[[FleurDeLis http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheGrandLady.jpg]]

-->'''Londo''': ''And how are things at the royal court?''\\
'''Vir''': ''You know, collusion, politicking, scheming, innuendo, gossip. The same old thing.''\\
--'''BabylonFive'''

-->'''Corkus:''' ''A complex web on intrigue, in which death comes as poison, or a dagger in the night. That kind of murder is like a fine wine.''\\
---'''BerserkAbridged'''

The history of the Deadly Decadent Court is proud and [[BlatantLies completely true]], [[TVNeverLies you can certainly believe everything this article says at face value]] without bothering to check the {{Pot Hole}}s.

It is a monarch's court where the [[{{Pride}} powerful, yet humble]] [[BlueBlood nobles]] gather to make decisions [[AristocratsAreEvil for the common good.]] Unlike the StandardRoyalCourt where the [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething "royals" spend their time idly]], the Deadly Decadent Court is quite serious about its work; [[EvilTastesGood taking no pleasure]] in ensuring [[TheHedonist decadence]] is outside of the judicial courts, hence the name.

They stem from [[BigScrewedUpFamily esteemed houses]] with [[RoyallyScrewedUp an ancient and deserving history]] who [[FeudingFamilies work together]] in their effort to best serve [[TheCaligula their beloved king]] and [[TheDungAges beautiful country]] -- doing [[ColdBloodedTorture whatever is needed]] to quell [[LaResistance threats to it]]. They're all [[BrotherSisterIncest like brothers and sisters]], though they must [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder resolve]] [[HangingSeparately occasional conflicts]]. Work made all the easier since they [[ConsummateLiar never lie]], much less [[BetrayalTropes betray]] each other. (There is [[DefectorFromDecadence an occasional odd-ball though.]])

Of course, a certain [[ErmineCapeEffect sense of decorum]] and [[PimpedOutDress style]] is [[DressCode expected]] of all [[FishOutOfWater newcomers]] who want to [[PropagandaMachine uphold this proud tradition]] and if one isn't able to, they know it's their duty to [[StealthInsult discreetly but clearly explain customs to them.]] After all, even their [[MaliciousSlander casual conversation]] is often [[FeedTheMole about matters of import]], and they must [[ArrangedMarriage consider their children's future]]. They do [[ComplimentBackfire expect manners]] though their [[TheBeautifulPeople artless dignity]] is often hard to imitate. And their [[ReligionOfEvil piety]] is unquestionable.

But it's not all just work here. With their [[WickedCultured exquisite taste]], the court is [[EvilIsStylish quite charming.]] An occasional MasqueradeBall, [[AFeteWorseThanDeath feast]], or [[GladiatorGames other festivity]] help them relax after a hard day of fulfilling their duty to their [[GullibleLemmings loyal citizens]] is done.

TheFairFolk, when they aren't out tormenting us norms, are like this.

[[SubTrope One type]] of StandardRoyalCourt. Sometimes only portions of a court are like this, as when the decadence congregates about an EvilPrince.
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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime ]]

* It seems like all the major nobles in Midland are out to get [[{{Berserk}} Griffith]], who ends up as the target of two assassination plots by the jealous nobility. Griffith, however, is no slouch himself, and all of the nobles who take part in the assassinations end up dead.
* In VinlandSaga, the court of King Sweyn Forkbeard is said to be so opulent it is populated with beautiful slave women taken from every corner of the world, filled with conniving politicians, and the arena of many a bloody duel to the death.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* Louis XVI's court as portrayed in the French movie ''{{Ridicule}}'' exemplifies this trope, showcasing how nobles' political power and status was highly dependent on their wit. One victim of a mocking jest saw his request to the King rejected, got ostracised and ended up killing himself as a result.
* Spoofed (among many other tropes) in ''TheCourtJester''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' has the deadliest court in modern American fantasy. In a CrapsackWorld where seven powers duke it out to gain control of the realm, [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bastards]], [[SmugSnake Smug Snakes]] and [[ByronicHero Byronic Heroes]] trade [[XanatosGambit gambits]] like they're in a pillow fight. And ''GodSaveUsFromTheQueen''...
*The nobles from the ''Bitterbynde'' books. The heroine, being a borderline Mary Sue, makes a few faux pas and has to run away when her pretense gets discovered -- but of course till then she's been the most graceful and beautiful of women at court as well as a thousand times ''purer'' than these cruel, superficial twits.
*The nobles from the first novel of ''TheFinalEmpire'' when their society is still intact. They indulge their extravagances while the rest of the population is nearly starving and there's the extra fun of some of them secretly being ''Mistborn'' which means powerful sorcerers and born assassins.
* In one of the first three ''WheelOfTime'' books, Rand al'Thor comes into a big city with such a court. At least the intrigue bit is definitely fitting - everyone tries to pull him to their side by sending him invitations. Rand tries to avoid this by burning all the invitations... which they, of course, take as a cunning political move. Ultimately, his actions indirectly lead to [[spoiler:the assassination of the king and the entire country falling into a civil war]].
* ''{{Gormenghast}}''.
*The royal court from the ''Book Of Amber'', basically a BigScrewedUpFamily.and their lackeys So much backstabbery your brain will give up and go [[XanatosGambit Xanatose.]]
* The court of the Queen of Hearts in ''AliceInWonderland'' is probably like this, what with her ordering beheadings left and right.
* The court of Governor and Sole Autocrat Barholm Clerett in ''TheGeneral'', where intrigue is an artform, treachery a given AND on top of everything else the Governor is borderline insane. As the saying goes, 'A simpleton from the Governor's Court could give lessons in intrigue to [any other royal court on the planet, save possibly the Colony's]."
* The goblin court in John Barnes's ''OneForTheMorningGlory''. Explicitly described as a parody of [[StandardRoyalCourt King Boniface's]].
* The high council of [[ForgottenRealms Menzoberranzan]]. Usually, the backstabbing comes from a lower-ranking House that ''wants'' to be on the high council, but frankly the entire city is afflicted with a pernicious case of ChronicBackstabbingDisorder.
* David Eddings is very fond of this trope: it shows up in the Imperial Courts of both ''[[TheBelgariad The Malloreon]]'' and ''The Tamuli'', and the main characters are very enthusiastic participants: [[spoiler:in ''The Malloreon'', they foment discord to the point that they engineer a civil war inside the walls of the palace as cover for their escape, while in ''The Tamuli'' they help the figurehead emperor overthrow his own government and seize control by throwing a party, getting the assorted aristocrats drunk, and imprisoning the lot of them.]]
** [[spoiler: The civil war doesn't work out quite as planned, since a plague breaks out in the city, trapping them in the midst of war.]]
* The Imperial Court of Golgotha, homeworld of TheEmpire, in ''{{Deathstalker}}'' series by SimonRGreen is this writ large [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]].
**His Forest Kingdom Series and Hawk and Fisher books also feature a wide variety of these. Special mention has to go to the court in ''Blood and Honour'' though.
* In the [[FurryFandom furry fantasy novel]] ''FangsOfKaath'', the royal court of Osra is a den of decadence and coldblooded political calculation that could consider genocide as well as accommodation as solutions with equal ease. While the heroes, Prince Raschid and his love Sandhri are the first to note it's a fun place for a party with food and sexy serving girls (who are openly eager to hop into bed when asked) galore when it is in a peaceful mood, they are otherwise repelled by its venal side and it suffers a KarmicDeath at being nearly totally destroyed in the climactic battle in the end with nearly the entire villainous Royal family dead except for the straight arrow heroes who find themselves unquestionably on top and in charge of things to run their way.
* In William King's {{Warhammer 40000}} SpaceWolf novel ''Wolfblade'', Ragnor is warned in advance that Terra is this.
* In JamesSwallow's {{Warhammer 40000}} novel ''Faith & Fire'', the Battle Sisters find the aristocrats like this: hopelessly languid, using fans that could double as weapons if they were capable of fighting, and so heavily perfumed that one Sister says they obviously used a crop duster.
** The crop duster comment was actually because a particular set of noblewomen insulted Hospitaller Verity because she was the smallest and plainest person for kilometres around.
*The Japanese Imperial Court in the TaleOfGenji - and Real Life - was an epitome of this trope. If its members weren't plotting against each other they were having illicit sex with somebody else's wife or mistress.
** The Heian Court started out much more benign--see literature like the ''Man'youshuu'' for examples of [[MarySuetopia what Japan was (supposedly) like]] about two hundred years prior to the ''Genji''. The ''Genji'' is set in Heian Japan's {{Gotterdammerung}}, about a century before it fell apart and was replaced by the [[AWorldHalfFull Kamakura bakufu]], which in turn led to the [[FeudalJapan Muramachi]] [[CrapsackWorld period]].
* The entire first "book" in ''{{Dune}}'' is practically one long convoluted case of court intrigue. The Emperor, who was secretly in league with the Baron, was trying to off the Duke by giving him a deathtrap "promotion" to take control of a flailing production operation that he surely had no hope of turning around, while the Illuminati-like women's convent neared its ultimate goal and began pulling the political strings in new and dangerous directions, [[AllMyCircuits unaware that Jennifer had spilled the beans to Mark about her affair with Brad while under anesthesia]].
* In Jim Butcher's DresdenFiles novels, the White Court.
* In EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''[[JohnCarterOfMars The Gods of Mars]]'', the court of Issus.
-->''The First Born do no work. The men fight--that is a sacred privilege and duty; to fight and die for Issus. The women do nothing, absolutely nothing. Slaves wash them, slaves dress them, slaves feed them. There are some, even, who have slaves that talk for them, and I saw one who sat during the rites with closed eyes while a slave narrated to her the events that were transpiring within the arena.''

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* Queen Elizabeth's court in ''BlackAdder II'' tends towards this trope. She beheads someone if she's bored. Or if they don't tell her that her nose looks pretty.
* The Centaurum (the [[strike:Imperial Court]] Senate of the Centauri [[strike:Empire]] Republic) on ''BabylonFive'' are a textbook example of this trope. See page quote.
* [[{{Kings}} The court of Gilboa]] is a polished, modern-day beaurocracy where the king wears suits and rules from a conference table. That doesn't make any difference to the murderous, treacherous and utterly corrupt proceedings that go on behind closed doors, though...
*Mark Antonys and Cleopatras Court in ''Rome'' is so decadent it turns former Magnificent bastard Mark Antony into a fat whiny feminine crybaby.
* The non-renegade [[DoctorWho Time Lords]] often got depicted like this, especially in Robert Holmes TV stories and the DarkerAndEdgier spin-offs. Although now they're officially dead they're back to having been [[NostalgiaFilter dedicated and unselfish defenders of the universe]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* Pick an Elysium (or court) with Fae or Vampires in any WorldOfDarkness game, and this is what they're like. Granted, you'll have biker lords and harlot duchesses along with your typical "proper" lords though, oddly on an equal footing.
** Mage caucuses and consilii can veer into this as well.
** The article picture from ''[[http://www.weregeek.com/ Weregeek]]'' features a perfectly typical Elysium. Medieval decor, biker vampires, Victorian vampires, and Bela Lugosi ripoffs.
* The Seelie and Unseelie Courts of DungeonsAndDragons are the epitome of what happens when the Deadly Decadent Court is run by TheFairFolk. The Unseelie Court is noted as downright lethal runless you are very, very carefully prepared.
* The Various Courts of [[TheFairFolk Raksha]] in Exalted are like the above, and everyone's a RealityWarper to boot. The Realm's various social organizations come close to this as The Empress valued competition among her underlings and descendants. Heaven is a cross of this and the CorruptCorporateExecutive as its a deadly decadent *bureaucracy*.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comics ]]

* The Russian noble houses in ''NikolaiDante'' especially the ruling Makarovs and the Romanovs.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* A bit of a TruthInTelevision trope, since nations with absolute rulers and a wealthy aristocracy have tended to breed Deadly Decadent Courts like flies. Imperial Rome, Imperial China, the Byzantine Empire, the medieval Vatican, and pre-Revolutionary France are the archetypal examples that most writers seem to crib from.
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''By the way, If you don't get the joke, then I have bridge to sell you...''