8,347
edits
Labyrinths of Echo: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (removed TVT control freakery) |
No edit summary |
||
Line 8:
In addition to the main series, two books were published starring Sir Max but with little connection to the core series. Both end with [[Reset Button]], so it's left less than clear whether they are supposed to be parts of the continuity, [[All Just a Dream|dreams]], [[Alternate Universe]] experiences, or samples of the stories from Mönin's notebook which nearly drove poor Max nuts. Given the nature of the setting and of Max himself, combinations of these answers can't be ruled out either.
After the final volume, the ''Labyrinths'' were continued by a [[Sequel Series]], the ''Chronicles of Echo'' and ''Dreams of Echo''.
'''Please add any character tropes to [[Labyrinths of Echo/Characters|the series' characters list]].''' For a complete list of the series' volumes, refer to [[Labyrinths of Echo/Recap]].
Line 21:
* [[Alternate Self]]: The Murakoks have several of them living in different worlds across the setting's [[The Multiverse|many worlds]]. They believe that all of their lives are equally real.
* [[Ancient Tradition]]: The group of mages actively working to save the world. Known members are Juffin's mentor Makhi Ainti and Maba Kalokh. {{spoiler|Strongly tied to Maba Kalokh's appropriately named Order of the Clock of Backward Time, these Ancient Magisters can build time bridges to the past. They convinced King Mönin to use his Arbiter power in the Quiet City, and told Juffin to seek out more Arbiters to relieve Mönin. Juffin's wife told him that he needs to be unhappy for his task, and left him via time bridge. Juffin assumes she got her wish to be among the Ancient Magisters}}.
* [[The Archmage]]: Various Grand Magisters of the ancient Orders were usually their respective most powerful members. Loyso Pondokhva was probably ''the'' grandmaster of conventional Plain Magic, but many other historical mages could have challenged him by less conventional means, such as True Magic (Juffin), Arbiter abilities (Mönin), etc
* [[Artifact Title]]: In the first edition, the volume ''The Dark Side'' was supposed to include four novels, with the eponymous [[Spirit World]] being introduced in the third. However, the volume was split for publishing, resulting in a title that had nothing to do with it contents. This was fixed in the later editions.
* [[Background Magic Field]]: the Heart of the World. Almost all citizens of Echo, built upon the Heart's location, are fairly competent at Plain Magic - babies keep their diapers clean by a grade 2 spell. Magic items from all over the world gain a significant power boost in Echo, and items and enchantments from Echo either weaken or drain other power sources if moved away.
Line 42:
** Young Nuflin is described by contemporary sources as a "living promise of power". He convinced 7 respected mages to quit their Orders, accept him as their common disciple and found a new Order for his sake, thus starting the Seven-Leaf, and did so at an age where most Orders would have sent him to study.
** Kofa Yokh was released from Seven-Leaf after they had nothing to teach him. Because of Khumkha's meddling and the resulting [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] used by Kofa, Kofa's true potential is first seen as the police general.
** Loyso Pondokhva literally learned to float before learning to walk. He is the strongest Plain Magic user known and the founding Grand Magister of the Water Crow Order. Younger Magisters from his Order often dispatched Magisters and Elder Magisters of other Orders, and Loyso takes the credit for destruction of Kettari,
** Abilat Paras learned to use the Dark Way from books. According to Juffin, the Dark Way is basic True Magic and as such can not be taught without a mentor. Abilat is also very skilled at Plain Magic and the King's Healer.
** Shurf Lonli-Lokli repeated Loyso's feat of floating before walking and pulled off a reanimation spell on his pet at an age too young to be admitted to any Order's school.
Line 73:
* [[Dem Bones]]: Using reanimation spells on Anavuayna victims' remains results in this trope.
* [[Don't Fear the Reaper]]: After Anchifa Melifaro started his career as a pirate and amassed a fairly large bodycount, Death herself (at least Anchifa claims the avatar to be female) made a deal with him, saying that it is not Anchifa's destiny to serve her. Now Anchifa can suppress the fight instincts of his victims with a mere glance, thus avoiding unnecessary bloodshed, and in exchange Death sometimes looks at the world through his eyes and walks within him.
** Melifaro is mostly immune to the fear of death, due to his nature - he instinctively knows this would only merge him with the other half. Once he was subjected to an imaginary death experience spell, but that didn't impress him (beyond unconsciousness as such).
* [[Dream Weaver]]: A common occupation in Echo. One of them kicks off the plot in ''The Return of Ugurbado''.
** Basics of control over one's own dreams is a common practice, if only because mages who can't do it tend to be dangerous for themselves and everyone around; dream "visits" for communication or attack purpose are less widespread; advanced methods of control over others' dreams on the level of a "Master of the Perfect Dreams" or better are taught only in Tubur. The 8th prequel told the story of a Dream Master who got more warrior attitude and valued dreams mainly for their connection with waking world. Juffin arranged for him the job of a dream bodyguard for the King during civil war. So he wasn't bored at all, having to constantly fend off powerful, but less skilled opponents until faced an attack from 98 master mages together - though the King survived and most of the other guys evidently didn't, as they were unable to try again the next night. After which his children and apprentices stepped in.
Line 85 ⟶ 86:
* [[The Empath]]: Anyone with the Healer's Call.
* [[The End of the World as We Know It]]: Always looming in the background.
* [[Equivalent Exchange]]: Echo's Beggar's Foreman Koba claims that the Beggars' Guilds serve to balance the cities, and that removing them would simply reduce other citizens to beggars. He has reasons to believe this applies to his own selves [[Flash Sideways|across multiple worlds]].
* [[Failure Knight]]: Khel'burik of Ukkumbi wanted to scare contemporary writers from writing novels by claiming that each novel creates a new world, causing all characters to experience a permanent [[And I Must Scream]] state, as their world freezes where the narration ended. The spell he wrought to support his claims worked [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|too well]], making his claims come true. [[My God, What Have I Done?|Khel'burik realized]] that he can not destroy those Dead Illusion Worlds. To atone for this, he became a [[That Man Is Dead|person legendary in his own right]], {{spoiler|Jochchi Shavanakhola. Known as the Merry Magister,}} he overcame death to support his best friend Ch'yolve Maytokhchi, the Wild Wind, in the task of destroying those worlds. {{spoiler|Max, having set Loyso free, simply calls him to Jochchi's and Ch'yolve's aid.}}
* [[Fantastic Drug]]: Psychoactive substances of another world generally are a gamble. Max is wasted and nearly killed by a weak and utterly safe relaxant, but mostly immune to side effects of a strong psychostimulant. In turn, Max accidentally acquired pot smoking which {{spoiler|temporarily disabled his friends [[Lawful Good]] personality, so that old [[Chaotic Stupid]] version re-emerged}}.
* [[Fantastic Light Source]]: Echo is illuminated by orange fungi-generated light and by magical blue lights.
* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: Discussed a lot. It's often mentioned than "it's not like anyone really compared", but there are a few good candidates.
* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: Discussed a lot. It's often mentioned than "it's not like anyone really compared", but there are a few good candidates. For example, pureblood elves, once they'll taste alcohol, will drink until reduced to near-mindless and literally semitransparent state -- they ''are'' immortal, all right... The whole people of Manukhs collected several ''hundreds'' of [[Hereditary Curse|hereditary curses]] from mouse kings of Uanduk, while their neighbours, the Khenkha, insisted that life under ''one'' self-inflicted (and they consider telepathic talk to be great magic) curse "is not worth living". {{spoiler|The summary effect of the curses upon the Manukh spreads to the Empty Lands and is so great that Max, in agreement with the Khenkha shaman Fayriba, orders the tribe exterminated.}}▼
** For example, pureblood elves, once they'll taste alcohol, will drink until reduced to near-mindless and literally semitransparent state -- they ''are'' immortal, all right...
** The Mad Fishmonger, after a little dream-visit from the vengeful dead, kept himself awake for more than a year and eventually though he would rather die than continue this existence, except he was sure they'd catch him and torment him forever if he died too.
▲*
* [[Fisher King]]: The princes of Kumon travel to Cherhavla to obtain this power. While they are capable, among other feats, to hear their subjects' thoughts as the winds carry them, it also causes them sensory overload.
* [[Flash Sideways]]: Murakoks live like this all the time. Max also mentally contacted his alternate selves in side-stories and while revisiting his (and our) world the first time was almost absorbed by the local timeline.
Line 105 ⟶ 109:
** The Plain Magic. Uses forces of the world. It is subdivided into Black and White Magic (Black Magic mainly affects material things, while White Magic affects minds and emotions) and graded by the amount of magical power used. The ultimate Plain Magic grade is 234, Loyso "rumored to" reach 235. Grades 1 to 5 are pretty harmless, while anything above that is illegal under the Codex of Khrembrer, since the world is already over-drained. An amendment after a century makes an exception for cooks, allowing them to use black magic up to grade 20 for cooking. Plain Magic is safe to use it far from the Heart of the World, but very few can do this, as the effects of spells and enchantments notably fade with distance.
*** [[Black Magic]] / [[White Magic]]: Not in [[Black and White Morality|the usual meaning]]. To elaborate: Max is given a small box with a gift, and is supposed to open it. He messes it up and instead of casting a white magic spell to identify himself, angrily tries again and casts a higher level black magic spell which disintegrates the box.
*** Physical death is normally irreversible, yet rather cheap in Echo, and lots of mages kept and keep on existing as ghosts even after their millenia of lifetime. Therefore magic intended to do permanent harm or permanently end someone's doings and influence targets not the body, but the mind, the memories or the very soul. Others are apparently included as making things "less corporeal". Such spells belong to white magic, including White Fire (137 grade, one of Loyso's favourites, according to his daughter) and Green Fire (234 grade - top). Conversely, item enchantments and "[[Utility Magic|kitchen magic]]" change corporeal objects and thus mostly belong to Black. High level spells may also simultaneously include black and white magic.
** [[The Gift]]: The True Magic, aka the Invisible Magic (it's not as easy to detect as The Plain Magic). Uses forces of the multiverse and thus considered beneficial to the given world. Only a handful of individuals across the multiverse can use it to a larger extent. Among the wizards not even knowing it exists a few basic elements such as Dark Path are fairly widespread.
** Nature magic. Irrelevant apocalypse-wise, strong in right hands, but practicable only for certain scope of tasks (such as magic potions) and in places from "rustic" and wilder. As such, used by forest witches and other individuals feeling connection to the surrounding nature and mostly dismissed by Capitol's wizards.
Line 114 ⟶ 118:
* [[Great Offscreen War]]: The War of the Codex, which ended the Age of the Orders and brought about the Age of the Codex some hundred years before Max's arrival in Echo.
* [[Hereditary Curse]]: Manukhs used to control Uandook "mice". Mice kings used to curse all Manukhs. This didn't end well for either side.
* [[Hold Your Hippogriffs]]/[[Curse of the Ancients]]: There's local phraseology. Including "...[[Your Mom|your mother four times over the fox's tail!]]" - rare one, according to the local linguist who studied curses of Shimara.
* [[Hope Is Scary]]: Sir Max comments on it.
* [[How Dare You Die on Me!]]: Max saves a dying man ({{spoiler|Mokhi Faa}}) in ''Bakki Bugvin's Glasses'' by pleading him not to die. Since the man was under a [[Extreme Doormat|magical compulsion to fulfill]] ''any'' requests, he healed up instantly like a champ.
Line 202 ⟶ 206:
** Nuflin Moni Makh was rumored to have taken power from the founders of the Seven-Leaf beyond what was considered his share as their disciple. Lady Sotofa also notes that Nuflin drained the Seven-Leaf members instead of empowering them, as tradition had the other Grand Magisters do with their Orders.
* [[Professional Killer]]: From "current" time, Misa Luddis, aka "the Noseless Misa" - an old lady (in)famous for her skills who killed ''[[Badass Normal|not]]'' by spells, but "did wonders with cold steel".
** In less peaceful times, one Juffin Halli "the Kettarian Hunter", who had to shoo away many shiny-eyed wannabe apprentices between hunting insane mages and being much less successfully hunted by (equally legendary) police chief Kofa Yokh. By the end of the civil war said to have personally eliminated about a half of the King's enemies. And managed to keep this part in secret, as the old king "knew a thing or two about secrecy" and contacted this particular ally only in dreams where no one
* [[Properly Paranoid]] with [[Crazy Prepared]]: there is a spell that prevents a person from featuring in another person's hallucinations, among the other things leading to plot holes in [[Lotus Eater Machine
* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]: Most Arvarokhians qualify.
* [[Raging Stiffie]]: result of the gräm potion. Gräm requires a lvl 20+ black magic and thus is forbidden under the Codex (naturally, illicit supplies pop up on Black Market often enough). Max happens to confiscate some counterfeit gräm and spikes Melifaro's kamra cup with a single serving. Melifaro simultaneously returns the favor by spiking the entire pitcher with at least a triple dose, but Max leaves after taking only a few sips. Juffin, aware of the mutual pranks, orders a fresh pitcher, but leaves the spiked one on the table. As Kofa Yokh helps himself to the spiked kamra, Juffin enjoys the show and Kofa ends up in the Rendezvous Quarter. LSIF is mostly incapacitated.
* [[Reality Warper]]:
** Arbiters in a form of [[Blessed with Suck]] - they can not control where, when and how their wishes come true, making their entire lives a large [[Be Careful What You Wish For]].
** Some [[Dream Weaver|dream magic]]. Two next entries are very likely to be the special variants of this, but not explicitly confirmed as such.
** Emulation of Arbiter power through magic (though it's inefficient and imperfect).
** Arvarokhians worship burivukhs as their gods, and they have good reasons to do so. Where burivukhs dwell in numbers, the world becomes as they want to see it. Arvarokh is the only place where the number of burivukhs is really large, though... To quote Kurush, Juffin Halli's burivukh: "We like beautiful people, so Arvarokhians are beautiful. Their eyes have the same color as ours, because we like this color. They are taciturn, because we are not interested in hearing their ramblings. They are active, because we like discussing their doings. We live alone, but our elders come to Arvarokhians to die and enjoy these creatures - they are the pinnacle of our common workings. Arvarokhians like to die, because they believe that each of them may be reborn as a burivukh. This is but a superstition, but sometimes we believe they succeed."
* [[Reality Warping Is Not a Toy]]: A major motif throughout the series, especially when Max's Arbiter powers come into play.
Line 215 ⟶ 220:
* [[Rewriting Reality]]: The Yonokhian Seal in ''The Quiet City'' is supposed to function like this. {{spoiler|Turns out, it was just Max's [[Cosmic Plaything]] status and Arbiter powers playing up again.}}
* [[Sanity Slippage]]: Max goes through this in ''The Book of Burning Pages''. It's told in first-person.
* [[Scarily Competent Tracker]]: While "Master of Tracking" is a job title, it is actually an innate gift required to get the job. Masters of Tracking can "step upon a trace / footprint". A Master of Tracking might have to walk across a room several times until the effect kicks in. Literal footprints are not required, but people carried or floating don't leave a trace, although merely boarding a vehicle does not break the trace - apparently just having your feet upon a surface is enough. Finding a trace causes the Master of Tracking to know what the person did and inflicts an intense desire to follow the footprints while repeating the victim's actions. Masters of Tracking distinguish between footprints of different people (with more experience, they can get a power reading and some info on them) and form a bond to their victims, allowing them to interact with the pursued in real time. The actual amount of damage and the control of damage inflicted vary from mild discomfort (Melamori's predecessor at LSIF, with intent to find) to mild depression (Melamori, with little intent to harm the pursued) to paralysis and pain (Melamori's predecessor at LSIF, with intent to disable) to death (
** Order adept level mages are not immune to the Tracking effect. Order master level mages and [[Determinator|Determinators]] might negate it to some extent. Order Grandmaster level mages, e.g. Juffin, [[Properly Paranoid|constantly keep up layered shield spells]] against Tracking. Juffin tells Max that his first shield simply cut Melamori off his trail as she tried to Track Juffin for fun after being introduced to the LSIF, while further shields would have hurt her using the link her Tracking set up. Also, the Trackers tend to be absorbed in the "hunt" too much to look around, so giving one a bodyguard usually is a good idea, and by "pulling" the bond from far end can be made even more compulsive and oblivious than usual.
* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]: Loyso Pondokhva.
Line 233 ⟶ 238:
** Max [[Exact Words|literally]] orders Ugurbado to become a statue, leaving him conscious for the reanimated skeletons who rip Ugurbado to shreds.
** "The little Gorgon": Max and Melifaro are dispatched to a village which ceased all communications. They find the place full of incredibly life-like statues, a blind cat and a very scared girl hiding in a basement. The girl tells them that a woman appeared in her dream and kissed her on the eyes, which caused the effect. Due to his earlier summoning experiments, Max happens to carry a pair of sunglasses, which allow the girl to leave the place. She joins the Seven-Leaf in Lady Sotofa's care, and Max [[Properly Paranoid|has to summon a backup stash of sunglasses.]]
* [[Talking in Your Dreams]]: Experienced mages and powerful entities can visit dreams for various benevolent (teaching, communications) or malevolent (killing, consuming souls) reasons. Powerful, but inexperienced mages may cause small scale reality warping, as their dreams happen in reality, in distorted ways.
* [[Technician Versus Performer]]: Generally, it's accepted that to master anything one needs all three - talent, training and practice ("X got a talent for this", "X learned from Y" or "X did it for ..." are all used as an argument). But then there's Calling as an overriding compulsion, and traditionally people pay attention to one's talents, if any are known. LSIF had 2 people (later 3, not counting another one with an equivalent ability) capable of the Tracking trick, but normally they don't do it and call Melamori as the designated "Master of Tracking" (early on she can't do much other than tracking and kicking ass, but it holds even after she got abilities weird even by local standards).
** Some of the "old school" people simply don't think of anyone without the Healer's Calling as a proper medic, no matter how skilled, and won't apply to them even if otherwise trust personally, except maybe for first aid (at least, Kofa is the [[Only Sane Man|designated "man of the world"]] in the team, and he sees this as self-evident - "Oh, right, Juffin can also fix injury faster than most healers fresh from the school... so what?").
** Max absorbed this way of thinking enough to instantly find the right answer to the problem of destroying some improperly created worlds. He knows a guy who can help, indeed.
* [[Thinking Up Portals]]: Using the Dark Way ''looks'' like teleportation and can be done near-instantly, but it's about creating or re-opening pathways, which remains in place, can be followed, barred with a locked door, etc. It mostly belongs to the basics of True Magic - wizards ignorant of it can do this, but the success rate varies, so creating a path ''instantly'' is a mark of true talent. The Dark Way should connect two places on ''terra firma'' - breaking this limitation is possible, but hard and for some reason considered unsafe.
* [[Time Skip]]: [[In-Universe]], Max embarks on an exploration of Khumgat and its various worlds in the end of ''The Foxes of Magakhon'', during which an entire year passes in Echo.
* [[Time Travel]] / [[Living Relic]]: The Order of the Long Way's members left the world for several millenia and traversed the Paths of the Dead. They find some of the changes amazing, e.g. the ability to tell lies, because in their time attempting a lie had 2 possible outcomes: either the person had enough power to make it happen by saying it, which was a wonder, or the person simply died from the effort. They also consider using the lives of people in your power as bargaining chips (for acquired immortality) acceptable, while Max believes that any [[Immortality Seeker]] should only gamble his or her own life.
* [[Try to Fit That on A Business Card]]: Arvarokhian titles are also partial biographies of the person, and the only time the complete title is given is when the soul stands before the Dead God of Arvarokh. Alotho Allirokh gives his official title to Gurig VIII as follows:
** Alotho Allirokh of the Ironsided Hoob clan; Lord of Aliurkh and Chijkho; Sternly-Glancing Overlord of two half-hundreds Sharpteeth; mighty and loyal warrior of Tojla Liomurik Silver Cone the Conqueror of Arvarokh who rules it to the limits of the world as told in song by Harlokh Sdobnik<ref>transliterated, can not translate the name</ref>, the greatest storyteller among the born; Waterer of the Royal Tree of Spicy Flowers; Keeper of meal-taking carpets; Bringer of the third chalice at the New Moon Feast after the spouse and the Elder Cupbearer; irreplaceable Helmsman of the Royal Boat at the Ulfati lake, who has the right to wear bone shoes on needles of [[Man-Eating Plant|Zoggi]]; Royal-Chambers-Locking Overlord of a half-hundred of key bundles; Chief of reprisal against Isisorinams; Speaker of the ninth and the twelfth word during the Royal Game of Launi, who kills the Kul'okh bird with two glances, one strike and one ruse; Bearer of three handfuls of coins into the crypt of Kvargi Ishmirmani; Fire-Starter under the royal cauldron for Vatla; Speaker of the Morins' tongue who consumes the Mayushi pig in two-and-a-half goes and [[Warrior Poet|who wrought two times twice half-tens songs]] of his own great heroics.
* [[Uncoffee]]: Kamra.
* [[Un-Equal Rites]]: There is the Plain Magic, which is well-studied, can be used by pretty much anyone, but mostly forbidden by law, and there is True Magic, an obscure [[Secret Art]] that can be used only by select few and provides [[New Powers as the Plot Demands]].
Line 246 ⟶ 254:
* [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]: Eponymous Ugurbado aquires his power from some elder entity, but visibly slips in sanity.
* [[You Can't Fight Fate]] / [[Screw Destiny]]: This dichotomy spans the entire series as a leitmotif.
** Generally, you can ''cheat'' fate, but that doesn't happen often. Simply refusing to be dragged along works for a while, but leads to escalation - it yanks stronger and stronger until you either get through or get splattered.
* [[Your Soul Is Mine]]: Not quite "soul", but in the world of Echo, losing the "spark of life" (it sometimes reappears later - if one manages to survive several decades of, basically, magical AIDS) or your Shadow is possible and usually lethal, making several entities natural predators upon sentients.
** The mirror dweller in ''The Debut in Echo'', Max's first case.
| |||