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The '''''Arcia Chronicles''''' (''Хроники Арции'') is a [[High Fantasy]] novel series by Russian author Vera Kamsha. They haven't been translated to any other language than the original yet, but seeing how they are among the best Russian fantasy series of [[The 2000s]], they have good chances to be translated to English.
The series is set in a [[Constructed World]] of ''Tarra'', which itself is a part of [[The Multiverse]]. What makes Tarra stand out is that unlike other worlds, it doesn't have [[God|gods]]: some nine thousand years ago, the "Seven Lightbringers" conquered Tarra, [[Death of the Old Gods|slaughtered the native Old Gods]] and whatever worshipers they had, and ruled Tarra for seven thousand years in the name of the "[[Light Is Not Good|Light]]". After that, the "Light" called them back, leaving Tarra [[
The series consists of six novels as of 2011, with the final tome in planning:
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* '''War of the Daffodils''' duology:
** ''Blood of Sunset'' (2002). Set 600 years after the ''Incomparable Right'', the novel reenacts the [[Wars of the Roses]] from Charles Tagere's (Richard Plantagenet's [[Expy]]) marriage until Philip Tagere's (Edward IV) ascension to the throne, against the backdrop of yet another [[Ancient Conspiracy]] and various supernatural powers ramping up for the [[Final Battle]].
** ''Argument of Kings'' (2002). Covers the War of the Daffodils until Alexander Tagere's ([[
* '''The Year of Three Stars''' duology (tetralogy?):
** ''Tower of Fury'' was intended as a single novel but was split in two because of [[Doorstopper|its sheer size]]:
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** ''Wild Wind''. The [[Grand Finale]] of the series, to be published after the ''[[Reflections of Eterna]]'' cycle is completed. The most recent [[Word of God]] is that it'll be released in two volumes, as well: ''Steel and Fire'' and ''Grizzled Field''.
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{{franchisetropes}}
* [[Alliterative Family]]: All seven Lightbringers.
* [[All Witches Have Cats]]: Gerika keeps pet lynxes before and after she gains powers, but switches to ordinary cats when she pretends to be a swamp witch while healing Alexander in book five (which is lampshaded). She can also possess her cats and use them as conduits for her power (which probably explains it).
* [[Arc Words]]: "Dark Star" throughout book one. Also, the entire Prophecy of "St." Eric:
{{quote|
* [[Artifact of Doom]]: Ciala's Rubies, which have a very corrupting effect on all who wear them, turning even [[The Ingenue]] in a [[Manipulative Bitch]] over a few months. {{spoiler|According to some pieced-together lore, they were made by Greditara out of the blood of a demigod who lived in the ancient jungle temple.}}
* [[Author Tract]]: Kamsha clearly doesn't like Christianity. Or Henry VII (as well as anyone who was historically opposed to Yorks in general). She misses no opportunity to remind readers of that.
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* [[Blue Blood]]: Lots and lots of blue blood. About 90% of all recurring characters are aristocrats or related. The other 10% are supernatural creatures.
* [[Born Lucky]]: René, while not completely immune to misfortune, is by far the luckiest character in the books. Even though he gets screwed up pretty badly every so often, most notably, in the end of the second novel.
* [[Break the Cutie]]: Let's see. Marita is {{spoiler|[[Rape
* [[Capulet Counterpart]]: Gerika is daughter of the first duology's [[Big Bad]] Mikhai Godoi but falls in love with René and joins his side.
* [[Character Overlap]]: There is a possibility that the Chronicles and Kamsha's other cycle, ''[[Reflections of Eterna]]'', are set in the same multiverse: {{spoiler|in ''Black Poppies'', Gerika mentions that her last love interest (while she was still amnesiac, wandering the other worlds) was a certain "blue-eyed Alva from Cinaloa". It just so happens that ''Reflections'' feature a major character named Roque Alva, who has [[Blue Eyes]] and rules a province named Kenalloa (though Gerika's lover may have been any one of his ancestors, too)}}. [[Word of God]], however, [http://kamsha.ru/forum/index.php?topic=1863.0 says] that this is just a coincidence.
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* [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]]: Starting from the third novel, Arcia becomes very much like the England during the the [[Wars of the Roses]]. Ifrana is France (King Joseph is obviously Louis XI), Miria is Spain, Darnian Union is Germany, Er-Atev is generic Muslim world, Tayana is Russia, Frontera is Ukraine, Escota is Scotland, etc. Original Eland from the first duology is Viking Scandinavia.
* [[Fantasy Gun Control]]: Subverted in the Deer duology, where pistols were common among rich nobles, but played straight after the [[Time Skip]]. It was justified in-story by {{spoiler|[[The Church]] discovering a magic that'd make gunpowder explode prematurely, rendering guns useless since they could explode in your hands at any moment}}.
** The Deer duology had not only pistols, but early 17th-century level of tactics in warfare, with the mix of musceteers and pikemen ruling the field.
* [[Feuding Families]]: The Elven Clans of the Swan and of the Silver Moon were left behind in Tarra on purpose by their Lightbringer patrons. However, desperate and believing that the other Clan was guilty, they engaged in a suicidal conflict known as the War of Monsters, where most of the remaining Elves in Tarra died. Eventually, the sides struck an uneasy truce but even two thousand years later, there's still enmity between them (not helped any that most participants in the War are still alive).
* [[Fictionary]]: The universal language in Arcia and neighborhood is (obviously) Arcian, but there are also others, from the Elven and Orcish to Er-Atevian, Mirian, and Darnian after the [[Time Skip]]. Most of them get at least a few words spoken in the text of the novels.
* [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]]: {{spoiler|Gridetara, a True Mage corrupting Tarra,}} was properly introduced in the final chapters of ''Wind's Harvest'' and dispatched just as quickly. He ''was'' foreshadowed since the second book, sure, but was still rather unexpected.
* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: A recurring motif from the second duology onward is that women in power are more dangerous than they are useful. [[Author Avatar|Gerika]]'s explanation is that men can be (though not always are) motivated by honor and abstract obligations, whereas women always live for themselves and the ones they love. Especially bad are those who only love power, which is what the Cialian Order is all about. This is particularly evident in the stories of Agnesa (Margaret of Anjou's expy) and Anastasia, though notably subverted by Marta Tagere, who is a far more capable monarch than her {{spoiler|first}} husband.
* [[
* [[Good Shepherd]]: Popes Philipp and Felix, Cardinals Maximilian ({{spoiler|before his [[Face Heel Turn]]}}) and Joachim, etc.
* [[The Heretic]]: The Damned One a.k.a. {{spoiler|St. Erasti Cerna}}.
** Also the entire country of Tayana was accused of heresy, when they refused to follow through with [[The Church]]'s [[
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: {{spoiler|Erasti suffers one after discovering that his beloved Ciala betrayed him for fun and profit.}}
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Too many examples to list. Perhaps the most touching example happens in ''Incomparable Right'' with the sacrifice of {{spoiler|Faithful, Gerika's ''[[Non-Human Sidekick|lynx]]'', who willingly throws himself into magical fire to let her escape Tarra. Actually, for that particular sacrifice, nothing short of an Elven sacrifice would have worked (originally, Roman was to be sacrificed), but Faithful's sheer devotion and intelligence apparently sufficed}}.
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* [[Light Is Not Good]]: The Lightbringers and, by projection, Elves are portrayed as invaders from [[Another Dimension]] who attacked Tarra without warning, ruthlessly eradicated any opposition, then left it to sink or swim in the name of the "Light".
* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: Nearly each book comes with a five to ten pages names list appendix.
* [[Mary Tzu]]: [[In
* [[Mayfly-December Romance]]: Roman and Kriza. Bonus points for [[Interspecies Romance|him being an Elf and her, an Orc]]. Also, Alexander and Gerika: this time, with the roles the other way around.
* [[Multiple Narrative Modes]]: The books are written predominantly in third person but, starting from book two, switch to first-person whenever Gerika becomes the POV character.
* [[My Sister Is Off
* [[Non-Human Sidekick]]: René's Jan-Florentine (a toad who doubles as a living Philosopher's Stone) and Gib. Gerika's "pet" lynx Faithful, who was passed down to her after {{spoiler|his original master Stefan, Crown-Prince of Tayana and her love interest, died}}.
* [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]]: Dwarves never appear in the novels but are alluded to as the most skilled smiths in Tarra on many occasions. Word of mouth is, they hide in the mountains of Er-Atev.
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** Probably the most important prophecy that drives the rest of the series (thanks to containing more [[Arc Words]] than the rest of the book combined) is the one delivered by {{spoiler|old Eric Connac}} in the end of book two after taking Agva Zakta.
* [[Psycho Lesbian]]: Daphne, the ''blankess'' (Cialian prioress) of Miria, is not so much a psycho as a [[Manipulative Bastard|Manipulative Bitch]] who likes young girls. Laying her eyes on Raphael's little sister Dariolo, however, was a ''very'' bad idea...
* [[Rearing Horse]]: When René' and Gib kill the {{spoiler|Roigian ambassador to Eland, after René returns [[Back
* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]: Actually, Gerika is 600+ after the [[Time Skip]]. But she looks about the same age as she was during the War of the Deer (late twenties?) thanks to her godlike powers. And since she hides her origins, men (most notably, Alexander) keep falling for her.
* [[Reluctant Ruler]]: {{spoiler|René is crowned Emperor of Arcia in the end of ''Incomparable Right'' but manages to walk out and get himself killed. Alexander becomes a King of Arcia after his brother's death, despite being perfectly fine with remaining a mere general.}}
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* [[Shakespeare in Fiction]]: His [[Expy]] is portrayed rather unfavorably in ''Tower of Fury''.
* [[Signs of the End Times]]
* [[Smug Snake]]: The great majority of villains. Initially, at least some of them were somewhat competent, if not nearly as much as they thought, but in the latter books all of the surviving ones are downright pathetic. Nearly all of the human-level bad guys past the first duology only remain dangerous because the good guys tend to suffer from [[Contractual Genre Blindness]] and fail to treat them as they deserve. Magical ones, well, have magic, which makes them more threatening, but their level of competence is the same.
* [[The Soulless]]: Orcs.
* [[Speak of the Devil]]: The Damned One, the greatest heretic of all times, is only known by this nickname, when, in fact, {{spoiler|he is the same person as St. Erasti Cerna, one of the most revered saints of [[The Church]], Emperor Anhel's most trusted henchman, Lunar King Laren's disciple, and the first True Mage of Tarra}}.
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* [[The Time of Myths]]: Twice. First, there is the time when Tarra was ruled by Omm and other Old Gods, though only the Orcs remember it in modern times. Then, there were the seven millenia-long rule of the Lightbringers, of which the Elves have the best memories. Modern humans barely remember what the "Great Exodus" was, despite counting years from it.
* [[Time Skip]]: ''Blood of Sunset'' takes place ca. 600 years after ''Incomparable Right''. The second duology is prone to many-year skips, too.
* [[Trilogy Creep]]: And [[Kudzu Plot]]. And [[Doorstopper]]. Not ''quite'' as bad as ''[[
* [[True Companions]]: The "Wolf Cubs", Alexander's personal merry gang comprised of youngest children of aristocratic families loyal to Tagere, which eventually evolves into the most feared regiment of Arcia {{spoiler|and is [[Everybody's Dead, Dave|slaughtered almost completely]] in the beginning of the fifth book}}.
* [[Unstoppable Rage]]: When ?nke {{spoiler|kills Asten}}, Gerika taps into [[The Dark Side]] for the first time. Let's just say that all that's left of both ?nke and her escort afterwards can be put into a small box. A very small box.
* [[Vestigial Empire]]: Anhel's Arcia, briefly resurrected under René only to fall apart for good later.
* [[
* [[You Shall Not Pass]]: In his personal [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], [[Idiot Hero|Arthur Barrot]] stays back to hold off an entire enemy army on a narrow bridge while his [[True Companions]] are bringing the reinforcements. {{spoiler|And he survives.}}
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[[Category:Arcia Chronicles]]
[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Russian Literature]]
[[Category:Literature of the 2000s]]
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