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* BlindBats: The Creit, a species of giant humanoid bats, have very keen smell, but are almost blind in daylight.
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* ExpandableClone: Early in the first book, Vardia, having been turned into a Czill, undergoes mitosis and splits into two identical twins, each with a full set of memories and a copy of the original personality. Several chapters later, one of these clones is used to demonstrate the Slelcronian hive mind and its ability to absorb other vegetal intelligences into itself, a process that completely erases her as an independent entity. When he eventually learns about this, Brazil simply comments "Well, there were too many Vardias around here anyway." [[spoiler:This is subverted, however, when Brazil decides that the easiest way to deal with the Slelcronian is to retroactively make it so that Slecronians cannot possess other plants, restore her personality, and send her back home to Czill.]]
to:
* ExpandableClone: ExpendableClone: Early in the first book, Vardia, having been turned into a Czill, undergoes mitosis and splits into two identical twins, each with a full set of memories and a copy of the original personality. Several chapters later, one of these clones is used to demonstrate the Slelcronian hive mind and its ability to absorb other vegetal intelligences into itself, a process that completely erases her as an independent entity. When he eventually learns about this, Brazil simply comments "Well, there were too many Vardias around here anyway." [[spoiler:This is subverted, however, when Brazil decides that the easiest way to deal with the Slelcronian is to retroactively make it so that Slecronians cannot possess other plants, restore her personality, and send her back home to Czill.]]
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* NamedAfterTheirHomeworld: A variant. Each species of the Well World is named, directly or indirectly, after their native hex, such as the Czill of Czill or the Murnies of Murithel.
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* NamedAfterTheirHomeworld: NamedAfterTheirPlanet: A variant. Each species of the Well World is named, directly or indirectly, after their native hex, such as the Czill of Czill or the Murnies of Murithel.
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Deleted line(s) 46 (click to see context) :
* DisposableClone: Early in the first book, Vardia, having been turned into a Czill, undergoes mitosis and splits into two identical twins, each with a full set of memories and a copy of the original personality. Several chapters later, one of these clones is used to demonstrate the Slelcronian hive mind and its ability to absorb other vegetal intelligences into itself, a process that completely erases her as an independent entity. When he eventually learns about this, Brazil simply comments "Well, there were too many Vardias around here anyway." [[spoiler:This is subverted, however, when Brazil decides that the easiest way to deal with the Slelcronian is to retroactively make it so that Slecronians cannot possess other plants, restore her personality, and send her back home to Czill.]]
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* ExpandableClone: Early in the first book, Vardia, having been turned into a Czill, undergoes mitosis and splits into two identical twins, each with a full set of memories and a copy of the original personality. Several chapters later, one of these clones is used to demonstrate the Slelcronian hive mind and its ability to absorb other vegetal intelligences into itself, a process that completely erases her as an independent entity. When he eventually learns about this, Brazil simply comments "Well, there were too many Vardias around here anyway." [[spoiler:This is subverted, however, when Brazil decides that the easiest way to deal with the Slelcronian is to retroactively make it so that Slecronians cannot possess other plants, restore her personality, and send her back home to Czill.]]
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* BatPeople: The Creit are giant humanoid bats. Their wings are purely that and useless as hands; they handle things with their prehensile feet instead. They have very keen smell, but are almost blind in daylight.
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%%* BizarreSexualDimorphism
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* BizarreSexualDimorphism: The Diviners and the Rels are the females and males of a single species, which in adulthood form into conjoined, symbiotic pairs. Rels resemble floating crystalline bowls with a set of wind chimes hanging beneath them, and provide movement, speech and sensory input for the duo. The Diviners resemble balls of moving lights carried in the Rel's bowl, can see into the future, and can fire beams that disintegrate whatever they touch.
Changed line(s) 39,40 (click to see context) from:
* ConMan: Both Brazil and Mavra Chang use this as their fallback survival strategy. Brazil's life is just one big con anyway.
* CosmicRetcon: Happens a few times, using the powers granted by the Well.
* CosmicRetcon: Happens a few times, using the powers granted by the Well.
to:
*
%%* CosmicRetcon: Happens a few times, using the powers granted by the Well.%%ZCE. What does?
* CrystallineCreature: Rels resemble floating crystalline bowls, carrying a bowl of shifting lights -- these being their Diviner mates -- and with crystal wind chimes hanging from their bottom.
* DisintegratorRay: Diviners can fire beams from their bodies that utterly erase whatever they hit. Once they make contact, the target is simply gone except for a clap of air rushing in to fill the void.
* DisposableClone: Early in the first book, Vardia, having been turned into a Czill, undergoes mitosis and splits into two identical twins, each with a full set of memories and a copy of the original personality. Several chapters later, one of these clones is used to demonstrate the Slelcronian hive mind and its ability to absorb other vegetal intelligences into itself, a process that completely erases her as an independent entity. When he eventually learns about this, Brazil simply comments "Well, there were too many Vardias around here anyway." [[spoiler:This is subverted, however, when Brazil decides that the easiest way to deal with the Slelcronian is to retroactively make it so that Slecronians cannot possess other plants, restore her personality, and send her back home to Czill.]]
* FormerlySapientSpecies: In the distant past, the human population of the Well World invaded the hex of a neighboring species, known as the Ambreza, with the intention of taking it over and using its resources to fuel their civilization. To defend themselves, the Ambreza imported a gas from a species in the Northern Hemisphere that interacted in such a manner with human neurochemistry as to cause people to regress to the mental level of great apes. After human civilization was reduced to a few feral packs of animals, the Ambreza simply moved in and populated the human hex. The process does not breed true exactly, but its reversal is slowed greatly by the lingering traces of the gas in the environment. The Ambreza figure that the packs will redevelop enough intelligence for language in about five hundred years, at which point they plan to move them to their old hex, where the world's master intelligence enforces a low technology level, and keep the humans' high-tech hex for themselves.
* HiveMind: The Slelcronians, a species of sapient, sessile plants, communicate using symbiotic insects that can relay memories and thought between them. As a result, no individuality exists among them; all Slelcronians are essentially cells in a single giant, diffuse brain, sharing all experiences and thoughts.
* InsectoidAliens: The Akkafians are a species roughly resembling eight-legged, four-winged insects in the same generally size range as human beings. They eat their food live, stinging it into quiescence during the meal, and live in a rigidly hierarchical society modeled after a feudal monarchy.
* MermaidInAWheelchair: On land, the mermaid-like Umiau move using electric wheelchairs unless they wish to crawl about.
* NamedAfterTheirHomeworld: A variant. Each species of the Well World is named, directly or indirectly, after their native hex, such as the Czill of Czill or the Murnies of Murithel.
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* OurCentaursAreDifferent:
** The original series has Dillians and Rhone (which are the Well World and out-in-the-Universe versions respectively) as more-or-less the classic model,albeit with horse ears, and only about the size of big ponies. Dillians also appear in the Watchers at the Well series; there, they're stated to have become a smoother synthesis of hominid and equine than the classic centaur.
** The matriarchal Gekir felitaurs.
** The original series has Dillians and Rhone (which are the Well World and out-in-the-Universe versions respectively) as more-or-less the classic model,albeit with horse ears, and only about the size of big ponies. Dillians also appear in the Watchers at the Well series; there, they're stated to have become a smoother synthesis of hominid and equine than the classic centaur.
** The matriarchal Gekir felitaurs.
to:
* OurCentaursAreDifferent:
**OurCentaursAreDifferent: The original series has Dillians and Rhone (which are the Well World and out-in-the-Universe versions respectively) as more-or-less the classic model,albeit with horse ears, and only about the size of big ponies. They lead a primarily pastoral and communal existence in a low-tech hex, where they live in small villages scattered among fields and forests. Dillians who made their way to the Mediterranean area of Old Earth were responsible for myths of centaurs. Dillians also appear in the Watchers ''Watchers at the Well Well'' series; there, they're stated to have become a smoother synthesis of hominid and equine than the classic centaur.
** %%** The matriarchal Gekir felitaurs.
**
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* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: The Umiau are an alien species of aquatic mammals that just happen to look remarkably like traditional mermaids. Another aquatic race resembles sea lions.
* PatchworkMap: The surface of the Well World is divided into regular hexagons, each featuring its own environment, often startlingly different from its neighbors in climate, biome, atmosphere, gravity, or even achievable tech level, with no apparent separating mechanism other than force walls that just about anyone can shove through without noticing. A case of it being artificially constructed and designed that way.
* PatchworkMap: The surface of the Well World is divided into regular hexagons, each featuring its own environment, often startlingly different from its neighbors in climate, biome, atmosphere, gravity, or even achievable tech level, with no apparent separating mechanism other than force walls that just about anyone can shove through without noticing. A case of it being artificially constructed and designed that way.
to:
* OurFairiesAreDifferent: The Faerie are a species of glowing insect-like beings with humanoid faces, living in colonies consisting of many tiny lesser specimens and a single large queen. They are native to the hex of Ivrom, where the local rules of physics give them abilities that are, for all intents and purposes, powerful magic. They are cruel and manipulative beings, delighting in tormenting and transforming unfortunates who stumble into their clutches, and once threatened to overrun a great deal of the Well World before the Markovians acted to limit them to their hex. Faeries who made their way to Old Earth were responsible for myths of fairies, witches and evil spirits.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: The Umiau are an alien species of aquatic mammals that just happen to look remarkably like traditional mermaids.Another They have long, fish-like tails with humanoid upper bodies, both of them light blue in color. Their hair is silvery, their ears shell-like, and their noses have flaps of skin that close to keep out water. They are air breathers, and as such prefer relatively shallow habitats and are tolerant of both salt and fresh water. They resemble women but are hermaphrodites, who alternate yearly between producing an egg and incubating another's. Umiau who made their way to Old Earth were responsible for myths of mermaids.%%Another aquatic race resembles sea lions.
lions.%%Like regular sea lions, or what?
* PatchworkMap: The surface of the Well World is divided into regular hexagons, each featuring its own environment, often startlingly different from its neighbors in climate, biome, atmosphere, gravity, or even achievable tech level, with no apparent separating mechanism other than force walls that just about anyone can shove through withoutnoticing. A case noticing, due to the reality-warping technology of it being artificially constructed the Markovians. Environmental conditions -- air composition, temperature, weather, biomes, even gravity sometimes -- cut off perfectly and designed that way.sharply at hex borders. Seasons don't match up, either; the first on-page border crossing has the characters stumble out of a raging blizzard into a calm day, and then turn back to watch the blowing snow churn behind an invisible wall. It's entirely conceivable to have such borders between frozen wastelands, volcanic hellscapes, lush forests, barren deserts, and weirder environments.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: The Umiau are an alien species of aquatic mammals that just happen to look remarkably like traditional mermaids.
* PatchworkMap: The surface of the Well World is divided into regular hexagons, each featuring its own environment, often startlingly different from its neighbors in climate, biome, atmosphere, gravity, or even achievable tech level, with no apparent separating mechanism other than force walls that just about anyone can shove through without
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* PluckyGirl: Mavra Chang absolutely refuses to give up despite all of the BodyHorror inflicted on her-- seemingly crippling mutations and body modifications only seem to make her even more determined. Hell, Mavra's probably at her most dangerous when she doesn't even have any hands.
* PowerPerversionPotential: Obie's a supercomputer hooked up to a Matter/Energy/Matter converter and planted inside a planetoid big enough to house a small town. He can give you anything you want, as long as he knows how to make it, and has a big transmitter capable of altering entire planets to a person's specifications. He's also capable of traveling to anywhere he knows the coordinates of within minutes. Upon hearing of Obie's full power, Nathan Brazil himself said, "to hell with porn," and upon seeing Obie in action, Brazil was rather disturbed.
** One of the first acts of Ben Yulin, the villain in Book 3, upon gaining control of Obie is to capture two of the woman characters and transform them into what he considers female perfection as well as program them to be his sex slaves. He keeps doing to this to all the other characters he captures, increasing the size of his harem, with plans of doing the same to entire worlds.
* PresidentForLife/ OnlyServesForLife: In ''Twilight at the Well of Souls'', Marquoz is re-made by the Well into a Hakazit, a species of large, powerful, reptilian warriors. The Hakazit have a truly unique form of government: The Supreme Lord is an absolute dictator - but the office is passed on only by KlingonPromotion, and ''every other Hakazit in the entire hex'' spends their spare time trying to find a way to assassinate him and become Supreme Lord in turn. The current Supreme Lord is fifty-seven years old and has held the position a little over three years. In his lifetime there have been sixty-six other Supreme Lords. The historical record for holding the position is [[LudicrousPrecision nine years, three months, sixteen days, five hours, forty-one minutes]].
* PowerPerversionPotential: Obie's a supercomputer hooked up to a Matter/Energy/Matter converter and planted inside a planetoid big enough to house a small town. He can give you anything you want, as long as he knows how to make it, and has a big transmitter capable of altering entire planets to a person's specifications. He's also capable of traveling to anywhere he knows the coordinates of within minutes. Upon hearing of Obie's full power, Nathan Brazil himself said, "to hell with porn," and upon seeing Obie in action, Brazil was rather disturbed.
** One of the first acts of Ben Yulin, the villain in Book 3, upon gaining control of Obie is to capture two of the woman characters and transform them into what he considers female perfection as well as program them to be his sex slaves. He keeps doing to this to all the other characters he captures, increasing the size of his harem, with plans of doing the same to entire worlds.
* PresidentForLife/ OnlyServesForLife: In ''Twilight at the Well of Souls'', Marquoz is re-made by the Well into a Hakazit, a species of large, powerful, reptilian warriors. The Hakazit have a truly unique form of government: The Supreme Lord is an absolute dictator - but the office is passed on only by KlingonPromotion, and ''every other Hakazit in the entire hex'' spends their spare time trying to find a way to assassinate him and become Supreme Lord in turn. The current Supreme Lord is fifty-seven years old and has held the position a little over three years. In his lifetime there have been sixty-six other Supreme Lords. The historical record for holding the position is [[LudicrousPrecision nine years, three months, sixteen days, five hours, forty-one minutes]].
to:
* PluckyGirl: Mavra Chang absolutely refuses to give up despite all of the BodyHorror inflicted on her-- her -- seemingly crippling mutations and body modifications only seem to make her even more determined. Hell, Mavra's probably at her most dangerous when she doesn't even have any hands.
*PowerPerversionPotential: PowerPerversionPotential:
** Obie's a supercomputer hooked up to a Matter/Energy/Matter converter and planted inside a planetoid big enough to house a small town. He can give you anything you want, as long as he knows how to make it, and has a big transmitter capable of altering entire planets to a person's specifications. He's also capable of traveling to anywhere he knows the coordinates of within minutes. Upon hearing of Obie's full power, Nathan Brazil himself said, "to hell with porn," and upon seeing Obie in action, Brazil was rather disturbed.
** One of the first acts of Ben Yulin, the villain inBook 3, ''Quest for the Well of Souls', upon gaining control of Obie is to capture two of the woman characters and transform them into what he considers female perfection as well as program them to be his sex slaves. He keeps doing to this to all the other characters he captures, increasing the size of his harem, with plans of doing the same to entire worlds.
*PresidentForLife/ OnlyServesForLife: PresidentForLife: In ''Twilight at the Well of Souls'', Marquoz is re-made by the Well into a Hakazit, a species of large, powerful, reptilian warriors. The Hakazit have a truly unique form of government: The Supreme Lord is an absolute dictator - -- but the office is passed on only by KlingonPromotion, and ''every other Hakazit in the entire hex'' spends their spare time trying to find a way to assassinate him and become Supreme Lord in turn. The current Supreme Lord is fifty-seven years old and has held the position a little over three years. In his lifetime there have been sixty-six other Supreme Lords. The historical record for holding the position is [[LudicrousPrecision nine years, three months, sixteen days, five hours, forty-one minutes]].minutes]].
* ProudWarriorRace: The Murnies, a species of large, headless humanoids with faces in their chests, live in a tribal society that, while extremely violent, also prizes honor. They are extremely hostile to outsiders, attacking and trying to kill anyone who enters their hex, but greatly respect those who fight against them valiantly. In the first book, the characters trying to cross Murithel win their respect by enacting a daring plan to run headlong across it while setting a wildfire to cover their tracks and, when caught out anyway, by engaging in a furious running fight until they physically collapse from exhaustion. Had they surrendered, the Murnies would have killed and eaten them; however, their display of courage and honor impressed them enough that they took them in and healed them instead.
*
** Obie's a supercomputer hooked up to a Matter/Energy/Matter converter and planted inside a planetoid big enough to house a small town. He can give you anything you want, as long as he knows how to make it, and has a big transmitter capable of altering entire planets to a person's specifications. He's also capable of traveling to anywhere he knows the coordinates of within minutes. Upon hearing of Obie's full power, Nathan Brazil himself said, "to hell with porn," and upon seeing Obie in action, Brazil was rather disturbed.
** One of the first acts of Ben Yulin, the villain in
*
* ProudWarriorRace: The Murnies, a species of large, headless humanoids with faces in their chests, live in a tribal society that, while extremely violent, also prizes honor. They are extremely hostile to outsiders, attacking and trying to kill anyone who enters their hex, but greatly respect those who fight against them valiantly. In the first book, the characters trying to cross Murithel win their respect by enacting a daring plan to run headlong across it while setting a wildfire to cover their tracks and, when caught out anyway, by engaging in a furious running fight until they physically collapse from exhaustion. Had they surrendered, the Murnies would have killed and eaten them; however, their display of courage and honor impressed them enough that they took them in and healed them instead.
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* [[SenseFreak Sense Freak]]/[[ShowingOffTheNewBody Showing Off The New Body]] as each character awakens to discover their new species.
* RockBeatsLaser: Even in semitech hexes, sophisticated weapons are often useless, so people who travel a lot tend to carry things like swords and crossbows, which work anywhere.
** Some of the non-tech species are as sly and sophisticated as anyone, despite their enforced primitivism.
* SecondLawOfGenderBending: Also applies to all of the ''species'' bending.
** It's [[JustifiedTrope justified]]; the Well alters the mind of anyone passing through it just enough to make them comfortable in their new forms.
* RockBeatsLaser: Even in semitech hexes, sophisticated weapons are often useless, so people who travel a lot tend to carry things like swords and crossbows, which work anywhere.
** Some of the non-tech species are as sly and sophisticated as anyone, despite their enforced primitivism.
* SecondLawOfGenderBending: Also applies to all of the ''species'' bending.
** It's [[JustifiedTrope justified]]; the Well alters the mind of anyone passing through it just enough to make them comfortable in their new forms.
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**
* SandWorm: Ghlmon, a desert hex, is home to sandsharks, huge beasts resembling whales that swim through the endless dunes.
* {{Seers}}: Diviners can see into the future and predict what events will have what outcomes, with one major blind spot -- no Diviner can ever see ahead of time the consequences that will lead to its own death.
%%* SenseFreak: As each character awakens to discover their new species.
* SecondLawOfGenderBending:
** It's [[JustifiedTrope justified]]; the
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* StarfishAliens: Well World is divided into two parts. Southern Hemisphere is for carbon-based lifeforms, and a lot of those are quite starfish-looking. Northern Hemisphere is for non-carbon-based ones, and those are just plain weird.
to:
* StarfishAliens: The Well World is divided into two parts. The Southern Hemisphere is for carbon-based lifeforms, and a lot of those are quite starfish-looking. The Northern Hemisphere is for non-carbon-based ones, and those are just plain weird.weird.
** Among the Southern races are the Slelcronians, a species of sapient plants. They resemble large but otherwise regular flowers, which think and communicate using symbiotic insects. These relay information between individual plants, joining the entire Slelcronian population into a huge species-mind like so many neurons in a brain.
** Among the Northern species are the Diviners and the Rels, respectively the females and males of a single race, which in their joined adult form resemble a ball of lights on top of a floating crystalline platform; the male provides locomotion, senses and speech, while the female can fire disintegration beams and see into the future. They eat silicon, and one member of their kind considers a huge, barren desert to be the only tolerable environment it encountered south of the equator.
** Among the Southern races are the Slelcronians, a species of sapient plants. They resemble large but otherwise regular flowers, which think and communicate using symbiotic insects. These relay information between individual plants, joining the entire Slelcronian population into a huge species-mind like so many neurons in a brain.
** Among the Northern species are the Diviners and the Rels, respectively the females and males of a single race, which in their joined adult form resemble a ball of lights on top of a floating crystalline platform; the male provides locomotion, senses and speech, while the female can fire disintegration beams and see into the future. They eat silicon, and one member of their kind considers a huge, barren desert to be the only tolerable environment it encountered south of the equator.
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* WhatIfGodWasOneOfUs: Maybe, but also practically yes. Nathan Brazil's real origin is never stated, and several of the characters wonder about him: is he really God, the last Markovian, or a construct of the Well itself? At the end of the day, it doesn't matter, because once he's in the Well Computer, he is a deity. [[spoiler: The last book reveals that he is indeed the last Markovian.]]
** This is essentially the plot of the first novel, where the adventuring party reaches their goal only to discover that one of their own members is effectively God after they get there.
** This is essentially the plot of the first novel, where the adventuring party reaches their goal only to discover that one of their own members is effectively God after they get there.
to:
* WhatIfGodWasOneOfUs: Maybe, but also practically yes. Nathan Brazil's real origin is never stated, and several of the characters wonder about him: is he really God, the last Markovian, or a construct of the Well itself? At the end of the day, it doesn't matter, because once he's in the Well Computer, he is a deity. [[spoiler: The last book reveals that he is indeed the last Markovian.]]
**]] This is essentially the plot of the first novel, where the adventuring party reaches their goal only to discover that one of their own members is effectively God after they get there.
**
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* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Brazil, in his darker moments. [[spoiler: But what do you expect from someone who's been forced to destroy and recreate the universe at least ''five times''?]]
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* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Brazil, in his darker moments. [[spoiler: But [[spoiler:But what do you expect from someone who's been forced to destroy and recreate the universe at least ''five times''?]]
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Misused, and redundant with Patchwork Map.
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* PatchworkWorld: The Well World is a planet constructed by the Precursors as a testbed for the species they designed and spread through the universe. It's divided into thousands of sections that mimic the conditions of each target planet.
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Aversions are simply a trope not being used. They are not examples and should not be listed as such.
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* HumansAreWhite: Averted with Nathan Brazil, who is described as having a dark complexion, black hair, brown eyes, and a Roman (aquiline) nose. He's Semitic and he looks it, because he has to look like someone who wouldn't be too out of place in the Mesopotamian "cradle of civilization".
** Secondary protagonist Marva Chang looks Asian due to plastic surgery intended to hide her from those who would harm her birth family. When she is transformed on the Well World into a form which she believes to be based on her true form had she been allowed to grow up normally, it's blond and busty, which would have made her extremely exotic looking (and thus difficult to hide) by prevailing human standards.
*** Brazil notes early in the first book that most people either look generic or engineered, and names rarely match appearances.
** Secondary protagonist Marva Chang looks Asian due to plastic surgery intended to hide her from those who would harm her birth family. When she is transformed on the Well World into a form which she believes to be based on her true form had she been allowed to grow up normally, it's blond and busty, which would have made her extremely exotic looking (and thus difficult to hide) by prevailing human standards.
*** Brazil notes early in the first book that most people either look generic or engineered, and names rarely match appearances.
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Changed line(s) 83 (click to see context) from:
* MasterComputer: The series is set inside one for the ''entire universe''.
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* MassTeleportation:
** All the Markovian worlds are connected to the Well World by a network of one-way teleporter Gates. When Nathan Brazil needs to transport an entire planetary population to the Well World, he uses spacecraft to get them to Markovian worlds, then the Well Gates do the rest. The Gates prove able to teleport over a thousand people at a time.
** The Well World's outgoing Gates are able to transport tens of thousands of people to their new worlds at once.
** The supercomputer Obie is able to teleport himself and his asteroid home anywhere in the cosmos. Exactly how he does this is unclear, but it involves [[ReverseThePolarity reversing the field on the big transceiver]] that he normally uses to alter reality on a large scale.
* MasterComputer: Theseries Well World is set inside one for (almost) the ''entire universe''.universe''.
** All the Markovian worlds are connected to the Well World by a network of one-way teleporter Gates. When Nathan Brazil needs to transport an entire planetary population to the Well World, he uses spacecraft to get them to Markovian worlds, then the Well Gates do the rest. The Gates prove able to teleport over a thousand people at a time.
** The Well World's outgoing Gates are able to transport tens of thousands of people to their new worlds at once.
** The supercomputer Obie is able to teleport himself and his asteroid home anywhere in the cosmos. Exactly how he does this is unclear, but it involves [[ReverseThePolarity reversing the field on the big transceiver]] that he normally uses to alter reality on a large scale.
* MasterComputer: The
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%%* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody
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* MultipleChoicePast: Brazil has at varous time claimed to be {{God}}, the last member of a race of {{Precursors}}, or an ordinary human who was tricked into becoming the caretaker of the universe. [[spoiler:It's actually the second one.]]
to:
* MultipleChoicePast: Brazil has at varous various time claimed to be {{God}}, the last member of a race of {{Precursors}}, or an ordinary human who was tricked into becoming the caretaker of the universe. [[spoiler:It's actually the second one.]]
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%%* OurDragonsAreDifferent
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Changed line(s) 19,20 (click to see context) from:
* ActionSurvivor: Nathan Brazil. Despite being the immortal guardian of the universe, he's small, unimposing, and doesn't normally go looking for trouble. His survival is guaranteed but his integrity is not and he's been mutilated quite a bit over the years, and while the stuff he loses always grows back, it's a long and painful process.
** He only seems small in the modern era. He's only slightly less than average sized for a paleolithic human, and most of human history was spent in the paleolithic era.
** He only seems small in the modern era. He's only slightly less than average sized for a paleolithic human, and most of human history was spent in the paleolithic era.
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* ActionSurvivor: Nathan Brazil. Despite being the immortal guardian of the universe, he's small, unimposing, and doesn't normally go looking for trouble. His survival is guaranteed but his integrity is not and he's been mutilated quite a bit over the years, and while the stuff he loses always grows back, it's a long and painful process. \n** He only seems small in the modern era. He's only slightly less than average sized for a paleolithic human, and most of human history was spent in the paleolithic era.
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* ArmlessBiped: The inhabitants of Slongorn, although one could theoretically count their probosces as arms.
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* AuthorAppeal: Even a casual survey of Chalker's work will show that he was obsessed with the idea of humans changing their species and sex. The ''Well World'' books just gave him a justification for doing it on a massive scale.
** Not to mention the recurring cases of strong-smart-woman-turned-virtually-helpless-by-vision-or-reading-impairment-and-body-morphing. Seems to happen in the majority of Chalker's books.
** Not to mention the recurring cases of strong-smart-woman-turned-virtually-helpless-by-vision-or-reading-impairment-and-body-morphing. Seems to happen in the majority of Chalker's books.
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* AuthorAppeal: Even a casual survey of Chalker's work will show that he was obsessed with the idea of humans changing their species and sex. The ''Well World'' books just gave him a justification for doing it on a massive scale.
**scale. Not to mention the recurring cases of strong-smart-woman-turned-virtually-helpless-by-vision-or-reading-impairment-and-body-morphing. Seems to happen in the majority of Chalker's books.
**
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* BizarreAlienBiology: Every hex on the Well World is inhabited by a different intelligent species. Some are familiar creatures from Earth mythology - cyclops, centaurs, mermaids. Others are so alien that they have no counterpart in Earth lore, or even anywhere else in science fiction. In particular, Northern Hemisphere hexes are all inhabited by non-carbon-based lifeforms that often can't even exist in the same kind of air as carbon-based ones.
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* BizarreAlienBiology: Every hex on the Well World is inhabited by a different intelligent species. Some are familiar creatures from Earth mythology - cyclops, -- cyclopes, centaurs, mermaids. Others are so alien that they have no counterpart in Earth lore, or even anywhere else in science fiction. In particular, Northern Hemisphere hexes are all inhabited by non-carbon-based lifeforms that often can't even exist in the same kind of air as carbon-based ones.
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* FateWorseThanDeath: Nikki Zinder [[spoiler: is one of the founders of the Olympians, the race that Ben Yulin created through Obie's powers. When the other founders figure out that they're all reaching their age limits, they go back to the Well World for one last life time. Nikki, on the other hand, uses cybernetics to stay alive and becomes a BrainInAJar to continue leading her people. When you first see her in ''The Return of Nathan Brazil'', she seems relatively sane until Mavra leaves the room. Then she goes on a religious rant and orders her people to make sure that Brazil doesn't fall into the "Evil One's" hands, before laughing madly and then begging in a child's voice for her father to come back to her, though she can't reasonably think that he's still alive.]]
** [[spoiler:He is. He has to MercyKill her or her insanity will get in the way of saving the universe.]]
** [[spoiler:He is. He has to MercyKill her or her insanity will get in the way of saving the universe.]]
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* FateWorseThanDeath: Nikki Zinder [[spoiler: is one of the founders of the Olympians, the race that Ben Yulin created through Obie's powers. When the other founders figure out that they're all reaching their age limits, they go back to the Well World for one last life time. Nikki, on the other hand, uses cybernetics to stay alive and becomes a BrainInAJar to continue leading her people. When you first see her in ''The Return of Nathan Brazil'', she seems relatively sane until Mavra leaves the room. Then she goes on a religious rant and orders her people to make sure that Brazil doesn't fall into the "Evil One's" hands, before laughing madly and then begging in a child's voice for her father to come back to her, though she can't reasonably think that he's still alive.]]
**]] [[spoiler:He is. He has to MercyKill her or her insanity will get in the way of saving the universe.]]
**
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* AndIMustScream: The final fate of Juan Campos, the South American rapist drug lord from the Watchers at the Well trilogy. [[spoiler: Nathan Brazil decides that a fitting fate for Campos is to be dropped into the body of a gorgeous, mute South American Indian woman, who has wandered a bit too close to the Campos compound around the time that the Family's henchmen are looking for some fun. To add squick to the matter, Brazil's Modus Operandi is to find people who have recently died, and bring them back to life with the soul of the person that he's dealing with. Campos, my boy, you are now a zombie sex slave for the family that you were once groomed to lead. And only you will ever know or believe it. Sleep well.]]
** The fate of a bad guy in the first book. [[spoiler: He's dropped into the body of a deer-like animal on the home planet of a species of humanoid which hunts said animal in packs and eats it alive. Wanting to avoid such a grisly fate, he hurls himself off a cliff ... only to wake up in the body of ''another'' deer. Brazil made sure that he will experience death repeatedly, once for every person whose death he is responsible for. He has a fair body count to his credit. And the worst part: ''he doesn't know'' that it will, eventually, end.]]
** The fate of Datham Hain, a drug dealer and slave trader. The Well transformed him into a female breeder of a giant insectoid species. Her new people brainwashed her into a loyal and adoring subject of the local warlord prince. When the group reaches the Well, Hain's only wish is [[spoiler:to mate with her beloved Prince. Brazil grants her wish, transforming Hain into the most beautiful female ever seen, and sends her home. When the rest of the group demands to know why the villain gets rewarded, Brazil explains that nobody told Hain that her new race's infants hatch from eggs inside their mother ... and ''eat their way out''. Cue horrified and squicked expressions on every face...]]
** The fate of a bad guy in the first book. [[spoiler: He's dropped into the body of a deer-like animal on the home planet of a species of humanoid which hunts said animal in packs and eats it alive. Wanting to avoid such a grisly fate, he hurls himself off a cliff ... only to wake up in the body of ''another'' deer. Brazil made sure that he will experience death repeatedly, once for every person whose death he is responsible for. He has a fair body count to his credit. And the worst part: ''he doesn't know'' that it will, eventually, end.]]
** The fate of Datham Hain, a drug dealer and slave trader. The Well transformed him into a female breeder of a giant insectoid species. Her new people brainwashed her into a loyal and adoring subject of the local warlord prince. When the group reaches the Well, Hain's only wish is [[spoiler:to mate with her beloved Prince. Brazil grants her wish, transforming Hain into the most beautiful female ever seen, and sends her home. When the rest of the group demands to know why the villain gets rewarded, Brazil explains that nobody told Hain that her new race's infants hatch from eggs inside their mother ... and ''eat their way out''. Cue horrified and squicked expressions on every face...]]
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* AndIMustScream: Nathan Brazil seems to like this as a way of dealing justice to villains.
** The final fate of Juan Campos, the South American rapist drug lord from the Watchers at the Well trilogy. [[spoiler: Nathan Brazil decides that a fitting fate for Campos is to be dropped into the body of a gorgeous, mute South American Indian woman, who has wandered a bit too close to the Campos compound around the time that the Family's henchmen are looking for some fun. To add squick to the matter, Brazil's Modus Operandi is to find people who have recently died, and bring them back to life with the soul of the person that he's dealing with. Campos, my boy, you are now a zombie sex slave for the family that you were once groomed to lead. And only you will ever know or believe it. Sleep well.]]
** The fate ofa bad guy Elkinos Skander in the first book. [[spoiler: He's dropped into the body of a deer-like animal on the home planet of a species of humanoid which hunts said animal in packs and eats it alive. Wanting to avoid such a grisly fate, he Skander hurls himself off a cliff ... only to wake up in the body of ''another'' deer. Brazil made sure that he will experience death repeatedly, once for every person whose death he is responsible for. He has a fair body count to his credit. And the worst part: ''he doesn't know'' that it will, eventually, end.]]
** The fate of Datham Hain, a drug dealer and slave trader. The Well transformed him into a female breeder of a giant insectoidspecies.species, called the Akkafians. Her new people brainwashed her into a loyal and adoring subject of the local warlord prince. When the group reaches the Well, Hain's only wish is [[spoiler:to mate with her beloved Prince. Brazil grants her wish, transforming Hain into the most beautiful female Akkafian ever seen, and sends her home. When the rest of the group demands to know why the villain gets rewarded, Brazil explains that nobody told Hain that her new race's infants hatch from eggs inside their mother ... and ''eat their way out''. Cue horrified and squicked expressions on every face...]]
** The final fate of Juan Campos, the South American rapist drug lord from the Watchers at the Well trilogy. [[spoiler: Nathan Brazil decides that a fitting fate for Campos is to be dropped into the body of a gorgeous, mute South American Indian woman, who has wandered a bit too close to the Campos compound around the time that the Family's henchmen are looking for some fun. To add squick to the matter, Brazil's Modus Operandi is to find people who have recently died, and bring them back to life with the soul of the person that he's dealing with. Campos, my boy, you are now a zombie sex slave for the family that you were once groomed to lead. And only you will ever know or believe it. Sleep well.]]
** The fate of
** The fate of Datham Hain, a drug dealer and slave trader. The Well transformed him into a female breeder of a giant insectoid
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%%* BizarreAlienBiology: Several hundred hexes worth.
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** Nathan Brazil is effectively immortal and something like God, but most of the time he does not consciously realize it. He remarks that no matter what the disaster, he has been a survivor, no matter how awful the event was.
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** Nathan Brazil is effectively immortal and something like God, but most of the time he does not consciously realize it. On top of that, he's immortal but not invulnerable -- he can be hurt to any degree but he'll never actually die, and eventually the Well will manipulate events so that he's rescued and recovers. He remarks that no matter what the disaster, he has been a survivor, no matter how awful the event was.
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* FantasticDrug: The alien organism called "sponge" is a (temporary) antidote to a brutal alien disease: a sort of brain-eating virus that eats away ten percent of an infected person's brainpower (not their physical ''brain'', but their ''ability to think'') per day, until they no longer know how to eat, at which point they starve to death. A dose of sponge neutralizes the virus for approximately a day, then the deterioration starts again. It's the ultimate blackmail drug, controlled by a vast, ruthless criminal syndicate, and it's the secret behind the success of the Com system.
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* FantasticDrug: The alien organism called "sponge" is a (temporary) antidote to a brutal alien disease: a sort of brain-eating virus that eats away ten percent of reduces an infected person's brainpower (not their physical ''brain'', but their ''ability to think'') by roughly ten percent per day, until they no longer know how to eat, at which point they starve to death. A dose of sponge neutralizes the virus for approximately a day, then the deterioration starts again. It's the ultimate blackmail drug, controlled by a vast, ruthless criminal syndicate, and it's the secret behind the success of the Com system.
