History Fanfic / BetweenThreeRogues

* DefensiveFeintTrap: In the case of faking a ship injury; knowing the ''Delphinus'' cannot beat Admiral Gregorio and the ''[[MightyGlacier Auriga]]'' in a head-to-head fight, Vyse orders Lapen and Hans to make it look like one of the ship’s turbines has [[HeroicRROD overheated]], to fake out Gregorio into overextending. Once the ''Auriga'' has committed to a [[RammingAlwaysWorks ramming attack]], Vyse waits until the last moment to dodge out of the way and then hammer Gregorio with point-blank cannon fire.

* TheGoodKing: King Mathias du Valua, Teodora’s husband and Enrique’s father, was by all accounts an honourable, respected and just man, the man that embodied everything Valua should stand for. His passing and the rise of Lord Galcian proved to be a turning point for Valua’s morals.

** The Nasrian bartender in Esperanza is named Fatima.

** Aika and Fina’s feelings for each other coalesce in the months working at the Nasrian bar to earn the funds for a boat to go searching for Vyse, and when they finally rejoin Vyse, they’re fully willing to enter in a throuple between them all.

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: “Lone Wolf” Lawrence joined Vyse’s crew with half his 10,000 gold fee and a [[TheBet bet]] that if he acknowledged Vyse as a better helmsman, he’d forgo the other half. Faced with the idea of flying through the tornado-laden Southern Ocean, Lawrence decides to not risk the lives of everyone aboard on a challenge or his pride, and concedes to Vyse to take them through it.

** When Vize and his fellow actors start trying to impersonate Vyse and his crew for shakedown money, they run into a big wrinkle in Nasrad, filled with people that had actually met the real Vyse and can see right through the impostors. And then they get captured by the Valuan Armada who jump at the chance at taking down the most wanted people in the sky; it's only luck that the real Vyse and his crew intercepted the cruiser on the way back to Valua.

[[folder: A-L]]

** Daccat was said to be Nasrian, which is why Nasrad’s guild master is so determined to purchase Daccat’s Coin from Vyse, so that it could be used as a symbol to rally Nasrad’s people after the city’s destruction.
*** Daccat was also said to have two ships, the ''Salamander'' and the ''Scorpion'', referencing the two animal images on the doors leading into his island dungeon.
*** Daccat even made it to Yafutoma, where he is known as Daqat, and became (in)famous by sailing off with Princess Kikue Tokugawa right before her wedding, as well as with her dowry and the wedding feast. In Yafutoma’s eyes, the commoners see the tale as a dashing rogue romantically wooing a princess longing for freedom, while the nobility see it as how a vile thief repaid hospitality with kidnapping.

* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: Vyse has a very big point to make when he orders the ''Delphinus'' to face the ''Draco'' head-on, ship cannon to ship cannon, even waiting so that both ships fire at the same time. The Moonstone Cannon is more than powerful enough to vaporize the Draco Cannon's shell, and decimate the vulnerable ship behind it.

---> “Is this what you do? You deal with people and you...you ''make them go legit'' on you?”

* LeaveNoSurvivors: Cornered by the Valuan Navy, Admiral Bast Komullah raises flags of surrender and orders his men to the lifeboats, but the Valuan don’t stop firing and respond with flags of “No Quarter”.

** The Yafutoman Emperor and his children have the surname Tokugawa.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: While traveling from Daccat’s Island back to Nasrad, the reunited Fina, Aika and Vyse take turns talking to Gilder about love while the other two are… [[RightThroughTheWall reuniting]]. Fina and Aika mostly spend the time indirectly chastising Gilder for his attitude towards love and how he sees it as either being faithful to one or unfaithful to many, and how he doesn’t deserve Clara who’s never stopped loving him. Vyse takes a softer approach.

* TakeUpMySword: Or in this case, hat. Rupee Larso has his father’s old air pirate tricorn, brimming with spiritual energy. But as Rupee does not wish to be an air pirate, he instead gifts the Captain’s Hat to Vyse instead.

* UnskilledButStrong: [[SilkHidingSteel Princess Moegi]] has no martial experience and neither battle casting nor healing magic talent, but unbeknownst to her, she has a greater spiritual depth than ever imagined. [[spoiler: When she channels that spirit into the ''Delphinus'', it forms a defensive barrier strong enough to deflect even Bluheim's might.]]

--> '''Dyne:''' Being a leader isn’t always about having the right answer, or always looking invincible. You find people willing to share the burden with you. You find people who can give you the answers you don’t have, the ideas you need. You be their strength, and let them be yours. You can wear the mask that people expect around everyone else. Just let it down when you have the time to, so that when you can’t put it down, it won’t crack on you.

* CunningLinguist: To feel some semblance of freedom from her place as Yafutoma’s lone heir, Moegi has read and learned everything Yafutoma has recorded 200 years ago about the infamous pirate from the West, Daqat, and the language he spoke. Her knowledge is such that she is the only one capable of communicating even rudimentarily with Vyse’s crew once they reach Yafutoma. Moreover, it only takes her 4 hours conversing with Vyse and the crew to become passable with the modern [[CommonTongue Mid-Ocean trade language]].

** When Lawrence expresses doubt in [[spoiler: hitting Bluheim with the Moonstone Cannon in the middle of the storm its whipping up]], Don says that he will, because "this is what you're paid for." In the video game, Lawrence says "This is what I'm paid for." during the Blue Rogues team attack.

** Fina also counts, having an extensive knowledge of Silvite and moonstone technology and how to make it work, such as moonstone cannons. She spends most of her time on the ''Delphinus'' calibrating the Moonstone Cannon to make De Loco’s (in her opinion) ramshackle design more efficient, and when she tries to explain it to her fellow engineers, it almost comes out as TechnoBabble.

* AdaptationDistillation: A few moments are left offscreen.

* AdaptationExpansion: The main thrust of the story. While the LoveTriangle between Vyse Aika and Fina takes center stage there are a multitude of other expansions, such as chapters told from the perspectives of side characters like Marco and Admiral Belleza, and a lot of effort is put into fleshing out the game's world-building.

** Nasrad’s guild master is fully willing to pay 10,000 gold for Daccat’s Coin… if his coffers weren’t cleared out after paying Vyse the bounty for “Loose Cannon” Lapen, and a draft notice is no good either.

*** Daccat even made it to Yafutoma, where he is known as Daqat, and became famous by sailing off with Princess Kikue Tokugawa right before her wedding, as well as with her dowry and the wedding feast. In Yafutoma’s eyes, the commoners see the tale as a dashing rogue romantically wooing a princess, while the nobility see it as how a vile thief repaid hospitality by kidnapping their princess.

** Belleza's vice-admiral Daniel Rawlins gives her two in quick succession. The first is when Belleza says that the occupation for Yafutoma needs to go smoothly for Galcian, and he confronts her about it needing to go smoothly for ''her'' to look good for Galcian. When that confrontation turns to Belleza's denied weakness for Galcian (to the point where it harms her own well-being), Rawlins asks if Belleza knows his (Rawlins's) weakness. One good look into Rawlins's eyes later...

* EveryoneHasStandards: Belleza is ''not'' happy when she hears that Vigoro and his men had tried finding companionship amongst the locals during their occupation of Yafutoma, got violent, and almost caused a riot as a result. She immediately arrests all the Valuan men responsible for the act, and when Vigoro tries to protest, she ''slaps'' him.

** Enrique initially sees himself and Princess Moegi as NotSoDifferent nobles conflicted between duty and freedom, but Fina's insight showing they're more {{Foils}} instead; Enrique turned against his corrupt homeland when it would've been easier to stay, while Moegi chose to remain and do her duty as the new heir of Yafutoma, the home and kingdom she loves, when it would've been easier to leave and find her brother.
* ForgivenButNotForgotten: Vyse doesn't just laugh off Drachma's temporary abandonment of the party the way he does in the game. It takes Drachma admitting his fault and placing himself under Vyse's command to restore some measure of Vyse's trust in him.

* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: The finale of the battle against Anguila, the giant angler-serpent boss in the Dark Rift, ends with it being bisected by the ''Delphinus’s'' Moonstone cannon.

* IgnoredEnamoredUnderling: Belleza is this to Galcian, as in canon, but she also finds out that one of her underlings is this to ''her'': her [[NumberTwo vice-admiral]], Daniel Rawlins.

* JustLikeRobinHood: Justified. The Blue Rogues don't act like traditional pirates because at their roots they're more of an anti-Valua resistance movement. The group's "leaders" (insomuch as it has them) like Dyne and Centolm are former Valuans themselves, being captains who mutinied against the larger fleet to resist Empress Teodora's tyranny, and the rest of the group follows their ideals.

* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: Invoked by Enrique during the ship battle against Gregorio and the 2nd Fleet at Esperanza. Just as Blue Rogues are not Black Pirates and Gregorio’s men are not monsters like Galcian, they will allow quarter and retreat and [[WillfullyWeak will not use the Moonstone cannon]] against them, to send a message of the Blue Rogues’ true character. That said, tactics like PlayingPossum are not out of the question.

* TheOneThingIDontHateAboutYou: The Yafutomans are not happy in the least at the Valuan occupation, supported by Minister Kangan or not... but they do show some appreciation when Admiral Belleza arrests several of Vigoro's men when they mistook a female teahouse worker as a prostitute and got violent as a result.

** Moreover, during the Valuan occupation of Yafutoma, some of Vigoro's crew end up getting violent with some of the teahouse workers, mistaking them for prostitutes. Belleza is so incensed she puts all of the offending soldiers under arrests, and overrules Vigoro when he tries to protest. And slaps him for good measure.

* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Under King Mathias’s reign, Valua was honourable and just. Then he passed away, his wife Teodora broke trying to hold the Empire together, she gave her ear and lent influence to Lord Galcian, and soon, Valua turned its ambitions to land expansion and control, using slavery and cruel tactics to take what it wanted.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Vyse just has one question to TheCasanova Gilder about his lovestruck stalker Clara: could he live with himself if she gave up and left him alone without a fight, or worse yet, if he lost her for good?

* {{Foil}}: Gilder proves to be this to Vyse considering their attitudes towards love; Vyse can’t choose between his love for two girls and can’t bring himself to break up with either, while Gilder is TheCasanova with one girl [[StalkerWithACrush perpetually chasing after him]]. While they manage to travel together easily enough, both of them find the other’s attitude towards love ridiculous. Then Vyse reunites with Aika and Fina, both willing to love him and each other equally, and Gilder starts thinking harder about what he’s been running from.

** Even Admiral Belleza gets a perspective chapter of her own.

* PlayingPossum: In the case of faking a ship injury; knowing the ''Delphinus'' cannot beat Admiral Gregorio and the ''[[MightyGlacier Auriga]]'' in a head-to-head fight, Vyse orders Lapen and Hans to make it look like one of the ship’s turbines has [[HeroicRROD overheated]], to fake out Gregorio into overextending. Once the ''Auriga'' has committed to a [[RammingAlwaysWorks ramming attack]], Vyse waits until the last moment to dodge out of the way and then hammer Gregorio with point-blank cannon fire.

* PuppyLove: The little girl Lyndsi develops a cute crush on Marco, much to his disgust. Everyone else either finds it adorable or hilarious.

* ContentWarnings: Chapter 19 contains a trigger warning for attempted rape. This is the chapter that covers the prison break from the Grand Fortress and contains the scene where Vigoro tries to put the moves on Aika. To quote the author:

[[caption-width-right:350:Vyse, Aika and Fina, who figured themselves out]]

* PlotHole: Wherever possible the story invents new details or otherwise smooths over holes in the original story. For instance during the mission to rescue Fina the ''Little Jack'' performs a GunshipRescue, blasting a train car in half to separate the party from an unbeatable Admiral Galcian. But how did Drachma to know where to shoot? Well when the same scene happens in chapter 5 Aika is tossing around Pyri crystals (magic grenades) and when Galcian corners them Vyse tells her to throw her last one out a window, using it as a signal flare.

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/17909870/chapters/42283727 Between Three Rogues]]'' is a pseudo-novelization of ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' written by Erico. Rather than reconstruct the game's events line-by-line the story focuses on filling in gaps in the original story with extra world-building and character development, most notably fleshing out the development of the game's lead trio into an eventual {{OT3}}.

* AFatherToHisMen: Dyne is this to his crew, especially Vyse, his ''actual'' son. Vyse probably ''wants'' to qualify for this trope but there's a little too much {{UST}} going around on the ''Little Jack'' for that. Drachma is notably ''not'' like this, being so obsessed with his hunt for Rhaknam that he briefly maroons the party in Maramba to chase rumors of an arcwhale sighting.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Fina is a sweetheart and definitely the kindest member of Vyse's crew, but even she has a temper when she's well and truly pushed.

* PrisonRape: While the game plays this trope for laughs, Erico plays it ruthlessly straight.

* PlotHole: Wherever possible the story invents new details or otherwise smooths over holes in the original story. For instance during the mission to rescue Fina the ''Little Jack'' performs a GunshipRescue, blasting a train car in half to separate the party from an unbeatable Admiral Galcian. But how did Drachma to know where to shoot? Well when the same scene happens in chapter 5 Aika is tossing around Pyri crystals (magic grenades) and when Galcian corners them Vyse tells her to throw her last one out a window, using it as a signal flare.

--> ''"This is the one scene in the game that drove me nuts on reflection five years later after I first played it, grew up, and realized that the game devs tried to make prison rape into a joke here. Well, it's not a joke, it's not funny, and I'm not glossing over it. [...] In the game it's a setup so you can feel like a big strong man rescuing your woman from the clutches of a blackguard. Screw that. [[DamselOutOfDistress Aika can rescue herself]]."''

-> "This is the one scene in the game that drove me nuts on reflection five years later after I first played it, grew up, and realized that the game devs tried to make prison rape into a joke here. Well, it's not a joke, it's not funny, and I'm not glossing over it. [...] In the game it's a setup so you can feel like a big strong man rescuing your woman from the clutches of a blackguard. Screw that. [[DamselOutOfDistress Aika can rescue herself]]."

* AdaptationExpansion: The main thrust of the story. While the LoveTriangle between Vyse Aika and Fina takes center stage there are a multitude of other expansions, such as chapters told from the perspectives of side characters like Marco and Admiral Belleza.

* NearDeathExperience: Aika very nearly gets her ticket punched by Piastol. It's only Fina's talent for silver magic that saves her at the last second.