Darth Wiki / Our Paradise

Series of Light Novels collaborated on by Essex and Fearow's Keeper (not a troper), currently at the Worldbuilding stage. Our Paradise is set in a toned-down Cosmic Horror universe (defeating a lesser Eldritch Abomination isn't common, but happens once in a long while, and a small number of them are actually friendly) created without any particular reason by Dexos-Brhan, the Dreaming God, who went to sleep after placing His brother, Maros-Brhan, in charge. Should He awaken, the universe will evaporate, as it is fueled by His dreams.

Focus is placed on the planet known as Paraiso, where most of the relevant action occurs. The setting in general seems to be standard Medieval European Fantasy. There is much Decade Dissonance, however, thanks to the four superpowers: the Tekgnos Federation, J'bieri Alliance, Sanjuran Holy Empire, and Feld Kingdom.

The main plots in Our Paradise are told through a Framing Device. Varius Crade, a farmer, is told stories of the world by the Philosopher, a mysterious goddess whose sole purpose seems to be going around and telling stories to any mortal she runs into.

A Genre Anthology sort of compilation, Gates of Our Paradise, is the first entry planned for the series, and will depict various fluff stories in the world of Paraiso, some of which will most likely intersect with the main entry (see below) in a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead style.

The main entry of the series, Our Paradise Lost, is currently under construction, and centers on a Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits sent (amongst a thousand other task forces) on a quest to retrieve the Heart of Paraiso, source of all life in the universe, and essentially the Soul Jar of Eden, Goddess of Life, from the Dread Lord Robert, the First Lich and his undead army, before he figures out how to destroy it.

Our Paradise Lost's main characters are a Magnificent Seven officially known as the 1001st Task Force:

• Karan Sigil: The Stoic Hero. A Type C Gunslinger who dresses in a Badass Longcoat, and doesn't speak despite not being mute, causing various communication issues with his group. Emigrated from the Tekgnos Federation eight years prior to start over in the Sanjuran Holy Empire.
• Hermea Norfür: The Lancer. Karan's childhood friend who regards herself as the only person in the group who can understand him. A Sanjuran Graduated Cleric, Third Class, who serves as First-Person Peripheral Narrator. Deadpan Snarker by nature, and prone to ranting to herself about various things of no particular relevance. One of the author's friends describes her as a female version of Kyon.
• Allein Tyamát: The Heart. Also known as the Least Dragon Goddess (who nobody knows about), a (relatively) minor deity depowered to learn how to balance herself. She specializes in Playing with Fire, serving as the team's Black Magician Girl. A Fiery Redhead who directs her Tsun-Tsun side at Hermea, Genki Girl side at everybody else.
• Hobbes: The Big Guy (Genius Bruiser). A member of a nomadic clan of desert Warrior Monk Manwolves. Joins the group on his search for the meaning of life and provides great strength along with some serious moves whenever needed. Allergic to cats.
• Locke: The Smart Guy. A pompous, egomaniacal yet suitably hyperintelligent ball of plasma whose sole reason for joining the group is to relieve himself of his boredom. Speaks in the Paraisan equivalent of a haughty British accent. Serves as Mister Exposition with regards to laws of physics, biology, etc...
• Calvin: Team Pet. A snow white kitten with deep blue eyes who follows Locke around. Calvin generally plays with the group, cheering them up on various occasions. She has a growing affection for Hobbes, who has problems, being allergic to cats and all.
• Janace Heidi: Little Miss Badass. A Magic Knight and blacksmith's daughter armed with a BFS she calls Bidenhänder. Janace is out for revenge after The Horde destroyed her mountain village home. Highly adept at the use of Forgecraft.

Along the way, they run into various recurring characters:

• Samuel: Recurring Traveller. A wandering merchant who peddles ludicrous wares that nobody bothers to use, such as a fish heart monitor. He shows up inexplicably often with no indication of how he got there, possibly resulting in Epileptic Trees.
• Brother Largo: Fake Ultimate Hero/The Aaragorn/Hero of Another Story. Leader of the 1st Task Force, aka Task Force Adamus. A legendary exorcist who lets his ego get the better of him. Views Karan's party as a useless bunch of kids that shouldn't even bother searching for the Heart. Typically accompanied by a large platoon of professional Sanjuran troops. The fact that he's a 500-year-old Cleric who specializes in fighting the undead somewhat justifies this attitude.
• Sister Rahniel: Chessmaster Sidekick. Brother Largo's assistant, who is ever apologetic of her superior's rudeness, and might even be more competent than him. Acts more like an archetypical nun than the sarcastic and cynical Hermea.
• "LC-42": Hot Warrior Monk With Two Swords. A member of the elite Imperial Praetorian Guard who just happens to be in the same area whenever the group is in trouble. Her objective seems to be just providing assistance to various taskforces who need it, and such never really joins the team.
• Meridan Haerk: Mission Control. Hermea's best friend from the Seminary, Graduated Cleric, First Class, who joined Imperial Intelligence as an analyst. As such, becomes useful in providing plot-related information, like their next destination. Speaks exclusively to Hermea via Tapping.

And antagonists...

• Marshal Greko Dovian: General Ripper. A high-ranking commanding officer in the Tekgnos Federation who seems a little too young for his position. Nevertheless, he displays an astounding matured bitterness and deviousness, as well as a more extreme variant of the Tekgnos Fantastic Racism (see below). He believes that cyborgs, clones, mutants, and Genomods (people who have been genetically altered) shouldn't be given citizenship either. Dresses in a Badass Greatcoat to hide his incriminating Custom Uniform, and Stoic Spectacles.
• No. 928 Special Operations Unit: Quirky Miniboss Squad. The Tekgnos Federation's least effective special forces unit, pretty much also a Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits in its own right. This was the only unit viable to send after Karan's party, due to certain complications. 928 is composed of:
  • Sergeant Hollis Kethram: Sergeant Rock. A gunslinger with a preference for revolvers and cartridges specially designed to ricochet. Combined with his Improbable Aiming Skills, Sgt. Kethram is easily a force to be reckoned with. He fights with good old fashioned Honor Before Reason, but isn't so stupid as to do so when it's impractical. Heavily inspired by Revolver Ocelot, minus the Magnificent Bastardry.
  • Corporal Ferreck Lizer: Psycho for Hire. Ferreck is classified as a Logistician, essentially meaning he's in charge of supplies. He doesn't let that stop him from using all sorts of nasty weapons, though. Usually, he puts them in line with his interest of slowly torturing enemies until they die, such as a beam rapier for his Implausible Fencing Powers or auto-crossbow that fires barbed bolts... Takes full advantage of Hermea's extremely potent Healing Factor. And Bishōnen to boot.
  • Private Deeds Hyracuse: Good Looking Private. A Highly-Visible Ninja Cat Girl who uses Energy Weapon versions of ninja armaments. Primarily uses the Stealth Hi/Bye to make her appearances and exits. Enjoys fighting with Hobbes, to the point of Ship Tease, and plays with Calvin whenever the opportunity presents itself.
  • Private Reena Adverse: The Pyromaniac Squadette. Has a more serious if somewhat twisted outlook on combat than the more playful Deeds. Reena wears a suit of Typhon-36 High Temperature Combat Armor, which is capable of surviving up to 10 000 degrees, as well as hefting a minigun loaded with incendiary rounds, spraying jets of hot plasma, firing laser-guided firestorm missiles, and lobbing balls of napalm at long distances. She sees herself as the only one allowed to defeat Allein.

As for the Framing Device setting, the two main characters are...

• Varius Crade: Jaded Determined Homesteader. Once a young man who, bored of life on the farm, set out to see the world. Along his travels, Varius encountered the Philosopher many times, during each of which she told him a story about Paraiso's many myths, legends, and unsolved histories. And during each time, he fell more deeply in love with her. After realizing the futility of entering a tryst with a goddess who will naturally outlive him, the two eventually part ways. Varius grows up, moves on, settles down on his father's farm, and gets married. Now, thirty years later, the Philosopher enters his life once again, perhaps to tell of one last tale.
• The Philosopher: Apparently the Goddess of the Arts and Literature (She neither confirms nor denies the mortals' Epileptic Trees about her being this). A mysterious goddess who is famous for telling stories to any mortal she runs into, which may or may not have An Aesop or philosophical importance. She first meets Varius when he is young and spends several of their encounters doing what she does best. After deciding that their relationship is not meant to be, they separate. Thirty years pass before the two cross paths again, and she still hasn't changed, spending most of her time with him telling stories.

A second entry, Birds of Our Paradise, is in the planning stage, and focuses more on the relationship between Varius and the Philosopher, interspersing it with various Paraisan myths and stories, some of which may or may not intersect with the story of the main entry.

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Our Paradise provides examples of the following tropes:

• Abnormal Ammo - There's a reason why Sgt. Kethram is also known as "Pinball, master of hitting things that his gun isn't pointed at". Also, Karan at one point uses Locke as a makeshift bullet to melt through a blast door.
  • Unless it's a Town with a Dark Secret housing an Eldritch Abomination, the first thing that the Tekgnos will use against a target city isn't a Kill Sat. It's a ship equipped with a cannon that fires drop pods at hypersonic speeds. Once they hit the ground and cause all sorts of destruction and panic, the pods will burst open, each releasing a fully armed squad of Mobile Troopers and/or any armored fighting vehicles and robots allocated to the mission.
• Adaptation Decay - Completely intentional. Our Paradise is described as "a loose retelling of the Garden of Eden story". The author wishes to take what Saiyuki did to Journey to the West, apply it to the above, then crank it up to over 9000.
• Adventure Towns - Inevitable, really. At least two of them aren't as nice as they first seem.
• Alien Invasion - Inverted. The Tekgnos launch a preemptive strike on an alien civilization, having anticipated their retaliation for the earlier accidental destruction of one of their colonies.
• Alien Sky - Paraiso has three moons, one of which has been terraformed into one giant farm.
• The Alliance - The J'bieri Alliance is an alliance of various non-human species who have completely adapted to their respective home environments and thus don't use tools. They despise tools. A J'bieri citizen wouldn't touch a tool with a ten-foot pole... or a ten-foot pole, for the matter... They are united under their worship of the Great Serpent, J'bieres. At war with the Tekgnos Federation.
• Alternative Calendar - The official calendar used by most people on the eastern continents is the Sanjuran calendar, what with it being the first civilization and all. At the beginning of Our Paradise Lost, the year is 10324 Post-Sedes, 10324 years after the original nomadic tribes settled down in Sanjuras.
• Arcadia - The countryside surrounding Sanjuras, which contains Hermea's home.
• Author Appeal - Non-sexual. Powered Armor, Eldritch Abominations, tropes toyed with and skewered in many ways, little girls with big swords, Kill Sats, Carrier Battleships, cunning bad guys, and a sassy, Deadpan Snarker of a White Mage.
• Background Magic Field - Chaff, the leftovers of the creation of the universe.
• Badass Army - The Sanjuran Legions gravitate between this and Red Shirt Army. When fighting the Undead, Barbarians, and generic monsters, definitely this. When fighting against the high-tech, cunning Tekgnos, however...
• Badass Normal - As the leader of a wandering party composed of a White Mage, a long-lived superhuman manwolf Warrior Monk, a heavily suppressed but still Black Magician Girl-worthy Eldritch Abomination, a hyperintelligent Technopathic Energy Being, and a blacksmith's daughter who uses Forge Magic to help her lift a BFS, Karan does pretty well for a guy who has nothing but a pair of handguns.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work - In an incident where an Eldritch Abomination brainwashes an entire town past the point of no return, the 1001st decide to escape from the town instead. Minutes after they leave the town limits, a Tekgnos Kill Sat destroys the town from orbit.
• Bar Brawl - There are at least four possible ways for one of these to start: Somebody pissing Allein off by not believing her claims of godhood, Allein pissing somebody off because of her cultural ignorance, Hermea pissing somebody off with her snarkiness, Locke pissing somebody (or everybody) off by handing them one eloquently-delivered taunt after another, or all of the above.
• Be Careful What You Wish For - Generally, anybody who prays to Maros-Brhan for knowledge. He has a tendency to give them too much at once.
• Bottomless Magazines - Sort of... Karan just has to slap a rock onto a part of his gun that's loaded with Nanomachines, which will do all the work of transmuting said rock into ammunition.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall - Hermea occasionally lapses into moments where she speaks directly to a hypothetical reader/watcher/Watson about various things, sometimes in the middle of her wandering narration. She immediately mocks herself for it, though.
• Cat Girl - Deeds.
• Character Filibuster - Locke, who at one point invokes Talking Is a Free Action just so he can explain (without making Hermea's head explode) how his perception of time differs from hers. Justified by his being an Energy Being so smart that he can and does look down on many an Eldritch Abomination.
  • Marshal Dovian tends to rant about how genetic engineering, cybernetics, cloning, mutations, and a bunch of other 'impurities' are 'corrupting the nature' of humanity. Other than his first rant, he never gets to finish what he's saying.
• The Chosen Many - The Empress invokes this by ordering the formation of the Thousand Hands, which is basically the same as ordering the formation of a thousand Fellowships of the Ring.
• The Church - The Ecclessia Imperialis.
• Church Militant - Sanjuras' Praetorian Guard are all Clerics trained in combat, as well as exempted from their Thou Shalt Not Kill policy.
• Cloak and Dagger - Nuntius Imperialis, or "Imperial Intelligence".
• Code Name - "LC-42" is all that she uses to identify herself throughout the story. Hermea has to ask Meridan to call in a few favors just to find out what her real name is, due to it being classified information.
• Conlang - Though Sanjuras primarily has Latin influences, and the Tekgnos are splattered with Gratuitous Greek and Gratuitous German, the Barachiese Tribes have their own language under construction.
• Cool Ship - Kratos, the Tekgnos flagship, rivals Executor in size and firepower. Additionally, its name should be more than enough to ring a bell to readers...
• Cosmic Keystone - The Heart of Paraiso
• Crazy-Prepared - Marshals Movisa and Heilenin's measures to prevent and/or counter Robot War and Turned Against Their Masters would make Batman proud.
• Creepy Child - Marshal Dovian is first seen as this, until it is revealed that he is a full-blown Enfante Terrible.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus - Via, or 'The Way', which shows visible effects for true believers, whose lifespans are increased by a factor of ten. Various other deities have their own cults with their own effects on their worshipers.
• Crystal Spires and Togas - The city of Sanjuras pretty much looks like this, though the tech isn't that advanced, other than the airborne public transportation system.
• Dark Is Evil - Interestingly exists side-by-side with Light Is Not Good for the Barachies Tribes. They view Lilith (Dark) as greatly evil for obvious reasons, and Sanjuras (Light) as evil for, well, using Lilith to almost wipe out their people. Granted the Sympathetic P.O.V. for Sanjuras, it turns out they didn't know how to properly handle Lilith, and it spread out uncontrollably after killing its targets. Of course, if you intended to use an instant death weapon in the first place, then you have to be at least some degree of extreme.
• Death Is Cheap - This is the chief ability of Gaurdew, God of Resurrection. No matter how many times you kill him, he'll always come back in three days.
• Decade Dissonance - Though each of the four superpowers is superior to all the other tiny kingdoms on Paraiso to some degree, the Tekgnos Federation takes the cake, a high-tech society existing on a mostly Medieval European Fantasy world.
• Defictionalization - Our Paradise originally started out as a fictional Light Novel series and Anime used in the background story of a character (a Funny Italian Seiyuu) the author roleplayed in a now-defunct Haruhi Suzumiya RP.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu? - B’maslik-tuhs, a lesser Eldritch Abomination on the brink of awakening, is destroyed by a single beam from a Tekgnos Kill Sat in a pre-emptive strike, along with the town he was sleeping under, leaving a huge crater behind. Subverted when Locke reveals that he's only temporarily gone, and will be fully regenerated anywhere within four to four thousand years.
• Divine Delegation - It has three layers of this. Dexos-Brhan creates the universe and takes a nap after leaving his brother, Maros-Brhan, in charge. Maros-Brhan then proceeds to create a bunch of other gods to manage the universe for him, while he sits around doing nothing aside from occasionally driving people insane with knowledge that they bug him for. Finally, Agnes does the actual ordering around, assigning gods to perform one task or another.
• Eldritch Location - The Center of Ultimate Cohesion and Final Infinity (or just The Center), a plane separated from the universe and from which all things can be seen. It is accessible only by going through Kiresh-Sohtih, the Supreme Gatekeeper. It's also where the top three gods sleep/do nothing/manage all the other gods.
• The Empire - Played with by Sanjuras. Sure, they want to become the One World Order and unite the world's peoples under Via, but because of their Friend to All Living Things outlook on life, they conquer through evangelism, which obviously takes longer than conquest through force. The good guy faction, presently at war with The Horde. Heavily inspired by the early Roman Empire. It's ruled by...
• The Empress - Pratia Sanjuria Augusta, a descendant of the original founder.
• Equivalent Exchange - Outside birth or germination, Edith cannot be created. Thus, when using their Healing Hands, Clerics must take Edith from other sources. Either themselves, or their Causa.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" - The Philosopher.
• Evil Overlord - Dread Lord Robert
• The Faceless - Reena is never seen outside her Powered Armor, and its visor is reflective.
  • LC-42's face is always concealed under a white hood (the only thing that's ever seen beneath it is empty blackness), resulting in some mistaken assumptions, at least until she starts talking.
  • The only part of Lord Robert's face that's visible are his Red Glowing Eyes of Doom.
• Faceless Goons - Tekgnos Mobile Troopers are more or less completely covered by their Powered Armor. Subverted in that they're actually quite effective, and give the heroes a run for their money during their first few encounters. The Tekgnos still treat them as mere mooks, though.
• Faceless Eye - The Tekgnos emblem◊. For bonus troperiffic points, it's supposed to stand for Derga, their equivalent to the internet.
• Fantastic Racism - The Tekgnos look down upon cyborgs, mutants, clones, and other 'formerly human' or otherwise 'not truly human' sub-species. Citizenship is not available to non-human species, AI's, and artificial humans.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture - Sanjuras' latest development in world-building has shifted them to more closely resemble The Roman Empire, complete with the use of Latin.
• The Federation - The Tekgnos play with this. To citizens, it certainly acts like a federation, and they also believe themselves to be such, but to outsiders... It plays mostly antagonistic roles. At war with the J'bieri Alliance, though its troops are authorized to kill anybody who gets in the way of their objectives, preferably without the victim's government finding out.
• Fiery Redhead - Allein, who also has gold eyes. Her being this also happens to be an Incredibly Lame Pun.
• Fish out of Water - Other than speaking in Sanjuran (implied to be Latin), Allein apparently has no idea about local customs and whatnot. Less than a week after arriving on Paraiso, she has been conned out of money seven times. Small wonder why Karan found her pale and hungry when he did.
• Flat-Earth Atheist - Locke is a very flat example.
• Fluffy the Terrible - Dread Lord Robert, is also known to the author as 'Bob the Lich King'. Somewhat subverted in that in-universe, mundane names like Robert, Calvin, Hobbes, and Locke, are considered exotic, and perhaps, even terrifying to some.
• Four Is Death - Robert's four undead generals. Doesn't get punnier than that. Subverted when it turns out they were originally an evil Five-Man Band. The fifth and his division were destroyed when one of his experiments ate him.
• Gender-Blender Name - Karan is pronounced identically to 'Karen'.
• General Ripper - Marshal Dovian is this and an Enfante Terrible.
• God in Human Form - Allein, complete with a De-power-ing
• The Gods Must Be Lazy - Dexos-Brhan just sleeps and dreams. Maros-Brhan is either literally this, or True Neutral. Two rival schools of thought bicker with each other about which is his true nature as ferociously as Evolution vs. Intelligent Design.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly - The Dependent Gods (see Our Gods Are Different below).
• Go Mad from the Revelation - This is Locke's reason for advising Hermea against attempting to read his mind. Happened to the Seven Wise Men upon receiving an insignificant fraction of Ultimate Knowledge from Maros-Brhan.
• Good Is Not Nice - Hermea has no qualms with killing other people. The only reason she doesn't do so is because it's illegal.
• Good Thing You Can Heal - Hermea has this bad tendency to get mortally wounded and/or horribly maimed whenever Ferreck is anywhere within a hundred feet of her.
• The Grim Reaper - Thanas, God of Death, is Eden's brother, and apparently likes to appear as a younger version of the person he is reaping, albeit with Hellish Pupils.
• The Group - The Conglomerate, which is sort of a UN for mages.
• The Gunslinger - Karan is of the Gun Fu variety, while his Worthy Opponent, Sgt. Kethram, is of the revolver-wielding kind, possessing Improbable Aiming Skills.
• Hammerspace - Dataspace is a combination of this and Cyber Space. The Tekgnos use it to invoke Easy Logistics, but can only be accessed within hotspots similar to WiFi. It is furthermore password protected, firewalled, and protected by professional programmers to keep it from getting hacked. Ferreck has his own personal 'partition', where he keeps his Hyper Space Arsenal.
• Hand Cannon - Karan's "Slug Gun", which in proper firing posture, looks more like a small carbine than a large handgun.
• Healing Factor - A well-known fact about Clerics, especially the high-class ones equipped with Causae, who are capable of getting turned into Swiss Cheese and being completely fine (save Clothing Damage) afterward. Deconstructed by Ferreck, who enjoys the fact that Hermea is capable of living through all the torture he gives her, meaning she can suffer so much more than your average person.
• Healing Hands - The most well-known capability of Sanjuran Clerics.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen - the Seven Wise Men, and the J'bieri Council.
• Holy Hand Grenade - Clerics are also capable of draining Life Energy from other beings, causing anything from weakness to outright death. This is only used in self-defense, though, and killing through the use of Edithurgy is deemed blasphemous and heretical.
• The Horde - Lord Robert's army. Not yet named, and certainly not recognized by the international community. Out to Take Over the World.
• Humans Are Bastards - This is one of the lessons that Allein has been sent down to learn. A specific case are the Tekgnos, who exemplify this. Moreso in their belief that Humanity Is Superior.
• Hyper Space Arsenal - Ferreck Lizer keeps all sorts of weapons in his Dataspace partition, ranging from a beam rapier, to an auto-crossbow that fires barbed bolts, to a BFG, and a Rocket-Propelled Chainsaw Launcher.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming - The title of each volume has the phrase 'Our Paradise' in it.
• I Have Many Names - Some deities are known by multiple epithets, most notably Maros-Brhan and the Philosopher.
• Immortality Inducer - One's base lifespan is increased by a factor of ten for any true follower of Via (a la The Ageless). Can turn the member of a species that is already naturally long-lived into a Time Abyss. Clerics furthermore learn to manipulate Edith into a Healing Factor.
• Immortality Seeker - Hermea seems to be of the opinion that Living Forever Is Awesome.
  Hermea: Well, seven hundred years isn't forever, but it's good enough. I mean, compare it to those poor sods who live for less than seventy.
• Immortal Life Is Cheap - Ask Hermea how often Ferreck tortures her. Go ahead.
• It's Raining Men - The Tekgnos deconstruct this by using their Mob Trooper/ComBorg Drop Pods as aimed projectiles in operations called "High-Impact Deliveries". They basically hit the ground at the speed of a falling meteor, causing craters and collateral damage, and sow fear and confusion, giving the forces inside an edge in doing their job.
• Kill It with Fire - Reena takes the Tekgnos doctrine of going over the top with killing things and applies it to her Powered Armor. Suffice to say, it packs a lot more than enough firepower to take down your average medieval city-state.
• Kill Sat - The Tekgnos are in love with this trope, causing them to set up not one, not two, but three Kill Sat networks. One in orbit of Paraiso, one surrounding the planetary system (Paraiso + moons) and one surrounding the entire star system.
• King of All Cosmos - Dexos-Brhan sleeps forever, and Maros-Brhan is either too lazy to do his job, or just doesn't care. Thus, Agnes Tyamà t is left as the de facto Queen Of All Cosmos.
• Lady of War - LC-42, Dual Wielding court swords with utmost skill and precision.
• LEGO Genetics - Averted, at least with Hermea's condition. At her mother's request, her eyes were genetically altered to become purple when she was still a fetus. She outgrew wangsting over it at a very young age, though.
• The Life Stream - Eden, Goddess of Life, is a Force-like entity whose primary goal is the proliferation of life.
• Light Is Not Good - Lord Robert, who as a Cleric, can use Edithurgy very well.
• Lost Technology - Five thousand years before the story proper, the Sanjurans enclosed all lethal military technology in a fleet of ships which they sunk to the bottom of a lake. The First Imperial Guards secretly get access to these.
• Magic Versus Science - The Tekgnos in general dislike the metaphysical as something arcane and in violation of the laws of the universe, thus leading them to go out and start The Magic Versus Technology War.
• Magic Wand/Power Source - Causae are the Cleric's primary implement, a personal effect (ring, amulet, etc) that utilizes a seed from the Fruits of Life born by Mugen as a key component. They essentially provide surplus Edith to be used by Clerics in their healing.
• Magitek - The Sanjuran tech tree has evolved to use Edith in the place of electricity, their houses and buildings all having gardens that also serve as literal power plants.
• Mana - Chaff, which is basically raw metaphysical power leftover from gods who pass by (the paths they take create Ley Lines), but more generally leftover from the creation of the universe. There are two types of Chaff: Terrestrial Chaff (left-over from the creation of the planets and moons, which emanates from the gods), and Astral Chaff (left-over from the creation of the universe. A far superior version of chaff, as it is emanated by the Dreams, direct conduits of Dexos-Brhan's power). Between Terrestrial Chaff, quality also greatly varies, depending on the class of god that emitted it.
• Meaningful Name - The names of places and some characters are references to Biblical names, Eden, for one, and Paraiso itself. The names of the Powers That Be are meaningful in general. "Dexos" is wordplay on "Deus", and "Brhan" is wordplay "Brahma", the Hindu creator god. Its quality is greatly affected by the level of the god that they sourced from.
  • "Tekgnos Federation" is meant to ensure that the first impression of them is that of a high-tech society.
  • "Agnes" has a double meaning, "Holy", and as a Shout-Out to a fire god known as "Agni".
    • Indeed, Allein's sisters all have names that are Shout Outs to non-English words that somehow relate to the element they represent.
• Mecha-Mooks - Played mostly straight with the Tekgnos ComBorgs, subverted on one occasion to reveal that they can double as Humongous Mecha.
• Missed the Call - Played with. Hermea misses the edict sent out by the Empress due to being tied up in a catfight with Allein for a whole night, and oversleeps. By the time she finds out, a thousand Task Forces have already been chosen, and she ends up having to appeal to get a chance. Not that she actually enjoys the idea, but it's part of her job as a Cleric, and a very timely job offer indeed, since she has yet to find employment elsewhere, and her parents pretty much push her to do it. She eventually decides for herself that the only reason she'll be doing this is because she wants to live to be 700, and Lord Robert succeeding in destroying the source of all life will definitely mess up that plan.
• More Dakka - Reena's Barachiese Automatic Rifle, which is also mixed with a healthy dose of Kill It with Fire. ComBorgs may have up to six Kernott Rotary Cannons mounted on them.
• My God, What Have I Done? - After their latest weapon, Lilith, is placed in the hands of ignorant commanders, it causes casualties to pile up on both sides of the war. This is taken as a sign that they've gone too far and must make up for it, resulting in their Thou Shalt Not Kill policy.
• Nanomachines - Used to justify how the Tekgnos managed to surround the solar system with 156.7 trillion Kill Sats in a hundred years.
• Nigh-Invulnerable - Being made of Pure Energy, Locke isn't particularly scared of anything. Deconstructed when the group starts using him to spring traps. The worst that happens to him is getting annoyed.
• Night of the Living Mooks - The Horde is full of these, commanded by various other varieties of The Undead.
• No Ontological Inertia - The universe is essentially kept running by Dexos-Brhan's dreams. Once He wakes up, the dreams stop, and the universe will simply cease to exist.
• Not in This for Your Revolution - Hermea's motive for going on a quest to recover the Heart isn't because she cares to Save the World. She wants to spend the rest of her goddess-given 700 years (normal is relative) relaxing on a lawn chair and watching the clouds roll by, and she won't be able to do that if the Heart is destroyed.
• Odd Job Gods - The Philosopher doesn't seem to have any purpose outside telling stories to mortals. Subverted in that it's implied that she actually has some sort of ulterior motive for doing so.
• Oh, My Gods! - Hermea tends to use "Mugen's Roots", amongst others...
• One Nation Under Copyright - Despite its name, the Feld Kingdom is actually closer to this than anything else... As a point, their capital is known as Walthein. Not at war with anybody, since that's bad for business, but will not hesitate to sic its Steampunk Humongous Mecha at anybody who dares disrupt their business.
• Only One - Reversed, and then some. Sanjuras sends a grand total of one thousand (and one) task forces, each composed of Fellowship of the Ring-caliber members, to recover the Heart of Paraiso. This is separate from the all-out mobilization of the Empire's 200 Legions and their Auxilliaries.
• Orcus on His Throne - Somewhat justified. Lord Robert has already done the hard work of stealing the Heart of Paraiso. Now all he has to do is figure out how to destroy it, which doesn't really involve going around and doing too much. Besides, he has his four undead generals to do the invading for him.
• Our Gods Are Different - There are two general categories, the Independent or Natural Gods, and the Dependent Gods. The former are 'true' gods, who have infinite power, and don't need prayer badly. The latter are created by human belief, and because they need prayer badly, can never equal even the weakest Natural God in terms of power. The Natural Gods even have an internal differentiation, from Overdeity (the in-universe equivalent to its Author) all the way down to Nameless God (Odd Job Gods (or even Jobless)).
• Pals with Jesus - Allein, though she doesn't really have a choice in the matter. Locke, being an Energy Being with godlike intelligence, technically counts. Also, the Philosopher, who even gets intimate with Varius in the prequel.
• Paraiso Is The Center Of The Universe - Justified, as it was chosen by the goddess of life as a place to settle down. It's implied that it was also chosen at random.
• Playing with Fire - Allein, despite being nerfed, can still create reasonably-sized fireballs, amongst other things.
  • The nomadic Barachies Tribes, descended from the remains of the fallen Alzachs Empire, who in turn were started by House Geldring.
• Potential Applications - Lilith, a form of The Virus developed out of research by genius Cleric Judecca Scryott five thousand years ago, was immediately weaponized by the Sanjuran government and was used against its greatest enemy at the time. As expected of this trope, the whole thing went horribly right.
• Powered Armor - This is so ubiquitous with the Tekgnos that their standard Mooks, the Mobile Troopers, are equipped with them. Reena's Typhon-36 is apparently a custom job.
• Powers That Be - The Divinities, in general, but more specifically, the Three Seated.
• Praetorian Guard - The Praetorian Guard, who are actually Warrior Monks.
• Precursors - The Alzachs Empire, which was, ironically, preceded and outlived by Sanjuras. Sanjuras itself would count, if it didn't still exist.
• Proud Scholar Race - The Tekgnos. "Knowledge is Power" indeed. Also a Higher-Tech Species, despite being the youngest of the four superpowers.
• Psycho Lesbian - Reena.
• Really 700 Years Old - Allein claims to have been around for several thousand. Apparently, she spent them somewhere else, considering she knows next to nothing about any Paraisan culture. By extension, the Philosopher, and any other recurring divinity. Hermea wants to live long enough to boast of being this.
• Recycled In Space - Hermea is essentially a Gender Flip Kyon In a Medieval European Fantasy.
• Red Baron - The divinities have many badass nicknames... except for Allein, who is stuck with the not-quite-flattering title of "Least Dragon Goddess".
  • Reena "The Wildfire" Adverse.
  • Hollis "Pinball" Kethram
• Red Eyes, Take Warning - Janace and Marshal Dovian. Lord Robert takes it a step further with Red Glowing Eyes of Doom.
• Samus Is a Girl - See The Faceless example above.
• Sand Worm - The Vragarian Sand Worm, which is actually a giant subterranean legless lizard that feeds on sand plankton (and whatever happens to be standing on it at the time). Another one, with giant forelegs and highly-corrosive acid used for tunneling, is the aptly-named That Which Resides Beneath, the avatar of the Goddess of Earth (it would more accurately be called a Sand Dragon.
• Schizo Tech - Revolvers, laser guns, BFS's, bows and arrows, flintlock pistols... the list goes on.
• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale - Defied by the author, who did some serious number crunching to figure out just how many Kill Sats with a certain firing range would it take to surround a solar system at a radius of 50000 AU without leaving any blindspots.
• Shout-Out - Allein starts fires by snapping her fingers.
  • Reena Adverse is notorious for blowing lots of things up with fire-based attacks, her first name can easily be mistaken for a case of Spell My Name With An S, and her last name is more or less a bastardization of "Inverse".
    • She also uses a BFG called a Barachies Automatic Rifle, which shortens to BAR.
  • Many high-ranking officials in the Tekgnos Federation have names that are anagrams of prominent Sci-Fi writers. The names are usually relevant to their fields. Marshal Qrent Movisa, for example, heads the Humongous Mecha Mook division, while Marshal Rico Heilenin is in charge of designing and developing Powered Armor. Also, other Tekgnos leaders are references to the Great Houses of BattleTech, Marshal Dovian being the most prominent example.
• Similar Squad - No. 928 Special Operations Unit's members have abilities that mirror or otherwise contrast with the skills of the members of the 1001st. Would have been a case of Psycho Rangers, if it weren't for the fact that the Tekgnos didn't have a choice since all of their better candidates were off on a preemptive invasion.
• Space Marine - The Mobile Troopers, who enter combat via drop pod.
• Squad Nickname - Each of the first 23 task forces of the Thousand Hands gets one, one for each letter of the Sanjuran alphabet. Thus the 1st Task Force is known as "Adamus", the 16th "Qurinus", etc.
• Squishy Wizard - Played with to varying degrees.
  • Sanjuran Clerics subvert this. They look like the traditional Squishy Wizard, but because of their ridiculous Healing Factor, it's going to take completely crushing them, at the very least, to kill one. Probably the reason why the Clergy never developed barrier spells.
  • The J'bieri magician caste averts this, hailing from a species that has evolved to naturally being Made of Iron, as their brand of magic requires a powerful physique to control.
  • Feldian Armsmiths use magic that makes them more effective in the forge, such as strength and durability buffs. That they also go into battle wearing magically hardened Steampunk Powered Armor also helps defy this.
  • Tekgnos Logisticians, the closest thing to wizards, are soldiers, and thus naturally tough. Not as tough as the others, but when somebody like Ferreck pulls a Data Eradicator Cannon out of Dataspace, you tend to not ask questions.
• Steampunk - The Feld Kingdom is presently at this level.
• Sufficiently Advanced Alien - The Tekgnos believe that this is what Maros-Brhan is. Locke believes that these are what the gods are at best.
• Technopath - If it's a sufficiently advanced machine, Locke can possess it.
• Telepathy - Clerics are capable of 'Tapping' into the minds of any living creature through Eden. This allows them to read minds and engage in telepathic conversation. This skill is Hermea's forte.
• Theme Naming - Allein's sisters all have names that start with A and have something to do with their respective cosmic responsibilities. Allein is an Odd Name Out. And naturally, being sisters, this extends to them having the same initials A.T.. The Tekgnos also seem to use Greek names for various things.
  • Hobbes, Locke, and Calvin. It should be noted that it was Locke who gave Calvin her name, and thus isn't so much a philosopher as a cat with a philosopher's name.
  • The first names of No. 928 Unit's members all have a double letter. Hollis, Ferreck, Deeds, and Reena. Breaking that down further, the males' double letters are consonants, and the females' are vowels (or just e).
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill - The Tekgnos treat each target as Serious Business, and will send anywhere from a hundred to a thousand troops armed with Powered Armor, tanks, gunships, and Humongous Mecha, furthermore supported by airstrikes, Kill Sats, and a Standard Sci-Fi Fleet, to attack a small, isolated city-state with nothing better than middle age technology. If they don't feel the need to preserve the land and its natural resources, or if they feel that intelligence has provided insufficient information, they'll just Nuke 'em from orbit. Twice. They don't take any chances. This would usually be considered as wasteful of resources (some would say vain), but then again, they are pretty savvy and probably do this to ensure they don't end up with Rock Beats Laser.
• Tin Tyrant - Lord Robert, and General Adellis.
• Town with a Dark Secret - Lampshaded in conjunction with Contrived Coincidence.
  Hermea: It seems like every small town we've been to outside of Sanjuras turns out to be the home or napping place of an ancient, terrifying, incomprehensible-
  Locke and Allein: Ahem.
  Hermea: Sorry. Only mostly incomprehensible entity from beyond time and space, which then gets obliterated by a Tekgnos space laser less than two days after we arrive.
  Hobbes: Perhaps it is an article of fate that we have such patterned encounters.
  Hermea: More like an article from a badly written story...
• Trickster God - Astmahn Tyamà t, one of Allein's sisters, who takes up so many different avatars that her worshipers are in constant argument over what her canonical appearance should be. Goddess of the air.
• Two Lines, No Waiting - The Philosopher-Varius interactions in between chapters/episodes. The author specifically decided to write Birds of Our Paradise so that the two of them could get some Character Focus and Character Development.
• Useless Useful Spell - Despite being an expert at Tapping, Hermea can't use it on her group, as Karan and Hobbes have such willpower to block mind readers, and probing Allein or Locke's heads will melt her mind.
• Warrior Monk - The Praetorian Guard is of the western variety, while Hobbes and his people are of the eastern variety.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist - Allein seems to think that mortals are the nicest thing to come around since toilet paper.
• Who Wants to Live Forever? - Apparently, the world sucks enough that the only person who ever chose to live forever considered it a Heroic Sacrifice to warn everybody else how forever sucks.
• Winds of Destiny, Change! - The Great Goddess Niorne.
• Word Salad Title - The author more or less invoked this, considering its Animesque style. Our Paradise Lost is basically Paradise Lost with 'Our', an apparently random word pulled out of a dictionary, tacked on the front, and doesn't really mean anything.
• The World Tree - Mugen, the Tree of Life, towers over mountains, is visible from hundreds of miles away, and bears fruit every eight years, which are used as critical components of Castra. Beneath its canopy lies the Garden, a self-sustaining ecology, and an area where the soil is rendered supernaturally fertile.
• Writer on Board - If you wonder why the Mobile Troopers suffer far less casualties than the ComBorgs when fighting against the heroes despite being inferior, it's because Essex is biased in favor of Powered Armor and against Humongous Mecha. He also despises Rock Beats Laser.
• Wrong Genre Savvy - Sanjuran literature apparently has tropes that differ from our own. Hermea is consequently of the opinion that they're doomed to failure.]

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