History Literature / ThievesWorld

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''Thieves' World'' is a dark urban fantasy SharedUniverse created by Creator/RobertAsprin in 1978 and mostly focused on the city of Sanctuary. It drew in authors like Creator/PoulAnderson, Creator/JohnBrunner, Creator/AndrewJOffutt, Creator/CJCherryh, Creator/JanetMorris and Creator/MarionZimmerBradley (with the first ''Literature/{{Lythande}}'' story) to contribute, and generated a buttload of books (12 short story compilations, 8 official novels, some graphic novel adaptations of the compilations and roleplaying adaptations from the likes of Creator/{{Chaosium}} and Creator/{{FASA}}) before it went on hiatus in 1989.

Then in 2002 Creator/LynnAbbey published a new novel in the universe, ''Sanctuary'' which re-started the series several decades later. Two additional anthologies were published, as well as D20 books from Creator/GreenRonin.

* AdjectiveAnimalAlehouse: The city of Sanctuary has the Vulgar Unicorn and Golden Lizard taverns. Several vague descriptions of the Vulgar Unicorn's sign are given, including "...that animal improbably engaging itself" and similar.

%%* GoodThingYouCanHeal: Tempus

%%* JerkAssGods: Most of them, most of the time.

* MoralityAdjustment: Jubal after realizing it's his own fault that he got the crap beaten out of him and then had healing GoneHorriblyWrong was still a crimelord, but more wise, considerate and even willing to spend efforts for common benefit, e.g. [[spoiler:setting Chenaya's bright, but dislocated brain straight or "Envoy of Sanctuary" project]].

%%* WretchedHive

''Thieves' World'' is a dark urban fantasy SharedUniverse created by Creator/RobertAsprin in 1978 and mostly focused on the city of Sanctuary. It drew in authors like Creator/PoulAnderson, Creator/JohnBrunner, Creator/AndrewJOffutt, Creator/CJCherryh, Creator/JanetMorris and Creator/MarionZimmerBradley (with the first ''Literature/{{Lythande}}'' story) to contribute, and generated a buttload of books (12 short story compilations, 8 official novels, some graphic novel adaptations of the compilations and roleplaying adaptations from the likes of Chaosium and FASA) before it went on hiatus in 1989.

* ConstrainedWriting: In "The Secret of the Blue Star", MarionZimmerBradley carefully tried to [[spoiler: avoid referring to the gender of the magician Lythande to conceal the TwistEnding that [[SamusIsAGirl Lythande is a woman]].]] She did slip up at one point, however.

* AuraVision

* BloodBrothers
* BreakoutCharacter: Tempus Thales
* TheCityNarrows

* CurseOfTheAncients: "Crow!"
* DarkerAndEdgier

* DisposingOfABody
* EatTheEvidence

* GoodThingYouCanHeal: Tempus

* LowFantasy
* JerkAssGods: Most of them, most of the time.
* KingOfTheHomeless

* PowerTattoo: The Blue Star Adepts

* RitualMagic

* SharedUniverse
* SummoningArtifact
* TarotMotifs

* WelcomeToTheBigCity: In "Looking For Satan" by Vonda [=McIntyre=].
* WretchedHive

* UsefulNotes/{{Roma|ni}}: S'Danzo. Colorful, famous for [[FortuneTeller fortune-telling]] and infamous for curses... Though in this region mostly settled.

* RedHeadedHero: Chenaya Vigeles, "Daughter Of The Sun".
** IdiotHero / RoyalBrat - Generous, powerful, clever, beautiful... and extremely immature in some respects. Divine blessing from such a young age spoiled her even more than her high status possibly could.
** HeroesWantRedheads - And it's frequently reciprocated. The ones who get to know her closer tend to change their opinion quickly, though. Whether due to her... rather unusual habits, acting batshit crazy at times or ego bigger than the prince's palace.

''Thieves' World'' is a dark urban fantasy SharedUniverse created by Creator/RobertAsprin in 1978 and mostly focused on the city of Sanctuary. It drew in authors like Creator/PoulAnderson, Creator/JohnBrunner, Creator/AndrewJOffutt, Creator/CJCherryh, Creator/JanetMorris and Creator/MarionZimmerBradley to contribute, and generated a buttload of books (12 short story compilations, 8 official novels, some graphic novel adaptations of the compilations and roleplaying adaptations from the likes of Chaosium and FASA) before it went on hiatus in 1989.

* SequelGap

* TheArchmage: Hazard mages.

Then in 2002 Creator/LynnAbbey published a new novel in the universe, ''Sanctuary'' which re-started the series several decades later. Two additional anthologies were published, as well as D20 books from GreenRonin.

*** As one of [[TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony's]] [[http://spoonyexperiment.com/2012/03/04/counter-monkey-thieves-world-part-1-poor-impulse-control/ Counter Monkey's stories]] show, this can suck even worse than one would expect.

* {{Roma}}: S'Danzo. Colorful, famous for [[FortuneTeller fortune-telling]] and infamous for curses... Though in this region mostly settled.

See also [[http://www.thievesworld.info/ the fan site]].

* ConditionalPowers: The powers of the blue star adepts require them to keep a DarkSecret about themselves and they lose their powers if that secret becomes known.

* TheArchmage - Hazard mages.
* ArtInitiatesLife - A great mage gave one of the recurring characters this ability but most of the time it proved [[BlessedWithSuck rather inconvenient]].

* BlessedWithSuck - Tempus, [[spoiler: whose role as the avatar of the storm god makes him immortal but not invulnerable. No matter how horribly he's injured he ''will heal eventually'' suffering all the while. The same god also made him incapable of "taking a woman in gentleness".]]

* ConditionalPowers - The powers of the blue star adepts require them to keep a DarkSecret about themselves and they lose their powers if that secret becomes known.
* ConstrainedWriting - In "The Secret of the Blue Star", MarionZimmerBradley carefully tried to [[spoiler: avoid referring to the gender of the magician Lythande to conceal the TwistEnding that [[SamusIsAGirl Lythande is a woman]].]] She did slip up at one point, however.

* CrapsackOnlyByComparison - In "Looking for Satan", Sanctuary is seen as especially awful by a group of people who come from a {{Utopia}}.
* CrapsackWorld - Sanctuary is not a nice place to live unless you are very rich. If you are very rich, most of the rest of the population want to kill you and take your stuff. And they may try -- unless some rival will manage to get rid of you before, that is.
* CurseOfTheAncients - "Crow!"

* FantasyPantheon - FantasyPantheon turf wars no less!
* GoodThingYouCanHeal - Tempus
* HaveYouSeenMyGod - most of the Ilsigi gods, most of the time.

* JerkAssGods - most of them, most of the time.

* MagicFromTechnology - Kemren the Purple Mage with his {{mana}} generating waterwheels.
* MoralityAdjustment - Jubal after realizing it's his own fault that he got the crap beaten out of him and then had healing GoneHorriblyWrong was still a crimelord, but more wise, considerate and even willing to spend efforts for common benefit, e.g. [[spoiler:setting Chenaya's bright, but dislocated brain straight or "Envoy of Sanctuary" project]].
* MuggingTheMonster - Wess vs. Bauchle Mayne and an accomplice in the story "Looking For Satan" in Book 3 ''Shadows of Sanctuary''. Ischade due to her curse seeks such incidents.
* ObfuscatingStupidity - Prince Kadakithis was nicknamed "Kittycat" soon after he arrived and [[NewEraSpeech Publically expressed a naive intention to clean up the city]] but it didn't take long for Sanctuary to beat the naivete out of him. Afterwards he chooses to pretend he's still a weak-willed wide-eyed aristocratic dilettante. He never stops trying to improve the city; he just gets more subtle and realistic about it.
* PowerAtAPrice - Magic-users inevitably turn out to be either cursed or paying a price. Sometimes bordering on BlessedWithSuck.
* PowerTattoo - the Blue Star Adepts
* PsychicPowers - At least three different traditions - S'Danzo seers ([[SpiderSense precognition]]), Bandaran adepts (AuraVision and other sensory powers, self control) and barbarians (body enhancements like SuperSpeed and other useful tricks).
* ReassignedToAntarctica - The governor of Sanctuary is the Emperor's idealistic half-brother, sent there to get him out of reach of any political conspirators wanting to make use of him.
* RedHeadedHero - Chenaya Vigeles, "Daughter Of The Sun".

* {{Roma}} - S'Danzo. Colorful, famous for [[FortuneTeller fortune-telling]] and infamous for curses... Though in this region mostly settled.

* WelcomeToTheBigCity - In "Looking For Satan" by Vonda [=McIntyre=].

''Thieves' World'' is a dark urban fantasy SharedUniverse created by Creator/RobertAsprin in 1978 and mostly focused on the city of Sanctuary. It drew in authors like Creator/PoulAnderson, JohnBrunner, Creator/AndrewJOffutt, Creator/CJCherryh, Creator/JanetMorris and Creator/MarionZimmerBradley to contribute, and generated a buttload of books (12 short story compilations, 8 official novels, some graphic novel adaptations of the compilations and roleplaying adaptations from the likes of Chaosium and FASA) before it went on hiatus in 1989.

''Thieves' World'' is a dark urban fantasy SharedUniverse created by RobertAsprin in 1978 and mostly focused on the city of Sanctuary. It drew in authors like PoulAnderson, JohnBrunner, AndrewJOffutt, Creator/CJCherryh, JanetMorris and MarionZimmerBradley to contribute, and generated a buttload of books (12 short story compilations, 8 official novels, some graphic novel adaptations of the compilations and roleplaying adaptations from the likes of Chaosium and FASA) before it went on hiatus in 1989.

Then in 2002 LynnAbbey published a new novel in the universe, ''Sanctuary'' which re-started the series several decades later. Two additional anthologies were published, as well as D20 books from GreenRonin.

* ConstrainedWriting: In "The Secret of the Blue Star", MarionZimmerBradley carefully tried to [[spoiler: avoid referring to the gender of the magician Lythande to conceal the TwistEnding that [[SamusIsAGirl Lythande is a woman]].]] She did slip up at one point, however.

* CrapsackOnlyByComparison: In "Looking for Satan", Sanctuary is seen as especially awful by to a group of people who come from a {{Utopia}}.

''Thieves' World'' is a dark urban fantasy SharedUniverse created by RobertAsprin in 1978 and mostly focused on the city of Sanctuary. It drew in authors like PoulAnderson, JohnBrunner, AndrewJOffutt, CJCherryh, JanetMorris and MarionZimmerBradley to contribute, and generated a buttload of books (12 short story compilations, 8 official novels, some graphic novel adaptations of the compilations and roleplaying adaptations from the likes of Chaosium and FASA) before it went on hiatus in 1989.

* BlessedWithSuck - Tempus, [[spoiler: whose roll as the avatar of the storm god makes him immortal but not invulnerable. No matter how horribly he's injured he ''will heal eventually'' suffering all the while. The same god also made him incapable of "taking a woman in gentleness".]]

* ObfuscatingStupidity - Prince Kadakithis was nicknamed "Kittycat" soon after he arrived and [[NewEraSpeech Publically expressed a naive intention to clean up the city] but it didn't take long for Sanctuary to beat the naivete out of him. Afterwards he chooses to pretend he's still a weak-willed wide-eyed aristocratic dilettante. He never stops trying to improve the city; he just gets more subtle and realistic about it.

* ConditionalPowers - The powers of the blue star adepts require them to keep a DarkSecret about themselves. They risk losing their powers the instant that secret becomes known to another mage.

* ArtInitiatesLife - Great mage gave one of recurring characters this ability. Most of the time it was [[BlessedWithSuck rather inconvenient]].

* BlessedWithSuck - Tempus, [[spoiler: whose god makes him immortal, but not invulnerable - so he can be horribly injured, and in crippling pain, but ''will heal eventually''. The same god also made him incapable of "taking a woman in gentleness".]]

* ConditionalPowers - The powers of the mages require that they keep a secret about themselves or risk losing their powers the instant it becomes known to another mage.
* CrapsackOnlyByComparison: In "Looking for Satan", Sanctuary is portrayed as especially awful-seeming to a group of people who come from a {{Utopia}}.

* ObfuscatingStupidity - Kadakithis was nicknamed "Kittycat" soon upon arrival. [[NewEraSpeech Publically expressing an intention to make the city squeaky clean]] wasn't a very wise move, but the first conspiracy beaten the naïvete out of him. The prince chose to pretend he's the weak wide-eyed aristocrate youngster everyone thought he is.

* PowerTattoo

** IdiotHero / RoyalBrat - Generous, powerful, clever, beautiful... and extremely moronic in some areas. Divine blessing from such a young age spoiled her even more than the high status possibly could.