Literature / Les Chimères de Mirinar

Only a small portion of the Badass Normal main cast.

Les Chimères de Mirinar (Chimaeras of Mirinar) is a French serial of dark fantasy, deconstructing most of fantasy figures into an action adventure packaged with violent psychology and political reflection.

The story focuses on the vain and parallel evolution of two childhood friends, Elsy the mercenary and Elodianne the magician. These two women have great ambition and divergent philosophies.

The first novel, Teliam Vore, also recalls the recent past of the country, with a mutant epidemic restricted by three brave officers, Orcreste Damnis, Corbes Salven and Teliam Vore. The first became ruler of the country, the second a provincial governor, and the third a crazy guy. The sad destiny of Teliam Vore is primordial to the main plot, as he will come back with inhuman and sinister features and lead a magical terrorist squad against the government. Elsy and her mercenary agency are led to a suicide mission against these renegades.

The second novel, Les reflets du temps (Reflections of time), focus on the mirror-worlds (magical Mind Screw pocket universes) and the distant past and future. Chapters are more independent and there is not recurrent bad guys (or Big Bad) at the time being.

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Les Chimères de Mirinar provides examples of:

• Alien Sky: In some of Elodianne's visions. Also in the religious paintings.
• All Deserts Have Cacti: Averted. In the garrigue and in the Lazirac region, no cactus is even mentioned.
• Ambition Is Evil: Subverted? Elsy's ambitions are ambiguously portrayed.
• Amplifier Artifact: Any object made of black amber.
• Arc Words: "A l'ombre d'un long titan hurle Vore le grand" ("In a long titan's surroundings, Vore the Great is screaming").
• Attention Whore: Elsy loves to be really recognizable.
• Ax-Crazy: Noelien during the ending.
• Backstory: A lot. Almost every single character seems to have an entire biography on his own behind the stage. Even some extras.
• Baddie Flattery: Eldee.
• Battle Amongst the Flames: The final battle against Teliam Vore.
• Battle Discretion Shot: Only one in the first novel: the great battle with hundreds of magicians, warrior monks and soldiers against a lot of Blasphemies led by Teliam Vore himself. The novel only shows us the aftermath. May be part of the Deconstruction approach.
• Beginner's Luck: Elsy is a young woman with practically only street fighting experience. You may think someone could know better than send her against powerful magicians and Eldritch Abominations.
• Betty and Veronica: Subverted. The Vorians' "love triangle" is merely a delusion born of boring times and hermit's life. But vaguely, Laudane is Betty and Amaranthe is Veronica.
• Body Horror: When Eldritch Abominations want to play... Squick ensues.
• Bonus Material: A lot of drawings and some encyclopaedic articles can only be found on the website.
• Break the Badass: The mighty Ohya has his ass kicked during the first apparition of the Blasphemies in the novel. Also, a lot of battles do this to the characters.
• Catchphrase: "My ass is bigger than yours!" (Whatever that sentence means.)
• The Chains of Commanding: Damnis and Salven.
• Character Development: Elsy begins the first novel as an ambitious (occasionally) murdering mercenary and becomes a cold-hearted assassin with no consideration for most of human lives before the end of the story. Elodianne seems to be adult and responsible but progressively becomes irritated and pessimistic. Noelien seems to be a smiling nerd in the first place, but becomes more and more hateful and bashing with the time. Eldee has a lot of trust and dreams, forgetting the horror of his own actions, but he realizes this is not a game... the hard way.
• Character Focus: Chapter 7 of the first novel is mainly Ohya-centered. Also, the Aurterre arc gives us generous amounts of Salven's viewpoint.
• Clarke's Third Law: In some ways. Mirinar magic seems to be the precise utilization of scientific laws of the Verse, follows rigid laws, and has a lot of research teams and public application.
• Collapsing Lair: Man, Camaieu Castle IS destroyed by the final.
• Comforting Comforter: Basilien (or his mother) drapes a blanket around Ohya when he falls asleep in the Orlinde house.
• Common Sense: Frequently Basilien.
• Conspicuous Consumption: The Central Palace decoration is very wealthy. Absurdly wealthy, since a wood usually used as money is used here for the walls and statues.
• Contemplative Boss: Salven during his first appearance, talking to fanatical priests without facing them.
• Cool Chair: Prime's throne. And he has a lot of thrones.
• Costume Porn: Prime's armor and clothes — he has a lot of described costumes. Also, Teliam Vore's sadomasochist/biomechanical/destroy suit, and some of the religious clothes.
• Cow Tools: In Camaieu Castle, the Vorians have a lot of strange machines and items.
• Crazy Enough to Work: Both Vorian and suicide mission plans.
• Cry for the Devil: The Vorian flashback, which allows us to see Noelien, Eldee and the twin sisters in their sad childhood and teenage years.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: Prime Church.
• Dark and Troubled Past: All of the Vorians and of the War Masters.
• Dark Is Evil: Well, Blasphemies ARE black organisms.
• Desolation Shot: Also in Elodianne's visions.
• Dirt Forcefield: Strongly averted. The main characters always end covered in awful substances, and Elsy, the heroine, is sometimes covered in vomit.
• Dumb Muscle: Ohya pretends to be not very smart.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Scum, Blasphemies, Teliam Vore himself.
• Empathic Environment: Played straight and very literaly with the mirror-worlds.
• Expressive Mask: Teliam Vore's face.
• Final Boss Preview: Apparently played straight: Teliam Vore shows up in Central Palace and kills lots of soldiers. Definitely subverted when one of the Vorians reveals he was gravely hurt and nearly broken, but with all witnesses of his state killed.
• Floating Advice Reminder: Played... strange. Elsy has black clouds in her head in one chapter and a Blasphemy tentacle hits it. Figuratively.
• Functional Magic: Mirinar magic works precisely.
• The Future Is Noir: In Damnis's thoughts. He imagines entire civilizations with cadaveric citizens (Teliam Vore-alikes) and mobile Blasphemies-cities.
• Genre-Busting:
  • Urban western inquiry horror adventure fantasy?
  • More like some Lovecraftian action-packed thriller.
• Gorn: Sometimes.
• Gory Discretion Shot: A lot.
• Happily Married: Hussert.
• Hidden Depths: Ohya. He seems to be able to speak Ark State language correctly, and beside, is revealed to be more introspective than most characters. Also the Vorians.
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Literally. Basilien, a strictly non-magician kind of guy, finds a greatly magical artifact... and hides it For the Lulz. Also, black amber is an unknown thing for almost all magicians in the Ark State.
• Incredibly Obvious Bug: If you think Asparences are a mere detail... Think again.
• In the Hood: Teliam Vore in his chapter 9 apparition.
• Involuntary Shapeshifting: The Blasphemies are in permanent and mostly uncontrolled transformation. The fact they don't have anything similar to a will doesn't help.
• It's Going Down: Camaieu Castle.
• Joke Character: Manoha.
• Kid-Appeal Character: Francisque. He even has blond hair.
• Lampshade Hanging: Many. Part of the Deconstruction approach.
• Lie Detector: Orienteurs can do this without a machine.
• Lost Technology: Blue crystal and black amber. It seems that in long lost times magicians knew what they were, but the knowledge was nearly totally lost.
• Love Interests: Laudane is clearly Eldee's love interest.
• Lust Object: Her sister, Amaranthe, is clearly Eldee's lust object. Also, Basilien thinks about Elsy frequently.
• Magi Babble: Mostly in magician dialogues, indeed.
• Magically-Binding Contract: Sort of. The Olgueron is more of a very complex curse/Mind Screw.
• Magic A Is Magic A: We don't know all of the laws regarding Mirinar magic, but already a lot, clearly in an attempt to make it at least look logical.
• Magic from Technology: Maybe. A popular theory is that Mirinar Arks are part of an ancient and futuristic structure carrying some psionic energy. Hell, Jesus himself could be in the Arks — we already saw divine Light, an exploding giant cyborg creature and The Virus going out of these things. Maybe the Arks are totally made of Narrativium?
• Magic Music: Some Vorian artifacts can sing.

• Misapplied Phlebotinum: Subverted. The government doesn't know how to use the mirror-worlds, but the terrorists are way more informed.
• Mooks: Totally averted in the first book, there is only the main terrorists commanding a lot of giant slave monsters.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The Vorians in their teen years. They tried to bring a pedophile to justice. They failed, one of them died. They were arrested and punished.
• One-Winged Angel: Played really straight, Teliam Vore appears like a dark and gray creature with only one giant wing... But both averted and subverted because he's not what he seems to be.
• Only in It for the Money: Elsy. To be fair, she also is in some missions for glory.
• Perfect Health: Inverted. Most of characters frequently got colds, hangovers, or even worse.
• Perpetual Smiler: Ohya.
• Phlebotinum Breakdown: Blasphemies are SUCH unstable and dangerous things.
• Portal Pool: The magical mirror/black pool in the Mirinèce sewers.
• Post-Historical Trauma: Damnis, Vore and Salven.
• Power Gives You Wings: Subverted. Teliam Vore's unique wing doesn't give him any special ability. Also, the wing is spectacularly bulky and almost useless.
• Power Dyes Your Hair: Subverted. Teliam Vore's hair is black, but he dyes it blue and green with dye. Later, after an unholy metamorphosis turning him into some kind of powerful golem/zombie/alien creature, his hair is of natural color again.
• Power Echoes: Literally, with the twin sisters and aquilonian magicians.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: You really don't want to know how the Blasphemies are made.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Noelien in the first novel final.
• Psycho Supporter: Manoha.
• Put on a Bus: Allibert. All of the Aurterre arc in the first novel.
• Rebel Relaxation: Elsy is relaxed like this in this illustration.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Inverted with Elsy and Elodianne (the redhead is the quiet one, the white-haired the raging tempest). Played straight, but without physical divergences, with Laudane and Amaranthe.
• Restraining Bolt: Loulou is a special Blasphemy with a lot of mechanical and chemical stuff preventing it from becoming dangerous to its creators.
• Rule of Empathy: Governmental personalities and bad guys are more prone to be sympathetic than the main character. It may be part of the Deconstruction approach.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Manoha.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Loffrieu (the "evil" Teliam Vore). Certainly mirror-worlds too, since something seems to think and watch from there.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Elsy. Kind of subverted since Elsy seems aware of her complicated and aristocratic way of talking.
• Shipper on Deck: Hussert is shipping Arlard and Elodianne.
• Shout-Out: Melville. Probably China Miéville, God of War and Final Fantasy too.
• Smarter Than You Look: Basilien, Ohya.
• Smart People Play Chess: Elsy and Opaline in the second novel.
• Smoking Is Cool: Elsy and a lot of other characters.
• Status Quo Is God: Averted. The first missions of Elsy Agency seem to be without any consequences, but by the end of the first novel, the reader knows better (two words: Lene Daravic).
• Story Arc: In each Mirinar novel, a huge portion of the chapters have their own atmosphere and subplot. But there are always large story arcs. And larger story arcs. Some metaplot too.
• Storyboard Body: Elsy, Ohya.
• Stout Strength: Basilien, Leostin.
• Survival Mantra: "Seul ce qui reste compte" ("Only what's left counts").
• Take Our Word for It: We never get to know how exactly the Teliam Vore golem is working. But it doesn't seem nice. It REALLY doesn't seem nice. Yeark.
• Tattooed Crook: Elsy.
• Technicolor Death: The two most-talented Vorians, Amaranthe and Laudane, have especially flashy deaths. The first explodes in a thousand shades of glasses due to an extrapolation of some mirror magic laws, and the second uses dark Applied Phlebotinum for a kamikaze attack. Doesn't end well.
• Techno Babble: What the hell is going on with all these mirror-worlds rules?
• There Are No Coincidences: Subverted early. In the second chapter of the first novel, [[there is immediately a great coincidence with Lene Daravic]].
• Toxic Phlebotinum: Mirinar magic corrupts the bodies of all magicians, turning them slowly into ill, pimply, purulent, blind people.
• Tragic Dream: All of the Vorians.
• Trouble Follows You Home: TWO TIMES. After the Aurterrian mission, Elsy and Basilien go home, only to see Eldritch Horrors everywhere. Later, after the messy and traumatizing final battle against the Teliam Vore golem and all of the Vorians, Elsy & Co. go home, only to see that there are important riots in West Mirinèce. From Bad to Worse.
• Unlucky Childhood Friend: Basilien never gets Elsy.
• Unobtainium: Blue crystal and black amber. Both seem to be magic incredibly concentrated, and can make some strange things work. Like using magic in a mirror-world.
• Upgrade Artifact: Played straight. Elsy, Basilien, Elodianne, Noelien, Eldee, Laudane all get one of them. Respectively [[spoiler:a good and precious blade, a black amber knife, a black amber belt, a Blasphemy-decoy artifact, and murderous lightning black amber sharpened blade. Maybe inverted with Basilien's knife, which is in no way useful to him.
• Victory Is Boring: Damnis de Mirinece really doesn't like his current work as leader of the country. In his solitary chapter, he is tempted to screw responsibilities and to go to adventure. Also, Salven, seeing all the ridiculous propaganda, now understands how foolish he was to wish for glory.
• Villain Corner: Salven and Alken in the second novel.
• Villainous Breakdown: Noelien.
• Villain Decay: The Blasphemies. By the end of the story, they become clearly secondary. And Teliam Vore and the Vorians, since they were Deconstruction to begin with.
• Villainy Discretion Shot: During the first novel, most of the terrorists' attacks are not described. It is implied that the Vorians murdered hundreds of people using the Blasphemies.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: The Vorians. Elsy and Basilien. Elsy and Elodianne. Elsy and… every friend she ever made?
• Vomit Discretion Shot: A lot.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Sometimes.
• Weapon-Based Characterization: Elsy, who was some kind of gangster and street fighter before the first novel, fights with a knuckle duster. Basilien, same kind of past, mainly uses knives. Teliam Vore, when he comes back, has the Vore Helix, a baroque and giant weapon with two blades and a lot of pikes. The list just goes on.
• Weapon of Mass Destruction: All of the Blasphemies are used for destructive terrorist attacks.
• We Have Forgotten the Phlebotinum: Elsy realizes, way too late during her suicide mission, how much matierist magicians could have been useful against opponents who spectacularly alter the environment all the time.
• Obliquely Obfuscated Occupation: Maître Serpolet. He works for the government, that’s for sure. He isn’t some political figure, that’s something too. He isn’t from intelligence either. So… why does he always give Elsy and Elodianne their special missions, why is he called "Maître" ("Master", an official title in France for certain judicial jobs, for a high rank in the military, and for university degrees), and why is he so mysterious and sometimes sarcastic?
• What the Hell, Hero? – Very quickly in the first chapter of the first novel. Elsy commits murder. Also, in the novel final, Pasquin wants her to stop her bloody rampage of terrified antagonists.
• Wildcard: Manoha.
• With Friends Like These...: Most of the Vorians. Especially, Noelien doesn’t seem to be so appreciated by his friends, and he doesn’t like them a lot, either.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Teliam Vore grows as one of the most powerful magicians in history, distinguishes himself in a war without comparison against an epidemic of abominable creatures... and finally turns batshit insane. Also, Noelien and Laudane during their final battles.
• The Worf Effect: Ohya and Manoha, mainly. The Atepehian people are so strong and resistant, they make excellent Worfs.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Sort of. The Vorians are all huge fanboys of pulp fiction, so they could have guessed their precise role in the main story – the bad guys who get a tragic fate.
• Wrong Turn at Albuquerque: In the third chapter of the first novel, Elsy and Basilien get horribly lost in a Scum forest. Traumatic chase ensues.
• Younger Than They Look: Teliam Vore when he comes back. Cause unknown. Maybe the Olgueron process or some Vorian experiment.
• Zero-Approval Gambit: Eldee tries to think he is doing this. That’s delusional, and by the end of the first novel, following his capitulation, he has a violent epiphany: he’s nothing more than a mass murderer.

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