Line #44 Literature/ApprenticeAdept


1	[[quoteright:215:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/15496_7067.jpg]]
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3	->''"Know thyself!"''
4
5	The ''Apprentice Adept'' series is a seven-book fantasy and science fiction series by Creator/PiersAnthony. The series takes place on two worlds occupying the same space in two different dimensional planes: Phaze - a MagicalLand in MedievalStasis and [[TheMagocracy more or less ruled by the Adepts]], the strongest magic users, each specializing in a separate aspect of magic, and Proton, a barren mining planet of high technology, ruled by the Plutocratic Citizens (who control the immense wealth of the Protonite mines). The worlds are divided by the Curtain, an energy field only visible to those capable of crossing it (i.e. someone whose counterpart on the other side is dead, or who never had one).
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7	The first trilogy (''Split Infinity'', ''Blue Adept'', and ''Juxtaposition'') starred Stile, a Proton serf who, after a mysterious assassination attempt destroyed his career as a race jockey, becomes the central figure in an ancient prophecy to SaveBothWorlds from destruction, or ensure said destruction. The first three books, a standalone series in their own right, were originally known as the ''Split Infinity'' trilogy, and only lost this title after the four sequel books were added.
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9	The second trilogy (''Out of Phaze'', ''Robot Adept'', and ''Unicorn Point'') featured Bane and Mach, the sons of Stile and Stile's opposite number Blue, and their efforts to keep the previous impending doom from happening all over again.
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11	The seventh and final book, ''Phaze Doubt'' sees both worlds dealing with an alien invasion, and the BatmanGambit meant to deal with it and prevent future ones.
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13	----
14	!!This series contains examples of:
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16	* AccidentalRhyme: Stile discovers that he has magical abilities in Phaze after realizing that he keeps speaking in rhymes, which allows him to cast spells.
17	* TheAce: Rifleman, from ''Juxtaposition''.
18	* AffablyEvil: The Translucent Adept/Citizen Translucent is the ''de facto'' leader and spokesman of the Adverse Adepts/Contrary Citizens, and is much more polite and honorable than many of his peers.
19	* AIIsACrapshoot: In this case, [[spoiler:it's an AntiVillain for the first two-and-a-half books, and indirectly responsible for most of the crap Stile goes through.]]
20	* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: The unicorn Neysa is an outcast because of her small size and horse-normal black-with-white-socks coloration. Most unicorns are technicolor (Neysa's older brother, Clip, for instance, is blue with red socks).
21	* AllYourPowersCombined: Anyone with the Book of Magic gains the ability to use every school of Phaze magic.
22	* AlternateUniverse:
23	** Phaze to Proton, and ''vice versa''. Not quite a MirrorUniverse (because morality isn't usually reversed; most good people's counterparts are also good and most villains' counterparts are also villains), but it otherwise fits the trope: people born on [[ScienceFiction scifi]] Proton have a counterpart in Main/{{fantasy}} Phaze that is as close to identical to them as possible while still being consistent with the genre change. In particular, magical power in Phaze translates as wealth and Game-skill in Proton.
24	** In an unusual variation, it's possible for someone whose AlternateSelf has died to get a new counterpart if someone else on the other side begins to parallel their role, like with Lady Blue and Sheen (married to Stile/Citizen Blue, mother of Bane/Mach) after Lady Blue's original Proton counterpart Bluette died, at least in the post-Curtain books. The paralleling only comes into effect with people living on Proton, even though there are other inhabited planets (by human colonists from Earth like those on Proton, or by aliens) in Proton's universe, but it can happen to offworlders who are there long enough (such as Agape the Moebite becoming the counterpart of Fleta the unicorn via being the respective love interests of Bane and Mach, who were born counterparts).
25	* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Mach makes one towards Fleta at the end of ''Out of Phaze,'' via the [[TheScottishTrope the "Triple Thee"]]. It's [[ThePowerOfLove powerful enough]] to break the ShapeshifterModeLock enchantment she'd put on herself so that she could commit suicide without her survival instincts kicking in, allowing her to take her hummingbird form.
26	* AsYouKnow: In ''Split Infinity'' Sheen reviews details of the Games and Stile's career -- to Stile himself; he naturally quips "Thank you for the information." (The sarcasm goes over her head.)
27	* AttractivenessIsolation: Suchevane - see SoBeautifulItsACurse.
28	* AuthorAppeal: Aside from Anthony's usual coercive and/or underage sexual dilemmas and an almost-entire planet of naked people (on Proton, only Citizens are allowed to wear clothing, and adorning the body with clothes is seen as exotic and interesting the same way nudity is on Phaze or Earth), ''Split Infinity'' '''really''' gushes on about horses, which the author adores and raises.
29	* BadassNormal: Stile, at least in Proton.
30	* BatmanGambit:
31	** [[spoiler:The Oracle]] uses the Red Adept's paranoia against her in order to make sure [[spoiler:Stile enters Phaze]] at the right time.
32	** Stile also uses such a gambit against her during the climax of ''Blue Adept'': [[spoiler: he hypnotizes himself into seeing Red as Lady Blue. His shift in attitude to love and passion freaks out man-hating Red enough to cause her to attack Stile, throwing their dance competition and causing her to wash out of the Tournament.]]
33	** He has another earlier in the book, when he faces an obnoxious Citizen who relies on uncanny luck in a game of backgammon. Said Citizen seems to have knowledge of Phaze, and is fixated on the idea of sex with non-humans (implying he's fixated on them [[BestialityIsDepraved in their animal forms]]). Stile readily hints that he ''has'' indulged in such relations [[note]]He had, in fact, slept with Neysa at that point. But it was in human form.[[/note]], thus [[spoiler:distracting the Citizen and enabling Stile to use the doubling cube [[DeathOrGloryAttack over and over]], allowing him to overcome the Citizen's massive point advantage to win the game in one fell swoop]].
34	** He does it again in ''Juxtaposition'': Newly minted Citizen Stile loses a bet to a more seasoned Citizen, who admits he stacked the odds to get the win[[note]]They made a bet over whether or not more men or women would emerge from a corridor in a certain time frame. The Citizen owned property nearby and sent word to his people to send serfs through to tip the scale[[/note]]. Stile then reveals that he made a secret side bet with another Citizen[[note]]Stile was forced to make the bet in exchange for access to the Citizen's property, which he needed for an important data trace[[/note]]. The side bet was that someone would cheat to win the main bet. That win more than made up for the previous loss and bolstered Stile's growing rep as a mover and a shaker.
35	** The master plan in ''Phaze Doubt'' depends on finding the agent the Hectare would send down to try and disrupt said master plan. Lysander (a Hectare brain in an android body) knows they're onto him fairly early, but plays along, since they're trying to win him over to their side. The resistance knows (thanks to prophecies) that Lysander will play an important role in the master plan, but not how. So they just want to keep him on their side until the moment comes, keeping him tantalizingly close enough to the full plan that he doesn't just turn in his handlers and look elsewhere.
36	* BestHerToBedHer: Brown (though it's only a crush), Merle, Neysa, Tania.
37	* TheBigGuy: Hulk. He's neither green-skinned nor super-strong, but he is heavily muscled and about as strong as a normal human can be.
38	* BizarreAlienBiology: The Moebites are [[BlobMonster gelatinous masses]] who eat through their skin in their normal forms. They also have VoluntaryShapeshifting abilities which they can use to look like humans.
39	* BlessedWithSuck: Al - a half-vampire who's allergic to blood.
40	* CareerEndingInjury: Stile is employed as a skilled jockey, but during the first novel his knees are shot with a laser. He's no longer able to fully bend them without pain, meaning he can no longer ride competitively. This puts him in a tight spot, as losing employment may see him deported while going under anesthesia fix the damage will leave him vulnerable to assassination. We find out during the second trilogy that [[spoiler: Citizen Blue, who inhabits Stile's original body, still has the damaged knees. He considers the bad knees a minor inconvenience and not worth the (admittedly now reduced) risk of surgery.]]
41	* CharmPerson: Stile does this to ''himself'' in the climax of ''Blue Adept'', putting himself into a trance that made him think he was with Lady Blue, [[ItMakesSenseInContext instead of Red.]]
42	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Rifleman after ''Juxtaposition''.
43	* LesCollaborateurs: In ''Phaze Doubt'', many Phaze/Proton citizens support the new Hectare regime to save their skins or profit, most notably Tan and Purple.
44	* ColorCodedWizardry: The wizards, called Adepts, each pick a color, which matches their personality & type of magic.
45	* CommonalityConnection: One of the things bringing Stile and Neysa together is that they're both smaller than average.
46	* CoolHorse: The book strongly features unicorns, which are portrayed very favorably.
47	* {{Cyborg}}: Proton has robots, cyborgs and androids. Cyborgs are defined as a human brain in a robot body, and androids are defined as a robot brain in a lab-grown human body. Fully inorganic robots that look human, like Mach and Sheen, are still called robots and not androids.
48	* DefeatMeansFriendship:
49	** Stile with Neysa, Hulk, Rifleman (who also becomes Stile's mentor in the ways of Citizenship) & Clef.
50	** [[spoiler:After the Hectare's invasion of Phaze/Proton is foiled at the end of ''Phaze Doubt'' by the heroes shifting the planet into the magical universe and cutting them off from their main forces, the Hectare who are left stranded on Phaze/Proton quickly give up the fight and join the new society. It was indicated they were somewhat PunchClockVillains anyway, just vanguards doing the bidding of more formidable alien races in a larger coalition]].
51	* DeliberateUnderPerformance: Stile is careful to avoid performing too well in the Game, in order to avoid reaching the top five places on the ladder which would automatically enter him into the citizenship tournament. This is implied to be standard practice for top Gamesmen, who prefer not to enter while they have tenure left, as (with rare exceptions) a loss before the money rounds means instant loss of tenure and deportation.
52	* DepravedBisexual: Tania in the second trilogy (at first), & a good chunk of Proton's Citizens.
53	* DiabolusExMachina: Stile loses a random game (a single pull on a slot machine) in the Tournament to a child with nothing to lose (his parents' tenure was up, so he entered the Tournament on a lark). It meant one more loss and Stile would lose the Tournament and have to leave Proton for good.
54	* DishingOutDirt: Purple, the geomancer Adept.
55	* DoesNotLikeMen: The first trilogy's Red Adept.
56	* DragonRider: One chapter in one of the books features the [=POV=] character ending up in a game of dragon combat as part of the Great Game. Narration makes it clear that the dragon (a cyborg dragon with some animal's [[BrainInAJar brain installed]], since this was on Proton rather than Phaze, where there are real dragons) is not amused to be carrying a passenger.
57	* DungeonMaster: The rules, conditions and physical environments of each stage of the Great Game in Proton are laid out by the planet-spanning Game Computer, which is probably the most advanced AI in the setting next to the Oracle.
58	* EnemyMine: An aversion happens when Stile and Red get together and compare notes. [[spoiler: They realize that someone's been playing games with them, but by that time Red's [[KickTheDog kicked too many dogs]] for them to work together. Instead, they agree that whoever's left standing will find out who was yanking their chains.]]
59	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Purple ensuring Brown was treated fairly in ''Phaze Doubt'', as she treated him and Tan fairly as their jailer.
60	* EvilSorceror: The majority of Adepts in Phaze are this and are [[TheDreaded Dreaded]] because of it, in parallel to their Citizen counterparts on Proton being callous, self-serving plutocrats. Before the events of the series, Stile's countepart Blue was pretty much [[TokenGoodTeammate the only good Adept]], and still suffered isolation due to the fearsome reputation of the Adepts in general. During the series, young Brown and the new Red (Trool) join Stile in averting this trope, with Yellow being more of a TrueNeutral who's initially counted as one of the Adverse Adepts (albeit a FriendlyEnemy) but ultimately sides with Stile's faction when it seems the more favorable course. [[invoked]]
61	* FantasticRacism: Among Phaze unicorns -- any of them who have what could be normal horse coloration are looked down upon by other unicorns (who come in all shades of the rainbow).
62	* FatBastard: The Purple Adept and Citizen Purple are quite venal.
63	* FictionalSport: Proton's options in the Game include some ''very'' bizarre possibilities, although it's mostly RealLife games or variants of them that Stile winds up playing. The Dust Slide from ''Split Infinity'' is an exception: essentially a waterslide race with multiple channels, using near-frictionless particles in lieu of water.
64	** The fifth book names some ''magical'' games, one of which (Transformation Chase) is played out during Mach and Bane's contest. The Game Computer takes the inspiration to create Proton equivalents when it learns of them.
65	* FingerInTheMail: The villains kidnap Clip, one of the protagonist's unicorn allies, and send him Clip's horn as proof. [[spoiler:Clip is rescued, and the protagonist uses his magic to reattach the horn.]]
66	* FloweryElizabethanEnglish: Standard dialect of Phaze.
67	* {{Foreshadowing}}: In ''Juxtaposition'', Stile's final round in the tournament involved a poetry contest, which mandated the use of several randomly chosen words. Each of the words turned out to reference events of the battles to come. Later, when he learns the true nature of the Game Computer (i.e. that it's self-willed), Stile suspects the words were anything but random.
68	* FreakyFridayFlip: Mach and Bane's accidental swap which sets off the events of the second trilogy. They continue to do this on purpose throughout the trilogy, since it's the only way they can spend time with Fleta and Agape and their eventual children (ex. with Flach being the son of Fleta and Mach-in-Bane's body, Bane is technically Flach's biological father but Mach is considered his real father). Until the MergedReality.
69	* FullFrontalAssault: Every fight scene involving Proton serfs, unless they've been dressed up in costumes on a Citizen's orders or are wearing protective gear.
70	* FusionDance: Happens at the end of ''Unicorn Point'', in a BIG way.
71	* GenderBender: Alternate selves are usually the same gender, but not always, ex. Flach (male human/unicorn crossbreed) and Nepe (female Moebite alien), Sirelmoba (female werewolf) and Troubot (male robot), or Weva (female werewolf/vampire crossbreed) and Beman (male human/robot/Hectare alien crossbreed). Which makes things more interesting once they're SharingABody thanks to the MergedReality and their shared body changes form based on which one is driving at the moment.
72	* GeometricMagic: White, the Adept of runes and sigils.
73	* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The Book of Magic, which is Phaze's counterpart to Proton's supercomputer the Oracle. They spend most of the first trilogy in each other's worlds, having been swapped long ago to limit their power.
74	* GreenRocks: Phazite, used to power the various spells.
75	** Which, when taken to Proton, becomes the energy-bearing Protonite.
76	* HalfHumanHybrid:
77	** Thought to be impossible. [[IdiotBall But no one thought to check the Book of Magic for cross-species fertility spells.]] Once they do, along come Flach (human father/unicorn mother) and Al (vampire mother/troll father). By the last book, we have [[HeinzHybrid Heinz Hybrids]] like Weva (werewolf/vampire, thus human/bat/wolf) and her alternate self Beman (human/robot/Hectare alien).
78	** The fact that these are usually impossible without magical intervention means that humans, vampires, werewolves and unicorns (all capable of assuming human form) often indulge in a deal of sexual experimentation with each other in their youth, since unwanted pregnancy won't be an issue, which is seen as a harmless and expected "sowing of oats" phase. Actual ''marriage'' between species, on the other hand, was fairly taboo until Mach and Fleta paved the way.
79	* HappinessInSlavery: Many Proton Serfs will do anything they can to stay on Proton rather than be sent offworld.[[note]]Justified in that as long as they're employed, in their free time they have access to free food and housing, plus the Great Game for entertainment. Plus sex between serfs is basically there for the asking.[[/note]]
80	* HerHeartWillGoOn: Subverted. A prophecy foretells that [[spoiler:Lady Blue will give birth to Stile's child, so he puts off romancing her until after the big battle to ensure his safety, since logically he can't die before they conceive without invalidating the prophecy]].
81	** Then double subverted when [[spoiler:Stile learns Lady Blue has conceived before the ''true'' final battle, removing that particular piece of YouCantFightFate.]]
82	* TheHermit: The Orange Adept, of the hostile variety.
83	* HeroAntagonist: The Translucent Adept in the second trilogy. Mach even more so, due to HonorBeforeReason.
84	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Stile's other self, Blue]], though we don't know it until much later.
85	* HighHeelFaceTurn: Phaze Tania. Although she doesn't end up with Bane, her love for him makes her change her character completely, [[ShowDontTell over several years, condensed into a couple of paragraphs]]. For example, she used to enjoy [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals torturing frogs]], and now she doesn't. The same thing happens with Proton Tania from working with Mach, though she gets less focus.
86	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Tan and Purple's [[TheStarscream Starscream-like]] power grab (after their side had basically ''won'') gave the good guys the opening to play their trump card.
87	* HonorBeforeReason: A common problem in Piers Anthony works. Comes up so regularly, the bad guys start to [[BatmanGambit count on it]].
88	** Becomes the major third act conflict of ''Phaze Doubt'', where Lysander won't turn over the algorithm he's created that will allow the resistance's master plan to succeed. He knows the resistance will enact the plan anyway and without his algorithm, the planet will be destroyed and everyone (native and Hectare alike) will die. But he considers that outcome a faithful execution of his mission (infiltrate and thwart native resistance efforts). However, by this time he's become sympathetic enough to the natives that he suffers from ConflictingLoyalty and agrees to accept a challenge and turn the algorithm over if he loses (which he does).
89	* HumansAreSpecial: Most species on Phaze have some level of innate magic. However, only humans have the sheer power needed to become an Adept. A nonhuman with the Book of Magic becomes functionally somewhat stronger than a human Adept, with an Adept's mastery over a branch of magic (hence Trool, a troll, becoming the new Red Adept and master of talismans after being appointed caretaker of the Book); a ''human'' with the Book [[StoryBreakerPower has unlimited power]]. {{Subverted}} somewhat when Sheen in the first trilogy and Mach in the second trilogy get access to the Book; it turns out robots are even better at making use of it to its full potential because of their ability to memorize large amounts of information at once.
90	* HybridPower: Flach's dual heritage - human magic potential and a unicorn's innate shapeshifting magic - give him VoluntaryShapeshifting abilities above and beyond any other unicorns. We see him having mastered a bat and a wolf form to blend in among vampires and werewolves (along with his natural human and unicorn forms) before he was five years old.
91	* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Serfs on Proton are not allowed the privilege of wearing clothing. (There is an exception for safety gear.) This has made them indifferent to nudity and enhanced the appeal of [[ForbiddenFruit sexy clothing]].
92	* HypnoticEyes: The Tan Adept possesses the magic of the Evil Eye, which grants him the power of MindControl. His two children, a son who becomes [[IdenticalGrandson the next Tan Adept]], and daughter, Tania, also have this power.
93	* InevitableTournament: Nearly every major conflict between characters is settled, once and for all, via Proton's Great Game (or by playing a variant of it, in Phaze).
94	* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: The version of Tania in Proton doesn't have her Phaze counterpart's HypnoticEyes, so when she desperately needs to convince a man to do something at a plot-critical moment, she tries the closest thing she can think of: flashing her breasts. It works.
95	* ItOnlyWorksOnce
96	** Any specific Adept spell can only be used once per person, then slight variations have to be used.
97	** The Oracle will only answer one question per person.
98	* LawfulStupid: Piers Anthony's definition of "good." This is subverted whenever the good guys take advantage of ExactWords.
99	* LetsGetDangerous: The virtuoso musician Clef is also a master fencer. When he borrows the Platinum Flute to enter Phaze, he seems helpless... until it transforms into a platinum rapier.
100	%%* LiteralGenie
101	* LivingLieDetector: Unicorns can test the truth of a person's words by spearing them with their horns. If the person spoke truly, they are left unharmed.
102	* LoveConfessor: Adept Trool doesn't believe a woman as beautiful as Suchevane would enter a romantic relationship with someone as ugly as he is except out of fear or pity, and refuses to take advantage of her. Suchevane, on the other hand, is so used to being seen as a concubine that she takes Trool's failure to make a move as a lack of interest in someone so far out of his class, power and status-wise. They confess their feelings, separately, to Agape [[note]]at the time {{Freaky Friday Flip}}ped with her Phaze counterpart, Fleta[[/note]]. She, in turn, gets Suchevane to approach Trool in such a way that negates both their objections. Later, they name their son Alien (shortened to Al) in Agape's honor.
103	* LoveRedeems: Tania's HeelFaceTurn begins when she falls in love with Bane while assigned to work with him to locate Flach/Nepe by the Adverse Adepts, finding herself acting in a good person way like he would want instead of a bad person way, even though she knows he'd never reciprocate her feelings.
104	* MagicalAccessory: The talismans of the Red Adept - anything from a simple charmed trinket to an ArtifactOfDoom.
105	* MagicalIncantation: Stile's magic.
106	* MagicAIsMagicA: Phazian magic has some very specific rules. For example, each magic user can only use any given specific spell once in their life (or in the case of the Evil Eye, only once in the user's life on any given person), though they can get around this by using minor variations.
107	** MutuallyExclusiveMagic: But those rules are pretty much the only thing the various Adepts have in common.
108	** {{Subverted}} by [[spoiler: Mach]], the Robot Adept, whose ability with the Book of Magic is [[StoryBreakerPower bound by virtually no rules]], and in fact explicitly breaks several pre-existing rules (such as the impossibility of crossbreeding). To be fair, the Book of Magic is described as the nuclear age of magic whereas the normal Adept magic is like cavemen using tools.
109	** The biggest rule is the one-use rule. The Blue Adept needs a different rhyme for each new spell. The Tan Adept can only use the Evil Eye once on a given person (ex. if Tan has already used it to compel someone to tell the truth, he cannot later use it on that same person as a love spell or to make them commit PsychicAssistedSuicide - but could still call in his sister to do that). The Yellow Adept has a different appearance each time she takes a youth potion, etc. Even the Book of Magic adheres to this, but its wielder can use spells that are just a little bit different to reproduce the same effects with a little imagination, and another wielder can still use a spell that someone else has.
110	** To sum up: the Blue Adept uses rhymes, the Green Adept uses hand gestures, the Yellow Adept uses potions, the Red Adept uses talismans, the Orange Adept has a GreenThumb, the Purple Adept has power over earthquakes and DishingOutDirt, the Translucent Adept has the power of MakingASplash, the Brown Adept animates golems, the Tan Adept has the Evil Eye, the Black Adept uses lines ([[BodyHorror which come out of his body]]), and the White Adept draws glyphs.
111	* TheMagicGoesAway: In the backstory, this happened on Earth a long time ago. With the rise of humanity, the various magical creatures like unicorns, harpies and so on fled the planet in a magical ship called the Coracle, settling Phaze. After human colonists in the far future finally settled there as well and called it Proton, the magical Curtain was erected, dividing one world into two.
112	* MagicMusic: Stile's magic must be invoked via rhyme and is strengthened by the use of music.
113	** Clef's ability with the Platinum Flute allows him to do something that none of the other Adepts can: manipulate the Curtain that separates Proton and Phase.
114	* MagicVersusScience: Magic doesn't work in Proton. Technology more advanced than a horse-and-carriage doesn't work if ported over to Phaze. Stile was able to get around this in the first trilogy by having the Brown Adept animate Sheen the robot as a golem, reviving her after she'd gone inert when she crossed the Curtain to Phaze.
115	* MakeGamesNotWar: The Great Game, where disputes between the Citizens are settled by wagering on games that are played by serfs. As serfs are considered quite valuable, and care is taken not to endanger them unduly, this is one of the few non-BloodSport examples of this trope.
116	* MakingASplash: Translucent, the Adept of water.
117	* MalignedMixedMarriage: Both Mach and Fleta (robot from Proton and unicorn from Phaze) and their counterparts Bane and Agape (human from Phaze and Moebite from Proton) suffer from this at first.
118	* TheManBehindTheCurtain: Brown in her first appearance, where she hides behind [[ElCidPloy a golem made to look like her predecessor]], an older man who has recently passed away. Being only a young girl bereft of her mentor, and with most of the other Adepts being ruthless and power-hungry [[EvilSorcerer Evil Sorcerers]], she is naturally wary of visitors.
119	* MatingDance: Invoked by Stile in the second book. During the Grand Tourney, he finds himself pitted against his nemesis, the Red Adept, in a dancing contest based on a tale of old Arabia. [[spoiler:Stile knows [[DoesNotLikeMen Red hates men and hates the idea of having sex with a man]], so he turns the dance into very explicit foreplay. The notion of having sex ''on stage'' drives her berserk, and she tries to kill him instead, disqualifying herself and giving him the win.]]
120	* MeaningfulRename:
121	** Several characters choose their names from events and objects of personal importance (Stile, Rifleman, Clef).
122	** Werewolf naming has four stages: first syllable given at birth, second when pups are made official pack members (around age 6), third after a first successful solo hunt, and fourth after First Mating (traditionally taking their partner's first syllable as their last). A werewolf isn't considered a full adult until they gain the fourth syllable.
123	* MeaningfulName:
124	** Hulk, which was a ShoutOut.
125	** [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Mach and his mother Sheen]] (both from "machine").
126	** Suchevane the vampiress's counterpart is a human woman named Batgirl.
127	** Agape named herself after the Ancient Greek word for the concept of love after coming to Proton from Moeba and taking on a human form, since she was there to investigate that particular emotion.
128	* MergedReality:
129	** The two worlds are eventually merged into one where both science and magic work at the end of the second-last book, and remain that way from that point on. As the characters are explicitly paired across both worlds (mirror-universe twin kinda thing), each pair merges into one being, and each pair has to [[SharingABody time-share their body]], which takes the form of whichever of them is in control at the moment. Substantially easier for the heroes than for the villains, since heroes are used to putting the needs of others on par with or ahead of their own, while the villains are initially paralyzed fighting for dominance (though they've gotten over this by the time of the last book). It's also a lot harder on people whose alternate is a different species or sex.
130	** Proton was round and Phaze was [[FlatWorld flat]]. When they fuse, the result is an hourglass shape. The pollution that rendered Proton uninhabitable outside the city-domes has been pushed to the other side of the world, and it's now agreed that inside the domes is Proton and outside the domes is Phaze, with merged pairs assuming the form appropriate to where they currently are.
131	** Gets even more complex at the end of the last book when the merged planet is moved from the scientific universe where it ended up originally to the magical one in order to prevent more invasions like the Hectare (since the characters note that if there are other inhabited planets in the magical universe, they haven't bothered Phaze/Proton up to this point), gets tilted differently, and all the alternate selves now manifest ''each other'''s bodies when they're in control instead of their own. And also swap physical natures, if they were different. For example, one pair that were originally a cyborg (which in this series means a human brain in a robot body) woman and a flesh-and-blood harpy, are now a flesh-and-blood woman and a cyborg harpy.
132	* MindControl: See HypnoticEyes, above.
133	* MorphWeapon: The Platinum Flute.
134	* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: During the first trilogy, only people whose counterpart is dead (or who never had one, such as offworlders) can cross the Curtain from one world to the other. Stile is able to cross it because his counterpart, the Blue Adept, has recently been assassinated ([[spoiler:Blue's spirit is still hanging around, though, and is resurrected in an artificial body on Proton at the end of the trilogy, while Stile remains on Phaze]]). In the second trilogy, with the Curtain gone, the only way to get to the other world is by FreakyFridayFlip, with the events of the trilogy being kicked off by Mach and Bane doing this accidentally. This ceases to be an issue when the MergedReality comes about, since everyone now shares a body with their alternate self.
135	* NewBodyOldAbilities: We see variants with Mach and Bane: Mach retains his robot brain's logic and processing power while in Bane's body, allowing him to work out and process spells and spell combinations far faster and effectively than Bane could. Bane, on the other hand, has his more abstract human mind in Mach's body, allowing him to use Mach's machine nature in more creative ways than Mach (like using Mach's modular components to hack systems and create sensor decoys).
136	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Shades of this trope apply to the unicorns, which seem to pull out a new magical knack every time their mission is in jeopardy in the first three books. Need a disguise for a companion on short notice? Eh, they can share their "socks" with people. None of the Stallion's three forms are suited to the job? Hey, why not whip up an (unprecedented) fourth?
137	* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Averted. Shapeshifting creatures who can assume human form can have sex with humans and with each other easily, but it takes strong magic to make [[HalfHumanHybrid Half Human Hybrids]] possible.[[labelnote:The Reason...]]When the female enters her fertile phase, the couple must spend a day mating in each of their different form, one day per form, to make a pregnancy possible. For example: Mach and Fleta took three days (one day each in unicorn, hummingbird and human forms), with Trool the Troll providing Mach with transformation amulets for each form.[[/labelnote]]
138	* NoNameGiven, OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The real/birth names of most of the human cast are never revealed. Many serfs on Proton go by nicknames that are either self-given or given to them by their Citizen employers, and may change them if they manage to become Citizens. Also, serfs are required by Proton law to call Citizens "Sir", unless given ''explicit'' permission for other forms of address. Similarly, the Adepts in Phaze adopt their titles as their names: the Yellow Adept is called "Yellow", the Red Adept is called "Red", the Green Adept and his wife are "Green" and "Lady Green", and so on. Even Stile's counterpart is only ever referred to as "Blue", both as the Blue Adept and [[spoiler:when he ultimately switches lives with Stile as Citizen Blue]], and his widow who marries Stile is only ever referred to as "Lady Blue"; even when she tells Stile the story of how she met Blue as an ordinary village girl, she does not mention her original name.
139	* NonHumanHead: One of the tribes of Phaze are the Animal Heads, who live near Orange's territory.
140	* NoSell: One Adept can resist the magic of another, even if caught off-guard. But they can allow the spell to take hold[[note]]It adds a layer of mystery to Adept Blue's death, when Stile realizes Blue should've been able to fight off Red's booby trap.[[/note]], and they can only fight off one Adept at a time.[[note]]In ''Juxtaposition'', Stile gets ambushed by Adept Tan, and while he's resisting Tan's Evil Eye, Green turns him into a frog. Thanks to Sheen and the Book of Magic, he gets better.[[/note]]
141	* TheOlympics: The unicorns of Phaze have a series of competitive games called the Unilympics, with unicorn-relevant events like musical duets (every unicorn's horn produces the sound of a specific instrument), which Stile participates in at one point. It's mentioned that there are also Werelympics and Vamplympics.
142	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Stile and Blue tend to slip into their native dialects (i.e. modern English and YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe, respectively) when speaking seriously or stressed, while now living in each other's worlds.
143	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The vampires of Phaze are not undead at all; they are fully living were-creatures who change between human and bat forms at will (with no in-between), and have to drink blood every so often to keep their shifting powers active. They reproduce biologically and do not infect people they bite.
144	* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Phazian werewolves can change at will between human and wolf forms, and like vampires they have no in-between form and reproduce solely by having offspring with each other, not by infecting anyone.
145	* PlayingWithFire: Green, the Adept of fire.[[note]]This is from the second trilogy onward. In the original trilogy, he used gestures and hand signs to make magic.[[/note]]
146	* {{Portmanteau}}:
147	** Flach and Nepe's names are derived from the names of their parents (Flach from M'''ach''' and '''Fl'''eta, Nepe from Ba'''ne''' and Aga'''pe''').
148	** Weva's name is derived from '''We'''rewolf and '''Va'''mpire, while her counterpart Beman's name is derived from BEM (a popular nickname for the Hectare arrived at by abbreviating "Bug-Eyed Monster") and '''An'''droid.
149	* PrecociousCrush: Brown, towards Stile.
150	* ThePromise: Several, made via oaths or the Splash of Truth.
151	* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight / PropheticFallacy: In ''Juxtaposition'', Stile was told he would be betrayed by "a young-seeming woman" and concludes it already happened, when Merle turned him in to the Citizen coalition. It turns out, however, that the true traitor was [[spoiler:Brown]]...except in a DoubleSubversion, not only did she not ''know'' she was a traitor ([[spoiler:she accidentally cast the spell wrong to switch the cardinal directions, thereby reversing ''everything''--though considering her crush, this may not have been accidental after all]]), but the betrayal actually ended up helping Stile in the end--[[spoiler:since it allowed Stile to stay in Phaze by reversing where his spirit lay, putting it in the golem's body and Blue's in Stile's]]. This last was ''another'' PropheticFallacy--everyone assumed [[spoiler:"Blue must leave Phaze forever" meant Stile since he had taken up the mantle of the Adept after his death. But once Blue's spirit was taken out of its SoulJar and put in a golem body, he was the one who had to leave Phaze, and did]].
152	* ThePowerOfLove: The most powerful oath possible in Phaze is a profession of love, capable of breaking enchantments and binding people together forever.
153	* PsychicLink: Mach and Bane, Flach and Nepe (Stile and Blue presumably can do the same but choose not to find out).
154	* RapeAsDrama:
155	** In ''Split Infinity'', the hero, Stile, forces a robot to show him a printout of her program, and they both agree afterwards that it was a form of rape. Annoyingly, though, it's not because of the tone of violation or because the robot didn't want to - it's because Stile got the printout by inserting a cord into an access port (so in other words, because it vaguely resembled sexual intercourse).
156	** One of the sections of ''Unicorn Point's'' TournamentArc pitted Tan against Agape in a "Seduction by Proxy" match,[[note]]Two volunteer serfs were selected and placed in a social situation where they took turns trying to initiate sex, with the players nudging them along as a voice in their head. Their memories of the game would be wiped afterward.[[/note]] where rape was allowed to "ensure a finish." Tan's proxy ended up raping Agape's proxy. Though the rape was treated with less drama than the fact that the good guys lost.
157	* RejectingTheConsolationPrize: Clef implies he's going to pass on the special prize of a year's tenure after losing his Tourney match to Stile, saying that with the lessons he learned from Stile, his music could let him live like a Citizen.
158	* RenaissanceMan: Stile is this for the Game, having attained proficiency in so many varied branches of competition that he can usually manipulate the Game Grid to find an option which favors him. This is stated to be true for all of the highest level Gamesmen.
159	* LaResistance: When the Hectare invade in Phaze Doubt, the protagonist Lysander is a Hectare agent tasked with joining the resistance to figure out their plans and foil them. Subverted in that he falls in love with another resistance member and faces a conflict of honor.
160	* RetCon: The third-generation protagonists got their nature and power level changed radically between when they were background and major characters.
161	* RhymingWizardry: All of Stiles's spells have to be in rhyming verse. Slightly complicated by the fact that each incantation [[ItOnlyWorksOnce only works once]], ever. It's also suggested that the better the verse, the more effective the spell, but he rarely has time to come up with more than doggerel couplets.
162	* RichBoredom: It's revealed in ''Juxtaposition'' that much of the Citizen class uses gambling as a major source of entertainment. From a spontaneous game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to betting on whether more men or women emerge from a corridor, nothing is too petty to drop massive amounts of money on (though safeguards are in place so no Citizen can go broke on a bet).
163	** Stile himself was a major source of entertainment, as new Citizens generally took a year or two to learn the ropes before mingling with the established Citizens. Stile jumping in to the deep end and making waves from the start was enough of a novelty that Citizens far above his rank, wealth and status-wise, were willing to play along, just to see what happened next.
164	* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Intentionally so.
165	* RhymesOnADime: How Stile's magic works.
166	* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Hulk]]. This, and the death of the equally innocent Bluette, led Stile into a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
167	* SadisticChoice: In ''Blue Adept'', before Stile intervenes on her behalf, Neysa is left with the choice of answering the Herd Stallion's summons for breeding season (leaving her oath friend Stile without her help on his quest) or defying the summons and sticking with Stile (and risking going from "outcast" to "exile" and giving up any chance of a foal of her own).
168	* ScienceFantasy: Aliens, robots and space travel are real, and so are unicorns, fairies and dragons. Most of the time they're real in different dimensions, but the dimensions become one near the end of the series and started off as one in the first place hundreds of years ago.
169	* TheScottishTrope: Saying "thee" to another person three times in a row (the Triple Thee) is a binding and powerful love-oath in Phaze.
170	* SelfFulfillingProphecy: [[spoiler:The Red Adept only tried to kill Stile because the Oracle said that Stile would destroy her, but Stile only fought her because she struck first]].
171	** In a more series-wide sense, the Oracle does its best to make sure all its prophecies come true, aided by the fact that [[spoiler:it is a magical computer which can therefore work across both frames, and that it has contacts with the self-willed machines, including the [[DungeonMaster Game Computer]].]]
172	* SeriousBusiness: In a world where losing a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors can mean getting booted off the planet, ''everything'' that could possibly be included in the Great Game is treated as Serious Business. Also, oaths on Phaze (which are magically enforced as an inherent property of the world itself).
173	* SexAsRiteOfPassage: A werewolf gains adult status only after a ritual First Mating. They usually don't end up with their First Mating partner long-term, however.
174	* SexByProxy: Agape and Citizen Tan's "Seduction by Proxy" Great Game match.
175	* SexEqualsLove: Fleta falls fully in love with Mach after he makes love to her "[his] way" (lovemaking rather than just a quick rut).
176	* SmugSnake: The Purple Adept is the singularly most obnoxious and appalling Adverse Adept, but not as competent as he thinks he is. The same goes for his Proton counterpart, Citizen Purple, and the Tan Adept/Citizen Tan, who often works with Purple.
177	* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Suchevane the vampire. She's so beautiful that the only ones with the nerve to approach her were ones who wanted her just as a sex object. Adept Trool had too much honor to exert his power on her while she was employed as his housekeeper (cavekeeper?), despite his genuine feelings towards her, figuring that was the only way a literal troll like him could be with one such as she.
178	* SoulJar: [[spoiler: Stile's harmonica, which contains the soul of the original Blue Adept.]]
179	* SpoilerCover: The cover of the original run of ''Blue Adept'' depicts Stile confronting the maker of amulets, who's dressed in that Adept's signature color. This not only gives away the fact that [[spoiler: Red is the hidden enemy]], but it renders the scene where that character appears at the Unilympics disguised as [[spoiler:a male]] fairly pointless.
180	* StoryBreakerPower: Mach has no limits on his powers as the Robot Adept. He's kept in check solely by HonorBeforeReason; while he personally supports Team Stile, he's agreed to play by the rules that the Adverse Adepts set instead of simply blasting them off the map by ''force majeure''.
181	* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: In ''Blue Adept'', Stile intentionally uses these to harass White, as the non-rhyme caused his spells to immediately fizzle out. Though that effect is immediately spoiled by White revealing that Adept powers negate each other, one-on-one, so his full-power spells would have done little more damage.
182	* TakeAThirdOption: In Stile's duel with the Herd Stallion in ''Blue Adept'', Stile uses the Platinum Flute's power to ensure a fair fight between them, rather than using the power of the Flute to curb stomp the Stallion (humiliating him and making things even worse for Neyssa) or fight him without magic (resulting in ''Stile's'' stomping/humiliation).
183	* TakeOurWordForIt: In ''Robot Adept'', Agape the Moebite alien (in Fleta the unicorn's body) plays matchmaker with Suchevane the vampiress and Trool the troll (the new Red Adept), hence their naming their son Al for "Alien". In ''Unicorn Point'', it's assumed that something similar must have happened with Citizen Red and Suchevane's Proton opposite Batgirl, hence their naming their son Corn for "Unicorn", but Fleta doesn't recall anything like that.
184	* TechnicianPerformerTeamUp: In one key round of the Tourney (a game in which serfs on the planet Proton can try to win Citizenship), the hero Stile (the Performer) is matched up against another competitor, Clef (the Technician) in a duel of musical performance; Clef wins for technical proficiency but Stile wins for audience engagement. Unusually, they are then assigned by the planetary Computer (the referee) to perform a duet together before a panel of judges. While the panel is being assembled, Stile explains to Clef what Clef's technical brilliance lacked; Clef then promptly picks up Stile's knack of audience engagement during the duet and outplays him. [[spoiler:However, to his own surprise, Stile wins the Tourney round anyway, despite Clef getting the votes of both the audience and the Computer as the better player -- because the judges evaluated the performance on ''cooperative'' expertise rather than individual ability, and since Clef improved more than Stile did, the judges consider Stile to have contributed more to the overall performance.]]
185	* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Stile (Performer) versus various other Technicians, most notably the musician Clef.
186	* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Established Adepts (read: any adept who isn't Stile or one of his allies) tend to protect their positions by wiping out anyone who shows any real power within their specialty.
187	** The Tourney itself, although non-Citizens who lose are deported from Proton rather than killed.
188	* TookALevelInBadass: Clip (from exiled male in ''Juxtaposition'' to Herd Stallion in ''Out of Phaze'')
189	* TournamentArc: Most of ''Blue Adept'' and part of ''Juxtaposition'' involves Stile's journey through the Great Game.
190	* TransformingConforming: Transformation spells work this way. Stile shows a character the spell to turn into a bee and then has to recite the reversal spell in "bee buzz" to turn back into a human.
191	* TrialByOrdeal: Unicorns have the power to detect when a person has spoken falsely -- by putting their horn through the person's chest. If they were honest, they are unharmed.
192	* TrilogyCreep: There are seven books.
193	* TrueCompanions: The concept of "Oath Friends".
194	* TruthSerum: When someone swears something's true in Phaze, and they ''really mean'' it, a wave of rainbow light radiates from them.
195	* TykeBomb: Flach and Nepe
196	* {{Unicorn}}: A significant sapient species on Phaze. They are led by the Herd Stallion, are shapeshifters who can each learn to assume two other forms in addition to their natural one, are usually technicolor with "socks" of a different color from the rest of their coat (ex. green with orange socks), and the horn of each can produce sounds in the voice of a different musical instrument, allowing the herd to become a symphony on special occasions.
197	* {{Unobtainium}}: Phazite/Protonite, the all-important power source of both worlds.
198	* UnknownRival: [[spoiler:The Red Adept, who tries repeatedly to kill Stile without showing herself or revealing her identity and motives]].
199	* UpgradeArtifact: The [[GreatBigBookOfEverything Book of Magic]] and [[MagicMusic the Platinum Flute]]. The Book lets anyone who possesses it cast magic spells at an Adept's power level (it let a troll with no inherent magic become the new Red Adept). The Flute enhances the innate magic of anyone who holds it (allowing Stile to use his magic within the AntiMagic influence of a unicorn circle). Anyone who can actually play the damn thing gains Adept-level magic. A master musician? Becomes stronger than all the other Adepts put together.
200	* TheVamp: Merle, Yellow (while she's using one of her youth potions).
201	* VillainBall: The Contrary Citizens/Adverse Adepts threatened Flach and Nepe with harm to their mothers should they go rogue again, something that explicitly violated their agreement with their fathers, Mach and Bane... an agreement which kept the most powerful actor in each world on their side.
202	* VillainProtagonist: Lysander in ''Phaze Doubt'', though in actual deeds, he comes across as a MinionWithAnFInEvil.
203	* VoluntaryShapeshifting: A unicorn can take up to three forms - their natural unicorn form and two others of their choosing (usually human for the second form and usually a bird or some sort of predator for the third)[[note]]Belle, however, eschewed a human form and chose heron and mountain lion[[/note]]. Similarly, werewolves can voluntarily change between human and wolf forms at will, while vampires have human and bat forms.
204	** The original Herd Stallion takes this a step further, and succeeds in mastering a fourth form after Stile persuades him that it would be uniquely helpful in getting them out of their current situation: [[spoiler:the cockroach.]]
205	** Moebites from the planet Moeba in Proton's universe can do this as well, and without a set number of forms, as they are giant amoebas capable of reshaping their protoplasm to look human or like virtually anything else. Though, unlike magical shapeshifters, they are limited to forms with the same amount of mass, and it takes them a moment or two to remold from one shape to another whereas Phaze denizens do it instantaneously. When Fleta the unicorn and Agape the Moebite have a FreakyFridayFlip, they have an interesting time figuring out each other's modes of shapeshifting.
206	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Yellow mentions a ''Gray'' Adept in passing early on, but this individual is never referenced again.
207	* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Tan's Evil Eye grants absolute mind control; nifty, but other Adepts with more versatile powers can create spells to duplicate the effect[[note]]although they need a new spell each time; see ItOnlyWorksOnce[[/note]] in addition to the many, many other things they're capable of doing.
208	* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The unicorns, werewolves and other shifters on Phaze; the self-aware machines, androids and cyborgs on Proton.
209	* WhyAmITicking: In ''Blue Adept'', Stile is forewarned that the villain will try to force a magic bomb that will destroy him if he returns to Phaze with it. [[spoiler:The bomb turns out to be a bullet, which the villain shoots into the hero]], who realizes Just In Time what it really is.
210	** Subverted in ''Split Infinity'', when Sheen and Stile suddenly realize she might unwittingly have a bomb implanted inside her. Stile's employer has her dismantled and searched, but fortunately the Citizen grants his best jockey's request and has his security crew re-assemble her when they find no bomb.
211	* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Flach and Nepe.
212	* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: The dialect of Phaze. In the MergedReality, this is one way to tell which self is in control at the time, since Proton people speak modern English.
213	* YouCantFightFate: Stile uses ''other people's'' Oracle prophecies to ensure his own survival.
214	** This is made worse by the fact each person ''only gets one''.
215	** Serrilyan, who was prophesied to die after seeing the Sidhe [[RuleOfThree three times]]. Clef then proceeds to pipe her soul to Heaven, despite her belief she didn't belong there.

Context Literature / ApprenticeAdept