavery is still practiced, and not just as punishment - even 'citizen' abiru can be abducted off the street into slavery, which happens to Ampris twice in the first book.
  • The Gorlicans seem to be an aversion, as they're stated to be allies of the Viis due to their shared reptilian biology. But it's also established that the Viis consider the Gorlicans to be very ugly, forcing them to wear masks, so they seem to be closer to second-class citizens.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Ampris and Elrabin are on the opposite sides of this; Ampris being an almost too-good-to-be-true idealist, Elrabin being a hard-core pessimist and cynic. Leads to Vitriolic Best Buds during their time with the Blues.
• Spoiled Brat: Israi.
• Spy Speak: Ampris creates a code from her species' native language.
• Sssssnake Talk: Not so much in the books themselves, but in the audiobook adaptation most of the voice actors playing Viis characters lean in to this to some extent.
• Sterility Plague: The Dancing Death plague greatly affected the fertility of the Viis who did survive. Of the few Viis young that do hatch, many suffer from genetic defects.
• Take Up My Sword: At the very end of the trilogy, Ampris passes leadership of the abiru - along with the Eye of Clarity - on to Elrabin shortly before she dies.
• Time Skip:
  • There is a time skip of several years between The Golden One and The Crimson Claw, during which time Ampris is trained as a gladiator after being abducted and sold to a gladiator school.
  • Later on in The Crimson Claw, there is a time skip wherein Ampris solidifies her position as champion in the gladiator circuit, all while secretly laying the foundations for the Freedom Network.
  • Twelve years pass between The Crimson Claw and The Crystal Eye, where Ampris and Elrabin live in the wilderness with a free group of abiru. During this time, Elrabin finds a mate named Velia, while Ampris tries her best to raise her half-Viis sons, despite the discrimination and alienation they face.
  • There is a further time skip of indeterminate time during the The Crystal Eye, with the Freedom Network reestablishing itself after Ampris' return. During this time it becomes much more widely known, with Ampris becoming a symbol of hope for the abiru.
• Title Drop:
  • In The Golden One, Ampris' birth mother nicknames her 'golden one' due to her unusual golden pelt. Several other characters call her by the same nickname or similar ones, most notably Elrabin calling her 'Goldie'.
  • In The Crimson Claw, Ampris comes to be known as 'the Crimson Claw' during her gladiator career.
  • Downplayed in The Crystal Eye, which is in reference to the Eye of Clarity. It's an amulet that contains a crystal, but it's typically referred to by its established name.
• Too Dumb to Live: Really, the way the abiru behave towards concepts like 'cooperate to survive' or 'maybe slavery sucks' is this. This is sadly reflective of how citizen psychology is twisted in totalitarian governments in the Real World; Stockholm Syndrome abounds, the underground are extremely paranoid and betray each other all the time, etc. Solidarity comes very, very slowly, and when it starts to rear its head it is ruthlessly crushed, often by massacre. As the Viis do to the Freedom Fighters in Book 3.
• Tsundere: A mild case with Teinth. He openly mocks Ampris' beliefs in abiru solidarity and resistance against the Viis, but is also shown to have feelings for her. He's clearly distraught by her career-ending injury and subsequent sale to a research lab, but is powerless to do anything more about it than retreat into his quarters to be alone with his grief.
• Twin Threesome Fantasy: Elrabin becomes infatuated with a pair of twin Kelth prostitutes at Tiff's brothel, but the most that ends up happening is him bribing them to help help him escape a Viis raid. According to the audiobook, the twins rubbing his ears is still a fantasy of his years later.
• Two Lines, No Waiting:
  • While waiting for Ampris to recover from her latest kick to the face, we get to see Israi's ascension to the throne and ruling of the Empire.
  • The first novel splits its focus between the early lives of Elrabin and Ampris, up until their first meeting.
• We Will Use Manual Labor in the Future: Lampshaded. The Kaa has robots that can do everything the slaves do, but they don't work very well, and he, and presumably the rest of the Viis, prefer the "human" touch. It's revealed in the 3rd book that the Kaa used so much manual labor to disguise how their technological infrastructure was crumbling.
• We ARE Struggling Together: For heaven's sake, can the abiru please get along for three minutes? It may be understandable that they distrust each other, but even when solidarity is all but forced on them by Viis massacres, they STILL want to fight each other more than the Viis.
• Wham Episode: Much of The Crimson Claw is a Spartacus-esque tale of Ampris rising to prominence as a gladiator while laying the foundations for a resistance movement against Viis rule. That's until the book veers into horror territory when she's crippled by a career-ending injury, and is sold to a research lab to become a Breeding Slave bearing half-Viis children. Though she manages to escape, she's left with two half-Viis sons to raise and the trauma of having her only daughter killed and dissected.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: A common feature of all three books. Developed characters are often introduced whenever Ampris and Elrabin find themselves in new surroundings, but are left behind when they move on - usually never to return.
  • Ampris' birth mother never appears again after the opening of the first book.
  • The fate of Elrabin's family is largely unknown. His father is dragged off to a labor camp the last we see of him. His mother is listed as deceased in Viis records, but Elrabin never finds out what happened to her or what became of his younger brothers.
  • Despite being firmly established as Sahmrahd Kaa's love interest and having a major impact on both Israi and Ampris' lives, Lady Zureal is never mentioned again after the first book.
  • The family Ampris is sold to after leaving the palace - along with their abiru servants - don't appear again after Ampris runs away.
  • Ampris' gladiator teammates don't make any further appearances after her departure. The most we get is an offhanded mention in the third book that the team still exists, but aren't quite as dominant on the leaderboards without her.
  • The prisoners who escape from Vess Vaas alongside Ampris at the end of book two get varying degrees of mention in the third book. Paket and Robuhl remain active characters, though Robuhl abruptly stops being mentioned about halfway through. Matiril, on the other hand, simply disappears between the second and third books without explanation.
  • The granddady of them all is what happened to the abiru who did not manage to get on the cargo ships headed to Ruu-113, such as those off the Viis homeworld Viismyel. All we know for sure is that the Empire is last seen collapsing and facing rebellion from both its colonies and the increasingly large population of Viis Rejects, but what their plans for a new society would look like - and how the abiru would fit into it - is purely speculative.
  • Averted with the denizens of the palace itself, however, especially Bish and the archivists - though Bish does not live to see Ampris' return to the palace. There's also specific mention that Subi, Israi's elderly Kelth nursemaid, passed away during the timeskip in the middle of the second book.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: It's never completely established how intelligent the Skek are. At one point in the third book, the Freedom Network hunts for them like animals so that they can be shipped to a space station, where their ridiculously fast reproduction rate will cause them to multiply and overwhelm the staff onboard. In the second, when Ampris and her gladiator team learn that they will be fighting skeks, they mostly seem annoyed that it's beneath them. Ampris even considers them 'brainless, useless, thieving, gutter-life' in her narration. At the same time, they're listed alongside the unquestionably sentient abiru at the start of each book, and at one point in the first book a Skek is shown talking. But even then, the Skek only repeats the word 'quick' twice, which leaves their level of intelligence - and ability to communicate - questionable.
• Where It All Began: Much of the third book takes place in Vir, capital city of the empire. It was there that Elrabin had his descent into a hapless life of crime, and where Ampris was raised within the walls of the palace. Indeed, Ampris even returns to the imperial archives, where she was first introduced to her people's heritage and the notion that they should oppose the tyranny of the Viis.
• Whole-Plot Reference:
  • Ampris is raised in the Viis palace by the daughter of their ruler before going on to lead her enslaved people to freedom, not unlike the story of Moses and the Book of Exodus. The abiru exodus at the end of the third book really cinches the comparison, especially with Ampris dying upon reaching the Promised Land.
  • Indeed, the overall plot of the trilogy is closely aligned with the original plan for Alien Exodus, though that's unsurprising since it was also taking cues from Book of Exodus. Alien Exodus would have similarly involved the enslaved species of an interstellar empire fighting for their freedom, with Cosmo Hender being Ampris' equivalent. This extends to them both dying after a daring escape from the empire to the Promised Land, leaving their closest friend in charge before they pass.
  • Ampris' journey from gladiator to rebel leader also resembles the popular depiction of Spartacus.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Alas, poor Goldie.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman : Israi, and that's the primary reason why she's the sri-Kaa, or Kaa-in-waiting. The Viis empire has some serious issues over appearances, and they ultimately bring down the empire when the exploding Reject population joins the abiru freedom fighters.
• Would Hurt a Child: The Viis absolutely would.
  • Ampris is stolen from her mother shortly after birth, even though the slaver notes that doing this with Aaroun cubs can be fatally harmful.
  • When Ampris is a cub, the palace denizens freely strike her as a means of discipline.
  • The Viis are shown using adolescent abiru as gladiators, with their earliest bouts coming while they're still in their teens.
  • Ehssk is perhaps the most chilling example. Not only does he forcibly breed half-Viis hybrids using captive abiru women, but he typically dissects the resultant hybrid children afterwards.
  • During Viis crackdowns in the third book, abiru children are noted as being among those gunned down indiscrimately.

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