History Literature / ApprenticeAdept

* NoNameGiven, OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The real/birth names of most of the human cast are never revealed. Many serfs on Proton go by nicknames that are either self-given or given to them by their Citizen employers, and may change them if they manage to become Citizens. Also, serfs are required by Proton law to call Citizens "Sir", unless given ''explicit'' permission for other forms of address. Similarly, the Adepts in Phaze adopt their titles as their names: the Yellow Adept is called "Yellow", the Red Adept is called "Red", and so on. Even Stile's counterpart is only ever referred to as "Blue", both as the Blue Adept and [[spoiler:when he ultimately switches lives with Stile as Citizen Blue]], and his widow who marries Stile is only ever referred to as "Lady Blue"; even when she tells Stile the story of how she met Blue as an ordinary village girl, she does not mention her original name.

** In an unusual variation, it's possible for someone whose AlternateSelf has died to get a new counterpart if someone else on the other side begins to parallel their role, like with Lady Blue and Sheen after Bluette died, at least in the post-Curtain books. The paralleling only comes into effect with people living on Proton, even though there are other inhabited planets (by human colonists from Earth like those on Proton, or by aliens) in Proton's universe, but it can happen to offworlders who are there long enough (such as Agape the Moebite becoming the counterpart of Fleta the unicorn via being the respective love interests of Bane and Mach, who were born counterparts).

* HerHeartWillGoOn: Subverted. A prophecy foretells that [[spoiler:Lady Blue will give birth to Stile's child, so he puts off romancing her until after the big battle to ensure his safety]].

* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: During the first trilogy, only people whose counterpart is dead (or who never had one, such as offworlders) can cross the Curtain from one world to the other. In the second trilogy, with the Curtain gone, the only way to get to the other world is by FreakyFridayFlip. This ceases to be an issue when the MergedReality comes about, since everyone now shares a body with their alternate self.

* NoNameGiven, OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The real/birth names of most of the human cast are never revealed. Many serfs on Proton go by nicknames that are either self-given or given to them by their Citizen employers, and may change them if they manage to become Citizens. Also, serfs are required by Proton law to call Citizens "Sir", unless given ''explicit'' permission for other forms of address. Similarly, the Adepts in Phaze adopt their titles as their names: the Yellow Adept is called "Yellow", the Red Adept is called "Red", and so on. Even Stile's counterpart is only ever referred to as "Blue", both as the Blue Adept and when he ultimately switches lives with Stile as Citizen Blue.

* AuthorAppeal: Aside from Anthony's usual coercive and/or underage sexual dilemmas and an almost-entire planet of naked people (on Proton, only Citizens are allowed to wear clothing, which is seen as exotic and interesting the same way nudity is on Phaze or Earth), ''Split Infinity'' '''really''' gushes on about horses, which the author adores and raises.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: The unicorn Neysa is an outcast because of her small size and horse-normal black-and-white coloration. Most unicorns are technicolor. (Neysa's older brother, Clip, for instance, is blue with red socks).

* TheOlympics: The unicorns of Phaze have a series of competitive games called the Unilympics, which Stile participates in at one point. It's mentioned that there are also Werelympics and Vamplympics.

* TheOlympics: The unicorns of Phaze have a series of competitive games called the Unilympics, which Stile participates in at one point. It's mention that there are also Werelympics and Vamplympics.

* SpoilerCover: The cover of the original run of ''Blue Adept'' depicts Stile confronting the maker of amulets, who's dressed in that Adept's signature color. This not only gives away the fact that [[spoiler: Red is the hidden enemy]], but it renders the scene where that character appears at the Unolympics disguised as [[spoiler: a male]] fairly pointless.

The second trilogy (''Out of Phaze'', ''Robot Adept'', and ''Unicorn Point'') featured Bane and Mach, the sons of Stile and Stile's opposite number, Blue, and their efforts to keep the previous impending doom from happening all over again.

* NoNameGiven, OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The real/birth names of most of the human cast are never revealed. Also, serfs are required by Proton law to call Citizens "Sir", unless given ''explicit'' permission for other forms of address. Similarly, the Adepts in Phaze adopt their titles as their names: the Blue Adept is called "Blue", the Red Adept is called "Red", and so on.

* TheManBehindTheCurtain: Brown, in her first appearance, where she hides behind [[ElCidPloy a golem made to look like her predecessor]], an older man who has recently passed away. Being only a young girl bereft of her mentor, and with most of the other Adepts being ruthless and power-hungry [[EvilSorcerers Evil Sorcerer]], she is naturally wary of visitors.

* TheManBehindTheCurtain: Brown, in her first appearance.

** Agape named herself after the Ancient Greek word for the concept of love after coming to Proton from Moeba and taking on a human form, since she was there to investigate the emotion.

* AuthorAppeal: Aside from Anthony's usual coercive and/or underage sexual dilemmas and an almost-entire planet of naked people, ''Split Infinity'' '''really''' gushes on about horses, which the author adores and raises.

* SmugSnake: The Purple Adept is the singularly most obnoxious and appalling Adverse Adept, but not as competent as he thinks he is.

** Agape named herself after the Ancient Greek word for the concept of love after coming to Proton from Moeba and taking on a human form.

** The fact that these are usually impossible without magical intervention means that humans, vampires, werewolves and unicorns (all capable of assuming human form) often indulge in a deal of sexual experimentation with each other in their youth, since unwanted pregnancy won't be an issue. Actual ''marriage'' between species, on the other hand, was fairly taboo until Mach and Fleta paved the way.

** The fact that these are usually impossible without magical intervention means that humans, vampires, werewolves and unicorns (all capable of assuming human form) often indulge in a deal of sexual experimentation with each other in their youth, since unwanted pregnancy won't be an issue.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Thought to be impossible. [[IdiotBall But no one thought to check The Book Of Magic for cross-species fertility spells.]] Once they do, along come Flach (human father/unicorn mother) and Al (vampire mother/troll father). By the last book, we have [[HeinzHybrid Heinz Hybrids]] like Weva (werewolf/vampire, thus human/bat/wolf) and her alternate self Beman (human/robot/Hectare alien).

* SmugSnake: The Purple Adept.
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Suchevane the vampire. She's so beautiful that the only ones with the nerve to approach her were ones who wanted her just as a sex object. Adept Trool had too much honor to exert his power on her while she was employed as his housekeeper (cavekeeper?), despite his genuine feelings towards her, figuring such was the only way a literal troll like him could be with one such as her.

* LoveConfessor: Adept Trool doesn't believe a woman as beautiful as Suchevane would be with someone as ugly as him except out of fear or pity. Suchevane, on the other hand, is so used to being a concubine that she takes Trool's failure to make a move as a lack of interest in someone so far out of his class, power and status-wise. They confess their feelings, separately, to Agape [[note]]at the time {{Freaky Friday Flip}}ped with her Phaze counterpart, Fleta[[/note]]. She, in turn, gets Suchevane to approach Trool in such a way that negates both their objections.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: Stile with Neysa, Hulk, Rifleman (who also becomes Stile's mentor in the ways of Citizenship) & Clef.

* HypnoticEyes: The Tan Adept possesses the magic of the [[HypnoticEyes Evil Eye]], which grants him the power of MindControl. His two children, a son who becomes [[IdenticalGrandson the next Tan Adept]], and daughter, Tania, also have this power.

* RejectingTheConsolationPrize: Clef implies he's going to pass on the special prize of a year's tenure after losing his Tourney match to Stile, saying that with the lessons he learned from Stile, his music could let him live like a citizen.

* TechnicianPerformerTeamUp: In one key round of the Tourney (a game in which serfs on the planet Proton can try to win Citizenship), the hero Stile (the Performer) is matched up against another competitor, Clef (the Technician) in a duel of musical performance; Clef wins for technical proficiency but Stile wins for audience engagement. Unusually, they are then assigned by the planetary Computer (the referee) to perform a duet together before a panel of judges. While the panel is being assembled, Stile explains to Clef what Clef's technical brilliance lacked; Clef then promptly picks up Stile's knack of audience engagement during the duet and outplays him. [[spoiler:However, to his own surprise, Stile wins the Tourney round anyway, despite getting the votes of both the audience and the Computer as the better player -- because the judges evaluated the performance on ''cooperative'' expertise rather than individual ability, and since Clef improved more than Stile did, the judges consider Stile to have contributed more to the overall performance.]]

The ''Apprentice Adept'' series is a seven-book fantasy and science fiction series by Creator/PiersAnthony. The series takes place on two worlds occupying the same space in two different dimensional planes: Phaze - a MagicalLand in MedievalStasis and [[TheMagocracy more or less ruled by the Adepts]], the strongest magic users, each specializing in a separate aspect, and Proton, a barren mining planet of high technology, ruled by the Plutocratic Citizens (who control the immense wealth of the Protonite mines). The worlds are divided by the Curtain, an energy field only visible to those capable of crossing it (i.e. someone without a counterpart on the other side).

* SexEqualsLove: Fleta falls fully in love with Mach after he makes love to her "my way" (love-making rather than just heat-induced rutting with no emotional attachment).

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Suchevane the vampire. She's so beautiful that the only ones with the nerve to approach her were ones who wanted her just as a sex object. Trool had too much honor to exert his power on her while she was employed as his housekeeper (cavekeeper?), despite his genuine feelings towrards her, figuring such was the only way a literal troll like him could be with one such as her.

* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Averted. Shapeshifting creatures who can assume human form can have sex with humans and with each other easily, but it takes strong magic to make [[HalfHumanHybrid Half Human Hybrids]] possible.

** The master plan in ''Phaze Doubt'' depends finding the agent the Hectare would send down to try and disrupt said master plan. Lysander (a Hectare brain in an android body) knows they're on to him fairly early, but plays along, since they're trying to win him over to their side. The resistance knows (thanks to prophecies) that Lysander will play an important role in the master plan, but not how. So they just want to keep him on their side until the moment comes, keeping him tantalizingly close enough to the full plan that he doesn't just turn in his handlers and look elsewhere.

* TheMagicGoesAway: In the backstory, this happened on Earth a long time ago. With the rise of humanity, the various magical creatures like unicorns, harpies and so on fled the planet in a magical ship, settling Phaze. After human colonists in the far future finally settled there as well and called it Proton, the magical Curtain was erected, dividing one world into two.

** He had another earlier in the book, when he faced an obnoxious Citizen who relied on uncanny luck in a game of backgammon. Said Citizen seemed to have knowledge of Phaze, and was fixated on the idea of sex with non-humans (implying he was fixated on them [[BestialityIsDepraved in their animal forms]]). Stile kept him too distracted with hints that he had indulged in such relations [[note]]He had, in fact, slept with Neysa at that point. But it was in human form.[[/note]], that he didn't notice Stile going to the doubling cube over and over, allowing him overcome the Citizen's massive point advantage to win the game in one fell swoop.