History Literature / TheLordsOfCreation

* SmellsSexy: Tessa as a Venusian native has a better sense of smell then erath humans and can scent that human explorer Marc Vitrac is attracted to her, and is puzzled [[ObliviousToLove why he can't scent the same about her]].

%%* LostWorld: The ''entire planet'' of Venus.
%%* TheMole: [[spoiler:Christopher Blair]].

* CasualInterplanetaryTravel: {{Averted}}; Space travel and colonization is so expensive only the superpowers can afford it, using up the resources [[AlternateHistory that would otherwise be spent on the East/West arms race or Third World conflict.]]
** The fact that Mars has BioTech that can be used in trade goes a long way in justifying this trope.

* HumansAreWhite: Averted; the Americans are ethnically diverse and so are the Eastern Bloc representatives. Neither of the human protagonists is white.

* PlanetaryRomance: {{Justified}} as the douology, and one short story, use real science to justify the tropes. There admittedly need to be AlienSpaceBats to do it but pretty much all the genre tropes how up here.
** The Moon doesn't seem to be inhabited, nor Mercury or the larger local gas giant moons.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: {{Justified}},] The combination of low gravity and higher oxygen pressure on Venus allows insects to grow to the size of Chihuahuas.

* LostWorld: The ''entire planet'' of Venus.
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Christopher Blair]].

* ProportionatelyPonderousParasites: The native, well transplanted from earth but that was millions of years ago, megafauna such as dinosaurs are shown to have the equivalents of lice the size of crayfish; you do NOT want to get one on you.

* HumanChess: ''Atanj'', the Martian version, see above.

* OnceGreenMars: PlayedWith, as are so many tropes. There used to be much more ecological diversity on Mars, but the Lords of Creation failed to check-in and it slowly became the desert that it is now.
** A lot of the brown color comes from the grass which is one of the reasons for the main reasons for the continued breathable atmosphere. It's a bedrock for the planet's entire ecology.

* {{Swashbuckler}}: Mars has quite a few of these, see below.

* VerticalKidnapping: [[OhCrap "'''FERAL ENGINES!'''"]]

* OurBetterIsDifferent: For Martians people strive to achieve Harmony, which is where everyone is subservient and answerable to the authority of the Crimson Throne and there is no banditry or wastefulness.
** This is hard for the Western block humans to wrap their heads around but easier for Eastern block humans.
* PositionOfLiteralPower: {{Justified}} as the leaders of non-earth planets have their authority typed to ancient machinery that recognizes them as on-site administrators to the systems.

* RoyalBlood: {{Justified}} by the Invisible Crown and the Ruby Throne, which scan your DNA and ''kill'' you if you don't have the Tollamune genome. Given that the instrumentalities of both are vital to keeping Mars viable in the long term, the Tollamunes themselves have come to regret the system.
** Venus has a similar if more diffuse system.

* SpareToTheThrone: {{Justified}} Mars DecadentCourt politics is such that courtiers want the stagnation to continue over a new and vital monarch, additionally as the Genome must be kept "pure" any possible half-bloods are usually aborted. Also having an heir before your a hundred is seen as being unconfident of your position.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Lampshaded and played straight with earthling protagonist Jeremy Wainman, who's already had several weird experiences before he came to mars, which makes him more than qualified.

* DeterminedWidow: Sally Yamashita was sent to mars with her husband, a fairly standard arrangement with Jeremy being one of the few exceptions. She's built herself into being the main go-between for American interests and the main martian culture and Jeremy is getting a crash course from her before he can be let off the reservation before the plot hits them.

* DarkSkinnedBlonde: Teesa and the rest of the Cloud Mountain People have olive skin and light blonde hair. The Venusians of Kartahown and its surroundings are mostly dark-haired, but some are either this or DarkSkinnedRedhead.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: Oh yes, the StockDinosaurs have survived and differentiated into much larger species thanks to the low gravity and high oxygen.

* StockDinosaurs: The species that flourished on Venus happen to be all the popular ones, like triceratops.

A series of AlternateHistory science fiction novels by Creator/SMStirling, consisting thus far of ''The Sky People'' and ''In The Courts of the Crimson Kings''. A {{Reconstruction}} of classic PlanetaryRomance novels and tropes for the modern audience, the novels explore a world built around a simple concept: what if Mars and Venus really were approximately like we envisioned them before all that boring reality got in the way?

[[folder: Series]]

[[folder: The Sky People]]

[[folder: In The Courts of the Crimson Kings]]

[[folder: Swords of Zar-Tu-Kan]]

* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: UpToEleven in Martian Demotic where it is SeriousBusiness; the Eastern-bloc ambassador nearly suffers a ''on-the-spot'' execution when he refers to their "fraternal aid" to the Martian Emperor, implying a blood relationship where none exists.

* SequelGap: The prequel ''Swords of Zar-Tu-Kan'' wasn't released until six years later in the Old Mars anthology.

* GenderIsNoObject: {{Enforced}}, not only are Martians less sexually dimorphic then terrans, female Martians can choose whether or not to implant an embryo.

* HiddenBackupPrince: [[spoiler:Teyud]] and they resent it, it's actually part of character development that they don't drop everything and try to claim the Crimson Throne when the chance presents itself.

* LanguageEqualsThought: {{Discussed}} The Martians don't have separate words for "pirate" and "police officer" or "ruler" and "tyrant". They all fall under the broad heading of '''coercives''' which anyone can employ ''fun''.

* ModernStasis: The Martians were never really stagnant but they had the tools of civilization handed to them and havn't done much with them since. While the specific reasons are portrayed as realistically complex again the fact remains they've reached the point where they don't know what they've forgotten.

* SpareToTheThrone: {{Enforced}} Mars court politics is such that courtiers want the stagnation to continue over a new and vital monarch, additionally as the Genome must be kept "pure" any possible half-bloods are usually aborted. Also having an heir before your a hundred is seen as being unconfident of your position.
** Teyud's mother went through hell and high water to ensure she was born.

* VestigialEmpire: The Tollamune emperors once ruled all of Mars. By the time of the story they are reduced to ruling the territory around their capital at Olympus Mons, where all the old court officials and functionaries continue, though largely without actual functions, which they quite like thank you very much.

[[folder: In The Courts of the Crimson Kings]]

In February 2022, Stirling announced that he would finally write a third book in the series.

* SequelGap: The first two books were released within two years of each other but the third was not announced until early 2022, fourteen years later.

* SequelGap: the first two books were released within two years of each other but the third was not announced until early 2022, fourteen years later.

* ProportionatelyPonderousParasites: The Native, well transplanted from earth but that was millions of years ago, are shown to have the equivalents of lice the size of crayfish; you do NOT want to get one on you.

* StonePunk: Venus's Hat, being transplanted into a plant full of giant man-eating monsters can't do much for technological development.

* AliensNeverInventedDemocracy: Downplayed as the "aliens" are all human transplants, but earth is the only planet with any form of democracy. Mars has a centuries old stagnant monarchy and Venus is just clawing its way out of tribalism.
* AlternateHistory: Explored in the chapter breaks. People have suspected that Mars and Venus were inhabited for centuries, but the dawn of space travel gave them proof. The political situation on Earth is less volatile after life is discovered on the other planets, but the Cold War has been exported to Venus and Mars.
* AmazonianBeauty: Both the female protagonists.

* PlanetaryRomance:

*** A moment where someone says, "Resistance is futile," and one of his hearers grumbles, "Now he's quoting from a ''New Frontier'' episode...."

* {{Swashbuckler}}: Mars has quite a few of these

* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: UpToEleven in Martian Demotic. A human Eastern-bloc ambassador nearly suffers a nasty fate when he refers to their "fraternal aid" to the Martian Emperor, implying a blood relationship where none exists.

*** At one point a character notes "Hey, that's a stereotype. [[Franchise/StarTrek Like the unemotional half-Martian Science Officer on the Federation Starship ''New Frontier''..." This is also a DevelopmentGag, as Spock was almost a Martian. The green makeup tested better on Nimoy than the red.

** Martians have their wounds close up so fast they might as well be [[Franchise/{{Dune}} Fremen]]

* PlanetaryRomance: ''Lots''. The whole series is basically an attempt to [[JustifiedTrope Justify]] the genre with some real science.

* ShoutOut: ''Tons''. Mostly to Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs, but several to other sources.
** Teesa's dead former mate, [[Literature/EarthsChildren Jondlar]].
** The zeppelin ''Vepaja'' is named after the major friendly nation on Burroughs' Venus.

** Christopher Blair. ''Videogame/WingCommander'' Christopher Blair no less.
** RodentsOfUnusualSize are found in the caverns under Olympus. Mind you, the "unusual" size is ''small''. The issue is that there [[TheSwarm thousands of them]].
** A ''[[UpToEleven Scream Out]]'': "Hey, that's a stereotype. [[Franchise/StarTrek Like the unemotional half-Martian Science Officer on the Federation Starship]] ''[[Franchise/StarTrek New Frontier]]''..."
*** Even in our world, Spock was almost a Martian. The green makeup tested better on Nimoy than the red.
*** There's also a moment where someone says, "Resistance is futile," and one of his hearers grumbles, "Now he's quoting from a ''New Frontier'' episode...."
** The title "In The Court of the Crimson Kings" is a shout-out to the band Music/KingCrimson, and their album ''[[Music/InTheCourtOfTheCrimsonKing In the Court of the Crimson King]]''

* Swashbuckler: Mars has quite a few of these

* CasualInterplanetaryTravel: {{Averted}}; Space travel and colonisation is so expensive only the superpowers can afford it, using up the resources [[AlternateHistory that would otherwise be spent on the East/West arms race or Third World conflict.]]

* AllAnimalsAreDomesticated: DoubleSubverted The others are not happy about Marc Vitrac raising a great wolf pup as a pet, thinking it will turn on him when it grows up. However Marc is well aware of the history of domestication and has owned dogs before and knows how to break one to bridle.

** [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] InUniverse when an actual palaeontologist examines some fossils (and the surrounding rock) and realizes that what she's seeing isn't possible.
* [[strike:Bamboo]] [[BambooTechnology Shamboo Technology]]: Space travel is EXPENSIVE, which means the Venusian colonists have to make do with bronze age materials for their equipment wherever they can.

* ArchaeologicalArmsRace: This trope is name-dropped when discussing the United States renewed interest in the architectural ruins of mars.

* DecadentCourt: The City That Is A Mountain is ''made'' of this trope.
* DesertPlanet: PlayedWith, as Mars is much colder and drier than Earth but the people have adapted to it and there are several varieties of cold and dry.

* DomesticatedDinosaurs: Some were turned into hunting dog equivalents.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin / NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Two pirate vessels in ''Crimson Kings'' are called "Robbery With Armed Violence" and "Insensately Vicious Plunderer".

* GenderIsNoObject: {{Enforced}}, not only are Martians less sexually dimorphic then terrans female Martians can choose whether or not to implant an embryo.

* HiddenBackupPrince: [[spoiler:Teyud]] and they resent it, its actually part of character development that they don't drop everything and try to claim the Crimson Throne when the chance presents itself.

* HumansAreWhite: Averted; the Americans are ethnically diverse and so are the Eastern Bloc representatives. Neither of the human protagonists are white.

* IndoEuropeanAlienLanguage: {{Justified}} as the humans living on venus and mars have had their language evolve and change over time.

* NoBiochemicalBarriers: {{Justified}} as all flora and fauna, micro and macro, is ultimately Earth derived, still there is parallel evolution so unique diseases and allergies do show up.

** The convention scene in the opening chapter of "Courts of the Crimson Kings" which features just about every significant science-fiction author of the time.

** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Lords of Creation]] seeded Venus with Earthly lifeforms two hundred million years ago, and have been coming back and adding new batches of Earthly life roughly every two million years since then, including human specimens only a few thousand years ago; with no mass extinction on Venus, dinosaurs coexist semi-peacefully with critters from every era since. The harsher Martian climate, coupled with extensive bioengineering, averts this.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: [[JustifiedTrope Justified,]] The combination of lower gravity and higher oxygen pressure on Venus allows insects to grow to the size of Chihuahuas.

* JungleOpera: The entirety of the Venus book is a send up to this genre as it is others.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Lampshaded and played straight in ''The Courts of the Crimson Kings'' with earthling protagonist Jeremy Wainman.
* AllAnimalsAreDomesticated: Deconstructed with Martian fauna where the GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke means that the surviving animals on the DeathWorld are more dangerous then they would be otherwise. Standout examples are feral engines and toolusing dinosaurs that are descended from hunting dogs.
* ArchaeologicalArmsRace: This trope is name dropped when discussing the United States interest in the architectural ruins of mars.

* BiotechIsBetter: {{Discussed}}, given how resource poor Mars is, Biotechnology is an adequate solution and they've achieved things that Earth humans are only now learning from. Sill, it was Earthlings that developed space travel and showed up on the '''Martian''' doorstep.

* GenderIsNoObject: {{Enforced}}, not only are Martions less sexually dimorphic then terrans female Martians can choose whether or not to implant an embryo.

* MarsWantsChocolate: {{Inverted}}; Martian spices are one of the reasons NASA still has funding for their missions. PlayedStraight in that chocolate is still appreciated.
* OnceGreenMars: PlayedWith, as are so many tropes. There used to be much more ecological diversity on Mars, but the Lords of Creation failed to check in and it slowly became the desert that it is now.
** A lot of the brown color comes from the grass that is one of the reasons for the main reasons for the continued breathable atmosphere. It's a bedrock for the planet's entire ecology.
* OrganicTechnology: Deconstructed. Martians rely on this, in the absence of major metal and fossil fuel resources. Almost all technology more complicated than a sword is biological, to a very high level, with living guns (recharging after firing takes time, which is [[ArchaicWeaponForAnAdvancedAge why swords are not obsolete]]), living engines to supplement the sailpower of desert-crossing wheeled ships, rugs that crawl onto your feet to warm them, giant creatures that eat rocks and [[BowelBreakingBricks vomit road-paving material]]. However, Stirling points out that it requires food and oxygen, as well as being less durable than metal. It is useful enough that some of it has been imported by Earth.

** This is hard for the Western block humans to wrap their heads around but easier for eastern block humans.
* PositionOfLiteralPower: {{Justified}} as the leaders of non earth planets have their authority typed to ancient machinery that recognizes them as on site administrators to the systems.

* ShorterMeansSmarter: Inverted, martians considers anything under six feet to be stupid. Given that the manufactured servant caste is pretty short helped form this cultural stereotype.
* SpareToTheThrone: {{Enforced}} Mars court politics is such that courtiers want the stagnation to continue over a new and vital monarch, additionally as the Genome must be kept "pure" any possible half bloods are usually aborted. Also having an heir before your a hundred is seen as being unconfident of your position.

* SpiceOfLife: The martian language does not distinguish between spices and what terrans would call 'hard drugs'.

* VestigialEmpire: The Tollamune emperors once ruled all of Mars. By the time of the story they are reduced to ruling the territory around their capital at Olympus Mons, where all the old court officials and functionaries continue, though largely without actual functions.

* SequelGap: the first two books were released within two years of each other any hints of a third book have yet to appear.

** A justified example: ''New Frontier'' is this universe's version of ''Franchise/StarTrek'', and is fundamentally somewhat different due to differences in world culture, but is [[TropeMaker every]] [[TropeCodifier bit]] [[FountainOfMemes as]] [[TropeOverdosed influential]] as it is in our world.

* MarsWantsChocolate: {{Inverted}}; martian spices are one of the reasons NASA still has funding for their missions. {{PlayedStreight}} in that chocolate is still apreciated.