History Literature / JulianComstock

* SurvivorGuilt: Instead of being glad the US Navy turned up for a BigDamnHeroes, Julian just thinks the death of all his men killed in his failed attack was AllForNothing, as he could have just waiting a few more days. He drops several hints that [[DeathSeeker he wishes he was killed in that attack]].

** Admiral Fairfield swears that the US Navy will turn up to support Julian's land campaign even if his flagship ''Basilisk'' is the only one left. The ''Basilisk'' is indeed the only ship that turns up because President Deklan has ordered the Navy to abandon Julian's division, so Fairchild gives what support he can under the guise of covering the Navy's withdrawal.

* DeadGuyOnDisplay: Julian's attempted assassin - and after Julian thinks about it a bit, [[spoiler:his uncle Deklan as well]].
* DefeatMeansFriendship: When trying to flee the draft in a train, Adam fought a man named Lymon Pugh and lost; this loss caused the other runaways to accept him, since it showed that he didn't see himself as "better."

** The Mitteleuropans are referred to as Dutch, which is actually a corruption of ''Duetsche'', because that European empire is run from former Germany. Ironically most of their soldiers and settlers actually are Dutch.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: When a war correspondent plagiarizes Adam's writing on Julian's heroics in the war, he goes to his editor to complain. The reporter correspondent denies the charge while the editor tries to intimidate Adam into signing a retraction. Adam agrees but calls in a witness for his signature--who happens to be the President's nephew, Julian Comstock. Cue OhCrap from all concerned and Adam gets his money repaid and a profitable writer's contract on the spot. The editor offers to fire the correspondent as well, but Adam graciously accepts his (expensive handmade) typewriter instead.

* AristocratsAreEvil: Deklan Comstock, Mr. Wieland

* FutureImperfect: The Dominion is deliberately cultivating this trope in the hopes of both maintaining their power and permanently damning the "Secular Ancients."

** [[spoiler:Subverted; Deacon Hollingshead's daughter, who has had relations with women, was thought to have died when the Army of the Californias attacked the house she was in. Julian, however, had her secretly moved to Montreal.]]

* ChurchMilitant: Deacon Hollingshead

* MonumentalDamage: An otherwise intact (Secular-era) cathedral in Montreal gets destroyed during a ''Mitteleuropan'' artillery strike while in New York, a remnant of the Statue of Liberty is preserved as an exhibit.

* ScienceIsBad: Biological evolution is a "discredited creed," and arguing in favor of it is heresy.

** ''Eula's Choice''; Adam sometimes points out the film's historical inaccuracies. Later on, Julian makes his own movie about Charles Darwin.
** In addition, after Julian loots the Dominion's collection of banned media he and Adam watch a surviving thirty-minute segment of the 1959 CozyCatastrophe movie ''Film/OnTheBeach''. They find it somewhat confusing.

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Literal for Adam and Julian.

* ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts: averted - a [[AbusivePrecursors "Secular Ancestors"]] book on space travel shows that although the Chinese landed people on the Moon in the 21st century, no permanent off-world bases were established before the oil ran out. Adam briefly muses on what life would be like on the moon; he imagines without air, water or food it would be pretty harsh.
* CensorshipBureau: Only Dominion-approved books may be read legally.

* EnforcedTechnologyLevels: Society is kept at a sustainable 19th-century level of technology and the theocracy preaches against the Years of Vice and Profligacy. Of course, this also helps sustain their power, as a more advanced level of technology would require a more literate population; currently most of the workforce are kept in IndenturedServitude that's slavery in all but name.

* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Adam Hazzard tells the story of Jullian Comstock as the first person narrator.

* FeudalFuture: Because people during the End needed to eat, they willingly became serfs. Unfortunately, the system of serfdom became entrenched, persisting into the relative prosperity of post-Peak Oil society. In addition, the return of an industrial working class in the cities is beginning to put said serfdom to the test.

* EvilUncle: Deklan Comstock.

** In addition, after Julian loots the Dominion's collection of banned media he and Adam watch a surviving thirty-minute segment of the 1959 CozyCatastrophe movie ''Film.OnTheBeach''. They find it somewhat confusing.

* ShowWithinAShow: ''Eula's Choice''; Adam sometimes points out the film's historical inaccuracies. [[spoiler:Later on, Julian makes his own movie about Charles Darwin.]]
** In addition, after Julian loots the Dominion's collection of banned media he and Adam watch a surviving thirty-minute segment of the 1959 CozyCatastrophe movie ''On The Beach''. They find it somewhat confusing.

* {{BFG}}: The US Army's "Trench Sweeper", and the Mitteleuropans' "Chinese Cannons."

* ClimateChange: Washington DC is a swamp, it doesn't snow in central Canada until November, and the US and Mitteleuropa are fighting a war over Labrador, Nunavut and the now-open Northwest Passage. In passing it's mentioned the Mitteleuropan army is mostly composed of displaced Dutch whose homeland is now under water.

* [[DeadGuyOnDisplay Dead Guys On Display]] Julian's attempted assassin - and after Julian thinks about it a bit, [[spoiler:his uncle Deklan as well]].

* UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion: From the information and propaganda mentioned, it's implied that ''Mitteleuropa'' could likely be a German-controlled EU remnant. It's also mentioned in passing that England is a nominal member of the alliance, [[UsefulNotes/WithEuropeButNotOfIt though it would rather stay out of it]].

* [[GratuitousForeignLanguage Gratuitous Dutch]]: Adam grabs a short letter off of a dead Mitteleuropan soldier; it is in untranslated Dutch.

* [[spoiler:ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Because of this, the Army of the Laurentians deposes Deklan Comstock and installs Julian as President.]]

* GlobalWarming: Washington DC is a swamp, it doesn't snow in central Canada until November, and the US and Mitteleuropa are fighting a war over Labrador, Nunavut and the now-open Northwest Passage. In passing it's mentioned the Mitteleuropan army is mostly composed of displaced Dutch whose homeland is now under water.

* AfterTheEnd: The "End" being when the oil ran out. By the time the story starts, society had long since recovered.

* DaysOfFuturePast: The social mores of the 19th century were actively restored. Society and technology in general are a mix of this and UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, or rather "imperfect" recreations of them. Justified in part, due to a good deal of modern technology becoming useless with the End of Oil. Not to mention the whole thing being a deliberate effort create an "idealized" version of Americana.

* {{Expy}}: Julian Comstock himself is a futuristic version of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_(emperor) Julian the Apostate]], who himself was known for his attempt to reduce the power of Christianity in an effort to restore to past secular glory in his short reign.

* [[spoiler:BuryYourGays: Subverted; Deacon Hollingshead's daughter, who has had relations with women, was thought to have died when the Army of the Californias attacked the house she was in. Julian, however, had her secretly moved to Montreal.]]

* DaysOfFuturePast: The social mores of the 19th century were actively restored.
** Society and technology in general are a mix of this and UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, or rather "imperfect" recreations of them. Justified in part, due to a good deal of modern technology becoming useless with the End of Oil. Not to mention the whole thing being a deliberate effort create an "idealized" version of Americana.

* NostalgiaFilter: Averted by the Dominion, who portrays the civilization of the "Secular Ancestors" as a corrupt Babylon filled with such evils as pornography and the separation of church and state. In addition, since it's been a century since the "False Tribulation" no one has any first-hand memories of "the Oil Florescence".

* RagnarokProofing: Averted; scavenged electronics don't work anymore, scavenged books have brittle pages, and most late 20th-early 21st century movies do not survive -- the few that ''do'' survive have serious damage.