History Literature / TheGrimnoirChronicles

* CoolGun: John Browning is a senior Grimnoir knight, and he makes custom firearms for his brothers in arms.

** When Sullivan drops in on the Imperium in Shanghai, a couple of Iron Guards have a "Is it a [[{Franchise/{Superman}} bird/plane/man]]?" conversation.

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Francis purposefully cultivates this image.
* {{Ronin}}: The Chairman's backstory

* In ‘’Warbound’’ Sullivan returns to Rockville to recruit a [[Franxhise/HannibalLecter sociopathic inmate]] who is an expert psychiatrist and profiler.

** When Sullivan drops in on the Imperium in Shanghai, a couple of Iron Guards have a "Is it a [[{{Superman}} bird/plane/man]]?" conversation.

* ExtranormalPrison: The Rockville State Penitary is a facility made specifically to house Actives. It has deaf guards on staff to stop [[CompellingVoice Mouths]], ''extremely'' thick walls to have [[IntangibleMan Fades]] and [[{{Teleportation}} Travellers]] run out of Power before they'd leave, no fire and very little electricity to limit [[PlayingWithFire Torches]] and [[ShockAndAwe Cracklers]]' resources, and more. The only person who's ever managed to escape was a [[{{Humanshifter}} Ringer]]. Jake comments that he probably ''could'' have escaped if he wanted to - but it would have required him to kill a lot of the guards on the way out, and they hadn't done anything that he considered grounds for squishing them.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: In RealLife, UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan was racist, militaristic, and expansionist, with an array of atrocities to its name. The Imperium is all of that, turned UpToEleven, and more successful.

* BigBad: The Chairman.
* [[spoiler:BiggerBad: The Great Enemy]]

* CuteBruiser: Delilah.

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Underplayed example of the "no sense of time" variety. The Chairman is a bit over a hundred years old and noted to have a thousand recognized children - if we give him twenty years to grow up, he'd have to have one kid per month, not counting forgotten one-night stands. While that's not ''impossible'' per se, it strains credibility.
** To be fair, he's an immortal Japanese WarriorPoet. He's probably taking some artistic license.

* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Dan and Jane.

* FantasticRacism: Many people hate and fear Actives and even among Actives some types like Fades, [[TheNecromancer Lazaruses]] and [[MoreThanMindControl Mouths]] are disliked and distrusted.

** Similarly, enormous, stoic Sullivan and the tiny, CuteButPsycho ball of excitement that is Faye.

** All Travelers have a head map, but figuring out how to use it is hard and contributes to the [[TeleporterAccident Teleporter Accidents]] that kill most Travelers young.

* {{Ninja}}: The Shadow Guard. Membership is restricted to highly trained [[IntangibleMan Fades]] and [[TeleportersAndTransporters Travelers]].

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler:Faye gives up the Spellbound power]] at the end of the third book specifically to ''avoid'' ending up like this.

* BiTheWay: Whisper. She mentions to Faye that she's distracted the gas station attendants (all male) from getting too suspicious by flirting with them. Faye asks what she's going to do if they encounter a female attendant. Whisper replies that she can flirt with girls too. Faye is confused and assumes it's just French people being weird.

** All Travers have a head map, but figuring out how to use it is hard and contributes to the [[TeleporterAccident Teleporter Accidents]] that kill most Travelers young.

* ExtranormalPrison: The Rockville State Penitary is a facility made specifically to house Actives. It has deaf guards on staff to stop [[CompellingVoice Mouths]], ''extremely'' thick walls to have [[IntangibleMan Fades]] and [[{{Teleportation}} Travellers]] run out of Power before they'd leave, no fire and very little electicity to limit [[PlayingWithFire Torches]] and [[ShockAndAwe Cracklers]]' resources, and more. The only person who's ever managed to escape was a [[{{Humanshifter}} Ringer]]. Jake comments that he probably ''could'' have escaped if he wanted to - but it would have required him to kill a lot of the guards on the way out, and they hadn't done anything that he considered grounds for squishing them.

* [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer If He Ever Does Anything to Hurt You]]: Lance cautions Faye to be careful, because he really doesn't want to have to break Francis's neck for dishonoring her.
** In the final book, Captain Southunder warns Sullivan that if he doesn't make [[spoiler: Akane]] happy, he'll find himself having a lethal 'accident.'

* KnownOnlyByTheirNickname: The real name of Lady Origami (also known as Ori for short) is Akane. This doesn't get revealed until late in the third book.

** In ''Warbound'' she kills an Imperium ''Kaga''-class zeppelin ''by herself''. As in, she solos the largest, most powerful warship ''on the planet''. In under four minutes.

* StealthHiBye: Faye, being a Traveler, does this all the time.

* WouldHitAGirl: Most Grimnoir. When there are members of the allegedly weaker sex capable of bending steel bars with their bare hands, it's safer to treat all potential enemies equally.

* BattleInTheCentreOfTheMind: In ''Warbound'', Toru has to [[spoiler:resist the Pathfinder spore that he's been infected with. While he briefly loses control of his body, he manages to retain his mind.]]

* GrayEyes: A trait shared by all Travelers.

* OnePersonOnePower: An in-setting rule of thumb to which Chairman Okubo Tokugawa is the sole exception as far as anyone knows, though people who are very skilled with their one power can often emulate a related one. For example, Jake can manipulate his density to a certain degree like a Massive. [[spoiler:Because Faye is the Spellbound, she has access to other powers.]]