History Literature / ArciaChronicles

* BlackSheep: Geoffrey Tagere (based on George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence), the only one of Charles' children who is presented without any redeeming qualities.

* SuperiorSpecies: Belief of some Elves in their superiority over other races causes a lot of evil, most notably, Roman's sister Eanke who [[spoiler:[[OedipusComplex murders her own father Asten]], one of the strongest opponents of "Elven superiority"]]. It is also subverted soon thereafter with Eanke's mother Nanniel, who shares much of her views but [[spoiler:dies by [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing herself]] to save human victims of a Roigian cult]]. After that, the idea of Elven superiority slowly withers and dies, until [[spoiler:an ''entire Elven clan'' sacrifices themselves to protect Tarra]].

* TheFateOfThePrincesInTheTower: In this fantasy world, the boys are murdered by the Henry Tudor analog.

* UpdatedRerelease: The first duology re-released in a single volume titled ''Tarra: Edge of the Storm'' in 2009, with many of the plot holes and continuity errors fixed.

* FantasyConflictCounterpart: The ''War of the Daffodills'' duology is a {{fantasy}} retelling of the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses.

* OnlyTheChosenMayRide: Gib the Water Horse is less of a horse and more of a sentient force of nature, so he is extremely picky about whom he allows to ride him. Specifically, the only human he has ever allowed close to him is Rene Arroy, who just happens to be an old seadog as well as an experienced horseman.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Owing to its [[DeconstructionFic origins]], the first duology is crammed with light-hearted elements aimed mainly at deconstructing fantasy staples -- in a rather jarring contrast to the author's later, [[ShooOutTheClowns much more somber]] and politics-heavy LowFantasy. ''The Dark Star'' is particularly egregious, both in terms of lore (e.g. it is the only book where "trolls" are regularly mentioned as inhabiting Tarra) and in style (the book has a habit of heavily foreshadowing future consequences of decisions the characters have just made -- something that is completely absent from later volumes). Both of the above has been completely expunged from the UpdatedRerelease of ''The Dark Star'', while instead adding additional WorldBuilding that ties it in better with the later installments.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Starting from the third novel, Arcia becomes very much like the England during the the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses. Ifrana is France (King Joseph is obviously Louis XI), Orgonda is the Duchy of Burgundy, Cantisca is Vatican, Miria is Spain, Darnian Union is the Swiss Confederacy, Er-Atev is the Abbasid Caliphate, Tayana is, [[http://www.kamsha.ru/books/arcia/tz/history.html per]] WordOfGod, a mixture of Poland and Hungary, Frontera is Ukraine, Escota is Scotland, etc. Original Eland from the first duology is Viking Scandinavia.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Owing to its [[DeconstructionFic origins]], the first duology is crammed with light-hearted elements aimed mainly at deconstructing fantasy staples -- in a rather jarring contrast to the author's later, [[ShooOutTheClowns much more somber]] and politics-heavy LowFantasy. ''The Dark Star'' is particularly egregious, both in terms of lore (e.g. it is the only book where "trolls" are regularly mentioned as inhabiting Tarra) and in style (the book has a habit of heavily foreshadowing future consequences of decisions the characters have just made -- something that is completely absent from later volumes). Both of the above has been completely expunged from the UpdatedRerelease of ''The Dark Star''.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Owing to its [[DeconstructionFic origins]], the first duology is crammed with light-hearted elements aimed mainly at deconstructing fantasy staples -- in a rather jarring contrast to the author's later, [[ShooOutTheClowns much more somber]] and politics-heavy LowFantasy. ''The Dark Star'' (pre-''Edge of the Storm'' updates) is particularly egregious, both in terms of lore (e.g. it is the only book where "trolls" are regularly mentioned as inhabiting Tarra) and in style (the book has a habit of heavily foreshadowing future consequences of decisions the characters have just made -- something that is completely absent from later volumes).

* ConsummationCounterfeit: [[spoiler: Dariolo Kerna]] is supposed to be a virgin when she marries Arthur Barrot, when, in fact, she already has two (illegitimate) children. Arthur, being not the sharpest tool in the shed and madly in love with her, assumes her hymen was broken while riding a horse and cuts himself to produce a stained bed sheet as proof that his wife was a virgin before marriage, as the nobility custom dictates.
** Of course not. He thinks that she was raped or was a victim of some other sex crime and that was why she ran from home.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Nearly each book comes with a five to ten pages names list appendix.

* MulticoloredHair: Because of her mixed human-elven-[[spoiler:Old God]] ancestry, Gerika's hair comes in several interweaving shades of blonde, from silvery to reddish.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Oh so much. Roman draws upon the "Power of Darkness" so often, he eventually arrives at the conclusion that it's NotSoDifferent from the Power of Light inherent to all Elves.

* LivingStatue: The Riders of Gorda are two giant mounted statues of unknown origins towering over the Gorda mountain pass separating Tayana and Frontera. While local superstitions abound concerning them (such as that catching a glimpse of either of their faces is a PortentOfDoom), they do actually come alive when Gerika intuitively calls out to them at the end of ''The Dark Star'', revealing that [[spoiler:they are actually one of the few remaining servants of the Old Gods, tasked milennia ago to prevent Roigu from ever escaping Takhena. Even though the Old Gods are long dead, the Riders found a way to petrify themselves until they are needed again, at which point they attack Roigu's totem pursuing Gerika and Roman, allowing them to escape. Gerika never meets them again, however, as Roigu finally gets the better of them offscreen during ''Incomparable Right'']].

* ExperiencedProtagonist: The human lead of ''Dark Star'' is Rene Arroy, who is 48 years-old at the outset and is FamedInStory as both a BoldExplorer, having spent much of his 20s out at sea, and a shrewd politician, having had to assume the duties of head of his clan when every other member died of a mysterious illness 20 years prior to the events of the book. There is also Roman, who is quickly revealed as a 300 years-old elven spy and is well-versed in both magic and martial arts. Subverted at the very end of the book, when Gerika rounds off the protagonist trio, having exactly zero knowledge of her magic, and a very superficial understanding how the real world works.

The first book in the series, ''The Dark Star'', is set two and a half millenia after the Great Exodus and opens with two men, a WanderingMinstrel named Roman and Duke René Arroy of Eland, a notorious [[BoldExplorer explorer]] and {{pirate}}, stumbling across a string of mysterious brutal murders in Arcia's south-eastern neighbor, the Kingdom of Tayana. Following the evidence, they soon clash with the {{Cult}} of Roigu, the last surviving Old God, which aims to incarnate their eldritch patron as a child of a mortal woman, who happens to be René's distant relative, the meek princess Gerika Godoya. Fortunately, Roman is not a simple bard but, in fact, an undercover Elven spy among humans, while [[BornLucky Lucky]] René is a descendant of both Elves and the Old Gods, making him uniquely suited to withstand dark magics. Together, they take up arms against the Roigians to protect Gerika, the future "Dark Star", but in doing so, also kick off the devastating War of the Deer (named after Roigu's totem form)...

The first book in the series, ''The Dark Star'', is set two and a half millenia after the Great Exodus and opens with two men, a WanderingMinstrel named Roman and Duke René Arroy of Eland, a notorious [[BoldExplorer explorer]] and {{pirate}}, stumbling across a series of mysterious brutal murders in Arcia's south-eastern neighbor, the Kingdom of Tayana. Following the evidence, they soon clash with the {{Cult}} of Roigu, the last surviving Old God, which aims to incarnate their evil god as a child of a mortal woman, who happens to be René's distant relative, the meek princess Gerika Godoya. Fortunately, Roman is not a simple bard but, in fact, an undercover Elven spy among humans, while [[BornLucky Lucky]] René is a descendant of both Elves and the Old Gods, making him uniquely suited to withstand dark magics. Together, they take up arms against the Roigians to protect Gerika, the future "Dark Star", but in doing so, also kick off the devastating War of the Deer (named after Roigu's totem form)...

''The Dark Star''[[note]]then titled ''Izbrannitsa Preispodney'', meaning "The [female] [[TheChosenOne Chosen One]]/{{Love Interest|s}} of Hell/Abyss", which was presumably deemed too kitschy -- not to mention lore-breaking, since there is no concept of "hell" in Tarra[[/note]] started off as a DeconstructionFic of the HighFantasy genre and, in particular, of Creator/NickPerumov's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfHjorvard'', but eventually lost all connections to the source material (with only slight conceptual overlaps, such as the "True Mages"), and when Perumov himself discovered the manuscript, [[AscendedFanfic he took it straight to his publisher]]. A total of six books had been published between 2001 and 2003, before Kamsha switched her attention to her second series, ''Literature/GleamsOfAeterna'', for what turned out to be the next couple decades. The official line since has been that ''Arcia'' will be completed after ''Aeterna'', but unfortunately, it looks increasingly like [[OrphanedSeries it will never happen]], due to a combination of the author's interests and style evolving in completely [[LowFantasy different]] [[AlternateHistory directions]] and [[FairForItsDay the zeitgeist changing too much in the intervening decade]] for the plot she had originally drafted (at least, according to the WordOfGod, although her comments from [[http://forum.kamsha.ru/index.php?topic=20.msg2797#msg2797 early 2018]] suggest that she hasn't ''fully'' abandoned hope of one day giving the series a proper closure).

* HeroicSacrifice: Too many examples to list. Perhaps the most touching example happens in ''Incomparable Right'' with the sacrifice of [[spoiler:Faithful, Gerika's ''[[NonHumanSidekick lynx]]'', who willingly throws himself into magical fire to let her escape Tarra. Actually, for that particular sacrifice, nothing short of an Elven sacrifice would have worked (originally, Roman was to be sacrificed), but Faithful's sheer devotion and intelligence apparently sufficed]]. In fact, the [[LiteraryAllusionTitle very title of the second novel comes from]] a [[http://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%92%D1%8B%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80_%28%D0%93%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%91%D0%B2%29 poem]] by Creator/NikolayGumilev and refers to the "incomparable right to choose one's own death".

* HeroicSacrifice: Too many examples to list. Perhaps the most touching example happens in ''Incomparable Right'' with the sacrifice of [[spoiler:Faithful, Gerika's ''[[NonHumanSidekick lynx]]'', who willingly throws himself into magical fire to let her escape Tarra. Actually, for that particular sacrifice, nothing short of an Elven sacrifice would have worked (originally, Roman was to be sacrificed), but Faithful's sheer devotion and intelligence apparently sufficed]]. In fact, the [[LiteraryAllusionTitle very title of the second novel comes from]] a [[http://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%92%D1%8B%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80_%28%D0%93%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%91%D0%B2%29 poem]] by Creator/NikolayGumilev and refers to the "incomparable right to [[ChoosingDeath choose one's own death]]".

* TheTragicRose: In the ''The Dark Star'', the roses motif is strongly associated with Marita Veldovna, a Ghelanian beauty who falls in love with Roman but [[spoiler:is raped and DrivenToSuicide by Mihaly. Upon his return, Roman plants magically-empowered wild roses on her grave]].

The ''Arcia Chronicles'' (''Хроники Арции'') is a HighFantasy novel series by Russian author Vera Kamsha, set in a ConstructedWorld of Tarra, which itself is a part of a [[TheMultiverse multiverse]]. What makes Tarra stand out among other worlds is that unlike them, it doesn't have any {{god}}s: some nine thousand years ago, seven alien deities known as the "Lightbringers" conquered Tarra, [[DeathOfTheOldGods slaughtered the native Old Gods]] and whatever worshipers they had, and ruled Tarra for seven thousand years in the name of the "[[LightIsNotGood Light]]". After that, the "Light" called them back, leaving Tarra [[GodsHandsAreTied effectively defenseless against cosmic threats]]. Therefore, it is up to local humans and a handful of [[OurElvesAreBetter Elves]] (left behind by two renegade Lightbringers) to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punch out cosmic monstrosities]] eying Tarra. The books are mostly set in Arcia (hence the title), a VestigialEmpire (later, a much smaller kingdom) in what is likely the most densely populated region of the world.

* BelatedLoveEpiphany: Nanniel is a staunch proponent of [[OurElvesAreBetter Elven supremacy]], permanently in opposition to her husband Asten and his brother Emzar's more pro-human stance. After Asten is killed by Nanniel's faction and Emzar decides that he had enough and leaves the hidden Elven kingdom with his supporters to live with the humans, Nanniel realizes that despite their differences, she has actually been in love with Emzar for thousands of years and decides to follow him. Ironically, [[spoiler:she dies saving a bunch of human victims of a Roigian cult because that's what Emzar would do, but neither he, nor anyone else ever learns about her change of heart]].

* OurElvesAreBetter: Belief of some Elves in their superiority over other races causes a lot of evil, most notably, Roman's sister Eanke who [[spoiler:[[OedipusComplex murders her own father Asten]], one of the strongest opponents of "Elven superiority"]]. It is also subverted soon thereafter with Eanke's mother Nanniel, who shares much of her views but [[spoiler:dies by [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing herself]] to save human victims of a Roigian cult]]. After that, the idea of Elven superiority slowly withers and dies, until [[spoiler:an ''entire Elven clan'' sacrifices themselves to protect Tarra]].

''The Dark Star''[[note]]then titled ''Izbrannitsa Preispodney'', meaning "The [female] [[TheChosenOne Chosen One]]/{{Love Interest|s}} of Hell/Abyss", which was presumably deemed too kitschy -- not to mention lore-breaking, since there is no concept of "hell" in Tarra[[/note]] started off as a DeconstructionFic based on its contemporary HighFantasy fiction, most notably Creator/NickPerumov's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfHjorvard'', but eventually lost all connections to the source material (with only slight conceptual overlaps, such as the "True Mages"), and when Perumov himself discovered the manuscript, [[AscendedFanfic he took it straight to his publisher]]. A total of six books had been published between 2001 and 2003, before Kamsha switched her attention to her second series, ''Literature/GleamsOfAeterna'', for what turned out to be the next couple decades. The official line since has been that ''Arcia'' will be completed after ''Aeterna'', but unfortunately, it looks increasingly like [[OrphanedSeries it will never happen]], due to a combination of the author's interests and style evolving in completely [[LowFantasy different]] [[AlternateHistory directions]] and [[FairForItsDay the zeitgeist changing too much in the intervening decade]] for the plot she had originally drafted (at least, according to the WordOfGod, although her comments from [[http://forum.kamsha.ru/index.php?topic=20.msg2797#msg2797 early 2018]] suggest that she hasn't ''fully'' abandoned hope of one day giving the series a proper closure).

''The Dark Star''[[note]]then titled ''Izbrannitsa Preispodney'', meaning "The [female] [[TheChosenOne Chosen One]]/{{Love Interest|s}} of Hell/Abyss", which was presumably deemed too kitschy -- not to mention lore-breaking, since there is no concept of "hell" in Tarra[[/note]] started off as a HighFantasy DeconstructionFic based on Creator/NickPerumov's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfHjorvard'' but eventually lost all connections to the source material (with only slight conceptual overlaps, such as the "True Mages"), and when Perumov himself discovered the manuscript, [[AscendedFanfic he took it straight to his publisher]]. A total of six books had been published between 2001 and 2003, before Kamsha switched her attention to her second series, ''Literature/GleamsOfAeterna'', for what turned out to be the next couple decades. The official line since has been that ''Arcia'' will be completed after ''Aeterna'', but unfortunately, it looks increasingly like [[OrphanedSeries it will never happen]], due to a combination of the author's interests and style evolving in completely [[LowFantasy different]] [[AlternateHistory directions]] and [[FairForItsDay the zeitgeist changing too much in the intervening decade]] for the plot she had originally drafted (at least, according to the WordOfGod, although her comments from [[http://forum.kamsha.ru/index.php?topic=20.msg2797#msg2797 early 2018]] suggest that she hasn't ''fully'' abandoned hope of one day giving the series a proper closure).

''The Dark Star''[[note]]then titled ''Izbrannitsa Preispodney'', meaning "The [female] [[TheChosenOne Chosen One]]/{{Love Interest|s}} of Hell/Abyss", which was presumably deemed too kitschy -- not to mention lore-breaking, since there is no concept of "hell" in Tarra[[/note]] started off as a HighFantasy DeconstructionFic based on Creator/NickPerumov's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfHjorvard'' but eventually lost all connections to the source material (with only slight conceptual overlaps, such as the "True Mages"), and when Perumov himself discovered the manuscript, [[AscendedFanfic he took it straight to his publisher]]. A total of six books had been published between 2001 and 2003, before Kamsha switched her attention to her second series, ''Literature/ReflectionsOfEterna'', for what turned out to be the next couple decades. The official line since has been that ''Arcia'' will be completed after ''Eterna'', but unfortunately, it looks increasingly like [[OrphanedSeries it will never happen]], due to a combination of the author's interests and style evolving in completely [[LowFantasy different]] [[AlternateHistory directions]] and [[FairForItsDay the zeitgeist changing too much in the intervening decade]] for the plot she had originally drafted (at least, according to the WordOfGod, although her comments from [[http://forum.kamsha.ru/index.php?topic=20.msg2797#msg2797 early 2018]] suggest that she hasn't ''fully'' abandoned hope of one day giving the series a proper closure).

* CharacterOverlap: There is a possibility that the Chronicles and Kamsha's other cycle, ''Literature/ReflectionsOfEterna'', are set in the same multiverse: [[spoiler:in ''Black Poppies'', Gerika mentions that her last love interest (while she was still amnesiac, wandering the other worlds) was a certain "blue-eyed Alva from Cinaloa". It just so happens that ''Reflections'' feature a major character named Roque Alva, who has blue eyes and rules a province named Kenalloa (though Gerika's lover may have been any one of his ancestors, too)]]. WordOfGod, however, [[http://kamsha.ru/forum/index.php?topic=1863.0 says]] that this is just a coincidence.