History Literature / LineOfDelirium

* SmartGun - The Argument 17 and the polycharger Argument 36 are noted to be somewhat autonomous due to "Intellectual Circuitry".

* PuppeteerParasite - the [[spoiler:Darloks]] are revealed to be small snakes with tentacles that burrow into a sentient being's body and take over its functions. The original personality is destroyed. After death, the parasite and the host's brain rot in a matter of minutes, making autopsies inconclusive.

* TheCavalry - just as Kay and Arthur are about to be turned into loyal Darlok spies ([[spoiler:actually, implanted with {{Puppeteer Parasite}}s that destroy the original personality]]), the entire Silicoid fleet (about 22,000 ships) arrives to rescue them, laying waste to the rest of the planet for no reason.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill - after Kay and Arthur are captured by the Darloks and taken to one of their colonies to be turned into loyal spies, the Silidoids arrive to rescue them and bring their entire fleet (about 22,000 ships), laying waste to the planet.

* LowestCosmicDenominator - at some point in the Empire's history, all religions were merged into one, the Church of the Single Will, which became the official church of the Empire. No one uses the term "God" anymore. Instead, "[[OhMyGods Will]]" is the preferred address.

* AlienAmongUs - the Darlocks are master spies, and their agents are hidden throughout the other empires.

** There is also the Darlock-Alkari Alliance in the first book, but it falls apart when the Alkari refuse to honor the agreement when the Empire declares war on the Darlocks.

* TheCavalry - just as Kay and Arthur are about to be turned into loyal Darlock spies ([[spoiler:actually, implanted with {{Puppeteer Parasite}}s that destroy the original personality]]), the entire Silicoid fleet (about 22,000 ships) arrives to rescue them, laying waste to the rest of the planet for no reason.

* ILied - after Kay and Arthur are captured by the Darlocks and are about to be turned into loyal Darlock agents, Kay requests to meet with a Darlock agent he knows from his past, Ezsanti Kri Chesciafo (although Kay knew him as Bart Paolini). During the meeting, Kay asks Ezsanti to be awake during the procedure in order to learn what the Darlocks really look like. Ezsanti agrees but only after Kay promises not to resist. During the procedure, Kay attacks the guards and Ezsanti. Just before killing him, Kay tells the Darlock to consider him a liar.

* OneFederationLimit - there is only one Empire in this 'verse, the Human Empire. The aliens may have a similar political structure but they don't call themselves empires. The other named governments are the Silicoid Basis (or Silicoid Foundation), the Mrrshan Territories, the Darlock Unity, and the Alkari Branch.

* {{Precursors}} - averted. When jokingly suggested by Kay that Curtis van Curtis may have found LostTechnology left over from Precursors, the Silicoid leader Sedimin calmly points out that there have never been any Precursors. The Silicoids and the Darlocks are the oldest galactic races but they don't qualify, especially since their technology isn't any more advanced that that of the other races.

** They are the only race who cannot be infiltrated by the Darlocks.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill - after Kay and Arthur are captured by the Darlocks and taken to one of their colonies to be turned into loyal spies, the Silidoids arrive to rescue them and bring their entire fleet (about 22,000 ships), laying waste to the planet.

* OneFederationLimit - there is only one Empire in this 'verse, the Human Empire. The aliens may have a similar political structure but they don't call themselves empires. The other named governments are the Silicoid Basis (or Silicoid Foundation), the Mrrshan Territories, and the Alkari Branch.

* BearsAreBadNews - The Bulrathi are large ursine beings obsessed with hand-to-hand (or paw) combat, frequently going into battle without weapons. They frequently charge into battle on all fours, as they know that this tends to throw off most sentient beings who can't fathom another sentient being attacking on all fours.

* IronCurtain - at the end of the Vague War, the Psilons have retreated to their space and have maintained complete isolation since then. Nobody knows what's going on in Psilon territory.

* SmartGun - Argument 17 or the polycharger Argument 36 are noted to be somewhat autonomous due to "Intellectual Circuitry".

* NomDeGuerre - while participating in the massacre of a seceding colony's population, Kay has earned the nickname "Measles" after pointing out that the measles virus has killed many more children than they're planning to.

* DeusExMachina - literally. God is a machine that is responsible for the creation of this universe and many others based on the inner desires of the people for whom they were created. The first person to find God in each universe can have an entirely new universe created for him or her.

* TheCavalry - just as Kay and Arthur are about to be turned into loyal Darlock spies ([[spoiler:actually, implanted with {{Puppeteer Parasites}}s that destroy the original personality]]), the entire Silicoid fleet (about 22,000 ships) arrives to rescue them, laying waste to the rest of the planet for no reason.

* ArmorIsUseless - most heavy infantry weapons (especially those used during the war) can quite easily punch through even the toughest PoweredArmor. For most use, though, regular PoweredArmor is usually pretty good about stopping a plasma shot or two. Kay, though, manages to kill a soldier wearing PoweredArmor with a single plasma pistol shot by aiming at tiny slits between armor plates, cooking the soldier in his own shell. His GenreSavvy partner, realizing the skill it takes to do that, doesn't even try going for his gun and runs away, only to [[CombatPragmatist throw a stun grenade through the hatch]].

* InsectoidAliens - the Klackons are briefly mentioned several times. While the books make no mention of their appearance, their insectoid nature can be inferred from the ''MasterOfOrion'' games.

* SpiderTank - Hunter droids have six agile limbs whose design was copied from Meklar mechanical bodies. They are extremely fast and have machine-level reaction time. [[spoiler:However, no one bothered to program them to fight someone with a tachyon weapon, capable of hitting the target ''before'' being fired]].

* CharacterNameAlias - in the second novel, after landing on Grail, Kay and Tommy introduce themselves as Literature/DavidCopperfield and Literature/OliverTwist, respectively. The spaceport official recognizes that something is strange and asks for their ID. Kay tells him that they are members of the Cult of Anonimists who are against being photographed (hence, no ID) and adds that even their names are taken from literary characters after seeing that the trick didn't work. Interestingly, this is the first time Kay's alias has a different first name. A character previous notes that, no matter the alias, Kay always keeps his first name.

** Other handheld laser weapons include Career (an obsolete Vague War pistol), Style (an old-but-reliable civilian pistol), Old Bob (a civilian rifle), Blitz-D (a high-powered army rifle), Chance (a six-barreled [[GattlingGood spinning]] heavy laser designed to take out whole army units, commonly known as "forest cutter").

* CrapsackWorld - the entire universe.

* StunGuns - stunners are used by both civilians and military to subdue targets without killing them. Naturally, the military models are more effective, while the civilian ones are only really good for scaring away gangbangers. It's not clear how they work, but a person hit by a stunner blast is knocked out for some time and has trouble regaining muscle control for a short while after waking up. There are no long-term effects, though.

* ArmorIsUseless - most heavy infantry weapons (especially those used during the war) can quite easily punch through even the toughest PoweredArmor. For most use, though, regular PoweredArmor is usually pretty good about stopping a plasma shot or two. Kay, though, manages to kill a soldier wearing PoweredArmor with a single plasma shot by aiming at tiny slits between armor plates, cooking the soldier in his own shell.

** The Ultimatum is a heavy handheld weapon used by human forces during the Vague War. When fired, the weapon fires a laser that clears the path through the air between the Ultimatum and the target before the weapon fires a stream of anti-matter. All this takes a split-second and is highly destructive.

** The Ultimatum is a heavy weapon used by human forces during the Vague War. When fired, the weapon fires a laser that clears the path through the air between the Ultimatum and the target before the weapon fires a stream of anti-matter. All this takes a split-second and is highly destructive.