Basic Trope: A once-mighty empire has seen its power and territory considerably decline over the last few years.
- Straight: The Troperian Empire, which once ruled one-fourth of the world's landmass, had the greatest, most ferocious military of all, and a nice standard of living to boot, now controls a tenth of what they had at their height and has only limited political clout.
- Exaggerated:
- The Emperor wakes up to find that he now rules only a single city.
- The Emperor lives in the woods, the continent-spanning empire his ancestors ruled now being limited to a handful of Imperial Guardsmen and some loyal palace servants. They are reduced to begging in order to survive.
- Downplayed:
- The decline of the Empire has been happening for the last thousand years, so gradually that few notice it.
- Troperia has gone from directly ruling its territories as an empire to several large vassal states who could defeat Troperia if they united but dislike enough of the other states that they prefer Troperia ruling.
- Justified:
- The Troperian Empire is good at conquering territories, but terrible at keeping them or at having good reputation.
- The Troperian Empire is really old, and as it is stagnating and declining, new and rising powers are vying to be its successor.
- Inverted: The Troperian Empire is a Rising Empire.
- Subverted:
- Despite economic difficulties, the Troperian Empire has been rapidly expanding its territory.
- Despite having been reduced to a single city, the Troperian Empire is able to slowly regain all their lost land and restore their former glory.
- Troperia didn't use to span thousands of miles, it's just that its architecture is that popular.
- Double Subverted:
- ...until the Federation of Tropes declares war and inflicts a Shocking Defeat Legacy that forces the Empire to give up what they conquered. As a result, the empire collapses within a century.
- In the process of retaking lost Imperial Territories, the Troperian Empire has had to undergo so many radical changes that it almost impossible to consider it the same empire as before. It speaks a different language, follows a different religion with different morals, is run by a different government ruled by a King only very loosely related to the original Royal Dynasty, defended by an army drawn by different means, and kept functioning by use of different tools. In essence, the only thing "Troperian" about the Restored Troperian Empire is the name.
- Troperian architecture's popularity is what is in decline, taking Troperia's export economy (Or Economic Empire if you will) with it.
- Parodied: The Troperian Empire once ruled the galaxy, and all that's left is just a single golf course.
- Zig-Zagged: The Troperian Empire is only a tenth of the size it was at its height, but most of the new countries have kept the Troperian laws and customs, and speak a dialect of Troperic. Several leaders of these countries are descended from the Troperian Imperial dynasties, and one of them is rapidly expanding her country's territory as the Neo-Troperian Empire.
- Averted: The Troperian Empire is still at its height, playing a game of chess on an international scale against The Federation.
- Enforced: The author is obsessed with the history of the Roman Empire, especially during its declining period, and this is reflected in his works.
- Lampshaded: "This year's Olympic Games will now be hosted in... the Troperian Empire? Really? Dang, I didn't know they were still around..."
- Invoked: The other powerful nations all take advantage of the Troperian Empire by invading it in its weakened state, further sending it into decline.
- Exploited: The rapid decline of the Empire has caused Alice and Bob to declare the independence of their home region, as the Imperial Army is no longer the feared force it once was.
- Defied: Despite the fact that the Troperian Empire only has one remaining city, the Emperor vows to restore the empire to former glory. He succeeds in retaking all the lost land within his lifetime, and goes down in history as the greatest Emperor Troperia has ever had.
- Discussed: As characters discuss political events relevant to the story's current plot, Professor von Tropenhelm brings up the decline of the Troperian Empire as an example of how even mighty nations can lose their influence and power.
- Conversed: Alice and Bob are idly talking about a new fantasy novel, and Bob mentions how it seems that fantasy works always have to include a big empire in decline.
- Implied:
- A grand monument of two vast and trunkless legs of stone is shown to be weathered as no one cares to maintain it.
- Troperian architecture is found at an archeological site far away from Troperia's border.note
- Some old Troperian gold coins are dug up from the remains of a trading post by archeologists, far from the Troperian Empire, where a trade route once existed.
- Deconstructed: Once you get past the Lost Glory and Ending Legacy, the Decline of The Troperian Empire is most noticed in the declining quality of life for those who live in it.
- Reconstructed: Just because The Troperian Empire is but a shadow of its former self doesn't mean it's weak. It still has diplomatic support and enough military power to fight and at least stalemate all of its surrounding enemies at once, though it can't gain any new grounds. Troperian is always at war with something, and if their time to die finally comes, they will make sure to die fighting.
- Plotted a Good Waste: The decline of the Troperian Empire is the main plot of The Emperor's Lament, a tragic story of a civilization's downward spiral as told by a Match-Three Game.
- Played For Laughs: The Empire includes the Emperor's Summer Palace and surrounding hunting grounds and nothing else, but the Royal Family is so oblivious and the Emperor is so senile that the palace's servants can trick them all into thinking that the Empire is as powerful as it was at its height 200 years ago.
- Played For Drama: The last Troperian Emperor leads a small group through the bombed out ruins of the old imperial palace, nostalgic for his childhood and lamenting the lost glory of the empire.
Back to Vestigial Empire. It's truly seen better days.
