History Literature / ConfederationOfValor

The Confederation of Valor is a science fiction book series by {{Canad|aEh}}ian author Creator/TanyaHuff. The lead character is Torin Kerr, a non-commissioned officer in the Confederation Marines. Alongside her fellow humans, the Confederation has recruited the [[OurElvesAreDifferent Taykan]] and [[ExtremeOmnivore Krai]] to fight their battles as they've [[PerfectPacifistPeople completely outgrown the desire, or even ability to fight]]. This becomes a problem when The Others, a war-like collective of various races, slowly start to attack Confederation space. The books follow Torin Kerr and the Marines serving under her as they face down various threats to their society and their lives.

* JoinTheArmyTheySaid: Most of the marines will find cause at one point or another to curse the fact they're marines.

* FantasticNamingConvention: Taykan names go [life stage]'[family name] [given name], and having a shorter family name indicates a higher-class family (e.g. di'Ka Jarret). They usually go by their given name rather than their surname. Krai use OnlyOneName, which typically has lots of 'r's and is usually but not always monosyllabic.

%%* HollywoodHacking: Ressk indulges in this as one of two defining character traits.
%%* HollywoodTactics: One character employs these. Unfortunately for everyone else, he's their commanding officer. None of the marines are happy about this.%%How do the tactics fit the trope?

* PerfectPacifistPeople: {{Zigzagged}}. In the backstory it's {{justified|Trope}}: for the most part only species that evolve past violence achieve FasterThanLightTravel, because species that don't have a tendency to blow themselves up first. {{Deconstructed}} when the Others show up and begin attacking, and the Confederation has to uplift first {{human|sAreWarriors}}ity, then the Taykans, Krai, and Silsviss because they ''haven't'' evolved past violence. [[spoiler:Arguably {{Reconstruction}} as of the latest books. The war turned out to be a giant sociology experiment by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens operating under BlueAndOrangeMorality, and it turns out the Others, who call themselves the Primacy, have the same arrangement as the Confederation. The war promptly ends.]] And then later {{subverted}} in ''An Ancient Peace'': the elder races have given up ''war'', but more minor interpersonal violence still happens (including a FantasticRacism-motivated back-alley ambush a pair of Krai on Torin's team, which doesn't end well for the attackers).

%%* PoweredArmour: Fairly low-key. Played a little more straight with Heavies.

** The Dornagan are absolutely massive furry cat-bear things.

** The H'san are different ''somehow'', but their appearance was [[NoodleIncident carefully avoided]] in the original series. According to ''An Ancient Peace'', they're large, non-bipedal at least some of the time, and have oversized eyes that make their faces look child-like. Also, they smell good.

%%* SergeantRock: Torin.

%%* SpaceMarine: A well-done example.
%%* SpaceNavy:

%%* StandardSciFiFleet: Mostly ignored, but present.

%%* StandardTimeUnits:

* WeaponOfChoice: Most marines prefer the standard [=KC-7=] to the Bennies, and those that prefer the Benny won't say otherwise.

-->-- ''The Better Part of Valor'', by Tanya Huff

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: The Taykans, whose hair comes in every improbable shade you can imagine, from neon blue to fuchsia.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: The Krai are hairless monkey guys who can eat anything and have bones and teeth enamel so tough that Confederation scientists are attempting to grow it for spaceship armour.

# ''An Ancient Peace'' (2015) -- Taking off from her adventure in ''The Truth of Valor'', Torin Kerr forms a team of independent troubleshooters that can go outside the law to handle problems the Confederation can't. First on the list is black market H'san grave goods that people fear could lead to the recovery of lost superweapons.

* NotSoDifferent: What Torin discovers of the Others once she has a chance to interact with them in a non-combat setting in ''Valor's Trial''. [[spoiler:"The Primacy" actually has almost the same style of government as the Confederation and thought ''they'' were the ones defending themselves, just like the Confederation did. This ultimately leads to the war-fighting races on both sides effectively mutinying and refusing to continue the war, forcing their governments to open peace talks (this time without the Big Yellow aliens' interference). In ''A Peace Divided'', Torin's Strike Team works alongside an equivalent Primacy team, who inform her that the Primacy is having some of the same postwar political problems as the Confederation.]]

* ShoutOut: There are a few subtle nods to other science fiction works.

* HumansAreWarriors: {{Downplayed}} in the back story. The Confederation offered humanity membership because they hadn't yet evolved past violence (unlike the rest of its member races), and thus could fight the Others. The Taykans, Krai, and Silsviss were brought in later for the same reason. [[spoiler:It turns out that the Others, properly the Primacy

%%* TheReptilians: The Silviss.

* PerfectPacifistPeople: {{Zigzagged}}. In the backstory it's {{justified|Trope}}: for the most part only species that evolve past violence achieve FasterThanLightTravel, because species that don't have a tendency to blow themselves up first. {{Deconstructed}} when the Others show up and begin attacking, and the Confederation has to uplift first {{human|sAreWarriors}}ity, then the Taykans, Krai, and Silsviss because they ''haven't'' evolved past violence. [[spoiler:Arguably {{reconstructed}} as of the latest books. The war turned out to be a giant sociology experiment by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens operating under BlueAndOrangeMorality, and it turns out the Others, who call themselves the Primacy, have the same arrangement as the Confederation. The war promptly ends.]] And then later {{subverted}} in ''An Ancient Peace'': the elder races have given up ''war'', but more minor interpersonal violence still happens (including a FantasticRacism-motivated back-alley ambush a pair of Krai on Torin's team, which doesn't end well for the attackers).

The Confederation of Valor is a science fiction book series by {{Canad|aEh}}ian author Creator/TanyaHuff. The lead character is Torin Kerr, a non-commissioned officer in the Confederation Marines. Alongside her fellow humans, the Confederation has recruited the [[OurElvesAreBetter Taykan]] and [[ExtremeOmnivore Krai]] to fight their battles as they've [[PerfectPacifistPeople completely outgrown the desire, or even ability to fight]]. This becomes a problem when The Others, a war-like collective of various races, slowly start to attack Confederation space. The books follow Torin Kerr and the Marines serving under her as they face down various threats to their society and their lives.

* ActionGirl -- Boy Howdy, does this series feature this in spades. Aside from the obvious example of Torin Kerr herself, a few of the female marines in Sh'quo Company certainly qualify. If a marine is given more than a handful of lines, expect them to do something awesome or heroic at some point in the story.
* AlienBlood -- Most of the other races have very different physiologies.

* AlienGeometries -- Big Yellow, at least.
* AliensAreBastards -- The whole reason the Confederation had to recruit the humans to fight for them in the first place. They sent diplomats to point out to The Others that SpaceIsBig and that there was no reason whatsoever for them to fight the Confederation for territory. The Others sent back the dead diplomats with a bomb.
* TheAlliance -- The Others are a collective of races bent on destroying the Confederation. The Confederation are a collective of pacifist races who were forced to recruit several war-like races to help avoid extinction. [[spoiler:Except in reality, neither one is really any worse than the other: the Big Yellow aliens tricked the two sides into fighting as a sociology experiment.]]
* AlwaysChaoticEvil -- The general belief by the Confederation about The Others. It certainly seems to apply to their leadership. [[spoiler:Turns out not to be true: the two federations were being manipulated into fighting each other by the Big Yellow aliens.]]
* AnnoyingArrows -- Averted in the first book.
* AnyoneCanDie -- Don't get too attached to the well-characterized marines introduced at the beginning of each book. Some of them are going to die.
* ArmourIsUseless -- Completely averted. Marines have armor and it's generally the only thing between their fragile flesh and a lot of pain. In fact, their armor is highly ''useful'', containing survival gear and beneficial functions which generally keep the marines alive far longer than they'd be without it.
* ArtificialLimbs -- Mentioned, but when one marine is informed his legs will have to be replaced, it's noted that it'll mean a medical discharge.
* AtopAMountainOfCorpses -- Pretty much the end of the first book. It is treated as horrifically as it actually is.
* AttackAttackAttack -- Again, the first book. Two thousand Silviss against roughly forty marines in a fortified position.
* AuthorAppeal[=/=]FreeLoveFuture -- Much like many of her other stories, pretty much everyone is bisexual as well as sexually active. The BetaCouple is even a male-male Krai pair.
* BadassInANiceSuit -- The first book finds Torin and her marines fighting a last stand in dress uniform. Thankfully, the Marine Corps was smart enough to realize that dress uniform should probably still offer some decent protection, and thus they're not entirely helpless.
* BadassNormal -- Again, Torin Kerr and her marines, but applies especially to Torin. She's not especially tall or heavy, yet she'll go up against the worst horrors The Others have to offer.

* BarBrawl -- A memorable scene in the first book, when some of the Marines sneak out of barracks for a night on the town. Torin uses it as an opportunity to see how the Silsviss and existing Marines react to each other off-duty.
* BecauseISaidSo -- Often used by Torin or other Sergeants serving with her to get their marines doing something when not actively being shot at.
* BelligerentSexualTension -- Torin and Ryder spend much of ''The Better Part of Valor'' sniping at each other and are the OfficialCouple by the end of it.

* {{Bizarrchitecture}} -- Big Yellow.

** [[spoiler:The Big Yellow aliens are a HigherTechSpecies [[TheWormThatWalks colony organism]] made of plastic.]]
* BlueAndOrangeMorality / MadScientist: [[spoiler:The Big Yellow aliens started an interstellar war between the Confederation and the Primacy as a ''sociology experiment''.]]

* BreastPlate -- [[http://www.lucifer.tw/fantasy/artist/luis/evolution/65_valors_choice.jpg The first cover]]. Torin's armor is different from the di'Taykan and Krai marines, presumably to hold her tits for some reason. Averted in the actual text of the book.
** There ''is'' a question of comfort. The other marines pictured are male.
* BulletProofVest
* BugWar
* ButtMonkey -- In the first book, Haysole stands out as equal parts this and PluckyComicRelief.
* [[ChekhovsGag Chekhov's]] RunningGag: In ''The Truth of Valor'', both Torin and Craig touch basically any piece of plastic [[spoiler:because the Big Yellow aliens are sapient plastic, and during ''The Better Part of Valor'' they left a protein marker in them that can reveal [=BYAs=] masquerading as inanimate objects]]. Usually nothing happens, but at the end of the book, [[spoiler:it turns out there ''were'' [=BYAs=] on the space station, and they helped Torin and Craig escape]].
* ChunkySalsaRule -- The Krai have several descriptive words for the impact of an anti-personnel rocket on a soft target.
* ClusterFBomb -- Nearly every single non-commissioned Marine.
* CombatPragmatist / EvenEvilHasStandards: In ''Valor's Trial'', the Others apparently say "screw this" and hit the ground battle from space with some kind of strategic warhead that fuses the entire battlefield into volcanic glass. [[spoiler:According to the Primacy lieutenant Torin and company team up with later on, members of their own ruling council considered this weapon horrific.]]
* ColdSniper -- Binti Mashona. Granted, she's perfectly social when she's not shooting things in the face at extraordinary distances, but put her behind the butt of a rifle and she's more likely to be annoyed at the inferior equipment she's using than anything.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience -- Nutrient tabs for the three Younger Races. Blue are for humans, pink for di'Taykan, and yellow for Krai.

* CoversAlwaysLie -- Averted in the second through fourth books, and even the first book's cover is fairly accurate... Except for the landscape. [[http://www.lucifer.tw/fantasy/artist/luis/evolution/65_valors_choice.jpg This]] does not look like the dense jungle described. (But it does look like the landscape at the Battle of Rorke's Drift, a real life battle in what is now South Africa, and which the events of the book were explicitly based. In fact, the cover bears a strong resemblance to many famous paintings of the battle.)
* DeadpanSnarker -- Several characters, including Torin. Ryder is prominent example, as well.
* DeathFromAbove -- Marine dropship pilots employ this method of attack to get the troops on the ground before anything goes amiss.
* DeathGlare -- Torin has one that, by all indications, can curdle milk.

* {{Determinator}} -- Torin Kerr is certainly one, though several minor characters prove to be this as well.
* DropShip -- Naturally.
* ElvesVersusDwarves -- The Confederation thought there'd be a huge problem with Humans learning to get along with Taykan (genetically slutty space-elves) and Krai (ExtremeOmnivore hairless ape people). The fact that all three are similarly-sized mammals beside the more bizarre anatomies of the elder races of the Confederation meant these fears fell short.
* EnemyMine -- [[spoiler: Torin's marines join up with a group of Others to escape a shared prison camp.]]
* EnergyWeapon -- The "Bennies" used in battles taking place aboard ships fire a beam which does not do nearly as much damage to a purely inorganic substance as it does to an organic substance. This is because putting holes in a space ship is a very bad thing.
* EnsignNewbie -- Lieutenant di'Ka Jarret is this at the start of ''Valor's Choice''. He grows out of it by the end thanks in part to Torin's tutelage.
* EthicalSlut / EveryoneIsBi -- ''Every'' di'Taykan.
* EverybodysDeadDave -- The Others' orbital bombardment in ''Valor's Trial'' kills everyone involved in the ground battle on both sides, including several named characters from previous books. [[spoiler:Torin and a few others are "rescued" by the Big Yellow aliens.]]
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys -- The Krai are hairless monkey guys who can eat anything and have bones and teeth enamel so tough that Confederation scientists are attempting to grow it for spaceship armour.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin -- Most of marines in the books do demonstrate valor quite a bit.
* {{Expy}} -- In the first book, Ressk is a somewhat irritable Krai who has a bit of a superiority complex about his computer abilities. Remove the computer abilities and add Recon. Meet Werst in the second book. Which gets interesting when Ressk ''meets'' Werst in book four. In the first book of the ''Peacekeeper'' series, they even get married.
* ExtremeOmnivore -- The Krai as a race have the most efficient gut in the galaxy and can eat pretty much anything (including plastics and metal)... and often do. Upon being integrated into the budding Taykan and Human military, a rule about not eating the bits which might fall off fellow soldiers had to be established.

* FascinatingEyebrow -- Torin's weapon of choice whenever asked what she considers a particularly stupid or obvious question. She mentions buying an app to teach her the technique then spending hours practicing; judging by the in-story reactions, she got her money's worth.
* FasterThanLightTravel -- Susumi space. Enter it, and you can emerge on the other side of the galaxy exactly when you departed, though for the people on the ship it does take hours to get there.
* TheFederation: It's called a Confederation, but it matches the trope based on its description.
* ForeverWar -- The Confederation, as a whole, wishes for a pacifist solution. The Others, as a whole, wish for everything that is not them to die. ''Valor's Trial'' reveals that [[spoiler:the Big Yellow aliens have been manipulating things for the entire length of the war, to keep their sociology experiment going. The Others, who call themselves the Primacy, are actually a lot like the Confederation and thought ''they'' were the unreasonable ones. Soldiers from both sides, Kerr included, end up telling the Big Yellow aliens to stop screwing with them and the soldier species open peace negotiations.]]
* GoingForTheBigScoop -- Presit, who not only risks herself and her crew, but also the entire ''Berganitan'' and everyone aboard following it into Susumi space in her quest to get the story on whatever top-secret thing the ship must be doing. She then promptly insists on being escorted into unknown territory, relying on the marines to keep her safe.
* {{Heavyworlder}} -- Torin is from a world with 1.2 times Earth's gravity, which comes in handy during a BarBrawl in the first book since the Silsviss homeworld has about 0.8 gravity.
* HeroWorshipper -- Kichar to Torin.
* HeroicSacrifice -- Happens in a few places, of course.
* HiveMind -- The Big Yellow aliens.
* HollywoodHacking -- Ressk indulges in this as one of two defining character traits, the other being his racial [[PlanetOfHats hat]] of eating anything and everything.
* HollywoodTactics -- One character employs these. Unfortunately for everyone else, he's their commanding officer. None of the marines are happy about this.

* HumansAreWarriors -- {{Downplayed}} in the back story. The Confederation offered humanity membership because they hadn't yet evolved past violence (unlike the rest of its member races), and thus could fight the Others. The Taykans, Krai, and Silsviss were brought in later for the same reason. [[spoiler:It turns out that the Others, properly the Primacy
* HumansAreWhite -- Averted. Though the book doesn't specifically identify characters by race, several humans are distinctly not Caucasian.
* HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace -- Susumi Space requires very specific calculations in order to successfully traverse it. Making even a tiny small mistake can destroy a ship completely. ''Valor's Trial'' adds that it also exposes travelers to severe irradiation (though ships are built to withstand it) such that spacers and military personnel typically bank reproductive material just in case.
* IntrepidReporter -- Presit, especially in the third book. Although her motivation may be more that 'verse's equivalent of a Pulitzer rather than the truth.

* {{Jerkass}} -- Presit. She's a reporter with a superiority complex, an inflated sense of entitlement, and a ''lot'' of dislike for the military in general. Even her own news crew doesn't like her in the novel she's introduced.
* JoinTheArmyTheySaid -- Most of the marines will find cause at one point or another to curse the fact they're marines.
* KillItWithFire -- Heavies in each squad have flamethrowers, though the use of it on sentient beings is generally regarded as completely outside of acceptable battlefield practice.

* LastStand -- The first book nearly becomes one.
* LivingShip -- Big Yellow, which is mostly made of organic material, heals damage to itself, reconfigures its interior architecture, and [[spoiler: is secretly testing both sets of alien species that have landed on board. As it turns out, it's not really a ship, but rather a group of molecule-sized aliens with a HiveMind]].
* UsefulNotes/{{Mars}} -- Humanity had a shaky toe-hold on Mars when the Confederation swooped in and pointed out that they could either join the Confederation and fight their battles for them or get steam-rolled by The Others when they got there.
* MilitaryScienceFiction -- Natch.
* AMotherToHerMen -- A stern as hell parental figure to be sure, but Torin certainly gets pissed off whenever one of the marines under her command dies. Everyone serving under her is very aware of this fact, as well as the people who rank higher than her. Her marines have complete confidence in her abilities, too.
* TheNeidermeyer - Captain Tarvis.
* NoOneCouldSurviveThat -- The Marines to Ryder after Torin is declared KIA. He doesn't really believe it, and neither does Torin's father.
* NoOneGetsLeftBehind -- A rule of the Corps. If there's a body, it gets brought back. If only a trace of DNA or a speck of blood on someone else's clothing is all that's left, it gets brought back. If there's an injured marine, there is no such thing as too injured to bring along. Played with a little, though, in that Marine body bags are designed to cremate the remains and dump them into attached canisters, which are hooked to the web gear of the senior NCO (meaning Torin, usually).

* OurElvesAreBetter -- Taykan are essentially {{space elves}} with pastel-hair, superior senses to a human, and the ability to produce pheromones which can get any mammal in the mood. {{Lampshaded}} in that the Taykans have been compared to elves in-universe and find said comparison amusing. Torin's even met a di'Taykan named [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Celeborn]].

* PardonMyKlingon -- Aside from the obvious pun, the races in the Marines learned to get along by learning to swear at one another in their native languages.

* PleasurePlanet -- Any Taykan world, very likely.
* PlotArmor -- Torin, to a degree. Forgivable since she's the main character. Averted for every other marine.
* PoweredArmour -- Fairly low-key. Played a little more straight with Heavies.
* ProperlyParanoid -- Torin more than once. In the third book she thinks that she really doesn't care if people call her paranoid so long as it saves her people's lives.

* PsychicPowers -- Hinted at in the first book, with Jarret informing Kerr that "there's a reason mind-reading races in the galaxy are universally despised" when she is able to read his body language and use her experience with other new second lieutenants to accurately guess his thoughts.
* PunctuationShaker -- The Taykan language is a mishmash of this. (For example, [[BizarreAlienBiology mature but not yet fertile individuals]] of the race are called "di'Taykan.")
* PunyEarthlings -- Taykan have superior senses and the Krai are, in some ways, ridiculously durable compared to humans.
* PuppeteerParasite -- [[spoiler: The Grey Ones, although they more often tend to only be observers. [[BodyHorror From your brain.]]]]

* RedemptionEqualsDeath -- During the second book, [[spoiler: Torin uses this to make her useless, fatally-injured superior look good for the Katrien reporter who's been watching the "war-hero" be a useless JerkAss.]]
* TheReptilians -- The Silviss.
* RubberForeheadAliens -- Both averted and lampshaded. The reason that the humans, Taykan, and Krai get along is because they're all bipedal mammals with two arms and legs. The rest of the Confederation are vastly more alien:

* SacrificialLamb[=/=]SacrificialLion -- Several of each in each book.
* ScaryDogmaticAliens -- The Others absolutely refuse to back down.
* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale -- Averted, for the most part.
* SergeantRock -- Torin, full stop.

* ShoutOut -- There are a few subtle nods to other science fiction work.
* SssssnakeTalk -- In an unlikely occurrence, Torin hears the Silviss this way due to her translator being broken.
* SpaceIsAnOcean -- The Confederation still uses wet-navy command and logistical structures for its SpaceNavy (because they work), but the rest of the trope is averted.
* SpaceIsAir: Averted: the Confederation doesn't even use the same vehicles for air and space combat because Marine 772 air fighters aren't spaceworthy any more than Navy Jade {{Space Fighter}}s are airworthy.
* SpaceMarine -- A well-done example.
* SpaceNavy -- Of course.

* StandardSciFiFleet: Mostly ignored, but present.
* StandardSciFiSetting -- Pretty well.
* StandardTimeUnits

* SwissArmyWeapon -- The Heavies have a weapon which allows them to swap between various guns.
* VitriolicBestBuds -- In the second book, Werst and Guimond quickly grow to be this. Pretty much all of the vitriol is on Werst's end of the relationship.

* WarIsHell
* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture -- Justified. Both sides of the conflict can use EMP to knock out a lot of the fancier gear, so the Marines quickly realized that they needed to
* WeaponOfChoice -- Most marines prefer the standard [=KC-7=] to the Bennies, and those that prefer the Benny won't say otherwise.

* XtremeKoolLetterz -- Fuk you, it's awesome to swear like that.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair -- The Taykans, whose hair comes in every improbable shade you can imagine, from neon blue to fuchsia.
* YourHeadASplode -- This is what happens when you combine a sniper like Binti Mashona with a rifle round titled an "impact boomer".

* AuthorAppeal[=/=]FreeLoveFuture -- Much like many of her other stories, pretty much everyone is bisexual as well as sexually active.

* FantasticNamingConvention: Taykan names go [life stage]'[family name] [given name], and having a shorter family name indicates a higher-class family (e.g. di'Ka Jarret); they usually go by their given name rather than their surname. Krai use OnlyOneName, which typically has lots of 'r's and is usually but not always monosyllabic.

* ''Valor's Choice'' (2000) -- Staff Sergeant Kerr, along with a platoon of Confederation Marines, are sent on a diplomatic mission which turns out to be anything but diplomatic when their transport ship shot down.
* ''The Better Part of Valor'' (2002) -- Staff Sergeant Kerr, along with a hand-picked squad of marines, investigate a ship of unknown origin in a previously unexplored area of space alongside Craig Ryder, the civilian salvage operator who found it.
* ''The Heart of Valor'' (2007) -- Gunnery Sergeant Kerr escorts a newly rehabilitated major to training grounds for a field exercise which does not go as planned.
* ''Valor's Trial'' (2008) -- Gunnery Sergeant Kerr must escape from an underground POWCamp.
* ''The Truth of Valor'' (2010) -- Kerr has retired from the Marines after learning the real reason for the war with the Others and is trying to build a life with Craig Ryder. Instead they're attacked by SpacePirates; Craig is taken prisoner and Torin is left for dead. Their biggest mistake? Not killing her outright.

* ''An Ancient Peace'' (2015) -- Taking off from her adventure in ''The Truth of Valor'', Torin Kerr forms a team of independent troubleshooters that can go outside the law to handle problems the Confederation can't. First on the list is black market H'san grave goods that people fear could lead to the recovery of lost superweapons.
* ''A Peace Divided'' (2017) -- Officially inducted into the Confederation Wardens, Torin Kerr and her team are sent to intervene in a HostageSituation at an archaeological dig, opposed by former soldiers from both the Confederation and the Primacy.

* BizarreAlienBiology

* CoversAlwaysLie -- Averted in the second through fourth books, and even the first book's cover is fairly accurate... Except for the landscape. [[http://www.lucifer.tw/fantasy/artist/luis/evolution/65_valors_choice.jpg This]] does not look like the dense jungle described.
** But it does look like the landscape at the Battle of Rorke's Drift, a real life battle in what is now South Africa, and which the events of the book were explicitly based. In fact, the cover bears a strong resemblence to many famous paintings of the battle.

* {{Expy}} -- In the first book, Ressk is a somewhat irritable Krai who has a bit of a superiority complex about his computer abilities. Remove the computer abilities and add Recon. Meet Werst in the second book.
** Which gets interesting when Ressk ''meets'' Werst in book four.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil -- The general belief by the Confederation about The Others. It certainly seems to apply to their leadership.

* BelligerentSexualTension -- Torin and Ryder.

* FantasticRacism: Prominent in the ''Peacekeeper'' series. The elder races of the Confederation have a tendency to think of the formerly war-fighting races as primitives, even though the difference between them really isn't that big (they've outlawed ''war'', but interpersonal violence still happens). There's reportedly a movement to reverse the uplift of the humans, Taykans, Krai, and Silsviss, and Torin's mission to keep graverobbers from digging up old H'san weapons in the first book is partly motivated by a desire to keep that movement from gaining steam.

* HumansAreWarriors -- First justified, then subverted in the back story. The Confederation offered humanity membership because they hadn't yet evolved past violence (unlike the rest of its member races), and thus could fight the Others. The subversion came when the Taykan, Krai, and Silsviss were brought in for the same reason.

* KilledOffForReal -- Lots of characters.

* [[AFatherToHisMen A Mother to Her Men]] -- A stern as hell parental figure to be sure, but Torin certainly gets pissed off whenever one of the marines under her command dies. Everyone serving under her is very aware of this fact, as well as the people who rank higher than her. Her marines have complete confidence in her abilities, too.

* NoOneGetsLeftBehind -- A rule of the Corps. If there's a body, it gets brought back. If only a trace of DNA or a speck of blood on someone else's clothing is all that's left, it gets brought back. If there's an injured marine, there is no such thing as too injured to bring along.

* PardonMyKlingon / [[ScrewYouElves Screw You, Aliens!]] -- Aside from the obvious pun, the races in the Marines learned to get along by learning to swear at one another in their native languages.

* ShellShockedVeteran: Torin is eventually required to go through mandatory counseling because of all she's been through, and she regularly runs into other military and former military personnel who have suffered because of combat service, some irreparably.

* StarfishAliens: Aside from the entries mentioned under RubberForeheadAliens, [[spoiler:the Big Yellow aliens are sapient plastic]].

** The H'san are different ''somehow'', but their appearance has been [[NoodleIncident carefully avoided]].
*** According to ''An Ancient Peace'', they're large, non-bipedal at least some of the time, and have oversized eyes that make their faces look child-like. Also, they smell good.

* AlienCatnip: The Krai drink a beverage called ''sah'', which for them is the equivalent of a hot cup of tea. For humans, it's the equivalent of a hot cup of PCP with an amphetamine chaser. The law requires that anyone buying it be a Krai, and holds the Krai in question responsible if a human gets any.

* GoingForTheBigScoop -- Presit, who not only risks herself and her crew, but also the entire ''Berganitum'' and everyone aboard following it into Susumi space in her quest to get the story on whatever top-secret thing the ship must be doing. She then promptly insists on being escorted into unknown territory, relying on the marines to keep her safe.

* {{Homage}} -- Tanya Huff based the major battles of the first book on the battle of Rorke's Drift.

* PerfectPacifistPeople: {{Zigzagged}}. In the backstory it's {{justified|Trope}}: for the most part only species that evolve past violence achieve FasterThanLightTravel, because species that don't have a tendency to blow themselves up first. {{Deconstructed}} when the Others show up and begin attacking, and the Confederation has to uplift first {{human|sAreWarriors}}ity, then the Taykans, Krai, and Silsviss because they ''haven't'' evolved past violence. [[spoiler:Arguably {{reconstructed}} as of the latest books. The war turned out to be a giant sociology experiment by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens operating under BlueAndOrangeMorality, and it seems highly likely the Others have the same arrangement as the Confederation.]]