History Literature / Fallocaust

* SuperpowerLottery: Even among the chimera, empaths stand out as a prime example. Not only can they absorb the powers of other chimeras if they didn't have them already, such as [[spoiler: SuperStrength and ResurrectiveImmortality]], they also have powers unique to them such as AuraVision, CompellingVoice, and MakeMeWannaShout. The only power they haven't displayed the ability to reproduce is radiation manipulation, which is solely a power for Born Immortals.

** When Elish gets a little too uppity in his English levels in ''Garden of Spiders'', his teacher, Ryan, has him read the Literature/{{Twilight}} books and write essays on them after Elish derides them.

** In ''Breaking Jade'' we have [[spoiler:Jade's [=MP3=] player.]]

* SchmuckBait: Sure, Jade, [[spoiler: use the stolen keycard to ''rob Ares and Siris.'']]

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Asher and Perish, being immortal, don’t stay down for long after Killian dispatches them in ''Fallocaust.'']]
** [[spoiler: Silas finally gets Sky back in the finale of ''The Suicide King'']]

* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Dekkers.

* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler:Julian.]]

* TomatoInTheMirror: Reaver is a born-immortal clone of Sky- Silas's deceased boyfriend. In ''The Suicide King'' Adler, another clone, is introduced.

** Nero is afraid of being alone.

* WeaponOfChoice: Jade's metal fangs and clawed rings.

* AwesomeMccoolname: All over the place, but Reno Nevada stands out.

* IllBoy: Jade and Valen. [[spoiler:Jade gets better. Valen doesn't.]]
** [[spoiler:Until ''A God Among Insects'', where it's revealed he was encased in a concrete prison.]]

* FanOfThePast: Justified. People generally have more important things on their minds than creating new media, but people still need entertainment. Jack's career as a novelist is mentioned, and it's mentioned that Skyfall TV is planning on creating original programming, but for the most part media hasn't evolved since the early 21st century. Taken UpToEleven with chimeras, who get individual TV channels based on their individual tastes.

* AllThereInTheManual: The author maintains a glossary of the chimeras on the official website. Although it isn't complete (see LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters; Since it only covers chimeras major characters such as Reno, Killian and even Silas are omitted, and some of the younger chimeras such as Jade or Adler aren't covered) it does help flesh out some of the more minor characters, and reveals information about major characters that, in some cases, has barely been hinted at in the series.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: There are around a dozen viewpoint characters, with more being added with every new book in the main series.

* IncestIsRelative: The chimeras think of each-other as brothers but that doesn't stop them from having sex, falling in love or even getting married to one another.

* EveryoneKnowsMorse: Subverted. When he's held captive by the Crimstones, [[spoiler:Reno manages to figure out their location and, when they use him to make a ransom video, he blinks the location in morse code expecting this trope to come into play.]] RealityEnsues, and he's there for weeks before [[spoiler:Reaver sees the video, decodes the message, and manages to get a message to Caligula with their location.]]

* HotForTeacher: Elish has a crush on Ryan, his English teacher, in ''Garden of Spiders''.

* YourCheatingHeart: Averted with the chimeras. Chimeras are generally more flexible when it comes to sex, so even while they're with someone else it's not uncommon for them to sleep with someone apart from their partner. The males are actually encouraged to have sex with each other, and it's not uncommon for them to have a cicaro in addition to their romantic partner. However, falling in love is a different matter. Depending on his mood, Silas will come down ''hard'' on any chimera that dares to do it, often punishing the boyfriend as opposed to the chimera with punishments ranging from death sentences to sending them, unarmed, to the far edge of the greywastes to fight their way back.
** Played straight when [[spoiler:Reaver sleeps with Nero. Although Reaver has (in his mind) legitimate reasons for sleeping with Nero, Killian promptly breaks up with him.]]
** Garrett plays this dead straight. The first time Reno leaves him, he goes as far as stalking him and threatening the boy he slept with in the interim. [[spoiler: When he leaves him for good in ''A God Among Insects'' he follows him to a bar and almost has Chally and several elite greywasters Reno was having sex with executed, then rapes Reno with a golf club when he tries to calm him down.''
** [[spoiler: Sky also plays this straight, flying off the handle whenever Silas so much as ''mentions'' Reno, despite the fact they were never officially a couple and Sky had been ''dead'' for decades at the time.]]

* MakeMeWannaShout: [[spoiler: ''A God Among Insects'' shows that Hunter and Valen can channel their powers through shouting.]]

** [[spoiler:Valen returns in ''A God Among Insects'', having been encased in cement by Silas since his death, showing that empaths can absorb immortality.]]

** Downplayed with Silas, since he always had a kinder side, we just rarely got to see it until ''SeveringSanguine''. Reno's friendship and influence on him eventually makes his kinder side more pronounced.

* ''Fallocaust,'' the first book in the series.
** ''Breaking Jade,'' The first companion novel. It focuses on Jade, a character introduced towards the end of ''Fallocaust.''
* ''The Ghost and the Darkness,'' The second novel in the series.
** ''Severing Sanguine,'', The second companion novel, focusing on Sanguine.
* ''The Suicide King,'' the third book in the main series.
** ''Garden of Spiders,'' the third companion novel, which follows Elish.

** Roughly the first half of Severing Sanguine has Sanguine [[spoiler:chained up in the basement of a pedophile.]]

* Done in [[spoiler:''A God Among Insects: Volume One'', where the Reaver and Killian's storyline takes place a year after the events of ''The Suicide King'', compared to the Skyfall plotlines, with Silas's storyline covering the whole period. They all sync up in volume two, though.]]

-->'''Elish''': [[spoiler:It wasn't worth it.]]

[[spoiler: ''A God Among Insects'' reveals that Valen, the only previous empath chimera, gained immortality and was sealed in concrete for decades, and when he's released he quickly shown to rival Jade's power.]]

* CastFromLifePoints: An empath's mental abilities. Downplayed in the case of immortals, since they'll regenerate shortly after their deaths. [[spoiler:after Valen's return in ''A God Among Insects'' it becomes theorized that empaths can absorb immortality.]]
* CastFullOfGay: The vast majority of characters- and all the viewpoint ones- are gay men. Justified with the chimeras- since Silas designed them to be so- and the born immortals themselves, since [[spoiler:the nazis designed them with this trait so as to keep them from reproducing.]] Also possibly justified among non chimeras, as well, since given the SterilitiyPlague there aren't as many females available.

* [[spoiler:Valen returns in ''A God Among Insects'', having been encased in cement by Silas since his death, showing that empaths can absorb immortality.]]

* Also applies to the concrete prisons.

* Foreshadowing: [[spoiler: Jade mentions his stomach pains throughout volumes two and three of ''A God Among Insects'', hinting at his proxy worm infection.]]

* GoodThingYouCanHeal: Chimeras in general often get into scrapes, but brute chimeras tend to die frequently due to their adventurous nature. Luckily their RessurectiveImmortality means they're rarely out of action for more than a few weeks at a time.

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Most of the inhabitants of Ciel Tower, including ''Gage'', join forces with the Skyfallers to oppose Bastian and the proxy worms in ''A God Among Insects''. Especially notable with Gage, as he was the big bad of TheSuicideKing''.]]

* HomelessHero: Briefly happens to Jade in ''BreakingJade''.

** [[Until ''A God Among Insects'', where it's revealed he was encased in a concrete prison.]]

* Immortality: A combination of TheAgeless, FromASingleCell and ResurrectiveImmortality.
* ImmortalityBeginsAt20: Born immortals naturally stop ageing at 24, and the majority of immortal chimeras are, physically, in their early to mid-twenties. The first generation subvert this, since the method wasn’t discovered until they were 33.

* TheInsominac: Reaver rarely sleeps for more than a few hours a night. At one point in ''Fallocaust'' he stays awake for ''four straight days''.

** [[spoiler:By the time ''A God Among Insects'' rolls around, Reno's fallen squarely into the camp of WhoWantsToLiveForever? His depression has gotten so bad that he refuses to even consider being made immortal, having seen the pain it's caused so many people, even while in a committed relationship with Garrett. When he's forcibly made immortal against his will by Reaver and Silas, he is ''not'' happy.]]

* MakeMeWantToShout: [[spoiler: A God Among Insects shows that Hunter and Valen can channel their powers through shouting.]]

* MisaimedRetribution: Silas is fond of this.

* Nepotism: Although there are high ranking humans in every area of Skyfall, leadership positions are almost solely reserved for the Dekkers.

* [[spoiler:Malachy and Gage show signs of this, with hints that a romance could develop down the line.]]

* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Not marriage, exactly, but Jade's AuraReading lets him instantly and instinctively match people with their ideal partners before they even meet, and giving his brothers someone they'll want to protect above everything else is vital to Elish's plans. [[spoiler:subverted later on: although Jade's powers let him sense two people's compatibility, emotions are a different matter entirely. Reno and Garrett are initially crazy for each other, and become engaged within months, Reno's growing feelings for Silas leaves their future relationship uncertain. By the time ''A God Among Insects: Volume One'' ends, they've officially split up, seemingly for good.]]

* RoyaltySuperPower: Since they're all based on Silas's genome, the Dekker's exhibit his powers to various degrees. While some, such as increased strength or thermal touch, are relatively common, others such as MindControl and {{Retrocognition}} are much rarer, and those dealing with sestic radiation only occur in born immortals.

* SexAsSolace: A particularly bizarre example in ''The Suicide King''. Due to him being raped repeatedly by Nero, Reaver has trouble with sex; he can barely get it up, and the one time he does he experiences a flashback and ''kills Killian''. After he and Nero slowly develop a friendship he convinces Nero to fuck him, consensually, so he can move past it.

* SuperpowerLottery: Even among the chimera, empaths stand out as a prime example. Not only can they absorb the powers of other chimeras if they didn't have them already, such as [[spoiler: SuperStrength and RessurectiveImmortality]], they also have powers unique to them such as AuraReading, CompellingVoice, and MakesMeWannaShout. The only power they haven't displayed the ability to reproduce is radiation manipulation, which is solely a power for Born Immortals.
* TailorMadePrison: Instead of encasing him in concrete as is the usual punishment for an immortal, Silas [[spoiler:chains Sanguine in the basement where he was kept captive by a pedophile for over a decade.]]* TakesOneToKillOne: Zig-zagged. A born immortal can only be killed by [[spoiler:taking a massive dose of sestic radiation and then having their brain eaten.]] The first step can only be done by a born immortal [[spoiler:or, eventually, proxy worms]], either by suicide or murder, the second step can be done by anyone.

* TomatoInTheMirror: Reaver is a born-immortal clone of Sky- Silas's deceased boyfriend. In "The Suicide King" Adler, another clone, is introduced.

* [[Spoiler: A particularly bizarre version with Sanguine, Crow, and Jack comes about in ''A God Among Insects''. Crow and Sanguine are both in love with Jack, but for the majority of the book Crow is in control of Sanguine's body, and Jack initially only has eyes for Sanguine before developing feelings for Crow, as well. At the end of the book, when Crow gets a body of his own and LiteralSplitPersonalities comes into play, he ultimately remains open to choosing him now that Sanguine's LostLenore Valen is back in the picture.]]
* Played with again in ''A God Among Insects'' with [[spoiler: Silas, Sky, and Perish; Sky and Perish are both inhabiting Adler's body, with Sky as the abusive boyfriend working on his own agenda to destroy the chimeras and Perish working to sabotage Sky's efforts. Towards the end of the book Perish reveals that he's been in love with Silas all along, and resented Sky for his treatment of him and the resulting mess Silas became. DeathOfTheHypotoneuse ensues as he insists Silas destroy them both, eliminating Sky from Silas's primary love triangle (Himself, Reno, and Sky)

* WhatTheHellHero: Elish gets called out ''hard'' on occasion. The most glaring example is by ''Jade'', of all people, in The Suicide King,'' [[spoiler:when Elish tries to betray Reaver and Killian to secure a spider wire.]]

* [[spoiler:Reno, after seeing the pain immortality has caused Silas and sick of all the Dekker drama, decides he'd rather live a mortal life.]]

** [[spoiler: Sky also plays this straight, flying off the handle whenever Silas so much as ''mentions'' Reno, despite the fact they were never officially a couple and Sky had been ''dead'' for decades at the time.]]

* OddCouple: Done with several of the main pairings, particularly Reaver and Killian. One's a sociopathic loner with mild {{Adorkable}} tendencies. The other is cuddly and affectionate.

* {{Adorkable}}: Reaver might be a self-confessed sociopath, but he has his moments.
** Perish is a MadScientist who specializes in creating MixAndMatchCritters. He also has an obsession with ''Film/{{Jurassic Park}}'' and loves his stuffed velociraptor.