History Literature / ArrivalsFromTheDark

* {{Humanshifting}}: While the rest of his species has VoluntaryShapeshifting, the Exile's condition causes him to be locked into the first species he changes to. After that, only relatively small changes are possible. He chooses humans and has been living on Earth since the 13th century. While he is able to imitate a human male of any skin color (women's bodies are too different for him to change into), he has been seen as a HumanAlien or even a "pseudo-humanoid" at several points, although it's implied that these changes are only cosmetic (despite the four-fingered hands of the latter). He also spends decades with a prosthetic arm, as the man he replaced lost his arm in battle before expiring. He is able to regrow the arm when necessary in a matter of seconds.

# ''[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13710014/1/The-Faraway-Saikat-Trevelyan-s-Mission-Book-2 The Faraway Saikat]]'' ("Далёкий Сайкат")
# ''The Missing Link'' ("Недостающее звено")

* MultiEthnicName: Olaf (Scandinavian) Peter (pretty common across cultures) Carlos (Portuguese or Spanish) Trevelian-Krasnogortsev (French-Russian). Given that this takes place in the distant future, it's not at all surprising, although the hyphenated last name dates back to the early 20th century (a Tsarist Russian officer's daughter married into a wealthy French family and insisted on preserving her family name). His birthplace is given as Cornwall, England. In fact, according to him, he was named after his ancestors from Scandinavian, English, and Spanish sides of the family.

* StunGuns: In the first novel, the olks (genetically-engineered Faata guards) carry heavy paralyzer guns aboard the starship. However, the weapon appears to be deadly at close range, as demonstrated when Litvin causes them to fire at one another at near-point-blank range. The concentrated blast stops their lungs from breathing.

* TheMaidenNameDebate: Komandor Olaf Peter Carlos Trevelian-Krasnogortsev reveals that the reason for his hyphenated last name dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. An ancestor of his, a Russian nobleman named Krasnogortsev, fled Russia during the UsefulNotes/RedOctober and settled in France, marrying into the aristocratic Trevelian family, changing his last name to symbolize becoming one of them. Interestingly, some of the Komandor's children have decided that the name was too long and have used only "Trevelian" since then.
* UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}: Several small bases are present on the red planet in the first novel, including the USF base of the Second Fleet. In both first and second novels, the planet is used to test fighter pilots alongside the hellish Venus. By the fifth novel, taking place a few centuries after the first, however, Mars has been largely terraformed and is now home to 200 million people and even has oceans, rivers, and vast forests. Some areas have been set aside as preserves in order to retain the natural Martian landscape and scenery, although, of course, the air is breathable if rarefied (think Himalayas). In fact, the terraforming of Mars was used as a testbed for future settlement of Mars-like worlds, including T'har.

* FantasticCasteSystem: The [[TheReptilians Dromi]] are divided into tribes, headed by a Patriarch (or Zong-er-zong in the Dromi language; literally "Elder-over-Elders"). All members of a tribe descend from the Patriarch. Caste stratification is done via generations. Those born of earlier generations have a higher status than those born later. The first generation, called Sidura-zong (Big-Elders), are the rulers of the tribe (after the Patriarch). The second (Zong-ap-sidura, Elders-under-Big) and third (Zong-tii, Elders-with-Spot) generations serve as supervisors, the latter named so because they feature a large violet spot on their bellies, signifying maturity. The fourth and younger generations are called Sinn-ko (Named-Ones), who function as workers and rank-and-file soldiers. The mindless younglings are called Hallaha, and most of them don't even make it to the Sinn-ko age (those that do are given names). Only the Zong-tii and Zong-ap-sidura castes produce offspring, although this has more to do with physiology than social stratification (i.e. this is the time when the hermaphroditic Dromi can produce offspring). Due to their CannonFodder status, few Sinn-ko live long enough to become Zong-tii. The casualties among the Zong-tii are less, but the numbers still grow smaller yet by the time they reach the age of Zong-ap-sidura. Most Dromi never make past this stage and die at around the age of 50. A few are chosen for the Sidura-zong caste and are given life-extension treatments. Since the Dromi continue to grow throughout their lives, even with the longevity treatments, they still, eventually, succumb to the SquareCubeLaw. Patriarchs typically only die of this, although they usually sense their coming death and pass their authority to their oldest surviving offspring, a Sidura-zong, who becomes the new Patriarch. The other Sidura-zong can remain at that stage but can also leave to form their own tribes. As all this indicates, there is definite vertical mobility (by virtue of the aging process), but attrition ensures that only a relatively small percentage reaches higher castes.

* HumansThroughAlienEyes: In ''Dark Skies'', many of the chapters are told from the viewpoint of a unique [[TheReptilians Dromi]] named Patta, who desperately tries to understand the human Hossi-moa ("Paired Creatures", as the Dromi call all humanoids with two sexes, since they're a OneGenderRace). The rigidly-hierarchical Dromi in general have trouble understanding the much more flexible human society, as well as actions that seemingly defy logic (although, at least, they admit that the actions defy ''their'' logic). Due to their need to finish a train of thought before switching to a new one, they also find it hard to keep up with humans, whose minds must seem chaotic to the frog-lizards.

* WeHaveReserves: The greatest strength of the [[TheReptilians Dromi]] are their sheer numbers. Their population is estimated at several ''hundred billion'', which is several times greater than the combined population of all the other known races. They breed like rabbits (much faster, in fact) and constantly need new planets to settle. Despite the great attrition rate among the lower/younger castes, their rate of reproduction is still incredibly high. They don't value the lives of the lower castes and see nothing wrong with sacrificing hundreds of them to find out a key piece of information about an enemy. Their technology is also less advanced than that of the humans and many other star-facing races, but their numbers more than make up for that. Their largest ships are called dreadnoughts by humans, but they're actually the size of human frigates and are a fraction of the size of human cruisers. Their inborn lack of fear also means that all battles are fought to the last. Retreat is not an option to them.

# ''The Faraway Saikat'' ("Далёкий Сайкат")

* CrazyPrepared: the United Space Forces in the first novel have warships armed to the teeth with MagneticWeapons (firing icicle spreads), FrickinLaserBeams, {{Plasma Cannon}}s, and nuclear missiles. Their primary combat tasks appear to be as a quick-reaction force against Earth-based missions and destroying dangerous asteroids. There does not appear to be a reason why the USF has to have so many well-armed ships, especially since a large chunk of them usually find themselves patroling the Outer Solar System, and the existence of aliens is not seen as something possible (until they show up, that is).

* FamilyThemeNaming: Paul Richard Corcoran's wife is named Vera (literally, "faith"). His two daughters are named Nadezhda (literally, "hope") and Lyubov (literally, "love"). "Faith, hope, and love" is a phrase from "[[Literature/TheBible 1 Corinthians 13:13]]".

* HappilyMarried: Most protagonists. Komandor Olaf Peter Carlos Trevelian-Krasnogortsev is a glaring exception, having gone through several marriages (although one of them would have probably lasted had that wife not been killed in combat). Even the philandering Ivar Trevelyan eventually ends up in a happy FourthDateMarriage and readily gives up his womanizing ways.

* HumansAreMorons: the Exile expresses this opinion near the end of the first novel, frustrated at the humans' inability or unwillingness to heed his warnings or advice, preferring to fight one another to uniting against the alien threat. When Litvin asks why the Exile is unwilling to give his own life to destroy the Faata starship, the Exile angrily tells him that it's not for him to give up his (very long) life for a planet that's not his own, especially after doing so much to try to help the humans, despite their thick-headedness and stubbornness. He outright calls humans savages, who, maybe, deserve to be enslaves or wiped out by the Faata. That said, later novels show that humans do get better (it helps that the author includes almost no politics in any of the sequels), and the future human leaders are more than willing to heed his advice or use his information, since they now know about him. Given Litvin's humbled reaction after this rant, he fully agrees with the Exile.

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: The USF spokesman in ''Invasion'' is named [[Creator/MarkTwain Sam Clemens]].

* OurElvesAreBetter: The Lo'ona Aeo not only fit the profile, this was [[{{Lampshading}} referenced]] in the novels. They are frail humanoid-like creatures with four-fingered hands used to living in low-gravity environments of their space habitats. They are ancient with only the [[{{Precursors}} Daskins]] being older and have extremely long lives by human standards. They are highly advanced and refuse to share weapons with the less advanced races (which is everyone else), although they do trade for certain technology that is specifically designed to be impossible to weaponize. They never meet outsiders (due to extreme xenophobia) but use their ServantRace to actively trade and maintain diplomatic relations with others. They also possess PsychicPowers.
** {{Subverted}} in that they don't believe themselves fit for the role of galactic protectors and are secretly grooming humans for the job.

# ''Envoy from the Heavens'' ("Посланец небес")

Novels:

# ''Invasion'' ("Вторжение")
# ''Counterstrike'' ("Ответный удар")
# ''Fighters of Danwait'' ("Бойцы Данвейта")
# ''Dark Skies'' ("Тёмные небеса")
# ''The Gates of the Galaxy'' ("Врата Галактики")
# ''Good Will Mission'' ("Миссия доброй воли"; co-authored by Roman Karavayev)

A fan translation of the first novel can be found [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13494563/1/Invasion-Arrivals-from-the-Dark-Book-1 here]].

** In the third novel, the protagonists are threatened by a Haptor warship armed with an [[AntiMatter annihilator]]. In fact, this is what allows them to defeat the warship. The sixth novel claims that the Haptors don't have annihilator technology, which is the only reason humans defeated them in a war that the Haptors started.

''Trevelian's Mission'' ("Миссия Тревельяна"), Another series by the same author shares the same [[TheVerse universe]] but focuses on one character and takes place about 500 years later.

''Arrivals from the Dark'' ("Пришедшие из мрака") is a Russian science fiction book series written by Creator/MikhailAkhmanov. Except for the first novel, the series focuses on the lives of some of the members of the same family. The series timeline stretches from 2088 to 2352. All novels deal with humanity's wars against various alien races with the myths and legends of the mysterious {{Precursors}} who left the known galaxy tens of thousands of years ago.