Darth Wiki / Burnt Empire

"So you really don't understand and that means I have to do a total exposition. Alright, let's get this started."

— Ollie Pirenci, resident villain of the book

Burnt Empire is this troper's attempt at making something readable. She's been working on it for a few years now and it's probably not going to be published. It's about three kids, one of whom was a resistance leader but was captured and escaped. She (self-named Vallian) is travelling with the other kids for reasons unknown for most of the book. And so you're not confused later, the other kids are Hane (girl) and Morley (guy).

The author's on the third revision, so the download link is down.

The author's a Wordpress at this address if anyone wants to look at excerpts and things from the new one.

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The tropes used are:

• Above Good and Evil: Ollie.
• Action Girl: Vallian, sort of.
• Action Prologue: Vallian is shown escaping from jail and the evil person who wants to kill her.
• Aerith and Bob
• All There in the Manual / All There in the Script: The names of a few characters are only in the script, and there's a lot of extra information in the aptly-titled storyinfo doc. The script also elaborates on who exactly is talking during a few scenes, such as the person in the dark during Morley's What You Are in the Dark.
• Aloof Big Brother: Jacob.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Debora to Morley, and Morley to Jacob.
• Awful Truth: Vallian is Ollie's brother and this shocks her to her very core. Sure, that's a bit dramatic, but that's drama for you.
• Backstory
• Berserk Button: Every character. Hane with morals, Morley with 'how dare you try to attack them they're innocent', and Vallian has quite a few. That's just the overview.
• Berserker Tears: Vallian after what has been dubbed the 'kiss scene'. It just sets off a whole giant chain of events.
• Big Bad: Queen Nalia and King Leo
• Big "NO!": When Hane dies. Probably more.
• Bittersweet Ending: Nalia, Terra, Joren, are all are gone but Ollie is still here and killing things. Morley,is always going to be haunted by this and makes no effort to fix things with anyone, not his parents, his brother, anyone. Vallian's not in a good place at all and Hane is dead.
• Black-and-Grey Morality: Mentioned by the person you can't see during Morley's What You Are in the Dark.
  “It's a choice between mundane corruption and baby-eating supervillainy. Exaggeration, but the basic principles are the same, yes.”
• Blue Blood
• Bounty Hunter: A few somewhere around halfway through.
• Breaking Speech: Combined with a "Not So Different" Remark speech by Ollie.
• Cain and Abel: Morley and Jacob.
• The Cake Is a Lie: Jacob, around twenty pages in, threatens to kill his brother (Morley) and Morley's friends if Vallian doesn't do what he wants. Guess what? He was planning to anyway.
• Can't Argue with Elves: Elves can't lie (or use contractions, but that's a different issue entirely) so they'll often say something bad when they were supposed to say something good.
• Chekhov's Gun: The sword Jacob has between his fingers is the same one that is used to kill Nalia.
• Chewbacca Defense: Hane likes resorting to crying which confuses the person she's arguing with, especially when she started the fight in the first place.
• Children Are Innocent: Utterly averted.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Vallian led La Résistance when she was around twelve, and now the whole main character group is comprised of people in their early teens.
• Clean Cut: Hand Waved or justified, all the weapons are Absurdly Sharp Blades.
• Cluster F-Bomb
  Morley: Ef. Effing ef ef ef.
  Of course, what he actually said shouldn't be repeated in a novel at least semi-intended for quasi-child-aged-people, but one can imagine.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Terra Vengen's specialty. To quote a person from the book: "Vengen enjoyed torture for torture's sake. Nothing else about it, she was just a master at making people scream."
• Combat Pragmatist: Hane.
• Constructed World
• Convicted by Public Opinion: In Ollie's Backstory, everyone thinks he killed his best friend. Which he did, but let's not get into that now.
• Corrupt the Cutie: This, and Kill the Cutie, are used with Hane, however much she's not really a cutie. And she was already corrupted.
• Curse Cut Short: There are a lot of these, coming from Hane's setting up a thing to give Morley an electric shock every time he tries to say a swear word. And Morley really likes to swear.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Quite a few of the characters. Even a villain, though it doesn't give him a good Freudian Excuse. The author likes drama, okay?
• Deadpan Snarker: Vallian, and Morley sometimes.
• Death Is Dramatic: Oh yes, just ask the two girls killed near or at the end. One of which gets all of the very short Chapter Eight In Which Something Not Very Important To The Whole Plot Happens.
• Department of Redundancy Department: There are characters who love to say things like this.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Hane could live and breathe this trope when the situation warrants it.
• The Dragon: Subverted in that one 'fights' the Big Bad approximately a day before the other hero has the whole moral thing against The Dragon.
• Dramatic Irony: It's revealed (at least part of it) about Hane's history to Hane and Vallian (and the reader), but Morley stays in the dark about the whole thing, not even knowing the other two went and found the archives, because he didn't follow them because he wanted to stay back in case something bad happened. Which it did.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Hane.
• Evil Laugh: Jacob does this quite a lot.
• Evil Plan: Most people (himself included) believe Ollie's plan is an evil plan. And if the person who made it thinks it is, why shouldn't it be?
• Evil Redhead: Averted because Ollie used to have red hair, but for some reason when a vampire is converted a type of dye materializes onto their scalp and gives them jet-black hair. It's not permanent, in case one is devamped or killed or something of that nature.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The Law Of Acidic Spit Is Only Acidic If The Person Spitting Is In A Foul Mood.
• Faking the Dead: In Ollie's Backstory, he does this so people won't search for him when he's just been converted.
• Fallen Hero: This happens to Morley gradually at first, but there's a giant increase the speed of it happening after he kills Nalia. At the end of the story.
• Fantasy Gun Control: Subverted in that Ollie has a gun but most people in the whole world don't even know they exist in real life and not just stories. However, Jude, Jill's boyfriend in Hane's flashback, has one too.
• Fantasy World Map: A world, the four continents in it, and a map key, all using a fancy font.
• Fatal Flaw: Hane definitely has one, and Vallian. Morley not so much, except maybe his undying hatred for Jacob, which turns out to be justified.
• Filler: It's a novel edited for NaNoWriMo, of course there's filler. A lot of it was cut out after November however, dropping the novel under fifty thousand words.
• The Film of the Book: Though the script thing only seeks to provide some explanations for things, not be an actual working movie version. Also foreshadowing!
• Flaw Exploitation: Hane does this to Morley multiple times throughout the story.
• Footnote Fever: The author, often referred to in the third person, has this.^note At least it's not fatal.
• Foreshadowing: Hane's dream, to name the first instance.
• For the Evulz: Jacob. He kills people just to see how much it would hurt for them, among other things.
• Freudian Excuse: See Dark And Troubled Past.
• A Friend in Need: See An Offer You Can't Refuse below.
• Good Flaws, Bad Flaws: Hane has Bad Flaws. Hint: Some of the last ones on the list.
• Good Is Not Nice: Vallian and Hane.
• Hand Wave: A few, and only one of them is justified.
• Hates Being Touched: Vallian.
• Healing Hands: Combined with Healing Factor for Hane. Too much of a Jerkass to really use it, though.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Hane. Good to bad to good to bad. But if you ask her, she's on the side of whoever's winning. Ask the author and she's always been bad, just manipulating people so they think the right thing.
• The Hero: Morley, but he's not the protagonist.
• Heroic BSoD: Poor Morley.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Not heroic as such, or a sacrifice, but it qualifies. Don't ask how.
• Heroic Vow: See Morley's moral code below. The only one he manages to keep is Rule Four.
• Hero with an F in Good: Vallian. She doesn't have the... morals appropriate for a hero.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: All of them.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Most of Vallian's claim for joining La Résistance.
• I Am Who?: Subverted and played straight, Vallian is just a girl from this seaside city somewhere and Morley's a noble person. Hane's a noble and didn't know about it.
• I Have Nothing to Say to That: Morley and Vallian when Hane makes a fat insult, just because of how unexpected it is.
• I Just Write the Thing: My characters have their own lives, man. For instance, Hane is an amoral side-switching-at-the-drop-of-a-hat sort-of-protagonist, instead of the main character as was originally planned.
• Improbable Age: Vallian. Twelve-year-old resistance leader, anyone? Eh, brilliant at tactics and whatnot.
• In Which a Trope Is Described: In which there are a pre-prologue, a prologue, nine chapters, and an afterword.
• Ironic Echo: Most people have the version without this, but it's during the scene before Morley steals Jacob's sword.
  Morley: So? Some of us are dynamic people. (during chapter three)
  (for context, during chapter seven) Morley: Why the hell did you kill her! All she did was–
  Jacob: Threaten to expose me as a double agent. So she was killed to uphold the masquerade. And you of all people should know some of us are dynamic people.
• It Makes Sense in Context: The author tried to explain to (online) friends, and the only response was 'What.'
• Jade-Colored Glasses: Again Vallian, it stems from the Backstory.
• The Good Kingdom: Inverted with The Empire, the kingdom is evil and the empire is good.
• Kick the Dog: Ollie, Hane, Jacob.
• Killed Off for Real: Hane.
• Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Someone finds out Jacob is a bad guy and actually goes out to make it public, but before they can, he kills them just like that. Bam. Dead. Onscreen, no less.
• The Killer Becomes the Killed: Right before Hane falls over dead she decapitates the guy who stabbed her.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Happens occasionally.
• Lemony Narrator: Trying and failing.
• Literary Allusion Title: Named after a lyric in The Sharpest Lives by My Chemical Romance, 'A light to burn all the empires'.
• Loves the Sound of Screaming: Terra.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Or brother, in this case.
• Lust: Jacob has so much, you can't even see the scope of it. He'll screw anyone, but seems to prefer teenaged girls.
• Magic A Is Magic A
• The Magnificent: "'The Great Insert Name Here', 'Insert Name Here the Magnificent', it goes on."
• Malicious Slander: Goes hand in hand with Hero with Bad Publicity.
• Meaningful Rename: Vallian is a thinly-veiled respelling of 'valiant'. But until later, her actually being valiant is an Informed Ability for the most part.
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Morley somehow falls into the mind of a villain and what he sees utterly disgusts him.
• Mister Exposition: See quote at the top of the page.
• Monster Town: Full of zombies and exploding brains, Old Arlaz. They don't actually like fighting anyone who looks like they could fight back, so hide if a formidable-looking person comes in.
• Morality Kitchen Sink
• Muggles
• Mysterious Past: Morley and Jacob, and most of the secondary characters.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Averted, Ollie and Jacob (the other Jacob is excluded) are nice, normal names.
• Never Say That Again: This is why Hane cuts off Morley's swearing.
• No Name Given: Vallian is referred to as just that, her chosen and preferred nickname, until The Reveal at the end. Although in the script, we get a thing that breaks that careful no-revealing-of-her-surname, even if does help with foreshadowing aforementioned reveal.
• Odd Friendship: Does Hane and Morley being friends at the start count? Because, dude, they're pretty much only friends because of Hane and her Psychic Powers. She needed a friend and he was there.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Jacob to Vallian. Fortunately, Morley saves the day.
• Oh, My Gods!: Vespian, anyone?
• Or Was It a Dream?: Hane has one of these near the beginning. No. No it was not.
• Our Gods Are Different: Vespian, sort of.
• Our Vampires Are Different: The whole vampire process is pretty much the same, with one added bonus. And they die pretty much instantly in sunlight.
• Pervert Dad: Let's just say that dead girls like Hane's dad.
• Pet the Dog: Ollie seems to have one, but it turns out to be sparing a little boy while Ollie kills his parents in front of him. Arguably much, much worse.
• Plot Technology: At least Ollie actually uses his gun for things like killing people.
• Precision F-Strike: When Hane has her pre-death chat with Zina.
• Prequel: Magical. The author does suggest reading that first, once it's finished.
• Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Yes. A very select few are immune. And it doesn't usually start until around the same time as puberty.
• Pyrrhic Victory: They won, yes, but Morley's lost his friends, Vallian is... broken, for lack of a better word, and Hane is dead. See Bittersweet Ending above for more details.
• Rebel Leader: It's been mentioned quite a bit who led the resistance.
• Relationship Upgrade: Well, it is mentioned in the story info that Anton's only real friends are Morley and Zo, so does it come as that much of a surprise that Anton and Morley are in a relationship? And yes, that does technically make Morley a cheating bastard.
• Royal Bastard: Hane, once she finds out about it.
• Royal Brat: Added with a dose of Moral Myopia.
• Royally Screwed Up: Hane, counting Psychic Powers.
• Sarcasm-Blind: Hane somewhat.
• Shout-Out: Plenty. Mainly to music (such as the title), though there's quite a bit to different bits of literature too.
  • This one is of note:
    He exited the room that had tested and trialed him so, going to sit on the bench or piece of architectural genius, a word which here means 'A particularly good piece of building', and its lesser known second meaning, 'Please don't sue me, Mister Snicket'.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: More to the cynicism side of things.
• Son of a Whore: Hane. And in case you get confused, the whore is her father, not her mum. Jonathan Darkloom Really Gets Around.
• Straw Hypocrite: Jacob.
• That Man Is Dead: Vallian when talking to the main villain.
• Theory of Narrative Causality
• There Is No Rule Six: Morley's Code Of Ethical Behavior
  Rule One: Don't kill anyone, ever.
  Rule Two: Never blackmail, especially not for anything disgusting.
  Rule Three: Never steal, ever.
  Rule Four: There is no Rule Four.
  Rule Five: Don't insult anyone who doesn't deserve it.
• These Hands Have Killed: Type one with Morley after he kills Nalia, believing she's still innocent.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: See Rule One above.
• Trade Snark
  "You say 'yes' a lot. Maybe that's what your name should be. 'Yes Man, tm.' I like it."
  • Also Random Time Skip tm!
• Undying Loyalty: Morley to anyone he considers himself on friendly terms with, and most of his family.
• Universe Chronology: Working on this.
• Unpopular Popular Character: People in-universe really don't like the guy who sells sausages in Arlaz, but he's the author's favorite character. Although one would suppose they have good reason, as his character is expanded on so he's part of a thing that sells kids as part of a political blackmail thing.
• Verbal Tic: Morley will add practically any swear word to practically anything he says, while Vallian adds 'hell' all the time (as in 'what the hell is this?' instead of 'what is this?', ekcetera.)
• Vetinari Job Security: The only reason Vallian even goes to try and stop things is because no one else will. And then when someone else does, they fail miserably.
• Villain Corner: Hane.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Again, Nalia and Leo. They rule a whole continent, so it might not be only the heroes (in this case one of the heroes) know, it's everybody else is too scared to speak up. Seriously.
• We Win, Because You Didn't: Basically.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Morley a couple times. The others can't be trusted in the first place.
• What You Are in the Dark: Happens to both Hane and Morley, though not at the same time.
• World of No Grandparents: Pretty much. Jacob makes a reference but you never hear of grandparents again.
• Would Hit a Girl: Until afterwards and he finds out who the girl he hit is.
• You Monster!: Used quite a lot.
  • An exception is when Morley says "You... you..." to Vallian, wanting to say 'monster', but he's unable to spit it out.
  • Lampshaded by Ollie: "There's a disproportionately high chance someone will say 'you monster', with varying inflections and in some cases words in this world. It's losing its meaning with all of this."

Section for Magical here. Shall be edited tomorrow.

Magical is a sort of prequel to Burnt Empire, this troper's previous novel. It focuses on Esme The Magnificent, who infiltrates the rebel base to turn in information to the queen and become (more) famous. Of course, there are some problems.

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Tropes

• Actually, I Am Him: Esme tells Jacob about how she's a spy.
• The All-Concealing "I": It's told in first-person, so you could say this, such as why she has a Mysterious Past in the first place and doesn't really tell people all that much about her husband, besides his presumably running off with his sister to Arazim.
• Backstory: The whole story can serve as backstory for Vallian and Jacob from Burnt Empire.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Vallian, as in Burnt Empire.
• Code Name: Everyone important to the plot's code name will be mentioned. Vallian is Pirate, Esme is Magic, and Jacob is Teller.
• Constructed World
• Continuity Nod: Esme only dies at the end because of a footnote in Burnt Empire.
• A Day in the Limelight: This is the prequel (as mentioned right there) to Burnt Empire, told from the perspective of a character who's only in footnotes in the aforementioned story. Which is why she dies at the end.
• Fantasy World Map
• How We Got Here: The story begins with Esme in the rebel jail, talking about... how she got in jail.
• The Infiltration: The whole premise of the story.
• Killed Off for Real: Esme.
• The Magnificent
• Morality Kitchen Sink
• Mysterious Past: You never really learn about Esme's life before she decided to infiltrate the rebels.
• Precision F-Strike: Esme only swears when she's translating or directly quoting someone, and the strongest word she actually uses in her own speech is 'ass'. Except at the end. "God-fucking-dammit Vespian is evil, isn't he?"
• Retcon: It's added in that Jacob was a mole for the official army from one year in his actually being in the army to just after the war ended. Then he had to track down Vallian and you get Burnt Empire.
• Universe Chronology
• Vetinari Job Security: Vallian.
• What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: Said by the woman who's apparently been listening to Esme after she shoots our protagonist. It is mentioned at the start that there's a person there holding a gun, so...)
• You Are Too Late: "Esme, why would I tell you all this if I thought you had a chance of stopping things? It started twenty minutes ago."

Characters

Vallian

The (at the end of the story) fourteen-year-old female protagonist of the aforementioned story. She, among other things, has a very traumatic past, a deep-seated loathing of things magical, and problems relating to people.

She's quite a Manipulative Bastard.

In her past, it's revealed that her brother is a vampire, her sister is a spoiled brat with aspirations of becoming a druid despite only elves being able to, she assisted her frenemy Morley in killing the queen, and that person she's been trying to exact revenge on was killed by her brother.

She was the Rebel Leader for a short while, but was kicked out after being defeated devastatingly during the Krastone raid.

Has two siblings, one brother and one sister.

Tropes associated with her include:

• Action Girl: Well, yeah.
• Berserk Button: Go ahead, mention the Krastone battle, her family, dogs, her hypocrisy over some things, we dare you.
• Berserker Tears: After the kiss scene.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Fatal Flaw: She does really hate physical attention.
• Good Is Not Nice
• Hates Being Touched: Turns out to be what brings her downfall.
• Heroic BSoD
• Hero with an F in Good
• Improbable Age: Twelve-year-old resistance leader, anyone?
• Jade-Coloured Glasses: Stems from the backstory.
• Meaningful Rename: Vallian's not her original name; it's a thinly-veiled (and lampshaded) respelling of 'valiant'. Her real name is Carie Pirenci.
• No Name Given: Except in the script, where it reveals her surname in a bit of foreshadowing.
• Rebel Leader: Former, anyway.
• That Man Is Dead: Carie does not exist anymore. Paraphrased, but still.
• Verbal Tic: She adds 'hell' to her speech sometimes, like 'what the hell is this?' for 'what is this?', ekcetera.
• Vetinari Job Security: The only reason she even goes to try and stop things is because no one else will. And then when someone else does, they fail miserably.

Morley Telrenas

As of the end of the thing, he's fourteen and officially a regicide who loathes his older brother. Also the male protagonist.

You could say he's a Knight in Sour Armor, but that's a bit inaccurate. Why not go by tropes he's been known to associate with him, instead?

Has two siblings, one brother and one sister.

• Annoying Younger Sibling: To his Sociopathic Soldier older brother.
• Berserk Button: He's a firm believer in rights for the people. Also don't steal things.
• Blue Blood
• Cain and Abel: Morley's the Abel.
• Cluster F-Bomb: "Ef. Effing ef ef ef."
• Curse Cut Short: Quite a few after Hane cuts off his swearing.
• Deadpan Snarker: Sometimes.
• Fallen Hero
• Fatal Flaw: His belief in rights for everyone, mayhaps?
• The Hero
• Heroic BSoD: Poor Morley.
• Heroic Vow: A whole code of ethical behaviour, see There Is No Rule Six at the main page for details.
• Mysterious Past
• Odd Friendship: With Hane, and later Vallian.
• These Hands Have Killed: How the author visualizes Morley's These Hands Have Killed moment.
• Undying Loyalty: Best summed up by a thing in the info: "And he always trusted Hane, even if it wavered a bit. Always."
• Verbal Tic: Morley does like swearing.

Hane Avanta

A twelve-year-old dead jerkass. One could say her flashback thingy makes her a bit more sympathetic.

Has three biological siblings, two sisters and a brother; and one actual sibling, a sister.

Tropes associated with her include:

• Berserk Button: With morals. For one thing, her foster father is a necrophiliac pedophile who went on to lead the rebels after Vallian's dishonorable discharge. Does not help with feelings toward Vallian.
• Big "NO!": When she dies.
• Chewbacca Defense: She likes crying to get her way, whether it's in an applicable situation or not.
• Combat Pragmatist
• Does Not Understand Sarcasm: You could say this.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me: She could live and breathe this trope when not opting to use her Chewbacca Defense.
• Dreaming of Things to Come
• Fatal Flaw: Arrogant, snotty, jerkassy? Yeah, some guys really don't like that.
• Good Flaws, Bad Flaws: Actual snobbery, hypocrisy, self-serving phoniness.
• Good Is Not Nice
• Healing Hands/Healing Factor: Too arrogant and such to really use it.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door
• I Am Who?: Bastard daughter of Jonathan Darkloom, lord of Lordstown.
• Kick the Dog
• Killed Off for Real
• Odd Friendship: With Morley.
• Precision F-Strike: During her pre-death chat with Zina.
• Psychic Powers
• Royal Bastard
• Son of a Whore: In case you get confused, the whore is her father, not her mum. Jonathan Darkloom really gets around.
• Villain Corner

Jacob Telrenas

He's partially based off Tavor from Looking for Group, along with a few other things kept from the first draft.

The aforementioned elder brother of Morley, Jacob is the suave type of guy, as noted below.

He was sent to the army for the kingdom in four-oh-seven, and was apparently so good (or bad, opinions vary on why) that they sent him to be a mole and he lived with the rebels for a while, forming a deal with the main character of the prequel, Magical.

He's... not a good guy, to say the least.

Tropes associated with him include:

• Aloof Big Brother: To Morley, obviously.
• Aristocrats Are Evil
• Berserk Button: His family being matrilineal.
• Blue Blood
• Broken Ace
• Cain and Abel: The Cain. He does mention dreams of making fratricide legal a few times, and in fact that's the only reason Morley's not dead, because Jacob doesn't want to be kicked from the army.
• Lust: Jacob has so much, you can't even see the scope of it. He'll screw anyone, but seems to prefer teenaged girls.
• Moral Myopia
• Mysterious Past: It's not really mentioned about his life before joining the army, or Morley's for that matter.
• Royal Brat

Ollie Pirenci

A vampire, who for some reason has a much smaller role than he was supposed to. He was vampirised four-oh-six by Margo Morgenstern, whom (as barely-satiable bloodlust dictates) he keeled. Let me tell you, he was quite pissed at the development of her not having any blood in her.

Tropes associated with him include:

• Above Good and Evil
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: His is, yes.
• Bounty Hunter: Sort of.
• Convicted by Public Opinion: In his Backstory, everyone thinks he killed his best friend. Which he did, but let's not get into that now.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Though, no, he and the author refuse to believe in Freudian Excuses.
• The Dragon
• Evil Plan: Most people (himself included) believe Ollie's plan is an evil plan. And if the person who made it thinks it is, why shouldn't it be?
• Evil Redhead
• Faking the Dead: In Ollie's Backstory, he does this so people won't search for him when he's just been converted. After he kills Margo, of course.