History Literature / RiftersTrilogy

Originally written by Watts as a trilogy of three novels: ''Starfish'', ''Maelstrom'', and ''βehemoth''. However, due to ExecutiveMeddling, ''βehemoth'' was split and published as ''βehemoth: β-Max'' and ''βehemoth: Seppuku''. This, along with other troubles from the publisher, means that printed versions of the novels are hard to find in stores, so Watts ended up puting all the novels [[DoingItForTheArt for free]] on [[http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm his website]].

* GodzillaThreshold: Passed ''several'' times throughout the series, starting with a NukeEm [[KillEmAll All]] near the end of the first book and escalating from there.

* DividedForPublication: ''ßehemoth'' was split by Tor Publishing into two books: ''ßehemoth: ß-Max'' and ''ßehemoth: Seppuku''. This did not go over well with Watts.

The [[MegaCorp N'Am-Pac Grid Authority]] is building geothemeral power plants at the bottom of the ocean, along tectonic rifts. But constructing and staffing these stations is a problem, since people are hard to keep alive and functional at such depths. As such, the company has developed certain cybernetic enhancements for its workers, resulting in the titular "Rifters". With one of their lungs replaced with complex machinery, a Rifter can breathe underwater indefinitely as well as function in the crushing depths of the deep sea. Combined with a self-cleaning skinsuit, a voice-modulator for speaking underwater, and light-amplifying "eyecaps", a Rifter can feel [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul more at home in the deep than anywhere else]].

The thing is: normal people tend to suffer [[FreakOut complete nervous breakdowns]] when they're miles underwater, literally under extreme pressure where they might die at any moment from the many dangers of the rift. So, in a somewhat questionable bit of decision-making, the company decides to recruit new Rifters from people who are ''already'' psychologically damaged -- in other words: abuse victims, war vets, criminals, etc. This ends up working surprisingly well since these people, already used to living in constant stress, are better able to mentally handle the rift. Of course, this can (and does) lead to a bit of friction between the staff, seeing as [[DysfunctionJunction they're all disturbed individuals]]. This becomes a recipe for disaster when, deep within the Juan de Fuca rift, an ancient microbe is discovered. One that has been [[SealedEvilInACan isolated for over two billion years]] and that could mean [[ThePlague the end of all life on the surface]]. And the people put in charge of containing it feel less and less connected to humanity every day...

* GreyAndGreyMorality: Most of the characters don't really fit well into conventional hero/villain categories, and even the one character who would be seen as pure evil in any other setting [[spoiler:is evil because his brain was badly tinkered with]].

* LossOfInhibitions: Achilles Desjardins is a {{Sadist}} and uses [[RestrainingBolt sophisticated technology]] to control his urges. Once it is gone, his sadism becomes his primary motivation.
* MadeOfIron: Ken Lubin still manages a pretty decent showing in the final showdown at the end of ''βehemoth'', considering he'd been blinded (eyes [[EyeScream destroyed by acid]], and later one is gouged out) and then mauled by giant mutant attack dogs. {{Justified|Trope}} as he's an assassin with biotech enhancements and [[{{Determinator}} just that determined]] to get revenge on [[spoiler:Achilles]].

* NoBiochemicalBarriers: A rare {{justified|Trope}} (and partially {{averted|Trope}}), scientifically plausible example of the "transferable disease" type. Most modern life on Earth is understood to have [[{{Panspermia}} originated from a Martian impact event in prehistory]] dubbed "Martian Mike". However, Earth actually developed life of its own before Martian Mike near its hydrothermal vents, where it stayed for billions of years while terrestrial life dominated the planet. [[spoiler:This tiny nanobacterium, later dubbed βehemoth, evolved to be extremely efficient to eke out life on the ocean floor, as its biology means that both high salinity and low temperatures interfere with its metabolism. When βehemoth is accidentally carried out of its native habitat, it turns out that its extreme efficiency allows it to absolutely thrive and outcompete any terrestrial organism in any environment which isn't as cold and salty as the sea floor, a description that includes virtually all of Earth, ''including the inside of living cells'', in which it replicates using the abundant amount of nutrients present until the host runs out and dies. The partial aversion is that while βehemoth's biochemistry is close enough to normal life that it can eat the latter, βehemoth has evolved such a mineralized cell wall that normal life can't even recognize it as alive, so there's no immune response and any organism that could eat βehemoth wouldn't even recognize it as food. The end result: ThePlague, technically-not-AlienKudzu, and a [[ApocalypseHow/Class5 Class 5 Apocalypse How]] in the making all wrapped into one.]]

* UnreliableNarrator: In the first book, whenever the narrative is following Gerry's point of view, it's unclear whether "Shadow" is based on Gerry Fischer's memory of a girl who abused him or if she's completely imaginary and represents something else. There's also the subtle implication that his actual abuser may have been one of his parents and that he's repressed those memories.
* UsedFuture: A lot of the settings in the book are definitely toward the gritty end of the SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty. Despite the relatively advanced nature of the technology described in the series, most everything seems to be ugly, broken down, dirty, etc.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Pretty much every Rifter -- see the Dysfunction Junction entry. Many of the supporting, non-Rifter characters have these as well, notably [[spoiler:Achilles]], giving somewhat of a FreudianExcuse to his eventual FaceHeelTurn.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Even before the novels start the world is already halfway to the end. At the end of the first book, [[spoiler:the microbe "βehemoth" threatens to kill just about everything on the planet]]. North America becomes [[AfterTheEnd a devastated wasteland]] in the second and third books. The [[spoiler:counteragent to βehemoth, "Seppuku", gets rid of βehemoth by rewriting people's mitochondria]]. This has the unfortunate (but unavoidable) consequence of causing mutations in anything affected [[spoiler:and fundamentally altering all life on Earth into some new and never before seen form]].

* FrenchJerk: Achilles Desjardins. Well not French, but still close enough to count (he's from Quebec).

** In the third book we find out that [[spoiler:the original organism was modified in order to increase its reproduction rate, and thus its mutation rate, to see if it could be used commercially (drug delivery, et al), which lead to βehemoth, and eventually the β-max strain]].
** Spartacus [[spoiler:removed [=GuiltTrip=], but also one's natural sense of guilt, and thus conscience]].

* HeelFaceTurn: Lenie Clarke, after being a bit of the VillainProtagonist in ''Maelstrom'', goes back to being an AntiHero with shades of TheAtoner in ''βehemoth''. Meanwhile, [[spoiler:Achilles]] goes in the exact opposite direction...

* KarmaHoudini: Lenie Clarke never really receives any dramatic comeuppance for [[spoiler:deliberately spreading [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt an apocalyptic plague]]]]. It's surprisingly not too bothersome to the reader, partially because [[GreyAndGreyMorality it's not really that kind of universe]], and partially because she's such a [[TheWoobie woobie]] that you just can't bring yourself to wish even ''more'' suffering on her. It helps that she readily admits she has been responsible for millions of deaths and doesn't try to excuse or justify herself. However, it's made clear in the third book that she ''does'' feel guilt about her actions. Plus, it could be said that karma bit her in the ass when [[spoiler:everyone in and around Atlantis is killed by Achilles's torpedoes at the end of the series. Everyone she came close to caring about was there]].

* MoreThanMindControl: The "[=GuiltTrip=]" mind-virus renders the victim unable to perform or even ''contemplate'' doing something that they would consider "bad" (in other words, something they'd [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin feel guilty]] about). "Absolution", on the flipside, lets the user [[TheStoic not feel any guilt, at all,]] after being compelled to do something they'd normally consider horrible. [[spoiler:Lubin]]'s "Conditioned Killing Response" is a more extreme variation of [=GuiltTrip=]; since his background is in espionage, he's been conditioned to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy casually murder anyone]] who he feels has found him out.
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: The "transferable disease" type. Most modern life on Earth is understood to be the result of a Martian Impact event in prehistory dubbed "Martian Mike". However, Earth actually developed life of its own before Martian Mike, which forms ThePlague [[spoiler:capable of outperforming the mitochondria in our cells]].

** The pedophilic Rifter Gerry Fischer has an extremely warped view of relationships [[FreudianExcuse due to childhood sexual abuse]] and genuinely believes his molestations of children are a form of love.

* UnreliableNarrator: In the first book, whenever the narrative is following Gerry's point-of-view, it's unclear whether "Shadow" is based on Gerry Fischer's memory of a girl who abused him, or she's completely imaginary and represents something else. There's also the subtle implication that his actual abuser may have been one of his parents and he's repressed the memory.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Alice Jovellanos believed that guilt was unnecessary and counterproductive to her job as a "lawbreaker", since anything guilt does could be done better by simply ''thinking'' about the ethics of your actions in a logical manner. She "frees" [[spoiler:Achilles]] from the RestrainingBolt of [=GuiltTrip=] (and his natural sense of guilt) thinking that he will be able to handle it because she believes he is a good person. [[spoiler:This, of course, turns out to be horrifically incorrect; she didn't know him anywhere near as well as she thought she did.]]

* JustBeforeTheEnd: The West Coast (well, the part that isn't a four-thousand-mile-long, one-mile-deep refugee camp) is run by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the power company]]. The East Coast is an enourmous urban sprawl run by street gangs. The bit in between is run by [[ManEatingPlant Kudzu-4]]. The currency is [[RidiculousFutureInflation the Quebuck]], a new drug-resistant disease breaks out every 24 hours on average, and the vestigal remains of the North American government has been reduced to sporadically [[KillItWithFire napalming]] the whole mess just to keep things down. [[FromBadToWorse That's just the how bad things are at the start]]. The first book could be described as just before the end, the second one as the beginning of the end, and the third book as [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the end well into the process of happening]].

* MoralSociopathy: Ken Lubin doesn't have a biochemical conscience or a feeling of guilt after [[spoiler: infection with Absolution]]. He remains a... somewhat decent person despite this.

** Spartacus [[spoiler:removed Guilt Trip, but also one's natural sense of guilt, and thus conscience]].

-->—Excerpt from personal diary of Yves Scanlon, N'[=AmPac=] GA Industrial Psych

A SpeculativeFiction series by sci-fi author Creator/PeterWatts. Taking place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, the series is set in a CrapsackWorld where [[JustBeforeTheEnd the end is nigh]].

The [[MegaCorp N'Am-Pac Grid Authority]] is building geothemeral power plants at the bottom of the ocean, along tectonic rifts. But constructing and staffing these stations is a problem, since people are hard to keep alive and functional at such depths. As such, the company has developed certain cybernetic enhancements for its workers, resulting in the titular "Rifters". With one of their lungs replaced with complex machinery, a Rifter can breathe underwater indefinitely as well as function in the crushing depths of the deep sea. Combined with a self-cleaning skinsuit, a voice-modulator for speaking underwater, and [[ProphetEyes light-amplifying "eyecaps"]], a Rifter can feel [[HeWhoFightsMonsters more at home in the deep]] [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul than anywhere else]].

The thing is: normal people tend to suffer [[FreakOut complete nervous breakdowns]] when they're miles underwater, literally under extreme pressure where they [[AnyoneCanDie might die at any moment]] from the many dangers of the rift. So in a somewhat questionable bit of decision-making, the company decides to recruit new Rifters from people who are ''already'' psychologically damaged - in other words: abuse victims, war vets, criminals, etc. This ends up working [[DysfunctionJunction surprisingly well]] since these people, already used to living in constant stress, are better able to mentally handle the rift. Of course, this can (and does) lead to a [[AxCrazy bit of friction]] between the staff, seeing as [[RoomFullOfCrazy they're all disturbed individuals]]. This becomes a recipe for disaster when, deep within the Juan de Fuca rift, an ancient microbe is discovered. One that has been [[SealedEvilInACan isolated for over two billion years]] and that could mean [[ThePlague the end of all life on the surface]]. And the people put in charge of containing it feel less and less connected to humanity every day...

Originally written by Watts as a trilogy of three novels: ''Starfish'', ''Maelstrom'', and ''βehemoth''. However, due to ExecutiveMeddling, ''βehemoth'' was split and published as ''βehemoth: β-Max'' and ''βehemoth: Seppuku''. This, among with other troubles from the publisher, means that printed versions of the novels are hard to find in stores, so Watts ended up puting all the novels [[DoingItForTheArt for free]] on [[http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm his website]].

* AIIsACrapshoot: Shows up several times -
** The internet is no longer trustworthy due to being overwhelmed by self-evolving viruses - and the descendants of self-evolving anti-viruses that got out of control.
** The "smart gels" (used to filter the net, fly [[KillItWithFire lifters]], and other things) have to be trained to perform their jobs, which may result in them learning unintended lessons. [[spoiler:The gel running the quarantine's previous job had been as an anti-"wildlife" filter, which meant it had been taught to filter out complex computer programs (the "wildlife") while letting simpler ones (the files) through. It absorbed from this a preference for simple things over complex ones. βehemoth is much simpler than the present biosphere]]. [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Oops]].

* AnyoneCanDie: And how!
* ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler:The βehemoth outbreak]] threatens a Class 5 - the end of multicellular life. If it continues unabated, ''all life'' will die of nutrient deficiency, especially sulfur deficiency. Only the continued survival of [[spoiler:βehemoth itself]] would keep such a situation from reaching a full-blown Class 6.
* ApparentlyHumanMerfolk: The Rifters.
* ArtificialGill: The Rifters do not breathe air when they leave the habitat. Instead, oxygen is electrolysed directly from the seawater by a electrolysis assembly in the left side of their thorax, which is then introduced directly into their pulmonary vein.
* BecomingTheMask: Achilles developed mental blocks and a "nice guy" persona in an attempt to clamp down on his innate sadistic sexual urges. When an enthusiastic masochist asks him to get rough with her while they're in the sack together, he finds himself [[TheLoinsSleepTonight suddenly unable to perform]]. He then insults her by asking if she's ever sought therapy for her "problem", and she leaves in disgust. Later on, [[spoiler:when his capacity for guilt is removed later on [[StartOfDarkness the mask is smashed to pieces]]]].

* CrapsackWorld: Rising sea waters have turned the entire west coast of North America into a four thousand mile long refugee camp known as "[[CapitalLettersAreMagic The Strip]]", where most of the refugees are crammed into giant ghettos and [[GovernmentDrugEnforcement pacified with mood-altering drugs]]. Also, mutated super-diseases are running amok, parts of America resemble something out of Mad Max, governments have resorted to desperate measures to keep things together (the standard type of government is called ''Eco-Totalitarianism''), and big corporations can get away with all sorts of immoral jerkassery...
** This is the ''setting'' of the story, when we first start off. The entire series is a long series of "[[FromBadToWorse ...and then it gets worse]]", ad nauseam.
* CyberPunk: Lets see: CrapsackWorld, {{Cyborg}}s, {{MegaCorp}}s, GovernmentDrugEnforcement, a UsedFuture with pervasive advanced technology but a low standard of living for most people regardless, computers and computer hacking everywhere... seems like cyberpunk. Or at the very least neo-cyberpunk.
** BioPunk: Messing with brain chemistry to make people better suited to certain tasks is a common security measure. Supercomputers are commonly made of human brain cells.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Pretty much every Rifter. Justified (see Dysfunction Junction entry).
** Many of the supporting, non-rifter characters as well. Notably, [[spoiler:Achilles]], giving somewhat of a FreudianExcuse to his eventual FaceHeelTurn.
* DeathByIrony: Happens to [[spoiler:Alice Jovellanos. She intentionally infects Achilles with "Spartacus", a virus that removes his [=GuiltTrip=] virus but has the unfortunate side effect of removing his ''natural'' guilt. Achilles ends up torturing and killing her to satisfy his now un-chained sadistic urges]]. Oops.
* DisproportionateRetribution: What [[spoiler:Achilles]] does to a doctor who refuses to treat [[spoiler:his dying cat]] and chides him for wasting dwindling resources when [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the circumstances are so desperate]]. [[spoiler:He paralyses him and incinerates his baby and his wife, saving him for last]].
* DysfunctionJunction: Justified. [[MegaCorp N'Am-Pac]] deliberately chooses people who have come to perceive extreme stress and danger as "normal" to be Rifters. Having an extremely messed-up life is one way to achieve such a state.
** Of course, [[spoiler:the other way is to ''make'' people messed up by implanting false memories]].
* TheEmpath: the {{Psychic Powers}} available in this universe basically take this form.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Even before the novels start the world is already halfway to the end. At the end of the first book, [[spoiler:the microbe "βehemoth" threatens to kill just about everything on the planet]]. North America becomes [[AfterTheEnd a devastated wasteland]] in the second and third books.
** The [[spoiler:counteragent to βehemoth, "Seppuku", gets rid of βehemoth by rewriting people's mitochondria]]. This has the unfortunate (but unavoidable) consequence of causing mutations in anything affected [[spoiler:and fundamentally altering all life on Earth into some new and never before seen form]].
* EverythingIsOnline: Averted. Actually, in this world, the trend is to move away from connecting everything to the 'net, because once viruses started to evolve without human input, the resulting Maelstrom became a feeding frenzy of "wildlife."

* FaceHeelTurn: Lenie Clarke after she crosses the DespairEventHorizon at the end of ''Starfish'' and begins trying to deliberately [[spoiler:spread βehemoth]], making her the VillainProtagonist for most of ''Maestrom''.

* FakeMemories: A particularly horrific example.
** [[spoiler:Lenie]] was given false memories of having been [[spoiler:being sexually abused by her father]] as a child to [[spoiler:deliberately turn her into the sort of complete wreck of a person N'Am-Pac considers as potential Rifter material]].
* FanDisservice: The graphic scenes [[spoiler:Achilles]] sexually torturing and mutilating [[spoiler:Taka]]. Not to mention the brief glimpses we have of [[spoiler:Achilles's]] alone time (in his personal [[{{Cyberspace}} VR sims]]), or the way he first became aware of his sexual sadist tendencies as a young boy (when he convinced his little sister to jump off a roof and then got turned on by the sight of her lying injured on the ground).
** [[spoiler:Lenie]] intentionally cutting the inside of her vagina before sex so she's more likely to pass ThePlague on to her partner wasn't exactly appealing either, except maybe if you have odd tastes.

* FrenchJerk: Achilles Desjardins. Well not French, but still close enough to count (he is from Quebec).
* FreudianExcuse: Gerry Fischer's pedophilia is due to him having an incredibly screwed up notion of human relationships due to childhood sexual abuse, and [[UnreliableNarrator if we believe his flashback is an actual memory]] it seems the girl who abused him was herself sexually abused by her father and she raped Fischer because she had accepted her father's explanation that "this is what you do when you really love somebody".
** In a subversion, the author seems to use Fischer to mock the concept that evil acts can be more or less excusable depending on motivation:
-->''"It's not so much what you did, Fischer had learned, as why you did it. If you did things because you were evil, you were in real trouble. If you did the same things because you were sick, though, the doctors would sometimes cover for you. Fischer had learned to be sick."''
** [[spoiler:Lenie]] becomes WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds in ''Maelstrom'' after N'Am-Pac tries to kill everyone on Beebe Station. Combined with the [[spoiler:fake]] memories of her abusive childhood, this pushes her over the {{Despair Event Horizon}}.

* GoneHorriblyRight: In the third book we find out that [[spoiler: the original organism was modified in order to increase its reproduction rate, and thus its mutation rate, to see if it could be used commercially (drug delivery, et al), which lead to βehemoth, and eventually the β-max strain]].
** Spartacus, [[spoiler: it removed Guilt Trip, but also one's natural sense of guilt, and thus conscience]].

* GreyAndGreyMorality: Most of the characters don't really fit well into conventional hero/villain categories, and even the one character who would be seen as pure evil in any other setting [[spoiler: is evil because his brain was badly tinkered with]].
* HeelFaceTurn: Lenie Clarke, after being a bit of the VillainProtagonist in ''Maelstrom'', goes back to being an AntiHero with shades of TheAtoner in ''βehemoth''.
** Meanwhile, [[spoiler:Achilles]] goes in the exact opposite direction...
* ImaginaryFriend: Shadow, who is either Gerry Fischer's ImaginaryFriend or an [[SplitPersonality alternate personality]].
* KarmaHoudini: Lenie Clarke never really receives any dramatic comeuppance for [[spoiler: deliberately spreading [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt an apocalyptic plague]]]]. It's surprisingly not too bothersome to the reader, partially because [[GreyAndGreyMorality it's not really that kind of universe]], and partially because she's such a [[TheWoobie woobie]] that you just can't bring yourself to wish even ''more'' suffering on her. It helps that she readily admits she has been responsible for millions of deaths and doesn't try to excuse or justify herself.
** It's made clear in the third book that she ''does'' feel guilt about her actions. Plus, it could be said that karma bit her in the ass when [[spoiler:at the end of the series everyone in and around Atlantis is killed by Achilles's torpedoes. Everyone she came close to caring about was there]].

* MadeOfIron: Ken Lubin still manages a pretty decent showing in the final showdown at the end of ''βehemoth'', considering he'd been blinded (eyes [[EyeScream destroyed by acid]], and later one is gouged out) and then mauled by giant mutant attack dogs. Justified as he's an assassin with biotech enhancements. And he's [[TheDeterminator just that determined]] to get revenge on [[spoiler:Achilles]].
* MadeOfPlasticine: The unnaturally large deep-sea fish near Channer Vent have incredibly fragile bodies.
** They attack the rifters indiscriminately, but their gigantic razor-sharp-looking teeth just break off against the rifter's bodies. Most rifters just ''tear the fish apart'' with their bare hands; the fish just literally almost fall apart.
** Justified in that Channer Vent is a veritable desert in terms of nutrients, and the fish are extra malnourished due to their unnatural growth (because of [[spoiler:βehemoth's symbiotic nature]]).
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: Neurobiology is one of Peter Watts's areas of interest, so it's no surprise this shows up quite a bit.

** [=GuiltTrip=], a drug that compels its user to do "good" things (whatever "good" is defined as, that is). And alongside it, "Absolution", a drug that removes any feelings of remorse after you've done something that you might consider horrible under the effects of [=GuiltTrip=].
*** An example: You need to [[KillItWithFire burn a whole city block to the ground]] to prevent a deadly contagion from spreading to save a whole country. [=GuiltTrip=] will compel you to do so, even if you don't want to kill those innocent people, because doing so will save many ''more'' people and is therefore more "good". Absolution will make you not feel actual guilt from your actions, so you're not constantly haunted by what you've done.

** [[spoiler:Achilles Desjardins's FaceHeelTurn]] is caused by him being infected with a virus that removes his ability to feel ''all'' guilt (even natural guilt). Somewhat averted in that [[spoiler: Ken Lubin]] doesn't [[spoiler: have a FaceHeelTurn]] after being infected with the same virus.
* MindRape: What was done to [[spoiler: Lenie Clarke]] is almost literally this, since it consisted of giving implanting false memories of childhood sexual abuse.
* MindVirus: [=GuiltTrip=], though it can be administered as a drug, can be spread like a virus through exposure to bodily fluids and the such.
* MoralSociopathy: Ken Lubin doesn't have a biochemical conscience or a feeling of guilt after [[spoiler: infection with Absolution]]. He remains a...somewhat decent person despite this.
* MoreThanMindControl: The mind-viruses "[=GuiltTrip=]" and "Absolution". The first renders the victim unable to perform or even ''contemplate'' doing something that they would consider "bad" (in other words, something they'd [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin feel guilty]] about). The second, on the flipside, lets the user [[TheStoic not feel any guilt, at all,]] after being compelled to do something they'd normally consider horrible.
** [[spoiler:Lubin]]'s "Conditioned Killing Response" is a more extreme variation of [=GuiltTrip=]; since his background is in espionage, he's been conditioned to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy casually murder anyone]] who he feels has found him out.
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: The "transferable disease" type. Most modern life on Earth is understood to be the result of a Martian Impact event in prehistory dubbed "Martian Mike". However, Earth actually developed life of its own before Martian Mike, and forms ThePlague [[spoiler: capable of outperforming the mitochondria in our cells]].

* OneLastJob: [[spoiler: Joel Kita, the scaphe pilot, was planning to move somewhere else after the trip to Beebe.]]
* ParentalIncest: Lenie was sexually abused by her father in her youth. It affected her so badly that she sees shades of incest in every father-daughter relationship she encounters, to the point where she's tempted to kill the fathers of young girls she meets. [[spoiler:It turns out that these memories of incest are fake and that her relationship with her late parents was most likely quite normal and healthy]].
* ThePlague: [[spoiler:βehemoth]], obviously. In the the book ''βehemoth'', the counteragent [[spoiler:Seppuku]] is feared to cause another plague.
* PsychicPowers: Justified in-universe and explained as a side-effect of the way the brain utilizes quantum effects in its functioning, and can be induced by tweaking with the firing-rate of your neurons (or through sensory deprivation). However, see ScienceMarchesOn below. Even then, they're treated as "hard" as possible.
* RapeAsBackstory: The pedophile rifter Gerry Fischer has an extremely warped view of relationships [[FreudianExcuse due to childhood sexual abuse]] and genuinely believes his molestations of children are a form of love.

* RestrainingBolt: Part of what [=GuiltTrip=] is intended to function as; a biotechnological mechanism that will kill the person who carries it if they deviate from a programmed acceptable set of behaviors. All senior "lawbreakers" are infected with it, and as such, aren't not subject to any serious security or overwatch because it's assumed they'd ''never'' break any rules. The virus Alice infects [[spoiler:Achilles]] with ("[[MeaningfulName Spartacus]]") is designed to free him from this, but it also renders the person unable to feel natural guilt.
* RightHandVersusLeftHand: What turns the first novel into a trilogy. After [[spoiler:βehemoth]] is identified, everyone involved starts screaming at everyone ''else'' involved;
-->'''Rowan''': ''...Tanaka-Krueger wouldn't trust Japan. And then the Columbian Hegemony wouldn't trust Tanaka-Krueger. And the Chinese, of course, they don't trust anybody since Korea...''\\
'''Scanlon''': ''Kin selection... Tribal loyalties. Never give the competition an edge. It's basically genetic.''
** ...resulting in everyone not only turning responsibility over to a [[AIIsACrapshoot smart gel]], not only pulling one from the network at ''random'', but also '''refusing to tell the programming team what they were doing!''' So the programmers were never ''told'' they were supposed to give the gel a certain directive;[[spoiler: ''[[YouHaveResearchedBreathing save human civilization]].'' And as the gel's previous function was to protect files from viruses, it thus decides that βehemoth's simpler structure is a file and Earth's biosphere is a virus threatening it -- and does everything within its ''completely'' unlimited authority to hand the planet over to βehemoth on a silver platter]].
-->''You'' gave us the job, they'd said. ''You'' didn't tell us what was at stake. You didn't even really tell us what we were doing.
* {{Sadist}}: Desjardins is a sadist in the sexual sense, getting off on subjecting women to violent torture. Prior to the removal of his RestrainingBolt, he used simulations to scratch this itch. [[spoiler:Once the RestrainingBolt is gone, taking his normal sense of guilt with it, his sadism becomes his primary motivation. He intends to prolong the βehemoth crisis for as long as possible, since that will make his help so important that the authorities will look the other way when he becomes a SerialKiller.]]
* ScienceMarchesOn: When Watts initially wrote the first book, he based the PsychicPowers in it off of a recent study that showed a very ''slight'' ESP-like effect in some sensory-deprived people; Watts simply extrapolated the effect into the PsychicPowers showed in the novel. However, by the time the later books came out, further studies had overturned the first study, casting doubt on the existence of the effect. Watts himself admitted this in the acknowledgements in the second and third books, but pretty much kept the effect in-universe because [[RuleOfCool it was too cool to give up]].
* SealedEvilInACan: βehemoth, which was safely trapped at the bottom of the ocean before [[spoiler: Lenie Clarke brought it to land]].
** [[spoiler: Eventually revealed she wasn't the first vector, there were several before her, but she was the one to succeed in bring it mainland]].

* TyphoidMary: [[spoiler:Lenie Clarke]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Alice Jovellanos. She believed that guilt was unnecessary and counterproductive to her job as a "lawbreaker", since anything guilt does could be done better by simply ''thinking'' about the ethics of your actions in a logical manner. She "frees" [[spoiler:Achilles]] from the RestrainingBolt of [=GuiltTrip=] (and his natural sense of guilt) thinking that he will be able to handle it because she believes he is a good person. [[spoiler:This, of course, turns out to be horrifically incorrect; she didn't know him anywhere near as well as she thought she did]].
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Lenie Clark]] in ''Maelstrom''.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Perhaps the most sympathetic character, which is pretty jarring example of the state of the world in story.

* ForTheEvulz: It's pointed out to [[spoiler:Achilles]] that he can always satify his evil urges in highly realistic virtual reality simulations (in fact, this was exactly what he did before his {{Face Heel Turn}}). His reply:

* MadeOfPlasticine: The unnaturally large deep sea fish near Channer Vent have incredibly fragile bodies.
** They attack the rifters indescriminately, but their gigantic razor-sharp-looking teeth just break off against the rifter's bodies. Most rifters just ''tear the fish apart'' with their bare hands; the fish just literally almost fall apart.

* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: Neurobiology is one of Peter Watts's areas of interest, so its no surprise this shows up quite a bit.

** [=GuiltTrip=], a drug that compels it's user to do "good" things (whatever "good" is defined as, that is). And alongside it, "Absolution", a drug that removes any feelings of remorse after you've done something that you might consider horrible under the effects of [=GuiltTrip=].
*** An example: You need to [[KillItWithFire burn a whole city block to the ground]] to prevent an deadly contagion from spreading to save a whole country. [=GuiltTrip=] will compel you to do so, even if you don't want to kill those innocent people, because doing so will save many ''more'' people and is therefore more "good". Absolution will make you not feel actual guilt from your actions, so you're not constantly haunted by what you've done.

* ParentalIncest: Lenie was sexually abused by her father in her youth. It affected her so badly that she sees shades of incest in every father-daughter relationship she encounters, to the point where she's tempted to kill fathers of young girls she meets. [[spoiler:It turns out that these memories of incest are fake and that her relationship with her late parents was most likely quite normal and healthy]].

* PsychicPowers: Justified in-universe and explained as a side-effect of the way the brain utilizes quantum effects in its functioning, and can be induced by tweaking with the firing-rate of your neurons (or through sensory deprivation). However, see ScienceMarchesOn below. Even then, they're treated as [[MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness "hard"]] as possible.

->''"Take a dozen children, any children. [[DysfunctionJunction Beat and mix thoroughly]] until some lumps remain. Simmer for two to three decades; bring to a slow, rolling boil. Skim off the full-blown psychotics, the schizoaffectives, the multiple personalities, and discard. Let cool. Serve with dopamine garnish. What do you get? Something bent, not broken. [[PsychoForHire Something that fits into cracks too twisted for the rest of us.]]"''
-->—Excerpt from personal diary of [[MadDoctor Yves Scanlon]], N'[=AmPac=] GA Industrial Psych