Blade of the Flame
Blade of the Flame is a trilogy by Tim Waggoner chronicling the adventures of Diran Bastiaan, a priest of the Church of the Silver Flame in the Eberron Campaign Setting. It consists of:
- Thieves of Blood
- Forge of the Mindslayers
- Sea of Death
A prequel short story detailing how Diran and Ghaji first met, titled Blade of the Flame, appeared in the Tales of the Last War compilation.
Tropes used in Blade of the Flame include:
- Action Girl: Makala, Yvka, and come to think of it pretty much every female character ever given enough importance to have a name.
- Anti-Hero: Diran himself, and possibly Makala later
- Face Heel Turn: Makala
- Heel Face Turn: Diran and Makala in the backstory, and Makala later
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Diran begins the series with only Ghaji by his side, and at the end everyone splits up, leaving Diran and Ghaji alone again.
- Sadistic Choice: Erdis Cai tries to pull one on Diran in the first book
- Screw the Rules I Have Plot: The books are good, but the author clearly didn't read the psionics rules. Any psionic character is basically treated as a Game Breaker (Remember, you can only use a number of power points equal to or less than your Manifester Level, no more.)
- Clearly Solus out-leveled the rest of the cast significantly, plus there's the whole issue of what a psi-forged might be able to do in the first place.
- Take a Third Option: Diran's response to the above choice.