Line #39 Literature/PaleLights


1	''[[https://palelights.com/ Pale Lights]]'' is the second WebSerialNovel written by erraticerrata, author of ''Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil''.
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3	Described as a "Lovecraftian Renaissance," Pale Lights is set in the massive underground cavern known as Vesper, where humanity has taken refuge AfterTheEnd. Cities and factions squabble amongst themselves, huddled beneath the cracks in the firmament that the [[LightIsNotGood light of the never-setting sun which burned the old world above shines down through]]. Monsters lurk in the dark of the [[DarkIsEvil Gloam]], and gods walk amongst people, granting eldritch contracts to those that they take interest in.
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5	The series follows Tristan Abrascal and Lady Angharad Tredegar, a thief and exiled noblewoman, respectively, on the run from the differing conspiracies that threaten their lives. The two are pointed towards joining the Watch, a company of elite god-killers, as their only chance of making it out alive, and to eventually seek revenge against those that have taken everything from them.
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7	The first two chapters of Book 1, ''Lost Things'', were released as a sneak peek on March 2, 2021, the same day as the premiere of Book 7 of ''A Practical Guide to Evil''. The series properly began on August 26, 2022.
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10	!! This series provides examples of:
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12	* AcademyOfAdventure: A very dark version, the Scholomance trains god-killers and expects each cabal to fulfil weekly missions from their board, but has a very high casualty rate.
13	* AcademyOfEvil: Myth/TheScholomance is (partly) run by [[spoiler:a Devil]], and frequently pits cabals of students against each other. It was shut down for what's implied to be too-high casualty rates, even by the Watch's standards.
14	* AfterTheEnd: By the time the series begins, the outside world has been long ravaged by an apocalyptic event, with the survivors taking refuge in the massive cavern known as Vesper. The only natural light sources that cities are built around are from cracks in the firmament, letting in light from a sun that apparently has never faded.
15	* ApeShallNeverKillApe: The Watch is a fractured organization, but one rule that they all (mostly) follow is to prioritize themselves over outsiders. Not outright killing other students is the only rule in Scholomance.
16	* AristocratsAreEvil: Tristan is certainly of this opinion, and the Sacromonte nobles participating in the Trials on the Dominion of Lost Things certainly don't disprove it.
17	* BeneathTheEarth: The world of Vesper consists entirely of a massive cavern, due to the above world being ravaged by a never-setting sun. [[UndergroundCity Underground Cities]] huddle around the few holes in the Firmament that lets the light of the Glare in.
18	* BitByBitTransformation: Watch Navigators undergo a process known as "obscuring", where they effectively [[spoiler:corrupt themselves into Darklings, one internal organ at a time]]. This is apparently the ''safest'' way to utilize Signs.
19	* BlackAndGrayMorality: The Watch is focused on stopping Pandemonium and other world-ending threats. Considering how much of a CrapsackWorld Vesper is, this involves working with some pretty heinious people and societies, including [[spoiler:Iscariot Accord-compliant Devils]].
20	--> '''Tupoc''', [[spoiler:proud member of a society practicing mass human sacrifice]]: “[The Watch] are the lid on a very deep well. Only when they succeed in that duty can they spare the breath to be anything more.”
21	* BodyguardCrush: [[spoiler:Ferranda Villazur and her Malani bodyguard Sanale]] are in a committed relationship.
22	* BodySnatcher: [[spoiler:Devils]] crave human flesh, but are [[WeakenedBytheLight burned by the Glare]]. their usual method of dealing with this is to puppet their hollowed-out victims.
23	* CombatClairvoyance: Angharad's contract allows her to receive glimpses of the immediate future, effectively granting her SuperReflexes. Since she was already a very deadly duelist before this, making her a EmpoweredBadassNormal.
24	* DarkIsEvil: Eating food grown without light from the Glare, or otherwise spending too much time in the dark can lead to Gloam Sickness for normal humans. Darklings, those humans who have apparently embraced this fate are considered "strange folk" who while not necessarily AlwaysChaoticEvil, often do form Cults.
25	* DealWithTheDevil: Or rather, Deal with Gods. These often now-defunct deities often make contracts with a human, granting them powers. Contracts that give certain powers like {{Brainwashing}} are banned by the Watch on pain of FamilyExtermination.
26	* DemonicPossession: "Saints" are people who's contract has allowed their god to take control of and warp their body, usually by drawing too deep on their Contract. BodyHorror abounds.
27	* EldritchLocation:
28	** The quaint cottage that [[spoiler:the 13th Brigade uses as a HomeBase]] is charmed to be impossible to find unless you've already been there, and is [[EerilyOutOfPlaceObject eerily out-of-place]] compared to the surrounding ruins.
29	** The Scholomance itself is [[spoiler:a former palace of Lucifer, now infested by a god who warps reality to try to kill its occupants.]]
30	* ExactWords: Angharad will always keep the very letter of her word, but if you deal with her unfairly, that is all she'll do. As when she made several promises to Augusto to resolve a hostage situation, already planning how to get around each and every one.
31	* FateWorseThanDeath:
32	** Some gods and lemures can corrupt, torture, or outright devour souls.
33	** "Gloam Sickness" is one of many illnesses that can affect people who don't get enough light. People who survive it usually become Darklings, cut off from the cycle of Reincarnation.
34	* TheGamblingAddict: Tristan's contracted goddess, Fortuna, is obsessed with luck and gambling.
35	* HonorAmongThieves: Tristan will ditch almost anything in the name of survival, but he shows respect to other people in situations of desperate poverty or "rats." And he does not side with landlords.
36	* HonorBeforeReason: Subverted. Malani and Peredur nobles both hold to a strict CodeOfHonor, but the Pereduri are more pragmatic about it. Angharad's EstablishingCharacterMoment has her wait for a would-be assassin to pick his dropped weapon back up as a "fair chance". When he starts to mock her for it, he's KilledMidSentence, since five breaths is considered enough to constitute that fair chance.
37	** Angharad is prepared to rules-lawyer her own code in a lot of ways, as the story progresses, particularly when dealing with dishonorable people.
38	* HumanSacrifice: The {{Mayincatec}} Kingdom of Izcalli practices this, though the current government downplays or denies it. Their infamous Panther Society is tasked with capturing criminals who've escaped over the borders; [[BlatantLies definitely not]] raiding neighbors for sacrifices.
39	* InconvenientHippocraticOath: Invoked and exploited by Tristan, who [[spoiler:claims to have this in order to trick a darkling into swallowing volcian yew, a poison for lemures, under the pretense of being a painkiller.]] [[spoiler:When the darkling is later eaten by the Heliodoran beast, the volcian yew causes it to go blind.]]
40	* InterServiceRivalry: The Watch is full of them.
41	** The independent Free Companies resent the Conclave's nominal central authority.
42	** The Stripes (officer corps) tend to throw their weight around as the largest Covenant, and have tried to outright absorb the Cryptics (spies) several times over the generations.
43	** The three Covenants that make up the "College" (historians, magical R&D, and mechanical R&D) all squabble, but tend to band together against everyone else, especially on budgetary matters.
44	* KillTheGod: The job description of the Watch, who are dedicated to enforcing peace between men and the eldritch monsters of the Gloam.
45	--> [[BadassBoast Gods bleed]]. - Motto of the Skiritai Covenant
46	* MirrorBoss: Perduri Mirror-Dancer's earn their tattoos in ceremonial [[DuelToTheDeath Duels]] against a kind of Lemure called a Grey Mirror, which transforms into a copy of them.
47	* OnePersonOnePower: Contacts work this way. Attempting contract with multiple gods causes insanity and death as the competing gods eventually devour the contractor's soul. A Sign-user who attempts to form a contract is in for a similarly bad time.
48	* OneSteveLimit: Averted. The Captain of the Forty-Fourth Brigade is also named Tristan. Tristan the thief revels in the hope of people getting them mixed up.
49	* PowerAtAPrice: Most Contracts have an associated cost per use, while some ''merely'' stress or alter the host's body or mind, effectively limiting their usage. Drawing too deep on a contract despite this cost can lead to [[DemonicPossession sainthood]].
50	** Played With in Song's contract with Luren: [[spoiler:Desperate, she never specified a cost for her powers, essentially handing him a blank check. Years later, she still has no idea what the price will be, and Luren can come collect at any time.]]
51	* PsychologicalTormentZone: The Lugar Vacio is an area of the Scholomance that shows you your greatest fears. The Watch uses it as extra credit, as strong emotions "harden" one's soul against future influence.
52	** There's also a pocket dimension that shows people their [[LotusEaterMachine greatest possible joy]], but the Watch has it kept strictly off-limits; too many students ended up committing suicide after being returned to reality.
53	* SealedEvilInACan: [[spoiler:The Fisher]] once tormented the early Peredur people. They couldn't kill it, but they successfully "stole half its name" and locked it away. [[spoiler:Angharad]] has sworn to free it.
54	* SoulSuckingRetailJob: Hage, the owner of The Chimerical, makes a point to pay Tristan less than the going rate for his work at the coffee-shop.
55	* SpiesAreDespicable: Members of the Kryptia Covenant (aka: "The Masks") aren't shy about blackmailing or even killing other members of the Watch ([[ApeShallNeverKillApe a huge taboo]]) if they deem it necessary.
56	* StealthyColossus: The [[spoiler:Heliodoran Beast]] is a huge and dangerous lemure that exudes a thick mist that obscures it and causes an aura of [[ItsQuietTooQuiet total silence]].
57	* TheTeetotaler: Tristan doesn't drink because he despises anything that will affect his ability to think. He even refuses coffee, as its technically a drug.
58	* ThievesCant: The poorer residents of Sacromonte can identify themselves through making the "Sign of the Rat".
59	* TricksterMentor: [[spoiler:Song's god, Luren]] appears as a drunken, disorderly monk who tells BlatantLies and gives [[IceCreamKoan nonsense advice]]: all things designed to prickle at her [[ThePerfectionist perfectionist]] personality. In Book 2, [[spoiler:he seems genuinely pleased when she stops trying to hold herself to such unfair standards, and even offers some concrete advice for once]].
60	* UnluckyThirteen: [[spoiler:The protagonists]] end up forming the Thirteenth Brigade, as they were some of the last to pick designations, and nobody wanted the association of bad luck in some cultures. Similarly, [[spoiler:Tupoc]] ended up founding the Fourth Brigade, though he seems to enjoy [[FourIsDeath the connotations]].
61	* WeakenedByTheLight: The light of the Glare (shafts of bright light seemingly coming from holes in the surface) burns darklings and most lemures.
62	* WindsOfDestinyChange: Tristan's contract allows him to become lucky, but it operates on EquivalentExchange to where proportional bad luck soon follows.

Context Literature / PaleLights