Shadow Ops: Difference between revisions

The series provides a uniquely realistic and military spin on the traditional [[Urban Fantasy]] setting. [[Gray and Grey Morality]] is abundant, with no "true" villain. While there are political undercurrents, they are largely background elements. It has been described as "''[[X-Men]]'' [[X Meets Y|meets]] ''[[Black Hawk Down]]''" due to its combination of themes of metahuman superpowers and military fiction.

 

* [[Arc Words]]: "Skill Beats Will." Latents with SOC training are better killers than Selfers.

** Interestingly, the author himself disagrees with this; [http://www.blackgate.com/2012/05/08/playing-favorites-a-talk-with-myke-cole/ in his words],

* [[Affably Evil]]: Scylla.

* [[Anti-Villain]]: SOC in general. Unregulated Latents, AKA "Selfers", can do horrifying amounts of damage without even trying. When they ''do'' try they can kill dozens of people in minutes. Organized ones have held the Southwest for ''years.'' However, their method of handling the situation is essentially enslaving and brainwashing children to kill people they don't like.

** The Goblin "Defender" tribes are simply reacting violently to an invasion by the technologically more-advanced humans.

** In the final confrontation, Britton {{spoiler|has to fight the rest of Shadow Coven as well as Harlequin and a number of SOC redshirts.}}

** Therese was nearly raped at one point, but that was when her Physiomancy manifested, and she used Rending to tear her attacker apart.

* [[Axe Crazy]]: Scylla. Hoo boy.

* [[Civil War]]: The United States is experiencing one in the American Southwest between the federal government and Native American tribes, which appears to be backed by some kind of demonic entities from within the Source. The Caliphate is experiencing one between normal humans and the "djiin-born."

* [[The Dark Arts]]: Any of the four Prohibited Schools: Negramancy, Portamancy, Necromancy, and Sentient Elemental Conjuration. There's also Rending (the use of Physiomancy to kill) and Whispering (use of Terramancy to control animals).

* [[Double Standard]]: In-universe, how a Latent is treated depends on who they are. Ordinary people who turn up Latent are conscripted or hunted. Rich people, professional sports players, famous actors, or the children of Senators? They get completely different treatment.

* [[Differently-Powered Individual]]: Humans who can use magic are called "Latents". Latents who manifest in one of the Prohibited schools are called "Probes". Any Latent who refuses to surrender to the military is termed a "Selfer."

* [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]]: Warrant Officer Fitzsimmons, aka "Fitzy" is one of the nastier sorts.

* [[Elemental Powers]]: Four of the five legal schools fall under the classical elements.

** [[Making a Splash|Hydromancy]]: Controlling water and other liquids. Hydromancers can also remove or add heat to water, generating steam or ice. Allows for the creation of water or ice elementals.

** [[Dishing Out Dirt|Terramancy]]: Controlling earth, dirt, rocks, etc. Also allows the terramancer to control plants and animals. Allows for the creation of earth elementals.

* [[Jerkass]]: Fitzy is pretty much a titanic asshole, and gets violent when drunk.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: When {{spoiler|Scylla escapes}}, the first thing she does is {{spoiler|kill Salamander, then dozens of other SOC soldiers nearby.}}

* [[Knight Templar]]: Fitzy believes that he has to treat Shadow Coven like dangerous, living nuclear weapons because they're too dangerous for regular society.

* [[Lethal Harmless Powers]]: Whispering lets the magic user control animals. Getting swarmed by thousands of enraged rats, spiders, and other tiny animals is ''very'' lethal.

* [[The Magic Versus Technology War]]: The conflict between the SOC inside the Source and the Goblin "Defender" tribes. The Caliphate is engaged in a magic vs. technology ''civil'' war because their interpretation of Islamic law holds that anyone with magical abilities is to be executed immediately, resulting in constant running battles between government military-police and the "djiin-born" rebels.

* [[The Man Behind the Man]]: The black-skinned demonic entities who appear to be behind both the suddenly-violent magic-wielding Native American rebels in the US southwest, and also seem to be backing the more violent Goblin Defender tribes. Their precise motivations and purpose are unclear.

* [[The Mole]]: {{spoiler|Wavesign}}.

* [[Moral Myopia]]: Initially, Britton condemns the SOC for treating Latents as threats to be shot on sight instead of people, but when he manifests a proscribed ability he proceeds to freak out and run, {{spoiler|in the process killing two people by ''accident'' - one of them being his own father.}} At this point he has a breakdown over his myopia.

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Britton tends to cause as much trouble as he fixes, starting with accidentally {{spoiler|killing his father and a police officer}} with uncontrolled gates, and culminating in {{spoiler|letting Scylla loose}}.

* [[No One Gets Left Behind]]: Britton refusing to leave anyone behind during the botched recon mission to one of the Goblin camps. Fitzsimmons gets infuriated when Britton risks his life to save him, because Britton is too valuable a weapon.

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: {{spoiler|Wavesign}}.

* [[One-Man Army]]: Shadow Coven is explicitly described as being made up of magic users who fill this role. Downer can create countless elementals that act on their own, Truelove can animate any dead body, Richards can control entire legions of animals, and Britton's gate abilities give him incredible destructive potential and mobility.

** Except for the fact that everyone with powers can ''also'' [[Power Nullifier|suppress]] the powers of others if they bother to learn how.

* [[Origin Story]]: ''Control Point'' comes off as this for Britton and his companions in general.

* [[Person of Mass Destruction]]: Scylla. When others are talking about her, they say that she killed about twenty or thirty people the last time she got loose. When {{spoiler|Britton}} sets her free, she {{spoiler|destroys the entire FOB perimeter defenses, killing hundreds of people, with about as much trouble as crushing ants}}.

** Britton is one as well, once he fully understands how to use his powers. Between instant teleportation to wherever he wants to go, the ease by which he can [[Portal Cut]] (see below), insane mobility, and the ability to use his gates as shields and means to attack from unexpected directions, he can cause tremendous destruction with just a bit of creativity.

* [[Shame If Something Happened]]: Britton is given a look at the only other living portomancer, Billy, who was "uncooperative" but deemed useful. The SOC lobotomized him, turning him into a childlike retard who they could use to create gates at will. Though not stated outright, the threat to Britton is made clear.

* [[Shoot the Dog]]: SOC's job regarding Latents who don't surrender. At the end of ''Control Point'', Britton has to kill {{spoiler|Billy, the lobotomized Portamancer being used by the SOC so that he and the rest of the escapees can be free.}}

* [[Spirit World]]: The Source, which is an alternate reality where all sorts of monsters come from.

* [[Spiritual Antithesis]]: Perhaps not purposefully, [[Shadowrun]]. In the RPG, when [[The Magic Comes Back]], Indian tribes drive the government off their ancestral lands with magic and [[Mega Corp|Mega Corps]] are able to seize power from national governments in the chaos. In Shadow Ops, [[Reality Ensues]]. The military is the first to refine magical power to a fine edge, the US military is among the best in the world, and quickly increase government power by means of "[[Might Makes Right|Skill Beats Will]]." Therefore, the tribes are in an ongoing war to keep the territory, and only holding on due to their willingness to use [[Black Magic]]. Corporations have been denied Latent assets at SOC-point. As for [[Japan Takes Over the World|Japanese ascendance?]] They're dependent on American assets for defense, so they probably have to surrender their Latents to the American SOC. ''China'' has a healthier economy than America in Shadow Ops because their government shares Latent assets with their corporations.

* [[Supernatural Sensitivity]]: Latents can sense magic in each other.

* [[Super Registration Act]]: A core element of the story is how the laws surrounding use of magic affects people, and how just/unjust the legal oppression/conscription of magic-users is. Britton doubts whether it is justified, and steadily shifts to opposing it outright, while Harlequin strongly believes in the necessity of the SOC and controlling magic-users, despite the flaws in the system.

* [[There Are No Therapists]]: The Covens are a [[Dysfunction Junction]] of [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]] ''[[Child Soldier|Child Soldiers]]''. A few good therapists could have prevented the entire plot. Problem is, a therapist could do absolutely bupkis under SOC operational standards - psychological stability and chattel slavery are pretty much mutually exclusive.

* [[Whatevermancy]]: All magical schools except Sentient Elemental Conjuration are named this way.

* [[You Killed My Father]]: Swift has such an intense hatred for SOC in general and Harlequin in particular because {{spoiler|Harlequin killed his girlfriend and unborn child while arresting Swift.}} At the end of ''Control Point'', {{spoiler|Britton barely manages to talk Swift out of killing a wounded Harlequin in cold blood.}}

 

[[Category:Shadow Ops]]

[[Category:Literature]]