History Literature / Emberverse

* AllGaysArePromiscuous: Don't tell Tiphaine d'Ath that, unless for some reason you feel the urge to die a quick and bloody death. However, Estella Maldonado and Aaron Rothman each labor gallantly to uphold this trope. As does Rigobert, at least until he's old enough to disprove NobodyOverFiftyIsGay, at which point he settles down.

* NobodyOver50IsGay:
** Dr. Aaron Rothman begs to differ -- [[DeadpanSnarker and thinks you look quite fetchingly butch with that little scar on your chin.]]
** Rigobert as of ''The Given Sacrifice'' has reached that milestone as well...not that age has slowed him down in the tiniest.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: The second trilogy from Sword of the Lady on in a nutshell. On one hand, you have the CUT, an AxCrazy, EldritchAbomination worshipping ReligionOfEvil which crucifies people. On the flipside, some of the allies Rudi picked up are run by not terribly-nice people either. Aside from the homophopic, [[StayInTheKitchen sexist]] PPA, you have the Des Moines League, none of which are democracies and which in at least Iowa's case metes out incredibly harsh punishments for minor offences even by post-change standards.

* ReligionIsMagic

* ManInAKilt: Kilts are everyday and ceremonial wear for the Clan Mackenzie. They're often considered {{Fanservice}} in-universe, especially when worn by fit and attractive men such as Rudi and Edain.

* MeaningfulName: For some reason, [[KingArthur ''Artos'']] leaps to mind.... - "Artos" is also Greek for "bear". Guess who his father is.

* MedievalStasis: zig-zagged. This is the in-universe goal of [[spoiler: the Mind]], more or less, but pretty much every character in the series is working to avert it... with varying degrees of success, of course.

* TheMole: [[spoiler: Kuttner]]

* NemeanSkinning: Michael Havel, Lord Bear of the Bearkillers, wears the head of the bear that earned him and the outfit their names on his helmet. Subverts the trope by making Havel nearly get killed by the bear, and tanning is done by specialists off-page.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Horribly averted, as most celebrities ''were'' harmed (and probably killed and eaten, too). Of the ones we actually hear about in the story, the British royal family has been put through the wringer with Queen Elizabeth II dying, Prince Charles taking the throne at the point of insanity, and Prince William being sent on a one-way trip in a leaky museum piece.

*** However, a character who may be Creator/HarrisonFord is seen running Ford's Kyentse Cowboy Bar & Grill (The Scourge of God).
* NobodyOver50IsGay: Dr. Aaron Rothman begs to differ -- [[DeadpanSnarker and thinks you look quite fetchingly butch with that little scar on your chin.]]

* RainOfArrows: combat strategy of the Mackenzie archers.

* DungAges: massively and deliberately averted. Although the overall tech level of the Emberverse is pre-industrial if not completely medieval, modern medicine and sanitation (and the relationship between sanitation and public health) are still well-known and widely practiced.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: horribly averted, as most celebrities ''were'' harmed (and probably killed and eaten, too). Of the ones we actually hear about in the story, the British royal family has been put through the wringer with Queen Elizabeth II dying, Prince Charles taking the throne at the point of insanity, and Prince William being sent on a one-way trip in a leaky museum piece.

** Astrid believes that the ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'' stories are actual histories. But she's a kick-ass fighter and wilderness scout and also has both the charisma and organizational ability to turn her delusion into an actual organization and quasi-religion.

The current series, a [[TrilogyCreep pentalogy]], takes place a generation afterwards, and includes:

* ''The Sky-Blue Wolves'' (2018)

* ActionGirl: Lessee... Astrid Larsson, Eilir Mackenzie, Ritva and Mary Havel, Virginia Kane, Mathilda Arminger, Asgerd Karlsdottir. Also any girl on Mikes "A-list" by virtue of, well, making onto the A-list.

* BiggerBad: the Malevolence, called the Ascended Masters by the CUT.

** Ultimately zig-zagged. It should be noted that the real crapsack are those forced to live under the brutal thumb of the Cutters.[[ spoiler: Things get much better when the CUT falls for good in The Given Sacrifice.]] The PPA has several reforms forced on it after the War of The Eye, and quite a few people got the hell out of dodge as a result. Boise did go through an unpleasant period after [[ spoiler: Martin's coup, but again, got better after Fred took over and finally instituted real elections.]] Not so much for Iowa or its buffer states, sadly.

** In a lot of places where society has recovered in North America, many of the major options still aren't good, as most places have some form of feudalism in place. Between the superficially romantic but misogynistic and repressive feudalism of the Portland Protective Association where commoners have very little freedom of movement, the centralized autocracy in Boise, the slavocracy in Pendleton, the [[CrapsaccharineWorld superficially nice]] Iowa which features a caste system and harsh punishments for minor offences, and the all-conquering Church Universal and Triumphant, which has institutionalized slavery, crucifixion, murder, and treats women like chattel, life sucks in the Emberverse.
** It should be noted that the real crapsack are those forced to live under the brutal thumb of the Cutters.[[Things get much better when the CUT falls for good in The Given Sacrifice.]] The PPA has several reforms forced on it after the War of The Eye, and quite a few people got the hell out of dodge as a result.

** Note that Arminger so very much wanted his own tame Pope to go along with his Norman-England fetish. Thus Pope Leo was given his own inquisition and was mainly in existence to increase the BigBad's powerbase.

Thus begins ''Dies the Fire'', the first "Novel of the Change" by Creator/SMStirling. The Novels of the Change, aka the Emberverse, concern what happens to the modern world after the island of Nantucket is hurled back through time in IslandInTheSeaOfTime, the other side of the Emberverse coin.

* DemocracyIsBad: The single democracy amongst the surviving Willamette communities, Corvallis, is easily manipulated by Portland during the Protector's War, and it's notably inefficient at the best of times. Averted (so far as we know) by the Dominion of Drumheller, seen in the second trilogy. It's worth mentioning that this is an {{Aesop}} completely opposite to that expressed in the related series ''IslandInTheSeaOfTime''.

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Hallgerda of Greater Britain manipulates her mad husband and places her royal stepsons in harm's way in an effort to ensure her own children will inherit the throne. She eventually kills King Charles when he refuses to disinherit his older sons in favor of her children. Interestingly, the trope does ''not'' apply to [[MagnificentBastard Lady Regent Sandra]] of Portland. Ruthless as she can be, she is constrained by the need to avoid alienating her subjects thanks to an open-borders policy. She also sincerely loves her spouse and is devoted to her daughter.

The current tetrology, taking place a generation afterwards, features:

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In ''Dies the Fire,'' Mike is extremely concerned about the injuries or mutual death that almost always result from trying to knife-fight anyone who isn't completely incompetent. [[spoiler: Two books later, he challenges MasterSwordsman & BigBad Norman Arminger to single combat. Both of them die.]]

** Norman Arminger is a former SCA dork, ''uses Sauron's Mordor banner as his flag,'' and is probably more than a bit crazy himself. With how he is numerically the most effective leader immediately post-Change and willing & able to kill almost anyone hand-to-hand, no one under him really has much to say about it... though given his Mary Sue and Author Insert tendencies there is a certain amount of discontinuity that his effectiveness actually creates in the novels.

* OnlyElectricSheepAreCheap: Inverted. In the years following the Change, many people will go on and on about all the fantastic processed foods that are no onger available when everyone is reduced to eating natural, home-grown food.

*** However, a character who may be Creator/{{HarrisonFord}} is seen running Ford's Kyentse Cowboy Bar & Grill (The Scourge of God).

* {{Patronymic}}: A common form of identifier in some cultures Rudi's band encounters in their trek across the continent, including the Southsiders (e.g., "Jake sunna Jake"), Canadian neo-savages the London Bunch (Dik Tomskid), and the Norrheimers (Bjarni Erickson). The Norrheimers seem to be the only ones who also use this naming convention for women, whose surnames end with "dottir" rather than the masculine "son" (Asgerd Karlsdottir).

** Norman Arminger is a former SCA dork, ''uses Sauron's Mordor banner as his flag,'' and is probably more than a bit crazy himself. With how he is numerically the most effective leader immediately post-Change and willing & able to kill almost anyone hand-to-hand, no one under him really has much to say about it...

* MeaningfulName: For some reason, [[KingArthur ''Artos'']] leaps to mind....

* DivineRightOfKings: In many parts of the post-Change world, it becomes an article of faith that monarchs (whatever their title: Protector, King, Bossman, or something else) are chosen by God or the gods, with the prerogatives that implies. Understandable in that most dynasties have their origin in people who saved lives and formed the basis for new civilizations just after the Change. It doesn't hurt that some, like Rudi Mackenzie, show demonstrable signs of having otherworldly assistance and favor. It also helps that some, like Rudi, Orlaith, John, and Her Majesty of Nippon, have [[RoyaltySuperpower Royalty Superpowers]], like prophetic dreams and the ability to use magical wespons.