Emberverse: Difference between revisions

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The Emberverse currently consists of two completed trilogies, the first two volumes of a concluding tetrology, and one short story ("Something for Yew").

* ''The Sword of the Lady'' (2009) - Rudi and his companions finally arrive at Nantucket, and obtain the titular sword, as the war between the CUT and the Willamette forces takes a turn for the worse.

 

* ''The High King of Montival'' (2010) - Now in possession of the Sword, Rudi - Artos - must journey back to the eastern lands he'd left behind, and muster from them an army to rescue his homeland. Both he and his people back home work to consolidate the newborn kingdom, should they prevail against the Cutters.

* ''The Tears of the Sun'' (2011) - The kingdom of Montival takes firmer shape under Artos's leadership, the disparate groups within drawing together to meet the CUT threat. Allies from the eastern lands, as well as from the former Canada, provide vital support. Part of the war effort includes sowing dissension in the enemy ranks, with the goal of taking the CUT's ally {{spoiler|Boise}} out of the war.

 

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* [[Action Girl]]: Lessee... Astrid Larsson, Eilir Mackenzie, Ritva and Mary Havel, Virginia Kane, Mathilda Arminger, Asgerd Karlsdottir.

* [[Affably Evil]]: Both Norman and Sandra Arminger do a nice line in this.

* [[All Gays Are Promiscuous]]: Don't tell Tiphaine d'Ath that, unless for some reason you feel the urge to die a quick and bloody death. However, Estella Maldonado and Aaron Rothman each labor gallantly to uphold this trope. As does Rigobert, who would be just as provoked, and as dangerous, as Tiphaine if you chose to make an issue of it.

* [[All Myths Are True]]: Seen to be the case with the Mackenzies' Wiccan/Celt faith in the first trilogy, and with other religions, including the familiar, the ancient, and the new, in the second.

* [[The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best In People]]: It also brings out the worst, more often than not.

* [[Apocalypse How]]: Class 2, as most of the world's existing civilizations are destroyed during "the dying times," to be replaced by entirely different ones.

* [[Badass Adorable]]: Ten-year-old Rudi Mackenzie is beautiful and charming. And he deals out almost as much damage to his would-be kidnappers as do his two adult bodyguards.

* [[Badass Creed]]: Clan MacKenzie's war chant:

We are the bolts that Hecate cast! }}

* [[Badass Damsel]]: Kidnap Mathilda (or try to), and you have an excellent chance of finding yourself facing the sharp pointy end of her sword.

* [[The British Empire]]: Not only did the Royal Family, SAS and other remnants of British society manage to survive the initial chaos. they managed to eventually rebuild "Greater Britain" as a hybrid Medieval-Victorian-Postmodern state. Though not before "Mad King Charlie" tried to turn it into a Renaissance Fair.

* [[Brown Note]]: '''''I...see...you'''''

** Norman Arminger is a former SCA dork, ''uses Sauron's Mordor banner as his flag,'' and is probably more than a bit crazy himself. With how he is numerically the most effective leader immediately post-Change and willing & able to kill almost anyone hand-to-hand, no one under him really has much to say about it...

** In-universe, Lawrence Thurston is regarded as one for his insistence upon restoring the United States (an idea seen as completely impractical by just about every other leader on the continent). However, he does manage to preserve at least the state of Idaho as a coherent political entity (in part by keeping the pre-Change state legislature intact), build a post-Change army (along the lines of the Roman legions) from the remnants of the US military in the area, and overall is one of the more effective and humane leaders in the series. {{spoiler|Of course [[Doomed Moral Victor|he had to die]]...}}

*** Any ships on the Columbia River at the time of the Change would have been disabled and would themselves become navigational obstacles. Barring a salvage operation that would be extremely time-consuming and expensive with the technology available, Astoria remains the only viable port for Portland. Portland's docks remain important for upriver transportation and the transshipment yards are still useable, however.

* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Rudi (and, on at least one occasion, Ignatius) versus any given High Seeker. {{spoiler|Especially after Rudi retrieves the Sword.}}

** Mathilda is also taken hostage at least three times during the series. Justified in that as the Protector's daughter she has high political value to her potential captors. She also becomes quite capable of rescuing herself when necessary as she gets older.

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: "Son of the Bear Who Rules"... "Sword of the Lady"... [[King Arthur|Where have we heard those before...]]

* [[The Dragon]]: For Norman Arminger, Conrad Renfrew; for his wife Sandra, Tiphaine D'Ath.

* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: whoever or whatever is controlling Sethaz and the rest of the CUT High Seekers definitely qualifies.

* [[Enemy Mine]]: Rudi invokes this when he decides to warn President-General Thurston of the Cutter ambush, and again when urging Thurston to ally with Deseret against the Cutters. (Thurston had previously refused to do so on the grounds that he was opposed to theocracies.)

** [[Lampshading|Lampshaded]] in ''A Meeting at Corvallis'', where some young fighters actually sing the song of the same name.

* [[Even the Girls Want Her]]: Mary and Ritva Havel have each had to bounce many a [[Lipstick Lesbian]] from their respective beds. {{spoiler|At least once Ingolf is looking on laughing.}}

** In ''The Sunrise Lands,'' Mathilda tells the Thurston daughters that she doesn't wear her formal gowns while traveling because she wouldn't be able to ride or fight well in them.

* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: The scout the Cutters have tracking Rudi's band is, in fact {{spoiler|a ''Boy Scout'' -- or at least, a member of a settlement based on the Boy Scouts}}. Oh, it's justifiable; a member of such a group would be likely to have the right skill set. It is, however, still a groaner.

** In-universe, Delia uses a series of dreadful puns to get the attention of Tiphaine d'Ath.

* [[Lady of War]]: Signe Larsson and Tiphaine D'Ath

** Many of the new nations that arise after the Change are inspired by [[Theme Park Version|old movies and books]], and the residents of each one seem to think of all the others as acting upon some strange fantasy. Even nations like Boise, Corvallis, and Iowa, which have retained more of the pre-Change world's forms and systems than the others.

* [[Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering]]: Corvallis's contentious Faculty Senate is sometimes shown this way. The Protectorate manipulates their politics in an effort to keep Corvallis from entering the War of the Eye. {{spoiler|Nice try.}}

** Played straight with Corvallis, Boise, and the surviving urban centers of the Midwest.

*** Doubly averted in the faux-medieval societies. PPA fashions derive from Pre-change SCA fashion resulting in a chaotic mix up of medieval, migration, and renaissance. Clan Mackenzie fashion owes more to Braveheart and Ren Faires than anything else. In Idaho bib overalls and cowboy boots have evolved into formal wear as farmers became the post-change power brokers.

* [[Powers That Be]]: {{spoiler|The Change turns out to have been caused by what's best described as the Universal Mind having an argument with itself and coming up with the least awful option. Mind you this least awful option resulted in the worldwide collapse of civilization and the deaths of billions.}}

* [[President Action]]: President-General Lawrence Thurston of Boise (see [[Four-Star Badass]], above).

* [[Rain of Arrows]]: combat strategy of the Mackenzie archers.

* [[Religion Is Magic]]

* [[Religion of Evil]]: The Church Universal and Triumphant edges on [[Path of Inspiration]], but the fact that they're pretty openly out for world conquest and the way they keep followers in line by freaking them out with aural [[Alien Geometries]] plunks them in this category. Not to mention that they turn out to be a front for [[Eldritch Abominations]] that want to reduce the universe to nothing.

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: Many. Norman Arminger, Mike Havel, and Astrid Larsson are war leaders; the multitalented Juniper Mackenzie is a bard, a high priestess, an expert weaver, and a pretty decent archer. Mathilda Arminger and Rudi Mackenzie, the heirs apparent, undertake the quest for the sword in the second trilogy, and fight in combat repeatedly.

* [[Schizo-Tech]]: the survivors post-Change implement useable technology from all eras, from the Stone Age to the 19th and 20th centuries (among other things, knowledge of modern medicine and sanitation proves ''very'' helpful).

** When he, Astrid, Eilir and Alleyne spring a surprise attack, John Hordle calmly informs their target, "Nobody expects the Elvish [[Monty Python's Flying Circus|Inquisition]]."

** While learning martial arts in ''The Scourge of God'', some of the heroes unknowingly quote a couple of lines from [[The Frantics]]' audio-skit 'Ti Kwan Leep'.

** At one point while the CUT is {{spoiler|attempting to assassinate the main characters in the Republic of Iowa }} lines are almost directly lifted from the [[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]] story "The Hour of the Dragon" where Xaltotun convinces a man that his belt is a snake.

*** ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' gets another one in ''Tears of the Sun'' when a group of traveling performers is overheard delivering the opening narration ("Know, o prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities...")

*** The owner of Ford's Kyentse Cowboy Bar & Grill (''The Scourge of God'') resembles [[Harrison Ford]]. The eaterie is located in Wyoming, where Ford has a ranch, and it's rumored that the owner built the place with his own hands. [[Harrison Ford]] has worked as a professional carpenter. (Also, we get a fair amount of information on the character, for all that [[Law of Conservation of Detail|he appears in only one scene]].)

*** Given that Harrison Ford would be well into his eighties by the time that scene takes place, his mere survival in this setting would qualify him for [[Badass Grandpa]] status far above and beyond the characters he's played.

** The quote is actually from "The Broken Sword" by Poul Anderson, though "The Long Ships" is also excellent and they probably like that one, too.

** Tiphaine and Delia's children are all named after characters in a book series that however remains unnamed so it's something of a stealth shoutout.

*** So, are you going to tell us or what?

* [[Single-Minded Twins]]: Ritva and Mary Havel begin very much like this, though they develop/display more distinct personalities in the course of the second trilogy.

* [[Smug Snake]]: Norman Arminger, Duke Iron Rod, Piotr Stavarov, Eddie Liu

* [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]]: Tiphaine d'Ath and Delia de Stafford. Tiphaine is the [[Butch Lesbian|toughest woman]] -- arguably the toughest ''person'' -- in the Protectorate, dresses in male garb (usually a big no-no in that realm), wears her hair in a pageboy and would wear it shorter if she could, and doesn't like children. Her lover Delia is [[Lipstick Lesbian|a complete creampuff]], an expert weaver and needlewoman who never dresses in anything less than the height of feminine fashion, wears her hair long and lush, and loves babies. Naturally, they're inseparable.

* [[Unholy Matrimony]]: Probably best exampled by a quote:

Sandra Arminger: Mine was a monster. But don't think for a second that I loved mine any less than you loved yours. }}

* [[Villainous Valour]]: Whether outnumbered and pursued by the Mackenzies, surrounded by Astrid and friends, or betrayed by a member of her own band, [[Dark Action Girl]] Tiphaine d'Ath earns her victories with remarkable skill, ingenuity, and courage. She's not a particularly likable person, and her objectives are often other than admirable, but her wit and her grit are outstanding.

** {{spoiler|[[Inferred Holocaust|It's kind of a shame that the next time is going to have to wait until the Earth's supplies of readily accessible metals, coal, oil and other traditionally non-renewable resources refresh themselves, really.]]}}

** {{spoiler|the theory behind solar power is still on the books, which the surviving universities are maintaining. Likewise wind power (they're already using windmills) and other renewable sources. Alcohol is available as an internal combustion fuel, and there's still more than enough coal left to jumpstart an industrial revolution once the normal laws of nature apply again. Even nuclear power is still an option--the point is that humanity will have learned to take nature more seriously the next time around (which will take place once the [[Powers That Be]] decide humanity has learned its lesson sufficiently.) It won't be easy, but neither was gearing down to medieval technology. In both cases, though, the hardest work has already been done.}}

** Although the premise spoilered above seems extremely high. And the human cost... **shudders**

*** Well, it's explicitly a compromise or something done 'behind the back' of the other powers "while Mind was divided", to avoid the futures where humanity goes extinct, and also to avoid a war between factions of the Mind that would destroy the universe - "something so terrible that only a greater terror made it possible to think it." The good powers didn't think this was a good option, just the least terrible one available - basically, the only one involving humanity surviving at all.

*** Consider that {{spoiler|Heaven exists and is run by the collective souls of all sentient beings, including those who died in the Change, who may very well have agreed to the whole thing. Human cost starts losing its meaning under these circumstances.}}

** If you like that idea, try Steven R. Boyett's "Ariel" series, Stirling's inspiration for the Change.

** it's remarked on in the books that if the Change had been a random event, it would probably have just turned everything into quark soup. However, it's done with "Clarke's Law" science by the {{spoiler|the Universal Mind}}, so it's a localized and directed Change. Humans can't understand how it was done; the analogy would be trying to explain algebra to a dog.