History Literature / CodexAlera

* EmotionControl: Earthcrafting and Firecrafting allow the crafters to manipulate creatures around them.

** Firecrafting can be used to inspire fear or courage, even to the point of ''death'' if the crafting is strong enough. Firecrafting seems to require line-of-sight to be effective.

* HiveQueen: The Vord Queen mentally controls her swarm, but only to a certain range. One can tell if the Queen is close based on the effectiveness of the Vord in battle. If they're acting like a terrifying professional army, the Queen is there. If they're acting like a horde of dangerous wild animals, then the Queen is present (though even when the Queen isn't present, if she has given "jobs" to certain sections of the horde, they will still try to fulfill said jobs to the best of their limited ability).

* HopelessWar: The Vord come within an inch of wiping out all resistance on Alera despite everything the Alerans can throw at them. The only reason they're stopped is because [[spoiler: Tavi manages to kill the Vord Queen at a critical moment]], and even then that only worked because [[spoiler: the Queen was "defective" and didn't have any other Queens helping her command the swarm.]]
* TheHorde: Before a tentative truce was struck between Alera and the Gargant/Horse clans of the Marat, almost the only contact between the two peoples was when a Marat horde would sweep into the Calderon Valley to raid the Steadholts there.

* FirstKiss: Notably initiated by Kitai.

* HiveQueen: The Vord Queen mentally controls her swarm, but only to a certain range. One can tell if the Queen is close based on the effectiveness of the Vord in battle.

** Aldrick repeatedly dismisses his opponents by saying, "...but you aren't Araris." [[spoiler: No prizes for guessing who he ends up meeting again in battle.]]

** In ''Academ's Fury'', while Bernard is preparing for the final push against the Vord Queen, he notes the ugly weather being brought down by the great furies around Garados and remarks that "Even if we don't finish them, the furystorm will finish what we started." At the end of ''First Lord's Fury'', [[spoiler: a furystorm is what hurts the Vord Queen enough to allow Tavi to finally finish her.]]
** When traveling to the First Aleran Legion, Tavi, Max, and Magnus discuss the nature of the legion, which is comprised of soldiers from every province. It's noted that most High Lords will keep all their good soldiers to themselves, and send the newbies and the troublemakers on to the First Aleran. The Legion will also be a hotbed of intrigue, so in the words of Max, "Anyone competent and friendly is probably a spy". Later, it turns out that the competent ReasonableAuthorityFigure [[spoiler: Valiar Marcus is actually Fidelias, spying for Lady Aquiataine]].

* JoinTheArmyTheySaid: A variation. Gaius Sextus promotes Count Gram of Calderon Valley to a Lordship and gives him a place to relax in relative retirement in the lovely Aramanth Vale, home to plains of good fields and easy work. An annoyed Gram later calls Gaius a confidence man because [[spoiler:the Vord have taken over the region and ruined his lovely retirement, forcing him to act once more]].

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: An Aleran freeman can become a Citizen through several different means, but all of them (with the exception of appointment to a government position or marriage to a Citizen) involve combat in some way. The laws of the land ensure that the most capable and most powerful furycrafters end up at the top of the social order.

** [[spoiler: The icemen]] are an entire culture that can only watercraft.

Magical Roman Legionaries straight out of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' versus the [[VideoGame/{{Starcraft}} Zerg]], [[WolfMan wolfmen]] with BloodMagic, telepathic [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti yetis]] and [[MysticalWhiteHair white-haired]] [[OurElvesAreDifferent elves]]. Riding [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs ground sloths and terror birds]]. Sometimes, the Legionaries fight each other, too.

* GuysSmashGirlsShoot: Inverted with Bernard and Amara, the most long-term BattleCouple. Though Bernard has an earthcrafter's strength and carries a [[AnAxeToGrind battle axe]], he is primarily an archer, while Amara is a swordswoman.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: The series's main couples (Tavi and Kitai, Amara and Bernard) get it on explicitly, frequently, and enthusiastically. Relatedly, Princeps Septimus and [[spoiler:Isana]] apparently had a very positive sex life on top of being HappilyMarried, and Max serves as both ThePornomancer among Tavi's friends and an increasing voice of reason. In contrast, while it might just be ribbing on behalf of [[DeadpanSnarker Placidus Aria]], [[TheSociopath Kalarus Brencis]] apparently had "trouble" bedding women at the Academy when they were all younger, and Gaius Sextus (who, while not exactly evil, is still very morally ambiguous at times and frequently forced to ShootTheDog) is mentioned to have had a non-existent sex life since remarrying Caria in an ArrangedMarriage and found it ''very'' awkward when [[spoiler:Caria later seduced him in the bath after Max (while disguised as Sextus) had previously made out with her to serve as part of a distraction]].

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Any prominent person is likely to have one in Alera due to a combination of GratuitousLatin and EarnYourTitle. Tavi's eventual renaming as [[spoiler: Gaius Tavarus Magnus ("Lord Super-Wolverine the Great")]] is probably the best example.

* OddNameOut: Isana, Amara, Fidelias, Maximus, Araris, Invidia... Tavi? [[spoiler:Which is {{Foreshadowing}}, as it happens. "Gaius Oc'''tavi'''an" fits right in with the rest of those [[AwesomeMcCoolname awesome]] Latin-derived names.]]

** The series was originally written on one. Jim Butcher was in a debate over whether [[SugarWiki/FictionIdentityPostulate a good story required a good idea, or if a good story could be written with a bad idea]]. The other member of the argument, whose name has now been lost to time, bet that Butcher could not write a good story based on a terrible idea he came up with. Butcher responded that he would take [[UpToEleven two]]. The ideas were the LostRomanLegion... and ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''.

* StealthExpert: The Cursors are typically trained to be this, but Kitai (as a Marat, she has senses far enhanced in comparison to a human's, along with SuperStrength and incredible agility) and the Hunters of the Canim take this UpToEleven. The latter case is especially impressive, since they're all incredibly large WolfMen who are nevertheless able to catch even Kitai off guard.

* SuperSpeed: A primary combat ability for wind crafters, as drawing their wind fury within them allows them to increase their own speed beyond human norms. Later [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] in that if the windcrafter tries to take it UpToEleven, their bodies cannot keep up and/or they end up with torn muscles and broken bones.

"" [[spoiler: The icemen]] are an entire culture that can only watercraft.

* {{Expy}}: The Vord share several important traits (insect-like biology, hive mind, ability to infest living humans, reliance on a substance they smear across the ground in their nests) with [[VideoGame/StarCraft the Zerg]]. They also have much in common with [[StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Borg]].

* {{Expy}}: The Vord share several important traits (insect-like biology, hive mind, ability to infest living humans, reliance on a substance they smear across the ground in their nests) with [[VideoGame/StarCraft the Zerg]].

* NatureVersusTechnology: Plant/Wood and Metal are treated as opposing elements.

* ElementalPowers: Well, ''duh''. There are six elements, each of which can be directly manipulated or used to summon a manifest fury, and most of them have secondary applications as well:

** Ehren presents the appearance of a scribe or accountant — and in fact ''works'' as a scribe in his duties as a Cursor — but is adept at taking down plenty of people with his [[KnifeNut many, ''many'', knives]]. [[spoiler:He ultimately arranges Aquitaine's assassination to clear the way for Tavi's unchallenged rise to the throne]].

* KnifeNut: Ehren hides such an extravagant number of knives on his person that it becomes a RunningGag, and at least one person deduces that he is a Cursor based solely on how many he has.

** Once Ehren becomes a Cursor [[KnifeNut he carries numerous knives]] [[HiddenWeapons hidden about his person]]. Eventually people begin commenting on just how many he has tucked away from view.

** Ehren is introduced as a Cursor-in-training who is more adept at the economic analysis and information interpretation area of spycraft, [[UnderestimatingBadassery although Tavi realizes that Ehren must have been hiding some of his skills from the rest of the group even during this time]]. After he begins active duty as a Cursor after graduating from the Academy, he grows into a [[KnifeNut knife-wielding]] assassin, covert agent, and spymaster.

** In the last book, Varg knocks down Khral, an attacking ritualist, with what is strongly implied to be a copy of the ''Literature/CommentariiDeBelloGallico'' by UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar.

** In ''First Lord's Fury'', Varg [[ThrowTheBookAtThem knocks down Khral]], an attacking ritualist, with what is strongly implied to be a copy of the ''Literature/CommentariiDeBelloGallico'' by UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar.

* GetItOverWith: Amara refuses to listen to [[spoiler: Invidia's]] justifications or explanations for why she is helping the Vord Queen and tells her to "get on with it" when she holds Amara and Bernard at swordpoint.

* HostileTerraforming: It is never confirmed, but some very vague implications suggest that the Vord were perhaps engineered as a terraforming system for planets: Exterminating the locals and growing ''croach'' for what is to follow.

* ImAHumanitarian: Marat believe that, once you have defeated your foe, you must "partake of their strength" - which means eating bits of them, usually the heart. And yes, this includes Alerans and other Marat. The more villainous Marat are also fine with "partaking of their strength" ''while their enemies [[EatenAlive are still alive]].''

* BigBadEnsemble: Attis Aquitaine and Invidia Aquitaine, both of whom are arguably separate threats despite being husband and wife, are the {{Bigger Bad}}s of the first book and have a presence in all the rest; Kalarus is part of three different {{Big Bad Ensemble}}s in books 2-4, and Sarl is mostly a separate threat in book 3 [[spoiler: despite his treacherous and tenuous alliance with the former]], as is arguably BigBadWannabe Senator Arnos; however, the Vord are the BigBad of the overall story, both as a species and in the form of the primary Vord Queen, [[spoiler: who is involved in an EnemyCivilWar with the other Queens.]]

** [[invoked]] PlayedForLaughs with Amara's SexSlave outfit during her secret undercover mission in ''Cursor's Fury''; despite [[MaleGaze Bernard's wandering gaze]] being enough to convey that she looks quite goregous in it, any potential titillation is lost by how Amara's internal narration while wearing it consists almost entirely of her complaining about how stupid she looks, how impractical the outfit is, and how she's dreading the possibility of getting [[{{Squick}} wind burns in uncomfortable places]] if/when she needs to pull off a sudden escape with Cirrus.

* ThemeNaming: Almost all of the High Cities of Alera along with many geographical locations and ruins are named after places/cultural aspects of the Roman Empire. For instance, the ruins of the oldest human settlement in Carna is called "Appia" in reference to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appian_Way the Appian Way]], Phrygia is named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygia a kingdom in west-central Anatolia conquered by the Romans]], Rhodes gets its name from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea annexed by Rome]], Ceres is named after the Roman goddess of agriculture, Placida takes its name from a surname used for Venus in some myths, Aquitaine is named for a province of Gaul (the latter of which also became the namesake of the River Gaul), Attica is named for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attica the Greek peninsula encompassing Athens]], and the Tiber River is named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiber the actual Italian river cutting through Rome]]. Justified since the Realm of Alera was founded by a LostRomanLegion.

** ''Juris macto'' is thrown around many of times as a threat, essentially with people saying "If you don't shut up, I'll challenge you to ''juris macto'', and then you'll regret it". Most people back down and shut up. The first time ''juris macto'' actually gets thrown ''down'' is in ''Captain's Fury'', when [[spoiler: Tavi challenges Senator Arnos]] and gives absolutely no possibility of declining it[[note]][[spoiler: If Arnos refuses the challenge, he is immediately considered guilty of the wholesale and illegal slaughter of Aleran civilians and will be put to death for treason at worst, and at best, will be stripped of his command of the Senatorial Legions and the honor of winning the battle against the Canim invaders, which is what he's been angling for the whole book. Arnos has no choice but to accept, and he takes that realization ''poorly'']][[/note]].

* TimeAbyss: [[spoiler:Alera, SpiritAdvisor to House Gaius]], remembers ''billions'' of years back. This is because [[spoiler:she is essentially the spirit of the continent itself.]]

* TookALevelInKindness: High Lord Riva toward Amara and Bernard. In his first few mentions and appearances, the man is seen as an arrogant old noble who dislikes Gaius for usurping his right to name a replacement as Count in the Calderon Valley. Later, when the Vord attack, he doesn't believe Gaius' claims, thinking this is some political scheme on Gaius' part. Then in ''First Lord's Fury'' [[spoiler:he is humbled by seeing the devastation of his city, and much of the continent, and offers his apologies to Amara and Bernard for his years of dislike towards him and offers his aid as an engineering master to Bernard's plans]].