History YMMV / Adastra2018

*** There's some uncomfortable parallels between [[spoiler:Marco's avia pox diagnosis and the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic. He was infected with it, healed, and carried the virus, much like most other COVID patients did. He infected various humans during work, which is how it mainly propagated in the United States. And just like COVID, avia pox in Marco initially had no cure or treatment in Adastra because it was a novel case, and he wasn't profiled.]]

* ItWasHisSled: Alexios is a spy.

* MagnificentBastard: Alexios is the seemingly innocuous, kind-hearted servant of Cassius. The truth is that he is a spy and saboteur working to destabilize Adastra from the inside. He reveals nearly everything he manipulates Marco into saying, causing chaos with the trials that Amicus and Cassius must attend for the right of Emperorship. He regularly leaks secrets to Omorfa and is in reality a rather unpleasant fellow.

* AmbiguousDisorder:
** Cassius sports telltale signs of depression, with his self-loathing bouts and lack of drive after [[spoiler:ascending the throne]]. Amicus is in the same boat, but downplayed.
** Alexios projects a cheerful front, but his eventual true colors are revealed, and he is shown to be quite the apathetic person, which probably means he has some form of borderline personality disorder.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Scipio suffers from some form of PTSS (formerly PTSD) caused by the riots brought about by [[spoiler:Alexios's actions]].

* AcceptableTargets: Extreme, far-right conservatism gets dragged through the dirt in the novel, with Lux and Cassius being analogies for conservatives and conservative-leaning rural cities in general.

* Squick: [[spoiler:Cato trying to force Virginia into an ArrangedMarriage. He is considerably older than her- old enough, in fact, to be her father and had also once been close friends with her real father. Downplayed as Cato didn't plan to marry Virginia out of lust (as he didn't even show any disturbing romantic interest towards her prior) but of political purposes in an attempt to make his claim to the throne look more valid. When Amicus challenges him to the duel after halting his plans to execute Neferu, Cato also gives off an ImpliedDeathThreat that includes Virginia as one of his planned kills, also indicating he wasn't going to keep her in his forced relationship for long]].

* CatharsisFactor: Watching Amicus [[spoiler:tear off Cato's throat with his jaws]] is a sight to behold, if the novel's description of the scene is any indication. It's also awesome after witnessing [[spoiler:Cato go off the deep end and his true colors revealed. Sadly, the satisfying feeling is quickly eclipsed by Marco dying from the deep cut he received from Cato moments prior, contributing to one of the biggest MoodWhiplash moments in the VN.]]

* DesignatedHero: Marco and Amicus, though they do get called out for their actions throughout the story several times and show some character development as time goes on.

** [[spoiler:It should also be worth noting that even if Marco [[SparedByTheAdaptation wasn't infected and no outbreak occurred on humanity]], his family and friends (who he did mention more than once), many law enforcement agencies and a lot of other people on Earth would still end up being '''EXTREMELY''' infuriated with Amicus over how he took Marco away from his home world for over a year, contributing to a lot of worry and panic to his loved ones, his home community and many others. And even if Marco’s whole story and everything he went through somehow became worldwide public knowledge (showing Amicus was remorseful for the abduction and would do anything to keep Marco safe until he could fix his mistake, to the point where he got him revived by The Parents via a big personal sacrifice after he was killed off, with Marco in turn also forgiving him, falling in love with him and willingly accepting his proposal), many would still never forgive Amicus and would make his planned marriage to his human being strongly objected the least of his worries]].

* FanficFuel: What were the [[spoiler:Alexios-induced riots]] really about? What did they entail? Who suffered what in the event? The only acknowledgement so far is given to Scipio in ''Interea'', but otherwise, the trope overlaps with TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: ''Adastra'' was written during critical times when LGBT rights were being hotly debated by the media and political circles, as well as police protests over racial justice and other major issues. There are overtones of political statements and social commentary peppered across the series, with parallels between Adastra and the United States, for example.

* CompleteMonster: [[SavageWolves Cato]] was a general on the war against Khemia. Though saved by the [[BenevolentPrecursors Parents]] at his friend the Emperor's sobbing pleading, Cato was too consumed by hatred to take part in their plan for galactic unity against [[MechanicalAbomination the Other]], essentially dooming all life; Cato would later admit his own species was a price worth paying for his revenge. [[UngratefulBastard Killing the Emperor]], Cato raised the heirs to the throne abusively, [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Amicus for being gay and Cassius for being disabled]]. Initially, Cato favored the former slightly due to being stronger, but when the main character is revealed to be sapient, Cato locks Amicus up and prompts Cassius to become his puppet emperor. When that doesn't work he poisons him and decides to take princess Virginia as his bride and become Emperor himself.

* JerkassWoobie: Life has not been kind to Cassius, and given this, his jerkassery is very much justified. [[spoiler:Born with a debilitating disease that makes his bones brittle, Cassius was long neglected and disfavored by his father, with only his mother providing him any kind of love. Growing up, he was always outshined by Amicus and, to a lesser degree, Virginia, which contributed to Amicus's and Cassius's falling out as they got older. Then come the trials, which see him suffer a series of humiliating events, including being vomited on and being forced to abdicate the throne (which makes him the laughingstock of the entire Empire, and will NOT be forgotten for generations to come.]] He might be an asshole, but gosh, you just want to hug him and tell him everything is going to be okay.

** Out of every example for this trope, the whole climax of the duel between Cato and Amicus and the immediate tragic aftermath is without a doubt the scene that most would shed tears over. During the aforementioned fight to the death, Marco ends up defying the rules and uses the knife Neferu was almost executed with to save his barely conscious wolf from getting his throat torn out by Cato, [[HopeSpot stabbing him critically twice and making it look like the main antagonist would die before anyone else would get hurt]], only for Cato to gather up enough energy to take the knife from the human's grip and deeply cut his throat with a wild swing. Cato is then killed off as Neferu stays beside his friend, looking in complete horror as to what transpired [[note]] later confirming to Scipio in ''Khemia'' that despite feeling at peace when he was going to die, seeing his friend get executed instead and graphically bleed out is when he truly felt afraid [[/note]], and when Marco manages to regain consciousness despite all the blood he lost (struggling to even keep his eyes open), he sees his wolf looking down on him with an expression of pure grief and horror. Finally, before he succumbs to his cut and loses consciousness one last time (with voices giving him assurances that things will soon get better), some of the biggest sob inducing lines are brought up.

** Is Virginia truly after the role of advisor to the Emperor? Or does she have her sights set on something greater? The fact that she's willing to [[spoiler:blackmail]] to get her way should be a huge red flag [[note]] Though to be fair, she wasn't the only character to use questionable tactics in the story for her own goals, as Alexios and his sabotage and Cassius and his illegal video of Amicus and Neferu during the second debate are prime examples. Even Amicus, despite showing regret for it and apologizing, started off on his story goals by taking Marco to Adastra against his will [[/note]]. And for that matter, we still don't know the full extent of her affection towards her siblings. While she confesses to Marco at some point that Amicus is her brother and she loves him for it, the way it's worded can lead one to believe that she's merely keeping up with appearances. We also see not a lot of hints that she gets along with her siblings well (though she did save Cassius' life when he was poisoned by getting him to vomit out the deadly substance and administer the antidote, and during the deadly fight between Amicus and Cato she urgently signals Marco to attack Cato after he picked up the knife when the tyrant looks like he's about to kill her brother, which could be read as her saying, "Save him").

** Is Virginia truly after the role of advisor to the Emperor? Or does she have her sights set on something greater? The fact that she's willing to [[spoiler:blackmail]] to get her way should be a huge red flag [[note]] Though to be fair, she wasn't the only character to use questionable tactics in the story for her own goals, as Alexios and his sabotage and Cassius and his illegal video of Amicus and Neferu during the second debate are prime examples. Even Amicus, despite showing regret for it and apologizing, started off on his story goals by taking Marco to Adastra against his will [[/note]]. And for that matter, we still don't know the full extent of her affection towards her siblings. While she confesses to Marco at some point that Amicus is her brother and she loves him for it, the way it's worded can lead one to believe that she's merely keeping up with appearances. We also see no other hint that she gets along with her siblings well.

** Is Virginia truly after the role of advisor to the Emperor? Or does she have her sights set on something greater? The fact that she's willing to [[spoiler:blackmail]] to get her way should be a huge red flag. And for that matter, we still don't know the full extent of her affection towards her siblings. While she confesses to Marco at some point that Amicus is her brother and she loves him for it, the way it's worded can lead one to believe that she's merely keeping up with appearances. We also see no other hint that she gets along with her siblings well.

** Amicus trying desperately to keep [[spoiler:Marco]] alive during the duel.

* Squick: [[spoiler:Cato trying to force Virginia into an ArrangedMarriage. He is considerably older than her- old enough, in fact, to be her father]].

* CatharsisFactor: Watching Amicus [[spoiler:tear off Cato's throat with his jaws]] is a sight to behold, if the novel's description of the scene is any indication. It's also awesome after witnessing [[spoiler:Cato go off the deep end and his true colors revealed.]]