History Literature / Paradox

* AliensNeverInventedDemocracy: The [[SpaceElves Eldritch]] and [[DraconicHumanoid Chatcaava]] have feudal governments. Though the Chatcaava place more importance on [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority strength]] than bloodline. Most governments run by humans and their [[TranshumanAliens Pelted]] creations are representative democracies though there are some (like the Hinichi) that chose other forms of government.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: The Chatcaava Empire operates on this principle, determining rank via duels to the death or dominance fights that simply end in the loser having a few horns ripped off and getting raped.

* DraconicHumanoid: The [[http://mcah.wikia.com/wiki/Chatcaava Chatcaava]] look like humanoid drakes in their [[ShapeShifting natural forms]], though most females have a second pair of arms instead of wings.

* {{Asexual}}: Glaseah are engineered to have no sex drives, they have two genders but tend to reproduce artificially.

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: The Chatcaava's.

** Jahir's cousin Sediryl had a relationship with a human man, and [[BiTheWay later a woman]], though partially to piss off the more conservative houses.

* SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism: Pelted vary from PettingZooPeople to borderline LittleBitBeastly.

* ''Prince's Game'': ''Even the Wingless,'' ''Some Things Transcend,'' ''Amulet Rampant'', ''Only the Open'', ''In Extremis.'' The Alliance and the Chatcaavan Empire are on the verge of war, can an ambassador and a Slave Queen reform the Empire before its' too late?

The Paradox/Pelted universe is a SpaceOpera setting written by [[Creator/MCAHogarth M.C.A. Hogarth]] that primarily focuses on the Alliance between humanity and the Pelted, a variety of genetically engineered human-animal hybrids who left earth centuries ago. It has been in development since the 1980s and covers a variety of areas, from military to anthropologics of the dozen Pelted races and a few completely alien species as well.

** [[spoiler: Eldritch traits are dominant to the baseline human phenotype.]]

* FantasticDrug: One of the few drugs the Alliance bans is [[http://haikujaguar.livejournal.com/1226517.html "wet"]], so called because it liquifies the brain after a few months of use. And one of the cheaper ways of producing it is apparently [[spoiler: to crack open sentient crystals]].

* LaserBlade: Holoswords, which project a HardLight blade of variable length, width, and sharpness. They're primarily used for sport fencing, with an entire fighting style based around changing the blade settings in the middle of combat, but in ''Laisrathera'' Hirianthial uses one to great effectiveness in a series of [[DuelToTheDeath duels]].

** Even [[spoiler: Queen Liolesa]] confessed to loving a human geneticist, who died of old age long ago. She tells Hirianthial that she doesn't regret having that relationship, she was only sad that it ended so quickly.

* ''Prince's Game'': ''Even the Wingless,'' ''Some Things Transcend,'' ''Amulet Rampant'', ''Only the Open'', ''In Extremis.''

* DeathByChildbirth: Hirianthial's wife died this way, taking their child with her. It's said to be a disturbingly common cause of death for Eldritch women given their literally medieval medical technology. One of the Chatcaavan Emperor's concubines almost dies in childbirth as well, as they consider females not worth medical attention, but Lisinthir convinces the royal Surgeon to help her and the Emperor is somewhat grateful that his newest son survives.

* HeavyWorlder: Glaseah were engineered for a planet with slightly heavier gravity than Alliance standard, as such they tend to be about five feet tall and stocky, the four legs probably help too. In contrast Eldritch are adapted to a low gravity world and often grow over six and a half feet tall, though they sometimes experience difficulty on other Alliance planets until they've acclimated to the gravity, as Jahir's fainting spell early in ''Mindtouch'' demonstrates.
** The rarely seen alien Faulfenza are also heavyworlders, but they're nearly as tall as the Eldritch.

* LaserBlade: Holoswords, which project a HardLight blade of variable length, width, and sharpness. They're primarily used for fencing, with an entire fighting style based around changing the blade settings in the middle of combat, but in ''Laisrathera'' Hirianthial uses one to great effectiveness in a series of [[DuelToTheDeath duels]].

* RapeOfTheLock: [[spoiler: Baniel cuts off Hirianthial's long hair.]]

* DepravedBisexual: High-ranking Chatcaavan males are expected to rape their subordinates into submission.

* SpaceAmish: A large proportion of the Ciracaana population live in stone age villages, despite being genetically engineered by an engineered race who originated on a distant planet. Still there are several "civilized" city-dwellers who have some degree of interaction with off-worlders.

* SpaceFighters: The Chatcaava, with their obsession with personal glory and power, base their naval doctrine on fighters and boarding parties, their larger warships are essentially carriers. While the Alliance hasn't shown any indication they use fighters at all [[spoiler: which might explain how an Alliance Scout (as opposed to the small courier that barely managed to fight off an earlier ship) curbstomped a Chatcaava warship in the end of ''Some Things Transcend''.]]

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Jahir and Vasiht'h are near inseparable, they even have a dedicated [[MindlinkMates mindline]], but no kind of sexual attraction to one another. The author has referred to the upcoming story about how they first met in college as an "asexual romance".

* LostColony