History Literature / TheCourseOfEmpire

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Played with. Jao politics have some of the features that we would associate with this, but their pragmatic mindset reigns in most of the worst excesses.

* LaResistance: The Resistance. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Some are genuine, organized guerrillas, some are little better than roving bandits.

%%* VichyEarth: A more sympathetic take than most.%%How?

* [[RockBeatsLaser Depleted Uranium Beats Laser]] : During the invasion humans confounded the Jao's lasers with steam grenades. Then shot them to bits with ordinary ammunition.

* TheEmpire: The Jao
** In many ways it is a [[TheFederation Federation]]. It is an alliance of several different clans with a sort of council ruling above them, and it periodically assimilates other races into itself. However, before Earth, most of them were primitive and quickly adopted the trappings of Jao culture. After encountering humanity, the first hints of a less-imperialistic culture begin to emerge.

* HumansAreSpecial: Humans are the first race the Jao had come across since the founding of their empire that could actually maintain a technological civilization, or, at least, that had developed to one. The Jao, after Oppucks disastrous governorship, decided that the easiest way to get along with humans was to call them a [[TheClan "taif"]] rather then try to [[YouWillBeAssimilated assimilate them]], and the two cultures began to merge to mutual benefit.

* MilitaryScienceFiction

* LaResistance: The Resistance. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Some are genuine, organized guerrillas, some are little better than roving bandits.

* SpaceOpera

* VichyEarth: a more sympathetic take than most.

* StarfishLanguage: Jao speech relies heavily on body language to convey emotion, and controlling it is considered an important part of conversation. At the end of the novel, Caitlin's use of both human and jao speech and body language in a merged fashion is believed to be the start of a new, hybrid language. The jao also picked it up from their Ekhat once-masters, whose language is ''even stranger''.

* LaResistance: The Resistance. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Some are genuine, organized guerrillas, some are little better than roving bandits.
* LesCollaborateurs: Justly or unjustly, the Resistance tends to have this opinion of those who work with the jao.

SpaceOpera novel by EricFlint and Creator/KDWentworth:

SpaceOpera novel by EricFlint and KDWentworth:

* HumansAreWarriors: The human held off the Jao until they could only be subdued by throwing asteroids at their cities. Allie realizes in short order that they are better on his side then as enemies.

* MadArtist: The Ekhat's StarfishLanguage gives off this impression.

* MilitaryMashupMachine: The spaceships used in the fight against the Ekhat are human missile submarines - with two rows of four tank turrets in place of most of the missile launches - converted into spacecraft with Jao technology.

* BenevolentAlienInvasion: Played with. The Jao are not particularly benevolent. They are just no worse then human conquerors would be, and the Navro are particularly ''[[DeadlyEuphamism direct]]'' in their methods.

* BenevolentAlienInvasion: Played with. The Jao are not particularly benevolent. They are just no worse then human conquerors would be.

* CreatorProvincialism: The United States is the center of the story's action, and other nations are... not always well-represented.

** There's the mutual racisms between the Jao and the humans, the former seeing themselves as superior while the latter despises the other for being invaders.
** The Ekhat have four different flavors of racism depending on each faction. The Melody faction believes that all Ekhat are essentially equal, and the universe should be cleansed of all non-Ekhat life, although it will use some non-Ekhat for a while before disposing of them when they cease to be useful. The True Harmony faction shares their beliefs regarding non-Ekhat, but organizes the different species and subspecies of Ekhat into castes depending on their conception of genetic purity. The Complete Harmony faction has a similar caste system, except that they believing in "uplifting" Ekhat from lower to higher castes and inducting non-Ekhat they find useful into slave-labor as the lower castes and exterminating the rest. The Interdict faction are {{Evil Luddite}}s who believe that breaking the lightspeed barrier is sinful and isolationists who believe contact with any non-Ekhat is unclean, but they are known to talk to non-Ekhat for [[StarfishAliens reasons known only to themselves]], mostly related to curbing the advance of the other factions. The envoys they send to talk to the non-Ekhat (usually a pair) brutally rip each other apart after delivering the message to purge their now-unclean selves from the rest of the Interdict.

* MadArtist: The Ekhat

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Much of the resistance.

* StarfishLanguage: Jao speech relies heavily on body language to convey emotion, and controlling it is considered an important part of conversation. At the end of the novel, Caitlin's use of both human and jao speech and body language in a merged fashion is believed to be the start of a new, hybrid language.

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: The US Army had that during the AlienInvasion.

* FeudingFamilies: Pluthrak vs Narvo.

* HumansAreSpecial: Humans are the first race the Jao had come across since the founding of their empire that could actually maintain a technological civilization. The Jao, after Oppucks disastrous governorship, decided that the easiest way to get along with humans was to call them a [[TheClan "taif"]] rather then try to [[YouWillBeAssimilated assimilate them]], and the two cultures began to merge to mutual benefit.
* HumansAreWarriors: The human held off the Jao until they could only be subdued by throwing asteroids at their cities. Allie begins to realize that they are better on his side then as enemies.

* LaResistance: The Resistance. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.

* ProudWarriorRace : The Narvo are famous for this. Oppuck was an unfortunate example and by contrast one of the Narvo wins glory for his heroic death defending Terra; the award given him by the humans becomes Terra's heraldric symbol.

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: much of the resistance.
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: The Ekhat

* TribalFacePaint: popular among the Jao

----

* TheCaligula: Governor Oppuck

* CultureClash
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: the Jao

** In many ways it is a [[TheFederation Federation]]. It is an alliance of several different clans with a sort of council ruling above them.

** The Ekhat have four different flavors of racism depending on each faction. The Melody faction believes the universe should be cleansed of all non-Ekhat life, although it will use some non-Ekhat for a while before disposing of them when they cease to be useful. The True Harmony faction believes similarly and organizes the different species and subspecies of Ekhat into castes depending on their conception of genetic purity. The Complete Harmony faction has a similar caste system, except that they believing in "uplifting" non-Ekhat they find useful into slavery and exterminate the rest. The Interdict faction are isolationists who believe contact with any non-Ekhat is unclean, but they are known to talk to non-Ekhat for [[StarfishAliens reasons known only to themselves]]. They envoys they send to talk to the non-Ekhat (usually a pair) brutally rip each other apart after delivering the message to purge their now-unclean selves from the rest of the Interdict.

* HumansThroughAlienEyes
* HumansAreSpecial: Humans are the first race the Jao had come across since the founding of their empire that could actually maintain a technological civilization. The Jao after Oppucks disastrous governorship decided that the easiest way to get along with humans was to call them a [[TheClan "taif"]] rather then try to [[YouWillBeAssimilated assimilate them]].

* OmnicidalManiac: The Ekhat

* RecycledInSpace: The theme is based on the old idea of Romans conquering Greece then ironically adopting Greek culture.

* VichyEarth: a more sympathetic take then most.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Jao and humans to each other. Definitely the Ekhat. Bonus points to the Ekhat's [[TheFundamentalist Intercept]] faction, who are this ''to the other Ekhat.''

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Jao and humans to each other. Definitely the Ekhat.

The sequel is ''TheCrucibleOfEmpire''.

The sequel is ''The Crucible of Empire''.

** The Ekhat have four different flavors of racism depending on each faction. The Melody faction believes the universe should be cleansed of all non-Ekhat life. The True Harmony faction believes similarly and organizes the different species and subspecies of Ekhat into castes depending on their conception of genetic purity. The Complete Harmony faction has a similar caste system, except that they believing in "uplifting" non-Ekhat they find useful into slavery and exterminate the rest. The Interdict faction are isolationists who believe contact with any non-Ekhat is unclean, but they are known to talk to non-Ekhat for [[StarfishAliens reasons known only to themselves]]. They envoys they send to talk to the non-Ekhat (usually a pair) brutally rip each other apart after delivering the message to purge their now-unclean selves from the rest of the Interdict.